(Necromancer Survivability) I have no clue what I am doing wrong

I am just too frustrated at this point to keep playing, and I just need some guidance to what the hell I could be doing wrong. I really want to play this game and get beyond this threshold, or whatever this is, but it is really getting on my last nerves.

Been drudging around in Tier 1-3 Maps and similar level Delves for weeks, with the occasional 68 Lab run for variation, I am a level 86 Necromancer Skeleton Mage Build with max resistances (+25% additional), 48% Chaos res (wasn't trying for it, just happened with gear), more life nodes in the skill tree than the build I found suggests, sitting on ~3k health with 1,6k Energy shield (thanks to an Aura the build isn't using), a Granite and Basalt Flask I keep running as close to 100% uptime as I can, +life on every piece of gear I have (apart from Weapon, Boots and Amulet (Uniques) and Armor (Energy Shield based)) and I still get oneshot by level 69 mobs that can attack me even though I am far away from battle without any sign of anything I can avoid, tried the Eternal Lab and got smashed by the first Blue mob I came across.

Every time I try to ask in chat for help I either get the basic info's about getting more res, getting more life, or I get the 'git gud' or 'figure it out' answers. I tried learning more about crafting, but there as well I just get answers like 'dont do it now, do it at late game, no point now', but how can I get to late game if I cant break into the early game? And buying gear, yeah right, took me a week to get the 30 Chaos I needed for a few Jewels and the Weapon, no way I can get enough Exalts for a good piece of gear at this rate.

Only real experience I have with ARPGs is the Diablo franchise, but that was by comparison very easy and clearly didn't teach me anything about ARPG play in general, and this game is the other extreme, a lot of minor guidelines about resistances and life, but does bugger all to tell you what you did wrong when a low mob one-shots you, nor what you can do to improve. I was introduced to this game by a former colleague who was of the 'Elite gamer' level and probably couldn't be bothered to teach me much other than 'get res' and 'get life', and most often complained that I wasn't playing Hardcore.

Damage does not seem to be a problem, my Mages are killing most things within a second or two, and the build has more skills that I haven't even gotten to be using yet as I have to try to find ways to keep myself alive rather than deal more damage. I just don't understand how people run with 7k+ health and sometimes when I watch build videos they have less life nodes and less life on gear than I have, and still run with almost 7k health.

I'm not expecting a game to be a cakewalk all the way to the end, but it would help if what you could do to improve is more intuitive (for example in Diablo; Need more health or damage? Get a new Legendary item with more stats *onwards to grind until I get one*).

Is there a game I can play that teaches me how to properly play an ARPG? Is there a secret here I am just missing? Or should I just go back to Diablo and let the elites play this game in peace?

Would be grateful for any advice that can help me learn and improve

Your account is set to private, so we cant see what items, skills and passives youre using. So noone can give you decent advice, since there is no information to base that advice upon.
Also .. 3k hp is very, very low for lv 86. 1,6k ES wont safe you here.

How do I change the privacy setting? Also, not playing the League, playing in Standard. I had hoped to try next league if I could figure out the gameplay, but not looking realistic

You go to your profile (top left) and alter your privacy settings.

Found it and updated. Thank you

Welcome here exile,

ok lets take a look at your build.

1) You have just 102% increased life from the tree but we usually aim for 180-200%+

- Your body, amulet and boots have NO life roll

Boots give you at least +1 skeleton but you can get more life from other sources so you can use them but you should replace both your body and amulet.
Your total life pool is 3100 only!
You should have more life at level 70.
Energy shield won´t help you much because it´s not so easy to recovery.

2) Your tree is far from ideal.
You have wasted many passive points - all damage nodes without minion tag do nothing for you. It´s not worth spending passive points to get a bit of elemental resistance etc.

You should get all (or the most) of your resistances from your gear.
I would also drop minor damage nodes (10% minion damage) you don´t need for pathing, Faith and Steel, Method to the Madness.

Take Elemental Equilibrium keystone and cast ball lightning to proc curse and EE debuff. Although skele mages have mixed elements you will still get nice damage buff not only for them but also for your spectres (unless you´re using light spectres).
I would also take Whispers of Doom keystone. You will be able to double curse enemies.
Link should look like this:

Ball lightning + curse on hit + double curse - elemental weakness + enfeeble + GMP (if you have 5-link)

Ele weakness - universal elemental damage buff for your minions (despite their element)
Enfeeble - the best defensive curse in game

Not only you will cast both curses at once but you will also get bonus from EE (all in one)

3) You don´t use auras besides clarity.
You should be using auras to boost your minions or take an advantage of Mind over Matter Keystone and get 30% free EHP.
In that case (taking MoM) you need to get more mana.
You should have at least 1/3 of your life as unreserved mana.
So let say you will have 4000 life and 1400-1500 mana (+ some mana recovery such as clarity aura,.).

4) Gearing - as I have already mentioned get 5-link body with high life/mana/resistance (you can get such body for a few chaos)
Amulet - get amulet with stats you need and high life/strength/res

5) Get curse imunity on one flask to counter curses

Buy From Dust jewel to summon 6 skeleton mages at once (very good QoL feature).
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/From_Dust
Spell totem does nothing for you (better use stone golem)
Level 20 gem + 1*GCP = level 1 gem with 20% quality (use the recipe on your Faster casting gem).

6) Have you heard about path of building planner?

If not download it and you can upload your character there to see benefit from changing gear/passives without doing it on realm (pretty great tool).

That´s for now but don´t hesitate to ask more questions.

Greetings, and thank you very much for your response. Although probably not needed I will go through each point to explain or ask questions

1. The Boots and the Amulet were recommended for my Build because they impacted the minions. The Chest I have found very hard to replace through looting, and am feeling wary of trying to use currency to craft something. I will try to see what I can find for purchase.

2. Tree is (as you say) not ideal, not for the build I was aiming for, mostly because I did not start the last reset with that build in mind, and mostly went for the things I remembered was told to me to take early on (a long time a go), with Minions in mind. After that I put points to mostly go for enough Jewel Sockets, the remaining Minion Nodes, whatever Life nodes I could get on the way as well as some Dexterity if possible. However, the build did not take as many Life nodes as I had already taken, which confused me a bit. Once the new League comes out (and the reset that I understood usually follows) I had planned to more accurately go for what the build intended.

I mostly kept Ball Lightning since before I went for the Skeleton Mage build it was the most damage I would do despite the minion nodes and such, the suggested link looks like I can manage to pull off. The Totem was kept to have something to place with an AoE so I can put it down and run around letting it and the minions do the work, but will push it out.

As for Spectres the Build recommended Chieftain monkeys from Act 2 to get Frenzy Charges, not really sure about other candidates.

I will definitely go into looking at the points you mentioned in the skill tree simulator to get a feel for it.

3. The Build I was trying for had three Auras in mind, Anger, Clarity and (Vaal) Haste, I have Anger but found it hard to keep up with the Energy Shield Aura, which I swapped to in order to try and get some more survivability, so I put it aside.

4. I will definitely look into that.

5. I have one in the Stash, the Flasks I had on was mostly for Delving. I have been planning to do some Flask crafting to cover most things, but for the time being it had not felt needed. Will look into the Jewel as well, should definitely make it easier to keep moving and still get the damage out, surprised the Build did not mention it.

6. I shall look into that one as well.

Plan going forward would at this point be to wait for the passive reset to sort out the flaws and in the meantime work on getting the skills recommended and trying to sort out a new Amulet and Chest Armor. The grind should be more enjoyable to have some goals to work towards, and hopefully will make a big difference in the long run. Thank you very much for all the advice

"

Valdranor wrote:

1. The Boots and the Amulet were recommended for my Build because they impacted the minions. The Chest I have found very hard to replace through looting, and am feeling wary of trying to use currency to craft something. I will try to see what I can find for purchase.

I see you have already changed amulet. Amulet had some minor minion bonuses but no life or other stats.
Boots has +1 skeleton so it´s worth using.

2) The monkeys are fine (mostly for frenzy support) if you want to focus more on skeleton mages.

"

Valdranor wrote:

3. The Build I was trying for had three Auras in mind, Anger, Clarity and (Vaal) Haste, I have Anger but found it hard to keep up with the Energy Shield Aura, which I swapped to in order to try and get some more survivability, so I put it aside.

Drop Discipline, it´s not worth using for your build.
You can either use full auras Anger + Haste (Vaal haste is not an aura but Vaal skill) + clarity (don´t remember link your auras with Generosity support gem - except clarity ---and unless you want being MoM build).
or ...
You can allocate Mind over Matter passive to get better survivability (30% od damage is taken from mana before life).
In that case you need unreserved mana (min 1/3 of your life) and you can´t use auras or if you want you can use Essence Worm ring for one aura - probably Anger.
You can still use Vaal Haste (but not normal haste aura).
It depends what you prefer.
Btw you can respec tree by using orb of regrets if you want.

Indeed, I was lucky to find a really cheap one with good stats that would allow me to replace the chest piece (Dexterity is a bit lacking). Not as lucky on the chest yet though, those that would make a difference are a bit out of my range, but I found one that could work if I can manage to get it 5-linked.

Discipline dropped and gone, worked in Anger. Not had any luck finding a Haste or Generosity Gem yet (I know you can get them from a Vendor, but had hoped to find the Gems I need or do Quests). Currently using Chaos Golem until I can find a Stone Golem Gem (although would the Chaos Golem's damage reduction not be better than the Life Regeneration of the Stone Golem?).

Got another level and got MoM, already a noticeable difference, although another Aura would probably take me below 1/3. I have scoped out a new build, using most of the build I was going to aim for with the addition of the nodes you suggested, was really close to the "original" path, so did not have to spend too many points to get there.

I am aware about the Orb of Regret, but given the amount I would need, as well as there soon will be a new league, I am patient enough to wait for the freebie.

Thank you very much for the additional feedback.

This game is balanced with trade in mind.
Yes, you can do Solo Self Found, but that is for peeps with LOTS of experience, who know how to craft really well.

What do I mean, really?

Do some trading.

You are in Standard.
For just a few chaos you can buy gear that is MUCH better than what you are wearing.

It will make a huge difference.

P.S.
Buy a haste gem, not only does it up your dps, but running faster is a great defense for a summoner, avoid damage with movement!