Wolfbrother's Onslaught Proven Summoner Guide v 1.1
*Work in Progress*
"
version 1.1
Spoiler
Fleshed out a few sections with explanations
*Everything that follows is my Opinion. There are better summoners than I out there and I aspire to be as good or better than them one day. The following guide describes what I have learned and I intend it to be used as a starting point to get people acclimated and having fun with the class before they inevitably make their own decisions on what is right for them*
The Motivation
"
After talking to many leveling summoners who asked me for advice on how to build their character I’ve decided to finally write a guide on the subject.
I am blown away by the staggering amount of poor or misguided advice out there for my fellow summoners. There are a few good guides but the vast majority of them appear to be made by players who briefly scratched the surface without any real theory crafting or experimentation. Some of what I have read is just outright horrible and the authors should be ashamed of themselves for passing off their guides as an expert opinion in order to get youtube hits or twitch viewers…
My Credentials
"
So, what qualifies me to talk on the subject? I have been running summoners on HC since the closed beta. I have tried out many different types of builds and gem combinations. I have lost characters that I had grown attached to and refined my design to make them better. I’m currently running a very successful summoner in OS league and loving every minute of it. I take great pleasure in showing up the people in groups who say things like “UGHH all you summoners are good for is lagging my machine” and completely blowing them away with how powerful we can be. I live for those same people begging me not to leave a few runs later.
So lets get down to how this is accomplished.
Step One
"
The first thing that the fledgling summoner must understand is that apart from the very beginning you will do almost no damage with your attacks. All of your DPS will be coming from your army of minions. This army can grow stronger from certain passives, a few uniques, curses, auras, and the gems you link your minions too.
The Build
Spoiler
"
This build has several different segments to it and unfortunately does not come into its own until you reach lvl 35-40.
The first thing you want to do is rush for Lord of the Dead followed by Minion instability.
Now that your army is at full force its time to start working you keeping you alive. Start grabbing health nodes as follows, Start with the ones by MI since Divine Toughness is the biggest bonus.
Now lets talk gems. First off take everything you think you know about gemming minons and throw it out the window. Gems like minion life and minion speed are only acceptable until you can get your hands on the correct gems.
The Minion Army
"
Zombies
Spoiler
This is your wall. Zombies will have by far the highest HP pools and persist until they are killed or you logout.
They will be going in your helm which you want to have +1minion gem lvl asap followed by +2 minion gem level as soon as you can get it.
Between Melee Splash and Remote Mine I Greatly prefer to use Melee Splash. Remote mine does give your minions more damage but has some drawbacks which I personally find unacceptable. In order to summon zombies with remote mine you have to run over place a mine near a corpse and then press another button to detonate the mine summoning the zombie. This isn't terrible when summoning from a pile of bodies, but in the midst of a tough fight with fireballs and lightning all over the place it takes way too much time and focus to pull off. When you run into a pack that starts dropping your zombies like flies it is not possible to summon new ones fast enough or safely enough and you either have to high tail it out of there leaving any group members to fend for themselves or put your specters at risk and then run all the way back to find new ones.
If you don't like the less modifier from melee splash you can replace it with another additive damage gem like minion damage or added elemental.
"
Skeletons
Spoiler
I like putting these on my boots since the boots will not change after you get the Bones of Ullr unique.
These are your fodder. They are great for sending into rooms to find out what is hiding there and for providing targets to soak up hits and deal some damage.
Linking skelly totem to faster casting is very important for a few reasons. First it reduces the time it takes to throw up the totem itself. When you need a distraction you want that totem up ASAP so you can keep running to or from wherever you are headed. For example without it I am usually struck by the ribbons in solaris while on my way to start summoning minions for the day. With faster casting the totem gets up and skellies pop before I get hit. It also increases the speed at which the totem summons skeletons. Again when the entire purpose is to create a quick skeleton wall for fodder you want the max number asap! When you dont feel like running into a dangerous room throwing your skelly totem in instead is a easy solution. Without faster casting it usually dies before it even gets 1 pair up. with faster casting it usually gets 1 or 2 pairs up providing enough of a distraction to cast another totem and that one usually gets up the full ammount.
A faster cast skelly totem is also an extremely effective way to take down bosses. Even when the bosses 1 shot half of the skellys at a time the totem just keeps spawning more providing a distraction while your specs tear into him. The skelly totem can down most bosses by itself either from the explosions of the skelly's when their hp gets low or the damage they deal, while low in comparison to other minions, it is steady and skeletons are endless.
I use my last slot for Minion damage because the bonus apples both to their physical damage and their Minion Instability (MI) explosion damage. This way they get an increase in damage if you are using them as a wall that your enemy doesn't break through till fresh skeletons are summoned and also when facing a tougher opponent who knocks them down fast enough to trigger MI.
"
Specters
Spoiler
These are going to be the source of most of your DPS. The most useful by far is the Flame sentinel which you can get in the solaris temple in act 3. There are special occasions to use others which we will discuss later.
These I have linked to my chest because as I gain 5 and 6l armor this is the unit I want to buff up.
Auras are one of the few ways you can buff your minions. It is also my favorite way because once you cast the aura there is no further work to be done.
The auras I run in order of importance *as soon as I have the mana to support them*
If you are not Resist Capped Run Purity before you run Haste, once capped however I find Haste to be the more useful of the two. Once you have the mana to run both ... win.
Spoiler
Curses
"
The other way you can improve your minion's damage is to curse your enemies. Curses are incredibly useful however require that you cast them on every enemy and because I am lazy I generally only use them on enemies not obliterated within a few seconds by my army.
There are 3 curses I like to use in different situations although I can only fit 2 into my gem slots so it requires a bit of planning ahead of time.
Spoiler
Elemental Weakness I use when running in groups to benifit everyone.
The reason to use Arc over any other skill is because when you right click on a target Arc strikes instantly and can not be obstructed. The purpose of this skill is to direct your minions. Whatever target you are currently attacking your minions will turn to engage. Without some sort of damage spell your minions will only attack mobs that get dangerously close.
The Gear
"
"
Based on this build you want to use Arm/ES gear with the following stat preferences:
Health>Elemental Resist All> Elemental Resist> Chaos Resist> Armour/Energy Shield % increase> Dex>Armor>Energy Shield>Strength
The goal is to mitigate as much damage as you possbly can and have a high health pool on top of it.
Required Gear!
Spoiler
"
Your first priority is to get the Bones of Ullr Unique
Make sure it is ilvl 28+ !!! if it is lower you can not get 4 links
To check item level in a trade window hold down the Alt key and mouse over the item.
To check item level in your inventory pick it up, hit enter, and type /itemlevel
The stats that are variable are energy shield (40-60% increase) and run speed (5-15%) the ES bonus is basically useless. It results in a 4 Energy Shield difference in from worst roll to best. The one that matters to you is Run Speed. Don't let anyone charge you extra for a good ES roll!
"
Next you want to get a helm that has the +minion gem level attribute
Such as this
What My gear Looks Like at lvl 68
Spoiler
*More to come but for now I'm tired*
Last edited by Wolfbrother923#6440 on Jun 24, 2013, 2:34:36 PM
Ok build overall, just a few comments
- If you plan to run high lvl aps in the future consider dropping EB. Just get reduced mana gems and mana reserv nodes to keep the important auras up. The survavility increases a lot by doing that.
- MI won't be necessary at high lvl content as your spectres should kill everything
- Leadership and aura radius passives are not necessary if you have high level gems
- Inner force set of nodes are still strong even after 0.11
- An important one: Elemental equilibrium, this is becoming a must for summoners that carry fire or cold damage spectres. As you Arc mobs they become way weaker for your spectres
- Support your spectres with remote mine. I even replaced minion damage with this one!. Another great support gem for flame sentinels is Concentrated Effect
- And maybe a suggestion: at high level (after respec MI) I replaced skeletons with spork and added the double totem passive. It allows me to spread Elemental equilibrium and a bit of shock with the static blows passive. This can be done via arc totem too.
ign: GotZappedForFree
Harbinger Store - Baalat's Harbie Shopie https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1931620
Firs off I would like to thank you for taking the time to critique my work!
"
- If you plan to run high lvl aps in the future consider dropping EB. Just get reduced mana gems and mana reserv nodes to keep the important auras up. The survavility increases a lot by doing that.
I've always been very cautious while running maps. I don't pick ones where I can easily be cornered or bottlenecked and therefore am rarely ever touched by anything. I can see a point where I have the gear to feel comfortable dropping EB but definitely not at the moment and I find the auras to be incredibly important from lvl 50 to the mid 70's.
"
- MI won't be necessary at high lvl content as your specters should kill everything
Again I agree. This guide is intended to get people started and into their mid 70's at which point they should know enough to start tweaking things for themselves. Until then MI is incredibly useful and should be picked up by all leveling summoners asap. A skelly totem with the MI passive can take down any boss while you stay far out of range.
Definitely keep it until you down Piety on Merc!
"
- Leadership and aura radius passives are not necessary if you have high level gems
Yes again, but high lvl aura gems get pricey and until then this is a nice solution.
"
- Inner force set of nodes are still strong even after 0.11
This I'm not so sure on. Considering the Auras I like to run the only benefits I would receive from Inner force is a little bit more mana regen from clarity, but i have no mana issues so that is irreverent. A little more life regen per second maybe half a percent, which is negligible since any time I need to regen hp i hit a flask. I'm resistance capped just fine so i gain no more from purity. And finally some small boost from haste but nothing worth the 3 points to me.
If these bonuses applied to my minions too then hell yes I would snag these points but they only apply to myself.
"
- An important one: Elemental equilibrium, this is becoming a must for summoners that carry fire or cold damage spectres. As you Arc mobs they become way weaker for your spectres
Thought I had a few points left over, now I realize what's missing lol.
"
- Support your specters with remote mine. I even replaced minion damage with this one!. Another great support gem for flame sentinels is Concentrated Effect
*Edit Thanks for this advice, I misunderstood the way the fireball mechanic works with concentrated effect. changes are being made o the guide accordingly.
Old comment below*
Spoiler
Remote mine is completely viable and I intend to use it eventually. However I was unimpressed with concentrated effect. Even minion damage has a higher damage modifier which applies to the impact and area damage rather than a lower modifier for just area damage which is further reduced by lowering its radius.
"
- And maybe a suggestion: at high level (after respec MI) I replaced skeletons with spork and added the double totem passive. It allows me to spread Elemental equilibrium and a bit of shock with the static blows passive. This can be done via arc totem too.
I can see how this would work but have never wanted to give up my skellies. Definitely worth trying at some point.
Last edited by Wolfbrother923#6440 on Jun 23, 2013, 10:24:41 AM
Remote mine is completely viable and I intend to use it eventually. However I was unimpressed with concentrated effect. Even minion damage has a higher damage modifier which applies to the impact and area damage rather than a lower modifier for just area damage which is further reduced by lowering its radius.
This I'm not so sure on. Considering the Auras I like to run the only benefits I would receive from Inner force is a little bit more mana regen from clarity, but i have no mana issues so that is irreverent. A little more life regen per second maybe half a percent, which is negligible since any time I need to regen hp i hit a flask. I'm resistance capped just fine so i gain no more from purity. And finally some small boost from haste but nothing worth the 3 points to me.
Inner force is good to pick up if your running certain auras. Am a IR based summoner so those extra armor values from grace and determination and extra 1% to max resist from purity is pretty useful.
**about your zombie setup
am not sure if you tested that setup but u are really stacking that "less" multiplier your zombies will do almost no damage. The way I see it zombies should be single target dps while spectre is aoe
*Edit, Misunderstood the Fireball/Concentrated Effect relationship
Old post below*
Spoiler
This is correct, and I could have explained my reasoning better. While Concentrated effect is multiplicative it only applies to Area Damage meaning the Mob actually hit by the fireball will not receive any additional damage from concentrated effect.
In addition the radius of that area damage is lowered meaning you will hit fewer mobs. With my setup anything packed that tightly My Zombies hit with Melee Splash, and My specters AOE will start to overlap.
While +minion damage would increase the base damage to the origional mob struck and the area damage although to a lesser degree. I thin that the overlaping from the increased aoe radius makes up for this.
For mobs that are more dispersed Concentrated effect is even more useless because the bonus damage doesn't actually strike anything.
"
Inner force is good to pick up if your running certain auras. Am a IR based summoner so those extra armor values from grace and determination and extra 1% to max resist from purity is pretty useful.
If you are trying to Min/Max a character maybe. But I would rather take other passives before i worry about 1% resist.
"
**about your zombie setup
am not sure if you tested that setup but u are really stacking that "less" multiplier your zombies will do almost no damage. The way I see it zombies should be single target dps while spectre is aoe
I can tack on wrath to make mstrike better, my current mana pool won't let me add a 7th aura which will be anger
*Edit Melee Physical is significantly better than Added Lightning although I sill like Multistrike for farming at the moment.
Old post below*
Spoiler
This is the setup i'm running right now. I'm using lightning damage to trigger equilibrium on more mobs than i can hit with my arc until I get an upgraded Wrath when I will replace it with melee physical. I find that the current range of wrath wasn't getting to all my minions.
At this point i'm mostly just farming and since I'm using the lightning damage for shock/equilibrium I like what melee splash brings to the table.
When tackling bosses I mentioned that I switch it out with minion damage. This is mostly for progression kills of act bosses.
But for endless runs of docks until I get map ready i want AoE AoE AoE
Last edited by Wolfbrother923#6440 on Jun 24, 2013, 2:38:44 PM
