summoner needs some aid in further development

[Eshu]

Ok I know there are many guides to read and learn etc. but I can not decide what to do further with my summoner character (whom I very much like in his current condition)

He's at Hell - mid of act 1
lvl 79 with two skill points in stock.
maxed CE, RS and SM;
given 5 ranks or so to SR;
given 1 rank to all curses except iron maiden, life tap and LR.
gone down in the right summoning tree and given Revive 8-9 ranks or so.

His items currently give +3 to all skills and an additional +2 / +3 to RS and SM respectively.

what to do now?

poison or bone spells would be useless for I could not afford their synergies.
increasing the curses' ranks is even more useless. (I really do not need a duration or radius increase)

Skeleton Mages?
I've read in most places that they are useless.
Yet maybe they may come handy for those PI monsters who stubbornly endure even after Amplify Damage?

Revive?
This much Revives seem accurate.
Is it not so? I mostly leave them behind to disappear after a bloody combat. I do not have Enigma yet.

LR?
Is it feasible to buy those prerequisites to give it a rank?

or something.. other?


thanks already.

note1: I've played Normal and NM at p8 solo but found out (harshly) that I can not likewise play hell. I play hell at p5. any advice?

note2: I'm using a NM act 2 might merc with Guillame's Face.

note 3: are runes "act oriented" more than difficulty/level oriented? I can not find any nice runes in hell act 1.

[Omnicide]

Well Lower Res wouldn't be that useful if you're not planning to use mages at all, and at your level you won't be getting too many skills left, so I guess you should go the Revives route. If you haven't, already, you should get some form of golem, as they're pretty good meat shields, themselves. Clay or Iron would help you the most.

[Eshu]

Well Lower Res wouldn't be that useful if you're not planning to use mages at all, and at your level you won't be getting too many skills left, so I guess you should go the Revives route. If you haven't, already, you should get some form of golem, as they're pretty good meat shields, themselves. Clay or Iron would help you the most.

thanks omnicide for your reply.

golems.. no I have not give them more than the prerequisite 1 rank. I only use the clay golem for bosses and some troublesome uniques right now. I don't need more meat shields at the moment though, I need some more killing power it seems.

Then, there seems to be two options:

1. LR and Magi
2. Revived and Golem

?

[Omnicide]

Yeah, most don't put more than one into any golem, as added skills pumps them up pretty good.

Well I'm not sure how many mages you'll have if you go that route. I figured about 5 by the time you're level 85 (adding a point to LT, IM and LR and the 5 skill points to mages), but that's going to be pretty tough if you're going single player.

Hm...either way would work and each has their downsides. Mages you wouldn't have a whole lot, but they'd help with physical immunes. And Revives provide great minions at the cost of all that mana and the fact they last for three minutes. I'm not going to mention iron golem options because I'm not so sure what your budget is so I'm not trying to suggest endgame gear.

[Shallie]

You have many options to spend your points.

Bone Armor: 1 point and the rest into the synergies. Especially useful against archers and spear throwers as it absorbs physical dmg. Imo this is only a good choice if you play HC (a little safety is never wrong there) or if you really don't know where else to spend your points.

Iron Golem: I'd put at least 5-10 points into Iron Golem if you decide to go this way and if you don't have too many +skill items a few points into Golem Mastery. If you use a good weapon your Iron Golem can be really powerful.

Skeletal Mages: Always an option to spend your points if you don't know where else to spend them. Your mages can be really annoying though if they block the entrance for your other minions. On the other side poison mages stop monsters from regenerating and the frost ones are especially nice when fighting bosses.

Poison/Bone Spells: Well you've already spent too many points to make one of these an option. You'd simply not do enough dmg as you don't have the points to boost one of the synergies.

Revives: Imo you've already spent too many points here. 1 point is usually enough as you can summon enough revives from your +skill items and due to the 3 minutes timer this spell has its limits.

Curses: More than one point is a waste. If you want to spend 1 in each of the curses or not is up to you.

note1: I've played Normal and NM at p8 solo but found out (harshly) that I can not likewise play hell. I play hell at p5. any advice?
I don't see any reason to play Hell at more than p1 except for the challenge or for farming lvl 85 areas. The more players you're simulating the longer it takes to progress.
note 3: are runes "act oriented" more than difficulty/level oriented? I can not find any nice runes in hell act 1.
The chance to find a "nice rune" is really low. There are certain places/monsters that have a higher drop chance for runes but to find a HR you need a lot of luck.

[DarkPrinceLoki]

Have You read my guide? check it out in my sig, it should give you a basic insight into ways you can fix yourself. It hasnt been updated lately, and I need to do it but i've been very busy.

[necrosis]

I can pull a curtain of light on this subject for you :cool:

the 5 points you put in summon resist should be enough because with about oh 23 plus skills it is at 71%

getting 1 to bone armor and 1 to bone wall for the added defense to armor is a good way to spend some points

with my summoner i have found mages to be quite useless cause all they do is...nothing

as for curses you will just need to get decrepfy and all it's prequisites.

i have found that an act 2 offensive nightmare merc to be good with a rald andariels visage fortitude and an infinity.

on a side note if you want to really waste points may i suggest maxng golem mastery and clay golem..... in hell mode mine at lvl 45 has around 50k life(not bad if you like using him as a human shield)

[sg78]

Hey Omni, Im currently lvl 11 with I think lvl 2 revive skeleton and 1 skeleton mastery, I wanted to add a lil' to the other categories just to survive for some time. I have lvl 2 clay golem, 1 corspe explosion, 2 teeth and 1 poison dagger and some other skills I forgot 0.o. What should I do now? I want to be summoner like TS

[Dzidas]

DarkPrinceLoki: Would you please post your build here or PM me with a link to your page as I can't see the link (too few posts).
Also, everybody concentrates on the skills, but what about stats? Just enough in STR to carry an armor and the rest in Vitality?

[Omnicide]

It's right here on the forums. ._.

[Dzidas]

thnx for the hint, I found it. awesome.