Blood Magic Golementalist (~130c starting budget, with trade URLs for buying easy gear)

Hi,

If you want "THE" guide for flame golems and answers for pretty much every question for flame golem build, stop reading right now and go to this guide instead:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1827487


I just wrote this build so my friend has something easy to read and bookmark. I also provided trade URLs so he can just copy&paste them to buy gear when he needs to (actually, this is one of the main reasons I started writing this... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

I played this character rather successfully a few leagues back and pretty much nothing has changed for it if I remember correctly, other than the jewels being way cheaper nowadays.

It's by no means the best guide, it's just a rather (not so....) quick write up for my friend. :D

Buying guide for every single slot of gear at the end.

PROS & CONS
Pros:

  • can run every map mod
  • huge clear, good speed as well
  • If I remember correctly, also very good boss damage.
  • Tanky due to blood magic, enfeeble and well rolled magic flasks.
  • Mana costs are irrelevant also due to blood magic.
  • Faceroll pretty much everything once you have golems


Cons:

  • somewhat expensive to start (not a league starter)
  • awkward to level up to lvl 34 due to almost no damage in tree. Storm Brand makes this somewhat easier nowadays.
  • Minion Build. You either love it or hate it.
  • No auras because of Blood magic.
  • Only uses one health flask, which is blood of the karui, pretty much no other flask can keep up with the high health this build has. It's quite cheap nowadays though.
TL;DR (and pastebin)
https://pastebin.com/RkG1kzgf

Use the drop down at the bottom left to cycle through the different levels of the skill tree.
Gear has no resistance pre set, as this is very much depending on how the rest of your gear looks like
Introduction
Total Cost of Gear:

Bare minimum: roughly 130c (including all rares) at the time of writing this guide (can be done with a few harmony jewels less, but... well, we just have the jewel sockets anyways)
Up to a crap ton of exalteds if you want to bring it to absolute irresponsible endgame levels, but if you're have this kind of currency you won't need this guide to begin with.
Leveling guide
Get Path of Building here: https://github.com/Openarl/PathOfBuilding/releases
Import this Build: https://pastebin.com/RkG1kzgf

Switch between the different skill trees using this dropdown (or ... drop-up?) at the very bottom left of Path of Building:
Preparation
Buy the following gear (see detailed section for links):

If you can't afford the jewels, don't start playing this build. It will not work. Stop reading this guide now if that is the case.

Jewels: Primordial Might, Anima Stone (use recipe, see detailed section below), Primal Harmony (~70-80c total)
Body Armor: Tabula Rasa (10c)
Clayshaper (weapon, 1c)
Primordial Chain (amulet, 3c)
Victario's Charity (Shield, 1 alch)
The beginnings
Create a witch.

Start following the tree "level 12" until level 12. This is assuming the two skill point quests in A1 are completed.
Rush the life left and then take the brand cluster.

start with whatever you want until lvl 12. Freezing pulse is a good bet.
with level 12, start using storm brand with whatever supports that make sense from then on. onslaught is a very good leveling gem, use it.
Also use clarity to help with mana cost of storm brand.
The grind until lvl 34
Start following the tree "level 33 (before switch)" until level 34. This assumes 8 extra skill points from quests up to including the act 4 skill point quest in the mines.

Act 2 bandits: kill them all
Use herald of ice and thunder to buff storm brand.

Rush the 30 dex node, then rush the travelling towards blood magic (don't take it yet), then finish every other travelling.
If there is nothing else to spec anymore, save the skill points until level 34 and don't spend them.

Complete act 4 until you reach the waypoint in the crystal veins. Farm dried lake or aqueduct (if necessary) until level 34.
The big switch
Check once more that you are lvl 34 (or higher)
Respec out of the three nodes for the brand and spec into the three jewel slots and Elemental Equilibrium. Also spec Blood Magic and the three life nodes behind it. Check with the "level 34 (after switch)" tree to confirm you have not made any mistake.
Socket the Anima Stone, Primordial Might and one Primal Harmony in the three sockets.
Throw away any herald or aura (also clarity)

Equip the Amulet (Primordial Chain).
Buy: Flame Golem setup. Use Lesser Multiple Projectiles (A1 Vendor) and Faster Casting (A2 Vendor) instead of GMP and Echo.
Buy: Ice, Stone and Lightning Golem (A4 Vendor) + Minion life (A2 Vendor) gem and start leveling them.
Also get Flesh offering and Desecrate.
Also get your Ball lightning setup running (also with LMP instead of GMP for now). Use level 1 Ball lightning, no need to level the gem further. all others can and should be levelled.

Start using Flame Golems. Do not use the other golems yet.
Start using Desecrate and flesh offering to buff your golems even further.
Start using Ball lightning to direct the golems where to attack, debuff the enemy and curse the enemies all in one.
Get used to recast golems as they die
The rest of the leveling
Do Normal Labyrinth. Take the "Liege of the Primordial" node.

Start following the "Start mapping" tree.
From now on, do not take any jewel sockets in the tree unless you have another Primordial Harmony Jewel ready.

Go towards Harrier (right side of the tree) first. Do not take Necromantic aegis yet.

At level 38, switch LMP to GMP in both the flame golem and ball lightning setup. Also switch from faster casting to spell echo in the flame golem setup.

At level 44, equip the Clayshaper.
Do not use Stone Golem from this weapon either.

At the start of Act 8 do cruel labyrinth. Take the Elemancer node.
Start using all other Golems.
Cast lightning, stone and ice golem once each, then cast flame golem three times (with spell echo). This should result in 9 total golems active.
Keep track of the number of golems in your buff bar. recast them as the die (if they die, which is unlikely).
Do not recast flame golems if you have exactly 5 of them active, as this would make one of the other three disappear, and you would need to recast the whole setup again.

After you have taken Harrier, go wherever in the tree are life nodes and take them. After all life nodes of the "start mapping" tree are taken, take the remaining jewel sockets, if you have any further Primordial Harmony jewels.
Act 10 Kitava is dead, what now

If you are not already lvl 68 or higher, farm the blood aqueduct in Act 9 until you are.

At level 68, use the skill point from the level and take Necromantic Aegis (The big node near harrier)
Equip Victario's Charity. Your golems now gain power and frenzy charges.
At the very latest right now, use shield charge as your main movement skill.

If you haven't done it yet, do cruel labyrinth now, followed by merciless labyrinth (Shaper of Desolation) now.
Mapping
Start following the "lvl90" tree. All that is left is more life and more jewels.

at whatever point you feel comfortable, do the eternal labyrinth for our final ascendency node (Beacon of Ruin).

If you want to push towards level 100, there are two more jewel slots and a bit more life left to take.
DETAILED GEAR GUIDE INCLUDING TRADE URLs FOR BETRAYEL SOFTCORE
Trade search urls for gear (take whatever is cheapest available at the time)

Weapon
1 alch - 1c
Filter is set for at least 28% minion life, rest doesn't matter. If too expensive for whatever reason, remove the filter for that and just take the cheapest one regardless of roll.

https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/EvKBH5
Shield
1 alch - 1c
Rolls do not matter at all

https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/1P3giL
Amulet
3-5c
high movement speed is preferable, the rest is ignored for now to stay cheap.
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/P8RleGUL

later on when more currency is available, one with better rolls regarding "less life" and "less damage" should be aquired.
(~50c to multiple exalted, depending on roll) https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/yelq5OHR
It might also be a good gamble to throw a few divines on it and hope for a good roll instead of buying a good one.
Body Armor:

Start with tabula, then buy a shroud of the lightless depending on when and how much currency you have.
A shroud is not the first upgrade you want to seek. Get at least a "medium" upgrade everywhere else before you upgrade from tabula to shroud.

Cheap (Tabula (9-11c)): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/glQeljUQ

Medium (Shroud of the Lightless):
Not linked (~65c): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/D40Wwu5
Linked (~1 exalted): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/j8nQ7oSX
Not linked with good life roll (~80c): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/BEmo3H8
Linked with good life roll (1.5-2 exalted): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/M3vJ0PcJ

A more expensive alternative to Tabula or Shroud
Another interesting alternative would be: Skin of the Loyal with 3B2R1G (1-1.5 exalted): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/va02bBhE
and use a lvl 3 Empower instead of Fire Penetration (~30c, https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/pEk5u0)
even better with a level 4 empower (4exalted, https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/kyBKC5)

Empower gem requires at least both level 3 and skin of the loyal. all other combinations (even level 4 with a tabula, or level 2 with a skin) is worse than fire pen.

MOST IMPORTANT PART
Jewels
~100c total (This is for the start mapping tree. It increases the higher level you are and the more jewel slots you get)


Primordial Might (~30alch / 10c)
We need exactly TWO of them. Rolls don't matter.
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/bGyacL


Primordial Harmory (~20c each)
We need at least FOUR of those for the beginning. Later on every jewel socket we get will be filled with one more of those.
Aim for at least "Golems have 40% increased cooldown recovery speed" (not "Golem SKILLS"!!).

Buy three of them with this query (which has the at least 40% roll filter applied, and cost around 20c each)
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/rGQdqGsQ

Buy ONE of them with this query (where the roll does not matter, just buy the cheapest one, ~15-17c)
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/1JDJIl


Primordial Eminence (~1c)
We need only one of them
https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/NkO3T5


HOW TO GET THE ANIMA STONE
Go to any ingame NPC and sell (all at once):
The worst of the four Harmony, the worse of the two Mights and the Eminence.
You will receive the Anima Stone, and it will have been a bit cheaper than buying it directly (~35c instead of 40c)


RARE GEAR
Always adjust the resistances in the filter to whatever you need. In the rare year we only need Life and resistances, nothing else. Dex on the Rings, but that's it.

Helmet
Differences are only: having or not having +2 to minion gems, and being or not being a bone helmet (implicit minion damage)
cheap (~1-5c): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/3XrWX9c5
medium (5-40c, depending on availability): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/eKleJYfL
expensive (unknown? can go up to multiple exalts): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/RbwnVGF7
Gloves

Differences are only: more life and resistances.
cheap (~1-5c): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/wYoJXRCb
expensive (~20c+): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/45DJmvi9
Boots
Differences are only: 20/25/30% movement speed, and higher life/resists
cheap (1-5c): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/eKl9J6FL
medium (30c+): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/45DJYYI9
Expensive (80c up to multiple exalts): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/k47zejs5
Rings
We need two of them. both with dex, preferably (included in the links)
Differences are only: more life and resists.
cheap (1-5c): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/va0zqMSE
Medium (15-30c): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/k47z26s5
expensive (70c up to multiple exalts): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/rw2z4gHQ
Belt
Difference is only: being or not being a stygian, and having or not having flask mods.
cheap (1-5c): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/r20mSQ
medium (15-30c): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/m4Wyyru6
expensive (70c up to multiple exalts): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/KbekgPU5
Abyss Jewel
For belt and body armor
We need only one first, and later on a second one for the chest
cheap (1alch - 2c): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/rPdykzfQ
expensive (35c up to multiple exalts): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/oGRG5OUl
Flasks
Life Flask (~3c): https://www.pathofexile.com/trade/search/Betrayal/lRykcV
Craft all the utility flasks yourself.
Last edited by xebtria on Dec 18, 2018, 5:35:57 PM
Last bumped on Dec 18, 2018, 5:35:04 PM

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