[3.22] Aukuna's Will + Detonate Dead + Arcanist Brand Zombie. Build concept

Disclaimer: This is NOT A COMPLETE GUIDE, but rather a build concept that doesn't work too well for in a currect state. It is playable, but not the most comfortable or competitive build by far.

Intro:
Ever since Legion league I was obsessed with idea to make Aukuna's Will gloves to work.

I went through multiple tries and iterations. Originally it was an Ignite version with Mon'tregul's Grasp, but it was weak because of lack of built-in proliferation as there were not cluster jewels at the time, quite low defenses as you had to sacrifice a lot in order to get relevant damage numbers.

But this league, however, we got a tool to scale it with much lesser cost - tattoos, Tattoo of the Hinekora Warmonger specifically:


1. How does it work?
Spoiler
The build revolves around a singular unique item - Aukuna's Will Clasped Mitts

It allows us to Raise Zombies out of thin air and they are considered to be Corpses for skill purposes.


2. Skill choice
Spoiler

I picked Detonate Dead, because it has the greatest Corpse Life scaling(on par with Bodyswap) but with much greater cast speed and possible use of Spell Echo.

Phantasmal Cremation sounds amazing, but we do not create too many corpses fast enough to make it viable. Maybe with a secondary Unearth setup it might be better, but then it will be a 3 button build you have to press relatively often. And even then you'd just play a proper Cremation build instead.

Volatile Dead can consume up to 4 corpses at the time, which makes it a better burst skill, but provides way weaker continuous DPS.

Bodyswap is definitely an interesting choice, because if you go a big lifepool scaling it can and will provide greater damage numbers.


3. Damage scaling
Spoiler
Now we have to scale Corpse life. But, remember, our Zombies are a Corpse we can detonate, so we can scale Minion life as well. And there some uniques come in to play: Mon'tregul's Grasp Void Sceptre and The Formless Inferno Royal Burgonet

The former allows us to scale Zombie Life through the roof and well as to get quite good defenses, the former requires too much aura scaling and niche crafting to be on par it becomes irrelevant. All in all Mon'tregul's is great to scale Ignites as we can reach ~300.000 Zombie life with crazy investment. But for on-hit version it brings more issues: the build gets link starved and has to cover other aspects to be at least viable for t16 maps.

The best way to scale Minion life is the gem level. With +3 level from Replica Dragonfang's Flight, +2 to all minion gems helmet, +2 Empower support and +2 crafted chest(double elevated or fossil crafted) we can easily reach level 28-31 Raise Zombie. Then we allocate Minion Life nodes on Passive Skill Tree and transform small Intelligence passives into 6% increased Minion life. In my current setup I have level 30 Raise Zombie with 136377 life.


But how do we do damage? I decided to try Crit scaling with Inquisitor this league. I'll tell you in advance, non-crit approach might be better as you don't have to invest too much into it.
Remember, we cannot scale Spell Crit because Corpse explosion is a secondary damage type, so we have to scale base crit with Increased Critical Strikes Support, Assassin's Mark and global crit modifiers such as Righteous Providence, Profane ground, Power Charges, Inpiration Support, etc.
For damage modifiers we can use Global, Fire, Elemental and Minion damage(if we allocate Spiritual Aid notable, which we do).


4. How is it played?
Spoiler
The ignite version is straight forward: you raise a zombie, detonate it, proceed to the next pack. But how do we do on-hit shenanigans with it? There comes our Lord and Saviour - Arcanist Brand.

While it cannot modify skills of minions, it still can be used to summon minions at very decent rate. And the damage penalty is irrelevant as we do not scale Zombie damage whatsoever. You put a brand on an enemy, it will raise zombies next to it, allowing us to stand still and detonate them. It works quite nice for bosses, during mapping it is very clunky because skill prioritise monster corpses over zombies and the delay for brands to attach and start casting is significant, so Desecrate or Unearth are required to clear maps relatively comfortably.


5. Gear
Spoiler
For the weapon choice I picked a bow for these reasons:
1. We get another 6-link setup.
2. It is easy to deterministically craft.
3. We get to use a quiver for extra bonuses.
Everything else is purely to fill the gaps or to scale damage.
Rational Doctrine is complete overkill and does very little for the build. It is literally just 100% increased critical strike chance for 20 divines. Any rare jewel is better than it.
My Current setup:
Spoiler



6. Skills, Gems, Links
Spoiler

Bow:
Detonate Dead - (Awakened) Elemental Focus - Increased Critical Strikes - Increased Critical Damage - (Awakened) Spell Echo - (Divergent) Inspiration

Quiver:
Anomalous Frenzy
Molten Shell
Ensnaring Arrow
Alternative quiver links:
Anomalous Frenzy - Cast on Critical Strike - Desecrate

Body Armour:
Arcanist Brand - Raise Zombie - (Divergent) Inspiration - Empower - Minion Life - Faster Casting

Helmet:
Enlighten - Summon Skitterbots - Haste(Grace) - Determination

Gloves:
Frostblink or Blink Arrow
Frost Shield
Desecrate - Faster Casting

Boots:
Assasin's Mark - Mark on Hit
Precision
Clarity


7. Skill Tree, Path of Building
Spoiler
You have to have Community Fork of PoB export:
https://pobb.in/3pPyeGz76Pma



8. Video Showcase
3.22 T16 Hydra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4N6rwRkfbg

Outro:
Just a nice concept of a build some people might get interested in and evolve it into something better.

Thank you for your time and stay sane, exiles!
Last edited by h34dstr0ng#0792 on May 16, 2024, 8:14:39 AM
Last bumped on Aug 17, 2024, 8:02:45 AM
Hi, if Zombies count as corpsed will they get destroyed by monster DD and then kill you because they have such a big life pool? That's my only concern that I die to DD.

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