[Tempest] Sarah the Self-Found Solo Summoner

I really enjoy the summoner playstyle, and not only in this game: played a lot of necromancer in Diablo II, mastermind in City of Heroes, etc. In PoE, there are three distinct phases to a summoner build: early on where you have to deal most of the damage yourself, mid-game where the minions are strong but fragile and need resummoning often, and late game where you let the minion horde run wild while you direct the chaos. I enjoy the challenge of the changing playstyle. Plus summoner builds are somewhat forgiving of lag and slow reactions/mistakes; often the minions will distract the enemies long enough for you to recover (and run).

My playstyle as a summoner follows three main guidelines:

1. Minions are stupid. No matter how good the AI programming, your minions are going to do dumb things. They'll run off and aggro stuff, they'll ignore the dangerous mobs to attack harmless rats, they'll get stuck and disappear behind you, etc. Thus, the trick is to minimize their opportunity to be stupid: summon them right next to the primary target, pull mobs into good terrain with minimal obstacles, etc.

2. Minions are expendable. If you die, it's game over (or at least, loss of time/XP/league). If a minion dies, you make another one. Obvious, I know, but it's very easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the zombies or golems or whatever, and forget to watch out for that backstabbing baddie coming up behind you. It's also very easy to focus only on the minions when choosing gear and passive skills. Don't forget your own well-being!

3. Minions need focus. It's pretty hard to play a reasonably successful partial summoner. Either you're all in as a summoner, or you don't summon. There are some exceptions, like the new Flame/Chaos/Ice Golems or skeleton totems that can be useful to other builds, but as a general rule you want summoning to be your main focus. As soon as the minions are able to handle the damage-dealing load, the summoner can stop attacking and think more like a general than a foot soldier. It may seem cool to rain fire from the sky or throw out a blizzard while your minions are distracting the enemy, but in the long run splitting your focus between your own spells and the minions will lead to both being weaker. Remember, summoners don't need AoE skills...summoners *are* an AoE.

Sarah will be a Witch. Back in the day, you pretty much had to play witch as a self-found summoner since the important skill gems weren't guaranteed to be available to any other class. That's no longer true, with the change to make gems available from vendors, but I still think the Witch makes a lot of sense. You start near Lord of the Dead and can get Minion Instability fairly quickly, which is great in the early and middle game (and can be respecced out once your minions start surviving all but the nastiest damage). Easier to access the rest of the summoning nodes than most other classes as well.

Here's my passive tree plan through level 15-ish. I debated whether to go north from Lord of the Dead, through the jewel socket, and west to Minion Instability, but in the end decided I'd rather take the southern route. That allows easy pickup of Might and Agility when necessary (which is likely sooner rather than later...self-found gear means I can't rely on equipping only intelligence-based stuff), and puts me right next to Puppet Master. Plus I may get Mind Over Matter later.

Onward to Wraeclast! Spent a few minutes smiting zombies with wand and fireball to reach level 2. For some reason they all dropped iron armor bits...leather and cloth must be last year's zombie style. Fried Hillock with fireballs on the way into Lioneye's Watch. Took Raise Zombie from Tarkleigh for the quest reward, of course, and bought a Fire Trap from Nessa. (So nice to not have to choose only one gem!) Sold off my ironmongery and bought a shabby jerkin...I much prefer movement to armor early on, and a little evasion never hurts. Plus it had green/blue slots, so I can put my zombies and the Fire Trap in it. Doubt I'll keep Fire Trap long-term, but it's great in the early going.

Refining Tempest in The Coast, handy getting 10% quality on the small life flask I found. I'm summoning zombies right away, although it's more for the look of the thing than any real damage they provide at this early stage of the game. Make good distractions, though. Had no problem with Fire Fury, tossed a few fire traps at her while she was roasting zombies. She donated a twig spirit shield to the cause, though it's not magical. Hit level 3 and found the waypoint.

I used to skip the Tidal Island and Hailrake in hardcore leagues, coming back around level 6 or 7, but he doesn't seem nearly as dangerous these days. The Molten Tempest affecting the island is a bit ugly, but I learned very quickly to keep moving so as to avoid fire falling from sky and spawns of fire elementals. The zombies are very useful in distracting Hailrake while I throw traps and the occasional fireball at him. He dropped a bunch of blue items I can use at this early stage. Level 4, got the medicine chest, and booked it back out of the zone before I got burnt. Picked up a Quicksilver Flask from Nessa, good panic button for the early game.

No tempest in the Mud Flats, so it's just the usual zombie-and-rhoa roast with fire traps. I find that it's a good idea to resummon at least one zombie after every fight, even if none of them died, as long as mana allows. Minimizes the chance that they'll all die at once and leave you minion-less in the face of some angry mobs. Hit level 5 fairly quickly while picking up the glyphs, then stumbled across Elreon. Defending his relic was no problem, even if the zombies did look awfully confused running back and forth to the spawn points, and got me to level 6. Back in Lioneye's Watch, picked up Summon Raging Spirit from Tarkleigh for opening the passage...goodbye fireball, hello spirits.

Found my first gem drop, an Elemental Hit, out in the Mud Flats. I used to save all the gems in my stash, even ones I'd never use on this character, since I might find them handy one day. But now with all the gems available from vendors (eventually, if you play enough), I think I'll just sell them off.

Considered going back to the Mud Flats and then on to the Fetid Pool, but the map shows some tempests in those areas. At this early point, I think I'd rather avoid those. So, Submerged Passage instead. Now that I have the spirits available, the standard fight is toss a trap or two, back up a few steps to let the zombies grab the bad guys' attention, and summon spirits until everything is dead. Ran across The Brood Princess fairly early on, had no trouble dealing with her. Hit level 7 along the way, which puts me at Deep Wisdom on the tree. Found the Flooded Depths, cleared without incident. The Deep Dweller took a little while, but never hit me and only killed one zombie.

Back into the passage and on to the Ledge. Went all the way through, no issues, although Kuduku killed all the zombies with those annoying sparks. Headed on into The Climb and found the waypoint, after a bad moment when a horde of goatmen jumped over the zombies and landed on Sarah's head. Had to hit a flask and back up quick, but after that they didn't last long. The trip got me levels 8 and 9, so I have all three nodes in the Lord of the Dead cluster now. Found my first Alchemy orb along the way, which I think I'll save until I find either a decent resist ring or something with three links.

Before heading to the prison, I decided to go back to the Fetid Pool, tempests and all. Shouldn't be too dangerous with the extra levels I'd picked up. Both the Mud Flats and the pool had static tempests, easy enough to dodge. Dispatched Oozeback Bloom on the way, and got my first rare for my trouble - robe with both cold and lightning resist, handy early on. Plenty of slots on other equipment now, so no problem replacing my jerkin. Cleared out Kadavrus in the pool by the simple expedient of raising his minions before he could, then letting the zombies eat his brain.

Back to the Climb, where I moved a bit slower than last time to avoid getting goat-dropped. Worked fine until I found Ironpoint, with a whole group of blue goatmen right behind him. Had to do several rounds of throw-trap-and-run while they chased me back across the zone, resummoning zombies along the way, until the goats were gone and I could focus on Ironpoint. He kills the zombies almost instantly with that Rain of Arrows attack, so it was me and the spirits against him, which went my way fairly fast. Just a matter of dodging the rain.

Got the Prison waypoint (so nice to have it up front, no hunting for it) and headed back to town to pick up my Minion Damage support gem. I had a 2-link wand, so I hooked the minion damage up to the spirits. Linking stuff to the zombies this early in the game can be a problem because the mana cost goes up quickly, and they're getting resummoned all the time. Later on, they'll live a lot longer and a high mana cost won't be as big of an issue, but for now they're better off without support gems. The spirits base cost is so low that a little extra isn't a big deal.

The trip through the Lower Prison was uneventful, just a run-in with Chatters and a half-dozen blue skeletons. They did not do well against the fire traps. Picked up level 10.

The Upper Prison was another matter, though. Sawbones fell easily, once I'd stolen all his minion corpses, but there were necromancers everywhere. Very slow going getting through them, especially when one would be through a doorway, behind a bunch of skeletons. Nothing to do there but kill them and steal the corpses until the way is clear. One particular spot had three necromancers, spread out in three different directions, with all their attendant skeletons plus a rare skeleton with an extra-damage aura. While I was battling all that, a fourth necromancer wandered over as well. That fight took forever, but the minions acquitted themselves well and I never felt in any danger...just a long slog. Also ran into Haku and rescued a spirit for him, before heading up to face the Warden. All that got me to level 11 and a good chunk toward 12.

After all the necromancers, the Brutus fight felt easy. He killed all the zombies, of course, but they bought me time to summon a bunch of spirits, and by the time he was actually attacking me, he was down well below half health. A bit of judicious running around and trap-throwing, with spirits summoned when it looked safe to stop for a second, took it the rest of the way. Enough XP from him to get to level 12. He didn't drop anything useful, sadly.

Back in town, took Summon Skeletons from Tarkleigh, then went straight to Nessa to buy Clarity and Flame Dash. The early game sure is more interesting in terms of skills available with the vendor gem sales! Well done, GGG. The skeletons will now be first out in any battle, as well as being summoned out ahead as scouts in any dangerous-looking terrain. Then I can cast spirits, and resummon zombies and more skeletons as needed. Fire trap is superfluous now, but I'll keep it for a while just in case. The spot on my skill bar will eventually be taken over by a curse.

When I logged back in for this game session, I headed over to the Ledge and killed a few skeletons to make zombies. I'll be doing this a lot, much safer than going into unknown territory without the horde already in place.

Prisoner's Gate is my least favorite Act 1 zone. The leaping goatmen are dangerous to Sarah, the shaman goatmen have AoEs that can decimate the minions, and the firedogs wipe out minions as well. On top of that, the zone is huge and takes a good long while to traverse. This instance had a ghastly tempest to deal with also, though it didn't seem too dangerous. The occasional group of raging spirits was the worst of it. The Burning Menace ignored all the minions and came straight at Sarah, which was annoying, but not particularly dangerous as I just ran in circles while the horde chipped away at him. Got to level 13, and found a rare circlet and shield which will serve nicely for a few levels.

After all the goats and dogs in Prisoner's Gate, the Ship Graveyard felt easy. Cleared my way through it and into Merveil's Caverns, grabbed the waypoint, then back to town to pick up Flesh Offering. Bone Offering was also available, but I feel that the quicker speed is more useful to the minions than blocking.

Hit level 14 on the way to find the graveyard cave, which was affected by a restorative tempest. Was a little worried that it might make the Stranglecharm fight more difficult, but fortunately the minions got her before any tempests appeared nearby. Clarity and Flame Dash both leveled up in the process, but I'm not going to raise either of them. Flame Dash is just an escape skill for me, so the damage doesn't matter, and I want to minimze how much mana Clarity is reserving. I'll probably end up leveling Clarity a few times as I progress, but no need to do it any earlier than necessary.

Had a bad moment against Farigraves when I tried to Flame Dash away from his ambush and nothing happened...until I realized I was hitting the wrong key. Doh! Not a fatal mistake since I had three levels on him and was able to move away before taking very much damage, but I'll be more careful in the future. Nothing special in terms of loot, although I did find a 14% quicksilver flask that I'll put to use.

Onward to the Cavern of Wrath. This is a good place to get into the habit of summoning skeletons out ahead, since there's lots of little alleys and blind corners. Much better if the mobs hack away at a couple of skeletons rather than my personal self. Spotted Elreon again, but left him alone for a bit while I cleared the area around, and it was a good thing I did since Amarissa was just a little ways away. Could have been ugly if she had wandered over while fighting the spawns around Elreon. Once she was down, his little relic-guarding mission was easy enough. Hit level 15, which means I'm one short of Minion Instability. Ran into my first Rogue Exile a bit further in, Ion Darkshroud, who killed a lot of minions but wasn't any real threat to Sarah at this level. Found several useful items, including a 30% cold resist ring, very nice with Merveil coming up.

In the interest of getting Minion Instability and a +3 level advantage before facing Merveil, I reset the Cavern of Wrath and cleared it again. Made it all the way through the Cavern of Anger but was still about 1/4 of a level short, so I reset that zone as well. Second time through I ran into Haku again, and clearing his mission plus the zone was enough for level 16.

My zombies didn't last long against Merveil, as expected, so I spent the fight summoning skeletons as close to her as possible, and summoning spirits whenever I could afford the time in between dodging all the ice. That took care of her first form without much trouble. Once the second form spawned, I used mostly the same tactics, but with a Flesh Offering or zombie summoning thrown in whenever there were available corpses. Had to move around a bit more to avoid the water spouts and spawn attacks, too. The skeletons and spirits did the heavy lifting on the boss herself again. All in all, only took a minute or so to take her down. No useful loot, sadly.

Easy trip through the Southern Forest up to the encampment. I like that there are a few non-monkey monsters in the zone now, adds a little variety. Took a look through my defenses and realized I have zero lightning resistance at the moment, will have to find a solution for that before I get to the Chamber of Sins. On the passive tree front, think I'll pick up Might and Agility next. I'm already finding gear I can't use due to str/dex requirements, and I can't afford to pass up anything good at this stage of the game. After that, it'll be a trip back near Deep Wisdom for Heart and Soul, to boost my HP a bit.

Next stop, the Crossroads waypoint. Fairly uneventful trip through the Old Fields and up to the waypoint, just a quick detour to beat up Gneiss. Made level 17 on the way. Then back to the Old Fields to find the Den and hunt down the white beast. Had to dodge the ghastly tempest spawns and fight through a few packs of blue bears, but nothing really dangerous. Just barely cleared level 18 in the process.

Time to reverse course and head west. I love the revamp of the Act 2 zones in Awakening, especially having a waypoint in the Riverways and the move of Oak in front of the Vaal Ruins. Makes a lot more sense in the flow of the story, as well as being easier to navigate. Ran into Kall Foxfly on my way through the Riverways. He's learned how to use Blink Arrow since the last time I saw him, annoying but not dangerous in that terrain. Could be ugly in the wrong spot, though. Went on past the waypoint and into the Western Forest to grab that waypoint as well, but decided not to stick around that zone just yet. I'm only +1 to the level 17 monsters in there, and there was a Galvanizing Tempest in effect, potentially a bad combination. Safer to come back later.

Found a red-blue linked rare gloves, which gives me the opportunity to go back to Act 1, pick up a Melee Splash gem from Nessa, and link it to the Raging Spirits. Moved the zombies into the vacated blue-blue link slot, so they're linked to Minion Damage now. Mana is no issue at the moment, with all the Int nodes I've grabbed thus far plus Deep Wisdom, so the higher zombie summoning cost is no problem for now. Those gloves and the rare belt that Yeena gave me from the beast quest both have lightning resist also, so I'm up to 30%...not great, but should be enough to survive normal-mode Chamber of Sins.

The map shows tempests pretty much everywhere except Fellshrine, so it seemed like a good time to go visit that graveyard. Murdered many zombies and skeletons (hmm, undead...re-murdered?), and achieved level 19 along the way. Soulmourn surprised me a bit, jumping from off the screen into a big melee between my zombies and monster zombies, pretty much wiping out my entire group in one shot. Fairly simple matter to retreat a bit and resummon, though, and the second time it didn't have a chance.

Made my way through both levels of the crypt with minimal difficulty, although there were several spots with necromancers that slowed me down (especially when I ran across a couple of them and all their minions out in front of a massive shrine). No real danger, though, just a matter of being patient and fighting a war of attrition until my undead outnumbered theirs. Hit level 20 along the way. At the Archbishop, I stayed back as far as I could while still sending skeletons and spirits up onto the platform, which got rid of Geofri and his pack of blue spiders before I moved forward enough to spawn all the other spiders. Found a lot of interesting currency items along the way, including my first Vaal Orb and Orb of Regret. Took the Survival Instincts jewels from Yeena; not sure yet when I'll take a Jewel slot on the passive tree, but the extra resists might be useful someday.

Time to think about the bandits. In the old days, I'd take Oak's reward every time in any hardcore league without a second thought. With the change to Kraityn to give resists, there's actually a choice now, but I think I'll still go with Oak for the 40 base life. With that in mind, and with the map showing no tempest up in the Broken Bridge, I headed up there to take Kraityn down. Hit 21 along the way, and smacked Kraityn around with little effort (being 5 levels up helps).

Thought about heading to the Western Forest to take down Alira next, but there was a Molten Tempest there. I'd rather not play around all the fire, so I went to the Wetlands to grab the waypoint there instead. Found my first unique item here, in a strongbox: Nomic's Storm. All that movement speed is nice, but I don't really think taking 20% more physical damage is a great idea.

Moved on to the Chamber of Sins level 1, and fought my way through the spiders and zombies while dodging Static Tempests. Black Death was down almost before I saw her, swarmed by minions. Same again in level 2, and while normally I'd think twice about going into a zone with tons of lightning monsters while also dealing with lightning from tempests, I decided to go ahead since I'm +5 levels to the zone and thus unlikely to have serious issues. Worked out nicely, and not only did I finish off Fidelitas, Catarina also made an appearance.

Got Desecrate from the quest reward, so Fire Trap is out for good and Desecrate takes its place for now. I don't intend to use Desecrate for the chaos damage, but I'll keep it available (on weapon switch, if I run out of slots) for ease of corpse retrieval. No more trips to the Ledge for zombie raising.

While I was busy with all that, the tempests shifted, so the Western Forest had a Shivering Tempest. It's mildly annoying, since it means less corpses from all the freezing and shattering, but a lot better than the Molten Tempest. Found both Alira and the guard troop easily and wiped the floor with them, again plenty of level advantage at +4. Hit level 22 on the way.

I decided to take Mind over Matter with that level 22 skill point. That extra 30% off the top of a big damage hit might be enough to allow me time to run away from something nasty, and I can afford the mana easily at the moment. I might end up dropping it later, if the mana situation changes, but for now the extra survival help is well worth the one skill point investment. Next goal on the passive tree, Death Attunement.

Headed to the spider lair to track down old Mother Eight-Leg. No tempest present, which is fortunate since it would be really hard to dodge the effects in those tunnels. The Weaver is a pain since the minions tend to spend a lot of time fighting all the extra spider spawns rather than focusing on her, but in normal difficulty it's not hard to take her out almost exclusively with spirits while the skeletons and zombies keep the others off my back. Picked up the spike and headed back to town.

Took a Faster Casting gem from Silk for the quest reward. Greust just happened to have a RBB-linked Torture Cage which is perfect for linking the spirits to melee splash and faster casting, so I took it and used a chance orb on it. Nothing special, just some mana and item rarity, but good enough for now. Also picked up some boots with better cold resistance.

After a brief detour to collect my reward from Oak, I headed into the Vaal Ruins. Crowded place, several rare monsters and blue packs, plus a Ghastly Tempest kept summoning more creatures. Found Tora, too, and cleared out a lair of corrupted spiders for her. Made level 23 while fighting through all that, then broke the seal and headed up into the Northern Forest.

The Northern Forest was hosting a Seething Tempest, which worked to my advantage as the minions were doing lots of extra fire damage. First appearance of Devourers here, which are my least favorite creature type while playing a summoner. They like to pop up right under my feet and make big melee attacks, and then spit fireballs at the minions. Not too bad at this early stage, but up in the later difficulties they're a real danger. Made level 24 on the way. Considered stepping into the Dread Thicket, but found a Molten Tempest in there...fire from the sky, tiny little pathways with nowhere to run away...no thanks.

Onward to the Caverns. The degeneration bears are moderately annoying, and of course more devourers, but nothing really dangerous in normal. Big zone, took a while to chew through everything and find the waypoint, which was fine since it got me to level 25. Here's my current tree - just one more level to Death Attunement.