[3.14] Flame Golem 101 - Complete Guide To Golemancy, ✔️All Bosses Down, ✔️Necro, ✔️Elementalist

I definitely agree that the phys golems that scale with aura stacking really well like carrion golems need to be brought in line so then going forward GGG don't have to balance ALL golems as though they were as powerful as one or two of the other types. Apparently they have said that the dev manifesto will mention aura stacking so I expect at least some form of nerf to that mechanic. As you say, probably carrion golems, maybe stone golems too, will see some sort of nerf. A flame golem buff would be fantastic but I don't expect that's likely. Ice Golems seem to be in a pretty good place from what I can tell damage wise so I think of them as the "target" to reach. Flame golems shouldn't have that kind of single target due to their better clearspeed but maybe if GGG buffs flame golems back up a few levels to make up for the 160% (ish) increased damage lost from elementalist ascendancy that would be good.

At the current time I expect this will be the third league in a row I don't run golems though. Unless something changes to make the golem jewels significantly cheaper than they have been recently I imagine I will either skip minions altogether or just go spectres / zombies again. Maybe if both carrion and stone golems see sizeable nerfs we'll see interest in golems drop. Although with Elementalist looking pretty spicy as a caster ascendancy it might be that Mights will remain expensive due to increasing demand for the Anima stone.

Anyway, yeah lest see what the patch notes say. Hopefully no more nasty surprises!

Well, having just read the Dev Manifesto it looks like Spectres have gotten nerfed pretty hard. Lvl 76 at gem level 20 down to lvl 72 seems rather severe both in life and damage lost.

Carrion Golems will be receiving major nerfs and stone golems some nerfs. All other golems are remaining unchanged from what I can tell.

So, not terrible but I guess really not great either :(

Haven't played flame golems for 2 years. With the 3.13 physical golem nerfs gonna try flames again. Looking forward to craft a nice weapon with Harvest crafting, somehow.

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DrHarvey12 wrote:

I definitely agree that the phys golems that scale with aura stacking really well like carrion golems need to be brought in line so then going forward GGG don't have to balance ALL golems as though they were as powerful as one or two of the other types. Apparently they have said that the dev manifesto will mention aura stacking so I expect at least some form of nerf to that mechanic. As you say, probably carrion golems, maybe stone golems too, will see some sort of nerf. A flame golem buff would be fantastic but I don't expect that's likely. Ice Golems seem to be in a pretty good place from what I can tell damage wise so I think of them as the "target" to reach. Flame golems shouldn't have that kind of single target due to their better clearspeed but maybe if GGG buffs flame golems back up a few levels to make up for the 160% (ish) increased damage lost from elementalist ascendancy that would be good.

At the current time I expect this will be the third league in a row I don't run golems though. Unless something changes to make the golem jewels significantly cheaper than they have been recently I imagine I will either skip minions altogether or just go spectres / zombies again. Maybe if both carrion and stone golems see sizeable nerfs we'll see interest in golems drop. Although with Elementalist looking pretty spicy as a caster ascendancy it might be that Mights will remain expensive due to increasing demand for the Anima stone.

Anyway, yeah lest see what the patch notes say. Hopefully no more nasty surprises!

"

Well, having just read the Dev Manifesto it looks like Spectres have gotten nerfed pretty hard. Lvl 76 at gem level 20 down to lvl 72 seems rather severe both in life and damage lost.

Carrion Golems will be receiving major nerfs and stone golems some nerfs. All other golems are remaining unchanged from what I can tell.

So, not terrible but I guess really not great either :(

Hello :)

They sure decided to nerf physical Golems hard. It's nice that Ice Golems are secretly pure physical even if they are listed as elemental one. They will work fine with Flame Golems even after other physical golems are nerfed.

I'm glad that the build was not stacking cluster jewels or auras. These nerfs barely affect us.

There's also hope that they will cancel the Spectre level nerf, as reddit it pretty angry about it and GGG seems to follow it now. Power of paying customers might win once again.

Builds damage has not been "broken" good for years already, so the nerfs don't really hit too hard. Same relaxed game-play remains and I will try add more interesting interactions / synergies to the build.

There's still hope that Flame Golem is in the list for buffed skill gems ;)

"

Haven't played flame golems for 2 years. With the 3.13 physical golem nerfs gonna try flames again. Looking forward to craft a nice weapon with Harvest crafting, somehow.

Hey :)

Flame Golems are pretty much in the same place as they were few years ago. Necro got huge buffs and then they nerfed it some. Now they nerfed bit more, but I guess that it's back to initial power.

Ice Golems should still be very good as they are not "physical" golems and in nerf list. you can mix them with Specs or Flame Golems but I would not focus much on stacking auras / cluster jewels after the manifesto.

Gl in the league and I hope you get the weapon!

Hey Mika,

Since this build hasn't really been touched by the 3.13 blanket ban hammer, looks like I'm gonna go back to playing a flame golemancer this league again (the last time was probably Betrayal?). Anyway, How do I go about joining the guild? Do I message you/the other mods on the forum or in game?

Cheers for the great guide!

Hey Mika,

Well, reading through the patch notes doesn't look like there is much there for flame golemancers's unfortunately (or maybe fortunately as I guess GGG could have nerfed stuff even more).

Be interesting to see how things shape up with respect to the primordial jewel pricing and whether the nerfs to other golem builds makes golems much less popular in general. Speaking for purely selfish reasons I kinda hope that is the case I would like to run Flame golems again but it's usually very dependent on whether I can get enough of the jewels in the first week or two.

Anyway, hope you are well :)

"

theherbalist wrote:

Hey Mika,

Since this build hasn't really been touched by the 3.13 blanket ban hammer, looks like I'm gonna go back to playing a flame golemancer this league again (the last time was probably Betrayal?). Anyway, How do I go about joining the guild? Do I message you/the other mods on the forum or in game?

Cheers for the great guide!

Hello :)

Flame Golems were pretty much untouched by the nerfs. They will be great at clearing with their usual carpet bombing.

I'm not 100% sure if Spectre damage is yet calculated correctly on PoB, but at first glance they seem to be doing ok. If they are now too weal, we might have to swap them later for some other boss-kill minion (skelly mages, zombies, add specs as support, etc).

I didn't notice any big changes to defenses and new Elementalist nodes look interesting as extra protection. Elementalist variant was already beefier one and now has even more defenses.

I already sent you a guild invitation. Welcome to the guild! ^^

"

Hey Mika,

Well, reading through the patch notes doesn't look like there is much there for flame golemancers's unfortunately (or maybe fortunately as I guess GGG could have nerfed stuff even more).

Be interesting to see how things shape up with respect to the primordial jewel pricing and whether the nerfs to other golem builds makes golems much less popular in general. Speaking for purely selfish reasons I kinda hope that is the case I would like to run Flame golems again but it's usually very dependent on whether I can get enough of the jewels in the first week or two.

Anyway, hope you are well :)

Hey :)

No buffs, but also the nerfs seem pretty mild. Not sure if PoB gives right DPS values, but Spectres seems to be doing ok damage still. However the level nerf might not yet be in the system.

I think that Golem gear will be cheaper once again. The prices have been massively bloated for few leagues already and it was time for them to drop.

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UPDATE

3.13 Patch Notes

Elementalist lost Golem damage Ascendancy node, so leveling as Elementalist is not adviced anymore. However at endgame it seems that Harmonies are raising the damage to about same level as it was. Swap from Necro -> Elementalist should be done about lvl 80+ and at least few Harmonies already equipped.

New Elementalist nodes might add some extra defenses for the variant, which is pretty nice

Necromancer lost minion damage from smaller Ascendancy nodes, but change is very slight. Lost damage with Spectre levels might be very small, or pretty big. We will propably see it in few days when PoB Community Fork gets ironed out.

Necros Golems have almost unchanged damage, so only thing nerfed might be Spectres.

If Spectres are too weak to kill bosses anymore, there might be need to swap them for another minion type. Zombies, Skeleton Mages and Ice Golems come to mind already.

Build will be as relaxed to play as ever with good defenses, damage and few clicks. However if you focus mainly at killing endgame bosses, you might want specialized build with Flame Golem for boss-kills. The prices for Golem gear might drop significantly after physical Golem nerfs, so the build should be pretty cheap and effective as league starter.

3.13 Update

This is my first league that I switched to PoB Community fork. The skill-tree is out right on time and I have already updated all leveling & end-game skill-trees. I can HIGHLY recommend PoB Community fork over the original PoB.

Hi,

You Ehp seems pretty low as with sirus damage after loading your pob, am I missing something?

"

mika2salo wrote:

No buffs, but also the nerfs seem pretty mild. Not sure if PoB gives right DPS values, but Spectres seems to be doing ok damage still. However the level nerf might not yet be in the system.

Are you nervous about the spectre survivability? It's a low life % spectre to begin with, and took a big life hit from gem level.

"

Ultimus83 wrote:

Hi,

You Ehp seems pretty low as with sirus damage after loading your pob, am I missing something?

Hello :)

Sirius ramps the boss fights so much that it's very hard boss to deal with the build as the DPS / survival is good, but not broken good. Other endgame bosses are doable quite nicely with good kiting and boss knowledge. If you plan to farm Sirius, you will need serious investment in the gear or extremely good kiting.

For Sirius grinding I would almost do separate extra build just for the boss alone.

"

Are you nervous about the spectre survivability? It's a low life % spectre to begin with, and took a big life hit from gem level.

Hey :)

The Spectres are the skill that will be under focus once the league starts. I can't remember when I have lost Spec with my Necro, so they were quite tanky before the nerf. Build also takes lot of defensive nodes for minions, so they should be relatively safe.

If Specs start dying too much or deal too little damage, they can be boosted by taking extra minion levels with Empower instead of other support, using +3 minion level in helmet or taking minion hp nodes from the tree.

Specs damage can be boosted with Hubris jewel if you happen to roll 2-3x Slumlords(80% minion damage per node) in it.

If Specs are too weak, they might get replaced with Ice Golems, Skeleton Mages or Zombies.