[3.13] HERALD OF AGONY MANA GUARDIAN 2021 Build. ~20K ES. From Cheap to Expensive!

Herald of Agony Mana Guardian is definitely one of the tankiest builds in the game, but one of the most expensive too. It is one of these “elusive” builds that you always wanted to try but never had the currency for it.
Well, luckily for me, i’ve got enough this league to actually taste all the power of the build and so i, present you different versions of it. I wanted to make it more affordable for newer audience, while still providing mirror tier gearing options for those who can handle that.

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With over 30+ active builds it is becoming hard to keep up with replies and comments, so make sure you follow me on discord, twitter and more importantly = twitch to ask for anything!
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VIDEO BUILD/GUIDE:
https://youtu.be/kp9s82V_FgI
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http://www.angryroleplayer.com/path-of-exile-builds/herald-of-agony-mana-guardian-path-of-exile-build/
V 1.4 Update (16/01/2021):
-POBs updated for 3.13
V 1.3 Update (01/07/2020):
Some nerfs to reservation here and there and now need to stretch an extra node! However there are new juicy Herald nodes next to Discord Artisan.
-POBs updated for 3.11
V 1.2 Update (12/03/2020):
The build was dramatically nerfed and lost over 30% of ES (about 10000).
-Grand Spectrum jewels are dead
-Shaper's Touch gloves are greatly nerfed
-Xopec's mana mod on boots is gone
-damage seems to be same
-POBs updated
V 1.1 Update (02/02/2020):
-I forgot that minions do not count as Party members, so Herald gets no charges from Harmony of Purpose. This brings the damage down in POB, but in "reality" it's not big of a deal since it means i killed all content without charges on my minions :). If you want to get charges you can still do it by using Host and Carnage Chieftains as Spectres. But they would require Minion Life supports and possibly even Meat Shields to stay alive. I would probably not trade it for Withered that immortal Stoneskin Flayers give.
I fixed all POBS (literally just unclicked charges) and gave a detailed explanation on Uber Lab ascendancy choices
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How does it work, in general?
When you deal poison damage you summon Agony Crawler from the Herald of Agony. By constantly dealing poison damage you ramp up Virulence stacks thus buffing your crawler to the max. You, on the other hand is a tanky walking buff for your Crawler, so your only purpose is to keep stacks high and survive.
Agony Crawler is immortal, but will disappear once Virulence stacks drop down to 0.
There are 2 main skills that can keep stacks high: Ball Lightning is great for general purpose mapping. You just throw a ball and run through enemies.
Storm Burst is overall much better for bosses as it’s a precise channelling skill, and you can stand quite far away and still get stacks. I guess it’s my personal invention here :D
Other cool skills for fast trash clearing: Storm Brand, Orb of Storms. They all sucks for bosses though.
Spectres along with the Golem provide necessary ONSLAUGHT.
I use Stoneskin Flayers (https://poedb.tw/us/mon.php?n=Stoneskin+Flayer) for spectres as they have insane life and resistance and survive without meat shield or minion life support. They also stack WITHERED stacks through WITHERING TOUCH as well as constantly provide FEEDING FRENZY buff.
If you can’t get them for now, get Undying Evangelists and Diabloists, but you will have to give them meat shield support and attach feeding frenzy to Golem.
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1) PROS
Spoiler


+super tanky, practically unkillable character (by 99% of content)
+40000 armour, 20K es
+great for everything, mapping, bossing, Delving

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2) CONS
Spoiler


-Can be very, very expensive on the “higher end”
-Can be stunned to death in some rare situations
-Bossing damage is very low in “cheap” variants

3) Skill Tree Progression / Path of Building / Ascendancy / Bandits
For the levelling tree please watch the video guide or check PoB!
Spoiler


Path of building:
Cheap gear (5-10EX): https://pastebin.com/gPxYCaTL
Medium gear (50-100EX): https://pastebin.com/9wciKbEw
Very Expensive gear.Very high damage. (100-200EX): https://pastebin.com/PhQvBmgp
IF YOU GET AN ERROR WHILE IMPORTING OR ANY OTHE ERRORS, IT MEANS YOUR POB IS OUTDATED ORIGINAL VERSION THAT IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED. YOU NEED A "COMMUNITY FORK" ONE TO MAKE IT WORK:
https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding
The only difference between gear is Herald’s DAMAGE. You can still be super tanky with over 20K ES. Less Herald damage = everything takes longer. Bosses can take very long time with low-level Herald.
For Ascendancy: Radiant Faith, Radiant Crusade,Unwavering Crusader, Harmony of Purpose (+12 all res, movement speed, phys reduction) / Bastion of Hope (stun protection), Unwavering Faith (regen) / Time of Need (ailments protection + huge regen boost). I prefer Harmony for extra resists.
Bandits: Kill All

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4) Early Levelling Gear / Skills
Spoiler

While this build can be levelled as a league starter, it requires knowledge and specific expensive gear to be good (like Memory Vault and specifically coloured Skin of the Loyal) which can be VERY EXPENSIVE at league start. I do not recommend this build as your FIRST build of the league.
Axioms/Lifesprigs (because you will play Holy Flame Totem for a while) Goldrim, Tabula, Lochtonial Caress, Wanderlust.
(standard totem gear)
Start with Holy Flame Totem + Added Cold Damage + Added Fire. You can spec into Ancestral Bond and unspec later if you wish.
This will carry you hard till you get Herald of Agony at level 16.
Keep in mind, even though Herald of Agony is powerful alone, it can be painfully slow while levelling. A lot of people use Skeletons to level and more of a “classic” summoner approach till they actually have enough gear to spec fully into mana guardian

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5) My Actual Gear / End-Game Skills
Spoiler


For Uber Lab enchant: Summoned Agony Crawler Fires 2 Additional Projectiles (25EX) / Herald of Agony has 30% reduced Mana Reservation (60EX+) / Discipline has 20% reduced Mana Reservation (3-10EX) / 30% Increased Projectile Weakness Curse Effect
This is what i have and it’s about 100+ ex here with chest being the most expensive part (50-70EX).
Skin of Loyal equals to about 400+ ES chest, but it doubles your armour as well.
Herald 5L: Herald of Agony-Minion.Damage-Awakened.Vicious.Projectiles-Damage.on.full.Life-Pierce
Herald 6L: Herald of Agony-Minion.Damage-Awakened.Vicious.Projectiles-Damage.on.full.Life-Pierce-Maim / EMPOWER lvl.4 (when you get the money)
JEWELS: Watcher’s Eye with at least Clarity as extra ES (and Discipline Faster Recharge if possible), generic jewels are MANA/ES/Resistance. 1x Healthy Mind


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6) Flasks
Spoiler


Wise Oak is for pure defense. Taste of Hate is also an option.

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7) Pantheon Gods
Spoiler


Major: Arakaali / Brine King
Minor: Tukohama

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8) Hardcore Viable or not?
Spoiler


It is indeed, but you need some decent gear for it.

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9) FOR THE RICH GUYS
Spoiler

Clarity + Discipline Watchers eye. Reduced reserve healthy mind/grind spectrum for top tier damage. +2 wand with a lot of damage and trigger.

======================================================================================
MORE VIDEOS:
Spoiler

Elder:
https://youtu.be/N8cdj54GDjE
Mastermind:
https://youtu.be/xSoVgYnZVHw
Sirus A8 (you can stand in meteors if you wish!):
https://youtu.be/lEGjAgCTVIE

======================================================================================
FAQ
1) Can i get more energy shield?
Spoiler

You can indeed, but at the cost of damage.Bossing will take ages.

2) Why you don’t use Poison Support?
Spoiler

You will have 100% of chance to poison with that and it’s and overkill tbh. Lesser poison is more than enough and it gives you flat added chaos, enabling POISON for any skills (by default Ball Lightning is lightning and you cannot poison with lightning).

3) What is the best skill to proc poison?
Spoiler

Actually a lot of skills are decent for mapping: Ball Lightning, Storm Brand, Orb of Storms. But only Ball Lightning and Storm Burst do well on bosses. So for general mapping i use Ball Lightning and for long boss fights i switch to Storm Burst. Storm Burst allows you to be far away and channel at the boss location, being out of danger range.


https://www.twitch.tv/angry_roleplayer
All builds: http://www.angryroleplayer.com/path-of-exile-builds/
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2143469
Last edited by Angry_Roleplayer on Jan 18, 2021, 5:21:12 AM
Last bumped on Aug 3, 2021, 4:55:48 PM
Let's gooooooo. ES Grandpa Guardian OP.
V 1.1 Update (02/02/2020):
-I forgot that minions do not count as Party members, so Herald gets no charges from Harmony of Purpose. This brings the damage down in POB, but in "reality" it's not big of a deal since it means i killed all content without charges on my minions :). If you want to get charges you can still do it by using Host and Carnage Chieftains as Spectres. But they would require Minion Life supports and possibly even Meat Shields to stay alive. I would probably not trade it for Withered that immortal Stoneskin Flayers give.
I fixed all POBS (literally just unclicked charges) and gave a detailed explanation on Uber Lab ascendancy choices
https://www.twitch.tv/angry_roleplayer
All builds: http://www.angryroleplayer.com/path-of-exile-builds/
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2143469
The same build as hitmantb, games, items are the same .. why copy something that is already?
"
pitekk92 wrote:
The same build as hitmantb, games, items are the same .. why copy something that is already?

No clue who are these, and i doubt they have 28k es
https://www.twitch.tv/angry_roleplayer
All builds: http://www.angryroleplayer.com/path-of-exile-builds/
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2143469
"
"
pitekk92 wrote:
The same build as hitmantb, games, items are the same .. why copy something that is already?

No clue who are these, and i doubt they have 28k es


He is talking about this : https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2663126

I think this is an good variant, 28k es sounds good.

I have 12k es with my current build and ~5m damage, and i am already unkillable lol (ok i cant facetank shaper's beam).

Good point for your build : looks way more easier to cap res omg

Edit : thanks for the "Storm Burst" tip
Last edited by FezuPapa on Feb 5, 2020, 6:09:14 AM
https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/d6yxl2/mana_guardian_with_herald_of_agony_27k_energy/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_body

YeaH his doesn’t have 28k only 27k but maybe some of the stats changed on this build since he posted this reddit a half a year ago.
Last edited by Lord_Rat on Feb 8, 2020, 12:36:59 AM
You guys are missing the point here a bit.
It's very easy to get even 40k ES.
It's all bout the balance between ES and DPS.
PS: I already dismantled my character last week, so he's not on poe.ninja anymore
https://www.twitch.tv/angry_roleplayer
All builds: http://www.angryroleplayer.com/path-of-exile-builds/
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2143469
Last edited by Angry_Roleplayer on Feb 8, 2020, 12:31:46 PM
what rings and amulet use to lvl?
"
SubjectZero90 wrote:
what rings and amulet use to lvl?

praxis, bereks, dream fragments, something that adds damage to spell while playing totem.
atziri's foible / sidhebreath
https://www.twitch.tv/angry_roleplayer
All builds: http://www.angryroleplayer.com/path-of-exile-builds/
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2143469

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