[1.1.6.2] The return of Crucible pets - Acid/Bleed Ghol Ritualist - 5:30 Crucible SR85

[Plasmodermic]

Pets seem to have fallen by the wayside in recent times when it comes to the crucible. Limited itemisation/options, mediocre damage and passive gameplay have led to not being able to compete with the performance of non pet builds.

I decided to give pets my standard kitchen sink approach with supporting as many pets as possible (including fragile skeletons), an aggressive devotion setup compared to the usual ishtak routes, and also some fantasy greens for good measure.

Thanks to @Maya and @Sigatrev for giving me builds to learn from and copy, and thanks to @Ya1 for his advice on pet builds.

Details

Fantasy Skeleton Setup: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/O2GOJyk2
Greenless Balanced Setup: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/eZPEJrdN

The fantasy setup is trying to push the build as far as I can with full skeleton support and fantasy greens. The main goal is to speedrun crucible which is where skeletons can truly shine. It comes at the expense of not being able to afford skill points for defensive skills like wendigo totem and decay.

The greenless version is much more user friendly both in terms of attainability and playability. Maxed wendigo totem and decay leads to more survivability and not having skeletons simplifies the gameplay a bit. Of course the damage is a lot lower but that’s the price you pay.

You can of course go for something in the middle, I just wanted to capture both extremes.

Performance

My fastest run with the fantasy setup. I wanted to push it to sub 5 but I couldn’t quite get there.

I didn’t do too many runs with the greenless version but this was the fastest I did. Obviously it’s slower but it’s still completely functional and a lot faster than most pet builds.

Screenshot of SR85 done with the greenless version. I don’t play SR much, I just wanted to make sure it works. It could probably be pushed further with an Ishtak devotion route or something.

Feedback

Clearly the build is overperforming and needs to be nerfed. Just kidding, #BuffPets2020

[Nery]

Crazy performance from you as usual! Hat trick of pet build in last 24 hours

Ritualist looks like the class with most AoE.

[mad_lee]

I have no idea what’s going on in your build but it seems very strong and respect for branching out!

[Maya]

[Maya]

I have no idea what’s going on in your build but it seems very strong and respect for branching out!

Essentially Stacking Flat Dmg + DoT and those getting multiplied by the number of pets, especially Skeletons for massive ass-kicking of poor mobs. The Pet bonuses in the build are too, 97%OA, 175% crit, 1850% dmg etc will pull the aforementioned Flat to crazy numbers.

And Blightfiends + Ghol set doing what they have always done with providing AoE.

Also, Plasmo being plasmo and piloting like a God.

[mares]

That’s a brilliant build because it was discovered that shaman has enough bleed on the pets to make Huntress a viable choice even without taking a bleed angle with gear. And if skeletons survive crucible with +60% health then…

[sigatrev]

You’d probably have better results if you invested in Wraiths over Briarthorn, for both variations. Decent results though.

[Maya]

You’d probably have better results if you invested in Wraiths over Briarthorn, for both variations. Decent results though.

What numbers does the Witching Hour Ghol Skeleton Build get atm? Have you tested them in the current or recent patches?

[sigatrev]

What numbers does the Witching Hour Ghol Skeleton Build get atm? Have you tested them in the current or recent patches?

I haven’t tried Ghol + WH in quite a while. I did some testing with Ghol + Guardian of Death’s Gate a few months ago and those can do sub-5 if you have the patience, but those kinds of builds in general are not very fun to play (one clean run per 10-15 attempts).

[Maya]

What numbers does the Witching Hour Ghol Skeleton Build get atm? Have you tested them in the current or recent patches?

I haven’t tried Ghol + WH in quite a while. I did some testing with Ghol + Guardian of Death’s Gate a few months ago and those can do sub-5 if you have the patience, but those kinds of builds in general are not very fun to play (one clean run per 10-15 attempts).

Why Guardian?

Is it for faster Resummoning of Skeletons?

[sigatrev]

Why Guardian? Is it for faster Resummoning of Skeletons?

+3 skeleton limit, non-trivial speed boost, plus the vitality conversion for the skeletons (used the vitality Blight Fiend conduit for the fiends).

The resummon rate is irrelevant. If more than 3 skeletons die the run is effectively over (in terms of trying to get a good clear time). Those kinds of builds aim for the fastest possible best case at the expense of the common case.

[Maya]

Why Guardian? Is it for faster Resummoning of Skeletons?

+3 skeleton limit, non-trivial speed boost, plus the vitality conversion for the skeletons (used the vitality Blight Fiend conduit for the fiends).

The resummon rate is irrelevant. If more than 3 skeletons die the run is effectively over (in terms of trying to get a good clear time). Those kinds of builds aim for the fastest possible best case at the expense of the common case.

I see, and there is no combination of weapon + Off-hand that will give better results even with MI’s I assume?

Also, given the nature of keeping blessings on the Skeletons being important, what would the average expected time be, barring the once in a blue moon lucky runs?

[sigatrev]

I see, and there is no combination of weapon + Off-hand that will give better results even with MI’s I assume?

It’s possible, but I didn’t try.

Also, given the nature of keeping blessings on the Skeletons being important, what would the average expected time be, barring the once in a blue moon lucky runs?

It’s been a while but off the top of my head, if you started from full tributes and didn’t alt-f4 when skeletons died, the first run would probably average ~5:30, the following two runs would be more like 6:30 average. But that also assumes you survive as the player, because it was fairly low on the defense.

I don’t seem to have saved any GT links to the things I was trying.

[Maya]

I see, and there is no combination of weapon + Off-hand that will give better results even with MI’s I assume?

It’s possible, but I didn’t try.

Also, given the nature of keeping blessings on the Skeletons being important, what would the average expected time be, barring the once in a blue moon lucky runs?

It’s been a while but off the top of my head, if you started from full tributes and didn’t alt-f4 when skeletons died, the first run would probably average ~5:30, the following two runs would be more like 6:30 average. But that also assumes you survive as the player, because it was fairly low on the defense.

I don’t seem to have saved any GT links to the things I was trying.

So it lacks consistency. That is sad to hear

[Plasmodermic]

You’d probably have better results if you invested in Wraiths over Briarthorn, for both variations. Decent results though.

I originally had spirits in the first version of the build but it clunked up the gameplay a lot. It would require having an ability on lmb as well which I just hate. Are they really worth it without getting to 23/16 anyway?

[Maya]

You’d probably have better results if you invested in Wraiths over Briarthorn, for both variations. Decent results though.

I originally had spirits in the first version of the build but it clunked up the gameplay a lot. It would require having an ability on lmb as well which I just hate. Are they really worth it without getting to 23/16 anyway?

Personally, I don’t think it would be an efficient use of points to go for Spirits here unless we can get atleast 2 of them (17/16).

Especially since 10 points will be spent on the Mastery bar alone, just to get Necromancer to 50 and unlock Reap Spirit.

[sigatrev]

I originally had spirits in the first version of the build but it clunked up the gameplay a lot. It would require having an ability on lmb as well which I just hate. Are they really worth it without getting to 23/16 anyway?

Oh, no, not without getting to 23/16. I forgot I used different items (Cryptstalker and Spiritseeker’s Cord)

I also don’t use skills like Mark of Torment, so in that context if adds less clunkiness to gameplay.

[Wy_Kay]

Hi. New player here. Thank you for the guide. Just not sure how to level this.