Slow Mo Zombies! (No Uniques Needed|Relaxed Playstyle|Easy to Gear|Anyone Can Play|All Content)[3.5]

Dunno if thats asked before and honestly I am too lazy to search :D
But, why EE? And don't the zombies hatred cold-attacks trigger EE too, making them doing less damage? Because I plan to use United in Dream (got very lucky while delving and got my first Ex ever that I spent on it) and as far as I can see I'll have no other elemental damage source other than hatred, so EE would be technically useless.

Did I miss something?

(Also: 2 levels left until things get fun and I can use the lvl 70 stuff from my scion :D Destroyed everything by now with just a Tabula Rasa^^ But in all honesty, I died 2 times to the brine king because I underestimated that thunder-aoe ^^*)

edit: Nvm, I didn't notice that Charged Dash deals lightning damage, duh. #ReadCarefully

I wanna change rings and necklace later, but without them I am short of attribute points... I think the best solution is to gather currency or having luck for an all attributes amulet with resistances and life and another ring with all attributes so I can use another more useful ring. Profile is public if you wanna stalk ^^

Looking for advice from veteran players on 2 issues I'm having:

1: What's the recommended strat on the Minotaur fight? Did a rare corrupted version and couldn't finish the boss. Died to both fallen rocks and burrow, basically one shotted by both attacks. The ambience design/color scheme is terrible (my biggest gripe with POE gameplay I think), everything is dark colored, plus all our minions make the burrows very hard to see on the screen. Boss fights haven't been this messy since Malachai on my 1st character (died about 20 times and basically zerged him) Also zombies died really fast with no hope of keeping them alive for a reasonable duraion. No problem whatsoever on other T14-16 bosses. Chimera, in comparison, was a breeze.

PS: Simiarly, is Hall of the Grandmasters doable on this build? Tried once weeks ago (with much weaker gear), went in 1st wing on the left. Zombies melted in 1-2 seconds starting from the 6-7th wave of mobs. Didn't seem doable.

2: Since I complained in global chat about map sustain the other day, I've had red maps raining from the sky :) so my atlas completion shot up from the 120s to 144% in 3 days XD. What I do find is that starting from T13, map bosses are almost all buffed versions of story/Act bosses, with a lot of multi-phase fights like Reef brine king, Core malachai, Lava Lake kitava etc. In short, these fights take a long time to do, and seem to offer nothing back after the 1st time atlas bonus. Actually, I don't recall getting a single red map (or even yellow) from T13-16 map bosses. So my question to veterans out there is: should I just skip these longer bosses from now on for efficiency, especially since I'm sustaining maps just fine?

Thanks in advance!

"

z3mcneil wrote:

2: Since I complained in global chat about map sustain the other day, I've had red maps raining from the sky :) so my atlas completion shot up from the 120s to 144% in 3 days XD. What I do find is that starting from T13, map bosses are almost all buffed versions of story/Act bosses, with a lot of multi-phase fights like Reef brine king, Core malachai, Lava Lake kitava etc. In short, these fights take a long time to do, and seem to offer nothing back after the 1st time atlas bonus. Actually, I don't recall getting a single red map (or even yellow) from T13-16 map bosses. So my question to veterans out there is: should I just skip these longer bosses from now on for efficiency, especially since I'm sustaining maps just fine?

Thanks in advance!

I'd just fight the bosses more than once if they don't prove a major problem for me or the horde. I don't think they take such an high amount of time to just ignore them just because they don't pop like pimples :P If bosses annoy you or take more effort than they are worth, skip them. As far as I know bosses have high chances to drop anything but I guess it all depends on rngesus.

"

LibraExAnima wrote:

Dunno if thats asked before and honestly I am too lazy to search :D
But, why EE? And don't the zombies hatred cold-attacks trigger EE too, making them doing less damage? Because I plan to use United in Dream (got very lucky while delving and got my first Ex ever that I spent on it) and as far as I can see I'll have no other elemental damage source other than hatred, so EE would be technically useless.

Did I miss something?

(Also: 2 levels left until things get fun and I can use the lvl 70 stuff from my scion :D Destroyed everything by now with just a Tabula Rasa^^ But in all honesty, I died 2 times to the brine king because I underestimated that thunder-aoe ^^*)

edit: Nvm, I didn't notice that Charged Dash deals lightning damage, duh. #ReadCarefully

I wanna change rings and necklace later, but without them I am short of attribute points... I think the best solution is to gather currency or having luck for an all attributes amulet with resistances and life and another ring with all attributes so I can use another more useful ring. Profile is public if you wanna stalk ^^

Wow congrats on getting a United in Dream so early! I used a Midnight Bargain during levelling but otherwise my weapon drop has been pretty bad. As a new player, I took me until maps to realize how bad the -30% life penalty from MB is, but I had nothing remotely decent to replace it with. Basically wore vendor-trash level unique like Divinarius from lv 68-85. Then I had a Montregul's Grasp which was fun at first for the super zombies but it didn't really improve clear speed noticeably, and I actually found that by halving the number of zombies I was more prone to get hit. I finally got my United in Dream at about lv88 XD

But then overall I've been really lucky with currency and gear drops so can't complain. I have a lv78 elemental hit Templar that's one shotting everything in T10s that requires a ton of uniques for the build to work, and I actually have everything sans Kaoms chest and Yoke of Suffering drop from playing on this necromancer. Trading has also been kind (well I did play FF14 a few years ago and make enough gold ingame to buy a medium house there in a matter of months). If you can be bothered, you can check out the gear on for a more expensive approach to end game with more mid-high end uniques. :)

"

LibraExAnima wrote:

I'd just fight the bosses more than once if they don't prove a major problem for me or the horde. I don't think they take such an high amount of time to just ignore them just because they don't pop like pimples :P If bosses annoy you or take more effort than they are worth, skip them. As far as I know bosses have high chances to drop anything but I guess it all depends on rngesus.

I too have the impulse to do bosses for the sake of completion when running maps. But these multi-phase bosses take between 1-2mins no matter your damage due to design, and since I'm clearing T14-15 maps fairly quickly and safely, I can get much better returns from the time spent. After googling this seems to be a common problem for players. I think I'll just skip the longer ones in future to save time :)

It's all up to you^^

Regarding UiD - I leveled with its counterpart and used whatever uniques I had in my stash that provided armor, life, resistances and anything in between. I'll have to vendor some of them soon too because I won't buy any more stashtabs just for things I'll probably never use and that isn't worth anything. It all comes with time.
I know WoD wants to emphasize on rares and so on, but some stuff is just too good to ignore.

I'll probably save for one of the amulet you use, Solstice Whatsitsname but otherwise I'll take the life and life-regen apporoach instead of energyshield ^^

God I hate the syndicate and betrayal in general, ambushes are just annoying af.
I killed Kitava that fast, that it barely attacked and just went from phase to phase but when I got ambushed by the syndicate on a blue shaped channel map they spawned incredibly OP flayed archers that just destroyed me with less than 3 shots and were more durable than the syndicate member itself. The map only had the equilibirum mod.

I mean... What?! :D I have maxed resistances, 3k life, 1k ES, 50% phys. reduction, a bit of evasion and 9 meatshields + granite flask. It was probably chaos damage, but damn... That was really surprising and annoying.

"

LibraExAnima wrote:

It's all up to you^^

Regarding UiD - I leveled with its counterpart and used whatever uniques I had in my stash that provided armor, life, resistances and anything in between. I'll have to vendor some of them soon too because I won't buy any more stashtabs just for things I'll probably never use and that isn't worth anything. It all comes with time.
I know WoD wants to emphasize on rares and so on, but some stuff is just too good to ignore.

I'll probably save for one of the amulet you use, Solstice Whatsitsname but otherwise I'll take the life and life-regen apporoach instead of energyshield ^^

God I hate the syndicate and betrayal in general, ambushes are just annoying af.
I killed Kitava that fast, that it barely attacked and just went from phase to phase but when I got ambushed by the syndicate on a blue shaped channel map they spawned incredibly OP flayed archers that just destroyed me with less than 3 shots and were more durable than the syndicate member itself. The map only had the equilibirum mod.

I mean... What?! :D I have maxed resistances, 3k life, 1k ES, 50% phys. reduction, a bit of evasion and 9 meatshields + granite flask. It was probably chaos damage, but damn... That was really surprising and annoying.

Yeah sure ES isn't very useful unless you choose to wear a Shavronne's to start with. With Shav's, ES, the extra Discipline aura, and Spirit Offering absolutely work in synergy and is a tremendous boost to minion survivability. (still get melted by endgame bosses though can't be helped) Have to have the amulet to get a 3rd aura though, so obviously only a few people will ever consider my approach. My current setup is more akin to a more unique-oriented sub-build to WoD's slomo zombiemancer :)

Solstice Vigil has an added bonus I didn't realize when I made that long post on the last page: Free temporal chains gives me the mana to have a Discipline aura (or any other non-curse 35% mana reserved aura you like), and because this one actually benefits the player, unlike Hatred, it triggers the ascendancy passive Commander of Darkness's +20 elemental resistance bonus. Pretty big for me since the few rares I'm wearing are nothing special by end game standards, so thanks to this extra 20%, my res are still capped even with Solstice providing nothing in that regard.

The helmet I'm wearing, The Tempest's Binding, is also pretty fun to experiment with. Bought it for 100c right after I sold a Nebuloch that Elder dropped for me for the same amount. It gives a free harbinger minion that doesn't die who applies chain chill and shock debuffs to enemies with a 6s cd. Even better, it gives socketed active gems Lv 18 ice bite and innervate supports. This helmet actually makes my skeletons pseudo 6-linked, with skeleton attacks now having a 15% chance to freeze and 20% chance to shock, plus other damage bonuses. Damage wise I can say that it's a big boost, definitely bigger than the flat 30% minion dmg bonus from the rare Bone Helmet I wore before it.

"

LibraExAnima wrote:

...Profile is public if you wanna stalk ^^

I took a look as you requested. You have a unique setup! Seems fun! How do you like having two Holy Relics?

I see you saved your health for last. High risk, high reward :). I have a personal love for the Le Heup Rings. I used to use them ALL the time back in the day. But you'll greatly benefit from an amulet that has all your attribute requirements. Also remember to get enough Dex in the amulet so you can get rid of your +30 nodes on the tree. Good job getting your Chaos resist to 0. You'll be able to get that higher if you end up replacing your three uniques (helmet and rings) that don't have health rolls on them too!

You've got a cool looking setup with gear and links! It sounds like you're enjoying it! Thanks for going public :).

"

z3mcneil wrote:

...1: What's the recommended strat on the Minotaur fight? Did a rare corrupted version and couldn't finish the boss. Died to both fallen rocks and burrow, basically one shotted by both attacks. The ambience design/color scheme is terrible (my biggest gripe with POE gameplay I think), everything is dark colored, plus all our minions make the burrows very hard to see on the screen. Boss fights haven't been this messy since Malachai on my 1st character (died about 20 times and basically zerged him) Also zombies died really fast with no hope of keeping them alive for a reasonable duraion. No problem whatsoever on other T14-16 bosses. Chimera, in comparison, was a breeze.

2...Simiarly, is Hall of the Grandmasters doable on this build? Tried once weeks ago (with much weaker gear), went in 1st wing on the left. Zombies melted in 1-2 seconds starting from the 6-7th wave of mobs. Didn't seem doable.

3...So my question to veterans out there is: should I just skip these longer bosses from now on for efficiency, especially since I'm sustaining maps just fine?

Thanks in advance!

1 - the Guardians (both kinds), Shaper, and Elder all have attacks/spells that are "one shot kills" for most builds. Some builds can "face tank" these bosses, but very few. These boss battles are simply designed for characters to avoid damage. The Minotaur is nuts. Never fight in his boulders areas. The strategy with him is to stay as close as possible to him. Keep Charge Dashing back and forth on him. If you stay close, he won't go underground. You'll have to move once he's brought the boulder attack though.

It's hard though. I've preached that these endgame battles are more about familiarity than anything. So even though the maps can be hard to find or expensive to buy, I'd suggest practicing the battles on white versions. I know the Atlas bonus ask for an Alch and then a Vaal, but getting used to the normal version of the battle will help substantially in the long run. It'll help you learn how harsh some of the mods can be to once you start Vaaling the maps again.

Zombies won't survive any guardian or shaper fight. So you can ignore them. You're welcome to try Convocation, but the reason I added skeletons to the build was for these endgame bosses. Use CD to proc EE and Fortify, and just focus on staying alive and casting skeletons. Skeletons can easily kill these bosses once you're used to the battles.


2 - I never even think of Hall of Grandmasters honestly. You may be able to do it with just skeletons...I doubt the zombies would live. The map has PvP scaling, which I have no interest in at all. But I doubt this build could do it well, if at all.


3 - It's a matter of preference. If you only care about drops, do what's most time efficient. If you care to familiarize yourself with battles, include them. I honestly found this build to be a very fast boss killer so the length of time it took to kill the bosses with multiple stages didn't bother me much.

Good questions. Ask more if my answers didn't help.

"

z3mcneil wrote:

...If you can be bothered, you can check out the gear on for a more expensive approach to end game with more mid-high end uniques. :)

If you were talking to me, I'd be happy to! But I don't really have a say on uniques. There are SO many and you already have some great (and expensive) ones. You have good health and almost 2000 ES, so even though you're not doing an ES build, Shavronne's still helps with Chaos going to your ES first. Just a note on your two unique flasks, keep in mind that you don't do damage at all, so you are really only benefiting from the Chaos Resist and the 70% Movement Speed.

You really seem to have a good setup. With all uniques, you still have decent health! I don't honestly think anything will help you besides getting items that have more health. Honest. Some of your setup with mana reservation requires your uniques, but it seems that even though the 6link Shavronne's was expensive, it's the most expendable. But if you were to replace the Shavronne's with a Belly of the Beast, you'd lose 700 ES and gain 600 life. It wouldn't be worth it.

I think you're set. Your next set of upgrades comes from finding rares with only one or two prefix/suffix each but with SWEET rolls. Then craft for a couple exalts the ability to craft more than one mod on the item. That's the kinda stuff that next for you.

But if you take a look at my video against the Shaper, and then at the gear I have, it didn't take that next level of gear to beat him easily.

I know this isn't what you're looking for, but that's what I have for you. Sorry. Minion builds are unique this way, unless you're planning your minions around The Baron helmet, the Necromantic Aegis node, or something that specific, there aren't any insanely good uniques besides the weapon you already have.