3.16 Ignite Detonate Dead Necromancer - 8M Boss DPS 9k ES 65% Evade 63% A block 69% S block

Vaal Detonate Dead be like




DISCLAIMER

This build is pure theory as it is made specifically with the changes coming with 3.16 in mind.

Numbers look promising though :)


INTRODUCTION

The advantage of ignite Detonate Dead over non-ignite in bossing scenarios

As many bossfights contain monster pools that have many low hp monsters, non-ignite Detonate Dead builds will have a bloat of these monsters in their desecrates, resulting in very low average dmg compared to the max potential dmg.

With ignite, we completely negate this downside to the skill.
Only the highest ignite will be dealing damage, so if we detonate 12 corpses and 1 of them is our desired spectre, we will deal our full dps for the duration of that ignite. Now given that we have 2 spectres to add to the pool, and 1 Vaal Detonate Dead will detonate a total of 22 corpses, this is permanent uptime on our dps.

Detonate Dead has the potential to be one of the highest base damage skills in the game. With ignite being increased from 50% of base damage scaling to 125% we will make great use of that base to scale some awesome numbers.
Read on for damage breakdown later in the guide. Avg Sirus DPS (5-8m) mid to high end.

Giant buffs to ES (Energy Shield) in 3.16 of course means that we have to go that route, and with decent gear we reach 7-9k. This number paired with easily achievable 20k evasion, Ghost shroud keystone, newly buffed ES recharge and Wicked Ward keystone, max block/spell block and Temporal Chains on a good aoe will also give us some hefty defensive layers to work with.

As a finishing touch, the ignite variation solves a problem unique to Detonate Dead when it comes to certain boss encounters.

VIDEO

As this build is purely theoretical, I will not be able to provide any video proof of this builds viability on launch of 3.16. However I might add this as we progress in the league.

OVERVIEW

Pros:

+ Good scalability
+ Ignite proliferation (smooth pack clearing)
+ Many defensive layers
+ Low budget viable (still good numbers on low gear investment)
+ High mana reservation efficiency

Cons:

- Everyone wants to try ignite (Probably expensive to get good gear)
- No efforts to get high movement speed
- 2 skill build


SKILL TREE

Witch

I will be using the tool Path of Building for this guide. If you do not have it I strongly recommend that you get it. It will advance your game knowledge significantly over time.

https://pathofbuilding.community/

Passive tree URL here

https://pastebin.com/TTrCM9xc 22-10-2021

Current POB https://pastebin.com/6VsGcEPw 30-10-2021


Ascendancy Points: Order of Ascendancy Points

1.st major node

Plaguebringer:

This node serves as a nice defensive layer.

The line that reads: "With at least one nearby corpse, nearby Enemies deal 10% reduced damage" Is a very good defensive layer for us. As the reduction is native to the monster attacking us, it will be applied first in the calculation and therefore benefit us in full effect.

2.nd major node

Corpse Pact:

Simple explanation:

As the part of Detonate Dead we will be focusing on is the one that scales with %max corpse life, (Secondary part - Wiki link https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Detonate_Dead) the 50% that we gain from this node is a huge increase to our base fire damage on the skill.

In fact with the current best spectres, our BASE damage will be 8505.

Detailed explanation:

Spoiler

There is multiple layers to the baseline scaling of Detonate Dead.

Layer 1.
Corpse life

The base life of the corpses that we are going to detonate is detrimental to the dmg output of our build. A map will in general have many different monsters in it, but a high amount of those will have a low HP pool.
As Desecrate uses the map monster pool to summon corpses this will result in a low dmg output from us.

Luckily, spectres that we bring into the map will be added to to this pool. What we then do, is go out and find some of the highest health monsters in the game, and leash them around to every zone of the game.

With this noteable, we will increase the already high amount of hp of these monsters by an additional 50% resulting in corpses that reach upwards of 90k life. Detonate Deads' second explosion is based off of a percentage of corpse life, so this means that we will get some truly absurd amounts of flat damage to scale off of.

This fact combined with the recent increase in ignite base damage scaling makes for a very appealing base for scaling, with a high return on investment.

Layer 2.
Choice of spectres

Top Spectres - Lithomancer and Stoneskin Flayer (Delve, found in cities) can also be granted to you by other players, so go to channel Global 6666 for help with spectres.

Other close to top spectres - Auto Enforcer and Rusty Crusher (Heist, tunnels layout)
Primal Blisterlord and Primal Crushclaw (Harvest encounters)
Creds to Zizaran for inspiration.

Layer 3.
Amount of different spectres

As a map will generally have many different monsters, the amount of different spectres we add to the map pool, will proportionally increase the chance for one of the corpses summoned by our desecrate to be one of the desired spectres. On a non-ignite Detonate Dead I would argue for 3 spectres, but as we go ignite we have a special advantage.

It is only possible to apply 1 ignite to an enemy, and it will always be the highest damage ignite that will deal damage. Because of this, only one of the corpses that we detonate need to be one of the desired spectres.

Even though it is hard to determine the exact amount of different monsters in the avg of all zones, it is safe to say that in most casts of the spell we will end with one of our spectres when we have only 2 different spectres.

You will have to decide if you go for 2 or 3 spectres, but the next layer will also have some say in this decision.

Creds to Badger for the ultra grind in determining this info:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hayhnBg6gOk&t=652s
Can recommend you watch his video on the topic!


Layer 4.
Amount of corpses summoned

With the Undertaker note on the passive tree, our max amount of summoned corpses will go from 10 to 12.
This will generally be most useful on bosses, but will be a very big increase to the consistency of your damage output on longer fights.

I would say that you have to either go for 3 spectres or the Undertaker noteable, and as the Undertaker also provides some extra damage, I opt in on that.



3.rd major node

Mistress of sacrifice

The lack of flashy numbers might deceive you into thinking less of the node, but take note!
Bone offering: (Wiki link https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Bone_Offering)
This skill will provide us with a great amount of block and spell block baseline, that is possible to scale us up halfway to max block with a gear piece that affects the effectiveness of offerings. This node will rival the nerfed gladiator ascendancy in terms of block per investment.

4.th major node

Here we have some freedom of choice

I would recommend Commander of Darkness early for the extra resistance if needed. But it might be better to just go straight for Essence Glutton. Remains to be seen.

BANDITS

Alira can be awesome for lvling due to resistance and mana regen. Respec is possible at later stages (How to respec Alira - Wiki link https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Book_of_Reform)

LEVELING TREE

A list of gems and lvls at which they are obtainable will be included further on in the guide.

This skill tree is very quick and dirty, I have not optimized it, but it will serve as a template for beginners to the game!
It assumes that we use Armageddon Brand, but that might change dependent on the strength of the new skill. Spec out of brand notes if you change skill!

Pastebin is dead for the time being, so copy this code for the lvling tree!

eNq9W9tX2tgaf-78FVk8nKdUsq9JenBmgaIy9VbRavviiskGornQJIB01vzv59sJCjqCH5mu44NNwu-77u8abOuPxzgypirLwzTZbZAdq2GoxE-DMBnuNq4uDz46jT9-_6117hWjs0FnEkb6k99_-9Aqr41ITVUEdA2j8LKhKr4-cWK3wGnsJcVIpcmJd59mh2mw2zhNE9Uw7rwkCIunOz_y8vzUi9Vu4zos_FHD8HJfJcHe8nkFjL0w6af-gyoOs3QyLsVOQzU7SQPA9E7Ozy4uV4SGyapQ0PlD6zzy5irrF15h5PBrt9EG072h2vdi-A3cvGgCrOiOLRrNtyn6Y6WCZyTZof8_4HmmuoOB8otwqvaysNgbeYm_1NpaR7ct9mQSFeE4ClW2otVahxz9g7m7lvtlWnjR_nn_Gcp22K_DpsX79kGEjToROBzJWeN7wyQs1BYE52mYp8mWuq_C1x9PGt-FCVr7J3h7OsTAT7zE20tzhBuPw4HCIbt9HO4CEhCH1FqeqwxKRIFXdiuCfrES-XytxurHKnAtt331iOO2ClzLrZcsDWCUbmC3ityg3DQtoGLjvPiMssmGauZ_0the4i8LqtjE9SrJVK6y6UoVXM__JcHiWJf-tTbqf6GGasXUnc1ijpXyR4fQdC68QuHicmkxszd6SINXPbSR6xsO2sD_JcUWHtKELz0k1jcjDd7SQddeFiAKRqKy4bw_ClW0RHNLYvAXyk-ho8_3vPHSYHfjQaySrx4IYRQn8UVEYUi29Fp36uWrCfqePRX8RfatL_gKWiFQBOpVC3d-HcV5lt7rmSXajqydxekEUV1Loyswzubz0TwPfWi55cx3oYKJjyuAz7PXCcRYDDlVDm4wfC6PZh1pJ4KxFTuCAdso2oqiXRSe_7CfBkO1lZDtKfqT8Rgqi44wLN1BmIGX83Cl8X4k7H30GSTyah5vmIl0Gr4UIOj7aLSA43A4KhLYe_BSXpHgbRl5ab6FMUs4WsTBJIpQs2b_IXyJLLy7SH0yrEfiUYf43vqUT2egzEhvhPn7clbRJ95yBFofI5lKfs7R_F_AUQK6STDJdHSjZbym-KeYVrPcmPVVLx6nWVE-3PMiPy9Z9pLxpDCSct3Ntedvk0l8p1ew6t9ldVlFxmHu395NBgO9AzdAmaxc3LsHB929y97X7oKkr8oaZ_hpFHnjXMFSPPCiHCjCYHHQfSjsfoHCw8a3WJgxaOj6fhaCEzFgvcOhVC53ZgxSL7QoIJyKFym8wy7nY6UjIMf6bFEwMehyQ0Uhq1UTZ2C5xuKOQfneHIV8HmZQ6G6k2mGkeyfOaycQ3lXbxeGhEWbh3aRARlu50qD00KM9ysDV4RWZHTjgYh5CKbGYGDHYRa_BBSWMJOhj21cDBeGOTPuynFx6DypZFMunwtgqcy03cqiYhyrOO3PoSAfava9ehrwAQK_KJsA7UANvEunnXyZeFBZzXcJXnh5Xry8pPMxH6UxPNxUbndw5OP34uPqkHRULDlrGk-6lqpeZUoZXDoZ6FtV1urIYblbfZPaCUnjs5QVsKIuo3m38JQnjzKSWZNbf5l-SMcekrnAk3FCHOiahgsA1oUSYzOGUwY0Q3CUm0Dn6jlucuSaX0qZ_Q7uATgB8pSUsYnKLAtDmnJvEJRYzBVzapiSOxeFD25Ymk7YpbEqlKRgX0uScUWANgkwqXNsyqeQOcCKSCVOyklwryantCpO7IMgUrhQA1OpKC6jMhUoOIY5pu4AmNmUgy7Ed15Qud83SHkk5sACmlmkL0I6AvsSUnBJLcxZEP4EPCRH62mU2N6UtuRYuLf2hsEEWk9IkTIBcJig8p2ACBxukJGblKmlxYCOpsMFYwcBC6loM3OGARNDAcW39BPTinDhAS22iLadgPyNcUkBSsIVYjstMMB90APupC67Tp0cY2EWIC2LBy8QEk6UJFmuVqKvFOY4ojQY0XJpgBAEOtgUSgQ7MtYnm44KFQggbPmQu-JS42u3EIQ6oSbT2FhwpPLDBffCh7cIpOSCRCQgacLDDtUgCBytcC7R3XA6HUsaYIK7Q3KXW2HEcbbIDLmKOhoPrBBwGdx04B-oICALpAEtHal8K29IcmWgYBQT8ynt-Ihev8HWAszL2P7S6AbSa4FSHYvlg9Ymh4DLN-koXASIt-IEq4GtubRiL6L7-XaZ9Dx7mzTHwhuTKm11InMSLuvEYloQzSKBEPz9Ny7l0JwjyKvirrwwWYEMXuChU5aqiP9VaEsIh5SvFPujmZRDjeYIzqhHOUPpFgpEr0CEwwoExTyf_8cZp_t-pMu6USgxo6cBdv1yJ5pWNzaWRlRuar_3Quro4ruSOimKcf2o2Z7PZztgrRulAPcKOvOOn8ZPFH8s58KP2d7MNP532Sbt99vg1uT4JDro_Bs71fNBvH0wZz75YnYMvoySI_Dh4TH-cM_J4vzeeTzuP6mFvb_Yz-wZBP7n9Nmg_nF5F_Oruzy_928PDa9LpkPPT_EZa-dHP02JYHFmTyWE8T_b278aJxy2Xx87NrH_0Pbjftzv3lh8MH_zr5KGX-Y_-TZzHR7eH38dCisnpj88p7fYPre8HsXt535dXnbb_8CN6zIafL2aTuTtts6uAXs_c9Oxb3_t6c00vToP7h_nPi9m3L1f-adG_KE4YvUzuj7yb2Q2diYyH7tnHwXx6_P2a7d8En6-_9noxy2x_ftq7lb27vWM18qeVq58826q-InqKu-puefQS0hjCrVBxVZCba3BQciwEDiop4xgchyxF4Ch1XQw_7kDqY_gxQhAwl1sYr0ChRVlLXZtQDI64DooftDaB0Y_ZAuNlRiTqNKANSAwOupOLiRbXdm1M8FEo2JigsmyGcYukDKMdh4aLiSndklH8YGZwUadhocRC05MoM5iLSjUIFgw_3VgxXibcRcmFs7Uw_KjDbdTpQrd2UEkE8wKKn5QoP7uWgwkDwQm1UcnrOpg4gPmMYfSDkRMXztJxMMWKWIJRlP84Si6lNsecm4D50EHlB0UVK8phqkflB644w6COw0H6olovJZLg7MDACCMocxmTDMPPho0H1SpdFDsJaxmGHedvdaxWc2XagRvYOcv1WS-l-gKG42ry1A-fbsqV9WuoZjDdepk_6hcZbPcw_AYN42eaxt907vAdx4a2BmsTLDDVEnykvOLEGz9v7hq72KDZYoEuvGI_hMk8K3f_pzVcA292Gx_pjl6OmO3A0O_Q6qvwVg9MyhcLtL7uq6L8y55Jrvrl8H2tYOxOyseV4OotaAXdACvfLJDFQtKP0qd3phXQIP2ZNzbad_M8hzVh4e436u1bpK_JKI5sM6qTpkVeU6G3bHlHqY6Kii1JDmDNezAYSiX6lkqsnntxTqC_iIzXU1LWkybre7NOPL1zAkcqilWxraA3IknWkfNO-B1G6VR_GbM9Y1Y_i0gdebxeLJB6kcffPx6MY7dl-1Z41TQcVXdEDX1q1ED2nphgblQv47c8vre9XCu-RB0iVEpiDqKWnaK2W2mNc5f1MonVC1-2fZTx-mW_RkyT2s5nmIDgGFANtf_F8IM8yfqnIGtEZf1j-Bfhgi3JmhaZNXhoDc9dhMkQNwlsXSjWurdmucCfZx1zGMJPpP4x8NreEnWsweRL_SB_R6V2PIne6G2t5mKLLHfmchEt_ygnTQbhEBCt5uv_9_I_tupEUA==

I would advice that you don't spec into additional spectres until you make the swap to Detonate Dead, and that you don't spec into wither until you make the swap to the Blackflame ring.
Also don't take Zealot's Oath until you have Bottled Faith.

Instead of taking the two int nodes when you start lvling, take the increased Energy Shield or DMG nodes from the witch starting area. We will respec these later.

OFFENCE/DEFENCE BREAKDOWN

DEFENSE

I like to envision my builds at high performance, for this reason the stats given will reflect some pretty strong gear pieces. Be aware that the price of obtaining some pieces might be daunting. But that it will be possible to get by with less investment.

+ Total ES - 9k
+ Recharge rate 4k/sec
+ Recharge delay 1 sec
+ ES Regen/sec 1500
+ Evasion rating approx. 20k Evade chance 65%
+ Attack block 63%
+ Spell block 69%
+ Temporal chains blasphemy
+ Discipline (Watcher's eye)
+ Grace (Watcher's eye)
+ Ghost dance keystone (3% of evasion gained as ES when hit - 20000 x 0.03 = 600 ES. Block counts as being hit, so effectively 600 ES on block)

OFFENSE

+ Frenzy Charges
+ Elemental Overload (Easy 20% crit for proc)
+ Blackflame ring (So we can use wither stacks - This will inflate POB damage but is pretty consistent on boss fights)
+ High amounts of ignites you inflict deal damage % faster.

JEWELS

We use the jewel Energy From Within next to the Melding noteable for some easy 500 ES.

Watcher's Eye

Mods are listed in order of magnitude.

An awesome defensive Watcher's Eye would be one with.
(30–40)% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge while affected by Discipline
+(5–8)% chance to Evade Attack Hits while affected by Grace
(30–50)% chance to Blind Enemies which Hit you while affected by Grace


GEAR AND EXPLANATION

Important for Detonate Dead - We do not scale off of spell damage or spell crit. Avoid it.

What we do scale off:
% Fire damage
% Elemental damage
% Damage over time
% Fire damage over time multiplier
% Damage over time multiplier
% Minion damage
% Vaal skill damage

What we don't scale off:
% Spell damage
% Spell crit
% Fire penetration
+ level of fire spell skill gems

As I have not had the chance to make any of the items for the build in-game, I will be posting straight pastes off of the POB for the gear setup:

Some of this gear will be HARD to obtain. But is not needed for a functional experience.

Weapon

Ilvl 82
Convoking wand (We can scale off of %increased minion damage)
Hunter Item
+18% to Damage over Time Multiplier
+38% to Fire Damage over Time Multiplier
109% increased Fire Damage
Ignites you inflict deal Damage 15% faster

Unsure how to craft?

Use Scorched fossil as most of the mods have the fire tag.

Shield

Ilvl 82
Titanium Spirit Shield
+90 to maximum Energy Shield
152% increased Energy Shield
17% increased Stun and Block Recovery

We will try to get the new %spell block suffix, or the increased energy shield recharge rate suffix. Maybe both :)

Helm

Ilvl 80
Hubris Circlet
Elder Item
Lab enchant 40% increased Detonate Dead Damage
+44 to maximum Energy Shield
125% increased Energy Shield
15% increased Stun and Block Recovery
(5-6)% Chance to Block Spell Damage
Nearby Enemies have -9% to Chaos Resistance

Unsure how to craft?

Use Dense and Aberrant fossils.

Why minus to Chaos Resistance?

The Blackflame ring will make our ignites damage be taken as chaos damage.

Chest

Ilvl 86
Vaal Regalia
Hunter Item
+100 to maximum Energy Shield
152% increased Energy Shield
17% increased Stun and Block Recovery
25% increased effect of Offerings

Unsure how to craft?

Use Dense fossils

Bonus - Try to get one with as high quality as possible, it will both make linking easier and give more ES.

Gloves

Ilvl 83
Sorcerer Gloves
Shaper Item
+16% to Fire Damage over Time Multiplier
+48 to maximum Energy Shield
139% increased Energy Shield
17% increased Stun and Block Recovery
120% increased Vaal Skill Critical Strike Chance

Vaal skill crit is nice quality of life in terms of keeping Elemental Overload up but is not mandatory.

Unsure how to craft?

Use Dense and Scorched fossils.

Boots

The new Evasion/Energy Shield mastery that give us +1 ES pr. +8 evasion on boots makes Atziri's Step a very good choice for us.

Can be made better with some elusive boots, but the amount of evasion on these boots is unparalleled.

Amulet

Ilvl 80
Seaglass Amulet
Shaper Item
Anoint: Charisma
Catalyst: Tempering
Implicit: (10-15)% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge
+24% to Fire Damage over Time Multiplier
30% increased Fire Damage
+21 to maximum Energy Shield
26% increased maximum Energy Shield

Unsure how to craft?

Use Dense and Scorched fossils.

Rings

Replica Emberwake - Might be subject to change - also going to be quite expensive. Due to the insane amount of reduced duration to ignites, I would not use this before I can get my Temporal Chains on an Awakened Blasphemy

Blackflame - Allows us to use the Wither effect to scale some very high amounts of increased damage taken on the enemy. This kind of scaling is multiplicative to all other scalings, so it is very important. (Get this before Replica Emberwake if possible)

Belt

Ilvl 82
Crystal Belt
Shaper Item
Crusader Item
(60-80) to maximum Energy Shield
30% increased Fire Damage
+61 to maximum Energy Shield
18% increased maximum Energy Shield
40% increased Damage with Vaal Skills
36% increased Energy Shield from Body Armour

Depending on your body armour, this belt can deliver up to 14% extra ES.
Keep in mind, this will be a fairly expensive craft.

Unsure how to craft?

Get a Ilvl 82 Crystal Belt, either with influence or slam it with a Crusder's exalt to apply the influence.
Get another belt of any kind with shaper influence and Ilvl 80
Roll %increased ES on Crusader belt and Increased ES from Body Armour on Shaper belt.

Combine with Awakeners orb (MAKE SURE YOU DO IT IN THE RIGHT ORDER - Wiki Link poewiki.net/wiki/Awakener%27s_Orb)
The basetype of the combined item is determined by which items you click last.
This will add the two influenced mods on the new item, but roll a random set of other mods, so pray ^^

Flasks

Alchemist's Jade flaks of Reflexes
Alchemist's Quicksilver flask of Adrenaline
Cinderswallow Urn (With crit)
Rumi's Concoction
Bottled Faith


LINKS AND GEMS

Where Awakened gems are added, their "sleeping" counterparts can be used until you have the dosh to acquire them.

Main damage links

Vaal Detonate Dead
- Awakened Deadly Ailments
- Awakened Burning Damage
- Ignite Proliferation
- Spell Cascade
- Awakened Unbound Ailments

Utility links

Wither (Use in wand or shield)
-Spell Totem Support
-Multiple Totems Support

Bone Offering (Use in wand)

Make sure to have the mod (trigger a socketed spell when you use a skill)

Reservation links

Grace and Discipline

Why not Malevolence? We simply don't need the damage. In case you disagree or want to use it during lvling, swap Grace out for it.
I need to stress the strength of the added evade chance that Grace gives us though. The combination of high block and high evasion will make the low time to start of ES recharge we have even more valuable.

Despair and Temporal Chains
- Awakened Blasphemy

Note - Do not take your plus 1 to curse limit before you have the Charisma noteable annointed and all the reservation efficiency on your tree. The mastery on the 1+ curse noteable will be the efficiency you need to make it all work.

Awakened Blasphemy is huge, as it will make all the noteables that give "Increased effect of non-curse auras from your skills" apply it to our curses. This makes for an additional 36% curse effect.

Desecrate
- Faster Casting
- Spell Cascade

Additionally you can invest into multiple Enlightens to free up some talent points on the tree, your call!

Flamedash

LEVELING

The single best tip for lvling I have ever recieved, is to get your gems when they are available. It usually amounts to huge utility.

The second best tip is to cap resistances, use Purity of Elements rather than Grace when lvling.

I have yet to lvl with this build, but I imagine that Armageddon Brand will be most delicious for us to go with. Spec into brand noteables on your way, and make sure to get the mastery that reads:
Brands Attach to a new enemy each time they Activate, No more than once every 0.3 seconds.

Multiple brands might not be that useful to us, as we only care about getting 1 ignite on our targets.

REMEMBER to lvl a bunch of Detonate Dead gems as you go, and corrupt them as you get Vaal orbs. This will make or break your transition from Armageddon Brand to Detonate Dead. These can be lvled in your secondary weapon slots, which can be switched around using the 'X' key.

GEMS BY LVL AND VENDOR

Spoiler


Detonate Dead - Can be bought from Nessa after completing the quest: Breaking some eggs. Lvl 4

Note - Make sure you lvl a whole bunch of these, as you will need to corrupt them into Vaal Detonate Dead yourself on leagues start.

Armageddon Brand - Can be bought from Clarissa after completing the quest: Sever the Right Hand. lvl 28

Note - I dont quite know which skill will be most optimal to use from lvl 1 to 28, so try to use a fire skill with some good ignite chance.

Deadly Ailments - Can be bought from Yeena after completing the quest: Sharp and Cruel. - lvl 18

Burning Damage - Can be bought from Clarissa after completing the quest: A Fixture of Fate - lvl 31

Ignite Proliferation and Elemental Proliferation - Use Elemental Proliferation until lvl 38 when Ignite Proliferation can be acquired from Peatarus and Vanja after completing the quest: The Eternal Nightmare

Swift Affliction - Can be bought from Clarissa after completing the quest: A Fixture of Fate - Lvl 31

Unbound Ailments - Will be granted as a quest reward from completing the quest: The Caged Brute - lvl 8

Wither - Can be bought from Nessa after completing the quest: The Caged Brute - lvl 10

Note - Don't use this until you have the Blackflame ring, but lvl it regardless.

Spell totem support - Can be bought from Nessa after completing the quest: The Caged Brute - lvl 8

Note - This is very important to lvl, as it will otherwise be oneshot when you start to use it in maps.

Faster casting - Can be bought from Yeena after completing the quest: Sharp and Cruel. - lvl 18

Bone offering - Can be bought from Nessa after completing the quest: The Siren's Cadence - lvl12

Note - This will have no effect on you until you have the merc lab ascendancy, so don't bother using it till then. Just lvl it.

Increased Duration - Can be bought from Siosa after completing the quest: A Fixture of Fate - lvl 31

Cast When Damage Taken - Can be bought from Peatarus and Vanja after completing the quest: The Eternal Nightmare - lvl 38

Grace - Can be bought from Siosa after completing the quest: Lost in Love - lvl 24

Discipline - Can be bought from Clarissa after completing the quest: Lost in Love - lvl 24

Purity of Elements - Can be bought from Clarissa after completing the quest: Lost in Love - lvl 24

Despair and Flammability - Can be bought from Clarissa after completing the quest: Lost in Love - lvl 24

Note - Use Flammability until you switch to the Blackflame ring.

Temporal Chains - Can be bought from Clarissa after completing the quest: Lost in Love - lvl 24

Blasphemy - Can be bought from Clarissa after completing the quest: A Fixture of Fate - Lvl 31

Frenzy - Can be bought from Siosa - lvl 16

Desecrate - Can be bought from Yeean after completing the quest: Intruders in Black - lvl 16

Faster Attacks - Can be bought from Siosa - lvl 16

Spellslinger - Can be bought from Clarissa after completing the quest: Lost in Love - lvl 24



FAQ

Q. Why is my Energy Shield so low?

A. Make Sure you have all 3 Prefix modifiers for ES on your gear pieces, and you have the Energy From Within Jewel socketed in the right place.

Q. Why is my DPS so low?

A. The gear that I have showcased has a lot of the %Fire damage over time multiplier that the build needs before diminishing returns start to kick in. For this reason, you will need to take more %Fire damage over time multiplier on the tree before you can get it on gear.

A2. Wrong spectres or no spectres. As I explain in the part of the build guide where we discuss ascendancy choices, the spectres you bring into a zone is everything for the damage of this build. Make sure you have the right ones.

Note - If your spectres die in a zone, they will still be in the monster map pool, so they do not need to be kept alive during a boss fight for example.

Q. Do we use Detonate Dead or Vaal Detonate Dead?

A. Vaal Detonate Dead has the luxury of removing the issues of mana cost from our list of worries, and it has a lot more % corpse life scaling from 6%-9% plus it destroys 22 corpses per trigger, meaning that we will have easy uptime on our grand ignites.

Q. When do I go Chaos Inoculation?

A. Chaos Inoculation will not be relevant until Chaos damage starts to become more prevalent. You will of course loose a great deal of life when you spec this, so make sure that you have a solid ES pool (around 250% of the life that you will loose)

Q. When do I pick Zealot's Oath?

A. Pick this when you have the Bottled Faith Flask. The consecrated ground that it creates will give us an awesome life regeneration bonus. To not waste this we pick up Zealot's Oath.

Q. Why can't I see the skill tree in your guide?

A. This guide requires that you have the Path of Building Community Fork installed. Link to download - https://pathofbuilding.community/
Paste the link provided into your Path of Building and you will be given the tree with all the example gear.

Q. How to reach comfortable amounts of crit for proccing Elemental Overload with Detonate Dead.

A. As we will be using the Vaal part of the skill, the suffix on gloves that gives "Vaal skill have 120% increased critical strike chance" is very useful to us.


Q. What spectres do we use in the build?

A: Top Spectres - Lithomancer and Stoneskin Flayer (Delve, found in non-vaal cities) can also be granted to you by other players, so go to channel Global 6666 for help with spectres.

Other close to top spectres - Auto Enforcer and Rusty Crusher (Heist, tunnels layout)

Primal Blisterlord and Primal Crushclaw (Harvest encounters)

Creds to Zizaran and Badger for inspiration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwQM5szRB8U&t=364s

Please let me know if you intend to play the build, would be fun to see how many people pick it up! :)

I will attempt to answer any questions you might have, so please pose them!

To conclude the guide I will be wishing everybody who made it this far, a great league with many exalts and giant DPS.

Cheers!

Last edited by Smurfey on Oct 30, 2021, 11:47:15 AM
Last bumped on Feb 10, 2022, 10:01:07 AM
So I'm really interested in this.

I was wondering if you could provide some detail about how the build is supposed to play. It looks like you spellslinger desecrate and then cast VDD for the boom. How many casts of Desecrate need to go off before casting DD?

You mention Spectres but don't provide additional detail. Are we just grabbing high HP spectres to bring into the instance with us as a way to improve the corpse pool?

Any info you can share would be appreciated, I am likely to try and league start this if I understand the build correctly.
^^
Last edited by Smurfey on Oct 20, 2021, 1:10:02 PM
"
SuperzPurez wrote:
So I'm really interested in this.

I was wondering if you could provide some detail about how the build is supposed to play. It looks like you spellslinger desecrate and then cast VDD for the boom. How many casts of Desecrate need to go off before casting DD?

You mention Spectres but don't provide additional detail. Are we just grabbing high HP spectres to bring into the instance with us as a way to improve the corpse pool?

Any info you can share would be appreciated, I am likely to try and league start this if I understand the build correctly.


Hello SuperzPurez!

1 Cast will generate 5 corpses, and for mapping this should be enough, as we only need 1 of those corpses to be our spectre, for the highest ignite damage possible. Multiple ignites wont increase damage, only the highest will be applied. But in general, the native map monsters combined with your spectre should be more than enough damage potential in mapping.

For bossing you can stack more corpses to increase the chance of summoning a spectre corpse, and it would be advised to keep desecrating as the Vaal DD goes off, as this will perpetuate the ignite duration. Due to replica Emberwake and Blackflame, our ignite duration is only 2.4 Seconds, so unless more duration is invested into, just spamming it will be the most optimal way to play.

I provide specific spectres in the detailed description of the 2.nd major node in the Ascendancy breakdown, but I will add this to the FAQ section also!

But you seem to understand the concept just fine!

Hope you enjoy it, and feel free to update with any improvements/discoveries you make along the way. Would appreciate it!
nice
Last edited by snakefr88 on Oct 21, 2021, 3:36:21 AM
Since we don't invest in our Spectres, they will die every map. This means we will need to resummon Spectres before each map.

This is a bit annoying, but manageable.
"
SuperzPurez wrote:
Since we don't invest in our Spectres, they will die every map. This means we will need to resummon Spectres before each map.

This is a bit annoying, but manageable.


Thing is though. They have 114k hp, and the recent changes to bone offering will give them a regen of 4% if they have blocked recently, which they will with almost 50% block and spell block.

We have 25% increased effect on chest (potentially) so 4x1.25=5% regen

Our spectres will have 114000x0.05=5700 constant regen, plus a bit more on tree!

So I do not think this will be a problem.

We can also opt into supporting them with Meat Shield, giving them 24% less damage taken if it is needed.
Yeah you're right.

Sorry I've never played with Spectres before so I'm not fully aware of how they work.

So it looks like the level of our Raise Spectre gem is what dictates the level of the Spectres (and therefore their base HP), and the "type" of Spectre gives a massive increase to life pool with a % increase life mod. So we just need to find a good spectre base early (which might take some time on league start).

My other concern is that it might be difficult to target the right corpse, but I guess there is decent cast speed so hopefully it just kinda works. Targeting a normal corpse drops the build to ~1m dps and much lower than that with bad gear.

Also, the new Flame Surge would add a substantial amount of damage to single target when paired with the large ignites. Might be worth trying to incorporate.
Last edited by SuperzPurez on Oct 21, 2021, 12:07:50 PM
"
SuperzPurez wrote:
Yeah you're right.

Sorry I've never played with Spectres before so I'm not fully aware of how they work.

So it looks like the level of our Raise Spectre gem is what dictates the level of the Spectres (and therefore their base HP), and the "type" of Spectre gives a massive increase to life pool with a % increase life mod. So we just need to find a good spectre base early (which might take some time on league start).

My other concern is that it might be difficult to target the right corpse, but I guess there is decent cast speed so hopefully it just kinda works. Targeting a normal corpse drops the build to ~1m dps and much lower than that with bad gear.

Also, the new Flame Surge would add a substantial amount of damage to single target when paired with the large ignites. Might be worth trying to incorporate.


Best early spectres will be the ones from Heist! As soon as you have the spectres the only thing that matters is the lvl of your Desecrate gem, as that is what determines the lvl of the corpses.

Targeting will not be an issue, as we should have perma uptime on Vaal Detonate Dead, and it will just blow everything up. Should it become a problem, swap in Spell Cascade!.

Yeah Flame Surge is just a straight up 25% multi, though I am not sure if it will synergize with the Blackflame ring. It will still do extra damage, but we dont have many end-scaling multipliers for fire damage, only chaos (Wither, Despair).
Hi, I am interested in this build, but I dread the lvling phase, could you please tell me how to handle this?
And theres alot of res and attribute requierement to fix on the PoB, I can imagine fix res or attribute but all together seems inaccessible
Thank you
Last edited by Waymy on Oct 21, 2021, 2:04:16 PM

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info