Summoner Minions die so fast ...

i'm 40+ level (cruel). With 8 zombies, 10 skeletons, one hit wonders (not against the enemy, but against them). It's pretty sad really. Going into the comporium act3 is a disaster. Talk about VERY slow progress, even with DUAL lightning totems. Not even including me casting arc alot. And going against the boss in that area = killing off my army within 2-3 seconds then me soon after. the 10 skeletons are all one-hit killed AT THE SAME TIME over and over!!!! And the same with my totems. I already have all of the +life passives to minions. using speed and life for minion gems.
I have no choice but to tag along with other groups to live though it.

"

computertech82 wrote:

i'm 40+ level (cruel). With 8 zombies, 10 skeletons, one hit wonders (not against the enemy, but against them). It's pretty sad really. Going into the comporium act3 is a disaster. Talk about VERY slow progress, even with DUAL lightning totems. Not even including me casting arc alot. And going against the boss in that area = killing off my army within 2-3 seconds then me soon after. the 10 skeletons are all one-hit killed AT THE SAME TIME over and over!!!! And the same with my totems. I already have all of the +life passives to minions. using speed and life for minion gems.
I have no choice but to tag along with other groups to live though it.

You could have serious problems with your gear and passive setup?

I never had this problem and summoner was my first character in open beta, solo wasn't a problem most of the time unless it was against a high aoe damaging boss.

Grouping is an option, or you can take a higher damaging spell such as fireball /firetraps / ect to help you level. Of course group leveling is a viable option.

Yea. I feel that my army of summons is pretty weak for my lvl 48 witch in SC. In act 3 cruel, skeles tend to go splat really fast. o.o Where can I find/best way to find a vitality gem btw?

Minions die really fast if the gem is a low level. At higher levels zombies rarely die, and when they do they take everything around them down with them. At lower levels I usually just rush Minion Instability and lock down mobs with Summon Skeletons and win through attrition.

Yea, my zombies have more hp than I do at this point, but probably not nearly as much armor and resists. :x A lot of the time against mobs of ranged units, I end up repeatedly spamming my skele spell totem.

How, or when can I get this healing totem?

For those seeking a Rejuvenation Totem or Vitality gem, just do a WTB in the trade channel. Pay 1 alchemy, if they want more than that then find a different seller.

"

mattc3303 wrote:

You could have serious problems with your gear and passive setup?

I never had this problem and summoner was my first character in open beta, solo wasn't a problem most of the time unless it was against a high aoe damaging boss.

Grouping is an option, or you can take a higher damaging spell such as fireball /firetraps / ect to help you level. Of course group leveling is a viable option.

I'm pretty much following the guides in the forums. The gems are pretty much my lvl. Gear is normal really, but only 1-2 with 4 sockets connected/linked. I've had nothing but problems with summoners in act 3 (i've rebuild-replayed a few now). Many monsters are able to wipe the army out with no effort at all. And using spark totems doesn't help that much. I even linked a life on hit to the zombies along with speed and life minion gems, don't really help.

Most of my characters have the same issue, low damage against what seems to be 2,000+hp NORMAL enemies. Some of my attacks are well beyond 150+hp but yet it takes 20+ hits to kill them. yesterday, i actually had some enemies that seemed to be immune from me, even with casting a lightning curse on them while i spark or arc them. My gems are max, so it's the max damage i'm allowed to put out on spells by gems. And yes, with passives that affect lightning damage chosen.

I think builds are really on special equipment, that most of us don't have. Like to try to get my lvl49 summoner into merciless so i can farm the ledge there for awhile. But then i do run into another problem, very few people playing the game in cruel.

The passive tree won't work for me..

DId you grab Minion Instability? This actually lowers your minions health by making them explode before it reaches zero.

"

drunken1ship wrote:

The passive tree won't work for me..

DId you grab Minion Instability? This actually lowers your minions health by making them explode before it reaches zero.

If I am reading their post correctly (the passive tree did load for me), then no, they do not have minion instability. And that may be part of their problem. That coupled with the fact that they are level 30 and have only taken two minion clusters so far. The Lord of the Dead cluster and the minion life cluster to the lower right of it.

I believe heavily in minion instability, especially when you are lower level. That explosion (which is also enhanced by minion damage, so it goes beyond just dealing 33% of the minions max life) of damage from one zombie can easily take out a group of mobs and leave you with more than enough corpses to replace the lost one.