Carrion Golem
Necromancer Summoner build

Updated for Patch 3.19

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Summon Carrion Golem is the unusual type of Golem in Path of Exile that was introduced in Patch 3.8. They generally don't offer any bonuses to the player like the rest of the Golems but boost other Minions. Carrion Golem uses Leaping Attack, Ground Slam, series of Slashes, and regular Melee Attacks doing mostly Physical Damage. They also gain very high bonus damage for each nearby Minion (up to 50% More damage) so using different Minion types in this build is mandatory. Since all your Minions will be doing Physical Damage, going for Impale is the best way to scale Damage. In the end, this build offers the highest single-target DPS out of all Summoner builds we have played.

Newest Patch 3.19 treated harshly most of the Minions in the game, but for Golems most of those changes were pretty positive. Now, Minions are not as strong in the early game as they used to be in the past, but new, stronger high-tier modifiers on items make up for it when you get the proper gear.  This Patch introduced reworks to many weaker Uniques. One of them is Clayshaper, which used to be okay for leveling, but weak compared to other options in the End Game. Those changes made them the best Weapon for this kind of build. Insanely high flat Physical Damage for Golem's attack paired with increasing maximum Golem limit makes the early steps of progress very easy.  

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds at Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

This is a very swift Summoner build that offers amazing mobility and the highest single target DPS out of all Golem Minions. You don't have to do pretty much anything except for running around Maps and recalling your Minions with Convocation, which makes this build more relaxing but less engaging, which is not best suited for everyone. After you summon your Minions you won't have many things to do except for moving around and avoiding taking damage. Most of the skills will be triggered automatically or will be Passive. If you prefer, you can cast your Curse manually to have extra Curse Effectiveness for your wicked band of Undead monsters.

This video was recorded on a level 94 Necromancer in Standard dual-wielding Clayshapers and using a set of random/budget Rare Items.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling up a summoner character is very easy, however, it may feel a bit slower at first. Minions offer slow but steady progress through the campaign and you can support them with Auras/Curses/marking enemies. Golems are the last type of Minions unlocked in the game - you gain access to them in act 4. Until then, it is best to level up using Summon Raging Spirits and Summon Skeletons. Raised Spectres are not tanky enough to bother with them during leveling, but it is useful to have this gem socketed in just to level it up for later. 

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Summon Raging Spirits  setup
	Summon Raging Spirits - tiny angry devils that swarm every enemy in sight. Mark of the Red Covenant Unique Helmet limits their number to only 5 spirits at once but makes them much stronger
	Minion Damage Support - mandatory Support Gem for any Minion Skill
	Combustion Support - gives more Fire damage and lowers enemy Fire Resistance when Spirits land an Ignite on them
	Elemental Damage with Attack Support - recent changes made Spirits convert 100% of Physical Damage to Elemental

Summon Skeletons  setup
	Summon Skeleton - unlocked at level 12, Skeletons will serve you as an additional Damage source for tougher enemies. Skeletons are pretty slow, so it's best to cast them directly on top of your opponents
	Minion Damage Support - again, this is the best Support Gem for any type of Minions that are supposed to deal Damage
	Melee Physical Damage Support - opposite to Raging Spirits, Skeletons deal mostly Physical Damage with no conversion at all.
	Predator Support - marking enemies makes Skeleton target them and deal More Damage

Summon Carrion Golem setup
	Summon Carrion Golem - obviously, you want to use Carrion Golems as soon as possible. They will still deal a ton of damage on lower levels, and buff your other Minions too
	Minion Damage Support - it increases both Physical and Elemental Damage of our Minions
	Melee Physical Damage Support - grants a high bonus to Melee Physical DPS
	Multistrike Support - one of the best Support Gems for Carrion Golems to boost their Damage

Utility Gems
	Determination - having Armour makes leveling very easy, even at the cost of not having DPS Aura
	Vulnerability - recommended Curse for this build. It increases Physical Damage Taken by Cursed Enemies
	Convocation - allows you instantly recall all your Minions to your position greatly increasing your progression speed
	Clarity - grants increased Mana Regeneration which is almost always useful on the low levels. Keep it on a low level if you have problems with Mana Reservation

Bandits:

You should kill all the Bandits for two extra Passive Skill Points. You could also consider helping Oak if you feel like you are missing Physical Damage Reduction

Leveling Skill Trees:

34 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Lord of the Dead 2) Heart and Soul 3) Enduring Bond 4) Quick Recovery

68 Points Skill Tree
Priorities 1) Death Attunement 2) Cruel Preparation 3) Golem Commander 4) Purity of Flesh 5) Redemption and Righteous Army 6) Constitution

Recommended leveling items:

Victorio's Flight - the best boots for pretty much the entire leveling phase. They grant a high bonus Movement Speed to you and an insane bonus for your nearby Minions
+15 to Dexterity +15 to Intelligence (100-150)% increased Evasion Rating (10-20)% increased Movement Speed (10-20)% increased Movement Speed when on Low Life Quicksilver Flasks also apply to nearby Allies

Clayshaper - this is our End Game weapon available shortly after acquiring Carrion Golems. The Maximum number of Golems and insane flat Physical Damage added to their attack make it pretty much best-in-slot. You can dual-wield for double the bonuses.
Grants Level 12 Summon Stone Golem Skill Adds (24-30) to (34-40) Physical Damage (8-10)% increased Attack Speed +1 to maximum number of Summoned Golems Golems deal (96-120) to (132-160) Added Attack Physical Damage
Tabula Rasa - one of the best leveling items in the game, you can either run 1 Six-link setup or 2 Five-links depending on your preferences
Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

Goldrim - one of the best leveling Helmets in Path of Exile which grants very high All Elemental Resistances
+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers
Mark of the Red Covenant - makes Raging Spirit deal massive Damage and boost their clear capability by adding Splash to their Attacks,  and you don't need to cast them as often
+(30-50) to maximum Energy Shield Summoned Raging Spirits deal 175-250% increased Damage 75% reduced Maximum number of Summoned Raging Spirits Summoned Raging Spirits' Hits always Ignite Summoned Raging Spirits' Melee Strikes deal Fire-only Splash Damage to Surrounding Targets

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

98 Points Final Skill Tree (Cluster Jewels not included)
121 Points Path of Building(PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Mindless Aggression
2. Commander of Darkness
3. Bone Barrier
4. Plaguebringer

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Solaris 6% additional Physical Damage Reduction while there is only one nearby Enemy 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Summon Carrion Golem setup
	Summon Carrion Golem - Carrion Golems are your main source of DPS. You should have at least 6 of them active if you follow this build. They will deal massive Physical Damage and amazing clear speed thanks to their Aggressive behavior
	Minion Damage Support - greatly increases the damage of supported Minions
	Melee Physical Damage Support - more Melee Physical Damage since that's the main type of Damage your Minions are dealing
	Multistrike Support - increases the damage of your Golems by making their Attacks repeat two additional times with increased Speed
	Brutality Support - massively increases Physical Damage dealt by Golems at a cost of not dealing Elemental or Chaos Damage
	Impale Support - the best way to increase purely Physical Damage is to invest in Impale mechanics

[UTILITY] Raise Zombie setup
	Raise Zombie - Zombies act as Meat Shields and tank the incoming damage. They also increase your Carrion Golem's DPS by being summoned
	Minion Life Support - Zombies have more Life so that they won't die too easily
	Fortify Support - grants high bonus Melee Damage and a strong defensive buff, which greatly increases the survivability of your Zombies
	Feeding Frenzy Support - your Zombies will have a chance to grant you the Feeding Frenzy buff, which increases the speed of all your summoned Minions

[UTILITY] Raise Spectre and Animate Guardian setup
	Raise Spectre - Spectres in this build are used solely as Support Minions. We recommend getting Carnages Chieftain from Old Fields in Act 2 which will generate Frenzy Charges for all your other Minions
	Meat Shield Support - changes the Spectre's behavior to defensive and reduces all damage taken by them. Basically will help you keep them alive during all encounters, without having to resummon them
	Animate Guardian - You can use it mainly to grant your Minions Culling Strike and other such enhancements via Unique Items. Be wary, when it dies the items are gone permanently. Recommended items: Kingmaker - two-handed weapon granting your Allies Culling Strike and a small bonus to Item Rarity Southbound - a pair of gloves that increases maximum Life Mask of the Stitched Demon - an expensive helmet that ensures near immortality for the Guardian given that his Body Armour grants him Energy Shield based on his Maximum Life Rare Boots - Resistances and Movement Speed Rare Body Armour - for resistances, or Belly of The Beast for up to40% increased Maximum Life
	Minion Life Support - increases Life of supported Minions

[UTILITY] Convocation
	Convocation - instantly recalls your Minions to your location and grants them high Life Regeneration per second

[UTILITY] Auras
	Pride - the best Aura for this build, since your Minions will deal only Physical Damage
	Determination - increases your Armour significantly
	Dread Banner - grants you and your Minions greater Chance to Imaple and increased Impale effectiveness while reducing Accuracy for the Enemies nearby

[UTILITY] Flesh Offering/Desecrate setup
	Cyclone -  we recommend using Cyclone to cast Desecrate and your Offering Spell via Cast while Channelling Support Gem, as it just makes this entire setup so much smoother to play.
	Cast while Channelling Support - when you are spinning with your Cyclone, you  will automatically trigger Desecrate and Flesh Offering
	Desecrate - creates Corpses which can be sacrificed by Flesh Offering to grant your Minions powerful bonuses. You can also use it to create corpses for Raise Zombie and Raise Spectre Spells
	Flesh Offering - the best DPS-wise Offering Spell you can use. It increases the speed of all your Minions

[UTILITY] Dash
	Dash - the recommended movement Spell for this build, you can also use Flame Dash or Frostblink if it suits you better

[CURSE] Vulnerability
	Vulnerability - an ideal Curse for this build as it increases Physical Damage Taken by monsters. Cast yourself to gain additional Curse Effectiveness

5. Gear Setup

Below you will find all the recommended gear for this build. Our setup consists mainly of Rare equipment except for the Weapons and Body Armour, with the latter being completely optional. However, you will also need several Primordial Jewels to add up two extra Golems, and it's recommended to at least one Large Cluster Jewel and multiple Medium Cluster Jewel to increase your Minions Life/Life Regen and give them a high chance to deal double damage when on Full Life. Either way, it should be rather easy to complete the build for low and mid-tier mapping with random Rare replacements.

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - the best in the slot. Getting +2 levels for our Golems is huge Damage upgrade, and adds some Life for supportive Minions

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life +1 to Level of all Minion Skill Gems 50% total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: +2 to Level of all Minion Skill Gems Armour Rating Strength

Helmet enchantment: ​​​​​​​Summoned Carrion Golems deal 40% increased Damage

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - maximum Life and Resistances are enough to get this build working.

Min. requirements: 100 maximum Life 70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: You can apply an additional Curse

(Body Armour) Skin of the Lords - DPS-oriented Armour, grants +2 levels for Carrion Golems and all Support Gems and a 100% increase to our Armour Rating. You need Corrupted Gems, adequate colours of Sockets  and a Keystone that doesn't brick build

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Sockets cannot be modified +2 to Level of Socketed Gems 100% increased Global Defences You can only Socket Corrupted Gems in this item Item has 6 Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden) <Random Keystone>

(Body Armour) Brass dome- if you prefer some survival over DMG, this is the perfect Armour. Since we use 3 Red Support Gems, it's not hard to fit in our setup. Make sure to buy one with 5% maximum Resistances

(350-400)% increased Armour +(1-5)% to all maximum Elemental Resistances Strength provides no bonus to Maximum Life Take no Extra Damage from Critical Strikes

(Weapon) Clayshaper - this is the best Item we can use to increase DPS. It increases the maximum number of Golems you can have summoned at the same time and grants them big amount of flat Physical Damage

Grants Level 12 Summon Stone Golem Skill Adds (24-30) to (34-40) Physical Damage (8-10)% increased Attack Speed +1 to maximum number of Summoned Golems Golems deal (96-120) to (132-160) Added Attack Physical Damage

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - aim for high Life, Attributes and Elemental Resistances. You can also craft an increased Minion Damage modifier on those

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 80% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Minion Damage Armour Rating

(Belt) Rare Belt - again,  aim for high defensive bonuses. Stygian Belt is best base but can be expensive

Min. requirements: 90 maximum Life 90% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Armour Rating Chaos Resistance

(Belt)Darkness Enthroned - you need very good Abyss Jewels, to make proper use of this belt, it can provide more Damage than Rare one

Has 1 Abyssal Socket Has 1 Abyssal Socket 75% increased Effect of Socketed Abyss Jewels

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - this piece should grant very high bonus Attributes so that you can easily use all the required Gems.

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 50 Dexterity 50 Strength Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Non-channelling Skills have -# to Total Mana Cost

Recommended Anointments: Ravenous Horde Enduring Bond Grave Intentions (good for Animated Guardian)

(Ring) Rare Rings - aim to get high Life and defensive stats. New Bone Ring provides Elemental Resistances for Minions and can roll related Minion modifiers.

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 65% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Minions deal #% increased Damage Minions have #% increased Movement Speed Minions have #% increased Attack and Cast Speed

(Boots) Rare Boots - getting high defensive stats should be your priority here. You should also aim for high Movement Speed bonus

Min. requirements: 75 maximum Life 30% Movement Speed 60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Cannot be Frozen Socketed Gems are Supported by level # Fortify

Boot enchantment: Regenerate 2% of Life and Mana per second if you were Hit Recently

(Jewel) The Anima Stone - mandatory Jewel used in this build. It allows you to summon two additional Golems in total.

Can Summon up to 1 additional Golem at a time If you have 3 Primordial Jewels, can Summon up to 1 additional Golem at a time

(Jewel) Primordial Might - making your Golems more aggressive greatly increasing their targeting and clear speed. You need to use one Primordial Might in this build

(25-30)% increased Damage if you Summoned a Golem in the past 8 seconds Golems Summoned in the past 8 seconds deal (35-45)% increased Damage Golems have (18-22)% increased Maximum Life Your Golems are aggressive Primordial

(Jewel) Primordial Harmony - these Jewels grant the highest DPS reducing the cooldowns of your Golem's most powerful abilities.

Golem Skills have (20-30)% increased Cooldown Recovery Speed Golems have (10-15)% increased Cooldown Recovery Speed (16-20)% increased Golem Damage for each Type of Golem you have Summoned Golems regenerate 2% of their Maximum Life per second Primordial

(Jewel) Primordial Eminence - also a great Primordial Jewel, try to aim for max Attack Speed roll

Golems have (16-20)% increased Attack and Cast Speed 30% increased Effect of Buffs granted by your Golems Golems have +(800-1000) to Armour Primordial

(Jewel) Rare Abyss Jewels - adding flat Damage is less efficient than increasing the existing one. On top of that, look for Life and Elemental Resistances

Recommended affixes: maximum Life Minions deal 20% increased Damage if you've used a Minion Skill Recently

(Jewel) Fortress Covenant - grants high bonus Minion Damage and extra block chance. It's great to pick it up and socket it inside one of your Cluster Sockets, as then the negative effect is ignored

Minions deal (35-45)% increased Damage Minions have +(10-12)% Chance to Block Attack Damage Minions have +(10-12)% Chance to Block Spell Damage Notable Passive Skills in Radius are Transformed to instead grant: Minions take 20% increased Damage

(Jewel) Quickening Covenant - just like the above, though this time it grants a bit different spectrum of bonuses

Minions have (12-16)% increased Attack Speed Minions have (12-16)% increased Cast Speed Minions have (20-24)% chance to Suppress Spell Hits Notable Passive Skills in Radius are Transformed to instead grant: Minions have 25% reduced Movement Speed

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - you should get at least one Large Cluster Jewel. You are primarily looking for Feasting Fiends to boost your Minions survivability and  Rotten Claws for a small chance to Impale. Third Notable is usually skipped since is not skill point cost-effective

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Feasting Fiends 1 Added Passive Skill is Rotten Claws

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - you can use up to 4 Medium Cluster Jewels in this build depending on your level. You can simply stack Renewal and give your Minions some extra defenses via Dread March  Passive

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Renewal 1 Added Passive Skill is Dread March

(Jewel) Small Cluster Jewel - if you have free Passive Points (and a Socket) for Small Cluster Jewel pick one with Fettle for the highest bonus Life

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Fettle

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - a great Utility Flask which boosts your defenses significantly

+1500 to Armour +(8-12)% Chance to Block Attack Damage during Flask effect +(4-6)% Chance to Block Spell Damage during Flask effect

Other suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Bleed removal Basalt Flask with random ailment removal Quartz Flask with random ailment removal Quicksilver Flask with increased Movement Speed

If you have tried our Carrion Golem Necromancer build, make sure to let us know how it worked out for you. We will also appreciate your feedback that can be posted in the comments below. With your help, we will be able to improve our content.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.