CasualDan's Minion Army Necromancer Build Guide (PoE Crucible 3.21)

April 26th, 2023, 13:18

Introduction

Just a few more days and we’re gonna play the Crucible League. This Minion Army Necromancer is a cheap league starter that will enable you to farm tier 16 maps on a budget of around 100 to 200 chaos. Fast, deadly, with a lot of quality of life features, 2.5 mil DPS, and 40K EHP, the Minion Army Necromancer is gonna run through maps at 200% movement speed and make bank.

For the 3.21 Crucible League, I have updated and improved the build again. Our Frost Auto Scouts are gonna attack really fast thanks to the 2 Unending Hunger jewels. We’re basically gonna use Turbo Specters for the clear, and for the single target, we’ll use Skeletons and Zombies which have around 2.5 Million combined DPS. This is gonna be enough to take you into tier 16 maps and farm as much currency as you need.

If you’d like to feel like a General of an Undead Army, then try out this league starter and you’re not gonna be disappointed.

Since the Passive Skill Tree is mostly the same, with just an Ascendancy change and some currency, you’re gonna be able to transition into my Arakaali's Fang Occultist without any issues. This is what I’ve done for the past 3 league.

You can find the Arakaalis Fang Occultist >>here<< .

Below there is one video guide made for Youtube:

Overview

Pros

✔️ Huge Army of 23 minions without Vaal Summon Skeletons, and with Vaal S.S. a total of 59 minions

✔️ Great mobility with Phase Run and Flame Dash.

✔️ Good DPS at around 2.5 Million

✔️ Amazing Clearspeed in white and yellow tier maps, and good in red maps

✔️ OK defences for Softcore

✔️ Amazing transitional build that can be used to farm the currency needed for your second build

Cons

❌ Not really a bosser. While an experienced player will be able to defeat all non-uber bosses with this build, for the most part, this is a mapper.

❌ Not for Everyone. This is a minion build after all.

❌ A bit spammy because of the Vaal Summon Skeletons

How Does it Play?

While mapping this build goes really fast, and the minions are doing all of the work. Summon your Skeletons and watch them destroy everything. When you encounter a tough monster like an Essence for example, summon your Skeletons, your Vaal Summon Skeletons, and curse the enemy with Punishment.

Do the same for map bosses and you’re gonna be ok.

In terms of tier 16 mapping, this build shines in Blight Encounters, since the bosses are gonna be stuck in place when you cast Vaal Summon Skeletons. Add a few Seismic towers and an Empowering tower in the middle and you can comfortably farm tier 16 maps.

Damage and Defensive Scaling

Damage Scaling

To scale damage we’re allocating most of the notables on the tree that give us minion damage, minion attack, and cast speed. For single target, we’re running Summon Skitterbots and a Punishment curse.

For the items try to get a trigger wand with a little bit of minion damage, 2 Ghastly Eye Jewel with Minions deal additional physical damage and you’re good to go. After the first few days of the league when Maw of Mischief goes down in price, add it to the build to make your minions aggressive by default.

Defensive Scaling

Shock Immunity
Reduced damage from Critical Strikes (Mastery)
Block and Spell Block Cap with Glancing Blows
75 resistances and positive chaos resistance
4 Endurance Charges
20-30k armor
2 – 2.5k automated Molten Shell.

PoB Imports

The current PoB for this build is always available here:

PoB

For help with this build go to our discord and ask for help there. and one of our moderators will help you ASAP: Discord

Make sure you are using the latest version of PoB Community Fork

End game viable?

Although I have used this build to clear the Atlas for the past 4 leagues, in terms of endgame viability, the build is not amazing mostly because it’s quite cheap, at around 100 to 200 chaos. This is a transitional build that is gonna allow you to farm your first Divines and then, you’re gonna transition into something stronger.

As mentioned previously, this build shines in Blights, and it can farm Rituals, Shrines, Strongboxes, Essences up to 3 mods (don’t spec into Crystal Lattice if you are in tier 16 maps), Delirium Mirrors, Abysses and also influence on the map device. My recommendation would be to go for Searing Exarch Altars.

The following mechanics are not gonna be doable in tier 16 maps: 6 Mod Essences, King Harbingers, Expeditions, Metamorphs, Breach Bosses, Legions.

6 Mods Essences, King Harbingers, Expeditions and Breach Bosses can be farmed quite easily in white and yellow tier maps.

For the Legions I would at most attempt them in tier 5 maps, mostly because you need some form of explosions or AOE clear to farm them efficiently.

Be careful with Metamorphs, they can be done up to lower yellow tier maps, but don’t go overboard with the map mods and don’t spec into Fine Specimens.

Ascend, Bandits, and Pantheon

A full explanation of bandit, pantheon and ascend choices can be found here:

Link

Leveling

For the leveling we’re gonna explode our way through the campaign by running a lot of minions that detonate and burn the enemies.

You’re gonna start off on the Twilight Strand as a Witch. After you defeat Hillock you’re gonna get to Lioneye’s Watch. Complete a few Quests and after you defeat Brutus, you’re gonna get Summon Skeletons as a reward. Link it to Infernal Legion Support which will be available at Nessa at the same time, just after you defeat Brutus.

On your Passive Skill tree, you’re gonna go straight for the Minion Instability Keystone and you’re pretty much ready to blow up your up until act 10.

Once you defeat Fidelitas in Act 2, you’re gonna be able to buy Summon Skitterbots from Nessa which will be your second Infernal Legion Support set-up. Now you’re pretty much an Autobomber with the Infernal Legion Support Summon Skitterbots , but the DPS is not gonna be enough for Rares and Bosses, so you’re gonna have to spam your Summon Skeletons when you encounter tough enemies.

Our third Minion set-up is gonna be a Summon Raging Spirit which is gonna be link to Summon Phantasm Support and Minion Damage Support

If you wanna go overboard (I usually do), add some Raise Zombie and a Summon Carrion Golem, and you’re gonna have a huge army of minions to carry you through the Acts.

Add 1 Minion Damage Support to the Infernal Legion Support Summon Skeletons for more damage.
Add 1 Minion Damage Support to the Infernal Legion Support Summon Skitterbots for more damage.

Try to fit in a Flame Dash and a Phase Run and remember to use your Quicksilver Flask to move faster through the Campaign.

If you happen to have some extra sockets, add a Minion Life Support and Feeding Frenzy Support on the Raise Zombie or just a Feeding Frenzy Support on the Summon Carrion Golem

Something really important that I have decided to add in the Forbidden Sanctum League, was the Flammability curse which you can easily buy from Act 3 Clarissa or get as a reward once you complete the quest “Lost in Love”. This was the final piece to make this leveling tech a lot better. Our DPS was really nice versus packs, but we struggled a bit versus bosses and rares. With Flammability I noticed that all act bosses go down really fast and rares fall near instantly, so don’t skip it.

If you’d like to see the leveing tech in action, then you can take a look at it >>>>>HERE<<<<<

With this set-up you’re gonna be ok until Act 10, and if need be, all the way until tier 5 maps.