[3.0] Dark Pact Occultist Summoner

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azraelb wrote:

I did start a skeletton vaal pact summoner in beginning of the league but gave up somewhere in act 4.
It really didnt felt good.

First you have to cast the skeletton totem, then you have to wait for the totem to push out a decent amount of skelettons, so that the dark pact can actually chain between them and then you cant control at all where the totem does cast the skelettons aka where the dmg is dealt.
=> in short, clearspeed was really bad and it also wasnt that safe for HC.

Then I did link dark pact to the totem and did cast skelettons manually. Now I was able to control where the damage was dealt, but the dmg was shitty...


on top of that bosses and packs with a lot of elemental AOE did destroy the totems pretty much instantly all the time...

how did you solve those problems?

I'm using Spell totem+ summon skeletons while self casting dark pact
First, 'From Dust' unique jewel, for an additional 2 skeletons per cast(making it 3 per cast) at a cost of +1s cooldown, by then you can start casting dark pact. Just one will do

Agree that the clear speed is crappy, but IMO dark pact spell totem is not as fast as self casting it on skeletons because of the damage penalty.

Btw what lvl should I keep my CWDT for skeletons?

I think that proper placement of your skeleton totem helps a lot. I usually place it preemptively before I reach the next pack, but far enough away so that your zombies/skeletons tank for your totem. Against bosses it is fairly easy to place the totem out of their reach, the biggest issue I have is when the totem expires and I occasionally self-cast DP a couple of times.

I found it safe enough for hardcore - actually it was probably the build with which I had the easiest time leveling despite never having played the content before, mainly due to its high single target. Like I said I died to a twinned vaal temple map; I had no idea about the mechanics of the boss fight before I fought them (stupid I know). Clear speed is really not that bad once you get used to it, as soon as one skeleton is summoned you are able to get damage out. Zombies help a lot too in preventing incoming damage.

Once your AOE is large enough it doesn't particularly matter where your skeletons are summoned; the AOE from a single skeleton covers about 1/4 of the screen.

JTYSM are you using CWDT-summon skeletons? If that's the case I would say that you should level CWDT so that it procs at roughly 10% of your life. This means that if you accidentally self-cast DP (with spell echo) a skeleton should be summoned on which the next DP will be cast.

have you considered using carcass jack as an armor? :D

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locobilbo wrote:

JTYSM are you using CWDT-summon skeletons? If that's the case I would say that you should level CWDT so that it procs at roughly 10% of your life. This means that if you accidentally self-cast DP (with spell echo) a skeleton should be summoned on which the next DP will be cast.

DP doesn't trigger CWDT, I've been in that situation many times and have never trigger.
The mechanics is similar to RF.

I am new to summoner so I need to ask, does the gem level affect the max hp of the minion?

i found that with self casting skeletons with the to dust jewel for 3 at a time, i can clear almost every mob with only having to cast summon skellies once due to our insane aoe so i dont feel putting it in totem is necessary. i use vaal skellies and wither totem with faster casting and bosses are dead in seconds. only bosses that have alot of mechanics rendering them invulnerable for periods of time are annoying because sometimes my vaal ends before they are dead. i felt that skellie totem slowed me down too much and we are already a slow character as is due to our need to combine skills for damage. convocation with CWDT is a must because your meat shield zombies come back too you while your skellies keep doing their thing. best leveling wand for this build in my opinion cheap as fuck 6l

sounds interesting twosteps. i find myself self casting DP on trash mobs and only using totem for a boss or essence mob etc. i like the idea of using wither for added chaos dmg but i'm worried that self casting skellies is slow and then you have to like slam W or E a bunch before your DP and that is more like a console command than smooth on a mouse and keyboard.

anyways i finally beat merc lab and running t6-7 maps at lvl 76 with mediocre gear and will see how far skellie DP goes

I run a Skeleton minion instability build triggered by DP.

My 5 link setup is Skeleton, Totem, Minion Life, Minion Damage, incresed Aoe

My 4 link DP is linked to spell echo, faster casting, innervate

DP's purpose is to trigger EE with innervate and kill the skeletons as fast as possible. I kept it on level 1 because I don't care for it's direct damage and I probably couldn't sustain the Mana cost.

I took all minion life and damage notes, a lot of faster casting notes and Necromantic Aegis with Maligaro's lens for more minion life, bigger AoE, less Minions Resistances and some heal from dying minions.

I also got a 30% incr. Cast speed wand.

I took the Necro route for that dead minion cloud and for the Flesh offering self buff which greatly increases cast speed and makes those Skeletons move faster.

When I have to fight a boss or a harbinger I pop vaal skeletons with m damage and m life.

I also run a flamability aura.

My experience was that totems do a pretty good job casting skeletons where I need them most so their slowlyness isn't that important. My DP cast speed is ridiculous especially after casting flesh offering so the Skeletons pop pretty fast. DP together with innervate also does a pretty good job helping to kill mobs.

All in all I have a lot of fun with this build. It doesn't have the fastest clear speed but it's pretty safe, even with my trash gear. I am still playing around with my defensive setup. I currently run a lvl 1 cwdt with enfeeble (dual curse) and frost wall. I also like to try out concentrated effect for bosses and empower.
And after some deaths you really learn to not cast DP with that insane cast speed lol. Currently on lvl 75 running some low lvl maps.

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TwoSteps66 wrote:

i found that with self casting skeletons with the to dust jewel for 3 at a time, i can clear almost every mob with only having to cast summon skellies once due to our insane aoe so i dont feel putting it in totem is necessary. i use vaal skellies and wither totem with faster casting and bosses are dead in seconds. only bosses that have alot of mechanics rendering them invulnerable for periods of time are annoying because sometimes my vaal ends before they are dead. i felt that skellie totem slowed me down too much and we are already a slow character as is due to our need to combine skills for damage. convocation with CWDT is a must because your meat shield zombies come back too you while your skellies keep doing their thing.

best leveling wand for this build in my opinion cheap as fuck 6l

So far i have not used convocation for my zombies since i summon a spectral wolf occasionally(the most i've seen is around 6 when i got surrounded) and i use cwdt skele
either that happens or i just move and place another totem

H463N your idea for using innervate for EE and minions is very interesting, i may want to follow on that for bossing on later levels