[3.7] 🔥 Golems Still OP - Flame Golem Elementalist (Millions of DPS, All Content Deathless) 🔥

As a league starter you want to ignore jewel sockets and focus on getting the good nodes as quickly as possible.

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17 Points

34 Points

47 Points

65 Points

91 Points

109 Points

For the first 40 levels you follow exactly the same path as the leaguestarter tree:

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17 Points

34 Points

47 Points

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When you hit level 41 respec to the following tree - it will allow you to socket the three primordial jewels and Anima Stone (requires all passive points gained from Act 1-4 quests, remember that from now on jewel Sockets are top priority!):

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48 Points

65 Points

88 Points

112 Points

123 Points

Clayshaper for +1 Golems and 30% minion life. No need to elaborate.

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Victario's Charity, used in conjunction with the Necromantic Aegis keystone, is a massive DPS boost for your Golems. Frenzy and power charges have increased effect on monsters, minions included!

Frenzy charges in total grant your Golems 45% increased cast speed, 12% more damage and 15% increased movement speed.
Power charges in total grant 600% (six hundred percent) increased critical strike chance!

Frenzy charges will be up on Golems at all times, while power charges will serve as a damage increase while mapping or directly after boss phases that spawn monsters (like Uber Elder portal phase). This item is too good not to use it.

You can use a rare shield instead and drop Necromantic Aegis if you'd like, it will result in a 33% DPS loss, but you'll regain your block chance, get some ES, life and possibly some other stuff. Personally I prefer the maximum DPS approach in this case.

The Vertex is probably the best-in-slot piece. +1 to level of socketed Gems makes your supporting Golems tankier, high ES and chaos resistance help you survive and the 50% reduced mana cost allows you to resummon golems socketed inside should they die.

For league start you can use a rare helmet with ES, life and resists.

In my opinion the most desirable helmet enchants are Flame Golems deal 40% increased Damage or 125% increased effect of Buff granted by your Stone Golem, but don't worry too much about either if you can't afford it. Helmet enchant is one of the last things you should get.

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Skin of the Loyal is the unquestionable BiS body armour. +1 to level of socketed Gems scales your Flame Golem damage AND life, 100% increased global defenses scales flat ES from other gear/passive tree.

Make sure to get the right colors! Sockets can't be modified so you'll be stuck with what you buy/find. The only way to change the sockets is corrupting the Skin, but then again the endgame is a +1 to level of socketed Gems corruption, not white sockets. 3B2R1G is ideal, 2B3R1G is also usable but a bit worse.

For league start a Tabula Rasa will get you far.

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Get yourself a pair of rare gloves with ES, life and hopefully some resists or attributes.

Glove enchants are pretty much irrelevant, anything related to fire damage will do more harm than good.

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A pair of rare boots would be the best choice, but you can use Sin Trek or even Rainbowstride if you're struggling with resists.

My favourite boot enchant is "Regenerate 2% of Life and Mana per second if you were hit recently". Try getting it if possible.

Presence of Chayula solves so many of our problems: it grants stun immunity, +60% chaos resistance and even some extra ES. If you can't afford it, use an Eye of Chayula or just a rare amulet + Brine King pantheon.

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Rings are where you get most of your resists from. Make them count. Try getting a life or ES roll as well.

If you have a ring with life and ES already on it you can mastercraft either faster start of ES recharge or -# to mana cost of skills to help with no regen maps (or 6% of damage taken gained as Mana over 4 seconds when hit, for the same reason)

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Ideally you want to use either a Shaper Stygian or a Shaper Crystal Belt with Life, ES, ES recovery rate and resists/strength. If you can't afford a Shaper belt use a regular one (even Chain/Leather Belt will do if needed). If you're using a Stygian, make sure to get an Abyss jewel with high life and ES, hopefully also resists/attributes/anything useful to you.

Make sure to leave an open suffix for Aspect of the Spider (you can also beastcraft it on a different piece if you feel like it, I just managed to craft a great belt I know I'm not going to replace in a long time while having meh gloves and boots at the time).

You want to use:
-1x Anima Stone
-1x Primordial Might
-8x Primordial Harmony

Anima Stone gives you +2 Golems (requires you to have 3 Primordial jewels as well). BEWARE! Instead of buying overpriced Anima Stones off poe.trade save yourself some money, buy 1 of each primordial jewel (Might+Harmony+Eminence) and vendor them for Anima Stone.

Primordial Might increases the aggro radius of your Golems which results in much smoother gameplay.

Primordial Harmony jewels are the cornerstones of this build. You want to stack as many of those as possible - if you follow my build you'll have 8 of those. Most importantly it reduces the cooldown of your Golems' spells (explained in the Flame Golem Know-How section).
On top of that it grants an absolute beast of a damage boost which makes minion damage nodes on the passive tree look like a joke.

Last but not least, they grant your Golems 2% life regen per jewel. Assuming you have 8 perfect roll jewels and you're using 3 types of golems, these jewels grant your golems: 360% increased cooldown recovery speed, 480% increased damage and 16% life regen.

Do yourself a favor and don't use Primordial Eminence.

Flask choice explanation

Quicksilver Flask makes you go fast.

Silver Flask makes you go faster.

A Life Flask is necessary to deal with chaos damage and it's useful in emergency situations. I prefer an instant Divine Life Flask but you can use whatever you want.

Basalt Flask is very helpful against physical damage which we are pretty weak against.

Taste of Hate is a very potent flask that will help with Uber Elder since it lessens both physical and cold damage you take. It makes your Shield Charge deal cold damage which causes it to proc the Elemental Equilibrium resist debuff so it's a nice choice for mapping as well. Taste of Hate + Basalt Flask allows you to take on a Shaper slam without dying. The only drawback is that you lose one flask suffix.

Quartz Flask is something I'd definitely recommend using in delve. Getting stuck in a pack of high damage mobs is something that will happen quite often if you don't have phasing.

Amethyst Flask is definitely recommended if you don't have the chaos resistance gear, also helps a lot with the Chayula breach. With all recommended gear + Amethyst flask you can cap your chaos res!

Granite Flask with an armour suffix will give you about 9-10k armour so it's a very decent budget replacement for Taste of Hate.

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Required suffixes on flasks:

-of Staunching for bleed removal

-of Warding for curse removal

-of Heat for freeze removal - only if for some reason you don't want to use an Ice Golem



Recommended suffixes on flasks (can't get all of them, you'll have to choose):

-of Adrenaline for even more movespeed - ideally on a Quicksilver Flask

-of Grounding for shock removal - only if you're not using a Lightning Golem

-of Iron Skin for some more armour - only if you're using a Granite Flask

-of the Order (3% life regeneration during flask effect) - veiled flask mod

-of Curing for poison removal - only if you aren't using the upgraded Soul of Shakari

[6L - Body Armour]
Summon Flame Golem
Spell Echo
Greater Multiple Projectiles
Minion Damage
Elemental Focus
Empower/Fire Penetration

Spell Echo is a very important support gem for Flame Golems. In grants 70% more cast speed and repeats the spells cast while lessening damage dealt by 10%, which makes it a massive DPS multiplier. But more importantly the repeated cast does not consume Magma Ball charges which allows Flame Golems to spam Magma Balls for so much longer! More thorough explanation in the Flame Golem Know-How section.

Don't use Controlled Destruction, it reduces Golems' critical strike chance, has a lesser more damage multiplier than Elemental Focus and the DPS 'loss' from our Golems not being able to ignite anymore due to using Elemental Focus is virtually non-existent.

If you can't afford an Empower gem, use Fire Penetration instead.

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[4L - Helmet]
Summon Ice Golem
Summon Lightning Golem/Summon Stone Golem/Summon Chaos Golem
Empower/Minion Life
Decoy Totem


I strongly recommend using an Ice Golem because freeze is one of the most dangerous debuffs in the game so getting it out of the way is always worth it. On top of that you get some accuracy for your Shield Charge and become immune to chill which means no more slows from chilled ground/cold damage taken.

The second Golem choice is much more situational and up to your personal preference. Lightning Golem grants shock immunity and some attack speed. Stone Golem provides a very respectable amount of life regeneration and can taunt enemies. Chaos Golem gives you a nice bit of physical damage reduction. One thing to keep in mind is that Stone and Chaos Golems won't be immune to elemental damage so it can be an issue at times.

Decoy Totem is a useful (only against tauntable enemies) single target DPS tool to make sure enemies won't move towards your Flame Golems/you, and by extension, ensure Flame Golems keep casting Magma Balls for maximum DPS (explained in the Flame Golem Know-How section).

It is important that these gems are socketed into The Vertex, because it grants extra levels and you won't have enough unreserved mana to cast Decoy Totem/resummon golems otherwise.

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[4L - Gloves]
Cast when Damage Taken (lv 1)
Immortal Call (lv 3)
Increased Duration
Convocation



Great setup for bursts of physical damage including those pesky Porcupine Goliaths.

Convocation is a must-have skill for our build. A well-used Convocation allows to reposition Flame Golems and force them to cast Magma Balls instead of other, low DPS skills (explained thoroughly in the Flame Golem Know-How section). Make sure Convocation is leveled so you can selfcast it.

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[4L - Boots]
Storm Brand
Blasphemy
Enfeeble
Temporal Chains



Storm Brand for proccing Elemental Equilibrium and the Elementalist 15% shock. If you want you can use any other skill as long as it deals cold or lightning damage and doesn't deal fire damage.

Double defensive curse auras are a massive boost to our tankiness and overall safety of playstyle. Keep in mind that if you run both curses you won't have enough unreserved mana for Aspect of the Spider.

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[3L - Weapon]
Shield Charge
Faster Attacks
Fortify


A standard Shield Charge setup. Fortify is too good not to use it. If you use Taste of Hate you'll be also able to proc Elemental Equilibrium with it.

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[3L - Shield]

Portal
Flame Dash
Vaal Discipline

I can't imagine not using a Portal gem on any build ever. You can use Vaal Grace or whatever instead if you want (in which case socket Vaal Grace in gloves and Convocation in the shield).

Flame Dash is very useful for getting through any sort of blockades or ledges.

Discipline gives us a nice bit of ES as well as increased ES recharge rate. I strongly recommend getting a Vaal version of the gem as it provides a powerful emergency button to get us out of a tight spot.

[6L - Body Armour]
Summon Flame Golem
Spell Echo
Greater Multiple Projectiles
Minion Damage
Elemental Focus
Empower/Fire Penetration

Spell Echo is a very important support gem for Flame Golems. In grants 70% more cast speed and repeats the spells cast while lessening damage dealt by 10%, which makes it a massive DPS multiplier. But more importantly the repeated cast does not consume Magma Ball charges which allows Flame Golems to spam Magma Balls for so much longer! More thorough explanation in the Flame Golem Know-How section.

The difference here between mapping and bossing setups is that you might want to consider using Lesser Multiple Projectiles instead of Greater Multiple Projectiles against some bosses for easier execution since it's very hard (or perhaps even impossible, I'm still not sure and it's very difficult to test) to position your Flame Golems so they hit the target with all five Magma Balls. I feel like Greater Multiple Projectiles, does better so I never swap it out.

Concentrated Effect on paper provides more damage than Elemental Focus, but it comes with a pretty significant downside - it reduces the AoE of your Golems' Magma Ball explosions, but does not reduce the projectile spread. I recommend avoiding it unless you use Lesser Multiple Projectiles.

Don't use Volley Support, because its quality bonus gives increased projectile damage instead of cast speed.

Don't use Controlled Destruction, it reduces Golems' critical strike chance, has a lesser more damage multiplier than Elemental Focus and the DPS 'loss' from our Golems not being able to ignite anymore due to using Elemental Focus is virtually non-existent.

If you can't afford an Empower gem, use Fire Penetration instead.

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[4L - Helmet - I don't use the Animated Guardian]
Summon Ice Golem
Summon Stone Golem/Summon Lightning Golem/Summon Chaos Golem
Empower/Minion Life
Portal

--OR--

[4L - Helmet - I use the Animated Guardian]
Summon Ice Golem
Summon Stone Golem/Summon Lightning Golem/Summon Chaos Golem
Empower/Minion Life
Convocation




I strongly recommend using an Ice Golem because freeze is one of the most dangerous debuffs in the game so getting it out of the way is always worth it. And Uber Elder has a lot of freezes to give away. On top of that you get some accuracy for your Shield Charge and become immune to chill which means no more slows from chilled ground/cold damage taken.

The second Golem choice is much more situational and up to your personal preference. Lightning Golem grants shock immunity and some attack speed. Stone Golem provides a very respectable amount of life regeneration and can taunt enemies. Chaos Golem gives you a nice bit of physical damage reduction. One thing to keep in mind is that Stone and Chaos Golems won't be immune to elemental damage so it can be an issue at times.

Portal = free portals. Socket one in helmet if you're using the Cast when Damage Taken Immortal Call setup, and move Convocation to the glove setup or wherever it suits you.

Convocation is a must-have skill for our build. A well-used Convocation allows to reposition Flame Golems and force them to cast Magma Ball instead of other, low DPS skills (explained thoroughly in the Flame Golem Know-How section).

Decoy Totem is pretty bad against endgame bosses anyway so I decided not to use it in the high DPS setup since we're socket starved.

It is important that these gems are socketed in The Vertex, because it grants extra levels and you won't have enough unreserved mana to resummon Golems otherwise.

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[4L - Gloves - I don't use the Animated Guardian]
Cast when Damage Taken (lv 1)
Immortal Call (lv 3)
Increased Duration
Convocation

--OR--

[4L - Gloves - I use the Animated Guardian]
Animate Guardian
Minion Life
Empower
Combustion/Portal



The first option is a budget choice and provides some protection against bursts of physical damage but will not protect you against oneshots such as Shaper slam.

Convocation and Portal will be switched when using the Cast when Damage Taken Immortal Call setup so our Portal isn't recast every single time we take damage (unless you want to, Satan).

The Animate Guardian configuration is definitely the go-to setup, but you should only go for it if you know what you're doing. More about Animate Guardian in the Animate Guardian - to use or not to use? section of the guide.


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[4L - Boots]
Storm Brand
Curse on Hit
Elemental Weakness
Flammability



Storm Brand for proccing Elemental Equilibrium and the Elementalist 15% shock.

Linked curses are applied on hit, and with the recent buff to offensive curses against bosses each of them reduces Shaper/Elder/Guardian resists by a whopping 16%!
If you want you can use any other skill as long as it deals cold or lightning damage and doesn't deal fire damage. However against bosses i strongly recommend Storm Brand.

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[3L - Weapon]
Shield Charge
Faster Attacks
Fortify


A standard Shield Charge setup. Fortify is too good not to use it. If you use Taste of Hate you'll be also able to proc Elemental Equilibrium with it.

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[2L - Shield]
Zealotry
Generosity

[1L - Shield]
Vaal Discipline


Zealotry, the new spellcaster aura is by far the best thing you can currently use not just for Golems, but any summoner build using caster minions. With this setup, Zealotry provides about 23-25% more damage, increased minion critical strike chance pushing the DPS even further, and makes our Golems create Consecrated Ground on hitting rare or unique enemies! Just use it.

Discipline gives us a nice bit of ES as well as increased ES recharge rate. I strongly recommend getting a Vaal version of the gem as it provides a powerful emergency button to get us out of a tight spot.

Make sure Discipline is not linked with Generosity or you will lose its effect!

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[Beastcrafted Mod]
Aspect of the Spider


Aspect of the Spider applies a Spider's Web debuff to nearby enemies that increases damage they take by 5% per stack (stacks up to 15%) and hinders them reducing their movement speed by 30%.

The following applies only to players unable to afford Primordial Might + 2x Primordial Harmony + Anima Stone. If you have those items, go to the second part of the Leveling section.

This is only my suggestion on how to level the character as a leaguestarter if you have absolutely no idea how to get through your character's infancy. It is by no means the most efficient or fastest way to level, but it wll allow you to build your character's passive tree so that you'll have enough refund points coming from quests and won't have to spend many Orbs of Regret which you'll trade for more gear instead (your budget will be tight).

As a league starter there is absolutely no chance you'll be able to afford the Primordial Jewels while leveling hence for now jewel sockets are of very little value to us (unless you're lucky enough to find a decent jewel with minion damage/life while leveling). Instead focus on getting life/energy shield and minion nodes.

The most important thing to remember is to avoid wasting currency while leveling at all costs! Ideally after Act 10 you would be able to afford a set of rare gear to cap resistances and increase your life/ES and a Tabula Rasa. It is very likely it won't be the case though and you'll have to farm a few Chaos Orbs in maps to get the Tabula.

As far as gear is concerned leveling this build will utilize many pieces of gear with 4 linked sockets in order to use different kinds of minions. Do not waste Orbs of Alchemy to try getting some good mods on your 4L items. Use low-tier Essences you find instead since they are worthless anyway and with any luck you'll get a decently rolled item. Remember that it's nice to have ES gear but while leveling having enough sockets/links/matching colors always takes priority over having good mods - at least in softcore :)

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Act 1

I do not recommend relying on Zombies in Act 1 since they will keep dying all the time because you most likely won't have a Life Flask of Animation (40-60% of healing from the flask also applied to minions). You can use Zombies as a meatshield for bosses but other than that, at this point their use will be very limited.

Choose Quicksilver Flasks whenever the game offers you one until you have three. 3 quicksilver + 1 life flask + 1 mana flask is the ideal setup at this point.



Level 1: Add Fireball + Arcane Surge (duh)

Level 2: Replace the Fireball setup with Freezing Pulse + Arcane Surge.

Level 8: Replace the Freezing Pulse setup with Summon Raging Spirit + Minion Damage + Melee Splash (better clear)/Ruthless (better single target). If you don't have enough Strength for the requirements of the red support gems use an Amber Amulet or a Heavy Belt (usually can get either from a vendor).

Level 10: Add Flame Dash - great for passing through ledges

Level 12: Add Flesh Offering - will be very useful for your Zombies

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Act 2

Bandit Choice: Alira (unless you're confident you can cap your resists in maps without the +15% all res, but for a leaguestarter I definitely recommend going with Alira and respeccing to kill all after you get some decent gear)

Start looking for Bone Spirit Shields. You can either get them as a drop or purchase them from Greust (vendor inventory is randomized though and it may or may not be available, if not remember that vendor inventory resets every level). Stockpile about 4-6 of those, you will use them later.

The reason Bone Spirit Shields are so valuable to us is because they're part of the Life Flask of Animation vendor recipe which is a remedy for all survivability issues of our permanent minions - if you keep using the Life Flask every now and then your minions dying wil be a rare occurence.

The recipe is Bone Spirit Shield + Life Flask + Orb of Transmutation = Life Flask of Animation.

Before you can get Minion Speed Support your Zombies will be quite slow (although Flesh Offering helps quite a bit), but they will demolish any tougher opponents.

You can still use Summon Raging Spirit alongside Zombies for more damage if you want. Personally I don't like this skill since it locks you in place, slowing you down and making you an easy target to hit. But by all means you can still use it for boss fights at the very least.

Desecrate provides corpses for so many of our skills.



Any level after you get a Life Flask of Animation: Add Raise Zombie + Minion Damage + Melee Splash(clear)/Ruthless(single target)

Level 16: Add Desecrate

Level 18: Update Raise Zombie setup: Raise Zombie + Minion Speed(more mobility)/Minion Damage(more damage) + Melee Splash(clear)/Melee Physical Damage(single target). Keep the Ruthless gem it will make a comeback.

Level 18: Update Summon Raging Spirit setup: Summon Raging Spirit + Minion Damage + Melee Splash(clear)/Melee Physical Damage(single target)

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Act 3

The third act is a significant milestone - you get the Raise Spectre gem and 4L gear starts to drop which is a pretty huge step-up in power. After you get Raise Spectre I recommend dropping Summon Raging Spirit if you're still using it which will provide sockets needed for the Raise Spectre setup.

The best Spectre at this point would probably be Flame Sentinels (you get them in the Solaris Temple). You will be using them all the way up to Act 8. Remember that your currently summoned Spectres won't scale up with the increasing zone level - every few zones you will have to use Desecrate to create the right corpses and summon new, more powerful Spectres .

You will want to grab a Convocation gem whenever you can get your hands on it - the ability to teleport all your minions to you will prove useful. Start using Discipline ASAP.

Blasphemy Curse Aura is something you'll be using for a long time. I recommend using either Temporal Chains or Enfeeble for a massive survivability boost. Personally I prefer Temporal Chains since it allows you to avoid so much unnecessary damage from white mobs (spoiler alert you'll end up using both anyway).

Normal Labirynth will be a piece of cake, run in circles around Izaro until he dies. Take Liege of the Primordial.



Level 24: Add Convocation

Level 24: Add Discipline

Level 28: Replace the Summon Raging Spirit setup with Raise Spectre: Raise Spectre + Lesser Multiple Projectiles + Minion Damage

Level 31: Add Blasphemy + Temporal Chains/Enfeeble

Getting your 4L #1: Update Raise Zombie setup: Raise Zombie + Minion Speed(more mobility)/Minion Damage(more damage) + Melee Physical Damage + Melee Splash(clear)/Ruthless(single target)

Getting your 4L #2: Update Raise Spectre setup: Raise Spectre + Lesser Multiple Projectiles + Minion Damage + Elemental Focus

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Act 4

Golems! Complete Act Four, grab a Cast when Damage Taken + Immortal Call setup - it will make you a lot tankier. Also get a nice Duelist/Marauder/Templar to bring you an Increased Duration gem. Getting 3 linked red sockets can be tough but guess what you'll be getting next...

After you hit level 41 it's time to visit poe.trade and grab a pair of Clayshapers aka the ugliest maces in existence. This is the moment Summon Flame Golem becomes the highest priority skill for your character. Ideally at this point you'd have 4 linked sockets on at least 3 pieces of gear, but if not move either Zombies or Spectres somewhere else to make room for Flame Golems. Two Clayshapers + Normal Lab means you can have 4 Flame Golems - this is the moment you start completely trivializing all Acts. Since you don't have Primordial Harmony jewels using other types of Golems won't result in a damage increase. After you get your Flame Golems you want to get the Elemental Equilibrium keystone + Storm Brand ASAP! At this point you will be socket starved, this state of affairs isn't going to ever change. Drop Flesh Offering or Flame Dash or whatever if you need a socket.



Level 38: Update Raise Zombie setup: Raise Zombie + Minion Speed(more mobility)/Minion Damage(more damage) + Brutality + Melee Splash(clear)/Melee Physical Damage (single target)

Level 38: Add Cast when Damage Taken + Immortal Call + Increased Duration

Level 41 after you've equipped two Clayshapers: Add Summon Flame Golem + Greater Multiple Projectiles + Spell Echo + Minion Damage

Any level after getting Elemental Equilibrium: Add Storm Brand

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Acts 5-7

Your gem setup won't be changing much from now on (until you get the primordial jewels). Kill Kitava, try getting more resists if possible. Take care of the Brine King and activate his Pantheon soul for a very helpful upgrade against stunlocks. You will be using that one for a long time.

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Act 8

Cruel Lab! Do it as soon as possible to get another Golem. There are two good options to consider - you can either use 5 Flame Golems or 4 Flame Golems + 1 Ice Golem. At this point having an Ice Golem active provides freeze and chill immunity so it might be worth sacrificing a bit of damage (and a gem socket). The choice is up to you.

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Acts 9-10

Kill Solaris kill Lunaris kill Kitava congrats you hit maps. Don't worry too much about Merciless Lab, it's useless without the Uber Lab ascedancy points anyway so you can wait with it if you want.

The following applies only to players that already own at least Primordial Might + 2x Primordial Harmony + Anima Stone. If you don't have those items, go to the first part of the Leveling section.

This is my suggestion on how to level the real deal. Since Skin of the Loyal has no level requirement, you can start using it whenever you want to. Whatever minion you decide to have in your body armour will be ridiculously powerful (even more so if you own a corrupted Skin of the Loyal with +1 to level of Socketed Gems).

Up to level 41 you will be building your passive tree exactly the same way as the leaguestarter version. After hitting level 41 you want to respec so that you have 4 sockets for your jewels. From now on getting more jewel sockets will be the most efficient way to spend your passive points by a long shot. Refer to the Passive Tree section for more details.

Since you can afford pretty expensive items I assume that you're at least a semi-advanced player so I'll be brief in this part (50000 character limit per post feelsbadman).

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Recommended twink leveling items:


Weapons: Lifesprig x2

Helmet: Goldrim for +40% to all Elemental Resistances

Body Armour: Tabula Rasa for Freezing Pulse in Act 1, Skin of the Loyal for Summon Raging Spirit or when you start using Zombies in Act 2

Gloves: Lochtonial Caress while you're using Freezing Pulse or Summon Raging Spirit, after that whatever you want

Boots: Seven-League Step (better) or Wanderlust (cheaper)

Amulet: Sidhebreath for overall minion improvements

Rings: Rare rings with -# to Mana cost of Skills or Le Heup of All for +30% to all Elemental Resistances and attributes

Belt: String of Servitude with +48% to all Elemental Resistances or +36% to Movement Speed during any Flask Effect

Flasks: 3x Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline + 1 Life Flask of Animation + 1 Mana Flask/Granite Flask

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Act 1

Don't use Zombies in Act 1, they will suck. Use Freezing Pulse (Tabula Rasa) or Summon Raging Spirit (Skin of the Loyal) instead. Use Flame Dash for mobility and Portal for convenience.

Act 1 Setup: Freezing Pulse + Onslaught + Lesser Multiple Projectiles + Added Cold Damage + Arcane Surge + Added Lightning Damage

or

Summon Raging Spirit + Minion Damage + Added Fire Damage + Ruthless/Melee Splash + Added Lightning Damage + Additional Accuracy

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Act 2

Bandit Choice: Kill All

Stockpile some Bone Spirit Shields for the Life Flask of Animation recipe.
Whenever you get Minion Speed Support socket Zombies into your body armour. Use Desecrate + Flesh Offering to make your Zombies even faster.

Act 2 Setup: Raise Zombie + Minion Damage + Minion Speed + Melee Physical Damage + Melee Splash/Ruthless + Additional Accuracy

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Act 3

Add the Raise Spectre setup to one of your 4L pieces. Use Flame Sentinels as Spectres. Resummon higher level Spectres every few zones. Grab Convocation and Discipline. Add Blasphemy + Temporal Chains. Do Normal Lab, take Liege of the Primordial.

Act 3 Setup: Raise Zombie + Minion Damage + Minion Speed + Melee Physical Damage + Melee Splash/Ruthless + Additional Accuracy

Raise Spectre + Lesser Multiple Projectiles + Minion Damage + Elemental Focus

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Act 4

Once you hit level 41 equip two Clayshapers. Check the Passive Tree section and respec accordingly. Socket your Golem jewels into your passive tree. Drop Zombies and Spectres. From now on you're relying strictly on Golems. Have Summon Flame Golem in Skin of the Loyal. Socket two secondary Golem gems in helmet or wherever. The optimal setup is 4 Flame Golems + 1 Ice Golem + 1 Stone/Lightning Golem. Get the Elemental Equilibrium keystone ASAP, start using Storm Brand. Add Cast when Damage Taken + Immortal Call + Increased Duration.

Act 4 Setup: Summon Flame Golem + Greater Multiple Projectiles + Spell Echo + Minion Damage + Elemental Focus + Fire Penetration

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Acts 5-7

Keep steamrolling through content.

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Act 8

Do Cruel Lab, grab Elemancer, drop one Clayshaper. Start using Victario's Charity and get Necromantic Aegis.

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Acts 9-10

So you've decided you want to use an Animated Guardian. Remember that Animated Guardians have base resistances of 40%, so you need to get 35% of each resistance to cap your AG (keep in mind Victario's Charity already gives your Animated Guardian 20-30% lightning resistance). Here's the list of optimal gear you want to use on it:

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Weapon

The buffed Kingmaker is one of the reasons I started using Animate Guardian to begin with. Fortify, crit multi and culling strike auras. Good stuff.

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Body Armour

Gruthkul's Pelt is by far the best body armour to use with an AG. 5% of Life Regenerated per second is massive, and although flat life doesn't do much for AG, +(200-240) to maximum Life is a pretty respectable amount. +(20-30)% to Cold Resistance is pretty helpful as well.

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Helmet

A rare fossil crafted helmet with Nearby enemies have -9% to Fire Resistance, 1% of Life regenerated per second, #% increased maximum Life, +# to maximum Life and resists.

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Gloves

A pair of rare fossil crafted gloves with added Fire Damage to attacks or #% of Physical Damage converted to Fire Damage, 1% of Life regenerated per second, #% increased maximum life, +# to maximum Life and resists.

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Boots

A pair of rare fossil crafted boots (ideally Two-Toned Boots for more resists) with Movement Speed, 1% of Life regenerated per second, #% increased maximum Life, +# to maximum Life and resists. Don't forget that you can enchant the boots for 2% of Life regenerated per second if you were hit recently!