[3.23 Devon's Beef-Zombo-Skelly Guardian - Towering Titans | 7M+ DPS



3.23 - Updates
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No longer needs 1500str, now only 1000str!!! (really good buff)

Check out the POB for the updates!
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If you like a super tanky builds and Titan sized zombies followed by a permanent Skelly gang then this is the build for you!

Pros
+ Good starter
+ Great clear (everything the zombies kill explodes because of montregul)
+ Excellent Boss damage (due to the Vaal skelly gem and the super strong zombos)
+ Multiple defensive layers (Armor/Block/Life/Es/Fortify)
+ Excellent scaling

Cons
- needs quite a bit of uniques
- needs to occasionally resummon skellies

How does it work?

You leave the map clear to the zombies and permanent skellies that follow you. Resummon skellies if they die and cast Flesh offering. On bosses you cast the permanent mark and vulnerability as well.
Shield Charge/Leap slam to move around.

GIFs and Videos

Uber Elder


Video Showcase + Guide:
https://youtu.be/ehzcxTE6Jvk


Path of Building - Pastabin

https://pobb.in/d-Y0JUTSz6qM (3.23, updated 11.12.2023.)

Use this as much as you can, everything will be inside. A lot of leveling trees inside and ofc the Endgame trees, to the bottom left where it says "Endgame - 94", click on that and you can swap out the trees to see what you need to prioritize. Also here you can check out the whole tree, gear, gems, enchants, damage, etc. Basically you can see everything that I had and what you should aim for at each point in your leveling process.


Leveling

General tips:

Spoiler
Armour:
You want to focus on getting the required uniques and getting as much str as humanly possible. Every single item should have as much Str as possible.

Weapons and shields:
This is a spell based build meaning the levels of the gems mean A LOT. Try to increase either the levels of your main skills (Zombies and Skeletons) or increase your Minion Damage.

Links and skill gems:
Links are always important and your primary skill should have the most links during leveling. If you find a 4L/5L/6L (Tabula rasa) you should place your main skills inside.

Influenced items:
Amulet should be warlord influenced and Belt should be Hunter/Elder influenced.

League Mechanic:
"Many passive = Good ---> More passive = Better" -Chris Wilson, probably

Early Acts guide

Spoiler
Act 1
Highly recommended to use a Tabula Rasa.

Use a Sceptre and a shield.
Molten Strike + Added Fire at the very start.
Get Frostblink, Flame wall and War Banner at lvl 4. Flame wall is excellent bonus damage for Molten strike. Make sure the projectiles pass through the flame wall.

Main Link: Absolution (lvl12) and support it with Added Fire
Auras: War Banner (lvl4)

Act 2

Absolution + Added Fire + Faster Casting
Herald of Purity + Minion Damage + Melee Phys
Ask these guys: [Ranger · Scion · Shadow · Witch] to buy you Skitterbots

Main Link: Absolution + Added Fire + Faster Casting
Auras: Herald of Purity (lvl16) + Minion Damage + Melee Phys | Skitterbots (lvl16)

Act 3

Main 4L: Absolution + Added Fire + Faster Casting + Physical to Lightning
Auras: Haste (lvl24) | Skitterbots

Complete the Ascendancy Lab and take Radiant Crusade for juicy resistances

Act 4

Main 4L: Absolution + Added Fire + Faster Casting + Physical to Lightning
Auras: Haste | Skitterbots
Golem: Carrion Golem(lvl34) + Feeding Frenzy (lvl31)

Act 5-6

Make sure you have the Life Mastery that makes your spells cost 30% life.
Main 5L: Absolution + Added Fire + Spell Echo + Physical to Lightning + Controlled Destruction
Side 4L: Summon Skeletons + Raise Zombie + Melee Phys + Minion Life
Auras: Haste | Skitterbots
Golem: Carrion Golem + Feeding Frenzy



Passive Tree, Ascendancy, Bandits and Pantheon


Passive Tree: https://pobb.in/5agCKnNK9R5N

Ascendancy: Guardian

1.) Radiant Crusade - Free Minion and 10% less damage taken while its alive
2.) Unwavering Crusade - More free minions but these ones give damage
3.) Bastion of Hope - Tanky AF BOI
4.) Radiant Faith - Some extra effective life
5.) Time of Need - Infinite full HP pots every 4s (think this is better now)



Bandits: Kill all.


Pantheon

Major God - Soul of Lunaris
Yes, get all of it because every node on this thing is important.
Avoiding projectiles is the equivalent to 10% block, 6% reduced ele damage is 6% reduced ele damage (procs after blocking too), avoiding projectiles that have chained is huge because that stuff bounces off of your minions and in your face (not if you have this though).



Minor God - Soul of Yugul
The reduced effect of curses is too hard to pass up. Combine this with a flask with 50%-60% curse effect reduction and curses will do nothing to you.
The only alternative to this is Shakari for poison and chaos damage reduction.




Spectres and Animated Guardian

AG:

(item details in PoB)

Spectres:
2x Stygian Silverback/Carnage Chieftain - Big Monkeys in the Western forest in act 2
2x Demon Harpy - Scourge monsters found in maps from the "beyond" modifiers
Both of these can be found in /global 6666 by asking somebody to provide them for you (easy to find if you offer a tip)


Gear

Stat Priority
Spoiler
If your Elemental Resistances are capped go for Chaos resistance instead.

Weapon: Mon'tregul's Grasp - try to buy perfect stats (still cheap af)
OR
Weapon: Convening Wand - +1 Spell/Minion gem levels > Minion damage > Minion attack/cast speed > Strength > Intelligence

Shield: +1 Minion skill gems [Fractured] -> craft with Deafening Essence of Rage so you guarantee strength

Helmet: Baron -> Corruption with +1 to Socketed gems or +2 to Minion gems (or both)

Body Armour: Geofri's Sanctuary -> Corruption with +1 to Socketed gems or +2 to Minion gems (or both)

Gloves: Shaper's Touch -> Corruption with +6% to maximum life

Boots: Alberon's Warpath -> Corruption with +1 to Socketed gems or +2 to Minion gems (or both)

Belt: Strength > Life > Resists

Amulet: Strength > Life > Resists

Bone Ring 1: Strength > Life > Resists

Bone Ring 2: Strength > Life > Resists

Leveling Gear
Spoiler

Endgame Gear
Spoiler

Flasks
Spoiler

Every flask should have either the increased duration or less charges used.



Anointment: Death Attunement
The reason for this one is that you don't need to path that far just to get the +1 Zombo and +1 Spectre.


My achievements with the build:

Killed Searing Exarch and Eater of Worlds.

Check out what I'm playing this league and other guides:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2724153
"Let your smile change the world, but don't let the world change your smile." -unknown
"The Emperor beckons and the world attends." -Izaro
"Shine boldly so that all may find you when the night falls." -Izaro
Last edited by devon752 on Dec 11, 2023, 2:16:07 AM
Last bumped on Mar 7, 2024, 2:43:16 PM
Reserved.
"Let your smile change the world, but don't let the world change your smile." -unknown
"The Emperor beckons and the world attends." -Izaro
"Shine boldly so that all may find you when the night falls." -Izaro
Beef Squad and Calcium Lords coming soon to a Wraeclast near you; I'm absolutely going to try this as a league starter.
awesome, so fast on this!
Looks like a great build, starting with this one this league (didn't read the boots mbmb)
Last edited by jwoo2000 on Apr 10, 2023, 3:48:04 AM
Just wondering, how did you get two strength attribute suffixes onto the bone rings in the pob? I don't think you can craft on the dual stat if a single stat line exists
Last edited by jwoo2000 on Apr 11, 2023, 5:15:33 AM
"
jwoo2000 wrote:
Just wondering, how did you get two strength attribute suffixes onto the bone rings in the pob? I don't think you can craft on the dual stat if a single stat line exists
Yeah I thought you could but you can't I'll fix it.
"Let your smile change the world, but don't let the world change your smile." -unknown
"The Emperor beckons and the world attends." -Izaro
"Shine boldly so that all may find you when the night falls." -Izaro
Hi thanks for the guide! Just started pushing reds and had a few questions about the build:

1. For general mapping do you keep Skeletons summoned, orare they just for bosses? I've found that the zombie explosion doesn't proc as much as I thought it would and all the minions seem to be getting stuck on each other

2. My AG seems to be dying every now and then, mostly in lower delves or tougher crucible encounters even with a gruthkul's etc. and I was thinking of using a defensive anoint instead of Whispers to alleviate this, do you think it would be better to use Grave Intentions for chaos res and a bigger ES pool, or Decay Ward since Guardian naturally gives a lot of block to our minions?

3. What spectres do you typically use with this build? I've been using Carnage Chieftan, Demon Harpy, and Wild Bristle Matron, planning to add in a Pale Seraphim once I get the 4th spectre. Not sure if I should link something like spell echo or lifetap to the spectres for better debuff uptime and move AG to a different link or just keep it as it.
"
Dragonology99 wrote:
Hi thanks for the guide! Just started pushing reds and had a few questions about the build:

1. For general mapping do you keep Skeletons summoned, orare they just for bosses? I've found that the zombie explosion doesn't proc as much as I thought it would and all the minions seem to be getting stuck on each other

2. My AG seems to be dying every now and then, mostly in lower delves or tougher crucible encounters even with a gruthkul's etc. and I was thinking of using a defensive anoint instead of Whispers to alleviate this, do you think it would be better to use Grave Intentions for chaos res and a bigger ES pool, or Decay Ward since Guardian naturally gives a lot of block to our minions?

3. What spectres do you typically use with this build? I've been using Carnage Chieftan, Demon Harpy, and Wild Bristle Matron, planning to add in a Pale Seraphim once I get the 4th spectre. Not sure if I should link something like spell echo or lifetap to the spectres for better debuff uptime and move AG to a different link or just keep it as it.

So I haven't been able to play for a while due to work and all but:
1. Yes I try to but you will need the +2 on your chestpiece or +1 socketed gems for them to survive consistently. Empower also helps a lot in that regard. Make sure to check your minion resistances in PoB as they should be capped at 75%.

2. I haven't been using AG yet so it's hard for me to say but it's most likely do to them having lower ele res, check it in your PoB. One of the Bone rings will probably have to have something like +30% to all minion res.

3. Charge generation and Demon Harpies are best imo.
"Let your smile change the world, but don't let the world change your smile." -unknown
"The Emperor beckons and the world attends." -Izaro
"Shine boldly so that all may find you when the night falls." -Izaro
Last post was doubled for some reason lel.
"Let your smile change the world, but don't let the world change your smile." -unknown
"The Emperor beckons and the world attends." -Izaro
"Shine boldly so that all may find you when the night falls." -Izaro
Last edited by devon752 on Apr 12, 2023, 10:49:56 AM

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