[3.13] Skeleton Nebulomancer | Sirus tank&kill on a <5ex budget, NO AURASTACK ! Beginner-friendly

Edit, 3.13 patch:
The build in its mechanics is still viable after the Necromancer nerfing, but due to both losing support spectres and slight impale nerf, it seems cold conversion has become more attractive. With that in mind, I revamped the whole build for more clarity. We now scale damage with Triad Grip and Hatred; defensive layers are the same, with less chaos resist but freeze as a huge new defense.
Hope you enjoy Nebulomancing in 3.13 !


Hi fellow exiles

This is the first time I post a build, because this is the first time I actually enjoy endgame with a build 100 % my own, so I’m open to any kind of feedback ! If you feel uneasy with the explanations, have some trouble running the build, or have optimizing suggestions, just let me know. There surely are ways to upgrade both the character and this topic.

Why this build ?

Spoiler
I’m pretty new to Path of Exile, having started with Delirium League. Just as everyone, I loved the game immediately, tried tons of things and got butchered in maps ! After some reading, testing and all, I managed to reach lvl 90, kill the regular Conquerors, and even the Elder (not deathless though!), and then I met Sirus. Needless to say, he slew me again, and again. In Harvest, I managed to reach Sirus’s last phase, but then I died six times without me scratching him, and I was so upset I dropped the league.

So when Heist started, I really wanted revenge.

As you guessed, this build has been originally designed solely to beat Sirus ; after some reworking, it is now capable to tank every single skill that A8 Sirus can use, save for deatomization storms. But it appears that it is decent for most endgame content for a very, very small budget, inferior to 5 exalted all included (gear, gems, jewels) in the lowcost version.



Sirus's Meteor Maze: Did you really think this would work ?


General defense mechanics

TLDR : Transcendance with Loreweave and Enduring cry with buffed duration/cd recovery, and Nebuloch for armour (dual wielded or with shield, depending on build version)
We hit 84 % FLAT phys damage reduction(90 with watcher's eye), 78 % resistances (including chaos with proper gear) and 20k+ armour on budget and without flasks.

Spoiler
Defensively, the build revolves around Transcendence. This keystone, granted by the Militant Faith historic jewel, makes your armour apply to elemental damage.
If you’re new to this game -if you’re not, skip to the next paragraph -, you must know that in general, elemental damage from monsters is much higher than chaos or physical damage ; this it because it is relatively easy to get 75 % resistance to fire, cold and ligthning, while doing so for chaos or physical requires much more investment. During the playthrough and early endgame, say, before T8 maps, having a decent lifepool and 75 % resistances will be largely enough to survive most encounters. But when you reach red maps, and endgame bosses, it won’t suffice AT ALL. This is why, unless you’re exceptionnally skilled, you must have additional defence layers, especially when it comes to elemental damage.
That’s what Transcendence does : when you get hit by elemental damage, resistance applies as normal ; then, the remaining damage is mitigated by armour. This order actually matters very much, as armour is most efficient against smaller hits.
The budget version of this build can stack up around 20k armour (30k with Granite Flask). Let’s do some math : (tldr : you mitigate from 70 to 90 % damage from mobs and more than 50 % from most bosses)
Say there is a monster pack, with 10 mobs dealing 2000 elemental damage each (don’t know the exact numbers, but this should not be far from baranite crusaders in red maps). With 75 % resistance, each hit would effectively deal you 500 damage, so being full hit means you lose 5000hp, barely surviving unless you have huge hp investment. And that’s not counting map mods, blue/yellow monsters and such.
With Transcendence, those 500 damage hit armour ; with 20k armour, you mitigate 400 damage, as per the formula :
mitigateddamage = damage*armour/(armour+10*damage)
here, 500*20k/(20,000+10*500)= 400
So you eventually lose only 100hp per hit, and being full hit by the whole pack won’t threaten you in any way.

Of course, as all historic keystones, Transendence has drawbacks :
- First, it reduces your maximum resistances by 5 %. In theory, this hurts quite much, but we completely nullify this by wearing the Loreweave. Loreweave’s unique mod « your maximum resistances are 76-78 % » sets the maximum values so that they can’t be modified in any way.
- Second, armour doesn’t apply anymore to physical hits, so we need to find another way to mitigate physical damage. There are not many ways to do so but endurance charges. One charge normally offers 4 % physical damage reduction, as well as 4 % elemental resistances ; we will increase this by maximizing the buff from Enduring Cry.

Enduring Cry is our main defensive skill, as it provides some life regen and endurance charges, but we’ll focus on the buff it grants : for 2 seconds, it gives an additional 2 % physical reduction and elemental resistance per charge. Enduring cry’s cooldown is 8 seconds, and the buff lasts only 2 seconds, so without modifiers, it is unreliable, but with some investment, we bring back the cd under 4s and the duration over 4s, effectively benefitting permanently from the buff. Even more, if we use the Divergent quality and with the help of some warcry nodes, we get a nice +50 % increased buff effect, so we eventually get +3 % additional bonuses from each charge. When stacking our 9 endurance charges, we hit an amazing 63 % flat physical damage reduction. This is huge, because contrarily to armour, we mitigate both smaller and bigger hits the same way. With some help from ascendancy, gear and pantheon, we can reach 86% flat pdr/90 % against lone bosses.



Shaper slam with Bone Armour up : <300 damage. Nice try Cesarius !



What about offense ?

Spoiler
As our defensive build requires investments in both passive tree and gear, the offensive skills must work pretty much on their own. I originally chose physical impale Skeletons, because I had never tried them before and wanted to give them a shot, but as they were nerfed somehow in 3.13, we shall try Cold-damaging skeletons.
Cold damage largely revolves around Hatred. As opposed to other elemental auras which just add up flat damage, Hatred both gives a percent of physical damage as extra cold damage and a damage multiplier to cold damage. It shines when all base damage is physical (so you get tons of extra cold) and gets fully converted to cold, so you benefit from the multiplier on ALL damage.
This can be achieved with the unique Triad Grip gloves when all its gems slots are green.
The rest of the offense item and support focus on buffing Hatred and giving flat phys damage to skeletons.
We use Carrion Golem as support to push up damage. If you’re rich, heavily-stuffed Animated Guardian is a very solid option.
I dropped spectres because of the huge 3.13 nerf in survivability, and we can use the 4 slots to equip Triad Grip and slot in some green utility.




Pros :
- REAL budget. Huge defenses and 4+M Sdps for a 4 exalt worth gear, including gems and jewels, only 5 link.
- Can do most content, including A8 Sirus, Uber Elder, Uber Atziri, Simulacrum.
- Can run most map mods ; technically can run all, but I’d strongly advice against no regen when dual wielding Nebulochs
- Clearspeed is decent for this budget
- Pretty easy to play once used to it
- You seldom die, so you can smoothly level to 95+
- Minions aren’t dead !

Cons :
- min/max is terrible. When you’re rich enough, either stop playing or switch to another build ; trying to minmax this is basically losing currency.
- as a consequence, you’ll never reach insane single-target damage or clear with this. Sorry !
- Requires Militant Faith and Nebuloch, so not for SSF.
- If you’re as dumb as I am, you’ll die several times for running out of endu charges because you forgot to lock enduring cry when entering a map. However, I think it should be playable in HC with some variations, and using Blood Magic support on Enduring Cry as a security.

Gem setup :

Spoiler
6L : (by order of importance, if not 6L)
Summon Skeletons
Elemental damage with attacks support (divergent quality is best option, not crucial)
Multistrike support
Predator support
Minion damage support
Melee physical damage support

Due to skeletons not being widely played in Heist, the gem was incredibly cheap to get. I bought my lvl 21, 23 % quality for 4 chaos… A bargain. Now this won’t last… Anyway, a classic lvl 20, 20 % quality is enough for every content.
You can replace Multistrike with Melee Splash damage (divergent quality is a good option) for better clear.


4L Support :
Summon Carrion Golem
Elemental Army support
Feeding Frenzy support
Raise Zombie/Animated Guardian/Minion Life support

The Carrion Golem gives a small damage increase to minions, and triggers both Feeding Frenzy and Elemental Army for a huge buff ; proc is 100 % reliable thanks to combo attack.
While levelling, some Zombies can help for clearing and having Elemental Army debuff on all mobs. Later in the game, they won’t last a second, so drop them in favor of Minion Life for better golem survivability.
Animated Guardian is a strong option even with mediocre gear, as it’s quite tough and can inflict exposure/grant feeding frenzy alongside the golem, or if said golem dies.


4L Enduring Cry
Enduring Cry (20 % quality)
Second wind support (20 % quality)
Increased duration support (20 % quality)
Flesh offering

You need to max out quality to ensure the buff from Enduring Cry is permanent (duration being longer than cooldown).
You can benefit from the support gems with Flesh Offering for increased duration.


Weapon slotting
Hatred
Generosity support
Frostbite (divergent quality is +++)

Hatred is the core of our damage input ; you want to support it with Generosity for big increased effect.
Frostbite is the go-to curse for Cold builds ; it boosts damage, but most of all, offers great chances to freeze ennemies. That’s why the divergent quality is by far the best option, granting over 50 % total chance to freeze per hit on regular monsters


Shield slotting
Determination
Fortify support
Shield Charge


You’re fine in the thick of the fight, so dashing into ennemies to proc fortify is safe. Just remember to use your move skill with « attack without moving ».
Determination gives a lot of extra armour and have some strong defensive watcher’s eye mods for late game.

You can rearrange all 6 gems in weapon and shield for colour purposes, as long as Shield Charge is linked with fortify, Hatred with generosity. However, you DO NOT want to have Determination linked with generosity ! Else you lose tons of armour.

Triad Grip gems :
Vaal Haste (lvl 8)
Dash (lvl 10-12)
Desecrate gem (lvl 1)
Precision (lvl 1)

Triad Grip has all 4 sockets locked to green for cold damage (see gear), so we have limited options. Precision is cheap, gives some critical chance and extra atk speed due to ascendancy. Desecrate allows us to cast Flesh Offering during boss fights, Vaal Haste a one-shot damage buff, and Dash is a get-out move skill while Shield Charge is more of a run-in.


Tips for autocasting :

Having an instant spell on your left click won’t slow or stop your movement in any way. It may be a way to put Enduring Cry, but you must constantly check the cooldown and move as soon as it expires, in order to keep the buff up.
Another way is some tweaky use of numpad : if you assign Enduring Cry on your numpad, use the skill, and de-activate the pad while pressing the button, it will perma-cast until you leave the zone. While in-zone, this is the most QoL solution, but beware : whenever entering a map, you must unlock numpad, cast the skill and lock it again. It’s fine when you get used, but it may take some time.
If you choose this solution, you can put Bone Armour as left click if you’re as lazy as I am !



Gear :

Thanks to the buffed endurance charges, the build hits maximum elemental resistances easily ; chaos res is much harder to get on a budget, but the harvest crafting option on jewels should help !


Spoiler
Weapons :

The basic, budget version of the build. Redblade Banner ensures you’re constantly maxing endurange charges and gives a huge cooldown recovery boost for Enduring Cry, while Nebuloch provides armour and some chaos resistance, as well as another defensive layer against elemental damage from hit. Bonus HP from the shield is appreciated, as well.
Rolls :
You don’t need specific rolls on Nebuloch so pick the cheapest you find.
Good life rolls are a plus for Redblade Banner, but don’t overpay either early on.

Helmet :

The bonus dexterity helps gearing and the decent armour is nice, but we take it because of its unique warcry mode, boosting our movespeed and minions’ attack speed and move. As we bump Enduring Cry’s cd under 4s, the buff is virtually permanent.
Rolls :
Stats are always usefull, just as armour, but don’t overpay. Best is buying a well-rolled Deidbell and the Dying Cry prophecy to save currency.

Chest :

Loreweave
You really want the « maximum resistances are 78 % » mod ; the rest is far less important. Bonus life and attributes are always nice, but if you lack budget, just pick the cheapest 78 % max res and you’ll be fine.
Best is linking it yourself. If so, raise quality first ! 5L is enough for red maps. Eventually, you’ll want a 6L, but you should be able to farm more than enough currency with a 5L to get your sixth. Colouring is a piece of cake.

Corruption : If you can afford it, consider buying a corrupted version with the « +2 to socketed duration gems » implicit. It hugely increases damage with roughly +20 % per skeleton, and adds one to the skeleton limit, going from 11 to 12. On top of having another boy, it prevents you from destroying one active skellie when you summon the 4 last ones, so your minion wave runs smooth. However, it does cost a big deal ! Of course, the budget version uses an uncorrupted Loreweave.

Boots :

Corrupted Alberon’s Warpath with « +1 to maximum endurance charges » implicit
The corruption is paramount for this build. Luckily, noone else wants that, so the prices are low.
Rolls: %strength isn’t worth the cost, however, good armour and chaos resistance are a thing if oy can afford it.

Gloves :

Triad Grip with 4 green sockets
This is our core offensive item. Get one with minion chance to freeze as high as possible ! In general, buying one with all 4 green sockets is cheaper than self crafting, for some reason. However, if it’s not the case on this league, here is how to craft it yourself :

1) First, you have to delve a bit. Explore the first azure cavity next to the entrance, then another azure cavity, and one azurite vaulf : that will add socket crafting to your crafting bench.
2) Return to your hideout, place Triad Grip on the crafting bench.
3) Set socket number to 2 using the crafting recipe
4) Use the « at least two green sockets » recipe ; your two sockets are now green.
5) Set socket number to 3 using the crafting recipe
6) If the new socket isn’t green, Set socket number to 2 using the crafting recipe ; it keeps the first two sockets, ie the green ones, then set socket number to 3 using the crafting recipe again. Repeat until the third socket is green as well.
7) Set socket number to 4 using the crafting recipe
6) If the new socket isn’t green, Set socket number to 3 using the crafting recipe ; it keeps the first two sockets, ie the green ones, then set socket number to 4 using the crafting recipe again. Repeat until the third socket is green as well.
You’re done !

This costs way too much jeweller’s orbs when league starting, so don’t panic ! In order to get rolling, you only require not to have red gems on Triad Grip, because you trigger elemental equilibrium with fire.
On a side note, with Harvest back in, it should be super easy to off-colour TG with harvest recipes. For now I don’t know how accessible Harvest will be, but the price of off-coloured items should stay low.



Amulet :


We use an Elder amulet with « +1 to maximum skeleton » and « +5 % additional physical damage reduction » mods. If possible, try to grab some life and resists as well, or attributes if you need some. If you can’t, that’s fine !
You want to anoint Vigour onto it, for another endurance charge.
Price : varies, but count between 15 and 30 chaos. Just as the skeleton skill gem, prices are low as skellies aren’t played this league. Good news for us ! (I paid mine 30c)

Rings :


Kaom’s Ways are a must have, as they give us extra endurance charges and more than enough life regen to negate the Nebuloch’s degen.
Rolls: Aim for max life roll ; strength isn’t worth overpaying for.
Just as deidbellow, you may buy well-rolled Kaom’s Signs and upgrade them with « The King’s Way » prophecy for a much cheaper price. Count 5 chaos per ring.
(I paid mine 10c each for max life and strength, as I intended to reuse them in a melee build ; it’s absolutely unnecessary here!)

Belt :

When your resistances are maxed from other stuff, and you can use a purely offensive belt, String of Servitude with Hatred increased effect implicit is by far best in slot

In the meantime, a rare Stygian Vise is best in slot. Just as the gloves, aim for as much life as you can and, if possible, extra resistances (especially chaos). Flat armour can be something as well !
You can socket a ghastly jewel with flat life and minion physical damage. Extra mods such as resistances or life regen are welcome, but come to a much higher price.

Jewels

Cluster - Budget version

Spoiler
There is one passive that is really mandatory for the build when reaching endgame : Blessed Rebirth, which gives recently summoned minions immunity to damage. This ensures your skellies 4 seconds life, even in the toughest fights where they would otherwise melt just as they are summoned, such as Atziri, Shaper, Sirus, some Guardians or even stuff like blighted maps. Technically, you don’t need it for regular mapping, but as this guide aims to reach and beat endgame on a budget, I include this jewel’s price in the cheapest version.
You want a 4-5 passives medium cluster jewel with both Blessed Rebirth and Renewal (big damage boost). If possible, get some extra res, especially chaos, or whatever elemental res you need.
Price is around 1 exalted


Full cluster


Spoiler
we run a Large cluster and another Medium cluster

Minion damage Large Cluster Jewel, ideally 8 passives, with Renewal and Call to the Slaughter, and a third notable (ideally Raze and Pillage, but don’t overpay for it). The two first notables offer a huge boost to dps (or to minion move speed for the latter, greatly helping clearing), so you should really hoard until you get all 3 and stick to the shield in the meantime. 9 passives is OK, 8 passives the very vest.

Exerted attacks Medium Cluster Jewel, 4 or 5 passives, depending on dual wielding or using shield.
With redblade banner, favor Lead by Example and Haunting Shout. Lead by Example gives the same bonus as Deidbellow ; note that both stack (as Deidbellow isn’t worded as onslaught).Haunting Shout offers easy-to-get intimidate for a nice 10 % increased damage.
If you want to transition to dual wielding for even more armour, Cry Wolf is mandatory to ensure you never fall off endurance charges. As second notable, Lead by Example is similar to Haunting Shout for damage, but gives extra movespeed to both you and skeletons, hence is best in slot.


Other jewels

Spoiler
Militant Faith (High Templar Maxarius)
Core to the defense, as it grants the Transcendance keystone !
Most interesting mod is by far minion attack speed per 10 devotion. Elemental resistances are also a good bonus, but not required.


Rare jewels :

Usually, when in a budget, I use rare jewels to finish capping resistances if needed, and get some extra life. If you can afford one or two minion damage mods, that’s for the best. You should have one jewel with the « corrupted blood cannot be inflicted on you » implicit.

Watcher’s Eye (optional) :
Do NOT start with this purchase, it’s costly and not necessary early on, but offers additional physical mitigation for deep endgame.
The only mod you need on the Watcher’s eye is the « +8 % additional physical damage reduction while affected by Determination » mod. Other can be interesting, but watcher’s eye with two Determination mods on it costs more than the whole build so you should not do that ;)


Passive tree :
Using Path of Building Community Fork, best builder helper !

https://pastebin.com/0WcKrkS4


Ascendancy, Pantheon, Bandit

Spoiler
Ascendancy :
Command of Darkness, Mindless Agression, Unnatural Strength
or
Mindless Agression, Unnatural Strength, Command of Darkness
Both are fine (I prefer the first though, so I’ve capped res during acting without bothering with stuff too much)
Bone Barrier in Uber Lab : it gives us 10% physical damage reduction and more recovery to overheal Nebulochs’ degen, and offers a very strong guard skill on top of it.

Pantheon :

Major : Solaris/Lunaris
Solaris is best for bossing, Lunaris while mapping, especially when upgraded with « avoid projectils that have chained ». Mobs don’t threaten us much, though, so you can run with Solaris everytime
Minor : Ryslatha
Good sustain for long fights against lone bosses. Tukohama is a decent option as well, but I’ve found out I move too much to use it at its best.

Bandits :
Kill all. On a personal note, I find it super sad that even in a build that actively searches for physical mitigation and life regen, Oak is still too weak to be picked…



Flasks :
Spoiler
Seething Divine Life flask of Staunching
Enduring Eternal Mana Flask of Dousing
Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline/Heat (I like Ample prefix, but not mandatory)
Granite Flask of Warding/Iron Skin (Flagellant’s is nice)
Ruby Flask of Heat/Warding (same)

Only life and mana flasks have mandatory suffixes. Note that you must run a mana flask as we have a low mana regen and no leech, but as we have well rounded defences and no need of offence flasks, that’s no big deal ; plus, it lasts quite long and has tons of uses, so we can ensure we won’t burn even in long fights.
Granite flask of Iron skin offers a big amount of armour, but if we don’t want to drop any defensive suffix, we have to forgo some move speed. Absolutely unnecessary except for facetanking even more stuff.


Levelling, from Hillock to endgame :

Spoiler
Sadly I can’t help much here : I’m terrible for levelling (taking 10+ hours for acting), as I love the story and always want to clear zones. So if you want to rush this, I’m not the one you should ask for.
Technically, I respec’d this build from another skelemancer (with full cold conversion and buffed hatred), AND I acted with a friend, AND it wasn’t my league starter. Yet, I do believe you can use it as a starter ; you just won’t start mapping with all defensive layers up, but that’s fine, you don’t need them in T1 maps !
Skeletons, and minions in general, have a pretty strong damage output even without support, so you must only focus on life/resistances for your acting gear. You don’t need cold conversion early on. Ideally, you should pick Elemental Equilibrium around level 70, same moment as picking Nebuloch ; before that, you can either stick to physical skeletons with Hatred as bonus damage and curse with Vulnerability, ot equip Triad Grip, with any colouring, and use Elemental Weakness as curse.

Remind that the PoB link shows estimated passive trees from act 1 to endgame; to manage them, see in the bottom left corner of the passive tree window.
PoB link: https://pastebin.com/0WcKrkS4

Act 1 :
Spoiler
Just as most wannabe-a-necro witches, you should use zombies and freezing pulse from level 2. Summon Raging Spirits (SRS) helps a lot when you unlock it, at the submerged passage, replacing freezing pulse. You can support both zombies and SRS with minion damage and summon phantasms.
When you kill Brutus, pick Summon Skeletons as a reward, and buy melee splash damage support.
From now on you can use Skeletons as main skill, linked with minion damage, melee splash, and Phantasms if you’ve a 4L (if not, drop phantasms). Again, you can add melee splash to your zombies if you’ve a 4L, else just keel minion damage and phantasms.
At this time you should get Dash as your move skill. Just proceed to act 2 ; when you kill Merveil, pick Flesh Offering.

As for gearing, try to get one or two Kaom’s Sign, as they are a good life boost early on, and we’ll use them later anyway. If you manage to buy wanderlust (or drop, as it happened to me) or goldrim, that’s great, if not, it’s fine. Just pick rare stuff, keep whatever gives resists and life, vendor the rest.
If not league starting, you can run Tabula Rasa, or even better (and similar priced) a 6L Thousand Ribbons for extra defence, but not mandatory in any way, as skellies slay acting bosses in a 4L nearly as fast.

Regarding the passive tree, run to Lord of the Dead via Arcanist’s Dominion, then pick all the life nodes around Heart and Soul, then move to Enduring Bond and Quick Recovery.


Act 2 :
Spoiler
You’ll get Melee physical damage support and Vulnerability here. You can buy Elemental Weakness and Frostbite to level them up. Not much more to say, just kill all bandits and get things done. Drop phantasm support for zombies, and link them with minion damage and melee physical damage (+melee splash if 4L)

In your tree, you can go to Pain Attunement if you feel safe (as you probably do), and then Retribution and the life nodes near it. If you don’t, go straight to retribution, Discipline and Training, and only then to Pain Attunement.


Act 3 :
Spoiler
We gain Hatred at some point as quest reward.
If you wish to do all content, you can acquire several gems with Siosa in the Library : Feeding frenzy, elemental damage with attacks, predator, elemental army, blood magic, determination, Impale, Enduring Cry, etc. You absolutely can level up without these, so you can skip it and rush to act 4 if you want.

If you’ve enough currency, you should buy Deidbell and Dying cry prophecy before killing Gravicius, so you don’t have to come back later for Deidbellow.
You can purchase and use Redblade Banner from now on, which is valuable only if you bought Enduring Cry in the Library ; else, you can wait for act 6

As for passives, go pick Gravepact. From now on, until late act 6, you just have to grab all life nodes around : you can start with Constitution, then move left to Devotion, and down to Barbarism, Juggernaut and Bloodless.


Act 4 :

Spoiler
We get Carrion Golem here, as well as Brutality and Multistrike supports after beating Malachai. Your skellies should be supported by Brutality, Melee Splash, Minion damage, Melee physical damage and Multistrike (as much as you can if not wearing a 6L). You can replace melee physical damage by brutality in your zombie link, or melee splash if you have hard time with bosses (but I doubt it).
Try getting The King’s Way prophecy before killing Kaom, so you upgrade one ring to Kaom’s Way ; if you’re already running enduring cry, that’s a nice buff to life regen at this point of the game.


Act 5-10 :
Spoiler
In Act 6, buy all the gems you need from Lilly : basically all you could’ve get from Siosa if you skipped Library. In Acts 7 and 8, pick all nodes related to Enduring Cry : both endurance charge notables, Escalation, Inexorable and the Call to Arms keystone. If you don’t have them yet, acquire your second Kaom’s Way and the Redblade Banner ; you can equip Nebuloch as soon as you reach level 68. In the meantime, you can spend your skill points from acts 9 and 10 to go and pick Sovereignity and Purity of Flesh. When you have enough mana reduction and Nebuloch, you can turn on Determination.


Early mapping :
Spoiler
You can keep your 4L zombies as long as you feel it (that should be just before mapping, or during early mapping). Then, you shoud have space to link Enduring Cry to second wind and increase duration.

Depending of your currency and playstyle, you can stick to physical and put your points in cluster jewels, or switch to Triad Grip, pick Elemental Equilibrium (EE) and buy your cluster jewels afterwards.
In order to proc EE, slot in Shield Charge linked to Fortify ; be sure that none of your stuff grants cold damage to attacks (or lightning damage if your Triad Grip has some blue sockets).

The rest is all about budget : when you acquire Loreweave, you can buy as well Militant Faith and pick Transcendence. Get your corrupted Alberon’s and Elder amulet, anoint it for your two last endurance charges. When you don’t need your belt to cap your resists, switch to String of Servitude.
You’re ready for endgame !




Bonus : Animate Guardian
Spoiler
This is some sort of extra, you do not neet it at all even for Uber Elder or Atziri ; actually, I paid mine thanks to my first 3-mod Watcher’s Eye drop, so I beat Uber Elder without it, although not deathless, to be honest !
My current setup :
Kingmaker as weapon : gives huge damage imput to skellies plus culling strike, and you don’t mind walking into the heart of danger, so you’ll get fortify when needed
Mask of the stitched demon : immense life regen, around 10k with enough es. Never dies if not deep delving
Rare chest with « 8 % of maximum life as extra energy shield » : 10 % is better, of course, but I don’t have it for now, and frankly it’s already enough
Blood dance boots : extra life regen. I’ll replace them with Victario’s Flight when I upgrade chest with the 10 % modifier
Hunter gloves with chance to intimidate on hit : should be upgraded with a curse on hit, ideally.

I bought a 8 exalt-priced lvl 21 divergent AG for extra life, and an extra 7 exalt for Kingmaker and Mask of the stitched demon, ie the very 15 exalt I sold my watcher’s eye.


Videos :
Spoiler
3.13: UPCOMING

3.12

Spoiler
With shield, all deathless :
A8 Sirus: https://youtu.be/3_0fmFA1HPc
Shaper: https://youtu.be/EvOp2YquvKU
Elder: https://youtu.be/v59T4lJDNfk
Mastermind: https://youtu.be/iIT6B-1wKgo
40 % delirious Minotaur with 68%increased vulnerability: https://youtu.be/v6oBaIIrTZI
Facetanking « easymod » Minotaur while gem swapping: https://youtu.be/w5HyO9AlGLs

NOTE : When I did these videos, my stuff was offensively better than the budget version ; specifically, I had all cluster jewels and my 6L, +2 duration gems chest, so my dps was roughly twice higher than budget. However, tankiness is the exact same, so these bosses are absolutely doable, you’ll just need a bit more time.

With dual Nebulochs and AG :
T16 Blighted map (no big mods on it): https://youtu.be/7h48sqDov-4
Tanking Sirus’s everything: https://youtu.be/2U6J8aZ6qN8
Uber Elder, 2 deaths, last one because I was so sure I’d won that I overflasked and died from DoT *sigh*: https://youtu.be/GPfU4RphHM4
Uber Atziri, 1 death ‘cause I thought I could survive two stormshots at once without flasks, but nope: https://youtu.be/ZLunbl-6X8Y

I prefer being honest with this build (and my awful player skills, as you may have noticed). This is the first time I reach this endgame content, so I’m pretty bad at it, I mean, even worse than for regular play. I’m being confident that deathless Uber Elder is doable, you just need to USE FLASKS and/or dodge some stuff ; I hope I can manage it before Heist ends ! What’s sure is, if you’re OK with dying when facing bosses for the first time, you’ll manage to beat them on the first attempt, just as I did.

Edit: proof that deathless Uber Elder is doable !!! https://youtu.be/BuoacNjxmgI


Thanks for reading ! I know it’s a bit late in the league for you to test it, but any kind of feedback is very much appreciated.
Last edited by PoitelMarto on Feb 6, 2021, 11:17:27 AM
Last bumped on Feb 10, 2021, 8:22:06 AM
Edit: added links to my actual (and past) stuff in the gear section

As for videos, they are already recorded, but I don't know how to put them in. I guess I have to host them on Y..tube or so and paste a link here ?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading the guide and playing the build !

Last edited by PoitelMarto on Nov 28, 2020, 6:34:26 AM
I really like it :) This is a good build, tanky, and possible to gain all or at least the most content. Nice job! Please, continue work on the build and update us.


To be honest, I am working on roughly the same build, totally agree with the concept and Pros/Cons. I would add some comments:
Always take a look at ailments/degen/DoT on us, this is a weak point of builds like this.
It is easy to level up to XIII maps with 1-5c per item gear, but further leveling requires Blessed Rebirth, otherwise, things become much harder.
Vaal Molten Shell has really good synergy with armour and gives more survivability.
They of Tul specter is also good for increasing survivability due to reduced damage taken and dodge phys.
From Dust jewel helps fix mana issue and change the mana flask to something else.
Holy Kuduku show me the way!
Last edited by 0xck on Nov 29, 2020, 1:39:19 AM
"
0xck wrote:
I really like it :) This is a good build, tanky, and possible to gain all or at least the most content. Nice job! Please, continue work on the build and update us.


To be honest, I am working on roughly the same build, totally agree with the concept and Pros/Cons. I would add some comments:
Always take a look at ailments/degen/DoT on us, this is a weak point of builds like this.
It is easy to level up to XIII maps with 1-5c per item gear, but further leveling requires Blessed Rebirth, otherwise, things become much harder.
Vaal Molten Shell has really good synergy with armour and gives more survivability.
They of Tul specter is also good for increasing survivability due to reduced damage taken and dodge phys.
From Dust jewel helps fix mana issue and change the mana flask to something else.


Thanks for your feedback !

I'm really interested in your work, if you come up with other ideas in the future.

As for your comments:

- DoT is quite a pain indeed. Shaper's big ray is what damages me most during Uber Elder, same for degen zones when facing Sirus (actually the only thing I have to care of). Pure DoT is OK as the build has a decent regen, but ailments from hits (or DoT coupled with hits) proc the degen from Nebulochs and can be hard to mitigate. That's why I'm very fine running a mana flask of Dousing, at it has the highest uptime of all (5 uses, quick refill, guaranteed 4,9s duration with the Enduring suffix).
Overall, DoT is rarely a one-shot mechanic, so I feel it easier to survive than big hits, and high phys/chaos res make poison and bleed relatively harmless. Biggest threat imho is Ignite when overflasking.

- As I said, I didn't league-start with this build, and when I started this, I already had all 3 cluster jewels, so I've no precise idea as when Blessed Rebirth becomes mandatory; but around tiers 13/14 seems right, especially on Conquered areas. That being said, I think this is true for all skeleton (and SRS, to a lesser extent) builds other than Minion Instability, so no big surprise here.

- I don't know what skill I could drop for Vaal Molten Shell; maybe there is some way to optimize things that I overlooked ?

- As for spectres, I tried only offensive versions: chieftains and Arena masters mainly. I opted for 2 Host and 2 Carnage chieftains; as skeletons tend not to last long, repeated buff casts give significant more uptime when bossing. However, if you favor additional defense, They of Tul and Diabolists/Reanimators are strong options as well. Maybe I'll give them a shot !
"
PoitelMarto wrote:

I'm really interested in your work, if you come up with other ideas in the future.

Not much I can add, because my build is quite similar :) Only one thing, I use Formless Inferno instead of Formless Flame due to the former gives 8% of phys reduction by converting it to fire. I do not care about -30% fire res, because Necromancer easy gets it.

"
As for your comments:

- DoT is quite a pain indeed. Shaper's big ray is what damages me most during Uber Elder, same for degen zones when facing Sirus (actually the only thing I have to care of). Pure DoT is OK as the build has a decent regen, but ailments from hits (or DoT coupled with hits) proc the degen from Nebulochs and can be hard to mitigate. That's why I'm very fine running a mana flask of Dousing, at it has the highest uptime of all (5 uses, quick refill, guaranteed 4,9s duration with the Enduring suffix).
Overall, DoT is rarely a one-shot mechanic, so I feel it easier to survive than big hits, and high phys/chaos res make poison and bleed relatively harmless. Biggest threat imho is Ignite when overflasking.

Totally agree, nothing much to say :) Flasks are good for us and probably the more available way to avoid something, but not reliable. I guess some corrupted ring against igniting and/or poison, as well as anti-freeze on boots, is better. But it really makes the build more expensive.

"
- As I said, I didn't league-start with this build, and when I started this, I already had all 3 cluster jewels, so I've no precise idea as when Blessed Rebirth becomes mandatory; but around tiers 13/14 seems right, especially on Conquered areas. That being said, I think this is true for all skeleton (and SRS, to a lesser extent) builds other than Minion Instability, so no big surprise here.

Sure I wrote about high tear maps and content but before it is ok without one.

"
- I don't know what skill I could drop for Vaal Molten Shell; maybe there is some way to optimize things that I overlooked ?

Well, for Minion build free sockets are a real issue. I sacrificed zombie survivability and swap meat shield to Vaal Molten Shell because 10000 and up to 30000 damage absorption is worth it, actually I can raise zombies again manually :) Also, Hungry Ring might be a solution.

"
- As for spectres, I tried only offensive versions: chieftains and Arena masters mainly. I opted for 2 Host and 2 Carnage chieftains; as skeletons tend not to last long, repeated buff casts give significant more uptime when bossing. However, if you favor additional defense, They of Tul and Diabolists/Reanimators are strong options as well. Maybe I'll give them a shot !

I suggested one only because I still think phys reduction is not enough and I do not like Arena Master, its sound really makes me crazy :)

Holy Kuduku show me the way!
Hm got a problem with mana reservation:
Even with souvereignty+enlighten 3-- pride reserve 57% and Determination also 57 %
pls help (sry but i am quite new in POE)
Hi,
I see you spend quite some time to calculate your defense and offense attributes. Good job to create your own build.
I am lazy and I always follow others build. I have a hard time to fight sirus(maybe died for 10 * 6 portals), too. Finally, I find there is a budget and tanky build.

"[3.12] A CI HoP + Spiders Guardian - 70K armour, 1400 ES on block, millions of DPS || My 1st lvl 100"
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2554248

I compare my char and the build in the forum and I found I don't use empower 4(since it costs more than 3ex) so I use HOP with impale instead and my DPS is only 200K while the build in the forum has 600K. I am stuck in level 92 and it is very time consuming to level up beyond level 90. I maybe try to fight sirus awakener level 0 at level 93 when I have more than 5K energy shield.

Q1: Is it possible to kill sirus with only 200K, should I use summon skeletons instead?

Q2: The build above is pretty cheap also and maybe it can give you some idea to improve.
Last edited by dennisleetw on Dec 8, 2020, 3:41:47 AM
"
Rodicio wrote:
Hm got a problem with mana reservation:
Even with souvereignty+enlighten 3-- pride reserve 57% and Determination also 57 %
pls help (sry but i am quite new in POE)


This is weird, every aura should not reserve more than 50%, check if auras skills are linked with support gems except Enlighten gem. Make sure only 2 auras are enabled.
Holy Kuduku show me the way!
Last edited by 0xck on Dec 9, 2020, 10:12:23 AM
"
dennisleetw wrote:

Q1: Is it possible to kill sirus with only 200K, should I use summon skeletons instead?


You can kill Sirus with 200K per skeleton but it will take time, so if you do not familiar with the Sirus tactic it might be tricky.



Holy Kuduku show me the way!
"
0xck wrote:
"
Rodicio wrote:
Hm got a problem with mana reservation:
Even with souvereignty+enlighten 3-- pride reserve 57% and Determination also 57 %
pls help (sry but i am quite new in POE)


This is weird, every aura should not reserve more than 50%, check if auras skills are linked with support gems except Enlighten gem. Make sure only 2 auras are enabled.


No really just linked in Weapon enlighten, Pride an Determination ?
Just changed now to maim+ flesh and stone.


but another question: is Transcendance by militant faith important for this build or just junk for the minion speed on mf?
Last edited by Rodicio on Dec 9, 2020, 1:45:55 PM

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