{3.10} Speaker for the Dead | The Mass Minion Summoner | League Starter, Leveling Guide 💀

@ everyone:
An update on my progress with the 3.10 Cluster build variant.

I have been using Redemption Sentries instead of Frost Sentinels. While slower, they pack a punch and have just as much range. Once Unending Hunger and Frenzy Charges kick in the speed downgrade isn't as noticeable. They scale better with Hatred and Unholy Might, too. Pierce and EleDmg w.Attacks replace Faster Proj and Phantasms. Everything combined, they can take down Delirium rares without assistance. Their special moves aren't too disruptive, and their Trick Shot is especially cool with all its projectiles and how it can circumvent doorways.

I've moved Phantasms onto my Zombies as a test. No projectile supports, just for the bodies (Life from Death cluster notable).

This means I cannot use Host Chieftains for Power Charges. Without a reliable way to generate Power Charges, I'll have to forego the potency of Vicious Bites. Unless I can acquire a dual-influence shield that gives +2 minimum Frenzy and Power Charges. I'd need to relocate the Timeless Jewel so Necromantic Aegis isn't replaced.

If I can assemble all the necessary gear, I'll go back to trying the original idea to see how it measures up once crit and double damage enter the picture.

I'm entertaining the idea of stacking Hatred effect.

I will be trying out the Glancing Blows keystone (Lethal Pride, the Karui timeless jewel with Kiloava) once I finally unlock the Trigger craft. Bone Offering with Mistress of Sacrifice (replacing Plaguebringer), and 7 passive points for the notables Mystic Warding and Arcane Guarding, will cap both block and spellblock at 75%. The half damage that comes through will be mitigated by L25 Bone Offering's 631 life recovery on block (= 842 * 0.75). A L4 Empower could be used to boost the healing to 742 (= 990 * 0.75), or a 100 life gain per block.

This comes at a sacrifice of 20% Life as Extra ES from losing Corrupted Soul (only one Timeless Jewel allowed). Corrupted Soul is ~18% more eHP (due to existing ES), while Glancing Blows is ~38% more eHP (compared to a build that has 0 block; if you have 51% block with shield and Bone Offering already, and 45% spellblock with notables and Bone Offering, it's technically better but less consistent; but what flips everything is the life recovery, making it like pre-nerf CWDT Spirit Offering, where small hits are completely mitigated) against hits (so no protection from degens). For any hits below 1262 damage, because of Bone Offering's heal, all damage to life would be mitigated by recovery and then some. For bigger hits to life, Bone Offering essentially acts as flat reduction. A 5k hit would only deal 1869 damage, worth 63% mitigation on three out of four hits.

As a caveat, ES would not be benefiting from Bone Offering's recovery.

EDIT: In writing this out, I'm starting to think it might be better to stick with Corrupted Soul, but as a compromise use Bone Offering, MoS, and spend 2 points on Mystic Bulwark for a total of 51%/35% block/spellblock (a medium Thread of Hope might be able to grab both Ravenous Horde and Arcane Guarding for another 6% spellblock). It's stronger than Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics. Corrupted Soul's damage split would allow the life on block from Bone Offering to work even with ES in the way.

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@ Kaitanas:

"

Right now, my character has pretty much all of the gear/gems you suggested.

Wow, congrats! I'm slowly progressing on my own character, meaning the Cluster variant is still mostly theory. So I very much value your feedback!

Your amulet is +1 to all DEX gems, instead of INT. I'm guessing you only have 3 Spectres at the moment?

Ah, you can craft Aspect of the Spider on belts, too. That's right, I forgot. That affords more flexibility on the ring, too, which already carries several burdens. Good idea!

"

I seem to be having some issues keeping up power charges on my minions. Both while clearing and during boss fights. Do you have the same issue?

I was afraid that might be the case. Try replacing Purifying Flames with Clarity. The trigger craft should ignore auras. You can go as low as a L9 Clarity, but if your reservation can handle it a L20 should give the most reliable results. This should give them enough mana regen to cast their warcry off cooldown.

Another option is the Fearsome Force cluster. It would give 36% increased area for 3 points. Plaguebringer gives 30% area, but there's a 1 second gap between Recently and the 5sec cooldown of the Trigger craft. Unending Hunger gives 8%. So right now their warcry has between 8% to 38% area, but could be as large as 34% (guaranteed) to 74% (conditional).

"

My spectres are still on a 5L atm

The 6L prophecy, Fated Connection, is currently ~1.7ex. An ex is ~159c, so it'd be 270c for the prophecy. 1c = ~6.4 fusings. 1500 fusings / 6.4 = 234c. So manually linking looks to be cheaper at the moment. Rank 3 Hillock on Syndicate Research can bolster quality to 28%, which would improve the odds of landing a 6L.

"

I switch to spell echo (instead of elemental army), I sometimes get 3 charges from the chieftains instead of 2.

Oh, very nice. This would guarantee max power charges every 6 seconds.

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@ sacoroto:

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Is clarity 20 enough

The cost for the Mass Power warcry is 100 mana. We don't know how much natural mana regen or total mana the Chieftains have, though. This is something I planned to test.

A L20 Clarity grants 33 mana per second. The Chieftain warcry has a cooldown of 6 seconds. Assuming they stay within aura range the entire time, Clarity can restore 198 mana within that time. Put another way, the Chieftain only needs to be within aura range for 3 seconds, or half the time.

If you can keep them within aura range for the full 6 second cooldown, then a L9 Clarity should be enough.

There is a chance that support gems may affect the mana cost of the warcry. If Clarity is not enough, then this is probably what has happened.

I see now, i was a bit lost on the spectre pdf. A Clarity with awakened generosity should do the trick then, and with commander of darkness its extra damage in comparison with blood magic. ty for the fast reply.

Hey there. Big fan of your minion build. I've been following your original build for most of the league and just saw your cluster jewel update a day or so ago, after dumping some exalts into your previous build (spectre chest mainly). Kinda kicking myself there, but oh well. Anyway, would you mind taking a look at my 'clean_eating' character? I'm getting pretty frustrated as I've put many many hours into this league and I'm getting absolutely destroyed in some red maps that I'm thinking I shouldn't be having an issue with. I'm talking T14 maps I'm getting one-shot. Pretty discouraging as I'm not able to progress in levels.

Just looking for ideas on where i should focus my upgrades next. Should I abandon this and move to your cluster jewel build? I know that's a theoretical build and I can't imagine how much it would cost to fully equip. Thanks.

Just crafted this 1H

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Hercanic wrote:

@ everyone:

WEAPON - Same Shaper/Elder 1H melee weapon with multiple support mods.
1. Zombies
2. Feeding Frenzy
3. Minion Damage -> Empower (if your weapon has +1 to gems and can craft +2 to supports)

Doesn't brutality void the elemental damage you want to give to your minions?

Hey, how does the build look for 3.11? Played this back on Blight, sadly you don't have time to update it, but no other build seems to use all minions it can.

Hey
I did played this build in 3.6
It was the best build I've played.
How about 3.11? Can I just use the main guide or are there some changes that must have been made to play this now?

This was by far the best build I have played. Any chance for an update?

viable for 3.11?

Hello, summoners!
I'm rather a new player and I really want to build a small army for myself in this game. Found this build, but... uh... I got lost among the posts and links and I really don't know which information is up-to-date or old. Would somebody be nice and give me links to updated information? Tree, leveling guide, gears etc.