[3.3] Null's Animate Weapon - 750k+ dps @ lvl 72, ~25c, no 6L; 3mil+ dps @ lvl 91; Runs all map mods

I meant to just do this build as a meme because it sounded fun and looked extremely cheap... then I wound up doing crazy DPS safely when I started my first map. So I thought I'd post it.

I've not written a guide before, and I'm still working on it, so I'll just give a few notes for now, mainly to go over how this is different to the build I used as a loose base.

I decided to throw this together now just so people can see where it's actually at when starting maps, rather than complete, which I think is a lot of newer player's goal.

Null's+Tawm'r AW


Pros
-No 6L needed. Only 1 5L needed.
-Super cheap. Null's bow costs almost nothing and AS is the only roll on it you need. Tawm'r costs almost nothing, especially for low ES roll. Victario's and Nycta's to use before Tawm'r and Null's costs almost nothing.
-Generally safe, as you're behind your minions stun locking everything
-Can probably run all map mods? I'm not sure yet.
-Tawm'r looks better than most MTX.
-Extremely easy to resist cap. (I accidentally got to 153% uncapped lightning..)
-Can do a reasonable amount of MF since all except for weapon, chest, and helmet are "free" slots

Cons
-30 Flesh Offerings being triggered at once is actually loud and annoying. GGG please give cheap sound MTX separate from skill visual effect...
-Speaker's Wrath looks hideous, if you don't have MTX.
-Not really viable for SFF
-Can't do crap that deletes your freaking AWs between zones like Izario. GGG pls. Have to weapon swap to SRS.
-Probably can't do elder/Shaper. You can weapon swap to SRS for around 550k dps, but it's eh.
-Maps which are full of white skeletons that just don't drop items and without chests near start are slower to start.
-DPS is much lower against high elemental resist, curse immune enemies. Cospri's is an alternative if you run Necromancer instead of Scion and have the higher Increased Skill Duration.

Once you start maps at around level 72, at only level 17 gems, most of which are 0% quality, you should have 750k+ boss DPS, and over 1mil general DPS.
This is not one of those builds where you need 20/20 gems with level 4 Empower and a +3 gem armor/weapon to actually do the damage. It's actually cheap and easy.
The DPS varies because it depends on what weapons are turned into AW. DPS can actually be much higher, considering you can get weapons with + elemental damage or attack speed, but it's RNG.
This is also without Vaal Haste.
Again, very low budget once you start mapping, with higher potential to scale.


How it works
Killing with the bow, any bow skill, triggers the minion skills in the bow. In this case I'm using Rain of Arrows. Ice Shot is an alternative. Not sure why anyone suggests Tornado Shot with this in other builds, but Rain is just better.
Tawm'r makes magic items drop identified, making it MUCH easier to get 58 or so AW and making them more powerful.
Speaker's Wreath and Elemental Focus makes it so your minions can't kill, so you can always get the last hit
In party, use Writhing Jar to better ensure you get kills with your bow in order to spawn weapons. However, Writhing Jar doesn't work with Speaker's Wreath for whatever reason ??? so you have to make sure your minions are distracted by other targets or blink away from them so you get the kill.
Curse on Hit in your weapon for Elemental Weakness, and Ele Equalibrium while having +cold damage from ring or Quiver, greatly increases minion effective DPS.





Level 72 Path of Building tree
Total cost of build at level 72 is well under 25c (including links). For me it was actually more around 10c because I got lucky on jewelers.
This is my actual character right now so a lot isn't ideal. Like that I have way too much lightning resist, and not enough cold
Current Skill Effect Duration etc at level 72.


Level 91 Path of Building tree
At level 91, you'll expect lower skill effect duration (125-155% depending on whether you're using a 15% or 45% belt), and you make up for that with higher mobility and clear speed.
Ideally, would have more minion speed from rings and amulets. That's the big and really only problem I'm having later on in the build is just buying Essence of Fear. You frankly may want to go with non-top end ones to more affordably reroll.
Life+ES should be around 5.5k, with close to 6.5k possible with better items.
Total cost of build at level 91 is <100c (including links).
I wound up refunding the points to the left of Templar.

Another plan is that I'd actually like to simply use Wrath, and not Anger. Lightning damage only.
This will let me remove the Elemental Focus and use Elemental Damage with Attacks instead. However, the minions aren't going to do strong shocks on bosses... so I'm not really sure yet.
However it'd also allow me to use Hungry Loop to support Wrath with Generosity, freeing up links in armor which I could use for a lot of things. I could also add in Herald of Ice to just more easily clear, giving some more effective AoE range to Rain of Arrows.
In such case, I'd probably replace elemental weakness with conductivity.


I decided not to go Witch because I thought I'd need Resolution Technique as per but that is not the case. It's actually perfectly fine to miss lots of shots since Rain of Arrows gives lots of chances to hit
I originally thought I'd go Deadeye on Ascendant for the 100% increased Global Accuracy Rating, but it turns out it's stupidly pointless. Easy to get a decent hit rate without it (especially since +300 Accuracy Rating rings are cheap and you have so many "free slots" to play with)
However, I still prefer Scion for the extra skill points and skill points saved in pathing, the start with the high Skill Effect Duration, and it turns out you can go Pathfinder instead of Deadeye on Ascendant which is even better!
The downside to Scion, and even more so to Conqueror, is the difficulty in getting more Minion Damage and Skill Effect Duration in the end, which is why I use the +45% belt.

I'm enjoying this build so far so ty!
I was wondering if the abyssal eye jewel's "x% increased minion damage if you have used a minion skill recently" will proc with the bow kills?

Hey!
I leveled a Scion with SRS I just finished act 10 as you suggested, now I would like to build AW. Should I use the Witch build linked above as a guide for gem links, and non-core items, or the version with your PoB lvl 91 version?
Thansk for your answer!