what summoner gems to use

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mattc3303 wrote:

LoH works so does chaos, works for both

thing about skele is that they induce a 50% penalty on elemental dmg so using fire/ice/light on them is a bad idea

So using ice, for example, wouldn't freeze any enemies?

Ice would still freeze targets when minions are linked with added cold damage. Where did you get that they didn't?

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mattc3303 wrote:

Ice would still freeze targets when minions are linked with added cold damage. Where did you get that they didn't?

I know some gems don't work with them, that's basically what i'm trying to iron out. what does and what doesn't. Specters seem to be a bit different, as most being used are casters/ranged, while zombies/skeletons are melee.

Is it only just some of the 'support' gems that work with zombies?
http://en.pathofexilewiki.com/wiki/Skill_Gems#Support_Gems

There is a detailed guide for gems for the specters, linked earlier in this thread. But there really is no guide on what works or what doesn't for zombies/skeletons.

Idk i never had this issue on what gems work on zombies/skeles treat them as a melee character that only does auto attacks and is physical, the limitations is pretty self explanatory from there.

Also u can try experimenting, if the support gem shows up in the zombie/skele tool tip it means that it works

for example i attack speed and the tool tip reads minion will attack 40% faster. That means it works.

fire penetration with minion instability.

life on hit is wasted with skeletons

Skeletons, totem, concentrated effect and/or fire penetration
Zombies, life, speed
Spectres, GMP, dmg, etc

no skill gems can be linked with minions, because skill gems are skill gems, not support gems, meaning you can NOT give a minion a specific skill.

you can how ever give minions attack SUPPORT gems. all attack support gems works on minions

you can give added elemental damage, increased attack speed, increase accuracy, increase critical strike chance, increased critical strike damage, everything that would apply to a weapon attack will apply to minions.

this includes projectile supports for specters but only on specters that are ranged attackers.

I personally prefer to have a spell totem for skeletons, my spells are linked like this

Skeleton - spell totem - minion damage - increased physical melee
I dont use minion life since they tend to get replaced before they even die, so the increased health doesnt help all that much. increased minion speed doesnt help much either since the totem spawns the skeletons right at the enemy's feet. if you dont go with spell totem, then minion speed will be helpful to not waste the skeleton's borrowed time on movement.

I prefer to link my zombies and specters together to save space and to let my other spells be heavily supported as well.

Zombies - specters - minion damage - minion life - Culling strike - faster attack (if I know my specter is attack based) or chance to blind, added lighting/chaos.
the reason I choose culling strike is that this effectively makes every enemy my minions attack have 10% less life. this is a huge bonus, plus it also increases all damage types making it very versatile and works on all specter types. faster attack should explain itself, but the chance to blind is nice, this will cause most bosses who are physical base to be blinded. though the percentage may be low, but with so many minions attacking, the frequency of it will be high causes the enemy to be blinded majority of the time, making your minions last longer and thus do more damage per cast.

though this will not affect casters so its a toss up, for casters you might want to use chance to flee, but this does not work on bosses and is only 50% effective against magical mobs.

hope this teaches you a great amount and increase your thoughts on these supports

Spectres + GMP + Minion Life + Minion Damage + Fire Penetration + Added Fire Damage on a 6 linked Chest.

Zombies + Minion Life + Minion Damage + Minion Speed on Gloves/Helmet/Boots.

Skellys + Spell Totem + Minion Damage + Minion Speed on Gloves/Helmet/Boots.

Incinerate + Spell Totem + GMP + Faster Projectiles + Faster Casting + Fire Penetration on a 6 linked Searing Touch staff.

Go to merciful Solaris Temple level 2-3 and grab yourself a few of those fireball banners. With GMP, they now shoot up to 7 fireballs per cast if they have their LMP passive on them, Otherwise they have Fork with your GMP.

For zombies and skellys grab the Minion Instability node on passive skills located on the top left side. This will provide even more fire damage when they die. It's a great tool.

Make sure to grab all the "+1 to maximum spectre/zombies/skellys" nodes so you have your army of meat shields. About 22-25 with nodes and gear(could be more).

Cast your Skelly Totem first then immediately cast your Incinerate Totem next to it. If mobs get past those, your Spectres will unleash hell on them.

Run Clarity and Anger for your auras. Clarity shouldn't be leveled past 10 unless you have a lot of mana or reduced mana support gems already. The same can go for Anger but max that puppy till you're content. For your curse, go with Flammability.

Watch everything die and you wont get touched much, if at all. Oh yeah, corners are your friends.

Good luck with your gameplay.

Added Fire Damage won't do anything for minions that don't do physical damage.