[2.4]A new take on the Null summoner

Basically i'm trying to do an unique build based around Null's Inclination - that is a (nearly) full summoner using null's.

Here is some synergy and theorycrafting thought that i've put into. Please note that I last played summoner in the snapshoting era, so my knowledge of summoner in general may be horrible outdated. This is also the reason why I am writing this. Read the whole thing before going to the tree.



Lets talk sockets






In the others 8 sockets that remain we must fit a lot of things, so using Unset Rings may be a good idea.

Blink Arrow for mobility
1 or 2 Auras of choice
Convocation
Vaal Haste (+ Inc Duration if possible)
Raise Specter (+ Blood Magic if necessary)
A warcry (if possible)

Why Raise Specter without links?

The idea is to use the Blood Ape/Stygian Silverback chieftans to supply our army and ourselves with Frenzy charges. Frenzy charges are amazing on minions and can enable our Snakebite gloves with free poison, accuracy and attack speed.

Gear
Null's Inclination
Drillneck OR SoulStrike
Bones of Ullr or Rare/Unique boots
Snakebites (Temp chain corruption is 1ex, will buy if build works, obviously amazing)
Jewelry with +Dexterity, Life, Resists
Atziri Armor or rare chest with 5xG 1xB sockets

Possible problems

The way i see it there are 3 main other issues to discuss:

1. Blood Apes dying too easily without Soul Weaver (biggest worry)
2. Personal survivability too low
3. DPS too low to cull effectively packs
4. Zombies dying too easily vs bosses

Possible tree

Three variants - CI, ES/Life hybrid or Life MoM

The question is - what tree to pick? Is this build going to work at all? It obviously can't run Shaper or Uber Atziri, but if it can clear up to T16 i'll be happy with it!

Thats pretty funny I actually came up with a similar theorycraft for my summoner build this league.

There is actually a lesser known interaction with minions and dot damage. If minions dot kills a monster it actually counts as your kill. This should trigger whatever minion gem is in your null's bow. (Maybe you can test this and confirm). I am leveling a summoner and it's not at the level where it can equip the nulls bow atm.

Is this works it can completely automate the process of the Null's on player hit to kill. I was planning to use either the undying alchemist or incinerators and scale their traps instead of their fireballs. Whatever guarantees the most dot kills.

I would pick CI. I feel like MoM and hp builds will spread itself way too thin. Especially if you want to grab every aura node and most minions nodes. You can also use soulstrike which combined with a large es pool is amazing.

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1. Blood Apes dying too easily without Soul Weaver (biggest worry)
Yeah they will die, constantly. without any support gems or purities or anything. Maybe use poacher's mark curse?
2. Personal survivability too low
shouldn't be too much of a problem going CI and stacking very high es pool
3. DPS too low to cull effectively packs
You won't be able to cull everything but it should still work
4. Zombies dying too easily vs bosses
run this in either a +2 or vertex

Zombie + empower + minion life + poison. I personally like the vertex since the -50% manacost lets you spam raise them if they die

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mattc3303 wrote:

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Thank you Mat, that's exactly the kind of feedback I wanted.

I don't think that the Null trigger works. The bow specifically says "on kill with this weapon". Maybe it will work on Mirror/Blink arrow clones, because they use the bow? But definitely not with socketed minions. Sadly I am not high enough level to test this too. Part of the reason why I wrote this seeking advice.

The HP/ES hybrid version is fairly similar to the CI version, so i might start with that and go CI when I get all the required ES gear. My biggest concern with CI is that i need high ES chest with GGGGGB, which is next to impossible to roll on pure ES chest pieces. CI also loses Drillneck, which is a 60% damage increase when combined with the pierce gem. I feel that CI might be lacking in damage.

If we get Soul Weaver which other node should be dropped - Spirit Eater? Poacher's Mark seems like a very poor replacement for the monkeys, especially for bosses when you need the poison + mass frenzy charges on minions the most.

Does the Vertex Mask boost the Empower gem as well?

PS:

Another idea is to ditch Necromancer completely and go Occultist. The -chaos resist aura should compensate the minion damage boosts somewhat and we would get some insane ES regen with Wicked Ward. Sadly the duration and the aura bonuses cannot be compensated in any way.

Hmm probably might work with mirror arrow and blink arrow clones.

There might be some ev/es hybrid chest that you can use.

Empower gets the +1 in the vertex.

I think occultist will be better defensively, while necromancer will scale your animate weapon damage much higher.