[3.9] Winter Orb Herald of Agony Necromancer || Best way to play Winter Orb

INTRODUCTION
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You thought Winter Orb was dead? Well maybe it is but this is now the most satisfying way to play this spec. Playing Winter Orb in 3.9 feels quite clunky yet while playing this build you'll find that it feels a lot better since you're not worrying about maximising your Winter Orb damage. It's quite easy to maintain your HoAg stacks so it feels a lot smoother.


VIDEO
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQI1V8jIb9w





OVERVIEW
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Pros:

+ 8M Shaper DPS
+ Level 34 Herald of Agony
+ Very good clear speed
+ High EHP
+ Very Fun
+ Satisfying explosions
+ Easy to play
+ Can run all map mods
+ Winter Orb

Cons:

- Winter Orb's duration isn't that high
- Socket starved


SKILL TREE (POB)
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Witch

Level 91 Passive Tree

POB: https://pastebin.com/cfjahuaZ


Ascendancy Points: Mindless Aggression, Unnatural Strength, Plague Bringer, Bone Barrier

Bandits: Kill them all :)


SKILL TREE OPTIONS


For your ascendancy, if you're looking for speed clear mostly. You can get Mistress of Sacrifice for the 40% skill effect duration on Winter Orb as a quality of life while sacrificing defense but it's not really needed.


Since we already do an absurd amount of damage. You could drop some damage in the tree and get more life in the Marauder side of the tree and even go to Soul of Steel
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JEWELS
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For your Jewels you'll want Maximum Life or increased Maximum Life % + either cap your resistances, your attribute requirement (Dexterity).

But if you're okay in resistance and attribute you can go go increased minion attack speed and flat phys/chaos to minions



You will also be using a Careful Planning to get some good amount of Dexterity to get the requiremeent of Herald of Agony (159 Dexterity)


This one needs to be placed exactly here:




As for the Last one i'm using a Glorious Vanity Timless Jewel. It is important that the description of the jewel has "Doryani" in the mods.
(Bathed in the blood of XXXX sacrificed in the name of Doryani
Passives in radius are Conquered by the Vaal)
and also needs to be placed in a specific Jewel slot:






DEFENSE
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GEAR
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Your best choice for Anointement on your Amulet would be Ravenous Horde and it's not really expensive.

BUDGET OPTIONS

If you want to make this build less expensive here is what you can do:
- Get the helmet with +2 to Level of Socketed Minion Gems instead of +3

- Get a Circle of Nostalgia with Chaos Resistance instead of Mana Reservation. If you go that route you'll need to change your Hatred aura for a Flesh and Stone linked with Maim Support

- You could get Grip of the Council Gloves. It will give you more DPS but slower clear.

- Get an Amulet with only one of those mods : +1 to Level of all Chaos/Physical/Dexterity Gems



LINKS AND GEMS
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Main DPS Setup

Herald of Agony - Vicious Projectiles (or Awakened Vicious Projectiles) - Deathmark - Damage on Full Life


Poison Setup

Winter Orb (lvl 1 / 20% Quality) - Poison - Faster Casting - Greater Multiple Projectiles - Curse on Hit - Projectile Weakness

on a Budget you can remove the Curse on hit and Projectile Weakness


CWDT Setup

Cast When Damage Taken - Steelskin
or
Bone Barrier (selfcast)


Mobility Setup

Whirlwind Blade - Faster Attacks


Aura Setup

Hatred - Generosity


Utility Setup

Desecrate
Convocation


Zombie Setup

Raise Zombie - Minion Life - Feeding Frenzy - Withering Touch


Charge Spectres Setup

Raise Spectre - Blood Magic

I use 2 Spectre who gives Frenzy Charges(Carnage Chieftain, Aboriginal Chieftain, Stygian Silverback)
and 1 Spectre who gives Power Charges (Host Chieftain)



LEVELING
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You can level up with this build as soon as you get the skills. While leveling I would link Winter Orb to Poison and Lesser Poison Support.

LUL sounds great!
Just 2 questions:

Does it feel tanky?
Why are your still lvl 91 :D?

Thanks for the guide and the POB.
Since its a level 1 winter orb, you cant really call it a winter orb build though. But, i sort of see what you mean

"

Venetostar wrote:

LUL sounds great!
Just 2 questions:

Does it feel tanky?
Why are your still lvl 91 :D?

It doesn't feel squischy. I haven't played a lot with it yet, but I was having such a blast and it's a build that isn't really played much that I had to share it somehow.

edit: nevermind

I have about the same amount of health (5833) with the glorious vanity(doryani) and only have 2517 es, what boosts your es soo much?

Isn't this build a copy and paste from : https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2639237/
??

Was thinking of doing this for 3.10 is this still viable? Looks fun