Rosary Minion Swarm Build
This guide introduces the Rosary Minion Swarm build, an incredibly powerful summoner playstyle that excels in Hellclock, capable of clearing Ascension 10 and achieving over 200 million DPS against final bosses. It focuses on overwhelming enemies with a multitude of Holy Rosaries and summoned Catholic Guards, while maintaining near pseudo-invulnerability through high Conviction.
Build Overview
Section titled “Build Overview”The Rosary Minion Swarm build transforms your gameplay into a screen-cluttering spectacle of destruction. The core loop involves summoning numerous minions with Old Bell, then continuously moving to trigger Holy Rosary projectiles from both yourself and your summons. Conviction generated by Closed Body and potions acts as a massive defensive and offensive buffer. The build culminates in massive damage spikes by doubling your minion count with Summon Catholic Guard.
While early attempts at a bell summoner were awkward and low-damage, this refined version is remarkably consistent and devastating, relying more on key relics and smart potion usage than specific blessings.
Skills
Section titled “Skills”Understanding the specific leveling and usage of each skill is key to mastering this build.
Old Bell
Your primary minion summoning tool. Spawns the Spirit of Canuda's Catholic Guard, ignoring normal skill limits. Also provides Life and Mana per rank, increasing tankiness and resources.
Usage: Spam this skill a few times at the start of a level or when you notice enemies aren’t dying quickly, to summon a bunch of minions. While its damage isn’t required, maxing it out (Level 8 recommended) increases your life and mana, making you tankier. Lower mana cost blessings are beneficial for sustain.
Holy Rosary
Continuously scales in base damage with levels and grants a Critical Damage buff. Its projectiles are automatically fired as you move and cast from your summons.
Usage: This is a core damage skill. Max it out (Level 8 recommended, or max available ranks) as its mana cost does not matter. Its projectiles are automatically fired as you move (with Bead Necklace) and cast from your summons (with Worker’s Tools), creating a massive swarm of damage.
Closed Body
Generates a barrier of Conviction, which acts as a huge defensive health pool and provides a significant damage bump.
Usage: Keep this skill on cooldown to maintain your Conviction. Around Rank 4 is comfortable for continuous use, but with more Cooldown Reduction, it can go higher for a bigger barrier. Using potions also significantly boosts Conviction.
Summon Catholic Guard
Summons Catholic Guards. Its primary purpose is to activate 'Catholic Guard's Rage' to double your total number of guards.
Usage: Use this skill to double your minion count, effectively doubling your damage for about 10 seconds. Prioritize blessings that reduce its Rage cooldown and increase duration to maximize uptime. Leveling it increases Cooldown Recovery Speed.
Passage
Provides mobility and teleports your minions around the level, allowing for optimal positioning to deal maximum damage.
Usage: Keep Passage on cooldown while running through levels. This not only provides mobility for you but also teleports your Catholic Guards, ensuring they are always in range to attack enemies. Leveling it increases Cooldown Recovery Speed.
Core Relics
Section titled “Core Relics”Relics are paramount to this build’s functionality and scaling. They are divided into essential “core” relics and highly recommended “helpful” relics.
Core Relics
Section titled “Core Relics”Build will not function without these.
Bead Necklace
Holy Rosary fires automatically as you move. (Absolutely vital for continuous Holy Rosary output).
Holy Water
Instead of recovering health, potions now give a massive amount of Conviction. (Makes you pseudo-invulnerable and boosts damage).
Worker's Tools
Holy Rosary casts from your summons. (Crucial for the 'swarm' aspect, multiplying your Rosary count).
Toll of the Dead
Old Bell spawns the Spirit of Canuda's Catholic Guard, ignoring the normal skill limit. (Essential for overwhelming minion numbers).
Highly Recommended Relics
Section titled “Highly Recommended Relics”
Call of the Guard
Doubles the number of guards you have, functionally doubling your damage for about 10 seconds.
Golden Chaplet
Holy Rosary orbits at a fixed distance, increasing its damage by 66%. (Provides consistency and significant damage boost).
Written Promise
Gain a huge damage increase based on your Conviction. (Massive damage gain, especially for endgame boss melting).
Bloodied Doll
Grants extra spell damage scaling. With 10-20 summons, this is a lot of extra damage.
Northerner Belt
Cast Lasso on Critical Damage. With so many hits, you're constantly critting, allowing for continuous grouping/stunning of enemies.
Unshakable Faith
Old Bell's damage is increased by 82% of your maximum mana. (Not required, but a fun damage boost).
Gear & Equipment
Section titled “Gear & Equipment”While specific drops are RNG, prioritize these stats to maximize your build’s potential. The build is less reliant on specific gear drops than on unique relics.
- Weapon: Attack Speed is good for general feel, but not super critical.
- General Stats: Prioritize Crit Chance, Base Damage, Conviction Decay Resistance (very nice), Movement Speed, and Cooldown Speed.
- Defensive Bonuses: Minor defensive bonuses are always welcome.
The Great Bell Priorities
Section titled “The Great Bell Priorities”The Great Bell is your primary meta-progression system that persists between runs. Spend your Memory Levels wisely.
- Damage Increases: Prioritize as many points as possible into damage nodes early on.
- Crit Chance: Grab the 5% base crit chance node, it’s impactful.
- Soul Stone Gain & Gold Gain: Invest heavily here. This allows for more relic upgrades and shop re-rolls, which is crucial for obtaining core relics.
- Hell Clock Timer & Reliquary Size: Expand these to increase starting run time and relic capacity.
- Red Portals: Unlock these to skip floors and speed up farming.
- Maximum Skill Rank: While not explicitly stated as a top priority for this build, increasing max skill ranks is generally beneficial for all skills, especially Holy Rosary and Old Bell if you want to max them out.
- Mana Stuff: Slight cost reduction nodes can feel nice but aren’t super impactful.
- Potion Synergies: Important by Act 3. Potion life regen percentage translates to even more Conviction, enhancing invulnerability and damage.
Farming Tip: Act 2 is a great place to farm Soul Stones, especially with all the Soul Stone gain nodes.
Constellations Map
Section titled “Constellations Map”Constellations offer powerful, specialized bonuses that define your character’s long-term scaling in endgame (Ascension Mode).
- Early Critical Strike Chance: Invest one point into each of the three Maryries for a flat +7% base Critical Strike Chance.
- St. Hedwig - Power to the Oppressed: Crucial for this build. You gain a maximum power up if you have at least five active summons (which should be all the time), and summon damage is increased. This is believed to multiplicatively scale Holy Rosary’s damage when cast from summons (via Worker’s Tools). Unlock her at the very least.
- Devotion Paths: The Faith tree is generally recommended due to its numerous interactions with summons.
- Mana Orbs & Mana Shield: Consider these for mana regen and additional defense, though their ultimate worth can vary.
- Agility & Power Orb Enhancements: Provides additional projectile damage and cooldown recovery speed.
- Conviction Gain & Conviction Decay Resistance: Essential for maintaining tankiness and scaling damage based on Conviction.
Leveling Strategy
Section titled “Leveling Strategy”This build is surprisingly adaptable and can be played effectively from the very beginning.
- Early Game: Focus on getting Old Bell and Holy Rosary active. The core mechanics come online with key relics.
- Secure Core Relics Early: Your top priority should be acquiring the four essential core relics (Bead Necklace, Holy Water, Worker’s Tools, Toll of the Dead) as soon as possible, as the build will not function without them.
- Conviction Management: Start getting comfortable with maintaining Conviction via Closed Body and potions early on.
Gameplay Tips
Section titled “Gameplay Tips”- Summon and Run: Use Old Bell a few times to summon minions, then run through the level. More running means more Holy Rosary projectiles.
- Maintain Conviction: Keep Closed Body on cooldown and use potions frequently to maintain high Conviction. Think of it like constantly hitting flasks in Path of Exile.
- Burst Damage: For specific tough enemies or bosses, hit Summon Catholic Guard to double your minion count and melt them.
- Risky Bossing: For an “all or nothing” approach on bosses, spam all your potions for maximum Conviction and damage, but be aware it leaves you vulnerable.
- Minion Positioning: Use Passage to teleport your guards and position them for maximum damage.
- Relic Dependency: This build is highly reliant on obtaining the correct relics. Prioritize shop re-rolls and relic upgrades.