[Major Damage/Mapping Improvements-Update 7.1.22 PoB/Vid] The Fortified Summoner: HoP MI Champion
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I have to start off saying: I love this build. The one-two punch of Necromantic Aegis and Minion Instability makes for a very elegant build that gets survivability and offense out of the same mechanic: spawning zombies and Purity Sentinels out of Cyclone.
Now to bore you to tears with my own experiences in Expedition League so far, in hope that this provides anything meaningful to the discussion. :D
Danger: Wall of Text Ahead
The first week of Expedition League, I spent in Hardcore Permanent trying to get a character to level 90. I died at level 69 to Act 10 Kitava. So much for that attempt. I knew from past experience that currency farming was essential to getting the FortSumner build running, so I started with my usual Warchief/Protector Champion for the second week of Expedition League. That's where I started realizing just how much the mana nerfs hurt. However, since the Warchief/Protector build goes Blood Magic before too long, it stopped being an issue at that point. By the end of that week, the Warchief was into early maps and trying to farm currency for some of the items the Fort Sumner build needs. In the course of that second week, I picked up (from drops) a Double Claw, a Twin Claw and a Gemini Claw. I also had an Edge of Madness drop early on, and was surprised at how well it worked in the early going. I was getting frustrated with trying to map and farm currency at the same time, so around the end of that second week I decided to just jump into running the Fort Sumner, since the game just generally feels easier for that build. Before I made the new character, I picked up an Aukuna's Will (max Dex and Zombie life) and a Maligaro's Lens with max attack speed and life. Each was at most a chaos. The Aukuna's might've been cheaper, but I don't remember. Probably would be by now. I started the Fort Sumner around the 11th. I figured to start spinning around level 45 or so, because that's the earliest Maligaro's Lens can be equipped. Up to that point, I was playing Champion with regular summons: zombies, Herald of Purity, and Dominating Blow at level 28. I experimented with two-handed weapons vs. one-handed plus shield, and found that two-handed weapons felt smoother with Dom Blow than did weapon and shield. The Edge of Madness (and a bunch of hoarded up two-handers from the Warchief's run) helped with that. When a Tabula Rasa dropped, I knew it was close to time, so I switched on the 18th. Full disclosure: up til level 45 or so, I was running deathless. My first deaths came shortly after switching to Fort Sumner, though in fairness the first three deaths came against Innocence and the fourth one was a "what the heck just happened" moment in an excavation. I don't know if I would've stayed deathless if I'd stayed Dom Blow, but I kinda doubt it. In the early going, I was tapping mana flasks a lot. I did try Lifetap, which I had been considering for a while, and with the character level in the high forties to low fifties, the life orb tended to dip alarmingly while using Lifetap, so I switched that gem to my second weapon set for a while and went back to using mana. Once I got a lot more life and life regen off the tree -- all the while following the path as outlined in the OP's PoB -- switching back to Lifetap around level 55 felt a lot smoother, and I haven't looked back. Here's my current gear (at level 62), which might be good for a chuckle. I'm using hybrid flasks because I'm running Ryslatha as my minor pantheon choice (yay free flask refills), which allows me to cover both mana and life needs and still have room for three utility flasks. I have very mixed feelings about the instilling/enkindling orbs, so I don't know I have much to contribute on that discussion as of yet. I do wish the orbs dropped more frequently and/or were easier to make, if nothing else to make it easier to experiment with them. For those who are wondering: yes, hybrid flasks count as life flasks. :D
Boo mana nerf! Hooray gear!
An observation: since this build is so dependent upon uniques, it actually makes it easier for me not to blow through so much currency chasing upgrades, because once a unique is in a particular spot, there is nothing left to use to upgrade that slot. So now I'm just chasing currency for the other bits. I still need the Stampede and a couple of appropriate Circles of Guilt, so that's going to be some farmin'. Best of luck, everybody, and happy spinning! :D "People ask me why I do this at my age. People are rude." Last edited by Gruentod on Aug 21, 2021, 12:42:23 PM
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So. After having played this build in Expeditionerf League for two months, I feel I can safely say this build doesn't feel as fun or safe as it did in Ritual and Ultimatum. Running Lifetap for Cyclone->CwC->Zombies does work, but not nearly as comfortably as the build was running pre-nerf bomb. Also, a number of later-game/high tier unique maps that I felt fairly comfortable running ("fairly comfortable" = able to finish without dying out) are now almost impossible to complete. In general, the build feels weaker and squishier, so SeeDub's nerf aims were definitely fully realized. Thanks, pal.
Of course, I figure I am not alone in my experiences, considering that no one has commented on this thread since August. "People ask me why I do this at my age. People are rude."
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I was really looking forward to taking this build into another league but once I saw the patch notes I just dropped PoE entirely. I've been playing since Strongboxes were all you needed to build a league around and this is the first league I have skipped. I just knew I would not enjoy the significant changes to the game so chose not to waste my time.
I would love to be able to pick up the build again in 3.16 but every indication I've seen so far from Chris is that he and his team still don't fully comprehend why so many players dumped this league and that they feel they can half-arse a compromise solution for next league and everything will be fine. I think it'll take another kick in the nuts for them next league to really wake up to the problems. I really hope I'm wrong and things improve massively in a month's time because I really loved the creator's build and had heaps of fun with it. |
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I'm still leaning toward trying this build for the new league, if nothing else because it seems like this is almost a make-up league (as in, making up for nerfing everything).
My plan, if you could call it that, is just jump straight in to playing a Duelist, running Zombies, maybe trying to score an Absolution gem as well. (I tried Absolution in the early levelling of a "Brain-Dead Dom Blow Guardian" [https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3106152], and was rather pleased with how it performed.) Absolution is a Merveil gem that Duelists don't get, so I'm slightly reluctant to try muling one. Basically, the idea is to run minions from the very beginning while working the Fortified Summoner tree, while pushing hard for all the keystones that make the build work, all while keeping an eye out for double/twin/gemini claws and a Tabula Rasa. (If a different six-link drops, I doubt I'll say no, unless it's corrupted and the socket colors just don't work.) I may make use of Delve and/or Heist to farm currency to get some of the other essential pieces, probably before I make maps. As you may have gathered, I'm kinda winging it. :p Lotsa luck, everybody! "People ask me why I do this at my age. People are rude."
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"Glad to hear you are trying this build out! I have been super busy with prog in wow and so I plan to pick this build up after we get our cutting edge. I would love to hear your thoughts as you run through it as I have yet to adapt the tree for the new changes. Hopefully in a month or so I will have the time I need to put into updates, I'm itching to get back into some PoE! |
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" Hey, good to hear from you! I got as far as Act 6 following the tree and basically playing Dominating Blow, but I was getting a little frustrated with dying a lot (17 deaths by Act 6), since it Dom Blow more often than not means learning to leap in, hit once, get away, lather rinse repeat and hope your minions can take up the slack. It's great once you get a crowd of mobs rolling, but getting that crowd started can be tricky sometimes. Doesn't help that I'm impatient to get to the zombie salad shooter stage, of course. :D So, I fell back on old faithful: Warchief Protector. If nothing else, the comfort level is better. It has a low ceiling, otherwise I'd probably run it every league. However, it has been handy for farming currency for the needed items for the zombie salad shooter, so that's the current "plan". This character is at the beginning of Act 9 with 7 deaths, so I'm much happier with his performance. Again, I chalk up at least some of that to comfort level. I did have to make a few seat-of-the-pants adjustment to the tree to get the same keystones, mainly Minion Instability, which they moved to the right of the Witch start. Apart from that, though, the pathing seemed very similar to the build as it was before Scourge. I think the masteries may make for some interesting adjustments to the build, though I haven't looked very closely at the options we might have. Hope you don't find the changes too... too. :D "People ask me why I do this at my age. People are rude."
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" hey, im testing the build and enjpying it to, im still at the first maps and o would like to ask some noob questions haha by first, what is our main source of damage? the minions life explosions? or the minions damage?? (i guess it is the explosions) if isthe explosions, what should i aim for increased damage?? first minions life and second fire damage? minion damage? if the main source of damage is the explosion, how iportant is the nodes with increased minions damage or increased attack speed? Node with "increaased area of effect" and "increased area damage" would increase tre explosion range and damage??? should i get some for better clear? Right now, i cant see why we need nodes to improve mana reservation from skills, it is only to be able to use HOP + Determination aura together, until i get the Amulet? Nodes to improve the aura effect, inprove only the HOP aura damage? or it improve the won sentinels damage and life to? How needed/important is Attack speed and things like Righteous Army for end game? And by last, should we use Herald oF Ash if will be mana for that? thx alot. Last edited by andrelb1 on Oct 31, 2021, 12:50:37 PM
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I'm no expert, but I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can. :D
" First, our main source of damage is our exploding minions. Their damage is based off their life, so as I understand it, we get our best results from increasing minion life as much as possible. Minion damage is also good, but from what I've read, minion life is the better option. I don't know if increased area of effect would affect the minion explosions. " The original intent, if I remember correctly was to use Herald of Purity and Determination together, as you said. With the nerfs to mana, making skills cost more and having to pay mana for triggered skills, reducing reservation of mana -- or as they're calling it now, "increasing mana reservation efficiency" -- would seem to be necessary just to keep from running out of mana while using the build's base skills. " Attack speed is good when using a Gemini Claw, as each hit grants you life *and* mana. However, it could be possible to have too high of an attack speed, and wind up summoning zombies and/or Sentinels of Purity before your existing ones have a chance to explode. I've not used Herald of Ash with this build, and I'm not sure how effective it might or might not be with this build. Hope these answers help! :D "People ask me why I do this at my age. People are rude."
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So. The first two full weeks of Scourge league are done. Here's where I stand with this build.
As I wrote before, I started out running this build's tree from 3.15, while concentrating on minions, mainly Raise Zombie and Herald of Purity to start, then switching to Dominating Blow once it became available at level 28. I used the gem links suggested in the "Brain-Dead Dominating Blow Guardian," also from 3.15. This worked okay, but not great, so I decided to switch to a build with which I was more comfortable: LiftingNerdBro's Ancestral Warchief build, with some tweaks suggested on page 118 of that post... specifically, using Ancestral Protector with Multiple Totems so I could have two Warchief totems and two Protector totems at any given time. They don't seem to hit quite as hard as they used to, which I suppose is to be expected since that build was last officially updated in 3.8. However, it still works pretty well for going through the acts and early maps, and since it was designed to farm the labyrinth, it obviously handles the labs just fine. :D Once I'd farmed some currency, I started buying the essential gear for the Fortified Summoner: Aukuna's Will, Maligaro's Lens, a Tabula Rasa, The Stampede, two Circles of Guilt with Herald of Purity explicits and a better six-link torso to upgrade to once the Fortified Summoner character made a higher level. Full disclosure: an exalt had dropped for me and I sold it for 120c, which allowed me to buy all the stuff listed above with about 30c left over. Your mileage may vary. :D Also, a double claw had dropped fairly early on. Nothing to write home about, but it doesn't have to be. The double/twin/gemini claw is there to feed us life and mana from constantly hitting things, for the most part. The Fortified Summoner was around level 50 when his gear looked a bit like this:
Gear at Level 50
Yeah, not amazing gear... but that's part of the point. This build needs some very specific items, but once it gets going, the rest of the items don't need to be that amazing. In the early going, I was tapping that Enduring mana flask a lot. At some point I decided to put Lifetap on the sixth link, which had remained empty up to that point. That got a little scary at times, so switched back and forth between using Lifetap until his life and life regen got more robust as I gained levels. Things really started getting more smooth when I replaced the Tabula with this torso. Again, not amazing, but it doesn't have to be. Some of you may have noticed I'm not using the Circles of Guilt yet. That's because I was struggling with resists. I know I should swap out a better amulet for the Sidhebreath, but that's definitely for later. Right now he's almost level 62, so he has another level to go before he can equip the Stampede. Once he reaches that point, that's where I'll take a look at his resists and see about replacing his amulet with something with life and resists, and replacing his helmet with one with "gems supported by minion damage" and "...minion life". I should probably also shop for a gemini claw, if nothing else for the higher life/mana gained on hit. The Circles of Guilt will be going on as well, so the resists will be a priority, so I'll also be shopping for a new belt. Interestingly, Lifetap on the Cyclone/Zombie six-link felt a lot more comfortable when I swapped out the Tabula for this torso armour piece. How is it playing? Well, things are working pretty smoothly now, even the Nightmare shifts. He had died 15 times before I switched him over to Fortified Summoner (just a gear change; no change on the tree), around level 50, and has died three times since. So far it seems fairly solid, and I haven't put on the last few pieces yet. On the other hand, he's also still in the acts, so... we'll see. Hope this update is of use! :D POB for Warchief/Protector: https://pastebin.com/8DjZNWBc POB for Fortified Summoner: https://pastebin.com/Xh4sWVs2 "People ask me why I do this at my age. People are rude." Last edited by Gruentod on Nov 7, 2021, 11:18:45 AM
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Appreciate the play update there, I'm thinking about running a version of this in the Endless Delve event coming up soon so thought I'd revisit the thread.
One tiny piece of advice for your build though: You've taken the 12% increased minion life node just to the right of Minion Instability. If you respec that point and instead take Lord of the Dead you'll gain an extra 3% minion life (on top of the 12% you just respeced), 20% increased Minion Damage plus an extra Zombie which will be an enormous damage increase for you :) |
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