Ever played with someone who doubled your DPS and Defenses from his Auras or Curses? Someone who was tanky enough to draw all the mobs attention and keeping you safe?

Or just a really strong player who would kill everything in a blink of an eye?

You can do all of that with a summoner.





Carried one of my friend from lvl 68 to 92. He transitioned from failed build to Culler with MF.

He does not provide any auras nor support of any sort so I had to step up my game.







2.1



- Temporal Chains and Enfeeble curse got their stats capped at 75%. You can save a couple more points if you use Animate Guardian (or one gem slot if you don't want 3 points?)

- Need some testing with Curse on hit with Bladefall and Magma Orb --> yep they bad.

- Not entirely sure about the optimal links if Blasphemy Aura curses are used



- Super end-game Pierce setup has 30-40% more damage and it is easier to apply more than 4 curses.

- Zombies got new AoE attack and attack faster --> Might use more offensive Support gems for them







Build focus:



- Spectres gem using Stygian Revenants from Act 4 - The Harvest

- Curses for defensive and offensive purposes

- Energy shield





Pros

- Very versatile in terms of gear / skill gems

- Can do every map mods including the difficult bosses

- Very safe

- Tremendous damage scaling

- Hardcore viable

- Fast Clear speed

- Normal Atziri do-able (haven't tested uber)



Cons

- Good positioning is required (minions are dumb)

- Stygian revenants will make your ears bleed





Gear

Mods to look for

- High Energy shield

- Resistances (You will want around 40% Chaos resistance in Merciless, the higher the better)

- Life?

- Dexterity?

- Strength?



Jewels

- Minion damage or Minion Life

- Resistances

- Strength / Dexterity / Intelligence

- % Energy shield / %Life

- Chance to block?



If you need mana

More defense for summons



*Note: Jewels can get " You are Immune to Silence " (cannot cast spell) so monsters with Hexfont nemesis mod or bosses like The Archivist from Library / Academy map can't silence you.

(You will want around 40% Chaos resistance in Merciless, the higher the better)- Life?- Dexterity?- Strength?or Minion Life- Resistances- Strength / Dexterity / Intelligence- % Energy shield / %Life- Chance to block?If you need manaMore defense for summons*Note: Jewels can get " You are Immune to Silence " (cannot cast spell) so monsters with Hexfont nemesis mod or bosses like The Archivist from Library / Academy map can't silence you.





Recommended



*Helmet

- +2 Minions gem

- Energy Shield

- Resists

- Life?



*Boots





*Weapon(s) :



Good resistances, very cheap

-------------------------------------------



+1 Spectre, +Minion damage --> Chaos resist is recommended

-------------------------------------------



Implicit Greater Multiple Projectiles gem without the %less damage, making it a 6L/7L Spectre gem

Attributes

Resists







Animate Guardian



Start using it when he has around 15k-17k + life.

He should be at around 24k at the end.



Helmet : Leer Cast , Festival Mask (15% Damage aura)

Weapon : Dying Breath , Coiled Staff (18% Curse effectiveness 18% Damage aura)

Body Armour : Zahndethus' Cassock , Sage's Robe (Chaos resist, Consecrated ground on block - healing ground effect)

Boots and Gloves : Anything with Resistances, +Life is cool

pictures



Luxury items

- CI cannot be stunned

- +1 Curse

or



Vis Mortis, Necromancer Silk +1 Spectre



*Shaper's Seed will grant your minions 1% regen which can help them survive. With 2% life regen to yourself, you wanna get Zealot's Oath so you can regen ES.

However, you won't regen the life back taken from chaos damage which makes it annoying.

You don't benefit much from having 300 ES regen as you are almost never gonna get hit if played right. - CI cannot be stunned- +1 CurseorVis Mortis, Necromancer Silk +1 Spectre*Shaper's Seed will grant your minions 1% regen which can help them survive. With 2% life regen to yourself, you wanna get Zealot's Oath so you can regen ES.However, you won't regen the life back taken from chaos damage which makes it annoying.You don't benefit much from having 300 ES regen as you are almost never gonna get hit if played right.

- +2 Minions gem- Energy Shield- Resists- Life?Good resistances, very cheap-------------------------------------------+1 Spectre, +Minion damage --> Chaos resist is recommended-------------------------------------------Implicit Greater Multiple Projectiles gem without the %less damage, making it a 6L/7L Spectre gemAttributesResistsStart using it when he has around 15k-17k + life.He should be at around 24k at the end., Festival Mask (15% Damage aura), Coiled Staff (18% Curse effectiveness 18% Damage aura), Sage's Robe (Chaos resist, Consecrated ground on block - healing ground effect): Anything with Resistances, +Life is cool

Gems

5L

6th



For high hp single bosses you can remove Chain out and use:



Lightning Penetration (5L)

Controlled Destruction (6L)



Sire of Shards 5L/6L



6th





6th

-------------------------------------------

4L Helmet



Or replace Animate Guardian with Minion Elemental Resistances support gem



-------------------------------------------



4L



Firestorm can be an alternative instead of Ball Lightning



-------------------------------------------

Anywhere







Remaining gems



*Recommended















-------------------------------------------

Pick one more aura

*Having a Purity of Elements (resist all aura) is highly recommended for Elemental Weakness maps



These could be useful

-------------------------------------------



Aura Curses









Pros

+Not needing a 6L Curse on hit gem setup or self-cast

+Tidier clear speed



Cons

-One less resist aura or Damage



Offensive

+Damage to minions (21% more with aura effectiveness will boost your Spectre's damage by a lot)



+speed to minions (I personnally do not notice any difference, the Revenants ai do not cast their spell consistently making cast speed irrevelant)



+speed ^



Curse -Lightning resist +shock chance

Curse -Elemental resistances to all

+Damage to minions (21% more with aura effectiveness will boost your Spectre's damage by a lot)+speed to minions (I personnally do not notice any difference, the Revenants ai do not cast their spell consistently making cast speed irrevelant)+speed ^Curse -Lightning resist +shock chanceCurse -Elemental resistances to all

Defensive



+minions survivability -> +Block chance with life on block (Keeping your minions alive against crazy packs and hard bosses like Piety, Dominus, Bulldog + Chicken in Village Ruin, etc) Works great with Cassock robe for the consecrated ground which gives %regen ground effect



Resists



+survivability for yourself (Adds a lot of ES and removes the delay of its recharge time --> GO DEEEP!



Lightning resist



Cold resist



Fire resist



+4% reduced physical damage to yourself +1 meatshield



meatshields! (They actually do some damage if you have auras like Wrath with the -enemy resistances curses)



Mobility gems







Wither's movement speed reduction + Temporal Chain's slow will turn any monster that is in movement action into a snail.



You don't do much after you have applied your curses during boss fights. Can boost party damage if they do Chaos damage.

+minions survivability -> +Block chance with life on block (Keeping your minions alive against crazy packs and hard bosses like Piety, Dominus, Bulldog + Chicken in Village Ruin, etc) Works great with Cassock robe for the consecrated ground which gives %regen ground effectResists+survivability for yourself (Adds a lot of ES and removes the delay of its recharge time --> GO DEEEP!Lightning resistCold resistFire resist+4% reduced physical damage to yourself +1 meatshieldmeatshields! (They actually do some damage if you have auras like Wrath with the -enemy resistances curses)Mobility gemsWither's movement speed reduction + Temporal Chain's slow will turn any monster that is in movement action into a snail.You don't do much after you have applied your curses during boss fights. Can boost party damage if they do Chaos damage.

-------------------------------------------*Having a Purity of Elements (resist all aura) is highly recommended for Elemental Weakness mapsThese could be useful-------------------------------------------Pros+Not needing a 6L Curse on hit gem setup or self-cast+Tidier clear speedCons-One less resist aura or Damage

6thFor high hp single bosses you can remove Chain out and use:Lightning Penetration (5L)Controlled Destruction (6L)-------------------------------------------Or replace Animate Guardian with Minion Elemental Resistances support gem-------------------------------------------Firestorm can be an alternative instead of Ball Lightning-------------------------------------------

Getting your Stygiant Revenants +misc

Stygiant Revenants according to PoE Database do



Deals 1951-4553 Lightning Damage

Deals 1301-3035 Lightning Damage

*Damage 140%

*Life 182%

0% Fire resist

0% Cold resist

75% Lightning resist (Merciless)







Act 4 Merciless - The Harvest

Swap your Spell echo gem and link it to Desecrate until you have your spectres.

Do the same for Raise zombie to min-max further.



Here are some maps where I am certain that Revs are in the monster pool --> keep desecrating, you might not encounter a pack with Rev but you can still summon their corpses

Don't have much information about the lower tier maps.

If can you get your hands on them, their damage and total life are exponentially higher .



*Note: This is not 100% reliable and is purely based on my experience from mapping til level 98







- Underground Sea lv72



- Residence lv76

- Bazaar lv77

- Necropolis lv77

- Crematorium lv78

- Academy lv78

- Precinct lv78

- Overgrown ruin lv79 *very high chance



Spectre's Level

"



source

Spectres are downscaled with zone level. So level 70 Spectre in a level 25 zone will be level 25. However a level 25 Spectre will still be level 25 in a level 50 zone.



Make sure your Desecrate gem is leveled





according to PoE Database doDeals 1951-4553 Lightning DamageDeals 1301-3035 Lightning Damage*Damage 140%*Life 182%0% Fire resist0% Cold resist75% Lightning resist (Merciless)Swap your Spell echo gem and link it to Desecrate until you have your spectres.Do the same for Raise zombie to min-max further.Here are some maps where I am certain that Revs are in the monster pool --> keep desecrating, you might not encounter a pack with Rev but you can still summon their corpsesDon't have much information about the lower tier maps.If can you get your hands on them, their*Note: This is not 100% reliable and is purely based on my experience from mapping til level 98- Underground Sea lv72- Residence lv76- Bazaar lv77- Necropolis lv77- Crematorium lv78- Academy lv78- Precinct lv78





########################################################

Core Passive Tree

Bandits = Kill / Kill / Kill



101 Points



Elemental Equilibrium for -50% lightning resist (If you are using Ball lightning, you need Avatar of Fire keystone)





*Note that only 52% curse effectiveness is needed to reach the 75% cap on Temporal Chains and Enfeeble stats.



*Estimates with Level 20 / 20 Quality Gems + Animate Guardian

[-Resist curse] lowers 70% resistances

[Enfeeble] reduced 50% monster damage

[Temporal Chain] enemies are 70% Slower







Rest of the points

Jewels socket

Aura effectiveness

Energy Shield

Life



Potential mana problem



Bone/Flesh offering is the highest mana cost skill in the build. You could use a lower leveled one.

Conqueror's Efficiency jewel will give you 2% reduced Mana reserve which will grant you a slightly higher mana pool.



Aura reservation calculator Bone/Flesh offering is the highest mana cost skill in the build. You could use a lower leveled one.Conqueror's Efficiency jewel will give you 2% reduced Mana reserve which will grant you a slightly higher mana pool.

= Kill / Kill / KillElemental Equilibrium for -50% lightning resist (If you are using Ball lightning, you need Avatar of Fire keystone)*Estimates with Level 20 / 20 Quality Gems + Animate Guardianlowers 70% resistancesreduced 50% monster damageenemies are 70% SlowerRest of the pointsJewels socketAura effectivenessEnergy ShieldLife

Leveling / Gear Progression

1. You use some of the skills listed below mixed with Raise Zombies to get your first levels.



2. Once you reach Act 4 - Belly of the Beast / The Harvest, you can get your Stygian Revenants spectres.



Gem Links you want to have :



Spectre / Minion Damage / Lesser Multiple Projectiles / Spell Echo

Raise Zombie / Minion Life

Flammability / Elemental Weakness / Conductivity

Convocation



*You wanna get Bones of Ullr unique boots as soon as you can for the +1 spectre and zombies

Aurumvorax unique sword will help a lot for resistances

They should only be a couple chaos each.



3. Everything should be fine until Cruel Act 3. Consider using the Flame Sentinels (Huge floating Ribbons that use Fireball) spectre.



4. Cruel Act 4 Belly of the Beast / The Harvest, get those Revenants and start facerolling content til the rest of your progression.



By then you should have your Curse gems setup, one aura and minion gems with links

You probably won't need to use the self-cast damaging spells anymore.



5. Act 4 Merciless, grab your spectres there and grind levels in Act 4 Dried Lake until around level 75. Do skill quests before or after that.



Look for a +2 Minion helmet so that your zombies can be even more tanky



6. Make sure your resistances are capped and start running Maps.



7. Gear upgrades



5L Chest

Doedre's Damning ring(s) for more curses

Sire of Shards --> 4L 5L or Midnight Bargain is an option (Get Chaos resist gear as well)

Minion Damage (or Life) Jewels



End-game

6L's

Higher ES

Higher resist (to cap out Elemental Weakness)



Tree Progression

75 points



1. Spell damage for leveling (respec out of it later)

2. Spectre as soon as you get your first Stygian Revenant spectre (Act 4 normal)

3. Zombies / Top left Curse (so you can double curse)

4. Whatever is left...



Pick Life whenever in-between as you come near.

Ele EQ as soon as you set up Curse on hit *Avatar of Fire if it's a Lightning damage spell



Tree highlights -->



1. Spell damage for leveling (respec out of it later)2. Spectre as soon as you get your first Stygian Revenant spectre (Act 4 normal)3. Zombies / Top left Curse (so you can double curse)4. Whatever is left...Pick Life whenever in-between as you come near.Ele EQ as soon as you set up Curse on hit *Avatar of Fire if it's a Lightning damage spellTree highlights --> http://i.imgur.com/DVuVQBz.jpg

You use some of the skills listed below mixed with Raise Zombies to get your first levels.Once you reach Act 4 - Belly of the Beast / The Harvest, you can get your Stygian Revenants spectres.Gem Links you want to have :Spectre / Minion Damage / Lesser Multiple Projectiles / Spell EchoRaise Zombie / Minion LifeFlammability / Elemental Weakness / ConductivityConvocation*You wanna get Bones of Ullr unique boots as soon as you can for the +1 spectre and zombiesAurumvorax unique sword will help a lot for resistancesThey should only be a couple chaos each.Everything should be fine until Cruel Act 3. Consider using the Flame Sentinels (Huge floating Ribbons that use Fireball) spectre.Cruel Act 4 Belly of the Beast / The Harvest, get those Revenants and start facerolling content til the rest of your progression.By then you should have your Curse gems setup, one aura and minion gems with linksYou probably won't need to use the self-cast damaging spells anymore.Act 4 Merciless, grab your spectres there and grind levels in Act 4 Dried Lake until around level 75. Do skill quests before or after that.Look for a +2 Minion helmet so that your zombies can be even more tankyMake sure your resistances are capped and start running Maps.5L ChestDoedre's Damning ring(s) for more cursesSire of Shards --> 4L 5L or Midnight Bargain is an option (Get Chaos resist gear as well)Minion Damage (or Life) Jewels6L'sHigher ESHigher resist (to cap out Elemental Weakness)

Optimal stats

Average



2k Life / 4k ES

75%+ Fire, Cold, Lightning resist

30-40% Chaos resist



#############################



End-game~ ?



3k Life / 7k-8k ES

75%+ (+34% overcapped for Elemental Weakness mod, without having to switch auras)

50% + Chaos resist



Life and Energy shield

Life



Pros:

- Can use Life Flasks

- No chaos resist required

- Less likely to be affected by Status (Chill, Freeze, Shock, Stun)



Cons:

- Need +Life on most pieces of your gear which limits your options

- Requires more Passives points investement

###################################################################

*The ones in bold are in my opinion, the best options. Feel free to prove me wrong.





Life ES



Pros:

- Can use resistance Flasks

- Buying gear is easier



Cons:

- Can get Frozen / Shocked from time to time (Monster crit or crazy map mods -resist)

- When your Energy shield goes down, you might not have enough HP to use your flask to survive the burst - damage

- Chaos resist is highly valuable and slightly more expensive for gear



Check out Energy shield a nd Life to read about the mechanics in more depths.



###################################################################



Life

Pure life could work but you need to have +life on every pieces of gear for it to work which limits your gear choices (Example: no double Curse unique rings). Unless you do not care about dying.



Life MoM

Requires Cloak of Defiance unique chest and *see above* ^^^



Hybrid Life ES 50/50

Take more LIFE nodes instead of ES and have +life on your gear



Hybrid ES Life 70/30

Works the best in my opinion because it is so much easier to find cheap gear while still maintaining good Effective HP



Pure ES CI

Makes shopping easier, more likely to be affected by Status Ailments / Stun

This is probably the true best options when you have crazy gear because of the Faster recharges nodes.

+1 Curse Eye of Chayula would be very nice. Pros:- Can use Life Flasks- No chaos resist required- Less likely to be affected by Status (Chill, Freeze, Shock, Stun)Cons:- Need +Life on most pieces of your gear which limits your options- Requires more Passives points investement###################################################################*The ones in bold are in my opinion, the best options. Feel free to prove me wrong.Pros:- Can use resistance Flasks- Buying gear is easierCons:- Can get Frozen / Shocked from time to time (Monster crit or crazy map mods -resist)- When your Energy shield goes down, you might not have enough HP to use your flask to survive the burst - damage- Chaos resist is highly valuable and slightly more expensive for gearCheck out PoE's Wiki and look fora ndto read about the mechanics in more depths.###################################################################Pure life could work but you need to have +life on every pieces of gear for it to work which limits your gear choices (Example: no double Curse unique rings). Unless you do not care about dying.Requires Cloak of Defiance unique chest and *see above* ^^^50/50Take more LIFE nodes instead of ES and have +life on your gearWorks the best in my opinion because it is so much easier to find cheap gear while still maintaining good Effective HPMakes shopping easier, more likely to be affected by Status Ailments / StunThis is probably the true best options when you have crazy gear because of the Faster recharges nodes.+1 Cursewould be very nice.





########################################################

Maps

These are the main mods that could make your runs harder, but with the right gear setups they do not need to be rerolled.





Immune to curse : Is the most difficult mod we could get since we're relying on curses for Damage and Defense. Some bosses are too difficult without them.



Elemental Weakness : Switch your wrath aura with whatever resist you're missing or don't switch at all if your gear is good.



Half Regeneration : You might run out of mana sometimes, just wait a couple seconds. Your ES will come back slower than usual so be careful.



Players have no Life or Mana regeneration : I swap my Life flask for a Hybrid one and turn Wrath aura off. I can use another Purity aura if I wish so. Long Boss fights will be more difficult due to the lack of mana regen.



Elemental Reflect (with -Maximum Resist it hurts) : Remove Wrath and use Purity of Lightning. If you are using 6L's, change Controlled Destruction for something like Faster proj or Culling strike and remove the -Resist curses. Bone offering helps for the survival of your spectres. You might even consider removing more gems at extreme damage.



Blood Magic : Same as always without the Auras



Pushing the limits --> wanna carry?

Here are some setups I have thought of.

They do require a lot of resistances which you can get from Jewels (mostly) / Gear / Auras so you will have to mess around.



You can tone them down if you don't have the required gear.

Vis mortis +1 Spectre chest is an option for every setups at the cost of defenses.



Double 6L + penta Curses + Pierce

- 6L Sire of Shards

- 6L Chest

- Double Doedre's Damning

- +1 Curse Amulet

- Blasphemy Aura curse(s)



Have Projectile Weakness as aura curse --> rest is up to you



Enfeeble / Temporal Chain / Projectile Weakness / Conductivity Elemental Weakness

*Proj weakness has to be 20Q for 100% pierce chance (thanks to Curse Effectiveness) --> You might not have enough dexterity to have it leveled



Removing Chain gem will remove its %less damage and boosting the Spectres damage without losing clear speed --> Slower Projectile





# of projectiles --> (3+4) *2 *3 = 42 from 3 spectres



Necromantic Aegis Midnight Bargain *not tested

- Midnight bargain

- Spell damage / resist shield



You can get around 80% spell damage from a rare shield and have resist to make your revs more tanky and do more damage.



Rathpith's Globe , titanium shield could fill that role perfectly with a part the block chance applying to spells.



# of projectiles --> (3+2) *2 *4 = 40 from 4 spectres



Double Midnight Bargain FIVE Spectres

-Midnight Bargain x2

-Up to 60% increase damage for each Spectres (5!)

-You will be at 30% Life so chaos resist is needed.



You might be able to use more than 2 curse, but they will have to be self-casted which can be annoying. (A Corrupted - Cast Elemental Weakness on hit gloves could facilitate that process)

The more projectiles the Revs shoot, the more innacurate the last projs are. 5 proj will make them more accurate than if they were shooting 7.



# of projectiles --> (3+2) *2 *5 = 50 from 5 spectres



--Props to AngryAfrican

Here are some setups I have thought of.They do require a lot of resistances which you can get from/ Gear / Auras so you will have to mess around.You can tone them down if you don't have the required gear.+1 Spectre chest is an option for every setups at the cost of defenses.

Videos

81 Palace Dominus - Second phase 20 seconds kill



Tips

- Minions move to where your cursor clicks when you perform an action (Shift + Normal attack, using a spell like Arc, Ball lightning etc..). Guide them wisely.



- Have a BLUE socket linked to your Desecrate so you can use Spell Echo to find your Spectres faster. Then link it to Raise Zombie to do the same.



- Whenever you use "Convocation" active skill, your minions AI reset and the Revenants are gonna use their ranged Spell. So you want to do it if you see them in the front line with your Zombies. That also prevent them from taking too much damage.



- Always stay behind your minions during engagements. You can run inside a pack and Convocate to speed up the run, but make sure you are tanky enough.







Old Setup - Life ES

121 Points

















Current Setup

BRASILjaja



121 points



CI 9k ES

Cannot be stunned

Quad Curse ( Spectre w/ Chain )



Stuff are missing I know, they're the same as "Old Setup"

CI 9k ESCannot be stunnedQuad Curse ( Spectre w/ Chain )Stuff are missing I know, they're the same as "Old Setup"



Q&A

Flasks?





Feel free to ask questions on the thread and I will try to answer them as best as I can. Carried one of my friend from lvl 68 to 92. He transitioned from failed build to Culler with MF.He does not provide any auras nor support of any sort so I had to step up my game.gem usingfrom Act 4 - The Harvestfor defensive and offensive purposes- Very versatile in terms of gear / skill gems- Can do every map mods including the difficult bosses- Very safe- Tremendous damage scaling- Hardcore viable- Fast Clear speed- Normal Atziri do-able (haven't tested uber)- Good positioning is required (minions are dumb)- Stygian revenants will make your ears bleed################################################################################################################Feel free to ask questions on the thread and I will try to answer them as best as I can. Last edited by PetitCaca on Jan 2, 2016, 6:19:04 PM Last bumped on Mar 25, 2016, 12:52:05 AM