Bringer of Minions: Not your Normal Minion Build

I had a decent BoR drop for me on a ledge map and ever since I've been experimenting with out-of-the-box builds using it. I did some searching and could not find anyone else posting a BoR minion build, so...

This particular build utilizes BoR Zombies to lay waste to endless hordes of baddies. I use Burning Miscreants and Frenzy Apes for spectres.

Basic Build Direction
->Take passive nodes to maximize number and strength of minions.
->Utilize Unique Boots and Amulet to further bolster minion numbers and strength.
->Armour/Evasion Life Tank dictated by BoR and lack of chest piece. Also, location of minion passives somewhat pushes you to life tank.
->Loads of mana to support Auras for Minions








Da Skills to Pay the Bills

Three obvious skills needed for this build are Raise Zombie, Raise Skeleton, and Raise Spectre.
















Gameplay
Gameplay with this character is straightforward. A typical mapping session is as follows:

-> Go to lunaris two and obtain 2 burning miscreants. Use skeletons to kill mobs. Raise leftover bodies as zombies.
-> Go to Old Fields and raise a Frenzy ape using bloodmagic.
-> Start Map
-> Run around casting GMP-Arctic Breath in the general direction of the baddies. It will slow them and cause the minions to attack.
-> Zombies will more than suffice for taking care of anything. Recast zombies as necessary.
-> Vaal Totems are best dealt with using skeletons. Make sure you have the totem targeted and then hold down your "Cast Skeletons" button (ie. use Raise Skeleton like and attack and directly target the totem). This will cause the skeletons to be created directly on the totem and kill it. It also causes your other minions to attack this target, though they will usually get hung up on the mobs between them and the totem.
-> Spam Animation potions to attempt to keep them half empty.
-> PROFIT!!


I'd call this play style a ranged minion build. The objective is to keep a field of zombies and skeletons between you and the tentacle miscreations and any mobs


The New Hotness

I have no idea why it keeps double posting today. Man am jelly of your BOR drop. trying to get that helmet myself. Anyways look below for a ton of good information for your build.

You know that minions are snap shots right? They take the item boost and support gem boost at the instance of casting. So even if you take those items/support gems off after you cast them they will not affect the zombies already casted.

on weapon switch you gain like 55% more hp for your zombies.

If you have the bringer of rain and another defensive piece with the zombie gem in the same slot you can also have the benefits of BOR and a chest piece. You just need to switch helms in town.

RZ-gem-gem-gem[BOR] -> RZ-gem-gem-gem[defense helm]

@ Your zombie setup, your not maximizing your support gems.

BOR gives you[lets optimize your links for damage]

RZ
*faster attack
*melee physical
*blind
Remote Mine[about 60% MORE damage at 20%Q]
MultiStrike
MeleeSplash

Yup a 7 linked zombie for free b/c u can item swap your helm

@curses
Your Dual curses should be

Vulnerability[44% MORE damage]

Warlords Mark - you want your zombies to sustain and throwing in life leach gem is a waste of damage potential, gives them endurance charges, and gives u more flasks charges to spam your instant animation flasks.

@spectre I suggest you pick up a BM(burning miscreation(awesome burn damage) + a Frenzy Gorilla) They synergies incredibly well with zombies. You give 3 frenzy charges for your zombies increasing their dps further.

@Skeles, complete garbage skill except distraction.

@ Your passive tree, oh god where to begin. Is this your first witch build? A ton of points not spent very well.

heres my fix: (pretty much my build) http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAP0B3AJxBLMFLQdjDH0OrRB_FE0UsBZvF1AY2xo4GmwdFCFgIvQo-ilPKaUqmDlSOjA62DrhQKBBh0OcSn1MLU25TdhN405tVcZXK1gHWpFbr2BLYSFnoGqsaxdr220Zc1N07XTxeA16uHrvfRh90oFvgh6Cx4TvhWCHdohAiPGMdo9GkDOQVZitm6Gdrp48ogCkGaZXpqynCKeEqH2pbqrErFmsmK6TtfK4k7w3vorB88aezLzPZdDQ0_vZC9rd2wvdDeLq5CLmgevu7DjsivAf8Xb31_qA_MX-jw==

MI is horribad late game. When your zombies have 20k hp they lose 6600 hp you have way more reliable damage smacking shit around with a 7 linked zombie.

Dual curse is amazing
Pick up EB for massive aura stacking

* you might want to think about shock charges as well 120% more zombie damage

Anger - Wrath - Determination - Grace - Purity - Clarity - Discipline

heres a teaser for what your character can do. (zombies do all the damage for the first 5mins until my BM actually kicks in)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maatuf42BAI

I agree with everything Matt wrote except the following:

"

mattc3303 wrote:

@Skeles, complete garbage skill except distraction.

MI is horribad late game.

His Vita/EB/IR summoner build is top notch, but skeles play one key role and with the simple addition of the single Minion Instability node. When you go to fight a boss that blows up all of your zombies in 1-2 shots (temple Piety, the boss in the thicket map, the rogue exile that uses Rain of Arrows, and whatever else isn't coming to mind at the moment), that's where your skeletons can really shine.

4 links:

summon skeletons + chance to ignite + increased burn damage + fire penetration (can be gloves or boots thanks to only requiring 4 links)

I agree with his selection of curses as well, but in said scenario where zombies poof and you're relying on skeles to tank/finish off said boss/rogue exile, you can have elemental weakness and flammability on a weapon swap (perhaps on the chober chaber since that's been suggested as a switch for pre-casting minions anyways?). Another very useful attribute of skeletons that people tend to overlook is the fact that they're cast-able. The reason why that is such a nice attribute, is because your aoe ability suddenly becomes enormous, literally reaching to every corner of the screen. Zombies and Spectres are limited to attacking one particular mob, but with skeletons and minion instability, you can spam skeletons in an adjacent room, allowing you to literally clear multiple rooms simultaneously.

I never really have a problem with those bosses anymore. They kill maybe 1-4 of my zombies but I can just rev more. The degen damage from BM's just owns them. I cast frost wall right on top of them and it really fucks up whatever they are trying to do.

Matt, thanks for your time to respond, but I disagree with alot of what you've said. Alot of my disagreement comes from a very fundamental difference in play style.

"

mattc3303 wrote:

You know that minions are snap shots right? They take the item boost and support gem boost at the instance of casting. So even if you take those items/support gems off after you cast them they will not affect the zombies already casted.

on weapon switch you gain like 55% more hp for your zombies.

If you have the bringer of rain and another defensive piece with the zombie gem in the same slot you can also have the benefits of BOR and a chest piece. You just need to switch helms in town.

I do not accept "gear swap tricks" as a valid play style. Mostly because I'm too lazy to be asked to swap gear all the time, but specifically on this build because I EXPECT zombies to die. Having to swap gear to cast zombies is not acceptable for me.

How to you raise more zombies in a map if you have to go back to town to swap helmets?

"

mattc3303 wrote:

RZ-gem-gem-gem[BOR] -> RZ-gem-gem-gem[defense helm]

@ Your zombie setup, your not maximizing your support gems.

BOR gives you[lets optimize your links for damage]

RZ
*faster attack
*melee physical
*blind
Remote Mine[about 60% MORE damage at 20%Q]
MultiStrike
MeleeSplash

Yup a 7 linked zombie for free b/c u can item swap your helm

I guess you missed the part where I said I couldn't get RRBB sockets? Where do I stick remote mine in RRGB?

Also, remote mine sounds like PITA when having to recast 9 zombies.

"

mattc3303 wrote:

@curses
Your Dual curses should be

Vulnerability[44% MORE damage]

Warlords Mark - you want your zombies to sustain and throwing in life leach gem is a waste of damage potential, gives them endurance charges, and gives u more flasks charges to spam your instant animation flasks.

Vulnerability is interesting, I'm going to have to give that a try.

I tried warlords mark and found it a bit lack luster. Again, with zombies and skeletons I'm not so worried about them dieing.

"

mattc3303 wrote:

@spectre I suggest you pick up a BM(burning miscreation(awesome burn damage) + a Frenzy Gorilla) They synergies incredibly well with zombies. You give 3 frenzy charges for your zombies increasing their dps further.

I've tried the burning guys and I really didn't like them. They are pretty cool for the unrighteous fire, but their primary attack is melee and I found them often rushing into rooms and dieing.

The ranged minions, on the other hand, have much higher survivability. Also, titty bitch dps projection is MUCH better with 100% pierce and GMP (clears entire hallways in 1 volley).

"

mattc3303 wrote:

@Skeles, complete garbage skill except distraction.

I couldn't disagree more. When it comes to locking down a single really hard target, there is no better skill in the game.

"

mattc3303 wrote:

@ Your passive tree, oh god where to begin. Is this your first witch build? A ton of points not spent very well.

heres my fix: (pretty much my build) http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMBAP0B3AJxBLMFLQdjDH0OrRB_FE0UsBZvF1AY2xo4GmwdFCFgIvQo-ilPKaUqmDlSOjA62DrhQKBBh0OcSn1MLU25TdhN405tVcZXK1gHWpFbr2BLYSFnoGqsaxdr220Zc1N07XTxeA16uHrvfRh90oFvgh6Cx4TvhWCHdohAiPGMdo9GkDOQVZitm6Gdrp48ogCkGaZXpqynCKeEqH2pbqrErFmsmK6TtfK4k7w3vorB88aezLzPZdDQ0_vZC9rd2wvdDeLq5CLmgevu7DjsivAf8Xb31_qA_MX-jw==

That's funny, I was thinking the same thing about your tree!

First off, I'll never get to 110 points. Could you make a more reasonable tree for 100 points?

Second, that's a LOT of tank for a character that never gets hit. Why do you need 170% increased max life?

Comparing armour, my build actually has more %increased from passives.

Third, you waste many points on +10 attrib nodes fighting your way over to IR on a toon that really doesn't need IR. You have a 134 dex from passives. Why? What good does it do you?

Lastly, I choose the templar shield wheel over the templar starting area because of the lack of chest piece. The shield wheel + armor/energy wheel above it gives overall more defense for less passive nodes.

"

mattc3303 wrote:

MI is horribad late game. When your zombies have 20k hp they lose 6600 hp you have way more reliable damage smacking shit around with a 7 linked zombie.

I guess this depends on what "late game" is. I'm doing level 66-70 maps and it seems to work really well. At what level does it's effectiveness taper off?

First am going to say this: Am not telling you to change anything just a friendly show of tips

I respect that you are going to stick with your own build. But am telling you these things because I have a massive amount of summoner experience. And my build is the birth of countless respecing and trial and error. Am not just all talk either pretty much no other summoner build can farm as fast as I can because of my huge amount of tankiness I can run in and do whatever the fuck I want. evidence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maatuf42BAI

at roughly 1 minute in my BM turns on the UR and everything gets demolished.

ask me if you want me to upload footage of higher level maps. That was me yesterday testing out my new build.

"

I do not accept "gear swap tricks" as a valid play style. Mostly because I'm too lazy to be asked to swap gear all the time, but specifically on this build because I EXPECT zombies to die. Having to swap gear to cast zombies is not acceptable for me.

How to you raise more zombies in a map if you have to go back to town to swap helmets?

gear swapping is valid. Its a game mechanic why else would it be in the game.

with the weapon switch my zombie goes from 13k hp to 19k hp. And you only have to res them once b/c i don't use MI and I use warlords they leech and I spam my instant animation flasks = zombies almost never die. When they do die. I press "X", Press "I" equip my sidhe than press "R", my raise zombie button. If you done it so many times you can do it under 4 seconds.

You don't have to do the town switch. Just put your chober in your alt weapon slot and your sidhe breath in your inventory. While mapping when a zombie drops, all u have to do is press X and presto more hp for your zombies. My build keeps my minions alive I don't rely on that small little MI AOE to kill things.

"

I've tried the burning guys and I really didn't like them. They are pretty cool for the unrighteous fire, but their primary attack is melee and I found them often rushing into rooms and dieing.

You need to buff their survivability, when they turn on UR it owns everything in sight

RS + increased burning damage + minion life + minion res + Increased AOE

I used titty-bitches a for a long long time as well. They get instantly pwned by high hitting elemental projectiles or gap closing melee moves. Buffing their defense will decrease their dps. Their effectiveness drops in indoor maps with a lot of walls. They are annoying to get as they are mostly found in lunaris 3.

However for BM's buffing their defense actually increases their dps. (minion life = more damage). They can run both indoor and outdoor maps at the same speed. With a 20%Q lvl 20 increased AOE gem it pretty much covers an entire room.

"

I guess you missed the part where I said I couldn't get RRBB sockets? Where do I stick remote mine in RRGB?

Also, remote mine sounds like PITA when having to recast 9 zombies.

You take out chance to flee, it defeats the whole purpose of your build. you want mobs to be close to your zombies not running away. Math doesn't lie my friend. The damage boost you will be getting is absolutely massive. The massive dps boost just means more survivability bc of warlords mark leach. The faster you kill the more survivability you get.

"

I couldn't disagree more. When it comes to locking down a single really hard target, there is no better skill in the game.

I just frost wall them and proceed to own them in about a couple of seconds.
If you watched my video I killed the map boss in about a second or less. He just instantly died.

Don't you ever feel like waiting for a skele surround is just a waste of time lol? I rather just leap slam in and be done with it. instantly teleporting my zombies at the boss for the lock.

"

That's funny, I was thinking the same thing about your tree!

First off, I'll never get to 110 points. Could you make a more reasonable tree for 100 points?

Second, that's a LOT of tank for a character that never gets hit. Why do you need 170% increased max life?

Comparing armour, my build actually has more %increased from passives.

Third, you waste many points on +10 attrib nodes fighting your way over to IR on a toon that really doesn't need IR. You have a 134 dex from passives. Why? What good does it do you?

Lastly, I choose the templar shield wheel over the templar starting area because of the lack of chest piece. The shield wheel + armor/energy wheel above it gives overall more defense for less passive nodes.

Can't do anything about the points lol.

So your telling me your toon never gets hit? what about leap slam, charge, flicker strike, stray projectiles that pierce, stray projectiles that is aoe hits your minion that hits you(Fireball). Chain maps that chain to you after hitting your minions.

If you played poe long enough you know that defense is king and you can never have too much defense. Why do you think people strive for more and more defense on their toon?

Thats a lot of tank because if your character is tanky you can do whatever the fuck you want.

I use IR + Determination + Molten shell + evasion gear(dex boosts eva) + Granite = 30k+ armor, throw in endurance charges and your literally more tanky than zombies.

I "waste" a lot of points because IR is arguably the best node in the game. The armor it gives you is massive. You also need dex to equip gems.

"

I guess this depends on what "late game" is. I'm doing level 66-70 maps and it seems to work really well. At what level does it's effectiveness taper off?

Its effectiveness tapers off when your spectre does more dps than an MI explosion. And you want to keep them and your zombies alive.

Again. You should try the chober + sidhe switch its quite easy to do and boosts your minions soooooo much. Good luck.

"

mattc3303 wrote:

gear swapping is valid. Its a game mechanic why else would it be in the game.

Just wanted to chime in here to say that I really disagree with this. If it is not intended (which we do not know if it is or is not right now) then it is not a game mechanic, but merely an oversight. The Alpha's Howl trick utilized the exact same "game mechanic" and that is getting partially fixed in the next patch and completely fixed in a future patch.

The idea of a minion snap shot is the best idea I have ever seen in any game for summoner based characters. I hope they will never change it. Its going to be weird, summons have to keep updating every time you change support gems? Won't they have to change the entire base code that minions work on?

If I swap to be chober chabber would my zombies instantly gain like 6k hp than swap out and they lose it? I like how summons work right now, they are static not dynamic, which makes a lot of sense to me.

If they change it good bye spectre diversity you can't have multiple types of summons with different gem setup. They will keep updating. I also think this feature is the coolest summon based feature I ever seen in any game.

chance to flee is a waste of a support. If you want more survivability on your zombies u should just get necromantic aegis. (chance to flee doesn't work on mobs that matter; rares and bosses)
put remote mine or somethin instead.

This build has a pitiful health pool. You probably have trouble surviving in docks with this much. try getting like 250% health instead of your 90%.

I'd recommend redoing your build when you get some experience.