Lightning SRS Champion — Ultimate Build Guide — Summon Raging Spirit Minions [PoE 3.26]

3.26 Lightning SRS Champion Mercenary Edition Video Guide: https://youtu.be/e5tERGJZEbA twitch.tv/PhazePlays youtube.com/@PhazePlays_ ===================== ====== Mercenary ====== ===================== We want a Fallen Reverend ( Strength / Intelligence ) Level 84 is ideal, 83 is good too Key Skills: Wrath is level 26 on an 83 Merc, and level 27 on an 84 Merc Desecrate frees up a gem slot in the trigger weapon This guy pops off with Absolution, which also creates Absolution minions He also summons short-lived Spectres from in-map corpses and his own Desecrate Be aware that if the Merc has Spell Cascade Support on Absolution it adds extra visual clutter == Doryani's Prototype == Makes nearby enemies (radius of 6 meters / 60 units) have the same Lightning Resistance as your Mercenary Get as much negative Lightning Resist as you can on both Rings (aim for the cap of -200 total) Perquil's Toe is best in slot, but there may be some gear-limited scenarios where a -Lightning amulet makes sense Drop Avatar of Fire and Elemental Equilibrium if equipping your Merc with this == Mercenary Gear Options = Weapon: Dark Seer / Rare Crusader Wand with Wrath Effect / Rare Convoking Wand with Minion Damage / Minion Attack/Cast Speed / Cast Speed -- Harvest AoE enchant Shield: Matua Tupuna / Victario's Charity / Rare Shaper life on block shield Helmet: Rare Shaper Nearby enemies take 6/9% increased Ele damage / Blood Price / Crown of the Tyrant / Voll's Vision / Rare implicits: enemy hp regen reduction, AoE Body Armour: Doryani's Prototype / Rare Royal Plate with 4k+ Armour, Wrath & Non-Curse Aura implicits Gloves: Rare, Resists, Life Regen Rate, Area damage/AoE craft, Implicits: Intimidate, Lightning Leech / Fire Exposure / Hinder / Asenath's Gentle Touch (hurts single target dps) / Gravebind Boots: Rare, Movement Speed, Resists, Life Regen Rate, possibly chill immunity movespeed craft or shock/chill reduction, implicits: action speed / life regen rate Amulet: Perquil's Toe is uncontested here, Annoint: Leadership (Violet, Opalescent, Silver) Rings: Rare negative lightning resistance rings (aim for cap of 200 between both rings) / The Highwayman / Rare rarity ring Belt: Kaom's Binding / Pyroshock Clasp with Ignite & Shock chance on wand / String of Servitude (Wrath) For Rare items, prefer Armour bases when possible to help mitigate lightning damage intake from Doryani's If you have any item suggestions that should be added here let me know! == Help! My Merc is Dying! == Things worth trying: Cap Fire/Cold resist Swap in Summon Holy Relic linked to your Feeding Frenzy Run Vitality Make sure your Determination is 20% quality Grace may help If these aren't enough, you may need to swap pieces out for a tankier gear setup The merc should rarely, if ever, die on this build. Mine personally hasn't died a single time yet ===================== ====== Leveling ======== ===================== Campaign leveling is out of the scope of this build guide, though I may cover it in the future The best way to level is likely BAMA (Blink Arrow of Bombarding, Mirror Arrow of Prismatic Clones) For fast Alt leveling, take a look at something like Fezz's BAMA Campaign Rush Guide from last league, it should be mostly unchanged: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3487161/page/1 ===================== ====== Misc =========== ===================== == Auras == There's tons of aura flexibility Feel free to adjust auras as needed, especially if you have a +2 Socketed Gems Devouring Diadem and Enlighten Might be worth running Purity of Elements and dropping Stormshroud -- especially if on a budget. Relieves tons of gear pressure Could also run Haste in the helmet and then Divine Blessing something else like Grace or Anger or whatever Aspect of the Spider is also good Skitterbots is also decent in place of Vitality == Solving Mana == SRS is mana heavy and Divine Blessing costs a truckload of mana, so needs to be solved somehow = Devouring Diadem = Unveils Ranked (1) +2 to Level of Socketed Gems (works on Enlighten) (2) 20% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you've Consumed a Corpse Recently (best for Mapping) (3) +2 to Level of Socketed AoE Gems (4) +(55-60) to maximum Life, Regenerate 5.3 Mana per second Every other Unveil has little to no value There are ~14 total prefix Unveils now = Whispers of Infinity = This amulet could potentially be run with a Xibaqua Glorious Vanity for Divine Flesh, though it does cut the value of Endurance Charges in half This also opens up using a Suppression helmet A few other possible ideas to help sustain ES: Aegis Aurora shield Burden of Truth belt Sorrow of the Divine flask Gearing would change substantially with some of these options == March of the Legion Implicits == +2 to level of Socketed Aura gems +2 to level of Socketed AoE gems +1 to level of Socketed Gems +2 to level of socketed duration gems is decent == Tattoos == Useful tattoo mods Strength: 6% Fire resist / 6% increased Armour / Regen 0.3% life per sec Dex: 2% Suppression / 10% stun avoidance / 2% Movespeed / 6% Cold resist Int: 5% reduced damage taken from Crits / 3% Chaos resist / 6% Lightning res / 6% reduced Curse effect on you Could potentially run an Elegant Hubris with Supreme Ostentation for as many tattoos as you want Potentially a good way to get Stun immunity == Resolute Technique (RT) / Hits Can't Be Evaded == Spec into Resolute Technique (2 points) earlygame to midgame Once you get a multimodded Sceptre with Hits Can't Be Evaded, unspec RT == Avatar of Fire and Elemental Equilibrium? == Avatar of Fire makes Smite do zero Lightning damage which in turn gives our SRS minions lightning exposure via Elemental Equilibrium (minions don't inherit Avatar of Fire or Elemental Equilibrium) Drop both of these keystones after getting Doryani's Prototype == Reservation Mastery == 3 Great options here: (1) Auras from your Skills have 10% increased Effect on you (2) Non-Curse Aura Skills have 50% increased Duration (works on Divine Blessing aura and Smite) (3) 30% increased AoE of Aura Skills Probably run 1 in Hardcore, and either 2 or 3 in Softcore depending on your preference == Vaal Skills == 3 Options: (1) Vaal Haste (2) Vaal Smite (3) Vaal Molten Shell Pick 2 out of these 3 to use Recommended: Run 1 & 2 in Softcore, Run 1 & 3 in Hardcore == Annoint Options == Leadership (Violet, Opalescent, Silver) Enduring Bond Charisma Influence Spiritual Command (no Thread of Hope) ===================== ====== Crafting ======== ===================== All recombinating here is referring to the old recombinating method (press the recombinator button so it has a Blue Outline) == Ghastly Jewels == Craft using Harvest Reforge Lightning i83 is ideal, i84+ is fine too Best mods: Maximum Life Minions deal (15-20)% increased Damage if you've used a Minion Skill Recently (usually best damage mod, as we have a lot of flat lightning from our auras) Minions have (4-6)% increased Attack Speed, Minions have (4-6)% increased Cast Speed Minions deal # to # additional Lightning Damage Minion Movement speed is also decent == Large Cluster (Endgame 12-passive) == Get a i84+ 12 Passive Minion Damage Cluster Jewel -- they're not hard to farm in T17s with a Delirium atlas (Unending Nightmare) Alteration/Augment until you hit both "3% increased attack/cast speed" and "35% increased effect of passives" ---- ~2131 Alterations on average Imprint (Craicic Chimeral), Regal, Exalt, and cross your fingers If you hit a 3rd or 4th good mod, using a Fracturing Orb is an option to finish crafting it For early game clusters, use Harvest Reforge Caster until Call to the Slaughter and 2% increased minion attack/cast speed or something equivalent == Medium Cluster (Endgame) == i68-i83 Medium Minion Life Cluster Jewel Aim for Blessed Rebirth + Renewal Alt/Aug/Regal = ~624 alterations Alch/Scour = 510 alchemy, 509 scour == Sceptre == i83+ Karui Sceptre Early, recombinate T1 or T2 cast speed and % minion damage (Fear Essence) Lategame, the simplest weapon is to recombinate T1 cast speed, T1 % minion damage, and +1 all spells or +1 fire, then multimod == Shield == Fossilised Spirit Shield i84+ (or i85+ if you want T1 all elemental resists) First, recombinate T1 Life with T1/T2/T3 minion damage Multiple ways to proceed here If you fill suffixes and craft prefixes cannot be changed, harvest augment fire will guarantee +1 fire (suffixes must be full when you do this) then you can finish suffixes with a veiled chaos, or reforge chaos into multimod prefixes cannot be changed then veiled exalt, or any other method you prefer Alternatively, you can aim to recombinate 4 mods: T1 life, T1/T2 minion damage, +2 all max res, and any other good suffix Then, craft a Suffix and then Hunter Exalt slam % Max Life, done