Summoner Viable in Hell?

[adddm]

Looking for feedback on my first Druid:

Summoner with max HoW, Dire Wolves, Grizzly, some in Poison Creeper and Ravens and any left over skill points in Shapeshift Bear mainly for Shockwave.

Propsed Equipment: Jalals, Rare +2 Summon Ammy, Lionheart, Nosferatus Belt, Ravenfrost x2, Laying of Hands, War Traveler, Famine War Spike/Sanctuary Troll Nest and Spirit Sword/Spirit Shield on switch. Charms mainly elemental damage, resists, +life, AR/Max and a couple +1 Summoning GC's.

Is this a viable build through Act 5 Hell? Thanks in advance!

[Stevebo]

Summon is not a common standard Druid build, but makes an interesting change from a Windy.

Currently I am building one to see what it is like, and am at level 72 and about to enter hell, so can't tell you the hell viability just yet, but he can do all of act 5 nightmare without too much trouble. And makes a good team player with HoW.

Skills
Vine - 20 (this does MUCH more than listed damage against multiple enemies)
Dire Wolf - 20
Bear - 20
HoW - 20
Ravens, Oak sage - 1
Spirit Wolf - a couple
A Few into shockwave to help your summons out

Thats almost where i am now, and its working ok, trying to decide between rabies or fire for more secondary damage - have massive rabies synergy from vine so could do a lot of poison damage, but already have good poison damage against multiple enemies from Vine.

Summon +skills are cheap to trade for so it's not an exensive build.
Currently my summons are Level 31 each without godly gear and having spent a whole 25 perfect gems on the trading forum.

Summon makes a change and sure is a diversion from the tried and tested Windy.

[Forcefeedback]

One thing I'd like to point out is that having a beast weapon would boost your summons effective damage very much, as would decrepify from reaper's toll on a merc or amplify damage from lacerator on switch. It gets rid of PI's too.

[Stevebo]

Incidently if you want an idea of damage output this is what i have with no godly equipment:

Dire Wold base damage ~ 730

Might Merc ~+200% (@level 70 with level 20 might aura)
HoW ~+200% (@level 31)
When the wolves eat a corpse this adds a further +100%

Total = +500%
Damage = 730*(5+1) = ~4380

Now give yourself Beast and Give your Merc Pride (getting expensive here, I'm working towards this)
Beast = +90% (level 9 fanatacism)
Pride = +315% (level 18 concentration)

Now we have +935%

Total = 730*10.35 = ~7500

And thats with summons at level 31, with full +skill kit you could have Level 40 or more.

I think my maths is correct, apologies if its stuffed up somewhere.

[Dad Daniel]

Skills
Vine - 20 (this does MUCH more than listed damage against multiple enemies)
Dire Wolf - 20
Bear - 20
HoW - 20
Ravens, Oak sage - 1
Spirit Wolf - a couple
A Few into shockwave to help your summons out

........



Don't waste points into vine, neither rabies, because if you are bear-shockwave type of summoner YOU CANNOT USE RABIES!!! This is a werewolf form only available!
It is significantly better to max lycantropy for massive life boost and pump rest into Maul to stun enemies (combined with ETH lacerator would be nice dmg and amplify casting too).

[Stevebo]

Ah yes - Thanks for pointing that out before I stuffed it.

I defend Vine though - it is very good for multiple enemies and seems to have a higher threat rating than the other summons so can be used to take heat off your Wolves.

Scratch the rabies thing - go for bear to have shockwave.

[Joshua]

Poison creeper can be very usefull even at low levels.

Try it the next time you go after the ancients.

It seems to keep the leaper grounded and mess up the whirly barb.

Spoil them with good gear and a summoner can go anywhere in hell with little trouble.

[adddm]

Thanks all for the great comments and advice. The only change I'm making for now is to put the Spirit equipment in my stash for pre-buffing and have a Harmony Crusader bow on weapon switch. That way I can either go in side by side with my Famine or stay back and use the bow. I chose both of these weapons due to their high elemental damage.

[Beowulf]

Huntermentalist the best summoner build, that is all I have to say.