{3.10} Speaker for the Dead | The Mass Minion Summoner | League Starter, Leveling Guide 💀

"

Hercanic wrote:

GUIDE UPDATE
I have collapsed most of the artwork into their own spoilers so they do not hinder repeated viewings of the sections. Let me know what you think!

Hey again! I'm at the point where I can get a 6 link probably.. just wondering what 6 skills should be linked?

@ Viktorious1:

"

Viktorious1 wrote:

Hey again! I'm at the point where I can get a 6 link probably.. just wondering what 6 skills should be linked?

Your chest is used for Spectres and Phantasms.

Until you get to the very endgame -- we're talking 10-20M life Guardians, Shaper, and Uber Elder -- you don't need to worry about maximizing Skeleton damage. They'll do more than enough damage to 200k-2.5M life map bosses on a 4L. Since most of our time is spent clearing, we want to devote our 6L to that.

---

@ Thrillhammer:

"

Thrillhammer wrote:

Awesome build and guide, Hercanic. Truly top-notch. I'm testing a Champion variant in league SSF and finding it extremely fast and effective so far. We'll see if Champion is a viable alternative to Necromancer.

Nice! Which Ascendancy nodes are you taking?

Master of Metal initially made me very excited, since I was thinking I could potentially get a hundred+ stacks of Impale with minions, until I realized Impale is self-limiting. You can never have more than 5 stacks on a target, or 7 in the cast of Master of Metal. So at best that's an average of 42 added Physical Damage for your minions.

Inspirational's free banner is nice, but I ran the numbers on Dread Banner, which you can find in the FBE (FAQ), and it's around 10% more damage.

Worthy Foe is the strongest, almost giving you Bone Sculptor if you pair it with the From Dust jewel for 3x Skeletons per cast. It'd take 3 seconds instead of 1.72sec to summon all 10 Skeletons. Since taunt cannot be overwritten from whoever first applies it, if someone else taunts first, like your minions with a Minion Taunt Abyssal Jewel, then you taunt after, will you still apply Worthy Foe's effects or not? Like how every Ignite applies but only the strongest deals damage. If you must be the active taunter then you do not want to use that jewel and should stay away from the Stone Golem, since it has a built-in taunt. You will also be the main target for the boss, so you lose out on minion distraction for defense.

"

Hercanic wrote:

@ Alerean:

"

Alerean wrote:

"

Hercanic wrote:

The source must specifically say it applies to Spells or it won't work.

Shit, I missed that distinction, thanks. So, the claw in my inventory will do the trick, but my Iron Ring I have on won't?

Neither will. Added damage on your weapon applies locally to hits with that weapon only.

Good god that's confusing o.0

Alright from now on I'm just going to pick up literally anything with Physical/Chaos. At some point I'll find something suitable ;)

Great guide! I have been following along with it so far and its my first time playing summoner so I appreciate the detailed breakdown in the leveling process. I am confused about gear, you make suggestions throughout the acts on what might be good to grab, but in the end what will the gear look like? Any uniques I should keep my eye on that will be used in the end build? I have very limited funds starting a league and don't want to spend it on stuff that will just be replaced a few levels down the line. Thanks again for your work.

@ Alerean:

"

Alerean wrote:

"

Hercanic wrote:

Added damage on your weapon applies locally to hits with that weapon only.

Good god that's confusing o.0

Alright from now on I'm just going to pick up literally anything with Physical/Chaos. At some point I'll find something suitable ;)

Yep, I hear ya. If it doesn't say, "for Spells" or isn't a support gem directly linked to Ball Lightning, like Lesser Poison Support, then it's not going to affect Ball Lightning. You can confirm whether it does by checking Ball Lightning's tooltip to see what damage types it deals. As long as there is at least 1 physical or 1 chaos damage dealt, you'll poison if Chance to Poison rolls in its favor.

@ krut0n:

"

krut0n wrote:

Great guide! I have been following along with it so far and its my first time playing summoner so I appreciate the detailed breakdown in the leveling process. I am confused about gear, you make suggestions throughout the acts on what might be good to grab, but in the end what will the gear look like? Any uniques I should keep my eye on that will be used in the end build? I have very limited funds starting a league and don't want to spend it on stuff that will just be replaced a few levels down the line. Thanks again for your work.

Leveling items are just that, items you use while leveling through Acts 1-10. Once you're in maps and are the minimum level to equip the items I showed in the main guide, that's when you can start using those items. In the Gem Links and Gear section I show examples of alternatives and various stages of my gear progression, from the best I was able to get down to my earliest gear that's not as good but still gets the job done. This part of the guide also describes what you want to look for in each piece of gear, since you won't always be able to find a match within your price range to what I was able to get.

You don't really need to use any leveling items. You can survive on found rares. Victario's Charity and Mark of Submission are the only lower-level Uniques that remain in the endgame build.

@ Hercanic

"

Nice! Which Ascendancy nodes are you taking?

Master of Metal initially made me very excited, since I was thinking I could potentially get a hundred+ stacks of Impale with minions, until I realized Impale is self-limiting. You can never have more than 5 stacks on a target, or 7 in the cast of Master of Metal. So at best that's an average of 42 added Physical Damage for your minions.

Inspirational's free banner is nice, but I ran the numbers on Dread Banner, which you can find in the FBE (FAQ), and it's around 10% more damage.

Worthy Foe is the strongest, almost giving you Bone Sculptor if you pair it with the From Dust jewel for 3x Skeletons per cast. It'd take 3 seconds instead of 1.72sec to summon all 10 Skeletons. Since taunt cannot be overwritten from whoever first applies it, if someone else taunts first, like your minions with a Minion Taunt Abyssal Jewel, then you taunt after, will you still apply Worthy Foe's effects or not? Like how every Ignite applies but only the strongest deals damage. If you must be the active taunter then you do not want to use that jewel and should stay away from the Stone Golem, since it has a built-in taunt. You will also be the main target for the boss, so you lose out on minion distraction for defense.

Good commentary. We share a lot of the same thoughts on the nodes. I'm running Master of Metal now, but that choice was made before impale mechanics were clear. The extra damage on the minions and my Blade Vortex (channeled in place of Ball Lightning) has been nice. However, I'm only on white maps, not because of power but because I want to do a full atlas SSF. If this node loses its luster, I can switch to Unstoppable Hero for stun immunity and other bonuses.

I agree that the free banner from Inspirational isn't a big deal, but that along with the extra 15% increased effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills feeds into my aura plans. The 25% life recovery and 12% increased Movement Speed doesn't hurt either. Conqueror and Worthy Foe together will add a decent amount of protection and DPS, since the auto hit benefits accrue to the crawler as well as the skeletons. One trade off, however, is giving up minion taunt, since it doesn't look like taunt can be over-written. Also, if the From Dust jewel doesn't drop to me, I'll be worried about end game. The skeletons really are the hammer for bossing.

Leveling this build as a Champion is not nearly as smooth as the Necro start in the early acts, but by Act 6 or 7, it was flying with absolutely no challenges except some of the Betrayal action. The speed is outstanding in incursions too. My plan is to tweak this over the full league and see how far the Champion summoner can go.

Great guide, i've been following it as my starter for betrayal league but i would like to know why didnt you take the grave intentions node? Its only 3 points for big damage increase and minion survivability.

What supports do you recommend for the phants and spectres? minion damage, minion speeed, greater projectiles, and what next?

Thanks again keep up the great work!

"

Hercanic wrote:

"

krut0n wrote:

Great guide! I have been following along with it so far and its my first time playing summoner so I appreciate the detailed breakdown in the leveling process. I am confused about gear, you make suggestions throughout the acts on what might be good to grab, but in the end what will the gear look like? Any uniques I should keep my eye on that will be used in the end build? I have very limited funds starting a league and don't want to spend it on stuff that will just be replaced a few levels down the line. Thanks again for your work.

Leveling items are just that, items you use while leveling through Acts 1-10. Once you're in maps and are the minimum level to equip the items I showed in the main guide, that's when you can start using those items. In the Gem Links and Gear section I show examples of alternatives and various stages of my gear progression, from the best I was able to get down to my earliest gear that's not as good but still gets the job done. This part of the guide also describes what you want to look for in each piece of gear, since you won't always be able to find a match within your price range to what I was able to get.

You don't really need to use any leveling items. You can survive on found rares. Victario's Charity and Mark of Submission are the only lower-level Uniques that remain in the endgame build.

I must be pretty dense, I am looking over the guide up and down and can't find the "Gem Links and Gear" section. I will keep looking for it. Thanks for the reply.