Arakaali's Fang
Spider Summoner
Occultist Build

Updated for Patch 3.16

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Estimated budget: very high

Arakaali's Fang is a very interesting weapon that allows you to summon Spider Minions via its' unique level 1 Raise Spider Skill. This is a level 53 Weapon, and the skill is inherently level 1, but don't make the looks deceive you. This is actually one of the most powerful Minion Spells in the game, and by using The Squire Shield for additional 3 Support Gems that will affect it, it offers absurdly high damage. Spiders Summoned that way will attack enemies with Viper Strike, which has 60% of its' damage converted to Chaos, and a 100% Chance to Poison on Hit, which makes Occultist the best pick for this build, even though it's rarely seen oriented on Minion playstyle. 

You might have noticed that Arakaali's Fang will summon Spiders only when you kill something, so this is the trickiest part of this build, as you do not exactly have any damaging abilities to kill higher-level enemies. In order to summon initial Spiders, you will be using The Writhing Jar Flask to create vulnerable and easy-to-kill monsters. With the first Spiders summoned, you will be able to take down enemies quickly, but still, this doesn't allow you to summon additional Spiders, or have new ones spawn when the "old" expire. For that, you will be also using Gravebind Unique Gloves. This pair of Gloves will make any kills made by anyone in radius to count as your own, allowing you to trigger Arakaali's Fang and the Raise Spider skill consistently. 

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

This build is a very straightforward Minion build, where you basically progress through areas occasionally casting supportive spells that boost the damage of your Minions. In this case, you will be channeling Divine Ire linked to Cast while Channelling to trigger Desecrate to create corpses for your Offerings, and Hydrosphere that will massively boost the DPS of your Spiders because of how it interacts to Melee Splash - basically doubling the damage you deal to Bosses if you can afford the Divergent Melee Splash Support. If you are using The Queen's Hunger, Offering skills of all three types will be cast automatically, so you don't have to worry about it. We also recommend using The Ancient Skull Helmet, it will make your Minions much faster and deal more damage. The Helmet has a downside, which prevents the Spiders from "listening to you", so Convocation, Feeding Frenzy, Meat Shield or Signal Prey will not work on them. You are also going to use Molten Shell as the best Guard Skill for high Armour Builds, which can be allocated under your left mouse button, causing it to be cast nearly automatically. You will also use Flame Dash for extra mobility, and depending on your equipment you may need to cast Despair Curse manually (it can be also applied via a Ring affix). All your other spells will be Passive or triggered automatically, which includes various Auras, and a Carrion Golem linked to Cast when Damage Taken. 

The only tricky part is to summon your initial Spiders. It's best to start channeling Divine Ire, and while you are at it pop your Writhing Jar Flask at the start of the Map - if you have the first few Spiders ready, you can just rush into Maps without having to worry about them anymore. Treat your Writhing Jar Flask as a standard Hybrid Flask for some Mana/Life Recovery and proceed to monster obliteration. 

Full gameplay video:   This video was recorded on a level 95 Occultist wearing Ancient Skull and Queen's Hunger with the rest of the Items exactly as described in the Item section below. We didn't use a Watcher's Eye Jewel as it certainly wasn't required to keep this Occultist alive

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

You will be unable to level up using Arakaali's Spiders, not only because the Weapon itself has a level 53 requirement, but also because it will simply underperform without all the required gear listed in this Guide. There are two ways to level up this character, first one, the faster/easier would be a Cold DoT build based on Creeping Frost and Vortex. You can find a detailed Guide for this build here (unless we have already updated the Guide to the current Patch by the time you are reading it, it's all good, otherwise you shouldn't worry either as the leveling tips will remain most likely the same). This setup offers good damage with solid AoE and requires no specific Items or skill synergies to get you going, but it will require you to fully respec your Passive Tree when you want to switch to Arakaali's Spiders. The other setup involves using Minions: mainly from the Herald of Agony. With similarities in Passive Skills and Support Gems, it may be a more convenient way to play this character during the campaign phase. You will be dealing damage mainly with Crawler of Agony, and build up Virulence stacks via self casting Ball Lightning with increased chance to Poison on Hit and the number of projectiles it fires. Below you will find some basic leveling Skill gems setups and useful Uniques, but if you want to level up your character in an alternative way, just do so and disregard this section.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Herald of Purity setup
	Herald of Agony - be aware of your Mana pool - supporting this Skill with more Gems will increase the amount of Mana it Reserves.
	Minion Damage Support - increases the Damage of all linked Minion Spells
	Pierce Support - makes your Crawler's projectiles pierce, which boosts you clear speed significantly
	Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - increases the number of your Agony Crawler's maximum projectiles, again boosting its' clear speed
	Withering Touch Support - boosts the damage of your Crawler but also allows it to apply Withered debuff

Raise Zombie setup
	Raise Zombie - a defense-oriented Minions that will add extra damage and tank some of the incoming hits
	Minion Life Support - increases the Life of your Zombies, making them much more durable
	Feeding Frenzy Support - boosts the damage of your Minions and improves their AI, but also it will grant you the Feeding Frenzy buff that boosts the DPS of your Agony Crawler
	Withering Touch Support

Ball Lightning setup
	Ball Lightning - this Spell offers one of the best hit frequencies in the game, so with an increased chance to Poison it's simply the best to generate Virulence stacks
	Chance to Poison Support - a mandatory Gem in this setup, it not only boosts your Chance to Poison with linked skills but also adds Chaos Damage to them which is mandatory in order to apply it in the first place when using Ball Lightning
	Poison Support - required to reach 100% chance to Poison with your Ball Lightning Hits
	Greater Multiple Projectiles Support

Bandits:

Killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points is the only viable option in this build

Leveling Skill Trees:

35 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: Lord of the Dead -> Heart and Soul -> Cruel Preparation -> Enduring Bond (Unholy Might Mastery is extremely important here) and then Quick Recovery and Purity of Flesh

64 Points Skill Tree

Priorities: Spiritual Aid (if you are increasing the level of your Ball Lightning it will deal some decent damage itself from now on) -> Devotion -> Tireless -> Gravepact

Recommended leveling items:

Goldrim - this Helmet grants a lot of Elemental Resistances from the get-go, making it one of the best leveling Items in Path of Exile

+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

Le Heup of All - it is generally perceived as a great all-around leveling Ring

Adds 1 to 4 Physical Damage to Attacks +(10-30) to all Attributes (10-30)% increased Damage (10-30)% increased Rarity of Items found +(10-30)% to all Elemental Resistances

Skullhead - we highly recommend this Hemet, you can get it at level 36 and it benefits you and your Zombies giving them extra defensive stats

(60-80)% increased Armour and Evasion +(50-70) to maximum Life +(50-70) to maximum Mana +(10-20)% to all Elemental Resistances Minions have +10% Chance to Block Attack Damage Minions have +(300-350) to Armour Minions Regenerate 2% of Life per second

Tabula Rasa - tabula is usually a great idea for Body Armour but it can be easily bested by other Rare Armours later on

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

Sidhebreath - a great and inexpensive low-level Unique that boots your Minions' stats and grants some extra Mana Regeneration

(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate+25% to Cold Resistance Minions have (10-15)% increased maximum Life Minions have (10-15)% increased Movement Speed Minions deal (5-9) to (11-15) additional Cold Damage (15-10)% reduced Mana Cost of Minion Skills

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

117 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Cluster or Unique Jewels)
117 Points Path of Building(PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Void Beacon
2. Profane Bloom
3. Withering Presence
4. Malediction

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of the Brine King You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Raise Spider setup (Socketed in Arakaali's Fang)
	Raise Spiders - a build-defining Skill that is granted by Arakaali's Fang weapon. Summoned Spiders use Viper Strike Attack with 100% Damage Converted to Chaos Damage offering great synergies with the Occultist Class and Withered debuffs you are going to apply
	Multistrike Support - Melee Attacks from your Spiders will repeat additional times with increased Attack Speed, greatly boosting their DPS
	Melee Physical Damage Support - boosts the melee DPS of your Spiders, making it a core Support Gem for this build
	Void Manipulation Support - grants a high Chaos DPS Multiplier
Support Gems socketed in the Squire
	Divergent Melee Splash Support - adds splash effect to your Spider's Attacks. If you can afford the Divergent version of the game and socket it in the Squire Shield, it will actually deal more damage around your primary target, and in synergy with Hydrosphere, it will basically double your damage against Bosses
	Minion Damage Support - a self-explanatory Support Gem for all Minion setups
	Withering Touch Support - adds additional Chaos Damage to your Minion's attacks, and also allows your Spiders to apply Withered debuff. If you can afford it, try getting the Anomalous variant, which will also increase the duration of your Spiders

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Malevolence - increases DoT Damage which applies to Poison that your Spiders inflict with Viper Strike attacks
	Generosity Support -  increase the effectiveness of your Malevolence Aura but makes it apply to your Minions only
	Tempest Shield - a Duration Spell that boosts your Chance to Block Spell Hits
	Blasphemy Support -  linked Curse - Temporal Chains in this case, will work as an Aura around your character and passively apply its' effect to all nearby enemies
	Temporal Chains -  slows down all nearby enemies, making it one of the best defensive Curses in the game
	Enlighten Support -  reduces the Mana Reservation cost of linked Spell and Auras

[UTILITY] Desecrate and Hydrosphere
	Divine Ire - use a level 1 Divine Ire to trigger linked Spells via Cast While Channelling. But also, you can use it to kill the worms from the Writhing Jar to create your initial Spiders
	Cast while Channelling Support - when you are using Divine Ire, linked Spells will be triggered automatically
	Desecrate - creates corpses that allow you to cast Offering Spells during Boss fights. You can use another level 1 Gem here
	Hydrosphere - Hydrosphere is used solely for its' insane synergy with Divergent Melee Splash, to boost the damage of your Summoned Spiders. Again, a level 1 Gem here is more than enough

[UTILITY] Carrion Golem
	Summon Carrion Golem - summons a Minion that boosts the damage of all your other Minions including Spiders, by adding flat Physical Damage to their attacks
	Cast when Damage Taken Support - will automatically resummon your Golem when you take a certain amount of damage

[UTILITY] 2nd Aura setup
	Determination - grants a very high bonus to your Armour Rating, which is one of your core defensive layers here. If you don't have Aul's Uprising you will need to link it to Enlighten and possibly drop some of the other Auras (most likely Temporal Chains Aura)
	Defiance Banner - boosts your Armour Rating and Evasion Rating also reduces the Crit. Chance of nearby enemies

[UTILITY] Flame Dash/Molten Shell/Despair
	Flame Dash - the recommended mobility Spell used in this build. It allows you to quickly progress through areas or avoid big damage spikes
	Molten Shell - the best Guard Spell for high Armour Rating builds like this one. Allocate it under your left mouse button so that it's triggered basically automatically
	Despair - the best DPS-oriented Curse for this build. You can cast it manually, you don't have many active skills anyway, but it can also be applied via Ring affix
	Enhance Support - boosts the quality of all linked Active Gems

5. Gear Setup

Below you will find all the required equipment needed to play this build. Sadly, this build doesn't offer much flexibility in that regard, and you will be forced to use several specific (and expensive) Uniques to reach this build's full potential. Arakaali's Fang and Gravebind are the two mandatory Uniques, but in order to follow our recommended setup, The Squire, Aul's Uprising, and Queen's Hunder will be also required.

(Helmet) Ancient Skull - unquestionably the Best Helmet for this build. It massively boosts the damage of your risen Spiders by increasing their damage and speed. You will be however unable to order your Minions by using Spells like Convocation/Signal Prey or even alter their behavior via other Skills/Gems

Minions deal (15-20)% increased Damage (150–200)% increased Armour and Energy Shield Minions have (40-20)% reduced maximum Life Minions have (15–25)% increased Movement Speed Minions have 50% increased Critical Strike Chance per Maximum Power Charge you have Minions can hear the whispers for 5 seconds after they deal a Critical Strike

(Helmet) Rare Bone Helmet - can offer much better defensive utility at the cost of lower DPS bonuses. Simply look at a Bone Helmet that reduces Chaos Resistance of nearby enemies and offers defensive stats

Min. requirements: 80 Maximum Life 80% Total Elemental Resistances Nearby Enemies have -#% to Chaos Resistance Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Attributes

Helmet enchantments: 150% increased Effect of the Buff granted by your Carrion Golems 30% increased Temporal Chains Curse Effect

(Weapon) Arakaali's Fang - the core element of the build, Summoned Spiders are basically your only source of DPS

40% increased Global Critical Strike Chance 100% chance to Trigger Level 1 Raise Spiders on Kill (170-200)% increased Physical Damage Adds (8-13) to (20-30) Physical Damage Adds 1 to 59 Chaos Damage 15% chance to Poison on Hit

(Shield) The Squire - a mandatory Shield for this particular setup. It allows you to use three additional Support Gems for your Summoned Spiders, greatly boosting their overall performance

120% increased Block Recovery Has 3 Sockets All Sockets are White +(5-8)% to Quality of Socketed Support Gems Socketed Support Gems can also Support Skills from your Main Hand (100-150)% increased Armour and Evasion +(3-5)% Chance to Block

(Body Armour) Queen's Hunger - the BiS Armour for this setup. It can also carry some very powerful Veiled mods, so if you can afford such, this can be a pretty godly piece of equipment. It also casts Offering for you which is needed given the recommended Gem setup

Trigger Level 20 Bone Offering, Flesh Offering or Spirit Offering every 5 seconds Offering Skills Triggered this way also affect you (5-10)% increased Cast Speed (100-130)% increased Energy Shield (6-10)% increased maximum Life Veiled Prefix Veiled Suffix

(Body Armour) Brass Dome - this piece of Armour makes you nearly immortal. Not only it boosts your Armour Rating and makes you unaffected by Critical Hits, but it also reduces the Elemental Damage you take by around 20%. It will, however, require you to cast Flesh or Spirit Offering manually

(350-400)% increased Armour +(1-5)% to all maximum Elemental Resistances Strength provides no bonus to Maximum Life Take no Extra Damage from Critical Strikes

(Boots) Rare Boots - you will need to use Rare boots with extra Resistances and Attributes to have all the stats needed in this build. You can also look for a pair with Endurance Charge generation on kill which will apply to you thanks to the Gravebind Gloves

Min. requirements: 60 Maximum Life 100% Total Elemental Resistances 25% Increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: #% Chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on kill #% Chance to gain Endurance Charge on kill

(Gloves) Gravebind - a mandatory pair of Gloves that will allow you to constantly create new Spiders even if you don't kill anything yourself

146% increased Armour and Evasion +23% to Chaos Resistance +21 Life gained on Kill Nearby Enemies Killed by anyone count as being Killed by you instead

(Belt) Darkness Enthroned - if you are aiming at buying the best possible Abyssal Jewels with tons of Life and Minion Damage, this may be the best option for this build

Has 2 Abyssal Sockets 75% increased Effect of Socketed Jewels

(Belt) Stygian Vise - if you are lacking Resistances, most likely picking up a Stygian Vise will be a more convenient option than Darkness Enthroned

Min. requirements: 90 Maximum Life 120% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Armour Attributes Chance for Flasks not to consume Charges

(Amulet) Aul's Uprising - this Amulet allows you to have an Extra Aura for Free. You should look for the one with "free" Determination and extra Armour Rating

+(10-16) to all Attributes +(20-30) to Strength (15-20)% increased Armour +(50-70) to maximum Life Nearby Enemies have 10% reduced Stun and Block Recovery <Random Strength aura> Reserves no Mana

Recommended Anointments: Charisma Constitution Soul of Steel

(Ring) Rare Rings - aim at getting all the necessary Attributes and Resistances. Obviously, extra Life can come in handy, and you can try getting a Ring with Despair Curse on Hit which will save you some effort to cast it yourself. You can use an Unset Ring for an extra Socket to find space for Convocation or Offering Spell

Min. requirements: 50 Maximum Life 80% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Curse Enemies with Despair on Hit, with #% increased Effect Attributes (Dexterity mainly) Non-channeling Skills have -# to Total Mana Cost Chaos Resistance

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - not exactly required, but you can get a lot of extra defensive bonuses from it, including increased Armour or Attack Block Chance, and a single roll can be obtained quite cheap

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended Aura modifiers: +(600-1000) to Armour while affected by Determination +(5-8)% Chance to Block Attack Damage while affected by Determination

(Jewel) Amanamu's Gaze - this Unique Jewel will greatly boost your Spider's Poison DPS, making it one of the best Jewels you can use here since you are most likely going to use multiple other Ghastly Eye Jewels anyway

+(5-10) to all Attributes Minions have +6% to Damage over Time Multiplier per Ghastly Eye Jewel affecting you, up to a maximum of +30%

(Jewel) Ghastly Eye Jewels - simply look for extra Life and added Physical Damage to your Minions. Obviously, Minion Damage or Attack Speed will work as well

Recommended affixes: Maximum Life Minions deal # to # additional Physical Damage Optional affixes: #% increased Global Defences Minions have +#to Accuracy Rating Minions have #% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you or your Minions have Killed Recently Elemental Resistances Attributes

(Jewel) Fortress Covenant - grants very high bonuses to your Minions, both DPS and defense-wise. And if you socket it inside a Cluster Jewel, its' downside will be completely ignored

Minions deal (35-45)% increased Damage Minions have +(10-12)% Chance to Block Attack Damage Minions have +(10-12)% Chance to Block Spell Damage Notable Passive Skills in Radius are Transformed to instead grant: Minions take 20% increased Damage

(Jewel) Quickening Covenant - another Jewel just like the one above, but with a different set of stats. Again, make sure to socket it inside your Large Cluster Jewel

Minions have (12-16)% increased Attack Speed Minions have (12-16)% increased Cast Speed Minions have (10-12)% chance to Dodge Attack Hits Minions have (10-12)% chance to Dodge Spell Hits Notable Passive Skills in Radius are Transformed to instead grant: Minions have 25% reduced Movement Speed

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - it's a good idea to use a Large Cluster Jewel to socket Covenant Jewels inside it to negate their downsides. The best Large Cluster Jewel should have no Passives on it, but the increased effect of the small nodes and bonuses like Armour, Attributes, Maximum Life, or Resistances

Recommended affixes: Added Small Passive Skills also grant: +# to All Attributes Added Small Passive Skills also grant: +#to Armour Added Small Passive Skills also grant: Minions have #% increased Attack and Cast Speed Added Small Passive Skills have 35% increased Effect

(Flask) The Writhing Jar - you need this Flask to summon your first Spiders. Simple start channeling your Divine Ire and use the Flask to Summon Spiders, and start mapping

Instant Recovery (75-65)% reduced Amount Recovered 2 Enemy Writhing Worms escape the Flask when used Writhing Worms are destroyed when Hit (20-10)% reduced Charges used

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - use for Increased Chance to Block Damage, with this Flask Activated your chances to Block both Spell and Attack Hits should easily exceed 50%

+1500 to Armour +(8-12)% Chance to Block Attack Damage during Flask effect +(4-6)% Chance to Block Spell Damage during Flask effect

Other suggested Flasks: Divine Life Flask with Bleed removal/immunity Basalt Flask with reduced Curse effect or random ailment removal Quicksilver Flask with extra Movement Speed or Armour Rating suffix

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.