[3.8] Tanky Aurabot - a combined Guide

Nowadays there are many Builds promising 27+ Auras or a shitton of Curses which undoubtely looks promising for the naive Eye.

These are the Aurabots that Support T7 Mapruns with an MF Ranger.
These are the Aurabots that can't Stand the heat of the Frontline, and once they flee so that their Energy Shield can recharge the DPS dies.
These are the Aurabots that get one-shot because they dont have enought Defense. And then the Party wipes. RIP TP.

I wont lie to you. With ever more Auras beeing in the Game there is no Way of having them all AND beeing able to survive.

So this Guide is focused on giving you a bare Skelett of a Build which you can adapt to fit your own needs.

We can achieve a solid Aurabot with Guardian, Ascendant or Champion.
We traverse the Skilltree to pick all the Auranodes and 10-11 Jewelslots along the way. As most of the Aura Uniques are very weak Life/ES-wise it is common sense to boost our Survivability by scaling Disciplin Aura and inc. ES whereever we can find it.
- Elemental purities take care for Resists.
- Grace, Determination and Iron Reflexes provide solid Physical protectiion.
- Zeloth's Oath with some %Life regeneration fixes our sustainability.
Now we need only worry about Chaos Damage.
This is the big one, and probably the biggest learning you will have to do to play this build.

We aim to end up with ~1200HP and 75% Chaos resist at the End.
This is our buffer and you will need to watch the Lifeglobe during mapping.
There are different ways of getting around the Problem, but the most versatile is Chayula's Presence and a Lifepotion.

Guardian:
- % phys. Reduction
- % Lifereg
- flat ES Buff
- Armour Buff
- Allies are Stun Immun (mostly)
- 10% Attack/Spellblock
- Generate and share all the Charges
Unwavering Faith & Auraeffect

Ascendant
- % inc. Attack and Castspeed
- % phys. Reduction
- longer Vaal-Aura
- Party-Conduit
- Offerings affect you
Commander of Darkness & Auraeffect

Champion:
- flat Armour if you impaled recently
- free Banner of your choice
- flat physical Damage per Impale on the Enemy
- 12% Movementspeed
- 5% more Aura Effect then Ascendant/Guardian, Purities can give additional 1 max Res.
- Enemies you taunted deal 20% less Damage to your Allies
- Enemies you taunted take 20% increased Damage
- Accuracy rating is no Issue for your Allies
Taunt Mechanics

My thoughts:

The Guardian:
Easiest to gear due to his own Energy Shield. Strong Regeneration make him a solid choice for first Timers and People who enjoy a worry-free Playstyle.

The Ascendant:
Has an amazing Attack/Castspeed Buff together with Offerings to buff up your Defense. Easiest to traverse the Passive Tree due to her Starting Position and 5 extra Passives.
A good Choice if you are familiar with Aurabots and you dont yet know how your final Build should look like.

The Champion:
The new Kid on the Block offers some unique Buffs for Attack-Allies and is a strong Debuffer. His Startingposition is more difficult then the other's.

Required:

+ Conqueror's Efficiency.

Recommended:


Filthy Rich:

+ Lvl 21 Purity's

With 3.7 we have officially reached peak-Aura so we cant just throw them all in anymore.
So using my Skilltree you will end up with 39% reduced Reservation + 10% from corrupted Jewels on the Tree. Just punch in 50% in https://poe.mikelat.com/# Auracalculator and go to work planning your Selection.
Dont forget to check Conquerors Efficiancy, Alpha's Howl and Chest&Shield where it applies (create new Aura group).

This tool will help you plan what Auras you want and where to put it.
Please be aware that your reservation cost for 50% Auras only go down for even values of total reduced reservation - as the game rounds up.

My Priorities are:
3Purities + Discipline in Alpha's Howl
Determination, Grace and Vitality in Prism Guardian
Haste and whatever Damage Auras/Warbanner or Flesh and Stone in Victariou's

Path of Building Skilltrees (Pastebin for Import):
Ascendant

Guardian

Champion

A bare Skelett of my Build. You will want to reach about 50% reduced reservation in Total, so you need place for at least 10 corrupted Jewels.

Optional Nodes from here can be:
Whispers of Doom
Elemental Equilibium
Void Barrier
Heart and Soul
more Jewel Sockets

Here we take a look at several Gems that aren't named Aura, but have the AURA-Tag. This means they will provide an Aura (which is enhanced by inc. Aura Effect. This also means it carries the Aura-Boni from Guardian/Ascendant in regards to Physical reduction & increases Attack/Castspeed.

- Smite:
A lvl 20 Smite grants Damage equivalent to a Lvl 18.5 Wrath Aura.
Stack with Wrath fully.
The Flat Damage added to Spells will then be increased by the Wrath-Auras 20% more Spell Lightning Damage. I will just call this Wrath-Double Dipping.

- Banners:
YOU will want to have a Banner aktive because it's an Aura and it wil therefor give the relevant Aurabonus from our Ascendancy - physical DMG reduction, Attack/Castspeed/(Fossil weapon).With 10% reservation they are also very cheap.
Warbanner grants Accuracy Rating to Allies and increases "Physical Damage taken" on enemies.
(The same as Vulnerability Curse) but will (probably) not suffer from Boss reduced Curse Effect.
Works for physical Damage Spells such as Bladevortex and Ethereal Knifes.

Dreadbanner grants chance to Impale with Attacks and Impale-Effect. It also reduces Enemy Accuracyrating (same as Enfeeble Curse) does not suffer Boss reduced Curse Effect.

The effect of the Banners are subject to your increased Aura Effect and AoE. You can support Banners with Generosity as all Auras, but they will not effect you. NOT even when planted.

- Rejuvenation Totem:
This is a Spell, that creates a Totem, that casts Rejuvenation Aura.
The Aura is considered "yours" and will be subject to increased Aure Effect and AoE. GENEROUSITY does not work as this Aura is not cast by you.

- Flesh and Stone:
An Aura that gives different Benefits/Debuffs for Enemies depending on your Stance. Will need to use "Blood and Sand" (another 10% reservation).
Sandstance provides Blind to enemies outside of your aura-Raidus this will usually not be our prevered stance. Blind can easily be applied with other sources and we aim for bigger Aura Radius.

Bloodstance maimes nearby Enemies and they take increased physical damage. This is the same Bonus as Maim Support but will only Stack IF you support Flesh and Stone with Maim Support. Therefor the Maim that is applied through Flesh and Stone gets support from the Gem.
Since Bloodstance would give us (the aurabot) no defensive benefits you should also use Generosity here!

- Vigilant Strike: and
The Vigil will help you grant a massive 38sec. Fortify to Allies and yourself.

- Summon Holy Relic
Used this in all of 3.4; The Relic does almost never die and deals suprisingly noticable damage with your Auras. The Regeneration it gives you is hard to pin down but I found it really noticable even in T15+ Maps.
Procs come with your Attacks.

- Animate Guardian
A popular Choice to gain 3 Auras more and with the recent changes to Minion Life Support and my Auras I found him to be quite survivable.
See that you can get the Gem to lvl 21, Quality doesn't matter.
Remember: if the Guardian dies, the Items are lost, and switch him off in Labyrinth, Halls of Grandmasters and probably Uber-Atziri.
Here are the usual Itemchoices:
Leer Cast
Dying Breath
Victario's Flight
Kingmaker expensive at Leaguestart, fucks with Cullers
Lightning Coil because of phys-convertion
Cloak of Flame because of phys-convertion
Zahndethus' CassockCreates Consecrated Ground + Chaos Resist
Ambu's Charge cheap Regeneration
Death's Oath Fashion Choice
Dyadus Support Burn-Builds, this Weapon needs to be in the Offhand.
Southbound for the inc. Life
Otherwise focus on Chaos-Resist and Life on the Gloves and Boots.

- Devouring Totem
This Totem "leeches" Life & Mana to you, which circumvents the Zelot's Oath Keystone, thus recovering your Life if you run a Chaos-heavy Map or Desecrated Ground.
I keep one in my Inventar for such Occasions.

As this Build is specifically made to start a League and level with Friends.

I would encourage you to do the same, if you like to level solo however:
- Minion nodes are near
- Totem nodes are near

So go for one of these or any Meta-Spell and spent 10 Points there for leveling up.

Here are a few Items you might consider if leveling as an Aurabot:
Lvl 04 - The Vigil socket Vigilant Strike and grant your Allies up to 26s Fortify.
Lvl 12 - Victario's Flight Use while leveling, later your Animate Guardian can wear 'em.
Lvl 16 - Shaper's Seed Very nice during Leveling and in Labyrinth.
Lvl 17 - Aurumvorax fixes your Resist's till Endgame.
Lvl 17 - Solaris Lorica get one around Lvl 31. Once you ascended reserve an Aura with Bloodmagic Supportgem and Beef up your Allies with tons of Armour. Be prepared to skill Zeloth's Oath here and run Disciplin. Your ES is now your efficient healthpool and you need to keep your Resistances maxed!
Lvl 52 - Victario's Influence as soon as you can, aquire a decent rolled one and dress up.
Fix your Chaos Resistance BEFOR!. Rearange your reservations in such a ways, that you do not reserve more then ~50% HP. If need be sacrifice the least popular Dmg Aura.
Lvl 68 - Prism Guardian higher Level and higher priority then Alpha's Howl. Switch Haste, Grace and Determination in.
Lvl 64 - Alpha's Howl Enables one additional Aura, have Discipline and Vitality here.
In the long run you want one that has the Mana-reduction Enchant for one of your Shield's Auras.

Helmet
Purity of Fire
Purity of Ice
Purity of Lightning
Discipline

Chest Armour
Damage Auras of your choise
Dreadbanner


Shield
Vitality
Determination
Grace

Weapon
Animate Guardian
Minion Life
Stone Golem

OR

Flesh and Stone
Maim Support
Generosity

4-Link
Ball Lightning
Curse on Hit
Enfeeble
TemporalChains

4-Link
Vigilant Strike
Cast when Damage taken - might be you prefer to selfcast this
Spirit Offering
Phase Run - or Immortal Call

Ringslots
Rejuvenation Totem
Movement Skill / Enduring Cry

Kill all Bandits

Pantheon
Minor God - Soul of Shakari, upgrade asap for Poison Immunity (T13 Desert Spring Map)
Major God - Soul of Solaris or Soul of Arakaali, depends on Situation

The Pantheon Wiki

Flasks:
3.5 changed the Flask Max-Resist Flasks to instead give "20% reduced <Element> Damage taken. They are still an option.
For Uber-Elder I would suggest maxing against cold Damage anyway you can.
If you can balance your "uncapped resists" get The Wise Oak.

Jewels
Next to the Unique Jewels Watcher's Eye, Conqueror's Efficiency and The Vigil we use Jewel's to fix our Resistances and stack Energy Shield.
You want 1% reduced Mana Corruption on as many Jewels as you can. - 10 of these corruptions (including Conquerors Efficiency).
Is something to aim for as only round Numbers in reduction will reduce the 50% Auras by a full % (the reservation costs are always rounded up).
Other usefull Stats:
- Resistances
- flat Energyshield (Abyss Mod)
- Intelligence
- % Energyshield
- %inc. Armour if you havent killed recently (Abyss Mod)

Energy from Within can be a good option too.
Try not to let your unreserved Life drop below ~1200HP. And keep Chaos Resist maxed!

03.03.2016 - Created the Build, Forumpost.
07.03.2016 - Updated Leveling Skilltrees
01.06.2016 - Updated with Perandus Char. Removed corrupted Prism Guardian.
01.12.2016 - Updated with Essence Char. that runs EVERY Aura
08.12.2017 - Updated for 3.1
19.01.2018 - Updated Skilltree with more ES fokus, Watcher's Eye
27.02.2018 - Cleaned the Guide, Skilltree re-route and W40k.
28.02.2018 - Adapted for the Ascendant
02.03.2018 - Added Skillgem links and "Shav's vs. Victario's"
31.05.2018 - Added Total Biscuit
19.06.2018 - Added 3.3 Gear
30.08.2018 - Added 3.4 Delve Section
06.12.2018 - Added 3.4 Gear, reworked some Sections. Added Banners & Champion
09.04.2019 - Added 3.5 Gear and 3.6 Gear.
07.06.2019 - Rework for 3.7 and Simplifycation