[3.4] Poison Herald of Agony / Spectre Necromancer GUMMONER

DISCLAIMER: This isn't an extensive guide with fancy images and links. I'm asumming that you have decent Path of Exile knowledge so I will not explain the leveling process, gear progression and other informations in too much details. You can find that in other build guides. My setup might not be to your liking. Most gems and equipement is interchangeable.


YOUTUBE
https://youtu.be/AbveOsrVAf4 - With Wickerman / Tukohama's Vanguard

Current status
I have leveled with Herald of Agony right from the start. At this very moment (September 5th), I am doing Depths 245 / Level 81 Delves pretty safely and red maps pretty comfortably

Level 96 (September 8th), switched to Risen Vaal Advocate minions. They have way better clear and most of our single target is from the Agony Crawler. I had some trouble in those 270+ delves, but that new spectre fixes a lot. Fought a lvl 82 Delve Abyss Lich boss, went pretty smooth. Probably won't be playing this in a while.





Hi, this is a summoner build in which the main damage come from the Scorpion summoned from Herald of Agony gem with which we scale its Physical/Chaos hits and Poison Damage Over Time.
It has a huge AoE multi-projectile attack that shotguns that does massive damage and a four projectile attack similar to Split arrow.

Along that, we have "Risen Vaal Advocate" (Lightning version) from the Vaal Outpost in Delves.

Playstyle: Regular Spectre Summoner point and click + green Scorpion + Yellow arrows in your face + monsters moving like snails
We curse and target monsters with Rain of Arrows while maintaining the "Virulence stacks" to keep our Scorpion active.


Why Poison DoT?

Minions aren't that consistent in terms of single target damage. We don't need more clear speed AoE. So we scale Poison to further improve our boss damage. You will most likely notice the DoT on tough enemies. The Scorpion is so strong that it will one shot any white or blue packs, even with bad gem links.


X% increased Damage per Virulence
Minion X% Damage

These "double dip", meaning they increase the initial hit and the damage over time part.
We get around 900-1200% minion damage on our Scorpion and adding X% more damage on top of that.


The Agony Crawler scorpion does part Physical and Chaos damage (proportions still unknown).

I have tried multiple gems setup (big hits Physical / Elemental / mix of these two / DoT scaling).

Final result: Pure Damage gems that double dip.


This should be able to do most content while using relatively accessible gear.



Level 94
PoB https://pastebin.com/SbygBCQz
Passive tree http://poeurl.com/b4mu (Elemental Equilibrium for my Spectre)
Pantheon Soul of Ryslatha (Flasks) / Soul of the Brine King (Stun immunity), Soul of Solaris (Damage reduction) or Soul of Lunaris (Chain damage immune)

Gems

Priority "top to bottom"

Other than both 6L containing Herald of Agony and Raise Spectre, the rest of the gem links are not set in stone. Feel free to use different gems as you please.
Some pieces might require you to do the "Vorici jeweller trick" to color your gear.


*Main 6L
Herald of Agony
Pierce
Minion Damage
Damage on Full Life
Vicious Projectiles
Poison (Use that before Vicious Projectile if you have a 5L Dendrobate)
Greater Multiple Projectiles or Lesser Multiple Projectiles (try for yourself)
Vile Toxin (switch instead of Pierce for bossing)

*I am using this in a "Dendrobate" chest that has Lesser Poison Support which puts my scorpion to 100% chance to poison on hit instead of 60%. It is not required, but it makes it more consistent on tough targets.

*Secondary 6L
Raise Spectre
Minion Damage
Spell Echo
Greater Multiple Projectile
Pierce

*This is in a 5L Elder Helmet that includes Minion Damage (Essence craft would be the best).
"Risen Vaal Advocate" (Lightning version) minion from the Vaal Outpost in Azurite Mines

*BOW attack DEBUFF 5L 6L
Rain of Arrows
Poison
Curse on Hit
Temporal Chains
Enfeeble (or Despair)
Withering Touch
(Life gain on Hit)
(Blind)

*I have that in an elder gloves with Poison support gem.

*Remaining sockets (Optional, but highly recommended)

Raise Zombie
Fortify
Minion Life
Withering Touch

Clarity Lv1

*To gain the bonuses from Commander of Darkness ascendancy passive.


Convocation

Summon Stone Golem

Summon Holy Relic

Phase Run

Vaal Grace

Flame Dash

Desecrate (I swap when I need Spectres)

Blink Arrow

Vaal Blight (with its unique Threshold jewel for DPS)

Flesh / Bone / Spirit Offering?

If it had a faster cast time and didn't get nerfed, it would be worth it.
You don't have time and would gain more damage from spamming Rain of Arrows for Virulence/Wither stacks. It could be useable with "Cast when Damage Taken".

Feel free to test them yourself.


Toxic Rain

Toxic Rain has those vine snares that can slow enemies up to 60% reduced movement speed. Mix that with hinder from wither stacks and Temporal Chains, you can pretty much freeze bosses and enemies that are in "movement action". However, it isn't as efficient at gathering stacks and cursing monster packs than Rain of Arrows.




Gear


Current (Level 94)


REQUIRED

Fastest attack speed bow to gain and maintain Virulence stacks.


Massive Dexterity



Stats to look for:
Life
Resistances
Dexterity

Abyss Jewel
Life
Minion have X% chance to Blind on hit with Attacks
Minion have X% chance to Taunt on hit with Attacks
Any Minion Damage
Any Minion Speed
Resistances
Movement speed
Regeneration
Minion Leech

Summoner builds require many gem slots. These items will help you provide more options without spending too much money on 6L.



Notable Items

Let me know in this thread if you think an item is worth mentionning.


Helmet: DELVE Craft "Nearby enemies have -X% Chaos Resistances"

Quiver: ELDER "Chance to Blind" "Chance to Poison"

Boots: DELVE Craft "+1 to maximum Spectre"

Bow: +1 to Active gems / Socketed gems are supported by X Level of Vicious Projectile support

Body Armour: DELVE Craft "+1 to maximum Spectre"
Body Armour: Unique "Cospri's Will"
Body Armour: Unique "Kaom's Heart" (+500 to maximum life)
Body Armour: Unique "Belly of the Beast" (30-40% to maximum life, Life flask recovery and X% to All Elemental Resistances)
Body Armour: Unique "The Coming Calamity" (+2 to Herald gems and 45% Mana reserved)

Gloves: Corruption "Curse on hit Enfeeble / Temporal Chains / Elemental Weakness"
Gloves: Shaper "Chance to Blind"
Gloves: Elder "Poison gem", "Faster Attack gem"
Gloves: Unique "Tombfist" (Intimidate)
Gloves: Unique "Command of the Pit (+1000 Minion Accuracy)
Gloves: Unique "Grip of the Council" (Minions gain 20% Physical damage as extra Cold

Amulet: Unique "Impresence" (100% Despair reservation)

Flask: Unique "Witchfire Brew" (Level 21 Despair Aura)

Ring: Unique "Essence Worm"


Setup Variants

This is a mix and match. If you want to make your Scorpion summoner more unique, these are some suggestions.

Cospri's Will
-+1 curse / 60% poison chance on hit (+20% from HoA) / Hexproof bypass

This lets you use one extra curse and one extra support gem for your Bow attack. No Poison gem gloves required anymore.

The Coming Calamity
-+2 Herald gems / Heralds always reserve 45% mana

This gives you room for one aura or maybe even use Herald of Purity for a secondary minion type.

Elder Rare Bow
-+1 Active gems / Socketed gems are supported by X Level of Vicious Projectile support / Chance to Poison on hit / Chance to Blind on hit

7L +1 Herald of Agony. You will have less attack speed, but an overall stronger Scorpion.

Kaom's Heart
-+500 to maximum life

Massive life increase at the cost of gem slots. You most likely give up zombies and some utility skills for that.



Spectres


Risen Vaal Advocate

There are different elements of those. I personally prefer the Lightning ones. The fire one looks good as well.

Tukohama's Vanguard (Single target dps)
Solar Guards (Clear)
Flame Sentinel (Clear)
Wickerman (Clear/Tank)
Kitava's Herald (Tank)



Map mods

You can do every map mods, but these are the most bothersome for this build.

No life or mana Regeneration
Monsters Chain 2 additional times
Reduced Curse Effectiveness
Monsters cannot be slowed below 50% base
Monsters have X% chance to avoid Blind, Poison, Bleed
Hexproof


Early game

You get Herald of Agony through Act 3 Library quest, but other classes get it in Act 2 Chamber of Sins quest (Level 16 requirement gem).

Use any bow with Rain of Arrow linked to Poison and Lesser poison.


Endgame


Classic Raise Spectre summoners have done Uber Elder. This should be able to as well. It's different in playstyle since you want to keep attacking to stack up your withers, but the Poison part leaves you more room to kite bosses. Use Tukohama's Vanguard for pure bossing.

Do not ask me for videos of Elder or Shaper boss. However, if someone wants to do that and gives me permission, I will add it on this post.




Delve 270 / Monster Level 83
This is when it can get sketchy. This is some recommendations to make deep delving easier.
-Swap the Dendrobate for a Belly of the Beast to hit 7000 life or higher
-Use Bone offering with a Rearguard quiver for block
-6L Quill Rain with either curse gloves / +1 curse ring / +1 curse amulet so you can have more damage output
-Use a Taste of Hate unique flask instead of the Silver Flask
-X% Cooldown reduction on Shaper Belt / Boots and Convocation cooldown enchant




More?

-I don't know if the Scorpion has innate "Physical damage as extra Chaos damage" or "X% Physical damage converted to X% Chaos damage".

If it's not converted, then Vile Toxins would be better than Vicious Projectiles.


-Vulnerability curse for the Physical damage taken and chance to bleed might be a decent (or better) choice than Despair curse. However, we would lose the DoT damage for our Spectres.
+Verdict: Despair > Vulnerability
Last edited by se7enaccuracy on Sep 16, 2018, 11:59:06 AM
Last bumped on Oct 14, 2018, 5:34:36 AM
Uploading video right now and adding more information.
I am doing a similar but different route build than yours and I just wanted to point a small thing out.

You want to remove the things for look in jewels "minions taunt" cause herald of agony specifically makes all your iminions unable to taunt.
"The heavens burned
The stars cried out
And under the ashes of infinity
Hope, scarred and bleeding breathed it's last."
"
Elhazzared wrote:
I am doing a similar but different route build than yours and I just wanted to point a small thing out.

You want to remove the things for look in jewels "minions taunt" cause herald of agony specifically makes all your iminions unable to taunt.


I'm sure it refers to its own gem. Summon Holy Relic has it as well. I'm asumming only the Scorpion and the Holy Relic themselves cannot taunt enemies.

I don't think the Scorpion is targetable so that's they made it unable to taunt. As for the Holy Relic, that's most likely to make it live longer. It would be bad if it constantly took aggro and dies.

I would find it weird that another active gem Minion would affect other minions without it stating any sort of Aura (Summon Lightning Golem for example). GGG is pretty consistent with their wordings.


Edit: Tested it with a friend. I was correct. My other minions are still able to taunt. Just not those two specific minions.
Last edited by se7enaccuracy on Sep 7, 2018, 11:50:24 AM
Showing this build some love

I made some changes, but its solid af
IGN: HarroHarbinger
i don't think Pierce and GMP/LMP are needed because the scorpion has these abilities without the gems
also i think an Empower would be better to scale the damage
"
BeRse wrote:
i don't think Pierce and GMP/LMP are needed because the scorpion has these abilities without the gems
also i think an Empower would be better to scale the damage


Correct, Pierce / GMP is overkill for clear depending on what Spectres you got. I still like to have pierce.


I have done the Math for Empower. It might be better, but only if it's lvl 4 Empower in a +1 or +2 Bow. Other than that, the double dip poison ones are stronger. Unless of course, you don't want to poison then sure, go ahead and swap Empower in.
im playing my Necro/Bugomancer with BV and The Scourge
"
Elhazzared wrote:
You want to remove the things for look in jewels "minions taunt" cause herald of agony specifically makes all your iminions unable to taunt.

I don't think this is correct.

The "Minions cannot taunt enemies" mod from Herald of Agony is only specific to the Agony Crawler. As the OP previously tested and describes, the Agony Crawler is not targetable, which is a valid inference as to why the mod exists for Herald of Agony. Mods on minion skill gems that summon are local to the minion of the skill gem itself and, in turn, do not apply to other minions.

tl;dr - The Agony Crawler cannot taunt minions, but other minions [except the Holy Relic] can.
Last edited by kaype on Sep 10, 2018, 11:21:46 PM
this is seriously one of the coolest builds i've seen, it's so clever. i'm prob gonna drop everything temporarily and try it out.

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