Summon Holy Relic of Conviction
Necromancer Build

Updated for Patch 3.25

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The Summon Holy Relic of Conviction is the newest addition to the Summoner Archetype. It is an upgraded version of the regular Holy Relic, focused more on the offence. The biggest change is that the Relic will release its Holy Nova around the Enemy you Hit, which is a massive buff to the Clear Speed. The Summoned Relics will no longer Heal you or your Minions, but they have lowered Cooldown on their main Ability and you can summon two of them by default. Thanks to the very common Geofri's Legacy Unique Helmet you will be able to summon 1 additional Relic, for a total of 3. The Relics release the Holy Nova Spell only if you Hit the enemy, so you don't need to scale their Cast Speed.

The best way to Trigger the Holy Nova is by using the Lancing Steel of Spraying. You will also be automatically Triggering Bone Offering, Guard Spell, and both Curses. The Bone Offering is used to boost your defence, as with the Necromancer Ascendency it will apply its bonuses to you at a reduced effectiveness. It will also improve the survivability of your Animate Guardian and Spectres, which are indispensable Minions for any Necromancer.

In terms of defences, you will have around 4 to 6k of Maximum Life, Armour, capped Chance to Block Spells and Attacks, constant Life Leech from your Minions, and a bit of Life Regeneration with good dear pieces. The other Minions you should be using are Animated Guardian, some kind of defensive Golem, and a Spectre granting your Minions a utility Buff. The build is rather cheap, it only requires some Unique Items, and the rare ones have very few stats that would actually benefit your Minions. 

For the 3.25 update, we've made it a Posion build rather than an on-Hit Physical Damage one, and instead of Cyclone, we're now using Lancing Steel of Spraying. This changed the build substantially.

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

1. Gameplay

It is a very relaxing Summoner, you will use Lancing Steel of Spraying to trigger Holy Nova. Your Relics, Spectres, Animated Guardian, and Golems will roam around you performing their tasks. All other Utility Spells are triggered on Hit or via Weapon's mod. Your passive Skills are Determination and Tempest Shield. For your Minions, you should also have Malevolence. If your Mana Cost is too high, use Clarity.

Full gameplay video:

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

The Holy Relic is rather weak in the early progression. We recommend levelling up using other Minions, such as Raging Spirits or Skeletons. You can find more tips in our Witch Leveling Guide using Minions.

Bandits:

Kill all three Bandits for two additional Skill Points

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

101 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Cluster Jewels)
123 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Mindless Aggression
2. Bone Barrier
3. Mistress of Sacrifice
4. Unnatural Strength

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of the Brine King: You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor God: Soul of Shakari: 50% less Duration of Poisons on You; 5% reduced Chaos Damage taken

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Summon Holy Relic setup socketed in green sockets of Dialla's Malefaction
	Summon Holy Relic of Conviction - Holy Relics cast a Nova Spell that deals Physical Damage each time you Hit an enemy, it has a low Cooldown that can be reduced by the Quality of this Gem.
	Minion Damage Support - Minions simply deal more Damage.
	Empower Support - The Gem level of Holy Relics is important, use Empower to increase it. It's the Gem that you should put in a red, rather than green, socket.
	Enhance Support - Quality increased Cooldown Recovery Rate for the Holy Relics' Spells. it. It's the Gem that you should put in a red, rather than green, socket.
	Unbound Ailments Support - More Poison Damage and increased Poison Duration.
	Void Manipulation Support - More Chaos Damage, and inability to deal Elemental Damage.

[UTILITY] Minions setup
	Animate Guardian - You can equip the Guardian with various Unique Items that have a unique effect on other allies.
	Feeding Frenzy Support - Improves all your Minions with Damage and Movement Speed.
	Raise Spectre - You can host two or three Spectres. Pale Seraphim is a good choice. A spectre to Shock is also a good idea - try Syndicate Silencer or Senior Heretech. Ancient Suffering has a +1 Curse limit and casts Temporal Chains so it's great if you don't want to use Asenath's Gentle Touch. Perfect Serpent Warrior inflicts WIthered on Hit if you can't reach 15 stacks with Lancing Steel.
	Minion Life Support - Linked Minions have increased their Maximum Life.

[UTILITY] Lancing Steel setup
	Lancing Steel of Spraying - It's the Attack that will trigger the Holy Nova of your Relics. It's the best Skill for this purpose, better than Cyclone on account of its range.
	Withering Touch Support - 25% Chance to apply Withered on Hit, which lasts 2 seconds.
	Returning Projectiles Support - Returning Projectiles vastly increase the Hit Rate of the Skill, which results in more damage, more Life Recovery, and more Withered stacks.
	Life Gain on Hit Support - Grants Life on Hit, one of your three main sources of Life Recovery

[UTILITY] Trigger setup socketed in the weapon with an auto-trigger
	Molten Shell - A protective shield to reduce a portion of incoming Hit Damage.
	Desecrate - Creates Corpses which you can use to cast Offering.
	Bone Offering - Attack and Spell Block Chance for you and your Minions.

[UTILITY] Reservation setup might be socketed in a Helmet or Shield with local Reservation Efficiency
	Determination - A mandatory defensive Aura grants you an increased and additional Armour Rating.
	Tempest Shield - It will provide you with the necessary Spell Block Chance and Shock immunity.

[UTILITY] Malevolence setup might be socketed in a Helmet with local Reservation Efficiency
	Malevolence - Use it only for More Damage over Time.
	Generosity Support - Maleveolence affects your Minions only. You don't need it yourself.

[MOBILITY] Shield Charge setup
	Shield Charge - Use it to move much faster, as long as it's a straight line.
	Faster Attacks Support - Increases Movement Speed for Shiceld Charge.

[UTILITY] Golem
	Summon Stone Golem - A helpful Minion that greatly increases your Life Regeneration. You can also use the Transfigured Stone Golem of Safeguarding to reduce the Damage you take from Melee Hits, or Chaos Golem to take reduced Physical Hit Damage if that's a big issue.

[UTILITY] Curses
	Temporal Chains - Poison expires slower, and the enemy is more sluggish as well. Here, we source it from Asenath's Gentle Touch, not a Skill Gem.
	Despair - Reduces Chaos Resistance. We have it as a Ring affix, meaning it's much weaker and won't benefit from global Skill Gem Quality, but that's a price we're willing to pay for convenience, no Mana Cost, and a Gem Socket. You can, of course, use a Skill Gem.

6. Gear Setup

You will only need Life, Armour, Resistances, and Minion Damage. You have to use a Sword - that's the requirement of Lancing Steel of Spraying. A Mandatory Unique Item is Geofri's Crest, it's a Helmet specifically designed to summon more Holy Relics. You should also use other Unqiues that we've listed with no Rare counterpart, they're just the best-in-slot. You will need a bit of Attack Speed to match the Cooldown of your Relic's Nova, but not a lot of it is needed. Thanks to the Spiritual Command you can source your Attack Speed via bonuses to your Minions. You need no Attributes at all thanks to the Supreme Ostentation from Elegant Hubris. Tattoo your whole Skill Tree with something that's useful, like increased Armour instead of Strength and Reduced Effect of Curses on you instead of Intelligence. Your Minions need 100% Poison Chance which is gained from multiple Ghastly Abyss Jewels. Your Minions need no Cast Speed or Attack Speed, they are bound by their Cooldown and your Hit Rate. For extra durability invest in Armour, Life Regeneration (to offset DoTs when there's nothing to Hit), extra Maximum Elemental Resistances, and reduced Physical Damage taken. It should be easy to gain high Chaos Resistance.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Geofri's Crest - A mandatory Helmet, it increases the limit of your Relics by 1. It also provides plenty of Elemental Resistance. It is a common Unique, you should look for a Corrupted Implicit that reduces the Mana Reservation of Socketed Aura Gems.

(120-150)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +(20-30)% to Fire Resistance +(20-30)% to Cold Resistance +(20-30)% to Lightning Resistance +(20-30)% to Chaos Resistance +1 to maximum number of Summoned Holy Relics

(Weapon) Rare Sword - use a Sword with high base Attack Speed, since that's the only inherent mod that matters. Use an Essence to craft Minion Damage, and, on the bench, craft two mods - to make your Hits unavoidable, and to trigger socketed here Spells every 8 seconds.

Min. requirements: Hits can't be Evaded Trigger a socketed Spell when you use a Skill, with a 8 second Cooldown Minions deal 80% increased Damage Optional affixes: Increased Attack Speed

(Off-hand) Rare Shield - Pure-ES Shield with Gem Level to all Minion Skill Gems, Minion Damage, and Maximum Life is what you're looking for. Maximum Elemental Resistances, Shaper's Reservation Efficiency, and Life Regeneration may be good.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life +1 to Level of all Minion Skill Gems Minions deal increased Damage Optional affixes: Socketed Gems have 30% increased Reservation Efficiency Elemental Resistances Minions have increased Maximum Life

(Off-hand) Aegis Aurora - We don't have a lot of ES which is the main reason not to use Aegis Aurora. If you somehow do have over 1.5k of ES and a lot of Armour, it's the best choice defensive-wise.

(300-400)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +10% to all Elemental Resistances +5% to maximum Cold Resistance +6% Chance to Block Recover Energy Shield equal to 2% of Armour when you Block (10-20)% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills

(Body Armour) Dialla's Malefaction - As mentioned, the Quality of the Holy Relic is important. Use this Body Armour for another 30% Quality for this Skill Gem. It can be also used to boost your Empower and Enhance Support Gems by 2 levels.

Gems can be Socketed in this Item ignoring Socket Colour Gems Socketed in Red Sockets have +2 to Level Gems Socketed in Green Sockets have +30% to Quality Gems Socketed in Blue Sockets gain 100% increased Experience Has no Attribute Requirements

(Boots) Rare Boots - Use Rare Boots with Life, Movement Speed, and Resistances. You can craft the Freeze Immunity, or seek a rare Delve Prefix for local Gem Levels to Minion Gems (this will let you summon one more Spectre and increase the Maximum Life of them & AG). For the Eldritch mods, we recommend the Golem Buff Effect, Action Speed, and Life Regeneration Rate.

Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life 80% to Elemental and Chaos Resistance 30% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: 100% chance to Avoid being Frozen Life Regeneration +2 to socketed Minion gems

(Gloves) Asenath's Gentle Touch - Used mainly for explosions and Temporal Chains on Hit. It makes them extremely good in most Poison builds including this one.

+(20-30) to Intelligence +(60-80) to maximum Life +(60-80) to maximum Mana Curse Enemies with Temporal Chains on Hit Non-Aura Curses you inflict are not removed from Dying Enemies Enemies near corpses affected by your Curses are Blinded Enemies Killed near corpses affected by your Curses explode, dealing 3% of their Life as Physical Damage

(Belt) Stygian Vise - Here you should aim for simple defensive modifiers such as maximum Life or Resistance. You can also get Flask modifiers to improve your sustain.

Min. requirements: +80 to Maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: % increased maximum Life Flask Charges gained/used Chaos Resistance

(Belt) Darkness Enthroned - it can be expensive, but it is the best source of increases in Minion Damage. You can put your two best Abyss Jewels here to double their effect.

Has 2 Abyssal Sockets (50-100)% increased Effect of Socketed Abyss Jewels

(Abyss Jewel) Rare Jewel - You will use a lot of Abyss Jewels that improve your Minion's Damage and your maximum Life. Other than that, try to include lacking Resistances, or add flat Physical/Chaos Damage for your Minions. You will use 6 to 8 of these Gems.

Min. requirements: +30 to Maximum Life Minions have #% chance to Poison Enemies on Hit (make it 100%) Optional affixes: Minions deal # to # additional Physical Damage Minions deal # to # additional Chaos Damage Resistances

(Amulet) Ashes of the Stars - It's by far the best Amulet, you're Gem Quality-starved. It also grants Gem Level for all Skill Gems.

+(10-16) to all Attributes (5-10)% increased Experience Gain of Gems +1 to Level of all Skill Gems +(20-30)% to Quality of all Skill Gems

Recommended Anointments: Whispers of Doom

(Ring) Rare Ring - Use the Bone Ring to get special Minion modifiers available only on this Base. You should look for maximum Life, bonuses to your Minions, Resistances, and Attributes. Despair on Hit can be found on Hunter's Rings.

Min. requirements: +70 to Maximum Life Minions deal 30% increased Damage +50% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Non-Channelling Skills have -(7-6) to Total Mana Cost (crafted) Curse enemies with Despair on Hit Minions have #% increased maximum Life Minions have +#% to all Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Elegant Hubris - Supreme Ostentation is required. It can be found on Caspiro versions of Elegant Hubris. Transform your Mind over Matter into this Keystone. You should also look for a useful substitute for Arcanist's Dominio since you have to pick it up anyway. Minion Damage, Reservation Efficiency, Eternal Resilience, or Resistance are good candidates.

Commissioned (2000-160000) coins to commemorate (Cadiro-Caspiro-Victario) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Eternal Empire Historic

(Jewel) Forbidden Flesh & Flame - We recommend getting Void Beacon, Bastion of Elements for damage, and Liege of the Primordial for durability.

Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifier on Forbidden Flesh Allocates <Random Ascendancy Notable> if you have the matching modifier on Forbidden Flame

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewels - Don't look for notables, just 12 small passives with increased effect, Maximum Life, and Resistances. You can use one or two of these. Two is probably too much, but it's still the best way to spend Skill Points if you value damage above all.

Recommended affixes: Added Passive Skills have 35% increased Effect Added Passive Skills also grant Maximum Life Added Passive Skills also grant Resisances

Other suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Bleeding Removal Granite Flask with increased Armour Quicksilver Flask with increased Movement Speed Silver Flask with reduced effect of Curses on you Basalt Flask with crafted Life Regeneration

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

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