- Mapper
- Boss Killer
322
Summary – TL;DR
Cap your Elemental Resistances and get the attributes your gems require to make sure you can use them all. Most pieces should be Rare with Life and, of course, any lacking attributes/resistances. Modifiers which increase the level of your skeletons or Dark Pact are most favorable, along with those increasing minion life across the board.
My quick list recommended approach for this build would then be:
Item Slot | Item Name | Rarity |
Head | Life then Res/Attributes as needed (For high budget you can get a helmet with “+ level of all minion gems) | Rare |
Amulet | Life then Res/Attributes as needed | Rare |
Chest | Life then Res/Attributes as needed (or a Tabula Rasa | Rare/Unique |
Gloves | Vaal Caress | Unique |
Boots | Life then Res/Attributes as needed | Rare |
Belt | Darkness Enthroned | Unique |
Rings | Life then Res/Attributes as needed | Rare |
Weapon | Rare with + level of minion and/or spell skills | Rare |
Shield | High life, ES base preferably with Spell crit chance | Rare |
Armour Pieces
Many of the higher budget examples can either be purchased or crafted. When crafting, I would strongly suggest utilizing Craft of Exile to determine the cheapest approach to crafting the desired items.
Since most items in this build are Rare, the main focus will be to have as much Life as possible and sort any attributes and resistances so we can reach the desired caps. However, there are some juicy choices one can take to increase the build’s efficiency, although they will come with a higher price tag.
Below you’ll find a simple priority list of modifiers for each item-slot. Do keep in mind that if you have enough resistance and/or attributes to cover your character needs to reach 75% elemental resistance cap and enough attributes to use all the gear & gems you have equipped you are simply not in need of more of that modifier.
Helmet
Crucial to make sure you have life rolls on your gear and preferably on an energy shield base as we are using both Life & Energy shield as our life pool. Any needed resistances and/or attributes will always be required where possible if you’re in need. Outside of that higher budget helmets could go for Hunter influenced “nearby enemies have reduced chaos resistance” or Warlord influenced helmet with the modifier granting increased minion life. Other than that you can in the lower budget options grab one that gives +1-2 to level of all minion skill gems.
The strong recommendation here is start by looking for a helmet with +1 level of all minion skill gems, decent life & if possible, any resistance/attributes is a bonus.
Modifier Priority List:
1. Level of all minion skill gems
2. Life
3. Elemental Resistances and/or attributes if needed
4. Chaos resistance
Body Armour
For lower budget, you’ll simply be looking for high Life with any resistances and/or attributes as needed. We can literally use a Tabula Rasa or purchase a corrupted 6-Linked chest piece with the correct colors unless opting to go for high budget options which are, as expected, drastically more expensive.
To look for a corrupted 6-Link you’ll simply check the correct colors in the search configuration: https://www.pathofexile.com/trade, depending on the market a Tabula can be cheaper than a corrupted 6-Link, in most cases the corrupted chest is not just cheaper but straight up better as you can find anything providing a bit of life, resistances and/or attributes.
Gloves
For low budget we’ll be utilizing the unique Vaal Caress since we don’t want to buy an Empower since they cost too much for the low budget version this pair of gloves are crazy good to scale the skeletons health which will increase your damage significantly.
Boots
Look for Movement Speed, high Life, attributes, and resistances as needed. For higher budget, you will want Elusive and Tailwind with Life and movement speed, which are modifiers available from the Redeemer and Hunter-influenced pools.
The cheap initial pair of boots you’ll be looking for will not be influenced and will have a very straight forward priority list of modifiers.
Modifier Priority List:
1. Movement speed (25%+ preferably)
2. Life
3. Elemental Resistances and/or attributes if needed
4. Chaos resistance
Belt
You may consider using Darkness Enthroned with Ghastly Eye Jewel providing Life, Energy Shield, and “#% minion damage when you’ve used a minion skill recently.” Alternately, you can use any rare belt with Life, resistances and/or attributes as needed.
If you’re going for a rare belt make sure to follow the priority list.
Modifier Priority List:
1. Life
2. Elemental Resistances and/or attributes if needed
3. Chaos resistance
Jewels
For jewel sockets, we are looking for increased Life as the main modifier and the second modifier should always be increased minion life. These modifiers are found together only on the Cobalt Jewel. If you can afford a third modifier, you will want a #% increased critical strike multiplier. It’s important to point out that we are not looking for any sort of defensive modifiers on our jewels, we want that to be entirely solved by our gear pieces.
Modifier Priority List:
1. Life
2. Minion Life
3. Any critical strike multiplier modifier for spells and/or generic global critical strike multiplier
Accessories
Amulet
Similar to the other rare items we are looking for high Life with resistances and attributes as required. For end-game it’s very attractive to get a Hunter influenced amulet to get the modifier “#% of chaos damage leeched as life” which will significantly help the life sustain of the build. We are able to get the chaos damage leeched as life on our rings and also later when we upgrade our gloves from the unique in to a rare pair via eldritch influences.
Modifier Priority List:
1. Life
2. Attributes if needed
3. Chaos damage leeched as life (only if you don’t have this from any other source such as: Rings, Glove implicit (Eldritch influence on rare gloves), Glorious Vanity Timeless Jewel which are for the higher budget versions of the build
4. Elemental resistances if needed
5. Critical strike multiplier
6. Chaos resistance
The anoint you want is Retribution.
Rings
Both of the rings should simply feature high Life with resistances and/or attributes if needed.
Modifier Priority List:
1. Life
2. Elemental resistances and/or attributes if needed
3. Chaos damage leeched as life (only if you don’t have this from any other source such as: Amulet, Glove implicit (Eldritch influence on rare gloves), Glorious Vanity Timeless Jewel which are for the higher budget versions of the build
4. Chaos resistance
Weapon
Increasing the level of our Skeletons as well as our Dark Pact skills are crucial for optimal damage output, so that will be our main focus. Other favorable stats to prioritize include spell damage, critical strike chance, critical strike multiplier, and, if possible, cast speed. Below is an example of a good wand:
Modifier Priority List:
1. Level of All (and/or Minion) skill gems
2. Spell damage (or minion damage, the spell damage modifier should in most cases be MUCH cheaper to buy)
3. Open suffix slot to bench-craft “Trigger a socketed spell when you use a skill” (This craft is found by unveiling veiled items from the betrayal encounters)
4. Critical strike chance for spells
5. Cast speed
6. Critical strike multiplier
Shield
Use a generic high Life shield on an Energy Shield base, preferably with “% critical strike chance increase for spells” and, if possible, with “% chance to block spell damage.”
Modifier Priority List:
1. Life
2. Critical strike chance for spells
3. Elemental resistances if needed
4. Chance to block spell damage
Flasks
Flask set-ups are almost always a matter of personal taste when it comes to what utility flasks to use. However, I will list the set-up I’ve been using for a smooth play experience. To find the available list of modifiers the flasks can have, check out these links: Utility Flasks, Life Flasks, Mana Flasks & lastly: Hybrid Flasks
Slot | Flask | Description |
1 | “Seething” Divine Life Flask of “Sealing”, “Alleviation”, “Allaying” or “Assuaging” | Instant life flask that also removes bleed effects from you |
2 | Enduring Eternal Mana Flask of the arcanist | Important to help sustain our mana with the build |
3 | Rumi's Concoction | This flask provides us with the remaining block % that we need to reach the cap |
4 | Quicksilver Flask | Generic movement speed increasing flask, the modifiers can literally be anything you feel like having here |
5? | Enduring Eternal Mana Flask of the Arcanist | Can always run 2 Enduring mana flasks if you feel the need, this is recommended for low budget versions |
5? | Diamond Flask of “Stinging”, “Piercing”, “Rupturing”, “Penetrating” or “Incision” | This flask is here to increase our critical strike chance with our Dark Pact |
For higher budget versions I would skip the Life Flask or, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can skip the Rumi’s, and instead use the expensive Bottled Faith
For help crafting your non-Unique flasks, we recommend checking out our Flask Crafting Guide.
Cluster Jewel
There is 1 mandatory cluster jewel which is the medium cluster jewel that grants increased minion life, you’d prefer to get one with 4-5 passive skills a 6 passive one is fine and should be cheaper. Item level needs to be 68 or higher to be able to be rolled cheap & fast to get the mandatory modifier which is “Blessed Rebirth” this makes newly summoned minion immortal for the first 4 seconds and help the build out a lot in higher content. If you can get one with “Hulking Corpses” as well that would scale your damage even furher!
Main Page TL;DR
Changelog
Updated for PoE Affliction 3.23
Added a Gear Progression page to the guide!
Build is now updated for 3.22