Summoner dealing with PI's?

[robinhallberg]

Hi.

I'm doing a summoner. One thing I was wondering is what skills are best for dealing with PI's?

1 raven
1 oak sage
1 poison creeper
5? spirit wolves
20 dire wolfs
20 grizzly
20 HOW

= 68 points

Where should I put the rest of the points? Especially for dealing with PI's?

Werewolf/werebear? lycantrophy, what other skill? Fireclaws/Rabies? How much?

Also, what merc to use? I'm thinking of an act 1 merc fire or cold.

Thanks!

[KTang]

I'd use an Act 2 Merc and try and get a Reaper's toll for him. PIs aren't very common so don't worry, you won't have much a problem. Make sure it is a Might merc too, the aura will help your summons do extra damage which I believe is necessary, otherwise Holy Freeze is a good choice for crowd control (since you already got HoW)

The guide in the sticky recommends using Rabies.

http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=420025

And if you are playing with buddies a lot, 20 poison creeper would also be viable.

KT

[robinhallberg]

Thank you.

I will be playing with a buddy, but we're always just two.

I 've heard that people recommend either act 2 mercs or act 1 with especially fire. The pala from act 2 will add damage (might) but the archer will hurt them with fire. Is that the main difference? In that case more damage for your minions must be more effective.

Is the might pala better than holy freeze pala? Will might give that much more damage to your minions?

PI's are common in bloody foothills, which we play a lot for levling before baal. Maybe we have to find another place for that purpose.

EDIT: There are also PI's in worldstone keep. How do I kill them??

[KTang]

Don't rely on A1 mercs for damage, it is quite minimal and you might be mixing up Fire with the runeword Faith, act 1 mercs use the Faith Bow which provides fanat aura which is quite expensive.

Might does provide a good damage boost to your summons, but holy freeze does offer great crowd control increasing survivibility of your summons. Might will make your summons kill faster, holy freeze just makes it safer, which isn't so necessary in softcore imo. Whats your buddy going as?

Chaos Sanctuary is good for levelling below Baal, as well as running level 85 areas such as Pits.

If you got them PIs in Worldstone Keep, which I don't think are all THAT common, then use Rabies or level 20 Poison Creeper.

KT

[robinhallberg]

He too is a summoner druid. We know that it would be better with two different characters, but we wanted to try this. Maybe he gets a holy freeze merc and I get a might merc. Rabies sounds ok for PI's. We'll se!

Thanks for the info!

[stephan]

If you got them PIs in Worldstone Keep, which I don't think are all THAT common, then use Rabies or level 20 Poison Creeper.
KT
Eh?

There are two types of monster types in the WSK3 that are always PhI, Specters and Hell Temptress, and the Specters are always Poison Immune as well.

One of you guys can drop HOW, which gives you 40 points towards Fissure or Fireclaws.

[KTang]

Oh, sorry >< I should have mentioned that I don't really do pure Phys dmg chars so I never look at the immunities unless they don't die :x Afaik those mobs don't ALWAYS spawn though, correct?

KT

[robinhallberg]

Eh?

There are two types of monster types in the WSK3 that are always PhI, Specters and Hell Temptress, and the Specters are always Poison Immune as well.

One of you guys can drop HOW, which gives you 40 points towards Fissure or Fireclaws.

Thanks. HOW don't stack up if two characters has it, right? If so, you have a point, I can save 20 points and use fissure or fireclaws? Which of them are the better skill and are they both ok for killing monsters in WK without too much trouble?

[KTang]

HOW doesn't stack if two chars have it, just the area effect. Fire claws involves you getting up close, but equally so would rabies. I'd choose Fissure myself, therefore you can get Volcano too which will be good side damage. Fissure+Volcano together will be useful, and you can get your buddy to use Poison Creeper/Rabies.

KT

[Scudstorm]

Personally, I'd go for a Lacerator on switch whenever I can afford it :)

[Kretschmer]

If you're trading:
-Atma's Scarab amulet on a character that hits enemies (bow, fireclaws, wolf, etc) can cast amplify damage (5% chance), breaking the vast majority of physical immune enemies.
-Witchwild String bow is even cheaper with a 2% chance to cast amp and decent damage.
-Lacerator winged axe has a high chance to amp (33%).
-The reaper's toll on one of your mercs has a chance to cast decrepify, which breaks the immunity of some PI monsters.


If you're not trading:
-Vendor-sold javelins, bows, etc can spawn with 5% chance to cast amplify damage. You could keep one of those on switch for Physical Immune monsters.
-One of you could lean more heavily on fire casting, with fissure/volcano/synergy.
-Rabies + Poison creeper would also work, although that character would become a wolf that just happens to have summons as opposed to a summoner.
-Fire claws takes a ton of points but offers good fire damage, if one of you decides not to summon.

General tips:
-One dude should max Oak and the other max HoW for vital, strong-hitting summons.
-A might merc is a must for summoners. Holy freeze or defiance A2 merc would be a good choice for the other guy.

[Badclaw]

I would personally go down the amp damage route to deal with PI's, look at using the gavel of pain martel de fer as this has 3 charges of level 8 amp damage on it. Not many charges I know but at level 8 you should cover a large area with one cast.