[3.8] Exploding Bees of DOOM! | SRS CWC Cyclone Necro - Minion Instability | All Content | Tavukai

PROS
+ fast map clear
+ all bosses capable
+ safe
+ bees
+ all map mods (reflect maps can be a nuisance as you lose zombies on phys reflect and spectres on elemental reflect. BUTTTT even if every other minion dies the whole map can easily be cleared with just SRS and spectres are real easy to resummon now :) YAAAAY 3.8)
+ good for delve

CONS
- some wind-up required (the addition of Burning Legion Support in 3.8 allows to kill our SRS more quickly reducing the wind-up required on this build.

PASSIVE SKILL TREE

Mind over Matter, Wicked Ward and stacking life and energy shield all increase survivability with this build. Along with Discipline and with the Discipline Watcher's Eye this build is quite tanky. Elemental Equilibrium greatly increases our damage but also requires added lightning damage to be either on one of our weapons or rings. It is also of the utmost importance to insure that there is no added fire damage on ANY of our gear as this would be counter productive to Minion Instability.



POB Paste Bin

https://pastebin.com/E1vrw4cU

ASCENDANCY

HELMET

An ilvl 86 Elder helmet is preferred (Bone Helmet for maximization not required). An ilvl 86 helmet is required for +3 to socketed minion gems. Elder allows for "socketed gems are supported by minion damage/minion life". Immolation support if rolled will also provide additional damage (turns out this is actually a bad thing, found out the hard way...since cyclone is also in the link it gives Cyclone fire damage as well messing up EE. If you roll immolation support you will either want to take EE off or reroll it.). Minion Life, Minion Damage & +3 to minion gems are all prefixes we unfortunately are unable to have life on our helmet. This helmet works as a faux 7-link and increases global minion damage and life, allowing us to use 6 link spectres in our body armour or run no 6-link if running on a budget. We run Cyclone, CWC, SRS and Infernal legion here. Infernal legion helps the SRS hit minion instability levels even faster as well as providing a nice AOE dmg to the SRS as it zooms around the map.

GEM LINKS






BODY ARMOUR

Multiple body armours are usable with this build. I prefer the Queen's Hunger Vaal Regalia as it does offerings automatically allowing for less micromanagement. It also provides an upgraded version of Mistress of Sacrifice, allowing us to take Commander of Darkness within the ascendancy tree. I choose to socket my spectres in here, as socketing Cast While Channeling breaks the offerings auto-triggers. Some may prefer a +1 spectre body armor. On a budget any 6link will do or you can even run with the Queens hunger unlinked as SRS in the 4-link helmet is sufficient to carry the build through most content.

GEM LINKS





GLOVES

For gloves; resistances, life and dexterity (for gems) are preferred stats. For optimal DPS, essence crafted gloves with minion life and these stats are best. Another option is a pair of +2 to socketed minion gems. I have chosen the +2 gloves this league socketing Zombies and Carrion golem in them with Minion Damage and Multistrike. As both are melee allowing them to share support gems gives up more links available for other minions.

GEM LINKS






BOOTS

For boots; resistances, life and movement speed are high priority. If skilled with crafting or have extra currency, picking up a pair of +1 to all spectre gems boots with these stats is optimal. For Gems links I have chosen to run Animate Guardian and Holy relic with meatshield and elemental army support. This serves a dual purpose in giving AG more survivability and increasing the damage Holy Relic does. Holy Relic provides reasonable damage and healing with Cyclone as its triggers are based off of "your hits" with a low internal cooldown and Cyclone has a high attack speed. Holy relic is always at your side so meatshield support helps it do more dmg. The elemental army support says Minions from Supported Skills inflict Exposure on Hit, applying -10% to the Elemental Resistance matching highest Damage type taken by Enemy, it does not say that the minion has to do that damage...meaning holy relic doing phy dmg can still trigger Exposure to fire since fire is the greatest dmg it is taking. This means anything we cyclone through or past is gonna get hit by holy relic and have exposure as well as EE.

GEM LINKS






AMULET

Tavukai is absolutely required for this build. The Tavukai causes SRS to take 20% of their maximum life as chaos damage. This allows SRS to reach minion instability level in a short time. Preferred stats are maximum negative chaos resistance for minions (the negative chaos resistance is likely the most important stat as it causes our SRS to reach minion instability faster), maximum increased SRS life and maximum increased SRS damage. In 3.8 Anoint was added giving us the ability to add a passive notable to our amulet. There are many GREAT notables that can be added. I will list a few that I have found that are cheaper and very useful.

"Weather Hunter" provides 20 Dex, 10% resist all, and some accuracy
for the low price of "Sepia", "Amber", "Teal" oil

"Diamond Skin" 3% movespeed, 12% resist all, and increased armour
"Clear" "Sepia" "Teal"

"Fearsome Force" 15% minion dmg, and 20% increased minion AOE if you've used a minion skill. Amazing for extra dmg and AOE.
"Teal", "Azure", "Crimson"



RINGS
For rings, look for resistances, life & dexterity/strength. For maximum optimization, get one ring with Curse on Hit Flammability and one with added minion damage. An Unset ring with these stats is always a boon as we often need all the sockets we can get.



BELTS
A Stygian Vise with good resistances and life is perfectly fine. Essence crafting one to have minion life is optimal for DPS maximization. In 3.8 a new unique item was added "Siegebreaker" it gives, Your Minions spread Caustic Ground on Death, dealing 20% of their maximum Life as Chaos Damage per second. With my current build that is far from perfect optimization my SRS is showing 40k life on POB that means they are leaving 8k per second dps chaos dmg puddle on the ground when they die. This is a rather significant amount of damage and is both fun and useful with the blight mechanic.



WEAPONS

For weapons, a 6-link is Queen's Escape is an easy upgrade from a Queen's Decree (which is rather cheap after a few weeks of league). Dual wielding 70%+ minion damage/5% minion double damage sceptres is best. Crafting "Chance to Blind" on one greatly benefits survivability. The other one can have crafted stats/resistances as needed for balancing your build. If no stats are needed Craft Minion attack/cast speed for added dmg. Crafting "Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Use a Skill" and triggering Desecrate is useful while bossing. A sceptre that also has +1 to level of all spell skill gems is absolutely amazing as it benefits every skill we use with the exception of cyclone. The +1 to level of all spell skill gems is rather rare and highly desired. A +1 to level of all fire spell skills sceptre raises the level of our SRS as it has the fire tag

Alternatively fossil crafting a Shaped Gemini claw will be slightly less dps than a +70% minion dmg sceptre but provides much more survivability as it provides both +life and +mana on hit

GEM LINKS









ENCHANTMENTS

Helmet - Preferred enchantment; Summon Raging Spirit has 18% chance to summon an extra minion. This is basically an 18% chance to deal double damage. Other enchantments that are useful are; SRS deal 40% increased damage, Spectre damage, Spectre attack speed, offering bonuses, Zombie buffs, and Carrion golem buff effect.

Gloves - Best in slot is Commandment of the Grave, it summons additional cold base SRS when you or your minions kill. As far as I can tell, at the end of their duration they explode with minion instability. Watch out for enchants that may cause fire damage as it will trigger EE in the wrong direction.

Boots - For additional survivability, regenerate 2% of life per second if you were hit recently is best. If having no issues with survivability, movement speed is also useful.

1x Unending Hunger for spectre damage. Useful for mapping and bosses. A good corrupted one with Maim or Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted is nice if possible.


1x Watchers Eye with +20-30 Energy Shield gained on hit while affected by Discipline is the most important mod and GREATLY increases survivability. As Cyclone has a high attack speed and is an AOE attack, Cycloning through a pack of mobs while you map gives exponentially large amounts of energy shield.


1x Elegant Hubris - Seed # 152300
I discovered this Elegant Hubris with 320% increased maximum minion life, 80% increased minion damage. It increases the amount of damage this build does by a significant amount. It also has 2x 80% increased Evasion rating nodes within 3 points so can be used in a fun QOTF build variation if a person so desires or for extra survivability.



For the rest of our jewel sockets, we want Ghastly Eye Jewels with flat life, minions have increased maximum life and increased minion damage if you've used a minion skill recently. We will be using Convocation to trigger this ability as it is a minion skill and has instant cast speed so can be used while Cycloning. IMPORTANT NOTE - Triggered minion spells such as offerings from the Queen's Hunger Vaal Regalia DO NOT activate this ability. For a 4th stat on the eye jewels, if available, greatest preference is added fire damage for minions, energy shield, physical damage for minions, cold or chaos damage for minions is also good but fire is greatly preferred.

For Animate Guardian, we use 5 items that provide buffs to both us and our minions. Animate Guardian is linked with Melee Splash to more easily Temporal Chains multiple mobs while attacking. As far as survivability, Gruthkul's Pelt provides 5% of life regen per second. In my current gear, my Animate Guardian has roughly 60k life, meaning he has significant regen (I have seen him tank a shaper beam without dying). If you are concerned about his life or lacking in minion life gear, linking him with a minion life support gem makes him more than tanky enough to survive. He can also be placed within a pair of "+2 to socketed minion gems" gloves/boots. Pairing him with a Meat Shield Support ensures that he remains close by so that you don't lose his buffs as well as granting additional damage reduction.

There are many different ways animate guardian can be setup depending on your budget and the price of items.


BOOTS

-$ Victario's Flight Goathide Boots: Gives both us and our minions increased movement speed. These are typically rather cheap every league and fairly common.

BODY ARMOR

-$$$ Gruthkul's Pelt: Provides 200+ increased flat life and 5% per second life regenerated, this keeps our animate guardian healthy and full life. BONUS - 15% increased character size oh so fun. This item is a rarer drop depending on the popularity of animate guardians. This item can range from 10c - 2ex.

-$$$ Garb of the Ephemeral Synthesised Savant's Robe: This item is currently super expensive. It grants "Nearby allies action speed cannot be modified below base value" and "Nearby enemies cannot deal critical strikes".

-$ Ambu's Charge Crusader Chainmail: This item grants life, some resistances, chance to gain an endurance charge when you take a critical strike and regenerate 2% life per second if you've been hit recently.

-$ Zahndethus' Cassock Sage's Robe: This item is useful if using a shield with your animate guardian as it grants 100% chance to create consecrated ground when you block.

WEAPON

-$$$ Kingmaker Despot Axe: This item is truly amazing; providing 30% increased item rarity, culling strike, 50% increased critical strike multiplier and fortify to all nearby allies (this includes you and your minions). Yay free fortify and culling strike!

-$ Dying Breath Iron Staff: Typically a cheaper item for Animate Guardian. It is still very useful, granting 18% increased damage to all nearby allies and nearby enemies have 18% increased effect of curses on the. This effects curses from any source.

-$ Story Of The Vaal Variscite Blade: This item has a fast attack speed and grants the animate guardian "Hits with this weapon ALWAYS ignite, freeze AND shock". This is a 1-Handed Sword so can be dual wielded or if concerned about AG's survivability, can be paired with a shield such as Springleaf Plank Kite Shield. This shield grants significant life regeneration.

GLOVES

-$$$ Asenath's Gentle Touch Silk Gloves: These gloves were greatly buffed with Legion, providing an amazing utility with Animate Guardian. They curse enemies with temporal chains, the temp chains then stays on the corpses of the slain enemies causing nearby enemies to be blinded. Also, enemies slain near cursed corpses explode dealing 3% of their life as physical damage. This helps protect you from porcupines. This item became incredibly expensive during Blight League.

-$ Storm's Gift Assassin Mitts: These are synthesised gloves added to Zana mission bosses during Blight League. They give "enemies you kill are shocked, shocks you inflict spread to other enemies within a radius of 15"

-$-$$ Corrupted "Curse on Hit" gloves of your choice. This allows your AG to curse while attacking.

HELMET

-$ Leer Cast Festival Mask: This grants 15% increased damage to nearby allies and is a staple for AG setups.

-$$$ Crown Of The Tyrant Magistrate Crown: You must use one with a white socket if you plan on using elemental equilibrium. This item grants "Nearby enemies have -10% to all resistances" as well as adding a significant amount of flat damage based upon the color of the socket it has. White grants added chaos.

For Spectre's any fire based spectre is of optimal use to the build. Since we utilize so many sources of fire resistance deduction. Currently I am using Solar guards and have yet to find a higher dps clear spectre. Kiln mothers use Magma orb and can be nice for fast clearing, Tentacle Miscreations are nice as well as they have pierce by defualt.

-Cinderswallow Urn Silver Flask: This provides movement speed, attack speed, survivability and increased damage. It gives increased damage because enemies are ignited by spectres with combustion support almost always. It also recharges flask charges upon consuming an ignited corpse. Corpses are all ignited because of SRS and they are auto consumed by the Queen's Hunger Vaal Regalia, making charges for this while mapping insanely easy to get.

Greater I am using Soul of Lunaris
Avoiding chaining projectiles is nice as a minion build
as well as movement speed and physical dmg reduction for nearby mobs since we cyclone through packs we often have many mobs nearby and its useful for delve

Minor God
Soul of Garukhan
more movement speed
and avoid a savage hit if you have taken one....I'm kinda a movespeed whore whatever makes me faster makes me happy lol.

To be added at a later date.