Today, I managed to finish up my Golemancer in terms of the story mode and entered her into mapping. Pretty much I managed to get to T8 maps (level 82) with no issues with the Merciless Lab and easily 1-shotting Kitava on Act 10. As the servers are being restarted, I decided to take the rest of the night off and review my experience for today.
Pretty much it’s been pretty straight forward with regards to leveling. Originally, I had used flame golems but ended up switching out all my chest piece gems to focus on getting the other golem types in there. The only support gem I use for them is a Minion Life Support just because they have a tendency to die frequently early on (especially since I started almost from scratch in leveling most of them). I did find a corrupted level 21 stone golem gem, but even at that level, I have some trouble sustaining him. I’m guessing that I might need an empower support gem just to boost their levels up a bit. But until I can get a 6-Link chest, I’m going to wait on that.
For my golem setup, I use 5 flame golems with 1 of each other type, giving me a total of 9 golems. I employ an energy shield to add a bit of tankiness to my character. I figure I might stick with this gearing strategy for now until I can find some upgrades. Eventually, I might move to double Clayshapers for 10 golems but I do not feel too strongly just yet in justifying that move.
Most of the skills I’m aiming for are gem sockets. It’s recommended to essentially get as many Primordial Harmony gems as possible. I’ve seen some people slot up to 11. I’m not sure if I’ll go that high but I’m seeing pretty nice leaps each time I add one. I’ve got 5 loaded at the moment and the damage boost is nice.
My strategy for now is to get more strength points around the gem slots. Because of Clayshaper’s dependency on strength, this becomes a huge requirement. The nice thing is that once I’m able to get enough strength nodes, I’ll be able to replace a crappy ring or two that has my necessary attributes for a far better defensive ring.
I think if I manage to hit over 6 ehp (which I’m close to), I will give uber lab a try. I’m thinking that I might make a go at it around level 87 just to be safe and to get 2 more Primordial Harmony gems. If I manage to get better gear, I might be able to ditch the shield in favor of a Clayshaper after that point.
With uber lab done, I’m hoping that I’ll do significant more damage and be a bit more tanky. The suggested path is to get Beacon of Ruin so that I can spread the ailments to other enemies. I have a feeling that by then my overall damage should be quite good and I’ll have enough ehp to do much higher tiered maps.
One thing that I have yet to test is higher level delves. I’ve heard bad stories on how golems easily die. But that could be at very low depths. At the very least, I’ll definitely need the two extra Primordial Harmonies and 4th Ascendancy to progress.
Now, there are a few things I’ve pondered that I’m still uncertain. The first is taking Elemental Equilibrium. Honestly, it sounds more to my benefit as it should give me more penetration. Second, I’m undecided bout Zealot’s Oath. The reason here is that I find life regeneration useful at the moment. I think it might become useful only if I manage to get enough energy shield (10k+ worth) and go CI. But I want to wait until I finish uber lab to make the move.
Overall, I’m feeling pretty upbeat with this build. It’s very fast and the clear is decent. It can be awkward at times due to you needing to reposition your elementals, especially if you’re both on separate ground. An example of this is when you flame dash onto a cliff, causing you to leave your guys behind. A few shield charges forward should bring them up but it can get messy if you’re in a situation where there’s ton of mobs surrounding you. I will say that despite the cost of this build, it’s totally worth trying. I have quite a bit of confidence in being able to complete uber lab compared to my other builds beyond my juggernaut sunder character. So I really hope to do some higher end content soon with this build.