Natharias' Noob Guide: Build Guide and FAQ (Work in progress)
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This is a compendium of information for new and/or uninformed players. Here you will learn the basics of a build and what to do with your character. Note that this is generic information that does not include wild, strange builds nor will it entail of how to play a glass cannon character. This will tell you what you need, how to get it, and what your options are. The only real option is what you prefer. Most everything in this game comes down to preference.
This is also still a work in progress, so more information will be added as I update it.
Building a Build
When you make a character, you generally create them around one of the following:
1. Main skill gem 2. Keystone(s) 3. Unique(s) 4. Ad lib (as you go) The fourth option is the weakest, and by the end of the core content (end of Merciless), your build will be nearly unplayable or completely unplayable. As a general rule of thumb, you must always plan out your characters. Never plan your characters for more than 100 points, as this translates to a level 80 character. If anything, you should plan for no more than 90 points. Level 70 is a feasible goal for your first character.
Starting a Build
If you can't survive, you can't deal damage. Survivability comes first, above all else. Glass cannons worked in other ARPGs, but not here.
You must decide if you want to be life-based or energy shield-based. It is hard to do a hybrid Life/ES build, and only experienced players should do so. They also require much better gear, and this game is harsh in respect to gear.
Life
Life is probably the easiest hit point type to build around in this game. Status effects (stun, chilled, frozen, and shocked), are all based on the amount of damage they deal to you. Higher life means that more damage must be done in order for one of them to affect you. Higher life means a shorter duration of these effects. Let's go over the pros and cons of life:
Pros: -Life is easy to obtain. It can appear on all gear. -Life can be found on gear regardless of defense type. Due to this, you can easily obtain high armor and/or evasion. -Life can be restored in up to four ways: Life Flasks, Life Regeneration, Life Leech, and Life Gain on Hit. Cons: -Life has a lower hit point pool compared to energy shield. -If you're based on life, you cannot effectively reserve auras on life without drastically hurting your survivability.
Energy Shield
Energy shield is capable of high hit point pools. It is much easier to reach 5,000 energy shield than it is 3,000 life. The main disadvantage is that it is a defense type, meaning that it cuts into the amount of armor and evasion you can have. Energy shield also has two build types: Chaos Inoculation and "low life" ES builds. Let's go over the pros and cons:
Pros: -Energy shield can obtain higher hit points. Chaos Inoculation builds offer immunity to chaos damage, but set your life to one point. -Energy shield builds that do not use Chaos Inoculation have two distinct advantages and one disadvantage. Non-CI ES builds can use their life to reserve auras, offering huge defensive advantages over life based builds. They can potentially have twice as many auras. CI builds cannot reserve life for auras, but are immune to chaos damage. Some bosses deal up to half of their damage as chaos, meaning that they deal half of their normal damage. -Energy shield recovers rapidly after 6 seconds without taking damage or degenerating, and takes 3 seconds to fully regenerate. Although this is weak, it can be the main method to recover hit points for some builds. Cons: -Energy shield prevents you from obtaining as much armor/evasion as a life based build. -Energy shield is based on gear rolls, so gear becomes even more important. -Energy shield cannot be inherently leeched, gained, recovered, or regenerated. Keystones are required in order to recover energy shield without avoiding damage for a total of 9 seconds.
Minimum Survivability Requirements
You can't deal damage if you're dead. Make sure you are capable of surviving before you get any damage.
Hit Points: You should have no less than 200% increased life or energy shield from your passive skill tree. This is the first and most important attribute of your passive skill tree. The only time that your life/ES should be below 200% is if you have at least two of the following: 1. Max block (75%) 2. Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics 3. Mind Over Matter You can also have less than 200% life/ES if you are a true summoner, which means you have allocated all of the minion nodes excluding Minion Instability and Necromantic Aegis. Resistances: There are only two places you can get resistances: passives and gear. It's easy to get resistances on both, but if you require the 40% fire resistance on a piece of gear that is inferior compared to another that you need to upgrade too, that resistance will be lacking. Getting it from the skill tree means that your gear is more open for you, allowing you to choose gear based on life/ES rolls and armor/evasion rolls instead of resistance rolls. If they happen to have resistance, then it's icing on the cake. Don't expect to get all of your resistances from the skill tree. It's feasible to get 60% total for all of your elemental resistances, but expect no more than 30% to each total. If you can get 30% to all elemental resistances from your tree, then that's perfectly fine. Build Enablers: The next thing you want to look at are your build enablers. These are things like Resolute Technique, Chaos Inoculation, Acrobatics, Phase Acrobatics, and Mind Over Matter. These are purely based on your build. There isn't a keystone that is better than anything else or makes your build more powerful than any other. Each offers an advantage and most give you a disadvantage. For instance, Resolute Technique guarantees that you will always hit, but removes your chance to crit. For some players, consistency is better than the occasional miss or crit. Damage: This is the absolute last thing you want to get in your passive skill tree. It's easy to level from level 1-60 getting your life, resistances, and build enablers, but harder to level from 61+. Plan your damage for later and just get as much as you can. You can't deal damage if you're dead.
Build Enabling Uniques
There are many useless uniques and many fun uniques. The example I'll be using is a personal favorite, Ungil's Gauche.
While dual wielding any weapons, you have a base chance to block of 15%. Each Ungil's Gauche gives you an additional 20% chance to block. This makes your chance to block 55%. Although that isn't max block, you can easily obtain the missing 20% at the bottom part of the passive skill tree for only six points. So two of these items and only a few passive nodes can give you the greatest defense in the entire game. Many uniques are like this, and offer strange and different play styles that can be very fun. The reason why I like Ungil's Guache is that it can also work for a Cast on Crit build. Since a CoC build requires more than half of your points into critical strikes, this allows you to get away with it without taking much survivability from you. The most commonly known build enabling unique is Shavronne's Wrappings. It allows you to play a low life build by preventing chaos damage from bypassing your energy shield. Another thing you must consider is your main skill gem. This is not like Diablo II where you could use multiple skills. This game rewards the ability to use a single skill very well while using other utility skills. Your main attack should do all of your damage, and is best augmented by curses and auras. Your utility gems will deal little to no damage and will only allow certain play styles.
Refining a Build (Work in Progress)
You may have already done some research and have been pointed to other builds, guides, compendiums, and other sources of information.
You may also have noticed that all of them claim to be the best build, to be cheap, to be "noob friendly". Note that many of these builds have various "problems", that are based on preference. Even though many experts may agree that one build is best built by one person, there may be a better version for you. It's up to you to find a build and tweak it as desired. These changes can be in one of many ways. The most common will be the gems used, then the passive skill tree, and finally gear.
How To Select Gems
There is a sizable selection of gems available for players to use. The most common place that gems may vary are in "proc" setups.
Proc Gems: What Do I Use?
Proc gems are generally used for one purpose. They help prevent damage and provide support for your character.
For instance, a character with lower survivability would use Enduring Cry and Arctic Armor to provide defense. Additionally, they could use Rejuvenation Totem to provide life regeneration after taking damage. Another example is a build that is ranged but does not use projectiles that travel. By this I mean Fireball and Arctic Breath, as they must traverse space in order to get to the target. Firestorm has projectiles, but is cast on the area and comes down on the area. This is where a setup with Frost Wall and Increased Duration would provide a good defense, as it would block all other projectiles that would normally damage you. This effectively makes all ranged enemies deal zero damage while the Frost Wall is up. I will cover proc gems and how to use them in detail in the "Support Gems: Explained" section.
Main Skill Gem
Another thing that you can change is the main skill gem, but this cannot always be done.
An instance of when this could be readily changed is with most melee builds. Instead of using Dual Strike, you can easily swap it out with Cleave or Cyclone. It is likely the supports will still be useful, or you may need to change some of the supports. An instance of different supports would be if you switched from Fireball to Firestorm. Fireball would benefit from Lesser Multiple Projectiles and Greater Multiple Projectiles, but Firestorm wouldn't. Firestorm is based on duration, so an Increased Duration gem would benefit it much more. One gem you would keep would be Fire Penetration, as it applies to both Fireball and Firestorm equally.
Gear
This is probably the hardest to change.
Builds that require unique items cannot exchange that item with any other, as the unique is usually considered a "build enabler", which makes the build playable. Removing the item usually makes the build unplayable. For instance, Romira's Banquet gives you a power charge for each non-critical strike, but removes all power charges upon scoring a critical strike. Resolute Technique removes your critical strike chance. Cold Snap has a four second cooldown that can be ignored by consuming a power charge. Romira's Banquet and Resolute Technique can allow you to self-cast Cold Snap at will without worrying about the cooldown. The advantage of such a build is a high damage cold spell with a high freeze chance. Cold Snap also greatly increases the duration of freeze and chill on all effected enemies. Rare items are extremely easy to replace, provided that you obtain the same attributes that are required for the item. If you are playing an Elemental Buzzsaw build, you will always want a weapon with elemental damage and attack speed rolls. The variation would be if you also get crit chance on the weapon or if you prefer to get resistances on your weapon.
Passive Skill Tree: How Select a Build
Many builds out there explain that you can start with different characters with only a few differences.
For the most part, some builds will remain relatively the same without much difference between character classes. Some will have drastic differences. A good example of a build that won't change much between classes would be a summoner. You'll always allocate mostly minion nodes, and that leaves little room for variation. A good example of a build that can change a lot is a Righteous Fire build. A Marauder would focus more on raw life and regeneration, while a Scion would have much easier access to increased aura effect. The Marauder would have no problem obtaining enough life regeneration, but the Scion needs slightly less since she would benefit more from her required auras. Both builds will achieve the same thing, but with different methods. The Marauder would probably get 5% increased maximum fire resistance from Purity of Fire, while the Scion could get up to 8% with gear and passive nodes.
Keystones
In here I'll be going over all of the keystones and what they are commonly used for. Keep in mind that keystones only offer a different style of play and are purely based on preference. No keystone makes you all powerful or makes the game easier. There are a few exceptions that only enable things that are normally impossible, but still require passive node investment. Since you only have so many points, the keystones still have a drawback of taking passive skill points.
Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics
Acrobatics reduces your armor and energy shield with a "less" modifier, meaning that it is multiplicatively reducing your armor and energy shield. Although this seems like a painful drawback, Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics give you a 40% combined chance to dodge non-spells and a 30% chance to dodge spells.
Phase Acrobatics does not help against ground effects like burning ground or poison clouds. In my opinion, Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics are best used in conjunction with max block, as each defense type must be checked separately. Having high evasion and using the Blind support gem can further increase your chance to avoid damage, especially from attacks.
Ancestral Bond
This keystone prevents you from dealing any damage, but does not prevent any on-hit effects. For instance, if you attack an enemy with an attack that would give you life on hit, you will still gain the life from the hit.
Back in open beta, Ancestral Bond was used for a dual totem build that was able to farm with high magic find and high clearing speed. Even though it was nerfed, totem builds are still very powerful. Since you do not deal damage directly, you do not take any damage from reflect. Your totems will, but this allows you to constantly summon totems to damage enemies where some other builds would either have to skip the enemy or use a different skill. Keep in mind that not all builds have a problem with reflect, but Ancestral Bond completely removes that worry by forcing you to do indirect damage through a totem.
Avatar of Fire
Avatar of Fire converts half of your physical, cold, and lightning damage into fire and prevents you from dealing non-fire damage.
Now, most people will think and say that such a keystone is useless or will reduce their overall DPS. This many be true in most cases, but AoF can actually help. The only way to increase physical damage is through better weapons, support gems, and attack speed. Fire damage can be drastically multiplied through the use of two curses and a support gem: Flammability, Elemental Weakness, and Fire Penetration. I'll explain more in the "Physical Damage versus Elemental Damage" area.
Blood Magic
In my opinion, Blood Magic is a keystone best used for leveling a character. It can be hard to get enough mana regeneration in the lower levels.
However, the main drawback to Blood Magic is that you cannot effectively run auras. Since auras are such an important part of your character, Blood Magic is almost never used for end game builds. The great thing about BM is that it allows you to play the early and mid levels without the hindrance of low mana and low mana regeneration while having a high cost skill. Try not to plan an end game build with Blood Magic unless you specifically plan on not taking advantage of auras.
Chaos Inoculation
This is a good example of a keystone with a huge advantage with a huge disadvantage.
Earlier, I mentioned that an energy shield build that did not take Chaos Inoculation could use their life to reserve additional auras, potentially allowing for up to twice as many auras than a life or CI build could. Chaos Inoculation completely negates chaos damage, but sets your life to a single point. Although you cannot reserve auras with your life, it removes chaos damage and this is a huge part of many enemies, especially some bosses. Chaos Inoculation has a high gear requirement, and it is suggested that you have no less than 3,000 energy shield before allocating Chaos Inoculation.
Conduit
This is a party oriented keystone. The only drawback is that you may not generate your own charges as quickly as you may like.
A good example of this keystone being a huge help is through the use of a unique ring. Romira's Banquet gives you a power charge each time you score a regular hit, but removes all of your power charges when you score a critical hit. Now you might think this is pointless, but it can be abused. Resolute Technique prevents you from scoring a critical hit, which when used with Conduit and Romira's Banquet, you will get a power charge each time you hit. This means you can easily generate power charges for your entire party. If you find yourself generating charges quickly, and are near Conduit, you might want to grab this simply to help benefit your party. There are a few people that really love characters with Conduit.
Eldritch Battery
If you find yourself with low mana and are not relying on energy shield, this is a great way to increase your mana.
Many builds that are life based but require additional mana will allocate EB instead of spending 10+ points to increase their mana. It's also very easy to get energy shield on gear, and therefor easy to get mana by using this. This cannot be used with energy shield based or CI builds as it removes your main, if not only, hit point type. Only use this if you are life based with some extra energy shield you do not need.
Elemental Equilibrium
I strike an enemy with fire damage, they gain +25% fire resistance and lose -50% cold and lightning resistance.
I strike an enemy with fire and cold damage, they gain +25% fire and cold resistance and lose -50% lightning resistance. Elemental Equilibrium raises the resistances of the elemental damage types you strike with, and lowers the resistances to those you didn't hit with. This isn't commonly used and has two well known purposes: 1. Party augmentation. Let's say you are a MF Culler (have high magic find and cull targets, killing them at 10% or less life), you use Frost Nova with Elemental Equilibrium. You will be lowering the damage of any cold-based damage builds in your party, but you will be increasing the damage of fire and lightning-based builds in your party. This is a great way to help party members, as your damage isn't going to be worthwhile. 2. Elemental Hit. This skill isn't used due to its relatively low damage and high mana cost, but Elemental Hit and Elemental Equilibrium go hand in hand most of the time. Since EH's damage type is random, there is a 66% chance that each strike will theoretically gain 50% increased damage while 33% of your strikes will lose 25% of their damage. Multistrike will deal the same damage type, and is not suggested for use with this.
Ghost Reaver and Zealot's Oath
These keystones are the only way to replenish your energy shield without waiting for it to regenerate out of combat.
Zealot's Oath will take your life regeneration and apply it to energy shield. The best form of this is percentage based regeneration as your energy shield is many times higher than life. Ghost Reaver takes your life leech and applies it to energy shield. This is useless without any leech, and does not offer any leech of it's own.
Hex Master and Whispers of Doom
These are very powerful keystones. They lack a drawback but offer the ability to use up to two curses.
Hex Master removes the duration of your curses, making them last forever. This is useful if you need to kite enemies, have long fights, or have more than one curse you need to use. It is best used when you have three unique items allowing you to use up to five curses. Whispers of Doom allows you to use one additional curse. Note that if you cast two curses, the target will have two curses. If someone without Whispers of Doom or unique items, the target will only have one curse. Curses are overridden based on the time they are cast. Newly casted curses will always replace older curses, and targets can only be cursed by one person at any given time. The maximum amount of curses a player can use is five. Three of which are obtained from unique items.
Iron Grip
This is an exception to the general rule that keystones offer something without any drawback other than passive skill points.
Iron Grip applies your strength to ranged attacks. This means non-melee and non-spell damage. This does not increase the damage dealt by Ethereal Knives, even though EK has the "projectile" attribute. EK is a spell.
Unwavering Stance
Unwavering Stance prevents you from being stunned but prevents you from evading attacks. Note this says evade, not dodge. Iron Reflexes applies all evasion rating to armor instead, but does not remove your chance to evade.
If you only allocate Iron Reflexes, you will still have a base 5% chance to evade all attacks and this means the Blind support gem is still usable. If you only allocate Unwavering Stance, you will have no chance to evade but are immune to stun. If you allocate both of these keystones, you will be immune to stun, have no chance to evade, but your evasion will still be converted into armor. If you have any evasion from gear, Unwavering Stance will essentially lower the effectiveness of your armor. It's best to avoid Unwavering Stance unless you either have no evasion from gear or have Iron Reflexes.
Mind Over Matter
It might not seem to have a drawback, but it does.
Mind Over Matter takes 30% of all damage, with the exception of degeneration effects, and removes it from mana before life. If you don't have enough mana to take all 30%, the rest will be taken from life. "Damage gained as mana" will only be applied before the damage is actually applied. So if you have full mana, you gain no mana. If you only have enough mana to take 15%, but would gain 5% of it as mana, then you gain the 5% mana and then it takes 20% of the damage from mana. The only current items that do this are Mindspiral
Minion Instability and Necromantic Aegis
These two keystones are situational to summoners only.
Minion Instability will cause minions to explode upon reaching 35% or less life, dealing 33% of their life as fire damage in an area around them. If your zombies are durable and don't explode, then Minion Instability is great for skeletons, as it offers a great way to increase AOE damage. If zombies do die to MI, then it is best not to allocate it as your minions must first act as a shield wall for you. Necromantic Aegis is the best way to increase the survivability of your minions, as it applies the attributes of your shield to your minions but prevents you from gaining anything from your shield. If you are having trouble surviving while your minions are alive, then it's best to avoid this. If you are having trouble surviving because your minions are dead, then it's best to get this.
Ondar's Guile
This is another keystone who's only drawback is passive node investment.
This doubles your evasion chance against non-spell projectiles.
Pain Attunement
Another keystone who's only drawback is passive node investment.
This only applies if you have 35% or less life. This uses a "more" modifier, multiplying other modifiers. It gives 30% more spell damage.
Point Blank
This keystone offers up to 50% more damage to targets up close.
You gain 50% more damage to targets up to 10 points away. You deal 50% more down to 0% more to targets between 10-35 points away. You deal 0% more to 100% less to targets 35-120 points away. This applies to projectile attacks, not projectile spells. Freezing Pulse and Ethereal Knives are projectile Spells.
Resolute Technique
This keystone removes all chance to crit but guarantees your chance to hit.
If you must get those hits and rely on leech, Life Gain on Hit, and other "on hit" effects, Resolute Technique is a near must-have. This frees up countless passive skill points for life and damage instead of accuracy and makes the accuracy rolls on items useless.
Vaal Pact
This keystone does not give you any amount of leech!
This keystone reduces the amount that you leech by 60% This keystone makes your leech apply instantly. This keystone is only useful if you need to restore life faster than leech is applied to your life/ES. Leech is applied to your life/ES at a rate of 20% of your maximum life/ES per second. This can only be changed by a quality Life Leech gem or this keystone. The only time you want to grab this keystone is if you deal too much damage too quickly and need to leech faster. This keystone is commonly used to counteract reflect from enemies.
Important Passive Nodes (Work in Progress)
There are a number of important passive nodes that everyone needs to be aware of. Some nodes are obvious and some may seem useless. Just keep in mind that many things are not as they may seem.
If you have any trouble finding these nodes, there is a search box on the web-based version of the Passive Skill Tree. Nodes that meet the search box will be highlighted in yellow, and may appear as small yellow dots on the edge of your screen.
Ketstones
Keystones are the most noticeable nodes in the game. They are very large and have elegant designs.
Keystones are known as "game changers". No, not because they are powerful. This is because they offer a different play style or enable builds.
Notables
These nodes are slightly larger and more powerful than regular nodes.
Notables are almost always worth the investment, especially the attribute versions. These nodes never have drawbacks and usually offer huge rewards. Notables are also a great way to tell if a circle of nodes will benefit you, as they commonly mirror the same nodes that lead up to them. 1. First and foremost are the three flask effect nodes in the Witch starting area. Each node gives 10% increased effect of flasks, giving a combined total of 30%. This applies to all flasks and is extremely powerful for all builds. 2. Elemental Adaptation and the Diamond Skin notable. Combined, there is a total of 4% increased maximum elemental resistances. The only other place to increase your maximum resistances are through unique items. 3. Inner Force and Holy Strength. Together these offer 24% increased effect of buffs. This is especially powerful if you play in groups with multiple auras. The only known drawback is that it increases the damage you take from Righteous Fire and the mana drain of Arctic Armor, but it is also the only way to increase the effectiveness of Arctic Armor. 4. Resistance nodes. These aren't very abundant in the passive skill tree, but are very powerful. Although these aren't as important as many other nodes, the prime reason to allocate these is to remove the necessity of resistance on armor. Having resistance in your passive nodes allows you to use armor with less resistance but with more life, armor, evasion, and better sockets. 5. "Multi-function" nodes. My favorite example are the life/mana hybrid nodes between the Templar, Witch, and Templar starting areas just above the Scion. These nodes essentially give you a 2:1 ratio of points. Taking nodes like this is a great way to save on points if you try to min/max a build. 6. Attribute notables. These nodes offer +30 to a single attribute and are must-haves. It is common for +30 nodes to do much more than a 6% or 8% increase node. For instance, a +30 strength node adds 15 base life, which makes all of your previous % increased life nodes much better. 7. Charge nodes. These nodes increase the maximum amount of Endurance, Frenzy, and Power charges your character can have. This is also the most effective way to increase your maximum charges. Unique items can offer additional charges, but may not be the most useful item for you to use. 8. Reduced Mana Reservation. These nodes allow you to use more auras by making auras reserve less mana/life.
Basic Gem Information: Active and Support Basics
All gems are oriented towards an attribute, and attributes are represented by a color.
Strength: Red. They are usually oriented towards fire or melee. Dexterity: Green. They are usually oriented towards cold or mobility. Intelligence: Blue. They are usually oriented towards lightning, critical strikes, curses, or minions. Gems also have an attribute requirement based on their color, but some have a requirement in two attributes. Gems that require only their core attribute will need 151 points at level 20. Gems that require two different attributes will need 95 in their color's attribute, and 66 in their secondary attribute at level 20.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE
It is sometimes acceptable and required to keep certain gems at a certain level. For instance, a level 1 Cast When Damage Taken gem will proc much more often than a level 10 version.
Not leveling a gem because you lack the attributes for it shows the sign of a weak build. Spend the few points in your passive skill tree to fix this. A strong build will always take advantage of gems in other attributes. For instance, if you plan on playing a build that uses Fireball, you will require the Fire Penetration and Greater Multiple Projectiles gems. Fire Penetration is red, GMP is green, and both require only their attribute. This means you'll need at least 151 strength, dexterity, and intelligence for all three gems to be used fully.
Why Won't My Support Gem Apply To My Active Skill Gem?
Check the keywords on the top of the gem. This won't be in the tooltip, you must mouse over the actual skill gem.
For example, Fireball has "Fire", "Projectile", "Spell", and "AoE". This means that any supports that have those keywords will apply to it. The two we shall use are Fire Penetration and Greater Multiple Projectiles. Both of these support gems will apply to Fireball. However, Greater Multiple Projectiles won't apply to Firestorm, while Fire Penetration will. This is because Firestorm has "Fire", "Spell", "AoE", and "Duration". It cannot be supported by projectiles. Another example of confusion is Detonate Dead. Detonate Dead has "Fire", "Cast", and "AoE", but does not have "Spell". This means that increased fire damage nodes in your passive skill tree will increase it's power, but increased spell damage won't.
Active Skill Gems Explained (Work in Progress)
<WIP>
Support Skill Gems Explained (Work in Progress)
Coming soon!
Bandit Rewards: Which Do I Take? (Work in Progress)
Coming soon!
Physical Damage versus Elemental Damage: Which is better? (Work in Progress)
Coming soon!
Melee, Projectiles, Attacks, and Spells: Explained (Work in Progress)
Coming soon!
Leech: How to get it and how it works (Work in Progress)
Coming soon!
Auras: Which Should I Use? (Work in Progress)
Coming soon!
The Easiest Build
It may not be entertaining for most, but the summoner is the easiest build to play and gear.
Advantages
The summoner is the easiest build to gear. They only require sockets and links.
Summoners do not require a good weapon to deal damage. Only support gems and passive nodes in their skill trees. Summoners deal extremely good single target and AOE damage due to the amount of minions they have. Summoners offer a "cloud of protection" that all allies can run into should they get into trouble. Many will complain about the lag, but there are plenty of other builds out there that cause much more lag and desync of their own. Ignore these complaints. P.S. They might also have low end systems and don't want to talk about it. Having ~20 more entities on your screen isn't that taxing, especially when compared to a build that casts a hundred Fireballs in only a few seconds. Summoners require zero currency.
Disadvantages
Summoners are the most passive skill tree dependent build in the game.
Summoners cannot deal damage if their minions are dead. Summoners are weak to AoE damage, as it poses a threat to both them and their minions. Summoners are less survivable because they do not effectively leech. Summoners cannot deal adequate direct damage. Many people find summoners to be boring. Here is a link to a dual totem summoner and a Whispers of Doom summoner. Both of which are "true summoners", as they focus on minions before anything else.
Minions
As a summoner, you must understand that you won't ever be dealing damage directly. Your job is to keep your minions up and alive so that they can destroy everything in their way. All you do is focus on surviving, and your minions help in that regard by acting as meatshields.
Enemies "aggro" constantly changes, unlike MMOs. The moment an enemy is damaged, they will "aggro" to the target that just hit them. If they are unable to get to that target, they will attack the target(s) preventing them from doing so. Since you might not be damaging them, your minions will, and either way your minions will be blocking their path. In short, unless an enemy is right next to you, you most likely won't be taking damage. The only real problem for summoners is AoE damage. It can hurt both you and your minions, and bosses like Dominus can easily one-shot all of your minions if you don't know how to support them. It is possible for at least a few of your minions to always survive "one-shots". This will give you plenty of time to reconstitute your ranks should you lose any minions. A perfect end game summoner should not have to resummon zombies often, if at all. I'll go through each of the minions individually in order of importance.
Zombies
Zombies are the strongest minion. They have the most life, damage, and are fairly numerous. The maximum you can have from your gem and passive skill tree alone is 7.
Here is a list of support gems in order of importance: 1. Minion Life (minions can't deal damage if they're dead) 2. Minion Damage (increases all damage they do, including all additional supports) 3. Minion Resistance (only necessary if you do not run Purity of Elements) 4. Melee Physical Damage 5. Added Fire Damage 6. Melee Splash 7. Multistrike 8. Faster Attacks 9. Empower* *Empower is rated low simply due to its rarity. If Empower is available and is level 4, then it should be the first thing supporting your zombies. Zombies are your most important minion, and should receive the most amount of supports regardless of anything else. The only exception is if you must link Summon Skeletons with a Spell Totem.
Skeletons
Here is where almost every experienced player will say I'm an idiot. They're wrong. As a summoner, the biggest part of your survivability is having minions out to absorb damage, and skeletons are the best minion to do so. Without them, the rest of your minions are easily damaged and so are you.
Skeletons are probably the most important "party" minion, as they are the most numerous and can be summoned quickly. Skeletons summoned from a Spell Totem provide a constant stream of meatshields right on top of enemies, which can stop them dead in their tracks from hunting you or a fellow party member. There are two things you can do with skeletons, and the best thing to do is make them fodder. It is possible to support them enough to make them powerful, but that's not their best purpose. There is a reason you can have so many of them, but so few other minions. Here's a list of the supports best for them: 1. Spell Totem 2. Faster Casting 3. Blind 4. Minion Speed 5. Melee Splash 6. Minion Life 7. Increased Area of Effect With the above setup, a totem will be created and the totem will automatically cast Summon Skeletons on the nearest enemy. This allows you to cast your other spells while your skeletons are flooding the area, preventing the enemy from attacking the targets they should. If an enemy is on top of you, the totem will continue to summon skeletons while you run around. It is best that skeletons are used for fodder, as your zombies and spectres will be doing more than enough damage for you. It is not wise to buff skeletons more than you must.
Spectres
Spectres have the greatest damage potential, but they can die easily and are purely based on what you raise. If you raise a Flame Sentinel from Solaris Temple, support it with Minion Damage and Greater Multiple Projectiles, then you will have minions casting five fireballs at your enemies at a rapid rate.
Raising a melee spectre won't be worthwhile, so you must find your favorite enemy and raise it with the proper supports. If it is ranged but uses projectiles, then Greater Multiple Projectiles will really help. On the same token, raising a melee spectre with Greater Multiple Projectiles will do nothing, as the support won't apply. Since spectres have low life, it's best to use something with a ranged attack that deals great damage. Supports can vary depending on the choice of spectre, but Minion Life and Minion Damage should be the first two supports. Here is a list of supports that best apply to Spectres in general: 1. Minion Life 2. Minion Damage 3. Greater Multiple Projectiles 4. Concentrated Effect 5. Life Leech 6. Blind 7. Added Lightning Damage 8. Added Cold Damage 9. Added Chaos Damage Note that the GMP gem will be useless for any spectre that does not use projectiles. It is best to use the Flame Sentinels if GMP is used. The reason why Blind is used is due to Spectres already damaging a large area, assuming you use a spectre that does so. This means that only a few spectres can blind an entire mob.
Raging Spirits
A new addition to the game. The main drawback to these minions isn't their short duration, but the fact that they do not actively distract enemies. They do still absorb damage, though, so they can be useful.
I would only suggest using these if you plan on using Ancestral Bond for two or more totems, as these are best used with Spell Totem. This is due to their extremely short duration. Raging Spirits deal half of their damage as physical and half as fire, but attack quickly and deal a good amount of damage. Here is a list of supports that I think works best for them: (Keep in mind that I am still tinkering with supports, as they are new) 1. Spell Totem 2. Faster Casting 3. Minion Damage 4. Melee Splash 5. Increased Duration 6. Minion Speed 7. Added Fire Damage I cannot state how important it is to use Spell Totem with these. They have a very short lifespan and are simply best used with a totem. If you can get Ancestral Bond and with one "skeletotem" and one for Raging Spirits, you'll be doing a lot of damage.
Utility Skills
Summoners use a lot of "utility" skills. That is to say they use skills that enable and allow gameplay without necessarily dealing damage.
Rejuvenation Totem
For leveling from level 19-60, this is the most important thing you can have. It provides a huge amount of numerical life regeneration that can keep both you and your minions alive in most situations. Also, in most times where your minions would die because an enemy is dealing so much damage so quickly, this can either buy you more time to summon more minions or completely prevent your minions from dying. This is a personal favorite that is always socketed in my gear.
It is still useful in end game content, but should not replace your "minion totems".
Desecrate
No summoner should play without this. If your minions die often, then Desecrate will allow you to resummon zombies and spectres while your "Skeletotem" keeps your enemy busy with your skeleton fodder.
Flesh and Bone Offerings
Flesh and Bone Offering were recently added. In my opinion, Bone Offering is more important than Flesh Offering. Your minions already deal a good amount of damage, but have lackluster defenses of their own. Suddenly making them immune to 25-35% of all damage is huge, and can make a drastic difference in gameplay.
Flesh Offering increases the attack, cast, and movement speed of your minions. Note that your Spectre's movement speed is capped and cannot be increased. This is stated on the Raise Spectre gem itself.
Curses
The second most important utility for a summoner are curses. Curses can change gameplay drastically. I'll list them in my preferred order, but necessarily the best order, with my reasoning.
1. Temporal Chains. This slows enemies and makes all effects decay 50% slower on them. This also makes enemies easier for my minions to intercept and kill, while making it easier for me to run away from them. 2. Enfeeble. This reduces enemy damage potential and thereby drastically increasing the survivability of both you and your minions. 3. Vulnerability. This drastically increases the damage your minions deal. 4. Flammability. This drastically increases the effectiveness of any Added Fire Damage support gems applied to your minions. This is useless if you do not use Added Fire Damage. 5. Punishment. This causes enemies to take a percentage of their physical damage back to them each time they hit one of your minions. 6. Warlord's Mark. Not necessarily for the endurance charges, but for the life leech it can offer minions.
Auras
The second most important thing about a summoner. Auras grant a huge bonus to a single party member, but grant even better bonuses to a party member with 20+ minions. Hatred adds 26-36% of your physical damage as cold damage, and with 7 zombies, that's up to 252% added cold damage. If you play with an aura build, they can offer up to 64% added cold, and with 7 zombies that's up to 448% added cold damage.
Here is a list of the most important auras for minions: 1. Hatred adds a percentage of physical damage as cold. 2. Purity of Elements increases elemental resistances. 3. Vitality adds a percentage amount of life regeneration. 4. Grace adds a huge amount of evasion. 5. Determination drastically multiplies the amount of armor you and your minions have. 6. Haste increases attack, cast, and movement speeds. 7. Wrath adds a small amount of base lightning damage. 8. Anger adds a small amount of base fire damage. Although Hatred is a damage aura, it offers a huge amount of defense by allowing your minions to chill and freeze enemies by attacking them. Besides that, defensive auras are more important, especially Purity of Elements.
Minion Instability and Necromantic Aegis
These two keystones can vary from player to player.
Minion Instability causes your minions to explode at 35% or less life, causing 33% of their life as fire damage. This is increased by the Minion Damage gem. Minion Instability is a great way to make your minions deal area damage instead of just dying, but essentially removes their main purpose. Minions are meant to absorb damage, before they deal damage. If your zombies are dying too quickly, it is best to avoid Minion Instability. It is likely that enemies are killing them before they can explode. If a minion is at 36% life, it won't explode. If a minion at 36% life is struck again, but is dealt enough damage to die, it won't explode. Minion Instability only works if minions are brought to 0.01%-35% life and are not killed. Necromantic Aegis is similar to Minion Instability. The difference is whether you need your shield or if your minions need it more. Remember the first point of minions is to absorb damage and distract enemies. If they are dying too quickly, then it is best to use Necromantic Aegis. As I stated earlier, you cannot deal damage if you cannot survive. In this case, you cannot survive if your minions cannot survive. There is a huge difference between running around because of an enemy using an AoE skill and running around because your minions are dead. Last edited by Natharias#4684 on Apr 26, 2014, 12:34:53 AM
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Will be remaking the compendium in a different thread.
1. There is not enough space for even half of my intended information in one post, so I may need up to four posts. 2. I want to use the first (top) post as an update preface. This will be more "noob" friendly and will help people have a "at a glance" look at what is going on with the compendium. I apologize if this is against the rules or a hassle for anyone at GGG. Last edited by Natharias#4684 on May 4, 2014, 1:28:15 PM
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This is really nice so far. Can't wait to see it finished!
Life is tough... but it is tougher if you're stupid.
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" Thing is, it's everything I've copied from all of the questions I've answered or helped answer on the forums thus far. It will also include bits from other questions. I'm not planning on listing where the information was found, who I found it from, or saying this is all mine. Just my own compendium of information that I think is most important for noobs. Only real problem I'm gonna have is condensing it into something they can read quickly and become a "ten minute Path of Exile expert". But I'll try. |
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Many thanks for this. As a fairly new player I find it extremely useful and clearly explained. I hope to see this stickied. From reading some of your other posts, I decided to try the flask nodes you've recommended, and this ended up being even a more efficient use of skill points for my Scion summoner. The difference was immediately notable and doubtless will save her hide in future situations.
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Compendium is now fixed. Just working on the URL links and occasionally adding more information. Please disregard the second post as that is just a copy.
Last edited by Natharias#4684 on Apr 24, 2014, 8:59:26 PM
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Alright, get ready for a giant post including any corrections, nitpickings, tips, and/or thoughts, that I may have. Just trying to be helpful. ^.^
"Ad lib* "You have them backwards, it takes 6 seconds (with no ES Recovery Rate Passives) out of combat to begin recovering ES at a rate of 1/3 of your ES per second. "Also do note that ES cannot benefit from Life Gained on Hit effects, which are instant healing unlike Life Leech which, without Vaal Pact, occurs [slowly] at a rate. LGoH is really powerful because it is instant, so ES builds lose out on that option as well. (Granted Spells can't really make use of LGoH, except for with Cybil's Paw, but even with a fast Spell like Incinerate, Cybil's doesn't provide enough LGoH to be useful in end-game in my opinion.) "Don't forget Auras. ~.^ "Attack Speed is the most important, then Weapon Elemental Damage, then as un-needed icing on the cake, you can go for flat Elemental Damage. "If built correctly a Marauder and Scion RF build would only vary by 1 Passive point. "The drawback is wasting 4 Passives to get to Whispers of Doom [from Hex Master.] :P And most builds have to waste Passives even getting to Hex Master. On a build aiming for Atziri, I'd grab Hex Master, but not Whispers of Doom, and just swap on 1 or 2 Doedre's Damning(s). "Actually, 6 Curses is now possible, with the +1 Curse Corrupted Implicit Mod on Amulets. "Now this is just nitpicking on my part, but I felt I should clarify it all the same. In PoE, everything, (unless otherwise altered by Passives or Uniques), has a 5% Chance to Miss. Iron Reflexes removes your Evasion Rating, but the Monsters keep their 5% Chance to Miss, which is why Blind still works with IR. But the Accuracy reduction on Enfeeble does NOT work with IR, since Chance to Hit is calculated using the attackers' Accuracy vs the targets Evasion Rating, as such, there is nothing for the Accuracy to work off of in the case of IR. "Actually, Ondar's Flight, a Unique [pair of] Boots, also does this. And there is also now a Corrupted Implicit Mod that grants this to Rings, Amulets, and Shields. "I'd mention that if your Minions are dying to Spell Damage against certain bosses, you could use a Saffell's Frame to help them stay alive. Darresso's Courage is an amazing for Necromantic Aegis, as it gives 20% Increased Physical Damage to your Minions, good Resists, good Block, and Spell Block on Low Life (which could potentially save them when they get close to dying vs Bosses), so it is a very useful Shield in my opinion. ~.^ "I'm not entirely sure exactly how it works, but I doubt that is the case, since then it'd be subject to Entropy. "Actually, it isn't unknown. 0-10 Radius is 1.5x Multiplier. 10-35 Radius scales from 1.5x to 1.0x Multiplier. And 35-120 from 1.0x to 0.0x Multiplier. For reference, the default Radius of Righteous Fire with no Passives/Supports, is 10. And 120 is the maximum distance possible to shoot an Arrow, but generally not possible except in some situations. "It's only powerful for builds that rely on Flasks, most importantly Resistance Flasks. 3% extra Maximum Resistance can go a long way to mitigating, and sometimes outright negating, Elemental Damage which can be useful against Reflect and certain Bosses. Although most people just use the Flask nodes in conjunction with a Divination Distillate on an MF Character, usually a Summoner. "I would STRONGLY recommend that EVERYONE strive to get at least one of these Passives if their build allows it; the sheer Mitigation they provide is monumental. "True. And they are usually needed to meet the Stat requirements of certain Support Gems or Auras. +30 Int, provides the same ES as a 6% ES node, as well as giving 15 Mana. So never count them out. ~.^ "Normal: If you are going a Life build, I would strongly recommend getting the +40 Maximum Life from Oak. It does wonders while leveling, and makes up for your lack of Life on gear while leveling. And in end-game, depending on your build's Life% and Max Life on gear, it is usually no different than an 8% Life Node, and in most cases, better. (If you're using a Kaom's Heart, then it's slightly better than a 6% Node, assuming you have 200%+ Maximum Life in Passives/Gear.) NEVER help Kraityn in Normal. You can make up for those Resists in the future with Gear, Passives, or Auras. Most times becoming overcapped on Resists in end-game, so it isn't a wise choice. The Mana from Alira is only useful if you intend to go a build that really relies on Mana and cannot compensate for it with 1 Passive. Generally an ES build, but even then, I'd personally go for the Passive for killing all 3 Bandits. Only grab the Mana if you've planned ahead and think you'll need it. "Monsters generally have really low Armor, so Physical Damage is doing fairly close to pure damage. Multi-Strike reduces the damage of each hit, so that the Monsters' Armor becomes more effective, but if you deal enough, it's not that big of a deal. On the other hand, Monsters can Resist Elemental Damage, generally a Monster type has 1 Element they are Resistant to, some resist all 3. Bosses Resist Fire/Cold/Lightning/Chaos. And so builds that deal with Elemental Damage can be faced with some problems against Monsters with high Resistances. That is why most use the Penetration Support Gem, for their relevant element. Penetration is ALWAYS useful, it is at minimum a 1.35x Multiplier, and at best a 2.4x Multiplier. (With Level 20 Penetration Gem) Both Physical and Elemental have access to Curses, but Elemental can be more dependent upon them, especially in the case of Resistant enemies. Curses and Penetration can reduce a target's Resistance below 0, so it is never a waste to use them. The only time a Curse is ineffective, is when the target has over-capped Resistances. (Example: A Rare of a Mob with intrinsic Resistances, that has the 'Allies Resist Elemental Damage' Mod, on a Map with +Monster X-Element Resistance.) "For IR or Acrobatics Builds, Grace is a crucial Aura for Defense. And I'd personally strive to get IR/Grace on even an ES/CI Character, to make up for their lack of Defenses on Gear (ES instead of Armor/Eva, unless you have Godly Hybrid Gear..) Discipline is [pretty much] mandatory for an ES/CI build. Pretty self-explanatory. Hatred is useful for a build that deals mostly Physical Damage. Also useful for Spells that deal Physical Damage, like Ethereal Knives (and to a lesser extent, Glacial Cascade.) Though I'd prioritize Defensive Auras over Hatred. Clarity is useful if you are having Mana Regen problems, most notably with fast attacking Bow builds, or fast casting Spells like Incinerate. Clarity is also instrumental in being able to run Arctic Armour, which is widely regarded as a very powerful form of Damage Mitigation. Purity Auras are useful if you aren't capped on a Resist, or need the extra boost while leveling. Also Purity of Fire/Ice/Lightning is useful against Bosses or Monsters that deal that type of Damage as they increase your Maximum Resistance cap, which is REALLY useful. And some Uniques that Convert the Damage you receive to an Element, make it preferable to run those Auras. Examples: Vitality Aura is mandatory on a Righteous Fire build, or a Summoner that wants to passively heal their Minions. It can even be useful on a Life-based build that doesn't run Vaal Pact that is trying to balance the degeneration from Blood Rage. Rejuvenation Totem, while not necessarily an "Aura", it has the Aura Tag, and as such IS affected by Aura Passive Nodes. It can provide great extra Regeneration in dangerous situations, and is also a great tool for Summoners to heal their Minions. Wrath/Anger, are key Auras for builds like Elemental Buzzsaw or Flubby Throw, that scale their Damage via Aura Nodes and Attack Speed. Since the Damage is scaled off of Aura Nodes, it is easy to Gear a Character since all you need is Attack Speed on your Weapon. I'd strongly recommend a build like Elemental Buzzsaw to a newer player or for a new League. Haste is also good for a build that relies on Attack/Cast Speed and Movement Speed for mobility. Though I'd generally not use it unless you had a bunch of Aura Nodes, or else the Speed bonus isn't that noticeable in my opinion. But most builds don't have the room for Haste after all their other [Defensive] Auras. Determination, most people generally can't squeeze this into their build, but if you can run this AND Grace with IR, then you're looking at a ton of Armor. Tempest Shield, not much to say. You can link it with Blind, or even Life Leech if you have Vaal Pact. But LL would increase the Reservation. (Blind has no Multiplier, so it won't.) "Like I said above, I'd strongly recommend Elemental Buzzsaw, as it is very easy to build and Gear. It really only requires you to mule over Anger and Weapon Elemental Damage from a Templar. Heck, you could go to Sarn and grab a Searing Bond while you're at it and mule that as well. Or you could just go a Searing Bond build... Can be boring, but it's easy effortless DPS while leveling. (PS. I was bored at "work." :P) EA IGN: We_Have_Monk_at_Home *Burnt out and waiting for either PoE1 League or new PoE2 Classes.* Last edited by Sheriff_K#3938 on Apr 25, 2014, 1:51:56 PM
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" Edited and corrected. " Edited and Corrected. " True. This was going to be explained in leeching. Currently at the 50,000 character limit, so trying to figure a new layout. " These cannot reliably offer resistance. Blood Magic maps can pose a problem to builds that rely on auras for resistance. This prevents some party gameplay. Either way, there are many auras that are much more worthwhile than the Purity ones. If a melee build has to run two or three resistance auras just to play the game, they lose out on Hatred and Haste. " This is about basic information. If someone wants to learn an Elemental Buzzsaw build, they can go there. " Not true. I've seen a few variations that vary by much more than one point. The RF build I plan intends to use ES and Shav's, so how can that vary by only 1 point? If you want a min/maxed RF, then yes, there is almost no variation. This is also assuming you avoid aura nodes and maximize life. I think the highest I've seen was a 360% life build. " Don't need to read any more. If you rely on using more than two curses, the cast speed nodes are well worth the investment. And four points for a whole new curse is priceless. Also, relying on Doedre's Damning for curses is weak. It removes a huge part of your defense and/or offense potential. Besides the curse, those rings give you almost nothing. " I'm going to specifically state that Vaal Orbs are dangerous and that Vaal Skill Gems should be avoided. They are utterly useless. (Referring to the uselessness of the Vaal Skill Gems only.) Yes, I'm aware that they are single cast things. That is specifically why. " That is why your maximum chance to hit cannot exceed 95% unless you either have Resolute Technique or if the enemy has Unwavering Stance. Either way, you will always have a base chance to evade. If you cannot evade attacks, they cannot miss. If attacks cannot miss, you cannot evade. " Edited and corrected. " I plan on adding that. The only problem is that it's not necessary with Bone Offering. " Double checked and it doubles the shown evasion chance. If you have 45% chance to dodge, it is raised to a raw 90% for non-spell projectiles. Edited and corrected. " Edited and corrected. " No need to read any more bullshit. All builds use flasks, and I have yet to see a single build that has even one flask slot missing. I never said that these nodes make or break a build, I simply said they are the most important as they offer the biggest bonus. 30% increased effect of flasks? Do you seriously think that these are only powerful for builds that rely on flasks? My two main builds rarely use flasks, but when I do I am sure glad I have these three nodes. Very glad. So glad I will go up to 15 points out of my way to get them. " Summoners require zero currency and barely anything from gear. Elemental Buzzsaw builds can take a few exalteds to gear. Especially late game rares. Not that easy when you're tight on currency. " Many thanks for taking the time to mention all of this! Not going over the "Coming soon!" spoilers as I am going over how to rearrange everything. Last edited by Natharias#4684 on Apr 25, 2014, 2:50:08 PM
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Well, a bare bones Ele Buzzsaw needs only Anger, Wrath, and a weapon with 2.0 aps. Not that expensive. But there is great room for improvement with gear/currency, which is always nice.
A min/max'd RF build wouldn't necessarily grab ALL Life. You'd need some Fire Damage, and Aura Nodes as well. I've got a fairly nice one. And I meant a Pure Life RF build doesn't vary much. My first build was RF, back when Rise of the Phoenix first came out, so it is a build near/dear to my heart. Although I somewhat fear it being nerfed, I just hope it isn't nerfed too badly. Just removing snapshotting should be enough. As for what you mentioned about planning an ES RF build, that's what I'm currently running on Standard. ~.^ As for Flasks, the only Flasks of importance, to me, are Resistance Flasks. Life Flasks do nearly nothing when you have 4-6k+ Life (instantly heal for 400-500? Meh.) But gaining 13% Max Res from a Flask? Now THAT is nice. ^.^ EA IGN: We_Have_Monk_at_Home
*Burnt out and waiting for either PoE1 League or new PoE2 Classes.* |
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Thanks for the guide.
I want to try the summoner build you linked to but the link is not working for me. |
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