PoE 3.8 Witch Raise Zombie Necromancer Cheap Build

Pros

• + Great league starter

• + Can run all map mods and tiers

• + Very cheap to get going

• + Great delve runner, breach runner, and temporal incursion-runner.

• + Great survivor (a lot of life gained on hit)

• + Uses few buttons

• + Pure physical damage dealer - you don't have to worry with elemental penetration

• + Can scale indefinitely with better gear and jewels

• + Relaxed cyclone playstyle (immune to stuns and keeps moving while attacking), but can play pseudo-ranged as well (you can direct your zombies to attack far away by manually casting a curse on distant enemies)

• + Unaffected by map mods that directly reduce your damage (your minions are unaffected by those mods)
  + Protected against porcupines (you command your minions to form a meat shield in front of you)
  

• + Doesn't need dubious timeless jewels.
  

• - no need to change minion behavior gems during mapping

• + Possibly hardcore viable, but only for those that know the game's mechanics well and have experience playing it (I'm a super casual player)

Cons

• - Socket starved (like all minion builds)

Build mechanics

You use your 2 holy relics from Geofry's Legacy helmet to clear mobs. Their combined DPS is over 200.000, enough to clear trash mobs that are spread wide, even in red maps.

For single target, you use zombies in your 6-linked body armor, because zombies are not good at aoe. The zombies combined DPS well exceed 2 million, and consists in a combination of default attacks and slam attacks.

Your most used skill is cyclone, used to gain life on hit, maims enemies, makes them bleed in blood stance and (while cursed with vulnerability), gets you the fortify buff, and moves you even when you attack. Your own DPS is over 15 000, good enough for trash mobs in yellow maps.

You use 2 claws crafted with bound fossils (they provide minion damage) and syndicate-crafted suffix to trigger desecrate and flesh offering when you attack. One of the claws must be a Gemini claw in order to get mana for your cyclone.

You use at least 2 raised specters to generate frenzy and power charges (carnage and host chieftains). Also, if you have the third specter, get an Undying Evangelist from the Finger of God to protect you with its proximity shield. 

You use flame dash to interrupt your cyclone animation and quickly get out of harm's way.

You use your vulnerability curse to debuff enemies, and order your zombies to attack the annoying porcupines while keeping you safe

You use 3 auras: pride, war banner, flesh and stone - to increase damage and accuracy.

Ascendancy

1. Commander of darkness (you need to get the flesh and stone aura on you in order to benefit from the increased resistances)

2. Mindless Aggression

3. Unnatural Strength

4. Plaguebringer (only when you can trigger your spells automatically)

How to craft your items

1. Body armor: buy a 6-linked uncorrupted one of the highest level that you can afford with a strength/energy shield base (use an orb of scouring on it to get rid of its mods), slam a single essence of geed in it (the highest level you can afford, to get the big life roll), and pray to also get some resistances. Leave an open prefix on it to craft the,,+1 to maximum number of zombies” from Jun Ortoi (immortal syndicate). The end product should cost 30-40 chaos orbs.

2. Buy Geofri's Crest helmet from another player, and upgrade it with, The bishop's legacy" prophecy to Geofri's Legacy helmet. This should cost you 2-3 chaos orbs. (directly buying Geofri's Legacy is far more expensive)

3. Buy a Gemini claw and an Eye Gouger claw of at least level 81, quality them, then slam bound fossils into them until you get the increased minion damage roll as close to 80% (it's the maximum possible) and an open suffix. In that open suffix master-craft,,Trigger a socketed spell when you use a skill”. Each claw should cost 10-20 chaos orbs, and if you want it even cheaper, buy a Scourge claw from another player to replace the Eye Gouger claw. The Gemini claw is mandatory, though, because it gets you mana for sustaining cyclone.

The Scourge, Terror Claw , Sorrow Spiker Eye Gouger

The rest of the gear can be simple rares with life and resistances. When writing this guide, one exalted orb was selling for 170 chaos orbs, so you can see that all the gear is definitely within the budget of a single exalted orb.

Leveling

Level up as a normal zombie summoner up until Act 5, and then start transitioning, little by little, to the end-gear (get the helmet, claws, etc). If you need extra dexterity, use a Careful Planning jewel to convert intelligence into dexterity - put it in the jewel slot between the witch and the scion areas). If you want extra life, a cheap option is the Anatomical Knowledge jewel.

Careful Planning, Viridian Jewel , Anatomical Knowledge, Cobalt Jewel