GhazzyTV's Dominating Blow Necromancer Build Guide (PoE Crucible 3.21)

May 12th, 2023, 13:19

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Introduction

Dominating Blow is an insanely strong league start ability offering a lot of variations for the end game. Thanks to the straightforward design of the ability, we are able to tweak this build into some pretty juicy defensive styles allowing it to be a solid first choice for starting a league in Hardcore as well!

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 Do note that the video might be outdated in terms of information, you should always look at this guide to make sure you have the updated information.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

+ Beefy – Despite being a minion build, it packs a very comfortable eHP #, as well as mitigation, allowing it to function in Hardcore very well.

+ League Starter – The only somewhat mandatory item for this build is super cheap even during the first few days of a league release.

+ Bosser – Despite being a map-clear focused build with super low budget the build is capable of handling end-game bosses.

Cons

– Face-tanking Bosses – The build requires you to consistently hit enemy bosses to keep your minions up. This is fine for regular end-game bosses but the build is not really capable of handling the Uber Uber end-game bosses.

– Minion Build – Since your minions are doing the heavy lifting, defensive layers such as leeching are not favourable in this build. Instead, you will rely on regeneration and Life flasks to deal with any damage taken. Despite this, the build still stacks some juicy defenses such as block and life recovery on block, as well as the benefits of having your minions taunt the enemies for you.

Playstyle

The build uses Dominating Blow, which summons sentinel minions based on the rarity of the enemy you hit with the ability. If you strike a Unique enemy, you have a 25% chance to summon a normal Sentinel of Dominance. This is the main way to keep minions up against bosses. You will be guaranteed a sentinel if a Normal, Magic, or Rare enemy dies within 1 second of being hit by Dominating Blow. The sentinel summoned will copy any modifiers that the enemy had, so if a Rare enemy you kill has an aura modifier granting Haste to nearby allies, your Rare sentinel will also have that aura. This is where Dominating Blow becomes REALLY fun to play, as you can get some absolutely crazy combinations!

Damage Scaling and Defensive Layers

The build pumps out a beautiful eHP count of 100k+ Life with a high chance to block both Attack and Spell Block thanks to the Rumi's Concoction flask. The damage scaling is very straightforward in this build, as it is ultimately a very generic minion-oriented build. With an army of minions, you can utilize modifiers such as Blind and Taunt on Hit on a Ghastly Eye Jewel.

PoB, Passive Skill Tree & Gem Links

All my guides use Path of Building. We have a simple guide for you that shows how to import my build into Path of Building, you can find the guide here

Here’s the low budget PoB for that extremely comfortable league start experience: https://pobb.in/lDJsvd_h3UIJ
For a physical (non-poison) variant of the low budget approach you can check that out here: https://pobb.in/6M3eYH0MAc4q

Here you’ll find a high budget version that is very reasonably affordable for the highest end-game: https://pobb.in/b2I1ssPBE60b

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

PoB, Passive Skill Tree & Gem Link Page

Gearing

A lot of the end-game 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.

Gear Page

Item Slot	Item Name/Mods	Rarity
Head	Life then Res/Attributes as needed	Rare
Amulet	Life then Res/Attributes as needed	Rare
Chest	Life then Res/Attributes as needed	Rare
Gloves	Life then Res/Attributes as needed	Rare
Boots	Life then Res/Attributes as needed	Rare
Belt	Darkness Enthroned	Unique
Rings	Life then Res/Attributes as needed	Rare
Weapon	The Scourge or a rare Gemini Claw for life/mana on hit with minion dmg and a trigger craft	Unique/Rare
Shield	Life then Res/Attributes as needed; can include “% chance to block spell dmg”	Rare

Ascendancy, Bandits & Phanteon Recommendations

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

Ascendancy, Bandit & Pantheon Power Page

Leveling

You can level with Dominating Blow once you get the skill at level 28. Prior to that we’ll be aiming to use Summon Raging Spirit from level 8 & switching to Absolution at level 12. You can keep using Absolution if you’d like but at level 28 you’re able to make the switch to Dominating Blow if you’d prefer. Below you’ll find a quick TLDR whilst the PoB includes the levelling in more details!

We start of with generic spells as we are very limited in options at level 1:

Throwing in extras if you have the sockets for it is always nice such as Holy Flame Totem as it provides extra damage & layers of safety vs bosses/harder rares. Once you reach level 8 we can get a Melee Splash Support or pick up an Infernal Legion Support which will at level 8 allow us to level using Summon Raging Spirit:

Once we hit level 12 we can now enable Absolution which will skyrocket our damage output significantly:

Once at level 28 you have to decide whether or not you want to continue with Absolution or switch to Dominating Blow the links for Dominating Blow should be, in order of importance, as follows:

If you have a Tabula Rasa, the remaining two links while leveling should be:

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

Our step-by-step leveling walkthrough, which can teach 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, you may have questions. Please join the PoE Vault discord and they will 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 in my discord! 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 Divine Orb drops!