Unearth
Gemling Legionnaire Build

Updated for Path of Exile 2 Early Access

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The build uses Unearth to summon a horde of temporary Minions. We can scale their damage by the virtue of adding Gem levels to the Skill, which has Physical, Spell, and Minion tags. Gem levels are very easy to accumulate because of that. With the right items and Neurological Implants, it will result in a Gem at level 40 or higher. The next step is to pick Gemling Legionnaire's Advanced Thaumaturgy to unlock additional Quality effects for all Skills. For Unearth, that's up to 50% more (not "increased") Attack Speed. Other Quality Enhancements of that type are also powerful. In addition to that, Legionnaire has access to the Gem Studded passive. We plan to benefit from it fully to receive no Critical Damage, reduce the Cost of all Skills by 30%, and suffer 40% less Movement Penalty while using Skills.

To generate Unearth Minions, we can consume Corpses, which is often ineffective, or, with the help of the Sacrifice buff, consume our own Reviving Minions. To have as many of these, the build requires Spirit to be spent on Skeletons and Wolf Pack. Unearth does cost a lot of Mana in this setup, but the Duration of its Minions and the overabundance of the ones we can sacrifice at once more than make up for it. It is expected to run around with over 25 Bone Constructs at all times. In the meantime, the character can cast Flame Wall to summon Raging Spirits, which are also a type of temporary Minions that benefit heavily from Advanced Thaumaturgy.

The build is rather durable: as mentioned, it ignores Critical Damage bonus, has a huge life pool thanks to multiple rare items, picks up increases to Evasion and Armour from the Skill Tree, and sports the Virtuous Barrier. It lacks any meaningful Recovery, except for passive Regeneration and a Life Flask. By far, the best defensive layer here is the impenetrable army of Minions, which stops most attacks.

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1. Gameplay

The build uses Unearth, Flame Wall, and Pain Offering. Pain Offering is only good against stationary bosses. The persistent buffs include Sacrifice, Eternal Rage, Virtuous Barrier, and one Blasphemous Curse. Raging Spirits, different varieties of Skeletons, and Wolf Pack are permanent minion Spells. During mapping, you will use Unearth on your own Minions as they are alive and nearby, and when you have Mana. Otherwise, run around spamming Flame Wall to spawn Raging Spirits. Stay in the Presence of your Allies and the Enemy you want to take down quickly.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

The Minion passives on a Skill Tree are few and far between at the bottom where we start. We could bypass this impediment by socketing Split Personality (Sorceress or Templar) in the first socket, but we will not assume you have leveling gear on hand. Starting with Minions on a fresh league start as a Mercenary just doesn't make much sense. Instead, we recommend selecting Explosive Grenade Gemling Legionnaire or Permafrost Bolts Tactician. They're some of the best starters.

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

Click on the image to open the Passive Tree preview in a new window Or import the build into PoB: Path of Building 2 code

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in this order:

1. Essence of Virtue
2. Advanced Thaumaturgy
3. Gem Studded
4. Implanted Gems: Neurological Implants

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Unearth setup
	Unearth - Creates Melee Minions, the main damage source in this build. You can use the initial spell on your own Reviving Minions to summon them after turning Sacrifice on.
	Heavy Swing
	Feeding Frenzy II
	Brutality III
	Rage III
	Rapid Attacks II

[DPS] Wolf Pack setup
	Wolf Pack - A pack of wolves that Reserves 60 Spirit. They can be sacrificed with Unearth and do damage on their own.
	Amanamu's Tithe
	Romira's Requital
	Catha's Brilliance
	Rage III
	Rapid Attacks II

[UTILITY] Skeletal Warrior setup
	Skeletal Warrior - This skill comes with a Sceptre. We have put some green Support Gems here to benefit from Gem Studded, as the Minions themselves are only good for sacrificial purposes.
	Corrosion
	Poison
	Maim
	Culling Strike

[UTILITY] Sacrifice setup
	Sacrifice - Lets you Unearth Skeletons and Wolves, which you have a lot of. This magnifies your damage, especially in boss rooms or other corpse-less environments.

[UTILITY] Eternal Rage setup
	Eternal Rage - Generates Rage. Rage enhances Minions via the Commanding Rage notable.

[UTILITY] Raging Spirits setup
	Raging Spirits - Raging Spirits that can do some damage on their own. It only Reserves 30 Spirit, which is a very good price for such powerful allies.
	Rage III
	Elemental Armament II
	Prolonged Duration II
	Feeding Frenzy II
	Muster

[UTILITY] Flame Wall setup
	Flame Wall - Used exclusively to summon Raging Spirits. Casting it should not hinder your mobility.
	Efficiency II
	Momentum
	Rapid Casting II
	Mobility
	Blind

[UTILITY] Skeletal Cleric setup
	Skeletal Cleric - Minions that heal and revive your other Minions, so that you can Unearth them again sooner.
	Minion Mastery
	Rapid Casting II
	Slow Potency

[UTILITY] Blasphemy setup
	Blasphemy - For a price of 60 Spirit, you can project a Curse on nearby enemies.
	Temporal Chains - Slows nearby enemies down, which improves survivability. Alternatively, you can use Vulnerability to boost Physical Damage, but only if you don't Break Armour already.
	Ritualistic Curse
	Magnified Area II
	Slow Potency

[UTILITY] Pain Offering setup
	Pain Offering - Increases Minions' Attack and Cast Speed for a duration, but needs one of your Minions to function.
	Brutus' Brain
	Prolonged Duration II
	Danse Macabre
	Magnified Area II
	Sacrificial Offering

[UTILITY] Virtuous Barrier setup
	Virtuous Barrier - We've put Spirit-Reserving Gems here to improve Mana and Life Regeneration, but also some unusual ones to activate Gem Studded. By following all the Gem setups exactly, you will have 13 Blue, Red, and Green Gems.
	Warm Blooded
	Precision I
	Herbalism II
	Vitality II
	Clarity II

6. Gear Setup

Aim for over 400 Spirit. You can get it on a Body Armour, Amulet, Alpha's Howl, Sceptre, and Jewels. Besides the Persistent Buffs, you'll also need to summon as many Skeletons as possible. Be sure to cap Resistances, have enough Maximum Life, Mana Regeneration, and Life Regeneration, or other sources of such Recovery. Your Rings and Belt can roll Minion modifiers if plucked from the Genesis Tree, but getting enough Attributes may also be troublesome, so don't assume these won't be needed at all on the gear. Defensively, you'll rely on Life Pool combined with Armour and Evasion Rating. Try to get these on your Body Armour and maybe Helmet, Gloves, and Boots. You shouldn't need any Uniques.

(Helmet) Alpha's Howl - The additional Spirit and Cold Resistance may be helpful, but it should be replaced later on with a good Rare.

(80-100)% increased Evasion Rating +100 to Spirit +(50-75)% to Cold Resistance Presence Radius is doubled

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - A Rare Helmet should have a combination of a mod for 2 levels of all Minion Skills and a lot of Maximum Life, Resistances, or Attributes. We also recommend a Desecrated Suffix for Reservation Efficiency.

Min. requirements: +2 to Level of all Minion Skills Optional affixes: increased Spirit Reservation Efficiency of Skills (desecrated) Attributes Resistance Maximum Life

(Weapon) Rare Sceptre - Get a Sceptre with a lot of Spirit and +4 to Minion Skills. There are plenty of other Minion-related modifiers that are also very important to get at some point, but not as much as these two. Use a Primate Idol for increased Damage or a Rabbit Idol for increased Spirit.

Min. requirements: 50% increased Spirit +4 to Level of all Minion Skills Optional affixes: Attributes Allies in your Presence have #% increased Attack Speed Allies in your Presence deal # added Attack Physical Damage Allies in your Presence deal #% increased Damage

(Weapon) Rare Wand - Get a +5 to Physical Spells and a Desecrated Prefix for Minion Damage. Wand offers little for a Minion build otherwise, but you cannot wield two Sceptres, so just aim for something better than a Focus or Shield. Socket a Rune for +1 Level to all Spells here.

Min. requirements: +5 to Level of all Physical Spell Skills Minions deal increased Damage (desecrated) Optional affixes: Maximum Mana Intelligence increased Mana Regeneration Rate

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - Gloves should have only the most basic defensive mods in huge quantities. Focus on Maximum Life and Resistances first, then upgrade them with Armour and Evasion.

Min. requirements: high Armour and Evasion Rating +130 to Maximum Life +80% total Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes

(Boots) Rare Boots - Boots are much like Gloves, but due to the requirement of Movement Speed, you won't be able to get as much defense, so just focus on Resistances and Attributes.

Min. requirements: 30% increased Movement Speed +130 to Maximum Life +80% total Resistance Optional affixes: Attributes

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - +3 to Level of all Minion/Spell Skills and Spirit will be required. The "+4" Amulets exist, but are very expensive. The rest is less important here

Min. requirements: +3 to Level of all Minion/Spell Skills Spirit Optional affixes: Resistances Maximum Life Attributes increased Armour or Evasion Anointment: Paragon

(Ring) Rare Ring - Rings can roll Genesis Tree exclusive modifiers for Caster and Minions. Try to get one or two mods that'll improve your Minions, and mix them with Maximum Life, Resistances, and Attributes.

Min. requirements: +70% total Resistance Minions deal 25% increased Damage Attributes Optional affixes: Offering Skills have increased Buff effect Maximum Life Minions have increased Attack and Cast Speed

(Belt) Rare Belt - Belts offer a variety of some of the most valuable mods for this build: Skill Levels, up to two, Minion Duration, Minions' Strikes have Melee Splash, and Minion Damage. After that, shift focus to Maximum Life, Resistances, and Strength.

Min. requirements: +1 to Level of all Minion Skills increased Minion Duration Minions deal increased Damage Minions' Strikes have Melee Splash Optional affixes: Maximum Life Resistances Minions have +#% to all Elemental Resistances Strength

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - Chest pieces are the best places to get huge amounts of Maximum Life, defences, and Spirit. You should also use a Medved's Tending Rune as it unlocks many beneficial mods. Also, try to get the Desecrated Suffix for Reservation Efficiency.

Min. requirements: high Armour Evasion +160 to Maximum Life +50 to Spirit Optional affixes: Resistances Maximum Mana increased Spirit (Medved's Tending Prefix) increased Spirit Reservation Efficiency of Skills (Desecrated Suffix)

(Body Armour) Morior Invictus - If you happen to have a Morior Invictus with 5 sockets, each granting 14 Spirit, some Attributes, Resistances, or Maximum Life, definitely consider it.

(300-400)% increased Armour, Evasion and Energy Shield Has 4 Augment Sockets (Hidden) <3 random socket modifiers>

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - We recommend Sapphires with listed Minion modifiers, with maybe increased Skill Effect Duration.

Optional affixes: Minions deal increased Damage Minions have increased Attack and Cast Speed Minions have increased Critical Hit Chance Minions have increased Critical Damage Bonus increased Skill Effect Duration increased Effect of Prefixes (crafted)

(Jewel) From Nothing - There are two good variants of this Jewel: Wildsurge Incantation, which unlocks many good Duration and Minion passives, or Ritual Cadence that lets you pick multiple Minion offence and defence passives.

Passives in Radius of <Keystone> can be Allocated without being connected to your tree

(Jewel) Prism of Belief - A "+3" to Unearth Prism of Belief would provide an immense damage boost.

+(1-3) to Level of all <Random skill> Skills

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.