Zero to Hero AFK only - Chains of Command Necromancer POE1

Zero-to-Hero AFK Necromancer Journey

The video follows a Chains of Command Animate Weapon Necromancer from the campaign through AFK Blight, Ultimatum, and Simulacrum farming. The creator’s goal was to build a league starter that could begin AFK farming early and adapt to different strategies. The full progression took almost 25 hours.

Campaign and First Blight Maps

• Level as a Witch with Freezing Pulse and SRS, then switch to Absolution near the end of Act 1.
• In Act 2, try to corrupt Absolution into Vaal Absolution. The creator got it on the first attempt and used it through the campaign.
• Level an Animate Guardian gem from Act 3, and complete the second and third Labyrinths before defeating Kitava.
• After completing three maps to unlock Blighted Land, switch to Chains of Command. The initial setup needs Chains of Command with six sockets, a Terminus Est for the Guardian, and a Writhing Jar. The support gems in the body armour do not need to be linked.
• Start with low-tier Blighted Maps. Stun and Freeze Towers provide extra safety while the character is undergeared.

Animate Guardian kills create Animated Weapons automatically, making the build largely zero-button. The weapons’ aggression lets them seek enemies off-screen, while their damage scales from the Guardian’s weapon. The creator highlights the Necromancer’s Unnatural Strength for chaos damage and Wither, and Bone Barrier for minion life leech and survivability.

Scaling Blight Farming

• Blighted Maps do not require Atlas progression or Voidstones, making them a possible early-league strategy. Their rewards depend on map tier, and they can yield Oils and other currency.
• At level 73, upgrades included Ancient Skull, two Severed in Sleep daggers for the Envy aura, Hyrri’s Truth, and Belt of the Deceiver. Chaos resistance was also raised to help withstand poison and Caustic Ground.
• The Animate Guardian received Leer Cast, Gruthkul’s Pelt, and Kahuturoa’s Certainty.
• For higher-tier Blight, the creator recommends Tier 13 maps rather than paying more for Tier 16. They report that tiers 13–16 have identical rewards for this purpose. They used two Teal Oils and one Crimson Oil, and corrupted the maps.
• Later upgrades—Paradoxica, Asenath’s Gentle Touch, Victario’s Charity, Darkness Enthroned, and strong Ghastly Eye jewels—raised damage enough to farm without towers. Even then, building one or two towers at the start is safer because some corrupted modifier combinations can be dangerous.

Preparing for Ultimatum

Ultimatum required shifting some damage-focused choices toward defense:

• Add a high-block shield, Foulborn Soul Tether for instant leech, and The Anvil, anointed for more maximum block.
• Replace Haste with defensive auras, adjust the passive tree for block, maximum resistance, and Corrupted Blood immunity, and improve the Guardian with Gravebind and Replica Victario’s Charity.
• Use Penance Mark to help sustain minions against the Trialmaster and other bosses.
• Use Ruby and Topaz Flasks for incoming fire and lightning damage, with “Gain Charges when Hit” so they can stay active.

The creator ran a white Tier 16 City Square with one Bribing Scarab and one Inscribed Scarab. Ultimatum does not require Voidstones, but does require roughly 50 Atlas passive points. The build initially failed two of ten maps; more damage helped improve both kill speed and life-leech consistency. The creator advises skipping six particularly dangerous modifiers on the low-budget setup rather than risking a death.

For Inscribed Ultimatums, the creator explains that “more Monster Life” indicates rarity: 30%, 70%, 120%, or 200%. They recommend ignoring ones without that modifier and note that five of the same rarity can be vendored for a new one. Running them yourself can yield Divine Orbs, but selling them may be safer if the character is not ready.

Scaling into Simulacrum

• The major damage upgrade was Voidforge, paired with physical-damage Ghastly Eye jewels. Switching to Voidforge meant changing support gems because the build no longer dealt chaos damage.
• Other upgrades included minion damage and life clusters, an armour cluster, Darkness Enthroned, and Aegis Aurora.
• The Red Nightmare jewel, combined with converting nearby Strength nodes to Fire Resistance, helped cap block chance.
• After a critical-strike death in Simulacrum, the creator added a critical-damage-reduction implicit to Chains of Command, raised the Animate Guardian’s level with Ancient Skull, and crafted a stronger minion ring. Bottled Faith provided another damage increase.

With these changes, the creator completed five Simulacrums AFK without dying and reported that the build could also handle Uber Bosses. They describe further options, such as Elegant Hubris and more Abyss Jewel stacking, as unnecessary for the video’s goal.

Final caution: The creator says Ruthless Support had not affected Animate Weapon since version 3.29, apparently due to an unfixed bug, and recommends using another support gem instead.

Featured gamer/source: Rusei, the video’s creator, who also refers viewers to their own build guide. GGG is mentioned regarding the reported Ruthless Support issue.