Path of Exile launched the Ultimatum League around one month ago, and despite its rocky launch and streamer priority drama, this Vaal-themed expansion has proven to be a good addition to the game thanks to its quasi-gambling mechanics for obtaining loot. Another aspect of Ultimatum is that the Trialmaster spawns many monsters with each wave, and many of them end up being Rare enemies with stronger affixes that make them stronger and harder to kill than regular enemies or Magic enemies. However, there is a way to use this to the benefit of Path of Exile players and the minions they summoned, instead.
Path of Exile introduced a pair of Unique gloves back in Blight League, called "Breathstealer," which allow both players and minions to create a Blighted Spore each time they skill a Rare monster. The fact that minions can trigger the gloves' effect makes them incredibly strong when trying to maximize the clear speed for minions during each and every wave of Ultimatum, but what do the Blighted Spores do? Basically, they spawn at the location where the Rare monster died, and they inherit all of the monster's affixes, including Auras, and add a random Aura on top of them, affecting all allies within the Auras' radius.
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The Breathstealer can be extremely powerful with minion builds in Path of Exile, especially for Witch summoners such as Necromancers. Considering that the killed Rare monster's modifiers all transfer to the Blighted Spore, it can gain affixes like the "Other Allies Cannot Die" Aura; effectively making both the players and their minions impossible to kill for the Blighted Spore's duration or unless it is killed instead. Necromancers also have their own affinity with Auras, and this build takes advantage of that to provide any minion with many buffs that stack on top of each other.
The main minions to use for this build actually depend on what players prefer, as the build is very versatile in both gear and how it works, so either Summon Skeletons or Raise Zombie work. Support Gems are also interchangeable, apart from two specific ones that will most likely be best in slot for every minion skill in Path of Exile, Minion Damage and Elemental Army. The former is a generic damage multiplier, but the latter is much more interesting because it makes minions tankier thanks to the Elemental Resistance bonus, while also increasing their elemental damage and applying Exposure on hit.
Considering how versatile the build is, and how many modifiers Path of Exile offers, the main recommendations are: get a "Trigger a Socketed Spell when you use a Skill" wand, so that an Offering, Desecrate, and Convocation can be socketed in the weapon. Another useful affix is the "Recover x% of Life when you Block," which is especially good for Necromancers running Bone Offering, using Rumi's Concoction, and grabbing a few Block nodes from the passive tree.
This will allow the Necromancer to always be safe, thanks to all the Life recovered through Block and other useful buffs, including maybe a Basalt Flast to reduce incoming Physical damage. Ultimatum introduces to Path of Exile the Lifetap Support, it can be used to let Spectres cast utility buffs more often, too.
The rest of the passive points should mainly be allocated to increase the character's Life, generic utility nodes, and of course increase damage for minions and the max number of summoned minions with Death Attunement. There are no mandatory keystones to grab, but Elemental Equilibrium can help to sustain debuffs on enemies, and Unwavering Stance is good to avoid stuns. As for the Necromancer's Ascendancy nodes, they should include Mistress of Sacrifice, Commander of Darkness, Mindless Aggression, and either Unnatural Strength or Bone Barrier, depending on if players want more damage or survivability with their Uber Labyrinth nodes.
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Gearing up for this build is pretty easy and a flexible process, as players pretty much only need Maximum Life and Resistances to get started. A great stat to have on jewelry is Dexterity, and that's because the Witch in Path of Exile doesn't naturally come by many Dexterity nodes on the passive tree. It can be useful to have some on the rings and the amulet to meet attribute requirements for either items or gems.
Of course, when approaching the endgame, players can spend more currency on this build if they like it so far. They can purchase better items, like an amulet providing "+1 to Level of all Intelligence Skill Gems," which increases the level of all minion gems and their damage too. Similarly, a wand with "+1 to Level of all Spell Skill Gems" is equally powerful, as minion gems are considered spells. Lastly, it would be beneficial to wear a ring with the "Curse Enemies with Elemental Weakness on Hit" affix, so that they are even weaker to elemental damage.
In terms of other skill gems to use, of course there's Auras, and one of the best ones to go for is "Hatred." Hatred grants a big chunk of the minions' Physical damage added to their attacks as Cold damage, increasing Cold damage dealt. Considering both Skeletons and Zombies deal base Physical damage, the bonus here is very spicy, and it grants them the ability to chill and freeze enemies too, unless they are supported by Elemental Focus Support.
Because minions in Path of Exile tend to need some Accuracy, another good Aura to use is Precision, and it provides a decent Critical Strike Chance bonus too. Pride is also a good choice, as it increases Physical damage taken by enemies, and the minions used in this Ultimatum build deal Physical damage as well as elemental damage.
Other useful gems in Path of Exile include: Dash for extra movement, Frost Bomb for more Cold damage inflicted on enemies and to reduce their Life regeneration, Tempest Shield, to get more Block Chance if needed, and Immortal Call with "Cast When Damage Taken." If using Skeletons as their main minions, players should socket Raise Zombie in a 4L item and support it with both Meat Shield and Feeding Frenzy, so that every minion deals more damage and Zombies can taunt enemies. If players want to main Zombies, instead, the aforementioned gems should support Stone Golem.
That's all for this build of the week. Hopefully gamers willing to play Witch Summoners in Path of Exile: Ultimatum can improve their gear and skills in a way that makes their minions more deadly, while also taking advantage of the League's waves of Rare monsters.
Path of Exile is available to play on Mac, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.