Herald of Purity/Dominating Blow

Guardian Build

Updated for Patch 3.19

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The combination of Herald of Purity Skill and Gravebind Gloves is an established way to perpetuate a cycle of self-summoning powerful Minions. Normally you'd have to Hit or kill an enemy to spawn a Sentinel, but with these Gloves on, Minion's kills are being treated as killed by your character instead. What it means is that you don't have to invest in your own damage at all, only Minion's Damage. We're using the Sentinels from Herald of Purity Minions. There are always four of them, they have AoE Attacks, and high Physical Damage that scales up really well with Gem Level. To get the Gem Level up we've decided to use the Crest of Desire Helmet, a powerful Rare Staff, and an Amulet - preferably Ashes of the Stars. With Crest of Desire on, the main setup will take only one socket and Reserve little to no Mana, allowing us to fit in more Skills and Auras like Determination and Pride. It can also increase the Gem Level of Herald of Purity by up to eight. These are the main reasons we don't use The Coming Calamity. Additionally, there are some Jewels and unique items dedicated to Minions which are sourced from Herald Skills - Circle of Guilt Rings and Medium Cluster Jewels with Cult-Leader and Disciples Notables are especially useful. Since the build allows for an extra six-link setup, we will also include Dominating Blow to spawn more Minions - four is usually not enough.

We've picked Guardian over Necromancer for his defensive capabilities. With Time of Need and some extra passives, it is possible to be completely immune to Curses and regenerate Life rapidly in an infrequent manner. Radiant Crusade provides you with Elemental Resistances, Onslaught, and more Damage to you and your allies. Unwavering Crusade improves the Attack, Cast, Movement Speed, and Area of Effect for your Minions. it also Intimidates and Unnerves your opponents. Bastion of Hope grants simply a lot of Spell and Attack Block Chance. The build has a lot of Armour and a decent Life Pool of around 5000. Only two Unique Items are necessary for this build to work, which leaves you with a lot of room for upgrades. You can for example reach maximum Chaos Resistance, over 80% Maximum Elemental Resistances, or make it a hybrid build with Glorious Vanity and Corrupted Soul - the possibilities are endless.

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

1. Gameplay

You're using Gravebind so the gameplay is extremely smooth - you won't have to summon your Sentinels, to start this cycle, simply use Writhing Jar. Your other Minions are another Sentinels from Dominating Blod and Carrion Golem - it will Maim and grant Feeding Frenzy to your other Minions. Your secondary Minions are Sentinels of Dominance - hit a group of enemies with Dominating Blow to spawn them. To apply Curses you can use Arcanist Brand, but if it's just one Curse - cast it manually. We recommend Vulnerability. Use Molten Shell as your Guard Spell. For Auras pick Pride, Determination, War Banner, and Clarity.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Start any Elemetal Skill, like Fireball, and at level 12 switch to Absolution, it's a Spell that creates Minions - Sentinels of Absolution. You might want to lean into Lightning Spell Damage at first to get the most out of this ability. It's very similar to the Herald of Purity Skill, but the key difference is that without Gravebind Gloves, it leaves the heavy lifting to your character - you must still Kill enemies with this Spell. Use a default Elemental/Lightning Damage setup at first. Switch to Herald of Purity at level 59, it's when you can equip the aforementioned Gloves. At this point, you can create a regular setup for it - with Brutality, Melee Physical Damage, Multistrike, and Minion Damage Support. Only after acquiring Crest of Desire, leveling up the Skill Gem itself, and gathering other items to increase the Gem Level of Herald of Purity you can switch to the final setup.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Absolution setup
	Absolution - A Spell that deals Physical Damage, (half of which is converted to Lighting Damage) in an area, and then creates Sentinel Minions. It's similar to Dominating Blow.
	Onslaught Support - Improves the Cast, Attack, and Movement Speed for you and the Sentinels.
	Added Lightning Damage Support - Adds Lightning Damage to Spells and Minions.
	Controlled Destruction Support - It is available early on and grants much more Damage by reducing the Area of Effect.
	Physical to Lightning Support - Converts the remaining Physical Damage of Absolution into Lightning Damage.

Mana Reservation setup
	Wrath - improves your Minions' Attack with extra Lightning Damage and grants more Spell Lightning Damage to your character, it is good with Absolution.
	Purity of Elements - It protects you from Elemental Ailments and grants tons of Resistances.

various Gems
	Conductivity - A Curse that lowers the Lightning Resistance of your foes.
	Herald of Purity - Use it alongside your Absolution if you have enough Mana, these extra Minions will deal some damage even early on.
	Summon Carrion Golem - Carrion Golem improves all your other Minions by granting them Physical Damage.

Bandits:

you should kill all three Bandits for two additional Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

26 Points Skill Tree
Start with Elemental/Lightning Damage, Maximum Life, and Minion Damage nodes

67 Points Skill Tree
Head for more Minion nodes, Maximum Life, and Lightning Damage if you're still using Absolution. If not - Mana Reservation Efficiency and outer Jewel Sockets.

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - Great leveling Ring, it grants a lot of Attributes, Damage, and Resistances.

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

Sidhebreath - You can use it to upgrade your Minions' Damage with Cold. Do not combine with Brutality Support.

(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +25% to Cold Resistance Minions have (10-15)% increased maximum Life Minions convert 50% of Physical Damage to Cold Damage Minions deal (25-35) to (50-65) additional Cold Damage Minions deal no Non-Cold Damage

Goldrim - This Helmet offers a lot of Elemental Resistances, and can be worn at level 1.

+(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)

Tabula Rasa - Use Tabula for the six, white, linked sockets.

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

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

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

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Radiant Crusade
2. Unwavering Crusade
3. Time of Need
4. Bastion of Hope

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris: 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%; 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Shakari: You cannot be Poisoned while there are at least 3 Poisons on you; 50% less Duration of Poisons on You

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Herald of Purity setup socketed in Crest of Desire
	Herald of Purity - The main damage-dealing ability, these Minions deal the majority of overall Damage. It summons powerful Sentinel Minions which use Attack, Slam, or Crusade Slam. The default version increases their Movement Speed, but the Divergent one is good for the cooldown recovery rate for their Skills.

[UTILITY] Dominating Blow setup
	Dominating Blow - After Hitting an enemy with this Attack and having them die shortly after you're re-summoning them as your own Sentinels of Dominance. You can even have a Rare one with Archnemesis modifiers. The Support Gems here will work for your Attacks and for the Attacks of your Minions.
	Minion Damage Support - Use it for more Minion Damage, but less Minion Maximum Life.
	Brutality Support - More Physical Damage, and inability to deal any other kind of Damage.
	Melee Physical Damage Support - Grants more Melee Physical Damage, but lowers Attack Speed.
	Multistrike Support - The Attack is being repeated additional times with more Attack Speed and less Attack Damage resulting in more DPS.
	Melee Splash Support - Melee Attacksdeal damage to surrounding targets, applying the debuff for a lot of enemies at once, and increasing clear speed.

[UTILITY] Carrion Golem setup
	Summon Carrion Golem - Carrion Golem provides bonus Physical Damage to your other Minions, and you can get the Anomalous version to increase this buff effect. It won't do much damage on its own, but enough to kill regular enemies.
	Maim Support - Carrion Golem will Maim enemies to reduce their Movement Speed and increase Physical Damage taken.
	Culling Strike Support - Enemies below 10% of their Maximum life will die if Hit by Golem. It's optional.
	Feeding Frenzy Support - Feeding Frenzy buff increases the Attack, Cast, Movement Speed, and Damage of all your Minions. It will make Carrion Golem aggressive.
	Minion Life Support - Increases Minion's Maximum Life so that it won't die too often.

[UTILITY] Aura setup
	Pride - Enemies near you take increased Physical Damage, this effect is doubled after four seconds of continuous exposure.
	Determination - Adds and increases your Armour resulting in higher Physical Damage mitigation.
	Clarity - Regenerates your Mana over time. If your mana regeneration is sufficient, replace it with Tempest Shield for Spell Block Chance.
	Enlighten Support - Linked Skills have increased Mana Reservation Efficiency.

[UTILITY] War Banner
	War Banner - Nearby allies have increased Accuracy Rating, while enemies take increased Physical Damage.

[UTILITY] Molten Shell
	Molten Shell - Creates a protective barrier that mitigates incoming Hit damage, it can take more damage before breaking the more Armour you have, which is a lot.

[UTILITY] Convocation
	Convocation - Use it to recall all your Minions back to you, and grant them a Life Recovery bonus. It's optional, you might want to use  Flame Dash instead to be more mobile, otherwise, you would not have enough sockets.

[UTILITY] Curse setup
	Arcanist Brand - If you can apply more than two Curses, do so by casting an Arcanist Brand once - it will trigger all linked Spells every second. If you don't, just cast the one Curse manually.
	Vulnerability - Cursed enemies take increased Physical Damage, the Bleed part of this Curse is not that important. It's the preferable Curse.
	Punishment - Enemies that are low on Life take increased Physical Damage. We recommend it as a second Curse as it is a Physical Spell, so the Gem Level gets increased by other modifiers.

6. Gear Setup

We're going to use Rare Staff rather than Cold Iron Point Daggers, on top of the comparable benefits to Gem Level, you can also craft the increased minion Damage modifier, and have capped Block Chance due to many nodes for it on a Skill Tree. Gravebind Gloves and a Crest of Desire Helmet are mandatory for the build to function. Circle of Guilt Rings is another way to gain more Damage. The rest of your gear should be centered around increasing Skill Gem Level for Herald of Purity and protecting your own character. Capping Elemental Resistances and gathering Maximum Life are your top priorities. After that, you can seek more Block Chance, Chaos Resistance, Spell Suppression Chance, and Energy Shield if it's a hybrid build. The build will require more Dexterity than you can gain just from the passive skill tree, try to get that on Jewelry and Jewels. Speaking of Jewels, there are approximately 6 Jewel Sockets you can fill in with various Unique and Rare or Abyssal Jewels, that's quite a lot.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Crest of Desire - This is the Helmet to host your Herald of Purity, try to find one with a high roll Level of Socketed Gems.

Has 1 Socket +(5-8) to Level of Socketed Gems +(30-50)% to Quality of Socketed Gems Socketed Skills deal Double Damage (100-150)% increased Armour and Evasion

Helmet enchantments: +1 to maximum number of Sentinels of Purity

(Weapon) Rare Staff - Staves have a low chance for a Prefix that increases the Gem Level of all Spells and specific Spells. You're looking for the Physical ones. The best case is +5 to Herald of Purity, but you can settle for less, for that would be too expensive. Other, Minion-related mods can be crafted.

Min. requirements: +1 to Level of all Spell Skill Gems +2 to Level of all Physical Spell Skill Gems Optional affixes: +2 to Level of all Spell Skill Gems +3 to Level of all Physical Spell Skill Gems Minions deal increased Damage Minions have increased Attack Speed Minions have increased Cast Speed

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - A regular Body Armour with a lot of Maximum Life and Resistances would be good enough, for an upgrade seek Hunter's mods for increased Maximum Life or Additional Curse.

Min. requirements: +100 to Maximum Life +100% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chance to Suppress Spell Damage increased Maximum Life You Can Apply Additional Curse Enemies you Kill have a chance to Explode, dealing a tenth of their maximum Life as Physical Damage

(Body Armour) The Brass Dome - Brass Dome is very powerful for when you need protection against Elemental, Physical Damage, or Critical Strikes. It will slightly lower your Maximum Life.

(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 - Rare Boots are the best option, these should get you more Movement Speed, Maximum Life, and Resistances of all kinds.

Min. requirements: 25% increased Movement Speed +70 to maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Dexterity Freeze Immunity Chaos Resistance

(Gloves) Gravebind - Very important part of your setup, it makes the enemies killed by your Sentinels count as being killed by you, which will spawn them again or refresh the duration.

(100-150)% increased Armour and Evasion +(19-29)% to Chaos Resistance +(15-25) Life gained on Kill Nearby Enemies Killed by anyone count as being Killed by you instead

(Belt) Rare Belt - Here you can focus on Maximum Life and Resistances. We recommend a Stygian Vise for an extra Abyss Jewel Socket.

Min. requirements: +100 to Maximum Life +90% to Elemental Resistances Strength Optional affixes: increased Maximum Life flask modifiers

(Amulet) Rare Amulet  - When going for a Rare Amulet, be sure that it increases the Gem Level of Herald of Purity by at least one. If you manage to increase it by two, it can very well beat Ashes of the Stars. On top of that, seek regular defensive stats or Dexterity.

Min. requirements: +40 Maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistances +1 to Level of all Skill/Physical Skill Gems Dexterity Optional affixes: Attributes +1 to Level of all Skill/Physical Skill Gems Mana Reservation Efficiency Chaos Resistance

(Amulet) Ashes of the Stars  - Ashes of the Stars is the preferred, but not mandatory Amulet. The Quality it grants is a bonus to your overall performance, the Gem Level is great, and Reservation Efficiency might be useful too.

+(10-16) to all Attributes (5-10)% increased Experience Gain of Gems (10-20)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills +1 to Level of all Skill Gems +(20-30)% to Quality of all Skill Gems

Recommended Anointments: Ravenous Horde Charisma Prismatic Skin Whispers of Doom

(Ring) Circle of Guilt - If you managed to cover your Elemental Resistances with Rare Gear, and your Sentinales are durable enough, you can go for two of these Rings. Seek the modifier for increased Sentinel's Damage, that's the only one that's important. If you really struggle with Mana Reservation Efficiency, get the second mod to increase it.

<One to three random Synthesis implicit modifiers> +(10-20) to all Attributes Adds (8-10) to (13-15) Physical Damage +(350-400) to Armour <Two Random Herald of Purity modifiers>

(Ring) Rare Bone Ring - Bone Rings are Minion-oriented jewelry that could increase your Minions' DPS, mobility, and survivability. You should also look for stats for your own character.

Min. requirements: +60 to Maximum Life +40% to Elemental Resistances Minions deal increased Damage Optional affixes: Minions have increased maximum Life Minions have to all Elemental Resistances Attributes Chaos Resistance

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Jewels can grant you some more Maximum Life, Attributes, Resistances, or Minion Damage. You can also go for the Ghastly Abyss Jewels with similar qualities.

Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life Attributes Elemental Resistances Minion's Damage modifiers

(Jewel) Quickening Covenant - This Jewel enhances Attack Speed and the chance to Suppress Spell Damage for your Minions, making them more durable.

Minions have (12-16)% increased Attack Speed Minions have (12-16)% increased Cast Speed Minions have +(20-24)% chance to Suppress Spell Damage Notable Passive Skills in Radius are Transformed to instead grant: Minions have 25% reduced Movement Speed

(Jewel) Fortress Covenant - Another Covenant Jewel, this one increases Damage and Block Chance for your Minions. Socket both covenant Jewels in your Cluster Jewels to take no penalty.

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) Forbidden Flame & Forbidden Flesh - There are some Keystones you can look for if you have spare currency. Searing Purity is great if you take too much Chaos Damage. Conviction of Power would be good for four Endurance Charges. Pious Path can be good when combined with Sulphur Flask and some Energy Shield.

Allocates <<Random Ascendancy Notable>> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flesh Allocates <<Random Ascendancy Notable>> if you have the matching modifiers on Forbidden Flame

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - There aren't any remarkable modifiers to look for. You're using Pride and Determination, but all Pride mods are useless.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewel - Look for the regular Physical Damage Notables, or ones for more Maximum Life for your Minions. The more important role of this Jewel is to host two Medium Cluster Jewels.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Feasting Fiends 1 Added Passive Skill is Renewal 1 Added Passive Skill is Call to Slaughter 1 Added Passive Skill is Rotten Claws 1 Added Passive Skill is Vicious Bite

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewel - Cult-Leader and Disciples are extremely good for your Minions' DPS. Try to get both of them on two of these Jewels.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Cult-Leader 1 Added Passive Skill is Disciples

(Flask) The Writhing Jar - When entering a map, use this Flask once to spawn Worms and then kill them to spawn your First Sentinels.

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 per use

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - It would be foolish not to take the only Granite Flask which grants you more Block Chance. The Spell Block Chance alone is enough of a reason.

+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: Quicksilver Flask with Bleeding immunity/removal Basalt Flask with increased Armour Life Flask with random ailment removal

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.