Zombie Baron
Guardian Build

Updated for Patch 3.22

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

The Baron is a peculiar Item - it encourages hoarding Strength in a Minion build. In most cases, it is very expensive to do so, but here a 1000 Strength should be enough. The next breakpoint that allows you to summon one extra Zombie is at 1500 Strength which is unachievable in our case. It's because the build uses tons of Unique Items aimed to improve the character's damage and survivability. The Baron is still extremely good as it provides one of the best Life Recovery mechanics for a Minion build, and lets you summon two extra Zombies. These Minions will be very tanky and should not die at all. As for their damage, it's Physical by nature, but with Auras like Wrath, Ager, and Hatred from Unwavering Crusade they will also deal tons of Elemental Damage of all kinds.

The build is extremely tanky with its high Maximum Elemental Resistances from Purity of Fire, Ice, and Lightning combined with Topaz, Ruby, and Sapphire Flasks. Its Armour is somewhat good, mostly sourced from Determination and Radiant Faith, but some of Physical Damage will be taken as Elemental anyway. It has almost no Life unreserved, so to not die of Chaos Damage it uses a Coruscating Elixir which has to stay permanently on. It is achievable with a Traitor Keystone. The Maximum Energy Shield you can reach is around 6k. To Recover it quickly you will use The Baron's Leech combined with Ghost Reaver Keystone. Strength-stacking will provide you with a lot of Maximum Life, so you should transform half of it to ES with the Ghostwrithe. The build also has some Block Chance.

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

1. Gameplay

Your Zombies will do all the damage in this build. Use Spectres and Animate Guardian for various bonuses like Power Charges of Fortify. For a Curse select Elemental Weakness. Remember to use Spirit Offering and Convocation as often as you can. If you have no Corpses around, cast Desecrate. For Auras use Purity of Fire, Ice, and Lightning, Discipline, Determination, Pride, Haste, Precision, and Dread Banner. Wrath, Anger, and Hatred are provided by the Ascendancy Passive.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Use our Minion Leveling Guide. It is meant for a Witch but it's all the same for a Guardian too. You can start with Zombies right away, but The Baron archetype is good only after you have 1000 Strength. It requires a high level and good items. We recommend starting with Abosultion or Summon Skeletons Skills.
 

Bandits:

you should kill all three Bandits for two additional Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

32 Points Skill Tree
Get some Maximum Life and Minion passives from around your starting location.

68 Points Skill Tree
Allocate more Maximum Life, more Minion Damage nodes, and Reservation Efficiency from Sovereignty.

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

90 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Cluster nor Timeless Jewels)
119 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Radiant Crusade
2. Unwavering Crusade
3. Radiant Faith
4. Unwavering Faith

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 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 Zombie setup
	Raise Zombie - Zombies are your main damage source in this build. They deal base Physical Damage with Hits and require a Corpse to spawn.
	Melee Physical Damage Support - Grants more Melee Physical Damage but less Attack Speed.
	Multistrike Support - Lets your Zombies Attack with much higher frequency.
	Minion Damage Support - Plain Damage boost for your Minions, but it does lower their Maximum Life.
	Feeding Frenzy Support - Feeding Frenzy grants your Minions more Damage and increases their Movement and Attack Speed.
	Increased Critical Strikes Support - Increases Critical Strike Chance.

[UTILITY] Various Minions setup
	Raise Spectre - Use Spectres to enhance your overall performance. Try using ghosts of Minions that generate Charges like monkey Chieftains.
	Animate Guardian - A Guardian can also have a positive effect on your whole group of Zombies and your character, depending on the items it is wearing.
	Minion Life Support - Grants more Maximum Life to the linked Minions.

[UTILITY] Spirit Offering
	Spirit Offering - Increases Crit Chance and Crit Multiplier of your Minions for a short while.

[UTILITY] Desecrate
	Desecrate - Creates Corpses to be used to Spawn Zombies or use the Spirit Offering Skill.

[UTILITY] Convocation
	Convocation - Recalls your Minions back to you and grants them Life Regeneration.

[UTILITY] Auras setup socketed preferably in a Corrupted item with "+2 to Level of Socketed Aura Gems"
	Purity of Ice - Use it for extra Cold Resistance and Maximum Cold Resistance. Try to increase its level to 23, it will give you +5% max Res.
	Purity of Fire - Use it for extra Fire Resistance and Maximum Fire Resistance. Try to increase its level to 23, it will give you +5% max Res.
	Purity of Lightning - Use it for extra Lightning Resistance and Maximum Lightning Resistance. Try to increase its level to 23, it will give you +5% max Res.
	Enlighten Support - Lowers the Reservation Cost of all linked Spells.

[UTILITY] Auras setup socketed in Prism Guardian
	Determination - Adds and Increases the character's and his allies' Armour for better Physical Hit damage mitigation.
	Pride - Enemies near you will take increased Physical Damage. This effect is stronger after four seconds.
	Haste - Increases Movement, Attack, and Cast Speed for you and your Minions.

[UTILITY] Discipline
	Discipline - Use it for an additional ES. It's important since it's an Energy Shield build.

[UTILITY] Generous Auras setup
	Precision - Adds Accuracy Rating and Increases Crit Chance.
	Dread Banner - Grants Chance to Impale and Increases Impale Effect. Enemies have less Accuracy Rating.
	Generosity Support - Linked Auras won't affect you, only our Allies. The effect of these Auras is increased.

[MOBILITY] Frostblink
	Frostblink - A simple mobility Skill. It teleports you over a short distance.

[UTILITY] Curse cast on-hit with Corrupted Implicit on the Unique Gloves
	Elemental Weakness - Cursed enemies have reduced Cold, Fire, and Lightning Damage, which is granted by your Unwavering Crusade Skill.

6. Gear Setup

The build uses a lot of Unique items, only the Belt and your Rings should be Rare. All the required Attributes are either provided by the Passive Skill Tree or have to be gained from the aforementioned Jewelry. A lot of Elemental Resistances will be provided by your Flasks and Auras so they're not that important. Chaos Resistance may be hard to get so try prioritizing that. You don't need Maximum Life, it will be all Reserved. Focus on Energy Shield instead. On your Bone Rings, you may be able to find Minion-specific modifiers, but Strength is of most importance in this build. Try to get 1000 of it. 1500 is probably out of your reach. The Unique Items listed are mandatory or best in the slot. For the overly expensive and replaceable ones, we've listed alternatives. Most of the Uniques are cheap, so seek suitable Corrupted Implicits on them. A Corruption that grants two extra Levels to socketed Aura Gems may be a good place to host your Purity Auras.

Our recommended items will:

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

(Helmet) The Baron - It lets you summon two more Zombies and upgrades them with your Strength. It too enhances your own survivability if your Zombies can Leech, which they should.

+2 to Level of Socketed Minion Gems Minions have (10-20)% increased maximum Life Half of your Strength is added to your Minions +1 to maximum number of Raised Zombies per 500 Strength With at least 1000 Strength, (1.5-2)% of Damage dealt by your Raised Zombies is Leeched to you as Life

Helmet enchantments: Raise Zombie enchantment

(Weapon) Maata's Teaching - This weapon upgrades your Zombies' Skill Gem and base Critical Strike Chance. All the rolls here matter so a good weapon may be expensive.

26% increased Elemental Damage +(30-40) to Intelligence (25-50)% increased Critical Strike Chance +(1-2) to Level of all Minion Skill Gems Minions' Base Attack Critical Strike Chance is equal to the Critical Strike Chance of your Main Hand Weapon

(Off-hand) Prism Guardian - You can socket here three of your Auras, these will gain two extra Gem Levels and Reserve Life at a great value. This build doesn't use Life anyway.

+12% to all Elemental Resistances +2 to Level of Socketed Aura Gems Socketed Gems Cost and Reserve Life instead of Mana Socketed Gems have 30% increased Reservation Efficiency +(20-30) to Dexterity +25% to all Elemental Resistances

(Body Armour) Ghostwrithe - It Converts half of your Life to ES, which you have a lot of from Strength-stacking, making this Armour a good addition. It also has tons of Chaos Resistance and ES.

+(100-200) to maximum Energy Shield +(50-100) to maximum Life +50% to Chaos Resistance 50% of Maximum Life Converted to Energy Shield

(Gloves) Shaper's Touch - It grants you a lot of Mana from Strength, which results in a lot of ES via Radiant Faith. It increases ES per Strength as well. Use Corrupted Gloves with Vulnerability Curse on Hit.

(80-120)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +4 Accuracy Rating per 2 Intelligence +1 Life per 4 Dexterity +1 Mana per 4 Strength 1% increased Energy Shield per 10 Strength 2% increased Evasion Rating per 10 Intelligence 2% increased Melee Physical Damage per 10 Dexterity

(Gloves) Alberon's Warpath - It's a boost to your Chaos Resistance, Movement Speed, and Strength. Not much else, but that's enough.

(15-18)% increased Strength Adds 1 to 80 Chaos Damage to Attacks +(180-220) to Armour +(13-19)% to Chaos Resistance 25% increased Movement Speed Summoned Skeleton Warriors are Permanent and Follow you Summon Skeletons cannot Summon more than 1 Skeleton Warrior

(Belt) Rare Belt - A Synthesised Belt with increased Strength is the best option, but if you already have enough Strength go for a Stygian Vise or even Darkness Enthroned unique belt. Look here for Strength and Chaos Resistance.

Min. requirements: Chaos Resistance +60 to Strength Optional affixes: 18% increased Strength (synthesized Implicit) Flask modifiers Minions have #% increased maximum Life

(Amulet) Eyes of the Greatwolf  - "30% increased Attributes" and "+2 to maximum number of Raised Zombies" is by far the best combination of mods to receive on this Amulet. It would make it the best-in-slot gear piece.

<Two random talisman implicit modifiers> Implicit Modifier magnitudes are doubled

(Amulet) Replica Dragonfang's Flight  - This Amulet with a modifier for extra Gem Level to your Raise Zombies is the second best option. It doesn't increase your Strength which may be problematic. If you can't reach 1000 Strength with it, just use a Rare Amulet with a lot of Strength.

+(10-16) to all Attributes +3 to Level of all <Random Skill> Gems +(10-15)% to all Elemental Resistances (10-15)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills Items and Gems have (15-10)% reduced Attribute Requirements

Recommended Anointments: Charisma

(Ring) Rare Rings - A Synthesised Ring with increased Strength may be good, but it's optional. Focus on flat Strength, Chaos Resistance, and various Minion mods that can only be found on Bone Rings.

Min. requirements: Chaos Resistance +50 to Strength Optional affixes: 7% increased Strength (synthesized Implicit) Non-Channelling Skills have -(7-6) to Total Mana Cost (crafted) Minions deal increased Damage Minions have increased Attack and Cast Speed Minions have increased Movement Speed Dexterity

(Jewel) Grand Spectrum - Three of these should give your Zombies +90% to Critical Strike Multiplier. It's better the higher their Melee Crit Chance is.

Minions have +10% to Critical Strike Multiplier per Grand Spectrum

(Jewel) Split Personality - Strength is mandatory, Intelligence, Dexterity, or Energy Shield are good as a second option. Socket them in a Large Cluster Jewel next to the Eldritch Battery Keystone.

This Jewel's Socket has 25% increased effect per Allocated Passive Skill between it and your Class' starting location <Two random modifiers>

(Jewel) Immutable Force - You have a relatively low Maximum Life and so you will get Stunned often. Use this Jewel to negate this obstacle. If you don't have it select Brine King as your major god.

(500-1000)% increased Stun and Block Recovery

(Jewel) Brutal Restraint - It will provide you with extra Dexterity, and the very important Traitor Keystone. It allows you to have all your Flasks up permanently.

Denoted service of (500-8000) dekhara in the akhara of Balbala Passives in radius are Conquered by the Maraketh Historic

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - Purity of Fire, Ice, and Lightning can roll a mod that causes Physical Damage to be taken as Fire, Cold, or Lightning Damage. It boosts your survivability by a lot because you're better suited to receive this type of damage.

(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 - Use Large Cluster Jewels with bonuses to Minion Damage, Strength, Attributes, and increased effect of Small Passives. Two of such Jewels with 12 passives each is what you should aim for.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Vicious Bite Added Small Passives also grant Strength/Attributes Added Small Passives have increased Effect

(Jewel) Medium Cluster Jewels - Dread March and Renewal are great. These make your Zombies durable so that they will not die during a fight.

Recommended affixes: 1 Added Passive Skill is Dread March 1 Added Passive Skill is Renewal 1 Added Passive Skill is Hulking Corpses

(Flask) Coruscating Elixir - It's mandatory to have this Flask up permanently as it protects you from Chaos Damage. It's also a Ruby Flask that makes you take less Fire Damage.

+50% to Fire Resistance 20% less Fire Damage taken Chaos Damage taken does not bypass Energy Shield during effect Removes all but one Life on use Removed life is Regenerated as Energy Shield over 2 seconds 25% increased Duration

Other suggested Flasks: Topaz Flask with increased Armour Sapphire Flask with increased Movement Speed

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.