Intro:
Hi, lasgo here. I have decided to sum mine build on paper because i feel like to share some info and also havent seen any other build derivation like this.
i main summoner only and tried lot of respecs ( zombies only, zombies + spectres, pure SRS)
what i am using now is spectres with heavy curse focus.
this is mine first "guide".
also i belive following might not actually be very begginer friendly - still working on that.
Pros:
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+Versatile
+High clearspeed
+Kinda tanky
+Party support (5 curses, 4 auras)
+sometimes 1-2 shoting map bosses (78 aca boss with 73lev spectre)
Cons:
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-Cooldown of convocation
-Curse Immune is problem (your damage and defence are curses) or anything unaffected by curses
-Ground effects (unnoticed bearers, ) can be problem
-Blood magic map mod is annoying but doable
-Spectre movement speed is capped - kinda feel it can be higher
-Physical degen you are evasion based can be issue
-Physical spells and worstly with physical enchantment (bleed poison on hit)
-additional projectiles with skill chaining mods on maps is your nemesis
-Vickas Giantbone in high level maps!
News in ascendancy:
we got buffed critical damage and buff duration a lot! also spectre +100% dmg is raw +30% more dmg.
Videos and demos:
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-dont have much videos yet. will definitely make some
Pre ascendancy:
my first thoughts as proof of concept, using outdated build/gem composition there:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1W4KgwvUTk
necropolis double boss as well outdated gem composition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHs6SSrTtE0
Ascendancy:
Academy boss during mine stream was kinda surprised how fast he went down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ2d3Z_cluE
mine first day attempts of atziri map:
vaal double boss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvueaamZvl4
trio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygViqZaIq1g
successful atziri run, after figuring out what exactly to do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PIGvN9dceA
Ideal DPS vs bosses:
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i did quick sheet putting in kinda ideal values what i remember
assuming they crit and already shock
curse effects are at base values (bosses have 60% reduced curse effect wich we break)
this is for information purposes to see what scales with what and how
5 curses with max curse effect
power charges on spectres have much higher effect than on players (+200 % chance per charge? )
curses are alfa and omega of this build, it boosts defenses and damage to the skies!
Note: imho its now much more efficient to invest into curses than into auras.
double dip on ignite from critical damage you (need to land initial critical for +-40% on boss and he will die of ignite/shock)
Why flame sentinels?
i spent lot of theory crafting on how to min max flame sentinels, to combine as much curses as possible and to avoid those revenant builds.
they have high reaction speed don't move around much, stand and fire, lmp/fork native/ fire damage, 120% base dmg, 180% base health (energy shield same values)
why there are no zombies?
it is waste of gemslot, your meatshield is actually you. also they tend to distrupt firing sequence for your spectres forcing them to move around. decreasing clearspeed overall.
why not stygian revenants anymore?
i hate their reverasal pointblank (if you convo them near boss the either autoattack or do almost 30% less damage) and they AI overall - shoot barrage and run around wasting time, or even trying to melee attack
during boss fight. also you can still boost sentinels damage further than with physical/lightning/cold damage. fire+lightning damage also leaves corpses for further usage.
why there is no penetration gem:
we negate enemy resists already by almost -200%, penetration is not so effective
why there is no haste aura:
almost perma vaal haste and flesh offering on. haste is not so effective.
why no spell echo:
usually no need to cast twice and waste time.
why no chain gem:
projectile weakness forces projectiles to pierce a lot so they cant chain much.
why or from where i am getting power charges in my videos:
its caused by assassin mark. fact is if enemy dies in cause of degeneration (in our case of ignite) - even caused by minion. kill will be attributed to player not the minion with all associated on kill benefits - in our case power charges. - this might open some new interesting builds
Controlling spectres and playstyle overall:
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if you ever played realtime strategies (former zerg player :) )
spectres/zombies/guardian tend to move where you leftclick and attack/move where you rightclick or cast spell (on cursor position)
convocation resets their position and focus/target to nearest enemy to your cursor
as well as running away from them around 1 screen - this will "convocate" them to your current position
so overall playstyle is moving very fast between and in mob groups and "convocate" them either way to shoot in direction you want for this reason i chosed more tanky build (well - evasion) to be able to "dive" enemy front line and navigate their barrage of fireballs ) and debuff enemies with curses / EE proc etc in progress
Current Gear:
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Spectres of choice :
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-- usually fireball projectiles pure casters (please no auto-attacks) with decent AI and possible critical chance
Incinerators (found in : Promenade, Colonade, Temple, Necropolis, Crematorium, Bazaar, Elreon missions)
--have higher dmg than sentinels and are much more aggressive in casting ( their huge disadvantage is "warm up" they always throw trap first before starting fireball casting, which is in our build waste of time)
fire Goatmen version (goatmen roll on map, jungle valley)
- i don't use those much just alternative for above
--no lmp/fork alternative of sentinels
Curses of choice:
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-we have something like +68% curse effect, this scales exponentialy with your overall stats
Blasphemed AKA permanent curse:
Assassin mark:
MORE crit dmg, base crit chance, powercharges! (excelent in clearing trash)
Enfeeble:
less chance to be hit, less overall damage from enemies.
this! this and grace will make you nearly invincible breezing through hordes of mobs. grace gives you already like 45% chance to evade
with enfeeble its nearly 80%!
less damage taken from secondary effect is bonus :)
Projectile weakness:
more damage for your spectre hits and double more damage for ignite after crit(double dip).
Curse on hit AKA you are tougher than i thought:
Flammability + elemental Weakness + Elemental equilibrium + Freezing Pulse
-this is your "right click"
when you hit with your AOE cold spell and this setup enemies in front of you will have aprox -200% fire resist and -120% lightning resist.
well this almost triples your spectre damage .. so why not
Gems:
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Helm:
i use common +1 gems helm Vertex
Blasphemy + Assasin mark + Proj Weaknes + enfeelbe
this curses i have always on. it provides power charge generation and excelent defences enfeeble + knock back
also good wave clear thanks to pierce.
Gloves:
high ES rare gloves
more offensive curses and mine main rightclick
Freezing Pulse + Curse on Hit + Flammability + Elemental Weaknes
Shield:
Prism Guardian
Grace Wrath Discipline
-trying to get corrupted prism with native grace on so i can put one more aura in my setup
Body:
6L Shav's
Pro: its actualy pretty easy to roll (just one green and 5 blue)
Spectre - obviously this is a spectre build. so
Critical Damage - this gives your spectres probably something like 2.5x-2.7x multiplier on crit
- i am still not sure if power charges gives multiplier on spectres as well as crit chance
Inc Critical strikes - now higher base crit chance. does wonders and some increased crit chance
- i actualy swapped to this gem from echo - if you oneshot smtn u dont need second cast and can focus on other things
- also the echo mechanics : both casts crits or none of them was not suitable
Added Lightning Damage- this gem slot. gave me nightmares i did some calculations and figured out that on level 20 and Wrath on
- it is like 30-40% more damage for 68l sentinels
- also the possible shock further increases damage and is more increased with ele weakness and EE proc
- downside is it has low minimal damage. well RNGesus .
Minion damage - its more damage!
comparsion to cocentrated effect: 49% more vs 69% more
ignite double dips from both
but with mine setup you pierce enemies a lot so conc effect is only 50% usefull?
also if you manage to pin enemies on wall with your projectile knock back they get dmg from projectile
and after from fireball explosion on wall ( yes fireballs can shotgun still )
GMP/Slower Projectiles/Pierce
- this is mine utility / focus green slot
- for fast xp and clearing hordes use gmp
- for single target focus boss fight use slower projectiles or in ascendancy pierce gem (more projectile damage)
Boots:
Increased duration - Vaal Disci - Flesh/bone offering - Vaal Haste
with ascendancy you can actualy have vaal haste / flesh offering nonstop so no need to futher increasing movement cast speed for you or
your spectres
Vaal Disci - this skill is a MUST and life saver for you or your party members its 9 seconds of almost immortality when your energy shield regens like 3000 per sec
- saved me and few pty members countless times.
- be carefull when to pop this it tends and can be interupted and your vaal soul will be lost
- for example when u get into rapid stunlock (merveil geiser, piety stormcall, crematory fire rain) wich is common for low hp low life ES builds
Wand:
Convocation-Animate Guardian-Vitality/Golem/End Cry/Rejuv Totem ( this gemslot is kinda free still figuring out what to put there)
Animate Guardian:
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your perma companion
core: leer cast, dying breath AG
rest of items defensive %res / % hp preferable:
this is ok :
chest: belly of beast(+%hp)/ambu charge(regen res)/death oath (%res, stylish!)
gloves: southbound are ok (%hp)
Boots: rainbowstrides are ok(block / res)
didnt find another use for this guy yet except +% dmg and +%curse effect
but as i lurk into charges on summons more there might be some viable and fun crit AG build
Ascendancy Enchantments:
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-i havent found very good enchantements for this variation of summoner yet. so havent invest in this yet.
-what i would go for or look for would be:
Gloves:
xxx of Reflection - extra minion
xxx of Light - hp regen
Boots:
1.dodge spell damage on spell hit
2.life regen on hit
3.movement speed
Helm:
increased spectre damage - (like 10% more damage)
increased projectile weakness curse effect - (like 10% more damage)
increased assassin mark curse effect
increased enfeeble curse effect - this can be huge against bosses depends when the 75% enfeeble cap hits - need to test or get info on this
Jewels:
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jewels are core for this build.
if you ask me if i spend 3 skill points on +6%ES nodes or to get another jewel ill definitely get jewel slot
jewels offers lot of things to play with
but what we are seeking for is this:
keep in mind that jewels can have maximum of 4 stats (2 prefixes, 2 suffixes) and 4 stat perfect jewel can cost about 4-8 exalt
prefixes:
+%energy shield
+%minion damage
- you can also get +%energy shield recharge rate (usefull only on vaal disci)
suffixes:
+%minion resist - get us much of those jewels as possible to cap your minion res at 75%
- i am currently sitting on about 50% total spectre resist and if they are hit by some curse you will notice it.
+%elemental resist
+str/int/dex
play with those two abowe as you want to fit your need and gear requirements
i always keep like 40% resist overcap to keep my capped resist when cursed
Defense mechanics:
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-Grace and Enfeeble:
As i mentioned above i utilize Enfeeble and Grace as mine main defense mechanism
this gives enemies very low chance to actually hit me
-Overcapped resist
you will get hit by elemental curses a lot sometimes even by 2, so overcapping is required
got hit by charging group curse immune with +100% lightning and fire damage and have 40% elemental resists after elmental weakness is not for everyone
Regeneration and Zealot Oath
just for the comfort of not dieing of degeneration effects
i used to invest into regeneration a lot but with enfeeble grace mine ES actualy is able to recharge during fights
i will probably drop even zealot oath soon and rely on The Sorrow of the Divine and Vaal disciple
Vaal Discipline
with this turned on you can tank probably anything and 9 sec is enough time for your spectres to clean all stuff around
helps when u get hit by heavy poison/bleed and are out of flask charges or have no time to get out of bearer field
Flasks:
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this is passive ES summoner cant utilise flasks much
so what we use is 2x instant hp recovery for minions (to heal occasionally)
and 3 utility flasks
mostly i just run around and debuff so 2 quicksilvers and quartz are good option
one bleed immunity and one with freeze immunity are must to not get stuck in position
Quartz flask helps to get into position for your convocation or to get out of trouble
vs troublesome bosses just equip utility flasks according to their damage to increase max res
Uniques and corruption
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Prism Guardian
-to put your 3 auras here
Shavronnes Wrappings
-this is low life ES build so shavs is must
2x doedre damning
-5 curses build
Midnight Bargain
-one more spectre
Bones of Ullr
-one more spectre
what to focus on in rest of your gear
ammy: corrupted +1 curse
basicaly what u need is
-As much ES as possible
-str/dex stats to get near 160 both
-capped/prefferably overcapped ele resist in merci 110% should be ok
-life. yes life there is a fine line when u will be getting stun-locked sometimes by map bosses
i solved this issue by getting life on my gear as extra stat. i went from 1200 hp to 1600 hp and there was huge difference
(also "free" belt stat stun recovery helps)
tip during leveling/progress:
just get your enfeeble/grace/purity of elements on and your def for rest of game is basicaly solved
Progression and leveling:
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- this was not intended as leveling guide but ppl asked how would i level this up
Currently i am leveling support templar
so i will highlight some milestones (from witch starting point)
-as JohnnyManziel noticed spectres are unusable at lower tiers
i started as regular srs build (grab mana nodes - cast speed around the path as u need u can always unallocate them) with focus on curses - i used ele weaknes and physical to lightning for srs for this purpose
-tabula rasa and prism is managable (on softcore)
Intro:
because of mine reckless game-play - i needed to adjust mine build and gear accordingly to solve happy accidents like this:
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especially on mine journey to hit 100
so mine goal was to get instant defenses uninterrupted from stunlock and to survive ground blasts
namely - get huge boost in regen, bit more ES, add instant high block
con is i had to drop 1 spectre, suprisingly dps seems not to drop much ( need to check on atziri runs soon), its number of power charges active on your spectres that counts :D
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Current Def with Vaal Disci + rumi
Current Tree:
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similar to trees above - just picked more regen nodes
and flask effect nodes (just for rumi block armour effect, i considered that more efficient than picking block nodes)
-changed boots and ammu for spell block
-added rummi flask to mine setup
-there is always option to go for Aegis Aurora but it allows us to run only 1 aura on HP instead of 3 with prism
Ascendancy Tree:
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-go for offering nodes first!
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How i solved atziri
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i would concept this as list of problems i ran into with current build and how to solve them
double vaal:
its about dps
still does not know what he actually does :D
got once oneshoted out of nowhere (after the teleport phase) now i pop vaal disci if he teleports
first vaal should drop instantly when u focus him (pop vaal haste flesh offering when he spawns) convo near second vaal
sometimes he dies before teleports sometimes he dos not
if he teleports i usualy pop vaal disci on his spawn
trio:
about dps as well
died once when i underestimated dps (did not pop vaal disci) and ranged boss went out of range of mine enfeeble
- start fight at upper right corner pop flesh offering and vaal haste
- first boss should be instagib
run near ranged boss to keep her in enfeeble pop vaal disci for extra safety
she should die second
last boss is easy he is autoattacking and cant hit u if he does vaal disci will heal
atziri:
curse reflect
died few times thanks to having almost negative fire - lightning resist (from flamma and ele weaknes i use on hit)
i swapped ele weakness with enfeeble ( to have enfeeble on hit)
self flammability is doable (with fire resist pot or cure removing pot)
sentinels getting down in flameblast/storm calls:
well they had only 28 fire/light res from jewels
swapped grace for purity of elements ( purity of fire + purity of lightning seemed to me like not neccessary actually) - ended up with 70% fire/light
reflect in split phase:
even if u convo at non reflecting atziri the reflecting one got hit as well thanks to piercing and natural fork
when you boost your spectre resist with purity reflect is not that high but is there still
i cover this with bone offering and one vaal disci per phase
with those two above you can even focus reflecting one
i bring 4 vaal disci gems and charge them during run ( bit of swapping wich is inconvient)
note for burst:
tried this few times atziri end up running around with 1 hp or smtn like that, splitted anyways and healed afterwards so no point in here
i belive 5 vaal disci gems are chargable during the run so you can practicaly cover complete fight
3 for split phases 2 when smtng go rly bad
this will trivialise the fight
i belive same technique will be valid for uber run - dps wont be problem (68 lab sentinels vs 70 atziri, 79 lvl ruin sentinels vs 80 atziri they scale equaly)
note for dps:
i used instead of inc crit chance power charge on critical for atziri. once sentinels got charges (they will remain for rest of the fight) they will force atziri to swap phases almost instantly
no need for flesh offering or vaal haste
Whats Next?
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-uber atziri
-found new interesting mechanic for templar guardian :D (currently building max mana guardian for lolz)
so afk tank bosses - Gellig style
UPDATES:
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16 / 03 / 10
-So i did atziri today. as mine first attempts ever i learned lot of things (i did not mine howmework enough). there needs to be done few adjustements to this build. dps is good even with l68 spectres. problem is curse reflect, very low (28% atm)fire/lightning spectre res and damage reflect in split phase. will update build when i solve those problems.
-dual vaal boss and trio videos added
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16 / 03 / 14
-added some more atziri info from point of mine view
-added rough dps sheet calculation (everyone loves dps numbers)
-added playstyle
-added some suggestion about skill tree progress
-how to level/progression - still have some work to do
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16 / 03 / 17
-added some thoughts on ascendancy enchantments
-bit of cleaning
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16 / 04 / 01
-updates for mine current build (V2 Section)
-going more def ( +10% regen, +72% spellbock, +7k armor) , less dps -1 spectre
-few adjustmnets to gear, skilltree,
Credits:
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all the stuff above is already ideas of some1 else
i just combined informations on reddit / wiki / forums / poedb / patch notes
and did some math to min max it with as many curses as possible
ppl from who i learned stuff namely:
Gellig Moztezah (how to beat the game mechanics)
Yalani (i love regen since then)
Spectral God (spectre mechanics)
Thx 4 reading!
And i am open for suggestions or any new ideas.
hello!
it depends on curses / auras you can afford to run and how your chaos resist go.
as priorities and progress i would probably go for blasphemy enfeeble grace purity of elements as starting point (i prefer safety)
spectres should have always at least 1 green socket (GMP / pierce gems) otherwise their clear speed is bad
so 4l will be:
spectre - gmp - minion damage - echo
curse flammability / ele weakness on EE proc (2/3 curse setup)
when u can afford to run assasin mark on blasphemy, drop echo for critical damage (4l), add inc crit chance (5l)
when u can afford to run wrath, add lighting damage
doedre damning is pretty cheap so you should be able to have 3-4 curses no problem
hello!
it depends on curses / auras you can afford to run and how your chaos resist go.
as priorities and progress i would probably go for blasphemy enfeeble grace purity of elements as starting point (i prefer safety)
spectres should have always at least 1 green socket (GMP / pierce gems) otherwise their clear speed is bad
so 4l will be:
spectre - gmp - minion damage - echo
curse flammability / ele weakness on EE proc (2/3 curse setup)
when u can afford to run assasin mark on blasphemy, drop echo for critical damage (4l), add inc crit chance (5l)
when u can afford to run wrath, add lighting damage
doedre damning is pretty cheap so you should be able to have 3-4 curses no problem
Thanks for the response!
I've swapped out wrath for purity of elements for more defense.
I have 4 curses. Assassin's Mark, enfeeble, Proj weakness, and Elemental weakness. ( had to drop flam for elemental weakness due to the str requirement).
Would you recommend Flam over elemental weakness by a long shot? (enough for me to boost my str?) or drop Proj weakness and keep flam and elemental weakness?
Ah so, it looks like you've left out added lightning damage for the last priority for the 6L for the flame sentinels. Is it worth keeping the 6L Tabula Rasa, or should I go high ES 5L as soon as possible? Or skip 5L? eg. 6L TR -> 6L high ES (500 or above? or what ES is worth switching to 5L to?)
I've swapped out wrath for purity of elements for more defense.
I have 4 curses. Assassin's Mark, enfeeble, Proj weakness, and Elemental weakness. ( had to drop flam for elemental weakness due to the str requirement).
Would you recommend Flam over elemental weakness by a long shot? (enough for me to boost my str?) or drop Proj weakness and keep flam and elemental weakness?
Ah so, it looks like you've left out added lightning damage for the last priority for the 6L for the flame sentinels. Is it worth keeping the 6L Tabula Rasa, or should I go high ES 5L as soon as possible? Or skip 5L? eg. 6L TR -> 6L high ES (500 or above? or what ES is worth switching to 5L to?)
Thanks!
flamm or ele weaknes - they have pretty same effect plus if you use lightning dmg ele weakness is better
projectile weaknes should be better in all cost especialy if you proc elemental equilibrium with cold damage
question about body armour:
well i put shavronne / solaris on all mine characters so i kinda forgot how is it feel to run with life, you probably wont be able to roll 6 offcolors on solaris.
this build is lowlife shavs dependant
its up to you how well you can manage chaos damage i would probably go for +50 chaos resist and some life drop midnight bargain and run with huge life reserves
Regarding the Power Charges: As far as I know, Charges have double the effect on Minions and Enemies. So your Sentinels should receive 100% crit chance per charge.
