{3.10} Speaker for the Dead | The Mass Minion Summoner | League Starter, Leveling Guide 💀

Just a quick answesr before going to bed. There are a few posts for leveling on pages 2-4 .skeletons are kinda for bosses only and zombis just meatshields not much speed there as well. U would want to level with sth like smite or static strike since u dont use spectres before act 8.
Feel free to add me ingame i wouldnt mind giving u advises when op isnt there to the best of my ability. Even though i cant be online much for the next days due to work.
This guide is great even for beginners once u understand the interactions and get to play a bit. Dont let the complex game frighten u. Just follow a good guide, dont try to fit in personal taste too much without knowing what u r doing since they are well thought through and come together if done right and line its explained. (Many ppl start crying while they die on endgame content while being bad geared, low level and doing only half of what the guide tells em to do) so be patient and the more u play and read the more u learn and enjoy the game from start to end

Thanks for that reply. I've just now tried out Static Strike + Ancestral + Life On Hit (can't use Chain for a while yet) and it seemed to do barely any damage. Do I just need to level it up, or is it just because I'm low maybe? I went much faster just spawning skeletons. I'm missing something I think...I'll keep at it.

@ DamageIncorporated:

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DamageIncorporated escribió:

I moved on but this was up there with one of my favs.

I'm glad you liked it! I hope we'll see you around here again next league!

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@ DeadEnd99:

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DeadEnd99 escribió:

Super new player here (Diablo refugee, what's up) looking around for a solid summoning build that looks to be fast and fun and end game effective so I can learn it and maybe run it when the new league starts.

Welcome! Happy to have you! PoE is a fantastic game whose depth and creativity have kept me enamored for over five years. This is coming from someone who played every season of D3 up to 9.

In the end, putting the railroad nature of armor sets aside, I eventually left D3 because I just couldn't stand the additional stash tab being locked behind set dungeons. I am almost surprised with myself how deeply I loathe that feature, almost to an irrational level. I mean, I can't think of any other time I've hated a game mechanic so fervently. I wouldn't have even cared about them had they been purely optional side challenges, but I needed my damn stash tabs!

When I first heard about set dungeons, I thought they could be fun and interesting like Bastion's weapon trials, where the unique mechanics of a weapon were highlighted and it trained you to improve in taking advantage of those characteristics. But D3 set dungeons want you to intentionally gimp yourself, completely contradicting the root gameplay motivation of power growth. They want you to hop on one foot while chewing bubblegum and rubbing your belly in a McDonald's PlayPlace, with the most arbitrary completion goals. And then that race to kill everything left over at the end? Completely aggravating when solo, yet absurdly easy with a partner. There's probably other things I dislike about set dungeons, but I just can't mold these inky feelings into proper words.

It's a shame, because I did love how simple it was to just jump into a Greater Rift and slay nonstop with a big loot explosion only at the very end.

And now Blizzard is blessing us with Diablo: Don't You Have a Phone...

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The work that went into this one is intense! Bravo.

Thank you! =oD

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This doesn't look super newbie-friendly, but I'm going to give it a run anyway. I'm going to struggle a bit I think without a fully fleshed-out leveling guide for it (bc noob), but I'll try to manage.

As I mentioned in my mini-guide, it's really hard to go wrong with leveling a summoner. Compared to attack builds who need twink gear or risk hitting a wall, and spell builds who have a big bullseye on their forehead, summoners share the same advantage as totems: mobility, except summoners double-up on it with persistent minions. As for our downside, we have a longer delay and ramp up to dealing full damage, which makes us great against long encounters, like bosses, but a bit behind other archetypes when it comes to one-click-booming the screen.

In the very unlikely event that things get really bad (just keep your gems leveled and your elemental resistances near cap), you can always hide in a corner while your Skeletons or Raging Spirits march/fly off to war.

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When I'm super early and running around with only 3 (will grab 4 soon) links to work with, what's my best setup?

Melee Splash (sold by Nessa in Act 1) is all you need on Zombies and Skeletons during early leveling. Minion Damage is fine as a third link. You want Phantasms on something, either Zombies or Holy Relic (you'll need to be in the thick of things with a melee attack to trigger its AOE close to monsters) until you get Spectres and can properly support the Phantasms' projectile spell.

If you're clearing fine without using Skeletons, swap their Melee Splash for Melee Physical Damage to take on bosses.

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I figure the zombies are just meat shields so right now I have skeletons + minion damage + phantasms support and then a flaming skull damage spell to spam. Didn't know if I should bother getting minion damage on the zombies.

Zombies hit hard. They are reliable, persistent sources of damage, so definitely take advantage of that.

You can certainly use Raging Spirits. They're good with Melee Splash + Minion Speed in a "+1 to socketed Fire Skills" weapon or a Reverberation Rod, though a wand will shut you out of Shield Charge even if wielding a shield. I liken them to little hunter-killers who spread out and seek targets like homing missiles with teeth. Good for those addicted to full clears. However, I'd say it's really more efficient to race through the campaign to get to maps ASAP (unless it's your first playthrough; then enjoy the roses), so I stick to Skeletons and ignore killing anything aside from magic monster packs (blue hued, like D3) and large normal monster packs (shrines, strongboxes) for the most XP per time investment.

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Anyway, fantastic looking guide, looking forward to getting deeper into this game with it and trying to make it work, the gameplay in your videos looks like a blast.

Thanks! This is definitely the fastest summoner build I have ever made, and I work on a new one every league.

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DeadEnd99 escribió:

Thanks for that reply. I've just now tried out Static Strike + Ancestral + Life On Hit (can't use Chain for a while yet) and it seemed to do barely any damage. Do I just need to level it up, or is it just because I'm low maybe? I went much faster just spawning skeletons. I'm missing something I think...I'll keep at it.

Static Strike is just for support, to rapidly trigger your Holy Relic (solid clear damage), apply EE (Elemental Equilibrium keystone), poison (only practical with poison support or a weapon like Mortem Morsu with poison chance), curse from Mark of Submission, and to give you lots of Life on Hit from its beams so you can Shield Charge with impunity.

Just punch the air (click on the skill in your bar and toggle on "Always Attack in Place") somewhat near a monster and Ancestral Call will handle the targeting for you. Then you'll have a 4-second buff that passively zaps things around you and counts as attacking, so it really helps you stay mobile.

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@ Yloss:

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Yloss escribió:

Just killed red Elder (T11) at lvl 82 with no Empower Gem and almost no lvl 20 gems.
Died once but only because i suck and didnt notice game mechanic and did not move, totally my fault, could have been deathless ez.
Still have so much to improve (life only 4600ish, uncapped res and some jewels and gear missing/to improve) and build already delivering, can't wait to see what it can achieve.
AND, most important, it is really fun! :)
If no incoming nerf, this will be my starting build next season, thanks Hercanic for the build, for the VERY nice guide and for the outstanding "customer service" :)

Keep it up!

Awesome! Thank you very much!

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@ Schnubbel_:

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Schnubbel_ escribió:

I Like that section. Good overview im not missing anything so far. Gj Just reaches a8 solaris temple so the real fun is only starting for me now

Nice! Now you can get a proper clearing setup with Spectres and Phantasms. Frost Sentinels are just so satisfying with their sniper range and 7 projectiles, and Phantasms with Faster Proj and GMP just blast everything to oblivion like shotguns.

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Schnubbel_ escribió:

Just a quick answesr before going to bed. There are a few posts for leveling on pages 2-4 .skeletons are kinda for bosses only and zombis just meatshields not much speed there as well. U would want to level with sth like smite or static strike since u dont use spectres before act 8.
Feel free to add me ingame i wouldnt mind giving u advises when op isnt there to the best of my ability. Even though i cant be online much for the next days due to work.
This guide is great even for beginners once u understand the interactions and get to play a bit. Dont let the complex game frighten u. Just follow a good guide, dont try to fit in personal taste too much without knowing what u r doing since they are well thought through and come together if done right and line its explained. (Many ppl start crying while they die on endgame content while being bad geared, low level and doing only half of what the guide tells em to do) so be patient and the more u play and read the more u learn and enjoy the game from start to end

Thanks for the assist and trying to make a new player feel welcomed!

The real advantage of Zombies very early on is they pick off stragglers and supply free XP while you run past things. They deal solid damage with built-in AOE slams on a 5sec cooldown. You just have to keep them healed up with Holy Relic every so often.

With Wraithlord's +1000 Spectre life, you can use Flame Sentinels from Act 3. So they don't fall too far behind in level, raise new ones using Desecrate every three or four zones. Just watch your dexterity so you can keep leveling Desecrate.

Thanks @Hercanic for the thorough reply, I appreciate your time in posting it. I'll tweak my gem setup and get melee splash going for my minions. I've mostly done a first playthrough on another char already so I'm really just looking to speedrun through and level and get to endgame stuff and 'start the real game' and start learning that and get a feel for a build to run next league (hopefully this one!)

I was playing an arc trapper that was very quickly one-shotting the screen (struggling a bit with bosses sometimes though) so at least a low level this feels way different and I feel like I'm playing wrong / setting it up wrong, but it might just take time to start rolling it sounds like.

Minions feel a bit weird since you can't control them so that takes getting used to. Should I basically be trying to keep moving as much and fast as possible and they'll keep up and keep attacking whatever is near me I hope? Sorry for so many noob questions. Cheers.

Short answear: yes. When u get to act 8 and can raise your spectres linked with phantasms they will clear everything on the screen and further away while u can just run/ charge dash/ shield charge around looting

@ DeadEnd99:

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DeadEnd99 escribió:

Thanks @Hercanic for the thorough reply, I appreciate your time in posting it. I'll tweak my gem setup and get melee splash going for my minions. I've mostly done a first playthrough on another char already so I'm really just looking to speedrun through and level and get to endgame stuff and 'start the real game' and start learning that and get a feel for a build to run next league (hopefully this one!)

No problem! You'll notice quite the diffence with Melee Splash. Minion Speed is also good while leveling.

One thing to be aware of if you don't have enough currency to trade for leveling items or just don't like trading (e.g. Solo Self-Found), you can use Vendor Recipes. By selling specific combinations of items to a vendor, you'll get a special result. For example:

• Next tier of Flask - Three of the same low level flask will give you one higher tier flask in return.
  
  
• Elemental resistance ring - Sell an iron ring together with a skill gem. Red gem = fire resistance, green = cold, blue = lightning.
  
  
• +1 Minion helm - Get a white helmet with as many links as possible (3 to 4) on an Energy Shield and Armor base for easy Blue/Red socket coloring with Chromatic orbs. Use a Transmutation orb on it to make it into a Magic (blue) item. Find a magic life flask with the "of Animation" (heals minions) suffix, or craft one using Transmutation/Alteration orbs. Now sell the magic helmet, minion flask, and 1 Alteration orb to get a helmet with "+1 to socketed Minion gems." Additional levels are really strong on minions, since it increases their damage, accuracy, and life.
  
  
• +1 Chaos wand - One magic wand and a Chaos-tagged skill gem (Blight, Contagion, Wither, etc). You want at least one green socket on this wand so you can place Desecrate inside and keep it in your second weapon set (swap between weapon sets using the X hotkey). The additional level will be very helpful to ensuring you create the highest level corpses.
  
  
• + Movement Speed boots - White boots + Quicksilver Flask + Orb of Augmentation = 10% movement speed boots. Those same magic boots + Quicksilver Flask + Orb of Augmentation will add another +5% movement speed. You can keep doing this up to +30%. The only downside is unlike other recipes this one can change the sockets on the item, so don't rely on your boot slot for socketing any skills.
  
  
• +1 Fire wand - Magic Sceptre/Wand + Ruby Ring (use earlier ring recipe with a red skill gem) + Orb of Alteration. You want this if you're using Raging Spirits. Use a sceptre that already has 3 links so you don't waste Jeweler and Fusing orbs. You can buy a white one from a vendor and use a Transmutation orb to turn it magical.

Later on, using the Chaos orb recipe is very good for early financing, since most trades with other players use Chaos orbs. Zana map mods also consume Chaos orbs, so they're just good to have in general.

Since you're coming from D3, you may be intimidated by trading with players since you don't know the etiquette. Say you want Victario's Flight boots. You can refine your search to only 4-linked ones. If you see one within your price range, no more than 1 Chaos orb since it's only a leveling item late in the league (Alchemy orbs are worth roughly half a chaos, so 1 alch would be even cheaper -- you can check current exchange rates and historical trends at PoE Ninja), you click on the Whisper button near the seller's name. This will copy a message to the clipboard that you can paste into the game's chatbox. This will whisper the seller with the item and listed price.

If they accept, they will send you a party invite. After you accept, go to their hideout. You'll need to be in town. The new teleport icon on their portrait might be enough, or you can right-click on their portrait and select going to their hideout.

Once there, wait for them to send you a trade request. Only send your own if it's been a bit or theirs got cancelled because you were stuck in a loading screen.

Make sure you have your Chaos orb or other currency ready! You cannot shift-right click to split currency stacks once the trade window opens, so have that prepared.

Once all the items have been placed in the trade window, you'll need to mouse-over and examine what they put in before the game will let you accept the trade. Always double-check whether it's the right item! Scammers are plentiful. One trick is to put the right item in first, then cancel the whole trade and start again with a similar but worse item, hoping you don't check the change and absentmindedly accept.

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I was playing an arc trapper that was very quickly one-shotting the screen (struggling a bit with bosses sometimes though) so at least a low level this feels way different and I feel like I'm playing wrong / setting it up wrong, but it might just take time to start rolling it sounds like.

Arc trapper is very strong compared to most, so you were definitely spoiled there! =o) The main weakness is you have to stop and throw traps at every pack, and before the traps can trigger monsters will potentially hit you.

When leveling with minions, you can just keep running past saying "Bye clowns" as your zombies follow behind and smack their faces off. You won't kill everything, but you don't need to, either.

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Minions feel a bit weird since you can't control them so that takes getting used to. Should I basically be trying to keep moving as much and fast as possible and they'll keep up and keep attacking whatever is near me I hope? Sorry for so many noob questions. Cheers.

You actually do have control over Zombies and Spectres. They will target anything within an area of the last place you used a skill. They will also target anything within a small radius around your character.

Skeletons and Raging Spirits do their own thing. Skeletons you can control just based on where you first summon them. Raging Spirits will prioritize anything within a small radius of you, like other minions, so get close to the target you want them to dogpile. Otherwise, they prefer targets with the least amount of other Raging Spirits targeting, causing their AI to have a spreading-out mentality.

Phantasms are Aggressive, meaning they target independently like Skeletons, but they still follow you.

Minions that follow are automatically teleported to you if they fall too far behind. This is one reason I like to Shield Charge right into monster packs. Because you move forward so fast, you'll often get minions teleporting onto you, which fulfills all three targeting types: 1. Skill use location, 2. Monsters near master, 3. Closest enemy.

So yes, keep moving as much as possible! But remember, if you're just running around instead of using a movement skill you won't have a skill use location for them to target, so they'll default to Close To Master and Closest Enemy within their limited 'vision' range. Unfortunately, this causes many people to mistake minions as "dumb", but it's often that they don't fully understand how different minions target enemies.

BUILD UPDATE
The new Patch 3.4.4 added the following:

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Qarl escribió:

The camera now follows more smoothly when using Bodyswap, Charged Dash and Smoke Mine. This does not apply to Bodyswap if triggered.

The camera now quickly pans instead of jumping to your new position. It makes Charged Dash feel much smoother, as it helps you keep your orientation consistent.


Art by Lewis Henderson

MINOR GUIDE UPDATE
The leveling guide now has far more content in it. It's not complete; I'm still working on it, but if you're in the process of leveling this build then there's some good stuff in there for you. Check it out!

Nice write up! going to try this in 3.5

Thanks for putting your time and effort into this

Nice build! Although I'm more into hybrid casters, I still approve.

May I add, since this league (thanks to Strongholds) a pair of Flesh and Spirit gloves is amazing to have while leveling.

Plus as a general idea, Arc is presently so strong that it can pull any build into endgame. And here we have opportunity to scale into minion nodes earlier to give it more juice while leveling.

At least that's how i typically level characters, as self-cast Arc if I don't have access to Poet's Pens. Which is also an option, albeit more expensive.