Updated for Patch 3.20
The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo
Guide notes |
June 12, 2021 -Build created February 19, 2023 -Build updated for Path 3.20 |
Build overview | |||
Tags: [MINION] [CHAOS] [POISON] [LIFE] | |||
Budget: Defenses: |
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Boss DPS: AoE: |
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Arakaali's Fang is a Rune Dagger that summons Spiders from nearby corpses when you kill an enemy. These Spiders are not only immune to damage and extremely powerful on their own, but they also boost the damage of another ally - Agony Crawler. Guardian's ascendancy outperforms Necromancer in this particular case - it has significantly better defenses when combined with the stats like Mana and Armour and Unique gear. The build is pretty well understood, but since 3.17 a lot of core items have been changed. It now is a lot more flexible and can make use of different unique items.
The defensive layers of this Guardian character are: Energy Shield (5 to 10k) with Chaos Inoculation that grants complete immunity to Chaos, 50 to 100k Armour, capped Chance to Block at 75% with Glancing Blows Keystone, and instant ES on Block. The Auras used in this build are defensive-oriented as well. The additional easy-to-get layer is a Guard Spell. The character stacks a lot of Mana which translates to a lot of Armour and ES, Intelligence grants us ES and Mana so stacking a lot of Intelligence is highly beneficial. Curses will have little to no effect on you. The only weakness is damage over time - from Bleeding or Fire mostly. It can be countered by magic Flasks mods and Pantheon choices.
You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List
You'll be using Cyclone just so you can land hits on enemies which will spawn Sentinels of Purity from your Herald of Purity Skill. To spawn the Spiders there needs to be some corpses nearby as you kill enemies. Usually, that's not an issue at all but there are some boss fights where the lack of corpses and small enemies you can easily kill could cripple your performance, that's why you need Desecrate - to spawn corpses, and Writhing Jar - to kill something and enable the summoning mechanic. There are two Offering Spells for you to choose from - Flesh or Spirit, depending on your preferences. the Guard Spell of your choice should be Molten Shell since it scales with the Armour which the character has a lot. Holy Relic is a utility Minion that can benefit us, it doesn't die often so a popular choice is to link it with Cast When Stunned.
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PROS |
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CONS |
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As with all Chaos Inoculation build, you start with Life to later switch to ES. The point at which you switch cannot be pinpointed to a specific level, you need to have a reasonable amount of ES on your gear already and some Skill Points along with enough Refund Points or Orb of Regret. Your leveling Skill tree can vary a lot from the final one. Before act 2 in which you can get Herald of Purity Skill use a generic Minion Skill like Raise Zombies or Summon Skeletons. Summon Holy Relic is a Skill you can get early on, use it with an Attack like Smite, Shield Charge. Herald of Purity is recommended over Herald of Agony for leveling.
Suggested leveling Gem setups:
Herald of Purity setup | |
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Herald of Purity - be aware of your Mana pool - supporting this Skill with more Gems will increase the amount of Mana it Reserves. |
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Minion Damage Support - increases the Damage of all linked Minion Spells |
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Melee Physical Damage Support - one of the best Support Gems for Sentinels of Purity which boosts their Physical/Melee DPS |
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Multistrike Support - makes Attacks of your Sentinels to repeat additional times with increased Damage and speed |
Flame Dash setup | |
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Flame Dash - use Flame Dash to move around and pass through rivers and cliffs |
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Faster Casting Support - increases your mobility with Flame Dash |
Holy Relic setup | |
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Summon Holy Relic - it heals you and your minions as you attack, for example with Smite or later with Cyclone |
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Increased Area of Effect Support - increases the radius of your Holy Relic's abilities |
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Feeding Frenzy Support - grants your Holy Relic a chance to gain the Feeding Frenzy buff that grants increased DPS to your other Minions |
Bandits:
Bandits can't offer you any favorable option to the two Skill Points you gain after killing them
Leveling Skill Trees:
32 Points Skill Tree
There are a lot of Beneficial Notables near your starting location. Take Sanctity and from there go for Gravepact, Amplify, and Resolute Technique Keystone so that your this will always land.
70 Points Skill Tree
Form a path to Chaos Inoculation but don't take it yet. Grab the Maximum Life and Mana nodes that are close. At the end of the last act, you'll be able to respec 20 points for free, and by following this tree that should be barely enough.
Recommended leveling items:
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Adds 1 to 4 Physical Damage to Attacks +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Damage (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances |
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+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden) |
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Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden) |
Final Skill Tree:
99 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Cluster or Unique Jewels)
122 Points Path of Building (PoB) link
Ascendancy points:
Preferably in that order:
Pantheon:
Major God: Soul of Lunaris 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%
Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%
[DPS] Herald of Agony setup | |
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Herald of Agony - it creates a Minion as you inflict Poisons on enemies, with each Poisoned enemy you get a stack of Virulence which goes up to 40 stacks, The Minion grows stronger the more enemies have you poisoned recently. Use the Divergent version for a higher chance of Poisoning. |
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Minion Damage Support - increases the damage dealt by your minions |
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Vicious Projectiles Support - Projectiles of the Agony Crawler deal much more Damage with lower Projectile speed |
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Pierce Support - projectiles Pierce more targets, if you don't need it - replace with ![]() |
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Empower Support - supports your Herald of Agony |
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Void Manipulation Support - Agony Crawler deal more Chaos Damage, use Awakened version for additional Gem Level |
[DPS] Raise Spiders setup socketed in Arakaali's Fang |
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Melee Splash Support - use it for better AoE of your Spiders |
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Withering Touch Support - increases Spider's damage |
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Unbound Ailments Support - Ailments last much longer, have increased effect, and deal more Damage |
[UTILITY] various gems | |
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Desecrate - creates corpses which are really important during boss fights where you typically lack in corpses such as Shaper's fight |
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Clarity - keep it at a low level or get rid of it completely, you can switch it to ![]() ![]() |
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Flame Dash - your mobility Skill, one of the best ones you can get |
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Molten Shell - a Guard Spell that scales really well with your Armour, which you have a lot in this build |
[UTILITY] Auras setup | |
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Discipline - an Aura that increases your Energy Shield |
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Enlighten - linked Aura Skills reserve less Mana |
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Determination - an Aura that increases your Armour |
[UTILITY] Ball Lightning Setup | |
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Ball Lightning - this is the most efficient Skill to apply a lot of Hits, each Hit will Poison your opponents granting you Virulence |
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Storm Brand - Ball Lightning will be applied via Brand Skill for better efficiency |
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Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - more Projectiles will grant more Hits, which will result in more Virulence |
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Chance to Poison Support - your Projectiles will need to apply Poison on hit, to achieve it use this Gem |
[UTILITY] Frost Shield setup
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Frost Shield - Creates a Frost Shield that protects you and your allies, and grants you Critical Strike Chance; it drains your Energy Shield while Chilling enemies inside of it |
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Cast when Stunned Support - Linked Spells will cast automatically if you happen to get stunned |
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Spirit Offering - Minions receive Chaos and Elemental Resistances, and Extra Physical Damage as Chaos Damage |
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Sniper's Mark - Cursed Enemies are more vulnerable to projectiles, and hitting them grants you Flask Charges |
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An overwhelming majority of your gear will consist of Unique Items. If you need Elemental Resistances you will have to resort to looking for them in Jewels or equip a Crystal Belt instead of the Unique Stygian Vise. Abyss Jewels will perform exceptionally well here since you can socket two of them in your Unique Belt.
Our recommended items will:
Stat priorities on items:
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+(130-160) to maximum Energy Shield +(150-200) to maximum Mana (30-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +(20-30)% to Fire Resistance 20% reduced Reservation Efficiency of Skills 1% increased Armour per 50 Reserved Mana |
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Trigger Level 10 Void Gaze when you use a Skill (150-180)% increased Energy Shield +(50-80) to maximum Mana 50% increased Stun and Block Recovery Gain (5-8)% of Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage |
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Minions deal (15-20)% increased Damage (150-200)% increased Armour and Energy Shield Minions have (40-20)% reduced maximum Life Minions have (15-25)% increased Movement Speed Minions have 50% increased Critical Strike Chance per Maximum Power Charge you have Minions can hear the whispers for 5 seconds after they deal a Critical Strike |
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Helmet enchantments: Herald of Agony enchantments |
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40% increased Global Critical Strike Chance 100% chance to Trigger Level 1 Raise Spiders on Kill (170-200)% increased Physical Damage Adds (8-13) to (20-30) Physical Damage Adds 1 to 59 Chaos Damage 15% chance to Poison on Hit |
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(300-400)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +10% to all Elemental Resistances +5% to maximum Cold Resistance +6% Chance to Block Replenishes Energy Shield by 2% of Armour when you Block (10-20)% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills |
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120% increased Block Recovery Has 3 Sockets All Sockets are White +(5-8)% to Quality of Socketed Support Gems Socketed Support Gems can also Support Skills from your Main Hand (100-150)% increased Armour and Evasion +(3-5)% Chance to Block |
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Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Sockets cannot be modified +1 to Level of Socketed Gems 100% increased Global Defences Item has 6 Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden) |
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(15-20)% Chance to Block Spell Damage +(40-60) to maximum Mana +20% to all Elemental Resistances 20% increased Movement Speed |
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Min. requirements: 30% increased Movement Speed +70 to maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Dexterity Chaos Resistance Armour |
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Min. requirements: Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 25 Slower Projectiles +30 to maximum Energy Shield 80% increased Energy Shield Optional affixes: Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 25 Faster Casting increased Cast Speed Elemental Resistances |
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(100-150)% increased Armour and Evasion +(19-29)% to Chaos Resistance Gain (15-25) Life per Enemy Killed Nearby Enemies Killed by anyone count as being Killed by you instead |
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Has 2 Abyssal Sockets 75% increased Effect of Socketed Jewels |
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Min. requirements: +100% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Energy Shield Armour |
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+(10-16) to all Attributes +(80-100) to all Attributes -4 Physical Damage taken from Attack Hits |
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+(10-16) to all Attributes +(20-30) to Dexterity/Intelligence/Strength (15-20)% increased Evasion Rating +(50-70) to maximum Life Nearby Enemies grant 25% increased Flask Charges Monster gives 25% increased Flask Charges on death (Hidden) <Random Dexterity/Intelligence/Strength aura> Reserves no Mana |
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Recommended Anointments: Charisma |
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<One to three random Synthesis implicit modifiers> +(10-20) to all Attributes Adds (15-20) to (21-30) Chaos Damage +(17-23)% to Chaos Resistance <Two Random Herald of Agony modifiers> |
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Recommended affixes: Maximum Mana Maximum Energy Shield Elemental Resistances Intelligence Armour |
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(30-40)% increased Armour while Bleeding Bleeding you inflict is Reflected to you +1% to Chaos Resistance per Poison on you Poison you inflict is Reflected to you if you have fewer than 100 Poisons on you |
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+(5-10) to all Attributes Minions have +6% to Damage over Time Multiplier per Ghastly Eye Jewel affecting you, up to a maximum of +30% |
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This Jewel's Socket has 25% increased effect per Allocated Passive Skill between it and your Class' starting location <Two random modifiers> |
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(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> |
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Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Cult-Leader 1 Added Passive Skill is Disciples |
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Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Stalwart Commander |
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Instant Recovery (75-65)% reduced Amount Recovered 2 Enemy Writhing Worms escape the Flask when used Writhing Worms are destroyed when Hit (20-10)% reduced Charges used |
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+1500 to Armour +(8-12)% Chance to Block Attack Damage during Flask effect +(4-6)% Chance to Block Spell Damage during Flask effect |
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Other suggested Flasks:
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If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.
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