Analysis of current summons and speculation on 1.0.6 (the summoner's patch)

Nerfing snap shots just means all summoner gems need serious buff. Goodluck running high level maps without it. People complain about this issue so much, but honestly, what other classes have to have 3-4 spare uniques (boots, sidebreathe, monteguls, chober + a tabula rasa) just to be able to play maps above 70 properly?

This is also after you invest most of your build into every summoner node that exists on the tree.

Its also a major hassle pets dont exist thru log out - having to blow countless amounts of currency just to get maps with "demon" mod is also annoying as all hell.

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paja6969 wrote:

Nerfing snap shots just means all summoner gems need serious buff. Goodluck running high level maps without it. People complain about this issue so much, but honestly, what other classes have to have 3-4 spare uniques (boots, sidebreathe, monteguls, chober + a tabula rasa) just to be able to play maps above 70 properly?

This is also after you invest most of your build into every summoner node that exists on the tree.

Its also a major hassle pets dont exist thru log out - having to blow countless amounts of currency just to get maps with "demon" mod is also annoying as all hell.

This.Thank fuck another summoner who know what the hell they talking about.

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Warzone129 wrote:

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paja6969 wrote:

Nerfing snap shots just means all summoner gems need serious buff. Goodluck running high level maps without it. People complain about this issue so much, but honestly, what other classes have to have 3-4 spare uniques (boots, sidebreathe, monteguls, chober + a tabula rasa) just to be able to play maps above 70 properly?

This is also after you invest most of your build into every summoner node that exists on the tree.

Its also a major hassle pets dont exist thru log out - having to blow countless amounts of currency just to get maps with "demon" mod is also annoying as all hell.

This.Thank fuck another summoner who know what the hell they talking about.

There's a reason my Summoner is sitting there half-stripped. :)

In the end we shouldn't be too afraid of these "nerfs" because removing snapshotting and CoD abuse will just make Summoner gameplay less tedious and unnatural.
And because GGG is fixing the two unintended things that made Summoners good, they'll have to compensate by making Summons much better in general and adding new interesting elements which will benefit all Summon-lovers.

I just wonder if they do it right, we might have to change our build a lot to adapt to the new situation. So will Summoners get a passive reset at 1.0.6?

I hate snapshotting, it is an exploit and needs to be removed.

As for animate weapon: It should be a channeled spell, with the radius expanding out from the caster. Every weapon within the radiu will be animated at once, save for those not assigned to you. The spell would also ignore your config setting for needing to hold ctrl.

Instead of a melee totom, make it a golem that uses whatever skill it is linked to. Maybe have 3 golem gems, one for dual wielding, one for weapon and shield, and one for 2 handers.

Fix snapshotting .. nerf/buff stuff .. fine.

Can we please get a tooltip DPS for their damage though?

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MikeOxlittle wrote:

Fix snapshotting .. nerf/buff stuff .. fine.

Can we please get a tooltip DPS for their damage though?

THIS!

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As for animate weapon: It should be a channeled spell, with the radius expanding out from the caster. Every weapon within the radiu will be animated at once, save for those not assigned to you. The spell would also ignore your config setting for needing to hold ctrl.

Nice idea! Would make it a very easy to use spell. The main drawback of Animate Weapon is thereby solved.

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Instead of a melee totom, make it a golem that uses whatever skill it is linked to. Maybe have 3 golem gems, one for dual wielding, one for weapon and shield, and one for 2 handers.

The golem idea is ok, but it wouldn't be very different from a melee totem, just that the target is different for the enemies. And I prefer adding a totem with the totem nodes in the tree.
I don't see the point though in splitting it up according to what melee setup you have. We also don't have different Ranged Attack Totems for Wands and Bows.

I would really love a totem/summon you can link to a melee skill: imagine it for example with Dominating Blow; a totally new way of summoning an army!

What I would like to see changed, beside the lamest of the lame snapshotting/CoD/mine/trap abuse, is the way game gives us information on our minions.

Add a drop down menu from where you can check the status of your minions, which support gems were linked when it was created etc.
Add a way (support gem if needed) to force your minions to attack which ever target you are attacking at, it is not fun facing screen full of monster with a rare allies cannot die in the middle when your minions never reach it.
And especially spectres should have their separate icons on top of screen so you can keep on track with their HP at ALL times.

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reboticon wrote:

Summoners are going to get buffed at low levels and hit with a hard nerf at higher levels. I promise.

Well disabling Snapshotting is propably a hard nerf. Although the problem with disabling snapshotting is spectres. Without snapshotting you propably have a much harder time running different Spectres. I use 2 Evangelists and 2 Ribbons or 2 Evangelists and 2 Burning Miscreations. I was thinking about trying the frenzying apes and discharges... but the dischargers are too stupid and die too fast.

And I don't think the balance is that bad. There are a few exceptions however. Skeletons with Blind are incredible strong. But... it is hard to nerf that part in any meaning-full way. Regular Zombies are kinda nice, but without snapshotting they are not incredible.

I would actually like an active skill command. Which gives your minions not only the intention but also some bonus when attacking that enemy. Like Power-Charges for the summoner when minions kill a marked target... however right now power-charges are utterly useless for a summoner :P

And yes more information regarding what your minions do, like damage, resistances etc. would be cool.