1.5.10 Summoner mini-guide: Multi-Demon poison curses

[Bryan]

@SuE

I do not like pet builds (i know, wrong personal preference for summy player)

Not at all I know I prefer my builds to be minion-lighter. More self-reliance, less AI tomfoolery.
But the class does have a hard time making up for lost minions.

@SuE

Now, the question is whether it is viable to use venom spirit (which is quite good on evo) and swarm as main dmg dealing skills.

You probably could. I couldn’t get Swarm to be anywhere near, say, Hellfire, so that I treated as an sfx source. But VS can deal respectable damage, the annoying Fear effect aside, so that can work with a crit build. You could even go for DF, since they mix rather well.

@SuE

Other option would be gun summy but there I am at lost as to which weapons would be good.

That’s a good question. I delved into gun options before, but there have been many changes since. Aladinf’s Gunvoker build would be a better point of reference now. So probably Infernous, Chaos Pistols, and Leech Launchers for damage, and Spikers for survivability.
With crit, of course.

[aladinf]

I havn’t tried the gun summy yet but the gunvoker works just fine and is super cheap to equip. I assume the gun summy is even stronger.

[Bryan]

Safe to say, I think. The Gunvoker does get CDam and SC, but the Summoner gets, well, summons.
I particularly like using Bloodshards as guns, since their autoattack poisons incredibly well. Then the offhand can be an igniting Pyrocaster or some such, and there’s still access to spells.

[de93ial]

@SuE

Hello,
I want to try a bit weird build which do not rely on minions too much.
I do not like pet builds (i know, wrong personal preference for summy player) so i would only use force elementals, some toxic and storm maybe as meat shield together with witch doctor.

Now, the question is whether it is viable to use venom spirit (which is quite good on evo) and swarm as main dmg dealing skills. I think i would have to go cc/cdb route with HA or maybe prisms with +3 swarm.
Other option would be gun summy but there I am at lost as to which weapons would be good. Is there something like hunter rail guns for summy (i mean decent dmg 1-hand gun) or 2-hand guns like el eels or aladdins would be good for this? And i suspect i need to go crit here too.

Im actually testing my version of Sumi that is actually Evo Spirits as main attack, Swarm second, ele nova as area cleanser and Darkform for HP boost. Will give more feedback in future but right now works.

[Bryan]

Updated for 1.5.6, as the title now suggests

[Bryan]

Updated for 1.5.10.

• Added links to the new skill planner.
• Added new gear options.
• Added dedicated subsections to progressive adjustments one may want to make as they collect gear - and want to introduce more gear dependencies.
• Finally dared to add a +1 AS ring section to showcase how far this build could theoretically spread out.

Edit: more polish, more gear mentions, and a new subsection for toning down gear requirements.

[Bryan]

Updated again.

• Added more, earlier notes on the possibility/option of ditching Toxics
• Added an early note on the guide exploring different build variants, and a small explanation on why the build doesn’t use a foci and a Master’s Hand offhand
• Included a mention of the massive value of +toxic damage for double-dipping poison
• Listed Demeter’s Eleusis as a torso option, and added mentions to it in relevant places
• Slightly trimmed down bits of secondary sections, as the character limit was finally hit…