[3.11] Spellslinger VD Necromancer. All content. Easy and fast Sirus A8 kill. Wave 20 Simulacrum.

Leveled with Freezing Pulse (Switched to VD/Spellslinger pretty late, around 60s, honestly a bad idea on my part because this build is so strong with zero items that you can easily start much earlier.

Harvest league essentially made the transition from the campaign -> T1 maps smooth as butter, rarely do I enter maps with all my resists capped, but I was easily way over-capped in everything and had a decent wand due to free seed Reforges I just spammed on wand bases I found. I literally spend a total of 1 chaos orb to begin mapping - buying a Chernobog Shield - which I highly recommend, as this shield is very strong and will last you until red maps/until you get a Surrender or % HP on Block rare shield. I did not replace Chernobog until I was well into T13-T15 maps.

Note that you can only run Volatile Dead in your main 6L until you get at least the 10% Spellslinger Reservation helm, but that's no problem. Even without Detonate Dead, and VD in a 5L, you can destroy all content up to and including T16 maps.

This is the cheapest of any build I've had entering maps and the power level of the trigger spells is ahead of just about anything else I've played as a league starter (note I don't play summoners/mines/traps). I typically league-start with selfcast spells (arc, storm brand, ED/cont, vortex, ice nova/frost bolt, storm burst/divine ire, etc.) and I can tell you this build felt FAR superior to any selfcast spells in both minimal gear requirement and ability to TANK with shit gear. In addition, for harder content, you can "cheese" enemies by off-screening them with volatile orbs.

So, on my 1-chaos-orb budget, I took this char from T1 maps straight up to T10-T12 maps without any issues. In fact, I probably died the least of any character I've played in the prior several leagues (although to be fair, Delerium/Incursion were very deadly compared to the lack of additional monsters this league). After completing a good amount of white/red maps (around 80-90% Atlas completion) I decided to rework my gear and invest a few exalts, probably haven't spent more than 2~3 ex total on my character.

Here's my current gear:


Shroud of the Lightless is extremely undervalued IMO, and offers a very "budget friendly" 6-link option that isn't a Tabula. The Lvl20 Elemental Penetration is much stronger than just running a Fire Penetration because not all your damage is going to be fire, especially if you are on a budget. My wand doesn't even have a fire damage roll, so a chunk of my damage is cold/lightning. This build lacks DPS so being able to pick up an extra Abyss jewel, on top of the several I already run, is a great way to improve damage on a budget (you can get high flat damage jewels without a life roll for very cheap). For an 8-chaos-orb item, you can't really complain, especially since a 6-L Inpulsa is going to run you 6-7ex.

I am now easily clearing T14-T16 maps and haven't died once in a few days. I was actually ASTOUNDED when I was in a T15 Delerium map and was surrounded by 30+ monsters and FROZEN (ran out of Heat flasks) yet managed to stay alive facetanking everything for a good 2-3 seconds without dying. The block/block recovery is very strong for trash/stuff that hits very frequent. For the amoutn of currency I have spent, I feel tankier than some 10-15ex Cospri or CoC builds I often play.

Now, back to DPS... It's not very high, but it's enough. It's difficult to scale a non-crit build very high, especially without utilizing cluster jewels (they are way too expensive to use/roll right now, wait until they fix). Don't expect to delete guardians in 2-3 seconds. However, you can literally just hold down right click and tank everything until they die. Examples: Full facetank of the Eradicator when he jumps in the air and shoots lightning at you, or full facetank of Veritania when she poops out tornadoes and volley-fires projectiles into your face. Literally just stand in tornadoes/projectiles and they do nothing. Essentially, as long as you aren't oneshot, you will likely not die to anything.

Only other downside is the build feels slow coming from a player that frequently plays Cyclone and/or Assassin/Pathfinder type classes. Although shield charge is fast, base run-speed is slow (no elusive, tailwind, movespeed from ascendancy, etc.) Feels really bad in indoor maps with tight corridors that make shield charge bad to use, but is otherwise fine in open layout maps.