frsmkre wrote:Why is this dead? What's the difference between 1.3 and sigma that broke the build? I would like to play a totem/summoner but I guess they're very bad right now?
What broke the build were several updates. Basically every patch from Median 2017 1.0 on was a strong hit against this build.
in 1.1 they nerfed frostclaw totem (30% damage) and they made teleporting in Yshari Sanctum impossible, which was only done because this build was able to gather the set parts safely. I removed that uber afterwards from the guide.
in 1.2 they nerfed frostclaw totem again (20% damage), and reworked the Rathma's Chosen uberskills and nerfed your 2 buff totems. From that point on you had to choose between Rathma's chosen for damage and Death Ward for survivability. Some ubers like Fauztinville were basically made nearly impossible due to piercing projectiles and I want to point out again how important the runeword Santa Compana was, because it gave up to +20 additional minions. So you could barely get to your key item.
In 1.3 they finally nailed the coffin and reduced the amount of additional summons you were able to get through items. Oh and of course, frostclaw totem was nerfed again (30% damage).
Then there was a season with no changes whatsoever, so basically 6 months of waiting for sigma without an update.
Then in sigma the gold system was reworked again (they already did in 1.0 of Median 2017) and reduced the MF you can get through runes and mystic orbs. Now it's really damn hard to utilize more than 2 honorifics until you can farm Island of the sunless sea at level 105, further weakening this build.
So the summoner necro as presented in this guide was completely shot down. For good reasons. Because with this build you were able to get 600 Magic find right when you started farming. And it killed many ubers so easily that it was simply ridiculous.
As for why I declared it dead: It's simply not fun anymore. With your 80+ minions you were able to protect your merc well enough that you had no troubles keeping her alive no matter the area. But now with merely 39 minions that's simply not possible anymore. Also you're forced to give up your own survivability in order to do at least some damage. Both leads to either your merc dieing very very often, to the point that you weren't even able to do 1 TA run without your merc dieing at least twice or you dieing, which automatically leads to your merc dieing. That's more money lost than you earn with 1 run, so at some point you'll have to stop farming and farm gold instead. And that basically nullifies the whole reason to play this build: You can't farm fast anymore and you are disturbed many many times during 1 run.
All the while totemnec, which was a lot stronger for many seasons before wasn't touched at all except for frostclaw totem damage output, but it's nearly unnoticeable when you can put many points into frostclaw totem, which isn't possible for a summoner necro in lategame anymore. So please do yourself a favor and play totemnec. There's nothing you can do wrong about that build, except for putting points into stormeye totem.
I know this is pretty much a huge rant from me, but I'm still looking forward to the next sigma patch, because the devs promised a summon necro rework. It was planned for sigma already, but sadly they couldn't test and finish it before the release. (Note: That doesn't necessarily mean that the rework will come with the next patch!). Rumors say that you're supposed to choose between either having a few strong minions or many many weaker minions. In either case that will hopefully enable a more fun playstyle than having your merc kill everything with 600+ mf. And how much truth there is to these rumors - who knows?