[Bricked] Odif's Build Guides for Newbies: Skeleton Mage Necro

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DavGlen wrote:
Hello! Quick question. You mention that the Carnage Chieftains are good spectres, but that these aren't the best ones we can get.

What are exactly the best ones we can get?

Thanks!

Opse...i need to put this back in the guide, seems to have been deleted at some point.
Pale Seraphim and Arena Masters are two good ones.
Last edited by Odif on Apr 30, 2023, 10:02:49 PM
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Ovenschotel wrote:
Any suggestions for crucible passives to chase for?

Weapon: anything that gives damage for us, flat elemental damage to minions, minions cast speed, etc
Shield: whatever looks good for your defense.
"
Bucklax31 wrote:
What type of jewels should I be using, besides Dead Reckoning?


Here is a copy and paste from the build guide, the section on "gear upgrades"

Desired jewel mods
Life
Minion damage if you have used a minion skill recently
Minion attack and cast speed
Flat minion fire/lightning/cold damage
These can get VERY expensive, the more good mods it has, so buy what you can afford.
(Jewels need at least 2 good mods to justify spending 2 passive points to get the socket in the tree.)
Thank you very much for the guide, Odif.

I started playing about a month ago so I have a very nooby question. I tried another league starter and while it was great, it got quite expensive faster than I expected. How far do you think I can take this build on my current budget (5-6 div)? Clearing red maps? Getting all the voidstones? Somewhere in between? Given that I haven't seen the game beyond lvl 10 maps or so, it's really difficult to know what to expect.
"
AntOfScience wrote:
Thank you very much for the guide, Odif.

I started playing about a month ago so I have a very nooby question. I tried another league starter and while it was great, it got quite expensive faster than I expected. How far do you think I can take this build on my current budget (5-6 div)? Clearing red maps? Getting all the voidstones? Somewhere in between? Given that I haven't seen the game beyond lvl 10 maps or so, it's really difficult to know what to expect.


This build takes everybody who follows it to easily clearing t16 maps, and (if you know the fights) getting 4 voidstones.
(Maven in particular is more about knowing the fight, than how good your build is)

It costs a LOT less than 5 divines to be able to clear t16 maps with this build.

A +2 duration gems tabula, a 20% quality anomalous faster projectile, a +1 minion gems wand, a +1 all gems ammy, a +1 minion gems helm, a +1 minion gems shield, a elemental penetration support gem, and you are dominating t16 maps.
The above gear is MUCH less than 5 divines total. (A +2 minion helm can be pricy)


TLDR:
I designed the build to do absurdly well with cheap gear.
Drawback: caps out around 7 mill dps, other minion builds have higher ceiling.
Last edited by Odif on May 10, 2023, 2:21:31 PM
FYI:
From Friday the 12th, thru Tuesday the 16th, I will be playing Badger Private League event.

I will not be in the /global 8123 channel, nor looking at this forum during that time.

"
Odif wrote:
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AntOfScience wrote:
Thank you very much for the guide, Odif.

I started playing about a month ago so I have a very nooby question. I tried another league starter and while it was great, it got quite expensive faster than I expected. How far do you think I can take this build on my current budget (5-6 div)? Clearing red maps? Getting all the voidstones? Somewhere in between? Given that I haven't seen the game beyond lvl 10 maps or so, it's really difficult to know what to expect.


This build takes everybody who follows it to easily clearing t16 maps, and (if you know the fights) getting 4 voidstones.
(Maven in particular is more about knowing the fight, than how good your build is)

It costs a LOT less than 5 divines to be able to clear t16 maps with this build.

A +2 duration gems tabula, a 20% quality anomalous faster projectile, a +1 minion gems wand, a +1 all gems ammy, a +1 minion gems helm, a +1 minion gems shield, a elemental penetration support gem, and you are dominating t16 maps.
The above gear is MUCH less than 5 divines total. (A +2 minion helm can be pricy)


TLDR:
I designed the build to do absurdly well with cheap gear.
Drawback: caps out around 7 mill dps, other minion builds have higher ceiling.


Thank you for replying. While the answer might have been obvious for anyone a bit more experienced, it helps me a ton that you confirmed this. I gave the build a try with a tabula and a few other trinket items and tore through the acts like it was nothing. Loving the experience. Thanks again for making this guide!
Last edited by AntOfScience on May 10, 2023, 3:21:40 PM
Hi all,

I'm relatively new (played a little every few years). I am up to Maps V (five) with an 84 Necro using this build. I just bought a Dead Reckoning and an appropriate chest with the 5 slots. I'm working on leveling up the necessary skill gems to make the Elemental Penetration gem, so Lightning Penetration is slotted in.

I have found that since moving to Mage Skeletons my survivability is much lower. I die to 90% crucible encounters in Maps V. I seem to lose a lot of XP from deaths and have found leveling difficult.

I was wondering if someone could give the missing¹ advice about the Mage Skeletons transition please?

So far, there seem to be these items of advice:

* Use 5B/1G chest with specific gems
* Use Anomalous Faster Projectiles when you can afford it plus 4B/2G chest
* Use Sniper's Mark as your curse
* Gloves with Elemental Weakness on Hit Corruption for Animated Guardian

But what I want to know is:

* Should I change my Spectres from Carnage Chiefs for Skeleton Mages? To what?
* Most of my minions just stand around next to me. How do I get them to attack?
* Everything is extremely expensive - like 60+ Chaos. Is that expected, or is this considered "Cheap"?

Also, can someone look at my build and give any advice please? My character is PiperGwen at https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/HighAdmiral/characters. A friend lent me a "Mageblood" belt and some flasks until end of the league, so my elemental resists and movement speed are fine.

I am constantly casting Desecrate & Bone Offering whenever I notice it is down. I cast the "Sniper's Mark" on yellows/oranges and bosses as well. I run around a lot since Odin says "Keep moving. Movement is a key defense". I hit "Convocation" whenever something attacks me directly to get all my minions around me. I use FrostBlink to move around instead of Flame Dash but I could switch. I keep Skitterbots, Tempest Shield and Determination running as auras.

Also, any advice on spending Maps passives would be welcome. I have 9 unspent, and have followed the early atlas progression guide here https://www.poe-vault.com/guides/atlas-passive-skill-tree-strategies but don't know what to do next.

Thanks in advance!

¹ "I am not giving more detail because skeleton mages are so strong, that as long as you support it with some sort of spell/projectile supports you will be fine, and because I don't see a total newbie as having a Dead Reckoning right away." Unfortunately, I am a mostly newbie!!
Last edited by HighAdmiral on Jul 2, 2023, 2:05:45 PM
"
HighAdmiral wrote:

* Use 5B/1G chest with specific gems
* Use Anomalous Faster Projectiles when you can afford it plus 4B/2G chest
* Use Sniper's Mark as your curse
* Gloves with Elemental Weakness on Hit Corruption for Animated Guardian

The chest piece for the build is Tabula with +2 to Duration gems. Currently it's price is 10c.
Note:"Tabula has to be used with the |+15% max life node in Life mastery".
There's a section in the guide about the AG gear. I'm sure most of the items are not expensive.

"
HighAdmiral wrote:

But what I want to know is:

* Should I change my Spectres from Carnage Chiefs for Skeleton Mages? To what?

No. You may use chieftains.
"
HighAdmiral wrote:

* Most of my minions just stand around next to me. How do I get them to attack?

Only zombies are staying around you. Skeles attack automatically.

"
HighAdmiral wrote:

Also, any advice on spending Maps passives would be welcome.

Just spec in anything you enjoy.
Last edited by Mumuzet on Jul 12, 2023, 12:37:44 PM
"
HighAdmiral wrote:
Hi all,

I'm relatively new (played a little every few years). I am up to Maps V (five) with an 84 Necro using this build. I just bought a Dead Reckoning and an appropriate chest with the 5 slots. I'm working on leveling up the necessary skill gems to make the Elemental Penetration gem, so Lightning Penetration is slotted in.

I have found that since moving to Mage Skeletons my survivability is much lower. I die to 90% crucible encounters in Maps V. I seem to lose a lot of XP from deaths and have found leveling difficult.

I was wondering if someone could give the missing¹ advice about the Mage Skeletons transition please?

So far, there seem to be these items of advice:

* Use 5B/1G chest with specific gems
* Use Anomalous Faster Projectiles when you can afford it plus 4B/2G chest
* Use Sniper's Mark as your curse
* Gloves with Elemental Weakness on Hit Corruption for Animated Guardian

But what I want to know is:

* Should I change my Spectres from Carnage Chiefs for Skeleton Mages? To what?
* Most of my minions just stand around next to me. How do I get them to attack?
* Everything is extremely expensive - like 60+ Chaos. Is that expected, or is this considered "Cheap"?

Also, can someone look at my build and give any advice please? My character is PiperGwen at https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/HighAdmiral/characters. A friend lent me a "Mageblood" belt and some flasks until end of the league, so my elemental resists and movement speed are fine.

I am constantly casting Desecrate & Bone Offering whenever I notice it is down. I cast the "Sniper's Mark" on yellows/oranges and bosses as well. I run around a lot since Odin says "Keep moving. Movement is a key defense". I hit "Convocation" whenever something attacks me directly to get all my minions around me. I use FrostBlink to move around instead of Flame Dash but I could switch. I keep Skitterbots, Tempest Shield and Determination running as auras.

Also, any advice on spending Maps passives would be welcome. I have 9 unspent, and have followed the early atlas progression guide here https://www.poe-vault.com/guides/atlas-passive-skill-tree-strategies but don't know what to do next.

Thanks in advance!

¹ "I am not giving more detail because skeleton mages are so strong, that as long as you support it with some sort of spell/projectile supports you will be fine, and because I don't see a total newbie as having a Dead Reckoning right away." Unfortunately, I am a mostly newbie!!


As far as minions standing around doing nothing...
Only the mages do significant dps, and they have great AI.
If the other minions are doing nothing, it means nothing is attacking you, so you are golden.

Try and get the crafted trigger mod on your weapon, this will automate desecrate and bone offering, GREATLY increasing quality of life.

As far as atlas passives...i am a HUGE believer in the "specialize in what you like"
As a newbie, you may not know what you like, so try all the league mechanics, multiple times...then put your points into the ones you like.

And sorry it took me so long to reply, I wont be playing PoE till next league, so I dont check the thread that often.

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