How patch 0.5 has impacted the build
Energy Shield:
- Energy shield is nerfed, in particular recharge. However, I was still able to quite easily reach 8000+ energy shield. I use
Convalescence to force recharge, for 30 spirit, and that fixes most issues. - Jewels are much easier to craft, with a guaranteed 20% ES prefix when using emotions on sapphires. That is a guaranteed 40% ES in SSF.
Runic Ward:
- In my opinion, so far a little underwhelming. The end game version of this build also has no real free slots, but even then, the runic skills are so situational that you are better off just taking another minion. It is also another button to press, which I am not a fan of.
Minions:
- Overall minions are buffed by 25% - 35% more damage in endgame, due to a bugfix.
- At the time of writing (June 7th) no crazy spectres have been detected/tested. The powered zealots are still doing a great job. I tried gargantuan wasps with Rage III & Minion Splash II, which clears super nicely but lacks in single target. I will test this a bit further later on however.
- No other significant changes
Gearing in SSF:
- Somewhat easier resistance & attributes capping in SSF because several runes, primarily those for resistances and attributes, were buffed.
- The breach tree turns out to be great for minion rings and belts.
- Ritual offering only uniques basically guarantees you
Enfolding Dawn, 
Bones of Ullr & 
Ventor's Gamble. - The item that allows you to destroy a unique (something of Aldur it is called), is incredibly rare and you will likely never find one in SSF, so do not count on this
- Rune crafting uniques on the other hand is very viable, and a great addition to SSF. Turning a Bones of Ullr into its rune crafted version adds energy shield and a bit of runic ward.
- Of all the new uniques that I have found, I have not seen something that would synergize well with the build.
Character Progression
- Early on, currency is very scarce. Focus on the atlas passive tree in the fortress, so you get better drops and can sustain.
- The runes from the league mechanic and those available in Expedition, tend to provide Perfect Jeweller's Orbs and Level 20 uncut gems. I have in 100 hours of play only found 1 level 20 uncut gem however.
- In 0.5, a tier 16 map is allegedly harder than it was in 0.4. I have not noticed this with my build, it still clears everything as if nothing happened.
Defensive Scaling:
- Energy Shield. While recharge and recovery rate got nerfed significantly, I think it's still the best way to get defences for this build. I will start using Convalescence in maps to trigger ES recharge when you need it.
- Block. Get a shield, with a increased block chance prefix, easily getting you 32% block chance. That means you avoid a third of the hits, and energy shield recharge is not interrupted.
- Life, to an extent. Mainly because it converts into energy shield. Some damage bypasses energy shield however, so having some life definitely helps.
- The
Loyal Hellhound with Loyalty means 10% less damage taken - Minions blind on hit, in late-game setups, reducing enemies' accuracy
- Minions can block incoming projectiles. However, minions can also attract unwanted attention, so there's a counter argument as well.
- Runic Ward turns out to be not great as a defensive layer, as it is hard to get, and removes other defensive layers. Energy shield is better than runic ward by a significant margin.
Offensive Scaling:
- The flat damage of minions. This is scaled by their level, which is one of the main reasons why minion levels are so important. It is also an affix on sceptres.
- The increased damage scaling, which includes all sources of increased minion damage, for example on the passive tree, sceptres, etc. Stats like increased minion attack speed help as well, as do skills like
Pain Offering. - The multiplicative damage scaling, which mostly comes from support gems which have more multipliers on them, such as Muster or Feeding Frenzy II.
- Damage scaling factors that don't directly increase your damage output, but increase the damage received by enemies.
- Reducing enemy elemental resistances with
Elemental Weakness - elemental exposure with
Frost Bomb - Shock from Powered Zealots or
Skeletal Storm Mage
- Finally, after all is said and done, you can scale the number of minions you have, by increasing your spirit.
- Also, we're scaling the number of projectiles of the powered zealots by Wildshards II.
How I crafted my gear in SSF
Campaign
Use the regex and check vendors often, even in endgame: "\d+% i.+mov|^\+.*ills$|spiri|d rari"
This checks for movement speed, +levels, spirit, and increased rarity.
Other than that, I use transmutation and augmentation orbs on normal 
Rattling Sceptre and helmets, hoping to hit a +minion levels affix. Similarly, I craft body armors and amulets, hoping for spirit affixes.
Sceptre
- on a normal Rattling Sceptre, use a greater orb of transmutation and a greater orb of augmentation. Identify any magic Rattling Sceptre and augment as well, if possible.
- IF you hit +x to minion levels, continue crafting (step 3). IF NOT, throw the item away or use the 3:1 reforge bench if you want to try your luck. You can slam a bricked magic item with an Alchemy Orb, but it is a crapshoot.
- You should now have a magic Rattling Sceptre with +x to minion levels.
Use an Greater Essence of Command, for increased minion damage (suffix). - You should now have a rare Rattling Sceptre with +x to minion levels, a random suffix, and 70% or so increased minion damage.
Use an abyss crafting item, the preserved jawbone. There is a 66% chance that hits a prefix. You can guarantee it hits a prefix by using an Omen of Sinistral Necromany. Reveal the modifier at the Well of Souls, and pray you get a good spirit roll. You can roll twice if you use an Omen of Abyssal Echoes. If you miss entirely, you can use an Omen of Light in combination with an annulment orb to remove the desecrated modifier. This allows you to retry step 4 again. If you miss, you still have 1 more chance to randomly roll spirit, as you have 1 open prefix. - You should now have a rare Rattling Sceptre with +x to minion levels, a random suffix, 70%-ish increased minion damage, and some spirit (prefix).
This leaves you with an open prefix and suffix. There is no real way to guarantee any more mods, to my knowledge, as you have already got a single crafted modifier (the essence), and a desecrated modifier. The rest is just luck, so I tend to use a (greater) exalted orb and just pray. - Slot in an
Rabbit Idol for 15% extra spirit.
Helmet
- on a normal helmet, use a greater orb of transmutation and a greater orb of augmentation. Identify any magic helmet and augment as well, if possible.
- IF you hit +x to minion levels, continue crafting (step 3). IF NOT, throw the item away or use the 3:1 reforge bench if you want to try your luck. You can slam a bricked magic item with an Alchemy Orb, but it is a crapshoot.
- You should now have a magic helmet with +x to minion levels, and ideally a decent prefix too, such as any Energy Shield, Life, or rarity. However, I would argue +x to minion levels is more important than anything, so even if you roll 13 stun resistance, keep the item.
Use any Greater Essence you like, decent candidates are those that give Energy Shield, resistances, rarity, or even life. - You should now have a rare helmet with +x to minion levels, a random suffix, and whatever essence mod you just used.
Use an abyss crafting item, the preserved ribcage. It does not matter too much imo if it is a prefix or suffix, both provide decent options to roll. Either energy shield mods on the prefix, or resistances on the suffix. - Finish the item with greater exalted Orbs and do a little prayer.
- if you crafted a great helm, slot in an
Idol of Ralakesh for 8% spirit reservation which is huge.
Amulet
you can craft the amulet with either +x to minion skills, or spirit, like the crafts above. If you want to hit both, however, in SSF, follow the instructions below.
- on a normal amulet, use a greater orb of transmutation and a greater orb of augmentation. Identify any magic amulet and augment as well, if possible.
- IF you hit +x to minion levels OR spirit, continue crafting (step 3). IF NOT, throw the item away or use the 3:1 reforge bench if you want to try your luck. You can slam a bricked magic item with an Alchemy Orb, but it is a crapshoot.
- You should now have a magic amulet with +x to minion levels OR spirit, anything else does not matter, because the amulet is a great candidate for fracturing.
- Make the item rare using a regal orb, add a 4th affix using an exalted orb, DO NOT ADD MORE AFFIXES THAN 4, and use a fracturing orb. Pray you hit the spirit/+x to minion levels. It is a 25% chance.
- If you hit, use 2 Orbs of annulment, so you have a rare item with a fractured spirit/+x to minion levels, and a second random affix.
- spam chaos Orbs or greater chaos orbs, until you hit the other mod, meaning if +x to minion levels is fractured, wait until you hit spirit, and vice versa. It is harder to hit the +x to minion levels, I believe, but it will happen at some point.
- After you hit, which can take hundreds of chaos orbs, add the rest of the affixes, ideally using the best currency possible, meaning perfect exalted orbs. But greater will do as well. You will have an amazing SSF amulet, even if all 4 mods are trash.
Any other item in SSF
- start with a normal item and use an orb of transmutation, or start with a magic item with a good affix
- use normal or greater orb of augmentation
- IF you hit a good affix, continue to 5.
- ELSE, throw away the item
- guarantee an affix using an essence. I typically go for life, resistances or attributes. For sceptres, you can guarantee minion damage.
- use 2 exalted orbs to see which affixes you get. You should now have at least 3 good affixes, plus the 2 you just got from the exalted orbs, for 5 affixes in total
- use abyss currency to get a desecrated modifier, so you get to choose from 3 options. Usually, at least 1 result is decent, giving you 4 good affixes on an item
- finish with quality and sockets
Notable Uniques
Endgame
- Bones of Ullr - the reservation allows for big armies
Trenchtimbre - because of the minion levels. You can wear this with a sceptre. However, you'd give up a shield or focus, which is a significant drawback- Enfolding Dawn - 100 spirit is a lot. Also, you can corrupt it for even more, plus with rune crafting in 0.5, maybe this item will be even better
- Ventor's Gamble - not easy to get good rolls in SSF, but definitely a great item if well-rolled.
Ingenuity - if well-rolled, can be a nice upgrade. It is hard to beat a regular belt however.
Prism Guardian - amazing shield, has everything you want pretty much. Also incredibly rare-
Darkness Enthroned (helmet) can give a lot of spirit reservation if you slot in an Idol of Ralakesh, up to 16% with a perfect 100% roll. 
The Whispering Ice for offhand exposure
Early Game
Pariah's Embrace - should you find it early, it's decent
Waveshaper - not bad, maybe even viable as a cure to the ES recharge rate nerfs
Beacon of Azis - should you find it early, it's decent
Gravebind - this is amazing sustain for early on, but it lack stats later on.
Bait:
The Raven's Flock, because it doesn't have minion levels. RF is fun, but I don't think this is the build to do it.
I will be adding more information after it's clear how all the crafting works.
Anoint
Use a tool like PoE Instilling Calculator to deal with your emotions. I'll list some anoints I like later. This tool is a little old, at this point. Maybe someone else will make a better one.
Flasks
- get an instant recovery life flask
- charges gained per second is nice to have too
Lavianga's Spirits with a 70% roll should be enough for sustain
Regex Strings
Vendor: "\d+% i.+mov|^\+.*ills$|spiri|d rari"
- checks for movement speed, +levels, spirit, and increased rarity
Map Mods that are bad: "!tta|% ma|f l|oj|ign"
Map Mods that are bad and not fun: "!tta|% ma|f l|oj|ign|chi|emp"
External Resources
- Path of Building - simply the best
- Exiled Exchange 2 - for easy rolling of maps and checking vendors using regex strings (I clearly don't trade)
- PoE 2 Spectre Wiki - by Truditoru, amazing overview of the best spectres available, tested and updated regularly
- PoE 2 Wiki - Whenever I want to figure out the difference between penetration, exposure and minus resistances
- PoE 2 DB - Another Wiki, this one more in-depth and less user friendly
- Filterblade - by NeverSink, where I make all my loot filters
- Craft of Exile - to import items to check which affixes you can roll on them, and to simulate and thus practice crafting
- Updated skill tree for 0.5 - this website has a decent one
FAQ:
Questions I got often from the streams or comments:
Q: What items to buy in trade if I don't play SSF?
A: Check the scaling sections, if you understand those, you know what to buy. In PoB, there's a 'trade for these items' function, you can load my lvl 100 character and trade for all his gear. You can also look at the uniques section
Q: When do I swap to Vaal Guards?
A: Once you reach act 3, Utzaal (after draining the area and completing the sun temple and going through the gateway). Make sure to pick the correct vaal guard, it's the one that throws grenades at you and costs 50 spirit.
Q: When do I swap to Powered Zealots?
A: You can get them in the interludes, but I would only swap when you have them on a 5-link. On just a 4-link, I think Vaal Guards are better, so make sure you have a 5-link and all the required support gems. It can take some time for those to drop, at least in 0.4. I swap to powered zealots between level 65 and 70.
Q: my powered zealots are not using spells, what am I doing wrong?
A: I had this question a few times in the comments. You have either picked up the wrong powered zealot, or (more likely) they sometimes just bug out for some people. I have not had this issue, most of the time they are using spells, but it can happen they start to use melee attacks. So I do not have a real solution here, unfortunately.
Witch
Infernalist
