GhazzyTV's Animate Weapon Chieftain Ascendancy, Bandits & Pantheon Powers (PoE Keepers of the Flame)
Ascendancy
The most optimal way to play this build leaves very few choices when it comes to the Ascendancy nodes, which we will cover in this section of the guide.
Preferred Set-Up
The Ascendancy nodes are listed in order of importance (and tied to the way you need to travel to access them).
- Sione, Sun’s Roar
- Tasalio, Cleansing Waters
- Valako, Storm’s Embrace
- 2x small nodes. This is sad, and has always been sad. Thankfully, we can replace it now!
With the introduction of Bloodline Ascendancies, we finally get an option for an uber lab! The one we will be looking for is the Bloodline related to the beast “Farrul, First of the Plains”. We are specifically looking for the node “Primal Roar”. This grants us 80% Increased Minion Damage if we have Warcried recently, which we always have. It also grants us some Warcry speed, which is great quality of life. We recommend you try to get this kill as soon as you’re comfortable in red maps, around where you would normally do uber lab.
Sione
This node provides us with infinite Warcry power. This is a bit obscure to most players, but what it means is that the “power counted by nearby enemies” no longer needs to be calculated. The Warcry now simply gives us the maximum possible effect, always. This is incredibly powerful and is the builds bread and butter at all stages of progression.
Tasalio
This Ascendancy makes all Fire Resistance modifiers also apply to Cold and Lightning Resistance at 50% of their value. Effectively making Fire Resistance rolls pseudo Elemental Resistance. It also happens to make us Ignite immune, which is a great addition.
Valako, Storm’s Embrace
This Ascendancy acts as a fire-specific Melding of the Flesh, with no downside. Any increases to our maximum Fire Resistance also apply to our maximum values of Cold and Lightning Resistance. As a result of this node, we can reach really good maximum values relatively easily.
+2 Small Nodes
We don’t have any options here, really. We either take +2 small nodes or we take Ngamahu for strength if we’re somehow lacking. Either way this is very weak, and thankfully replaced by Bloodlines now.
Bandits
As with most summoner builds, you will kill all of the bandits, as they provide no significant gains worthy of losing the skill points for.
Pantheon
As with most builds, these come down to a matter of personal taste.
For Major we’d recommend Lunaris to avoid chained projectiles and some free physical mitigation, or Brine King to mitigate Freeze.
For Minor our primary recommendation is Gruthkul for even more physical mitigations. Honorable mention goes to Abberath for burning ground.
