Questions about pure summon witch

Hi, I'm pretty new to this type of game, and I tried to begin with a pure summon witch. So I had some questions, since it seems it's not the most popular build here :

1. Is it viable late game with a proper passive skills? I mean, if I don't use any other skills than the three summons, can I at least survive in ruthless mode?

2. Does the fire damages modifiers and the AoE mod modify the damage and the AoE from Minion instability?

3. What type of stuff should i take? I'm pretty random for the moment, so I'm pretty sure it's not a good one. (I just tried to have enough gem sockets to have my Zombies and skeletons upgraded)

4. Apart from taking points in the minions part of the passive skill tree, should I put some in energy shield in order to take chaos innoculation?

5. What auras work best with our minions? I took Discipline, but apparently, auras like Anger are pretty cool too, and maybe better. The problem is that I didn't put any point in strength mod.

6. Is summon specter worth to do on melee target, or is it only good with ranged and buffing ones? I find that every time i use it on a melee target, the specter doesn't last very long, but when I do it on ranged creatures, they don't follow me during a long time.

Well, it'll be nice if someone answer all of this questions, so I can get a better grip about the game and the pure summon witch.

Btw, here's my actual tree, if it interests someone :

Hello! I will attempt to answer some of your questions until someone more knowledgeable comes around. I have recently started playing as a summoning witch and I absolutely love it!

1. Just made it to level 50 in Ruthless Act II, right before the pyramid with no problems whatsoever. I have died a few times, but that was due to my own lack of attention.

2. I am not sure, honestly, as I have not invested any points into fire nodes yet, but it would be awesome if it did.

3. It depends on what you plan on going for. I went with the Chaos Inoculation route, so I look for high Energy Shield items, but yes, linked sockets are also very nice for this build as well. For example, I have my Skeletons linked with a totem so the totem will summon them non-stop and I only spend the initial cast cost in mana, they also do additional lightning damage because it is a 3-linked piece (2 blue, 1 red).

4. I went with the CI route and I have not too heavily invested in ES nodes, but I plan to after I finish off the minion nodes (only 4 more to go!) because that,s my only other line of defense if an enemy comes running after me instead of my minions.

5. Again, this is something I have not dabbled in too much yet. I use discipline for the additional ES, but that is about it at the moment.

6. Honestly, I don't even use the specter gem anymore. I found them kind of useless in the end because they just didn't last long enough or hit hard enough to use a corpse for. My zombies seemed to do a way better job, especially with a minion speed gem attached to them.


Your tree looks good so far, but I would remove the additional intelligence nodes (the 1 below conduit and the 2 to the right of it) and invest those in going up towards minion instability. You should definitely try to get that asap, as it makes a big difference in your favor with the build.

I'll try to answer your questions the best I can since I just recently finished merciless on my pure summoner (here is my post on the build: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/43971) at level 59.

1. Summoner is very viable from my experience and the most fun!

2. I'm not sure about the aoe but I'm pretty sure about the damage.

3. Like mentioned in the previous post, it depends on what you are trying to accomplish with the end build.

4. I wouldn't go for Chaos Inoculation and go for Eldritch Battery instead, you will need that large mana pool to keep your summons rolling, especially in bosses where you will most likely be spamming skeletons on top of them, since most boss rooms leave your zombies and specters out of the equation. Focus more on having enough HP to take a few hits (I have less than 900 in merciless) and make sure you have HP flasks that have the increased amount recovered and increased recovery speed. Also the instant recovery when low health is a plus.

5. I took Anger and Wrath for added fire and lightning. I tried Haste but it uses too much mana reserve (40%) and of course Clarity for yourself and any caster specters.

6. I tried to get the ranged specters as well for their added longevity but more minions, of any variety, is always good.

Check out the post I linked, if you have any additional questions, ask away! I'll try my best to answer.

Good luck and have fun!

Thanks for your answers. I feared that my summoner would have a hard time late game, but it's true that I have a lot of fun with her.

I saw your post Sickman, and it was quite nice, so I'll continue the discussion there, I think it'll be more profitable to all the people interested in the pure summoner build.