[3.8] Hybrid Summoner - Complete Guide - All content

Shaper:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDTDLCzGWDs
Uber Elder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV7AmeHIuVs&feature=youtu.be

https://pastebin.com/gGPNRH3t

+ Very smooth leveling
+ Melt bosses
+ Budget
+ Fast Clear
+ Easy Blight
+ Tanky (Block + fortify + high EHP)
+ Afk playstyle
+ All map mods ( Reflect still doable if you let the minion regen)

- Visual Cluttering because of minions (hard to see where you are)
- Minion micromanagement (Only if you let them die, which is in the late game practically never)
- Flask piano is required
- Quite complicated build
- will be probably nerfed next league

The general direction while leveling (you can change depending on your situation) is below:



Bandit: Kill all.

Philosophy: The first thing we want to make sure with the first few points in the skill tree is to make sure that our minions don't die (Through minion resistance, minion regen and minion leech), because that enables everything. Damage is secondary, if you do it right, you will always have enough damage to melt bosses while leveling.

If you want to keep it simple, then remember this rule of thump: 300 more EHP per act, and do lab when you have 1000 EHP, 2000 EHP, 3000 EHP ,... respectively. So take the life nodes accordingly.

The tree provide enough minion defense that you won't need anymore on gear. So stats like Minion resistance, Minion life,... on gear is kind of waste.

Elemental Equilibrium keystone: Minions don't apply Elemental Equilibrium, so if you only deals fire damage to enemy (this is important!), then you have free 50% more multiplier for your spectres. You apply this through Armageddon brand

Your main damage dealer is Slave Driver Spectre:
https://poedb.tw/us/mon.php?n=Slave+Driver.
The reason is they are the highest DPS Spectre in the game with decent clear. They have normal life, insane flat damage (1461 to 4384 flat lightning damage) with 65% reduced cast speed, so cast speed is important. They deal damage in a cone like AOE spell (So scales AOE) and a melee attack, which they rarely use fortunately. You can find it in Act 5 The control block. On how to summon them, watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r6lblhzi6E (Credit to Kayella).

6-link Setup:

Raise Spectre - Minion Damage Support - Spell Echo Support - Elemental Focus - Deathmark Support (Swap out for Controlled Destruction if you don't like micromanage with Deathmark, but I prefer more control over my Spectre) - Increased Area Support (Swap this out for Controlled Destruction for really tough bosses e.g Guardians, Shaper, Uber Elder, otherwise don't even bother, you have more than enough damage).

You have more Spectres as the gem levels. At gem level 21 you will have 3 Spectres from the gem and 1 from the tree.

Your secondary damage is Zombie, they act as a DPS boost and taunt for you. They also increase clear by quite a lot and help to reach the 10 minions cap from the asendency to cap resistance:

Raise Zombie setup:

Raise Zombie - Minion Damage - Minion Speed - Feeding Frenzy (mandatory!)

Curse and EE delivery setup:

Armageddon Brand - Curse on Hit - Conductivity

You only need to use it on bosses.

Aura Setup:

Wrath - Generosity (only if you have the socket, not super important

Summon Skitterbots (The Skitterboss can chill and shockboss, which is a free defensive and offensive boost)

Movement setup:

The best movement is run. You have better control, feel better and save the valueable gem sockets. I don't use Shield Charge because I dislike the stuttering associated with it when I step on a pebble.

Phase run + MS Flask
Flame dash (only if you have the socket)

Golem setup:
We leave Summon Carrion Golem on a 1-link. It survives just fine

Auto-Trigger Offering setup:
Socket these gems into your weapon with the Trigger a socketed spell mod crafted (See the gear section). You can buy a weapon with that mod or craft it yourself.

Bone offering - Increased Duration - Desecrate

This setup gives you around 27% attack and spell block, which is a big defensive boost (almost an Acrobatic keystone!). This is the reason we invest in block.

If you haven't completed Uber-lab yet, then use Flesh Offering instead.

Misc:
Convocation (only if you have the socket)

Animate Guardian link: (Only for lategame)

Animate Guardian - Meat Shield - Minion Life

See the Animate Guardian section for more details

Weapon:
All you need in the weapon is the Triggered Spell Crafted mod. The other is only a bonus. You should be able to buy one for 5 chaos maximum. Then in the lategame you will want things like Minion Damage, Minion MS and +1 Minion gems level on it. You should expect the last mod to be very rare, so I went for this:


I bought the wand for 25 chaos and crafted the Triggered Spell Mod on.
How to get the Triggered Spell Mod Craft:
If you want to find the craft yourself, then you need to know that they appear on all item level over 75 One-Handed Weapon and Two-Handed Melee Veiled Weapon. So do the Betrayal encounters in Yellow and Red Maps and try to create as many trusted connections as you can, because that way they drop more veiled item. If you are desperate, you can buy those veiled items on the market.
Shield:
The minimum you should be able to find is a Shield with Life and 12% Spell Block mod. After that look for a shield with Movement Speed Base, something like this:

Glove:
There is no good mods on Glove for this build. So this is where you fill in your resistance, dexterity and life. You can either buy a Glove, or Essence craft a glove like this (item level >=72): (Use Essence of Greed)
#
Helmet:
You have 2 options: Either you find a base helmet with the Enchant "Bone Offering grants 9% block chance" (the defensive route) and Essence craft life on it, or you buy a Helmet with +2/+3 Socketed Minion gems with Life and put your Zombie gem in that. You can do both but expect the +2/+3 Socketed Minion gems and High Life combo to be hard to craft. Pay attention to the requirement, you will need 4 blue on it so it's better to buy an intelligence base. I crafted this Helm using Essence of Greed:

Boots:
For early levels just buy a boot with high life and 30% MS and craft Resistance on it, or buy a boot with high resistance and 30% MS and craft life on it.

Late game you can craft the boot yourself. Buy a Two-Toned Boot base (item level >=84 is best for max resistance roll, otherwise search for >= 72) and Essence craft (Use Essence of Greed, or a Resistance Essence or Shrieking Essence of Zeal). I crafted this using a single cold resistance essence:

Belts:
There is no OP mod for summoner on belt, so you fill in your res and resistance here. Same story, buy a Stygian Belt (item level >=72), Scour it and use Essence of Greed on it: (I used probably 3 or 4 Essence here)

Body Armour:
You don't need a 6 link for this build. You can buy a 5 link Intelligence based Body Armour for 1 Alche Essence craft on it and still melt bosses. Later you buy a 6-link base (item level >=72 or better 84). I crafted this using a single Essence of Greed:

Ring:
You need 2 Unset rings. There is no easy way to craft on ring so you have to buy them from the market. At the minimum find an Unset Ring with High Life and an open suffix, because in this slot you can craft things like Minion Speed, which is desirable. Other than life look for Dexterity mod and Resistance, you will need about 170 Dexterity with this build.


Amulet:
1 Chaos Unique The Jinxed Juju is all you need. It's actually almost best in slot.


Jewels:
You will need 2 Uniques Jewel:

The Unending Hunger: this is a high impact jewel that improves your clear speed a lot. Unfortunately it is also very pricey, so buy it later after you have the currency.

Quickening Covenant: New reworked unique in 3.8. Provides a large boost to minion cast speed, which Slave Driver lacks. This should be a very cheap jewel. Equip it at the jewel socket bottom of your tree, since you don't take any notable there.

Then you have 3 slots for rare jewel. At the minimum these should all have life. Then one useful mod you can look for is "%chance for minion to taunt on attack". 15% chance (2 of that mod on 2 Jewels) is consistant enough imo, since you have 11 Minions with attack. On jewel you can also look for Minion MS, otherwise just look for Dexterity mod.

Flask setup:

On your Phasing Flask or Onslaught flask you need to have the "%increased Movement speed during flask effect" mod.
On your Quicksilver Flasks look for "%Increased effect" mods.
Then for your other mods: look for: Curse Immunity, Freezing Immunity and Bleed Immunity. (These mods can be beast crafted)
Annointment Options:
I will list some of the cheapest annointment options here which you can easily get:
Sanctuary ( 3% attack and spell block, 12% resistance)
Freedom of Movement ( 10% movement speed and 5% dodge, I chose this )

and a bit more expensive:
Sanctum of thought (20% reduced incoming crit and 25% reduced curse effect, very handy in Temporal Chain map)

Ring annointment is kind of whatever. You choose what you like

You will need around 30% overcap Ele Res to account for Ele Curse maps.

You use freezing pulse linked with Arcane Surge until you can get Orb of storm and Frost bomb.

Use that until you can get Summon Skeleton and Raise Zombie.

Raise Zombie link:
Raise Zombie - Minion Life - Minion Damage - Minion Speed (Which you can use at level 18)

Skeleton link: (your rightclick spell)
Summon skeleton- Minion Damage- Minion Speed- Deathmark

at level 31 swap out minion life on raise zombie for feeding frenzy.

At level 34 buy the Summon Carrion Golem gem. You begin to use spectre at act 5, after you have access to Control Block to summon Slave Driver. You still use your Summon Skeleton as your main spell till Kitava though. Your spectre link should be:

Raise Spectre- Minion Damage- Minion Life- Deathmark

Early auras to use:
Purity of elements - Flesh and Stone (Complete the library quest at act 3 to buy these)

Remember to buy your late game gems and level them whenever you can. Your damage all comes from gem level.

With this setup you should be able to instaphase every boss from act 4 onwards, you will only get easier. If you don't, then you are doing something wrong. After finishing Kitava and getting all the skill points, fix your resistance, buy a 5 link and go straight to maps. Don't bother farming Tabula in Blood Aqueduct.

Gem Link: Animate Guardian- Meat Shield- Minion Life.

Boot: Victario's Flight : Give you 10% movement speed
Weapon: King's Maker : Expensive, but worth it. Gives you almost perma fortify, Culling and Item Rarity
Glove: Southbound : For chilling enemy and More life for Guardian
Helmet: Cheap option: Maw of Conquest, more expensive option: Fossil crafted helm for the "nearby enemy has -% Lightning resistance mod"
Body Armour: Best in Slot: Gruthkul's Pelt. Cheaper option: Buy a Shaped rare body armour with 2% life regen mod for 2 chaos.

How to use Animate Guardian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkd-sAtOarY (Not my video)

Remember if your Guardian dies, you lose all your equiments. You can unequip the gem to despawn it without losing the gear.

Major god: Soul of Lunaris
Minor god: Soul of Garukhan for the movement speed (Capture in Dig map)