First time minion build helper thread

Hello reader, this is a guide for players wanting to try a summoner build, it's not a complex build, and its simple to use so you can get the feel for a summoner to see whether you like its play style or not. (There is a TLDR at the bottom if you don't want to read)

The base build is as follows;


The build makes use of life and energy shield (ES) and life, at max level you'll have a very healthy 218% increased maximum life, and a decent 240% ES increase so you'll be able to use energy shield equipment without a worry, being able to have a nice amount of ES increase, but also still able to use potions nicely.

Your equipment:
Use your judgement on this one, you don't need to be that picky with your gear since this is just a general build, but, you should aim for %increased energy shield + energy shield and + life on every piece of gear you can get, with % resistances on as many pieces as you can get.
Suggested to use a mainhand weapon and an ES shield for that little bit extra ES and block chance.

Spells;
SRS (Summon raging spirits) is your main damage dealing "spell" it summons a floating skull that will not be targeted by enemies but is susceptible to area of effect damage and can die to it, but will never be directly targeted, here's a link to the wiki for it too;
http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Summon_Raging_Spirit

(If you're curious about how one of the spells works don't hesitate to reference the wiki just slap the name of whatever you want in the search bar in the top right, it'll more often than not give you the information you need and more as well, the link above is the only wiki link that will be included in this.)

This will be your '6 link' ability (Ability which you put in your chest piece that can have up to 6 gem sockets linked together)

Gem priority: SRS > Minion damage > Increased duration > Spell echo > Faster casting> Melee physical damage > Minion speed

You will use this spell almost constantly, almost because you should not stand in the fire and have to stop to move out of it of course, unless you're re-summoning a zombie.

You won't be able to get spell echo until you kill the last boss of normal difficulty, but the other gems are quite easy to get just by doing the normal quests/side quests.

NOTE: Since the build has a decent amount of cast speed at a base you might not need faster casting at higher level, since you can only have 20 spirits at a time, in which case I would replace it with culling strike.

Raise zombie is your meatshield, you with some decent items will have a nice amount of effective life yourself (ES + your life) but they will be an important part of your defensive stats, partially because of your ascendancy passive which gives you physical damage reduction per zombie, but also because it creates more targets for npc's to attack, that's the important one.

Gem priority: Summon zombie > Minion damage > Minion life > Minion resistance
(This ability can go in either your boots, helmet or gloves)

Summon skeleton is a spell you will not cast directly, a totem will cast it for you, it's a kind of buffer for your zombies to make sure they don't take the entire brunt of enemy attacks, but also so you still have something to help take some mob aggro if all your zombies are dead and you find yourself in a tight spot without corpses to raise zombies

Gem priority: Spell totem > Summon skeleton > Minion life
(This ability can go in either your mainhand weapon or your shield)
(This spell will place a totem that will summon skeletons up to the maximum amount of skeletons you can have, once it reaches the cap it'll sit there chilling and waiting until your skeletons either expire or die, then resummon more as long as the totem is active)

Spirit offering is a spell that you would only really want to use if you're running from something, or your spirit capped, it gives your minions extra damage and elemental resistances and some energy shield to boot, with your ascendancy passive, you get that too, the energy shield given to you will be a nice way to take back some ES if you've lost it

Gem priority: Spirit offering > Increased duration:
(recommended to put this in your helmet gloves or boots, but only with a 2 link, adding more support gems isn't going to do anything to the spell, and you want room for your movement skill which you will place in the same item)

http://imgur.com/a/cZCsA
This is an example of what the 2 link item your spirit offering and movement skill item should have

Due to the stats you get in the tree you're free to choose whichever movement skill you'd like, but be careful about which one you have since some of them have requirements to use like leap slam or whirling blades.
Flame dash is good for beginners since it has no requirement, but you need to be mindful of the amount of charges you have for it.
(recommended to put this in your helmet gloves or boots, but only with a 2 link due to the offering spell as example image above)

You will be running 3 auras:
Discipline - a nice boost to your ES
Arctic armour - some physical damage reduction while you're standing still
Clarity - flat mana regen (this one is pretty important)
(recommended to throw all 3 of these gems in either your mainhand weapon or your shield, since you won't be using support gems with them)

Your discipline will affect your minions that are close to you so they will gain the ES granted by it, because of your ascendancy this also means that they will gain damage, attack speed and elemental resistance bonuses too, but don't be too worried about keeping your minions buffed with your aura, you don't want to be near enemy mobs if you can help it

There are some drawbacks with this build, your main method of healing if you take a huge chunk of damage, is going to be your potions, which you do not have an infinite amount of, but energy shield regenerates quickly if you haven't been hit so if you can avoid damage, you can heal quickly too
You will also be susceptible to chaos damage in higher difficulties, as your resistances get lowered throughout them, though the passive tree does give you a nice 20% resistance to help alleviate that a bit.

Playstyle:
Throw ya totem down, summon ya spirits, summon zombies if ya don't have them up yet, or they die, watch the mayhem unfold, repeat

There's only really 1 boss you should be careful of fighting since he can be annoying to fight as a summoner sometimes, which is Daresso, but as long as you keep your distance you should be fine even if your zombies die
Malachai can get a bit hairy sometimes in his last phase due to all the aoe damage but its manageable

I won't go too in depth on how to play and how to not play your character, this isn't meant for that, you'll learn more about playing a summoner by playing it than if I typed it here anyways, hope this helps any aspiring summoners

TLDR version;
Pro's:
Uses life, you can still effectively use potions
EZmode to use
Minion relaxation time
Cons:
Not designed for seasoned players to use, a better build COULD be made rather easily, but this is just a fun build to help players test out the build
Weak to chaos damage, as is all life builds
reliant on potions for healing if significant damage is taken

Nice guide for someone new to SRS/Minions (like myself)

Thanks