[Invasion] Sarah the Self-found Solo Summoner

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Steelunicorn wrote:

Don't want to criticize your tree but the way you took to exit from witch area is not optimal. Too many points wasted.
Check this one.
For next two levels I'd suggest to take Eldrich Battery and run Arctic Armor for additional damage mitigation.

I'm sure you're right about the passive tree; I built it to be the best I could manage while leveling up, not end-game optimal. I do have a goodly number of respec points, so it's probably worth taking a look to see what I can do to optimize.

I've never used Arctic Armor before. At the moment I'm not sure where I'd put it on my gear, but I could probably work something out. How much total mana/mana regen is needed to run it comfortably?

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ineffablebob wrote:

I'm sure you're right about the passive tree; I built it to be the best I could manage while leveling up, not end-game optimal. I do have a goodly number of respec points, so it's probably worth taking a look to see what I can do to optimize.

I've never used Arctic Armor before. At the moment I'm not sure where I'd put it on my gear, but I could probably work something out. How much total mana/mana regen is needed to run it comfortably?

My stats now are 3k mana pool and 276 mana regen per second. Arctic armor is 18 lvl atm. For 20lvl I'm going to get some manageren on ring and ammy and reach 300per sec. I avoid halfregen and noregen maps. As for placing - you can put gem in any green socket as it don't need any supports at all.

After thinking a bit about the passive tree, and looking again at my available gear, I decided to make a few more changes. On the passive tree, I took a look at the ideas Steelunicorn posted, and decided it was time to get rid of the stuff on the left side of the witch starting area. (I considered also changing the right side, but I need those Dexterity nodes, plus I don't have the additional respec points/regret orbs available right now.) To do this, I had to use a total of 11 respec points: 4 points of non-connecting nodes so I could get the connecting nodes in the big ES circle below the witch starting area, and 7 points to get rid of the nodes I really wanted to lose. 4 of those points went to get back the first 4 nodes, and with the 3 left over I took Influence, an Int node, and Harrier. Here's the result. The net effect is a loss of 20 Strength, 20 Intelligence, 2% cast speed, and 20% spell elemental damage (which I wasn't using anyway); and a gain of 24% ES, 6% movement speed, 10% attack speed (which is useless), and 18% effect of auras. I'm also now set up to get the Leadership cluster if I decide I want it.

I also finally got those extra sockets I've been looking for, using a 6-socket/4-link Elegant Ringmail that I've been keeping around. I've used a bunch of orbs on it over the last five or six levels until it finally got both life and one decent resist roll. Had to also swap out a ring in order to keep my cold resistance up, and re-roll colors a few times. Here's the new gear layout:

I need to get one more red socket someplace so I can move Animate Guardian into it, and add Molten Shell to the Cast on Damage Taken link. Ideally I'll find a gloves with life and cold resistance at some point that I can roll into BBRR for Flesh Offering-Increased Duration plus Enfeeble and Animate Guardian. The current gloves don't want to cooperate, being Dex-only and therefore very resistant to 4 non-green sockets. You'll also note that I lost the Fire Penetration and Minion Damage linked to my spectres; that's because I'm going to snapshot the spectres with those in place, then move them to the weapon switch to make room for the Purity of Fire/Lightning that you see in the boots here. I'd do the same with LMP/Desecrate if I had those BBRR gloves I was mentioning above. Edit: Forgot to also mention that Summon Raging Spirit now has Faster Casting as well as Melee Splash and Increased Duration. Chain-casting spirits now keeps 9 of them active.

So, with all those changes, here's the new stats: 4520 life, 1016 mana, 588 ES, 3% armor physical reduction, 13% evade chance, 81/77/81/-24 resists, 32% chance to block. And I now have Enduring Cry being cast on damage taken, with the plan being to add Molten Shell when I get the right sockets.

Finally, on the subject of Arctic Armor, thanks for the suggestion. Turns out that I don't have an Arctic Armor gem, so that's not an option at the moment. If I did, I still don't think I'd use it, as I really don't have a mana pool/mana regen base anywhere near what Steelunicorn mentioned. I'd have to get some lucky gear drops with big mana bonuses, plus go get Eldritch Battery, to feel comfortable with it. Also, I'd have to move something off my skill bar so I could cast it, since (if I'm reading the skill description right) it's not fire-and-forget like an aura. So it's probably not feasible for Sarah, at least not right now.

Awesome thread, I'm also running a summoner in invasion right now. I see you're using skele-totem and self-casting spirit, have you considered the reverse? Just wondering. Although I see that you've moved closer to shadow's talent trees, so that make dual totem not very plausible (it works good with spell totem for spirits, but probably not so much with skeles.)

Oh well, best of luck! Also, the other difference i'm noticing in our builds is that you don't use wrath or anger, I find it to be really useful.

Wouldn't you lose body blockers if you do the reverse? That's something I always like with the skeleton totem.

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Kiarip wrote:

Awesome thread, I'm also running a summoner in invasion right now. I see you're using skele-totem and self-casting spirit, have you considered the reverse? Just wondering. Although I see that you've moved closer to shadow's talent trees, so that make dual totem not very plausible (it works good with spell totem for spirits, but probably not so much with skeles.)

I have indeed considered a spirit totem, and even dual totem, but I don't think it fits my playstyle very well. A spirit totem would be better damage, but not as good for defense, like Starxsword said above. I tend to think of a skeleton totem as an increase to evasion...the more targets there are on the screen, the less likely a monster will pick Sarah to attack. You don't get that with spirits since the monsters won't target them (though they can still die to AoE). Of course you can get the same result self-casting the skeletons, but that takes time that I could be spending to curse stuff or run away from danger. I can see a spirit totem being a viable option for someone looking for more DPS than defense, though (perhaps if you spend a lot of time in teams).

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Kiarip wrote:

Oh well, best of luck! Also, the other difference i'm noticing in our builds is that you don't use wrath or anger, I find it to be really useful.

The main reason I haven't run a damage aura is that I don't have the mana. If I dropped any of my current three auras (Clarity, Purity of Fire, Purity of Lightning) then I'd have to make up the mana and/or resistances by changing gear around, and as a self-found character my options are very limited in that regard. If I had a Reduced Mana gem it might be possible to work something out, especially once it reaches high levels, but so far the RNG has not been kind in that regard.

I just feel like, at least at the point in the game where I am now in most engagements a skele totem would max out the skeleton count really fast and then be useless, since skeletons aren't dying all the fast.

On bigger bosses though sometimes I wish that I did have it, maybe I'll just switch my gems around back and forth depending on what I'm fighting to go between skele totem and spirit totem.

I'm also not sure how you're having mana problems with clarity. I'm not running clarity and I don't have any issues with mana at all and that lets me run wrath.

edit: I'm very new to the game so I'm not familiar with names if you respond to this can you throw in the name of the curse that you use? I'm not using any right now.

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Kiarip wrote:

I just feel like, at least at the point in the game where I am now in most engagements a skele totem would max out the skeleton count really fast and then be useless, since skeletons aren't dying all the fast.

On bigger bosses though sometimes I wish that I did have it, maybe I'll just switch my gems around back and forth depending on what I'm fighting to go between skele totem and spirit totem.

I understand what you mean about the skeleton totem seeming useless in non-boss fights. I've seen builds with both skeleton and spirits set up as spell totems; cast the skeleton first, let it build up the army, then replace it with a spirit totem. Usually those are dual totem builds, so you can drop one of each, then drop a second spirit totem once the skeleton totem isn't needed any more. When playing hardcore I tend to err on the side of more defense, which means keeping the skeleton totem out, but there's nothing wrong with the other approach if that's your playstyle.

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Kiarip wrote:

I'm also not sure how you're having mana problems with clarity. I'm not running clarity and I don't have any issues with mana at all and that lets me run wrath.

It's probably a combination of things. Your gear/passives might have better mana/mana regen than mine. With Clarity, the only mana issues I have is if I need to resummon multiple zombies quickly, but without it, I can't chain-cast spirits as my mana regen isn't enough to keep up with the cost. With more mana/mana regen on gear it might not be a problem, but my limited selection doesn't make that easy. Or you might have different linked gems on your skills that keep your costs lower; my zombies cost 142 and spirits cost 51. With only 225 unreserved mana, those costs add up quick. And there's always Reduced Mana, which you may have but I haven't found (yet).

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Kiarip wrote:

edit: I'm very new to the game so I'm not familiar with names if you respond to this can you throw in the name of the curse that you use? I'm not using any right now.

Enfeeble is my primary curse. Dropping it on a group of nasty AoE enemies (tentacle miscreations, plumed chimeras, etc) usually gives the horde the time they need to take the monsters down without dying. Obviously Enfeeble is good against just about any boss. I find that I generally don't need to worry about using a curse to make an enemy more vulnerable, because as long as the horde is intact, they're pumping out the damage pretty fast. Enfeeble helps keep them upright longer.

I also have a Flammability curse on my weapon switch just for Igna Phoenix. If I see her, I portal out and swap curses. Once you hit her with Flammability she'll mostly kill herself, with just a little help from the horde.

Level 80-81

Mirrored Overgrown Shrine Map of Suffering (17.7 chaos damage per second, 18% elemental reflect, 36% IIQ): No particularly annoying monsters this time through; only a few scattered fire bombers, the rest were mostly skeletons. Killed the Hybrid Widow easily, without her getting to Sarah at all. Somehow managed to miss the Invasion boss entirely, which is fine. Found a Lochtonial Caress unique iron gauntlets, another one for the guild stash. Got three maps, 66/70/70.

Unwavering Graveyard Map of Hordes (monsters cannot be stunned, 25% increased pack size, 12% IIQ): Nothing particularly annoying in this instance; worst was a couple of rare mages casting lightning thorns on everything. Killed off Merveil with little trouble, although the horde did have to chase her all over the place. Much more difficult was Jikeji, spawned right up against the edge of the zone so the horde had to come at him from one direction, where they got smoked by all the warping totems. Had to resummon a couple of times, and move around away from the warping totems while throwing out spirits, until they finally managed to kill him. Found yet another Lochtonial Caress, sold this one. Picked up three maps, 69/69/70.

Shocking Pier Map of Hordes (29% increased pack size, 82% extra lightning damage, 12% IIQ): Plenty of uses of Convocation to keep the minions from getting separated as they moved around the various crates scattered around, but otherwise an uneventful map. Killed Tailslinger by hiding around a corner from him and letting the totem/spirits work him over. Approached from the bottom part of the screen toward the end area and had no trouble with the Flame of Truth, as most of his friends stayed back until I moved up to finish them off. Found a chisel and a 71 map.

Burning Colonnade Map of Suffering (18.3 chaos damage per second, 90% additional fire damage, 30% IIQ): Had a bit more trouble with Carnage than I was expecting from a warden clone, due to all the stuff that spawned right by him: slow aura rare, bunch of lightning arrow skeletons, blue vomit birds. Had to run away and resummon one full set of zombies, then move back in slowly to get him out in front of the rare. Once he was down the rest went easily enough. Ran into Rancor without many other monsters around so he was fairly easy to beat, although I did have to resummon one set of zombies after his chaos damage and reave tore through the first set. Found another Doomfletch, sold it. Picked up two maps, 66 and 72.

Burning Jungle Valley Map of Enfeeblement (players cursed with enfeeble, 95% extra fire damage, 30% IIQ): Fought a running battle with Graveblood that cost many zombies; cold resistance wasn't helping them against the full-screen Glacial Cascade and all the ice spears. Eventually got to a position where I could safely cast spirits while he was busy with skeletons, and that finished him off. Didn't visit the Spinner of False Hope. Found nothing of interest.

Hexproof Bog Map of Hordes (monsters immune to curses, 47% increased pack size, 18% IIQ): Land of the snake bosses as both Slitherskin and Tailslinger fell to the horde easily. Found my first Regal Orb; nothing to use it on for now. Found two maps, 68/70.

Fleet Pier Map of Balance (elemental equilibrium, faster monsters, 38% IIQ with 6% quality): Dual fire dog bosses with Bladetooth and Flame of Truth, easy pickings. Had a much rougher time with a rare cannibal with faster attacks and Storm Herald who spawned near a faster attacks totem. Apparently Storm Herald is affected by faster attacks because the lightning was coming down like crazy. Had to pull the horde back to get the boss away from the totem so they'd survive long enough to do some damage. Wish every zone would drop 2 chisels and 4 maps (68/70/71/72) like this one did.

Burning Temple Map of Enfeeblement (players cursed with enfeeble, 95% extra fire damage, 30% IIQ): This is another map where I'll avoid the boss, as the Piety clone just wipes out minions with lightning storm. The extra fire damage mod would just make it worse. Ran into Corrector Draconides in the middle of a horde of other monsters, including two rares. Turned around to run and got bear trapped once, but the horde kept him busy until I could pull back and regroup. He followed, away from the rares, and the horde made short work of him. Found 3 maps, 70/70/71.

Hit level 81 in the temple map and picked up Clear Mind, which brings me up to -8 chaos resist.

Maybe a little morbid and shitty, but everyday I check in and read, just to see if you ripped yet... :-p

Now that that is said and done, gl!