[3.7] Zombie Summoner | 14 Zombies | 6 Million+ SHAPER DPS | 10k+ ES/LIFE | All Content Viable




One of my favorite builds I've played since 2.6 when 'The Baron' was first introduced. Since then, the build has seen substantial buffs and gear upgrades to overcome several weaknesses it once had. With new Ascendancy nodes and gem options, it now surpasses many summoner varients which once overshadowed this playstyle.

Updates
-Trading section and T16 Map clear to demonstrate clearspeed (August 3)

-Thread created (August 2)
Pros and Cons

Pros

+ High DPS: You can bring the number above 7 million Shaper DPS on Path of Building using different gem setups (Multistrike isn't calculated properly at the moment) which still doesn't account for some effects like impale and animate guardian buffs.

+ High Defences: 10k+ LIFE/ES total with additional layers of defences allow you to facetank most content in the game. Legion mobs aren't much of a threat.

+ Clearspeed: No charge up time allows faster clearspeed than builds that require constant summoning of minions like skeletons and raging spirits. Spiritual Command and Mistress of Sacrifice lets you leap slam like a speed demon. No need to switch out any gems.

+ All Content: Can farm all bosses and able to do most map mods comfortably.


Cons

- Zombie AI: Aren't aggressive like other minions without user input

- Zombies that die can be a pain to get back up.

- Upgrades can be Expensive: Be prepared to spend at least a few exalts to get the most out of your upgrades. Min/Maxing is actually pretty cheap compared to other builds however since the build runs on many inexpensive unique items. 15-25 exalts will allow you to get the most out of this build.



Concept:
The concept is simple. Stack strength to get the most out of your zombies. Scale their damage with gems and auras. Spectres provide frenzy and power charges to your zombies. Leap slam into a pack of monsters, pop convocation and watch your zombies slaughter everything then repeat. Flesh offering also affects you if you want to go even faster.

For defenses, we can get over 10k total ES/Life with Geofri's Sanctuary and Shaper's Touch. Spirit offering recovers our ES when we take damage. We also receive flat physical reduction equal to the amount of zombies we can summon. With a Ghastly Eye Jewel, our zombies can taunt to aggro monsters while reducing the damage they deal.

Zombies that die can be resummoned by deploying your dread banner. That should free up just enough mana to revive them one at a time if you are running 'Shaper's Touch' gloves. Enlighten gem is NOT needed.

Stats, Path of Building Link
https://pastebin.com/BhEWHREG



Gem Links
2H Weapon
-Raise Zombie
-Empower
-Minion Damage
-Melee Physical Damage
-Ruthless
-Multistrike

Path of Building currently does not apply the damage bonuses on the second and third hit from Multistrike properly

Helmet
-Animate Guardian
-Raise Spectre
-Minion Life
-Blood Magic

Place these in the helmet for the +2 levels to minion gems

Gloves/Boots
-Pride (level 20)
-Precision (level 20)
-Dread Banner (level 20)
-Clarity (Level as high as you can leaving enough mana for utility skills)

Clarity provides an additional 3% increased attack speed for Zombies but is completely optional. Replace with 'Enlighten' or another utility skill if you wish.

Gloves/Boots
-Stone Golem
-Leap Slam
-Faster Attacks
-Maim

Maim gem can be switched out for another if your zombies are able to maim by themselves

Chest
-Desecrate (Level 1)
-Spirit Offering (Level 1)
-Cast on Damage Taken (Level 1)

Make sure these three are linked together giving Desecrate higher priority than Spirit Offering in the order it is placed in

-Desecrate (Level 20)
-Flesh Offering (Level 20)
-Convocation (Level 20)

These are the links I currently use but can be modified accordingly to your playstyle. Level 20 Desecrate and Flesh Offering are optional so feel free to replace them with something like 'Increased Duration' and 'Immortal Call'.

My Gear
Videos
Shaper Kill (3.7)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqMY_tv1l7w

T16 Hydra Map (3.7)
Uploading
Spectres
1 Host Chieftain + 1 Carnage Chieftain. Caranage Chieftain is found in Act 2. The Host Chieftain can be found in Act 7 Ashen Fields.


Core Items:

There are two options you can take here but the essential mods include the '+1 to level of socketed gems', '+2 to level of socketed support gems' as well as one of the shaper or elder socketed gem mods to provide a 7 link for your zombies. With a level 4 empower, this will boost your zombie gem to level 28, making it the biggest upgrade for this build. Once obtained, your dps will easily double. Look for one on POE.trade or attempt to craft one for yourself. Multicraft with minion mods for affixes available. Using a Shaper Base is preferred because you get an open prefix for additional minion damage/life and also allows an extra gem for utility skills since zombies can maim themselves. I'm using the Elder Base 2H sword simply because that was what I was able to get my hands on for the league. It is beastcrafted with an aspect skill but this could have been done on jewelry as well, making the Shaper Base the better option for extra minion damage/life. For more details on how to obtain your weapon check below.

Like most zombie builds, 'The Baron' helmet is used to enhance our zombies and give them life leeching properties for us. Strength stacking provides us more zombies while also increasing their damage.

Jewels:


Optional:

3x Efficient Training, 2x Violent Dead, 2x Brawn. My Timeless jewel replaces the Efficient Training Jewel next to the power charge at the top. It provides 5% increased strength and 1% increased life regen.

Other Uniques


Massive increase to strength.


Cheap and easy way to get your strength and dexterity up early on. Upgrade to Three Rat's Talisman if you find one with a lot of strength.


Geofri's Sanctuary and Shaper's Touch provide very useful benefits due to our strength stacking giving us lots of energy shield, Zealoth's oath, and a ton of mana that we can use to re-summon our zombies when they die, run extra auras (Precision and Clarity), and provide even more energy shield through Arcane Will.

For a more offensive option, Saqawal's Nest provides up to an additional 75 strength along with an increased buff effect for Avian's Might if you wish to run that. Montregul/Severed can be used with a shield until you can afford to upgrade or need the extra defense.


Trading Options
The easiest way to obtain your weapon would be to search on poe.trade. There are a couple methods to craft from scratch but I will not be going over those as they are not guaranteed.

Make sure these two are selected:
-Type: Generic 2H Weapon
-Mod: +# to Level of Socketed Gems


Then choose ONE from below: (Suggest the first option but the latter can be cheaper)
-Mod: Socketed Gems are Supported by Level # Maim (Suffix)
-Mod: Socketed Gems are Supported by Level # Fortify (Prefix)

Depending on how clean you want the affixes to be, you will be spending anywhere around:

5-20 Chaos (+2 Exalts): For something with other random affixes but includes the required mods. (Make sure there is an open prefix to craft +2 to socketed support gems for an additional 2 exalts)

7-10 Exalts: For the bare minimum affixes giving you the freedom to craft whatever you want on there. (+ 1 to Level of Socketed Gems and Socketed Gems are Supported by Maim/Fortify with no other affixes)

15-20 Exalts: For a fully crafted weapon which includes the typical crafted mods (Multi-Crafted mods with +2 support gems AND Minion Attack Speed/Damage/Life)

Note: These are the typical prices as of 3.7 (Legion) but are all bound to change in the future.

Pantheon

Major God
Solaris or Arakaali

Minor God
Shakari or Tokuhama

Additional Upgrades

Multicrafted 2H for additional minion attack speed, damage, and life

Minion speed on rings

Aspect skill


Any questions feel free to ask below. Feedback including thoughts, suggestions, and errors you find in this guide are all appreciated.
ign - happycabbaged
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2918696
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2920423
Last edited by happycabbaged on Aug 3, 2019, 11:03:57 AM
Last bumped on Oct 11, 2019, 12:16:42 AM
/reserved
ign - happycabbaged
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2918696
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2920423
Hello, setup for the Anim Guardian? Prolly a classic one, but just to be sure, could be nice to add it. :)

Reflect phys is not an issue btw?
Last edited by Ae_Evo on Aug 12, 2019, 3:08:24 AM
"
Ae_Evo wrote:
Hello, setup for the Anim Guardian? Prolly a classic one, but just to be sure, could be nice to add it. :)

Oh yes thank you, i will add a section for this when I'm back from vacation. My current setup is:

Chest: Gruthkul's Pelt
Helm: Rare helmet with 9% increased physical damage to enemies
Weapon: Kingsmaker
Boots: Windscream/Windshriek
Gloves: Asenath's Gentle Touch


"
Reflect phys is not an issue btw?

Reflect will slow you down a bit since zombies kill themselves pretty fast. However with shaper's touch gloves you'll have enough mana to resummon them so it's not too bad. You just wont be able to spam flesh offering as often due to constantly reviving zombies.
ign - happycabbaged
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2918696
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2920423
Last edited by happycabbaged on Aug 12, 2019, 5:43:10 AM
Yep, usually avoiding phys ref with that kind of build, just for the smoothness during mapping. ^^

And thx for the AG, classic then !
Do you had a chance to test it on uber elder? I'm curious if zombies could survive. Thanks for the guide.
"
MetalSlave wrote:
Do you had a chance to test it on uber elder? I'm curious if zombies could survive. Thanks for the guide.


Hey thanks,

I tried Uber Elder for the first time this league going in blindly without knowing any of the mechanics and was able to get the kill using 3 portals. Having 10k+ combined ES/life with high regen allows quite a bit of room for mistakes.

Zombies will die quite fast if they take the attacks head on so I suggest turning off one of your auras to revive them more efficiently. You really don't need all 14 zombies up at once either as each individual zombie can achive 400k+ dps.
ign - happycabbaged
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2918696
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2920423
Last edited by happycabbaged on Aug 13, 2019, 6:23:12 AM
Thanks for this build, thanks to it I was able to improve my baron to the extent that I dreamed about
Using Saqawal’s armor (but without a shield with strength), I was even able to gain 1700 strength POG
Смех станет воплем, жизнь станет смертью...
tried searching for said two-handed weapons on trade in legion and there's literally two options; one which is hardly viable (annoying to color and 1 extra prefix) and the other completely worthless (too many stats)

how is it that this far into the league there's only like two items with these types of rolls? for clarification i searched 2h melee non-unique with 1+ sock gems and fortify, and a separate for maim

also since you seem to actually know how to do the build, do you have any advice for me about literally anything? zombie baron is my fav build ever but I've just been maintaining one on standard every now and then, haven't really gone over him much in this update at all. I did however, brick an entire set of portals to Phoenix despite how roided out I am now. Was baffled that my zombies were melting immediately and I think I even lost a tricked-out AG to him as well. It was a yellow Phoenix and not even rippy by my standards

here's my current toons gear (OUTDATED-ish):


appreciate your help if you take the time for my wall of text :-) nice build btw.

P.S OH and i definitely want to go full phys, especially with Impale and Pride being added. shit looks broken but I feel like they might tone it down next update lol
yea, what about it
"
Voidurai wrote:

also since you seem to actually know how to do the build, do you have any advice for me about literally anything? zombie baron is my fav build ever but I've just been maintaining one on standard every now and then, haven't really gone over him much in this update at all. I did however, brick an entire set of portals to Phoenix despite how roided out I am now. Was baffled that my zombies were melting immediately and I think I even lost a tricked-out AG to him as well. It was a yellow Phoenix and not even rippy by my standards



Hey,

I would first update your passive tree to the one I linked. The node 'Utmost Might' was introduced in patch 3.7 and is a very efficient node providing a fixed +40 strength as well as 8% increase. It'll allow you to drop a lot of the small strength nodes and path much more efficiently and allow you to grab the minion cluster at the top left.

You'll definitely want to take some of the minion regen and leech nodes to keep all your minions alive. They are massive and will significantly boost their survivability.

The montrgul setup is great for mapping but when it comes to endgame bosses, it won't be doing nearly as half of the potential from a 7-link 2h with the bare minimum mods.

"
tried searching for said two-handed weapons on trade in legion and there's literally two options; one which is hardly viable (annoying to color and 1 extra prefix) and the other completely worthless (too many stats)

how is it that this far into the league there's only like two items with these types of rolls? for clarification i searched 2h melee non-unique with 1+ sock gems and fortify, and a separate for maim

The 2h's are likely in more demand due to it being useful for not just this build but various other minion builds. Having clean affixes to craft your desired mods are a luxury but not necessary at all. The only required mods are '+1 level of gems', 'fortify/maim support', and an open prefix to craft the +2 level to support gems. You can use an orb of annulment to attempt to remove an unneeded prefix for the craft.

You can also attempt to craft your own weapon with clean affixes but I did not provide this method because it is not guaranteed and I don't know the chances for it to succeed.

For your own survivability, I would suggest removing holy relic and add an abyssal jewel to your setup with the 'chance for minions to taunt' mod. It'll allow your zombies to pull the aggro away from you and reduce enemy damage by 10%.

Thanks for reading, any more questions feel free to ask.
ign - happycabbaged
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2918696
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2920423

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