WARNING: With the end of Affliction League these Corpses / Spectre system is currently Legacy content and cannot be obtained in-game. Existing Corpses / Spectres do still exist in Standard, and the mechanic may return in the future.
One of the most powerful additions to Path of Exile in Affliction League is the new Corpses. When turned into Spectres with the Raise Spectre skill they provide some of the strongest buffs and Auras currently in the game.
Traditionally, Spectres are only used in Minion builds because they are very fragile without investment. Due to the power of the Affliction Spectres it is often valuable to also integrate them into non-Minion builds by investing into keeping them alive.
This is particularly important with the new Spectres because they cannot be resummoned after death without purchasing a new Corpse to raise.
Purchasing Corpses
The new Affliction Corpses are purchased from the Breaker of Oaths vendor in the Viridian Wildwood.
To find him, follow the purple Wisps until you find an opening in the Wildwood lit by purple candles. The Breaker of Oaths isn't in every Wildwood so keep trying until you find him.
Corpses are purchased from him by using Purple Wisps as currency. These Wisps are temporary for the instance of the Wildwood that you are in and cannot be saved up for later. Gather more Wisps by continuing to follow them throughout the Wildwood and killing purple monsters that you encounter.
The available Corpses to purchase are random. Corpses come in three different rarities: Imperfect, Regular (no prefix), and Perfect. The non-Perfect versions do not provide all of the Auras of the Perfect versions and are generally not used.
Corpses are tradeable and can be purchased from other players.
Raising Spectres
Corpses are one time use items which spawn on the ground. You then turn them into a Spectre that joins your party as an Ally through the use of the Raise Spectre Skill.
Before creating the corpse on the ground, ensure that you don't have any skills that consume corpses socketed in your gear. Skills such as Volatile Dead and Flesh Offering can destroy the corpse and you will have to purchase a replacement.
- While in a safe location such as your hideout, right click the corpse to spawn in on the ground.
- Hold the Corpse Targeting Key (Default: A) over the corpse until it is highlighted and you see the nameplate at the top of your screen.
- Cast the Raise Spectre Spell on the corpse to raise it as a Spectre.
Raising MORE Spectres
Your initial Spectre limit is based on the level of the Raise Spectre Gem:
- Level 1-12: 1
- Level 13-24: 2
- Level 25+: 3
This is raised further through the following sources:
- Death Attunement on the passive tree
- +1 to Maximum Number of Spectres delve body armour modifier
Keeping Your Spectres Alive
There are three primary ways to scale Spectre defenses: Gem levels, Resistances and Life/ES. The primary way to acquire Spetre defenses is through support gems. A strong 4-link with a high level Raise Spectre Gem and some investment into passives provides enough defense to keep them alive through most content in the game.
When getting started, get a level 20 Raise Spectre Gem with 20% quality (for more Resistances). When possible, upgrade to level 21 with 20% quality.
The best support gems, in order of priority, are:
- Meat Shield Support for a significant less damage taken multiplier.
- Minion Life Support for much more Life.
- Elemental Army Support for Elemental Resistance and Maximum Resistance.
- Empower Support for a higher Raise Spectre Gem level.
Passives and Medium Cluster Jewels also provide lots of life and defense.
Notable defensive passives, in order of priority, are:
- Grave Intentions
- Indomitable Army
- Decay Ward
- Sacrifice
The Minion Defense Mastery in these wheels "Minions have +8% to all maximum Elemental Resistances" is the strongest choice for additional defense.
The Minion Life Medium Cluster Jewel has many Notables that provide a larger Life pool to your Spectres. However, it has one standout node that dramatically improves their defense. If possible, get Dread March into your build for additional Life as well as defense against Physical and Chaos damage.
Affliction Corpses
Now to the fun part: the new corpses and what they provide. Some notable interactions and powers are expanded upon here to illustrate their power but the possibilities are endless! Note: the Auras granted by these Spectres have different numbers than the Auras that are granted by Skill gems and are not a direct equivalent.
Also, as said above, we are only looking at the Perfect versions as the lower tiers do not provide all of the bonuses.
Notable Corpses
- Perfect Meatsack
- 40% Increased Minion Life
Great cheap Spectre to buff the Life pool of all your Minions. Excellent option at lower investment to keep them all alive.
- Perfect Naval Officer
- Precision aura
- +10 Fortification to you and your allies
Great defensive Spectre that also provides a strong Precision Aura.
- Perfect Primal Thunderbird
- Applies Lightning Exposure
- Grace aura
Very strong Grace Aura and a decent way to apply Exposure.
- Perfect Warlord
- Warcry that grants your entire party Endurance Charges
- Vitality aura
Another amazing defensive Spectre.
- Perfect Spirit of Fortune
- VERY strong Wrath aura
- Allies' lightning damage is lucky
This is one of the Spectres that non-minion builds often work in. The Wrath Aura is exceptionally strong and the lucky lightning roll can provide over 30% more damage!
- Perfect Hulking Miscreation
- 20% physical as extra lightning damage
- 30% attack and cast speed and 100% increased damage for Allied Constructs
Another big offensive Spectre. For any Physical to Elemental conversion build this provides a large amount of damage. In addition, the damage bonus works for Raging Spirits as they have the Construct tag.
- Perfect Guardian Turtle
- 5% Physical Damage Reduction for Party Members
- Determination aura
Defensive Spectre. Very slow (he's a turtle).
- Perfect Blasphemer
- Smite aura
Used for a strong added Lightning damage Aura. Synergizes well with the above Lightning Spectres.
- Perfect Forest Tiger
- Haste Aura
- Frenzy charge to party members on hit
A nice way to get a Haste Aura. Frenzy charges are low chance to apply.
This is just a taste of the power that these new Corpses provide.
Remaining Corpses
Listed below are the remaining Corpses that can be purchased in Affliction league.
- Perfect Hydra
- Strong Hatred aura
- Squishy
- Perfect Dark Marionette
- Reforms after being killed
- Explodes on death
- Perfect Fiery Cannibal
- Purity of Fire
- Perfect Frozen Cannibal
- Purity of Ice
- Perfect Runic Skeleton
- Crushes enemy on hit
- Perfect Dark Reaper
- Causes Bleeding
- Nearby enemies have 50% reduced Life Regeneration rate
- Perfect Spider Matriarch
- Summons Spiders
- Ally spiders deal additional chaos damage with attacks
- Owner gains 20% increased Effect of Withered
- Perfect Half-remembered Goliath
- 100% effects of Links on this
- Owner gains 20% increased Skill Effect Duration
- Perfect Eldritch Eye
- Removes Shock on hit to trigger Lightning Explosion
- Casts Purity of Lightning
- Perfect Shadow Construct
- Slams
- Perfect Dancing Sword
- Nearby allies have 20% increased Impale Effect
- Impales of nearby allies last one additional hit
- Perfect Needle Horror
- Owner gains 10% increased Impale Effect
- Perfect Serpent Warrior
- Inflicts Withered for 2 seconds on Hit
- Creates Aura of Chaos when hitting Poisoned enemies.
- Perfect Pain Artist
- Nearby allies have +30% Critical Strike Multiplier
- Casts Zealotry
- Perfect Sawblade Horror
- Maims on hit
- Owner gains 10% increased Effect of Maim
- Perfect Restless Knight
- Absorbs Corrupting Blood, exploding it and dealing Physical Damage based on the damage of the Corrupting Blood
- Casts Pride
- Perfect Riftcaster
- Perfect Druidic Alchemist
- Owner gains 1 life flask charge every 3 seconds
- Perfect Escaped Prototype
- Perfect Primal Demiurge
- Inflicts Sap
- Clarity aura
Summary
The full extent of power provided by the new Spectres added in Affliction league has not yet been fully explored. There are entirely new builds that have been created focusing entirely on them, from using the Dark Marionette to constantly reform and explode enemies to using Hydra as a full screen shotgunner.
Alternatively, with moderate investment into minion defense, these easily purchasable new Spectres can elevate non-minion builds to new heights through incredibly powerful Auras and buffs usually reserved for other archetypes: Fortification and Endurance Charges on a bow build, reservation Auras on a Mana stacker, even Smite bonuses on a Wander.
The possibilities are endless!
Credits
Written by: Subtractem
Reviewed by: Tenkiei