[3.0] Skeleton Mage build. 7 aura necromancer can both solo endgame maps and support party play

Has anyone tried this at turmoil. Thinking to play this in mayham HC. How well can this deal with breaches?

Just a quick update on my Mayham HC experiance after 4 days. Plaything a variant of this build so maybe someone is interested:
Currently close to 89:
https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Sjeg/characters

I am duoing with an Ele-foil-using ST Crit Pathfinder that I had to hard carry with SRS/Zombies/Spectres to maps which went really fine considering his ST single target dmg was abysmal. I switched to victarios with aura support at around lvl 80. I felt I had to sacrifice too much before and it is not really worth switching over till you have all the aura nodes - this is when I tossed spectres because there is just not enough gem space and I needed the skill points.

I desperately tried to get a 3B-2G 5-link on Queens Decree but it turned out to be next to impossible after spending like 500 chromes on it and with chromes and fusing really hard to buy in the league I decided to use a Pledge of Hand which was really easy to get 3B-2G(skeleton-minion dmg, elemental focus, pierce, lmp) linked which makes me be on a 6 Link(lvl 30 echo) currently.

Also I am not using Zealoth oath, Eldritch Battery and Mom witch saves me 5 skill points that I invested in ES and health nodes. Thanks to Pledge of hands i still have 200 mana left which is plenty to spam Skeletons endlessly. I am also using arctic armor and a discipline that is not in Victarios. I turn on "Purity of" for Haste depending on the map type and extra dmg mod on the map which is more than fine. Zombies almost never die and Animated Guardian never ever lost health at all, in up to t9 maps currently.

I deciced that it wasn't worth to invest 6 more skill points to get to 5 "To dust" and settled with 3 "To-Dust" Jewels for now. Even if i'd have the skil points you'd be probably better of to skill the Spectre minion node at the top instead.

The build provides a lot of savety due to minions with decent clear. But it really shines when playing with a Duo that can make use of hyperscaled Haste, Wrath and Anger. I basically tripple my Duos tooltip DPS, 5x with vaal haste (which is up more or less 100%), which makes the clearspeed go nuts and trivializes the current content.

TL;DR: Solid build with little gear requirement. Makes a great league starter. Amazing in group play without being useless solo.

If I make it to top 100 I might consider updating this after Mayham.

Guys can u explain me, why i can use only 4 auras? for the rest not enough mana...

"

Sjeg wrote:

Just a quick update on my Mayham HC experiance after 4 days. Plaything a variant of this build so maybe someone is interested:
Currently close to 89:
https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Sjeg/characters


I desperately tried to get a 3B-2G 5-link on Queens Decree but it turned out to be next to impossible after spending like 500 chromes on it and with chromes and fusing really hard to buy in the league I decided to use a Pledge of Hand which was really easy to get 3B-2G(skeleton-minion dmg, elemental focus, pierce, lmp) linked which makes me be on a 6 Link(lvl 30 echo) currently.

have you tried the jeweler trick?

My final thoughts and my take on the build after 10 days of Mayham HC. There is still some hours left but I more or less stoppped pushing the ladder.
I ended up at Level 96, 9th necromancer and about ~64th overall.

https://www.pathofexile.com/account/view-profile/Sjeg/characters
character: SjegHCAuraBitchy

I kept sticking with Pledge of Hands which seems superior to Queen's decree because you sacrifice 1 Skele for a potential 7 link full of multipliers:
Summon Skeleton -> Spell Echo (30) -> LMP/GMP -> Pierce -> Minion Damage -> Ele Focus -> Controlled Destruction.
Also I could not color 3 Blue on a Queen's decree anyway. The Vorici trick was not available to me cause I did not even get Vorici to 5 (racing things) and coloring 5 sockets with vorici still is super expensive. Also in the end I would have needed 4 blue 2 green on a sword which is impossible basically.
So Pledge of Hands > Queen's Degcree

With only 3 "To Dust" I would have had higher dps per Mage then the OP's build with 5 "To Dust" while having more effective life. I could not manage to get a 21 summon Skele and I also skipped Uber Lab for security and speedrun reasons, which had my dmg be in a slightly worse spot in the end.

Skill wise I did not use a movement skill on the build becauseI valued CoDT->IC more for HC. I also used Vaal Grace in combination with a Quartz Flask to get close to 75% dodge chance which makes the build extremely tanky. Not taking vaal grace/haste on a build with so much aura effectiveness felt like a waste anyway.

My Aura setup was:
solo play: Wrath/Anger/Haste/Clarity/Arctic Armor in Victario and Discipline for myself.
Group play: Haste/Puriites/Clarity in Vicatrio and Discipline for myself.
As you can see i valued survivability highly, but I would just go the OP's aura setup for softcore.

With 6k life and 2,6k ES on very mediocre gear - crafted most of the stuff myself (chaos spam) because there wasn't anythig to buy in mayham - anything up to T15 was easily doable and I enjoyed the gameplay alot. The guide overall was very helpfull and it really deserved the GGG weekly special for its simplicity and effectiveness.

Its very solid in solo play and very flexible and usefull in teamplay but it is not top end in either category. Full supports would have done better then me in groups and the clearspeed is naturally not the most impressive in solo. But it is definitly very tanky and safe because of minions. It can clear bosses without any risk of dying.

For the end of Mayham I will try to push to kill Uber Atziri which I feel will be possible with some minor adjustments (Elemental Equilibrium mainly). RIP inc :D

TL;DR: Pledge of Hands BiS; beginner friendly; flexible and very save build; great League Starter/budget friendly; high survivability with adaptation for HC(see mine); #enjoyable 9/10 would play again!

Stay save you all ;)

yeah queens decree is a very strange summoner item. not having int as a primary stat limits it as a economical option on any summoner build

and the builds that can use are better off not using it because necro aegis lycostae and a scourge claw effectively double the damage output of any attack base minions

Fram the patch nodes:

"

Summoned Skeletons now have a 50% more added damage multiplier, up from 30% less added damage.

"

Minion Life Support now affects Minion Life multiplicatively (it now provides 30% MORE Minion Life rather than 30% increased Minion Life) at level 1 of the gem (up to 49% more life at level 20).

I don't know what they were thinking but this honestly insane for the build.

A variant of this will almost certainly be my 2nd build for abyss, once I've farmed up all the gear.
Damage will be good, and the playstyle looks really fun!

I was pretty stoked about this build, and then after seeing the patch notes, I think it will be a blast and even more viable. thanks for the build info and research.

I'll try this build in SSF, maybe as a second build. Not sure I want to reroll right away just to get the second threshold jewel...
The damage increase is kind of insane in 3.1, isn't it? 50% more compared to 30% less, wtf :D