[Bloodlines] Sorris' CI-Summoner, Zombies&Spectres
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Hi,
so... all of my 80+ HP-chars in the Bloodlines League ripped; the time has come to make a CI-char. This build uses some of the summoning uniques, it is pretty self-explanatory and does fairly well on almost any kind of map while sustaining a decent amount of energy shield and survivability in endgame content. You will not get the best clear speed but 78's are easily manageable. It's fun and provides some benefits when playing in a party since you are able to run up to 4 auras.
what to consider before playing CI
- before going CI you must have a ready to go energy shield set of gear so you don't waste time after you used all your refund points - ergo: this build won't work well at the start of a new league - as you have 1 life you will get stunned/shocked/frozen/burned a lot, so you have to find a way to play around the elemental effects. This is where flasks and unique items come into play.
The build
My build utilizes three keystones: Chaos Inoculation (CI), Elemental Equilibrium (EE) and Zealot's Oath (ZO). ZO is not necessary until end game and even then debatable nevertheless better to have than not to be able to use Vit to the fullest. When it comes to minions I use zombies and spectres (the usual suspects - the Undying Evangelists from The Sceptre Of God). I am not gonna go into the undying evangelists, because I think there is enough information on the forum/reddit on that topic. Except one thing higher level matters. Though if you have any specific questions feel free to ask.
Build lvl90 (110p)
http://poeurl.com/zfvCrOS
- as you can see I was able to do it without picking up the +30 Str/Dex nodes therefore I had to commit to some compromises on my gear
Defensive Stats
Bandits
Kill all everywhere
Leveling
when it comes to leveling you can do it however you want, just be sure to level your minion gems, especially the Raise Zombie, right away. I "flameblasted" myself through to Dominus in Cruel where I got the undying evangelists who carried me through Merciless. I switched to CI at level 69 until then I did Piety runs. I would not suggest you to go into maps before your respec, because chaos damage will...well...tear you a new one and tp you straight to standard. The level at that you'll switch to CI is up to you and depends on your stashed ES-gear. I leveled solo from 1-86 just to see how it works out, (you know the thought of "Will it blend?...")Here is my tree progression
lvl1-45
lvl45-65 Pre-CI
lvl65 respecced to CI
lvl71 CI
after this I grabbed all the remaining ES+ES-Recharge nodes, then the flask nodes(Alchemist), then the rest of the minion nodes after that I went for ZO, this is when I started running Vitality, and at lvl90 I took "Shaper". Next I would go for the 2 curse effect nodes which will give me 12% increased effect of my curses and "Mind Barrier" or for the +30 Str and +30 Dex nodes in order to be able to change my belt and ring for better ones while leveling watch out for chaos dmg! I mostly used hybrid gear with HP/ES/Resists on it, as for resists use Aurumvorax is always a good choice to make leveling easier. But I think at that point in the league everyone has some leveling gear.
The Gearz
My idea was to utilize as many summoner uniques as I could while sustaining a decent amount of ES.
My current setup
Items
Flasks
In inventory
Reasoning behind gear choices
Weapon
Makes the zombies much tankier and imo the best choice for my build this one I use for Elemental Weakness maps and summon 10 zombies I rarely use the Edge, only if I have multiple dmg mods and I really don't want to miss out on the other rolls of the map. Also with 10 zombies. The Edge is a very good choice, I used it until about lvl ~87 I really like this item.
Shield
Despite the crappy defensive stats the +2 to minion gems boosts my zombies by a lot even without using additional minion gems, also both me and my minions greatly benefit from the 10% aura effectiveness
Boots
+1 spectre I think I don't need to explain this one, it would be awesome to have a +1 to gems corruption on them
Amu
now that's a tricky one, it is not absolutely necessary, but the benefit of having a +1 add curse corruption is huge. Usually costs between 1 and 2 ex alternatively you could use Doedre's Damning and use a proper ES amu or an Eye of Chayula for even more safety and some rarity
Rings
I suggest you to get one if you dont want to deal with freezes, it's a QOL thingy for me.
a flask "...of Heat" is a very cheap and effective alternative as for the second ring an "Unset Ring" is required whenever you decide to run Vitality which will not happen until late 80's
Chest
Storytime: I found this chest with a single socket without lightning resist approximately a month into the league and decided to not try to sell it. Going trough my gear last week I found it again and decided to make a CI build. I got very lucky with it and managed to 6S in 17 jewellers and 6L it in 11 fusings, after master crafting the +1 zombie stat I exalted the 25 lightning res which pretty much perfectly suited my needs. Important: 1 free prefix in order to be able to craft the +1 zombie stat at Catharina
Gloves, Helmet, Belt
basically max ES, resists and attributes notes for gloves: perfect gloves for this build would have a master crafted +15% minion life stat and on top of it corrupted into another curse(i.e. ele-weakness) on hit, then I would consider going for tripple curse via "Whispers of Doom"
Gemz & Linkz
Weapon: Reduced mana + Generosity + Hatred Shield: Raise Zombie + Multistrike + Melee Splash Head: CwDT(lvl7) + End Cry(lvl9) + Immortal Call(lvl8) + Convocation(max lvl, not for CwDT) Gloves: Ball Lightning + Curse on Hit + Enfeeble (+ Vulnerability) Boots: Reduced Mana + Discipline + Purity of Elements + Vitality Chest: Raise Spectre + Spell Echo + Added Fire + Minion Damage ( + Increased AoE + Conc Effect) Ring: Flesh Offering Sitiational gems: Purity of Fire/Ice/Lightning you can always swap your auras so be sure to level them up as well. Desecrate - comes in handy sometimes, for example if you come across some evangelists in a 77/78 area, so be sure to level it to at least level 19. You do NOT need a 6L, a 4 link will suit you well you for a long time while saving up on fusings.
Playstyle and more blabla
Basically I start casting Ball Lightning, which applies my two curses as well as EE, towards the enemies at that point the minion start to kill and I cast flesh offering, pop a quicksilver run towards the next pack, cast convocation and repeat from the start. Some tips at the end: - First of all USE YOUR FLASKS, I can not emphasize this enough. It will save you from death by Obelisks and various other stuff. Better hit the button if you think there could be some serious damage incoming. - don't forget to use Flesh Offering! - if you see your minions are low on health don't hesitate to cast convocation, reposition yourself and let the minions regen for a sec or 2 - do not stand in burning ground - Abaxoth himself is a pain, I got the pleasure to fight him twice on this char and it's not advisable to do so. Not worth the risk in a hardcore environment. The other beyond bosses are fine - The Obelisk bloodlines mod can put you into danger in close quaters so make sure how you are going to handle it before you start the fight (use flasks, convocation and flesh offering at the right moment) thx for reading, ask, comment, rate, suggest cheers In the dark, it's nearly invisible - until it exhales. Last edited by sorris#4910 on Feb 25, 2015, 10:28:38 PM
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How many regret points needed to respec to CI?
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I tried this build last weekend and I made the mistake of going to little HP and got wrecked in Cruel by a Living Blood in the sewers. So if you try this and have the currency either us a Shavronne's Wrappings Occultist's Vestment or a Solaris Lorica Copper Plate so Chaos damage does not bypass your energy shield.
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sorry for not checking the thread, I figured no one read it.
" you will need 18 refund points, all available from the quests while progressing " Sorry to hear it, a chaos living blood is a very unfortunate encounter while leveling. But I dont think a Lorica is needed at all for leveling. You get the 20% from the tree, also dont forget the amethyst flask, which will help against nasty chaos burst dmg. Usually chaos damage can be avoided if playing carefully, because it's either DoT or DoT in a specific radius. As for leveling, HP comes first since there is only so little available. A Lorica would gimp your HP pool even further, you can get a nice life and resist rolls on a low lvl chest, it does not have to be an ES chest, though preferably it should be. This goes for all items while leveling up, if you have well rolled armour gloves with hp and resists use them instead of "40es gloves with 20 to max life" In the dark, it's nearly invisible - until it exhales. Last edited by sorris#4910 on Mar 13, 2015, 10:58:36 AM
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Dropping four pure es nodes and picking up Melding will give you more es.
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This looks awesome. I decided to play my summoner again in standard since I wanted to play summoner and I didn't want to lvl another one. She died at 80 in invasion and hadn't touched her since. Any choices you would make different if this was softcore?
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" totally true, it will give 1% more es, but then the es circle in the middle won't be complete - for aesthetics' sake ;) " that's a very good question I haven't thought about yet. I'd probably try to utilize a 20% arc instead of ball lightning and go for the static blows cluster by dropping the flask nodes and maybe some es. I haven't tried it, my guess is that by doing so you could run into mana regen problems but if you can sunstain running arc your minions will do 50% more dmg to shocked targets. at lvl 80 it'd look something like the following, but as mentioned before just an estimation, I don't know if it works
Spoiler
In the dark, it's nearly invisible - until it exhales.
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With the leagues ending i have some ES pieces and and montregul's and ephermeral edge in my stash in Torment, so I'll definately be trying this out. I was running Arc with Cull + item rarity in a moonsorrow to blind as well in invasion and i was fine on mana. i was doing EB instead of CI which was working well until i got 1 shot by something. I like the idea of cursing and shocking a little more than blinding. Any way you think you can fit vaal summon skeletons in this? I have a CWDT set up as well and i've been thinking about dropping it to somehow make room for Vaal skeletons.
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" actually yes, if you manage to get an auxium, or any other freeze immunity/avoidance, you don't have to wear dream frags and could equip another unset ring for vaal summon skeles. edit: but you won't be able to run Vit until late 80's anyway so you also could put it in there In the dark, it's nearly invisible - until it exhales. Last edited by sorris#4910 on Mar 16, 2015, 9:48:19 PM
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Dunno if you still working on this build but...
I tried CI summoner in rampage and it was a mega fail. The main reason was: ES empty = dead while... Life empty = pop a flask or 2 Best solution to me that time was vaal discipline but wasnt enough as well. I do have to say that was beginning of league and had no good ES gear atm. Respecced it to life/hybrid based and that worked great to high lvl 80's. Vorici can shove his fuse up his [removed]
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