{3.10} Speaker for the Dead | The Mass Minion Summoner | League Starter, Leveling Guide 💀

"

What do you think about the new +1 Skeletons veiled mod on body armours? Do you think replacing the Belly with a rare +1 Skellies chest is worthwhile?

Some of the new veiled mods do look interesting. Personally, as long as the chest has high life/resists (as guide recommends) I think you could use a rare no problem. I don't have a Belly yet, so I just use a 150 life/resist rare and it's perfectly adequate. Probably can't go wrong with an extra skelly or a +1 curse.

The problem with +1 curse mod is that gem slots are sparse. I dislike Belly for no reason other than everyone is using it, so I might just use a Skeleton chest to be a hipster.

Nice guide! Do you have any thoughts on Animate Guardian for this build?

@ Karyoplasma:

"

Karyoplasma escreveu:

What do you think about the new +1 Skeletons veiled mod on body armours? Do you think replacing the Belly with a rare +1 Skellies chest is worthwhile?

With 2000 flat life, Belly gives 800 life. A rare 150 life chest at 178% increased life gives 417 life, or 450 at 200%. A difference of ~400 life may not sound like all that much, but it'll be the difference between surviving or dying to certain boss mechanics. You'll be able to see how close the numbers are when I finish the Endgame Bosses section.

An 11th Skeleton would be worth ~8% more damage, pushing Skeleton DPS above 3 million. Definitely nice, but at this stage damage is less important compared to defense.

"

Karyoplasma escreveu:

The problem with +1 curse mod is that gem slots are sparse. I dislike Belly for no reason other than everyone is using it, so I might just use a Skeleton chest to be a hipster.

You can get a second curse as a glove corruption.

---

@ Lremus:

"

Lremus escreveu:

Nice guide! Do you have any thoughts on Animate Guardian for this build?

You could replace Zombies with an Animated Guardian for empowered life, or swap Fortify on Shield Charge for him. Either way you would be able to unsummon him with weapon swap, but you'd have to remember to reactivate Herald of Agony too. Alternatively, he could replace CWDT.

10% increased minion damage is worth ~2% more damage at 400% total increased minion damage, so Leer Cast would give 3% more damage. Dying Breath would be 3.6% more.

Crown of the Tyrant would mess up EE unless you set it to Lightning Damage. The flat damage is roughly equal to a level 13 Wrath aura, which would add 0.5% more damage to Skeletons and 0.2% for the Agony Crawler. The -10% Elemental Resists is 3% more damage for Skeletons and 4.6% for the Agony Crawler.

So a Tyrant+Breath Guardian would give roughly 7% more damage for Skeletons and 8.2% for the Agony Crawler. The Guardian's contribution would be worth ~250k DPS, and Enfeeble would reduce boss damage by another 1% (worth 70 life @ 7k total life). Not bad, but you have to worry about keeping the Guardian alive. I'd rather not deal with it, personally, but you could make it work.

I'm following the lveling Plan, the first
Trying this:


Zombies | Holy Relic - Summon Phantasm on Kill | Smite - Ancestral Call
For me it seems you suggest Holy Relic and SPoK linked. That dosen't do anything for me.

I am very impressed at the thought process and testing that has gone behind this build. I theorycrafted a similar build myself using charged dash/ball lightning as a league starter when I stumbled across this guide, and this proves it can be so much more!

Exactly what I was looking for and still has a few flex spots (like shield charge and amulet) that I can play around with.

Strong backup with math as well which is appreciated. I have been play testing with SSF so it is a little slower out of the gate till you hit library, but still levels extremely fast and feels really good.

I can't see any other ascendancy coming close to the same clearing and boss DPS while maintaining the survivability that Necro has either.

I was able to do Merc Lab at level 60/61 with a few ssf uniques very easily. Made a few clips in youtube while leveling with this build,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8aOd8RDXWA

I love how fast you can fly through the acts if you link charged dash/cwc with Flesh offering(I did test run with Mistress of Command & Spiritual Command) after using quicksilver and silver flask! After level 28 it's about as fast as you can manage and still with REALLY good dps from HOA.

Linking Charged Dash with SPoK has some possible interesting interactions for damage/attack speed boost from minion gems and Spiritual Command but not sure it's worth it outside of leveling.

Lets see how today's Manifesto and tomorrows patch notes help or destroy our plans!

@ Tklaebo:

"

Tklaebo escreveu:

I'm following the lveling Plan, the first
Trying this:

Zombies | Holy Relic - Summon Phantasm on Kill | Smite - Ancestral Call
For me it seems you suggest Holy Relic and SPoK linked. That dosen't do anything for me.

Phantasms have a chance of spawning if the Holy Relic gets a kill, but the Relic only casts when you hit with an attack (Smite/Static Strike/Charged Dash). If you aren't generating enough Phantasms, put them on Zombies instead. If you lack socket space, replace Melee Splash. Phantasms are Aggressive, so they make good traveling companions for drive-by XP.

---

@ kager:

"

kager escreveu:

I am very impressed at the thought process and testing that has gone behind this build. I theorycrafted a similar build myself using charged dash/ball lightning as a league starter when I stumbled across this guide, and this proves it can be so much more!

Exactly what I was looking for and still has a few flex spots (like shield charge and amulet) that I can play around with.

Strong backup with math as well which is appreciated. I have been play testing with SSF so it is a little slower out of the gate till you hit library, but still levels extremely fast and feels really good.

I can't see any other ascendancy coming close to the same clearing and boss DPS while maintaining the survivability that Necro has either.

I was able to do Merc Lab at level 60/61 with a few ssf uniques very easily. Made a few clips in youtube while leveling with this build,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8aOd8RDXWA

Awesome! And thank you!

I'd highly recommend adding a Holy Relic in there. Its AOE is stronger than a Solar Guard's Special Beam Cannon (1288-1932 vs. 1063-1594 @lvl68), so it's like having one on demand within your immediate vicinity. Its DPS may be limited by its cooldown, but it hits hard and will clear nuisances around you when your other minions are derping.

"

kager escreveu:

I love how fast you can fly through the acts if you link charged dash/cwc with Flesh offering(I did test run with Mistress of Command & Spiritual Command) after using quicksilver and silver flask! After level 28 it's about as fast as you can manage and still with REALLY good dps from HOA.

Flesh Offering will grant you 11-14% movement speed. In exchange, your Agony Crawler was only able to get 30 stacks against Argus, which is 60% of the Crawler's max damage potential.

Is it worth it? I'd say while leveling, movement speed is most important. In that case, what is the difference between relying on Charged Dash vs. Shield Charge?

Shield Charge gives 75-90% movement speed, but has a very slight delay at the start and a longer delay at the end. Your weapon's attack speed reduces these delays, while global attack speed and additional movement speed shortens the travel time.

Charged Dash sends out an illusion that travels at 1.3 times your movement speed.

Unlike Shield Charge, which scales from movement speed and attack speed (to a lesser degree nowadays), only movement speed affects Charged Dash's illusion.

If we assume a level 29 character using Wanderlust boots and Brightbeak, we get:

Shield Charge: +100% movement speed; +140% w/ Quicksilver;
+170% w/ QS of Adrenaline; +190% w/ QSoA + Onslaught
vs.
Charged Dash: +56% movement speed; +108% w/ Quicksilver;
+147% w/ QS of Adrenaline; +173% w/ QSoA + Onslaught

A character's base movement speed is estimated to be ~38 units per second. Shield Charge's max distance is 60 units, and I estimate Charged Dash's max range to be ~52 units.

Charged Dash's illusion seems to be sent out immediately, so calculating it is pretty straightforward. Shield Charge, on the other hand, gets tricky. How exactly does global attack speed affect movement speed? Is it a multiplier? Is it added on as if it were movement speed? Is either case weighted in any way?

If 100% increased attack speed = 2.0 multiplier, it would double Shield Charge's movement speed. Charged Dash's 1.3 multiplier would fall far short in comparison. Right now I'm at 128% increased attack speed, increasing to 140% when my minions kill. That'd be a massive 2.4 multiplier.

We're talking about a level 29 character, though, who would be at mid-Act 3. By this point you'll have Spirit Command, which grants 11% attack speed. Retribution gives another 5%. A lvl4 Faster Attacks gives 28% increased attack speed. So in total you'd have 44% increased global attack speed, meaning:

Shield Charge: +144% movement speed; +202% w/ Quicksilver;
+245% w/ QS of Adrenaline; +274% w/ QSoA + Onslaught
vs.
Charged Dash: +56% movement speed; +108% w/ Quicksilver;
+147% w/ QS of Adrenaline; +173% w/ QSoA + Onslaught

A significant difference, but we can't forget Shield Charge's attack delays. Mine has an attack time of 0.29. Does this represent only the final attack, or both the start and end times added together? If it's not both, then we have no way of knowing how much of a delay the start animation adds. I will assume the attack time includes both.

So my attack time is derived from 1 divided by 1.5 weapon attack speed divided by 2.28 global attack speed = 0.29.

So for the level 29 character, it's 1 / 2.10 Brightbeak / 1.44 = 0.33.

Thus, for Shield Charge, 38 units per sec * 2.44 movement speed = 92.72 units in one sec.
60 units max distance / 92.72 = 0.647 seconds + 0.33 attack time = 0.98sec total time.

Shield Charge: 0.98sec @ +144% movement speed; 0.85sec @ +202% w/ Quicksilver;
0.79sec @ +245% w/ QS of Adrenaline; 0.71sec @ +274% w/ QSoA + Onslaught

Since Charged Dash doesn't have a discernible delay, we'll ignore its shorter max distance and assume a constant rate of movement over 60 units.

Charged Dash: 1.01sec @ +56% movement speed; 0.76sec @ +108% w/ Quicksilver;
0.64sec @ +147% w/ QS of Adrenaline; 0.58sec @ +173% w/ QSoA + Onslaught

Interesting. So when low level they are equal at first, with Charged Dash pulling ahead as we add more movement speed.

Shield Charge is better at dodging, and will scale much faster as you gain attack speed, but it's nice to see Charged Dash is actually competitive over distances early on, especially when considering its teleportation ability.

"

kager escreveu:

Linking Charged Dash with SPoK has some possible interesting interactions for damage/attack speed boost from minion gems and Spiritual Command but not sure it's worth it outside of leveling.

10-19% increased attack speed is nice for Shield Charge, but does nothing for Charged Dash. It also costs two sockets. An Onslaught gem, which also gives movement speed, would be better (assuming you get a few occasional kills).

I feel the best use of SPoK on a movement skill is in triggering "If You've Used a Minion Skill Recently." Either for 20% minion damage Ghastly Jewels or the Puppet Master ascendancy.

"

kager escreveu:

Lets see how today's Manifesto and tomorrows patch notes help or destroy our plans!

Manifesto is now out. None of it affects us, except possibly the Unique rebalance. RIP statsticks.

Hey there. I'm a recent D3 exile so this will be my first PoE season. I was having trouble deciding on what summoner/minion build to run with when I stumbled on this. Never mind the build itself, the build guide has me sold. Holy crap, the detail in both the guide and your replies...

As a brand new player I'm hoping that this will be a smoother introduction to the game than some of the other builds I've been looking at, especially as I'll be playing SSF. Hopefully this gets even more awesome with tomorrow's patch notes.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for the effort you've put into this. It's extremely helpful to a new player (I've actually printed out a bunch of this to keep beside me as I play).

I'm new to the game and wondering what the gear posted in the leveling guide is for. I checked Nessa, and she doesnt have any of those items. Am I missing something?

Example: The unique(?) items listed under Act 1

I'm new to PoE and started this build on the tail end of the season. Very fun - thanks for the amazing guide Hercanic. This is exactly the kind of build I was hoping for.

My question is that I will be starting fresh in the next league with another player that will be running Arc (assuming no major nerfs from patch). If I understand Arc correctly, most of their damage is lightning-based (which we create a resistance to). How would you alter the build to accommodate the elemental affinity of an ally?

My initial thoughts were to adjust ball lightning to a fire-based(or potentially cold) skill gem (not sure what), and swap out the Solar Guard for a lightning-based(or swap the frost sentinel for a lightning) unit. Is that all I would have to alter, and if so do you have some suggestions or potential alternatives?

Thanks!