[3.8][NEC] Necromantic Poetess - Volatile Dead Poet's Pens goes lazy

hi all,
when the 3.8 patch notes came out i've instantly decided to do a necromancer with volatile dead, because the corpse related nodes seemed super strong.

i started as selfcast, transitioned into cwc and then transitioned again into poet's pens.
i continued to fiddle around with the build in order to make it as automated (lazy) as possible.

since i think that now the build is pretty much done, i've decided to share it.


Quick Overview:
+ Strong defense and dps
+ Most of the build is automated

± ?

- A little bit expensive
- Can't do reflect


Basic Info

Class/Ascendancy: Witch Necromancer
Reason: Synergises extremely well with the fact that we create and consume corpses 24/7

Ehp pool: Hybrid
Reason: We get a bunch of life and then gain a lot of it as extra max es (via the Vaal Keystone Corrupted Soul and Spirit Offering)

Bandits: Kill All
Reason: We don't go crit


Lazy?

with this build i wanted to have a lot of buffs, but also to not cast them directly, because i'm super lazy.

this is what i was able to achieve.

first of all, the two Watcher's Eye make a lot of work, because they automate completely the corspe generation (Desecrate) and consumption (Volatile Dead and Cremation which is linked to Combustion, so everytime we ignite with it we debuff the fire res of the mobs).

this corspe generation/consumption cycle grants a bunch of stuff via the Necromancer ascendancy: increased damage, increased aoe, increased attack speed, es and mana regen, reduced damage taken and makes the enemies chilled and shocked.

attackingFrenzy grant us Frenzy Charges (increased attack speed and more damage) and it's linked with Culling Strike (which is nice).

with around 10-11% crit chance with every skill it's easy to have 100% uptime with Elemental Overload.

with the CwDT setup we debuff mobs (Wave of Conviction and Flammability) and gain a lot of es (Spirit Offering)

Summon Lightning Golem socketed into Malachai's Artifice will proc Elemental Equilibrium for us.
although this negate the possibility to use Anger (because it will make the golem do also fire damage), we can still use Zealotry and gain Arcane Surge with it automatically (via the Watcher's Eye Gain Arcane Surge for 4 seconds when you create Consecrated Ground while affected by Zealotry mod).

we still have to activate flasks and Vaal Righteous Fire though :P


The Pens' rotation

after a little bit of testing i settled on a rotation involving desecrate, Volatile Dead and Cremation.
you NEED a Desecrate Spawns 2-3 additional corpses enchantment on your helmet to make this work.
the weaker version (2 add corpses) it's good enough, and this is why:

Attack #1: Desecrate spawns 7 corpses (5+2 from the enchant) [7 corpses remaining]
Attack #2: Volatile Dead consume 3 corpses [4 corpses remaining]
Attack #3: Cremation consume 1 corpse [3 corpses remaining]
Attack #4: Volatile Dead consume 3 corpses [0 corpses remaining]

after the fourth attack the sequence loops back


Passive Tree/Ascendancy/Pantheon

Passive Tree

LVL 95 Tree (MoM is not actually MoM: it's the Corrupted Soul keystone achieved using the Glorious Vanity Timeless Jewel)


Ascendancy

My suggested order is:
1) Plaguebringer
2) Corpse Pact
3) Essence Glutton
4) Mistress of Sacrifice


Pantheon

General setup
Major God: Soul of Lunaris - super nice for mapping
Minor God: Soul of Garukhan - for the movement speed buff

Uber Elder setup ?: this section needs actual testing, i'm basing this off one of my older builds
Major God: Soul of Arakaali - boost life and es regen if stopped taking dot recently ?
Minor God: Soul of Ralakesh - reduced phys dot taken ?

Since the Uber arena is filled with dot puddles, Ralakesh helps in mitigate some of this damage and Arakaali boosts the ehp sustain.
This combo was honestly a game changer for me, so if you are having problem in killing Uber Elder try this out. ?



Gear

Note: you need at least 67 Str and 17 Dex on your Gear

Weapons


Not much to discuss here.


Chest


Gives a bunch of life.


Helmet


The important thing here is the desecrate enchantment. 2 additional corpse are enough and are very cheap.
The other mods you want are the usual ones: life, res, es

Enchantment:
Desecrate Spawns 2-3 additional corpses


Gloves


The BIS are a pair of Essence of Insanity crafted gloves to get the "Socketed Gems have 16% more Attack and Cast Speed" mod.
The other mods you want are the usual ones: life, res, es

Enchantment:
Honestly idk


Boots


Rare Boots with Life, Elemental Resistances and Increased Movement Speed.

Enchantment:
Damage oriented:
Damage Penetrates #% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven't Killed Recently

Defense oriented:
Regenerate #% of Life and Mana per second if you were Hit Recently


Belt


if you have enough attack speed, a Shaper belt with the "increased cooldown" mod is probably the BIS.
if not a rare Stygian Vise with will be good.
as usual, we want life, res and es.


Rings

First Slot:

slot a golem into your Malachai's Artifice and it will automatically proc EE for you.


Second Slot:

This is also one of the two slots in which you can craft Aspect of the Spider
Try to get some other useful stats.

note that you need an Unset ring if you wanna use Precision or if you wanna proc Arcane Surge but you don't have a Watcher's Eye with the Gain Arcane Surge for 4 seconds when you create Consecrated Ground while affected by Zealotry mod.


Amulet


A rare amulet with Fire Leech.
This is also one of the two slots in which you can craft Aspect of the Spider
This will be our main Life Leech source, so it's a very important piece.
Try to get some other useful stats.

The notable that i suggest to craft is Fusillade (15% ias with wands), because is strong and dirty cheap (1xSepia 2xVerdant)


Flasks


both The Wise Oak and Cinderswallow Urn are nice for dps and defense.
a suplhur is nice for damage and life regen (and will proc Arcane Surge if you have the right Watcher's Eye).
quicksilver and life flasks doesn't need explanation.

don't forget to have freeze and bleed removal on your flasks.


Jewels


a Doryani'sGlorious Vanity enables the Corrupted Soul keystone, which nets a bunch of es.
it can also create interesting notables which you can grab anointing your amulet.

a Watcher's Eye with the Gain Arcane Surge for 4 seconds when you create Consecrated Ground while affected by Zealotry.
the other best mod in my opinion is #% increased Attack Speed while affected by Precision

For rare jewels you want life, fire damage, area damage, ias, etc



Skill Gems

First Poet's Pen
Desecrate + Cremation + Combustion

Second Poet's Pen
Volatile Dead + Conc Effect + Elemental Focus

Gloves
Frenzy (1/20) + Culling Strike (1/20) + GMP (1/20) + Faster Attacks (20/20)
we want as much ias as possible, not damage, so the level of this gems can be leaved at 1 (except for Faster Attacks).
quality in all of those gems is very important.

Cast when Damage Taken setup (4L)
CwDT (1) + Spirit Offering (8) + Wave of Conviction (7) + Flammability (5)

Malachai's Artifice
Summon Lightning Golem

Non linked skills
Flame Dash
Herald of Ash
Zealotry
Vaal Righteous Fire
Precision (1)
if you don't have an unset ring you'll need to drop one of these skill (probably Precision cause is pretty much useless if you don't have a Watcher's Eye with the #% increased Attack Speed while affected by Precision mod)


PoB

https://pastebin.com/cJp5e7jQ
note that i've got Aligned Spirits allocated because my Glorious Vanity corrupted it in a notable that grants me +1 max cold res.
before i had Fusillade


Videos

quality isn't the best, sorry :/
T5 map
T10 map
First Phoenix Kill - the mods were pretty hard


changelog:
  • Sep 18, 2019 - Started the 3.8 guide


to do:
  • A lot
Last edited by tufferugli on Sep 18, 2019, 8:29:03 PM
Last bumped on Oct 4, 2019, 12:38:45 PM
cool currently trying this.

Was playing around with doryani jewel and got this


pretty good for the build.
Last edited by Shawntastic69 on Sep 20, 2019, 5:07:32 PM
How do we shock? In PoB it was ticked but I don't see any sources of Shock.
Nvm. I might be stupid.
"
YamikunOkami wrote:
How do we shock? In PoB it was ticked but I don't see any sources of Shock.

as a necro, enemies nearby corpses that we have created are shocked and chilled


Why not this?

Spell Cascade is insane + u can use a VD enchant + Anger got +3 lvl from wand
Last edited by ennstnd on Oct 4, 2019, 11:34:48 AM
"
ennstnd wrote:


Why not this?

Spell Cascade is insane + u can use a VD enchant + Anger got +3 lvl from wand




I tried it, my graphics card is crying, i need to put quality on the gems and then it will be fine.

thx mate

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