[Legacy] Sarah the Self-found Solo Summoner

I really enjoy the summoner playstyle, and not only in this game: played a lot of necromancer in Diablo II, mastermind in City of Heroes, etc. In PoE, there are three distinct phases to a summoner build: early on where you have to deal most of the damage yourself, mid-game where the minions are strong but fragile and need resummoning often, and late game where you let the minion horde run wild while you direct the chaos. I enjoy the challenge of the changing playstyle. Plus summoner builds are somewhat forgiving of lag and slow reactions/mistakes; often the minions will distract the enemies long enough for you to recover (and run).

My playstyle as a summoner follows three main guidelines:

1. Minions are stupid. No matter how good the AI programming, your minions are going to do dumb things. They'll run off and aggro stuff, they'll ignore the dangerous mobs to attack harmless rats, they'll get stuck and disappear behind you, etc. Thus, the trick is to minimize their opportunity to be stupid: summon them right next to the primary target, pull mobs into good terrain with minimal obstacles, etc.

2. Minions are expendable. If you die, it's game over (or at least, loss of time/XP/league). If a minion dies, you make another one. Obvious, I know, but it's very easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the zombies or golems or whatever, and forget to watch out for that backstabbing baddie coming up behind you. It's also very easy to focus only on the minions when choosing gear and passive skills. Don't forget your own well-being!

3. Minions need focus. It's pretty hard to play a reasonably successful partial summoner. Either you're all in as a summoner, or you don't summon. There are some exceptions, like the Flame/Chaos/Ice Golems or skeleton totems that can be useful to other builds, but as a general rule you want summoning to be your main focus. As soon as the minions are able to handle the damage-dealing load, the summoner can stop attacking and think more like a general than a foot soldier. It may seem cool to rain fire from the sky or throw out a blizzard while your minions are distracting the enemy, but in the long run splitting your focus between your own spells and the minions will lead to both being weaker. Remember, summoners don't need AoE skills...summoners *are* an AoE.

Sarah will be a Witch. Back in the day, you pretty much had to play witch as a self-found summoner since the important skill gems weren't guaranteed to be available to any other class. That's no longer true, with the change to make gems available from vendors, but I still think the Witch makes a lot of sense. You start near Lord of the Dead and can get Minion Instability fairly quickly, which is great in the early and middle game (and can be respecced out once your minions start surviving all but the nastiest damage). Easier to access the rest of the summoning nodes than most other classes as well.

I settled on the name "SarahNiekramant" by putting "necromancer" into Google Translate and picking various languages until I found one I liked the look of. (The winner: Belarusian.) Who says it's hard to come up with thematic character names?

I took Sarah through the Twilight Strand quickly, stopping only to fireball a few zombies and beat up Hillock. Which was exactly enough for her first level. Almost entirely useless item drops, as per usual. The RNG does love to drop swords and iron armor when I'm playing a non-melee character. Got Summon Zombie from the Hillock quest, of course.

At first glance, the passive tree doesn't seem to have changed much since I last played. Well, not in the areas that I'm using as a Summoner Witch, anyhow. Think I'll grab Lord of the Dead, then head for Minion Instability via the Cruel Preparation life node cluster. This will definitely be a life build, no way I'm going to count on getting good CI gear.

Went through the Coast, hitting level 3 on the way. The zombies survive better than I remember. Either they've been buffed at these low levels, or the way they take damage has changed. I'm glad of it, anyway. I'm still resummoning them regularly, but it's not necessary after every single fight and they actually survive against bosses for more than a couple of seconds. The three I had out lived long enough to distract Fire Fury when I ran into her.

Found my very first Leaguestone in the Coast. It says my next area will have a monster imprisoned by essences, which is new to me. Sure, why not? I went on to the Mud Flats, hit level 4 while killing off Oozeback Bloom and picking up the glyphs, then found an essence-locked rare Rhoa. It spawned with a haste modifier, which made it an interesting fight at these low levels, but I prevailed and got a rare armor out of it. Also a "Whispering Essence of Greed" which appears to basically be a Orb of Alchemy with one locked property. Useful!

After opening up the passage, I picked up Summon Raging Spirit from Tarkleigh. Swapped it in for Fireball, so now I'm done with dealing damage myself. All minions from here on out.

Headed back to the Coast on my way to the Tidal Island to take care of Hailrake, and found another essence-locked monster. I hadn't noticed before that those Leaguestones had multiple charges. Guess I'd better pay attention to which I have equipped as I move along. This worked out nicely since I got to beat up two extra rares, one in each zone, and hit level 5 before killing Hailrake. Hooray, Quicksilver Flask reward!

Leaguestones are apparently very common, because I found three more by the time I'd finished off Hailrake. Two of them have something to do with Breaches, which are new to me. I decided to try that out with a reset of the Mud Flats. The breach was easy to find - nice that they show up on the mini-map once you get close enough - and between the zombies and spirits it wasn't hard to clear. That took me to level 6, and a quick trip up to clear the Fetid Pool was enough for level 7.

I liked the breach leaguestone effect, so I kept using it into the Submerged Passage and Flooded Depths. Hit level 8 and 9 plus got the crab-killer point, which was enough to pick up Lord of the Dead on the passive tree. Those breaches certainly help with item drops: got a ton of currency and a few useful items, including a wand with +1 to fire gems for my Spirits. I also like how knowing that a breach is there gives you incentive to look around the area, rather than just rushing on to the next zone.

Onward to the Ledge, where another breach dropped the first breach item I've seen. Decent rare lowbie ring, no complaints from me. Also ran across my boy Elreon, so the master collection has begun. Hit level 10.

Found my first wild essence-locked monster in The Climb. Good to know they'll spawn randomly as well as with the leaguestones. Also ran across Haku and got level 11 doing his mission - someone to keep Elreon company. Right next to the breach was Navali, guarded by The Faun, who stood no chance against the minions. Encountering her in the wild is new to me, but I remember the prophecies - looks pretty much the same now that she's in town. Had a bad moment in the breach when something locked Sarah in place and started burning her, will have to watch out for that in the future.

After walking into the Lower Prison, I went back to town and picked up Minion Damage from Nissa as the quest reward. Also bought a Melee Splash support for the Raging Spirits. Available links aren't great yet, but at least those can level until I can put them to use.

Now that I'm level 10 I can use two leaguestones, so I picked out two commons for the prison: a breach and a talisman. Talismans are new since I last played as well. Turned out the talisman-carrier was the rare guy at the end of the ascension trial area in the Lower Prison, which worked out fine. Useless chaos-damage mods on the talisman, though.

In the Upper Prison, the talisman-carrier was much nicer to me: dropped a +1 zombie talisman which Sarah is happy to use. Found another breach ring, too, which I guess must be pretty common since I've got two rare ones already. Got to level 11 and grabbed Cruel Preparation; next stop Minion Instability.

Brutus was a lot easier than I remember; two of my five zombies even lived through the fight. Used to be that he'd wipe them out in a couple of seconds and the rest of the fight was me frantically running away and summoning a spirit whenever it was safe. Makes a big difference when your meat shields actually do their job at these low levels. Picked up Summon Skeletons as my quest reward and bought a Spell Totem, though I can't link them for now. Not a big deal yet.

I had forgotten how annoying Prisoner's Gate can be for a lowbie summoner. Fire Dogs and Goatmen, area attacks everywhere that just destroy minions. Sarah was never in any real danger, not even when I found a Remote Gulch corrupted area and fought Sheaq, but it makes for slow going. Also ran across a unique Goatman whose name I forget, but he was new to me. Not Guardian of the Mound, anyway. On the bright side, between all the enemies, the breach, and the corrupted area, there was a lot of XP around and Sarah made it all the way to level 15.

I found a blue leaguestone that guaranteed a stone circle, which is new to me, as well as a rare talisman. I equipped it along with the breach leaguestone for the Ship Graveyard. I found the circle, but didn't have the five different talismans needed to activate it. I'm guessing that's probably just as well, since I expect it would have spawned something ugly. I'll keep the other charges on that leaguestone for later. The rare talisman is nice, extra mana and life and resists, good enough that I think it's worth replacing my +1 zombie talisman.

Cleared out the cave and fought Fairgraves, getting to level 16 in the process. After entering Merveil's Caverns, hopped back to town and grabbed Flesh Offering. My breach leaguestone ran out, so I replaced it with a Perandus chest leaguestone. Opened one of those chests in each of the cavern areas, mediocre items plus a few coins. The guards weren't too bad at this level, but they look like they could be dangerous at higher levels. Also found another rare talisman, focused on cold damage so not useful for Sarah. Hit level 17 on the way and grabbed Minion Instability.

Good timing on the instability, since Merveil killed off two of the zombies almost immediately and was tearing through skeletons. I alternated between throwing more skeletons at her, summoning spirits, and moving around out of the way of the waterspouts. She didn't last long.

Onward through the Southern Forest, again with breach and Perandus chest leaguestones. No problem with the breach, but the chest guardians were some fire-throwing dudes that really did a number on the zombies. I was reduced to summoning skeletons to keep them away from Sarah, but that worked fine since they simply killed themselves by blowing up the skeletons repeatedly. Finished off level 18 as I reached the Forest Encampment. Next stop on the passive tree will be some strength and dexterity nodes, since I'm already running into requirements issues with gear and gems.

A Morbid Tempest was raging in the Old Fields, thanks to a prophecy. Added a bit more excitement to the breach, Perandus chest, and fight against Torr Olgosso. That last dropped all rares due to another prophecy, and there was good stuff from the breach also. Most notably, a Sidhebreathe unique amulet with good minion boosts, and a Iron Circlet with +1 to minion gems, where I put Zombies + Minion Damage.

Took a side trip into the Den to beat up the white beast and picked up level 19. Found my first Chaos Orb and a Quicksilver Flask that I was able to roll into extra charges and faster move speed. The quest reward of a rare heavy belt was actually useful since I need strength to keep leveling gems. Also found a nice shield with strength, life, and resists that happened to have a red-blue link, so that's my skeletotem setup. While I was messing with gems, I also went back to Act 1 and bought a Clarity. Not really necessary yet, but I'll probably want it eventually.

Onward through the Crossroads (poor Calaf, still a wuss after all this time) to the Chamber of Sins. I'd removed my leaguestones for the Crossroads since I wasn't going to wander all over looking for spawn locations, but they were back in for the Chamber. The Perandus chest was nasty on level 1, had a bunch of guys using some version of Firestorm that mowed down the zombies. Fortunately the skeletons kept them busy, and shortly, dead. Also killed off Black Death while I was there; she's not really dangerous until later difficulties.

Level 2 wasn't any better for the chest, guarded by a bunch of evangelist guys using Molten Strike that toasted the zombies. Had to run away a bit and let them chase down and kill skeletons until the explosions and spirits got them. Fidelitus was annoying because he ignored the minions and went straight for Sarah, but at least it was an easy fight - just ran away until they killed him. Hit level 20 and got the Might +30 strength node. Cleared the ascension trial on my way out. For my quest reward, got Desecrate, which is useful in battle at these levels, and even once that's not necessary it'll still be nice for generating corpses for spectres.

Next I removed my leaguestones again and went after waypoints. Crossroads to Fellshrine to the Crypt, Crossroads to the Broken Bridge (and killed Kraityn while I was there), and The Riverways to the Western Forest. Fought only when my Quicksilver Flask needed refilling, but that was enough to hit level 21 and get the Agility +30 dexterity node. Should take care of gear requirements for a while, and now I can head south toward Gravepact.

Equipped a bloodlines and Perandus leaguestone and headed to the Crypt. Another set of fire-throwers at the chest on level 1, but the terrain kept them bottled up so they went down fairly easily. Found and passed the ascension trial, hit level 22, and took out a strongbox with a rogue exile guard. Also ran into Catarina, good to have her in my corner.

On level 2, came across a Entombed Alcove corrupted area and cleared it, gaining level 23. Shrapnelbearer is a real danger in the late game, but not so much on Normal difficulty. Just have to stand well away and let the minions block. Took the Hand from the bishop with no real difficulty. The Perandus chest guards were lightning-based this time and went down to the zombie attack quickly. For the quest reward, picked up Survival Instincts which will go nicely in the jewel socket I'm about to pass on the way to Gravepact.

Off to the Western Forest. The Perandus chest was easy this time, no concentrated fire guards. Sarah rolled on through the passage guards, Alira, and the Weaver with equal ease...the benefits of being over-leveled. Hit level 24 in the process. None of Silk's reward gems appealed to me much, so I just took a Faster Casting and stashed it.

Moved on to the Wetlands with bloodlines and altars (shrines) leaguestones. Hit up Oak for my 40 life bonus, and cleared out two shrines. Also found a Narrow Ravine and had little trouble with it. Kamaq is a lot more scary on higher difficulties. Had a 20-quality gem prophecy fulfilled, sadly with an Ancestral Protector which is pretty useless for Sarah.

Killed the tree and headed down into the Vaal Ruins, with a new double-Perandus chest leaguestone added to the altars one. Both chests were annoying with guards doing major area damage, which I expect will happen with most of those from here on out. Not really dangerous at this point...again, I'm over-leveled. Got a ton of coins out of the deal. Hit level 25, then moved on into the Northern Forest.

Ran across Seleslatha but the horde had no trouble with her. Two more Perandus chests with a ton of coins, and one of them also dropped a Regal Orb plus a unique...Zerphi's Last Breath grand mana flask, might as well make use of that! Also cleared a Secluded Copse corrupted area, making level 26 in the process. In Normal, it's easy to out-summon Kutec.

Into the Caverns. Two more chests, yet more coins. The horde made short work of Q'uru and everything around both shrines. Found Tora once I was in the pyramid basement, and cleared out a cave full of those leaping maw things for her. The zombies didn't fare well against them, but they killed themselves pretty quick on skeletons and spirits. I was pleased to find Tora right outside the cave when I finished...when I last played, you had to run all the way back to her for the mission completion. Made level 27 then headed up the stairs.

The pyramid climb was mostly uneventful, although the chest guards were again tough on the minions. Lots more coins, not much else. Hit level 28 during the climb. Up on the pyramid apex, the Oversoul got smoked. He had time to summon two sets of minions and that was it. Didn't even make any attacks, the horde took him down so fast.

Here's where I'm at with the passive tree. Three more points will get me to Gravepact and the leech node past it, then I think I'd better pick up some life for myself before more minion boosts.

Last charges on my double Perandus and shrines leaguestones. The Perandus chests in the City of Sarn were in annoying locations: one just barely off the screen from the waypoint, and the other in a long dead-end alley. And both shrines were nearby as well. Had to do some retreat-and-resummon tactics to finish them off. Rescued Clarissa then found a Jeweler's Strongbox, but it didn't drop anything useful.

New leaguestones: invasion boss and talisman. The invading boss in the Slums turned out to be Bladeback Guardian, fortunately found on one of the small stairwell areas so he couldn't AoE down the whole horde at once. Nothing impressive from the talisman.

The Crematorium featured an invading Corrector Draconides, very thematic with his fireball attacks. He killed all the zombies but the rest of the minions handled his Normal-difficulty attacks easily. Hit level 29, then cleared the ascension trial and found another unimpressive talisman drop. Found a Disused Furnace corrupted area, no trouble with it since Curator Miem's fire isn't too bad on this difficulty. Easy fights against both Hatebeat and Piety to finish off the trip.

Back through the slums and into the sewers. The invading boss was Genesis Paradisae and he dropped a unique. Sadly, it was only Silverbranch, but I'll save it in case I want to level an archer someday. The talisman looks decent for pure fire damage but nothing Sarah will use. Also ran across Vagan and beat him up. Grabbed the statue and moved on.

Found an invading Spinesnap almost immediately in the Warehouse Sewers, and he was a pain. Minion Instability really helps against him since none of the minions live long at all. Found another Undying talisman with +1 zombie, but the other mods were awful. Got to level 30 and picked up Gravepact. Grabbed the statue and waypoint then headed upstairs.

Wound my way through the Warehouses without spotting much of anything: no invading boss, no talisman-carrier, no gemlings. I wasn't about to go back and try to find them. That zone is such a pain to navigate, I'm always just happy when I find the exit.

Time for a new set of leaguestones, and now that I'm level 30 I get to use three. Talisman, Bloodlines, and Essences - that last with a bonus to give higher level essences, but has only 3 charges. Dealt with all three in the Marketplace Sewers, as well as finding a Walled-Off Duct corrupted area. No real trouble with any of it, but I did have to resummon zombies a few times with all the poison clouds floating around. Found a Weeping Essence of Fear that gives minion bonuses, and also hit level 31. With the statue quest reward, started on the life/mana nodes heading toward Heart and Soul.

Wandered around the Marketplace until I found the essence-locked monster and the flask. Found a torment essence with lightning mods, might be good for an armor piece. A random rare dropped a Cloak of Flame unique robe, interesting but not useful for Sarah. Then I came across a stone circle and figured I'd give it a try, since I've saved up plenty of terrible talismans. The spawned monster pack wasn't very dangerous, and I got a tier 2 talisman, but sadly it's not useful.

Took a detour into the Catacombs to find the ascension trial, and made level 32 in the process. Found yet another undying talisman that's useless due to terrible random mods, and an anger essence with fire mods. Used it on some boots, but the rolls were terrible other than the fire resistance...oh well. Moved on to the Battlefront to get the waypoint and came across another stone circle. Used it with what's left of my bad tier 1 talismans, but the tier 2 drop wasn't helpful.

Added some new gems from Clarissa's store: Convocation, Hatred, and Enfeeble. Also put a Purity of Elements on my weapon switch to level up, in case I end up with serious resistance issues later on (hopefully not). Convocation in particular is extremely useful, mostly in maze-like maps where you can get cut off from your minions.

Set up a new set of leaguestones: breach, talisman (with mod for two per zone), and anarchy (adding a rogue exile). On to the Solaris Temple. In level 1, found the breach and both talisman-carriers right off, along with the Seals. Fortunately I was able to avoid triggering the breach until after killing the other stuff. Hit level 33 during all that. Ion Darkshroud was in the very next room, but sadly didn't drop anything worthwhile.

Things were more spread out in level 2, although both talisman-carriers spawned together again. Killed them, cleared the breach, went back to town to clear the inventory...and got booted to the login screen. Doh, so much for progress toward that waypoint. On the bright side, I did find a 4-linked circlet which got some good defensive mods from an alchemy orb. Doesn't have +1 to minion gems, but everything else is good, and it lets me link both minion damage and increased physical damage to my zombies. I'll probably add Multistrike in the fourth slot once it's available.

If at first you don't succeed...temple level 1, take two. Orra Greengate was my rogue this time, otherwise very simliar to the first trip. At least my collection of level 1 talismans is rapidly growing again, for the next stone circle I see. Found my first Vaal Orb, but otherwise nothing of interest. On to level 2, where Oyra Ona made a very short-lived appearance. The talisman-carriers dropped not only some (terrible) talismans but a Gifts From Above unique ring, which looks pretty cool, just not for Sarah. This time made it all the way to Dialla and the waypoint with no connection issues.

On to the Docks, where Sarah hit 34, finishing off the Heart and Soul node cluster. Cleared the breach just after entering, got one talisman-carrier, then found the sulfite and Fairgraves. Decided to go ahead and finish off Dialla's quests and clear the blockage rather than clearing the rest of the Docks, and that was a good call since I got another disconnect just afterward. The Internet has spoken...break time.