Absolution Necromancer Build Guide (PoE Sentinel 3.18)

INTRODUCTION

This build was introduced to the community via Kripparian myself & Mathil . We each made our own versions of it for SC-trade league(s).
The Absolution Necromancer works extremely well for end-game bossing, achieving significant single target damage on lower budgets and smoothly scaling to hilariously high damage numbers thanks to Doryani's Prototype packing negative lightning resistance which we make up for using Determination to stack armor. However, PoB is currently heavily miscalculating the sDPS they’re doing. A rough ball-park calculation landed on them being able to achieve over 1.4 billion sDPS in a mirror tier gear set-up. Obviously this would result in the build having next to 0 defensive layers which this guide is focusing on to allow for a smooth gaming experience whilst still being able to drop bosses down mega fast.

Since this build has a very niche playstyle, I would strongly recommend watching the video linked below to see if it’s something you’d find enjoyable to play.

Below, you can see the build in action from my YouTube guide. Do note that the video might be outdated in terms of information, you should always look at this guide to make sure you have the updated information.

BUILD OVERVIEW

In this section, I will outline the pros, cons, and general playstyle. This will allow you to determine if this is the right build is for you!

PROS

+ League Starter – The build packs a heavy punch even without the Doryani Prototype making it more than functional in SSF as well as a league-starter build!

+ Bosser – The damage output this build can achieve even in low budget is completely absurd.

+ Unique Play Style – You will summon Absolution sentinels that will cast the same ability used to summon them but with only being able to reach 3 sentinels the play-style needs to adjust with that in mind.

CONS

– Unique Play Style – Due to the nature of this build’s playstyle, it is a build that not everyone will find enjoyable. I strongly recommend watching the gameplay video before starting this build.

– Special Ramp-up – Absolution is summoned by either having the target killed after being hit by the spell or via a 25% chance on hit vs rare or unique targets makes this build only summon the sentinels vs end-game bosses every 4th hit by average. This problem can present a situation with having a bad streak of not summoning any sentinels for a few seconds before your damage kicks in and completely destroys the boss(es).

– Item Scourge removal – While this does not affect the non Doryani’s Prototype version of the build, scaling the defences of the Prototype variant while reducing your lightning resistance has become considerably harder in 3.17, this does not make a difference for the lower budget option, as it can obliterate all bosses anyway.

PLAYSTYLE

The playstyle is based around summoning your Absolution sentinels by either hitting a rare/unique enemy or having a normal or magic enemy die either to or right after being hit by Absolution. We also make use of a very specific set-up for utility minions layering defensive gains to the build as well as helping you start the build up when you first enter a map.

DAMAGE SCALING AND DEFENSIVE LAYERS

Minion damage is the bread & butter for our damage output since it all comes from our Sentinels destroying our enemies. Defensive layers comes in the form of life, high block & recovery of life when you block. You have the option of investing more in to defense at the cost of offense if you feel the need for it.

PoB AND PASSIVE SKILL TREE

The PoB community fork created by Localidentity is the only version being kept up to date, so make sure you have the correct version: PoB Community Fork.

Seeing as this build can very well be played without the need of Doryani's Prototype the guide itself will entirely be focused around that approach mostly because it is WAY more budget friendly but I will leave a handful of different PoBs here for you to play-around with. Do remember that if you decide to run the Prototype you’ll need to cap your Fire & Cold resistances and get as much negative lightning resistance as possible (capped at -200%) this can be achieved from a variety of items, for instance the Ventor's Gamble . Since the removal of scourge, it has become harder to achieve a massive amount of negative lightning resistance, and we are instead forced to do this via uniques, thereby putting more pressure on defensive stats such as life and resistances to your other elements. You also need to make sure to stack your Physical mitigation up to make up for the lack of lightning resistance. This results in you only having issues with lightning DoT situations such as the Lightning Elder guardian or Baran influenced maps to mention a couple of the very rare lightning DoT’s that exist in the game.

Here is the Low Budget Absolution WITHOUT Doryani’s Prototype
This is the Doryani’s Prototype variant, with a Mid-high budget

The absolute mirror tier version can be found with this PoB

You can find more information on our dedicated page, along with all the recommended gem links.

Absolution Necromancer PoB, Passive Skill Tree & Gem Links

GEARING

A lot of the endgame gear can easily be crafted. For a general overview of crafting and to learn how to craft specific items, check out my crafting guides here.

You can read more details about our gearing recommendations on the dedicated page. You’ll find a summarized version below.

Absolution Necromancer Gear, Jewels & Flasks

Item Slot	Item Name	Rarity
Head	Life then Res/Attributes as needed (For high budget you can get a helmet with “+ level of socketed minion gems)	Rare
Amulet	Life then Res/Attributes as needed	Rare
Chest	Tabula Rasa / Doryani's Prototype or rare with high life, Res/Attributes as needed	Unique/Rare
Gloves	Algor Mortis	Unique
Boots	Life then Res/Attributes as needed, getting the eldritch influence with Brittle is desired for endgame and bossing	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, preferably with %life recovery on block	Rare

ASCENDANCY, BANDIT & PANTHEON RECOMMENDATIONS

You can read about the Ascendancy, Bandit choice, and Pantheon Power recommendations for this build on our dedicated page.

Absolution Necromancer Ascendancy, Bandits & Pantheon Powers

LEVELING

The current meta of leveling through the Campaign Acts 1-10 is to simply never use minions. However, this guide is not designed to guide you to finish Kitava in 2 hours, It is a build guide. With that said the following suggestions for leveling makes sure you don’t have to use any Orb of Regret to play.

Leveling this build with Herald of Purity alongside Absolution from lvl 16 & 12 respectively is entirely doable, and while not the fastest it will feel great to see your build scale up without having to respec from a levelling steup.

BEFORE YOU ENABLE MINIONS

Before you are able to utilize minions for your leveling experience you will need to make sure they function for actual clearing, this ultimately comes down to giving them the tools for hitting multiple targets. This allows you to level with minions as early as level 8 as that’s the restriction before you can get Melee Splash Support. The skills listed below are the ones I prefer to use till I hit level 8:

• Stormblast Mine for single target
• Freezing Pulse for clearing
• Frost Bomb for clearing when you get it instead of the Freezing Pulse

Once you reach level 12 you are able to pick up the Absolution skill and level with the ability all the way. Any links providing extra damage for the minions would be preferable early on:

• Absolution
• Minion Damage Support
• Added Cold Damage Support
• Added Fire Damage Support
• Added Lightning Damage Support

In Act 3 Library you’re able to pick up Physical to Lightning Support which enhances the damage significantly, auras doesn’t come in play till Act 3 either, at which point you’ll want to run Wrath & Zealotry depending on if you’ve taken the reduced mana reservation nodes or not. Mana will be sustained via a mana flask till you are able to pick up the Energy Shield leech node & Eldritch Battery.

Besides our main source of damage you can utilize Raise Zombie with Ruthless Support as well as Vitality early on in the acts to keep yourself & your minions alive better.

For more general leveling advice, we recommend the following guides.

• Our step-by-step leveling walkthrough, which allows even more experienced players to save time and speed through the leveling process.
• Our guide to Unique Items for leveling, which helps you gear up your characters for the leveling process.
• Our beginner leveling guide, which answers many of the questions new players might have and will set you on the right path.

QUESTIONS?

To guarantee that my guides are tools you can utilize to enhance your experience in Path of Exile, all you need to do is post your question in the comment section below and I will personally attend to them as soon as possible.

FINAL NOTES

As much as I love making build guides, it is very crucial in a game like Path of Exile that you play the game the way you enjoy playing it. With that said, if you’ve made any tweaks to the build compared to what I’m showing in this guide I would love it if you share this in the comments! It’s an effective way to show other approaches and it helps me grow as a build guide creator!

I hope you found the build guide useful and I wish you all many Exalted Orb drops!