Minion build

[MSDOS]

Hey community,

I am thinking about playing this game. My favorite classes in RPGs are the minion based builds. Is there a way to play with many minions and get good progress?

Thanks a lot in advance.

[The_Driver]

Generally you can play a necromancer, although the current league has them in a bit of a bad spot. That doesn't mean you can't play with them, just that the current league-exclusive mechanic may not be best suited for them.

https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds
shows the most commonly used subclass for that style - necromancer ( https://poe.ninja/challenge/builds?class=Necromancer ) - as 0.8% of the top 25000 (excludes private profiles), with 19 subclasses in total an even distribution would have them at 5%. You can also copy their builds from that website, if you wish to have a plan.

Note that in Standard (longterm) league, the current league mechanic is not an issue at all, as it's not currently present there.

[Niuq]

Minions are strong in this game, Zombies are a touch slow, but specter and SRS (summon raging spirits) are decent speed.
Golem builds are very tough to get running due to the cost of items ( cost meaning trade value not real life money )
Specter cool factor is through the roof, but complex.
Skeleton mage build is pretty fun as well.

Check out a bunch of build guides on the POE forums Witch class has an ascendency called necromancer. https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-forum/22

[MSDOS]

Thanks a lot for your advices.

[Vitamin Ex]

I'm currently using a Zombie build. I have 9 Zombies and 1 Chaos Golem which has a bit of AoE and gives you physical damage reduction. For my Zombies I use: Minion Damage, Minion Speed, Minion Resists, and Melee Splash Damage. As for my character, I use Frost Nova and Flame Dash.

The idea is to dash into a pack and Frost Nova then to freeze while your Zombies slam and kill the pack.

It has worked great so far and this is my favorite build out of the builds I have used in the past. I started with Skeletons, but, I just didn't like them.

Some good gear to aim for is Sidhebreath (Neck) which will give your minions lots of buffs, Severed in Sleep (Sword) which also gives your minions a huge buff, and The Baron (Helm) which gives your minions a big buff and also gives you +1 Zombie for every 300 Strength you have. The Baron is optional, but, if you decide to make a high armor and high strength build it's very good for creating a small army.

[dOBER]

Originally posted by Vitamin Ex:

It has worked great so far and this is my favorite build out of the builds I have used in the past. I started with Skeletons, but, I just didn't like them.

Skeletons can be good too later on. If you use 6l queen's escape +100% movespeed they are very good even in current league

Originally posted by MSDOS:

Hey community,

I am thinking about playing this game. My favorite classes in RPGs are the minion based builds. Is there a way to play with many minions and get good progress?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Minion builds are vaible but you have to choose which kind of minions.
We have srs, zombies, spectre, skeletons, golems, spiders, animate weapon or even things like dancing dervish.

Normaly you have to focus on one of them to make progress later on.
My favorite minion build is golemencer (ice golems). Very ceap to start, every 10-20c you will get a huge dmg upgrade with primordiale harmony. Later on you can invest in very expensive things like 7l lvl 27 golems and shred everything.

[Mr.Person]

My minions in my on the fly build do wonders and murder everything for me, but I just have a problem with survivability in the later game. One AOE attack will kill me pretty much instantly if its not a basic tier enemy.

I can wander around maps doing literally nothing but collecting loot, but if one blue archer does an AOE move on me, I'm done lol.

Any suggestions?

[Vitamin Ex]

Originally posted by Mr.Person:

My minions in my on the fly build do wonders and murder everything for me, but I just have a problem with survivability in the later game. One AOE attack will kill me pretty much instantly if its not a basic tier enemy.

I can wander around maps doing literally nothing but collecting loot, but if one blue archer does an AOE move on me, I'm done lol.

Any suggestions?

You can try using Flesh and Stone to reduce ranged attack damage. Or you can try doing a str/int hybrid and wear heavy armor for the armor and health. I'm currently using a str/int build with Zombies, seems to work so far (level 74).

[dragoonbb]

Originally posted by Vitamin Ex:

Originally posted by Mr.Person:

My minions in my on the fly build do wonders and murder everything for me, but I just have a problem with survivability in the later game. One AOE attack will kill me pretty much instantly if its not a basic tier enemy.

I can wander around maps doing literally nothing but collecting loot, but if one blue archer does an AOE move on me, I'm done lol.

Any suggestions?

You can try using Flesh and Stone to reduce ranged attack damage. Or you can try doing a str/int hybrid and wear heavy armor for the armor and health. I'm currently using a str/int build with Zombies, seems to work so far (level 74).

Strengh/intellect hybrid is what I use. You tank can tank alot more with Flesh and stone, Shield charge that activate fortify and steelskin to tank damage. Mine would be alot tankier if I wasn't a full ES build. Aliments kill you fast and GGG doesn't want to give you a keystone to give minions taunt for some reason.

[dOBER]

Originally posted by dragoonbb:

Originally posted by Vitamin Ex:

You can try using Flesh and Stone to reduce ranged attack damage. Or you can try doing a str/int hybrid and wear heavy armor for the armor and health. I'm currently using a str/int build with Zombies, seems to work so far (level 74).

Strengh/intellect hybrid is what I use. You tank can tank alot more with Flesh and stone, Shield charge that activate fortify and steelskin to tank damage. Mine would be alot tankier if I wasn't a full ES build. Aliments kill you fast and GGG doesn't want to give you a keystone to give minions taunt for some reason.

But you know there are jewels with minion taunt on hit ? Normaly you should use all 3 if you can. Taunt on hit, blind on hit and hinter on hit

[Psyringe]

Originally posted by Mr.Person:

I can wander around maps doing literally nothing but collecting loot, but if one blue archer does an AOE move on me, I'm done lol.

Any suggestions?

How much life/ES do you have and what type of content are you currently playing?

[TheMasterBlaster]

I had a Templar/Guardian with Dominating Blow minion build. It was solid and fun. I specced into Endurance & Power charges on the passive tree and was able to share them with my minion swarm thanks to the Guardian ascendancy skills = powerful.

It takes some time to develop because Dominating Blow is level 28. so you need a different plan for Acts 1 - 3.

[Vitamin Ex]

Originally posted by dOBER:

But you know there are jewels with minion taunt on hit ? Normaly you should use all 3 if you can. Taunt on hit, blind on hit and hinter on hit

Something that works a bit better is using Stone Golem. He has a slam and a taunt. Combine that with Cast when damage taken - Desecrate/Convocation. Now when you take damage, all minions are recalled, buffed, and will taunt and attack what was hitting you. It's also a good idea to use a skill that will cast Fortify on you so you can take more hits.

[Vitamin Ex]

Here is a great video to give you a few ideas for a solid build.

You don't need to copy it 100% and can swap whatever you want around, but, it's a nice foundation for a minion build and is full of useful information.

[dOBER]

Originally posted by Vitamin Ex:

Originally posted by dOBER:

But you know there are jewels with minion taunt on hit ? Normaly you should use all 3 if you can. Taunt on hit, blind on hit and hinter on hit

Something that works a bit better is using Stone Golem. He has a slam and a taunt. Combine that with Cast when damage taken - Desecrate/Convocation. Now when you take damage, all minions are recalled, buffed, and will taunt and attack what was hitting you. It's also a good idea to use a skill that will cast Fortify on you so you can take more hits.

Sounds fine in theory but normaly all minion builds have a huge problem and this is free link slots. Your option cost 3 and then you have this gems double.

[dragoonbb]

Originally posted by dOBER:

Originally posted by dragoonbb:

Strengh/intellect hybrid is what I use. You tank can tank alot more with Flesh and stone, Shield charge that activate fortify and steelskin to tank damage. Mine would be alot tankier if I wasn't a full ES build. Aliments kill you fast and GGG doesn't want to give you a keystone to give minions taunt for some reason.

But you know there are jewels with minion taunt on hit ? Normaly you should use all 3 if you can. Taunt on hit, blind on hit and hinter on hit

Wouldn't know of them(I pretty much play like I'm in SSF) besides one I got that only has about a 4 percent chance to taunt.But is the tuant Reliable enough though? Cause thinking on it bosses and mini bosses seem to have the problem of we will randomly try to attack you even though their are multiple other thing hitting us. We will 360 spin and start attacking you outta nowhere even when you aren't attacking them yourself.