Stone Golem
CI Elementalist Summoner build

Updated for Patch 3.12

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Estimated budget: high

This is one of the most unusual Minion/Golem builds we have made. It's based on quite an unusual Golem type, but by converting all of the damage they deal via Triad Grip and using powerful Utility Spells to lower the enemies' Cold Resistance, this build offers second to none single-target damage. At the same time, this build offers rock-solid defenses by utilizing Energy Shield with Chaos Inoculation Passive, which is nearly instantly Regenerated thanks to greatly increased bonuses offered by the Stone Golem. 

We have chosen Elementalist for this setup as it offers a high Golem Damage bonus, allows you to summon two additional Golems, and makes you Freeze and Shock all enemies with greatly increased effect, boosting up your DPS output and reducing the threat to your own character.

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

1. Gameplay

This is a very swift Summoner build that offers amazing mobility and the highest single target DPS out of all Golem Minions. This build is based on 100% Physical to Cold Damage conversion via Triad Grip Gloves with four Green Sockets, and as your Golems deal only Cold Damage, you will be using multiple utility skills to lower the Cold Resistance of your enemies. This includes Frost Bomb and Flesh Offering which are triggered automatically, and Elemental Weakness and Frostbite Curses, applied by Storm Brand, which also triggers Elemental Equilibrium thanks to its very high hit frequency. You are also aiming to use as many Primordial Harmony Jewels as possible, to reduce the Cooldowns of Stone Golem's skills. It will have them use Slam and Roll more often which are the core AoE skills and it's a must if you want to progress through areas faster. 

For the defenses, this build utilizes Chaos Inoculation Passive and it is based on Energy Shield only. By using Zealot's Oath and increasing the effectiveness of Stone Golem's bonuses, you should be able to regenerate approximately 20% of your Total Energy Shield Pool per second (which should be over 1,000 ES) 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Obviously, you won't be able to level up a CI character right from the start, and you will need to stick to Life for the most part. Also, Golems aren't available until the end of Act IV, so you will also need to rely on other Spells and/or Minion types. We recommend using Freezing Pulse and Zombies to rush through the campaign. With such a setup, you should complete the campaign and reach around level 80 before you transition to Chaos Inoculation/Energy Shield and start using Stone Golems. Below you will find some useful Uniques and basic Gem setups that should help you easily clear all the early-game content. 

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Raise Zombie setup
	Raise Zombie - mainly used to tank damage but they can also debuff enemies and buff your other Minions thanks to the Support Gems used
	Minion Life Support - mandatory Support Gem for Zombies
	Feeding Frenzy Support - your Zombies will be able to buff all your Minions with Feeding Frenzy, increasing their Attack, Cast, and Movement Speed
	Maim Support - Zombies will deal more damage, and slow down enemies Hit

Freezing Pulse setup
	Freezing Pulse - our recommended Spell for the leveling part. It deals high Cold/Projectile damage and has a decent range too
	Added Cold Damage Support - adds flat Cold Damage to linked skills
	Faster Casting Support - one of the best low-level Supports for this setup. On higher levels, you can replace it with Elemental Focus, Spell Echo, and several other more powerful options
	Hypothermia Support - greatly increases the damage you deal against Chilled enemies

Summon Stone Golem setup
	Summon Stone Golem - primary DPS source in this build, however, during the leveling phase they will deal much lower damage and only of the Physical type
	Minion Damage Support
	Melee Physical Damage Support - grants a high bonus to Melee Physical DPS
	Multistrike Support - one of the best Support Gems for Stone Golems

Utility Gems
	Hatred - core DPS Aura for this build which increases your own damage as well as your Minions'
	Frost Bomb - deals moderate cold AoE damage and debuffs enemies with Cold Exposure
	Flesh Offering - grants high DPS bonus to all your Minions
	Clarity - grants increased Mana Regeneration which is almost always useful on the low levels

Bandits:

You should kill all the Bandits for two extra Passive Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

38 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Lord of the Dead 2) Heart and Soul 3) Spiritual Command 4) Redemption 5) Discipline and Training

59 Points Skill Tree
Priorities 1) Death Attunement 2) Cruel Preparation 3) Golem Commander 4) Large Jewel Socket

Level 80+ Skill Tree (before switching to CI/ES)
Priorities 1) Devotion 2) Elemental Equilibrium (assuming you have Triad Grip at that point) 3) Large Jewel Socket

Level 80+ Skill Tree (after you switch to CI/ES)
Basically, you need Chaos Inoculation and replace all Life nodes with nearby Energy Shield ones. You should also get Sovereignty to increase the effectiveness of your Discipline Aura as you may be low on Energy Shield at that point

Recommended leveling items:

Sidhebreath - cheap and very powerful leveling amulet for Minion-based builds. At the same time, it's also extremely cheap and easy to obtain
(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +25% to Cold Resistance 0.2% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana Minions have (10-15)% increased maximum Life Minions have (10-15)% increased Movement Speed (15-10)% reduced Mana Cost of Minion Skills Minions deal (10-15)% increased Damage

Victario's Flight - the best boots for pretty much the entire leveling phase. They grant very high bonus Movement Speed to you and all your Minions and extra Mana recovery
+15 to Dexterity +15 to Intelligence (100-150)% increased Evasion Rating 5% increased Movement Speed (5-10)% of Damage taken gained as Mana over 4 seconds when Hit 10% increased Movement Speed 10% increased Movement Speed for you and nearby Allies

Clayshaper - the best leveling Weapon for Golem builds. You can start using it shortly after you get your first Golem Spell. It increases the maximum number of active Golems you can have which is extremely powerful on lower levels
15% reduced Enemy Stun Threshold Grants Level 12 Summon Stone Golem Skill Adds (24-30) to (34-40) Physical Damage (8-10)% increased Attack Speed Minions have (20-30)% increased maximum Life +1 to maximum number of Golems Minions deal (5-8) to (12-16) Added Attack Physical Damage

Goldrim - one of the best leveling Helmets in Path of Exile which grants very high All Elemental Resistances
+(30-50) to Evasion Rating 10% increased Rarity of Items found +(30-40)% to all Elemental Resistances Reflects 4 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

115 Points Final Skill Tree (Cluster Jewels not included)
115 Points Path of Building(PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Liege of the Primordial
2. Elemancer
3. Shaper of Desolation
4. Beacon of Ruin

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Solaris 6% additional Physical Damage Reduction while there is only one nearby Enemy 20% chance to take 50% less Area Damage from Hits

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] Summon Stone Golem (socketed in Elder Helmet)
	Summon Stone Golem - Stone Golems are your main source of DPS in this build. They will deal insane Melee/Cold Damage thanks to 100% Damage Conversion from Triad Grip (you need to make sure to have 4 Green Sockets on it)
	Elemental Damage with Attacks Support - greatly increases the damage of supported Minions since they deal only Cold Damage
	Melee Physical Damage Support - increases your Stone Golem's Physical Melee Damage which is then fully converted to Cold
	Multistrike Support - increases the damage of your Golems by making their Attacks repeat two additional times with greatly increased Speed
Gems granted by the Helmet:
	Minion Damage Support - core Support Gem for all Minion setups
	Hypothermia Support - increases the Damage your Golems deal against Chilled enemies

[UTILITY] Storm Brand setup
	Storm Brand - Storm Brand plays a very important role in this build. You should aim to get Awakened Hextouch Support so that Storm Brand can apply two Curses. In our recommended setup it will also instantly kill enemies
	Awakened Hextouch Support - will make Storm Brand apply linked Hexes -  if you have the Awakened Gem you can use two of them simultaneously
	Frostbite - one of the two Curses used in this build. Frostbite reduces monsters' Cold Resistance
	Elemental Weakness - the second recommended Curse/Hex that reduces all Elemental Resistances
	Culling Strike Support - will make Storm Brand instantly kill enemies below 10% Life

[UTILITY] Raise Spectre/Chaos Golem
	Raise Spectre - Spectres in this build are used solely as Support Minions. We recommend getting Carnages Chieftain from Old Fields in Act 2 which will generate Frenzy Charges for all your other Minions
	Summon Chaos Golem - Chaos Golem increases your Physical Damage mitigation and Golem Damage from your Passives
	Minion Life Support
	Feeding Frenzy Support - your Chaos Golem and Spectres will be able to grant you the Feeding Frenzy buff which increases the damage and speed of all your Minions

[UTILITY] Convocation
	Convocation - instantly recalls your Minions to your location and grants them high Life Regeneration per second

[UTILITY] Flesh Offering/Desecrate/F.Bomb (in crafted Wand)
	Flesh Offering - the best DPS-wise Offering Spell you can use. It increases the speed of all your Minions. Like all the other Spells in this setup
	Desecrate - creates Corpses which can be sacrificed by Flesh Offering to grant your Minions powerful bonuses. You can also use it to create corpses to raise Spectres
	Frost Bomb - applies Cold Exposure to enemies in its radius, greatly reducing their Cold Resistance

[UTILITY] Dash (in Triad Grip)
	Dash - the recommended movement Spell for this build
	Second Wind Support - allows you to store an additional use of Dash and increases its Cooldown Recovery Speed

[UTILITY] Auras (in Triad Grip)
	Precision - increases your Minions Accuracy Rating and Critical Strike Chance
	Vaal Haste - use only the Vaal part of this Aura for extra burst against Bosses

[UTILITY] Hatred
	Hatred - the best Aura for this build which adds a ton of extra Cold Damage to your Golems
	Generosity Support - will make Hatred apply only to your Minions but with greatly increased effect

[UTILITY] Discipline
	Discipline - a mandatory Aura for this build which increases your Energy Shield significantly

5. Gear Setup

Below you will find all the recommended gear for this Stone Golem CI Elementalist build. Our setup requires a ton of specific Unique Items (mainly Primordial Jewels) and a bunch of Large and Medium Cluster Jewels, making it unsuitable for Starter/budget builds. While this could be technically possible to play in a more accessible Life build, we will not have it included in this guide. If you are looking for something like that you can refer to our Carrion Golem Necromancer or Ice Golem end-game Elementalist guides. Both are expected to be updated shortly after Patch 3.13 goes live

(Helmet) Rare Elder Helmet - the best in the slot. Getting Elder one which adds Minion Damage and Hypothermia allowing you to use it as a quasi-six link for your Stone Golem setup

Min. requirements: Socketed Gems are Supported by level # Minion Damage Socketed Gems are Supported by level # Hypothermia +# to level of Socketed Minion Gems Optional affixes: Dexterity Energy Shield Elemental Resistances

Helmet enchantment: ​​​​​​​150% increased Effect of the Buff granted by your Stone Golems

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - the only viable option where you are aiming to get as high Energy Shield as possible

Min. requirements: 600+ Energy Shield Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Dexterity

(Weapon) Crafted Convoking Wand - a mandatory Weapon choice for this build. You also need to make sure it will trigger Socketed Spells or have the crafting recipe yourself and an open suffix to craft it yourself

Min. requirements: Trigger Socketed Spell when you Use a Skill Minion Damage Optional affixes: Minion Attack Speed +1 to level of All Minion Skill Gems

(Shield) Rare Shield - just aim to get the highest defensive stats possible (Energy Shield and Resistances)

Min. requirements: 300 Energy Shield Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Attributes

(Boots) Triad Grip - a mandatory pair of Gloves for this build which allows you to convert 100% of your Minion's Physical Damage to Cold

(80-120)% increased Armour and Energy Shield Minions convert 25% of Physical Damage to Fire Damage per Red Socket Minions convert 25% of Physical Damage to Cold Damage per Green Socket Minions convert 25% of Physical Damage to Lightning Damage per Blue Socket Minions convert 25% of Physical Damage to Chaos Damage per White Socket Minions have (5-10)% chance to Freeze, Shock and Ignite

(Belt) Rare Belt - again,  aim for high defensive bonuses. You can use Crystal Belt for the highest base ES or Stygian Vise for extra Abyss Jewel and some additional DPS bonuses for your Minions

Min. requirements: 100 maximum Energy Shield 90% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Attributes

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - this piece should grant very high bonus Attributes so that you can easily use all the required Gems. You are also going to search for increased Minion Damage and Maximum Energy Shield

Min. requirements: 50 Dexterity 50 Strength 20% Maximum Energy Shield Optional affixes: Minion Damage Elemental Resistances Reduced Mana Reserved

Recommended Anointments: Ravenous Horde

(Ring) Rare Rings - aim to get high Energy Shield and defensive stats

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Energy Shield 90% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Dexterity Strength Non-channeling Skills have -# to Total Mana Cost

(Gloves) Rare Boots - getting high defensive stats should be your priority here

Min. requirements: 100 Maximum Energy Shield 30% Movement Speed Chance to gain Elusive on Critical Strike Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Attributes

Boot enchantment: Regenerate 2% of Life and Mana per second if you were Hit Recently

(Jewel) The Anima Stone - mandatory Jewel used in this build. It allows you to summon two additional Golems

Can Summon up to 1 additional Golem at a time If you have 3 Primordial Jewels, can Summon up to 1 additional Golem at a time

(Jewel) Primordial Might - making your Golems more aggressive greatly improving their targeting and clear speed. You need to use just one here

(25-30)% increased Damage if you Summoned a Golem in the past 8 seconds Golems Summoned in the past 8 seconds deal (35-45)% increased Damage Golems have (18-22)% increased Maximum Life Your Golems are aggressive Primordial

(Jewel) Primordial Harmony - these Jewels grant the highest DPS reducing the cooldowns of your Golem's most powerful abilities. Except for one Might and Eminence Jewel, fill all your empty Jewel Sockets with those

Golem Skills have (20-30)% increased Cooldown Recovery Speed Golems have (10-15)% increased Cooldown Recovery Speed (16-20)% increased Golem Damage for each Type of Golem you have Summoned Golems regenerate 2% of their Maximum Life per second Primordial

(Jewel) Primordial Eminence - using one for some extra buffs is recommended. You can also use them instead of Harmony in case they get too expensive (or hard to get); you will get higher ES Regen but at the cost of reduced clear speed

Golems have (16-20)% increased Attack and Cast Speed 30% increased Effect of Buffs granted by your Golems Golems have +(800-1000) to Armour Primordial

(Jewel) Rare Abyss Jewels - should provide extra Life and added Physical Damage to your Minions' Attacks. Use only if you are using a Stygian Vise

Recommended affixes: maximum Energy Shield Minions deal added # Physical Damage Minions have increased Attack and Cast Speed if you or your Minions have killed recently

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - you should be using three Large Cluster Jewels in this build, and all three should have Primordial Bond Passive. The other ones should be Renewal or Feasting Fiends (best case scenario is to have all three active)

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Primordial Bond 1 Added Passive Skill is Feasting Fiends 1 Added Passive Skill is Renewal 2 Added Passives Skills are Jewel Sockets

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - you will be using 6 Medium Cluster Jewels, with either increased Minion Damage or effectiveness of your non-Curse Auras. You can adjust it to the current market, and  see which ones are cheaper/easier to obtain at the time

Recommended affixes (Minions): 1 Added Passive Skill is Feasting Fiends 1 Added Passive Skill is Renewal Recommended affixes (Auras): 1 Added Passive Skill is Replenishing Presence 1 Added Passive Skill is Vengeful Commander 1 Added Passive Skill is Stalwart Commander

(Flask) Bottled Faith - grants high Life Recovery (converted to ES) and also increases the damage of your Minions which are on Consecrated Ground created by it

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (30-50)% increased Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius +(1-2)% to Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Effect Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - a great Utility Flask which boosts your defenses significantly

+3000 to Armour +(14-20)% Chance to Block Attack Damage during Flask effect +(6-10)% Chance to Block Spell Damage during Flask effect

Other suggested Flasks: Ample Quartz Flask of Warding (Curse immunity) Experimenter's Quicksilver Flask of Staunching (Bleed immunity) Experimenter's Basalt Flask of Heat (Freeze immunity)

If you have tried our Summon Stone Golem CI Elementalist build, make sure to let us know what you think about it. We are constantly looking for feedback that can help us improve our guides. You can leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

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