[Tempest] Sarah the Self-Found Solo Summoner

Scions get Spectral Throw instead of Fireball, so I tossed things through zombies in the Strand, skewered Hillock, and on into Lioneye's Watch. Sadly, Fire Trap is not an option for Scions, so I'll have to stick with throwing things for now. Spent a Scroll of Wisdom on a two-handed sword and another on Raise Zombie.

Using Spectral Throw fills the same role as Fire Trap in the summoner life-cycle: an AoE to mow things down while the minions are weak. It's a lot different in practice, though. You have to move around a lot to aim your projectiles at the bad guys, and you use a lot more mana, especially if your aim is bad (as mine is).

On the passive tree, I'm starting with the +mana nodes heading for Shaper. I'll have to use a lot of mana flasks for the first few levels, but once I reach Shaper things should be manageable. Scions don't get Clarity, so unless I get lucky and find one, I'll have to manage my mana more carefully than I did as a Witch. After that I'm heading up the tree straight toward Minion Instability. I'll pass both the Gravepact and Puppet Master minion node clusters for now, planning to come back later.

Got through the Coast while avoiding Fire Fury, then cleared out the Tidal Island. Hailrake wasn't bad once I cleared out the dozens of guys around him, but that took a while and a lot of kiting. Once he was alone, it was easy to throw a lot of swords at him. Went on into the Mud Flats, took out Oozeback Bloom, and entered the Submerged Passage.

Picked up Decoy Totem from Tarkleigh, which is helpful only short-term, until after defeating Brutus and getting access to Summon Skeletons (plus Spell Totem, if I have the links available). It makes things a lot easier during that time, especially against Brutus himself. More importantly, Nessa will now sell me a Summon Raging Spirits gem. That's pretty much the end of using Spectral Throw, so I got rid of that two-handed sword for a weapon/shield setup.

Took a walk over to the Fetid Pool and beat up Kadavrus, using the tried-and-true method of turning all nearby corpses into zombies. The Freezing Tempest in the zone was helpful, shattering a number of dying monsters for me. That was enough to get me to Shaper, significantly reducing mana flask usage.

Easy trip through the Submerged Passage despite a Ghastly Tempest, which I think beat up the monsters more than it did me. Found and killed the crab before heading up to the Ledge. Energizing Tempest there, which always makes me hungry for Skittles. Mowed down monsters through the Ledge and tempest-free Climb. Grabbed the Prison waypoint and headed back to town.

Nessa gave me a Melee Splash, which I can link to the spirits, and sold me a Minion Damage, which I linked to the zombies. Also picked up a Spell Totem for later use. I'll probably swap those around later, but for now this works best with the links on the gear I have.

No tempest in the Prison, which is appreciated since all those necromancers and the Warden don't need any help to be annoying. Ran right into Chatters at the start and defeated him handily, but then hit an open area with an Acceleration Shrine and no less than six necromancers raising zombies all over the place. Even once I grabbed the shrine buff, it took a while to finish them all off so I could clear out the undead. Found Sawbones first thing in the Upper Prison, used the decoy totem to hold off the undead while I used the spirits to take him out. Along the way I found a helmet with BBR links, so I picked up another Minion Damage for the spirits. The decoy totem did the job against Brutus, too, holding his attention most of the time, letting me cast spirits. He did hit me once but not hard enough to matter. Ended up level 11 as I moved out into Prisoner's Gate.

Picked up Flame Dash from Tarkleigh for the quest reward, and Nessa sold me a Summon Skeletons. I do have a RB link, so the skeletotem is up and running. I could have bought a Lightning Warp to use instead of Flame Dash, but without Reduced Duration, Flame Dash is a better mobility skill. I'll probably do the same as before and use Flame Dash until I can get a good Quartz flask, then ditch it.

Molten Tempest in the Prisoner's Gate, requiring some extra caution. Not a big deal to avoid being caught myself, but the minions can get fried pretty easily at this point. Found Haku and retrieved his spirit buddy, though not without some effort, since the cave he sent me into had those unkillable lightning totems. Had to be careful where I stood to avoid getting shocked pretty badly. Also had to run away from The Burning Menace when he refused to leave Sarah alone; took him down on the second engagement. The rest of the zone was just the usual goats and fire dogs, straightforward but requiring a whole lot of zombie resummoning.

Easy walk through the tempest-free Ship Graveyard. Found the cavern entrance and went back to town, nothing useful from Nessa for the quest reward so I took an Ice Nova and stashed it. Scions don't get Flesh Offering either, and I miss it already, but that's the price I'm paying for some of the other gems later on. Would be nice if one would drop eventually, though.

Cleared the Ship Graveyard Cave without incident, other than running into Elreon for a quick side mission. Hit 14 along the way, enough for Minion Instability, and took Might with the extra skill point. That should hold me for strength for a while, and I can pick up Agility whenever dexterity becomes an issue. Next, I'm headed over to Cruel Preparation, then down to Lord of the Dead.

No trouble with the tempest-free caverns. I did run into both Ambrosia and Amarissa, no trouble for the spirits and skeletons. Before taking on Merveil, I went back to town and crafted a sapphire ring to boost my cold resistance up to 37%, just in case. As usual in the early going, the zombies didn't last long enough to be much use, but the skeletotem and spirits were up to the job. Had to use most of my flasks up, but wasn't ever in any significant danger. Went on through the Southern Forest to open up the encampment.

Headed out through the Old Fields to the Crossroads, backtracked to clear out the Den, and did a side mission for Haku. Other than dodging Battering Tempests, an easy trip. Found an Araku Tiki unique amulet after killing Gneiss, has decent life regen and fire resist. Will do nicely until something better comes along.

More Battering Tempests in the Riverways, so I headed to the tempest-free Chamber of Sins instead. Cleared the first level and did a side mission for Catarina. Only difficult bit in the level was Black Death; had to retreat and resummon several times before she died. Second level was tougher, with lots of necromancers surrounding by spark-casting skeletons, slower going. Fidelitas killed the zombies, but skeletons and spirits took him out. Didn't realize until afterward that he'd been buffed by a faster-attacking rare behind, which explained how quickly the zombies were taken out.

Made level 18 by the end of all that, and got Cruel Preparation. Found a much better cold resistance ring along the way, nice to have. Greust gave me an Enduring Cry, which I might use eventually, and I bought Desecrate from Yeena. Will have to put my next passive point into Agility so I can use it. I can tell dexterity is going to be an issue, very little of it on the passive tree in the areas where I'm headed.

Walked through Fellshrine enjoying the Restorative Tempest and slaying undead. Beat up Soulmourn in the process, easy enough. Found the Crypt waypoint, then back to town and out into the Riverways, which had shifted to a Energizing Tempest. Rolled through easily enough and into the Western Forest, found that waypoint but didn't continue since I'm not a fan of the Transmogrifying Tempest. Went up to the Wetlands instead and grabbed that waypoint (skipping Oak for now).

Back to the Crypt. No Tempests, and an easy trip through level one. Bit more interesting in level two as I ran across Jonah Unchained. That big AoE swipe did in a bunch of minions, so I had to run away a bit, resummon, and then make sure to keep the skeletotem out of his range so he stayed busy on the skeletons themselves. Once he was down, I found the Archbishop and cleared out his group, then backtracked to help out Catarina with a mission.

Hit level 21 and picked up one of the jewel socket nodes, so I could slot in the Survival Instincts that I got from Yeena for the quest. That helps on the dexterity front, and of course more resistances is always nice. I'm starting to notice some mana issues, so I think I'll need to pick up Deep Thoughts after I get Lord of the Dead.