{3.10} Speaker for the Dead | The Mass Minion Summoner | League Starter, Leveling Guide 💀

I was also able to hit level 93 SSF very easily. Especially once I linked Fortify to Charged dash, everything got much smoother. I will not forgo fortify again in the future, and may go as far as adding storm barrier & tukohama pantheon and + min endurance charges to help out defenses next round.

I almost hit 94 but started pushing end game content more towards the end.

A little different approach from main build but I am looking forward to running it again for next ssf league!

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/kager/characters/Kager_CasuallyAverage

Last edited by kager on Mar 4, 2019, 5:15:07 PM
@ kager:
"
kager wrote:
I was also able to hit level 93 SSF very easily. Especially once I linked Fortify to Charged dash, everything got much smoother. I will not forgo fortify again in the future, and may go as far as adding storm barrier & tukohama pantheon and + min endurance charges to help out defenses next round.

I almost hit 94 but started pushing end game content more towards the end.

A little different approach from main build but I am looking forward to running it again for next ssf league!

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/kager/characters/Kager_CasuallyAverage

Awesome! Oh, thanks for reminding me! I forgot to look at the SSF and HC Betrayal ladders!

I almost missed your character since Raise Spectre wasn't your 5+ skill.

Top Speakers in SSF Betrayal League:

Congratulations, everyone!

Many more Speakers made it into the top 20,000 rankings of SSF than SC, likely due to the smaller userbase (only 10,544 according to poe.ninja).

It doesn't appear anyone played Speaker in HC or SSF HC Betrayal, unless the build was modified to not use either Herald of Agony or Raise Spectre on a Necromancer.


"
kager wrote:
A little different approach from main build but I am looking forward to running it again for next ssf league!

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/kager/characters/Kager_CasuallyAverage

You have two Minion Damage Supports on Skeletons. Support Gems don't stack, so only one of those is working.

What Spectre were you using? Damage on Full Life Support will only work for minions who use attacks, just so you know. Culling Strike seems like an odd choice, what was your reason?

I'm curious why you chose to stay on the left side of the tree. Let's work out the differences:

For 26 points, you were able to get four life clusters for a total of 64% increased life, 170 STR, 1.8% regen, 1% max fire res, 20% life flask effect, 5% cast speed, one jewel socket, and used up a jewel socket to convert 40 STR into DEX.

For 37 points, going to the right instead would net you 60% increased life, 30 STR, 150 DEX, two jewel sockets, 20% life flask effect + duration, 12% attack speed, 6% cast speed, Acrobatics + Phase Acrobatics, access to Grave Intentions (Revenge of the Hunted, Melding, and Written in Blood also options), and no need to convert stats.

The difference of 11 points = two 3pt jewel sockets, a 4% life node, and the Acrobatics cluster. So washing those out (since you could drop them and take the same life nodes in the Scion & Templar clusters), the difference comparison becomes:

Left vs. Right side
8% vs. 0% increased life
100 vs. 0 STR (= 50 flat life)
0 vs. 110 DEX
0% vs. 20% life flask duration
1.8% vs. 0% life regen
1% vs. 0% max fire resistance
0% vs. 12% attack speed (Shield Charge)
0% vs. 1% cast speed (Skeleton deployment)

25% increased life (~540 total life) vs. 40%/30% attack/spell dodge

Left also gets +6% elemental resistances and +8% fire resistance, but the value of this depends on your gear and how under/overcapped you already are. I also ignored the increased armor and reduced mana cost since their contribution will be minuscule.

In conclusion, they're fairly close with their tradeoffs. The valuation therefore depends on how you rate Acrobatics, jewel sockets, and Grave Intentions compared to increased life, and whether you can get enough DEX on gear to make up the difference.
Last edited by Hercanic on Mar 5, 2019, 1:46:28 AM
GUIDE UPDATE
A Hall of Fame section has been added to MISCELLANEOUS, to record and honor the top Speaker for the Dead players of each league.

Thank you all for giving my build a shot. I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to take it so far!


Art by Luke "Mr--Jack" Mancini
Last edited by Hercanic on Mar 5, 2019, 2:47:49 AM
Looking forward to running it again in 3.6!
Thanks for your great build.

This build was my league starter and it was great.
It was my first league ever and I killed the Uber Elder with this build.

I think I will run it again as my starter next league.

Ps: I don't know why I am not at Poe Ninja. :-(
This is my build for SC 3.6. I've loved it on 3.5.
Last edited by CapetaDoMal on Mar 5, 2019, 9:50:18 AM
"
kager wrote:
A little different approach from main build but I am looking forward to running it again for next ssf league!

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/kager/characters/Kager_CasuallyAverage
You have two Minion Damage Supports on Skeletons. Support Gems don't stack, so only one of those is working.


Ignore those gems, I had been vaaling gems and lost a few key level 20 supports and trying out the new helm and chest piece I recently 6 linked. I was also pushing elder / guardians and end game maps, and found the 6 link skeles stronger then 6 link specters with phantasms for bossing.

"

What Spectre were you using? Damage on Full Life Support will only work for minions who use attacks, just so you know. Culling Strike seems like an odd choice, what was your reason?


The Full life support was previously used for Herald of Agony before I leveled up an Empower. I was running 2 frost sentinels and 1 solar guard. Again I was just moving gems and gear around and vaaling right at the end of league, Specters were running in helm 4 link as RS-MD-EP-CS. I found Culling Strike significantly helped with finishing off bosses (which was their weak point since they don't contribute much damage wise during boss fights) and adding stacks when clearing for Unending Hunger. They turn into shotguns and keep everything frozen even with the lower damage.

"

I'm curious why you chose to stay on the left side of the tree. Let's work out the differences:

For 26 points, you were able to get four life clusters for a total of 64% increased life, 170 STR, 1.8% regen, 1% max fire res, 20% life flask effect, 5% cast speed, one jewel socket, and used up a jewel socket to convert 40 STR into DEX.

For 37 points, going to the right instead would net you 60% increased life, 30 STR, 150 DEX, two jewel sockets, 20% life flask effect + duration, 12% attack speed, 6% cast speed, Acrobatics + Phase Acrobatics, access to Grave Intentions (Revenge of the Hunted, Melding, and Written in Blood also options), and no need to convert stats.

The difference of 11 points = two 3pt jewel sockets, a 4% life node, and the Acrobatics cluster. So washing those out (since you could drop them and take the same life nodes in the Scion & Templar clusters), the difference comparison becomes:

Left vs. Right side
8% vs. 0% increased life
100 vs. 0 STR (= 50 flat life)
0 vs. 110 DEX
0% vs. 20% life flask duration
1.8% vs. 0% life regen
1% vs. 0% max fire resistance
0% vs. 12% attack speed (Shield Charge)
0% vs. 1% cast speed (Skeleton deployment)

25% increased life (~540 total life) vs. 40%/30% attack/spell dodge

Left also gets +6% elemental resistances and +8% fire resistance, but the value of this depends on your gear and how under/overcapped you already are. I also ignored the increased armor and reduced mana cost since their contribution will be minuscule.

In conclusion, they're fairly close with their tradeoffs. The valuation therefore depends on how you rate Acrobatics, jewel sockets, and Grave Intentions compared to increased life, and whether you can get enough DEX on gear to make up the difference.


I did rough numbers and came up with same conclusion. It's pretty close overall. I predicted it was going to be a one shot mechanic league, and I honestly suffered at the hands of many Fortification towers before I got above 7.4k life and started using fortify and after the much needed nerfs to some of the masters. Many one shots were still happening and unavoidable. The 40%/30% attack/spell dodge would have helped a fair amount, but I was hoping the 550+ life was enough of a buffer. I think the sell point for me was I could add a couple extra endurance charges for 4 points end game if I deemed it necessary. Next league I will seriously be looking at 3 + min endurance charges from ring/ring/amulet enchant since the aggro from enduring cry is dangerous and removes minion taunt.
I most likely would stay to right side if I go SSF again since maintaining dex was pretty rough with no purchasable gear.
WOW Hercanic.

This is difficult to put into words, the respect, admiration and appreciation I have for you is just quietly very high.

Thank you for the acknowledgement with this HOF, it hardly feels that big of a deal since this league broke all kinds of records for the most level 100s, but it was an achievement nevertheless and was hard work for me personally anyway being my first ever. although i'm sure SSF and hardcore is far more prestigious.

The reason why I never switched the Projectile Weakness and never went for the movement skill, was just wanting to have more survive ability (namely higher resists to do map mods that dropped them considerably without worrying about it). I just hate dying. And I can say that outside of couple huge bosses, I did not die very much with this build, and that is a HUGE credit to you and what you did with the build in allowing these little bits of breathing spaces for us to make slight adjustments. But like everything else in your messages here to myself and other users of your build, you are completely 100% right and I agree completely with you. I should have known to change that for Incursions, I guess you just get spoiled with a good thing and want to do it all with it all the time. But that's just not how POE works, sometimes you do have to make adjustments according to situations, as I did with Bosses thanks to your advice I would switch out Phantasms for Hypothermia for those single big bosses.

The way I see our relation is that you are the Engineer and I am a driver of your vehicle, like a Formula 1 team. So just want to say what a pleasure it was playing your build and having you here for support and help. You do such an amazing job keeping us all well informed about the build and our options and the nuances of the build. Really top notch.

With your build and your help I achieved the most ever in a League, got all the League rewards for the first time ever. I was able to purchase these
Worth around 60ex so I can have some fun in Standard with some cool mechanics that were prior to this build out of my reach. So thank you for that. And thank you for a Build that highly compensates my lack of skill in the actual game. I must be one of the least skilled people out there at this game, so this achievement again is a huge credit to you, because me, I couldn't do it alone or with inferior builds. Your build, bridges the gap of my lack of skill with its features. And that is one of the things that attracted me to your build, and it Delivered in Full.

But most importantly I had fun, probably the most fun I've ever had in poe. Most leagues I get bored with the build and the game. Now part of that was this league had more things to do, but also I think your build also helped. And part of it, was that I also never played as full Minion build before. But now I think I got spoiled. I can't imagine myself going to anything inferior.

So I do hope what ever you come up with on the engineers drawing board can improve upon your master piece here.

Much Love your Fan.

Last edited by ArmedCiv on Mar 5, 2019, 12:21:39 PM
"
Summon Phantasm on Kill Support
Now also grants a 10% chance to summon a Phantasm when supported skills, or non-phantasm minions from supported skills, hit a Rare or Unique enemy.


SO SO GOOD! My main complaint for bossing gone!


"
Spectred Blood Chieftains now have a cooldown on their power charge-generating roar.


I used these for leveling up before I could use victarios shield, not sure how much of a nerf this is.

"
Raise Spectre
Mana Cost at gem level 1 is now 15 (was 21).
Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 28 (was 42).


This is nice for leveling & resummoning as required if tight on reserved mana.

"

Summon Skeleton
Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 13 (was 12).


Negligible (and not sure why was increased along with SRS?)

"
Ball Lightning
Mana Cost at gem level 1 is now 13 (was 14).
Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 25 (was 27).
Now has a cast time of 0.75 seconds (from 0.8).
Now deals 3 to 48 Lightning damage at gem level 1 (from 2 to 35) and 22 to 426 Lightning damage at gem level 20 (from 22 to 420).
Now has an added damage effectiveness of 40% (from 35%).


May be possible to self cast Ball lightning with some of the new supports. Will have to test out.

"
Hatred
Now causes you and nearby Allies to deal 14% more Cold Damage at gem level 1, up to 18% more Cold Damage at gem level 20. Note that this cold damage multiplies the Extra damage granted by the aura.
Now causes you and nearby Allies to gain 16% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage (from 26%) at gem level 1, up to 25% at gem level 20 (from 36%).


big buff for Frost sentinel specters, small nerf to skeles/zombies and HOA damage!

"
Kingmaker now has "nearby allies have +50% critical strike multiplier", "nearby allies have fortify" and 250-285% increased physical damage. Existing versions are not affected.


New Kingmaker may be worth running animated guardian for crit damage and fortify?
BUILD UPDATE
3.6 Patch Notes for Synthesis League were released today. Skill tree changes.

TL;DR
Phantasms buffed, Projectile Weakness buffed, Hatred nerfed.



Art by Toraji .

"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Summon Phantasm on Kill Support
Now also grants a 10% chance to summon a Phantasm when supported skills, or non-phantasm minions from supported skills, hit a Rare or Unique enemy.

This is a HUGE buff. We can now count on having our Phantasms up against bosses. No need to gem-swap. Well, you'd still probably want to trade Elemental Proliferation for Controlled Destruction versus Guardians/Shaper/Uber Elder.

Minion cast speed will be more important now. So scratch Controlled Destruction, Spell Echo is the better pick.


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Bosses which previously had 60% or 80% less effect of curses on them now have 33% or 66% less effect of curses on them respectively. This includes map bosses, Incursion architects, Betrayal targets, Breachlords, Shaper, Elder and others.


Temporal Chains
Mana Cost at gem level 1 is now 16 (was 24).
Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 33 (was 50).
Now causes Normal and Magic enemies to have 20% less Action Speed at gem level 1, up to 29% less Action Speed at gem level 20.
Now causes Rare and Unique enemies to have 10% less Action Speed at gem level 1, up to 14% less Action Speed at gem level 20.


Enfeeble
Mana Cost at gem level 1 is now 16 (was 24).
Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 33 (was 50).
Now causes Normal and Magic enemies to deal 21% less Damage at gem level 1, up to 30% less Damage at gem level 20.
Now causes Rare and Unique enemies to deal 10% less damage at gem level 1, up to 15% less damage at gem level 20.

This is another great buff for Spectres and Phantasms (and Agony Crawler), as it makes Projectile Weakness far stronger than before on bosses.

Before vs. After
54% vs. 54% more projectile damage against normal monsters
21% vs. 36% more projectile damage against map bosses
10% vs. 18% more projectile damage against Guardians/Shaper/Uber Elder

The downside is knockback can subtract DPS from our Skeletons and Zombies.

---

As for Temporal Chains and Enfeeble, it's a mixed bag. Effect Expiration on Temp Chains is effectively buffed against bosses, but the Action Speed part has been nerfed even when accounting for the weaker curse resistance of bosses. However, if Quality remains the same it becomes a buff.

Before vs. After for Temporal Chains
29% vs. 14% less Action Speed against Rare/Unique monsters
5.8% vs. 4.8% less Action Speed against Guardians/Shaper/Uber Elder

w/ 20% Quality (assuming no change)
39% vs. 24% less Action Speed against Rare/Unique monsters
7.8% vs. 8.2% less Action Speed against Guardians/Shaper/Uber Elder

---

Enfeeble's lessened damage is nerfed, but all its other effects are significantly buffed against bosses. If Quality remains the same, there's still no change in lessened damage.

Before vs. After for Enfeeble
30/37/25/30% vs. 15/37/25/30% less/reduced Damage/Accuracy/CritChance/CritMulti against Rare/Unique monsters
6/7.4/5/6% vs. 5.1/12.6/8.5/10.2% less/reduced Damage/Accuracy/CritChance/CritMulti against Guardians/Shaper/Uber Elder

w/ 20% Quality (assuming no change)
30/47/35/30% vs. 15/47/35/30% less/reduced Damage/Accuracy/CritChance/CritMulti against Rare/Unique monsters
6/9.4/7/6% vs. 5.1/16/12/10.2% less/reduced Damage/Accuracy/CritChance/CritMulti against Guardians/Shaper/Uber Elder

---

Overall, these changes are a great triumph for all curses.

Update: Quality is not changing, but it also doesn't apply at all to the Rare/Unique portion of the skill now. So this is an even bigger nerf for those specific effects.


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Hatred
Now causes you and nearby Allies to deal 14% more Cold Damage at gem level 1, up to 18% more Cold Damage at gem level 20. Note that this cold damage multiplies the Extra damage granted by the aura.
Now causes you and nearby Allies to gain 16% of Physical Damage as Extra Cold Damage (from 26%) at gem level 1, up to 25% at gem level 20 (from 36%).

Another Frost Sentinel buff! 18% more Cold Damage with Generosity becomes 25% more Cold Damage.

However, this is a nerf to the rest of our minions. 25% Physical as Cold with Generosity becomes 35%. Multiplied by 25% more Cold Damage it becomes 43%. We used to get 50% Physical as Cold with Generosity. We would need another three 6% increased aura effect nodes (18%) to reach 50% Physical as Cold with Generosity.

Something like the Grip of the Council gloves would gain another 5% with Hatred + Generosity.


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Summon Skeleton
Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 13 (was 12).

A potential nerf if your weapon affixes push Herald of Agony's reservation too high.


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Ball Lightning
Now has an added damage effectiveness of 40% (from 35%).

This means more Life Gain on Hit with a Shaper ring! 105 LGoH per sec per target becomes 120.


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Kingmaker now has "nearby allies have +50% critical strike multiplier", "nearby allies have fortify" and 250-285% increased physical damage. Existing versions are not affected.

Animated Guardian might be on the table now, depending on how far "nearby" turns out to be. Perma-Fortify? Yes please. The crit multiplier would also be excellent for minions when they get Power Charges, since they only have a base 30% crit multi and three Power Charges boosts them to 35% chance to crit. The contribution of three Power Charges would go from 10.5% more damage to 28% (plus any elemental ailments).

At the very least, it'd be a strong way to increase Skeleton and Zombie survival.


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Storm Barrier Support/Infused Channelling Support
Storm Barrier Support has been renamed. It is now called Infused Channelling Support.
No longer grants reduced Lightning Damage taken from hits while Channelling.
No longer grants a chance to gain a Power Charge when hit while Channelling.
Now grants reduced Damage taken from hits while Channelling, of types matching the supported skill gem's tags. Still also reduces Physical Damage taken from hits while Channelling.
Now grants Infusion after channelling for a duration. Infusion grants more Damage of types matching the supported skill gem's tags.
Now causes supported skills to deal more damage based on the gem's level.

Reduced? Current Storm Barrier is Less, so if it has changed to Reduced then it'll stack with other sources of Reduced Damage for an amplifying effect. Since they referred to the old version as having Reduced as well, this may just be a typo.

If Kingmaker works as well as I hope it does on an Animated Guardian, we could put Infused Channelling on Charged Dash instead of Fortify or GMP.


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Added a new cluster next to Zealot's Oath near the Templar: Singular Focus - The notable grants 4% additional Physical Damage Reduction while Channelling, 6% increased Attack and Cast Speed with Channelling Skills and 15% increased Damage with Channelling Skills. The other passives in the cluster grant a total of 44% increased Damage with Channelling Skills and 6% increased Attack and Cast Speed with Channelling Skills, spread across 4 passives.

The Physical Damage Reduction while Channelling would stack with Flesh Binder, a Chaos Golem, and +minimum Endurance Charges. It costs 3 points for 4%, compared to Grave Intentions for 2% (w/ Flesh Binder).


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Convocation
Now has a 4 second cooldown (from 8).

Finally! Although we don't really need to use Convocation in our build, this change is an immense improvement for summoners in general.


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Summon Raging Spirit
Mana Cost at gem level 20 is now 16 (was 12).

No effect on us, but this really bites for SRS players. I feel for you.

Update: GGG is reverting this change and even doubling SRS' accuracy.


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Chain Support
Now causes supported skills to deal 30% less damage at gem level 1 (from 50%), up to 11% less damage at gem level 20 (from 31%).


Fork Support
Now causes supported skills to deal 10% less damage at gem level 1 (from 30%), up to 9% more damage at gem level 20 (from 11% less).

Finally! I really like these changes. Chain is simply fantastic for clear. Is it a potential candidate for the Agony Crawler? Something to consider.

Stygian Revenant, is that you I hear in the distance? It's been a long, long time.

Order of operation for projectiles goes:
1. Pierce
2. Fork
3. Chain

A Stygian Revenant with Fork and Chain? Its 3 sequenced projectiles could fork into 6, which if those hit then they'll bounce to two more targets, for a possible total of 21 targets.

A Frost Sentinel with GMP can fire between 5-7 projectiles, so with Chain they too could hit up to 21 targets.

Sadly, Phantasms don't benefit from either, since they Pierce by default.


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Spectred Blood Chieftains now have a cooldown on their power charge-generating roar.

Were Discharge builds exploiting this or something? I hope the cooldown isn't ridiculous. We should be able to see how much it is by checking PoeDB after they datamine the patch. It's thanks to this site that we can see Tukohama Vanguards now have a GlobalCooldown of 500 in its AI for placing totems when they're Spectres, as well as 15% less Totem Damage per Totem (so Multiple Totems Support only works out to be around 35% more damage for them).


"
Bex_GGG wrote:
Mod tiers displayed with the Advanced Mod Description key now display their tier based on what that item type can legitimately reach. In other words, a ring with the highest possible Life roll a ring may obtain will now say it is a T1 mod, even if that same mod on a Body Armour would be T5.

Finally! This'll help alleviate loot fatigue when glancing over an item to determine its potential worth.
Last edited by Hercanic on Jun 8, 2019, 9:57:37 AM

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