{3.2.0} Spectral Gods: [Life Based Spectre/Golem Hybrid Summoner | Clear Speed | End Game Bossing]

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mattc3303 wrote:

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I share your concerns but I think the main reason why they nerfed smoke mine was so we can't put minions on top of bosses like lvl 72 torture chamber where you want to get right in his face.

Yeah teleporting minions to bosses was a good way to kill them are you saying we should just avoid those bosses entirely or accept that we should lose minions every time we attempt those bosses? Its like using leap slam on a melee character to close the distance.

Btw that wasn't the reason why they nerfed smoke mine. All the summoner nerfs so far is pretty much from what the people at the top of the ladders are doing. CoD was noticed by the majority of the player base because some streamer was using it to get to level 100. People streamed smoke mine + evangelist combo to fight Atiziri. It was nerfed this patch as well.

xD...

It is a step to get rid of minion snap shotting. Losing minions is part of the game play. That's why we have desecrate for zombies when corpses are scarce.

We just choose to snap shot. But it's not the real way to play a summoner.

I think you have forgotten how it is to play summoner without snap shot =)

Edit: What is cod?

cast on death.

snapshotting needs to be fixed across the game, not just for summoners.

People keep saying that but after two years they have not fixed snapshotting yet. You can even still aura snapshot you just have to re-cast every time u rezone. And for some reason people have no complaints about RF snapshotting. Only summoners take the heat.

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Losing minions is part of the game play. That's why we have desecrate for zombies when corpses are scarce. But it's not the real way to play a summoner.

That is the same thing as saying we should all be pigeon-holed into playing a certain type of character. I want my minions to live and tank bosses =/. There is no "one way" to play isn't that is what GGG is trying to advertise a ARPG with a variety of builds?

Do we have any of the devs on record that snapshotting is intentionally being allowed, or is it just a loophole they're going to close in another patch or two? I'm saving up for a tabula, and would be...frustrated to have it become useless right after buying it.

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Do we have any of the devs on record that snapshotting is intentionally being allowed, or is it just a loophole they're going to close in another patch or two? I'm saving up for a tabula, and would be...frustrated to have it become useless right after buying it.

Tabula Rasa is still extremely useful even if they fix snapshot (and I highly doubt it, Ive heard it is hard coded in how skills function in this game in regards to gear slots)

On ambush am still using tabula since my zombie gem isn't leveled high enough and they sometimes die so I keep Tabula as my chest to resummon. Its still a great leveling item for any of your characters.

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kompaniet wrote:

Losing minions is part of the game play. That's why we have desecrate for zombies when corpses are scarce.

I agree to an extent. Losing minions should be a part of the game play. But losing all of them, consistently and almost instantly to OP (for a summoner build) bosses? No, that just sucks and should not happen (and yet it does). That would be like a melee character dropping their weapon when fighting a similar boss and not being able to instantly pick it back up or a spell caster forgetting how to cast for X seconds (Yes, I know there is a curse that can silence you (right?), but it can be instantly countered with a flask). It is a huge detriment that will usually leave the summoner dead before they can restore their army.

Just killed the game for me. Main reason I picked up PoE was the summoner, and with this thread it made it much more enjoyable.

No smoke mine = 1) Railroading me into playing only certain maps, as others are impossible to play due to minions ending up in all the wrong places and being clunky across the board. Even worse, I prefer indor dungeon-like maps, and not outdoor maps... 2) Inability to stop minions zerging off screen when I want them near me to heal them up or for w/e other reason, as there is NO other way to make them 'stay'. And as I've never used SM to gimmick-kill bosses, for me this nerf is completely just a game-breaking change which make my minions broken...

No snapshotting = 1) Overall less minion dps/survivability/utility. Settling on a single set of minion gear + existing passives will never let the summoner be a viable end game character. If there's no viable way to spec and gear-up so that my minions can do the job, summoner is a useless 'path'.

Bubble nerf = No big deal for me as I used Warp/Leap only as a time-saver when moving and never as a SM-combo to gain advantage in boss fights.

Even though I started playing PoE just a couple of months ago I realize that, just like Matt wrote, I could work around all of these offputting issues mentioned above, but there's a pattern here: Less and less freedom when shaping my character, which I perceived was a strong point of PoE, and instead more and more railroading... similar to what those nincompoop designers at Blizzard do to their games.

But considering I play the game for free, and haven't yet contributed financially to GGG, I'll get over it as soon as the affection towards my summoner fades. Ironically, my fiance and I planned to splash the cash on PoE during this very week as it seemed like such a fabulous game. However, at this point I might casually hop online at times but nothing overboard as was the case during these past 6-8 weeks.

I'd like to thank Matt in particular, but also everyone else who contributed to the discussion in this thread.

No problem Krux am glad I made the summoner an enjoyable build for you. I've adapted the build every patch every time they changed the summoner in some way but its really getting annoying.

Am more or less in the same boat as you. I find myself playing POE less and less. I just hope my request for a minion specific re-positioning skill will go through. I was ecstatic when I first found out smoke mine teleports your minions to you I thought GGG was finally addressing the clunky AI issues.

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Krux wrote:

No snapshotting = 1) Overall less minion dps/survivability/utility. Settling on a single set of minion gear + existing passives will never let the summoner be a viable end game character. If there's no viable way to spec and gear-up so that my minions can do the job, summoner is a useless 'path'.

I'm probably one of the few summoner fans who absolutely hates that snapshotting exists. I keep hoping that it will be fixed someday and minions will be buffed in a way that benefits every summoner build without gear swapping mechanics to compensate. And, sadly, I agree with you that, as it is now, without snapshotting the summoner build just pales in comparison to most out there and is not truly capable of handling end game material unless you want to die constantly while trying.

There are a few out there who claim the have insane summoner builds that do not reply on snapshotting, but by the same standards they keep those builds to themselves (as I imagine they fear crippling nerfs if they become popular).

guys, guys. sky isnt falling. Matt wrote this guide way before smoke mine and evangelists happened.
we'll get through it

on a bright side, arc just went from decent complementary skill to pretty powerful. I get 1k dps from it with just fast casting and barely any spell damage from gear and none from tree.

fast cast+ prolif + arc + blind (defensive) or light pen/add light damage (shock chance is great on quality added light damage+ if you have spell damage % mods, light pen for other cases)
grab static blows for moar shock

personally blind is a great option to protect minions and yourself, coupled with some evasion from grace = underrated as hell