1. Unflinching Army
Bonus: This node grants your minions additional resistances, significantly improving their survivability. This is especially useful when your Spectres are acting as tanks for POE2 Currency your build, taking incoming damage for you.
Synergy with Spectres: Works great with tankier Spectres like Solar Guards or Void Golems, which are expected to endure prolonged fights. The extra resistances and durability make them more effective against high-damage bosses and endgame content.
Use case: Ideal for defensive builds where your Spectres are meant to survive tough enemies and handle substantial damage.
2. Puppet Master
Bonus: Increases your minions' attack speed and movement speed, as well as boosting their damage output. This node is highly valuable for increasing the effectiveness of your Spectres in clearing mobs quickly.
Synergy with Spectres: This node benefits high-DPS, fast-clearing Spectres like Redemption Sentries and Flame Sentinels, which rely on high attack speeds to clear mobs. Puppet Master can also help Spectres position themselves better, increasing their effectiveness.
Use case: Best for clear-speed builds or mapping builds where fast-paced combat is essential.
3. Mistress of Sacrifice
Bonus: This node gives a significant damage boost to your minions while sacrificing your own life regeneration. It also grants more damage for your Spectres and zombie minions, making them even more potent in battle.
Synergy with Spectres: Mistress of Sacrifice is excellent for damage-heavy builds. If you're using Spectres that deal high single-target damage (like Void Golems or Solar Guards), this node will help them output more damage during boss fights.
Use case: Ideal for offensive builds that focus on maximizing minion damage, particularly in boss encounters.
4. Flesh Binder
Bonus: Flesh Binder boosts the life and regen of your minions, making them tougher to kill. It also grants a significant life boost to Spectres, improving their overall tankiness.
Synergy with Spectres: Works wonders for Spectres that serve as frontline tanks, such as Solar Guards or Doom Guards. These Spectres will have increased life and be harder to kill, which is crucial for surviving high-damage encounters.
Use case: Best for defensive builds or boss-focused builds where you need tanky minions that can withstand high damage over time.
5. Commander of Darkness
Bonus: Commander of Darkness grants your minions increased damage, and provides you with life and energy shield bonuses. Additionally, it increases the resistances of your minions.
Synergy with Spectres: Ideal for builds that use multiple types of minions or Spectres alongside other types of summonable creatures. The damage boost and resistance increase make your Spectres even stronger in both clear-speed farming and bossing.
Use case: Useful for hybrid builds where you mix minions, Spectres, and other summons, aiming for an all-around effective build.
Final Thoughts
The Necromancer Ascendancy offers a wide variety of powerful nodes that cater to different playstyles. To build an optimal Spectre-based character, you need to select Ascendancy nodes that complement your build’s goals—whether you focus on clear speed, minion durability, or cheap POE2 Currency damage output.