The Elemental Animator - Animate Weapon, Auras - Life, Hybrid, CI Variants - 1.2.0 Planning

Finally I have a video to show how this build works! It's rather short and silent, but future videos won't be. I just wanted to get a video me animating the guardian, and thought I may as well do some killing.

Next video I'll showcase the effectiveness of just the animated weapons, hopefully before 1.0.6 is released so I can let you guys make a good comparison. By the way, the first post has been updated substantially.

Im currently trying out this build, and the addition of Animate Guardian has me excited. Though I wonder why on earth you consider a Rat's Nest worth 1-3 alchemy. On both Standard and Domination, it is currently 1 exalted. Hopefully there is an alternative we can use for these leagues.
Anyway, I plan to report back once I am a higher level and actually start using Animate Weapon. Thanks got the creative build Iao.

Honestly, I've gotten all the Rat's Nests I've tested with at 1 to 3 Orbs of Alchemy. There doesn't seem to be much demand for them at all in Nemesis. It mainly depends on who you're buying it from, though.

Really the helm is just icing on the cake. You can grab a decent defensive helm to even out resistances, letting you use other slots for low cost offensive unique items. There's Ondar's Clasp, The Blood Dance, Lioneye's Paws, etc. and they're certainly optional as well. In maps it might be optimal to gear the guardian entirely defensively for overcapped resistances, though.

Let me know how your character does! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to bring them up. There doesn't seem to be many other people with builds similar to this so I probably missed a few things. On a side note, I've updated the first post a little more and will be redoing the damage calculation post soon.

Here's what I'm thinking is optimal for the level 90 Life + Iron Reflexes version of the tree. I think I'll be doing a full explanation video soon once the passive skill tree is solidified. Let me know if you have any optimizations.

By the way, I stream on Twitch.tv now so feel free to come by and check out the build or request that I play it if I am actively streaming. Most of the time I'll be playing with this build in maps.

Thanks for the build update! Starting a character for this right now!

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ThunderFluff wrote:

Thanks for the build update! Starting a character for this right now!

Cool! Let me know how it goes. I'd love to hear if the leveling process has been improved or not. Once you get two 4Ls for Animate Guardian and Animate Weapon it should be pretty decent, though I'm not sure.

By the way, Bone Offering has turned out to be really, really awesome. Though I don't need to use it often because of minion life leech, it is super powerful against the build's nemeses: Storm Herald and Undying Archivists. Really the only issue I'm trying to cover now is mana regeneration and available mana. In late levels my hybrid flask route has become too slow for parties. Clarity may be necessary.

Raging Spirits are amazing for a build like this.

They work with Multistrike, Splash, Minion Damage, and many others.. Things get really ridiculous.

I've only done a little bit of testing but the raging spirits are pretty cool. However I'm not sure if I can fit it in. It'd be another active skill to add to the routine of this build, which it has a lot of. I'll look into it though.

I'm considering adding Rathpith Globe to the mix. I'll do some tests to find out if it's worthwhile.

Triple post ftw. Rathpith isn't worth it because there's no sane way to cover the minion resistances without a great kite shield. Bone Offering is all that's necessary against Undying Evangelists and Storm Herald.

Edit: lol i ripd