[3.4] Holy Smite Zombiemancer / Cheap, Good Clear, Shaper Down / Videos Included

Smite Necro feat. Zombies



Hello Exiles! This is my build guide to my Melee Smite Necro with Zombies. I've always loved the Summoner playstyle and has dabbled in everything. My previous experience with zombies were very lacklustre. Clear speed can be frustrating as zombie AI is very badly tuned for that purpose but I have always been impressed with its bossing damage. The addition of Smite gave me the direction I needed, a way for me to partake in the slaughter so to speak. Below is a detailed explanation of the build.

Pro's & Con's

+ Fast Sunder-like Trash Clear
+ Cheap to Start and Mid Budget-ish to gear up. My current gear is either Self Crafted or no more than 1 ex (Helmet)
+ Good For Delve encounters, afk while minions fight
+ Melee Necro Action!

- Kind of Squishy (6.5k life) for me due to lack of layering
- Socketing can be a pain
- Build is not hassle free - Offering, Flask and Minion upkeep
- HC not viable, at least not while I'm playing it


Gear

General Setup


I'm unsure how to link Jewels but consider getting some Ghastly Eye Jewels with Life + Minion Taunt, these are very helpful in keeping bosses away from you once your minions pile on. Fill in your other requirements like Dex plus Ele resist accordingly as needed.



Shaper/Guardian Gearswaps


The flasks are specifically so that we can survive under Minotaurs hailstorm of damage and also as an oh shit button for Shaper. Mon'tregul and Severed in Sleep are needed to keep zombies alive against bosses like these, the main weapons are for your personal clearing but do little against actual bosses so they are taken out when prepping for a boss encounter. Another weapon that can replace Severed is obviously United in Dream SUPER EXPENSIVE or a high aps minion damage Rare Weapon (trying to make that now)



Skill gems



Have your Zombies in a Helmet like these one with Raise Zombies-Melee Phys damage-MultiStrike-Empower

Empower is lower DPS than a different link like Ruthless but not much can match its mix of Life + Damage, a dead zombie can't deliver the damage you need. The biggest gems for Zombies are Raise Zombie itself and Empower. Acquiring a Lvl 21 and lvl 4 version of those gems will be big for the build.

Main Attack Smite should be 5 or 6 linked in Chest.

Smite-Melee Phys-Elemental Damage with Attacks-Multistrike-Ancestral Call + Conc Effect as the final link.

Passive Tree

Pastebin link
https://pastebin.com/GMNeeGkt

Playstyle

This build generally plays like Sunder builds during map clear. Leap Slam around attack, rinse and repeat. Add on keeping buffs active with your Spirit Offering and Convocations to call in the calvary to make a rather active playstyle package.

Boss fights play like typical Zombie builds, get your zombies on the boss and try to stay back while supporting with Smite.

Media

Ingame Char Sheet


Videos

T14 Dark Forest Clear - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXhBwqwiOts&t=

Chimera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_czH1NTrfg

Phoenix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92N_epRlV78&t=33s

Minotaur https://youtu.be/aZzEgvgNTGw?t=359

Shaper >.< https://youtu.be/KZsFm16zsFk?t=540

Will make another attempt, but HE IS DOWNED! If I did not accidentally click on the exit portal it would have been a lootable kill. Better play overall can be deathless, will keep trying!

Better Shaper Kill - 1 death to bad mistake https://youtu.be/a8dc2ogYWUc

bump

I've been trying to make something similar to this, except with Smite + Cast On Critical + Summon Skeleton + Multistrike + Increased Critical Strikes. Relying on minions to do big DPS rather than the Smite itself. This variant is called the DOOT Smiter.

But it looks like relying on the Smite for kills is what's needed for good farmspeed.