[3.12] The Iron Apostate (The Iron Mass, Skeles, 2x Carrion Golem, DB Sentinels) 1st Custom Build

Hello Folks. I want to begin saying, I am new to customizing builds and I know this is not a top tier build. It is currently in experimental stages and I am posting this in hope that maybe the community can give me feedback. I based this build on Summon Skeletons +

Currently the build is working very well. It is an Evasion based Hybrid Life/ES build and quickly chews through packs of monsters and bosses alike. I have done a handful of red maps so far with no problems and doing lvl 80-82 Heists. (EDIT: Had no problems with Heists yesterday, now dying to one shots in lvl 80-82 heist...)

The build so far is more exciting than other summoners I have played, due to the "In Your Face" style of Dominating Blow/Multistrike and Evasion based defense.

Current Gear:
Gem Links are currently included in the gear spoilers.

Weapon 1
The new unique Heist item, the Iron Mass. Using this to add wither and chaos damage + triple damage to my skeles.



Weapon 2
A psuedo-6L elder sword in the offhand, with "Socketed Gems are supported by lvl x Ruthless, Ancestral Call, and Multistrike. I use this as my main attack to proc the Iron Mass to buff the skeles damage and summon Sentinels of Dominance (which benefit from the weapon links and the socketed gems + all the minion passives in my tree). I played around with the good old Victario's shield + Necro Aegis node, but found this more effective unless there is something I am missing.



Helmet
Another psuedo-6L elder bone helmet to support my twin Carrion Golems with a more survivable and offensive setup.



Gloves
Currently using these for evasion, energy shield, accuracy (I know they are not Lab enchanted yet as I am still working on tweaking gear).



6L Armor for Skeles
Another Evasion, ES, with life and such.


Rings
Just something I picked up to fill the roles I needed atm. One Unset ring to give an extra slot for my Skitterbots.





Rare Stygian Vise-Belt + Abyss Jewel


Boots


Amulet


Annointed with gravepact for a decent buff to Skele, Sentinel, and Carrion Golems, plus it adds some damage to my Dominating Blow.

Flasks
I am sure there is a better flask out there than the Hallowed and the Witchfire, but these are kind of a budget slot filler that work in a pinch.



Abyss Jewels currently in tree


Pastebin PoBCommunity Link: https://pastebin.com/nNxpDF08
Currently my character is only lvl 88, and the PoB link shows the full lvl 100 path I have decided on so far and the theorized gear as placeholders. It is subject to change as I start getting suggestions from the community.

UPDATE: I was toying with some of the new "quality" types on PoB, which had a positive effect on the damage potential.

I will be posting a pob link with all current gear, passives, etc soon. This will give an idea of what the build is like with the suboptimal gear that is placeholding alot of things in that show up in the original "End-Game" PoB link.

I am really excited about this build though, and will be continuing to tweak things in the near future. I also have to fine tune some of the gear choices I have currently input into the build. I feel like there is potential for a viable end game/full-content build here.

"

Exiled_Magus wrote:

UPDATE: I was toying with some of the new "quality" types on PoB, which had a positive effect on the damage potential.

I will be posting a pob link with all current gear, passives, etc soon. This will give an idea of what the build is like with the suboptimal gear that is placeholding alot of things in that show up in the original "End-Game" PoB link.

I am really excited about this build though, and will be continuing to tweak things in the near future. I also have to fine tune some of the gear choices I have currently input into the build. I feel like there is potential for a viable end game/full-content build here.

Ok so for any that are interested or following this, as promised here is the current PoB pastebin link for my current gear and passive skill tree.

https://pastebin.com/h6aJTQMK

My current gear is not optimal, but it is getting the job done atm. Sitting on 4389 HP and 1347 ES at the moment. I am still not sure how to calculate the overall damage on PoB unless its something as simple as "Total DPS x Number of Minions" for both the Skeles, Carrion Golem, 9x Sentinel of Dominance, and the actuall Dominating Blow attack total dps? If that is the case its sitting on roughly 3.2 million Shaper DPS, which is still pretty low for most summon builds, but seems to function very nicely in mapping and bossing so far.

I will be observing your career with great interest.

"

Ahses wrote:

I will be observing your career with great interest.

Much appreciate the support mate. Had a busy week, but back to the grind tomorrow! Very enjoyable so far though. Will start focusing on gear upgrades soon, and hopefully get my last trial for Uber Lab.

man, is iron mass even working?? I had it going DW and I NEVER noticed ANY big bump after hitting with it (YES, I hit, yes it was MH). DPS feels higher without it (doing phys>cold)

"

d3viant6 wrote:

man, is iron mass even working?? I had it going DW and I NEVER noticed ANY big bump after hitting with it (YES, I hit, yes it was MH). DPS feels higher without it (doing phys>cold)

That is a very good question. It does not seem to visibly be increasing the damage number when looking at the skeleton sheet dps in game after a hit...though it does show a huge damage spike in the PoB calculations.

It would be nice if ggg made an icon to show when the Iron Mass buff was going or at least showed the change on the sheet dps after hitting with it.

Tbh, I haven't tried phys > cold conversion so I don't have much to compare it with atm.

I'm using it and it's working pretty good. Haven't been able to sustain t15 and t16 maps but I'm able to do them no problem when I get them. Super casual player, limited playing time.

Build is using full chaos conversion, added damage is from: the covenant chest 6l (15c) (makes casting skeles take ho, which is great because most mana is reserved), lesser poison gem, envy from amulet, and a few abyssal jewels with added Phys and chaos damage, the best ones socketed in Darkness Enthroned belt.

Attack in using is 4l bladestorm in sandstance, fort, lgoh, withered touch support.

Allows me to continually hit and apply either while casting more skeles

Get minion cluster jewels with renewal, and I got body guards and call to slaughter too.

What else... Carrion golem obviously, and holy relic for life Regen.

Anyways, it's working pretty good, not sure how meta it is and I'm sure I could play more and get better jewels and maybe find some upgrades but it turned out pretty good actually.

5.5k life and 700 es, pretty high block situationally (using daressos shield).