Elemental and Zombie Form guides and discussion (t3 thread backup)

[SKiLLs]

http://web.archive.org/web/20120103134741/http://forum.t3fun.com/hellgate/cabalist-discussions/summoner-guide-5486/

I've seen some talk in game about people wishing there was a summoner guide, so I thought I'd try my hand at making one.  Who am I and why should you care what I have to say about summoners?  Here are my credentials: (Solo Hell Berial kill)
http://www.youtube.com/v/XdELwnqHqgY&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6

Everything in here is my opinion, feel free to ignore it if you disagree.

There are two main summoner builds, which you can mesh together to make a hybrid if you want (it's what I did.)  I will split this guide between the two main build types: Zombie Sacrifice and Elemental

---------- Elemental Build ---------
As the title suggests, this build focuses on elementals.

Elemental Build Gear:
You will want to focus on items that give +% minion damage, armor, and health.  Your minions will be doing all the damage, your job is simply to survive.  You will benefit greatly from +1 all skills gear, which means helm and the Master of the Dark one handed gun for +2 all (or +3 all if you use two Masters).  The main downside to 2 Masters is the lack of minion damage on them, no mod slots, and the inability to augment them.

Elemental Build Skills:
As with any class, never max out any skill with hard points.  I've built this guide around the idea of +2 to all skills.
Unfortunately, elemental summoners have a hard time reaching full potential without buying skill points from the cash shop.  However, here is an idea for level 55 with +1 from the event skill point:
8 Fire Elemental
8 Toxic Elemental (These two are your main DPS)
4 Force Elemental (These are your tanks)
1 Storm Elemental (Becomes 3 after your +skills gear.  Optional, since DPS is low)
1 Spectral Elemental (Optional, but DPS is decent and can phase enemies when combined with Elemental Nova/Drain)
5 Elemental Revenge
5 Elemental Fortitude (These are essential because they are your elementals' survivability and damage)
1 Elemental Nova (This is a HUGE amount of DPS and does not sacrifice your elementals, use every chance you get)
3 Master of Elements (This will allow you to actually summon your army)
6 Summon Witch Doctor (This is to keep your elementals alive, not you)
1 Summon Warper (Optional. More than 1 point is a waste end game, but can be good for extra DPS when you dont need WD)
1 Summon Reaper (It's a given, his DPS boost is huge and well worth the one point)
1 Blood Link (This becomes 3 after gear and you will need to use on occasion to keep the WD up)
1 Summoning Circle
1 Summoning Empowerment (These two are good to keep the WD/Warper alive and become 3's after gear to make em worthwhile)
2 Afterlife
2 Drain Life (Comes in handy in a pinch, but only getting these to get the next skills in the tree)
2 Brom's Curse (This is what keeps you alive, since the WD is healing your elementals)
3 Elemental Drain (An absolute must for any elemental summoner)
If you have skill points left over or use gear that gives you these skills so you can spend points elsewhere, I recommend getting a few more points in Elemental Nova, and then maxing out Force Elementals and Witch Doctor, in that order.

Elemental Build Expertise:
Leadership is a no-brainer, it directly increases your summons' damage.  However, Affliction should be second on your list, because your elementals DO gain the boost as well.  Beyond these two, it is up to you and your play style.

--------- Zombie Build ---------
This build focuses on Zombie Form and Zombie Sacrifice.  There is a lot more freedom with skill points, but is more limited on gear.  This build can also be a very capable boss tank for groups.

Zombie Build Gear:
First and foremost you will want a set of weapons to switch to that each have Zombie Form 3 on them.  Any time you cast Zombie Form you will switch to them, cast it, then switch back to your main weapons.  This saves you 6 skill points and you keep the defense bonus.  Your main weapons you will want to be two focus items because Zombie Sacrifice gets its damage from the power rating of your focus weapons.  Only using one focus?  You're doing at least 20% less damage than you could be.  The stats for the weapons are up to you, but keep in mind elemental damage and status effects from your weapons do pass through the Zombie Sacrifice explosion, so fire and poison are always good options.  On hit nova is a good choice too, because the nova damage is a % of the original hit, meaning if it procs on a sacrifice you will kill every normal mob around you in one hit.
Armor is trickier as you will not need to prioritize +minion stats.  Since you will be up in the face of whatever you're attacking you will need to prioritize +armor, +% hp, +elemental resists, and the like.

Zombie Build Skills:
There are no focus weapons with +1 all summoner skills, which means this guide builds around using a +1 all skills helm.  Keep in mind that focus weapons can not be augmented with Summoner Only skills with the exceptions of Zombie Form and Zombie Sacrifice.
Again, built for level 55 with a +1 skill.
3 Zombie Form (+1 from helm, and +6 from weapon swap for 10 total)
9 Zombie Sacrifice (This is your main DPS)
2 Afterlife
2 Drain Life (Comes in handy, but bugs too often to put more in)
2 Brom's Curse (More or less is up to you, but this keeps you alive when the WD cannot and opens Elemental Drain)
4 Elemental Drain (This is a great defensive skill and party boost.)
9 Witch Doctor (This is your main healing)
3 Blood Link (No fewer than 2 here, or you're wasting too much health, but 20 seconds without WD can kill you)
1 Summoning Circle (Only to open up Empowerment)
6 Summoning Empowerment (The armor makes a huge difference, and the time reduction applies to the Reaper)
9 Summon Reaper (This is your 2nd best DPS, but is extremely inconsistent)
This leaves 6 points left over to do what you want with.  An option I would recommend is getting a few toxic and fire elementals to boost your ranged DPS.  If you take some points out of reaper you should also get a few points Elemental Nova.  Just keep in mind to not get Force Elementals (you're the tank and they're low DPS) and keep your total number of elementals below 12 or the WD will heal them more than you.
Most people are probably wondering why Elemental Drain.  The more elemental resist you have, the more this skill gives you as a boost and really helps in tanking, even from a defensive standpoint.  It's also a great offensive party boost skill.

Zombie Build Expertise:
Again, there is a lot of freedom here and depends on your play style.  But good choices are: Affliction, Arcane Resolve, Cruelty (if it's fixed), Toughness (It does benefit from the Zombie Form bonus, while the +hp expertise does not seem to), and possibly Surgical Precision.

In closing, Summoner is one of the most versatile classes in the game.  The above is just a rough guide that should answer a lot of the most common questions I've seen.  I strongly encourage anyone interested in the Summoner class to experiment with it.  Use these as a base, but try something new.  As of the time of this writing a free skill reset is the current reward for gaining level 55.  That means you can try out different things and find out what works for you.  My personal build is a mesh of the two main builds that took me 4 skill resets to find what I liked.  Don't be afraid to try something new and ignore people that say there is "only one way" to build a summoner.

[Todoran]

I will use the First one whit Elemntals, ty.

[Bryan]

Not a bad choice at all Todoran.If you need any help with that I'd be happy to oblige

[Todoran]

Yeah i have a question, where do i put my stat points i saw i need to put them in order to wear itimes, but wich stats are the best for a Sumoner? Some players told me its Stamina and Str and will 

[Bryan]

You generally need to invest stats according to gear,yes.As to which stats are most useful,the most useful in most minion-heavy builds is Will,for a large power pool.Then if you're using ZF and/or pieces with many +stats,you'll need Stamina for more hp. (Drain Life's effectiveness depends on your hp pool size too,if you plan on that)
Accuracy is needed only when you're planning on using crit setups,and Strength is the least useful stat in most cases.It supposedly increases ZF/Sacrifice damage,but it's far too low a bonus to prefer it over more power/hp (or cdb if you're going for that).

[Todoran]

Ok then, i will invest more in will, thank you.

[Bryan]

I'd strongly suggest that you save some points for times of need.Other than that,a larger power pool can be of much help as you level,sure.Best of luck with it

[Yorthae]

Todoran, those avatar and signature images are pretty awesome.

[Todoran]

Hehe thanks, i found them over the internet, the person who made them also made a cool video about them: