[3.25] Holy Flicker Strike Necro [League start > All content] All content is done. PoB updated
" 25 is doable but you'll have to jump through some hoops and loops But any level above 21 will be boost to your damage. You don't have to worry about getting all perfect too much, but if you can - that will be great |
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Okay time for an update since Im pretty much done with all content and challenges.
So the recent changes to the game made things a little bit weird. There is a lot to consider but what is essentially boils down to is – as you progress the build you would have to change the tools you are using (be it tree, items or even skill gem sets) almost entirely because some of the DPS or EHP mechanics become available waaaay waaay later in the game. So instead of a smooth line of progression you have some sort of a rollercoaster.
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As prime examples of this – Molten shell and Bandit quest.
You can not use Molten shell in early stages of the build. At all. You won’t have armor for it to have value. But once you reach endgame, get good bases – you can. But before that you have to stick with Steelskin and you don’t want to put it on CWDT like you would with Molten shell. You would put it on Automation for better uptime and bleed removal. That’s a 2 gem synergy you will have to replace as you go. With different gem colors too so you have to recolor or even recraft your gear. Bandit quest gives you 15% all ele res, but at some point in the game you may reach the point of the build when you no longer need it. Or maybe you still do? Shifting stuff around like that by replacing gear entirely to gain much needed passive point is a nightmare. TL;DR – I frankly have no idea how to add all the changes to PoB because (and it already was a case in the past, but now its pushed to extremes) the step 1 will be so much different from step 10, it might as well be another build. And while I work on PoB lets see what I experimented with. First of all – Corruption on the shield – Determination level 23. Good stuff. Free gem slot + removes STR requirement from Aura. Means you can more freely use STR tattoos. Such as armor ones. Hollow effigy – finally made it work. All you need is a corruption on your belt for increased skill effect duration and you will have 100% uptime. The roll doesn’t matter, you get it even with the lowest one. You would lose Pride aura effect, but it doesn’t matter because – 4th Specter – Perfect Blood Demon. For free Pride aura. It’s a bit weaker than players one, and you cant scale the effect of it, but there are several HUGE upsides to it:
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Mana reserve freedom – duh
Area of effect reduction map mods do not affect your minions Reduced aura effect map mods do not affect your minions. Your minions have increased AOE from passives. Minions are mobile. Both blessing and a curse really, because demon might fall behind, but for the most part, he will provide pride even if you are staying at range. And the best thing – free jewel slot. Because you no longer need Pride mana reserve cluster you both have extra slot to play with AND you have much easier time to find a good Megalomaniac. Few more words about other specters and some funni interactions Specters
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Perfect Warlord – Endurance charges and Vitality. Its okay, but only frees 1 passive from Mega, doesn’t give you jewel slot or mana reservation.
Perfect Primal Thunderbird – an interesting pick. Grants up 55% evasion. But IMO its not very good. The specter itself is rather squishy and evasion is... a bit weird combined with what we doing for defenses. I guess it would shine in delve but I don’t really see much use of it. You can experiment with it – replacing Tul. But I think Tul gives much more with his totems dragging enemies and spell damage avoid. Perfect Pain Artist – I’d say don’t bother. Dude is made of paper. Maybe at the super end game set up he even can survive but even then I doubt it. That being said – he provides THE MOST damage. If he was a little bit tankier, I’d put him over Blood Demon. But right now its just not worth. Im not a big fan of all the ‘pay to get one time deal specter’ mechanic. And Im a bit scared to tie build to it because it just can be removed, but it is what it is. Interactions
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What is more interesting though – is this aura specters interactions with Watcher’s eyes and to extent with Sublime Vision. Watcher’s eyes states ‘ when you are affected by X aura’ – it doesn’t mean you need to be the one casting the aura. You just need to under the effect. Letting you take advantage of mods you would never even consider. Same goes with Sublime Vision – disabling YOUR auras, but not auras of your minions. Kinda fun, but I haven’t found a practical use to that yet.
Anyway – free slot that you just made – use Watchers eye with Determination Phys reduction + Zealotry damage on conq ground. 8% Phys reduction + 10% more damage. Very much needed phys reduction with recent armor changes. Alternatively – you can consider Fortress Covenant. Leave yourself with no bonuses, but at least your minions will be much tankier. There is also a very costly option to get Impossible Escape. But it cost a crap ton and will require you to spend extra passive points. You want Necromancer Aegis one or Imbalanced Guard. I do not want to add that to the guide just yet, but will see. What will we do with mana reserve and extra gem sockets? There are few options I tested out:
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Flesh and Stone – garbage. Loss of effect at the edge of the aura, tiny AOE (that gets reduced by map mods), the fact that enemy needs to be in the aura (hello end game bosses that just teleport out of arena to cause a high damage mechanic like exarch balls) makes it VERY unreliable. The only good thing about it is that it reduces ALL damage, including DOTs.
Arctic Armor – kinda good. Effect applies to yourself, not to the enemy so its working all the time no matter what. Being stationary is easier than you think, every time you stop to attack, every time you are stunned by a big hit – you are stationary. The downside – it only works for hits and sometimes can be unreliable still. I would include it though. It also gives you ‘less damage taken’ that is stacking with ‘damage reduction’ nicely. Chaos Golem – our fren is back! 7% phys damage reduction against all forms of damage. Very nice. Downside – can die, but I tested it out in 6mod juiced exiles and he was doing just fine. Moving on to the most complicated part. The Timeless Jewel. TL;DR – there is a new king in town – 89960.
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The reason to that is – endurance charges are OP. How is that related? Well with 89960 you have 3 Slum lords (1 less than old BiS), but also 2 extra passives. 12% block for 1 point and 80% armor for 3 points. Effectively trading old 4 passive Slum lord (10% damage) for those two.
Why is block important – because with 12% block you can entirely refund Sanctuary passive ring saving 5 passives. Insane value. For those points you can grab +1 endurance charge and extra jewel slot (although there is nothing good you could put there) and maybe some life You could also use those passives to spend with Impossible Escape. Another thing I experimented with is Forbidden Jewels. And this has some sad results. The game difficulty seem to powercreep enemies to the point the prolif explosions do not do anything.
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Tried Shaper of Flames and Profane Bloom. Asenath outperforms them both. The reason being – unsupported by either lower resistances or enemies take more chaos/fire damage elemental and chaos explosions literally tickle enemies despite being % HP based.
Big part of it is “Toughness” and damage reduction coming from new scarabs and delirium orbs that are borderline mandatory in most farming strats. On top of that monsters doing so much damage that having Bastion of Elements is also borderline mandatory. At least for end game activities. I also wanted to share few words about how well Bastion of Elements fit into current defense loop. When you are hit, Elemental Aegis barrier gonna take damage before your life/es. But it still counts as taking damage. That means if Elemental Aegis breaks, your CWDT will activate. Elemental Aegis recovers in 5 seconds. You know who else have 5 seconds duration? Molten Shell you get from CWDT. So you kinda get into a loop where your shield activates your shield on top of you blocking leeching and recovering ES with Aegis Aurora. And on top of that, if something breaks both your shield and block, you have 2 charges of extra life with automated Forbidden Taste fully restoring life and ES. Giving you even more time to get back to the shield looping. TL;DR – Bastion of Elements – BiS. Another thing I experimented with is Svalinn. And Im gonna be real here with you – I hate that shield.
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It (surprisingly for me) absolutely does not fit into our defenses. Very similar to the Grace aura.
With this build you are expected to get hit and get hit a lot of the times, to get recovery out of it and mitigate incoming damage. Svalinn does not want to get hit. Svalinn wants to stay out of the fight and take as little hits as possible to hopefully mitigate them all with a block. It felt terrible to use, I could not make it work, by you can try it to yourself. Can not recommend. So that would be it. The current PoB looks like this. Feels rather tanky. Can tank juiced up t17 bosses. Can tank exiles. Can SOMEWHAT tank Glacier boss, although not always, but that guy jump is like uber slam and he makes like 5 of those. Will try to get PoB when not lazy And also can expect “Back in time” post soon to apply all the tweaks above to budget and early stages. https://pobb.in/kaA4meF4gzAb |
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A bit more info on t17 maps and mods. Made a list of mods and how the affect this build.
Build disabling mods - mods that you need to reroll. A whole 4 of them.
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- Players' Minions have 50% less Movement Speed – build disabling mod – avoid - Rare and Unique Monsters remove 5% of Life, Mana and Energy Shield from Players or their Minions on Hit – build disabling. You CAN clear a map no problem, granted there are no exiles, but bosses will delete your minions, including AG. Skip the mod or remove AG before the fight and say bye to specters. - Monsters reflect 20% of Physical Damage – build disabling – but you can solve it with reflect rings - Players have (25–30)% less Area of Effect – very annoying and dangerous – borderline build disabling - best skip, but if no other option – doable. Static AOE gets reduced to 0 and you cant hit a boss, but volcanic always hits no matter what. Dangerous mods - mods that will most likely kill you, but does not stop you from finishing the map per say. You paid for 6 portals after all.
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- Monsters have 100% increased Area of Effect – dangerous – better be tanky - (30–40)% increased Monster Damage – can be dangerous combined with other mods - Unique Bosses are Possessed – dangerous - Monsters gain (180–200)% of their Physical Damage as Extra Damage of a random Element – can be dangerous, especially combined with other damage mods – but for the most part doable. - (35–45)% increased Monster Attack Speed – dangerous but not too bad - Rare monsters in area are Shaper-Touched – can be dangerous specifically with –res mod – for the most part free - Monsters have +1 to Maximum Frenzy Charges – slightly dangerous, for the most part free - Players have -20% to all maximum Resistances – very dangerous but doable - Monsters Poison on Hit – can be dangerous – you need a poison removal flask – then free - Unique Monsters have a random Shrine Buff – can be dangerous – for the most part free - Players are targeted by a Meteor when they use a Flask – can be dangerous – for the most part free - Players have (25–30)% less Defences – very dangerous – best avoid - Monster Damage Penetrates 15% Elemental Resistances – slightly dangerous, mostly free. -Area contains Unstable Tentacle Fiends – slightly annoying, a bit dangerous – makes map take forever, but doable Annoying mods - mods that generally just slow down mapping a lot
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- Players and their Minions deal no damage for 3 out of every 10 seconds – annoying but doable – mostly causes lag spikes - Monsters have +100% chance to Suppress Spell Damage – very annoying but doable – reduces damage more than half - (90–100)% more Monster Life – annoying but doable - Rare Monsters have Volatile Cores – very annoying but doable. Just takes forever to do a map. - Players are assaulted by Bloodstained Sawblades – slightly annoying, mostly free - Area contains Runes of the Searing Exarch – slightly annoying but for the most part free - Monsters take (35–45)% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes – very annoying but doable – reduces damage more than half - Area has patches of Awakeners' Desolation – slightly annoying, mostly free Free mods - the ones you don't need to worry about
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Monsters' skills Chain 3 additional times – free Monsters gain (70–80)% of Maximum Life as Extra Maximum Energy Shield – free if you have end game damage Monsters have +50% Chance to Block Attack Damage – free (35–45)% increased number of Rare Monsters – free Monsters inflict 2 Grasping Vines on Hit – free Monsters gain (80–100)% of their Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage – free +50% Monster Physical Damage Reduction – despite looks of it – free af Monsters Ignite, Freeze and Shock on Hit – free Players are Marked for Death for 10 seconds – kinda free. Kills done by minions are not your kills. And even if you score a kill its not that big of a deal Monsters' Attacks Impale on Hit - free Player Skills which Throw Mines throw 1 fewer Mine – free 15% of Damage Players' Totems take from Hits is taken from their Summoner's Life instead – free Map Boss is accompanied by a Synthesis Boss – free Monsters have +1 to Maximum Power Charges – free Monsters have +1 to Maximum Endurance Charges – free Monsters have (650–700)% increased Critical Strike Chance – free Players have (50–60)% reduced Maximum total Life, Mana and Energy Shield Recovery per second from Leech – free Players are Cursed with – free Area contains Petrification Statues – free Monsters cannot be Stunned – free Buffs on Players expire 100% faster – free Players have 3% reduced Action Speed for each time they've used a Skill Recently – free Debuffs on Monsters expire 100% faster - free The Maven interferes with Players – free 25% chance for Rare Monsters to Fracture on death – free What maps to run? Sanctuary and Fortress – most fun to run. Bosses medium difficulty. Fast with a good layout Ziggurat – boss takes too long, but its okay-ish Citadel – easiest boss – terrible layout Abomination – terrible boss, ideally avoid. |
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Ello, ‘ello, hola! Ciao and Bonjour!
It is this time of the league where we go back!  This time there will be no extra harsh condition because game itself is already too harsh. Same old - reduce the gear as much as possible to the content. 3 PoBs + cleaned up main PoB at the end. This time the content is: 1) Juiced T16 Glacier. That goat boss jump is pretty much like a shaper slam so its interesting to see how much gear I need to stand against it. 2) T17 with scarab of bisection + support from atlas (Niko+Einhar+Shrines) - to see how early we can run T17 map for a map slot or/and boss rush. 3) T17 without help from atlas or scarabs. 4) T16 Glacier with exiles, titanic, delirium and damage mods (optional test to see if its even doable on low budget) Juiced T16 Glacier.
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Went surprisingly well on a very low gear. The phys mitigation I added to the build sure helps a lot and you can comfortably doing t16 maps on a 'yellow map' setup of a main PoB it seems. Movement is fast, damage feels good, tankiness feels great. https://pobb.in/m5MAyaYORypP - this is PoB that was enough to comfortably do t16 T17 with scarab of bisection + support from atlas
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Surpringly went easy. Support from atlas and scarab destroy the extra quantity and all good drops from the map, so there is no real reason to do them, maybe just for a map slot on league start. But boss still drops fragments and t17 locked uniques so there is some value there.
https://pobb.in/LwpTz8zkNkua - this was surprisingly enough to deal with t17 without losing minions or dying. Damage could be better, but it was not terrible. T17 without help from atlas or scarabs. Now this is where the things went bad
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An immense jump in difficulty. There are so many problems you need to resolve. The damage mitigation is high - so you best have around 10M dps. The damage output of enemies is huge - your specters will die all the time. To fix that you would have to spend 8 extra points just so that your minions would not die. And even then - the damage does not feel great. Don't get me wrong - you can do t17 like that, but you prolly want a fully chiseled end game set up for that. https://pobb.in/5g0cX5J4kgEC - this was enough to finish the t17 map deathless and without losing minions. But its not too great. Few things to notice - Hollow Effigy - pretty much mandatory to have when going for t17. Luckly prismatic oil is not too uncommon. Silver oil on other hand... Blood demon - one of the biggest DPS boosts tied with Ashes of the Stars and Skin of the Lords. But far more accesable. Raise Specters - when going into T17 - 20% quality is must have. You don't need it if you have Ashes, but before Ashes - you better put some quality on it. Aegis + Energized defence jewel holds fairly well even into t17 so in theory there is no rush on getting Skin. T16 Glacier with exiles, titanic, delirium and damage mods Was not able to tank it untill got Bastion of Elements. Disgustingly hard content. Bastion of Elements fix it - making it more valuable buy than even Skin of the Lords. And finally - cleaned up the main PoB - added stuff found this league, new specters, new gem setups AND - LOADOUTS Use them. use them to switch between steps of progression.  Because there is a lot of them and they are VERY different to each other. Things to look at - custom configuration mods, used specters (in specter gem), AG items, skill gems. PoB - https://pobb.in/7GoLzxNwARTa |
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