[3.8] Tanky Aurabot - a combined Guide

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Thiagomf wrote:

I was wondering if it's worth changing Ephemeral Blade for Eclipse Solaris.

Con: -50% Energy Shield granted by the Ephemeral Blade.

Pro: Nearby Enemies are blinded. As a result, we'd have a 52,5% chance of evading a blinded enemy attack "buff". Because we use Iron Reflexes, our evasion is transformed into armor and our base evasion is 5%. Thus the formula for evasion chance against blinded attackers is:

Chance to evade = 1 - 0,5 x (1 - 5%)
= 1 - 0,5 x 0,95
= 1 - 0,475
= 52,5%

TL;DR: By changing weapons we lose 50% Energy Shield and gain 52,5% Evasion chance.

"

Thiagomf wrote:

Thanks for the fast reply! Yeah, actually I'll try out these options and see which one is more effective.

Another thing I'd like to ask... My party uses mainly fire and lightning damage. To benefit from EE, I'd have to use a cold spell. Is there a good cold spell to pair with Enfeeble + CoH? Or is it just better not to use EE (as cold does not have some good spells for Enfeeble + CoH) and keep my Ball Lightning + Enfeeble + CoH?

"

Karunga wrote:

Forget the power of loot-filter and poe.trade, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned.
Forget the promise of Atlas-progress and Challenge League Rewards, for in the grim dark month's ahead there is only the grind.
There is no peace amongst the price-fixer, only an eternity of 820-spamming and carnage and the laughter of Chris Wilson.


Greetings Brothers!
I have taken the liberty of rewriting this Guide to include 30% More W40K Flavour.
To be conform with the Codex Astartes the Guide is split up into the following "Chapters":

Pros & Cons, why I dislike Necrosupport

Pros:
- a great Leaguestarter if you play with your friends
- can start with minimal Investment and support all Endgame
- purges the Atlas from Xenos for the Glory of the Emperor
- doesn't give a damn about physical Damage
- tanky

Cons:
- Playstyle is not for everyone (but you already knew that)
- vulnerable to Elemental Damage at the start of mapping
- not fun to level solo as this build
- lefthanded

Guardian vs. Necro vs. Ascendant Aurabot:
Here we have a little Rundown on the Features one can expect.
The Values are for 140% inc. Auraeffect on 6 Auras and 90% inc. Auraeffect on the other six.
All Buffs affect Allies (Partymembers and Minions)

Necromancer:
- 30% inc. Damage
- 20% inc. all Elemental Resistance
- 72% inc. Attack and Castspeed
Commander of Darkness & Auraeffect

Guardian:
- 18% phys. Reduction
- 4,2% Lifereg
- Bonus ES ~300
- Bonus Armour ~1600
- Allies are Stun Immun
- 10% Attack/Spellblock extra
- Generate and share all the Charges
Unwavering Faith & Auraeffect

Ascendant:
- 18% phys. Reduction
- 72% inc. Attack and Castspeed
- longer Vaal-Auras
- Party Conduit

My thoughts:
I have played different Aurabots for the last two Years.
In my opinion Necromancers tend to feel a lot more squishy and I dont see this getting better as the Offerings got nerfed in 3.2 to be only 50% effectiv.
Another reason is that Commander of Darkness lost it's Movementspeed Buff, which was very noticeable while map clearing.
All in all it comes down to the fact that the Necro shines where no one needs her to: while running low maps with some random's, whereas she always had problems with the sustain in more dangerous Bossfights.

This is where the Guardian shines.
Beeing burried in high quality Defense your Party can charge through even the most suicidal maps with gay abandon. All the while you dont die during Bosses, which means the Party doesnt wipe either.
This makes for a more relaxed Gameplay all in all.

All in All:
Rip Necro-Support
If you play hardcore, probably play as Guardian, as he's easier so gear and get a good ES via Mana.
If you play softcore, Ascendant offers still good Defense for the Party and you (with Spirit Offering boosting your ES further) and has the clearspeed of the Necro.

A Link to my Ascendant-Aurabot is in the next chapter.

3.2 Ascendant Aurabot - my Build

IDENTITY THEFT!
Well, we have to talk about it someday, so here it is:
The Ascendant's changes in 3.2 are very very nice Indeed and combine the best of both Guardian and Necro
It also enables you to be right-handed again for the lowlow cost of giving up your penis.
I have written and maintained an adapted Aurabot Guide here:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2093326

Required Gear

Required:

+ Conqueror's Efficiency.

Recommended:

Filthy Rich:

+ Lvl 21 Purity's, Anger & Wrath

Leveling

As this Build is specifically made to start a League and level with Friends.
Here are a few Items you might consider:
Lvl 04 - The Vigil socket Vigilant Strike and grant your Allies up to 26s Fortify.
Lvl 12 - Victario's Flight Use while leveling, later your Animate Guardian can wear 'em.
Lvl 16 - Shaper's Seed Very nice during Leveling and in Labyrinth.
Lvl 17 - Aurumvorax fixes your Resist's till Endgame.
Lvl 17 - Solaris Lorica get one around Lvl 31. Once you ascended reserve an Aura with Bloodmagic Supportgem and Beef up your Allies with tons of Armour. Be prepared to skill Zeloth's Oath here and run Disciplin. Your ES is now your efficient healthpool and you need to keep your Resistances maxed!
Lvl 52 - Victario's Influence as soon as you can, aquire a decent rolled one and dress up.
Fix your Chaos Resistance BEFOR!. Rearange your reservations in such a ways, that you do not reserve more then ~50% HP. If need be sacrifice the least popular Dmg Aura.
Lvl 68 - Prism Guardian higher Level and higher priority then Alpha's Howl. Switch Haste, Grace and Determination in.
Lvl 64 - Alpha's Howl Enables one additional Aura, have Disciplin and Vitality here.
In the long run you want one that has the Mana-reduction Enchant for one of your Shield's Auras.

Skilltree and Aura-Setup

Skilltree

Aura Setup
For the Vaal-Aura I recommend using only one as they share souls. In my case I prefer Vaal Grace, since the Duration of Vaal Haste was nerfed to be laughtably low.
Vaal Grace manages 64% Spell and Attack Evasion with very good uptime once you support it with Inc. Duration!

Customize if need be!
The Aura-Setup posted is what I plan on running in 3.2 in regards to my Friends Characters.
If you support someone who uses Elemental Equilibrium its probably better to disable a DPS Aura.

If you support mainly a Poison/Chaos Build United in Dream is certainly great. You can socket Generosity and Blood Magic into the Item to support it's skill.

Dual-cursing is possible (let's see what the Fated Windscream has in store) but expensive if you want to skill the passiv.

Bandits and Pantheon

Kill all Bandits

Pantheon
Minor God - Soul of Shakari, upgrade asap for Poison Immunity (T13 Desert Spring Map)
Major God - Soul of Solaris or Soul of Arakaali, depends on Situation

The Pantheon Wiki

Flasks and Jewels

Flasks:
I used Rumi's Concoction but didn't really feel it added a lot. As big Elemental hits seem to be the only Danger I would recommend:

+ Topaz, Ruby and Sapphire Flask.

Jewels
Next to the Unique Jewels Watcher's Eye, Conqueror's Efficiency and The Vigil we use Jewel's to fix our Resistances and stack Energy Shield.
- Resistances
- flat Energyshield (Abyss Mod)
- flat Mana (Abyss Mod)
- Intelligence
- % Energyshield
- %inc. Armour if you havent killed recently (Abyss Mod)

Energy from Within and Healthy Mind can be good options too.
Try not to let your unreserved Life drop below ~1200HP. And keep Chaos Resist maxed!

My Gear and Stats from 3.1

Defense Screenshot

Path of Building Pastebin:
https://pastebin.com/QcSq8h9Q

Buildoptions, Totems and Shenanigans

The Vigil + Vigilant Strike:
Dont know why I dont see this in more Support Builds but this combination grants AoE Fortify for You, your Partymembers and Minions, for up to 26 Seconds and it costs you a Jewel Socket.
it is by far the biggest Defensiv Boost I can imagin and YOU WANT IT!

Harmony of Purpose + CoH + Elemental Equilibrium
The newly buffed Harmony of Purpos is a dream come true and due to it's on-hit mechanic easily combinable with a Curse on Hit setup and Dual-Curses. Personal preferences aside I would recommend you to always use Enfeeble
As to the Spell: Ball-Lightning and Firestorm both work excellent due to them hitting very often.
Im afraid there is no good choice for cold based spells.

Animate Guardian
A popular Choice to gain 3 Auras more and with the recent changes to Minion Life Support and my Auras I found him to be quite survivable.
See that you can get the Gem to lvl 21, Quality doesn't matter.
Remember: if the Guardian dies, the Items are lost, and switch him off in Labyrinth, Halls of Grandmasters and probably Uber-Atziri.
Here are the usual Itemchoices:
- Leer Cast
- Dying Breath
- Victario's Flight
- Kingmaker expensive at Leaguestart, fucks with Cullers
- Lightning Coil because of phys-convertion
- Cloak of Flame because of phys-convertion
- Zahndethus' CassockCreates Consecrated Ground + Chaos Resist
- Ambu's Charge cheap Regeneration
- Death's Oath Fashion Choice
- Dyadus Support Burn-Builds, this Weapon needs to be in the Offhand.
- Southbound for the inc. Life
Otherwise focus on Chaos-Resist and Life on the Gloves and Boots.

Rejuvenation Totem
This Skillgem has the "Aura" Tag and will scale with your Aura Effect and Area Nodes.
It provides great upkeep during early Bossfights and is noticeable even in Lategame.

Devouring Totem
This Totem "leeches" Life & Mana to you, which circumvents the Zelot's Oath Keystone, thus recovering your Life if you run a Chaos-heavy Map or Desecrated Ground.
I keep one in my Inventar for such Occasions.

Decoy Totem
Always a solid choice. Tanky like a Fortress with your Auras.

Scorching Ray + Storm Barrier Support + CwC Another Way to Support. Reduce Fire Resist and apply a curse while Storm Barrier beefs you up. Only allows for one Curse and doesnt Work with Harmony of Purpose since Scorching Ray does not hit.

Ancient Waystones + Reduced Mana Support + Aura-Totem
This combination (the Supportgem needs to be max Quality) reduces the Manacost of the Spelltotem to Zero. Keep in Mind that a Spelltotem will only ever cast one Aura, so linking multiple Auras has no effect. Also Spelltotems can't be supportet with Generosity!

Vacuum Warchief with Empire's Grasp
Sacrificing heavily on your Gloves-Slot this Setup was fun a few leagues back and was used by Champion-Supports until they came out of fashion! Might need further investment into the Fending Notable to make it great.
Warchief Totem + Faster Attacks + Inc. Area of Effect + Knockback/Blind Support.

Conversion Trap
Your Friends will be anoyed but it is super-fun "stealing" some Aura-Rares or Invincibility-Totems.

Dominating Blow
In regards to the upcoming Beastiary-League probably better. Still anoys your friends.
You will need Faster Attacks with this one, to keep the Debuff on the Monster as it dies - IF you can reach said monster bevor your Party deletes them.

in Memory of John "Total Biscuit" Bain

Current Version #19

Changelog

03.03.2016 - Created the Build, Forumpost.
07.03.2016 - Updated Leveling Skilltrees
01.06.2016 - Updated with Perandus Char. Removed corrupted Prism Guardian.
01.12.2016 - Updated with Essence Char. that runs EVERY Aura
08.12.2017 - Updated for 3.1
19.01.2018 - Updated Skilltree with more ES fokus, Watcher's Eye
27.02.2018 - Cleaned the Guide, Skilltree re-route and W40k.
31.05.2018 - Added Total Biscuit, also link to Scion-Guide

"

Blankbeard wrote:

Hi Karunga!

I love that build, but may I ask you for a favor?
Could you please add some sections/ paragraphs to the build description, which are a little bit more beginner friendly? My GF started POE a week ago and wanted to "support" my character and we saw that this is a leagueSTARTER. What we didn't knew was, that it is hard to understand for a whole POE starter. It's her first char she is playing, so there is no currency at the moment :D

What would really help us alot:

- general game and build mechanics (i.e. how to play this char and what mechanics/ skills/ items are definitely indispensible)
- Stats to go for the gear, if you don't have enough Chaos Orbs to buy the items and need to go with some interim gear
- We are currently wondering, how to manage more than 3 Auras without having more than 100% mana reserved ;) Maybe it's simple for more experienced players, but as a beginner I can give you the feedback, that I don't understand how this build is achievable without spending currency from the beginning.

We are currently in Act 6 and facing a lot of trouble.

Thank you for your help!! :)

Best, Daniel