[2.0]Rathik's NEWBIE FRIENDLY FUN&CHEAP FARMER, DPS Summoner. High AOE DMG, SURVIVAL."The Matriarch"

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Garvil wrote:

Hello,

Thanks for the guide, i find it usefull and well detailed.

I will only make a suggestion and try it myself. I will remove all IQ/IR gems from minions/spectre and just use culling strike + arc (or any aoe spell). I think it would be annoying if summons kill boss before you, but with pratice (i did it with my ci shadow on flicker + culling+ iq + ir) you can nearly always finish rare and boss before dying on summons or whatever.

Instead of that, i will put faster casting on skeletons, and more dps for zombies (remote mines add + 40% dps, and maybe faster attacks, or whatever increasing dps).

What do you think about it ?

best regards

Emm, no, because mobs will die from zombies way to fast for you to have any chance to cull them with arc. Arc hits 3 targets, zombies usually fight 10-15 mobs per pull.

I prefer to apply IIR on all mobs, not just boss. The majority of items/orbs drop are from normal mobs and not bosses.

Bosses pretty much drop shit :).

Arc is my utility spell, is not just for killing, Arc will force the Zombies to attack your target in case you need to focus fire something.
The IIR gem is there just in case I kill the mob with arc. Plus quality culling strike adds cast speed which is useful.
Feel free to use other support gems on zombies if you want. It wont make that much of a difference.
Personally I aim for the highest IIR possible on all kills. IIR gems are always replaceable.

Do take into consideration the mana cost of raising a zombie with 5L and 6L.

I was actually running arc + culling strike + IIR + IIQ but the cast speed is way to slow.
Some times I would miss the cull on the boss.
With IIR gems on zombies I don't have to worry about it anymore :D.
Also when braking urns it just feels to slow to me with out faster casting.
Again, this comes down to personal preference.

Regards

Ok, thanks for the quick answer !

I will give it a shot without modifications, hope zombies will not die too fast without minion life.

I will come back on this thread when i will be lvl 50+ to give you my impressions

Regards

is this onslaught friendly?

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Rathik2 wrote:

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Garvil wrote:

I will only make a suggestion and try it myself. I will remove all IQ/IR gems from minions/spectre and just use culling strike + arc (or any aoe spell). I think it would be annoying if summons kill boss before you, but with pratice (i did it with my ci shadow on flicker + culling+ iq + ir) you can nearly always finish rare and boss before dying on summons or whatever.

Instead of that, i will put faster casting on skeletons, and more dps for zombies (remote mines add + 40% dps, and maybe faster attacks, or whatever increasing dps).

What do you think about it ?

best regards

Emm, no, because mobs will die from zombies way to fast for you to have any chance to cull them with arc. Arc hits 3 targets, zombies usually fight 10-15 mobs per pull.

Well, having just given up on my Bringer of Rain duelist, and inspired by this guide, I'm going to try making supertank zombies, with Culling IIQ/IIR in a 4L (Power Siphon + GMP). Thinking Zombie + Multistrike + Faster Attacks + Increased Accuracy + Blind + Life Gain on Hit (two zero-cost supports); also taking Necromantic Aegis with Purity for 75+ all resists and some block chance. Thinking EB+life right now, but might switch to CI if mana issues aren't as bad as I think they'll be. Currently level 24 (wtb Multistrike); will update this thread with results.

The point is that I'm inclined to agree that adding damage instead of IIQ support doesn't make sense; but what if we could add more survivability to zombies so they could even tank Piety...

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Gekko101 wrote:

is this onslaught friendly?

I never played onslaught, I can't speak of experience but it should be.
I added some screenshots on the first page to show my stats.

If those stats are not enough, you can simply drop some IIR/IIQ and get some more ES and RES.
Go with Temporal chains and Enfeeble at all times. It drops the monsters damage by less than 1/3.

A level 20/20 Temporal Chains will make the monsters attack 44% slower, thats almost half there damage, then a level 19/20 Enfeeble will make those attacks do 34% less damage, along with 68% less accuracy and reduce chance to crit.

I am not very good on math so I can't calculate the exact damage reduction.

To up your damage, you will have to use some uniques like Bone of Ullr boots and Sidhebreath amulet.

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

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Rathik2 wrote:

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Garvil wrote:

I will only make a suggestion and try it myself. I will remove all IQ/IR gems from minions/spectre and just use culling strike + arc (or any aoe spell). I think it would be annoying if summons kill boss before you, but with pratice (i did it with my ci shadow on flicker + culling+ iq + ir) you can nearly always finish rare and boss before dying on summons or whatever.

Instead of that, i will put faster casting on skeletons, and more dps for zombies (remote mines add + 40% dps, and maybe faster attacks, or whatever increasing dps).

What do you think about it ?

best regards

Emm, no, because mobs will die from zombies way to fast for you to have any chance to cull them with arc. Arc hits 3 targets, zombies usually fight 10-15 mobs per pull.

Well, having just given up on my Bringer of Rain duelist, and inspired by this guide, I'm going to try making supertank zombies, with Culling IIQ/IIR in a 4L (Power Siphon + GMP). Thinking Zombie + Multistrike + Faster Attacks + Increased Accuracy + Blind + Life Gain on Hit (two zero-cost supports); also taking Necromantic Aegis with Purity for 75+ all resists and some block chance. Thinking EB+life right now, but might switch to CI if mana issues aren't as bad as I think they'll be. Currently level 24 (wtb Multistrike); will update this thread with results.

The point is that I'm inclined to agree that adding damage instead of IIQ support doesn't make sense; but what if we could add more survivability to zombies so they could even tank Piety...

First, I am glad that my guide inspired you.


I am guessing you are trying to never have a zombie die.
I don't see it that way.
I want my zombies to die to take advantage of minion instability.
I wish they would of die a bit more often :).
Who cares if they die, you just summon more.
The minions are there to do my bidding, not for me to bother trying to keep them alive.
Does a sporker build cares if there totems die to fast?
No, because they will just summon more, they don't bother adding more defense on there totems.
You are not casting as much as a direct dealing damage character is, like freezing pulse for example. Your damage will not stop if you are not casting like a freezing pulser.

Imagine this, you pull 10 mobs, you cast 2 curses, then you just wait until the mobs die.
You are not really active on casting spells apart from your 2 curses.
So if I have to summon a zombie now and then it really doesn't change anything.

"Oh, look, one of my soldiers just died, lets bring out the reinforcements, click."

If you are worrying about bosses, apart from Temple piety that needs a bit of a strategy game play and not reckless zerking, you can kill them all with just skeleton.

Its really just that simple :).

I totally understand what you mean. Chances are Minion Instability is just more efficient. But I'm experimenting. I'm trying to test the limits of minions as tanks, to such an extent I was actually thinking of deliberately not taking MI.

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

I totally understand what you mean. Chances are Minion Instability is just more efficient. But I'm experimenting. I'm trying to test the limits of minions as tanks, to such an extent I was actually thinking of deliberately not taking MI.

Yeap, u should save that skill point.

I wanna test a summoner build for my next character. Can you post a leveling tree for like levels 1-20 and so on. And how should I level? SHould I go directly with summons or some other skills?

Id suggest using frost nova to level, and once you have lesser multiple projectiles use freeze pulse. Even with no damage nodes freeze pulse will carry you through normal