Raging spirit budget-monster [HC]

Hello I am here to introduce the build I spent most of my Invasion time on. This is a hardcore build.

The build idea focuses entirely on selfcasting Summon Raging Spirits (SRS) and was created and executed long before the recent (huge) buff to both raging spirits AND self casting.

Content:
1) Pros and cons
2) Core goals
3) Example node tree with leveling steps
4) Example gear and link setup
5) Links


1)Pros and cons:

+very VERY cheap and no unique item requirements
+great damage lategame (after SRS buff it should be very good for leveling too, was ok before)
+can solo all normal content (haven't tried Atziri and I assume it wouldn't have worked)
+could solo almost all Invaders - depends on whether you can outrange+burst them - worked on most
+you can ignore all reflect effects
+your nodes are close to chaos resist nodes which is significant when gearing up for scary situations


-no lifeleech
-no large amounts of armour or evasion to protect you from big chunks of damage
-you can't utilize crit
-aoe effects from certain bosses might significantly decrease your dps by killing your spirits


2) Core goals to achieve

You need to put priority on the following things:

1 - Maximize cast speed
Goal: very close to maximum cast speed on all gear pieces which can roll it - check links below for possible rolls on gear
Try to get some cast speed from nodes, however there are priorities for your node points - check my example build below

2 - Maximize increased minion damage % [nodes/gear/gems] and increased minion attackspeed [nodes]
Here you try to spend as many node points as possible, however you can see in my example it wasn't worth it to go for absolutely all.
The increased minion damage gem (and it's quality) is so good I can't imagine ever going without it - check my selfmade calc below
Once you earn some money it is definetly worth it trying to get corruption with % minion damage starting with your helmet.

3 - Utilize Auras to buff your spirits
Aura aoe matters here, quality auras are rather nice. My calculator showed that the priority of auras to use is Hatred>Haste>Wrath>Anger. I run Hatred and Haste, the movement speed bonus helps the spirits relocate and increase dps as well.

4 - Skill Effect Duration
Very important aspect and yet it is better to use other damage amplyfing gems rather than the Increased Duration Gem to keep your clear flow more fluent. The 3 15% nodes are absolute must have in my opinion. Skill Effect Duration also buffs your Arctic Armour, Curses, Immortal Call, Flesh Offering, Skeletons, Vaal Skeletons

5- Always have Flesh Offering buff up
Always

6 - Still your mana hunger
For example Eldritch Battery and the freedom to acquire %mana reg stats instead of pure damage stats from your weapon, rings, amulet

7 - Have someone cause a distraction for you
I personally love my skeleton totem with blind for blocking Kole's hooks but I am not here to tell you how to stay alive

8 - Also noteworthy:

Arctic armour is great for receiving almost no damage from random monsters
Your weapon can take +2 to cold gems instead of the classical +crit and +damage stats

You have to pay attention to the stats requirements of some gems like Blind, Increased Duration (for Flesh Offering or Immortal call/cwdt etc), Hatred, Arctic Armour (especially with + to cold skills), Reduced Mana
Gloves, Shoes and jewelry is usually the best place to get extra dex and str


3) My personal character build as an example

Skill Tree:


Let's walk you through the priorities while leveling



We pick up highly valued health nodes along with enough mana to level smoothly with SRS or with any other fun spell.



We start caring about our minion damage and start using SRS full time, but we still push that health up.


We get the last bit of damage and push our resistances up. Hatred starts to become significant now and we improve it through nodes.

At this point we try to get a significant amount of Energy Shield (chest with 500 is easiest to get), enable a second damage aura, start rocking Arctic Armour.

4) Example Gear and Gem Links

A very important thing to know is what gems to buy with a small amount of quality (8-15) early in the game. I found out that having a nice base quality Melee Splash, Hatred, Wrath, Summon Raging Spirit can be VERY useful. Of course in the end you want to have 20 quality on each of them, but start off with those.

I played a long time with the calculator (below in Links section) and came to the following conclusion:

A +2 to minion gems helmet with 4 links (SRS, Melee Splash, Multistrike, Faster Cast/Spell Echo order of priority) is about as good as it can get, and about as good as a 5 link with an extra support gem but 2 less to SRS [I am not 100% certain does this still apply since SRS base damage buff and introduction of Spell Echo+Faster Cast combo but the guideline still stands]



The optimal, max dps setup with 6 links is most likely: SRS, Melee Splash, Multistrike, Faster Cast, Minion Damage, Spell Echo

Next in line are Attack Speed and Added Chaos Damage in that order in case you are unhappy with any of the first 5 choices (for example Spell Echo "stuns" you by casting for a tiny bit).

I get my cast speed through the following:


My weapon also buffs my Hatred and my Arctic Armour.

As a ranged caster I value move speed for repositioning:


The following pieces give me resists, life and mana:



It's worth mentioning that I haven't been actively playing in the last few weeks and from looking at the recent changes I assume that spell echo on a cwdt-enduring cry-ic might be beneficial.

Each of my flasks serves a very specific purpose:




5) Links:


My personal build example:


The calc I made to optimize this build and justify my priority choices:


The mana calc I made to figure out how to cover my mana cost:


Possible rolls on gear slots:


Video of my character in action:

Ok I fixed the problem with my original post, disregard these.

-

Hey, I made a program to automatically consider all gem/support options. I suggest you use Hatred-Haste for auras, and SE-MS-MPD-Dur-MD or Splash-SE-MS-MPD-Dur (in that order). (A 5 link is significantly better than a +2 but not better than +3). My question to you is what you think about melee splash vs. no splash. Now with spell echo we can get more spirits out, so that splash may not be needed. Also, your DPS is low since you take almost 250% life, what level content were you doing?

"

MatrixFactor wrote:

Hey, I made a program to automatically consider all gem/support options. I suggest you use Hatred-Haste for auras, and SE-MS-MPD-Dur-MD or Splash-SE-MS-MPD-Dur (in that order). (A 5 link is significantly better than a +2 but not better than +3). My question to you is what you think about melee splash vs. no splash. Now with spell echo we can get more spirits out, so that splash may not be needed. Also, your DPS is low since you take almost 250% life, what level content were you doing?

Think highest I did was a 76 I remember it containing a nasty exile took me some 10 minutes of kiting (the arrow shooting one, it hurt real bad)

My dps would raise only insignificantly if I would spend nodes on the last Minion damage circle don't think it is worth it for a hardcore league. I rather make up for the lack of armour with a larger health pool.

I don't think melee splash can be dropped, sure swap it out for a single target but when generally clearing I would be horribly annoyed without it and it's a great damage boost. Also immortal aura bosses.

I don't consider Duration gem being good no matter does it increase total damage or not. For clearing you want your damage to come as quickly as possible. Duration gives you more damage after the first spirit you cast that expires. That's about 5 seconds with the 45% nodes. In those first 5 seconds Duration doesnt do anything at all.

Thanks for suggesting Haste, I just ran the setup through my calc and it shows 10% more damage than wrath. Last time I checked it it was other way around with different setup and most importantly without spell echo.

I don't think melee physical damage is worth it, the way faster cast stacks with spell echo is much more significant imo (I'll proceed to test soon)

"

Samirhage wrote:

My dps would raise only insignificantly if I would spend nodes on the last Minion damage circle don't think it is worth it for a hardcore league. I rather make up for the lack of armour with a larger health pool.

Well you're missing 16% aura effect that affects both haste and hatred. You're also missing 25% minion damage and 8% attack speed. You may be right that it's not worth the extra life, I can calculate the exact DPS difference if you care. (Or just use the calculator in my thread)

"

Samirhage wrote:

I don't consider Duration gem being good no matter does it increase total damage or not. For clearing you want your damage to come as quickly as possible. Duration gives you more damage after the first spirit you cast that expires. That's about 5 seconds with the 45% nodes. In those first 5 seconds Duration doesnt do anything at all.

This is a good point. One thing to consider is carry-over of longer dur spirits from previous fights to future fights. Also longer fights dur starts to shine. The nice thing is that the next best gem is Added Fire, which is also red, so it's easy for people to test for themselves.

"

Samirhage wrote:

I don't think melee physical damage is worth it, the way faster cast stacks with spell echo is much more significant imo (I'll proceed to test soon)

Yeah, but MPD stacks with MS, Auras, Minion damage from tree, and Flesh Offering. Also the almost negligible (5% difference at most) aspect that monsters have armor and higher damage results in less reduction. But I really appreciate that you're calculating this stuff for yourself, because I find bugs in my code all the time.