[2.3] Necromancer SRS - 1H + Shield. Max Block. Extreme Defense & Offense. [T15 + Atziri viable]

I started with your build in hardcore prophecy and I enjoy it so far. I am currently level 44, in act 1 cruel.

Just a few observations:

- Since we eventually go blood magic, this build doesn't pick up any mana regen nodes. If you don't want to mess around with respec points later you need to keep that in mind. I work around my mana problems with a mana potion, a Survival Secrets jewel from the act 2 quest and an Elreon's ring.

- If you use SRS, then spell damage is useless on a wand, so until you get a Clayshaper focus on cast speed. You can find Pagan Wands early act 4, and it is a great base with implicit 8% cast speed.

- I don't know if it's any news to someone, but Clayshaper is awesome for leveling. The level 12 stone golem it grants are very powerful at the end of normal/begining of cruel. With my setup it had ~9900 hp that meant it could tank normal Malachai for me. Your support gems in clayshaper affects the stone golem skill it grants you, and can summon 2 stone golems (you don't get double life regen but it is still worth it to have 2 extremely tanky minions with taunt).

- When you get SRS from the quest in act 1 i suggest you buy at least one more, and start leveling them in your offhand, once they reach level 20 you can flip one of them to 20% quality and still have a level 20 gem to keep on playing.

- I've decided to make the long trip down to Marauder start during normal, while leveling is fast. This meant that my hp is a little low, so i'll only risk normal lab around level 48.

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Skilera wrote:

Hi, nice build btw, as i'm kind of new in the game i'd like to know what offensive and defensive stats i have to focus on?

Thank you!!

For your gear, I included a gear guide in main post. I suggest you read it. Tells you what stats to look for. Basically once you get to Merciless and Endgame, you should be capped on resists. This build also relies on armour and HP stacking, so that's what you should be looking after.

As for offense when it comes to Summoner/SRS, all you need to look for are Minion Dmg and Cast Speed. Again, my gear guide, passive tree and linked gear should provide examples to get you an idea. If you're leveling as something other than Summoner, then the offensive stats would be different such as Spell Dmg. It's quite a learning curve, you'll make mistakes and learn. Also requires patience because this build picks up in late campaign as I noted under leveling guide.

Use PoE wiki often, really good for newcomers.

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Approximation wrote:

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For your mana problems, are you using Clarity? As I suggested under leveling guide, you should be running Clarity and Hatred for leveling. Plus you can temporarily grab "Deep Thoughts" on passive tree. I think those two should be enough to cast 4L SRS. Once you have 5L, look for mana regen on accessories or a cheap unique like Atziri's Foible helps big time.

And yeah, the Stone Golem from Clayshaper should be good until Cruel Lab run. Life regen makes life a bit easier on traps. For mapping, definitely use the higher level Stone Golem from gem. Stone + Lightning Golems or Chaos + Lightning are good combos. Level up all 3.

For tree pathing, personally I prefer to head towards "Gravepact" node first. Don't worry about Blood Magic node too early because you'll be stuck with mana casting for a while. Probably till early endgame because those Essence Worm rings are quite expensive at start of new leagues. Don't go BM without them because yours dps will suck without auras.

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Now to anyone trying my build, please be aware of the new Minion gloves introduced in 2.3. Just found out about them and they're quite sweet. They are called "Grip of the Council".

Grants 20% of physical damage as extra cold damage for Minions. Should be awesome for this build and just another reason to try 1 Hander.

But watch out for its reduced movement speed for minions, SRS likes movement speed for clear speeds. So make sure to have quality on your SRS or run Hatred + Haste for endgame to compensate for the movement speed reduction.

So nice build, I will try it.
Thx and good job :)

Yo! So I did what I said I would and started the PHC with this build in mind.

lvl 73 atm and running SRS in +2 minion helm and running as high lvl clarity as i can and it barely covers Normal srs spam. With flesh offering im oom all the time. Manapotting constantly but i dont mind :)

Build is pretty decent so far. Cant compete in clearspeed to many builds but not too slow. Shitty equipment but it will start to get better now that im in A4 merc

Gonna have to try the spectres if they would bring more speed to dried lake farming :)

4k health and res capped easily.

Ill report once I get stronger :)

Yeah, you'll need to grab a couple of mana clusters on tree to get rid of your mana problems until you go BM. I would suggest "Deep Thoughts" and "Righteous Decree" nodes. It's not a big loss to spend 4 points temporarily into something else since you're all set on HP and resists. Also grab "Tireless" cluster since it's part of build and look for mana or mana regen on accessories.

As for clear speed, 5L should give you better damage than +2 Helm. As I pointed out in my posts, I'm not a fan of 4L dps. Consider purchasing a white 5L chest piece. They're going for as low as 2c. Look for ES base or AR/ES so you can easily have 3 blue / 2 red sockets on 5L. Use Alch / Scours on chest for crafting or even a blue with HP should be fine if you're good on resists.

I remember I ran with a 5L level 35 blue chest until level 75 in last league. The clear speed makes up for defense loss. Luckily the Essence Worm rings were going for only 10c/ea back then. Their prices have spiked to 1ex this league. That sucks. I'm assuming you have Gravepact node already, 4 Ascendancy Points and once you start running Jewels with Minion Dmg along with 5L, you should get a nice damage boost. Good luck.

My setup. Gear is pretty dumpster but I dont have the patience for trading =] I use Bone offering & desecrate with Bone offering. The block is there when I need it. Otherwise I use flesh offering works ok feels safe and clear speed is very good especially with vaal haste.

Yeeep. Essence worm ring prices suck this league.. Maybe theyre too rare for what they bring.. Have to Invest the 5l but id say i need the rings badly so i can start blood magic..

fml

So, I made the build and as of this morning at 1:30 am cest, I was in the top 50phc, overall 3rd Necromancer. I had to play with a 5L staff due to bad RNG but my goal is complete. Recommend the build
Now I'm gonna play something else and get some sleep :)

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Synteximus wrote:

My setup. Gear is pretty dumpster but I dont have the patience for trading =] I use Bone offering & desecrate with Bone offering. The block is there when I need it. Otherwise I use flesh offering works ok feels safe and clear speed is very good especially with vaal haste.

That's pretty good for 3rd day in the league. You made better progress than me. I don't see Vaal Summon Skeletons in your setup though. It's kind of an overlooked gem. Do consider running it for bosses, at least they're bunch of meat shields. :)

Now all you have left is 6L to conquer. Try those Prophecies, they have a chance to provide one. Good luck.

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Xadrim wrote:

So, I made the build and as of this morning at 1:30 am cest, I was in the top 50phc, overall 3rd Necromancer.

Very nice, congrats! Are you planning to go after 100 or rolling another build?

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FierceAgent wrote:

Build Overview:

I have done SRS countless times before and this has been my most successful attempt. This isn't your typical SRS with staff. It's a new take with 1H + Shield for maximum defense. Therefore, it's obviously for HC leagues in mind because you lose some dps to gain massive defense. If you play softcore leagues, you're better off sticking with the staff builds (unless you're fairly inexperienced with the game who needs a tanky budget build).

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First of all, I'd like to appreciate your time and patience to make this guide. I'm so glad that I picked this one as my build for starting new league. So far, I'm at lv 64 with 5L, and just finished merc A1. Build seems safe and efficient for me(of course, cannot compare with those bow builds and elem builds like pizzablast etc. yet), and I love it. I have a couple of questions for you, hope you may help there.

1. I just sniped a Vis Mortis for 2c, not really great ES%, but i think it's okay. I'm trying to 5L or 6L it at this point. I would like to know if I should go with 4L vis mortis or still stay with 5L rare chest armor until I get 5L or 6L vis mortis.


2. I currently only completed normal labby and grabbed "Mistress of Sacrifice". I plan to do cruel lab soon, and i think it should be fairly easy. However, i'm not very sure which ascendancy points i should go for first. I currently don't have essence worm, so I cannot run both clarity and haste, otherwise, my manna drained so fast. So,
2.a). does that mean that it would e a good idea to get "Spirit Eater" before "Commander of Darkness"
2.b). If I still cannot afford essence worm for a while, after merc lab, what ascendancy points should go at the 3rd? still "Commander of Darkness" before "Beacon of Corruption"?

Thank you very much.