3.11 - Stress-Free PoE! SLOW-MO ZOMBIES: No Required Items! 1-Button Play! SSF League Start-End!

"

AndyLovesHisBge wrote:

I have decided to switch gears a bit. After a long session with POB, I have realized that I have undervalued my skeletons.

By moving some gems around, I am now trying to maximize Skeletons damage on a 4 link. I am still looking for the best combo of damage gems. Multistrike is fabulous for the regular version of skeletons, but unfortunately it does not work for the Vaal portion of the skill.

The damage is so significant from the skeletons, I am now abandoning my original idea to get a 4th specter and will instead use the +2/+3 helmet I eventually buy to move my skeletons to as they will highly benefit from the additional levels.

I still have some tweaking to do, but the damage increase is already very noticeable in late red maps.

OK I am really happy how this turned out.

I got a +2 helmet and a level 21 Vaal Summon Skeleton, giving me a level 25 gem.

The 4 links I chose were Vaal Summ Skele - Minion Damage - Brutality - Melee Phys Dam

My skeletons are wrecking even on just a 4 link.

I went in a tier 16 map, and on the boss I placed deathmark and then pulled back all my zombies, phantasms and specters away from the fight and Vaal Skele's took down the boss all by themselves.

I can summon 11 regular skele's constantly while mapping and when bossing I can unleash 52 total skele's :)

This is my POB shaper damage with deathmark active:

Zombies: 106.7k * 10 = 1.06m DPS
Phantasms: 112.4k * 10 = 1.12m DPS
Summ Skeletons: 149.8k * 11 = 1.65m DPS
Vaal Summ Skeletons: 131.6k * 23 = 3.01m dps

There are also archers and casters that come with Vaal Summ Skele that do some damage (not much).

Also the 3 specters add what ever damage they add as well, although the two apes do very little damage, they are only in place for the constant charges.

There is still plenty of room for damage growth. I am not done leveling the gems yet and when they are leveled, many can be improved to awakened versions if I can ever afford them.

My first awakened gem I picked up was a cheap one and that was Awakened Blasphemy, which is giving a +1 level to both my curses.

"

subliminaldelta wrote:

Ya know, I've been considering Deathmark Support to help with Drox and other bullshit fights so maybe this is the time I'll get to it.

I have been enjoying it. I rarely use it when mapping, just on the occasional rare, but it really helps on bosses.

"

Caligula_Exile wrote:

Spoiler

"You're making me nervous" :(

I notice a lot how much the zombies have been nerfed since Blight, when I try to protect Cassia's pumps: My minions repeatedly fail to protect it. They can handle the situation as long as there are no more than two hostile towers spawning enemies. Everything above that is almost a guarantee to screw it up.

Maybe my damage is not good enough, since I only have a 5-link for the zombies. Maybe the nerfs have been too harsh.

I was wondering if I should switch my gems set-up for Cassia quests. With the zombies being so attached to her mastress, the witch has to run like hell, to get to the monsters aproaching the pump. In this situation I need the zombies swarm out instead of doing their danse macabre around my witch's hips.

What gem would you recommend to swap out temporarily for meat shield? Minion speed?

What are your experiences with Cassia?

I do not even dare to play the 2 blighted maps that I have found so far. I can't see how I could succed there.

I do not want to disappoint Cassia, I love her so much, ever since Blight <3

Nice intro Caligula_Exile! Ya, Zombies have been hit each league since Blight. They don't do the best damage. That's why I added the Phantasms to help out. But Meat Shield doesn't help with the Taunt in Blight, you're right. The enemies only care about the pulse thing. Feeding Frenzy and Melee Physical are great for sure (though the latter doesn't help with Phantasm damage). Maim would actually slow them down...Multistrike, Ruthless, Impale, Fortify...you could forgo the Minion Life as well and see how that goes.

I agree though.I hope they figure out minions. They seem lost in the direction that minions are supposed to be going.

"

AndyLovesHisBge wrote:

Spoiler

"

Caligula_Exile wrote:

Right now I have yet another problem: I am trying the map Acid caverns and one of the two bosses killed almost my whole army in a couple of seconds... no idea what I could do there.

Acid Carverns is pure RNG as they have a handful of different bosses that can spawn and you won't know which one it is until it is too late.

One of them (which is the one you ran into) DESTROYS minion builds. He is Morgrants the Deafening

When ever you go into Acid Caverns, my recommendation is to turn off your Animate Guardian if you use one.

================

Here is the info from the wiki:

Morgrants uses a monster-only variant of Spectral Throw that triggers Storm Call, Flame Call and Frost Call at random on every single hit. Since Spectral Throw can hit multiple targets and the trigger has no cooldown, Morgrants can proc hundreds of Calls a second against minions. If the map has additional projectiles and the player uses Vaal Summon Skeletons, Morgrants' DPS may potentially reach the billions.

=============

Wrecker, this might be something worth noting in the guide. This is significantly more dangerous than Physical reflect.

Good call AndyLovesHisBge! Good call. Damn Acid Caverns...

"

AndyLovesHisBge wrote:

I have decided to switch gears a bit. After a long session with POB, I have realized that I have undervalued my skeletons.

By moving some gems around, I am now trying to maximize Skeletons damage on a 4 link. I am still looking for the best combo of damage gems. Multistrike is fabulous for the regular version of skeletons, but unfortunately it does not work for the Vaal portion of the skill.

The damage is so significant from the skeletons, I am now abandoning my original idea to get a 4th specter and will instead use the +2/+3 helmet I eventually buy to move my skeletons to as they will highly benefit from the additional levels.

I still have some tweaking to do, but the damage increase is already very noticeable in late red maps.

Aren't they awesome! The second I have the guts to rename this build "Slow-Mo Minions" I'll go with no minion life nodes on the tree, Zombies in a 4 link (with CwDT ;)) and Skeletons in the 5 link. It'll be glorious!

"

subliminaldelta wrote:

Ladies and gentlemen, I got it. Only thing left to do is get a Lvl 4 Empower and socket it in place of Melee Phys.

Queen's Hunger is INCREDIBLE for this build. You can ditch Mistress of Sacrifice, go for Commander of Darkness instead and laugh as your minions deal 30% more damage and melt everything. Also with the free +30 to resistances you can free up some crafting slots.

Awesome job subliminaldelta! That's great!

"

Wrecker_of_Days wrote:

The second I have the guts to rename this build "Slow-Mo Minions" I'll go with no minion life nodes on the tree, Zombies in a 4 link (with CwDT ;)) and Skeletons in the 5 link. It'll be glorious![/span]

Slomo Skeletons sounds pretty cool too man!
I've always said they are the unsung heroes of this build, even nerfed they destroy! THIS is exactly why I chase those helms with 2 minion mods, supports socketed gems with level whatever minion life and damage. Then I have 2 6 links!
3 if you use a 2 hander, but that may get a little sketchy for surviveability.
Amazing thread this league, lots of tinkerers!
Sounds like this is a success, I know Dwaine is loving it!
Gratz on ANOTHER success Wrecker!

"

Wrecker_of_Days wrote:

Aren't they awesome! The second I have the guts to rename this build "Slow-Mo Minions" I'll go with no minion life nodes on the tree, Zombies in a 4 link (with CwDT ;)) and Skeletons in the 5 link. It'll be glorious!

When I get some time, I am thinking of maybe theory crafting a setup like this, maybe for next league as I am loving Queens Hunger, I may want to build around it again.


Weapon: Zombies (6 links)
Chest: Skele (6 links)
Helmet: Specters (4 links) [4 specters]
Ring: Convocation
Boots: Curse (3 links), Flesh and Stone (1 link)
Gloves: Golem, Feeding Frenzy, Movement, Fortify (4 links)


I would drop the shield which bums me since that gives a lot of life, but I feel like this would be a huge burst in damage. I only seem to die when fights take too long so this may be a way to shorten them.

For those trying to figure out a good place for Feeding Frenzy, it works fabulous on the Golem. He keeps it up constantly, which buffs the entire team.

I have finally added in Animate Guardian to my set up.

I took him into a fully modded, twinned tier 16 and he did not leak any health so as long as I stay out of Acid Caverns with him, I am feeling safe.

I am using the budget set to start with:

Staff: Dying Breath
Helm: Leercast
Chest: Ambus Charge
Hands: Southbound
Feet: Victarios


And if he continues to show no issues in late red maps, I am going to get him a Kingmaker.

===========================

As part of this addition of Animate Guardian, I removed Minion Damage from my Specter setup (as that socket now houses AG).

As such, my never ending search for a good 3rd support Specter remains.

*The apes (Frenzy and Power) are great.

*By removing Minion Damage, I no longer think Kitava Herald merits a spot.

*The change to Rallying Cry in 3.11 has made Ruin Hellions much much worse for this build.

*I am interviewing Dying Evangelist for the job right now but so far it is not going well. He either does not have the shield up when I want or I can't find him easy enough in the battles to get his cover.



I am going to keep my eye out for this guy in Drox maps. The attack speed buff sounds really interesting:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/fug81j/new_buffing_spectre_arena_master_and_what_you/

.