PoE Minion Instability — Path of Exile

Minion Instability is a keystone passive skill in Path of Exile that enables a unique and powerful mechanic for summoner builds. When this keystone is allocated, your minions will explode upon reaching low life, dealing 33% of their maximum life as fire damage to surrounding enemies. This explosion can be leveraged to create devastating effects in combat, especially when combined with certain skills, support gems, and gear.

PoE Minion Instability

Minion Instability Build

Classes:

• Necromancer: 63%
• Hierophant: 11%
• Elementalist: 6%
• Trickster: 5%
• Ascendant: 4%
• Guardian: 4%
• Occultist: 3%
• Juggernaut: 1%
• Inquisitor: 1%
• Chieftain: 1%

Main Skills:

• Summon Raging Spirit of Enormity: 41%
• Raise Spectre: 20%
• Ice Nova of Frostbolts: 6%
• Cyclone: 6%
• Raise Zombie: 6%
• Signal Prey: 4%
• Summon Stone Golem of Hordes: 4%
• Vaal Ice Nova: 3%
• Ice Nova: 3%
• Exsanguinate: 3%
• Ethereal Knives of the Massacre: 3%
• Animate Guardian: 3%
• Vaal Summon Skeletons: 3%

Masteries:

• Minions have 15% reduced Life Recovery rate, Minions have 30% increased maximum Life: 57%
• 20% increased effect of Offerings: 42%
• Minions have 30% increased Area of Effect: 41%
• 15% increased maximum Life if there are no Life Modifiers on Equipped Body Armour: 37%
• 12% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills: 37%
• Minions Penetrate 8% of Cursed Enemies’ Elemental Resistances: 37%
• +30 to maximum Life: 33%
• +1% Chance to Block Attack Damage per 5% Chance to Block on Equipped Shield: 32%
• Auras from your Skills have 10% increased Effect on you: 23%
• +1% Chance to Block Spell Damage per 5% Chance to Block Attack Damage: 15%
• 10% of Leech is Instant: 14%
• 10% reduced Mana Cost of Skills: 11%
• 10% of Damage taken Recouped as Mana: 11%

Mechanics and Interactions

Explosion Mechanics:

• Area of Effect: The explosion occurs in a radius around the minion, with a base radius of 2.2 meters. This explosion is considered secondary damage and does not inherently have a critical strike chance (base crit chance is 0%).
• Triggering the Explosion: Minions must be reduced to low life (below 50% of their maximum life) to trigger the explosion. If a minion dies outright without reaching low life, such as being one-shot or expiring due to duration, the explosion will not occur. Additionally, if a minion is summoned at low life, such as with Mirror Arrow or Blink Arrow while the player is at low life, the minion will explode immediately upon spawning.

Modifiers and Enhancements:

Minion Instability can be significantly enhanced by various modifiers, particularly those that increase minion life or enhance fire damage. Because the explosion is tied to the minion’s life, increasing the maximum life of your minions directly boosts the damage dealt by the explosion.

Support Gems: While Minion Instability is not a skill in itself, support gems that affect minions can modify the explosion’s damage. Compatible support gems include:

• Minion Damage Support: Increases the damage dealt by the explosion.
• Minion Life Support: Increases the maximum life of minions, thereby increasing the explosion’s damage.
• Elemental Focus Support: Increases the elemental damage dealt by the explosion.
• Concentrated Effect Support: Reduces the area of effect but significantly increases the damage.
• Fire Penetration Support: Allows the explosion to penetrate enemy fire resistance.
• Increased Area of Effect Support: Increases the radius of the explosion.
• Aura Support: Auras that affect minions, such as Anger or Purity of Fire, can boost the explosion’s effectiveness by increasing fire damage or providing additional fire resistance.

Other Modifiers:

• Void Manipulation Support and Brutality Support should be avoided, as they prevent the explosion from dealing fire damage.
• Added damage support gems (such as Added Fire Damage Support) will not affect the explosion, as it does not count as an attack or spell.

Strategies for Lowering Minion Life

To consistently trigger Minion Instability, players can use various strategies to bring their minions’ life down to low levels. Here are some effective methods:

• Infernal Legion Support: This support gem causes minions to take fire damage over time, which can lower their life enough to trigger the explosion.
• Guardian’s Blessing Support: This support gem can be linked with an aura to slowly drain the minions’ life.
• Ancient Skull: This helmet can cause minions to take damage when they critically strike, potentially bringing them to low life.
• Tavukai Amulet: Increases the life cost of Summon Raging Spirit, making it easier to reach low life.
• Self-Damaging Flasks: Using flasks like Coruscating Elixir, Doedre’s Elixir, or Forbidden Taste while equipped with Mother’s Embrace or Umbilicus Immortalis can damage your minions, particularly Spectres and Zombies.
• Earendel’s Embrace (Skeletons) and Replica Earendel’s Embrace (Zombies): These weapons cause your minions to take fire damage over time.
• Chains of Command: Animate Guardian using Oni-Goroshi as a weapon will trigger the fire damage over time, eventually leading to an explosion.
• Dark Pact Skill: This skill can be cast on skeletons to directly reduce their life, leading to an explosion.
• Mirror Arrow and Blink Arrow: If you are at low life when summoning these minions, they will explode immediately upon being summoned.

Conclusion

Minion Instability is a keystone that offers a unique playstyle for summoners in Path of Exile. By harnessing the explosive potential of your minions, you can deal massive area damage, especially when using a build that maximizes minion life and fire damage. Whether you’re creating a specialized build around this mechanic or incorporating it into an existing summoner setup, understanding the interactions and strategies for triggering Minion Instability is key to unleashing its full potential in combat.

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