[2.2] Boulz's Secret Build: The Cult Leader. (Minion Instability)

Original build concept by Kikoyou: The Explosive Sheep


Preface: I was trying to think of the stupidest build I could come up with that would still kinda work the other night and this is what I came up with. As with all stupid builds, there's an unwritten rule where you also have to give it a stupid name so there you have it: the Cult Leader.


Concept

The concept idea of the build is to throw your minions at enemies and letting them drink your kool aid, killing them instantly... causing explosions.

The build uses a notable node on the tree called Minion Instability with the Saboteur ascendency to throw 4 high life zombies into mobs and detonates using Umbilicus Immortalis belt with Coruscating Elixir. I initially wanted to go life based to get a use of Maligaro's Lens, but decided to go CI for safety, the heal is not predictable enough for my liking in a hardcore setting.

Pros

- Funny
- more to come!

Cons

- No Flasks
- CI
- No Shield
- 3 button pushes in correct sequence for any dmg
- No Quicksilver
- Not Whirling Blades Viable
- No good specs to spec to incase you hate the build
- Hard to get Ele Weakness Capped
- Heavily dependant on gem levels
- Highly recommended to get a 6L
- 6L with high ES are not cheap
- Stragglers suck
- No Basalt Flask
- Mana struggles
- Slow Pace
- No Flasks!

Concept Video
https://youtu.be/QJJ7364RkHY

items


Mandatory Items

Umbilicus Immortalis


This belt lets your use the other mandatory unique flask Coruscating Elixir on your minions.

Coruscating Elixir


This potion in combo with Umbilicus will set your zombie health to 1 letting them instantly detonate with Minion Instability

Highly Recommended Items

Mon'Tregul's Grasp


Mon'Tregul's is a big damage increase with the added life, and since cluster trap only gives you 4 zombies per throw, it lines up perfectly with a 4 zombie limit (half of 8 without)

Maligaro's Lens


Maligaro's increases the zombie health further with another notable called Necromantic Aegis which gives all shield bonuses to your minions instead of you. The added AOE also helps with the explosion range and it gives a heal for other party members or even yourself if you choose life base instead.



Bandits


Kill all. In all difficulties.





Why no X damage nodes?


Only Minion damage, Minion life and linked gems are capable of increasing your minion damage (and dying breath/leer cast/inspirational) all trap nodes do not increase the damage of minions directly, the only trap nodes I have gotten on the tree have a useful "utility". Same can be said for Area of Effect nodes and all other Fire/Elemental/etc nodes.

Link to related GGG statement for traps:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/746806
Link to related GGG statement for Area of Effect:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/55617/page/4

I wish this wasn't the case :( Originally I wanted to make a binos/Consuming/Infernal Mantle poison version of this.



Ascendancy


I chose Saboteur for this only for the Chain Reaction point. It allows you to summon all 4 zombies at once if only 1 target is hit (usually). Cluster Trap does have a little bit of RNG so sometimes this isn't always the case, but the whole build is based on it.

For the last 2 points I chose Blinding Assault, you could also do 1 point in move speed and 1 point in all res. I thought blinding Assault was wiser as your defences are already lacking.



auras


Ideally I would like to run disc/clarity/grace which is doable at level 94+. Currently I don't have enough mana res nodes to run all 3 and have the mana leftover to cast traps. My current auras are simply Disc/Clarity and at roughly level 87 I will also add Vitality before swapping to Grace finally later.



Links


Still in Experimenting but my links priority are as follows:

Raise Zombie
Trap > Cluster Trap > Minion Damage > Increased Area of Effect > Elemental Focus

Desecrate

A 3 link is fine for this.

Trap > Cluster Trap > Trap Cooldown



Current Gear


My current settup is far from optimal but here we are.



And of course can't forget the Kool Aid





jewels


Aside from the 1 Energy From Within jewel for the Melding wheel, getting Minion damage / Minion Life / ES is ideal. Area damage/Trap damage/Fire damage ones will not improve your damage.

Example of jewels





Videos


Dried Lake Showcase (WARNING: loot filter is loud at 3:08): https://youtu.be/xq6FFBawf9g


more to come... maybe.

I will try to answer any questions you may have. Even not related to the build :D

Edit 1: added credit where credit is due :)
Last edited by Boulz#0657 on Apr 21, 2016, 6:12:29 AM
Last bumped on Jul 9, 2016, 8:35:06 PM
"
Boulz wrote:
As with all stupid builds, there's an unwritten rule where you also have to give it a stupid name so there you have it: the Cult Leader.

... or stick with the name of the original build: The Explosive Sheep:)

Looking at the two dried lake videos it looks like giving up on damage by using two gem sockets for trap support is made up by smoother gameplay and faster clear speed by being able to raise several zombies at once.
"
Bada_Bing wrote:
"
Boulz wrote:
As with all stupid builds, there's an unwritten rule where you also have to give it a stupid name so there you have it: the Cult Leader.

... or stick with the name of the original build: The Explosive Sheep:)

Looking at the two dried lake videos it looks like giving up on damage by using two gem sockets for trap support is made up by smoother gameplay and faster clear speed by being able to raise several zombies at once.


Oh damn good call. Of course this would have been done already haha.
Some others mentioned having had done similar builds already to this (low life mirror/blink and mine version as witch) so I'm not surprised I'm not the first to post a guide.

edit: added credit where credit is due :)
Last edited by Boulz#0657 on Apr 21, 2016, 6:11:55 AM
this build looks awesome!
Build looks interesting happy to see someone using minion instability but sad that you have your videos tagged as private I cannot view them and want to

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