The Summoner Compendium

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Spud1111 wrote:

I'm into act 3 and I still think minions need a big buff to their durability. The "wait until lvl 40 +" argument is shit - why should a spec be atrocious until level 45?

People are charging crazy amounts for spell totem. If I wanted a build where I'm spam-clicking 3 4 different abilities I would have just played an elemental witch. I'm just constantly re-summoning EVERY type of my minions constantly.

Can we get a friggin durability buff Devs? It would be cool if my zombies didn't get 1-3 shotted. Or that nice archer I've been waiting to make a spectre out of lasted more than 15 seconds.

Kind of a frustrating build because you're not really summoning a huge army and slowly rolling over things a-la d2 Necromancer... You're just spam-casting paper targets that die before they get the first swing off half the time.

And yes I have minion life on everything and yes and I have almost every +minion health node available.

They just feel more like spells than actual minions. Maybe I'm in the minority of loving minions that actually last once you summon them - because it seems like developers just keep moving away from it since DII.

I'm not asking for something OP - just a slow and steady PVE grinder play style where I can spam curses while my minions tank and dps.

The minion instability meta is cool, but I'd like it to be possible to have minions that actually last as well as that path.

Take on HP node as priority, you will have durable zombie, as said, skele are bomb, use them on boss, i have less problem up to level 39 now, although started a little slow, but now, everything is walk in a park, against normal mob, i dont even need my skele, 1400hp on my zombie, they are just crazily strong at this moment.

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ethan007 wrote:

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Spud1111 wrote:

I'm into act 3 and I still think minions need a big buff to their durability. The "wait until lvl 40 +" argument is shit - why should a spec be atrocious until level 45?

People are charging crazy amounts for spell totem. If I wanted a build where I'm spam-clicking 3 4 different abilities I would have just played an elemental witch. I'm just constantly re-summoning EVERY type of my minions constantly.

Can we get a friggin durability buff Devs? It would be cool if my zombies didn't get 1-3 shotted. Or that nice archer I've been waiting to make a spectre out of lasted more than 15 seconds.

Kind of a frustrating build because you're not really summoning a huge army and slowly rolling over things a-la d2 Necromancer... You're just spam-casting paper targets that die before they get the first swing off half the time.

And yes I have minion life on everything and yes and I have almost every +minion health node available.

They just feel more like spells than actual minions. Maybe I'm in the minority of loving minions that actually last once you summon them - because it seems like developers just keep moving away from it since DII.

I'm not asking for something OP - just a slow and steady PVE grinder play style where I can spam curses while my minions tank and dps.

The minion instability meta is cool, but I'd like it to be possible to have minions that actually last as well as that path.

Take on HP node as priority, you will have durable zombie, as said, skele are bomb, use them on boss, i have less problem up to level 39 now, although started a little slow, but now, everything is walk in a park, against normal mob, i dont even need my skele, 1400hp on my zombie, they are just crazily strong at this moment.

its too bad zombie % won't be significant until you lvl up ur raise zombie gem.
and won't get access to summon hp% nodes until u lvl up.
I find my zombies being absolutely useless 50% of the time while im lvl 14. I am just using lots of fire trap and fireball to do 99.99% of the killing.

zombie AI, zombie attack speed and lack of their HP is making it... practically.. useless....

Can I ask when items (such as the amulet for summoners) get out classed and should be repalced with an item your current level?


Since some of them are like level 1.

Myself i'm runing double totem node with spark+fork+increased cast speed+spell totem gems, 2 of this babies droped spread shocked condition + deal great dmg. Tbh there aren't really any dmg boosts for minions comparable to shocked condition past certain point.

Also not taking double curse is a waste for any summon based build, especially if you go for double totems. Conductivity+Vulnerability for curses soften mobs to both lightning dmg from totems and minions dmg, wrath+disc+clarity auras for dmg/survivability boosts (hoping to add purity when will get some spare mana).

My skellies are ecnhaced with minion dmg and + lightning dmg gems so after i drop curses+totems i just spam skellets to my hearts content. Not linking them to spell totem allows me to choose their placing blocking this way chocke points, projectiles, protecting totems and also avoiding 30% dmg reduction from spell totem gem.

Was really frustrated with summoner at first but now it feels just right - curse, summon spam (totems are summons too!). Still summons are pretty soft to aoe, going to try necromantic aegis along with high resist shield to make them last longer (contrary to popular opinion i don't see through the roof dmg from minion instability - spell totems+phys dmg on shocked&cursed enemies are far more noticable).

Also never used any of summoner uniques becouse: 1) you'll have quite an army without extra zombies/skelletons 2) minion stat increases are comparable to a single talent node 3)stats on that uniques are getting outdated really fast. Only extra i'd like from summoner uniques is +1 spectre, but tbh loosing too much for +1 minion.

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Crizisrf wrote:

...Also not taking double curse is a waste for any summon based build, especially if you go for double totems. Conductivity+Vulnerability for curses soften mobs to both lightning dmg from totems and minions dmg, wrath+disc+clarity auras for dmg/survivability boosts (hoping to add purity when will get some spare mana).

My skellies are ecnhaced with minion dmg and + lightning dmg gems so after i drop curses+totems i just spam skellets to my hearts content. Not linking them to spell totem allows me to choose their placing blocking this way chocke points, projectiles, protecting totems and also avoiding 30% dmg reduction from spell totem gem.

Was really frustrated with summoner at first but now it feels just right - curse, summon spam (totems are summons too!). Still summons are pretty soft to aoe, going to try necromantic aegis along with high resist shield to make them last longer (contrary to popular opinion i don't see through the roof dmg from minion instability - spell totems+phys dmg on shocked&cursed enemies are far more noticable).

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I really agree on this !

However, I don't use Spell Totem with a damage skill.
Could you share your build with double totem ? Do you use them only for for the shocked condition, or the damage provided without damage node is good ?

Early Instability Summoner - 26 Points (Level 25 +2 quest rewards)

I just thought I'd put this here, as I'm working on a new Summoner Witch at the moment.

This early-game version of the summoner witch is aiming for the Health build presented in the first post of this thread, however she is also trying to get Minion Instability as early as possible. By using this build path, it costs fewer points to diverge off of the final build (meaning you only need to respec 3 points in the end, 4 if you don't want Doom Cast), and while it takes somewhat longer to reach MI compared to the 'straight dash for MI' example presented in the 'early game advice' section, by the point you do achieve it, the Summoner has a significant and solid health and energy shield defensive bonus. This build also places the Curse Keystone passives within easy grasp, should the need or desire arise to take it.

Hope people like this, I was thinking the OP could put it in there in the early game tips section :D

Damn it's obvious as hell and yet I never came up with that route. Looking good, very efficient and - as you mentioned already - opens up the curse nodes as well. And I personally really love to get those asap.

Hi all, two questions :

- Where can I see damages of my minions ? (zombies / skelettons etc...) ?

- On weapons we can have stats like :

+ xx% physical damage
or
+ xx% spell damage

Does minion's attack be upgrade by Physical ou Spell damage ?

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Felkor wrote:

I really agree on this !

However, I don't use Spell Totem with a damage skill.
Could you share your build with double totem ? Do you use them only for for the shocked condition, or the damage provided without damage node is good ?

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAAuMHYxCXFLAdFB8CKpgsnCynNsU5UjowRARI50myTblObVcrWAdZ81orZp5nvWvbc1N2EX0Yfq-PRpuho_KnCKyYvDfAGsG0zLzQ0Ngk2Qvk7O5v99f6gPrS

That's pretty much core, after it's an icing like more minion nodes, more mana nodes for aura support, dmg nodes, hp, resists - whatever suits your taste. Myself going to pick most minion nodes below witch starting position, then pick enough energy shield nodes to support Chaos Inoculation and grab necromantic aegis. Main point is to grab Ancestral Bond (double totem) by lvl 31 when spell totem gem becomes aviable and then it's easy ride.

Answering your question about spark totem role - it's both dmg & shock condition, with amount of sparks produced by 2 totems with fork&faster cast gems projectiles swarm the screen often clearing mobs before you even see them.

For shock condition spreading and single target dmg arc+spell totem+chain+faster cast is better becouse arc has default 10% shock and 10% more can be achieved through quality + it's dmg is concentrated in one beam.

P.S. Looking back (like few days ago when i started playing :) i regret going with summons first, should've went for dmg/mana (aura support)/ES and picked summon nodes later on when they stop being such a garbage.

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Thorden33 wrote:

Hi all, two questions :

- Where can I see damages of my minions ? (zombies / skelettons etc...) ?

- On weapons we can have stats like :

+ xx% physical damage
or
+ xx% spell damage

Does minion's attack be upgrade by Physical ou Spell damage ?

You cannot see the actual dmg your minions do. Only the summary of your minion bonuses (under the *misc* tab I believe).

No gear bonuses affect your summons, except those that explicitly say so. So only +x%minion dmg/life or +number of y do anything for your minions, nothing else.

Auras work for your minions, though (Wrath, Anger, Hatred).