Mirror&Blink Arrow
Occultist Build

Updated for Patch 3.20

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

One of the key features of Path of Exile is the ability to pick virtually any ability in the game and make a Build around it, and such is the case with this one. Blink Arrow is a Travel Skill for Bow Characters which causes you to shoot an arrow and teleport to its location once it lands, and leave a Clone of yourself in the original location for a few seconds. Mirror Arrow is a very similar Skill, yet a bit different, as it creates a Clone in the targeted location and doesn't teleport you. Usually, those clones don't do much Damage and their sole purpose is to draw the attention of nearby enemies. However, you can alter that perspective and treat them as proper Minions to get a very good and unique result. With proper setup, you will be able to summon a personal company of archers that spreads deadly Poison to everything around. 

The biggest problem this Build faces is the Cooldown of your main Skills, which you can significantly lower by using the Stampede Boots, and an Alternative Quality which lets you store extra charges. This combination lets you summon your Clones with almost no downtime. One of the things that distinguish Mirror Arrow from other Minion Skills is its ranged attack capability. Most other Minion Skills summon Melee Minions that have to get up close and personal with enemies to deal Damage, but here the summoned Minions are able to attack from a distance, which greatly improves their Clear capability. Another key feature is that Minions use your own Bow, which allows many different approaches to scale the Damage. In this variant, we decided to use the Darkscorn Bow which is one of the best Weapons for Poison Builds, supplemented by the Covenant to give your Minions a massive amount of Chaos Damage. 

The Defenses of this Build rely on a decent amount of Evasion and Armour Rating, a moderate maximum Life pool, and your army of clones that Taunt your opponents, which draws their attention and lowers the Damage to other targets. Unfortunately, there are not many ways to recover your Life other than Flasks and a bit of Recoup.

To make this Build work you won't need any extraordinary Items, but it's also not a Skill that could work on its own without proper Gear. The Bow and Quiver is a very unique way to scale your Minion's Damage, but for other Items, there is a big competition on the market. 

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

1. Gameplay

With only 1 second Cooldown on each Skill, You will constantly alternate between teleporting with the Blink Arrow and just creating your clones with Mirror Arrow, which results in very dynamic gameplay. You will also want to Curse your enemies with Temporal Chains, which will make chain explosions all over your screen. To deal with Bosses, use Wither Spell Totems and Malevolence Blessing to improve your Minion's single target Damage significantly. They will also be empowered by your Carrion Golem and its Feeding Frenzy Buff. 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

You will need your end-game Items to make Mirror and Blink Arrow capable of clearing monsters at a respectable speed, especially the Poison variant which requires specific Abyss Jewels. To level up, it's better to use a traditional approach with different Minions. Currently, the best ones to level up with are Summon Raging Spirits. You can check out our  Leveling Guide using Minions here.  

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Raging Spirits setup
	Summon Raging Spirit - summons angry Spirits that automatically attack any nearby enemy. They have a full conversion to Fire Damage.
	Combustion Support - increases the Fire Damage of your Spirits, and makes them lower Fire Resistance if the Ignite an enemy.
	Minion Damage Support - improves the Damage of your Minions.
	Added Fire Damage Support - adds extra Fire Damage based on the Physical Damage of your Minions.
	Melee Splash Support - makes your Minions Attack deal Damage to all nearby enemies around their target.
	Multistrike Support - Minion's Attacks repeat 2 additional times with increased Speed.

Auras setup
	Determination - grants a very needed Armour Rating, which will greatly help you survive the Campaign.
	Clarity - you will need this Aura to comfortably summon your Minions all the time.

Utility
	Elemental Weakness -  lowers Elemental Damage of cursed foes.
	Flame Dash - a short-ranged teleport that can store up to 3 charges.

Bandits:

Kill all three bandits to get two additional Passive Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:
34 Points Passive Tree
Suggested order of allocation: 1) Enduring Bond 2) Lord of the Dead 3) Heart and Soul  4) Cruel Preparation  5) Redemption 6) Potency of Will 

66 Points Passive Tree
Suggested order of allocation: 1) Purity of Flesh 2) Spiritual Command 3) Sovereignty  4) Exceptional Performance 5) Profane Chemistry 6) Reflex 

Recommended leveling items:

Le Heup of All - provides all Attributes needed for your Gem Requirements and all Elemental 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

Goldrim - thanks to this Helmet you won't need to worry too much about your 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 Level Requirement reduced by 100 (Hidden)

Tabula Rasa - you can use this Armour to get an early 6-link setup which will boost your Damage significantly

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

Perandus Blazon - this Belt makes your Flasks last longer, and grants a very useful amount of Attributes.

(15-25)% increased Stun and Block Recovery +(20-30) to all Attributes (6-8)% increased Quantity of Items found +20% to Fire Resistance 20% increased Flask Effect Duration -2 Physical Damage taken from Attack Hits

Rare Weapon - you can get +1 level of your main setup Gem very early on. It will add a significant amount of Damage to your Minions.

Min. requirements: +1 to Level of all Fire/Physical Spell Skill Gems

Wanderlust - with those you won't need to think twice about being Frozen. They also boost your Mana Regeneration and give decent amount of Movement Speed

+5 to Dexterity +(10-20) to maximum Energy Shield (20-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 20% increased Movement Speed Cannot be Frozen

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

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

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Unholy Authority 
2. Profane Bloom
3. Void Beacon
4. Withering Presence

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; Cannot be Frozen

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] Mirror and Blink Arrow Setup socket in The Covenant
	Blink Arrow - shots an arrow that teleports you to the targeted location and leaves your Clone in the original position. The Clone uses your Bow and Quiver to attack nearby enemies.
	Mirror Arrow - a very similar Skill to the previous one, but this time without the Teleport. Use the Phantasmal Quality on them both to get additional uses.
	Chance to Poison Support - grants very much needed Chance to Poison for your Minions. Also adds plenty of Chaos Damage to their Attacks.
	Unbound Ailments Support - makes Poisons of your Minions last significantly longer.
	Minion Damage Support - improves all Damage dealt by your Minions. Divergent Quality improves the Ailments Damage a bit more.
	Greater Multiple Projectile Support - adds additional Arrows for your Minions. For a single-target scenario, swap for Deadly Ailments Support

[UTILITY] Wither Setup
	Wither - it's a very powerful debuff that increases Chaos Damage Taken by the enemies.
	Spell Totem Support - use it with Totems so you don't need to cast it yourself.
	Multiple Totems Support - improves the uptime on the maximum amount of stacks by adding more Totems for each cast.

[UTILITY] Aura Setup
	Grace - it's a defensive Aura that grants you a lot of Evasion Rating and raises it even higher.
	Determination - just like the previous one, but for Armour Rating.
	Haste - grants a lot of Attack Speed for you and your Minions. It also unlocks a very important Watcher Eye modifier.
	Enlighten Support - reduces the Mana Reservation of linked Auras.
	Vitality - grants you Life Regeneration. It's a nice bonus if you can fit it in, but it's not required.

[UTILITY] Divine Blessing Setup
	Malevolence - this Aura improves the Damage over Time dealt by your Minions but also increases the Duration of various effects, such as Clones themselves.
	Divine Blessing Support - thanks to the Blessings you will be able to use this Aura as a temporary Buff that doesn't Reserve any Mana

[UTILITY] Hex Setup
	Temporal Chains - slows the Action Speed of cursed enemies and makes Poisons last longer, thus dealing more Damage.
	Despair - lowers Chaos Resistances of your enemies, improving the Damage dealt by the Poison.
	Hex Bloom Support - spreads the Hex upon killing the enemy, which makes satisfying chain reactions with Occultist's Profane Bloom

[UTILITY] Golem Setup
	Carrion Golem -  a Golem that adds a lot of Physical Damage to all nearby Minions.
	Feeding Frenzy Support - your Golem will occasionally grant you a Buff which improves the Damage of all your Minions.

[UTILITY] Guard Setup
	Molten Shell -  this Skill improves your Armour temporarily and absorbs a big part of incoming Damage.

[UTILITY] Flesh Offering Setup
	Flesh Offering -  consumes Corpses to give a lot of Attack Speed to your Minions for a short duration.
	Desecrate -  creates Corpses for your Offering. Can be kept at a low level to avoid high Dexterity Requirements.

6. Gear Setup

Your Bow and Quiver are what stand the most out of all Minions Builds, as your Clones will use direct copies of your Equipment. Usually, there is only one way to give a very valuable Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier for your Minions - via the Anamanu Gaze Unique Jewel. But your Clones use your Quiver, so they can benefit from that modifier there. Your Bow is also important - the Darkscorn is one of the most powerful Weapons for Poison due to its Unique modifier - attacks with that Weapon have a 20% Chance to deal 300% More Damage with Poisons! However, its DPS is quite low, so it's best to use the Covenant Armour for the insane amount of Chaos Damage it can provide. You will need plenty of Life Regeneration on your remaining Gear to make up for the additional Life Cost it causes. A lot of Damage comes from your Abyss Jewels, so the remaining Rare Gear can be focused on your own Defense, so stack as much maximum Life and Resistances there. You will also need plenty of Attributes for your Gem Requirements. You can use Lycia's Invocation of Eldritch Battery to save up to 5 Passive Skill Points, but make sure your Relic is worthy of using it on. 

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - a good base can be an amazing DPS boost. Look for the Temporal Chain Curse Effect Enchant, and similar Eldritch Implicit. You can also get Mana Reservation Efficiency here. Other than that, you just need maximum Life and Resistances here.

Min. requirements: 15% increased Temporal Chains Curse Effect (Enchant) 10% increased Temporal Chains Curse Effect (Searing Exarch Implicit) +70 maximum Life +50% total Elemental Resistances 7% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills Optional affixes: Life Regeneration

(Boots) The Stampede - it's a necessary Item for this Build as it provides a lot of Cooldown Recovery for your main Skills. You can apply additional Anoint on them.

(100-150)% increased Evasion and Energy Shield (30-40)% increased Stun and Block Recovery (50-80)% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate of Travel Skills (30-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate while moving Your Movement Speed is 150% of its base value Recommended Anointment: Corruption

(Weapon) Darkscorn -  your Minions will use your Bow, thus gaining the 20% Chance to inflict very powerful Poisons. It also boosts their Accuracy rating.

(60-80)% increased Physical Damage Adds (15-20) to (25-30) Physical Damage 20% increased Attack Speed (15-30)% increased Global Accuracy Rating 25% of Physical Damage Converted to Chaos Damage 25% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Chaos Damage 20% chance for Poisons inflicted with this Weapon to deal 300% more Damage

(Off-hand) Rare Quiver - your Quiver is the most impactful Item for your Minions' Damage. You can grant them a lot of DoT Multiplier and other Damage modifiers usually unobtainable for Minions this way. It's very important to have Arrow Pierce here.

Min. requirements: Projectiles Pierce an additional Target Chaos Damage over Time Multiplier with Attack Skills Optional affixes: Damage over Time Multiplier with Attack Skills increased Damage with Bow Skills increased Attack Speed Adds Chaos Damage to Attacks Chance to Poison on Hit&Poison Damage

(Body Armour) The Covenant - this Armour provides insane amounts of Chaos Damage but your Skills will additionally cost your Life.

Socketed Gems are Supported by Level 29 Added Chaos Damage Skills gain a Base Life Cost equal to 100% of Base Mana Cost +(20-30) to Intelligence (210-250)% increased Energy Shield 10% increased maximum Life

(Belt) Darkness Enthroned - this Belt greatly enhances any 2 Abyss Jewels Socketed in it, so put your best ones here.

Has 2 Abyssal Sockets 75% increased Effect of Socketed Abyss Jewels

(Belt) Rare Abyss Jewels- you need a total of 60% Chance to Poison for your Minions and those Jewels are the best source of that modifier. Try to pair it with other valuable modifiers such as maximum Life or flat Damage for your Minions.

Min. requirements: +20 maximum Life Minions have 14% chance to Poison Enemies on Hit Optional affixes: Minions deal # additional Chaos/Physical Damage Minions have #% chance to Taunt on Hit with Attacks Minions deal #% increased Damage if you've used a Minion Skill Recently

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - use Eldritch Implicits and Crafting Bench to get plenty of Minion Damage here. The remaining modifiers should be focused on maximum Life and Resistances.

Min. requirements: +70% to Elemental Resistances +60 to Maximum Life Optional affixes: Minions deal (10-20)% increased Damage (Crafting Bench) Minions deal (20-22)% increased Damage (Eldritch Implicit) Life Regeneration

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - this slot should be used to cover your Attributes and Resistances the most. It should also grant maximum Life. You can craft a Projectile Speed modifier here, to make your Arrows fall quicker.

Min. requirements: +70% to Elemental Resistances +60 to Maximum Life Optional affixes: Attributes Projectile Speed increased Armour/Evasion

(Ring) Rare Ring - Bone Rings have an exclusive pool of modifiers that affect Minions, so try to catch at least such modifiers here. Aside from that, get your regular maximum Life, Attributes, and Resistances here.

Min. requirements: +60% to Elemental Resistances +60 to Maximum Life Minions deal 35% increased Damage Optional affixes: Attributes Minions have #% increased Attack and Cast Speed

(Jewel) Large Cluster Jewels - unfortunately, all Notables here are quite inefficient. The best option is to get an increased Effect of Small Passives along with some Attack Speed.

Recommended affixes: Added Small Passive Skills also grant: Minions have 3% increased Attack and Cast Speed Added Small Passive Skills have 35% increased Effect

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewels - Blessed Rebirth is necessary to ensure your Minions won't get overwhelmed too fast. The second Notable can be skipped

Min. requirements: Blessed Rebirth

(Jewel) Amanamu's Gaze - usually it's the only Item that can grant DoT Multiplier for your Minions. You will need 4 other Ghastly Eye Jewels to get the full effect.

+(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) Watcher's Eye - you can get a lot of Cooldown Recovery Rate with this Jewel. Besides that, look for a Defensive Aura modifier here.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers> Recommended Aura mods: 50% Cooldown Recovery Rate of Movement Skills while affected by Haste

(Jewel) The Balance of Terror - although it's much less than the previous Jewel, it still valuable to get Cooldown Recovery Rate here.

+(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances (20-25)% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate if you've cast Temporal Chains in the past 10 seconds

(Jewel) Fortress Covenant - by socketing it in your Cluster Jewel you can bypass its downside while getting a lot of Minion Damage for free.

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) Brutal Restraint - The Traitor Keystone provided by this Jewel will greatly help you with the Flask sustain. It can also grant a lot of Dexterity and Minion Damage with the right modifiers.

Denoted service of # dekhara in the akhara of Balbala Passives in radius are Conquered by the Maraketh Historic

Suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Bleeding removal Jade Flask with an increased Evasion Rating modifier Granite Flask with an increased Armour Rating modifier Quartz Flask with reduction of Hex Effect on you

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.