Heavy Summoner Arc Witch Guide [ Video Included ]

Still not sure how much I should be spending for Sidhebreath... Hmm...

"

Rawkfist wrote:

Watched ur video and you did the easiest map possible and still your minions died a lot. I'm not saying that minion witches aren't doable, they are just very subpar right now compared to most other class builds. LA rangers, Freezing Pulse witches, and plenty more can solo the harder maps at 3x's the speed. Also like I said you did an easy map. Run the map (forgot name it's the dungeon) with the fire golems and tell me summoned witches are as viable as other classes.

Actually, snakes and fire golems are the bane of summoners. Our minions get no chaos resistance so snakes chew through them, and the aoe fire damage from the golems also destroy them quickly.

Can't win 'em all. But if you like to play summoners in games, it is a viable and efficient build.

Could you give a detailed explanation about HP vs ES+CI? I've leveled a witch to 40 doing the ES nodes and it was far more survivable then the one I leveled to 30 so far. (Obviously I didn't take CI on first one since it's not worth it till mid 50s but I figured it would be worth it). Especially considering you can make yourself immune to chaos damage.

I've read your post saying it's crap now that they removed the 50% ES bonus, but I'd like a more detailed explanation :)

"

Th3LoRD wrote:

Could you give a detailed explanation about HP vs ES+CI? I've leveled a witch to 40 doing the ES nodes and it was far more survivable then the one I leveled to 30 so far. (Obviously I didn't take CI on first one since it's not worth it till mid 50s but I figured it would be worth it). Especially considering you can make yourself immune to chaos damage.

I've read your post saying it's crap now that they removed the 50% ES bonus, but I'd like a more detailed explanation :)

Yeah np man. I find that ES IS a viable attribute at high gear levels. The reason I don't recommend it in this guide is that it takes much better gear to achieve the same survivability as you can get from lesser hp gear.

The problem with ES is that you can't use potions to restore it, it takes time before it is restored, chaos damage goes through it, and it is much harder to get a high ES than it is to get high hp.

Getting ES gear with high hp is much more survivable at low gear levels, period.

In my opinion - at very high gear levels with tons of ES it is viable to go CI. In fact I think it is better than hp at high gear levels. But at this point in the game, it is much easier to get hp than energy shield.

Hope this helps!

Just a little question about a support gem on my minions that i thought would be cool if it worked, Added lightning damage. Will that make the zombies do extra lightning damage ( and if so, can that damage procc the + dmg debuff? )?

EDIT: Oh and by the way i managed to progress in act 3 after obtaining a spell totem for my skellies, that shit is wicked for this build! ;D

Another question, don't you think Elemental Equilibrium would be worth the 2 points?

"

VoidMoon wrote:

"

Rawkfist wrote:

Watched ur video and you did the easiest map possible and still your minions died a lot. I'm not saying that minion witches aren't doable, they are just very subpar right now compared to most other class builds. LA rangers, Freezing Pulse witches, and plenty more can solo the harder maps at 3x's the speed. Also like I said you did an easy map. Run the map (forgot name it's the dungeon) with the fire golems and tell me summoned witches are as viable as other classes.

Actually, snakes and fire golems are the bane of summoners. Our minions get no chaos resistance so snakes chew through them, and the aoe fire damage from the golems also destroy them quickly.

Can't win 'em all. But if you like to play summoners in games, it is a viable and efficient build.

whats your way to deal with chaos damage btw, quite curious

Just tried the support gem that spreads shock debuff amongst enemies.. wow.. thats sick with all the minions smashing about! I dont have chain yet but this support gem make Arc imba :D Love it so far! And yeah, i would also like to know how we deal with chaos damage maps :)
Maybe Life leech on Arc?

Started this build a couple of days ago, lvl45 atm. I am following the general idea of the build in how to branch out in the skill tree. Have sofar been grabbing very few minion buffs and just focused on getting all the health nodes( playing hc).

One big difference though is I am running spark+fork. Tried to find a chain at a good price at first but gave up so ended up using this cheaper alternative.

Something which I am contemplating now is alternating the build somewhat. There are some minion nodes down and to the left of the witch starting area. In VoidMoons build grabbing them means you must take a detour and grab 3 int nodes first. What I am considering is scrapping these minion nodes altogether. This would mean a loss of 45% minion damage and 1 zombie/skeleton.

Quite a hard blow ofc but it would mean a save of 7 points and 7 points is exactly what it would cost to go and grab the +1 totem passive. Perhaps it is a stupid idea, I don't know. Ofc it doesn't need to be a choice of one or the other but since I am playing HC I don't want to plan out a build that is to high on the total amount of skill points.

So 1 less zombie and skeleton and some less damage but instead double totem to give some convenience and extra safety. Arc/chain or spork on the totem. Skills to use while running around without being able to attack would be conversion trap(bloody awsome skill, tried it first time today) and probably enduring cry for some more safety. And ofc conductivity.

What i wonder.

Do you really need all that live when going Summoner? (If your not playing HC).