The 'Pls No RIP' Summoner - Beyond Edition!

Back in Invasion I created this build guide (http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/930127) to show off how Summoner was used to play safely and aggressively at the same time, now I'm here to show you how do play the same character with the new tree, but on a budget.



The Build and The Path


New league? New gear and boy is it terrible. Remember the key point is to get Shavronne's Wrappings or Solaris Lorica so you don't die to chaos damage and stack that ES!

The Gear


Because snapshotting is no longer around (horray and kinda not horray, less available gem sockets), this build doesn't get to link up its utility skills with supports anymore.

The Skills


Playing The Build

Being a summoner is a relatively complex system of skills. Unlike many other character archetypes, you use many skills in an order instead of one skill repeatedly for certain situations. It generally follows this priority order:

Curse (Vulnerability for most things, Enfeeble for anything with high Area of Effect or Single Target damage) --> Desecrate under the enemies to be killed --> Flesh Offering (or Bone Offering if you cast Enfeeble) --> Rejuvenation Totem.

Desecrate may also be used to direct minions. Zombies and spectres go to the area where desecrate is cast OR attack anything damaged by desecrate or any other skill.

When Do I Use The Other Skills?

Convocation: This skill is used normally for two things: My minions are stuck somewhere and aren't participating in the fight (screw you Mine map); or my minions are in a very dangerous enemy skill and are going to die unless they are moved.

Because of the durability of this build however, you have a third option - Using the skill to single out dangerous enemies and remove them before their aura, area of effect, or damage become a problem. This is done by literally running right next to the monster you want to kill and casting Convocation.

Minion AI is intelligent enough to know weaker monsters from stronger monsters so long as they're not already attacking something already. They will also focus whatever enemy you have recently damaged with a skill which is the actual reason that Desecrate also does chaos damage over time.

Your Worst Nightmare: Pretty much every beyond pack that's not eyes and Normal Merveil

I have to admit, beyond monsters are a bigger pain now without snapshotting. Losing the gem sockets means losing the ability to run a Vaal skill OR a second curse in this build. Killing beyond monsters as a summoner is going to be very grindy or near impossible until later on in the game when they've got good sockets and levels.

Even with Bone Offering up, manye of the beyond monsters kill minions out right. Storm call, Ice Nova and the new 'Cold Storm Call' ruin your gameplay tremendously. You'll often have to constantly resummon zombies and spam Raging Spirits if you want to actually kill them.

About normal difficulty Mervil: Don't assume you can kill her with minions. Due to the changes in her kit, it's nearly impossible to keep your minions alive. I highly recommend trying to get a hold of a Purity of Ice for fighting her. It keeps them alive long enough to get a single hit off.


But how do I level? Isn't summoner both incredibly slow and rather boring at the start?

Not anymore! With the substantial revamp on minion base values (Raging Spirits in particular), leveling as a summoner is definitely viable. Particularly if you can get your hands on the unique want Lifesprig for levels before 23, and the shield Matua Tapuna for 23 and up.

Matua Tapuna is the only source of +2 minion gems before level 50, making it extremely valuable for zombies. They scale almost exclusively off gem level and the +2 gem levels also works on Minion Life if you don't like using Raging Spirits. I recommend using Matua Tapuna with Raise Zombie, Melee Splash and Raging Spirits while leveling for both improved clear speed (melee splash) and improve minion and personal survival.

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There you have it. I'm currently level 72 on Beyond and my IGN is PlsNoCurserrino. You can find me on reddit under the username butsuon.

I am going to try it but one question, why you choose titties over Evangelists?
I thought Evangelists are op.

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why do not you use Lighting warp ?

As a bump, this archetype was used in Build of the Week: Season 3 Episode 4.

This version of the build is intended for hardcore play and survivability, so it doesn't have as heavy an investment into minions, so keep that in mind!

Hey, tree looks solid, how much ES and armour do you have?

Befoew this character die at 75, I had 4500 ES and 13,000 armor. Ill post his gear later.

Would love an updated version of this :)