(3.10) Katmos’ Holy Zombie build (all game content for under 1 ex worth of gear, videos included)

Introduction
I consider an efficient build a build that allows you to enjoy end-game content for an affordable price. Why do you have to spend 100 exalted orbs to defeat a Shaper Guardian, when you can spend only one?. There is proof that this build can defeat the Shaper and his guardians (see videos below).
Thus I present you a build that you can use from the beginning to the end of the game, for as low as 1 exalted orb worth of gear. As I am not a native English speaker, please be understanding. As a super casual player, I can’t spend time grinding, and such I need builds that are cheap but take me far.

3.10 Delirium league
Spoiler
Zombies got nerfed again, losing one of their number. Build still does great damage for its investment. It`s just that zombiemancers finally got out of meta.


3.9 Metamorph challenge league
Spoiler
Zombies have lost ~ 25% of their damage, but it's still enough for nearly all endgame. The holy relics were unaffected, but one spectre was lost (I recommend dropping the Hairy Bonecrusher one).


3.8 Blight league changes
Spoiler
The build became more powerful than ever. Many of the passives were included in the skill gems themselves. Also, the Violent Dead jewel does not drop anymore, because it has been included in the skill gem. So, if you have them from the Standard League, use them to massively buff the Zombies' slam ability, and if you don't have that jewel, replace it with one that gives as much life as possible.
There is no need for minion control skill gems, as the Holy relics stay near you, and your zombies need to be near you to be buffed by you, and you need to be near the enemy to debuff them and instantly gain life from them (more details below). So, no need to change minion behavior gems during mapping.
As for amulet enchantments, search the ones that grant you either Indomitable Army (makes you minions not take extra damage from moving while they bleed), or Ravenous horde (gives minions a small chance to gain onslaught when they kill an enemy).
As the Violent Dead jewels no longer drop, you can put jewels that grant you increased life and minion damage.


Pros’
• Great league starter
• Can run all map mods and tiers
• Very cheap to get going
• Great delve runner, breach runner, and temporal incursion-runner.
• Great survivor (a lot of life gained on hit)
• Uses few buttons (you auto-cast spells with your Syndicate weapons)
• Pure physical damage dealer - you don’t have to worry with elemental penetration
• Can scale indefinitely with better gear and jewels
• Relaxed cyclone playstyle (immune to stuns and keeps moving while attacking), but can play pseudo-ranged as well (you can direct your zombies to attack far away by manually casting a curse on distant enemies)
• Unaffected by map mods that directly reduce your damage (your minions are unaffected by those mods)
• Protected against porcupines (you command your minions to form a meat shield in front of you)
• Doesn’t need dubious timeless or cluster jewels. (but you can alter the build to accomodate them for even bigger DPS)
- No need to change minion behavior gems during mapping
- No need for abyssal jewels that grant your minions chance to taunt, as you have a special spectre just for that
• Possibly hardcore viable, but only for those that know the game’s mechanics well and have experience playing it (I’m a super casual player)
- Possibly Solo Self Found (but I don't have enough free time for experiencing the grinding such a playstyle requires !)

Cons’
• Socket starved (like all minion builds)

Build mechanics

You use your 2 holy relics from Geoffry's Legacy helmet to clear mobs (AoE damage). Their combined DPS is over 800.000, enough to clear trash mobs that are spread wide, even in red maps. Also, because their novas are spells, they cant be evaded - so no stragglers from any mob should escape your skills!
For single target, you use zombies in your 6-linked body armor, because zombies are not good at AoE. Your 9 zombies combined DPS is over 2 million (check PoB, its real!), and consists in a combination of default attacks and slam attacks.

Your most manually used skill is cyclone, used to gain life on hit, maims enemies, makes them bleed in blood stance and (while cursed with vulnerability and punctured by your Towering Figment spectre), gets you the fortify buff, and moves you even when you attack. Your own DPS is over 15 000, good enough for trash mobs in yellow maps.

You use 2 claws crafted with bound fossils or essences of fear (they provide minion damage) and syndicate-crafted suffix to trigger desecrate and flesh offering when you attack. One of the claws must be a Gemini claw in order to get mana for your cyclone. Also, put a Carrion Golem there to boost your minion damage.

This build uses 3 Spectres (4 if you can get them even more leveled up), each for a different utility (see Spectre setup below).
You use flame dash to interrupt your cyclone animation and quickly get out of harm’s way.

You use your vulnerability curse to debuff enemies, and order your zombies to attack the annoying porcupines while keeping you safe
You use 3 auras: pride, war banner, flesh and stone - to increase damage and accuracy.

Path of Building
https://pastebin.com/X34krQk0


Passive skill tree
Simply grab as many life, minion and jewel points as possible.
Check the updated version in Path of Building.
The version below is from 3.7 league.

https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAMDAAGkBAcEswZJCPQPqxBREJcRLRHYE2wVJxZvFr8aOBpsHNwi6iL0JE4kiySqJSElsiaVJy8o-iqYLJws4jIBMtE1kjbpOQs6WDrGOuFBh0QERUdFnUeFSp9Ms025TeNQQlM1U1JVS1XGWfNg-GHiYoZmVGaeZrpncWpDaqxr22wLbRlyD3yDfRiCx4PbhWCIQIm8jDaMsY8akDOQVZMnlG-YTZrgnr2g5qEvogCmV6asqqmqxKyYshm3PriTvOq-ir-XwGbDOsk9zLzPetAf04_T-9i92QvfiuNq6QLr7uyD7Irv6_Af8h7yRffX-ej60v4K_o8=?accountName=katmos&characterName=Two_Holy_UnDead_Legions


Ascendancy:

1. Commander of darkness (you need to get the flesh and stone aura on you in order to benefit from the increased resistances)
2. Mindless Aggression
3. Unnatural Strength
4. Plaguebringer (only when you can trigger your spells automatically)

Pantheon
Anything you want, nothing is mandatory. Just change gods according to map mods.

Bandits
Kill all for 2 points or help Alra for easier gearing.

Leveling
Level up as a normal zombie summoner up until Act 5, and then start transitioning, little by little, to the end-gear (get the helmet, claws, etc). If you need extra dexterity, use a Careful Planning jewel to convert intelligence into dexterity - put it in the jewel slot between the witch and the scion areas). If you want extra life, a cheap option is the Anatomical Knowledge jewel.


Example gear (my gear) with gems socketed in them

How to craft your items:
1. Body armor: buy a 6-linked uncorrupted one of the highest level that you can afford with a strength/energy shield base (use an orb of scouring on it to get rid of its mods), slam a single essence of greed in it (the highest level you can afford, to get the big life roll), and pray to also get some resistances. Leave an open prefix on it to craft the,,+1 to maximum number of zombies” from Jun Ortoi (immortal syndicate). The end product should cost 30-40 chaos orbs.
2. Buy Geofri’s Crest helmet from another player, and upgrade it with, The bishop’s legacy" prophecy to Geofri’s Legacy helmet. This should cost you 2-3 chaos orbs. (directly buying Geofri’s Legacy is far more expensive)
3. Buy a Gemini claw and an Eye Gouger claw of at least level 81, quality them, then slam bound fossils/essences of fear into them until you get the increased minion damage roll as close to maximum possible and also with an open suffix. In that open suffix master-craft,,Trigger a socketed spell when you use a skill”.There are also people who sell services (try to get one of them if you can, they dont charge much). Each claw should cost 10-20 chaos orbs to make. Before 3.9, the Scouge Claw was just 1 chaos, but after that patch it got way more expensive. The Gemini claw is mandatory, though, because it gets you mana for sustaining cyclone.



The rest of the gear can be simple rares with life and resistances. When writing this guide, one exalted orb was selling for 170 chaos orbs, so you can see that all the gear is definitely within the budget of a single exalted orb.

Useful Enchantments:
- reduced Pride mana reservation
- increased Zombie damage

Amulet anointment
Gravepact (black, black and blue oils)

Spectre setup:
- Carnage chieftain for frenzy charges (found in Act 2 Old Fields)
- Host chieftain for power charges (found in the Act 2 Riverways or in Act 7 Fields)
- Towering figments in Act 4 for inducing bleed on enemies (they use puncture)
- Hairy Bonecrusher for taunting enemies with its enduring cry (found in Act2 Wetlands). As of patch 3.9, only a level 25 gem will allow you to run 4 spectres at the same time, so I recommend dropping the Bonecrushers.

Videos
Remember to check your video settings to ensure at least 720p.

Delve run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZhT3nNpUII&t=8s
Delpth 256 (posted by Dhatman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS_jMyr_N3o&feature=youtu.be


Atziri map run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHZlITqbJxM&feature=youtu.be

Tier 9 Boss runs: Constrictor, Purifier, and Elder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnTi91JmiZQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZqV9Ia8mHU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIJYHp6D3VE

Red map run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjseWrXz6h0&t=8s
T14 map run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0WlbMEAE60&feature=youtu.be
T15 map run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=834DN2m3KFU&feature=youtu.be
T16 map posted by Dhatman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma9qQ3A2XV8&feature=youtu.be


Mastermind safehouse run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ebBheNF_E&t=586s

Utter-end game bossfights, recorded by Dhatman, with their permission:
"
Dhatman wrote:
Chimera
Minotaur
Hydra
Phoenix underestimate the Firebomb range....
The Shaper 3rd shaper Kill since i play this game. 2 times with the Spectre(died ther always 1 time) 1 time without spectre.

Uber Elder/Shaper did it only 1 time with spectre and needed 4 portals but still got it done solo.

Easy guides for End Game Bosses


Difficult map mods:
• Can not regenerate mana: disable your pride aura, so that you will have more mana in reserve for the cyclone.
• Monsters reflect physical damage – replace your high-level cyclone with one at level 1, and simply keep resummoning minions. A lot, unfortunately.

Improving the build for the rich:
• Craft all your gear with bound fossils (armor pieces increase minions’life, and jewelry increases your minion speed)
• Get higher life and resistance rolls (including chaos resistances). You have only one mandatory unique item (and that one gives resistances as well), so you can do it! Even my crap gear has 6000 life, and it also gets the fortify buff (practically 20% more life on top of the tooltip)
• Get all your gems to 21 level and 20 % quality
• Get increased attack damage or speed on your claws
• Get -8 total mana cost on your rings in order to make your cyclone free to use (legacy gear), or get a Level 1 Clarity somewhere, and then use a Watcher's Eye Jewel with the mod -(10-5) to Total Mana Cost of Skills while affected by Clarity.
• Get better jewels.
• Play with an aura bot teammate (beware, they will want to take away half your loot!)

Thanks for:
- Dhatman for posting some videos with his version of my build for a deep delve, a T16 map, and utter-endgame bosses.

Remember, you shouldn't copy my build exactly, because it won't feel like your own. It is your game you're playing, not somebody else's. Just take inspiration from the build, adapt it to your own needs and playstyle, and push it to new heights!

Last edited by katmos on Apr 21, 2020, 10:08:00 AM
Last bumped on Jan 26, 2020, 2:35:33 PM
Videos coming soon, I have recorded them, It's just it takes an enormous amount of time to upload them to Youtube
Nice build. I will take a look at it more closely. By the way, Pride can't be supported by Generosity since it doesn't affect you or allies.
Thank you for pointing it out.
I decided to replace Generosity with Increased duration.
Last edited by katmos on Jul 23, 2019, 1:52:48 PM
Almost 4000 views!
I'm impressed by the number of players interested in casual builds and honoured by your attention.
Thank you!
Will you update the Build for 3.8?
I would like to check it out, but my overall knowledge in POE is not enought to edit this awesome build myself ;)
Yes, I will update the build
I'm gonna try this one out since it looks chill and I'm currently too busy with university. Thanks for posting this.
Good luck with your exams!
What are some jewels you recommend now that violent dead no longer drops or obtainable from quests...

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