[3.23 Update] Physical Animate Weapon build | Annihilate Uber Bosses
 [3.23] Update The Pobs have been updated for 3.23. You can alternatively check out the chaos ranged version which I played in 3.23 which has less dmg but has much better clear speed: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3477712 Intro: Hi everyone, I want to show you my physical Animate Weapon Necromancer which is the most powerful version of Animate Weapon and the best minion bosser I've ever played. This is due to Physical AW being better than chaos/cold conversion AW in the lategame and the crucible mods introduced in 3.21. Basics: The skill animates Lingering Blades (which we create with Bladefall) to summon temporary minions with a long duration (~85s). They deal melee dmg to a single target and can be scaled significantly via minion modifiers like flat added physical damage and +levels. Class/Ascendancy: We want to play AW on the Necromancer so we can grab Commander of Darkness, Mindless Aggression, Bone Barrier and Mistress of Sacrifice for increased minion damage, -resistances, -life and -duration aswell as Offerings applying to the player. Bandits & Pantheon: You should kill all bandits for the passive points and use Soul of the Brine King for freeze immunity and reduced chill effect as well as Soul of Abberath for burning ground immunity and reduced ignite duration. Leveling: The skill gem can be accessed after the quest 'Breaking some eggs' in act 1 but is only used after acquiring unleash support at the end of act 4. Until then I recommend leveling with Absolution for a ease of play.
Leveling showcase
Build showcase and in-depth video guide
https://youtu.be/HIlG-4JWTD4 This Video features an Uber bossing showcase and the full build guide for 3 different levels of investment (2, 30, 300 divs).
Pros and cons
Pros: + semi-permanent minion due to it's long duration + amazing scaling: 200m+ SDPS for the High budget, even without Vaal Animate Weapon being active + Vaal Animate Weapon boosting the already insane dmg even higher while active + inherently aggressive minion, prioritizing enemies over following you even in the absence of a 'Minions are aggressive' modifier in your build + The large number of AWs shield the player from most melee attacks and non-piercing projectiles either directly (by body-blocking) or indirectly (by drawing aggro) Cons: - Animating all weapons takes time, especially for the high budget version unless you're using unleash - Like other temporary minions the weapons disappear on loading screens (including death) which makes re-entering dangerous invitations a challenge - Minions need alot of movement speed because they don't have an ability to close the gap - Has a single target melee attack forcing you into either Melee Splash Support or an AG with a clear enhancing mechanic (like gravebind + explody chest) for decent clear speed - Vaal Animate Weapon has a long soul gain prevention timer (40s)
Gear and Gems
Spectres and AG
You want to use Carnage and Host Chieftains for frenzy and power charges on minions and either two Demon Harpies for the debuff or an Arena Master for the buff and a single Demon Harpy (requires linking the spectres to Spell Echo instead of Minion Life). The gear of the AG heavily depends on the budget and can be found in the gear section of the respective PoBs.
PoBs
Low Budget Phys AW: https://pobb.in/Ni1Zw54X-REj Medium Budget Phys AW: https://pobb.in/Q28d2TveatyP High Budget Phys AW: https://pobb.in/yfMMdcSzAM5D 3.21 in-game Phys AW: https://pobb.in/ee5EY96xmLGY Miscellaneous: Crafting guides for most of the items and additional physical AW Necromancer content can be found in the description of the video guide. A skill guide for the campaign and atlas passive tree progression can be found in the Low Budget PoB. Enjoy! Last edited by Corak_de#4285 on Mar 24, 2024, 1:04:24 PM Last bumped on Feb 11, 2024, 8:42:02 PM
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That's a cool shocking tech on your AG. Might borrow it
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" If you don't need the gravebind/explody chest combination you can give the AG Thunderfist to amplify the shock even further. |
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" I was thinking about that too, but what if I use "Shocks you inflict spread to other Enemies within 1.3 metres" gloves to really spread it during mapping |
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" Better to just use gravebind/explody chest for that purpose, imo |
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" Right, cuz it hits with conflux when explodes. I was planning to use Garb and Beakon of Madness on myself to mitigate action speed loss. But, of course, its all raw theory crafting. Still, thanks for insparation and new ideas :D Last edited by Fire_Archer#4037 on Nov 27, 2023, 8:56:53 AM
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Worse than Chaos AW at every level of investment as of 3.23. Check out the chaos version instead:
https://youtu.be/VyT-zuYS_cU Last edited by Corak_de#4285 on Dec 2, 2023, 1:37:27 PM
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What do you think about ranged animated weapons?
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" Amazing, tbh I have been waiting for this moment for almost a year. Single target will be slighty worse than the melee versions but clear speed should be much better. Chaos ranged Animate Weapon will definitely make it into my top 5 minion league starters. |
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" I am very interested in making a build precisely for this ranged variant, - it will be my first attempt with AW - in case what would be the recommendations for the support gems? If you don't mind me asking, do you think a Scion variant using Occultist and Guardian is viable even with less DPS? |
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