Mistress of The Dead : Melee Summoner : Maps Tier 1-4 Viable

Paladins are reliable, selfless and fight the scourge of the underworld in order to save Humanity from the rising darkness. But what if one was corrupted by the forces of evil and decided that maybe we weren't worth saving?

Rather than base my build around a specific skill or ultra expensive item I have decided to experiment and let it grow organically as I face new enemies and challenges in the game. I guess that it is an exercise in Role Playing rather than trying to follow the `Meta` or utilise a flavour of the week item.

Kitava is dead.
Woo Hoo!
Now onto Maps T 1-4 and loving it :)

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"If I make my enemies bleed will that be enough or
Shall I fill their veins with Poison and watch them
Scream and Suffer?

Once their Souls have left their corpses shall I leave them Dead or
Shall I rip them from the Veil and let them serve instead?"

Ivana MayKuSuffer, Fallen Paladin

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Play Style:

Although Minions are doing the majority of damage you are still able to hold your own against tricky bosses and unique enemies. The AI of minions basically relies on overwhelming numbers to suppress the opposition. The best way to direct them against a specific target is to attack it yourself. At present, I have between eleven and sixteen minions permanently summoned. They are as follows:


Six Zombies.

Although slow they are very tough and let's face it couldn't be any more fun unless they said `Brainnsss, Brainnnns...`

Two Spectres

This is an amazing skill as you are able to resurrect unique enemies who bring all their combat skills into the fray. The most useful one I ever had was one of the Temple Guardians from the Ruined square. With his Spectral Throw and Proximity Shield he actually lasted 5 character levels until he finally was killed. Long may he be remembered for his sacrifice.

One to five Spectral Wolves

These have a chance to be summoned on Melee Kill from the lovely Terror Claw The Scourge. Five is the maximum I have seen so far, but who knows?

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/The_Scourge


Two Chaos Golems.

Physical Damage reduction, Chaos Aura, Chaos Spikes and a Melee Attack. What could be better than that? Two of them :P


Harbinger of the Arcane

A support Minon that uses Arcane Surge granting increased spell damage, mana regen and cast speed.
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Minion Gem Links.

Chaos Golem + Poison

Rasie Zombie + Summon Spectre + Maim + Multistrike

Summon Skeleton + Spell Echo + Elemental Damage with Attack

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Damage Mechanics

Poison Damage can only be applied by Physical and Chaos Damage. The amount of damage done is 20% of these two numbers combined.

To increase this the following modifiers on Support gems or Gear are recommended:

Damage, Damage Over Time, Chaos Damage and Poison Damage.


The best Support Gems to use for increased Poison Damage are:

Lesser Poison, Poison, Melee Physical Damage, Vile Toxins


Support Gems for Increased Chaos Damage:

Void Manipulation, Added Chaos Damage and Decay


To increase the efficiency of Poison's D.O.T (Damage Over Time) component Temporal Chains is an excellent Curse as it makes the effects dissipate more slowly.

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Useful Levelling Uniques

These are all optional and relatively cheap. There is nothing that this build relies on, other than a willingness to SMITE ALL THAT IS BEFORE YOU... MUAHHAHHAHHA.. ahem..



If you have enough elemental resistance this is a handy little amulet to use as you will be stacking Poison on enemies like there is no tomorrow :)

Perseverance Belt

https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Perseverance

Increased Armor, Attack, Fortify and Onslaught. Sign me up!

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Jewels



Three skeletons for the price of one and up to Five skeletal mages. What's not to love? Combine these with Spell Echo and Greater Multiple Projectiles and you will be laughing like a Maniac as your skeletal army goes on the rampage.

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Main Attack

Viper Strike + Vile Toxins + Fortify + Melee Physical Damage

I wanted to increase my DPS and DOT so I am giving the combination above a tryout.


Defenses

CWDT + Phase Run + Increased Duration

This is an experimental setup that I saw a friend of mine use. It seems very nice for getting out of those `Oh no I am stuck in a corner` moments. We've all had those right? RIGHT??

Vengeance

Arctic Armour

50% less Elemental reflect damage from Elemental Ascendancy

50% less Physical reflect from Slayer Ascendancy


Auras

Blasphemy + Warlords Mark

Arctic Armour

Fire and Physical reduction when standing still, chance to chill enemies and drop frozen ground. Now you can tell the mobs to chill out... cough..


Movement Skill

Leap Slam. Coupled with Faster Attacks support this is brilliant for jumping up ledges in the Labyrinth (making fire traps very easy) or indeed jumping down ledges onto somethings head.

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Skill Tree

https://tinyurl.com/yayneo8v

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Gear as of Level 73

Greetings!

Thank you for taking the time to post your build and for the multiple laughs you provided as I read through it. I have an already leveled Scion that I haven't been able to decide what to do with and I may give this a go.

Think I may tinker around a bit with this/these ideas as a starting point. Thanks again.

Best,
Aurora

Nice guide! I've almost exclusively played melee/summoner hybrids since 2015, so it's refreshing to see another one on the forum. I don't know if I missed it in your guide, but do you have any videos?