The Elemental Animator - Animate Weapon, Auras - Life, Hybrid, CI Variants - 1.2.0 Planning
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Have u consider using Chernobog's Pillar unique shield with necromatic aegis? It converts 25% of your minions physical dmg to fire which would be boosted by weapon elemental dmg etc. Also, since your weapons attack so fast they would perma curse all targets with enfeeble.
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Unfortunately the main reason for the shield is to provide elemental resistances that you can't easily give them otherwise. With Purity of Elements you'd have to give up an aura and with the Grave Expectations node you'd still need more elsewhere to cap your minions' resistances.
The thing about Chernobog's Pillar is that it converts physical damage, which there isn't much of on an unmodified weapon even with the added damage from the skill. The Enfeeble part I'd love but it doesn't make up for the lack of important modifiers. same name in-game
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" Looks like necromantic aegis has been removed. Are you still taking it? How's the build coming along in Invasion? :) Hoping to see an Atziri kill with it! Ha! :D | |
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I have another questions if u dont mind:
1) I probably wont be using animate guardian because its just too expensive/annoing to summon him with right gear and always equip all snapshot items before entering map. So i will need something to kill a few first mobs in map to get some weapons drop so my animate army can start growing. I was thinking about using 4 linked raging spirit: RS-mulstistrike-meleesplash-spell totem. The spirits should benefit greatly from my wrath / anger combo since they have very fast attack speed just as animate weapons. 2) Are u using specters? If so what do u think is better gorilla from act 2 that provide all my minions 3 frenzy charges (15% attack speed) or classic evangelist for the protection bubbles? 3) What are u doing in hard boss fights in maps like temple piety or dominus? I am afraid i will just loose all my weapons quickly and then run out of weapons on the ground so i will have to just go back to town buy them from vendor, drop on ground and then resumon and repeat till the boss is dead which is kinda stupid. Thx in advance for your answers. Last edited by xprimalfuryx on Mar 18, 2014, 7:53:51 PM
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" That was an accident, heh. It's been added back. I played the character in Invasion but randomly died while doing Merciless Merveil farming before the invaders were rebalanced. I died at level 68 but was nearing the point where the build really picks up (around level 72 when gems level up to 17). When I switched from Faster Attacks to Multistrike I was dealing significant damage with Wrath and Anger, using Flesh Offering in Docks parties. I'm going to be making a similar character soon using skeletons, spectres, and Vis Mortis, potentially trying for an Atziri kill if I put enough time into it and the rest of the 50 microtransactions aren't bought through runs. I would use Animate Weapon but their duration and the scarcity of weapons during the boss battles prevents its usability. I will probably be making an elemental animator later in the league, though. same name in-game
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" Understandable. In Invasion it really isn't worth the investment in gear because it'd die randomly at some point anyways. " Yeah, I can see this working pretty well. " Initially I did want to use spectres but I ended up simply not being able to find spare sockets for them. " You'd need a bunch of animated weapons up at once and your guardian gem removed from its socket to prevent its death. If you want you can lay white weapons on the ground to add to your minion group at any point. You should aim to kill the boss as quick as possible, because unleashing a lot of damage quickly is you and your minions' main defense. You can use Undying Evangelist spectres for the proximity shields if you want to be super careful. You can also use Saffell's Frame for the maximum resistances and maxed spell block with Bone Offering. Personally I've only tried Temple Piety a couple times and that was when I had level 19 gems and an Alpha's Howl so the deaths were quick enough to prevent instant deaths. I've never fought map Dominus with the build. " No problem. same name in-game
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I took out enfeeble, bone offering, and desecrate and replaced with summon raging spirits > increased duration > spell echo.
PWNAGE so far... 33 :( Oh and I took out the ice nova/trap/Mtrap + EE for the time being. Will add back in later if need be. Raging spirits do so much damage right now with flesh offering. Last edited by ravenshroud on Aug 10, 2014, 3:05:03 AM
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Cool! It's nice to know people still check out the thread. :)
I actually recommend you check out this guide by theuberelite for a more up-to-date version of this build. He made probably the most powerful version of the Elemental Animator concept as far as I know. same name in-game
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I may be making this build again for the new leagues!
This tree seems to be optimal with the new JSON information released. Edit: That's the life version. At high levels, if mana is sustainable, a Chaos Inoculation or Low Life version is actually preferable. Here's the CI tree. WIP gem setup: Chest Armor
Helm/Gloves/Boots
Primary Weapon Set
Secondary Weapon Set
same name in-game Last edited by iao on Aug 14, 2014, 7:57:30 PM
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I did the math and it seems the build will only be able to use 3 60% mana reservation auras with Clarity. That's if you have all the mana reservation nodes but the ones near Blood Magic and an Alpha's Howl. The same setup is doable without an Alpha's Howl, you just need a lower level Clarity. I'll change the gem setup in the previous post to reflect this.
There seems to be three options when it comes to defenses. Life + Iron Reflexes, hybrid Life/Energy Shield + Lightning Coil, and Chaos Inoculation. The first is the cheapest and least powerful, the second probably the most defensive and slightly more damaging, and the third the most damaging. Basically you'll want to level as life, and then switch into either hybrid or Chaos Inoculation. Low life really isn't an option because the build is so point starved. For life you'll want Grace as your third aura for the others you'll want Discipline. You may have noticed I didn't include Eldritch Battery. This is because it actually isn't necessary with any version of the build, with the new tree. Because we have one less aura to reserve mana, you just need to configure the gem level of Clarity to fit how much unreserved mana you need for Animate Weapon. It's also slightly more point efficient, because not getting Eldritch Battery makes grabbing the Dreamer cluster justifiable. I made a spreadsheet and found that the patch will bring a pretty substantial damage, performance, and speed buff to the build. With Anger, Wrath, and Generosity in an Alpha's Howl the auras will be providing almost the exact same amount of damage, which was probably intended. The weapons will also last ~17 seconds longer with the new skill duration nodes, which is huge. Ice Nova with Curse on Hit will also make the gameplay much quicker, since you're applying all debuffs at the same time. Needless to say I'm very excited for the future of the build. I am a little disappointed that the build is so point starved, but that really just depends on if the Animate Weapon mana cost is the same. same name in-game
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