[2.6] Severed in Skeletons - your poison Skeleton build that delivers

3.03.2017 UPDATE:
Updated skill tree for 2.6


Hello there!

For a quite a while I was obsessed with making a successful Summon Skeleton build. It took few buffs to gem itself, and then of course double dipping abuse to make it happen, but finally I made it! :D
Bare in mind that I haven't managed to kill Shaper or Uber Atziri, but I'm pretty much sure it is me being bad (+ Shaper fight being unfriendly to melee, and since Summon Skeletons are melee... derp).

Other than that build can clear Uber Lab and guardians pretty easily. Clearing maps is a breeze.

Lets begin with the build concept. Build is based upon these items:



Quick explanation:
United in Dream is pretty self-explanatory - OP poison with minion damage double dipping, making it pretty scary at bosses. Good damage mods, chaos resist, all in all good item. Aura itself isn't all that useful, since it is only a small % of damage that Skeletons are doing.

Skin of the Loyal enables the use of level 26-28 Summon Skeletons, while still providing good defensive benefits. How? This build is hybrid, and so it uses ES and life. Because this build is hybrid, I cannot take as much ES from tree as pure ES one. This in turn means that 100% ES from chest is highly effective, because of how increased modifiers work.

Victario's Charity provides a massive DPS boost, that can be sustained on bosses. Minions get 15% attack speed per frenzy charge, which means 45% attack speed on bosses. They still get % more damage modifiers which increase both the initial damage and poison damage.

Pros & Cons

Pros:
- Very good boss-fighting potential due to high DPS
- Good resistance to stuns/shocks/burns due to decent amount of hp, with ~10k life/ES pool
- You can still use isntant potions to save yourself from sketchy situations
- Gear is not that expensive due to hybrid builds not being very popular
- Minion build, so you don't care about a lot of map modifiers

Cons:
- You are still pretty squishy, even tho you get ~10k pool
- Getting Summon Skeletons to level 28 requires Corrupted Skin of the Loyal which is absurdly expensive
- Some fights are very hard because of their mechanics, namely Shaper, which destroys Skeletons with Vortexes in seconds, even at level 28.


Skill Tree

Pretty standard Summoner/Aura build, taking HP and ES, whenever possible. I skipped a lot of duration nodes because I still insist on using Lighting Warp (yes, I know that Necro gets it from the tree, can't help it). You need to get some Army of Bones jewels to increase the limit, but nothing too crazy.

Other than that, it is pretty self explanatory.

http://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAABAMDAd-K6QL-s1crvYJtGS2LH8d9GGvbEVA1uacrCPTAVGpDvOoi9GwLyT2_l_Iekyd_xsHF7Bhwu9kTL2-P-vDVSVGVLgce74j5N9fPSbG-iqEvytO0DEZxsHeDCW-e8bNLV8DjykpfsJu1hMXDOhmK-wn22hqP6roNfFfJKPqCx9P7aqwTbPnoGDy9JxhWQYe3PohaXsD-Cti9NZL-j03jplc64biTHNyPGuvumuBFnVNSpwidrhpsNukkqhZv42r60hcvJLCApGTnVdbZCyqY-oCycCpTYpXhiB2q_kkGSaaskDObir5PSI4N4hUnjLHsg9OP


Gear



Other than previously explained uniques, you focus on getting HP/ES/resists on ever rare possible.
Notably, you NEED helm enchant from Uber Lab. It is more or less a level 50 Spell Echo without mana multiplier, damage reduction and needing it to be connected to your main setup... :P
To get it, it is best to simply buy ilvl 84 Hubris Circlet with that enchant, and then craft it with Essences (or anything else you like). I got quite lucky with my essence there. :)

It is nowhere near necessary, but you can try getting movement speed on your rings/amulet using Essences. It does help a little, but truth be told your Skeletons shouldn't be walking much anyways, and you are supposed to resummon them as soon as enemies disappear from their proximity (either by being killed or teleporting away).



Bandits

Normal: HP
Cruel: Cast speed (build is starving on cast speed from tree)
Merciless: Point


Gem setup
Main attack (in order of importance): Summon Skeletons->Minion Damage->Melee Physical Damage->Melee Splash/Melee on Full Life (on bosses, if you need it)->Multistrike->Empower

Self explanatory - lots of physical damage scaling for massive hits and good base for poison.

Spirit Offering setup: Spirit Offering-Increased Duration-Vaal Lightning Trap (bosses)-Vaal Haste

Why Spirit Offering over Flesh Offering?
Lots of reasons:
- You are hybrid, and you get a lot of ES from your life pool (around 2k ES when in full effect) (Necromancer Ascendancy)
- Skeletons get plenty of Chaos damage of their physical damage, meaning the poison is even stronger
- Free resists for Elemental weakness maps
- Your Skeletons already have quite a bit of Attack Speed from your Ascendancy/Auras and Frenzy Charges, and giving them more and more won't increase the DPS as much as additional added damage
- Your cast speed is decent enough, movement speed is not an issue for Skeletons since you drop them on your enemies anyways

IMPORTANT: In order to get all the ES bonus from HP, you need to destroy 9 corpses with a single cast - recating it with lower amount of corpses will decrease the maximum ES but it will instantly grant you the ES, meaning that you can heal your ES with Spirit Offering.

Curse setup: Vulnerability-Enhance-Blasphemy

Level 20 Vurne is 29% more physical damage (and therefore more base poison), 20% quality is 39% more, and 36% is 47% more. With level 4 Enhance it gets up to 51% more. Pretty hefty amount. >:V
Other than that Vulnerability increases poison damage enemies will take, pushing numbers to some absurd territory.

Summon Zombies: Meatshields, summoned with Wither. This way you can increase the poison damage enemies (mainly bosses) take, while resummoning your (constantly dying) Zombies. Pretty damn smart, eh?

Lightning Warp setup: Standard one.

Other than that, you use Discipline, Clarity and Desecrate. You should have enough mana to reserve another 25% - I went with Arctic armor because of additional defense. You can go with anything else. :P Bare in mind that in order to get it, you'll need Unset ring, since you will be lacking sockets.



Video

Bare in mind I'm terrible at Guardians, since I haven't put much time practicing fighting them, :V
Minotaur:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/109217246
Phoenix:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/109218272
Chimera:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/109219663
Hydra:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/109220759

Example of damage, when everything goes just right:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/108732275

At level 28 Skeletons, Uul-Netol Breach Domain is trivial. Uul-Netol herself is a total joke (died before I managed to notice how she fights). Needless to say, other Breach Lords are absolute joke.
I haven't tried Chayula, since they are absurdly rare (nor I had time to farm for that long), but I'd guess that it is somewhat comparable to Uul-Netol, which is damn easy.

I also had an attempt at Uber Atizir, but dun-buffed heavily, so it isn't even wroth showing. :V
But I cleared everything up to Atziri, and died few times like a retard when she had ~10-15% hp. I also died on Vaal Oversouls (uh, derp, killed one first - habit from regular Atziri, since they die isntantly), trio wasn't much of a problem. Kite kite kite kite.
But it is absolutely doable by someone who doesn't have wooden hands like me. :V


All in all, it is very satisfing build to play. I personally had a lot of fun playing it.
That is it for now, I'll expand it a little bit more if there is enough interest in it. :P

Ps. I'm not checking this thread that often. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me for faster answer - I'll post them here along with the answer (or just notify me that you posted here). :)
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.
https://joeduncan123.imgur.com
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Last edited by Perq on Aug 8, 2017, 3:22:23 AM
Last bumped on Aug 8, 2017, 3:22:05 AM

"
SnakeBasKet wrote:
Hey dude, your severed poison skelly build looks really fun. It appears to click pretty late game though. How do you recommend I level it?

Can I level with skellies/zombies effectively?


Yup, pretty much. They have their mana cost cut and damage increased. Shouldn't be too bad. :)
If you have currency (which I assume you won't at the start of the league :P) you can use Skin of the Loyal from lvl 1... :D If you have one, that is.

This was my second character in league and this is how I was doing it. Even without poison it was one of the smoothest rides ever. :P
It should be fine without the Skin, too. Just keep in mind that minions are pretty bad at the very first ~10-20 levels.

"
SnakeBasKet wrote:

[...] One last concern. a +1 Skin of the loyal is really expensive.. as is the United in Dream.

Will i be able to comfortably farm t5-10 without the +1 skin and only using Severed? I want to at least get to a comfortable farm level with the build so I can work up to those two uniques.
[...]


Sure. :) United it Dream makes little difference, to be honest. It gives you some extra damage and leech, but that isn't that important (but still good to have). I upgraded it because I had extra currency.

Without +1 corruption you get level 26 Skelies (with lvl 4 Empower). With level 3 Empower, that is level 25. That should be enough for even the crazy Breaches, and Tier 15 maps :) The lowered level impacts their ability to survive the most, damage is not concern when it comes to clearing maps, as they will most likely be 1-2 shotting everything anyways.

Gotta admit that at level 22 Skeletons (21 corrupted and +1 from Skin), I had trouble keeping them alive at Uul Netols Domain. They were killing very fast, but they also died easily. Didn't test it as level 25, but it feels like it should be enough.
At level 28 it is an absolute train wreck. :)
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.
https://joeduncan123.imgur.com
https://joeduncan1234.imgur.com
Ascendancy points:
"

Im guessing you get...

1. Spirit Eater

2. Mistress of Sacrifice

3. Beacon of Corruption

4. Commander of Darkness (uber)

in that order?


1. Mistress of Sacrifice

2. Commander of Darkness

3. Spirit Eater

4. Beacon of Corruption

:P

But honestly, whatever you feel like will do. Mistress of Sacrifice is pretty crucial tho, as it gives you the ES from your HP.
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.
https://joeduncan123.imgur.com
https://joeduncan1234.imgur.com
kind sir! what about the bandits? Shall we let them go? :D
"
CodeOfConduct wrote:
kind sir! what about the bandits? Shall we let them go? :D


Of opsie, shit. D:

Life (Oak)
Cast speed (Alira)
Point
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.
https://joeduncan123.imgur.com
https://joeduncan1234.imgur.com
Last edited by Perq on Mar 11, 2017, 5:10:33 PM
"
Hi!

Loved your build idea, I've played a skele Army of Bones build last league and loved it, I think you've got a great idea with the Necromantic Aegis shield etc. Reading your guide, I had a few questions.

Regarding gearing, the +2 body armor is awfully expensive and I can't find a damage number on the wiki for summon skeles to show me exactly how effective each additional level would be. What would be your second or third best choice? Right now I'm eyeballing Vis Mortis for the 10 sec. Unholy Might, not sure how to compare things without the Skele level specifics. I'll also be using Severed in Sleep until I can upgrade, maybe having a "budget" or transitional gear list in the guide would help?

Also, another question about something you say in the guide. "Because this build is hybrid, I cannot take as much ES from tree as pure ES one. This in turn means that 100% ES from chest is highly effective, because of how increased modifiers work." and
"Summon Zombies: Meatshields, summoned with Wither. "

Could you explain the Hybrid idea more? Is the 100% increased global defenses a MORE multiplier, is that what you mean? And also, I'm unfamiliar with wither, what do you mean when you say "summoned with wither", like cast at the same time, or one after the other?

Great work on your guide, well written and a nice non-meta/cookie cutter build, need more like this! I'm also a fan of lightning warp, very underrated and I also cringe at the mandatory inc dur nodes :P

GL & HF! Thanks!


+2 body is not required, but it will net you 2 levels (with Empower socketed). While the damage is not the biggest concern (because it is very good anyways) defenses can be. Skeletons aren't the toughest of summons, and without the extra levels they can be pretty squishy. :@ While it isn't a problem in most cases (since you can just spam them to eternity), it has proven to be a problem in Uul-netol breach domain, in which monsters have MASSIVE AoE, which manages to kill Empower-less Skelies very quickly. You will simply run out of time resummoning them :(at least I did).

Other options for gems: Melee damage on full life (skeletons will get ES from you, and most of the time they will be at full hp) or even Increased Duration (for both skeletons and poison). Without Empower skeletons will be a lot less capable to take damage, tho.

There are few problems with Vis Mortis:
- Your skeletons will be quite squishy anyways, having 20% reduced life modifier is not good
- Unholy Might is only granted on kill (which means it is almost useless on bosses) and it is very unlikely more than few skeletons will ever get it. Not to mention you are resummoning them all the time, which means they will rarely get its benefits. With skeletons, you need effects that are either on hit, or come from your character. :P

Well, yes, that might help. Altho, there is nothing special about the items:
- Skin of the Loyal is sufficient all game long, since it gives you 100% global defenses from level 1. This is quite literally 100% increase ES. At level 1. :P Just grab some items with ES and enjoy easy leveling. :) Just wear one, and buy more (if you can afford it) to Vaal. That is how I got mine. :P
- Severed in Sleep is good enough, since the major interest is Poison. You can transition into its upgrade at any point you want, since while it does increase your damage a bit, it isn't nowhere crucial
- Victario's Charity is... well, almost free. :P A rare shield before you can use it is a-ok

And rest of the items are rares, so it is pretty self explanatory.

About the 100% global defenses - the more of one increased modifier you have, the less effective each next is. This is because increased modifiers are cumulative.
If you already have 0% increased ES, another 100% increased ES will grant you 100% MORE ES.
If you already have 500% increase ES, another 100% increased ES will grant you 20% MORE ES (600/500=1,2).
This means that if you don't take as much ES nodes from tree as, for example, CI, wearing Skin of the Loyal will be quite effective for you. It might even out-perform Vis Mortis.

Wither is Channeled spell. I'm using Cast While Channeling to cast all spells in the setup. Raise Zombie is a spell. :) So now you can just drop corpses under boss' legs and then cast Wither on him (increasing the chaos damage taken by him, which includes poison), while resummoning Zombies he manages to kill. This takes a while to get used to, but it is quite effective for some boss fights, where Skeletons manage to not die... :P

Hope it helps. :)
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.
https://joeduncan123.imgur.com
https://joeduncan1234.imgur.com
Last edited by Perq on Apr 6, 2017, 1:58:37 AM
cast on channelings is probably the only way to make zombies shaper viable at this point .. you need to able to recast them quickly because no matter what he kills them quickly and cwc ignores the mana issues of these otherwise expensive spells
why don't use the ENVY aura skill? is that useless?

I want to see your more video but your TWITCH channel have not enough video.

when are u coming back to TWITCH?
"
forign11 wrote:
why don't use the ENVY aura skill? is that useless?

I want to see your more video but your TWITCH channel have not enough video.

when are u coming back to TWITCH?


Super late answer that probably won't be seen. :P

Envy doesn't add much of flat damage and I mostly scale damage from physical base. Its cost is huge compared to how much damage it offers. Using anything else proves to be more beneficial. :)

About videos - I haven't played the character for a while, but I can try adding some more gameplay videos.

About the twitch thing... gotta admit that I grew tired of Twitch for time being. No promises when I will come back to it (if ever), but I will probably stream some beta and/or when the new league comes out.
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.
https://joeduncan123.imgur.com
https://joeduncan1234.imgur.com
Bumping because I will be updating the build in coming days (maybe today). Build remains pretty much the same, but I will have to update the description (mainly because poison no longer double dips). I will be also adding Guardian boss kills and/or Uber Izaro, Atziri.

If you are interested and have any questions - feel free. :)
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.
Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.
https://joeduncan123.imgur.com
https://joeduncan1234.imgur.com

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