5 Aura Raging Spirits / Animate Weapon 1.1.5 Build

very nice build.. very well dome

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TheNugernaut wrote:

Yes, it is. As for duration you don't need it with Duration gems, especially quality. I can get 20+ skulls up with echo. With good drop you can sustain 20+ weapons too.

Its not really a question of whether you need it or not, its a matter of dps. I have not tested but I strongly suspect that 45% increased duration would add more dps than the spectre wheel (since you don't use spectres).

202% increased life with no shield and low armour :O plus the raging spirits cannot be targeted.
The new idea was using the hammer, which is a very good idea but the build is far from being complete.

Fun build! I run something similar as my highest character:

- Instead of selfcasting with Spell Echo i use Triple Totem Spirits with the unique chest. It increases the total number of skulls thus adding more benefit from your auras. The Totems are somewhat squishy from the unique chest, and of course there's the damage effectiveness penalty, but on the other hand it gives you time to cast curses/offerings/weapons with less downtime during battles. The l20 curses penalty is fun to play with and covered quite well with a +charges/curse potion.

- My links are quite different, as the Animated Weapons are the main damage dealer of this/my variant, i've opted for Blind on the spirit-totems. Adds a lot of survivability with the large amount of skulls. I also use Added Chaos over Multistrike and Faster Casting over Duration. Reason is that the skulls live a short period, which makes Multistrikes longer attack animation inefficient at times. FCR helps both the totem and the spirits, while duration would only help the spirits. (I use a 5l in the spell totem unique)

- My 5th aura is Grace instead of Discipline. Grace helps my personal defense quite a bit. Coupled with AA, life and a shield i (think i) have some more EHP than the build posted here. Discipline isnt needed for more mana from EB in my version.

- I dont run much cast speed, with the Totems doing the work thats not really needed. I used the points to get to Iron Reflexes, Ancestral Bond and the 16 minion resists node.
The other big difference is not taking the Flask/Life/Minion nodes in the witch area. Might do so in the future.


- I use a sword/shield for extra survivability over Chober Chaber. The sword is an Aurumvorax and combines with the shield to ease the pain on getting your resistances up with all the uniques i'm wearing.

- I use an Unset Ring with Vaal Grace for those nasty spellcaster exiles/map bosses that wipe your whole army. Vaal Haste and Sum Skele work wonders too, but there's only so much room on the skillbar.

- I admit, i use Spectres in my version, mostly for fun. They do pack quite a punch with Wrath and Anger however, especially Tentacle Miscreations. There's a lot of directions to go with this, which makes play very diverse. I use the Spectres mainly to bolster my defense, by having some bodies to take the hits when you start a map or when your army gets wiped and you need something the monsters interact with more than with the spirits (or to defend the totems). I pick only ranged mobs for the GMP link. The other two supports i switch out depending on my needs: Blind/Knockback for defense, FPro/FirePen for offense and Cull/IIQ for easy places. Note that unlike many spectre builds i dont mind them dying or stealing back life, their most important function is being a back up body.

Hope there's something in here that inspires you!

One q btw: Why did you go for Inner Force? The way i see it there's little benefit to buffing yourself, as all you do is make minions who don't benefit from it. Afaik Inner Force doesnt increase the Wrath/Anger damage given to your skulls or the like. All it would give, i think, is some extra mana regen from increased Clarity/Discipline and move speed from Haste.

Sorry but your build doesnt use the potencial Summon Raging Spirits have.
Your weapon is okay but crap if you want to deal damage.
Flesh offering affects Spirits which are already casted, but not these which casted while flesh offering is up. So better use vaal haste, which allows yourself to cast faster and ALL spirits to attack faster and moving faster.
More melee damage isnt bad, but not good at all too.
Spirits->multistrike->melee splash-> faster casting->spell echo->empower is the best way to get all the strengt from them you want if you have a staff with +2 on fire and +1 on all gems.
dont know if you ever thought about calculating your dps, but i deal around 360k dps normally and 680k with vaal haste running.
check out my post for more information: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/961802

Would the skill effect duration passives work for both the Animated Weapons and the Raging Spirits? I mean they are right below the Scion and the path to them has a bunch of survivability passives.

Okay let me add something I forgot to add. That granite flask is a 100% Armor roll. When popped it gives me 7800 armor + Base, that is more than enough defense alone with AA to survive hits for certain. Yes you will take damage but if you're fighting something highly strong like you just pop that pot and you're good. The Animate Weapon have THE MOST MINION LIFE on the charts AND they get 30% more from chober (4356 + 30% at level 20). For zombies to even come close to that life they would have to be level 25. When I have like 15+ weapon up they tank ten times better than any zombie/skele totem/spectre. I tried ALL those combinations and weapons are easily the best. Also don't forget to add when summoned the ele dmg they pump out is complete insanity with a 20/20 Weapon Ele Dmg gem. Then on top of that they get summoned basically as a Magic Weapon with Tyrannical Roll % and Tier 1 Flat Phys and attack speed added. This makes them highly powerful when you have multiple out, then pop flesh offering for another 40% Attack speed for 6 seconds (+78% attack speed at level 20). I know a lot of people are looking at this build and are confused but I can say don't knock it until you try it. Ive ran Dual boss Piety 77 Shrines, and Dual boss Courtyard 78's. When I say certain map mods can be really hard I am talking Vuln+Dmg+Ele Dmg. Dual Damage is still doable if you play safer as the guide mentions.

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sgehtSusaki wrote:

Sorry but your build doesnt use the potencial Summon Raging Spirits have.
Your weapon is okay but crap if you want to deal damage.
Flesh offering affects Spirits which are already casted, but not these which casted while flesh offering is up. So better use vaal haste, which allows yourself to cast faster and ALL spirits to attack faster and moving faster.
More melee damage isnt bad, but not good at all too.
Spirits->multistrike->melee splash-> faster casting->spell echo->empower is the best way to get all the strengt from them you want if you have a staff with +2 on fire and +1 on all gems.
dont know if you ever thought about calculating your dps, but i deal around 360k dps normally and 680k with vaal haste running.
check out my post for more information: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/961802

Interesting. Wasn't aware of the difference between Vaal Haste and Flesh Offering. Is Faster Casting preferable to Increased Duration or Minion Damage? When I experimented with gems pre-Spell Echo, Increased Duration allowed me to maintain more spirits up than Faster Casting. I wonder if there is a point where Fasting Casting overtakes Increased Duration in usefulness?

Actually you're wrong about flesh offering. Go into the docks kill and monster pop it and cast more spirits. You will see it affects the newly summoned ones so I don't get where you are coming from there. Vaal haste would be nice but I can't fit it in with my links sadly.