Updated for Patch 3.18
The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo
Guide notes |
May 26, 2021 -Build created February 05, 2022 -Updated for Patch 3.17 May 20, 2022 -Updated for Patch 3.18 |
Build overview | |||
Tags: [MINION] [ELEMENTAL] [LIFE] [STARTER] | |||
Budget: Defenses: |
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Boss DPS: AoE: |
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Summon Skeletons is a very popular Minion Skill Gem due to how versatile it is. For example, Skeletons can be turned into Skeleton Mages by putting Dead Reckoning Unique Cobalt Jewel in the right spot on your Skill Tree - and this is the gist of this guide. You'll be able to have up to 15 Skeleton Mages, but capable of summoning up to ten or eleven with the non-Vaal version of this Skill Gem. The difference between the default Skeleton Warriors and Mages is that Mages shoot projectiles at the enemies from a distance. Their Projectiles are of three types - Fire, Cold, and Lightning and they are randomly assigned, so you won't have much control over which of the Skeleton Mage you'll spawn, and what damage type he will be dealing.
It is mandatory to use the Vaal version of Summon Skeletons, the minions summoned by this gem won't be all Skeleton Mages but the sheer amount of them will overwhelm bosses. Combined with Life from Death Notable from Cluster Jewel it will also keep your other Skeletons alive as the ones in the front line die. The obvious advantage of Skeleton Mages is that they are ranged, not melee. It makes them more responsive to enemies, for they don't need to approach them. It's a standard Necromancer build, you pick some Minion nodes from a Skill Tree and you try to increase their life and damage. Your main layer of defense will be your Life pool and Block Chance; it's important to look for Maximum Life on your Skill Tree as well as Gear. Other Minions that will be used are Zombies, Spectres, and Skitterbots.
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With a considerable defense in the form of a meat shield formed by your Specters and Zombies, you should be quite untouchable. Use Flame Dash for dodging and have a Guard Spell - Immortal Call to be cast automatically by linking it with Cast When Damage Taken. Your Maximum Life should be at least 5k. Roam the Maps by spawning Skeletons ahead of you. Zombies will attack opponents that will appear on your screen tearing any enemy that's able to come too close to you. For Boss fights and on encounters such as Breach or Legion, use Vaal Summon Skeletons. It quadruples the number of skeletons you normally have hurting enemies as well as increasing your performance.
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PROS |
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CONS |
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You can comfortably complete the acts using your Summon Skeletons, but the best result wields Absolution. It's a Spell that summons a special Skeleton if you kill someone with it. You have to be level 12 to equip it, before that you can use any other Spell. You'll invest in Minion-related nodes in your tree from the start. Use Spirit Offering to increase Minions' Damage. Get the Dead Reckoning Jewel as soon as you can so you'll have more time to get used to this alternate playstyle and start using it after quipping Fleshcrafter - no sooner than level 59. There are Unique Items that will help you during the leveling process, most of them are listed below. In general, you shouldn't have any problems with leveling, it is not an elaborate build that requires switching skills or respeccing points.
Suggested leveling Gem setups:
Absolution setup | |
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Absolution - A Spell that creates Minions on Kill and refreshes their duration if you've reached the maximum number of them. |
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Onslaught Support - it grants Onslaught to you and your Minions |
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Added Lightning Damage Support - adds Lightning Damage to Spell |
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Controlled Destruction Support - more Spell Damage, less Area of Effect |
Summon Skeletons setup | |
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Summon Skeletons - it's not only your main skill in the later stages of the game, but it's also great for leveling |
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Minion Life Support - The type of damage your Skeleton Mages are dealing is assigned with a Projectile tag, use this Gem so they can pierce enemies |
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Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support - Skeleton Mages will shoot more Projectiles |
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Minion Damage Support - your Skeletons will deal more damage |
Aura setup | |
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Zealotry - offensive aura for more Spell damage for your Minions |
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Generosity Support - your Minions need that buff much more than you do |
various Gems | |
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Flame Dash - use to move faster and to avoid attacks |
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Raise Spectre - Spectres can be useful as they grant multiple various bonuses |
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Raise Zombie - use Zombies for more Damage, link them with Feeding Frenzy |
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Determination - You will need some additional Armour to survive |
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Herald of Purity - a buff that Summons Minions and grants all of you other ones increased Physical Damage and Maximum Life |
Bandits:
Kill all three Bandits for two additional Skill Points
Leveling Skill Trees:
35 Points Skill Tree
Take Lord of The Dead and Enduring Bond. Go for Discipline and Training and the large Minion Cluster on the left.
70 Points Skill Tree
seek more Maximum Life, Elemental Damage, Mana Reservation Efficiency, and Minion Damage. allocate Masteries.
Recommended leveling items:
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(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +25% to Cold Resistance Minions have (10-15)% increased maximum Life Minions have (10-15)% increased Movement Speed Minions deal (5-9) to (11-15) additional Cold Damage (15-10)% reduced Mana Cost of Minion Skills |
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(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +100 to maximum Mana (16-24)% increased maximum Mana (80-100)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate Items and Gems have 25% reduced Attribute Requirements |
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+(20-30) to maximum Mana +(25-30) to maximum Mana (45-65)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 2% increased Experience gain 2% increased Intelligence for each Unique Item Equipped 3% additional chance for Slain monsters to drop Scrolls of Wisdom |
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(60-80)% increased Armour and Evasion +(50-70) to maximum Life +(50-70) to maximum Mana +(10-20)% to all Elemental Resistances Minions have +10% Chance to Block Attack Damage Minions have +(300-350) to Armour Minions Regenerate 2% of Life per second |
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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:
90 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Cluster Jewels)
120 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 Yugul: 50% chance to Reflect Hexes; You and your Minions take 50% reduced Reflected Damage
[DPS] Summon Skeletons setup | |
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Summon Skeletons - You'll be constantly summoning Skeleton Mages. Use Support Gems for Minion Damage, Spells, and Projectile enchantments. |
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Minion Damage Support - The Best Support Gem to increase Minion Damage |
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Spell Echo Support - with one cast it will be possible to summon 8 Skeletons |
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Elemental Focus Support - Elemental Focus for more Elemental Damage of your Minions. You are going to Use Skitterbots to inflict Elemental Ailments upon enemies |
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Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - greatly improves clear speed |
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Pierce Support - Projectiles will pierce enemies |
[UTILITY] Raise Zombie setup | |
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Raise Zombie - Zombies will act as a protection against enemies that will try to approach you |
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Minion Life Support - makes the Zombies more reliable and durable |
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Feeding Frenzy Support - it makes you Zombies aggressive - they'll seek enemies to kill. It also gives you a small buff that empowers your Minions |
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Minion Damage Support - Use it to increase damage dealt by Zombies |
[UTILITY] Raise Spectre setup | |
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Raise Spectre - Find yourself a Spectre that suits you. Thanks to Meat Shield Support, your Spectres will stay close to you so I recommend picking ones with Proximity Shield from act 3 |
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Meat Shield Support - makes your Spectres act defensively, making them sturdier, faster, and able to Taunt enemies |
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Elemental Army Support - Minions lower the enemy Elemental Resistance, applying Exposure on Hit, it also raises Elemental Resistance of the Spectres |
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Lifetap Support - your skill will cost Life instead of Mana. Use ![]() |
[MOBILITY] Flame Dash and Immortal Call setup | |
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Flame Dash - recommended mobility spell, it's instant and you can use it three times in a rapid succession |
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Immortal Call - Guard Spell that offers a huge reduction to the damage you take for a very short time, keep it at level 3 |
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Cast When Damage Taken - keep it at level 1, so it will trigger your Immortal Call after you take only 528 damage |
[UTILITY] Bone offering, Desecrate, and Sniper's Mark setup (in "Trigger" Wand) |
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Bone Offering - combined with Mistress of Sacrifice this Offering increases Block Chance for Spells and Attacks for you and your Minions |
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Desecrate - Summons corpses. It's useful in long boss fights where you lack dead bodies to raise Zombies and use Flesh Offering |
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Sniper's Mark - Curses enemy with Sniper's Mark - Projectiles are more potent against Cursed enemies |
[UTILITY] Aura and Minion setup | |
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Summon Skitterbots - Use Skitterbots to inflict Elemental Ailments upon enemies - Chill and Shock |
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Zealotry - Huge bonus to your Minion's Spell Damage and Spell Critical Strike Chance |
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Generosity Support - Your Zealotry Aura will affect only your Minions with increased effectiveness, but you will gain nothing from it |
[UTILITY] Defiance Banner setup | |
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Defiance Banner - this Banner will increase your Armour and Evasion Rating while reducing critical strike chance for nearby enemies |
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Determination - you can use it for more and increased Armour |
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Your Weapon, Shield, Helmet, and Jewellery will consist of Rare Items. You'll need to seek as much Life, Elemental Resistances, Minion Damage, and Attributes as you can. Sniper's Mark and Projectile Support Gems will require a decent investment in Dexterity and Your Convoking Want will require a lot of Intelligence to wield. Mandatory Uniques are not that expensive, the more significant portion of your budget will go towards Rare gear, especially Wand and Helmet.
Our recommended items will:
Stat priorities on items:
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Min. requirements: |
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Helmet enchantments: Skeletons deal 40% increased Damage Raised Zombies deal 40% increased Damage |
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Min. requirements: +1 to Level of all Minion Skill Gems Minions deal 50% increased Damage Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Use a Skill, with a 8 second Cooldown (crafted) Optional affixes: +1 to Level of all Spell Skill Gems Minions have 15% increased Attack Speed Minions have 15% increased Cast Speed |
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Min. requirements: +100 to maximum Life +100% to Elemental Resistances Recover 5% of Life when you Block Optional affixes: Chance to Block #% increased maximum Life increased Effect of your Curses additional Physical Damage Reduction |
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(100-150)% increased Energy Shield Minions Convert 2% of their Maximum Life to Maximum Energy Shield per 1% Chaos Resistance they have Chaos Damage does not bypass Minions' Energy Shield Minions have (50-100)% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge While Minions have Energy Shield, their Hits Ignore Monster Elemental Resistances |
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Adds 1 to 80 Chaos Damage to Attacks +(180-220) to Armour +(9-12)% to Chaos Resistance 20% increased Movement Speed +1 to maximum number of Skeletons (15-18)% increased Strength |
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(100-150)% increased Armour and Evasion +(30-50) to maximum Mana +(10-16)% to all Elemental Resistances (5-10)% increased Attack and Cast Speed Create a Blighted Spore when your Skills or Minions Kill a Rare Monster |
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Min. requirements: +70 to Maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: #% increased maximum Life Minions have #% increased maximum Life Chaos Resistance |
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Min. requirements: +70 to Maximum Life +40% to Elemental Resistances Attributes +1 to Maximum Number of Skeletons Optional affixes: +1 to Level of all Intelligence Skill Gems Minions have 28% increased Movement Speed Chaos Resistance |
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+(10-16) to all Attributes (5-10)% increased Experience Gain of Gems (10-20)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills +1 to Level of all Skill Gems +(20-30)% to Quality of all Skill Gems |
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Recommended Anointments: Ravenous Horde Gravepact Spiritual Command |
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Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life +50 to Dexterity and intelligence +30% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: +#% to Chaos Resistance Minions have #% increased Movement Speed Minions deal #% increased Damage |
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Min. requirements: 7% increased Maximum Life Optional affixes: Minions deal 15% increased Damage Elemental Resistances Minion's Attack and Cast Speed Attributes |
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Min. requirements: +30 to Maximum Life Minions deal #% increased Damage if you've used a Minion Skill Recently Optional affixes: Attributes Elemental Resistances |
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Minions have +(7-10)% to all Elemental Resistances With at least 40 Intelligence in Radius, Summon Skeletons can Summon up to 15 Skeleton Mages |
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Commissioned (2000-160000) coins to commemorate (Cadiro-Caspiro-Victario) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Eternal Empire Historic |
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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 |
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Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Renewal 1 Added Passive Skill is Call to the Slaughter 1 Added Passive Skill is Raze and Pillage |
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Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Dread March 1 Added Passive Skill is Life from Death 1 Added Passive Skill is Renewal |
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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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40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (30-15)% reduced Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground 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.
Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.