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Ive been reading this thread and i see alot of people are having issues with specters. From what ive seen with this patch is you really need to invest to enter tier 14+ maps, you cant just have crap gear like before. 5 specters, 20/20 gems, cluster jewels and a expensive guardian is a must. Maxed out gems and clusters stopped all my minions from dying and animated guardian is a must for the league mechanic. Kingmaker is the only way the league mechanic will feel good, there is just to many mobs, faster the trash mobs die the more dps you will do to the runic monsters, culling strike is a must.

The dps/minion survivability isnt really a issue im having. I actually think the DPS is pretty good for mapping, its no where near what it was before, but it could be completely fine with some 21 or awaken gems but i wont really know until i get them. I didnt really feel like the DPS was a issue at all until i tried to do some awakener points, it definitely starts to lack there. The main issue im having in higher tier maps is character survivability tho. I could get another 1-1.5k life with expensive gear, but idk if its going to be enough for the invitations, but it should be enough for maps if you make sure not to get crap mods. I got wrecked by the elder invitation tho, and was really surprised i thought that would be a easy 2 points.

Overall tho, everyone is struggling this league and i still think pure specters is one of the best builds. But your not going to tackle end game content without end game gear. This was my league starter until i found something better and at the moment i dont think it exists. Ive been watching a ton of videos and it seems like the only real builds at the moment at specters, SST and forbidden rite totems. SST has better clear, and totem has better DPS but there both less tanky than specters. I think specters at the moment is the best balance, its more tanky than both, and has better DPS than SST. At the moment id rather take the tankyness over the dps. I just dont see how this build is going to do crazy invitations anymore which is my only real concern. Before we had the DPS to gun targets down, but now the fights are 2-3 times longer and the hits are brutal.

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Hyrkan0 wrote:

How am I meant to get the ravenous horde passive without having to get the connecting passives? I noticed that it was just sitting there on its own

With oils on your amulet.

Allocate a notable passive skill from the passive skill tree without spending a skill point or being connected to the rest of the allocated skill tree.

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AdamK wrote:

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Trakys wrote:

Im currently level 88 and doing necro minion army. Things are super fine, cant understand how people are having problems with it. I can see how things are taking longer to kill but I have so many upgrades to do still. Still with 3 spectres and basic gear, nothing fancy with tons of res.

Im gonna switch soon to the pure spectre build. About the chest piece, do I just keep doing minion nodes on delve and hope to drop a +1 spectre chest? Or is there another way to get it

Also, roll your rares people, use your essences and harvest, this is the first league I didnt do much trading, trying to craft most of my own stuff, and this build is loose enough that you dont have to use top tier gear to progress, really, just life res and some minion mods

I checked your progression and you didn't do any 8 mod maps....man i don't have any problem till T13. Without good cluster jewels and +2/+2 shields the spectres simple don't do serious damage and you cannot 1shot rare or even blue mobs and that cause the problem.

I too have no problems in endgame maps even with 8 mods or more (siiting at 6.5k HP and ~600ES). The only mods i try to reroll are "reflected elemental damage" (as i sometimes woold have to return to HO to resummon spectres) and "players cannot regenerate life, mana ES" as i normally dont use a mana flask in my setup and the repositioning of the minions is vital as well as Dash and EE proq via brand. In influenced maps you should know that there are also rippy mods for example increased enemy Aoe in baran maps with narrow layout.

My current build (char is public) follows the minion army starter setup with some deviation that i swapped out the skeletons setup for an animated guardian with Leer Cast + Dying Breath + Victarios Flight + southbound gloves + armor with redeemer "nearby enemies are blinded" mod and high life. the uniques are dead cheap, only the armor was more expensive as i invested in the additional "Gain 10% of Maximum Life as Extra Maximum Energy Shield" gravicus mod to make the AG tankier. I also prioritized a bone helmet with 40% incr spectre damage Lab enchant instead of an elder helmet with pseudo links.
The AG/zombie are also linked with feeding frenzy to get additional damage with the buff.

So that might be an addition that makes my life a little easier as the AG provides more damage for the SO spectres as well as survivability for me with the blind aura (plus extra movement speed is also nice)

The downside in my current setup is, that only stone golem proqs elemental army now which is most likely not ideal but i still prefer the meatshield link in the zombie/AG setup but i guess for damage one could switch meatshield with elemental army to make sure the additinoal -resistance is applied by the zombies and the AG hits and also switch out stone golem with carrion golem for even more damage to the SOs.

As playstyle i will always try to stand behind my minions (running in with movement flask and phase run, see enemy cluster, convoke minions, run behind them, cast brand on enemies and let the minions do their job).
Also my gear is far from perfect as i still have no "+1 to maximum spectre" armor and no "+1 spectre level" boots as well as "only" the normal bone helmet.
So i guess the damage as well as AG gear can still scale up for even the starter build.
I will transition to pure spectre after i found or bought a good armor as i already have the cluster jewels ready to see if the damage even increases.

But to be fair, i still think i lack the damage to do juiced invitations as maven witnessed constrictor took some minutes to tackle thanks to the maven heals but i have no problem when rares in T16 maps are killed within 2-3 seconds when i consider this lower damage league and the possible upgrade path i still have before me.

Hey, I was wondering which build you would recommend to be able to afk t16 blighted maps?

Is the recommendation really cinderswallow in 3.15? The flask got absolutely hammered in the patch notes. It only is going to get life OR ES in league. Why is it recommended?

Same with basalt? These flasks do not seem viable in 3.15

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YaCantStopMe wrote:

Overall tho, everyone is struggling this league and i still think pure specters is one of the best builds. But your not going to tackle end game content without end game gear. This was my league starter until i found something better and at the moment i dont think it exists.

Unfortunately, GGG wants us to struggle or invest more in gear for endgame content. Seems like minion builds are hurt less because we can still offscreen kill, but direct attack builds need to stand next to bosses with 60% less DPS :P

I'm updating the Spectres & Spiders build next (it's stil 3.13 version!).

I think it will be stronger than Pure Spectres because spiders only have 3 support gems so the nerf hurt them less. They are also immortal so 25% less life from Minion damage doesn't matter.

But the big downside is the summoning method and duration. If you don't mind that it will be a very nice build (I hope!)

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LeonthePurrfessional wrote:

Is the recommendation really cinderswallow in 3.15? The flask got absolutely hammered in the patch notes. It only is going to get life OR ES in league. Why is it recommended?

Same with basalt? These flasks do not seem viable in 3.15

Cinderswallow is just used in S&S build for life recovery.

Basalt is dropped from now (still need to update guides!!) I'm going back to Jade flask for extra evasion.

Awesome guide, Kay.
This is my current gear



Next upgrades are +2 minion wand, +1 spectre boots and +1 spectre 6-link chest.

Having a blast!

After just hating many builds I try in Hac I decided for the first time in 8years to try a summoner.

You've made this very easy to comprehend. The playstyle is a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

Ofcourse I'm only I'm a4 right now but I'm going to oush to maps tonite.

I couldnt see anything in your guide about low level gear so I bought some shit to hopefully carry me to maps safely

I have a skull heads waiting. I'll probably buy a unique ring or 2 to cap my resistances moving forward. I plan on eventually going spiders but running your 4.1 build right now and loving it

Anyone playing the Spectres&Spiders variant? Is it still viable?

Thanks for the clarification on flasks, your guide is extremely helpful. Will be supporting on every platform I can!