[3.8] The Everything-ish Aura Guardian

Welcome to my build guide on how to become a jack-of-all-trades Aura Master!



The Good:
  • 16 Auras not including minions!
  • TANKY - 10K+ EHP, 84%+ All Elemental Resistances, 75% Chaos Resistance, 200+ Life and Mana Regen, and more!
  • CHEAP to get started, chest only requires 6 sockets, no links needed!
  • Able to run ALL MAP MODS
  • Every public party will want you, so you'll NEVER PAY FOR MAPS
  • Brain dead game-play - perfect for when you wanna watch reruns of THE OFFICE
  • Fuel your RP Support Fantasy and/or GOD COMPLEX
  • Conduit with ALL CHARGES

The Bad:
  • Can be awkward to level
  • Doesn't come online until level 72
  • Brain dead game-play - not for everyone
  • If you die, recasting your auras can be a pain
  • Since you don't really deal any significant damage you can't play solo
  • The best anoint requires a golden oil, and is required to hit the 16th aura



Why Guardian?

The Templar- Guardian ascendancy provides for you AND your allies:
  • Armour
  • Energy Shield
  • Physical Damage Reduction
  • Life Regeneration
  • 10% More Damage
  • Permanent Onslaught always
  • 30% increased Damage and Area of Effect
  • 15% increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed
  • Intimidate and Unnerve enemies on hit for 4 seconds



Auras We Run

Defense

Offense

Utility

Aura Reservation Breakdown
I highly recommend this website for all your aura calculations.

This is not current





Itemization

Mandatory Pieces

Alpha's Howl Sinner Tricorne


Victario's Influence Lacquered Garb

No need to 5 or 6-Link, this is a carry-over from when I used to run Enlighten

Prism Guardian Archon Kite Shield


Conqueror's Efficiency Cobalt Jewel


Minimum of 4 Jewels with 1% Reduced Mana Reserved Corruption


Gear Slot Analysis

Weapon

Mandatory:
  • High attack speed

Nice to have:
  • Shaper Mod: "Socketed Movement Skills Have No Mana Cost"
  • Shaper Mod: "Socketed Gems are Supported By Level X Faster Attacks"
  • Shaper Mod: "Socketed Gems are Supported By Level X Faster Casting"
  • Dexterity/Strength(as needed)
  • Mana

Amulet

Mandatory:
  • Shaper Mod: "3-5% Reduced Mana Reserved"

Nice to have:
  • Strength/Dexterity(as needed)
  • Mana
  • Energy Shield
  • Chaos Resistance
  • Life

Rings

Mandatory:
  • Strength/Dexterity(as needed)
  • Chaos Resistance(as needed)
  • Sockets - Drop Enduring Cry and Summon Holy Relic if you can't get sockets quite yet.

Nice to have:
  • Mana
  • Energy Shield
  • Life

Belt

Mandatory:
  • Chaos Resistance(as needed)
  • Strength/Dexterity(as needed)

Nice to have:
  • Mana
  • Energy Shield
  • Life

Gloves

Mandatory:
  • High Energy Shield
  • Strength/Dexterity(as needed)
  • Chaos Resistance(as needed)

Nice to have:
  • Mana
  • Attack Speed
  • Life

Boots

Sin Trek will generally be the best option budget-wise
Mandatory:
  • High Energy Shield
  • Movement Speed

Nice to have:
  • Mana
  • Chaos Resistance
  • Life


Flasks
There are no mandatory flasks (for example, we are very fast without a Quicksilver flask, but I still like to run one). That being said, here are some recommendations and mods to pair:

  • Quicksilver - Movement Speed, Reduced Charges, Increased Duration
  • Soul Catcher or Quartz Flask - Increased Duration, Reduced Charges, Status Effect Removal
  • Stibnite Flask - Increased Duration, Reduced Charges, Status Effect Removal
  • Any Elemental Flask - Increased Duration, Reduced Charges, Status Effect Removal
  • Eternal Life/Hybrid Flask - Instant Recovery, Bleed Removal, Status Effect Removal


Nice Upgrades

Intuitive Leap Viridian Jewel
Place this in the Jewel Socket adjacent to the Charisma notable below the Shadow start. If you pick this up, check the PoB for the Level 91 alternate tree.

Healthy Mind Cobalt Jewel

Watcher's Eye
The clarity mod is what you are looking for here, the other 1 or 2 mods can be anything, but it is a plus if they are beneficial

Corrupted Alpha's Howl
The mana multiplier corruption is not required for the core build, but it will give you more wiggle room for Mind over Matter.

Corrupted Prism Guardian
This corruption allows us to get an additional +2 Gem Levels to our Discipline, Grace, and Haste as the Vaal versions add a Duration tag that is not present on the non-corrupted counterparts, which brings our Vaal Gems to Level 24 (or 25 if you can pick up level 21 Vaal Gems).

Gear Showcase





Passives and Choices

Skill Trees and PoB
The below Path of Building import code contains six skill trees: three for pre-support leveling (28, 41, 60), 1 for the support mode swap-over (72), and 2 variations at Level 91.

https://pastebin.com/1EsTXh4Y

Leveling Tips

Important things:

  • Socket your auras as soon as you can. Utilize empty slots, off-hands, weapon swaps, etc.
  • Level with your favorite spell skill, this will require the fewest weapon/item swaps on your road to 72.
  • Friends or public parties are a great way to breeze though Acts 1-10.
  • If you are just starting out, as a general rule of thumb, never try to craft anything yourself.
  • Many side quests grant skill points. Once you reach the end of Act 10, type into the chatbox "/passives". This will tell you if you are missing any - denoted by a "0" next to the quest name.


Useful leveling uniques:

  • Tabula Rasa Simple Robe
  • Perandus Blazon Cloth Belt
  • Goldrim Leather Cap
  • Wanderlust Wool Shoes
  • Lifesprig Driftwood Wand
  • Crest of Perandus Pine Buckler
  • Hrimsorrow Goathide Gloves


How I personally leveled:

Level 1 - 28: Stormblast Mine
  • Use a wand or sceptre with increased spell/elemental damage
  • If you have no gear from previous characters, pick up rares with life and resistance as you level.

Level 28 - 72: Pyroclast Mine
  • At level 41, pick up a Tremor Rod
  • Don't worry about buying new gear as you level, your found rares will be enough to take you to your early endgame gear.


Bandits, Ascendancies, Pantheon, Anoint

Bandits
  • Kill All


Ascendancies
  • Radiant Faith -> Unwavering Faith
  • Radiant Crusade -> Unwavering Crusade


Pantheon
  • Major: I like Brine King or Lunaris, but they are all good
  • Minor: Depends on your jewel corruptions, but I like Shakari, Abberath, Garukhan, and Ralakesh


Anoint
  • Champion of the Cause - 1 Teal, 1 Crimson, 1 Golden
Unfortunately necessary to squeeze in 16th aura. It's probably possible to skip if you have more jewel's corrupted for mana reservation, but there aren't any better options.




Gems and Links

Ideal Setup

Alpha's Howl 4-Link
  • Purity of Fire
  • Purity of Ice
  • Purity of Lightning
  • Flesh and Stone

Victario's Influence (Do not 5/6 Link - unneeded)
  • Pride
  • Hatred
  • Zealotry
  • Malevolence
  • Wrath
  • Anger

Prism Guardian 3-Link
  • Vaal Grace
  • Vaal Discipline
  • Vaal Haste

Minion 4-link
  • Animate Guardian
  • Raise Spectre (3 total with lvl 21 gem: 1 power/ 2 frenzy charge Chieftains, other options as well)
  • Summon Stone Golem (Chaos Golem is good too)
  • Minion Life

Movement 3-Link
  • Shield Charge(Could go Leap Slam and drop Flame Dash)
  • Faster Attacks (or Flame Dash with the faster attacks Shaper mod)
  • Fortify

4-Link
  • Blood Magic
  • Enduring Cry
  • Summon Holy Relic (drop this if you don't have flame dash in your weapon)
  • Precision

Ring Socket 1-Links
  • Clarity
  • Dread Banner


Animate Guardian Items

  • Helmet: Leer Cast Festival Mask - 15% increased damage to allies
  • Weapon: Dying Breath Iron Staff - Nearby Enemies have 18% increased Effect of Curses on them and Nearby allies gain 18% increased Damage
  • Body: Ambu's Charge Crusader Chainmail - Minion Life Regen and Conduit for endurance charges
  • Boots: Victario's Flight Goathide Boots - 10% increased Movement Speed for nearby Allies
  • Gloves: Any cheap unique with high hp/es/defenses




Other

FAQs and Tidbits

In progress.

All map mods?
Yes! Once you get the shaper mod on your weapon "movement skills have no cost", you can freely zoom around the map care free. Do bring a hybrid or mana flask with you though - you don't take much damage, but to keep yourself topped off during Legion encounters or otherwise, it's handy.

Chaos Damage?
With 75% Chaos resistance, Mind over Matter, and 200+ Life and Mana Regeneration, you will only die to Chaos Damage One-Shots - which I have yet to encounter. That may be a different story in deep Delves, but in T16 ultra juiced 6 person maps, it's been a non-issue.

How much does it actually cost to get this build up and running?
This will vary league to league, but one week into Blight these were the prices:
  • Alpha's Howl - 1 Chaos
  • Victario's Influence 6 Sockets - 40 chaos (1 chaos without 6 socket if you like to gamble)
  • Prism Guardian - 3 chaos
  • Conqueror's Efficiency - 1 chaos (without BiS corruption)
  • 4 Jewels with Mana corruption - Between 2 and 5 chaos each (eventually upgrading to rares with pertinent stats, but use the cheapest ones to get started)
Total Cost: 65 Chaos (assuming highest prices in range).

How do you have permanent Onslaught?
The Guardian ascendancy notable Radiant Crusade grants Onslaught to you and your allies when you have at least 5 allies nearby. We have 6! 3 Specters, 1 Stone Golem, 1 Animate Guardian, and 1 Holy Relic. Note: If you can't get a level 21 Specter gem, you'll still have 5 total allies!

What does "playing" this build look like?
Hug the party leader and cast Enduring Cry on cooldown. Try to keep maximum up-time on Vaal Haste, use Vaal Grace during Legion Encounters or other tough situations, and use Vaal Discipline as you would a Health Flask for your Energy Shield (grants 3k+ ES/sec).

Build Changes - Last Update: 10/28/19

10/28/19
  • Expanded the Nice Upgrades section.
  • Added Soul Catcher to the Flasks section.
  • Updated the skill trees, added an option for using an Intuitive Leap Viridian Jewel.
  • Updated some sections to add in a 16th aura

Last edited by ndcheezit on Oct 29, 2019, 1:19:46 PM
Last bumped on Mar 9, 2020, 10:07:34 AM
impressive.

Never thought a single character could carry 16 auras.

I never play in partys because I have no friends. But must be a good charac to go with.
My end, it justifies my means,
All I ever do is delay,
My every attempt to evade,
The end of the road
And my end....
Last edited by imLuCaSsS on Oct 28, 2019, 11:11:22 PM
"
imLuCaSsS wrote:
impressive.

Never thought a single character could carry 16 auras.

I never play in partys because I have no friends. But must be a good charac to go with.


Thanks! I didn't think so either haha.
Have you tried running auras through the Devouring Diadem helmet instead of Alphas Howl for 20% reduced mana reservation for socketed gems ?
Hey, thanks for the guide, couple of questions - shouldn't you have good damage with all the damage auras before Victario/Generosity? And you mentioned full charges conduit but I couldn't find what is the source of it?

Also why not go CI with Zealots Oath for chaos damage?
Last edited by mapcar on Oct 29, 2019, 6:48:46 AM
"
obliviongg wrote:
Have you tried running auras through the Devouring Diadem helmet instead of Alphas Howl for 20% reduced mana reservation for socketed gems ?


^ ?
10k ES is nothing and is compounded by no CI, low armour, low evasion, low block, no spell block, no ES regen. It's fine for a budget build but "tanky" it ain't by any stretch of the imagination except against pure elemental damage and even then only moderately due to the lack of overall ehp.
Last edited by Dialaeth on Oct 29, 2019, 7:47:11 AM
Which auras you want to run?
ndcheezit: Yes.
"
obliviongg wrote:
Have you tried running auras through the Devouring Diadem helmet instead of Alphas Howl for 20% reduced mana reservation for socketed gems ?


I'll look into that, but I think the global reduced mana mod on Alpha's Howl provides more value as it affects all 16 auras, not just the socketed ones.
"
mapcar wrote:
Hey, thanks for the guide, couple of questions - shouldn't you have good damage with all the damage auras before Victario/Generosity? And you mentioned full charges conduit but I couldn't find what is the source of it?

Also why not go CI with Zealots Oath for chaos damage?


Thanks for taking a look!

I think if I was able to drop some links and add the right spell with a couple supports then then it would pump some decent damage, but unfortunately the sockets are all tied up in auras. You could drop the minion 4-link if you wanted to, but you would then only provide Onslaught in a full party if everyone was clumped together, rather than providing it to whomever was near you.

Ah, whoops! I thought I made sure to add something about conduit, but I'll add it to the FAQs. For endurance charges we run enduring cry. For frenzy/power charges we run 2-3 Specters(depending on your gem level). With the Mana Regen that we grant, the Specters cast pretty frequently.

One could go CI, but that would mean 4 less auras, and my goal with this character was to run as many as I could while so balancing for survivability. For non-delve play, that is to say I haven't tested delve yet, Chaos damage has been a non-issue. I've run a wide range of maps of all tiers and haven't died to chaos damage. I did die last night to some nasty traps in the lab helping a friend get their last ascendancy, so watch out for that - they hurt. :/

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