Summoner too squishy again --what to change?

I respec an old character just to try out spectre changes - scarydeadgirl.
Depending on map mops up to T8, my character can get stunned and health knocked low in 2-3 hits. Crossfire of Frost Sentinels is really bad. I'm using at AR/ES chest piece and have Ulur, Skullhead and Auramorvax. 3 spectres (Flame Sentinels) and zombies. Almost 5k life and 900 ES.

The issue seems to be I need to get close to the fight to hurry up the minions. When I do that, I am susceptible to a lot of ranged and jumping mobs. Like goats or worse those jumping bleed spiders. Then if I turn and run the minions stop attacking and follow me immediately. So I have to take damage just to get them going, can't take much damage, and their AI follows me when I need them to stay put. I was thinking of changing out of Aegis and getting a shield for me but everyone says this is end game. Also, changing skullhead for minion helm but the heal on block seems useful. My spectres can kill everything fairly quickly I'm just not clearing too fast so looking for advice on beefing up my witch. thanks
Resistance are all over-capped to 140 or more.

It sounds to me like you need a "pointer" spell for your minions so they go in before you, I generally use curse on hit with tri or bi curse (enfeeble/vul/temp) with ball lightning. Whenever you cast it the zombies run straight to where you cast with the cursor and the enemies are suitably cursed for you to move around with without taking too much damage.

Just having a glance at your char, i'd swap your helm for a +2 minion gem helm and put the zombies in there (or alternatively a very well rolled bone helmet) the minion regen is great for keeping your minions alive but flame sentinels are very tanky anyway and zombies actually survive better with the +2 levels than they do from the regen.

I'd probably ditch victarios too for a better shield and drop necro aegis like you say however its also pretty viable so its more of a personal choice than omg its terrible.

Your flasks probably need a switch too, I wouldn't use rumis unless your gonna use bone offering as well but its decent, I think 3 life flasks is overkill though and you'd do way better with a jade + stibnite than what your currently using.

Thats about all i can think of your setup isn't awful so you shouldn't really be struggling it probably just needs a few optimizations and tweaks here and there to your playstyle.

I'm doing a Skelly build so this may not be 100% perfect answer for you since my Skellies help a lot on ranged clearing, but Zombies and Spectres are pretty passive and sort of wait for you to "point out" where to go. If you use a spell to target some monsters (and ideally curse at the same time to save time), your minions will rush towards there. I use GMP Ball lightning for this personally, procs EE + curse.

Hi

Swap out the reduced mana gem in your helmet. Doesnt affect auras anymore, so its a wasted socket.
Put in a Generosity gem to amplify your auras, but they wont do anything for your char anymore.
So if you need the purity yourself, break the links first or go for another helmet as already suggested.

I´d recommend to go for a very defensive approach for the zombies and not to try to turn them into dmg dealer. They are not :) they are dmg sponges and supposed to eat all the dmg.
So link them to Minion Res / Minion Life / Fortify or in case they dont need the res thanks to your purity - replace it with a stone golem for more regen and an additional dmg sponge.
Which also means you could replace the zombie threshold jewel and use something else.
Again: zombies are not supposed to deal dmg. Its not like their dmg was too low, but their AI prevents them from being good dmg dealers. They are meant to act like bodyguards. They will follow you and attack everyone nearby, but if you move they´ll try to get close to you.
Which means you cannot move at all to make your zombies work or try to dodge attacks and watch your zombies disengaging and trying to hug you instead ^^
tl;dr zombies AI isnt smart enough to deal dmg

With zombies gone as dmg dealer, you might reconsider hatred as a dmg aura.
Assuming you are using elemental spectres and they are meant to deal the bulk of the dmg, hatred is the wrong choice. Go for haste instead.
Movespeed is key for summoners. Minion feel real slow and bad, if you dont provide them with speed.
Flesh Offering is a good start, but not enough.

Haste would be a good choice for now.
Try to craft good rings with fear essences (minion movespeed) and then replace haste with anger for more raw dmg.

Or use a Queens Escape sword to get dmg and higher minion counts plus speed from there.

Another suggestion would be a quartz flask.
As long as you are phasing, your movement cant be blocked and more importantly you´ll aggro less mobs around you so they are more likely to not attack you but your dmg sponges.


Hope it helps :)
cheers

I honestly went for a hybrid low life variant, cause i've honestly wanted to know how well I can make midnight bargin work with aegis aurora. So far its the tankiest summoner I've built. More so then my vaal pact baron hybrid from legacy.

I totally forgot about that reduced mana gem.
I will try generosity.
Would this be good enough minion helm?
It too quite a bit to get a minion roll.
I can just add life to finish it.



Will try out a pointer spell.
I have been cursing but it seems I am always in front of my minions.
I can also try slowing down.

And I guess I can try to get rid of hatred for haste.
My zombies don't die much but that is very accurate about body guards or very needy pets.
They definitely help on bosses but spectres do most of the work I think.
I did not know about those rings and I will definitely try out some other flasks.
I mainly have the one for bleeding.
Thanks all for the input, a lot to try out now, including different shield.

Yeah thats a decent helmet.
Craft some life on it and you are good to go.

If you put your Zombies, Stone Golem, Minion Life and Fortify in it, 3 out 4 gems would be buffed by 2lvls and you gain a very tanky meatshield for your spectres and yourself to hide behind. You could move your aura setup elsewhere to make room for this setup.



Cheers

Man, what is the big reason for not having life in your chest? Take belly of the beast instead of it.

Also summoner should work too, not just running around. Take some spell like lightning ball, tie curses to it and cast it to enemies, it will cause your mobs to run and attack in right direction.

Lol, I thought Mistress of Sacrifice is a kind of no-brainer ascendancy choice for summoner.