Dying Breath / Alpha's Howls / Summoner / SRS

18% chance to block = so so
18% increased cast speed = very good
18% increased mana = good
18% increased radius of auras = very good for summoner builds
18% increased radius of curses = so so (but we won't be making use of this as we use curse on hit)
Nearby enemies have 18% increased effect of curses on them = best!
18% increased effect of auras = best!
Nearby allies gain 18% increased damage = very good

Note that since 1.2.0, the 18% increased damage taken mod is no longer there, which is extremely good for us. It has become a unique without any negatives. And if you look carefully, this staff is especially designed for us summoners. And it is relatively cheap. I bought a 6s5l one for 2ex in standard. The most important stats are the cast speed, effect of curses and auras. Of course the increased damage is very useful as well. When you have tons of minions (allies), effects on them multiples and the damage/defense skyrockets. Plus with an Alpha's Howls, your auras will be greatly amplified.

Use curses and auras to enable your minions to destroy everything in their path. Undying breath enhances both your curses and auras. Alpha's Howls enhances your auras and enables you to have more auras up.

We make use of the Hatred and Haste auras for offense. The Discipline Aura is for some defense. Since I am a hybrid build (life and ES), it also helps my char defensively. The Haste aura also enables me to cast SRS faster. More SRS = More beadbutts. As you level, you might be able to get one or two more auras up. And the undying breath enhances aura effects. We are happy.

We are making use of 3 curses - Elemental Weakness, Enfeeble and Temporal Chain. Since part of the damage of SRS is fire and with hatred, we deal both fire and cold damage, elemental weakness helps use lower the resistances of our enemies. Since we lack a shield and have a pathetic 18% chance to block, enfeeble and temporal chains helps us ensure we are safe. If you like, you can change the curses to something else more offensive, like maybe flammability and vulnerability, which helps your SRS deal more damage.

Make use of arc + curse on hit (the arc of curses) to deliver the 3 curses. With Elemental Equilibrium, we further reduce the defense by lowering both fire and cold resistances (50%!!!). With a qty arc, we can even get some shock status (50%!!!!)! One arc can hit up to 5 enemies, which is decent enough. Other ideas include using Ball Lightning but I would go with arc. It is also a bit slow to deliver as it needs to travel. For arc, u just need to press without the need to aim at all. Oh and the undying breath unique has 18% cast speed (plus haste aura), so you can get your arcs fast too! Plus with undying breath, the curse effects are enhanced. And with high lvl curse on hit, they get further enhanced as well.

Synergy? Yes!

DOM: Note that gems are not lvled and I have low fire resists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKMaHPkLx9w

Vila Run: Note that gems are not lvled, with 0 qality SRS gem and low fire resists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lCy2iJWigo

Temple Piety:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJIfyrB3Nxg

1. Summon your zombies (I have 6 currently)
2. Summon your spectres (I use undying evangelists like everyone else x 2)
3. Cast your auras
4. See monsters - use arc(s) of curses
5. Summon SRS to finish them off
6. Collect loot
7. Repeat

Both close (like caves) and open area maps are well suited for this build.

Note: This is not an optimized tree. I will need to respec some points like getting the foresight node instead of wasting 4 points by traveling all the way to the shadow area.
Passive skill tree build

Dying Breath:
For auras, we need Alpha's Howls:
For some ES:
This is not recommended but I do not have a good ES boots.
So so belt I have lying around
Another so so glove
Need the ring for 3 curses.

5link chest/staff: Summon Raging Spirit + Multistrike + Melee Physical Damage + Spell Echo + Increased Duration/Melee Splash/Added Fire (+Minion Damage for 6 link?)
5link chest/staff: arc + curse on hit + temporal chains + enfeeble + elemental weakness (6link might be very interesting)
4link: Raise Spectre + Raise Zombies + Totem and Minion Resistance + Minion Life (they are just for canon fodder for your SRS to do the real damage)
4link: Vaal Haste + Flesh Offering + Increased Duration + (Vaal Skeley) I am currently using Bone Offering but once I get the Vaal Skeley gem I will use it)
Put desecrate gem somewhere.

* Quality SRS is extremely important. It really helps clear speeds. You can see from the video that I am clearing Dom is a bit slowly. Will change once I get quality SRS gem.
* Increased Duration is also another important gem to have some quality in it.
* Quality curses will help as well.
* For summoners, quality aura gems are very useful, especially for SRS builds. They tend to run off somewhere so your radius of auras must be as wide as possible.

Note that I use a already leveled up re-spec char.
I would recommend: Oak (for the hp) + Passive + Passive
4% cast speed is just not worth it in my opinion. But that is just me. Cast speed is important in this build. You need those arcs and raging spirits out fast.

Pros:
1. Fun, something different
2. Quite defensive, especially with the 2 defensive curses applied instantly
3. Decent damage
4. Clears map pretty fast
5. Relatively cheap (especially compared to +3 fire staff build)
6. Satisfying to see fast enemies become slow like zombies from the Walking Dead series
7. Uses dying breath!
8. A summoner build that party members actually like (auras, 18% increased damage gained, curses)

Cons:
1. Will never beat those +3 to fire gem SRS builds in terms of damage.
2. Might be a little difficult to find a 5 or 6 link dying breath
3. Doubt can do Atziri (I never try)
4. Cannot tank
5. Both Arc and SRS are self-cast, so damage portion comes slightly slower
6. Like all summoner builds, some bosses which does AOE damage can be hard to take down. Use Vaal Haste and do some prep.

1. Why not use Spectres and Zombies as your main source of damage instead of SRS?
Ans: Yes, that is something I am planning to do. Maybe flame sentients with elemental weakness and flammability curses. But SRS does some much damage already, this build would work.

2. What is the greenish glow on my enemies?
Ans: That is the increased effect for curses. That is good! No green glow means no increase effect of curses. Bad.

3. +2/+3 staff is so much better at killing stuff!
Ans: True. But with dying breath, you have better defenses (enfeeble and temporal chains) and it is actually not that expensive. Those +3 staff are extremely expensive. Maybe like 10-14ex in standard? And honestly, once it gets going, it will clear stuff fast.

4. Why no video?
Ans: My computer might not be able to handle. Anyways, I will try to make one but to tell you the truth, SRS builds are easy to build around.