The "Pls no RIP" Summoner

The build for people who have decided they're tired of dying in merciless. The goal of this build was to make a character who could trivialize almost all content while still being nearly impossible to kill.

I have killed every invader in every map with this build and ALMOST every map boss. Map Dominus is still a problem for me as his Cold Searing Bond totems seem to absolutely destroy my minions.


-- Disclaimer --

This build can be used without snapshotting. You sacrifice Purity of Fire and Lightning and use Purity of Elements and Clarity. You'll need some good +maximum mana gear, reserve Clarity in your life pool, or go Eldritch Battery. If you want Eldritch Battery, you traverse the 6/6/12 energy shield nodes by Conduit and Elemental Equilibrium and remove the 15% physical damage, 18 fire/cold/lightning resistance and Sentinel.



The Build and The Path

This character's gear isn't too amazing except for the 6L Lightning Coil which I linked myself. Your mileage my vary with rings and jewelry, but mine are just life+resists.

The Gear


Currently this character uses the following combinations and the "unintended" mechanic called "Snapshotting" to save enough slots in my gear to actually use the skills I want. Without Snapshotting, I would not be able to use all the support skills and auras together without using curses or summoner skills on a weapon swap, unlinking all of them from support skills and not having Summoner Skeletons with any support gems.

The Skills


Playing The Build

Being a summoner is a relatively complex system of skills. Unlike many other character archetypes, you use many skills in an order instead of one skill repeatedly for certain situations. It generally follows this priority order:

Curse (Vulnerability for most things, Enfeeble for anything with high Area of Effect or Single Target damage) --> Desecrate under the enemies to be killed --> Flesh Offering (or Bone Offering if you cast Enfeeble) --> Rejuvenation Totem.

Desecrate may also be used to direct minions. Zombies and spectres go to the area where desecrate is cast OR attack anything damaged by desecrate or any other skill.

When Do I Use The Other Skills?

Convocation: This skill is used normally for two things: My minions are stuck somewhere and aren't participating in the fight (screw you Mine map); or my minions are in a very dangerous enemy skill and are going to die unless they are moved.

Because of the durability of this build however, you have a third option - Using the skill to single out dangerous enemies and remove them before their aura, area of effect, or damage become a problem. This is done by literally running right next to the monster you want to kill and casting Convocation.

Minion AI is intelligent enough to know weaker monsters from stronger monsters so long as they're not already attacking something already. They will also focus whatever enemy you have recently damaged with a skill which is the actual reason that Desecrate also does chaos damage over time.

Vaal Discipline: This is used generally in combination with the third variety of Convocation.

Example: You have a boss or invader that is very adept at killing minions (Shock and Horror or Soilmaker are good examples). You either have to avoid it entirely or start from scratch as resummoning your minions often requires turning off an aura to get enough mana and is rather time consuming even without snapshotting.

(WARNING: DO NOT DO UNTIL YOU'RE SURE YOU'RE TANKY ENOUGH)



I use the above method for just above every map boss and invader. Don't do it against Shivershell. His Vaal Detonate Dead is only triggered by player proximity and he will not cast it if only minions are nearby

Your Worst Nightmare: Invaders and Corrupted Zone Bosses

Generally, the following bosses will totally kill all or some of your minions, despite your best efforts and should generally be avoided until you are prepared to use the "suicide method" of Convocation and Vaal Discipline: Mother of the Hive, Sunburst Queen, Bladeback Guardian, Ch'aska, Maker of Rain, Shrapnelbearer, Jikeji.

For some reason, minions don't seem to gain the full effects of your elemental resistance auras and thus take massive amounts of fire and lightning damage. You, however, can often stand in these effects due to high max elemental resistances. It is generally best to avoid these invaders unless you're willing to put forth the effort or resummoning your zombies and/or spectres multiple times.

But how do I level? Isn't summoner both incredibly slow and rather boring at the start?

Yes, summoner starts out incredibly slow and yes, it's rather boring at the start. However, don't be disillusioned! The following skill sets are excellent for carrying you through to around level 40 when you'll finally be strong enough to be an actual summoner.

Spectral Throw, Infernal Blow and Hatred using the unique poleaxe Wideswing. Spectral Throw for the things you don't want to get close to and Infernal Blow + Melee Splash in linked IN the Windswing for increased area. You will one-shot groups of normal monsters for a long time with Infernal Blow. It's incredible.

Flameblast, Fire Trap, and Searing Bond: All relatively straight-foward skills. Most have seen the effectiveness of the three skills and they do enough damage with no investment in damage passives to carry you.

Actually leveling as a summoner: Let's be honest here. Zombies, skeletons, spectres and raging spirits are TERRIBLE until you have both some passives and levels on the gems. If you're willing to up put with it, make sure you run Hatred, Wrath or Anger to supplement your minions awful low level damage. You should seriously consider another skill to supplement your damage.

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There you have it. I'm currently level 88 on Invasion and my IGN is PlsNoSmasherino. You can find me on reddit under the username butsuon.

Great guide.

Until they fix snapshooting at least don't forget vaal orbs :)
You can corrupt your weapon with culling to save a gem slot.
White slot are handy on your boots/gloves you can use it to swap reduced mana with a vaal skill after landing in a new area (charge one swap to another if you want to min/max)

Vaal haste and discipline are great to finish bosses.
Vaal summon skeleton can absorb a lot of damage (great on lower level).

I've had 2 uniques out of 5 tries ruined into so-called rares by vaal's. Not sure if they're worth it. Depressing :(

Glad to see a non-witch summoner guide!!

Question Why Did U skip over Lord Of Dead Node (Major Helping point in Summoner builds

10% Max Summon life
15% Increased Damage Summons
1 More Zombie
2 More Skeletons

Also 2 extra Nodes of

10% Max life
15% Increased Damage

"

Exodus2 wrote:

Question Why Did U skip over Lord Of Dead Node (Major Helping point in Summoner builds

10% Max Summon life
15% Increased Damage Summons
1 More Zombie
2 More Skeletons

Also 2 extra Nodes of

10% Max life
15% Increased Damage

Sorry I never check back to this thread. Self defense. The build is MUCH tankier not getting it by an unbelievable margin. You still have 8 zombies with Mon'te's and you get to get every aura and buff effectiveness node.

This is very similar to the build I'm currently using (84 on Invasion), and it's in my opinion superior to Witch specs. So friendly bump for a nice guide.

I updated my gear and I'm adding a section to the top about playing this build WITHOUT snapshotting.