Heavy Summoner Arc Witch Guide [ Video Included ]

I´m kinda doing this build myself and i´m level 50 atm. Im on softcore and opted pretty early to go for EB and the 18%(?) chaos resistance node close to that cluster.

I´m currently running 5 Auras, Anger, Wrath, Discipline, Clarity and Purity with great success :) Loving the build so far.
Also i went for both "Chance to shock" nodes and i intent to grab every chaos resist node close to the path. Works very good so far! You can check my gear in my profile (Support gems and so on) :)

A question though, with both of the nodes that increase chance to shock and Arc´s inherent 10% (?) + Conductivity, wouldnt that stacked shock chance alone be worth using Arc for? With faster casting and proliferation it feels like (for now in cruel act 3 atleast) it shocks like crazy. So, is there no meaning in using Arc for shock at later maps, say 80+? Even with all those buffs? Gearing for +Spell Dmg on weapons and shield and maybe even getting the closest + Lightning damage nodes might help here.

Oh and is it worth using GMP on spectrals even though my Dex wont be high enough for it to go to max level in the end? If i opt for some 30 Dex nodes i might switch purity for haste aura aswell :)

Cheers for the OP Void :)

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ixthUA wrote:

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confessions721 wrote:

edit: It's just about impossible to tell if an enemy has been shocked. So you don't really know how effective your arc is really spreading shock and for how long.

Shocked enemy starts glowing and radiating shock debuff on nearby enemies (in 30 yards? range), can debuff anything this way. If enemy is not glowing it has not been shocked. As long as you can shock the weakest mob - everyone around will be shocked too.

If your using Proliferation.. It doesn't spread on its own - Dont think any way..

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mattc3303 wrote:

This is why i feel like a non-shock oriented summoner build is better. As you do harder and harder maps with mobs with more and more hp it will get harder to stack shock charges.

This is why I chose to stack spell/lighting damage after getting done with Voids tree (I'm currently 74). I'm up to 1210 tool tip damage on Arc and Arc can still level up 3 more times (its level 17 right now).

Also - quality Proliferation (Shock Duration increases by .75 for each level of quality) and Quality Arc (Chance to shock increases by .5% per quality level) go a long way to helping this build out - I have level Q17 Arc and Q16 Proliferation and on the docks (I know thats nothing like the late late maps) my shock charges dont ever go away.

I think its important to say here - Doing it "my" way (stacking alot of damage on Arc) isn't neccessarily the "right" way to do it. Maybe the whole reason your playing a summoner is because you wan't them to do all (most) of the work? Thats great! Get as many Specters as you can and try to 5-6L them and go to town!!

But, I feel like this build we're all following (thanks again void!) has at the heart of it, you (your actual character) being in the thick of it with your minions. My original impression of the build was that I would be constantly spamming Arc in order to let my minions do good damage. Well, I'm still doing that, I'm just also trying to make Arc do TONS of damage - I mean.. why not? Your're going to be spamming it all the time any way (again if your following this build).

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OdinPrime wrote:

How in gods name are you guys making it past the 30's? My Freezing Pulse at level 32 is doing an ASTOUNDING 76 DPS. Ice Spear is around the same. My zombies, although close to 500HP, are still getting demolished in Act 3 normal. Just got Spell Totem/Skeletons and its not even much better. My FP takes 5-6 shots before I actually kill things. What am I missing to increase my damage here? Here is my gear. Please throw some advice my way of what I can get to make my damage go up so I can attempt Cruel.

I had (I think we all had?) a rough stretch in that area too. From 1-31 its all about spamming Freezing Pulse - but your not doing alot of damage because your not getting damage nodes. At all.

After that - your minions will slowly start getting more and more powerful (They seem to scale much better late game). I think you should switch from FP to Arc as soon as you can (Grab a good Spell Damage Wand and connect Arc+Proliferation and if you can afford already + Faster Casting).

Last bit that helped me in this time is use some Alteration Orbs to re-roll your Health Potions to have the "Surgeon" Prefix. It gives your minions a % of your potion healing. It helps for Keeping your favorite Specter up for a long time, and also for just beefing your Zombies up for hard fights or before they get super OP.

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fiddesoder99 wrote:

A question though, with both of the nodes that increase chance to shock and Arc´s inherent 10% (?) + Conductivity, wouldnt that stacked shock chance alone be worth using Arc for? With faster casting and proliferation it feels like (for now in cruel act 3 atleast) it shocks like crazy. So, is there no meaning in using Arc for shock at later maps, say 80+? Even with all those buffs? Gearing for +Spell Dmg on weapons and shield and maybe even getting the closest + Lightning damage nodes might help here.

Oh and is it worth using GMP on spectrals even though my Dex wont be high enough for it to go to max level in the end? If i opt for some 30 Dex nodes i might switch purity for haste aura aswell :)

Cheers for the OP Void :)

I had this same thought at first - to grab those extra shock chance nodes. I ultimately felt I didn't need it. Conductivity / Arc (Quality) and the One Node (Static Blows) seems to be plenty with Proliferation. It could be that in higher level maps (I've never done higher than a level 70 map) you need more chance to counter act the shorter duration.. but I certainly dont need it yet.

As for GMP - its my personaly opinion that LMP is better, just because you don't have to get Dex to use it. GMP makes a larger spread, but the spread does less damage to stronger targets. I again go back to this concept: Do you have trouble killing large groups of trash? I dont at all. So I'd rather my Spectres be good/better at killing strong rares (LMP makes each shot do more damage than GMP).

Thats just my thinking

But LMP require DEX? http://en.pathofexilewiki.com/wiki/Lesser_Multiple_Projectiles maybe less, but still enough to require some passive points, or am i totally missing something here? :p Thanks for the answer mate, i´ve found your posts very informative and positive! Thanks :)

And THANK GOD for no targetable minions! :D Just thought i´d say that :p

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fiddesoder99 wrote:

But LMP require DEX? http://en.pathofexilewiki.com/wiki/Lesser_Multiple_Projectiles maybe less, but still enough to require some passive points, or am i totally missing something here? :p Thanks for the answer mate, i´ve found your posts very informative and positive! Thanks :)

And THANK GOD for no targetable minions! :D Just thought i´d say that :p

Heyas - my comment on GMP vs LMP assumes you are following this build created by Void - the normal build makes a b-line to the right of the Witch starting area for Life Nodes - along the way you pick up 2 Dex nodes which leaves you at 34 (Enough exactly for LMP which takes 34 for level 1).

I mean, for GMP, you have to take "more" dex than this build already calls for. You need more dex for Chain too for that matter (Both require 52).

And I echoo your minion statement! Thank god indeed :)

Yeah, i get ya on the Dex there, i opted out of those 2 points because i went for EB so i went 30 int + 20 Max Mana for 2 points instead :) But LMP is fine to keep at level 1 then? THat might make me reconsider those 2 points :) Lets keep the discussion going! Love the "Necro" in this game :D

Edit: Regarding Chain, i actually found a Chain gem but sold it due to me not really liking the idea behind it and i went for Profib and faster casting instead, before i read about it in this thread :p

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fiddesoder99 wrote:

Yeah, i get ya on the Dex there, i opted out of those 2 points because i went for EB so i went 30 int + 20 Max Mana for 2 points instead :) But LMP is fine to keep at level 1 then? THat might make me reconsider those 2 points :) Lets keep the discussion going! Love the "Necro" in this game :D

Edit: Regarding Chain, i actually found a Chain gem but sold it due to me not really liking the idea behind it and i went for Profib and faster casting instead, before i read about it in this thread :p

Ah ok - I see what you are saying about why you skipped the dex nodes.

I say absolutely LMP is fine to leave at level 1 - would it get better if you leveld it? Of course. But you'd have to stack more and more dex.. I guessss in a perfect world.. maybe your end game Chest has a crazy roll of Dex to go along with the rest of its stats - the stuff you really want like life/mana/more ES and more ES %. So if I end up witha chest like that I'ld start leveling LMP right away.. more damage is more damage :)

For the sake of discussion about your EB choice (Because I thought about EB too) why did you get EB?

What Auras do you want to run?
For me: Wrath/Anger/Purity/Clarity is it.

Right now my set up is:
Blood Magic > Reduced Mana > Wrath+Anger
Reduced Mana > Clarity + Purity


What other Aura would you run?
Haste is out because of the High Dex Req (unless you have that amazing item that just happens to have Dex in it too then maybe haste would be worth it)
Determination is out unless your using High Armor Gear - but even then.. is it worth it for this build? I dont think so.
Hatred is of course out (too much dex till the damage is worth it)
Discipline would only be worth it if you want to use even MORE auras (more ES at high levels gives youa positive gain on your mana pool).
So that leaves Vitality. I think its tempting to run vitality.. but I'm not sure its worth it becaue part of this builds coolness is counting on explosions. Vitality would be more for "convienance" than anything else. Less ressing of zombies and spectres.

Soo.. you want more Auras than Purity/Clarity/Wrath and Anger? Which ones?

If you come to the same conclusion that I do - which is no other Auras, just 4, then I say Blood Magic all the way.

You'll end up with more Survivability.

If you had 2000 Health and 1000 ES and 800 mana (my current stats)

Without going into all the numbers (it gets really hard to type it all out clearly):
With EB you'll end up with 2000HP 0 ES (2000 total life cusion) and 1800 mana (about 650 mana after reserve with these 4 auras)
With Blood Magic Supports like the way I have set up you'll have 1650ish HP 1000 ES (2650 total life cusion) and 800 mana (about 300 after reserve)

Why do you need 650 mana to cast with instead of 300? Is the answer to that worth loosing 650 health cusion?

All of what I just typed is null/mute if you just want to build a character with the most possible auras :) That would be fun too!

I've changed to Spark as my main spell now, with fast cast, fork, and a quality gem to make the balls really fast. Got sick of using Arc against huge groups of mobs, Spark seems to spread more shock and help kill things faster for me.

I'm debating whether I should put points into damage myself now though (lv61), I was heading toward the mana/health in the Templar tree but where would be the best place to spend a few points in damage?

My build >

just want to ask do you guys run all ES gear?

Hehe yeah Snowhammer, what can i say? I the beginning i really liked the idea behind EB and running 5 Auras, the one you arent using that i have is Discipline, and with reduced mana and the 3 nodes that increase buff effects on me i actually gain mana, as you said :) The goal is i guess to run as many auras as possible, but its only 2 points(I think :p) to get to EB and its a easy respecc ;) I really liked the idéa behind having but loads of auras and minions :) A "Disco Witch" i believe it was called back in beta :)

Right now EB has allowed me to use 5 Auras, Anger, Wrath, Clarity, Purity and Discipline while still spammin a Faster casted and proliferated Arc :) Atleast for now i like it :) Maybe i will feel the survivability hit later on, but then i can respecc out of EB and addapt by build accordingly. My goal and idea behind taking the increased buff effect nodes is that i want to be able to spam my Arc as it is + Light Pen on it :) I dont know, i might be out in the cold here, but it sounds good in my head :p

And another thought about ES is that it might not be that important since from the information i´ve gathered across the forum is that for a summoner Chaos damage is "the bitch" and ES wont help in that regard at all. "Normal" damage might not be that threatening to a guarded summoner but chaos damage is, and ES wont help you there. I think that was one of my motivators to actually pick up EB and go for more auras to help me and my summons. I might actually go for Vitality too when my gear allows it and run with 6 auras. That regen wont hinder skeletons from blowing up giving me the benefits of MI but it will help my zombies stay alive :)

Edit: To above poster, yeah im using ES gear. Or i should say i prefer ES gear over ES/Armor gear but if i find a piece with armor that´s really good i wouldnt disregard it :)

Edit 2: Oh and i have about 250 mana left to cast with after every aura is on :) My gear sucks i know :(

Edit 3: I´m runing increased area of effect on wrath / anger too, how would that translate to BM? With increased mana cost(=life cost).

Edit 4: I HAVE to stop editing this post >.< But a thought regarding the extra shock chance, would that make it possible to equip "Queens Decree" 2-handed sword? Loosing alot of dmaage for Arc but getting minions instead :p SO in that aspect maybe the extra 10% node is worth it :)

Edit 5: And i feel my survivability comes from beeing able to equip 5 defensive pots atm too, but that might not be related to my specc in particular :p