[3.12] [HC] [SSF] Zombies/SRS Occultist

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bashkiller wrote:

Why you use added cold damage?? and you can share new videos clearing maps?

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Aeui wrote:

I believe I'm not mistaken and it's simply that math favours it in most cases, compared to more phys-based setups. SRS attack fast, so added flat damage tends to work out for them well. Then, it gets scaled by Elemental Weakness and Elemental Equilibrium.

Melee Physical Damage/Multistrike tend to be optimal for characters using Empower. That's usually less damage & more survivability for SRS. I didn't want to use Empower - it's not reliable in ssf and the presence of zombies generally prevents the problem that occurs when you use SRS alone and they die out faster than you can bring them back.

I've been trying this build this season, and while it's quite reliable against a single target, it's apparently unreliable against many targets (like during a blight encounter).

So I've been doing some experiments:
First I tried skeletons instead of spirits looked better on paper, but skeletons are less than half and they can't go around like spirits do so it was a no go...

Now I'm trying animate weapon instead of spirits, and bladefall instead of arc (so I get a wide curse area and free weapons to summon), and call me crazy but it seems to work far better :D
Mostly because the animated weapons can be recalled with convocations (while spirits won't be recalled), and the weapons last waaay longer than the spirits.

Since I'm not a top player I might be wrong, so if someone else is interesting in trying (maybe even improving this idea), here is what I changed on the gems:

- Zombies: zombie -> fortify -> feeding frenzy -> elemental army
- old spirits: Animate weapon -> add cold -> multistrike -> minion damage -> elemental damage with attacks -> unleash (possibly I'm going to put ice bite instead if I manage to get 3g, 2r, 1b in an int armor :/ )
- old arc: bladefall -> curse on hit -> enfeeble -> frostbite

the rest is the same, probably it would be even better to use skitterbots with bonechill but I need to figure out what to remove first :D

Oh and also I'm CI since this season the chaos damage is everywhere with the plants and all and with the nerf to the pantheon there is no more poison immunity :(

Let me know what you think, thanks :)

Edit: oh and also I'm trying to figure out if the phantasm are an option instead of unleash, but they look very squishy...

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bashkiller wrote:

Why you use added cold damage?? and you can share new videos clearing maps?

Hey, sorry for a late reply. The answer quoted above still holds, it just comes together with other mechanics that this build utilizes.

[edit] I recently changed it to Melee Physical Damage for the character mentioned below - it's using more jewels adding flat physical damage, so in the end a different support gem is more valuable in this case.

Here's an example video with the character I'm currently working on. It differs from the version described in the guide, but I'll get to that.

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pincoide wrote:

Let me know what you think, thanks :)

I'm happy you adapted it to your liking. I actually haven't tried animated weapons since the last change, but it makes sense as an alternative. Summoners usually are quite modular. Some minions perform better / more easily in certain scenarios.

As for SRS anyway - yeah, depending on the content and the state of your character, you may find yourself in a situation where damage is too dispersed and slow. It can get cumbersome especially in Legion or Incursion encounters. Maybe Blight too, but I think there's a significant factor of randomness in this case. I find that these boundaries can be pushed eventually though, it's not something ultimately limited by the mechanic.

Well you should try animated weapon, the average damage is higher than srs, and they last like 70s, plus you can summon 15 of them out of the bladefall :D

At the moment I'm living the nightmare of crafting the wand, maybe when I'll make a decent one things will be smoother...

Oh also, I've changed the spectres to: carnage chief, host chief and arena master. The arena master is a bit annoying to get the first time (since it only spawns if the map has the drox influence), but that 40% attack speed REALLY pays off :D

Anyway, yeah the main problem is when there are too many enemies since all the minions run all over and you lose all the damage, convocation helps but I still haven't figured out how to fix the problem yet. Maybe I need to switch to melee splash for that kind of contents, but I'm not sure how much could help in the end...

My go-to Necromancer build stopped updating after the creator was hired by GGG, and this one looks like a good replacement.

If I would play this as non SSF, which items should I get?

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pincoide wrote:

Well you should try animated weapon, the average damage is higher than srs, and they last like 70s, plus you can summon 15 of them out of the bladefall :D

At the moment I'm living the nightmare of crafting the wand, maybe when I'll make a decent one things will be smoother...

Oh also, I've changed the spectres to: carnage chief, host chief and arena master. The arena master is a bit annoying to get the first time (since it only spawns if the map has the drox influence), but that 40% attack speed REALLY pays off :D

Anyway, yeah the main problem is when there are too many enemies since all the minions run all over and you lose all the damage, convocation helps but I still haven't figured out how to fix the problem yet. Maybe I need to switch to melee splash for that kind of contents, but I'm not sure how much could help in the end...

Good luck and thanks for the tips, I'll have to try them :) While minions let you play slowly in general, sometimes time limits put on are too much to get through, so adding more damage and speed through gems, jewels, anointment, etc. eventually should get you there. Different minions, if they fit you better, is a decent solution too.

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TheRealFandomGirl wrote:

My go-to Necromancer build stopped updating after the creator was hired by GGG, and this one looks like a good replacement.

Thanks, hope you find it useful!

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xxvxx1 wrote:

If I would play this as non SSF, which items should I get?

I'm hoping to update the guide this weekend by getting a write up for this character. There's still a few things to add, but you can look it up. You can use Storm Brand and Victario's Charity instead a rare shield to get some damage bursts more easily, that one is for survivability. If you're not familiar with off-coloring Triad Grip, use a crafting bench to get 2 green sockets, then force 3 and 2 sockets until the 3rd is green, repeat for the 4th.

[edit] I didn't manage to get the update ready yet, let's just say it will be there as soon as possible.

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Aeui wrote:

Good luck and thanks for the tips, I'll have to try them :) While minions let you play slowly in general, sometimes time limits put on are too much to get through, so adding more damage and speed through gems, jewels, anointment, etc. eventually should get you there. Different minions, if they fit you better, is a decent solution too.

Now that I have almost every gem to 20%, things are going a bit better, the movement speed from the gems is quite effective against monolith and blight.
Also for blight encounters the only way to succeed with this build is to play the tower mechanics (most builds can just ignore the towers and complete it with just cages and stun to slow the enemies down).

The build with animate weapon can get up to 200k dps PER animated weapon + zombies + spectres. The main advantage of them is that they have 100% physical damage which is then converted to cold with hatred, while SRS has 50% damage implicitly converted to fire, also I find really annoying to keep summoning them over and over again to replenish their number :D

In addition to that I've also added the carrion golem which gives a HUG£ boost to the damage.

I was also considering the Whakatutuki o Matua to get to 25 spectre, but I still haven't found the base so we'll see if I find the +1 spectres boots or the Matua Tupuna first XD

Lately I was also thinking that a build like this could benefit a lot from a low life settings, but I can't try unless I find Shavronne Wrappings (I doubt I'm that lucky tho :D ).

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Aeui wrote:

If you're not familiar with off-coloring Triad Grip, use a crafting bench to get 2 green sockets, then force 3 and 2 sockets until the 3rd is green, repeat for the 4th.

For off-coloring I found out that purple seeds can do the job very easily, especially for 3-4 sockets items. For a 6s it still takes a lot of work tho :D

just saw your harvest character is it possible to play CI on that version

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Usahka wrote:

just saw your harvest character is it possible to play CI on that version

Yeah, changing the tree a bit, replacing some gear and focusing more on intelligence stacking you could end up with 9k-10k ES, probably with up to 1.5k ES/second regen (all stacks from Vile Bastion, no Wicked Ward). I'm not sure if it's worth the effort though, comparatively speaking. Maybe. I'll include both versions in the upcoming update.