3.8| Stress Free PoE - SLOW-MO ZOMBIES |Clear the Atlas with YOUR Items at YOUR Pace (SSF & Co-op)

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evlmnky1 wrote:

Ok this build has been awesome. Stress free and good clearing.
But I cannot seem to clear the blighted maps.
I have 11 zombies (all my gems are level 19 and enhance is level 2) I’m level 84 with all minion damage nodes picked up. My ascendancy and skill tree are as you recommended.
I can’t seem to get my ball of lightning to work, never see it do anything anyway.

So with the blighted maps there is just way too many monsters, so my question is how do I either get more zombies or get them to do way higher damage?
Note I also use the awesome skeleton bombs constantly to help clear! I love the build as it works for me and it’s just enjoyable and easy but I would love to know how to make it work for blighted maps. I am only at T5 maps haven’t seen it perform at higher tier maps so hopefully it works fine for that too!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

If you have Vaal Skeleton gem, don’t forget to use it. It means around 40 more skeletons in your army. They will clear a clusterfuck of the blight map for you quite quickly.

@evlmnky1

What the guide states is true. Whatever gear you want. I have a mix of uniques and rares.

I do like the unique rotting legion chest armor. Wasn't sure how the aggresive -v- defensive (from meat shield) thing was gonna work out but so far I'd say the zombies are "normal". No probs, playstyle hasn't changed.

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evlmnky1 wrote:

Ok this build has been awesome. Stress free and good clearing.
But I cannot seem to clear the blighted maps.
I have 11 zombies (all my gems are level 19 and enhance is level 2) I’m level 84 with all minion damage nodes picked up. My ascendancy and skill tree are as you recommended.
I can’t seem to get my ball of lightning to work, never see it do anything anyway.

So with the blighted maps there is just way too many monsters, so my question is how do I either get more zombies or get them to do way higher damage?
Note I also use the awesome skeleton bombs constantly to help clear! I love the build as it works for me and it’s just enjoyable and easy but I would love to know how to make it work for blighted maps. I am only at T5 maps haven’t seen it perform at higher tier maps so hopefully it works fine for that too!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

As a veteran tower defense gamer I've a certain affinity to these maps. The simplest thing to do is to focus on towers at the edges of the screen from the Pump. I've found that there are no towers that do absolutely better than others, but Temporal, Glacial Cage, Freezebolt, Chilling 3 and Seismic 3 towers are indispensable for keeping the maps under control. Use Sentinel Towers to stop mobs at choke points like doorways, stairs, skinny paths, and ledge ramps and curves in the enemy paths. Remember, we are running minion builds in this thread, and as such need to have the enemies in one place long enough for our slaves *cough* eh, that is to say, our volentold minions to actually deal them damage and the Imbuing tower is basically pointless to us. The towers are meant to be used in combination clusters, i.e.: a Temporal tower keeps enemies in range of a Shocking 3 tower that applies shock to enemies increasing the damage they take from a Freezebolt tower which stops the enemies in there tracks and/or a Seismic tower that stuns them long enough for a Meteor tower to end them. Also, a few Meteor towers near the pump will save you a lot of grief!

Get familiar with the various towers and what they can do:
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Tower

You should also learn what the various icons mean for the portals. A minion icon on the portal means that monsters it spawns will walk right past a Sentinel or other minions without stopping, etc. Focus slow and high damage towers on those lanes as they can be the biggest headaches for our builds. A snowflake on a portal means that enemies in this lane will take less damage from your Frostbolt towers. You can see what the effects are by hovering the cursor over enemies spawned by the portal. All of the enemies spawned by Blight portals have a 2nd line that says they resist elemental damage so the first line is the effect of the portal icon.

If your mana regen is high enough you can literally just sit on top of the pump while spamming Skeletons. I will say, however, that Meat Shield Zombies work better for this than Feeding Frenzy Zombies, and you should immediately Death Mark any of the enemies, that make it close, but especially the bigun's.

You can anoint rings to have extra benefits for different towers. Here's a list of them:
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Oil#Tower_enchantments_available_by_anointing_Rings

My favorites:
Your Temporal Towers have 25% increased Effect
Your Meteor Towers always Stun

Heya everyone,

playing at the SFF HC league and had no luck so far with my items. I'm around lvl 86 and just reached the T7 - T8 maps, with only a 3l item. Finally I did get a 5l staff, and would love to craft that one to a necro staff. In reason I never crafted anything, I have no clue what should be my next steps. Can someone of our amazing community please write me a little step-by-step manual, would really appreciate it. Perhaps you will save my life! :)

I'd love to help you, Firderis, but I've not crafted anything save a ring to get Helena's notification off my screen. LOL

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MasterZoen wrote:

I'd love to help you, Firderis, but I've not crafted anything save a ring to get Helena's notification off my screen. LOL

Funny thing is, after my posting and with lvl 86 I did get finally my Tabula Rasa. Perhaps I will use it, so far it's my only way to progress :(

Take a look at my items and try not to laugh...the only positive thing is, i'm still alive. Don't ask me how.

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Firderis wrote:

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MasterZoen wrote:

I'd love to help you, Firderis, but I've not crafted anything save a ring to get Helena's notification off my screen. LOL

Funny thing is, after my posting and with lvl 86 I did get finally my Tabula Rasa. Perhaps I will use it, so far it's my only way to progress :(

Take a look at my items and try not to laugh...the only positive thing is, i'm still alive. Don't ask me how.

I did a basic Bing search, since Google always ignores me, and found this for crafting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA8S7AkFoXE

Eh, that gear is no laughing matter. Your boots worry me. A lot. Not their stats, but the sockets. Alhough, the gloves are worse. I'm curious why you are using hatred since you don't have Generosity linked to it or EE in your tree, also the gloves added cold damage isn't very good, and makes EE maps a bit more challenging. Is it just for extra damage? I'd suggest Malevolence in it's place since that affects the damage from Infernal Legion and will make EE maps safe. See if you can buy a 3l pair of gloves off of Waylem that don't have it.

Also, I noticed you don't have Feeding Frenzy on you Skellies. While I understand wanting to get that big boom at the end as high as possible, I've found Feeding Frenzy is more useful for skeletons. I've also found that Feeding Frenzy on Zombies is just not that great, they are always out of position when I need them the most for Deathmark, so I tend to use Meat Shield instead. I noticed a second Summon Skeletons on your Body Armour, I'd suggest Animate Guardian, instead. That lets you make use of any gear you don't actually want for your build that is still decent, plus it's another minion.

With Raise Spectre, I hope you are using Frost Sentinels. The fact that their level is now based on the gem and not the corpse source means that you can raise level 81 Frost Sentinels from the Lunar Concourse in Act 8! Those guys will freeze and chill almost everything with ease!

I notice, now, that you've got support gems slotted where ever you can fit them, like Generosity on the helmet instead of linked to Hatred. That's just to level them up for when you get better gear, right? I'd suggest buy any 3 socket wand or shield off of Waylem to replace that 2 socket in you secondary set, put Generosity there and put Melee Physical Damage Support into the Helmet. If you are running low on Jeweler, Fusing, and Chromatic orbs, just farm Cassia in the Feeding troughs of Act 10 for a while. You should be able to handle any of the mobs there with ease.

Hello Magots!

Thanks for all the posts and such kindness to each other helping each other out! And thank you for all the compliments as well! I have family coming over this weekend so let's do some Zombie Replies on Triggy Happy's guide day, shall we?

I'd love to respond to everyone but as usual with the Zombie guide, there are enough posts that I'll only reply to questions. Thanks for understanding. AND thanks to everyone who helps out others with such great responses!

"

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PedroloGeo wrote:

Spoiler

Hey! Thanks for the guide, it is very well detailed and helped me a lot.

If I wanted to turn the Elemental Equilibrium and Defense 4 Link into something more active, what whould I be using?

I understant it has to be something with lightning damage and no fire or cold damage. I have 2 ideas but I don't know which one would be better.

First idea, have a gem to support Ball Lightning instead of CWDT. options I come by could be Multiple Projectiles to affect more area as I understand the damage of this skill is not really important, just it to be lightning to trigger EE.

The second option like you recomend on the post would be a melee skill with fortify support. WHich melee skill would you recomend that fits all the conditions of elemental damages? And can this melee skills be used with a wand?

Thanks again, I love your content.

Hey PedroloGeo,

Thanks for the thanks! I'm glad it's been helpful! If you think it's missing anything, please let me know.

Both of your ideas are great for being more offensive. The most fun one is the one you should do (unless you die too much). Consecrated Path would be the best melee skill with the big AoE and Consecrated Ground it creates, but it deals fire damage. You could, in turn, remove Minion Instability from the tree, and if you wanted, replace Skeletons with Spectres. Then you'd only have the one button to press.

If you didn't like the much change, Something like Leap Slam (it has a smaller AoE) would be best and just make sure you have added lightning damage on one of your gear somewhere (it doesn't have to be on the weapon). Lots of people also really like Cyclone for this too. BUUUUUUTTTTTT wouldn't the idea of Lightning Warp be fun! You wouldn't get Fortify but you'd just bounce around having a blast! I'd like use a movement skill that you're comfortable with.

Wands can only be used with ranged attacks, not melee attacks :(.

I hope that helps! And thanks again for the encouragement :). I'm glad you like it all.

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eckoz07 wrote:

Spoiler

Hi master! Fisrt of all, congratz to this amazing build! Its incredible and really stress free lmao.

I have a little question: Can I use Zahndethus' Cassock Sage's Robe with 6 slots without break the Elemental equilibrium? Because of the "1-40 lightning damage to attacks" of the robe.

Ty in advance!

Hey eckoz07,

Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoy it! GGG really boosted it in this league. I'm glad you find it stress-free.

Yes, you can use that Zahndethus' for sure. The lightning damage is nice. It doesn't have any life which sucks but the blocking perks are sweet. If you did that I'd remove Commander of Darkness in the Ascendancy and replace it with Mistress of Sacrifice. I'd then suggest using the Bone Offering as your offering skill. I'd only do that to maximize the chest's potential.

Thanks for your kind message.

"

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mitbanomen wrote:

Spoiler

The only problem is that's really hard to decide which of your builds should I roll first. :) I'm gonna start with this one I think. Keep up the good work. Subbed.

Hey mitbanomen,

Ha ha. Good choice. Minions are wonderfully overpowered this league :). You'll fly through the content. Let us know if you have any questions!

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evlmnky1 wrote:

Spoiler

Ok this build has been awesome. Stress free and good clearing.
But I cannot seem to clear the blighted maps.
I have 11 zombies (all my gems are level 19 and enhance is level 2) I’m level 84 with all minion damage nodes picked up. My ascendancy and skill tree are as you recommended.
I can’t seem to get my ball of lightning to work, never see it do anything anyway.

So with the blighted maps there is just way too many monsters, so my question is how do I either get more zombies or get them to do way higher damage?
Note I also use the awesome skeleton bombs constantly to help clear! I love the build as it works for me and it’s just enjoyable and easy but I would love to know how to make it work for blighted maps. I am only at T5 maps haven’t seen it perform at higher tier maps so hopefully it works fine for that too!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!

Hey evlmnky1,

I'm glad you're liking it! Sorry for the frustrations though. Let's see what we can do. To see if ball lightning is working, disable all your minions and go to an Act 10 area. Just wait and see if it goes off. If it doesn't, check the CwDT rules. If you swear that everything is as it should be, go into your profile on PoE's website and make your characters publicly viewable. Then we can check out what's going in detail.

You've received some good advice on Blighted Maps already but I'll throw in my two cents. If you can, try and find the Unique monsters. I only bother with the towers that are close to the core. And I only build cold towers so that they can trap enemies within the huge radius they have. It seems to work well for me. Also, if you don't have it, try and get the Vaal version of Summon Skeletons. It's a HUGE help.

One thing I was trying out and worked REALLY well for me was replacing the last socket of my Zombie links to be Spectres. Pick whatever spectres you like and you'll end up with 4 extra minions that share your zombie links!

Let us know what changes you tried!

"

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BipolarBear21 wrote:

Spoiler

So I need to ask a dumb question and apologize in advance.

In the guide it shows to stop leveling certain gems at different levels (offering skill at 8). Now, with the global modifiers from the ascendency path giving +2 to all minion gems my offering skill is at 10. Is that where it should be or should I have stopped at 6 and got the +2?

Hey BipolarBear21,

Great question. I should make a point of it in the guide. I did some testing on this. You'll also get mixed responses on this. It USED to be that increasing gem levels via gear would change the ACTUAL gem level requirement, thus impacting how CwDT interacted with the gem. This league, with the new changes and mentality of increasing gems beyond 20, increasing gem levels via gear DOES NOT increase the gem's level requirement.

SOOOOO, you may keep the gems as the guide states and not worry about how high your gear increases whatever gems. :) Gem requirements won't change via gear.

It's not a dumb question at all and ask as much of anything as you like.

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Firderis wrote:

Spoiler

Heya everyone,

playing at the SFF HC league and had no luck so far with my items. I'm around lvl 86 and just reached the T7 - T8 maps, with only a 3l item. Finally I did get a 5l staff, and would love to craft that one to a necro staff. In reason I never crafted anything, I have no clue what should be my next steps. Can someone of our amazing community please write me a little step-by-step manual, would really appreciate it. Perhaps you will save my life! :)

Hey Firderis,

I can't believe (prior to your Tabula find) that you couldn't find a 4 link chest! I'd suggest checking your filter and make sure it's not an old custom one, but I can't imagine any filter excluding 4 links. There is a quest in either act 9 or 10 that gives you a 4 link chest too.

But now that you have a 6 link I'll give a couple crafting basics. I can't give a step by step or I'd be here until I'm a great-grandfather.

There are two ways to spend currency for crafting in PoE:
1) Use the currency for it's described purpose.
2) Use the currency as "money" at your crafting bench.

The second method is a great way to get "guaranteed" mods. You may have to unlock the mods you want. .I have links to that in my Tips for New Folk section.

So the key is taking your time at the gear you pick up (with that filter you use that doesn't show 4-links ;)) and get used to Suffix and Prefix. For example, a Helmet can have "# to Level of Socketed Minion Gems", "Max Life", "# to maximum number of Raised Zombies". Rare items can only have three prefix and three suffix each. The listed mods are all prefix. So if you find items that have only two suffix or prefix, you can add one (not one of each) to the item.

So you just need to take your time with items. One major thing to consider with items is Life. If the item doesn't have high life, it's not really going to work out. You could add a life roll (if there's space) but it'd be short term as we can't craft as high as mods can roll via drops. So an easy way to get started is to look for Life Rolls. If something has a high life roll, consider it. If it has a high life roll and a free suffix or prefix, consider looking at it in your crafting bench.

I hope this helps a little bit. If this (and the stuff in my Tips section) is already stuff you know, let us know and we'll go from there.

Thanks everyone for your kindness to both myself and everyone else. Thanks to everyone who's trying to help others. I hope everyone that's playing is having a great league and being kind to GGG.

Hey, WoD,

I don't know how this site handle PM notifications yet, so I wanted to let you know that I sent you a PM with some build ideas. The build isn't quite ready for sharing, but I wanted to get some feedback from you about it.

Thanks, in advance.

This build is viable, boys. Just did the Red Elder deathless. Nothing good dropped, but got an exalted orb a minute later :)