Level 97 Summon Raging Spirit Guardian^3.22

Notes

3.22 Guardian SRS (Tri-Element) SSF
Earlygame-Midgame focus

This PoB is from SRS Deep Dive: https://youtu.be/Tl8z5UPazeU

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/phazeplays
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PhazePlays_
Discord: https://discord.gg/DkUz2Ke6V4

Since Guardian is still rather new, wouldn't be surprised if the leveling and endgame meta continues to evolve
If you spot anything that can be improved or obvious errors - let me know and I'll fix it!

Changes in 3.23:
	1. SRS quality changed from "20% increased minion movement speed" to "30% chance to summon an extra Minion" (this works with Unleash, it's a slight upgrade overall)
	2. Divergent SRS possibly gone, which will be a DPS loss for ultra-lategame bossing with Ashes and Divergent SRS (if it's not a Transfigured gem)
	3. Divergent Melee Splash may be gone with the removal of Alternate Quality gems. Not a big deal, use Awakened Melee Splash instead for mapping
	4. Tattoos are gone. There's likely more borrowed power in 3.23 to make up for this

Guardian SRS should be just as strong in 3.23 in most cases

== AFFLICTION ==
Take the "Warden of the Maji" Ascendancy while leveling
Spec "Oath of the Maji" for "30% increased Movement Speed if you have Equipped Boots with no Socketed Gems"
Keep boot sockets empty for as long as you can
Grab "Barkskin" next (depending on reservation)
Once you have a few decent Charms, respec the Ascendancy to "Wildwood Primalist" (only takes 1 regret per point)

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============ Campaign  ============
=================================

Use Rolling Magma until level 38 (for Unleash) and then swap to SRS (Summon Raging Spirits)
For Rolling Magma single target, put your cursor a bit short of the target (don't name-lock) so that Rolling Magma can double-hit
After 1st lab, focus on good Convocation usage and timing, as the Sentinel of Radiance will carry you through the entire camapign
Convocate the Sentinel next to Rares and Magic Packs as you travel through campaign zones, his melee hits hard

This leveling PoB assumes dual wield Leap Slam along with Frostblink from level 10 until maps, if you prefer Shield Charge that works too
If you leap slam, you'll want two 1.5+ speed axes or swords by level 10 -- you can often buy usable weapons from Tarkleigh in Act 1 if you check every time you visit town. Ideal weapon colors are red-green for Leap Slam or as many blues/reds as possible. 
Craft "Adds (12-16) to (23-27) Fire Damage to Spells" on both of your axes/swords around level 24, this is a massive damage boost (8 transmutes total)

If you want to minmax Rolling Magma early, you can weapon swap to wands for bosses and other tanky mobs. This can be a bit annoying for your sockets though

== Bandits ==
Softcore: Kill all usually, Helping Alira is fine too (respec it later)
Hardcore with currency and twink gear: Kill all
Hardcore fresh start: Help Alira

== Leveling  ==
Mule momentum on a Ranger - check vendor for BBB / BB / RG / BBG / BBR

rolling magma - elemental proliferation - combustion
leap slam - momentum
frostblink - arcane surge (arcane surge is low priority)
flame wall, holy flame totem

2: rolling magma
4: arcane surge, holy flame totem, flame wall, frostblink -- optional: war banner (for adrenaline)
8: combustion
10: leap slam -- buy SRS at some point and offhand level it
16: herald of ash, desecrate (keep it level 1) -- herald of thunder or herald of ice (check your sockets)
18: elemental damage with attacks
24: determination, convocation, elemental weakness or flammability -- optional wrath/anger
28: optionally add armageddon brand to your 3L setup, maybe replacing elemental proliferation or in different links
Skip Gravicius

LEVEL 24+: IMPORTANT: Solaris 2 - Grab the "Added Fire Damage to Spells" craft through the door North of Lady Dialla. Craft it on both weapons if you have 8 transmutes. [WARNING: This craft will make your weapons require Level 24]
In Lunaris 2, Grab "% increased Minion Movement speed" crafting recipe (top of Piety's boss arena)

Lab1: Take "Radiant Crusade" -- remember to activate this minion at the beginning of every zone. He lasts for ~32 seconds once you get the full "Enduring Bond" wheel
		  Take "40% Convocation cooldown recovery rate" (minion defense mastery) -- swap this to "5% minion life on death" sometime in early white maps
		  Take the 30% Minion AoE mastery ASAP
		  Convocate your Sentinel of Radiance, he'll hard carry clear
 		 While Leap Slamming through zones, I'd recommend timing your Convocation presses to drop him directly next to Rares, as his melee attack hits quite hard

== SRS Swap (Level 38)  ==
SRS - melee splash - unleash - ( ele dmg with attacks (best) / minion damage (slightly worse) )

DROP: all rolling magma links, all heralds

34: carrion golem reward
38: unleash reward
A1: melee splash, flesh offering

run determ or wrath/anger
Craft % Minion Movement Speed (suffix) on amulet if you can (4 Augments)

== Act 6 ==
BUY: haste, faster attacks, feeding frenzy, elemental army -- desecrate lvl 1 if needed
Run determination + haste for the rest of the campaign once you can comfortably fit both in. Rushing Eldritch Battery is an option to make this comfier
carrion golem - feeding frenzy - elemental army ----- try to get these links going for 2nd lab

Lab2: Take "Unwavering Crusade"
Fresh SSF option: Spam reset Quarry for Betrayal until Trigger craft, and at least 2 res+chaos crafts -- (Foothills waypoint was nerfed with extra mobs)
Lab3: Take "Bastion of Hope"

== Enter Maps ==
BUY:
	A1: flame dash, shield charge
	A2: tempest shield, defiance banner
	A3: punishment
	A4: multistrike (offhand level)
	Lily: divine blessing, cast when damage taken, molten shell, skitterbots

Eldritch Battery if you haven't taken it already
If you have Vaal Orbs or Sacrifice Fragments, try to get Vaal Haste
Drop the "30% Mana Cost as Life" mastery
Offhand level 5x SRS, 1x multistrike
Swap "40% Convocation CDR" to "Minions recover 5% of life on minion death" at some point early in white maps

Uber Lab: "Radiant Faith" and "Time of Need" are both mediocre, take whichever you prefer. I take Time of Need if I don't need the extra ES

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========== Guardian SRS ===========
=================================

== Convocation Lategame? ==
I'm torn on this one as sockets can be tight
Early on when you're weak Convocation is a no-brainer, with enough gear though I think it's probably droppable
Experiment and find out what works for you

== How often should I resummon Sentinel of Radiance? ==
I'd recommend the "50% increased Non-Curse Aura Duration" mastery, and then just refresh both your Divine Blessing Haste and Sentinel of Radiance every 15-18 seconds, especially if in HC

== Exarch without Dying to Balls hitting Minions? ==
Logout when the Ball phase begins. Pull the Carrion Golem gem out, unbind Sentinel of Radiance and/or SRS if in HC until the Ball phase ends. Do not recast any minions while dodging balls!
It's clunky but it's fine for non-Uber. Things get FAR trickier on Uber Exarch though unless you have enough damage to make it a non-issue
Your Elemental Relics also collide with Balls

== What about Guardian's Blessing gem? ==
I haven't actually tried it but it looks solid, you just have to invest more into minion defenses

== Minion Accuracy ==
Always check PoB for this. It mostly depends on the monsters level, SRS gem level, and minion accuracy mods
As a general rule, just run the "+250 minion accuracy" mastery until you get 1 or 2 accuracy rolls on Ghastly jewels
Check it often in PoB when you swap gear around in the endgame

== Melee Splash / Multistrike ==
I'd highly recommend always keeping Multistrike in your inventory or offhand for the possibility to gem swap for Sanctums or Bosses etc
Gem swapping is unnecessary for general mapping

== Is the "30% Minion AoE" mastery good for mapping? ==
Yep, it affects both your Sentinel of Radiance's AoE and SRS Melee Splash AoE

== SRS Targeting ==
Mouseover priority targets while casting SRS if you want them to only attack that target. Very useful for Uber Elder, Uber Exarch, and Uber Maven Brain


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============= F.A.Q. ==============
=================================

== Why Guardian? ==
King of SSF, minimum gear requirements

== Is Crit SRS good? ==
Honestly I kind of doubt it. Losing the minion movement speed from Flesh Offering feels incredibly bad
The opportunity cost of going minion crit is too high right now in my opinion
Maybe it can be good though who knows

== Exposure? ==
Elemental Army on the Carrion Golem should give both fire and lightning exposure

== How does this compare to Poison or Lightning? ==
In my opinion, Lightning > Guardian > Poison

== Can I Arcanist Brand my Curses? ==
You can, but you may have to drop a non-essential gem or wear an unset ring

==  Blessed Rebirth medium cluster required? ==
For Guardian, it is not required but it is definitely nice to have

== Useful items ==
Fortress covenant inside of a cluster jewel is solid on Guardian to give our minions extra block on top of the 25% Attack/Spell Block from Guardian's Bastion of Hope

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======= ENDGAME CRAFTING ========
=================================

== Minion Wand ==
In trade league, use fossils for +2 wands
Corroded, Jagged, Metallic, Shuddering
1/12 chance to hit +1 all spells and +1 minion together

== Minion Shield (Endgame) ==
- Prefixes -
1. Get a Fossilised Spirit Shield i84 or i85. If fractured, I'd generally recommend a Suffix fracture, since Prefixes are deterministic and it makes finishing Suffixes easier. If not fractured, you can Redeemer Orb a Suffix later
2. Spam Greed Essences (I'd recommend Shrieking usually) until T1, T2, or T3 "% increased Minion Damage" (depends on budget). T1 is extremely rare, settle on T2 if you hit it
3. Get an open Prefix. The only Prefixes should be Life and % Minion Damage. Annul if needed
4. Craft "Prefixes Cannot Be Changed" to FILL UP SUFFIXES. Suffixes must be full for the next step. If you only have 1 natural suffix, you can craft a Prefix, Exalt, then craft Prefixes Cannot Be Changed
5. Harvest Augment Fire for guaranteed +1 Fire. Import your shield into CraftOfExile's Emulator before doing this step to confirm everything is correct. Prefixes are done!

Suffixes aren't rigid, there are many ways to finish it

== Large Cluster (Endgame) ==
i84+ 12 Passive Minion Damage Cluster
Warning, the base is very expensive and crafting it is expensive
Generally, spam Harvest Reforge Caster or Harvest Reforge Attack
Alternatively, Alt/Aug until really good mods and imprint
Fracturing is an option here if you're rich
Endgame BiS i84+ clusters always have both 3% increased attack/cast speed and 35% increased effect of passives on them

For early game clusters, use Harvest Reforge Caster until Call to the Slaughter and 2% increased minion attack cast speed or something equivalent

== Medium Cluster (Endgame)  ==
Get an i68-i83 Medium Minion Life Cluster Jewel base
We want Blessed Rebirth + Renewal. They aren't targetable mods so they have to be brute forced

Two different methods work (along with expected costs)
Alt/Aug/Regal = 624 alts, 325 augs, 57 regals, 56 scours, 56 transmutes
Alch/Scour = 510 alchemy, 509 scour

== Gloves (Endgame) ==
1. Start with Suppression Fracture Gloves (10-14% suppression depending on Budget)
2. Spam Shrieking or Deafening Essences of Fear
3. Stop on either 2 acceptable suffixes (craft Life to finish) ------- OR a decent life roll + 1 decent suffix + 1 open suffix (Craft any Suffix to finish)

== Rings ==
1. Get an i84 Amethyst Ring
2. Scour it to normal
3. Quality it with 4x Prismatic Catalyst
4. Harvest "Reforge Chaos" until good Suffixes
5. Craft "Suffixes Cannot be Changed"
6. Use a Veiled Chaos Orb (1/12 chance to fill Prefixes, in which case you'd Annul)
7. Craft generic flat Mana to block
8. Unveil (75% chance to unveil Life)
9. Craft -mana
10. If there's an open Prefix: Redeemer Orb slam for a chance at "% increased Minion damage"