[3.1] SRS LL Auramancer in-depth guide

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Been meaning to do SRS in a while, though I wanted to play the bow version.

I've been wondering quite a bit by reading a few of the last posts apart from the guide. It seems that the main focus is the 6L Shav + UiD setup. But why? I do realize that being able to use Shield Charge is a great QoL. But I really can't see how this setup, even with Envy aura is anywhere near a +3 bow or a +7 SRS gem level and +1 to all gems which equates to pretty much more than doubling the SRS damage (100% more damage on SRS'es base attack) when it comes to damage output. Am I missing something here, since OP seems to imply that UiD is more than enough to get the DPS output close to the classic +3 setup?

I commented on this earlier -- here's my post:

1) UiD lets you use a movement skill, which is a huge QoL upgrade.

2) UiD lets you use a shield, which is a huge survivability upgrade (ES and resists).

3) UiD's aura is more than just an aura - it's chaos damage (which we don't have any of), it comes without using a gem slot (which we are short on), and it's an additional damage aura to replace our purity with once we optimize our gear. It also is easily boosted with generosity.

4) UiD's poison effect is nice, but the 30-40% minion damage AND minion survivability shouldn't be overlooked.


So those are just the benefits of UiD. From a personal perspective, I wouldn't go through the hassle of trying to 5 off-color a bow. And if you don't want to craft one yourself, good luck buying one. At the time of this posting, there is only five 6L +3 fire bows on poe.trade that match our socket coloring needs, and the cheapest is at 8ex. You can get a UiD for almost half the cost....

UiD gives so many benefits beyond just pure damage (movement, survivability, cost savings, ease of obtainment, etc.) that I can't ever imagine it making sense to use a +3 bow unless you're trying to min/max the hell out of a niche part of this build.




I think the basic idea is this: UiD gives a lot more QoL 'stuff' than the bow does, and quite frankly this build doesn't need the added damage. If you're farming Shaper or something, then maybe the damage is helpful (but the lack of movement skills will be a problem). I personally run the MF build variant and the QoL is a much greater asset than the damage of a bow. You basically sum it up with your last line -- UiD gets us "enough" damage compared to a bow.

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ryansider wrote:

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Been meaning to do SRS in a while, though I wanted to play the bow version.

I've been wondering quite a bit by reading a few of the last posts apart from the guide. It seems that the main focus is the 6L Shav + UiD setup. But why? I do realize that being able to use Shield Charge is a great QoL. But I really can't see how this setup, even with Envy aura is anywhere near a +3 bow or a +7 SRS gem level and +1 to all gems which equates to pretty much more than doubling the SRS damage (100% more damage on SRS'es base attack) when it comes to damage output. Am I missing something here, since OP seems to imply that UiD is more than enough to get the DPS output close to the classic +3 setup?

I commented on this earlier -- here's my post:

1) UiD lets you use a movement skill, which is a huge QoL upgrade.

2) UiD lets you use a shield, which is a huge survivability upgrade (ES and resists).

3) UiD's aura is more than just an aura - it's chaos damage (which we don't have any of), it comes without using a gem slot (which we are short on), and it's an additional damage aura to replace our purity with once we optimize our gear. It also is easily boosted with generosity.

4) UiD's poison effect is nice, but the 30-40% minion damage AND minion survivability shouldn't be overlooked.


So those are just the benefits of UiD. From a personal perspective, I wouldn't go through the hassle of trying to 5 off-color a bow. And if you don't want to craft one yourself, good luck buying one. At the time of this posting, there is only five 6L +3 fire bows on poe.trade that match our socket coloring needs, and the cheapest is at 8ex. You can get a UiD for almost half the cost....

UiD gives so many benefits beyond just pure damage (movement, survivability, cost savings, ease of obtainment, etc.) that I can't ever imagine it making sense to use a +3 bow unless you're trying to min/max the hell out of a niche part of this build.




I think the basic idea is this: UiD gives a lot more QoL 'stuff' than the bow does, and quite frankly this build doesn't need the added damage. If you're farming Shaper or something, then maybe the damage is helpful (but the lack of movement skills will be a problem). I personally run the MF build variant and the QoL is a much greater asset than the damage of a bow. You basically sum it up with your last line -- UiD gets us "enough" damage compared to a bow.

I've actually considered these, and cost-wise, bow's actually a lot cheaper than UiD+6L Shav. It cost me around 8ex to craft and color my bow, which was after realizing the current rate of the bow is quite a dumb decision I made since you can get a colored bow +3 6L for 4ex, even if you couldn't find the right colors, Crude Bow is a lot easier to color, but I already spent the money so meh. And Soul Strike is 1-2c for the current version, and 1ex for the legacy version. Shav is 5.5ex or 6ex for the base price or 5L. So if you're patient you can get all three for 10-12ex in total.

Compared to UiD setup, 6L Shav is around 11-12ex. Off coloring a Shav is way harder than Crude Bow, so you can easily spend another 1ex if you're lucky with the chromes. UiD is around 4-4.5ex. So those are at least 16ex in total.

I already mentioned about Shield Charge, and I do agree that it provides a fair amount of QoL. I don't think resists is an issue, if you're playing a 10ex+ build, I doubt you don't have currencies to cap your resists considering the build has a quite decent amount of rares. I can also argue that legacy Soul Strike provides better survivability than a +300ES difference (providing you have a 420ES+ shield). I'm also not overlooking the chaos damage and poison stacking, but even with generosity boosted Envy, how's that anywhere close to a practically 100% more damage from +7 srs gem?

I'm considering on switching to UiD, but I have a differing opinion which had me doubting the worth.

PS: I can understand the argument for UiD giving better clear speed due to Shield Charge, but the improvement is so minimal (since you can use Quicksilver + Blink+FA with bow), that the difference is not really that huge. And I don't really consider SRS to be the greatest map runner anyway, since you can easily farm a bit a make another char and build for this purpose (eg. you can do Frostblades or EA build with a third of the investment and clear maps twice faster). But that's entirely my personal preference.

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long quote

I'll reiterate what I said at the end of my message - this build doesn't need the additional damage for the majority of content or functions.

That being said -- with all things equal, and living with the lack of a movement skill, I can see the appeal of the bow - I guess I'm just on the 'new school' bandwagon that is UiD.

With some thought, I could see the appeal of a two 6Ls as well. Pop in defensive auras with an empower and whatever else you want -- could be powerful.

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ryansider wrote:

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long quote

I'll reiterate what I said at the end of my message - this build doesn't need the additional damage for the majority of content or functions.

That being said -- with all things equal, and living with the lack of a movement skill, I can see the appeal of the bow - I guess I'm just on the 'new school' bandwagon that is UiD.

With some thought, I could see the appeal of a two 6Ls as well. Pop in defensive auras with an empower and whatever else you want -- could be powerful.

I'd try the UiD setup later on, if nothing else, it is undoubtedly better for party play. Thanks for the replies, appreciate it.

I would like to know how this build can do high tier breaches (t11). As it stands, I can kill the first wave of monsters but I just get completely wrecked in the long term. Granted, I do lag in the breaches.I am guessing the issue comes from the fact of my flasks or just that I don't have the shav ring. I currently have about 1.5 exalts in currency so Id like to know if I could improve enough to survive the breaches with a dmg mod. Since I am doing shaped strands and want as much return as possible.

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Themasterofw wrote:

I would like to know how this build can do high tier breaches (t11). As it stands, I can kill the first wave of monsters but I just get completely wrecked in the long term. Granted, I do lag in the breaches.I am guessing the issue comes from the fact of my flasks or just that I don't have the shav ring. I currently have about 1.5 exalts in currency so Id like to know if I could improve enough to survive the breaches with a dmg mod. Since I am doing shaped strands and want as much return as possible.

Breaches in red maps should be harder, as you dont have any hard defenses, because:
1. You don't run 8 auras, that i can say from your your skilltree & helmet. You dont have 3% reduced mana reserved on helmet (buy hubris circlet 84 ilvl) & you didn't took last mana reserved reduced cluster at the bottom (Champion of the Cause). So not enough dmg basically just because you put points somewhere else, instead of taking all reduced mana reserved & effect nodes FIRST ! Also aura effect node near sovereignity is missing too. I would refund 3 jewel nodes (as your one is empty anyway, 2 others are bad too), and refund some points from Gravepact cluster (under witch start minion dmg nodes), to get 5 points to take all those nodes for reduced mana reserved & aura effect.
2. Your links are bad, really. It was written in guide, all you just need is to use same links as written. Your minion damage should be in main SRS link, and elemental focus as 6Th, also not linked now. Generosity+Anger+Wrath+Hatred. Increased duration+Vaal discipline+Vaal haste (or you can get that out at all and put Flesh offering)+Vaal clarity. Portal out! No enough gem spaces! If you get rid of portal & vaal haste, you can run somewhere Cast when damage taken+Immortal call. Or just put discipline/clarity to your shavs 6th socket and elemental focus to 2nd weapon slot, if you want to level it. That would allow you to use 2L CWDT+Immortal call. That saves you so oft!
3. Bisco's amulet is nice to have, but dead people dont get any drops.. So you need stun immunity from Eye of chayula.
4. Gear requires some updates too, but really a lot to write and repeat myself again.. Try to cap more resists on rings and then you have more space for ES on gloves/shield.
5. Buy a endgame lab service, if you can't do it yourself. Mostly people can carry it, all you need is just to give 1 offering.

Hello,

It's a nice build, looks solid and it's well written (really good job here). I've only one question that's bugging me: Conduit keystone - do we even generate any charges in this build?

Thankyou all so much for the help. .ryansider yr advise was a game changer for me,folowed it all to the letter one more node to do..But where to now ? Ill upgrare my shield tonight and then do i just start grinding for currency for a Shavs Ring and chest....Thx again for all the help been out of this game for a while and now im wondering why....😆

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neltisen wrote:

Hello,
It's a nice build, looks solid and it's well written (really good job here). I've only one question that's bugging me: Conduit keystone - do we even generate any charges in this build?

We don't generate any, maybe its a mistake?

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Themasterofw wrote:

I would like to know how this build can do high tier breaches (t11). As it stands, I can kill the first wave of monsters but I just get completely wrecked in the long term. Granted, I do lag in the breaches.I am guessing the issue comes from the fact of my flasks or just that I don't have the shav ring. I currently have about 1.5 exalts in currency so Id like to know if I could improve enough to survive the breaches with a dmg mod. Since I am doing shaped strands and want as much return as possible.

This build is absolutely amazing for breaches. I run them, no matter what map mod, in T15s without even thinking about it. The key to breaches is don't even think about activating it until your vaal disc is up. Then touch it, activate it (when you have a full 20 summoned + offering up) and just go to town. Every time disc drops activate it right away again as you'll easily sustain it 100% in breaches. Also, don't just stand there, if you're getting swarmed use a movement skill out of it because they can still kill you through vaal disc.

The only stuff that can still really kill me and surprise me is beyond bosses after killing a massive pile of trash. But this is almost any build that can get caught off guard by them as they hit exceedingly hard. Those I need to be on my toes for especially when not expecting the massive burst all of a sudden.