Stress-Free PoE! BONE ZOMBIES: No Required Items! 1-Button Play! SSF League Start-End! 3.12

All helpful replies and ideas (from anyone) welcomed as well as constructive criticism.


As I am wrapping up Act X and about to enter end game, I find myself wanting to tweak this already exceptional build to cater to my play style. Call it a preemptive "measure twice - cut once" philosophy. I could use some guidance and direction from those who know the mechanics of PoE better than I do.

1. I need a clickable on demand movement skill. I am not the best at avoiding "stuff" and when I need to move, I need to move FAST. While I love the idea of Shield Charge linked to Fortify, two things come to mind. One is that I would need 2 skill gem slots. The second is that SC is a movement and not a blink. There are times when gaps are needed to be crossed - or different height terrain needs to be gotten. For these reasons, my go to skill has been Flame Dash in other leagues. There is one thing that is concerning however in that the CWDT/Withering Step would share a cooldown with FD. So, in theory, if I needed to move asap, I might not be able to because of cooldown sharing conflict ... RIGHT?

FWIW, I would be using a +3 to level of socketed gem in an unset ring instead of the recommended Vermillion ring. I would place Pride in this unset ring and then the FD would go in the shield.

While I haven't read the previous 14 pages of replies here, I have skimmed a bit. I saw the idea of anointing Golem Commander and I think I am on board with that. If course it will be a while before I have an Amulet good enough to annoint, but when the time comes, unless something else speaks my interest, I will incorporate a second golem into the build. At this time, Carrion Golem is the frontrunner choice due to its physical damage nature. I honestly dont know if CWDT is needed in the helm and so I think I would swap out CWDT and replace with the second golem.

I'd like to keep this build as a Zombie dps build. With that in mind, my Spectre choices should enhance my Zombie dps and/or aid my play style. Currently I am using two Stygian Apes and a Kivitika (sic) Herald. Those that use the apes for Frenzy buffing, do you find 2 is efficient to keep maximum uptime on the frenzy buff? Or do I need 3 Apes? Or is 1 enough? Is there another kind of buff that will aid the Zombies from a different type of Spectre? I grabbed the KH due to its ability to cast range dps as well as leap (and not get stuck behind fences or uneven terrain like the Apes and Zombies do).

With the addition of a button push movement skill, I am leaning towards replacing 2x Quartz flasks with the +Armour ones (and using 3x life per the guide).

Lastly (for now - LOL), the boots I am using have a Lab enchant that triggers Decree if the Grave when my minions kill. Do any of you have this in end game? Those little suckers do massive damage and the proc seems to be always up. I wonder if they scale with my minion gear and/or passives.

I'm sure I will have more later >< Thanks for reading and replying.

Edit: I found a nice post on Reddit. It was old so perhaps outdated ... but, the suggestion was 2x Carnage Chieftain and 2x Host Chieftain (Ape Spectres) so that is what I will go with unless I hear differently.

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dlvbrown1969 wrote:

1. I need a clickable on demand movement skill.

I'm using Flame Dash in an unset ring myself. Technically it does share a cooldown with Withering Step but I've never noticed it being an issue - I suppose it probably happens, but if Withering Step is on, then I'm able to run away normally thanks to the phasing.

If you want to run a second unset ring, having Convocation helps a lot to keep the horde moving. Pulls them into big mob groups, gets them past chokepoints, and gets them to join you when you dash past terrain obstacles.

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dlvbrown1969 wrote:

I saw the idea of anointing Golem Commander and I think I am on board with that. If course it will be a while before I have an Amulet good enough to annoint, but when the time comes, unless something else speaks my interest, I will incorporate a second golem into the build. At this time, Carrion Golem is the frontrunner choice due to its physical damage nature. I honestly dont know if CWDT is needed in the helm and so I think I would swap out CWDT and replace with the second golem.

I like Golem Commander, though I actually took it on the tree and used my anoint for Heart of the Warrior instead. I definitely agree with not needing CwdT for the golem link, good place to either put a second golem or Animate Guardian.

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dlvbrown1969 wrote:

I'd like to keep this build as a Zombie dps build. With that in mind, my Spectre choices should enhance my Zombie dps and/or aid my play style.

Currently I'm running one of each ape and two Heretical Guardians, which are the templar guys with Proximity Shield. (I got 4 spectres thanks to putting them in a +2 helmet and using a wand with +1 to all minion gems.) During boss fights when the horde is all gathered together in a small area, a single ape of each type is plenty to keep the charges up. During mapping when they're more spread out, some won't have the charges since they'll be out of range when the spectre happens to bellow, but I find that's generally not an issue as the DPS is fine regardless.

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dlvbrown1969 wrote:

With the addition of a button push movement skill, I am leaning towards replacing 2x Quartz flasks with the +Armour ones (and using 3x life per the guide).

I run one quartz and one granite, and almost always use both together. Nothing is a guarantee of safety in this game, but those two together protect from almost anything that you're able to run away from!

"

dlvbrown1969 wrote:

Lastly (for now - LOL), the boots I am using have a Lab enchant that triggers Decree if the Grave when my minions kill. Do any of you have this in end game?

Not in this league, but I've had it in others. It's a fine enchantment, but I wouldn't prioritize getting it if you happen to roll another good one first.

@ineffablebob tyvm for such a detailed and articulate reply. It's exactly what I needed. I will look into using only 1 of each Ape and then those shielded Spectres.

I am having intermittent issues summoning my Spectres in my hideout. Sometimes they are there in the pool and other times the pool seems to reset back to default and I have to go reacquire them. Anyone else having issues?

Edit: WoW so lucky...found an amulet on trade with +1 max # Spectres and Golem Commander annoint. As huge bonuses, it also has +24 to all attribute, 80 max life and a 44% fire res. It's corrupted talisman so I can't alter it, but i think it was a GG find nonetheless

For anyone curious about spectres, I'm currently rocking three Syndicate Operatives, and changed the linked gems to Spell Echo and GMP. Their ranged damage is physical and absolutely melts both groups and single target.

I'm clearing the most content I ever have, thank you WOD!

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dlvbrown1969 wrote:

I am having intermittent issues summoning my Spectres in my hideout. Sometimes they are there in the pool and other times the pool seems to reset back to default and I have to go reacquire them. Anyone else having issues?

I play on PC rather than PS4, so I'm not sure if there's a difference in the realms. But at least on PC, the way it works is that desecrate in your hideout will give you corpses of whatever was in the hideout instance when it was created. So if you zone into your hideout with no spectres after being away a while (so the old instance had expired) then you'll have no spectres available via desecrate.

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dlvbrown1969 wrote:

Edit: WoW so lucky...found an amulet on trade with +1 max # Spectres and Golem Commander annoint. As huge bonuses, it also has +24 to all attribute, 80 max life and a 44% fire res. It's corrupted talisman so I can't alter it, but i think it was a GG find nonetheless

Nice find!

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Jaggedrain wrote:

Spoiler

So I'm almost at the point where it's time to look at cluster jewels - I'm just finishing the Health Wheel and then it's cluster jewel time!

What kind of passives should I be looking for there? There are an awful lot of tempting passive notables and I'm kind of lost as to which to get. So, suggestions?

Renewal seems like it would be helpful, adding DPS and also making my minions less squish (which isn't a concern with the zombies, but since I'm not using CWDT on the golems, it is a concern there, and also I would like my guardian to not die)

Vicious Claws adds an impale chance for the minions, which with the phys damage seems like it should be a good thing in this build?

Bodyguards, Hulking Corpses, and Dread March also all look extremely nifty as well, so I'm undecided.

What cluster jewels have you guys been using, and what notables did you aim for?

Nice! Good luck with your jewel rolls Jaggedrain!

I find jewels 100% preference so I'll let others answer. There are sooo many cool minion notables that can roll. Renewal is awesome. All your suggestions are. It's hard to choose hey?

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Smallville0608 wrote:

Spoiler

Died at 91 in HC SSF Standard, ended up #9 on the board. Nothing to complain about, had a ton of fun, will probably make another go at it soon. Character deleted, on to the next. Thanks again for a great build!

Awesome job Smallville0608!

Thanks for your kind words and I'm glad you had such a good time! Congrats on 91 in HC SSF and getting to #9 on the board!

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dlvbrown1969 wrote:

Spoiler

...As I am wrapping up Act X and about to enter end game, I find myself wanting to tweak this already exceptional build to cater to my play style...

"

DeciTM wrote:

Spoiler

For anyone curious about spectres, I'm currently rocking three Syndicate Operatives, and changed the linked gems to Spell Echo and GMP. Their ranged damage is physical and absolutely melts both groups and single target.

I'm clearing the most content I ever have, thank you WOD!

Thank you both for your kind words! I'm glad you're having such a good time. Pure Zombie builds are so much fun for me. Thank you both.

Thank you everyone for being so kind and thoughtful to one another. It's great to see so many being kind and helpful. Thank you!

I've settled into my end-game build for Heist, and figured now's a good time to post an update since it's unlikely to change much. Only a few Atlas maps yet to complete, done all the Heist quests, got pretty much everything done that I'm likely to do. Except Sirius, because I'm a terrible player and suck at that fight - no fault of the build, though. I'm doing tier 14-16 maps and L83 heists pretty regularly, and while I do die occasionally, I can almost always attribute it to my doing something dumb. Failing to see corpse explosions coming, for instance. Or trying to fight the Minotaur at all. :)

Here's where I ended up: https://pastebin.com/C9f8FjHg

It's pretty close to Wrecker's original build. For leveling I stuck almost exactly to his plan, only really deviating by taking Annointed Flesh for the extra resists. That went away once I bought myself a Loreweave. For a while during early maps, I also ditched Glancing Blows, but I switched back later. The Bone Offering lifegain makes that high block chance very desirable, and I'm mostly concerned about big hits so any additional chance to block those is great.

That Loreweave is the only unique item that I'm using, and it's not required by any means, just another way to help avoid the worst of the big hits with extra resists. I have a +2 minion gem helm, of course, and also a +1 minion gem convoking wand. Otherwise items are largely life and resists. I included two unset rings so that I could use Flame Dash and Convocation, both of which I find to be significant quality-of-life improvements. And on the amulet I decided to annoint Heart of the Warrior, can't go wrong with more life.

For jewels, I have one that gives the minions chance to taunt on hit, and everything else is there to give life and resists. Other mods are a nice bonus. Most of those are extra spell block chance, since it isn't capped even with the Glancing Blows. I considered switching shields to a Rathpith Globe, by the way, which would have capped the spell block chance, but decided the loss of overall life total wasn't worth it.

My spectres are Carnage Chieftain, Host Chieftain, and Heretical Guardian (that's the templar dude with proximity shield). It's hard to tell how often the proximity shield really helps, but I figure any chance to not die to some random giant AoE is a good thing. One of each ape seems to keep charges going pretty well when the horde is gathered together (i.e. boss fights), and at other times the charges aren't really needed anyway.

Thanks again for putting the build together, Wrecker, and I hope this is of help to anyone looking to tweak their own build!

"

ineffablebob wrote:

Spoiler

I've settled into my end-game build for Heist, and figured now's a good time to post an update since it's unlikely to change much. Only a few Atlas maps yet to complete, done all the Heist quests, got pretty much everything done that I'm likely to do. Except Sirius, because I'm a terrible player and suck at that fight - no fault of the build, though. I'm doing tier 14-16 maps and L83 heists pretty regularly, and while I do die occasionally, I can almost always attribute it to my doing something dumb. Failing to see corpse explosions coming, for instance. Or trying to fight the Minotaur at all. :)

Here's where I ended up: https://pastebin.com/C9f8FjHg

It's pretty close to Wrecker's original build. For leveling I stuck almost exactly to his plan, only really deviating by taking Annointed Flesh for the extra resists. That went away once I bought myself a Loreweave. For a while during early maps, I also ditched Glancing Blows, but I switched back later. The Bone Offering lifegain makes that high block chance very desirable, and I'm mostly concerned about big hits so any additional chance to block those is great.

That Loreweave is the only unique item that I'm using, and it's not required by any means, just another way to help avoid the worst of the big hits with extra resists. I have a +2 minion gem helm, of course, and also a +1 minion gem convoking wand. Otherwise items are largely life and resists. I included two unset rings so that I could use Flame Dash and Convocation, both of which I find to be significant quality-of-life improvements. And on the amulet I decided to annoint Heart of the Warrior, can't go wrong with more life.

For jewels, I have one that gives the minions chance to taunt on hit, and everything else is there to give life and resists. Other mods are a nice bonus. Most of those are extra spell block chance, since it isn't capped even with the Glancing Blows. I considered switching shields to a Rathpith Globe, by the way, which would have capped the spell block chance, but decided the loss of overall life total wasn't worth it.

My spectres are Carnage Chieftain, Host Chieftain, and Heretical Guardian (that's the templar dude with proximity shield). It's hard to tell how often the proximity shield really helps, but I figure any chance to not die to some random giant AoE is a good thing. One of each ape seems to keep charges going pretty well when the horde is gathered together (i.e. boss fights), and at other times the charges aren't really needed anyway.

Thanks again for putting the build together, Wrecker, and I hope this is of help to anyone looking to tweak their own build!

Dang! Nice post ineffablebob!

Thanks for the kind praise! I'm glad the build is working well for you. Great tweaks and additions! You've done great!

(The key with the Minotaur (especially since 3.9 (or 3.10...) when they buffed Guardian health bars) is to stay right behind him/her. It's not always possible but if you aim to always be right behind them, you'll be able to telegraph the skills easier while also avoiding most of the ranged skills they use. The falling rocks are really the only thing that prevents this. Anyway, I hope that helps?)

Thanks again for the great post.