[Invasion] Sarah the Self-found Solo Summoner

Boo... I died at 51... which I guess is a 23 level improvement over how far I got last time lol

good luck with your summoner!

Level 81-82

Fleet Labyrinth Map of Hordes (34% increased pack size, faster monsters, 23% IIQ): I don't like these maze maps since the horde doesn't navigate all the narrow alleys very well, plus there's high probability of devourers. But you take what the RNG gives you, and in this case I was fortunate to miss the devourer spawns. Invasion boss was Mother of the Swarm, who seemed to be confused by the map layout, because she mostly walked around instead of actually attacking. The horde was happy to take advantage of that to kill her without losing a zombie. Sallazzang was easy as well, once flesh offering disposed of nearby corpses. Found two maps, 72/73.

Twinned Canyon Map of Hordes (44% increased pack size, two unique bosses, 6% IIQ): Not a huge fan of double archer bosses, but the increased pack size is great for XP, so I'll give it a go. Invasion boss was Bladetooth; cast convocation a few times to keep the horde from dying in the poison clouds, but otherwise nothing special. The dual Lord of the Bow bosses were a pushover, just cursed them and raised a couple of zombies that they took down. Had a rougher time with a couple of packs of blue spine serpents, but once enfeebled the horde was able to stay upright long enough to kill them. Found two maps, 70/73, and the 73 even has 5% quality.

Mirrored Dark Forest Map of Flames (burning ground, 18% elemental reflect, 34% IIQ with 5% quality): Had to reroll this one a bunch of times since it kept getting ugly mods like chain, temporal chains, and vulnerability. Burning ground isn't ideal but at least it's better than those. Got some mileage out of Enduring Cry as devourers were everywhere; Sarah was down to about half life three different times when blues (and once a rare) popped up and took a bite at her. Hit evasion and quicksilver flasks each time and ran well away to heal up, while the horde took care of them. Invasion boss was Grath, who just melted under the onslaught of the horde, barely had to slow down. Oak the Mighty wasn't particularly mighty, though he did last long enough to kill a couple of zombies. Found one 73 map.

Hexproof Canyon Map of Commanders (32% more rare monsters, monster immune to curses, 21% IIQ): Had a rough time with both bosses; shows how much enfeeble helps, I suppose. First there was the Sunburst Queen, who was killing minions left and right with her multi-fireball even before she set off incinerate nova. Took me three full resummons and a lot of running around casting spirits to kill her. Then there was Lord of the Bow, not nearly as bad as the queen but still tougher than the previous map that had two of him. No drops of interest.

Armored Jungle Valley Map of Enfeeblement (players cursed with enfeeble, 30% monster physical resist, 26% IIQ): Mother of the Swarm was in the first group outside the portal, which was nice since she didn't have too many nearby monsters to feed Soul Eater. Lots of the leaping chimeral frogs in the zone, which hit Sarah a few times as they jumped over the horde, but otherwise nothing to worry about. Stayed away from the Spinner. Found a Zahndethus' Cassock (and guild stashed it) and a 69 map.

Mirrored Arachnid Nest Map of Suffering (17.8 chaos damage per second, 18% elemental reflect, 36% IIQ): Had to fight through quite a few poison-bomber spawns, using my standard tactic of using convocation to keep the zombies from standing in the poison while the skeletotem and some spirits did the damage. Blinded the All-Seeing Eye without losing a zombie. Lord of the Bow was a bit more challenging since he spawned with blue poison bombers and bunch of other monsters; had to resummon the horde once to get through. Found Concentrated Effect and Increased AoE gems; don't see myself using those but could be useful for other characters. Found four maps, 67/69/70/71, and was able to trade 3 69s for another 70.

Undead Dry Woods Map of Balance (inhabited by undead, elemental equilibrium, 17% IIQ): Lots of necromancers, as one would expect in an undead map. Found Spirit of Nadia and Spirit of Aidan along with a rare necromancer, which took a while to work through but wasn't very dangerous. More dangerous was Guardian of the Mound, who killed off all the zombies while they were working over the nearby monsters. One run-and-resummon cycle finished him off. No drops of interest.

Twinned Bog Map of Hordes (two unique bosses, 30% increased pack size, 6% IIQ): Twin Slitherskins shouldn't be too dangerous as long as I see them coming. In fact they turned out to not only be not dangerous, but not even remarkable enough to notice; I only realized that the horde had killed them when a bunch of items dropped. Invasion boss was Balus Stoneskull, who lived a little longer than the other monsters but did no damage to speak of. Found two maps, 67/69.

Multifarious Coves Map of Suffering (increased monster variety, 18.2 chaos damage per second, 24% IIQ): Chased Inti of the Blood Moon around the map, destroying corpses with flesh offering while the horde beat him up. Took a few minutes but otherwise uneventful. Took a couple of hits from Master of the Blade when he flicker-striked his way over to Sarah, but he barely made a dent in her life total. Found 3 maps, 66/68/69. Also got a Reduced Duration gem which is the first of those I've seen; not really useful, though.

Hit 82 and picked up the 6% to elemental resists node below Clear Mind, with the intention of getting the 15% cold resist node below that next. This is mostly to give me some more flexibility on gear choice; I have a couple of rings that could give me another socket or more life, if I'm not limited by keeping my cold resistance maxed.

Level 82-RIP

Decided to use my free green socket to level up Temporal Chains. There are situations when it's a better curse than Enfeeble, especially if you get Hex Master, which I'm considering heading toward on the passive tree if I live that long.

Punishing Necropolis Map of Elemental Weakness (players cursed with elemental weakness, 18% physical reflect, 55% IIQ with 20% quality): Decided to finally run my one level 75 map; used 4 of my 5 chisels on it, plus re-rolled it a bunch of times to get what looks like decent mods. Still not a big fan of the elemental weakness, but I kept getting worse stuff (blood magic, chain, etc) so this will have to do. Lots of necromancers casting curses to lower my resistances even further, so took things nice and slow to avoid biting off too big a chunk of monsters at once. Invasion boss was The Firestarter (of course there would be some massive elemental damage boss in an elemental weakness map) but I saw him coming and was able to get the minions working him over while I hid around a corner. Or so I thought; Sarah was down to about half life before I realized that his fire bombs were still hitting me, possibly from increased AoE on the burning ground they generate. Ran away, got the horde set up again, and this time was able to properly get into position to take him out safely. Got Merveil to chase me out of the end room, which was infested with necromancers, so I could kill her in another room. Found an Al Dhih unique timeworn claw, seems pretty useless but dropped it in the guild stash anyway. Only got one map, but it's level 75.

Fecund Bazaar Map of Hordes (25% increased monster life, 38% increased pack size, 17% IIQ with 5% quality): Used my last chisel and rolled this a few times to get the hordes suffix. The extra monster life shouldn't matter much. First monster group in was Graveblood and friends; had to run around a bit to find a spot where the horde could surround him without me being hit by his various ranged cold attacks, but once I did, he died quickly. Had a rough time with a spawn of a bunch of blue undying grapplers and a storm herald snake rare, wiped out the horde and knocked Sarah down to half life. Took out most of the blues in the process, though, and was able to finish them off with a fresh horde. The triple banner bosses went down easily, though a rare grappler in the same group took a while. No drops of interest; guess I'm back to level 70 maps since two full level 75 map clears had a net of zero map drops.

Fleet Villa Map of Suffering (faster monsters, 18.6 chaos damage per second, 41% IIQ): The native chimerals and aristocrats were the usual pain in the rear, but I was also fortunate enough to get some Flame Sentinels so I could upgrade to level 70 spectres. Excellis Aurafix wasn't too difficult, as I did a bunch of running back and forth to keep the horde from standing in his trap's area while killing off all the nearby blues, then let him run into a corner and killed him. Invasion boss was the Bolt Juggler, who spawned in a fairly small room with a cannot-die totem. I managed to get every monster in the room except him to come out away from the aura, but he refused to come out, so eventually I had to hit my evade and quicksilver flasks, run past him into the room, then while he was fighting the horde circle around and throw spirits at the totem. Lost a few zombies in the process but otherwise no damage. Found one level 68 map.

Ceremonial Underground Sea Map of Hordes (totems, 42% increased pack size, 12% IIQ): Very first monster group had a rare necromancer and Strangledrift, who put on a pretty light show with all his lightning attacks but wasn't doing any real damage. 81% lightning resist coming through, I guess. Had a few tough spots where a cannot-die totem spawned behind a bunch of monsters so I had to pull them away before the horde could get at the totem, but otherwise an uneventful map to clear. No problem with the The Idol Beyond at the end. Found one 71 map.

Multifarious Colonnade Map of Suffering (increased monster variety, 20 chaos damage per second, 24% IIQ): Took out Alpha Paradisae with only a couple of zombies down, due to flesh-offering-corpse-denial. Had to maneuver a bit with Carnage since he wanted to stay behind some columns that made it difficult for the horde to get at him, but eventually he moved and died quickly thereafter. No drops of interest.

Antagonist's Graveyard Map of Enfeeblement (players cursed with enfeeble, nemesis mods, 30% IIQ): Some fairly bad monster groups on this one, including devourers and tentacle miscreations. The horde did fine against them but I had to be careful not to let Sarah get caught in a crossfire or stuck in the middle of a devourer group. Invasion boss was Kutec, Vaal Fleshsmith, who didn't really do much; horde got to him too quickly, I guess. Had to run around a bit to avoid Merveil while the horde killed a bunch of blue devourers that had spawned nearby, then they ate her brain. No drops worth mentioning.

Unwavering Graveyard Map of Enfeeblement (players cursed with enfeeble, monsters cannot be stunned, 30% IIQ): Much easier spawn types this time, with neither devourers nor tentacle miscreations. Invasion boss was tougher, though; Graveblood killed a bunch of minions and forced me to unfreeze myself with the quicksilver flask and run away. Fortunately the second wave of minions took care of him. Needed no special tactics with Merveil this time, just let the horde go to work. Found one level 70 map.

Antagonist's Pier Map of Exposure (-15% max resists, nemesis mods, 42% IIQ): Took things a little slow due to the lowered resists. Invasion boss was the Bolt Juggler, lots of elemental damage there, but fortunately he spawned in a narrow alley by a crate so his traps weren't spewing lightning all over the place. He killed many minions, but didn't touch Sarah. Found a Storm Herald rare a bit further along that demolished most of the horde, but one round of resummoning took it down. No trouble with the Flame of Truth. Found two maps, 67/71.

Unwavering Strand Map of Hordes (36% increased pack size, monsters cannot be stunned, 12% IIQ): Bosses were Mother of the Swarm about halfway along, and Massier in the end area. Killed both without any special tactics. Yet another map with no drops of interest; that's four of the last nine that have dropped nothing but worthless rares and minor currency, or six of the last twelve if you don't count sub-70 maps.

Freezing Overgrown Shrine Map of Power (88% extra cold damage, monsters gain power charges, 27% IIQ): Down to level 69 maps as I'm out of anything higher. The horde tore through everything as quickly as you'd expect against stuff 13 levels lower. Neither Wonderwalker nor the Hybrid Widow caused any trouble. Found two maps, 66/71.

Rare Temple Map (chilled ground, inhabited by sea witches, players cursed with elemental weakness, 35% increased monster damage): Used a Chance Orb on this since it has a unique possibility; you never know. Ended up with this rare instead, which isn't too bad except for the elemental weakness (leaves me at 51/45/76 resists). And wouldn't you know it, death had nothing to do with the elements. Cintiq the Inescapable lived up to her name this time, ignoring the horde and jumping Sarah with flicker strike then multiple ethereal knives before I could curse her, or run away. Tried to hit the life/evasion/quicksilver flasks in the process, but only one went off, which tells you how fast she ate through my 4575 life/588 ES. The horde killed her after I died, which was mildly amusing. Too bad the game doesn't let you live on if your minions survive whatever killed you.

Well, 82 isn't a bad run, and now Midnightgem can stop checking the thread to see if I died. :) Too bad I didn't get that last achievement by hitting 90, but such is life in hardcore. If I ever attempt to get there again, it won't be with a self-found character, because getting map drops has been such a pain. I like a lot of things about the end-game system, but having to grind just to get the opportunity to play (and die) in areas with decent XP is definitely not one of them. Once Sarah got up to 75+, a lot of the fun went out of the game because of that.

I'm considering working up a beginner/solo/self-found summoner guide, as I know this thread has gotten ridiculously long and some people have expressed interested in a consolidated version. If I do, I'll link to it from the original post for reference. Other than that, I think I'm pretty much done playing PoE until the next four-month league, as I've done everything that I can reasonably expect to accomplish in these leagues and there are lots of other games that I want to play.

Hope everyone has enjoyed the journal. Best of luck to you all!

"SarahTheSSSummoner" like "Sarah The SS Summoner" ? Oo NAZIIIIIIIIIIIII

Another great read, sorry for your RIP.
I'll look for your summoner guide, I m solo-SF and would like to try out a summoner, having found some summoner items I'd like to use.

"

Once Sarah got up to 75+, a lot of the fun went out of the game because of that.

GGG take note. Bob's not the only one who's noticed this.

Thanks very much for the thread- really enjoyed it.

Bravo on another good run, Bob. Thanks again for taking the time out to write it all out for us. I sure enjoyed it.

My summoner is up to 46 now and just starting to hit her stride. I've readjusted as I've gone along to fit what equipment I've found and to how your story went. With all the others chiming in on this thread, there is no dearth of information on how to get a summoner built.

Be well, and we'll see you next league.

Was a good run and a good read.

Thanks for the read once again. After reading how you play maybe I'll try a more cautious style and live longer....then again probably not, gung ho is just so much fun. That's why I can never play HC.