May 11, 2024
The
Soulwrest
Necromancer Build is one of the most underrated and cheapest league starters in Path of Exile. You can reach the full power of an end-game build without even needing a six-link. The build is easy to play, but can be challenging to put together despite the low cost. This guide will explain everything you need to know, to play the powerful cold conversion variant of this build.
The build is based around
Soulwrest
, a unique staff that summons Phantasms whenever we consume a corpse. We use
Arcanist Brand
with
Desecrate
and
Bone Offering
or
Flesh Offering
to automate the entire process, making the build very comfortable to play. Simply place down the brands and optionally put debuffs on tanky rares and unique monsters while your phantasms automatically shoot everything around you.
Phantasms are small caster minions that shoot a single physical projectile spell. Since they're casters, they do not need accuracy and can be supported with gems that improve spells and projectiles.
The main damage gem setup is going to be placed in the sockets of
Soulwrest
. The staff needs six sockets but the sockets do not have to be linked, making very easy to get going at a league start.
The
Summon Phantasm
support, increases the maximum number of summoned phantasms from
Soulwrest
from the default 10 to 20 (or 21 if you use a lvl. 21 support gem).
I also recommend having a second
Soulwrest
in the offhand with a clearing setup for better clear speed and using the above setup for single target damage while fighting Bosses, tanky Essence monsters etc. This is easier than swapping gems in and out and pressing the shortcut to swap between weapons ("X" by default) will not desummon any active phantasms.
In your clear setup you want to swap
Cold Penetration
,
Predator
and
Hypothermia
for:
The setup with which we will trigger our phantasms to summon them, will consist of:
The
Arcanist Brand
setup must be socketed in the correct order. Sockets in items have a set order. For Four-Linked items the count starts from the top left socket and ascends clockwise. The
Arcanist Brand
can be in any socket as it will ignore itself in the chain, but the remaining skills must be socketed this specific order:
We need to make sure that we first cast
Desecrate
in order for our Offering to be able to consume enough corpses so that we can keep up the maximum number of Phantasms at any given time. The curse needs to be last in the priority order. If you don't socket your gems in the correct configuration you might be running around with 10 phantasms out instead of 21.
For our Auras we will utilize:
We also run a few supporting minions.
Summon Carrion Golem
for extra physical damage.
Raise Spectre
linked with
Minion Life
with which we'll summon Carnage Chieftains from Act II to grant our minions and us Frenzy Charges. And
Raise Zombie
for additional debuffs and defense. The
Raise Zombie
should be socketed in
The Hungry Loop
unset ring and supported by:
Our gloves need to have four green sockets that's why we will put there:
and support all of these active skills will with
Enhance
.
We also use
Convocation
to reposition our minions and activate bonuses to damage that only work when a minion skill has been used recently.
Lastly, for additional defense, we will use level 9
Immortal Call
supported by level 7
Cast when Damage Taken
.
Here is a quick list of all the items you should get for this build.
Soulwrest
- (preferably two for easy swap between single target and clearing gem setups)
Victario's Influence
- this is where we will socket all of our auras, for maximum damage and reservation efficiency.
We'll be using a Rare Helmet, ideally with these stats:
Eldritch Implicits:
Prefixes:
Suffixes:
Triad Grip
- with 4 green sockets. This will convert all of the Physical damage from your Minions to Cold damage.
Rare Boots with these modifiers:
Eldritch Implicits:
Prefixes:
Suffixes:
The Jinxed Juju
(prioritize Effect of Auras and Chaos Resistance)
Anoint: Steelwood Stance
Darkness Enthroned
(ideally 100% but get any roll at the start. The 100% roll allows for just one jewel with 50% chance to avoid being shocked to cap your ailment avoidance)
Prefixes:
Suffixes:
Try to get as much Duration or Charge Generation on prefixes of your utility flasks as possible to improve the uptime. The Suffixes with additional effects don't have to be on these specific flasks - you can mix and match them as long as you get each of them on any of your flasks.
- This is how we will get full Elemental Ailment Avoidance. It's a great early league investment and is usually much cheaper on day 1 of the league.
boost). Besides that you're looking for Maximum Life, Armour, Flat Physical or Cold damage for Minions, Increased Minion Damage if you've used a Minion Skill recently and any missing Attributes or Resistances that your character needs.
For passives you should follow this exact tree:
Path of Building link: https://pobb.in/0rLiq2L_rzJX
In this Path of Building you will find not only the allocated passives but also the gear and skill gem setups as well as a configuration for estimating the damage.
Pantheons are typically situational and should be swapped depending on the content you're engaging with. As a default I recommend Solaris and Shakari.
The Cold Conversion variant of the
Soulwrest
build is one of my favorite league starters in the game, because of how cheap and strong it is. It has it's drawbacks in the form of slightly convoluted setup, being fairly squishy and having a unique playstyle, however I find that for me those things are actually an advantage that keeps the price of the unique staff low. I also really enjoy the playstyle of brands that "summon" ranged minions. I hope you enjoy the build and wish you Good Luck and Lots of Fun!
- Asmodeus