Summoner + Lightning Tendrils

I wanted to take a moment and post a bit about my build because I'm not seeing it around, although there are indeed some similarly skinned cats about. Anyroad, it's actually working quite well for me and I'm really enjoying playing it, and if it please you I shall elaborate~
So, I actually had no idea what kind of Scion build I was going to do when I rolled SquirrelTalk and I didn't really look at the tree, spare enough to be like "kay, melee that way, casting this way, random biz over there". Early game I got Zombie, Spectre, and Animate Guardian... within a few levels of one another if memory serves. At the time I was dual wielding elemental damage maces and using Lightning Tendrils for AoE. Fast forward to now- I'm in Act 2 Merciless and things are going swimmingly... minus the occasional 'whoops just got 2 shot'. That being said, my character has some room for personal growth (health, resist, mana pool/regen) but at the same time I don't find it very difficult to stay alive and I just <3 having 8 zombies, a spectre, and the geared up guardian (*pref with a 2H or some solid top-end damage fist weps). On the contrary I could have saved 1 or 2 +zombie/skele nodes for later and picked up resist in lieu- but let me restate that I do not regret my situation. It's been super fun, but right now it's more about positioning and preparation and reaction to combat- all the good stuff that I was missing when I was steamrolling the first two rounds- no joke. ~This change is welcome and well timed, in my opinion.
I should also note that I didn't grab Necromantic Aegis until very recently (50ish?) but I'm really liking it versus DW and I think it's well timed now that I have the minion pool to benefit from bonus stat (and my less frequent recast) and the more srs bzns mobs. My minions don't lose much health often, the zombies rarely dying off (hence no asplode node), and I've kept them up (I really only watch the guard's health pool) through hard times with a potion of animation- a must have for this play style. Oh yeah, so at one point skeletons dropped, I read it, crapped my pants, and things really started to get nasty- it has shifted boss fights and those other really tough mobs- especially in merciless- to my favor, effortlessly (Q, Q, Q, Q, Q...Q).
What else? Well, how about adding in convocation and flesh offering- when they dropped for me- also recently-ish, I'd say 10 levs or so, but they found a place in my gear and the result- good just got gooder- maybe even great. I have convocation on cast when stunned for some free regen (that they don't need tbh) but more to create a physical meat shield for myself on a stun- which I'm discovering is maybe half the time a melee stun. It's eh, kinda sorta useful. Maybe. Actually I don't really know, but it's cool to have something cast on stun. That is 100% awesome.
I use flesh offering on triple mobs from rare chests and the like, and in those neato dungeons-within-dungeons that drop loot like hotcakes within hotcakes. Increased rarity? l33tc4k3s-w/in-l33tc4k3s. Oh my. Anyway- you can drop a flesh offering whenev because you make plenty of that cheddar, if you dig what I'm sayin'- only downside is the duration, but I imagine some of you lot could sort that out with some fancy support gem of some kind- truth be told, I'm not aware of one because I don't have one, so drop a comment if you have a solution there, I could sorely use the education. *plzkthx<3!~*
So. What else is there to say about the build? Oh yeah, lightning tendrils is outrageous. Is it just me or is it PLvl>9k? It feels so SS Pikachu +roid rage gem but I went ahead and added cold damage to it anyway because occasionally it just insta kills everything so that's nice. Ah, and I should also mention that I like to hit things in the face, so I am ecstatic that there are all these maces which increase elemental damage and also that glacial hammer is free and full of cold, hard retribution. Oh yes.
So the plan is minions, tendrils, glacial hammer (for glorious effect mostly, at least at this point) supporting your minions and maintaining a battlefield advantage and potting if necessary. Oh, also I just got a 6 slot chest drop of Devout Chainmail (w00w00!) which I'm currently 60 OoFs deep trying to link (x_X). Anyroad, while my currency is all gone, I have managed to get by with the drops around me the entire game. I literally did my first trade for Fusion orbs today after this chest dropped and I blew everything trying to make some magic. /sigh In any case I linked Zombie, Skeleton, and Minion Damage on a 3 banger and gave Animate guardian the other alongside m.damage and m.life for the longest time- that is, until NecroAegis caught my eye and I found Fire Damage in Stash (awyee) at which point I upgraded the lot to a four shooter and bided my time until the geary guard could jump in the mix. ~The plan is to link the 6 slot and put in Zombies, Skeles, and Guardian with Minion Damage & Life, and Added Fire Damage. Yessir. It's fun for me, this build, especially because I've maintained the ability to get some good face time and also casts the spells that makes the peoples fall down. Highly recommend playing a summoner if you like minions to do your bidding. Naturally, that's what makes this build, but, it's more what you choose to do with it I think, and if you have a look at my tree this is my story, which up to this point has been vastly fulfilling. Thanks for your time, exiles. Any questions or comments are absolutely welcome s(^_<)b

Current Passive Skill Tree as of level 58:
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAABAcGSQhnDXwQWBEtFm8YXRpsHNwfAiHDJKoo-ilPKpgsnCymMjQy0TbpN4M870VHRnFXyVfhWpFo8mqsa9t2EXyDga-Cm4LHiECMdpAzkNaTJ52unjymrKbrpwiofa3xsHexBbQMuJO40L-XwGbJPc360_vVptkL2jrjauQi5Ozquuvk6-7sOOyK8h75ZfqA

Edit: Didn't mention, I use an aura as well (when I'm not using ele resist for something serious) and that's Hatred. Don't know what other options are out there but haste I have on demand with flesh offering and that's one that I tried recently.
Also- I use a Vaal Storm Call just for fun. Because you need one beautiful special big spell.

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Vhulfshild wrote:

So the plan is minions, tendrils, glacial hammer

I recommend dual curse fire storm instead of tendrils and gh. Because FS can be casted as far as your mouse cursor goes without the need to be in range of the mobs and regardless of obstacles. Replace your LT and GH setup for FS or another ranged spell like Arc to support your minions. Also drop Animate Guardian except you have very good items available to summon, AG is more a luxury summon spell.

Necromantic Aegis with two weapons won't do anything, you'll need to equip a shield instead of the second weapon. But without any shield nodes or a fantstic minion shield NA is pretty weak, so I'd rather unskill it and put the point elsewhere.

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Necromantic Aegis with two weapons won't do anything, you'll need to equip a shield instead of the second weapon.

Far more would be far less kind in how that was explained, well put :) Naturally I equipped a shield when I picked up NA but I would not hold your reading comprehension accountable against my meandering, lengthy, often nonsensical discourse. BUT at least I did do this one thing. Sadly I am still unclear on what constitutes a "bonus" as far as NA is concerned. ~"All bonuses from an equipped shield apply to your minions instead of you"~ I am currently resigned to the impression that it is actually what appears as a facet of the shield itself (i.e. +%ele resist, reflect x dmg). I also think that it should include the lines that would follow below an intrinsic property unique to a particular variety of shield in the event of a magic, rare, or unique item. I am unclear whether a shield's intrinsic values (armor, block%, es/ev) are actually passed on via Necromantic Aegis. Anyway if the whole shield is not yours I wouldn't use the word bonus at all because it implies a part of something, in this case an item that varies in itself in complexity, complicating the interpretation as I have presented. It could rather say "Your shield now applies to your minions instead of you" if that were the case.

As far as the ranged + minion combo you're suggesting, my friend, I'm not going to disagree that it is far more sensible for most players. Between ~15-30 I considered whether to drop the mace for a bow or wand and swap out LT for the arc or some other spell that could keep me at range as well, but honestly at that time the melee was going quite well and I rather liked it :P
More or less, that's all the reason I wanted to put this down on the forum, just as one who says yeah, crunching numbers and ease of play and min/maxing and the like is going to streamline your experience in one respect, but as it happens I am content with the spread of the tendrils and the nice crack of the hammer because what's more important to me is the experience I get when I'm playing that way. And hey, sometimes you can get away with it. I'm just rolling the dice in that respect given that I don't even understand fully the mechanics of the skills I'm using.

My real apprehension with the build is what nodes I've gone for because they happen to be around the zombie trail- and I wonder if perhaps there's something critical I'm missing that's going to cripple my viability in the late-late game. I would like to play this toon to the end and continue doing things the way I like to long after but I suppose we shall see! Thank you for your feedback, Salumba :]

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AG is more a luxury summon spell

Forgot to say yes. This is the (okay, my) luxury summoner build. It even comes with a privileged scion persona that patronizes slain foes after even the most dubious bouts! And nothing says luxury like not giving an eff about some ess in an eff dungeon when like look at her hair breh and tell me that ain't some luxury products up in that.

Yiah. Love me some Animate Guardian. I like to give him good magic items thinking the additional properties carry over, and I think they do. At least it seems that way. Anyway I gave him a Rare 2H wep at one point and for a long time he was *nearly* 1 hitting many mobs. I dig hunting for upgrades and slowly building up the set. It's fun to play dress up. Obviously. It was harder in the beginning to keep him alive but honestly now I can see he deals great damage and only in fleeting circumstances am I really healing him up via the animation flask so I think it becomes less a sacrifice over time, although perhaps it takes time for the AG gem to really warm up. Just a theory, but in any case a lot more work than the other minions. Would not recommend unless you really, really like dress up.