[2.0]Rathik's NEWBIE FRIENDLY FUN&CHEAP FARMER, DPS Summoner. High AOE DMG, SURVIVAL."The Matriarch"

"

"
01/08/2015

Updated current CI gear, zombie links and auras, final life build.

More ES now due to more aura effectiveness skills.

Now minions do more damage and have more defenses. For even more survival you can use Warlord's Mark curse.

"
Raise Zombie + Melee splash + Minion damage + faster attacks/culling strike + Melee physical damage + Fortify


Auras
"
Discipline (no links)
Hatred + Purity of Elements + Generosity + Enlighten(optional)


Dominus DPS test zombies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUYaK4kO8y0&feature=youtu.be

"
11/07/2015
All the important information should be updated for v2.0 now.
If anyone finds any mistakes let me know so I can fix them.
-
Updated CI end game build.
Updated CI auras.
Updated leveling skill trees. (This also serves as the life build)
Updated gear and links.

"
Update 26/12/14
Updated for 1.3. Removed Scion skill tree. Build can be done with Witch, Scion and Templar. Just remove the 5 starting points and follow the rest of the build.
Witch is still slightly better though.

Credits
"
Big thanks to GoatEatingToilet for his detailed and in depth help on updating the guide.


Hi..
I have been playing a summoner as a main character for a long time and I'll try make a guide out of my build.

If you like or find this guide useful, leave a comment or a thank you message.
It helps keeping the post to the first page.

This build is cheap, no special item combination is required, no hard to find uniques or rare item mods. Not even a 5L is required. You can be as effective with a 4L, a 5L will only give you a higher IIR/IIQ.
The goal is to reach a high number of IIR/IIQ with fast clearing time, survival and run any level map with any map mods, except blood magic.
With the right gear you can have over 100% IIQ and 400% IIR while keeping high AOE damage and survival.

I know there are a lot of summoners builds out there and most of them are pretty much based on specters. Now, don't get me wrong, specters are fun, I can't deny that BUT truth be told they are unreliable, weak, limit your gear choices, you need to go to a certain area to find them and they tend to have much lower IIR/IIQ.
You are pretty much relying on them and personally to me that is a bad thing cause if they die, you loose your effectiveness.
A summoners build should not be tight to a specific type of specter to make you effective.

So, to sum it up, this build is relying on zombies which can be summoned anywhere as long as you have a corpse.

"
This guide has evolved to include a LIFE DPS build if you are not interested in an MF build.

"
Also keep in mind that your character is not the one that does damage directly.
All your damage comes from your minions.
If you want to do damage by your self then this is not the build for you.

Important, read first.
Spoiler

A lot of people keep asking me the same questions over and over, mostly about gear.
There is a section in the guide that talks about gear and how to optimize it.
Stop linking me items and asking me if is OK to use and what to upgrade first.
Read the guide, take a look at the gear that I am using and how I am itemizing and try to match it or surpass it.
Use http://poe.trade/ to shop for gear, flip items, make profit, etc.
If you are playing PoE and not using this website you are simply failing.

Also learn to use wiki http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Path_of_Exile_Wiki

Also gem combinations, if you want to use another gem use it, stop asking if is going to work or not, test it your self.
If your DPS is low and your gem is still at level 15, well duh, the answer is right there, your gem is low level, go farm some more EXP.

For the skill tree, if you want to go out of your way to get something, for example resist, just go ahead and take it if you need it.

And for the love of god, stop asking me for the stupid Queen's Decree Ornate Sword.

I don't mind answer questions but a lot of questions that I get, simply are not worth replying to or have already been covered in the guide.

Regards

Important about zombies, read second.
Spoiler

If your raise zombie gem is not level 20 DO NOT COMPLAIN about it.
Zombies ARE NOT a one time cast. You constantly need to summon them.
Either use a life leech gem or buy a level 20 gem.
Other builds cast spells, summoners summon minions.
Deal with it.

PoE Tools

MF CI Pros
Spoiler

Designed to run all map mods no matter the combination, except blood magic. The higher IIQ you get on a map, the better.
Permanent curses on maps, Temporal chains or Enfeeble does not lower your damage.
Newbie friendly.
Can focus only on defensive affixes and IIR/IIQ from gear ignoring completely DPS affixes.
Cheap, no 5-6L needed or hard to find uniques.
High IIR/IIQ.
High energy shield, resistance.
AOE DPS.
Reflect is not an issue.
Mana never an issue.
Very adjustable with simple gem swap if needed.
You can login and jump into a map with out worrying what specters you need to get.

MF CI Cons
Spoiler

Can not run blood magic maps.
Some people don't like summoners in there party. (There loss, not yours)
Somewhat hard to find a good weapon, not because is rare but because people vendor them.
Somewhat tricky to focus fire something.

Life vs CI
Spoiler

First of all and more important is itemization.
With CI you can stack a lot more IIR/IIQ since you only have to worry about ES and resistances.

With life you also need to worry about life, chaos res, resistances and the fact that life doesn't scale as good as ES.
Its extremely hard to reach 10k life but is a lot easier to reach 10k ES.
But with life you can also stack armour (very important) and you don't have to worry about status ailments (frozen, shocked, ignited and stunned).
So they are both balanced.

You also benefit from life regeneration, life flasks and life leech with out spending points on Zealot's Oath and Ghost Reaver.

Also you are more flexible on how to handle your mana pool, specially if you use EB and armour/es gear.
More mana means more flexibility on auras and also more mana regen that allows the use of Arctic Armour.

Take a look at this video to see how tanky you can be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK0953K9M4A

Of course nothing is stopping you to add IIR/IIQ on a life build, it will just make itemization harder and much more expensive to match a CI build.

Also you can drop the IIR/IIQ gems from the MF build and go the DPS way.
Trade off, lower IIR/IIQ for more DPS.

Current CI Gear
Spoiler

Current Life Gear

Basic currency guide. A must read for new players.
Spoiler

Vendors recipes
"
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Vendor_recipes
Learn this by heart.

If you are just starting this game you should pick up and sell every magic (blue) and rare (yellow) items you come across and vendor it for orb of alterations or other recipes.

1 orb of fusing = 1 orb of scouring = 1 orb of alchemy

8 orb of alteration = 4 jewelers orb = 1 fusing
8 orb of chance = 2 scouring = 1 regret
3+ linked item with 3+ different color socket = chromatic orb
These are a vendor recipes. Fixed prices, you should never, ever trade for lower.
Do not ever buy orb of alchemy from vendors.

Chaos orb, orb of alteration, orb of chance
"
Chaos orb became the most common orb to be used in trading. But you need to understand its value and limitation first.

1 orb of alchemy and 1 orb of scouring do THE EXACT SAME THING that a chaos orb does but, and this is a big but (no pun intended), the chaos orb has a lot of limitations.

A chaos orb can not turn a white item into a rare item. An orb of alchemy can.
A chaos orb can not turn a rare of magic item into a white item. An orb of scouring can.
A chaos orb can not be traded for orb of regret. Two orb of scouring can.

So orb of scouring and orb of alchemy are more valuable due to the flexibility they offer.

The same rule applies to orb of fusing and orb of regret.

8 alterations have more uses than 1 orb of fusing.
8 orb of chance have more uses than 1 orb of regret.

Also orb of chance is not as easy to farm like an orb of alteration because there are not any orb of chance shards. That is why orb of regret has more value than a chaos orb. They are harder to come by.
Spend 1 hour farming and check with how many orb of alteration and orb of chance you end up.
There will be a big gap in there amount.

This will also suggest that 1 orb of fusing has lower value than 1 orb of scouring and 1 orb of alchemy BUT orb of fusing is probably the most used orb by players, along with chromatic orb, there for, the supply and demand keeps its value as the rest. Of course some may argue on this.

There for 16 orb of alteration = 2 orb of fusings = 1 orb of alchemy + 1 orb of scouring = 1 chaos orb

So if someone is spamming the trade channel "selling 1 chaos orb for 20 alteration" then he is trying to rip you off.

Check out my power leveling guide. Hands down the best way to level ANY new character. Not newbie friendly.

Leveling Information
Spoiler

Make sure you read the power leveling guide first. It will save you a lot of leveling time if you can gather the gear.

"
You need to level as life based and then transition to CI when you have enough ES to stay alive. You will most likely die all the time if you level as CI.

The game offers you 18 free respec points, I estimate you will need around 9-10 more regrets to fully respec to CI depending of course how far you followed the life build.

If you are aiming for the MF build then you should be transitioning to CI at around level 68 were you can equip a Vaal Regalia armour.

Keep in mind, minions are incredible weak at low levels, don't expect to be level 20 and kill everything.
Best way is to go with Ethereal knives while leveling your minion gems as well.
Remember that you can also level gems in your switch weapon slot.

I want to point out again that summoners are weak at early levels. Summoners shine at level 68+ when you can equip a vaal regalia armour and level 20 gems.

Item recommendation
"
The most important information I can give you about items is this:
http://poe.xyz.is
Use it as much as you can, I can't stress this enough. Its by far the best way to find the items you need.

"
The gear listed below is optional. You do not have to have these items in order to start the build.

Some of these items are as cheap as one fusing, which you can easily farm in the first 10 levels or so. Start the game normally and slowly buy the ones you need.
Most likely you will have enough orbs to buy them when you get to there level requirement.

Also, create a few new characters to get the gems that you need. E.G Raise Zombie is rewarded as soon as you enter town with a witch.
There is absolutely nothing wrong to play some characters for few levels to get the gems you need. Just consider it as farming since you also get items and orb drops.

Check http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Quest_Rewards to see quest rewards.


These items will greatly boost your EK damage. You must use them together to over come the cast penalty. Dirt cheap.
Suggested EK links
EK + Faster casting + Added fire damage + Life Leech/Faster Projectiles/Mana Leech
Hatred + Clarity + Reduced Mana
"
Doedre's Tenure Velvet Gloves

Stone of Lazhwar Lapis Amulet

Blackheart Iron Ring

Wanderlust Wool Shoes (Optional. Mana regen, can not be frozen, movement speed)


Priority items. These items will simply make your leveling easier.
"
Crest of Perandus Pine Buckler (Best leveling shield in game, grab one ASAP, dirt cheap)
Perandus Blazon Cloth Belt (Only belt in game with MF stats on it. Get a +30 all attributes if possible. A must if you are doing the MF build.)

Bones of Ullr Silk Slippers

Goldrim Leather Cap (huge resists)


Optional items.
"
Sidhebreath amulet (When you decide to fully switch to minions for damage)
Aurumvorax rapier at level 17. 40-60 all resistance. Nough said.

The Sidhebreath amulet and Bones of Ullr boots you will be pretty much be using them into high levels until you decide to get more IIR/IIQ.


Skill points placement.
"
You might need to get some extra RES or DEX nodes depending on your gear. These skill points are not set in stone.


"
When and if you decide to spec MF CI, refund your health nodes and start working your way to the ES nodes that I have listed under "The Matriarch Build" section.


Leveling skill tree

Witch "The Matriarch Build" End game build, not to be used for leveling.

CI Auras
Spoiler

"

Discipline (no links required)
Hatred + Purity of Elements + Generosity + Enlighten(optional)

You should use Purity until you cap your resistance at 75% from gear then switch to Hatred for extra cold damage on zombies/skeletons.
Use specters that deal physical damage so they will benefit from Hatred.
Evangelist and Tentacles are a good choice.


Life Auras
Spoiler

"
Hatred + Purity of Elements + Generosity + Enlighten

For the no link aura you can choose which ever to fit your needs. Best it would be Discipline since your minions will benefit from it also.
"
Discipline/Arctic Armour/Purity

CI build gems and gear
Spoiler

Gear stats on gear are focused on high IIR/IIQ while keeping max resistance and high ES.

A level 20 culling strike requires 109 dexterity, reduce mana 109 strength and melee splash 108 strength.

IMPORTANT NOTE
The only way to improve your minions damage and survival, apart from the unique items, are gem levels and skill points.

Its highly important to aim for 20/20 gems.
A cheap way to get them, but takes longer, is to use your switch slots to level for example an additional raise zombie gem then use the recipe to make it 20% and level it again.
As a priority, level first raise zombie, multistrike, melee splash, faster attacks/culling strike, IIR/IIQ.

Chest
Spoiler
Chest with high ES and RES.

Note.
"
Your first 20% quality gem should be the raise zombie. Quality bonus is 20% life and movement speed.

For more info on Zombie stats check the wiki http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Raise_Zombie

"
RZ + Melee splash + Minion damage + Faster attacks/Culling strike
5L IIR or Melee physical damage/Fortify
6L IIR + IIQ or Melee physical damage + Fortify

"
IIQ>IIR

Culling strike is core in groups.

A 20/20 Faster attacks adds 54% attack speed.
A 20/20 Culling strike adds 22% damage, 10% attack speed and 10% cast speed.
You will hardly notice the DPS loss.


Shield
Spoiler
Shield with high ES and res.
Archon shield is pretty much the best because it has base 12 all res and can get decent to high ES.
"
Summon skeleton + faster casting + spell totem

Some fights require you to manually casts skeletons. Use fire penetration only if you are using Minion Instability.
"
Summon skeleton + Echo + fire penetration



Weapon
Spoiler
Weapon, wand or scepter. Curses go in weapon if you have +1 all gems.

"
Flesh Offering + Temporal chains + Enfeeble/Vulnerability

Temporal chains + Enfeeble for really hard maps.

With all this desync issues that plague the game, I find my self using chains + enfeeble most of the time. It just gives a massive window for error.
The clear time with chains + enfeeble is about 10-20% slower but 10 times more safe.

Weapon stats.
This is where it gets tricky, you want defensive stats on a weapon.
A godly one would have (if you have one I want to buy it):

Affixes
"
Base max mana
+1 all gems
Spell damage + mana

Suffixes
Triple res
or fast cast, dual res
or fast cast, intellect, res
mana regen is also good but not really needed.


If you are having trouble with resist grab a Aurumvorax Basket Rapier, it has 40%-60% all res.


Head, gloves, boots
Spoiler

Head, gloves, boots 4L. ES, res, IIR/IIQ.

Always put Arc in your helmet.
That way you don't have to recast auras or loose your specters when you change helmets.
Fairgraves Tricorne helmet its a must on map Piety.

"
Since game patch v2.0 I use
Raise Specter + Summon Chaos Golem + Minion Damage + Life Leech +


Tank specters
"
Raise specter + Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance + Minion health + Minion damage/Life leech/etc


Ranged specters
"
Raise specter + LMP/GMP + Chain + Life leech


Undying Evangelist (Personal favorite)
"
Raise specter + Increase area of effect + life leech + added fire damage


By far the specter with zero baby sitting.
This guys are offensive and defensive, you can hide in the bubble vs ranged attacks.
There damage is also exceptional.
These are the specters that I always use. They hardly die.
They also provide party support with the bubbles and with the increase area of effect there bubble is huge.

You can also use minion damage, concentrated effect but they most likely die from physical reflect because there damage is to high. Minion damage is not so bad but they do take more damage than added fire damage.

As I said before, this build is not focused on specters. Use what ever you want. Be creative :).
Use support gems that will benefit all ranged specters or support gems that will benefit tanky specters.

IF you party a lot and you don't mind spending some of your attention to keep your specters alive and you want to support your party a bit you can try this.

Summon Specter + minion life + minion and totem elemental resist + life leech
Grab the frenzy giving apes from merciless act 2 Old fields.
The will buff ALL allies (players and minions) with 3 frenzy charges.
Everyone will appreciate the 15% cast speed and 15% attack speed.


"
Arc (level 1 gem) + culling strike + IIR + IIQ/faster casting.


This is a utility spell. It is NOT used for Shock status effects (read more about shock effect at wiki, http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Shock

Great for breaking urns and finding those orbs, personally I found 2 exalted from the urns in Lunaris.
Culling strike helps your killing speed and applies your IIR/IIQ which is a must in a group.
Also, minions tend to attack what ever you are attacking.
Zombies have a low aggro range, using Arc on a mob which is far away they will move to attack it, at least most of the times :).


Jewelery
Spoiler

High IIR/IIQ rings
High IIR/IIQ amulet
Perandus for the 20-30 all attributes, 6-8 IIQ, fire res. Excellent belt.
I really recommend getting a 30 all attributes Perandus. STR and DEX is hard to come by.
Block and stun recovery will save your life more times that you can imagine.


Switch weapon and shield
Spoiler

NOT REQUIRED. Use the slots to level gems.

You can also use Reaper's Pursuit Shadow Axe. It is a two hand axe that has 30%-40% IIR. Switch to it before you kill a rare monster or a boss for some IIR boost. Try to get one with 6 socket to maximize your gem leveling.

Also, if you feel like exploding some corpses, grab a Nycta's Lantern + level 1 Detonate Dead and use elemental weakness + flammability on shield.
I hardly use it but it has come handy on very rare occasions.
IF you are planning to use Detonate Dead, BEWARE of REFLECT.


Life build gems and gear
Spoiler

"

The concept is the same as the CI gems and links section. You should read that also.

All of your armor items should be Armor/ES based. Especially if you are taking MoM + EB.

The DPS build doesn't need any respec. All you have to do is follow the leveling section.

Chest
Spoiler
Get an Armour/ES chest with more armour than ES. 700/100 armour/es and life are pretty common. They are easiest to get the right socket colors on them.
http://poe.xyz.is/search/atanisuohutako

"
Raise zombie + melee splash + minion damage + faster attacks + Melee physical damage + Fortify

Use Life leech or Warlord's Mark curse if you have problems keeping them alive.

You can also use put your specters in your chest and build around them but I have stated many times how I feel about specters. Leveling focusing on specters is a pain in the ass.

Shield
Spoiler

Archon shield focused on armour. A balance of armour, res and ES.
If you don't need the resist and ES for EB, then pure armour based shield with life.
Lioneye's Remorse Pinnacle Tower Shield is a good choice but has no resist on it.

http://poe.xyz.is/search/atousiyaminako
http://poe.xyz.is/search/itohurisanikam

If the rest of your gear is really good and you do not need the stats from the shield you can get Necromantic Aegis and boosts your minions even more.

I personally dislike Necromantic Aegis, I prefer to keep my character alive.
You can always resurrect a minion but you can't resurrect your self (technically you can but you will end up in town).

Best uniques shields you can use are:

Crest of Perandus Pine Buckler
3% life leech, 60-80 life, 30% lightning resistance, some life regen.

Daresso's Courage Baroque Round Shield
20% physical damage, triple resistance, some armour and evasion

Lioneye's Remorse Pinnacle Tower Shield
Huge armour, 80-100 life, some physical reduction from ranged attacks.

"
Summon skeletons + faster casting + spell totem/fire penetration


Or you can put skeleton in a 4L and use Arc on your shield.

Weapon
Spoiler

Godly weapon
"
+1 all gems
mana
spell damage + mana
mana regen
resist
resist

If you don't mind loosing 30% of your life you can use Midnight Bargain Engraved Wand.
Or if you don't mind loosing half of your zombies you can use Mon'tregul's Grasp Void Scepter.
It all comes down to personal preference.

Your curses go in weapon, specially if you have a +1 to all gems weapon.
"
Temporal Chains + Flesh Offering + Enfeeble/Vulnerability

Head, gloves, boots
Spoiler
Basic defensive stats again. Armour/ES base item.
Look for life, mana and resistances.

If you planning to use a +2 minion helmet put your specters in there.
If you are not using a +2 minions put your Arc there in case you need to use Fairgraves helmet so you don't need to recast auras or loose your specters.

Notable uniques

Leer Cast Festival Mask for 15% minion and allies damage.
Bones of Ullr boots for more DPS.

Jewelery
Spoiler

Rings and amulet
Look for life, mana regen, some DEX, resistances, mana.

Sidhebreath Paua Amulet for more DPS. Comes with mana regen and 25% cold resist. Cool item.

Belt
Look for life, armour, resistances and ES

Headhunter Leather Belt pretty good also.


Bandits reward
Spoiler

Normal: Skill point or 8% resist or 40 life (life build only)
Cruel: Skill point
Merciless: Skill point

Piety six man solo level 77 Shrine
Spoiler

Piety was engaged with six man in group, everyone else left because they couldn't handle the damage. I soloed her with 5.5k ES.
"


Screenshots
Spoiler

Defence Tab
http://i.imgur.com/vBmpvhJ.png

Misc Tab
http://i.imgur.com/NXFdOZt.png

Spoiler
Culled a Kaom's Heart...
http://i.imgur.com/BQuYyFE.jpg

Seconds Kaom's Heart in 4 days
http://i.imgur.com/DqSmbMM.jpg

This is pretty common
http://i.imgur.com/lSLsm8W.jpg


The Art of Culling. How to effectively cull in groups.
Spoiler

Lets face it, to do high level maps and get good drops you need a group.
Almost all groups will have a MF culler. And it can be you.
Usually the fee for 75+ maps is 2~ chaos. Most of the leaders will either invite a MF culler for free or for half the fee, so that is another perk you get :).

For some builds culling comes natural, a sporker all it has to do is equip a culling weapon and be done with it. Fast attack bow users also have it easy.

Summoners on the other hand need to play around there culling, you need to plan ahead and keep your eyes open. Personally I find this game play much more fun and interesting rather than dual totem, etc.
I really don't get why people say that summoners are boring.

Now lets talk about gems and item setup.
I tried all culling methods (well, almost all) and I find the most effective setups are the following with there pros and cons.
The main goal is to get as much culls on all mobs as possible.

Always try to have a 4L Reaper's Pursuit Shadow Axe on your switch slots for 30%-40% boost on IIR and free culling strike.
Try to always use it on bosses/rares but don't get your self killed.
Divination Distillate Large Hybrid Flask is also a great boost if you can afford it.

Use Arc + faster casting + IIR + IIQ (5L + chain)

1)
Spoiler

6L Raise zombie + multistrike + melee splash + culling strike + IIR + IIQ
4L Arc + culling strike + IIR + IIQ


Pros
Instant culling 100% hit.
Zombies can cull normal monsters.
Can use any weapon.

Cons
Expensive, requires 6L.


2)
Spoiler

5L Raise zombie + multistrike + melee splash + culling strike + IIR/IIQ
4L Arc + culling strike + IIR/IIQ

Pros
Instant culling 100% hit.
Zombies can cull normal monsters.
Can use any weapon.

Cons
Not that expensive, 5L are not that rare.
Less IIR/IIQ.



3)
Spoiler

5L Arc + faster casting + culling strike + IIR + IIQ
or
5L Arc + chain + culling strike + IIR + IIQ

Faster casting hits 3 monsters faster but chain hits 5 monsters slower.

Take your pick.

Pros
Instant culling 100% hit.
Can use any weapon.
Higher IIR/IIQ than setup 2.

Cons
Not that expensive, 5L are not that rare.
You can cull all rares/bosses, some magic monsters, hardly any normal monsters.
Zombies can not cull normal monsters.
You constantly need to cast arc.


4)
Spoiler
4L Arc + culling strike + IIR + IIQ

Pros
Cheap
Instant culling 100% hit.
Can use any weapon.
Higher IIR/IIQ than setup 2.

Cons
Very slow casting.
You can cull all rares/bosses, hardly any magic monsters, probably zero normal monsters.
You constantly need to cast arc.



5)
Spoiler
4L Power siphon + GMP/LMP + IIR + IIQ

Pros
Cheap
Power siphon comes with culling strike and power charges.
Can support the group with charges if you spend 1 skill point to take conduit. Use blood rage and enduring cry.
Most fun (but hard) to play build.
Groups love you.
Higher IIR/IIQ than setup 2.

Cons
Mana hungry. Even at level 1 power siphon GMP/LMP raise the mana cost a lot.
Can only use very fast wands.
Has accuracy issues. I had 70% to hit when i used this setup.
You probably can cull all bosses/rares, hardly any magic monsters, probably zero normal monsters. You must rely on your switch weapon to have 100% on bosses/rares.
You have a lot of things to cast and worry about.
I don't recommend this setup if you are the only culler in party.



More tips regardless of which setup you use.
Spoiler

First rule of a culler is... Don't die.
Second rule of a culler is... Don't die.

Look at this 5 second video. Replace "get caught" with "die".
http://youtu.be/K8tuTxwswew?t=5m52s


Seriously, be aware of you surroundings. Always read the map mods.
Don't jump in bad situation trying to cull something.
You job is to drop loot for the group. You can't do that when you are dead.
Better to loose the loot from one rare monster than to lose the rest of the map and the boss.

Try to find a good place to stand that is safe and has line of sight for your attacks so you can land your cull as much as possible.

Your zombies provide tanking and DPS, learn how to "body pull them" to reposition them.

Always keep an eye out for rare monsters, some of them are weak and they go down pretty fast specially when you have some crazy DPS players.

Ask from discharge or other high DPS builds to not 1 shot rares (you think people would have some common sense on this).
In general 1 shot builds are the worse builds to party with. I always avoid them.
People will argue that faster killing = more drops. I disagree, 73+ maps are hard to come by.
Killing speed might be faster but you will end up with less maps and be forced to run lower ones.

To see if you are getting enough culling strike, keep an eye on your flasks on how fast they recharge.

Happy Culling!!!

Boss kill tips and videos
Spoiler

"
As a general rule you should always use Temporal Chains and Enfeeble on bosses.

Jungle valley level 72
Spoiler

Hard fight for summoners. Don't go crazy on the map mods.
Use life leech on zombies.
Get high chaos resistance if you are not CI.
Mana intensive fight, make sure you have enough pots and/or mana regen.
"


Canyon level 73
Spoiler

Trivial fight, just storm him.
Make sure you have a remove bleeding flask.
"



Strategy section
Spoiler

Storm Herald
Spoiler
"

Storm Herald (Requires monster level 40)
Lightning bolts constantly strike from the sky (copy of the similar Piety skill); the skill is cast continuously, and stacks with itself.


There is an easy way to counter this but at a price. This items are part of the core build anyway so you should get them eventually. Might as well keep them on your switch slot and ditch Reapers Pursuit.



and if you need more resistance use



Fairgraves should be dirt cheap, the shield I imagine should have some price I am guessing in the new leagues but not that high.

Basically you deal with this sort of monsters just like you would with map Piety.

The shield needs level 59 to use.
Fargraives eliminates the shock effect.

The typical gem combo for skeletons is Summon skeletons + Spell totem + Faster casting.
Since with those two items you can pretty much tank the monster easily, this gem combo will work.
If you want to speed things up or your totem dies fast, replace spell totem with fire penetration and manually cast the skeletons if you already have minion instability, if you don't have it yet just use another red gem that boosts melee damage, like more melee damage or added fire damage.

You can also use Purity of lightning aura (blue gem) for the max lightning resistance (3% at level 17, 4% at level 20)

That will put you at 83% lightning resistance with 100-120% spell block and immunity to shock.

I don't play the new leagues but in theory it should work.

Can someone verify it?

Temple Piety
Spoiler

I feel this boss needs some explanation.
Depending on the map mods she can be a real pain in the ass.
Something like "monsters fire 4 additional projectiles, 80% extra dmg as fire/cold/light or extra boss dmg, elemental weakness or reduced max resist" make her a nightmare for summoners.
Actually she is a nightmare with no mods for summoners heh.

Zerking her with your AOE zombies wont get you anywhere. PERIOD.
They will die on the way to attack her.

You need a different approach.

You need the "Bombing Skeleton Rush"!!!


Temple piety only does pure lightning damage.

Useful item that you might want to use, depending on how high your ES is.





With Saffell's Frame Shield, purity aura (level 20) and Inner force you will have a max resistances of 84%.
Fairgraves' Tricorne helmet gives you Cannot be Shocked
Aurumvorax only if you need more resistance.

Get your dispel shock topaz flask or what ever else flask you think you will need.
I consider a sprint flask a must also.
Priority is to NOT DIE, that goes with out saying.

The only IIR/IIQ loss will be from your helmet.

At this point you are pretty much set and you may not have to use the skeleton setup that is listed below.


Remove your zombie gem from armor and add your skeletons.
4L summon skeleton + chance to ignite + fire penetration + increase burning damage
Don't worry, the socket color is still BBRR.
5L + minion damage or IIR~?

Faster casting gem also works very well.

Use what ever you feel more comfortable.

5L with minion damage will make the skeleton cost 120-130 mana per cast so keep that in mind.
Minion instability is the way you will damage her, don't expect skeletons to melee her to death.

For curses go with Vulnerability/Temporal Chains + Enfeeble.
For some reason Temporal Chains doesn't seem to do much, she still casts like crazy.


Now that you have your setup ready engage her.
Spam skeletons in her face and dodge her projectiles.
Keep an eye on your shock stats.
Even if you have to run away from her to regen ES, the burning damage will prevent her shield to recharge for a few more extra seconds, enough to get you back in the fight.

With this setup she shouldn't be much of a problem.
Of course it all depends on the map mods.
If she has some crazy map mods on her, just skip her. She is the bane of summoners :/.

Hope this was helpful.


IIR/IIQ Gear Theorycraft
This was written pre game release for Standard and Hardcore leagues.
Some affixes/items maybe different from other leagues.

Spoiler

Lets talk a bit about IIR and IIQ, there differences and max values.
This section is just to give an indication on what to look for when you are shopping for gear. That is all.

"
"
MF = The total of all your IIR + IIQ

Apparently MF term means something else for some people.
I won't be using this term to avoid confusion.


PoE wiki has a very detail explanation about it, here are the links.

I don't know the exact formulas and this is just the way I view the chances that IIR and IIQ effect drops. I may be wrong. They do make sense to me though.

Rarity
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Rarity

Item Quantity gem
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Item_Quantity

Drop Rate
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Drop_Rate

Item quantity increase the items that monsters drop, including Orbs.
On my understanding it goes like this.
If a monster has a chance to drop 1 item and you have 100%IIQ the monster will drop 2 items.

Item quantity does not increase map drops directly but if a monster is to drop 2 items because of your 100% IIQ, the second item could be a map.
Only value that effects map drops directly is the maps quantity.
It does not effect the level of the map that will drop though.

Item Rarity gem
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Item_Rarity

Item rarity effects if a dropped item will be magic, rare or unique.
Again, my understanding.
If a unique item has a 1% chance to drop and you have 500%IIR the chance to drop increases to 6%.


Items
Rare items that can have MF stats on them are heads, gloves, boots, rings, amulets.
They never show up on weapons, shields, armours, belts.
Uniques can have MF stats, like Perandus Blazon belt and Reaper's Pursuit axe.


Item Rarity affix vs Item Quantity affix

I am sure you have noticed that Item quantity is a harder affix to find.
That is because item quantity only comes as a suffix where item rarity comes as a prefix and a suffix.

The highest item quantity suffix is named "of Amassment" 17%-20% on ilvl 77.

The highest prefix is named "Dragon's" 19%-24% on ilvl 62.
The highest suffix is named "of Excavation" on ilvl 75.


So the max IIQ and IIR a rare item can have is 20%IIQ and 50%IIR.

That gives a ratio of 1%IIQ = 2.5%IIR in affixes value.

If you convert 20%IIQ x 2.5 equals to 50% affixes value which is also the max value of IIR on an item.

So lets say you are interest in two items that you want to buy.

One item has 10%IIQ and the other 15%IIR.
The 10%IIQ is more valuable than 15%IIR.
The IIQ is 10 out of 20 were the IIR is 15 out of 50.

IIQ is more valuable because is harder to come by.


What is the maximum IIR and IIQ you can have with rare items?

gold ring 20%IIQ 65%IIR
gold ring 20%IIQ 65%IIR
gold amulet 20%IIQ 50%IIR
head 20%IIQ 50%IIR
boots 20%IIQ 50%IIR
gloves 20%IIQ 50%IIR

Total: 120%IIQ 330%IIR


Highest IIR/IIQ with rares, uniques and gems.

Gold ring 20%IIQ 65%IIR
Gold ring 20%IIQ 65%IIR
Gold amulet 20%IIQ 50%IIR
Head 20%IIQ 50%IIR
Boots 20%IIQ 50%IIR
Gloves 20%IIQ 50%IIR
Perandus Blazon belt 12%IIQ
Item quantity gem 43%IIQ
Item rarity gem 67%IIR
Reapers Pursuit axe 40% IIR
Divination Distillate 25%IIQ 60%IIR

Total: 200%IIQ 497%IIR (997% in affixes value)

Low life with wondertrap boots

Gold ring 20%IIQ 65%IIR
Gold ring 20%IIQ 65%IIR
Gold amulet 20%IIQ 50%IIR
Head 20%IIQ 50%IIR
Boots 100%IIR
Gloves 20%IIQ 50%IIR
Perandus Blazon belt 12%IIQ
Item quantity gem 43%IIQ
Item rarity gem 67%IIR
Reapers Pursuit axe 40% IIR
Divination Distillate 25%IIQ 60%IIR

Total: 180%IIQ 547%IIR (997% in affixes value)

So both setups end up with 997% affixes value. GGG really did there math.

Personally to me, it confirms that 1%IIQ = 2.5%IIR in terms of affixes value.

Keep this in mind when you are shopping for your IIR/IIQ gear.

I hope this was helpful.

Video Section
Spoiler

Live build strand map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoGAC-ta3bw

DPS Zombies vs Dominus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCyYeZqUJBM

Piety, no specters, no zombies.
Please stop complaining on zombies dying on Piety fight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzdCM20CKlI

Dominus video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjISq7wlyjU

Pier Map.
Damn, map mods + individual monsters mods + tentacles + fire alchemists made this map very interesting. Was really fun to do. I never thought this type of map mods would be harder than all the rest I run so far. Recording it plus the fire particles gave me FPS problem.
I need new a graphic card :/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmDFGofDXvE

Arachnids Lair 71
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq25SrVqd_M&feature=youtu.be

Colonnade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcEXGx2Xic

Springs Map 103% quantity non quality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n75ZR1DE604

Overgrown Shrine (Temporal Chains = not a problem)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMClJdO_bTM

Torture Chamber (GMP + CHAIN map mods, my unrighteous fire specters dead in first combat)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQnOovpQvRc

Overgrown Shrine (Chain, 95% extra light damage, frenzy charges)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrylisG1GNQ

Nemesis build, viable and verified (Courtesy of Mr. mrbojangles217)

Onslaught build, viable and verified (Courtesy of Mr. Ghentor)


If you have any questions feel free to ask here or in game.
Thoughts, comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Thanks for reading.

Regards
IGN Riokar | My guides
[2.0]Non legacy Mjölner. Uber down. -thread/1474288
[2.0]Shatter Chuck Lite COC -thread/1324981
[2.0]SRS Magic Find Culler. Uber capable. /w budged build -thread/1406603
[2.0]NEWBIE MF/DPS Summoner -thread/479976 | Power leveling guide -thread/522556
Last edited by Rathik2 on Aug 30, 2015, 4:01:57 AM
Last bumped on Mar 12, 2016, 2:54:02 AM
Why would you post that? What is the point? You just let us notice that you came up with a build? wut? :D
"
eleMENTAL2013 wrote:
Why would you post that? What is the point? You just let us notice that you came up with a build? wut? :D


I am currently typing it and clicking submit once in a while to save.
IGN Riokar | My guides
[2.0]Non legacy Mjölner. Uber down. -thread/1474288
[2.0]Shatter Chuck Lite COC -thread/1324981
[2.0]SRS Magic Find Culler. Uber capable. /w budged build -thread/1406603
[2.0]NEWBIE MF/DPS Summoner -thread/479976 | Power leveling guide -thread/522556
Nice guide, thanks for sharing your build!
Nice guide :)

Question though. In the guide you say this is focusing on zombies as your main damage source (an idea I have always been fond of) and the chest piece you have linked even has the zombie gem slotted in it, but in the "gems and gear" section, you have skeletons listed as part of the chest piece and list it as the core of the build...
So, zombies (I hope) or skeles?
i assume you have zombies on your chest and not skeleton ?

anyway pretty standard build all minion nodes, high es, not much else
Dogs Summoner - http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/885199
"
Chest with high ES and RES.
Summon skeleton + melee splash + multistrike.
This is the core of the build.
4L either IIR or minion damage. Your choice.
5L minion damage + IIR or IIQ.
6L minion damage + IIR + IIQ.



Shouldn't that be summon zombies? Or are you really using self cast skellies as the core?
"
Nice guide :)

Question though. In the guide you say this is focusing on zombies as your main damage source (an idea I have always been fond of) and the chest piece you have linked even has the zombie gem slotted in it, but in the "gems and gear" section, you have skeletons listed as part of the chest piece and list it as the core of the build...
So, zombies (I hope) or skeles?


"
zbodude wrote:
"
Chest with high ES and RES.
Summon skeleton + melee splash + multistrike.
This is the core of the build.
4L either IIR or minion damage. Your choice.
5L minion damage + IIR or IIQ.
6L minion damage + IIR + IIQ.



Shouldn't that be summon zombies? Or are you really using self cast skellies as the core?


No, its zombies :). I missed typed heh.
Sorry about that.
IGN Riokar | My guides
[2.0]Non legacy Mjölner. Uber down. -thread/1474288
[2.0]Shatter Chuck Lite COC -thread/1324981
[2.0]SRS Magic Find Culler. Uber capable. /w budged build -thread/1406603
[2.0]NEWBIE MF/DPS Summoner -thread/479976 | Power leveling guide -thread/522556
Last edited by Rathik2 on Jul 27, 2013, 7:15:59 PM
This looks fun, saving for later :)

ign: prodster
Spoiler
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMAVysHY3NTa9t9GOyK5oERULvWO-Hi96cri3ptGcHzoqN_xsHFLL-GrhXX14ZWY-wYw22CHkwtF1AA_XRVfM7r5F8qFLA6MDlSvDdObVgHrJj315uhSOfQ0I9GpwidrhpspqyIQJAzuJMMfRB_xp7kIh0U-tJmnnFNms9DY7cxWPWdxClP7Dg62E3YjHbr7hzcKPqCx9P7qH1akWqskye_l8k98h7ZCyqY-oDMvIVgqsQQl0QETbk4GzdmEdtPv548gW8=


Slightly switched some points for a small gain of 4% all res and 2% ES (+ 16% Armor).
ign: ZeoZergs

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