Opting Not To Take Minion Instability

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loboSG wrote:

I've tot about supporting my minions with a rejuvenation totem instead (i.e my single totem).

My worry is about cost of mana though. I don't have a lot of it after activating discipline and purity. 1 totem can give me 12 skeles all by itself and MAINTAIN that number for as long as the totem lasts. I only need to 'top up' my zombies once in a while.

Once I hit an untankable boss, I don't think I will have enough mana to summon minions fast enough to occupy it, even if they are 33% tankier WITH a rejuv totem.

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Vladis wrote:

I haave had this issue mid levels and used totem myself around levels 30-42. After that i invested heavily into mana regen (both gear and points) and currently my mana for skellies regenerates quicker that i can summon them.

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RenoR wrote:

-necromantic aegis with purity to max survivability. Focus on block/Armor and fire resist. Its possible easy to get your minions to 79% all resist(they have base resist)

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Disrespecting wrote:

Especially with 71 map bosses like piety, you won't be able to even tickle her without your minions exploding.

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RenoR wrote:

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MI is not for zombies. It´s for skeletons.

Place spell totem next to a boss --> skeletons get summoned ---> skeletons supported with "blind" render the boss pretty much helpless --> when he kills the skeletons, the deal massive damage.

Its a pitty that people are that narrowminded and see things written in stone.

Personally I REALLY like the idea of the OP making minions more tanky by not taking MI.


My highest character is a lv 70 Summoner and though I consider my summoner "VERY CLASSIC" its still pretty niche compared to all the other "stuff" which runs arround as a summoner.

My build relies on casting skelettons by myself which do MASSIV damage.

I tried a totem for a short time but I am PRETTY SURE that a skel totem is >NOT OP< as it has a lot of SEVER disadvantages.(still 90%+ of all summoners rely on the totem crap)

My arguments are:

-skeletton totem takes up 1 supportgem(which could have been attackspeed or melee damage)
-lower castspeed (people take faster casting sometimes: here goes another possible damage supportgem)
-dont know if true but totem deals only 60% damage(but even if its not true the next argument is devastating enough:
-selfcasting is much more effective because you have more control and can place skelettons properly

Thats IMMENSE in my opinion, there is absolutly no reason to go for a skel totem as a summoner. Selfcasting is a lot stronger(still you require some mana)


Currently I cant imagine that any other skill has the potential to have more single target DPS then my skels(and they have only 4 link + 1 skill + not max level + no quality)

I see many summoner pick up a damage spell but in my opinion its impossible to do any decent damage if you spec into minions. You always have to see the opportunity costs: Yes you could do some damage with your summoner build if you have 2 wands with + 60+ spelldamage but then you will lack other stats like Life, MF, Mana(auras!) and still you wont do any damage because your spells have no scaling.

For instance: there is a popular build which utilizes ARC in order to shock enemies, but the problem: without shochchance and shockduration you will pass the shock treshhold rarly ending up not shockstacking efficently.
What I want to say is that you always have to invest or give up other stats. Instead of shockchance you could have gone reduced mana reservation and got haste and your overall DPS goes up like crazy.



Back to topic: I took MI though I actually dont like it.

My idea of the build is to make minions ultra tanky with high damage(full summoner spec) and support them with double curse.
As a result I dont like MI(because of the survivabiliy loss) but still I take it because its "necessary" as it makes difficult parts of the game easier.

There are enemies in maps which do untankable damage and without MI I couldnt do any damage.


If you are interested into my pure summoner build here is a close overview:

-zombies for base army 4-6 link in armor
-skels for main damage. They kill everything EXTREMLY fast as long as they stay alive
-necromantic aegis with purity to max survivability. Focus on block/Armor and fire resist. Its possible easy to get your minions to 79% all resist(they have base resist)
-double curse: temporal chains is EXTREMLY good and you can also take another curse(you probably want vulnerability)
-your own character wants life + positive resists + cast speed + magicfind

Then you can farm maps like a boss

My future plans: If my mions can tank its definitly a possibility to abandon MI, but I will have to see.

Since I have STR/Int shield with + fire resist they can withstand AOE fire pretty well but they die extremly fast to multiple projectiles.
I try to get GRACE in addition but I will need more mana for this.



Another note to MI: I think people overrate the fire damage. If you really spec into minion damage it is mediocre for clearing content and you what you want is to keep your minions alive and fast(haste!)

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mattc3303 wrote:

Remember MI is 1 point away so there is really no big deal if u go one way or the other in terms of passive points.

I opted out of MI for the end game. When your spectre's start to deal insane damage the only real choice is trying to keep them alive.

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masonikraft wrote:

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mattc3303 wrote:

Remember MI is 1 point away so there is really no big deal if u go one way or the other in terms of passive points.

I opted out of MI for the end game. When your spectre's start to deal insane damage the only real choice is trying to keep them alive.

What specters do you use usually?