[3.11] Updated Dominating Blow/Physical Aura Guardian: A8 Sirus and Uber Elder Down

3.11 Initial Update from patch notes: There does not appear to be any major and only a few minor changes for this build based on patch notes. The scourge is going to yield more personal dps (the wolves didn't matter anyway), herald of purity now gives a personal more multiplier not flat damage, and duel wield no longer gives a more damage multiplier. All of these are merely related to your personal damage, which I think will probably stay about the same and irrelevant. Some warcries may be an option, such as rallying cry, but I'm not sure if I understand its wording. TBH the only consequential change I see possible is going to be changes to cluster jewels; "more aura options" as well as some balance. That will be important, as the current iteration of this build relies heavily on cluster jewels to maximize dps and helping friends. I will not be league starting with Dom blow this league however, as I am going to be attempting General's Cry as my starter. But I will update this guide as more concrete info regarding cluster jewels comes to light. Have fun this league exiles :D!


Are you a timmy who likes making minions no one else likes powerful? Do you like being pretty tanky? Do you play with friends who would like super juiced physical auras? Well this could be a build for you. I am proud to revamp my old dominating blow guide from 3.5 with all the new goodies GGG has given us.

This league I worked on many different dominating blow and minion build versions. This is the best one that I came up with, and its core could easily be used for other minions as well, and can be essentially a great aura bot for your cyclone playing friends. For at its core is the new Perfidy and stacking this cluster jewel.

This allows you to run both banners, Pride, and Blood and Sand to devastating effect. With the addition of a curse and the helm suffix, my build gives enemies 105% increased physical damage taken, 55% more physical damage taken, and 59% reduced accuracy. It also grants allies (thus minions) 60% accuracy, enough impale chance to reach near 100% chance with just impale support, and 59% impale effect.

The Stats with My Gear and Gems
Spoiler
The 9 normal dominating blow minions do over 6 mil shaper dps together, not to mention the rare and magic ones you get while mapping. If they are at full life this jumps up to over 8 mil shaper dps.
I am at about 7000 life with some regen and I leech cap thanks to my auras allowing me to personally do almost 300k dps. I have 27% block chance and 10% spell block chance. Plus the 2 out of every 5 seconds you get 50% block. With the enemies haveing 59% less accuracy and being blinded by my minions plus the block means you are not often hit by melee attacks.
So to sum up it is decently tanky, does pretty good damage, and can help out your cyclone friends with large auras.


Leveling
Spoiler
I did not league start this build, but I did league start last league on dom blow. And I will just give a few things. You start with zombies raging spirits until (or however you want to start) until you can get dom blow. You just pick up any fast weapons and duel wield, preferably ones that do decent damage. Go for spiritual aid and grave pact first. Enduring bond is a possible easy pick up. Otherwise just pick up life nodes, there are plenty near you. You will want a neck that gives mana leech once you hit maps. A build that looks similar to my budget builds in the next section should be a decent guide to this.


Passive Tree/Pastebin
Spoiler

I put in POEplanner links, but it doesn't support cluster jewels at the moment. Please use POB.

What I did maps with and all content but Uber Elder:
POB: https://pastebin.com/GR32Vy5v
POEPlanner: www.poeurl.com/cO87

What I did Uber Elder with:
POB: https://pastebin.com/Zb5aaEmx
POEPlanner: www.poeurl.com/cO87

A Budget Set Up:
POB: https://pastebin.com/mxHjAYHk
POEPlanner: www.poeurl.com/cO9c

An Even More Budget Set Up:
POB: https://pastebin.com/yk7hKFAS
POEPlanner: www.poeurl.com/cO9e


Notes:
Spoiler
This build is built around cluster jewels which give utility and more damage than traditional passive tree pathing. I have added extra possible trees for people on a budget, as these jewels are probably the only real expense in the build. These budget builds will have about the same amount of tankiness, but with less damage and less aura effect (you will want to get at least one rotten claws node for these).
Further, I did not use the Blessed Rebirth notable on a medium cluster jewel until I fought Uber Elder. However, I think it would be really helpful for Sirus and Shaper as well. Even mapping it could be okay. It is hypothetically a loss of dps, but when there is high damage minions tend to die (like on Uber Elder) it can help you keep a healthy count on minions. Additionally when our minions are at full health they do a lot more damage, so it could keep freshly spawned ones doing good damage. TBH I recommend using it generally, but you dont have to.
Additionally I took a damage hit on Uber Elder so I could run purity of ice. With all of the increased aura effect in the build it put my max cold res up to 82%. This was very helpful for me and my minions, as Uber Elder is historically a hard boss for Dom Blow.


Gems
Spoiler

Body: Dominating Blow / Impale Support / Brutality Support / Multistrike Support / Melee Physical Damage Support / Minion Damage Support

Helm: Animate Guardian / Minion Life Support / Meatsheild Support / Any Damage support or more tany support (or Maim Support if you are not running Flesh and Stone for some reason)

Gloves/Boots: Cast When Damage Take Support (lvl 1) / Desecrate (lvl 1) / Flesh Offering (lvl 8) / Convocation (lvl 5 -- take Convocation off for Uber Elder and maybe Sirus)

Gloves/Boots: Cast When Damage taken Support (lvl 1) / Storm Brand (lvl 8) Curse On Hit Support / Vulnerability

Weapon 1: War Banner / Dread Banner / Pride

Weapon 2: Flesh and Stone / Maim Support / Flame Dash

Note: You could use a curse on hit ring and open up links. Perhaps putting zombies on your helm and the animate guardian on your boots. Or something like that. Also I like using flame dash if I only have one movement ability, you dont need fortify on the dominating blow minions or a movement ability because of the Animate Guardian.

Note on Animate Guardian: I use Kingmaker to give fortify, Victario's Flight to give move speed, a helm with "enemies take 9% increased physical damage", the other pieces just have tankiness on them.


Gear that I killed Uber Elder and Sirus in
Spoiler
Gear I wore for all the bosses:
Spoiler



Example Cluster jewels:
Spoiler

Then you will probably want one of these:


Note on gear:
Spoiler
I mainly just went for HP, with some attack speed to help with spawning minions on bosses. Other than resistances, thats really all you need. The Scourge Terror claw is easily the best dps option, and gives a great amount of attack speed to help you spawn minions, but you could use a shield.
My helm is one I had laying around. You do not need to have a minion helm, infact it may be better to wear a "enemies take 9% increased physical damage" helm if that is effected by aura effect. But I have never used animate guardian before, so I wanted it to stay alive with the gear I gave it, hence the +3 minion levels.
You will want a stygian with a jewel that gives minions the ability to taunt and blind, this is very helpful for keeping you alive.


Lab Enchants
Spoiler
I don't use these ever. But I guess the one to give extra rare or magic minions would be nice for mapping.


Pantheon
Spoiler
Soul of Lunaris and Soul of Shikari. But on Uber elder you want Soul of Yugul


Flasks
Spoiler


Note: there is plenty of choice in flask, I prefer two HP flasks when I don't have damage flask options. On Uber elder I still suggest a Saphire Flask.


Kill Videos
Spoiler


Final Note
I am happy to finally renovate my first guide, its been a long time coming. I love this build, and I am happy for those that have helped me and spoken with me about theory crafting. I am also happy for those that have followed me and tried out my builds since I began in 3.5, even though most of them have been killed by GGG there is always something new and fun to make! If you have any questions don't hesistate to ask! As I continue with the league I will try to get to them.
As with the old version this build can run through maps fairly fast for a minion build, although not quite as fast as cyclone summoner builds IMO, but I would take the Dom blow minion AI over Purity minion AI any day. I can fairly easily get delirium 5 on maps suited for it, and have run t16s with 3 orbs. I have killed all the big bosses on awakener 8 as well. Below I will put some videos of some other builds I made this league killing Sirus, as well as the full original version of this guide. Thanks Exiles! Stay safe out there, and have fun in quarentine!

Other builds
Spoiler
My league starter CI Archmage Blade Blast heiro: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/572622971
POB: https://pastebin.com/H269HbJd

Cold Iron Point Cyclone Summoner with lotsa cluster jewels: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/576721818
POB: https://pastebin.com/9zfiFXYU

Previous version of the guide
Spoiler
Do you like doing good damage while surviving? Are you a fan of minion builds, but don't like how boring it is to stand back and watch zombies kill everything for you? Do you like the excitement of melee? If yes to the above, then you may like my build.

Betrayal league was my first league ever, before hand I had barely played ARPGs in general. I messed around with a few builds. I liked my melee character, but also my necromancer. So I decided to make my own melee minion build. I was able to take down Uber Elder. I delved past 290 quite easily, killed the syndicate boss, killed Shaper/red Elder/Atziri deathless. And did the delve bosses other than crystal king, who eluded me. Through life (7k+), life regen (1.2k per second in combat), leech(1.4k on hit), and defenses this build can face tank most damage up to Uber Elder, and boasts over 2 million Shaper dps in the very non-optimal I was wearing.

3.6 changes
Spoiler
Hatred is getting a small nerf for minion builds. However its still going to be a large dps increase, and is still worth using. However, this does make the choice to not take the Sovereignty notable more acceptable.

Loreweave is getting a fairly big nerf to its defenses. It is not longer as mandatory for end game content, but will probably still be good. Its not a massive hit to the build as a whole though.

Bone helmets have been changed, so they are worse now unless you are getting an enchant on them. This changes hyper min maxed builds, but it would require a lot of currency to get an elder bone helm with a relevant enchant. If you don't have the time to get an enchant, getting an elder bone helm versus a different elder helm is no longer as big of a deal. However it is still a nerf, even if it is a small nerf that doesn't effect the build I killed Uber elder with.

Without fear of constant interventions as we had in Betrayal, Atziri's reflection is no longer as good for mapping. You could switch it out, or keep it as it helps with leeching and some damage (not to mention there is still some chaos damage), but this isn't a big deal.

All in all, the build is barely being touched, which I expected since this patch is all about caster changes. I am considering league starting on this build, however the new totem has caught my eye. I will probably play it at some point in the league and update though, even if I don't start on it. Stay safe exile!


Leveling
Spoiler
Bandits: 2 skill points

Ascendancy Order: Radiant Crusade, Unwavering Crusade, Bastion of Hope, Time of Need.

Suggested leveling tree:
Start with smite: www.poeurl.com/cilJ
Around the time you get dominating blow: www.poeurl.com/cilQ
As you're leveling up: www.poeurl.com/cilU
Finishing off the tree: www.poeurl.com/cilY
Final build, getting jewel sockets as you get usable jewels and picking up sovereignty when you need to (with the 5 link on purity is when its necessary, can be nice before): www.poeurl.com/ciln

To be honest I leveled this character to 70 using consecrated path and elemental overload, then bought The Scourges and swapped to dominating blow. Other than elemental overload, I kept the same build, so there was no need to use regrets. I feel like you could do dominating blow all the way up, but its clear speed before you have The Scourge is somewhat lacking. Once I made the swap it was instantly easy. Getting past 90 smoothly required buying some jewels to increase my dps, but it wasn't rough. I found delving with the build to be quite easy, and a good source of experience. So I used gilded sulphite scarabs on 16 maps and delved away.

Sidenote:Until you get the Scourge terror claw, I recommend Bright Beaks or a bright beak and a shield.



Passive Tree Pastebin/Poeplanner
Spoiler

New 3.6 Poeplanner for level 90 (advised): www.poeurl.com/ciln
New 3.6 Poeplanner for level 90, no sovereignty: www.poeurl.com/chQ1

Pastebin (Uber Elder kill): https://pastebin.com/n6NcHiNH
Poeplanner (Uber Elder kill): www.poeurl.com/ceOO
Getting Sovereignty allows you to use hatred and use a good 5 link on your Purity minions. This comes out as a decent amount more damage than using brutality without an aura, or not using melee physical damage support on your Purity minions.

I didn't use sacrifice or minion life leech until Uber Elder, since on all other content its easy to maintain max minions. On Uber Elder they tend to die without support (some more support such as jewels for minion resistance may be good for that).

I pick up a decent amount of health nodes, and go for regen nodes, since this build's ability to leech is not huge. I grab the mana leech because otherwise I couldn't Dominating Blow 10 times a second. And I grab as many jewels as are close, because jewels are a big dps increase.


Gems
Spoiler
Weapon 1: Cast When Damage Taken/Desecrate/Flesh Offering
Weapon 2: Summon Holy Relic/Summon Stone Golem/Culling Strike
Helm: Herald of Purity/Melee Physical Damage Support/Ruthless Support/Maim Support/Minion Damage Support (from helm)
Chest: Dominating Blow/Ruthless Support/Multistrike Support/Faster Attack Support/Minion Damage Support/Melee Physical Damage Support
Gloves: Hatred/Cast When Damage Taken Support/Immortal Call/Enfeeble
Boots: Fortify/Blood Magic/Faster Attack Support/Whirling Blades

I don't find I need anything to aid the aoe of my minions for clearing, e.g., ancestral call, as it is plenty fast. Thankfully that means no annoying switching gems for bosses.

I use faster attack support with dominating blow, not because it is the highest dps option for the minions, but because it leads to more consistent uptime on minions. All other gem combinations where the highest dps options on path of building.

I think an unset ring to put hatred in would allow you to put minion health on the holy relic. That would allow it to live a lot longer, which is important as it helps you and your minions stay alive.
I run flame dash in my weapon swap for getting over walls. But whirling blades with my attack speed is just to fast to give up for leap slam.

Side note: You probably don't need level 21 Herald of Purity, or Dominating Blow. However, getting them is a large increase in dps if you have the currency.


Gear that I killed Uber Elder in
Spoiler



You could wear a shield, but honestly, the amount of damage you can output with two of The Scourge is large (edit: especially since each one gives 30% attack speed, and you should absolutely buy ones with max attack speed rolls). And you are tanky enough to not dodge pretty much everything other than Uber Elder Shaper balls.

You could also wear a different chest, like belly of the beast. But if you can get a Loreweave, I still think that 78 max res is pretty good.

The damage stats you are looking for are accuracy and attack speed to sustain maximum minions, and minion damage so they can go big.

You want an elder helmet for the 5 link, but you don't need it until Uber Elder really.


Lab Enchants
Spoiler
I never used one, as I didn't have the currency or time. They are also rather unnecessary, but if you really want one, the best would be dominating blow can summon 3 additional magic minions. This is followed by the 5th sentinel of purity. However for uber elder specifically, the 5th sentinel of purity is probably better since it is hard to stay on max dominating blow minions on that fight (but easy to be on max purity minions). Unless of course you are able to fit a lot of resist for your minions into your build, then the 3 additional dominating blow minions would be better. On a side note, having reduced mana reservation for herald of purity would open up 4 passives, so while it is not super good, at least is it relevant.


Flasks
Spoiler

For most content:


For Uber Elder:
Switch out the onslaught flask for a Writhing Jar, and the Atziri's Promise for a Sapphire Flask of Heat (do this for shaper and elder as well, I only use Atziri's promise to make the Syndicate easier).


Jewels
Spoiler
I go primarily for life (percent and max life jewels both offer about the same life with my current gear) and minion damage.
Attack speed is nice to get, but jewels with all three are expensive. Picking up minion resistances is helpful for Uber Elder. And finally, Having an abyss jewel with chance for minions to blind is a must to make you and them more tanky.
Edit: I should stress again that jewels add a lot to your damage, but can be pricey, since they also add a lot to your life. If you feel like you need more damage, simply invest in better jewels.


Pantheon
Spoiler
For Shaper/Elder/Uber Elder: Solaris (Major) - Yugul (Minor)
For all other content: Arakaali (Major) - Shakari (Minor) To be honest this is largely about preference.


Discussion on Mapping/Elder/Shaper versus Uber Elder
Spoiler

The build felt very strong on all content until I hit Uber Elder. You basically just whirling blade into a pack, dominating blow for a second, then move to the next pack. Bosses are a joke, you melt them and can easily face tank almost everything. This includes Shaper and Elder. However, it took me a while to figure out how to play the build on Uber Elder, let alone how to play Uber Elder as it was my first time. My minions were dying very fast, so I moved around some passives. This helped me maintain damage, and after I killed it I realized that I needed to change up my play style. To maintain high dps I think one should hit Elder/Shaper the whole time (other than add phase) and leave the adds that spawn degen up. Since this build boasts a max dps of over 2 million with my current gear, I think you should be able to zerg it down. When you go off to kill the degen adds, unless you have max adds already, you lose time spawning adds and eventually run out. I was using a writhing jar to build back up and help me kill the degen adds, with this strategy I don't know if this is necessary.
Final hint: something I realized during my kill is that while elder is building up his big aoe, and you are in the middle, you can hit him to spawn minions even if he is invulnerable. This will help you sustain minions for when you are able to go back to Shaper.


Kill Videos

Spoiler
Shaper: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/356036688

Red Elder: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/356991778

Syndicate Boss: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358334176

Depth 248 Lich: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/359082528

Uber Elder (I messed up a lot, I hope to make one soon where I kill it without using so many portals): https://www.twitch.tv/videos/358340649

General Gameplay/map clearing: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/355580353


Edits
Spoiler
1/4/2019: gave the gems colors. Added Depth 248 Lich kill video. A noted edit to gems and to jewels. Added Poeplanner link by the pastebin link.

1/5/2019: added ascendancy order to leveling.

1/19/2019: added to final note.

3/6/2019: Changed some of the wording to pass tense in the opening. Added new Poeplanner links for level 90. Added change info for 3.6. Addition to final note. Changed gear part discussion loreweave. Added lab enchant portion.

3/7/2019: added suggested leveling path

4/1/2019: small change to gems regarding ancestral call.


Final Note
If you read this guide fully, thank you. I have been very excited about this game, and really enjoyed playing this character, and especially enjoyed messing around on path of building for 2 days straight. I just had to share. Its my first time doing something like this, so I apologize if the wording is weird or I missed something. If you have suggestions I will take them. Also if you liked the guide and enjoyed the videos, you can follow my twitch and watch as I play the build and test other ones.
One thing is certain, I love Path of Exile. Betrayal is my first league, but it won't be my last.

And it is not my last, I am returning for 3.6. I will update this build further as needed, answer questions, and will likely be playing it again in this league. Have fun exiles!

Last edited by Legarto on Jun 16, 2020, 9:57:55 PM
Last bumped on Jul 8, 2019, 7:45:56 PM
I'd suggest putting in links to the passive tree that don't require pastebin/PoB, and to look into formatting things (colours for the gems is always a nice touch). Other than that, seems solid! Good work!
Solid build. I'll try it out for sure! Do you feel Ancestral Call can be useful or the extra AoE clear is really not necessary?
@Lilyliciously Thanks for the tips. I will get to that soon.

@Yusheex. The dominating blow and purity minions do quite a bit of aoe on their own. I do not feel that anything is needed to help clear, unless there is a physical damage reduction mod or a large health mod (or both), I only need to spend about one second attacking most packs in a 16 map before I move on.
Cool build! Interested in trying this out. May i know your order of Ascendancy please or did I miss it out somewhere in the post?
"
Cool build! Interested in trying this out. May i know your order of Ascendancy please or did I miss it out somewhere in the post?


Oh man I completely forgot, Ill put it in, but just so you know, I go radiant crusade, unwavering crusade, Bastion of hope, time of need.
Cheers man!
Looking better and better! A personal preference is to use a light blue colour for blue gems. It's a lot easier to read on the dark theme of the forums. That's just nitpicking though.
this may be a stupid question but why not take the resolute technique keystone?
"
3pt14o wrote:
this may be a stupid question but why not take the resolute technique keystone?


Tbh thats not a stupid question. An earlier version of the build I was trying to have me personally do some of the damage so I had elemental overload. I switched out of that to full minion damage, and kind of forgot about resolute technique (since I've haven't used a character with it yet). TBH its probably the play. Im going to path of building a bit, change gear around, and update tomorrow if all goes well. Thanks fam.

Edit: upon first inspection of path of building, its going to take away from tankyness to take it. But it doesn't take away from tankyness to build accuracy. In current gear I'm at 91%, and could easily get more with some better gear. Still worth a thought and I will look into it more, but I don't think its necessary since with my accuracy I'm able to maintain about max minions easily on all but uber elder, in which the tankiness matters most.
Last edited by Legarto on Jan 5, 2019, 9:06:19 PM

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info