💀3.15💀 iLL3aT’s Cold Skeleton Warriors/Archers/Mages ❆ League Starter ❆ All Content ❆

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Pheyer wrote:

Would you recommend archers or warriors? Im looking to spend ~5ex or so on this char to fill out my atlas and farm up a bit more currency for a more expensive build. Ive played mostly golem builds when i play minions been a long time for skeletons. Im sure the archers are good for mapping, but are they as good as the warriors for bosses?

I like archers personally since ranged is faster for clearing maps. Per PoB (you have to multiply by 1.6 for vicious projectiles - confirmed to work with them), the damage is a bit lower. Playing both last league though, I couldn't really tell the difference between the two in terms of boss damage - both were good.

The archer gem does cost about an ex though.

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fizbanger wrote:

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I haven’t used an AG this league so no comment there yet (mages have zero crit). For spectres though, I’ve been using the harvest crabs and haven’t lost a single one unfortunately unless you spec into minion defences, things like chieftains don’t last too long with the latest spectre nerfs

It's good to hear that the build works pretty fine even without the AG.

AG's 100% optional, but it's definitely a layer of damage and defense...at a cost of course. I really should put one together, it's relatively cheap this league.

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sSs1897 wrote:

just popping up:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/l40ja0/psa_the_screech_debuff_from_primal_crushclaw/

Is what said in the reddit post true?

Huge if true and honestly, it probably is. I’ve loved them as my spectre since last league...maybe that’s why archers did so well.

Re: leash of oblation. I had all three in a trigger wand and manually casted desecrate on bosses. Now though, I wonder if arcanist brand is a better idea. Worth testing for sure

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iLL3aT wrote:

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fizbanger wrote:

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I haven’t used an AG this league so no comment there yet (mages have zero crit). For spectres though, I’ve been using the harvest crabs and haven’t lost a single one unfortunately unless you spec into minion defences, things like chieftains don’t last too long with the latest spectre nerfs

It's good to hear that the build works pretty fine even without the AG.

AG's 100% optional, but it's definitely a layer of damage and defense...at a cost of course. I really should put one together, it's relatively cheap this league.

Is the fortify from AG the next big layer of defense? I still feel squishy but I'm afraid of losing so much money if it dies.

How would you build it for maximum survivability?

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Zeifern wrote:

Is the fortify from AG the next big layer of defense? I still feel squishy but I'm afraid of losing so much money if it dies.

How would you build it for maximum survivability?

For maximum AG survivability but still keeping Fortify and culling, you'd need Kingmaker, Mask of the Stitched Guardian, a chest piece with 10% of max life as ES, Southbound and then the boots don't really matter but probably Victario's flight.

If you use grave intentions and a chest piece with the Life as ES your AG should be more or less invulnerable. With some exceptions that I think iLL3aT covered in the guide.

What specters are you guys running with the melee warrior build? I see lots of people going with the crushclaws but thought those were better for tanking for the mages/archer variant?

main difference between mage and archer?

I think you need video showcasing how mapping looks like on all the variant. Or at least between mages archers and warriors. Like same map you run on different setup etc. Ive been trying some variants from this but cant really seems to make them work on a budget. for lower tier mapping anyways. Mage were kind of ok.. Gem lvl were super low though since hcssf but, with a tabula and femurs+2minion , i would expected low tier mapping to be a bit smoother then it was.

I kinda want to make it work but most of your video just show bosskill and most of us casual need to map a lot before even doing bosses :). Would love mapping vids.

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gravityx19 wrote:

What specters are you guys running with the melee warrior build? I see lots of people going with the crushclaws but thought those were better for tanking for the mages/archer variant?

Still crushclaws. Per the above Reddit post, they cause enemies to take extra cold damage on top of just being beasts.

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Deadbringer wrote:

main difference between mage and archer?

I think you need video showcasing how mapping looks like on all the variant. Or at least between mages archers and warriors. Like same map you run on different setup etc. Ive been trying some variants from this but cant really seems to make them work on a budget. for lower tier mapping anyways. Mage were kind of ok.. Gem lvl were super low though since hcssf but, with a tabula and femurs+2minion , i would expected low tier mapping to be a bit smoother then it was.

I kinda want to make it work but most of your video just show bosskill and most of us casual need to map a lot before even doing bosses :). Would love mapping vids.

Archer does more damage than mages I think and scale better. I haven’t done a direct head to head yet, though I did pick up my archer gem. The archer gem itself costs 1+ ex early league so there's a barrier to entry. It's also way harder to get a 21 or vaal version. Main difference why I'd like archers over mages is because it's less painful on both my eyes and my computer.

I would love to record gameplay footage, but I’m limited by my computer right now. Not sure 8 FPS rituals make for a good viewing experience. New computer is being built with the last parts backordered so I’m just waiting on that now. Boss kills are relatively tame on my computer so those are way easier to record. The game runs noticeably worse now vs. a year ago when I started the guide, despite a GPU upgrade.

Since I'm running the archer variant of this build in Ritual I figured I record a vid on random T16 map to show people how the build plays. In general Im really liking the build, it feels nice to have ranged minions with high attack speed that freeze everything. Damage also feels very very strong with Primal crushclaw spectres, it seems that the reddit theory about them buffing cold damage is correct. Feel free to add the video to your post if you feel like it iLL3aT, I obv credited you for the build on the vid!

https://youtu.be/j-mMVvjFsa0

And heres my current gear, next upgrade is probably +2 wand, or 21lvl phantasmal summon skeles. I really gotta get a better shield too.