Summon Holy Relic
Necromancer Build

Updated for Patch 3.20

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The Necromancer Ascendancy is a great one to use with Minion Skills, and one of them is Summon Holy Relic. Holy Relics are the type of Minions that don't do much on their own, but as you Hit an Enemy with an Attack, they cast a Nova Spell that deals Physical Damage to all nearby enemies and causes Life Regeneration to you and your other Minions. The Attack Skill with the highest Attack Rate and one offering great mobility is Cyclone, link it with Support Gems such as Maim or Life Gain on Hit, it's not supposed to deal any real damage. One of the very few items directly synergizing with Holy Relics is Geofri's Legacy, it increases the Cooldown Recovery Rate of Relics' Nova, and allows you to have one more Relic. The two most important stats to increase your damage in this build are increased Cooldown Recovery Rate for Holy Relics and the Gem Level of Summon Holy Relics Skill Gem.

In terms of defenses it's a standard Minion-type build, but with increased Life Regeneration from the Relics. It's around 4 to 6k of Maximum Life, Armour, capped Block Chance, Maximum Elemental Resistances at over 80%, Offering with Mistress of Sacrifice, rapid Life Regeneration, and some Energy Shield that you can quickly regenerate via Aegis Aurora or Divine Shield. The other Minions you should be using are Animated Guardian, some kind of defensive Golem, and a Spectre granting your Minions a utility Buff. The build is rather cheap, it only requires some Unique Items, and the rare ones have very few stats that would actually benefit your Minions. It's a perfect fit for a newly added Ashes of The Stars Unique Amulet - with a Summon Holy Relic of Divergent Quality your Damage can be increased significantly.

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

1. Gameplay

As is the case with most Minion builds, you won't have to do very much on your own. Your Relics, Spectres, Animated Guardian, and Golems will roam around you performing their tasks. You will have to, however, constantly Hit enemies with your own Attacks, a Cyclone in this case. Use Bone Offering for extra Block Chance, it's great when combined with Aegis Aurora, you should reach 75% Block Chance for Attacks and Spells with Rumi's Concoction. Use Assassin's Mark, it can be triggered via Mark on Hit and Cyclone. It will increase your Damage. For your Minion you should also use Auras such as Pride and Zealory, these can be linked with Generosity Support. The Auras Recommended for your Character are Determination and Tempest Shield (for Spell Block Chance) or Purity of Ice (if using Melding of the Flesh for nearly 90% of all Elemental Resistances). for a Guard Spell use Molten Shell. Desecrate should be also present, it's useful to activate Bone Offering during long boss fights. 

Full gameplay video:

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Skeletons will be great for leveling, these Minions deal a lot of damage, making it easy to get through the first acts. You will put most of your Skill Points in Minion Damage and Maximum Life, later to specialize in Block Chance and Mana Reservation Efficiency. The process is very smooth as there are no sudden transitions that would increase your damage significantly. On your gear look for Life, Armour, Resistances, and Minion Damage.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Summon Skeletons setup
	Summon Skeletons - Skeletons are great for leveling, these Minions are capable of dealing a lot of damage and don't require a corpse
	Minion Life Support - Skeletons are more durable
	Lesser Multiple Projectiles Support - Ranged Skeleton will shoot more Projectiles
	Minion Damage Support - your Skeletons will deal more damage

Aura setup
	Zealotry - offensive aura for more Spell damage for your Minions
	Pride - increases the Physical Damage nearby enemies are receiving
	Generosity Support - your Minions need that buff much more than you do

Bandits:

Kill all three Bandits for two additional Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

24 Points Skill Tree
Take Lord of The Dead, Cruel Preparation, and Death Attunement

53 Points Skill Tree
seek more Life, Minion Damage, and Mana Reservation Efficiency

Recommended leveling items:

Sidhebreath - Affordable Amulet for Summoners, but requires some Damage conversion.

(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

Skullhead - A good and cheap Minion Helmet that increases their survivability and also grants you Resistances.

(60-80)% increased Armour and Evasion Minions have +25% Chance to Block Attack Damage Minions have +25% Chance to Block Spell Damage Minions Recover 10% of their Life when they Block +(10-20)% to all Elemental Resistances

Tabula Rasa - there is no better leveling Body Armour for this and many other builds

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:

100 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Cluster Jewels)
118 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Mindless Aggression
2. Mistress of Sacrifice
3. Commander of Darkness
4. Plaguebringer

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 Yugul: 50% chance to Reflect Hexes; You and your Minions take 50% reduced Reflected Damage

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Summon Holy Relic setup
	Summon Holy Relic - Holy Relics cast a Nova Spell that deals Physical Damage each time you hit an enemy, it has a cooldown of 0.3 seconds that can be later reduced. It's the source of all of your damage. Get one with Divergent Quality.
	Minion Damage Support - Minions simply deal more Damage.
	Empower Support - The Gem level of Holy Relics is important, use Empower to increase it.
	Brutality Support - You don't convert the original Physical Damage of Relics, increase it instead.
	Predator Support - Allows you to control your Minions, they will focus the enemy you used a "Signal Prey" Spell on, and deal much more damage to it.
	Increased Critical Damage Support - The Critical Strikes of your Minions deal more Damage.

[UTILITY] Minions setup
	Animate Guardian - You can equip the Guardian with various Unique Items that have a unique effect on other allies, Kingmaker is one of the best ones.
	Summon Stone Golem - Stone Golem grants you Life Regeneration, you can also use Chaos Golem for Physical Damage mitigation.
	Raise Spectre - Various Spectres offer various buffs such as Charges on increased damage.
	Minion Life Support - Linked Minions have increased their Maximum Life.

[UTILITY] Cyclone setup
	Cyclone - Cyclone is used to Hit enemies as it has a very good base Attack Speed. You can also use  Static Strike instead.
	Life gain on Hit Support - You will instantly gain Life on Hit with Cyclone.

[UTILITY] Mark setup
	Assassin's Mark - This Mark increases the Critical Strike Damage cursed enemies receive, it's also easier to strike Critically cursed foes. Marked opponents grant you Mana and Life when killed.
	Mark on Hit Support - Linked Mark is applied whenever you Hit an enemy with an Attack.

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Determination - Aura grants you increased and additional Armour, which is very useful with Aegis Aurora.
	Tempest Shield - it gives you an additional Chance to Block Spell Hits. You could replace it with  Purity of Ice if you have enough Mana and if you're using Melding of the Flesh and Aegis Aurora​​​​.
	Enlighten Support - Linked Spells have increased Mana Reservation Efficiency.

[UTILITY] Bone offering, Desecrate, and Molten Shield setup socketed in the "trigger every 8 seconds" weapon
	Bone Offering - Bone Offering will affect you thanks to Mistress of Sacrifice. It grants you an increased Chance to Block Spells and Attacks, and Life Regeneration after a successful Block.
	Desecrate - Creates a pile of corpses you can use to cast Bone Offering.
	Molten Shell - A simple Guard Spell that can block a portion of incoming damage, it's more effective the more Amour you have. If you don't have enough Mana, use  Lifetap Support instead.

[UTILITY] Minion's Auras setup
	Pride - Pride makes nearby enemies take increased Physical Damage, it's even more effective after 4 seconds.
	Zealotry - Increases Spell Damage, Crit. Chance, and Crit. Multiplier for Spells, which is exactly what you will need.
	Generosity Support - Linked Auras are more powerful. These won't affect you, but your Minions only.

[UTILITY] Convocation
	Convocation - Your Minions are teleported back to your location and have increased Life Regeneration for a while.

6. Gear Setup

You will only need Life, Armour, Resistances, and Minion Damage. It leaves you with a lot of room to play with some Unique Items such as Melding of the Flesh. It will reduce your Resistances but you're able to easily get more from your gear. It's good when combined with Aegis Aurora, for over 80% of Maximum Elemental Resistances. This Shield is heavily recommended as it recovers ES on Block, which you should have a lot of. A Mandatory Unique Item is Geofri's Crest, it's a Helmet specifically designed to make your Holy Relics' cast their Nova more often. Another very popular Item is the Unique Amulet Ashes of the Stars, it enhances and empowers all your Skill Gems, which is really good for a build such as this one, which relies heavily on Gem Level and Gem Quality for its damage. Speaking of Gem Level - your Weapon should increase the Level of all Spell Skill Gems by 1, it's a rare mod but shouldn't be too expensive. You won't need Accuracy Rating with Resolute Technique, which you should allocate.

Our recommended items will:

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

(Helmet) Geofri's Crest - Holy Relics can cast Nova Skill more often, and you can have more of them, it's a must-have Helmet.

+1 to Level of Socketed Gems (60-80)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +(15-20)% to Fire Resistance +(15-20)% to Cold Resistance +(15-20)% to Lightning Resistance +(20-30)% to Chaos Resistance +1 to maximum number of Summoned Holy Relics Summoned Holy Relics have (25-20)% reduced Cooldown Recovery Rate

Helmet enchantments: Summon Holy Relic enchantments

(Weapon) Rare Sceptre - You will only need the mod to increase the level of all Spell Skill Gems, and the auto-trigger for socketed Spells, it can be crafted. There should be a lot of these weapons on the market as Minion build are very popular.

Min. requirements: +1 to Level of all Spell Skill Gems Minions deal 50% increased Damage (crafted) Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Use a Skill, with a 8 second Cooldown (crafted) Optional affixes: Minions have 15% increased Attack Speed Minions have 15% increased Cast Speed Trigger a Socketed Spell when you Use a Skill, with a 4 second Cooldown

(Shield) Aegis Aurora - It grants you ES on Block and Max. Cold Resistance. The only case when a Rare Shield would be better is when you desperately need more Mana Reservation Efficiency.

(300-400)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +10% to all Elemental Resistances +5% to maximum Cold Resistance +6% Chance to Block Replenishes Energy Shield by 2% of Armour when you Block (10-20)% increased Elemental Damage with Attack Skills

(Body Armour) Skin of the Lords - It's an often-used Body Armour as it grants +2 Levels to the Summon Holy Relics Gem, and increases your Armour significantly. The random Keystone can be Resolute Technique, it saves you two Skill Points. It's the best-in-slot recommended Body Armour.

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Sockets cannot be modified +2 to Level of Socketed Gems 100% increased Global Defences You can only Socket Corrupted Gems in this item Item has 6 Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden) <Random Keystone>

(Body Armour) Saqawal's Nest - You can use this Body Armour for the Aspect of the Avian Buff and increased Mana Reservation Efficiency. The aspect of the Avian will grant you a lot of movement Speed and a high chance to deal Double Damage.

+(25-75) to all Attributes +(30-40)% to Lightning Resistance (20-12)% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills 100% increased Aspect of the Avian Buff Effect Aspect of the Avian also grants Avian's Might and Avian's Flight to nearby Allies +(120-150) to Evasion Rating and Energy Shield

(Boots) Rare Boots - The most basic defensive stats and movement speeds are enough.

Min. requirements: +70 to Maximum Life +50% to Elemental Resistances 30% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: Armour Chaos Resistance Life Regeneration

(Boots) The Stampede - Cyclone won't slow you down with these boots on, and you can Anoint them. You can also use your movement Skill with a higher frequency.

(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

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - As was the case with the Boots, just look for the Life, Resistances, and some Armour. you can also Craft the Minion Damage mods, which you should do.

Min. requirements: +70 to Maximum Life +90% to Elemental Resistances Minions deal 20% increased Damage (crafted) Optional affixes: Armour Chaos Resistance increased Attack Speed

(Gloves) Ceaseless Feast - After Hitting an enemy repeatedly with Cyclone you can remove all of its Armor and Evasion, you will then get Endurance and Frenzy Charges.

(16-20)% increased Melee Damage Adds (2-3) to (22-26) Physical Damage to Attacks (100-150)% increased Armour (20-30)% chance to inflict Corrosion on Hit with Attacks (20-30)% chance to gain an Endurance Charge on Hitting an Enemy with no Armour (20-30)% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Hitting an Enemy with no Evasion Rating

(Belt) Stygian Vise - You can get a lot of Maximum Life and Resistances on a Belt. Hunter's mod can also increase your maximum Life by up to 10%.

Min. requirements: +90 to Maximum Life +90% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased maximum Life Minions have #% increased maximum Life Chaos Resistance

(Amulet) Ashes of the Stars - It's by far the best Amulet, it grants you much-needed Reservation Efficiency and Level and Quality of all Skill Gems.

+(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

(Ring) Rare Ring - Maximum Life, Resistances, and increased minion Damage are the mods to look for. You can also Craft the mod to reduce the Mana Cost of Skills and/or get a Ring base with a Skill gem Socket.

Min. requirements: +70 to Maximum Life Minions deal 30% increased Damage +80% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Non-Channelling Skills have -(7-6) to Total Mana Cost (crafted) Minions have increased Movement Speed

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - These should provide extra Life, Elemental Resistances, Minon Damage, and Attributes.

Min. requirements: 7% increased Maximum Life Minions deal 15% increased Damage Elemental Resistances Attributes

(Jewel) Melding of the Flesh - good only when combined with Aegis Aurora, and even better with Purity of Ice. It can increase your Maximum Elemental Resistances.

-(80-70)% to all Elemental Resistances Elemental Resistances are capped by your highest Maximum Elemental Resistance instead -(6-4)% to all maximum Elemental Resistances

(Jewel) Elegant Hubris - It has a chance to transform some of the Notables in Range to the "Slum Lord" which increases Minion's Damage by 80%

Commissioned (2000-160000) coins to commemorate (Cadiro-Caspiro-Victario) Passives in radius are Conquered by the Eternal Empire Historic

(Jewel) Fortress Covenant - A must-have Jewel. Socket it in the Cluster Jewel so that it won't affect any Passives in Radius.

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) Watcher's Eye - Determination Mods can get you more Block Chance and additional Armour.

(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 Jewels - Minion Damage type Large Jewels witch as little small nodes are what you're looking for. Get at least two of the recommended affixes, prioritizing Renewal.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Feasting Fiends 1 Added Passive Skill is Renewal 1 Added Passive Skill is Vicious Bite

(Jewel) Megalomaniac - You can look for one granting you Maximum Cold Resistance, increased Armour, Maximum Life, and Block Chance.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is One With the Shield 1 Added Passive Skill is Antifreeze 1 Added Passive Skill is Winter Prowler 1 Added Passive Skill is Second Skin 1 Added Passive Skill is Fettle

(Flask) Rumi's Concoction - It grants you Armour and Block Chance, so all the important stats.

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

(Flask) Bottled Faith - Use Bottled Faith for more Critical Strike Chance, More DPS, and Life Regeneration.

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (30-15)% reduced Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Flask effect

Other suggested Flasks: Quicksilver Flask with Bleeding immunity/removal Life Flask with random ailment removal Basalt 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.