[3.9] Herald of Agony (Melee!) Necro--Get in Monsters' Faces Safely (5M Shaper DPS/8.4kLife+Fortify)

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Schokoholzi wrote:

Should we focus on getting more chaos resistance with this build?

Not really? If you wanna farm Chayula or something then go for it, we're not an amazing build against chayula in particular. But sources of chaos damage aren't prevalent enough for me to care. I don't remember if I had literally any chaos res last league. Chaos degen is deadly to us quickly in deep delving but I didn't care enough to go really deep and try it. Chaos hits are at least mitigated by Fortify and Enfeeble.

@codetaku, thanks for the great build. It was really amazing playing HoA build for the first time.

All contend done (exept Awakener, but even on the first try it was very close).
Let me leave my short personal thoughts here.

0. Great leaguestarter.
1. Build is tanky, but some morfs and t15+ maps mods oneshot us.
2. Build is of mediocre clear speed, due we have to cyclon in mobs to get DPS on crawler.
3. Build has really good single-target DPS, but i believe lower then standart zombie\spectres builds.
4. Meat shield zombies die pretty ofter on high tier maps. And i capped resistances depending on those summond zombies, so i do lack def in this situations (dont be like me, cap without summons i believe :)).
4.1. Resummoning zombies is pain in arse. Especially if you are on the map and cant get to the HO.
5. Corridors :(
6. Proximity shields :'(


As for me i had less fan comparing to mass necro i played last league and sure wont play HoA builds in near future. But expirience was amazing anyway. Thanks again for your guide!

My gear:

Is there something i can do to prevent my zombies from dying in high red tier maps? It just takes such a long time to resummon them.

Are you using bone shield and Holy relic ? My zombie die (Barely 1-3) during insane mods meta fights in tier 16

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pshmakov wrote:

...
Let me leave my short personal thoughts here.

0. Great leaguestarter.

Just adding my own thoughts, as well. :)

All Skellie/Zombie builds are good league starters for the most part. (Unless they're broken builds.) I had crap gear, didn't replace much of it after about halfway through, and didn't bother with min/maxing Skills very much. I "played" and had fun with weird combos, but kept my skellies hefty and safe. I died twice to friggin' mutants.. Why? The very first one surprised me with its strength. The second death was a one-shot... could have been anything, really.

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1. Build is tanky, but some morfs and t15+ maps mods oneshot us.

Said every build. :)

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2. Build is of mediocre clear speed, due we have to cyclon in mobs to get DPS on crawler.

Devoto's, speed boots, Flask, - You can't get a whole lot faster. It does take a bit to ramp up damage, though, but you can melt packs and then move from pack to pack. On tight maps, though, it is slower than a skellie+zombie+spectre build and probably slower than a spectre+zombie build because of the single-source main dps.

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3. Build has really good single-target DPS, but i believe lower then standart zombie\spectres builds.

Probably so. Last season my Baron build with un-nerfed speed bonuses and health for zombies was stoopid-fast and had massive DPS all-around. Of course, that's because GGG was focusing on Necro's for that season's gimmick.

There's room in there for a Vaal Skeletons gem and I use it... because it's fun and is a good screen-clearer. I played around with Vaal Blight, too, but like the additional levels to Vaal Skeleton. No, we don't need the extra DPS. Yes, having Vaal Skeletons target a boss's adds and anything else on the screen is very nice while your Agony Crawler focuses on the main target.

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4. Meat shield zombies die pretty ofter on high tier maps. And i capped resistances depending on those summond zombies, so i do lack def in this situations (dont be like me, cap without summons i believe :)).

I'm leveling up a Animated Guardian for Ambu/Whatsits staff. Even if I start testing it early, before it's 20+, Ambus and staff uniques are plentiful and cheap. The other standard uniques are nice to have, but not completely necessary for the Guardian.

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4.1. Resummoning zombies is pain in arse. Especially if you are on the map and cant get to the HO.

That's usually an issue with builds with huge mana reserves. But, in this league, there's a number of additional mechanics that are upsetting for summoners and, IMO, purposefully done to provide summoner/necros some challenge so they don't fall asleep during bossfights - Ground Spawn. Yay? The number of "all my minions die because they stand in the ChaosDamage pools" complaints is pretty large... You know what, though? GGG will lighten up on that in the next League, 'cause it's GGG and they want you to be excited about the prospects for gameplay every four months.

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5. Corridors :(
6. Proximity shields :'(

Both suck... Convocation for Prox-Shields. For Corridors... Push the button for Cyclone and close your eyes. That helps. Srsly. :) (Don't stand in the fire and don't get stuck - Flamedash is my preference for its instant cast and the fact it can be cast three times, instantly, back to back. A good mana regen makes that an easy possibility.)

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As for me i had less fan comparing to mass necro i played last league and sure wont play HoA builds in near future. But expirience was amazing anyway. Thanks again for your guide!

This is a niche build focused on "Cool." You are a crazy Witch who doesn't care about conventional builds, screaming her defiance while gleefully poisoning everything she meets by stabbing it in the face... It's a "neato" build that just happens to have good end-game potential, survivability and dps. (Definitely not a build for Hard Core.)

After playing a Baron build necro last season, as well, I came here looking to spice up my gameplay with an HoA build and am not disappointed. I wanted an HoA build that didn't rely on "get this uber-expensive off-league item you will never see on XBox and can't afford if you did" crap... Here I am. :) I'm happy with it, so far. (Nowhere near "End Game" but slowly working on it. If I hit a wall, I'll start a second character to feed this one what she needs.)


Notes: (If you're running T15, you've already noticed/know these, but it's just in case others might benefit.)

Experimenting with adding Animated Guardian. (There's a free slot, so..) It's not a Guard spell, and should at least be able to buff Zombies some more. (Right? Or am I missing something?)

Vaal Skeletons is a nice fun screen clearer and benefits from the extra +Minion levels.

Flasks. Use them. Quicksilver and Basalt ftw. A +Heal to Minions can help, too. Gain charges when hit helps. (PSA- No "Gain on crit" in case people forgot.) For Mana, I have decent regen and use a Saturated Sanctified Mana Flask. More recovered spread out over more time means more sustaining mana coming in as my cyclone eats it up within that small unreserved pool before it cancels. (Well, at least a few more ticks of incoming mana than an regular flask.) Even with slower clears than some builds, packs should die fairly quickly and that's enough to keep all my flasks topped off, but YMMV.

(I'm still working on ring enchants, but don't have any serious issues. The biggest problem for all Cyclones in that situation is getting stunned while in the middle of a tough fight as Cyclone drops. Don't do that... ;))

% of Physical Attack Damage converted to mana can be found on Gems, too.

Movement/Chill/Freeze/Stun effects are bad for Cyclone builds. Stun can be prevented by Cyclone, but if you're stunned before you start it or get slowed/chilled/etc, things can get nasty. So, don't do those things. Stun Recovery is still A Thing ™ for any build that gets in close, even Cycloners.

Important thing that isn't covered in this build - A good bit of the OP's Resistances come from Gems. Keep that in mind when grabbing gear and stack Resists on Gems as you can. (Always an issue with builds in end-game with a lot of uniques.)

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I didn't see any real questions (at least not that I'd be able to answer about changes this league, like zombies being harder to keep alive). Hope that means the build is pretty easy to figure out nowadays?

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Morkonan wrote:

This is a niche build focused on "Cool." You are a crazy Witch who doesn't care about conventional builds, screaming her defiance while gleefully poisoning everything she meets by stabbing it in the face... It's a "neato" build that just happens to have good end-game potential, survivability and dps.

Never seen a paragraph that so perfectly describes my reason for making this build :) Yeah, this one was all about fun. Melee is a feel-good playstyle when it actually functions, and this build is all about being melee while actually having a minion that clears from a distance everywhere around you.

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(Definitely not a build for Hard Core.)

Certainly not a build for hardcore bossing/metamorphing (mobility is too low to be perfectly safe from projectile barrages unless you are ridiculously careful and have the transformation timing memorized). Last league though I had <10 deaths to level 100 while I was playing fast and loose softcore style, so I think if someone only wanted to map with it, they wouldn't have a problem in HC. Some people in HC play Actual Melee, you know :P

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Important thing that isn't covered in this build - A good bit of the OP's Resistances come from Gems. Keep that in mind when grabbing gear and stack Resists on Gems as you can. (Always an issue with builds in end-game with a lot of uniques.)

I think you mean Jewels? In which case, yes, you're right.

Hi,

Just a random question but do you remember what was the mtx of your character on the Delve video ?

Thank you.

Question regarding reserved Mana: just started playing the build and realized I'll "need" 60~ mana unreserved for the Stone Golem to be casted. My cuirrent workaround is spending 2 points and my annointment on mana nodes. Do I actually need to have the available mana for the golem/relic to be casted on frenzy or does it work without?

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Scudi wrote:

Hi,

Just a random question but do you remember what was the mtx of your character on the Delve video ?

Thank you.

Never realized people cared.... Anyway, this is a Cerulean Seraph Armour Set that I received for completing all of the mini-challenges in a one-month race event a long time ago: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1218688

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_TM_ wrote:

Question regarding reserved Mana: just started playing the build and realized I'll "need" 60~ mana unreserved for the Stone Golem to be casted. My cuirrent workaround is spending 2 points and my annointment on mana nodes. Do I actually need to have the available mana for the golem/relic to be casted on frenzy or does it work without?

Uh, if you're running into mana problems, you can just take off an aura when you need to resummon things and then put the aura back on when they're resummoned?

Your golem should be gem level 29... really shouldn't die often.

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codetaku wrote:

...Never seen a paragraph that so perfectly describes my reason for making this build :) Yeah, this one was all about fun. Melee is a feel-good playstyle when it actually functions, and this build is all about being melee while actually having a minion that clears from a distance everywhere around you.

This is why I am here - It's fun! :) It's a fun build that doesn't really on gimmicks and off-season crap. It's a build that is easily "up and running" as soon as you get into the Atlas. You can also run Skeleton/Zombies with this and then whatever personal DPS you want all the way through the campaign. Because... Summon Skeleton is awesome. (And, it's immediately suppported in the build right out of the box.) It's also very "forgiving" for the most part, once you get Bone Shield.

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Certainly not a build for hardcore bossing/metamorphing (mobility is too low to be perfectly safe from projectile barrages unless you are ridiculously careful and have the transformation timing memorized). Last league though I had <10 deaths to level 100 while I was playing fast and loose softcore style, so I think if someone only wanted to map with it, they wouldn't have a problem in HC. Some people in HC play Actual Melee, you know :P

I had a few deaths last league, mostly due to Blight. (Blight sucks on XBox..) Made it into 90's'ish? Baron STR build... Which means I probably stood where I wasn't supposed to. :)

On the below, any advice/comment/knowledge? Being on XBox, trying to figure out the details of effects/auras/buffs on dps is a PITA without jumping through some hurdles I haven't done yet to get my current in-game build into POB and it's still a PITA even if I did... :) Anyway, the question being: Typical AG builds still work with our build, yes?

For survivability for Player and Zombies, I'm now trying out a "poor man's" Animate Guardian. For AG builds, a nice discussion here: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2642810/page/1 (Alternate setups included.) That's basically an endurance charge Christmas present all around, IIRC.

I'm just testing with Ambu/Leer/Stormheart (To see how it works with our Hatred.) Am going to try out Dying Breath as well. I can't tell which is better or even if they work as intended. (Endurance charge counts are showing up for me AFAIK, but I'm no PoE Guru.

With Hatred, there's the Chill chance for Zobmie hits, which will proc the Shock from Stormheart on longer fights. (Won't be a huge help, but it's "something." Dying Breath might be better, overall. But... I don't know, 'cause my PoB-Foo is weak. %18dmg/aura buff vs Shock)

Note1: For a Poor Man's version of HG just focusing on Staff/Ambu's (other) and Leercast, (All very cheap) speed boots are really essential, so a 30% Boots with HP and Reists will help him keep up since we don't have a lot of Minion Speed boosts elsewhere.

Note2: Ag's are tough. Kitted out with max investment, they should be very tanky with high survivability. Cheap AG's are tough, too. I can't run the numbers, so would really like some PoB feedback if anyone can figure out whether or not a Cheap or Expensive AG build is supported strongly enough by this build for suitable end-game AG survival. But, cheap is cheap, so I don't care at the Map Tiers I'm running atm. (Never had an AG die in my Baron build last season, but much different in terms of Passives/Item support, there.)

I'm running some gloves with Mana leach and Blind Support. The AG is in them with a 3link for the CWDT, similar to the Tombfist setup. The gloves have Blind support on them, so the AG will get that, but I haven't looked at a way to min/max it for other Minions, yet. (An afterthought.) The reason for that setup (Blind) is because it will be difficult to get the corrupted Tombifist's on XBox. And, the Mana Leech is just a bonus as I have plenty on %dmg converted on hit from Jewels to sustain an in-contact Cyclone. (The Elreon Enchant craft will take me awhile, too. :))

So far, the AG seems happy and functional where he is.

Note: Vaal Skeletons with +2 Level are very happy playing with the extra socket atm.

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..I think you mean Jewels? In which case, yes, you're right.

Yeah, "Jewels." Them there sparkly things... I also forgot about the hefty Resist boost from Boneshield on that post. And... during building up to it. So, now I'm comfortably otw to a full/hard cap(109). :)