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

I don't know about optimal or fast. But having leveled a Witch up to 52 with only a handful of deaths (typically from actually charging into enemies to run past them rather than kill them) I found this to be a fairly effective path:

- 1-17 :: Get Lord of the Dead, then go for the Regen + Resist Minion Node right away
- 18-28 :: Get Grave Consequences then up to the Extra Spectre group. You only need the +Life side of it right now
- 29-38 :: Get Grave Intentions for Chaos resistance and extra life. Use the shortcut (respec later) to finish getting minion nodes sooner.
- 39-49 :: Get the Gravepact cluster just above the Scion start and finish off the Spectre Cluster for all of the Minion nodes except the two above Lord of the Dead. You can take those when convenient at this point.
- 50-56 :: Take the ES nodes + higher loop next to Grave Intentions. Respec the shortcut and use it to fill in the ES ring that links the two sides. If you aren't planning on running CI take the Flask Effect rather than the ES boosting nodes.
- 57-76 :: Finish the ES ring to link up the two sides then respec the left hand side of the witch start. From there grab the other ES nodes, the Aura Nodes, and spec into CI once you're ready.

That'll get you to somewhere around level 61 (A2 Merc). From two runs that both got to around A1-A2 Merc with a summoner, that's around when you can transition to CI if you're playing safe. An ES chest with 200 ES along with another few items with at least a small amount of ES and you should be between 800-1000 ES from gear alone. Add Discipline and you should be adding ~1k more ES (Level 14 with that tree and no +INT gear will add 1074.6 ES).

2k ES should be enough to survive most accidental hits at that level, particularly with all your minions around to prevent enemies from hitting you.

If you're not ready for CI at this point, take the minion nodes above Lord of the Dead and then head towards the Body and Soul for more ES and Armour. The two Mana Reduction nodes next to Sovereignty may be useful as well for easier Zombie/Spectre casting. Aura Radius could be nice as well to allow your minions to stay within range as much as possible.

You can use Summon Raging Spirit as your 'active' ability, keep casting it whenever you're safe from attack and attacking groups, it'll benefit from your Minion Nodes for extra damage. (EK does good damage without speccing for it, but does cast slowly). Raging Spirit is 100% Physical (Then has 50% converted to Fire) so any damage supports that work on Zombies will work on them.

Eeem you can only get away with 0 increased life nodes when leveling in SC league, "nappeee" was asking for help about the HC league.
So taking 0 life nodes would be really stupid and risky and will most likely get you killed even before you can spec into CI...

"

nappeee wrote:

Hello. Thinking of starting this build for the new HC league for MF purposes. What is the optimal way to level a witch fast in a new league environment?

Read OPs guide for leveling or use spectral throw, i used it to level my witch with and it wasnt the best but it did the job, tho it requires you to get the unique weapons so your dmg wouldnt suck deck.

"

Qufi wrote:

Eeem you can only get away with 0 increased life nodes when leveling in SC league, "nappeee" was asking for help about the HC league.
So taking 0 life nodes would be really stupid and risky and will most likely get you killed even before you can spec into CI...

"

nappeee wrote:

Hello. Thinking of starting this build for the new HC league for MF purposes. What is the optimal way to level a witch fast in a new league environment?

Read OPs guide for leveling or use spectral throw, i used it to level my witch with and it wasnt the best but it did the job, tho it requires you to get the unique weapons so your dmg wouldnt suck deck.

With Minions this is actually quite viable to do this way.

Went 1-54 with I believe 2 deaths.

1st Death - Normal Caligula because I was just trying to race through and grab the WP before stopping for the night. Next day walked through more carefully (letting summons trigger monsters rather than myself) and had no difficulties.

2nd Death - NM Gardens - Once again running through trying to reach Scepter to get WP before stopping for the night, desync'd and ended up about 3 screens behind where I was on my screen (meaning surrounded by a lot of porcupines and gulls).

If you're leveling up as a summoner and relying on your summons you will rarely end up in the line of fire the way you would as any other build. The only 'large' threat are the high damage (potential 1-hit kill), but most of those can be avoided by allowing your minions to engage while you keep your distance.

Still even dying once in HC league means you need to start over, you will have to play really carefully and you need to know what ur gonna meet on the wave so this will never work for a beginner.
That being said i still think taking 0 life nodes in a HC league would be a really bad decision.

Here's an update:

- This build is very good after the summoner enhancements

- Using 8x zombies with aoe damage and culling is more than enough culling power, especially since it is easy to control your zombies now....therefore Arc + cull is no longer needed...and you can use Raging Spirit + Faster Casting + Increased Duration + Minion Dmg in your 4L Helm.

- Not enough Gem slots - there arent anymore, especially when we have to add a Vaal gem next patch. What will help? You dont need increased duration on Desecrate/Flesh&Bone Offerings....just put those 3 into a shield or weapon. You will have to cast offerings slightly more often, but its worth cutting in favor of other needed gems.

- Troubles? You live and die with the Zombies, if they die, you better start running, or start casting more. Zombies almost never die with the exception of a few boss fights that require dodging. AI will never account for dodging things like balls of lightning of rains of fire...so this is just a drawback of being a summoner.

- I am up to 120/360 IIR/IIQ with good DPS

Excuse a noob, pretty new to the game. What does MF and CI stand for?

"

Vinter144 wrote:

Excuse a noob, pretty new to the game. What does MF and CI stand for?

Magic find (your increased item quantity + increase item rarity a.k.a IIR + IIQ)

Chaos Inoculation

So with no more increased item quantity on items and no more increased item quantity gem, what will this mean for summoners in the next patch?

Pasive tree will be reseted? I hope for quick update.

Hello I want to level a summoner on ambush league, I only have one character 79 Ground Slam marauder but a few friends helped me with leveling uniques.

Could you explain what gem skills do you use for leveling?

Thank you.