Poison CwC Winter Orb Herald of Agony Dancing Duo Spellcaster/Minion Hybrid Necro (Say Whaaat?)

Most of the builds I create can be described as "semi-automatic" or "trigger-happy". I generally don't like pushing many different buttons in specific order for maximum damage or not pressing anything at all, unless the build itself offers some incredible mechanics and interactions. Hence, I tend to stick with builds that have many triggers (i.e. CwC Cyclone), or those that require one or two button presses with occasional flask slam (i.e. Flicker Strike).

With that said, I believe this build offers everything that I'm looking in a build. Essentially, this builds makes it so that if you self-cast successfully, you will empower your minions, which in turn empowers you again. Winter Orb that you channel 1) poisons enemies, which powers up the Agony Crawler, 2) kills enemies, which summons Phantasms, and 3) casts Ice Spears, which deal additional damage AND proc Elemental Overload. The more you are able to summon Phantasms, the more you power up the Carrion Golem that gives all other minions extra damage. Once you build up some killing spree, you trigger the Dancing Duo, which grants you 2 additional minions AND rampage that buffs you directly.

Huge thanks to this build that is long outdated but gave me the idea to create this one.

+ Very cheap to get the build started, able to play as league starter
+ Fun hybrid play style of minion and spell that works off of each other
+ An off-meta build with many interesting interactions working off of each other, giving you the hipster bonus
+ Can gradually level up the build as you go, meaning you can start as early as Act 3 when you receive Winter Orb
+ Engaging high-risk high-reward play that grants super fast clear speed, both for mobs and bosses
+ Heist (and other league content) friendly, can cast spell at distance and rely on minions to clear a path, then run like hell to the exit

- Some map mods like no regen or ele-reflect might not be the most ideal
- One optional but HIGHLY recommended unique can be a bit expensive
- The only flask that give you life is also the fuel for Dancing Duo, have to use it carefully
- Can be annoying to get the ball rolling again if you lose the momentum
- Uses many unique items, relies on decent rare gears to gain more life and resistances

No videos yet, will upload later, expect potato quality videos.

Winter Orb:
Ever since the nerf to Winter Orb, this skill could only provide fraction of cast speed and duration of its former glorious self. Sure you still can still run around while casting, but to get the maximum damage, you need to be manually channeling it. With this build, we will focus mostly on the channeling aspect to reap as much benefit as possible.

Winter Orb provides multiple functions. By using a special glove (mentioned later), this skill is able to poison despite the fact that poison is reserved for physical and/or chaos damage, which will power up the Agony Crawler. By utilizing Cast when Channeling support gem, we can simultaneously cast Ice Spears, and with Summon Phantasm support, we can summon our mini minion army.

Ice Spear:
This skill is the best in my opinion to go along with Winter Orb. As a similar cold projectile skill, the two spells utilize overlapping support gems. Not only that, but Ice Spear offers 600% increased critical strike chance, which is well needed to proc Elemental Overload without investing into critical strike items or nodes. Ice Spear also can poison, essentially doubling the rate that we gain Herald of Agony's virulence stacks.

Phantasms:
The mini army that will deal damage and blind enemies (if you have the right abyss jewels). Thankfully these Phantasms can share other support gems that power Winter Orb and Ice Spear, making these guys very efficient. The more Phantasms you are able to summon, the more powerful your Carrion Golem is going to get.

Carrion Golem:
Whereas in all other minions you summon disappear after a duration, this guy will stay next to you as long as it doesn't die. Not only will it deal hefty amount of damage to mobs and bosses, but it will also provide other minions added physical damage. The more non golem minions you control, the more this golem will power up.

Dancing Duo:
The Dancing Duo is a pair of minions that comes from the said unique. By killing 15 or more enemies, you can summon these guys to wreck havoc and give you the rampage buff. This buff allows you to move faster and deal more damage as you kill more and more monsters, meaning it's important to zoom around and kill as much as possible. We utilize Writhing Jar unique to create weak worms when we're about to lose the buff to keep the keep streak going. For bosses, we use Vaal Breach to jumpstart the kill count.

Herald of Agony:
Herald of Agony provides 20% chance to poison ON HIT, which is a huge plus for us. Since poison usually come from physical and/or chaos damage, it's no surprise that many chance to poison nodes are gated behind attacks only. On hit counts for both spells and attack so we need as much as these as we can get. Thanks to the new alternative gems, we can (and should!) get the Divergent Herald of Agony that provides us with 20% more chance to poison, adding up to 40%. With a mandatory unique glove it's possible to increase it to 60%, and with enough investment, we can push it to 100% with a unique helmet. More poison chance means it's easier to keep the Agony Crawler strong by getting more virulence stacks quickly.

Elemental Equilibrium:
Since we are able to poison using cold spells, it's worth it to increase the elemental damage that we do with Winter Orb and Ice Spear. We don't invest much into critical strike chance, so it's efficient to take this node, as it provides 40% more elemental damage for 8 seconds when we crit. Using Ice Spear makes it so that we get at least 1 crit within this time span, meaning permanent 40% more elemental damage.

Bandits: Kill All. We will need all the passive points that we can get.

Level 90 Passive Tree

Anointment: There are several great choices, so feel free to pick whatever meets your needs/budget. Here are my recommendations: Ravenous Horde (Pure Offensive), Aligned Spirits (Damage/Mana Hybrid), Serpentine Spellslinger (Poison Spell Damage and Chance)

Cluster Jewels: When searching for cluster jewels, look out for minion, herald, and life related notables. Here are my recommendations: Renewal (Large), Call to the Slaughter (Large), Feasting Fiends (Large), Pure Agony (Medium), Invigorating Portents (Medium), and Surging Vitality (Small)

POB Link: For some reason, my POB does not support the alternative gems. I don't think it takes various aspects such as rampage, Feeding Frenzy buff, Carrion Golem buff, etc into account, so be cautious about calculating the DPS.

Since this is a hybrid build, you are free to level as either summoner or spellcaster. If leveling as a summoner, level using Raise Zombies, Phantasms, and then later add a Carrion Golem. If leveling as a spellcaster, level with Freezing Pulse until you get Winter Orb, then link it with CwC and Ice Spears.

Either way, start heading towards the west side of the skill tree while grabbing minion/spell/life related nodes along the way. Our goal is to reach Spiritual Aid node, since this is the notable that really allows us to mix the two playing styles together. Once you have this notable and reach around level 60, you should start to fully convert into hybrid build and equip required unique items.

Commander of Darkness:
Normal Labyrinth. This node gives both you and your minions boosts in damage and resistances. Since it's difficult for you to go fully hybrid at this point, the flexibility for the damage to be put into minions OR yourself is very welcoming. Resistances are great for leveling as well, so make sure to take this node as quickly as possible.

Mindless Aggression:
Cruel Labyrinth. By the time you get to the Cruel Labyrinth, you probably should be starting to incorporate certain aspects of minions into your build if you haven't already (Phantasms and Carrion Golem are recommended!). This node will make it so that the transition towards hybrid build is relatively smooth.

Bone Barrier:
Merciless Labyrinth. This node will give us the necessary defense we need. At this point you should be used to having multiple minions fighting alongside with you, which provide additional physical damage reduction and life recovery rate. Equip the Bone Armour and just press it 24/7 for sweet additional 2209 additional life every 3 seconds.

Unnatural Strength:
Eternal Labyrinth. Not the most necessary node, but a great bonus nevertheless. Herald of Agony tends to really scale well with level, so this paired up with a certain unique helmet can get the gem to reach level 30 and make the Agony Crawler do a lot of damage. The Carrion Golem also benefits from this.

Soul of Lunaris (Major):
Great for farming mobs and clearing maps fast. Try to get the extra powers as well, as they help a lot.

Soul of Ryslatha (Minor):
Unfortunately, the Writhing Jar is the only flask that will provide us life when we need it. It also is the way to keep up the rampage. Take this pantheon if you want the flask to passively recharge slowly when you haven't used it for a while.

Soul of Shakari (Minor):
Extra chaos resistance never hurts. When you get the extra power, you will be immune to poison as well. This is huge, since we just have to focus on immunity to bleeding from flasks afterwards

Two Hand Sword:

Dancing Duo is the main weapon that we will use. It gives us minions AND rampage buff, making this a mandatory item. It's primarily used for clearing packs quickly, but can pack a punch against bosses as well.


Body Armour:

With so many mandatory unique items in this build, it's highly recommended that you get a rare 6-link. I bought a 6-link base and craft it until I got a decent roll. Focus on life and resistances.


Gloves:

This item alone enables our build. Volkuur's Guidance allows elemental damage to poison, where as normally only physical and/or chaos damage can cause the ailment. Whereas previously, there were other ways to give spells flat physical damage (i.e. Herald of Purity), now this seems like the only viable way. Make sure to buy one that has Your Cold Damage Can Poison mod. Also, 20% chance to poison on hit. Nice.

If you want, it's possible to swap out this glove with a rare gloves. While this might improve your defenses a bit, you would need to use Lesser Poison for your Winter Orb and Ice Spear, which could lower the overall damage. This is recommended if you do not have Crest of Desire so your chance to poison damage is still not near 100%.


Amulet:

Any amulet with good resistances, attributes, and/or high life would work well with the build. We are a bit low on strength and especially dexterity, so any amulet that offers these attributes is a huge boost to the build.


Boots:

Rare boots with a lot of life, elemental resistance, movement speed, and/or attributes are a good choice. Personally recommend movement speed of 25% and up, as this build is very momentum based, and getting to a new mob without losing rampage means a lot.


Belt:

A good rare belt with life, resistance, and flask related mods would be preferable. Stygian Vise belt allows you to socket a abyss jewel for additional benefit, which helps with the lack of jewel sockets allocated on the skill tree.


Helmet:

Optional big budget helmet, but I want to make Crest of Desire almost mandatory. This helmet can add up to +8 levels and +50% quality to the socketed gem, which is huge for Divergent Herald of Agony. Not only does that significantly increase the damage of the Agony Crawler without reserving more mana with support gems, but it also boosts the chance to poison near 100% or more. We sacrifice some life and resist for this, but we can make it up by using the Aspect of the Spider with the mana we save.

If you don't have the currency, Bone Helmet gives minions increased damage, so it's a solid base. If you can get Shaper or Elder version of this helmet, that could be even better. Like most other equipment, focus on life, elemental resistance, attributes, etc. If you can somehow acquire a good labyrinth enchant on it, that would be the icing on the cake.


Rings:

Rare rings with life, elemental resistance, and/or attributes as usual. While you can craft the Aspect of the Spider in other gears, I personally decided to craft it in my ring. This is ONLY if you have excess mana left over from the Crest of Desire unique helmet.

I highly recommend putting on at least one Circle of Nostalgia, as it provides some chaos resistance that you desperately need. It also gives bunch of Herald of Agony related buffs. If you do not have the Crest of Desire and are running 4-link Herald of Agony, get Herald of Agony has reduced Mana Reservation mod and Agony Crawler deals increased damage mod. If you do have Crest of Desire, get chaos resistance while affected by Herald of Agony mod instead of the Herald of Agony has reduced Mana Reservation mod.


Flasks:

The Writing Jar provides worms that you can kill to sustain the rampage stacks, and is the sole source of emergency life flask. Jade, Stibnite, and Quartz flasks all provide ways to evade or dodge the damages while also giving us short immunities to different ailments. Try to get a Quicksilver flaks with additional movement speed mod so that you are able to move from mob to mob more quickly.

Jewels:

Focus on jewels with increased maximum life, flat life, minion damage, cast speed, cold damage, and/or minion have chance to blind (minion have chance to taunt has no effect due to Herald of Agony). We can combine regular jewels and abyss jewels here, especially if you plan to equip a Stygian Vise belt. Or you can get both abyss jewels to increase the minion have chance to blind. Or you can invest in a Watcher's Eye. This part can honestly differ a lot depending on your budget, but I would highly recommend investing in cluster jewels.

6-link (chest):
Winter Orb - Cast While Channeling - Ice Spear - Summon Phantasm - Elemental Focus - Greater Multiple Projectiles

If you are missing a link, drop the Elemental Focus. While Elemental Focus is there to boost the damage of Winter Orb, Ice Spears, and Phantasms, GMP allows more poison stacking. However, if possible, it is significantly better to go with 6-link.

6-socket (Two Hand Sword):
Multistrike - Damage on Full Life - Melee Physical Damage - Ruthless - Minion Damage - Minion Speed / Withering Touch

A 6 socket Dancing Duo is relatively cheap. This item does not need to be linked because each support gem directly affects the Dancing Duo minions. I recommend buying a 6 socketed Dancing Dervish with good stats then using a prophecy to upgrade it to Dancing Duo, since the stats carry over.

4-link (gloves):
Carrion Golem - Feeding Frenzy - Minion Damage - Multistrike

Pretty standard Carrion Golem setup. The Feeding Frenzy will give a big buff to EVERY minion, so it's a must.

1-link (helmet):
Divergent Herald of Agony

This is highly recommended when you get the Crest of Desire unique helmet. If you can't afford it, go with the following gem links.

4-link (helmet):
Divergent Herald of Agony - Vicious Projectiles / Greater Multiple Projectiles / Vile Toxins - Minion Damage - Damage on Full Life

Keep in mind that since Herald of Agony reserves mana, each of these support gems will increased the mana reserved. Make sure to invest in some mana reservation nodes and/or buy a Circle of Nostalgia ring with the correct mod to make sure you have some mana left for manual casting.

4-link (boots):
Hatred - Generosity - Frost Shield - Vaal Breach

Except for Hatred and Generosity, there is no need for any links here. Since we don't even have physical damage to convert to cold damage, we sacrifice the aura to our minion to make them do more hefty damage. Frost Shield is here for an extra layer of protection and a more reliable way to proc Elemental Overload. Vaal Breach is generally saved for bosses or when we lose our momentum. A single breach is able to get the rampage to about 200 range, so use it during emergencies like when your flasks are running low and/or rampage accidentally ended prematurely.

I have yet to take any videos, but I will update them as soon as possible. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know, and I'll try my best to answer all of them. Stay sane exiles.