[2.X] Pledge of Spectres, Summoner - 7L spectres, 6L zombies -Update for 2.2 Ascendency?

Gear Priority

Pledge of hands 4L/5L.

Ultimately its similar to getting a 5L/6L due to its innate "Supported by spell echo" With the current Perandus league meta, a pledge of hands can be bought at around 5c. If you are really on a budget, a 4L will suffice since with echo it will be a pseudo 5L. This is enough to carry you through maps where you will earn more currency.

Next up will be your vis mortis for its +1 spectre. 4L will suffice if you're on a budget and you can live on +2 minion helm zombies temporarily. You can get a vis mortis for about 1c on Perandus atm.

Why 7L spectres and 6L zombies?

Well the reason is simple, 7L spectres offer an insane AOE clear speed, leaving behind the tankier mobs, which would be rares and bosses. Since there are no other targets around left, the zombies are free to focus on these tanky targets, so they are built to deal high SINGLE target damage.

4L specs + 6L zombies
You have great single target zombies, but your AOE spectres are not that great. If you cannot clear the trash mobs fast enough, the zombies will start swapping targets and you will lose out on your single target DPS. This makes a huge difference when fighting bosses with adds, if your zombies cannot focus on the boss and cannot clear the boss fast enough, it gets really dangerous for the summoner and the army. My previous setup was this, 4L evangelists have decent AOE(Spectre + Increase AOE + Conc Effect + Minion Dmg), but in boss fights with adds, my zombies tend to run all over the place since there are multiple targets so I decided to change it up.

6L specs + 4L zombies
You have great AOE to clear trash, good clear speed, but you will suffer when you meet tanky targets and bosses since your zombies are only 4L. Though 4L zombies are generally built to tank more than DPS(Zombie + multistrike + life + empower), you can still clear maps relatively fast with the bottleneck being bosses.


Why vaal lightning trap?

Vaal lightning trap is your best friend, with the same reason I used it in my FlameDAB build, it makes tanky bosses/rares melt when they get shocked, coupled with the 7L specs and 6L zombies, boss fights are relatively fast and safe, before their massive aoe starts stacking up.


Why no block, no life, no vaal haste?

From experience, summoners will NEVER win a war of attrition, especially since specters cannot be resummoned that easily. With each battle lasting longer, your survivabilty also becomes another issue, eg. Long fights against crematorium/academy bosses.

This proved to be one of my major disadvantages as a low life summoner, since I could not pot and heal myself AND also I did not have enough mana to resummon an army fast enough should they fall, once the frontline zombies die, the danger of yourself and the evangelists increases and should either die, you're gonna be wasting so much time to resummon/re-train.

So I built this with the mindset that I will end the encounter fast, before pots run out, or the full team gets wiped or even before the full screen gets firestormed! This has been proven to be pretty effective, this also translate to high clear speed, since AOE and single target are both extremely potent in DPS


Block on minions are really good, especially if they're near the block cap, however with block focus on minions, you lose a shield slot, and if the battle takes longer, your survivability becomes another issue. These can be balanced to benefit both but its not my cup of tea.


There have been cases where the zombies get decimated, but due to the high mana regen, it takes just a couple of second to replace them all and get back into the fight.


As for vaal haste, I'd put it in my setup if I had space, but the best I can do now is to instant snapshot vaal haste with the same socket as desecrate and use it if I really need it, but currently I'm not doing it since desecrate is important if you want to cheese those bosses.

Normal - HP
Cruel - Passive
Merciless - Passive

Lvl 96 - Current

Lvl 89 -(Without curse effect nodes)

Lvl 80 -(Without aura effect nodes, es & hp wheel(melding))

The general rule of thumb I use is:
1x Heal over time potion(with high HP/sec rate)
1x Instant heal(bubbling seems to work better than seething, since it offers additional heal over time after the instant heal)
Any extra HP pots you add will be an instant heal pot(bubbling)



For utility pots, I carry 2 quicksilvers to be able to move through maps quickly constantly.
One to remove bleed, the other for freeze, these 2 pots are pretty mandatory in most situations, but you can replace them in boss encounters or maps if they do not have the particular type of debuff.

Granite is pretty self explanatory, since this build does not have much defences, your only defence against heavy physical attacks is granite + arctic armour combo. You can use the granite and run in the middle of a room and convocate your minions in depending on the mobs present.

*Update
Currently, I'm using taste of hate instead of granite due to the update in ascendancy with 9% additional physical reduction for having 9 zombies. Together they provide more physical mitigation overall.

[2.2] Look for a helm with 20% reduced convocation recharge for more utility.



Sideboard gems (Used to replace existing gems in certain scenarios)

-Replace faster casting or minion damage with this in physical reflect maps. Evangelists only


-Replace Vulnerability when in physical reflect map


-Replace added fire when in high projectile maps(GMP/Chain). Evangelists only


-Replace minion damage for this in really bad maps where the zombies get cleared instantly. Zombies only.


-Seldom use this, but can be useful against high attack/cast speed mobs


-Used to replace desecrate and/or arctic armour depending on the situation
-Arctic armour is useless against elemental bosses(eg. piety/dominus so replace it with a vaal gem of your choice
-Remember to charge the souls before the boss fight!


Original chest of this build, just add reduced mana to purity + clarity. Probably sacrifice desecrate or something, you get about 600-700ish mana or more depending on your gear. Increases survivability quite a bit, if pure DPS isn't your thing. Or if you're intending to play HC league.

Spectres - Evangelists