Err... Auras?

Ok, so I took a few years off the game... I come back, and Holy Carp is everything different.

I read things about aura bots being too powerful... and yeah, I remember they were from the last time I played in... I think it was the late 2.X series?... but it seems that in an attempt to curb them, the entire concept of auras has gone totally sideways, and attempting to parse the ever growing Skilldrasil isn't helping me.



The question is, the way I prefer to play is a hybrid summoner/aura build. Is that even REMOTELY still possible? like, I don't specifically have to have 8/9 auras like I used to, but I don't want to only have, like, 3.

The power of aura stackers was curbed, but you can certainly get to ludicrous amounts of auras with enough investment. Unfortunately, summoners were also nerfed since you last played.

If you have the build know-how and the currency generation to pull it off, I think this build is still possible. I assume you know about Path of Building - if not, download this: https://pathofbuilding.community/. Also, have a look at all the top builds from this league - you can sort by items and skills to find people playing similar builds: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds

Yeah, I just can't imagine any "curbing of aurastackers" that wouldn't have forked me over. Of course, it was years ago.

Also, my hybrid build was somewhat cheap... Alpha, Prism, Victario, with Skyforth as a stretch goal. It certainly wasn't clearing anything FAST, but it also wasn't really stopped by anything other than stupid mapmod combinations or the endest of endgame.




I'll check the latest release of Building. Why not, worst thing I find out is that I won't be coming back? I mean, until PoE2 possibly changes everything up ;p

Three aura's is more than enough for summoning, two defensive and a single offensive usually are more than enough and easy to lock in.

We still have reservation effect stacking it's just a lot weaker, granted you can throw currency at an aura stacker and get near if not all of them.

It's a little more unpleasant with minion levels being nerfed all the time and becoming a hybrid of gear and levels but they still basically function the same.

For summoner, usually you can use Determination, Purity of Elements, a dmg aura (Hatred/Wrath/Zealotry) and with some investment, Aspect of the Spider or another 25% aura.

I can still have all these auras active on my old spdiermancer, with 32 unallocated passives (skill tree changes):


However, generally you want 6L dps minions, minimum 4L support minions, auras, movement, offering, curse/mark(s), if possible a CWDT setup, so you are pretty starved on sockets.

I'm more interested in the auras than the summons though. While I don't HAVE to have 9 auras like previously, I do want aura-focus, as the whole point of the character is to be able to join random groups with people who are probably far better equipped than I am, but not be a hindrance to them.

The summons are just there because I'm not a "dedicated aurabot", sometimes I just want to putz around solo, and a huge army fit well with a lot of auras. I wasn't killing anything FAST, but I was very general-purpose without needing twitch-reaction times, which I liked.

9+ auras is for sure possible, but might not be cheap, as you need to stack many reservation efficiency jewels. Here's an example: https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds/char/Kzarikaz/Cocksalted

You can import the character in PoB.

Interesting build.

...

I've played with PoB a bit. I can get something somewhat similar to my old days, but I'd either have to be way more expensive about it (not great for a guy with limited playtime), or swap from Necromancer to Heirophant for the extra reservation, which would cause me to lose easy access to some of the minion nodes... though to what extent that would matter to me in the game so many years later, I'm unsure.

In any event, I think I have my answer. Thanks reply-ers :)