Build of the Weak - Gramafex, The Knight General - (Dancing Dervish Summoner Support Champion)

____________Gramafex, The Knight General____________

Gramafex was long ago cursed by an ancient god. His curse? Immortality. He would have to watch those he cared for wither and die to the cold hands of Time.

Instead of standing idly as the years slowly ticked away, Gramafex decided to take destiny into his own hands. With help from his similarly cursed brother, Zamer, the two of them would rise through the ranks of the world and start their own kingdom. One of prosperity and peace. Firstly, to achieve this monumental goal, Gramafex would have to gain an army, and learn how to lead.


____________Core Ideas of the Build____________


-I wanted to play the Champion.
-I wanted to use the Dancing Dervish unique sword.
-Lets try it.



____________Recipie for the Build____________

Get:


Get:


Realistically, you only need these two unique items to build around. Everything else is pretty supplemental. Once you progress into maps you will want to upgrade to The Dancing Duo with a prophecy.

Get:



To Get:


Why these two Uniques specifically you ask?
It might seem odd to have two uniques that contradict each other, but they serve two important roles.

1. Once you gain Rampage, your Dancing Dervish will unequip and fly around the area on a murdering rampage. This leaves you without a weapon. That's where Facebreaker comes in.
2. Once your weapon is unequipped, you'd be without all your damage. Facebreaker makes your unarmed attacks do massive damage. More so than with your sword. So you want your base damage to be as powerful as possible. Try to get mods on items that add flat physical damage.


Those are the core items for my build. There are other good choices that work well with the build which I'll cram into a spoiler. By all means, change what works best for your playstyle.






____________Speaking of Gems____________

MAIN SKILL:
The main attacking skill we are going to use is Smite. This is an obvious choice mainly for the aura upon hit that gives bonus flat lightning damage, and increased chance to shock. This aura buffs you, and your minions, and any party members nearby. We want a whole lot of melee bonuses, and attack speed.


DANCING DERVISH:
The Dancing Dervish is a buffed animated weapon that casts cyclone. It is summoned once you gain the Rampage effect. The Rampage effect will activate once you have consecutively killed 15 mobs within 5 seconds of each other. The nice thing is, once you have Rampage, the Dancing Dervish has a 25% chance to apply a Rampage stack when hitting Unique enemies, so if you have it up during a boss fight, it almost always lasts the whole fight. You will want to kill weaker mobs as fast as possible to get the Dancing Dervish out. You will want to get six sockets as soon as possible, and they don't need to be linked to benefit the Dancing Dervish skill. Focus on damage, accuracy, and speed for your murderous companion. Maim is a good support for the slow effect it puts on enemies.


OFFENSIVE MINIONS:
Herald of Purity will provide four temporary minions that run around smacking people with holy sticks. You want them to do as much damage with their short lives. Think of them as violent Mr.Meeseeks. I chose Minion Speed because they are relatively slow, but Feeding Frenzy might also be a good option for the Aggressive AI perk.


DEFENSIVE MINIONS:
These are your meat shields and support minions. Stone Golem can taunt enemies and has a high life pool. Animate Guardian should be built with more toughness, and with some sort of aura-like item, like Leer Cast, Dying Breath, etc.


MOVEMENT/SECONDARY ATTACK:
Unfortunately, some movement skills require a weapon to use. So something like Leap Slam can only be used when we have a weapon equipped. Instead were going to use the teleporting property of Consecrated Path to move around faster. This can only be used when an enemy is present, so it's limited on its use as a dedicated movement skill. It serves the dual purpose of an alternative damage type in case there is an enemy who resists our Smite's lightning damage.


AURA:
I went with a more defensive approach with Vitality, due in part because sometimes you get caught without your full squadron of minions. Dread Banner was chosen for its implicit chance for you and allies to Impale monsters. The Master of Metal Ascendancy node gives massive bonuses for impaling enemies, and it looks badass.



____________Passive Thoughts____________
I don't want to go too much into detail about passives because I think that much of the overall experience of making a character is experimenting with the passive tree. I will, however, list my choices of the Ascendancy and Notable passive nodes. For the Notables, I will list them in a rough outline of my level progression. Follow it to fit your needs.

Ascendancy Passives:
-Master of Metal
-Unstoppable Hero
-Fortitude
-Inspirational


Notable Passives
Master of the Arena
Mana Flows
Bravery
Art of the Gladiator
Golem's Blood
Swift Skewering
Bloodless
Forceful Skewering
Juggernaut
Barbarism
Devotion
Holy Dominion
Divine Fervor
Discipline and Training
Redemtion
Spiritual Aid
Righteous Army
Inner Jewel Socket
Sanctity
Precision
Retribution
Purity of Flesh
Spiritual Command
Diamond Skin
Warrior's Blood
Heart of the Warrior
Rampart
Soul of Steel
Large Outer Jewel Socket
Born to Fight
Versatility