Life vs ES vs Armor vs Evasion

Hi there. Long time lurker and PoE nub

Been getting back into PoE lately, and managed to get a char into the Level 80something range. I've incorporated a bunch of stuff from various build ideas, as well as my noggin, and for the most part it's working well. I'm running a necromancer with emphasis on zombies + raging spirits. Have a few spectres and a golem for good measure.

I have a feeling it simply boils down to my build being incomplete and my gear in some cases being inferior, but there are some bosses that I REALLY struggle to survive against. As in, I run from corner to corner of the arena, attempt to make zombos or summon some SRS, and get one or two shotted. Basically, I can either run around and survive, or stop for a second to try and fight only to die instantly. The map in particular is the Orchard boss (tier 9), though it happens with others too.



tl;dr: survivability is an issue in bosses with high physical damage attacks.

That said, I've been approaching this from a balanced perspective (decent ES, life, about 20-25 damage reduc, ~15% evasion, and decent resists (~30 to 40) and I suspect that's probably an issue when it comes to survivability. As in, I should invest heavily in one method of survival, either ES or life, but not both. Have a little bit o armor, evasion, ES, and then a crapton of points in life (for example, though that's probably what I'll end up doing because I don't have a really sweet ES chestpiece; I have Vis Mortis).


Am I correct in this suspicion?I thank any senpai who has knowledge on this matter.

"

Brockavich wrote:

That said, I've been approaching this from a balanced perspective (decent ES, life, about 20-25 damage reduc, ~15% evasion, and decent resists (~30 to 40) and I suspect that's probably an issue when it comes to survivability. As in, I should invest heavily in one method of survival, either ES or life, but not both.

Depends, builds that aren't actively getting pounded, like summoners or totemists often invest in both life and ES because it's the easiest way to get enough combined buffer to survive a few stiff hits and bail to safety. Still, any kind of build that involves ES will want armor pieces with high ES of which chest is the most important and Vis Mortis just isn't there, which makes it unpopular even on builds that should use it.

Summoners tend to ignore armor and evasion, it isn't a worthwhile investment for a build that isn't getting hit most of the time. That especially goes for evasion as the first hit after some time is fully random so entropy system doesn't work. What you want to work on is move speed and good positioning.

That said, it sounds as if your main problem is fragile minions, your zombies shouldn't die to Orchard boss on a regular basis and he can usually kiss golems and guardian in the left buttock. You want to give your minions enough life, regen and cap their resists. You can get those from tree, +minion level helm is very good, skullhead in some specific cases, regen comes from tree or vitality aura and minion resists are usually taken care of with jewels. Having Bone Offering on the ready versus some bosses is also recommended.

I had a feeling vis was part of the problem. I mean I already have a helm that has more ES than it does. It's a shame cause it looks cool D:

Movespeed isn't a problem; the boots Ive got on are 30% movespeed, and I was running a haste aura. Im quite zippy. The evasion comes entirely from those boots actually, so it's not like im invested in it, it's just a nice bonus.

I think it was a she, looked exactly like the ghostly figure that rides atop Izaro and shoots those green explodey balls.

I've snagged 70% of the minion passives on my side of the tree, there's only a handful more I could grab for their survivability. The zombos are hooked up to minion life, and was debating fortify on them. Bone does look enticing, though in this fight i doubt it would've helped, as I couldn't stop for long enough to do it.


Thanks for the suggestions sir

Ah, right, it's another boss now. In that case your pets probably lacked resists, the Goddess does mostly fire damage.

"

Brockavich wrote:

That said, I've been approaching this from a balanced perspective (decent ES, life, about 20-25 damage reduc, ~15% evasion, and decent resists (~30 to 40) and I suspect that's probably an issue when it comes to survivability. As in, I should invest heavily in one method of survival, either ES or life, but not both. Have a little bit o armor, evasion, ES, and then a crapton of points in life (for example, though that's probably what I'll end up doing because I don't have a really sweet ES chestpiece; I have Vis Mortis).

You should really work on capping your elemental resistances. The difference between 50% and 75% resistance is massive (the character with 50% takes twice the damage).

"

Ah, right, it's another boss now. In that case your pets probably lacked resists, the Goddess does mostly fire damage.

I figured it was physical mixed with something else, but that's interesting and probably a huge factor. It's so hard to tell what attacks do what damage. I guess she's got the "Ghostflame" thing going on?

Is there a place I can check such things? I browse the wiki all the time and couldn't find any info on her.


Anyway, I think I know what I'll try, based on what you and PaperRat have suggested.

- More ES (if that means ditching the Vis Mortis, so be it) simply because I've specced very very heavily into it, as in I have pretty much every ES-related passive you can get.
- Cap my elemental resists
- Consider bone offering. This one is trickier, as I do have the ascendancy skill that lets me benefit from my offering skills, and the skill that gives minions a chaos damage aoe on death/expiration. As a result, I'd been going with Spirit offering lately, as it improves both my survivability and my minion's dmg output. I suppose once I have capped resists, the resists from the spirit offering would be moot, so I'll switch to Bone or flesh.
- Stick to either a golem or speccies, instead of both. Preferably the golems, as I already have the zombos and SRS for damage. Need more tank.



Thanks for the suggestions/help guys. Should get the ball rolling ideawise.