The Baron: Some testing and opinions.

Mon'tregul doesn't seem as a good idea to this build since your str is added to zombies. :@ It isn't only the 200% melee damage - it is also 500 base hp. If you have fewer zombies, they will have less hp overall (altho more resistant to AoE).

Ok, big changes!
I tried my zombies out in tier 15 map, colleseum, in a two player game.
When we got to the boss, my buddy died in the first 2 seconds, and the boss SHREDDED my zombies...killed all 11 really quickly. My chaos golem and animate guardian survived tho. My buddy came back and killed the boss, as without my zombies I could do no significant dps. (I survived at least, by running in circles.)

So, pure zombie dps is a failure, unless all you want is an uber lab runner.

So.....
I am NOT done experimenting. Baron helm is just too good.
What else to try....hrm...that helm gives 200% increased melee physical damage to minions.....how about STONE GOLEMS.

I spent a TON of regrets on my tree, losing a bunch of +1 zombie nodes, and using the points to get deeper into the Maurader area for more str and more jewel nodes. This freed up the 4 jewel slots I needed to use Anima Stone to get 4 golems. I put the level 21 zombie gem in the helm where the chaos golem gem used to be.

Tree:



Stone Golem linkage
Stone Golem, Empower, Minion Damage, Melee Physical Attack, Multistrike and Minion Speed.
Not sure if Minion Speed is the best 6th gem, I am open to suggestions.

I am going with 4 golems and 8 zombies. The zombies only have 17k life, but its ok when they die, they are not my primary dps, and i have enough unreserved mana to resummon them on the fly, as they are now only effectively 3 linked. Plus when they die they release a nasty poison cloud via Beacon of Corruption.

I am using one clayshaper and one severed in sleep. I am sure if you are pressed for currency, dual wielding clayshapers would work fine.

The Stone Golems have over 47k life.
That's right, FOURTY SEVEN THOUSAND life.
With 5% life regen, thats over 2300 life per second.

And, best of all, Stone Golems TAUNT.

I went back with my buddy to Tier 15 Collesium, in the boss room, my buddy just stood and watched.
Just me and my minions, soloing the boss in a two player game.

Boss fight did not take that long. (He has these immunity phases so it takes a while no matter what)
Boss did not even make the golem life budge at all, never saw the golems below 100% life.
Boss did manage to kill 2 of the 8 zombies before he died. (I am guessing the golem taunt ability is what kept the now weaker zombies alive, when before they died real quick.)

I now love my stone golems!

As a dps check, I took my new stone golem dps build into Uber Lab.
Phase 3 Izaro lasted about 6 seconds.
So, Stone Golem dps is not as fast as pure zombie dps, but still plenty fast enough on bosses.

I gladly sacrifice some dps, to get unkillable minions.

Hm.

Which other Primordial gems are you using for this one? I've been wanting to run a Golemancer ever since Ziggy's video went live, but the Flame golem versions all start at 10ex and go north from there. Stupid Might jewels. Imagine you still need at least one, plus the Anima Stone itself. Curious to see if you're using different gems and how they're working out.

Appreciate the effort put into testing the item, by the way. Always fun to see someone work out the kinks in intriguing items like this.

I already started with Stone golems in the helm, zombies in the chest since begin of the league.
Golems don't die (previous league) in T15.
But I was afraid about the zombies, as you found out, that they just don't have enough life for T15.

So my testing will be dual Clayshaper (minion life, extra golem!) or till I can get united in dream maybe.
Also note the added phys dmg for minions on clayshaper.
For golems and zombies the added phys doesn't matter of course.
But what about Animate Guardian, 1000+ STR, Pillar of the caged god and the usual added phys uniques? Should be quite a hard poison hitter.

If only the animate guadian AI was a bit better and golem builds cheaper...

Another possibility for Zombies is switching to Mon"Tregul's Grasp for sturdier minions, then using Vigilant Strike w/The Vigil jewel to Fortify all your zombies at once when you whack somebody with it. Provided you don't want to run an actual Fortify gem in your zombie set-up, anyways. Higher health zombies w/Fortify might be significantly more durable. Whether enough to get by, or enough to justify the hassle of having to remember to reapply Fortify all the time, I don't know, but it's a possibility.

"

1453R wrote:

Which other Primordial gems are you using for this one?

Anima Stone, Might, 2x Harmony.
I would run more harmonies if I could, the 2% life regen on 47k life is crazy strong. And the reduced golem cooldown helps alot too, as the golems slam like ability has a cooldown and does a LOT of damage, has a huge aoe, and taunts, the more often it can use it, the better.

P.S.
Ya, what I am doing is not cheap. Not super expensive, but not cheap.
5 exa for the anima stone, 4 exa for a might.
and the ring that i have that has 50 str, extra socket and 30% minion movement speed i spent 7 exa on, perhaps too much, but there was no other ring even close to it for sale in standard.

"

blaat1889 wrote:

Also note the added phys dmg for minions on clayshaper.
For golems and zombies the added phys doesn't matter of course.
But what about Animate Guardian, 1000+ STR, Pillar of the caged god and the usual added phys uniques? Should be quite a hard poison hitter.

If only the animate guadian AI was a bit better and golem builds cheaper...

I use my animated guardian as a buff bot, but building him as an additional dps source is an option.

My AG gear:
Leer Cast (You and nearby allies gain 15% increased Damage)
Rainbowstride ((20-25)% of Block Chance applied to Spells)
Meginord's Vise (2% of Life Regenerated per second with at least 400 Strength)
Dying Breath (Nearby Enemies have 18% increased Effect of Curses on them
Nearby allies gain 18% increased Damage)

I may switch the boots to
Atziri's Step ((14-16)% chance to Dodge Spell Damage)
I put the rainbowstriders on him when I was doing the pure zombie dps build, and was using necromatic aegis and bone offering, so he had max block. Now I am not using necro aegis, and am using flesh offering, so his regular block is only 18% so the rainbostrides are weaker than atziri's step.

"

1453R wrote:

Another possibility for Zombies is switching to Mon"Tregul's Grasp for sturdier minions, then using Vigilant Strike w/The Vigil jewel to Fortify all your zombies at once when you whack somebody with it. Provided you don't want to run an actual Fortify gem in your zombie set-up, anyways. Higher health zombies w/Fortify might be significantly more durable. Whether enough to get by, or enough to justify the hassle of having to remember to reapply Fortify all the time, I don't know, but it's a possibility.

Ya, this might work.
I choose not to do it because fewer zombies is fewer minions in between me and the enemies. Also less phys dam reduction from Flesh Binder. Also a significant dps loss from not using Severed in Sleep.

And now that I have tried the Stone Golem DPS version, I will never go back.
The longer leash, the superior more aggresive AI of Primordial Might buffed Stone Golems is just so much better than short leash, need to cast a spell to get them to attack, zombies.

Ya gots two hands - Severed in Sleep goes in one, Mon'Tregul's Grasp goes in the other :P

This is definitely an interesting take on the golem build though, and looks to be significantly cheaper than the typical 3x Might Flame golem versions. The extra safety of taunt-heavy stone golems sounds like an excellent defensive layer, and you still get a bunch of leech from the zombies you do have. On top of multiple Harmony-buffed Stone golem flat regen, so that's a thing. Your tree is really weird @_@, but looking over your gear I can kinda see why. Will definitely be experimenting in Planner later tonight.

Keep up the good work, man. Tracking thread with interest.

"

Odif wrote:

Ok, big changes!
<...>

What armor do you use? Did you try Covenant for some more poison damage?