Raise Zombie skill explained

I'm saddened to read that GGG will be axing the CoD-summon mechanic. While this might seem too powerful at first glance (300% more damage seems pretty outrageous) it at least helps balance out many of the issues summoners have compared to other archetypes. Of course this might all change with the upcoming update in which summoners will receive a boost, but we'll have to wait and see if it can at least compensate for the eventual loss of CoD.

From a game-logic perspective, I don't believe CoD + summon is an issue. It works exactly as it is intended to work: you die, and you reap the benefits of a stronger spell (summon spell in this case). On the other hand, CoD/Remote Mine IS a pretty clear exploit and should be removed.

And yes, I do play with a summoner - level 72 currently and my third high level character. I am thus familiar with the strengths and shortcomings. CoD hardly puts the archetype over the top in any way - instead, it keeps the balance compared to other powerful archetypes and at least gives the option of solo farming by stacking IIR/IIQ.

so you dont see an issue with a pack zombies being able to flash liquify every map boss in seconds
while you eat a bowl of lucky charms in the corner somewhere . all the while everyone else has to actually play the game?


huh, not sure how i can tackle that.

"

Saltychipmunk wrote:

so you dont see an issue with a pack zombies being able to flash liquify every map boss in seconds
while you eat a bowl of lucky charms in the corner somewhere . all the while everyone else has to actually play the game?


huh, not sure how i can tackle that.

Yeah that's how a summoner class plays - you twiddle your thumbs while your summons take care of business.

You are conflating two separate issues here - the fact that a summoner is not "playing" (which is a non-issue) and the fact that the summoner has good boss killing speed. Well last I checked there are a number of classes that can pulverize many bosses in seconds. Do you want to nerf them too? Or are we going to have a debate where 5 seconds is "too fast" and 10 seconds is "OK"?

no you dont get it ,

what i mean is you are at ZERO risk when fighting said bosses ,

where as melee classes have to face tank them , range classes have to off screen or kite them.


minion guy can go roast some marshmellow on a nearby burning corpse while his minions do everything.

that kind of safety needs to come with a price , and right now it doesn't . and this entirely because of cod.

So I'm not getting a point you never stated in the first place?

You're embellishing to make your case without offering any facts/evidence in support.

There is hardly zero risk for the summoner, because they can still be attacked at range by bosses or other mobs. Certain melee bosses can also cover great distances in a blink of an eye and pulverize you as you eat those lucky charms. Summoners also tend not to spec into too many defensive nodes so are more vulnerable in general, while many Melee and Ranged classes are often built to near immortality, and thus for them there is very little to no risk of dying.

Plus, allowing for the removal of the CoD/Mine exploit, we're only talking softcore league here anyways.

"

that kind of safety needs to come with a price , and right now it doesn't . and this entirely because of cod.

You couldn´t be more wrong.

If you want high lvl COD spectre you have to get a demon map / buy it or reroll lvl 74+ maps: Its pretty expensive.
To get started you need ~5 min. No other build needs that and swapping gear and gems is no fun.

I can´t do bosses in groups (lvl 76+). And alone even high end summoner with 9 auras lose minions and spectre when they dont warp back with smoke mine fast enough.

Summoner need to kill bosses in under 5 second or all your minions are dead. And then your
2* 10% EP is lost(2 Spectre). You can raise some zombies with montregul but thats nothing.

And next map you have to raise lvl 69 spectre (which die pretty fast) in 1 min or have to raise some from lvl 74+ maps.

"

Saltychipmunk wrote:

so you dont see an issue with a pack zombies being able to flash liquify every map boss in seconds

As opposed to certain Flicker Strike or Discharge builds?

"

while you eat a bowl of lucky charms in the corner somewhere . all the while everyone else has to actually play the game?

As a summoner, I spend more time pressing a wider range of buttons than on any of my melee classes. As opposed to, say, a CoS Discharger with no actively cast skills.

Do you even play a summoner?

"

huh, not sure how i can tackle that.

Apparently, by avoiding comparison to any non-summoner build that has the qualities you are complaining about.

"

Saltychipmunk wrote:

no you dont get it ,

what i mean is you are at ZERO risk when fighting said bosses ,

where as melee classes have to face tank them , range classes have to off screen or kite them.


minion guy can go roast some marshmellow on a nearby burning corpse while his minions do everything.

that kind of safety needs to come with a price , and right now it doesn't . and this entirely because of cod.

How's tanking with a melee class or kiting with range a risk if you know what you're about to face? My AA Scion could LITERALLY facetank any boss the game could throw at me, I don't even bother with positioning, using any sort of flasks or prepping anything (unless you count turning on auras as a prep). My friend plays a full block incinerate build and he does not even need life leech when tanking dominus with vuln mods. We both could literally tank any bosses blindfolded in a manner of speaking.

When I'm playing my summoner, even with CoD buff. I need to keep watch on my minions health, do a proper positioning so none of them got stuck/left behind somewhere (do you have any idea, how annoying it is to have your minions stuck in some narrow path somewhere and die on their own?), and keep my hand ready on those seething flasks of animation, because when some of them die, they all die, including my char afterwards. Heck even with L20 gems I still avoid fighting temple piety on hard map mods, I never bothered with it on my other chars.

That's not even putting into account the amount of tediousness on prepping a summoner for map runs, not to mention disconnects really pisses me off everytime I play the character, don't even mention how long it took to properly raise my spectres. On my EK Scion and CoC Ranger, all I have to do is login, select char, grab map from stash, go to lab, inject map, voila. Even with the amount of dps my minions have with CoD, most of the times I just can't stand the hassle of playing her, so that's a huge tradeoff for me, and in all honesty it's quite reasonable from my standpoint.

No I'm not a devout summoner, I have multiple chars running endgame maps with totally different builds, and I can say this, In a world where soultaker builds can cast stuff without worrying about mana, full block builds that can tank virtually anything the game can throw at you, crit/coc builds that has ridiculous dps that put the CoD minions to shame, making use of CoD to summon minions just pales in comparison.

300%more damage buff is unnesessary.

summoners were fine before cod, and will be fine after it's removal. a few good spectres do quite some heavy lifting, and zombies are great tanks.

it is a much safer build to play than most, and the clear speed isnt bad with some titty bitches or burning miscreations, after release, the evangelist make some pretty grat guys to keep both you and your horde alive too.

granted, my experience with summoner ends in lower level maps (personnally) or from what i've seen friends in a bit higher ones, so i may be wrong in 72+ maps.

IF summons need damage buff, it is better to be a straight buff now than relying on gimmiky cod shennanigans though.