3.14 KING OF ALL SUMMONERS. Zombies & Skeletons & Spectres on STEROIDS! | League-Start to End-Game
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Seraphgrim wrote:
Alright, I'm hoping someone can help me out here and give me some help here, because I'm getting really frustrated with being a total glass cannon and I'm about ready to give up on this build.
I originally started out with zombie focus and was pretty happy with the DPS, though I was still somewhat fragile, especially in Delirium. This has only gotten worse as I continue to push endgame content, working on trying to finish off the Atlas (currently at Awakening 7). I had already invested in the nice zombie crafted mallet and a Saqawal's nest, so I decided to try switching to the Ranged Spectres setup because it used those same items. I invested the rest of my accumulated wealth (such as it was) into getting me some gems, including a 160 Minion Damage/37 Chaos Resist Elegant Hubris. I'm happy with the DPS of the Ranged Spectre build, but I continue to be extremely fragile, very commonly getting one shot by a variety of sources both powerful and mundane, such that I can't even kill Sirus. I'm really frustrated and I'm about ready to be done with this, so I'm really hoping someone can help me out.
I've followed the skill tree exactly, here are the areas where I'm deviating from the ranged spectres guide, mostly as a result of budget:
No Awakened Gems (budget)
No Emperor's Mastery (budget)
Only one level 4 Enlighten, the other is level 3 (budget)
No Aul's Uprising (budget + Astramentis is keeping me above 1k strength)
I put the auras in boots instead of gloves to take advantage of +2 to socketed aura corrupted boots, but the restriction on recoloring my boots meant i had to juggle Haste and Flesh Offering in the aura setups
If anyone could help me out with why I'm so squishy, I would be very appreciative.
Here's my gear and my PasteBin:
https://pastebin.com/tFQ0eqfm
I definitely feel your pain, I've died soo many times it's very frustrating especially when you lose your AG! Over 400 deaths so far this league!!!
Spectres really need to be aura buffing Zombies, doing range spctres and melee Zombies is splitting your resources too much. The amount of damage that Zombies get from being buffed is quite considerable.
Carnage/Host Chieftains with Merveils Retainer and/or Arena Master(Drox maps) really do boost your Zombie DPS.
Looking at your POB if I change your spectres from range to aura's and add Awaken Minion Damage/Spirit Offering and then configure pob correctly your Zombies go from 460K to 1.45M dps.
If you invested into Cluster jewels you can add far more dps to them and add more life/str to your build at the same time.
There are lots of resources to check such as going thru the pages in this thread or comparing builds using Poe.Ninja
Hey Xerosia, this sounds great! do you have a PoB with gem links?
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Xerosia wrote:
I ran this build this league and was able to pretty much run through t16 maps and destroy bosses, I insta phased a8 awakener with my zombies and spectres alone without flasks, and was even able to do blighted maps while making dinner.
Now I am ready to move on to something else and well, I have to say goodbye to my minion companions
Almost all of my gems were 21/23 or 21/20 as I had invested over 40 Exalted orbs into this build, I even splurged on an awakened melee physical (couldn't afford the multistrike)
I couldn'f figure out how to link my cluster jewel or my elegant hubris but the cluster is 50% crit for minions, 20% impale, 10% speed and life, 40% dmg
and the hubris is 150% cold res, 50% lightning res, 50% fire res, 160% minion life and 80% minions dmg.
gear
If you are interested in this build please send me a pm either on the forums or in game, IGN : Aureated
I am willing to hear out any deal.
Last edited by sksbo#7276 on May 3, 2020, 6:32:52 AM
Alright, I'm hoping someone can help me out here and give me some help here, because I'm getting really frustrated with being a total glass cannon and I'm about ready to give up on this build.
I originally started out with zombie focus and was pretty happy with the DPS, though I was still somewhat fragile, especially in Delirium. This has only gotten worse as I continue to push endgame content, working on trying to finish off the Atlas (currently at Awakening 7). I had already invested in the nice zombie crafted mallet and a Saqawal's nest, so I decided to try switching to the Ranged Spectres setup because it used those same items. I invested the rest of my accumulated wealth (such as it was) into getting me some gems, including a 160 Minion Damage/37 Chaos Resist Elegant Hubris. I'm happy with the DPS of the Ranged Spectre build, but I continue to be extremely fragile, very commonly getting one shot by a variety of sources both powerful and mundane, such that I can't even kill Sirus. I'm really frustrated and I'm about ready to be done with this, so I'm really hoping someone can help me out.
I've followed the skill tree exactly, here are the areas where I'm deviating from the ranged spectres guide, mostly as a result of budget:
No Awakened Gems (budget)
No Emperor's Mastery (budget)
Only one level 4 Enlighten, the other is level 3 (budget)
No Aul's Uprising (budget + Astramentis is keeping me above 1k strength)
I put the auras in boots instead of gloves to take advantage of +2 to socketed aura corrupted boots, but the restriction on recoloring my boots meant i had to juggle Haste and Flesh Offering in the aura setups
If anyone could help me out with why I'm so squishy, I would be very appreciative.
Here's my gear and my PasteBin:
https://pastebin.com/tFQ0eqfm
I'm having the same problems with my DPS build (budget). The core issues are the small health pool (6000 HP+ES) and almost no physical damage reduction. Plus, you have to draw minions into waves using yourself as bait (Phase Run + Molten Shell). I found running multiple armor flasks helpful, yet I'm still vulnerable to map mods where monsters deal bonus physical damage as *element*. Especially when bosses are given bonus damage it's just not possible to tank their hits with a meager health pool. Fortunately, I deal enough DPS to finish most maps even if it costs me a bunch of portals. Syndicate assassins seem to one shot me often too.
I found Spirit Offering and Bone Offering helpful with hazardous map mods. I am currently trying to incorporate fortify support since I will not be using AG or Kingmaker. Specters with proximity shield are great at defending against ranged attacks (Meat Shield Support?). I recommend running at least two to have the proximity shield up most the time. Using a ranged spell will aggro your minions without putting yourself in harms way. Endurance charges are helpful too, but I don't know of any way to generate them.
The DPS build was likely optimized to be min-maxed, with players not carrying enough damage having to make sacrifices for defense.
I'm having the same problems with my DPS build (budget). The core issues are the small health pool (6000 HP+ES) and almost no physical damage reduction. Plus, you have to draw minions into waves using yourself as bait (Phase Run + Molten Shell). I found running multiple armor flasks helpful, yet I'm still vulnerable to map mods where monsters deal bonus physical damage as *element*. Especially when bosses are given bonus damage it's just not possible to tank their hits with a meager health pool. Fortunately, I deal enough DPS to finish most maps even if it costs me a bunch of portals. Syndicate assassins seem to one shot me often too.
I found Spirit Offering and Bone Offering helpful with hazardous map mods. I am currently trying to incorporate fortify support since I will not be using AG or Kingmaker. Specters with proximity shield are great at defending against ranged attacks (Meat Shield Support?). I recommend running at least two to have the proximity shield up most the time. Using a ranged spell will aggro your minions without putting yourself in harms way. Endurance charges are helpful too, but I don't know of any way to generate them.
The DPS build was likely optimized to be min-maxed, with players not carrying enough damage having to make sacrifices for defense.
I'd definitely have to agree that you have to min-max this to the extreme so that you aren't squishy and getting killed. I'm min-maxed this to the point I have 5.1k life, 6.5k ES, 37% phys dmg reduction, along with 804k dps per zombie and this is the point where I feel comfortable and safe running this on everything, including A8 Sirus.
I've been trying to fit in clusters but can't seem to make the math work. No matter which way I look at it, they end up being a waste of points for me. If you don't mind looking at my character and sharing your thoughts, I'd appreciate it.
Solo with auras on, I'm at:
6600hp/5900es/5800armor
resistances: 77,76,76, chaos -2
ES restart mod: +60%
47% physical dmg reduction
Minions are unkillable
Thanks
Should I consider no response = that I should maintain my current approach?
If your minions are unkillable and you are surviving OK then keep doing what you are doing.
can i ask how can you have "flesh and stone/skitterbot/purity of elemental/Dread banner/Aspect of the Avian" all together ? thx
and what is skitterbot for ? thx
Guys if you want to be tanky play tanky build :)
I play hybrid between tanky and clusters version and barely die.
5.7k Life and 3.2k ES + 45% phisical damage reduction from armour.
Only -37% chaos res.
Recently I was able to defeat Sirius A8 deathless or Uber Elder deathless in approx. 2 min. 2 Full simulacrum runs also deathless.
I use Bone Armour on left click so whenever is ready I get extra 2200 extra life pool (saved me quite few times) on top of that I gave Garb Of Ephemeral to my AG to prevent monsters to crit on me (not sure if works all the time as it is only nearby monsters).
And as many said before when in delirium do not stop and try to move all the time.
Good luck and have fun.
Last edited by Iceman079#0590 on May 3, 2020, 10:30:50 AM
I definitely feel your pain, I've died soo many times it's very frustrating especially when you lose your AG! Over 400 deaths so far this league!!!
Spectres really need to be aura buffing Zombies, doing range spctres and melee Zombies is splitting your resources too much. The amount of damage that Zombies get from being buffed is quite considerable.
Carnage/Host Chieftains with Merveils Retainer and/or Arena Master(Drox maps) really do boost your Zombie DPS.
Looking at your POB if I change your spectres from range to aura's and add Awaken Minion Damage/Spirit Offering and then configure pob correctly your Zombies go from 460K to 1.45M dps.
If you invested into Cluster jewels you can add far more dps to them and add more life/str to your build at the same time.
There are lots of resources to check such as going thru the pages in this thread or comparing builds using Poe.Ninja
Thanks for the response, Rohk!
I was running with Carnage/Host Chieftains in the first place to go with the zombies, until I redid my build into the ranged spectre variant in the OP. I guess I could try going back into that and just focus on zombie dmg. I just find it frustrating because I don't know what I'm doing different than the spectre variant in the OP, which he is apparently rolling with quite successfully (more so than me, for sure) and I'd like to know what the difference is. While I'm sure the budget elements (no awakened gems) lower my DPS relative to the OP, I sure don't feel like that justifies the difference I'm seeing. What am I missing here?
I did consider going into the cluster jewel variant rather than the ranged spectre variant, but I already had the mace + Saqawal's Nest (which the ranged variant uses, the cluster does not) and I invested what exalts I had left into the ranged spectre build (Empower 4, an Enlighten 4).
I've also considered just saying "forget it" and going with another build, which you suggest, but honestly, I'm not sure how to tell what's better. This build looked pretty awesome - just look how successful the OP is with it - but it does not seem to work out the same for me. I can go look at "greatest build ever!!11!!!1" videos, but this kinda leaves a sour taste in my mouth that I don't actually know if I'm going to have better or worse success with that build vs this one.
I'm having the same problems with my DPS build (budget). The core issues are the small health pool (6000 HP+ES) and almost no physical damage reduction. Plus, you have to draw minions into waves using yourself as bait (Phase Run + Molten Shell). I found running multiple armor flasks helpful, yet I'm still vulnerable to map mods where monsters deal bonus physical damage as *element*. Especially when bosses are given bonus damage it's just not possible to tank their hits with a meager health pool. Fortunately, I deal enough DPS to finish most maps even if it costs me a bunch of portals. Syndicate assassins seem to one shot me often too.
I found Spirit Offering and Bone Offering helpful with hazardous map mods. I am currently trying to incorporate fortify support since I will not be using AG or Kingmaker. Specters with proximity shield are great at defending against ranged attacks (Meat Shield Support?). I recommend running at least two to have the proximity shield up most the time. Using a ranged spell will aggro your minions without putting yourself in harms way. Endurance charges are helpful too, but I don't know of any way to generate them.
The DPS build was likely optimized to be min-maxed, with players not carrying enough damage having to make sacrifices for defense.
Thank you for the response, Trilecon! This is exactly what I'm dealing with too. My DPS is sufficient to kill most things, but I die *a lot*, especially on maps with any amount of +dmg, to Syndicate assassins, to delirium, to some map bosses/conqs, and surprise deaths even in Delve.
How would you incorporate Spirit & Bone Offering? I'm still fairly new back to the game (played a bit in beta/early release, and just came back for Metamorph) and I don't really feel comfortable trying to put it all together on my own.
Also if you are satisfied with damage but feel squishy i could recommend checking Diabolist spectre with Enfeeble. This one helped me a lot.
Thanks for the response, Kasper! I was considering this when I was similarly squishy when I was concentrated on the original build with Zombies. I didn't have a level 21 Spectre gem (had initially missed the requirement for that) and was running with Host/Carnage Chieftains, doing sizeable DPS but dying a lot. I went into the ranged Spectre build instead, but if I go back to focusing on melee/zombies rather than double dipping ranged Spectres/melee Zombies, I'll definitely have to try that, because the frequency with which I'm dying is really not fun, especially when I would like to be able to try some maximum Delirium/Simulacrum but I feel like I won't be able to stay alive enough to be successful.
I would just really like to know what I'm missing though compared to the OP, because I feel like the cuts I've made into the build due to budget are only really hurting my DPS and shouldn't hurt my survivability so much. Is the success of the OP's builds just misrepresented, or am I missing something? Very frustrating.
