[1.3] Templar Summoner a.k.a The Pillager - HC/Bloodlines - Updated

Dried Lake - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04wQAajuTQk
Maelström of Chaos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEc4Fgq34GQ

Cheapest end-game build, period. You don’t need 5l-6l chests, all you need is cheap 5L for snapshotting (3-5c) and you are set. You don’t need expensive belts or jewelry, you don’t need a single expensive mod. You don’t need tri-res, dual-res or even single res on some gear pieces, while still being way over-capped. On my Templar entire gear cost when I started doing maps was <20c. On my Marauder, entire gear is worth <10c. And I am doing 70 maps.

Gets easier as you level up.

Incredibly safe and tanky. With decent gear you should run with 4.5-5k life with 9k armour, 2k es and capped allres.

Ability to run completely leveled Cast when Damage Taken, Molten Shell and Enduring Cry.

Insane damage. Even if BMs get nerfed in the future, there will always be a way to compensate. But at this point, you will simply melt everything you encounter in seconds, not counting really hard bosses.

Can stack MF as much as you like and use Heartbreaker for culling.

Can do any, and I do mean ANY, map mod. Reflect doesn't affect you, same with elemental weakness, -% resi, or whatever. You will be beefy enough to soak it all up. 50% mana and life regen or no mana or life regen are simply annoying, and that’s it, you pop in 1 mana or hybrid flask in your belt and you are set. BM can be a pain in the ass, but doable. You won’t have your auras, be a bit more vulnerable, but with proper positioning, you should be fine. No reason to risk it of course with BM mod, but if you are stubborn like me, you can :)

Great support char for parties. If you are running with your pals, you have access to dual curses, triple with Doerdre’s Damning or Windscream, WHILE retaining insane dps and survivability.

And, lastly, you will feel like an unstoppable engine of destruction.

Hard to level. Your minions will be squishy as hell, aoe will devastate them, you will be forced to re-summon them on the go, etc. This all stops after you get your a3 Burning Miscreations as specters. One way to counter this is to use skill and weapon combo that have good damage and scaling without a single dmg node in your tree. Something like Split Arrow and Quill Rain and Spectral Throw with Queen’s Decree once you hit 27. That worked for me. But still, not easy. Build gets more powerful as you level up your Minion gems and grab those sexy minion nodes.

Minion AI. And I am using term AI here as loosely as possible. You are dealing with utter retards. Sometimes I was so stressed out that I simply had to head outside and take a walk. ANY maze-like map, with tight corridors and lots of rooms will be a pain in the ass. You will walk through a door, your friendly undead will go through another, split up, and aimlessly wander around trying to reach you, occasionally standing on the opposite side of the wall while you are in a dangerous situation.

Example:


There are two ways to counter this. One is to treat them like mentally challenged and move slowly through every door, going back to get them when they take a wrong turn, and this requires patience. The other way is to pop Quicksilver flask, yell YOLO, and run forth as far away from them as possible. This forces them to spawn on you, but can leave you a bit vulnerable, and prone to de-sync. But, you should be tanky enough to survive dangerous situations.

Some of the other problems you may encounter are:

Vaal Totems – pain in the ass. Your minions will rarely focus them. You have to reposition, charge forth so minions spawn on you, and make them attack from the other side and focus totem, lure monsters out of the small rooms, or out of totem reach, etc.
BMs will sometimes forget how they work :) You will go through 1/3 of the map without a single one turning Unrighteous Fire on. This can be annoying if you are in a map with those frog things, avians or aristocrats. They have potential to kill even the beefiest of minions if you don’t dps them down relatively fast.

This is more of a warning than a negative aspect of the build and I have to mention it. Be VERY careful when you are summoning Burning Miscreations. And I mean it. Loads of people died while doing it. NEVER equip your tabula, chober, sidhe (sunblast) and go in Lunaris. Always go there geared, find BMs, kill em, clear everything in the vicinity, then put on your snapshotting gear. I know it may sound silly, but after you out-level regular content, you will get cocky and you won't even consider the possibility of dying there. And those mobs (and Kole, don't forget Kole) hit hard, especially when you are in no def tabula or some crappy 5L, not running your auras, etc.

Note: You don’t have to follow it blindly, just take what you need at that particular moment depending on your gear. For instance, go for more life if you feel like you need it more than minion passives, auras, armour, grab agility node temporarily if you need dex, etc.

20 Points: http://bit.ly/1cjIKJJ
40 Points: http://bit.ly/LLL990
60 Points: http://bit.ly/1nm94Ii
60 Points with access to Dual Curses and EB: http://bit.ly/1bJGe2p
80 Points: http://bit.ly/1nma7bc
80 Points with access to Dual Curses and EB: http://bit.ly/1o6SGP7
100 Points: http://bit.ly/1eFEHgP
100 Points with access to Dual Curses and EB: http://bit.ly/1iCBH3K
110 Points – End Build: http://bit.ly/1gihQ7X
110 Points – End Build with Curses: http://bit.ly/1iCBH3K

And my planned Marauder build:
http://bit.ly/1b9e8A0

Zombies in +2 Minion Helm:

Raise Zombie + Multistrike + Melee Splash + Life Leech.

I personally use this combo. They have pretty high damage and good survivability thanks to leech. If you don’t have Multistrike, you can use Minion Damage. Same goes for LL, if you lack survivability on them, pop in Minion Health instead. You can also swap Minion Life and LL for Faster Attack. In the end, it comes to personal preference.

Raise Spectre in 4L, 5L & 6L chest (Tabula Rasa):

Specters used are Burning Miscreations from Lunaris 2/3. You should grab those banner things that shoot lmp fireballs when you hit Solaris. This should make grinding docks and venturing towards Lunaris a lot easier.

Raise Spectre + Minon Life + Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance + Increased Burning Damage
5L – add Minion Damage. 6L – add Increased Area of Effect.

Again, comes to personal preference, you may combine those as you see fit. I always prefer to make them tanky first and add damage mods later.

[UPDATE] After talking to a lot of summoners, I've decided to use Remote Mine combo until (and if) they nerf it. Since I don't have tabula anymore, and am terribly broke, I am using cheap 5B-5L so I can't pop Trap in. Even without trap, damage is insane. Much, much faster clear rate, at least with lvl74+ Burning Miscreations I am using.

Raise Spectre + Remote Mine + Minion Damage + Concentrated Effect + Minion Life. (+ Trap if in 6L. Sunblast works great here, if you have some extra cash lying around)


Curses:

I cycle through 2 curses only, since I mostly play solo.

Vulnerability + Enfeeble + Reduced Mana in 3L weapon/shield. Add Faster Casting in 4L.

Auras:

After some testing I went with 3 defensive auras. You can switch one for hatred if you want to buff your Zombie damage, but since their job is primarily to act as a meat shield, I chose this setup.

Determination + Vitality + Purity of Elements + Reduced Mana.

This is something you will be able to pop in later on in the game, once you level up Reduced Mana gem and get % mana reserve reduction from passives. Till then, you can stick with 2 of your choice. Low level clarity and purity at early levels, vitality and purity later on, etc.

Offense:

Arc + Faster Casting + Elemental Proliferation (+ chain or reduced mana if in 4L). I use this in synergy with Static Blows (shocks stacking) and Elemental Equilibrium passives. Keep it at lvl 1 to avoid higher mana cost.

Defense:

Cast When Damage Taken + Molten Shell + Enduring Cry. And you can level them to 20. Your ES buffer will proc it before hard hitters reach your life pool.

Utility (you can chose 1 since you don’t have enough gear slots for both):

Movement:

Lightning Warp + Faster Casting + Reduced Duration – for getting over obstacles, running away and travel quickly when you are out of charges on your Quicksilver.

More Minions!:

Spell Totem + Summon Skeletons + Faster Casting (+ Multistrike/Added Fire in 4L). Can be good for scouting out rooms, drawing fire from your permanent minions, and can be super fun to fill up entire screen with friendly health bars  Big number of minions make some bosses completely confused, making them rotate in place and do nothing. Shouldn’t take this if you are in a party or have a low end rig though.

Chober Chaber – Used while summoning minions to gain extra 20-35% minion life.
Sidhebreath – Used while summoning minions to gain extra 10-15% minion life, speed and damage.
Tabula Rasa – Endgame Spectre Summoning Platform.
Bones of Ullr - +1 to number of Zombies and Specters.
Heartbreaker – For MF builds with Culling.
Windscream – Party play for 2-3 simultaneous curses.

(turn annotations on): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkegTOzoo8M

Nemesis Merciless Bosses: Playlist - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLI78bstPY3SBo15p1I18nIKAJK7JmefyE&feature

Maps:
Lvl 66 Tropical Island: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcgExlYt6gc
Lvl 67 Mountain Ledge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wJrnChL4NY
Lvl 67 Wharf: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKqW02WHRzs
Lvl 68 Museum - Alal, Kali & Orcus Boss Pack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWII1cNLNYQ
Lvl 69 Shore – Hailrake Boss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBDG18yoQv4
Lvl 69 Acton’s Nightmare Unique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kn-WpkkRz4
Lvl 70 Graveyard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B48hMedR5Zg
Lvl 70 Bog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeP2Rbl8xeU
Lvl 70 Coves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej9kTRR75zI
Lvl 70 Villa – Caliga Boss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X_zrRQvZrE
Lvl 70 Pier, crazy map mods: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv2aENdeUJY
Lvl 71 Dry Woods: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9-NS4-k5rE
Lvl 71 Collonade – Dual Carnage Boss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocb3m9F8EHU
Lvl 71 Arachnid Nest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sicmBX1nIlk
Lvl 73 Dark Forest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee0fkoNwlzU
Lvl 75 Necropolis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gigzbitdaxU
Lvl 75 Bazaar – with lvl 76 Burning Miscreatons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7aBzSC0Onw
Lvl 76 Academy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MsBMhWXTNk
Lvl 77 Shrine – Piety Boss - Vulnerability, Turbo, Extra Damage, oh my!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovzPJZlz8oQ

Which bandit rewards do I take? - Kill them all. Those extra skill points are way better than any other bonus you may get.

How do I deal with Vaal Totems in tight spots? - I've found skele totem to be the best option. Pop it right next to Vaal totem, and your skellies will focus it, since it's the closest target. Other way is to lure mobs away from it, or run around it, forcing your minions to spawn on you and attack it from the other, monster free, side.

Why aren't you using Desecrate + Bone/Flesh Offering - I leveled to 60+ couple of days before 1.0.6, and I don't find them necessary for my build. And, to be honest, I have no free gem slots to nudge em in. They may benefit you immensely while leveling though, but since I haven't used them on low levels I cant give you any advice on them

Why are you using 3 defensive auras? - Here is why. Only offensive aura that can benefit you a lot and give massive damage boost to your zombies is Hatred. But... Your primary damage dealers are your specters, they are the ones that will burn through everything in seconds, and their Unrighteous Fire is not affected by Hatred. So I've switched to Determination as my third aura to make all my minions more beefy. Ofc, it will also make you incredibly tanky with pretty average gear at high levels. I am currently running with 12k armour, and am virtually immune to any normal mob hits, rhoa charges, porcupines, etc. Ofc this change when you get some insane damage bonuses on map rolls, but still :)

How do you deal with massive AOE damage that wipe your minions on lower levels? - Enfeeble & Seething Flasks of Animation are your best friends here. I always run with 3 of those, spamming them like crazy in those nasty situations. Ofc, you can temporarily pop in Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance support gems if you find it necessary and use Rejuvenation Totem.

Why didn't you take Minion Instability? - Well, my goal is to never let my minions die, they will rarely die anyway (at high levels at least) and re-summoning is a bitch. But this can be a good mechanics while leveling up and losing your zombies on regular basis. I will sure use it when new league starts.

Why don't you use Remote Mine + Sunblast unique belt for summoning Specters? - Well, this is a budget build and Sunblast is worth more than my entire gear now :) Another reason is that I've read on several forum threads and reddit that it will be nerfed in 1.1.0. I made this build late in the league, as a thorough test for my new HC League char and my goal is to get used to (and perfect) mechanics I will be using for the next 4 moths. If you can afford Sunblast+Mon'tregul's Grasp feel free to use them, it will make you much, much more powerful.

Meh... RIP @lvl 84. Crematorium lvl76 Map, 100% damage as cold, shocking ground, unique bosses pimped and couple of more mods I can't remember now.

To cut it short, retarded path-finding (or lack of it) killed me, plain and simple.

I got in to the final level of Crematorium, and found myself at a terrace, with 2 narrow pathways on both side.

So, I get in, poke my nose out and see the boss. My minions are chilling on a terrace, stuck. I start running around like a headless chicken to force them to re-spawn on me, but it just doesn't happen. Meanwhile, she is pounding them and me with that fire rain crap (note that i was over-capped by 50%), which I countered by spamming life potions.

So, after about 20 seconds of me trying my god damned best to get my utterly retarded companions to spawn on me, I've burned through all my life and quicksilver potions.

Now I can see that my lvl76 BMs (i got them on lvl 76 map with deamons) are still alive and burning her ass down to like 1%. Kill unique boss message pops, I cheer out loud.
But.. with her dying breath she managed to cast that fire rain bullshit. I was out of potions of any kind, started to run out of it, and dropped dead...

There you go :)