[1.0.5] // Bow Summoner Guide (Fun and Affordable!)

Equipment

This build is centered on the unique bow Quill Rain. As most of us know, Quill Rain's damage is extremely minimal, but its primary advantage is its very high attack speed. The point of Quill Rain isn't damage, but to maximize the number of times the supported skills shown will proc on a critical and to maximize the mods from Blind, Life Gain on Hit, and Knockback. Quill Rain is the backbone of this build and is the only item that is absolutely necessary.

The only other unique I've used in this build is Ondar's Clasp. The sole purpose of this unique is to further increase attack speed, thereby maximizing the procs/mods previously mentioned. The "On Full Life" restriction is rather negligible because Life Gain on Hit allows you to regain health very quickly. Please note that Ondar's Clasp is not a necessity for this build. If you have a better alternative, then use it by all means.

The rest of the items listed are just some random rares I've found/traded for. As expected, try to find items that increase your character's survivability (namely resistances). You will have great flexibility in the selection of these items.

In regards to flasks, I haven't experimented too much with them yet. Nevertheless, I currently have two life flasks with the Surgeon's prefix (gains a charge with every critical strike), which refill very fast. I also carry a Quicksilver Flask (for a quick getaway when needed) and two Amethyst Flasks (for additional Chaos resistance).

Skills

Split Arrow

As you can see, this build utilizes two Split Arrow gems in two distinct ways:

* 1) Split Arrow + Cast on Critical Strike + Summon Skeletons + Vulnerability + Ethereal Knives
* 2) Split Arrow + Blind + Life Gain on Hit + Knockback

The first Split Arrow is your offensive skill and procs Skeletons, Vulnerability, and Ethereal Knives on a critical. The second Split Arrow is your defensive/supportive skill that blinds and knocks back enemies, while also providing you a means of quickly recovering health. Split Arrow was chosen because it has a "built-in Greater Multiple Projectiles," thereby covering a wide area; at high skill levels, Split Arrow will produce at least five arrows per shot. You may be asking...

* Why Vulnerability? - Vulnerability increases the physical damage done to cursed enemies. Your skeletons and zombies will be doing physical damage, and so will Ethereal Knives. This curse applies to both your summons and the attack spell you will be proc'ing.

* Why Ethereal Knives? - As just stated, Ethereal Knives does physical damage and, therefore, synergizes with Vulnerability. If you want, you can switch this to a different spell. I've successfully used other spells such as Freezing Pulse for more crowd control and Arc for stacking shock. But alas and again, I've found that Ethereal Knives to be the most applicable.

* Why Knockback? - Sometimes enemies get to close to you. Instead of running, why not push them back? I've run into many instances where knocking back enemies actually pushed them into a corner, allowing my summons to gang up with relative ease. If you want, you can switch this out for something else. I've successfully ran with Power Charge on Critical Strike, which would further increase the chance to proc.

Summons

* Skeletons: Your skeletons are not augmented by any support gems. Their main purpose in your build is to act as a wall between you and enemies, while also being a distraction for your zombies. They will not do much damage and they take quite a beating. However, you will be proc'ing them so frequently that as soon as they die, another pair will pop up. With all of the chosen passives, you can have up to 10 skeletons.

* Zombies: Being augmented with Minion Damage, Melee Physical Damage, and Multistrike, your zombies will be your main source of damage. Multistrike allows your zombies to repeatedly attack a single target. Multistrike's damage reduction is offset by Melee Physical Damage, while Minion Damage increases damage even further. Most of the time, your skeletons will be summoned as soon as you start pelting enemies, thereby pulling aggro away from your zombies. With all of the chosen passives, you can have up to 7 zombies.

* Spectre: A spectre isn't needed for this build to function; the use of a spectre is optional. Nevertheless, I tend to pick up Gorilla spectres from Act 2 to give me and my summons Frenzy charges, thereby increasing our attack speed. As you can see, the spectre is augmented by Faster Casting and Increased Area of Effect, which amplifies the "cry" that the Gorilla spectre does. With all of the chosen passives, you can have at up to 1 spectre.

Other Skills

* Rejuvenation Totem: This totem is phenomenal as it provides excellent healing to you and your summons. It's also augmented by Faster Casting and Increased Area of Effect, meaning your character will not be bogged down by the long cast time of totems and the totem will have a further reach.

* Auras: The auras for this build are Clarity, Vitality, and Haste, all of which are augmented with Reduced Mana. Obviously, Clarity is for an easy method of mana regeneration. Vitality was chosen to provide additional healing for you and your summons. Lastly, Haste is a multi-purpose utility that increases attack speed (for your procs/skeletons and zombies), cast speed (for your totem/spectre), and movement speed (for everyone). Note that Haste is not necessary for this build to function. You're welcome to switch out Haste for any other aura.

Why Scion?

Because a Witch Summoner is too cliche! But really though... I chose the Scion because she's smack-dab in the middle of the tree, making it easier to branch off into the extremes of the intelligence and dexterity portions. Furthermore, you may have noticed that almost every of the intermittent nodes (the small "+10 to [stat]" passives) are connected to a cluster that I've chosen, thereby taking advantage of every passive skill point possible. All-in-all, the Scion is the best way to go about this build due to its ease of creation.

Why no keystone passives?

I didn't find any of the keystones on the tree to be applicable to the build. You may be wondering about Necromantic Aegis. Well, this build does not use a shield. If you'd like, you can make a similar build that uses Spectral Throw [instead of Split Arrow] and Necromantic Aegis. But alas, that keystone is, again, inapplicable. You also may be wondering about Minion Instability - doesn't work with the build either. Minion Instability essentially cuts your summons' health by a percentage, which you definitely need in order to keep up your moving wall of protection. It's not worth it to have your summons explode; the fire damage dealt by Minion Instability does not synergize with the build anyway.

Why Piercing Shots?

Having pierce on your arrows isn't essential, but it's definitely beneficial. Example: Life Gain on Hit heals you for a set amount upon hit. If your one of the five arrows from Split Arrow pierces and hits a second target, then it's double the healing. The same could be said about the chance for Blind to happen. I chose this notable passive merely for more support but, again, it's not necessary. You can run without Piercing Shots if you desire.

What's the order?

Work your way to the left of the tree and pick up the minion passives shown. Once all of those are done, work to the right and pick up the last cluster of minion passives. After all of the shown minion passives are done, start grabbing the nodes that increase critical strike chance. As soon as you hit approximately 15% chance to critical, pick up a few health nodes to increase your health pool. Once you feel like you have enough health passives, pick up nodes that help auras. After that, finish up the remainder of the critical strike nodes (you should be around 25% chance to critical once all of them are done). The remainder of the points your character acquires should go into either more health, more resistances, or, if you desire, heading towards Piercing Shots.

General

Before you start venturing, cast Clarity, Vitality, and Aura. Once you find enemies, cast Rejuvenating Totem a few units in front of them an start spamming your Offensive Split Arrow to proc Skeletons, Vulnerability, and Ethereal Knives. Note that Ethereal Knives has a shorter range than your arrows, so you may have to move in a little closer to make the most of it. As corpses become available, summon your zombies and, if applicable, your spectre.

Once you've reached the maximum number of skeletons and zombies, you may use your Defensive/Supportive Split Arrow to provide further support to your minions and/or regain health. Continue this process of "Totem > Split Arrow > Totem > Split Arrow" as you move from one mob to the next.

Issues With Build

Unfortunately, this build is not perfect. There are times where my summons and I were simply overrun my enemies.

* Reflect Physical Damage - Be weary of rare/unique enemies that reflect physical damage. Proc'ing three or four Ethereal Knives on such enemies can actually kill you. Whenever you cross these enemies, quickly glance at their mods under their name. If they reflect physical damage, just spam your Defensive/Supportive Split Arrow instead. That way, you can still provide an active form of support for your zombies.

* Chaos Damage - I currently have negative Chaos resistance. This proves rather troublesome against enemies that utilize Chaos damage. I'm working on ways to overcome this, such as picking up passives with Chaos resistance and toying around with other rare rings, amulets, and quivers. Alas, the best advice I can give is to be careful around Chaos damage.

* Bosses - Bosses like Piety and Dominus rip my minions to shreds. I haven't been testing this build on bosses lately, but I plan on doing so very soon. In the meantime, I highly suggest you party up if you want to kill some bosses - it's simply not solo-able with this particular build.

Keyboard Setup

This is how I setup my keys, but you're more than welcome to use your own format:

* Left Click: Offensive Split Arrow
* Right Click: Defensive/Supportive Split Arrow
* A: Rejuvenation Totem
* W: Raise Zombie
* D: Raise Spectre
* R: Clarity
* T: Haste
* Y: Vitality

I do, however, suggest that your Split Arrows be right next to each other (if you're not using left/right click). You will be alternating between these two skills very frequently.

Tips and Tricks

* Change your Options to show the health bars of your allies and enemies. This will allow you to easily differentiate between which skeletons/zombies are yours and which are the enemy. Also, this will be helpful as a "target" in which you can spam your Split Arrows towards.

* ... Yeah, that's the only one I can think of at the moment.

* Quill Rain: 3 Chaos Orbs
* Ondar's Clasp: 2 Orbs of Alchemy
* Armor: 8 Chaos Orbs
* Helmet: 7 Chaos Orbs
* Quiver: 2 Chaos Orbs
* Multistrike: 5 Chaos Orbs

The remainder of the items and gems I currently have equipped I have found on my own (either as a random drop or a quest reward). Overall, I don't expect players who use this build to spend any more than 30 Chaos Orbs in the Trade Chat.