[3.5] Ghoulish Overkill! Zombie+Skeleton Baron build

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Dande203 wrote:

Hi, great Guide, playing this in Betrayal now and have a lot of fun with this build.

But one question, in your last PoB-Link you have checked the Option "Enemy is shocked" under calculations. From where do the enemies get this alignment?

Thank you again and keep up the good work.

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OmniMax wrote:

Found some pathing changes that can give extra stats (20 INT). (based on the lvl 100 PoB link)

Taking the INT point beside Master of the Arena, and you get to save 2 points

Then use those 2 points, add them to the 10 int and 30 str beside Grave Intentions

This way you gain 20 int for the same number of points

Not a huge bonus, but I needed this to help with the int taken away from the Brawn jewels, won't be anything huge for players who have nicer rolled gear.

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TokeMcBong wrote:

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Dan_Rey wrote:

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and giving your minions more attack speed is actually LESS damage in many cases.

Can you explain why?

How much increased attack speed is needed from which items if we run MULTISTRIKE and 2x VD ?

Thx

The issue lies in the cooldown on slam. With Violent Dead x2 and the ascendancy bonus your Slam cooldown is 1.25 seconds. With multistrike right now, on my level 92, I have a Slam attack rate of 2.02 Slams per second. This means with Multistrike my Slam performs 3 slams in a total attack time of 1.48 seconds. If you attack speed gets too high this balance changes.

If the balance changes and you get your attack rate up to 2.39 attacks per second or higher on Slam. Zombies will start to perform 3x Slams and 3x regular attacks between slam sets. For myself this means my zombie dps drops sharply. Zombie regular attack CAN miss, deals 1/3rd of the damage of slam and has the same attack rate. Meaning if you accidentally break the 2.39 aps barrier then zombies lose at least 25-50% or more damage instantly.

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Aesahethr wrote:

Okay, so if I understand correctly, let's try with a practical example:

Right now my Slam CD is 1.25 sec, and my attack rate with frenzy charges is 1.27 (since it's a rate, I assume it means 1.27 attack per second). So that means that my attack "recovery time" is 1/1.27 = 0.787 seconds for slam (and 1/1.63 for default attack since apparently the attack rate isn't the same for default and slam).

So what happens with my zombie is that they'll use slam, then wait 1/1.27 second, then will use default attack since Slam CD isn't done yet, then wait 1/1.63 seconds (1/1.27 + 1/1.63 = 1.40 seconds) and then since 1.40 > 1.25, slam will be off-cd again and it will use slam. Is that correct? Is that how this whole thing actually work?

In that case it means Frenzy charges are actually good for me, since otherwise the zombie would do the same rotation but it would take it 1.83 seconds instead of 1.40 seconds and deal less dmg since apparently frenzy charge adds some raw damage too.

Is that the correct calculation? Can I finally figure out my dps easily by calculating: [(slam dmg)+(default attack dmg)*(probability to hit with a default attack)]*7 zombies/1.4 (=seconds per rotation)?

That would give me a dps of 730 000+320 000*p where "p" is my zombie's chances to hit.

Can anyone confirms if that's how it works or if I completely misunderstood the whole thing?

edit: important bonus question: If I drop maim for multistrike, I have an attack rate of 2.47, which means I will do 3 slam in 1.21 seconds which if I understood that correctly is a very bad configuration, as I will then go on to do 3 normal attacks while if I had taken 0.04 additional seconds to do those 3 slams, slams would have been off-cd and ready to use again.

Would it be, in that case, better to remove Haste altogether and replace it with something else (vitality, discipline...) to get my attack rate for multistrike-slam down to 2.22 meaning it takes me 1.35 seconds to do 3 slams, which is more than enough for Slam's cooldown to finish?

That would give me a dps of (slam damage)*(slam attack rate)*7 since I only use slam in that configuration (once again, assuming I understood the whole thing properly) which would be 72 997*2.22*7 = 1 134 384 dps with only AoE attacks which would be objectively better than 730k+320k*p even if my zombie had a 100% chance to hit (which they don't)? Does that mean I should change maim for multistrike and replace haste to get better defense and dps (at the cost of slower shield charge I suppose)?

Or even weirder, could I use Haste 1/20 instead of Haste 20/20 in that case in order to get as close as possible of 3 slams every 1.25 seconds in order to maximize dps and lose less shield charge speed? (Haste 1/20 should give me the same damage, but every 1.26 sec instead of 1.35 sec for a dps of 1 216k)

Sorry for the long post but the relationship between attack speed and slam cooldown seems like the biggest mystery about that build (while also being incredibly important for maximizing the damage of the build).

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D3monPr1nc3 wrote:

I currently have the following setup:
https://pastebin.com/ycLqT1YE

Should I place my Spectre setup from Boots into Weapon #1 and get rid of the Increased Duration, then put all of the Auras from Weapon #1 into Boots and add War Banner?

In addition, should I switch Concentrated Effect for Brutality and then put in Summon Holy Relic or Minion Damage in place of Spirit Offering (if using Brutality)?

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D3monPr1nc3 wrote:

Thanks for the quick response. Here are my questions about your recommended changes:

1. Wouldn't it be better to have Convocation in order to quickly recall the minions to you?
2. I am currently using Solar Guards for Spectres. Is Increased Duration still required (I assume it's not), or can this be swapped with Concentrated Effect (or Minion Damage) and move the whole Spectre set to Weapon 1?
3. This complements Question #2. I noticed that Desecrate is linked to Increased Area of Effect and Increased Duration. Is there any benefits to use these two support gems for Desecrate, or should this be replaced by Convocation, Stone Golem, and Minion Life (or Minion Damage)?


If I was to change the corrupted Shaper's Touch to one that is not corrupted, would the following setup be more optimal (based on my above questions)?

Boots:
Raise Spectre - Fire Penetration - Increased Area of Effect - Minion Damage

Gloves:
Purity of Elements - Enlighten - Vaal Clarity - War Banner

Weapon 1:
Desecrate - Convocation - Stone Golem

Let me know what you think.