{3.2.0} Spectral Gods: [Life Based Spectre/Golem Hybrid Summoner | Clear Speed | End Game Bossing]

This is compelling, but I will be be eternally nervous that those dex nodes wouldn't be better spent on +es nodes. Is this certainly a wise thing, or is it experimental?

I bet with this build you could use an EK totem instead of skeletons for certain situations.

Thanks.

your spending around 10 points for IR. I feel like the armor is worth it, dex isn't wasted either. It will multiply your armor rating.

If this was before-patch I would of never considered IR. But now with the changes it certainly is a much attractive node to go out of your way for.

@Shukra:

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shukra wrote:

but I will be be eternally nervous that those dex nodes wouldn't be better spent on +es nodes. Is this certainly a wise thing, or is it experimental?

You need DEX to run Grace and Temporal Chains. It also gives you % increased evasion, meaning evasion gear = more armor = more effective ES.


@Matt:

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mattc3303 wrote:

Your not going to have enough mana regen for sure . Arc isn't a dmg dealer its just for applying and spreading shock.

Culling Strike is only a 110% mana multiplier (61 total mana cost with Elemental Proliferation vs. 56 without Culling Strike), but I suppose you're referring to the increased cast rate? This is a very valid concern, but you don't necessarily need to spam it. Cast time is front-loaded, meaning any increase to cast speed minimizes the delay of getting out your arc.


@ixthUA:

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ixthUA wrote:

To me explaining obvious things to guys who can't get obvious things doesn't look like a possible task,

That's somewhat insulting.

Now, I know I'm dense and "can't get the obvious", but please allow me to point out a few obvious things:

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ixthUA wrote:

Good plan, waiting for armor numbers and youtube video.

This is what I responded to. Did you specify here that you wanted ES/Armor gear only? No. Nor would you need to use only hybrid gear. You could have pure ES gear in some slots, evasion gear in others. My point still stands -- that is, with just an evasion shield I got a respectable amount of armor. You could therefore devote all other slots to ES, minimizing the ES sacrifice.

Now, please don't quote my second sentence in the above paragraph out of context (you've done this twice now) and quote your very first post as proof against it. I already see it, and it doesn't matter; re-read what I am saying after. To reemphasize: You do not need to wear all hybrid gear.

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mattc3303 wrote:

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ixthUA wrote:

Zombie + remote mine is difficult to re-summon - placed mine counts as zombie.

If you have 10 zombies you can still place down 5 more remote mines, idk what you talking about lol.

This is the other bit I responded to. Notice how I quoted Matt quoting you? That's important. My very first sentence was confirming what Matt said: "Yep, Remote Mine works without any issues." In other words, yes, I've used Remote Mine on zombies and had no issues. Because Matt already covered zombies, I went on to other examples -- Spectres, then Skeletons on a totem -- to drive the point home that your minion counter =/= your minion cap.

I hope I am being clear enough, so we don't waste more time arguing semantics so someone can feel "right." Is English your second language? I get that impression from your grammar and odd synonym choices.

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Culling Strike is only a 110% mana multiplier (61 total mana cost with Elemental Proliferation vs. 56 without Culling Strike), but I suppose you're referring to the increased cast rate? This is a very valid concern, but you don't necessarily need to spam it. Cast time is front-loaded, meaning any increase to cast speed minimizes the delay of getting out your arc.

I have tested all these above points and more. I have tried almost every support imaginable for arc and came to the conclusion that all you need essentially is arc + elemental proliferation. There is also another concern and that is the lack of slot space on your gear. Sure, you can cheat your self some space by replacing gems after you cast your spectres but if you are frequently replacing spectres (and in some map conditions its inevitable) its very annoying to change your gems back and forth.

Edit:

I was thinking about your idea, since blood rage is basically free when you have CI you can grab that "Evasion per frenzy charge node", each frenzy charge you gain increases your Eva by 4%. Which with IR will grant you increasing armor ratings.

To continue with this charges idea, you can also hook up power charge on crit to arc it is also only a 1.10% mana multiplier.

The final 4-linked for Arc: Ele-Pro, Culling Strike, Power charge on crit

To add to this you can also pick up enduring cry for endurance charges.

And finnaly we cap this all off with Conduit which is an easy 1 passive pt investment.

@Hercanic
This thread was definitely helpful for me, you gave me a lot of ideas I didn't consider at first. Thanks.

@Matt:

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mattc3303 wrote:

I was thinking about your idea, since blood rage is basically free when you have CI you can grab that "Evasion per frenzy charge node", each frenzy charge you gain increases your Eva by 4%. Which with IR will grant you increasing armor ratings.

Ha! I almost forgot about that passive, great idea! It's only 1 point on your passive tree, too, so it would fit in beautifully.

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mattc3303 wrote:

There is also another concern and that is the lack of slot space on your gear. Sure, you can cheat your self some space by replacing gems after you cast your spectres but if you are frequently replacing spectres (and in some map conditions its inevitable) its very annoying to change your gems back and forth.

As a triple-curse EE HP/IR/EB aura summoner myself, I know exactly how challenging it can be to slot everything you want, because there is just so much we could do. Gem space really is at a premium for us. On that note, let's take a look at how all this would fit:

4L Head: Zombies + 3 supports
6L Chest: Spectres + 5 supports
3S2L Wand: Arc + proliferation, 1 curse
3S2L Shield: Skeleton + totem, 1 curse
4L Gloves: 3 auras + reduced mana
4L Boots: 2 auras + reduced mana, 1 curse

Huh, that is tight! I'm guessing you were planning to take out the Reduced Mana gems and swap in Rejuvenation Totem and Molten Shell? Just note that I think weapon swapping now causes auras to re-check their links -- I need to test again to be sure, but last time I tried I lost mana after a swap and had to recast the auras.

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mattc3303 wrote:

To continue with this charges idea, you can also hook up power charge on crit to arc it is also only a 1.10% mana multiplier.

The final 4-linked for Arc: Ele-Pro, Culling Strike, Power charge on crit

To add to this you can also pick up enduring cry for endurance charges.

And finnaly we cap this all off with Conduit which is an easy 1 passive pt investment.

Without gem-swapping shenanigans, here's how you could make expanding Arc work:

4L Head: Zombies + 3 supports
6S5L Chest: 5 auras + reduced mana, 1 curse
3S Wand: Blood Rage, Enduring Cry, 1 curse
3S2L Shield: Skeleton + totem, 1 curse
4L Gloves: Arc + ele proliferation + culling + power charge on crit (Thunderfist gloves could be an option)
4L Boots: Spectres + 3 supports

You would have to sacrifice 2 supports on your Spectres. I know that hurts, I'm in a similar situation. I don't have a 6L chest, so all my auras are already on my chest. My Spectres are a mere 4L, but they're still pretty damn powerful.

Now, you could get Culling Strike for free with Heartbreaker and use the open slot for a 20% quality Added Lightning, which would increase the reliability of shock stacks by adding another 10% chance on hit (and higher damage to make it stick). However, you'd lose out on that really, really good 50% increased ES on Ephemeral Edge.

In grouping, Conduit would be an awesome addition. However, because you have no other investment in spell damage, I wonder if monsters will have too much health, causing your shocks to be ignored. For a more group-oriented build, what if you dropped shock stacking altogether and went for Ice Spear to get faster Power Charges due to its higher base crit chance (7% vs. 4%) and 600% bonus crit chance in its second form? Your EE would then help Spork and LA get their own shock stacks, while 'hurting' FP. It's also cheaper (35 vs 40 base mana).


As for the two "drifter" spells in your original build:

Molten Shell - The armor is awesome, but the duration sucks. It needs constant refreshing. That's really the only reason I'm not using it myself right now.

Rejuvenation Totem - Is this mainly for your Spectres? I see you have Zealot's Oath, but I wonder if it's really necessary. Life Leech on your Spectres is more than enough to keep them at full health. The only way mine die is from extreme burst damage or if their derpy pathing takes them through the bad part of town. In either case, a totem wouldn't help any more than life leech. The tradeoff here is less damage for less maintenance and more survivability (they can fight beyond totem range and outheal most damage).

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mattc3303 wrote:

@Hercanic
This thread was definitely helpful for me, you gave me a lot of ideas I didn't consider at first. Thanks.

Ha! No problem! =o) Builds are part of the fun of PoE, so I'm glad we were able to put our heads together and come up with something interesting!

Wait, don't charges transfer to your minions with conduit? Am like 95% sure it does(it says party members) Its not just for grouping but empowering your minions even further.

4L Head: Zombies + 3 supports
6S5L Chest: spectre
3S Wand: reduced mana + 2 aura
3S2L Shield: Skeleton + totem, 1 curse
4L Gloves: Arc + ele proliferation + culling + power charge on crit
4L Boots: reduced mana + 3 aura

reduced mana is taken out after casting, enduring cry, molten shell

spectre(after u cast them), 2 slots taken out and insert your other 2 curses, blood rage

I was shocking fine with temporal chain and 2 other party members. Ele-pro will reapply shock constantly this effect is even better with large mob packs.

On a side note I heard Heart-breaker makes all of your minions have culling strikes.

5 auras seems like a best-case scenario I use to run EB on my old summoner, I could stack as many auras as I wanted. This build is going to be heavily reliant on mana on gear.

@Matt:

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mattc3303 wrote:

Wait, don't charges transfer to your minions with conduit? Am like 95% sure it does(it says party members) Its not just for grouping but empowering your minions even further.

I wish, but sadly they do not.

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mattc3303 wrote:

4L Head: Zombies + 3 supports
6L Chest: spectre
3L Wand: reduced mana + 2 aura
3S2L Shield: Skeleton + totem, 1 curse
4L Gloves: Arc + ele proliferation + culling + power charge on crit
4L Boots: reduced mana + 3 aura

reduced mana is taken out after casting, enduring cry, molten shell

spectre(after u cast them), 2 slots taken out and insert your other 2 curses.

Ah, well if you're willing to mess around with your Spectre links, you have several other options:

1. Zombies - You lose the +2 from your helm, but gain 2 more support gems (5L zombies). You unlock a whole 4L from this exchange. You could use Alpha Howl for better auras.

2. Skeletons - Allows you to field 3 more supports for your skelebros (5L skeleton totem). Great for boss-farming. You unlock 2 slots with this approach, just enough to have all of your curses. Max mana might be a concern, though. Edit: Oh, I missed Blood Rage. Hm, this is tricky now, because you can't put any other skills here or they'd be cast by a totem...

Keep in mind auras on your wand means you can no longer weapon-swap anywhere other than town, or you'll lose the auras. I store the gems I swap around for my Spectres in my second set so they can continue to level, so I must avoid putting auras in my hand-slots or they would be deactivated every time I needed to summon a Spectre.

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mattc3303 wrote:

On a side note I heard Heart-breaker makes all of your minions have culling strikes.

I've heard the same from Balthizar1903 in a couple of threads. The item goes for a pretty penny, so unfortunately I don't have the currency to casually pick one up for testing.


EDIT 2:
Looking over your passive tree, I find 0 strength. On the surface, this is awesome, no wasted melee damage or HP. You've got 340 intelligence, which makes for a lot of ES and mana, both necessary. However, you want to run several red gems:

1. Determination (153)
2. Molten Shell (151)
3. Enduring Cry (151)
4. Reduced Mana (109)
5. Life Leech (109)

Now, you can get away with under-leveling Enduring Cry and Life Leech. The other three, however, are important to get as high as you can for the best benefit. How do you anticipate getting strength for these gems?

1. You could get the Atziri's Foible amulet, lowing requirements by 25% (also has a great 90% mana regen). This would bring Determination down to 114 STR. You have 1-point access to at least three 30 STR nodes from what I can see, which would put you at 104 STR. Another point in a 10 STR would cover it, or any item with +All Attributes. If you want to be more productive with your points, you could get 50 STR by getting Elemental Adaptation and 10% Reduced Mana Reservation.

2. Astramentis (perfect roll gives 120 to all attributes) paired with one or two +30 STR passive or another +All Attribute item would also be a simple solution.

In either case, though, you'd lose out on Eye of Chayula for stun immunity (CI has stun-lock problems). From Iron Reflexes on the passive tree, you are 10 points away from Unwavering Stance, but this would put you at an impractical Level 100 build.

i like the idea of this build, and its potential. the only thing i'm concerned about is being a "poorer" player... i'll have time to get up to maps and whatnot, but i'm concerned about having enough wealth to support a build like this (especially CI) due to a lower playtime.

so question for you: would (either of) you recommend doing a HP/EB/EE variation of this for the poorer players? I was originally looking at doing an aura/eb build and going towards the marauder tree for the hp, regen, and aura reduction costs, but now i'm wondering if it's worth that huge & long blitz towards IR instead.

and of course, when to do that blitz towards IR. my other concern as a poorer player is that the blitz towards IR won't pay off for nearly as long as heading towards marauder tree before the payoffs, which could make for an ugly stretch of leveling.

thanks!

edit- ammy options are more limited btw... this build for both me and OP is on anarchy.

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cronik wrote:

so question for you: would (either of) you recommend doing a HP/EB/EE variation of this for the poorer players? I was originally looking at doing an aura/eb build and going towards the marauder tree for the hp, regen, and aura reduction costs, but now i'm wondering if it's worth that huge & long blitz towards IR instead.

I'm currently HP/EB/EE and doing fine at level 80. I've got my reset in reserve, along with a few points held hostage by it. =o(

I ran your standard summoner into my 70s. By then, an odd hit or a spur of naive bravado would get me killed. My minions cushioned me from the growing reality of PoE: monsters hit hard. Then I respecced my loop, bridging it over to the curse area instead, and put all those points to get IR through the middle. I basically shifted from favoring minion life and having max minions to favoring minion damage and learning to let go of +2 zombies/skeletons.

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cronik wrote:

and of course, when to do that blitz towards IR. my other concern as a poorer player is that the blitz towards IR won't pay off for nearly as long as heading towards marauder tree before the payoffs, which could make for an ugly stretch of leveling.

thanks!

edit- ammy options are more limited btw... this build for both me and OP is on anarchy.

Get useful things short-term, then spend quest-given regrets to insta-buy long-term goals. Just count your cents so you don't come up short.

hey Hercanic.
Can you link me to that HP/EB/EE build of yours.
Im pretty poor as well but I like the build from OP so I might just go with your build.

Also Matt. based on the discussion do you want to update your initial build in the future?

thanks guys