Elder Shaman - Summon Barbarian Guide [1.3]

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ScarletEdge
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Grasshopper wrote:It would be useful to add a section on gameplay and mechanics perhaps?


There's an entire uberquest section with videos to show the gameplay for every uber I've tackled with this build. As for mechanics, they're lightly explained, but I try not to get too technical in my explanations.

Grasshopper wrote:More experienced players may know why all the things are working but I cannot see for example why the crafted weapon should have ED. I thought the minions were killing. Unless you are using one of the 1-point melee skills some of the time? Or is the weapon damage/ED somehow transferred to the minions?


Hmm, my mistake. I merely meant weapon ED as an optional bonus, what's important is the +5 barb skills. I'll edit that.

Grasshopper wrote:Also - if you have a situation where there is only a boss and no other enemies, do you have to target the boss to teleport? That seems a bit dangerous. I imagine there might be lots of gameplay tactics to talk about in this area?

I seem to remember aerial said in one of his posts something like "minions are always slow kill speed because they have to get to the enemy and they are slow compared to other ways to kill". Or something like that. So does this build not compare well against, say, a snake stance throw barb?


There is no point in comparing summon barb to any other barb build for the simple reason that they entail different sets of pros and cons. Summon barb is plenty capable of finishing more than 80% of ubers. And while nephalem spirit + whole party of spirits + spirit walk basically grants you a whopping huge source of single target damage, it's still at a disadvantage in ubers wherein minions provide little to no help. Its strength mainly lies in its farming capabilities.

Muilpeer wrote:Some summoners are really good at bosses because you can teleport very close to them. But for enemies like Astrogha I would never use a summoner, because you need single target damage for a boss like that.


You should check out the Astrogha spoiler in the uberquest section ;)
While I've never seen a summon nec do Astrogha with pure minion power, summon barb somehow manages to pull it off quite easily.
Grasshopper
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Just to say first of all that all my comments are not meant to be critical except in the helpful way. Thank you for guide, I always appreciate anyone who takes the time.

ScarletEdge wrote:
Grasshopper wrote:It would be useful to add a section on gameplay and mechanics perhaps?


There's an entire uberquest section with videos to show the gameplay for every uber I've tackled with this build. As for mechanics, they're lightly explained, but I try not to get too technical in my explanations.

OK thanks, understood. I do not tend to watch videos much, I prefer to read the text. Also I was thinking more about the early game when learning the mechanics. It is probably obvious to many people here but I was not sure if I should be helping out with 1-point melee skill for example.

Also I was not sure if I could target something apart from the obvious enemies to teleport. Just very very basic things like that.

ScarletEdge wrote:
Grasshopper wrote:More experienced players may know why all the things are working but I cannot see for example why the crafted weapon should have ED. I thought the minions were killing. Unless you are using one of the 1-point melee skills some of the time? Or is the weapon damage/ED somehow transferred to the minions?


Hmm, my mistake. I merely meant weapon ED as an optional bonus, what's important is the +5 barb skills. I'll edit that.

That is good to know. I have spent many shrines trying to craft the weapon but the biggest problem is not the ED it is the Mark of the Wild. I have only got it once along with +skills (and that was on a Ono I rolled by mistake before I realised it was 2H :()
I may have one with 'Gift of the Wild when you kill an enemy' which may be good enough?

ScarletEdge wrote:
Grasshopper wrote:Also - if you have a situation where there is only a boss and no other enemies, do you have to target the boss to teleport? That seems a bit dangerous. I imagine there might be lots of gameplay tactics to talk about in this area?

I seem to remember aerial said in one of his posts something like "minions are always slow kill speed because they have to get to the enemy and they are slow compared to other ways to kill". Or something like that. So does this build not compare well against, say, a snake stance throw barb?


There is no point in comparing summon barb to any other barb build for the simple reason that they entail different sets of pros and cons. Summon barb is plenty capable of finishing more than 80% of ubers. And while nephalem spirit + whole party of spirits + spirit walk basically grants you a whopping huge source of single target damage, it's still at a disadvantage in ubers wherein minions provide little to no help. Its strength mainly lies in its farming capabilities.

Also good to know. I keep looking for a good farmer. Bear stance in k3kba is fun :)
I think I will have to get a set of gear for each of the 3 mercenaries. It seems the abjurer is still best for aoe damage despite the nerf?

Thanks again for the guide. :)
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Muilpeer wrote:Right now I am trying to combine different builds to reach game completion as I've noticed it's just hardheaded of me to try and beat the game with just one char. Even though it should be possible it's not efficient O-)

Yes! That is also my thinking. :)
I am using SP now to learn how each build works and next season I may play ladder when I have a clearer idea of what I would like to play. But either way, as you say, I think I will have more than one character to try to beat all aspects of the game rather than re-spec.
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ScarletEdge
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Grasshopper wrote:OK thanks, understood. I do not tend to watch videos much, I prefer to read the text. Also I was thinking more about the early game when learning the mechanics. It is probably obvious to many people here but I was not sure if I should be helping out with 1-point melee skill for example.

Also I was not sure if I could target something apart from the obvious enemies to teleport. Just very very basic things like that.


I tried to keep the explanations brief and simple to guide players through the general playthrough without having them follow it to the T. You're free to jump around and use attack skills to help out in clearing an area or attacking a boss. It's simply my preference to let my minions do all the killing while I semi-afk.

Grasshopper wrote:That is good to know. I have spent many shrines trying to craft the weapon but the biggest problem is not the ED it is the Mark of the Wild. I have only got it once along with +skills (and that was on a Ono I rolled by mistake before I realised it was 2H :()
I may have one with 'Gift of the Wild when you kill an enemy' which may be good enough?


You don't necessarily have to roll all the affixes listed right next to the crafted items mentioned. I've simply listed the most important ones to roll from left to right. For instance, in weapons, the most important one is +5 barb skills, etc.

Grasshopper wrote:Also good to know. I keep looking for a good farmer. Bear stance in k3kba is fun :)
I think I will have to get a set of gear for each of the 3 mercenaries. It seems the abjurer is still best for aoe damage despite the nerf?
...
Thanks again for the guide. :)


Yes, Abjurer still has the greatest damage output of all. As such its still the best mercenary to use for TA in my opinion. But outside of that, Priestess would be my personal favorite. Her damage is greatly boosted by Nephalem Spirit and whatever stance you equip. This gives her a decent clear speed using Sporeshot. On top of that, vindicate provides great damage and regen support to the party. This almost eliminates the need for you to use potions, eagle stance or resummon spirits while farming.

Glad you like it :D
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Interesting roll a barb sword (before Blessing):

1% chance to cast level 31 Mark of the Wild when you kill an enemy
+5 Barb skills
+5 Bend the Shadows
14% Bonus to Minion resistances
21% Bonus to Minion Life
Lightning resist 66%

Bend the shadows... so I can teleport to my own minions like a necro :)
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ScarletEdge
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Yeah, it can roll Bend the Shadows too. I've gotten one before but never got to test it out much. I'm not sure if you can use in on LMB and I'm not keen on switching out stance every time I have to use it. Pretty nicely rolled tho
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ScarletEdge wrote:Yeah, it can roll Bend the Shadows too. I've gotten one before but never got to test it out much. I'm not sure if you can use in on LMB and I'm not keen on switching out stance every time I have to use it. Pretty nicely rolled tho


I don't think bend the shadows should be used on a summon barb no matter whether it can be equiped on LMB or not. It increases incoming damage and in general takes longer than just teleporting with spirit walk.
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ScarletEdge
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HechtHeftig wrote:I don't think bend the shadows should be used on a summon barb no matter whether it can be equiped on LMB or not. It increases incoming damage and in general takes longer than just teleporting with spirit walk.


Generally, yes. I just had the idea to maybe try to use it when moving around an area without any monsters. But yeah, it did seem like a pretty bad idea. Jitan's gate or whatever teleport skill works just fine to bring in spirits after walking a distance.

Edit: Well actually not a bad idea. Rather, it's purely optional.
Edited by ScarletEdge 6 years.
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Yes you are right that it doesn't appear on LMB skills.

With necro I set up with a minion summon permanently on LMB and BTS on RMB but stances forced to be on RMB with barb, ofc that's not possible. It's a bit annoying having stances being limited in this way.

@Hecht yes you may be right as well. With necro he is 'under' heavily buffed totems so quite safe, with barb any oskill totems are probably much weaker.

Ah well, I was happy for almost a whole minute! :)
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BtS is fine, you would only use it for areas with no enemies anyway. If there were just jump them with your 0 cd spirit walk. It's an okay skill but should not be a priority.