New Conjurer Help.

[Troy0]

Trying to build a conjurer, I've read a bunch of posts so I get the basic ideas of what I'm trying to build towards but I'm trying to figure out how to start it. Ultimately I'm going to grab pets but what should my build be like around level 20? or even level 15? I know I need to get ternion, arcane lore and earth enhancement early in but I'm not really sure where to go from there and if I should build up the masteries either than that?

Oh and this isn't my first character but I'm pretty new to casters so any help is great. thanks.

[Owenage]

Check out Poinas' Guide to Pwning with Spirit, if you wish to start with that. If not, I'd aim for this at level 15.

But then, I don't like Ternion much.

[Irma2]

This would be my Act by Act progression through Normal, starting with Earth obviously:

End of Act I, level 19

Maxing out Brimstone and having level one VO and a point in Ternion would be enough to scythe through the starter trash in Act I. By the end of the Act, Eruption at 5 would be enough to own the Minotaur Lord and Telkine from range. With Earth mastery maxed, I'd have plenty of life, energy and Int for my needs.

End of Act II, level 27

Act II focuses on building up Spirit a bit for the extra attribs. Spirit Ward/Bane is worth a point for help with the hordes of Undead towards the end of the Act. Eruption gets a couple more points, the Liche King makes his appearance (although I never rely on him in Normal), and I make my first tentative steps in Deathchill and Ravages of Time. Arcane Lore also gets maxed to spread the Ternion love far and wide. Again, Eruption is more than enough to deal with most of the bosses that you will encounter in this Act.

End of Act III, level 33

Act III splits my focus between more damage and more defense. For the former, Eruption and EE get some attention. For the latter, Spirit mastery (for attribs) and more points into Deathchill and RoT. Not even 3X Typhon last very long against repeated level 10 Eruptions. Ormenos, of course, can be killed from the walkway with Eruption.

End of Act IV, level 40

The acid test of survival. Spirit gets boosted to 32 to give me my maximum life, energy and Int. Deathchill and RoT both get maxed, as does Eruption. EE gets within a point of max. Liche King gets dumped temporarily, because he isn't worth using in Act IV unless he's maxed. Death Ward gives me a bit of extra insurance against death.

As you can see, I don't use the pets much in Normal, and buy back the Liche King points in Act IV to max out my Fire damage.

Setup would be Ternion on LMB and VO on RMB, Eruption on hotkey.

Combat routine is to cast a VO onto the mob to stun them, drop Eruption right under their feet just before the VO lands, and then Ternion the survivors. Bosses just get Eruptioned from range.

I would have at least one, preferably two charms/relics with 33/50% slower attack speed socketed on my gear, for at least 66% slower attack.

Starting in Epic, I'd begin to build up the pets and Ternion base skill.

The above is just for plain modless IT. On X3, you will be around level 43, so I'd put the extra 9 skill points into maxing out EE, getting Ternion a bit higher and at least making a start in both Liche King and CD.

For Xmax, end level for Normal is around 48. So that's 24 extra points. Again, I'd max EE, put some more into Ternion, build up Necrosis to at least half, and get the pets off to a solid start.

Sometime early in Epic, I'd also drop a point into Outsider. It's fairly useless in Normal imo.

[Troy0]

Thanks this is really helpful, I was trying to figure out which builds were best based on other threads but this summary is great. It terms of stats, what is the best ratio? 3:1 Int : Dex?

[Irma2]

There are two common approaches to caster - only 174 Dex in order to wear the best caster gear with the rest in Int and maybe some in life, or Int with quite high Dex in order to increase DA and provide some protection against melee hits in the higher difficulties.

With Conjurer, I'd favour the former approach. In the later difficulties, you get the CD and Liche King to tank for you, which will save you from a lot of hits. So 3:1 Int: Dex would be fine until you hit 174 Dex. Then I would probably go 3:1 Int:Life. Conjurer gets very low base life, so more is always welcome.

Just as a side note, mine is but one of many ways to develop a Conjurer in Normal. Some may favour boosting the Liche or CD early, others will rush to max Ternion, others still will rely on maxed Ring of Flame and Deathchill aura.

They're all valid. However, I favour a no-pets approach, particularly if it's your first caster. A common misperception is that petmasters are the easiest build, that all you need to do is max the pet(s) early, then tag along behind them without taking a scratch as they finish the game for you.

In my experience, petmaster builds in Normal are among the hardest builds. Or, at any rate, among the slowest and most frustrating. For sure, they scream through the first two Acts. But then they get progressively slower and less effective until, by the time you reach late Act IV, you want to tear your hair out.

I'd rather start the game with a very powerful solo toon and then add strong pets to it in Epic, than starting with strong pets but the uncomfortable realisation that, without them, my toon doesn't amount to much.

[Troy0]

Cool, no doubt I know it's just your build-style. I just like to get perspectives from experience players before I find myself halfway through act I with a terrible character who can't kill anything and I don't understand what I'm doing wrong and with a conjurer there seemed to be a lot of debate as to pets vs solo-ternion/EE. So I appreciate it, thanks.

[bug]

I'd rather start the game with a very powerful solo toon and then add strong pets to it in Epic, than starting with strong pets but the uncomfortable realisation that, without them, my toon doesn't amount to much.

I second that.

My ranger only spent 3 points in wolves and quit using them in Normal act 3. Now I'm in Epic and those wolves will get some loving.

[Tyr]

That depends on play-style. People who consider (and are capable of using) the wolves as basically their left, right (and third) hands wouldn't care less if their toon is pathetic at DPS himself, as long as he stayed alive.

That aside just to reinforce Irma2's other points my 3rd toon was a Conjurer I played until Act 3 Epic. He started out as a pet-user though, so I naturally got to the part where I wanted to tear my hair out.

The moral is never go pet-build unless part of your strat involves leveling desired pet as much as possible, or unless it is a pet build with wolves and the points to go with it.

[QwiKKKE]

hi, can you show a print of your gear ( weapons , armor , etc ) ?

[Thiudareiks]

good info's guys, ty and Irma2 again very explicit information hehe . I have a few questions too about conjurer becauese I recently finished my first playthrough with my templar and started a conjurer. Well here it goes:
- Is there a recommended amount of dex I should invest in? I mean the very base needed for progression, I suppose the rest goes to int all the way.
- I noticed the +skill equipment does not increase my pet's stats, they only increase the cost of mana, is it normal? And ofc I resummoned them and looked at the skill tab, but no stats modiffications were done whatsoever. I have +2 to all skills from 2 items, is it worth using them early on? (lv15)
- does the staff also deal "normal" damage, I mean I have equipment that increases damage by 11-20 for example and I see that the staff dmg is being modified, but then again, normal damage is physical, right? Also, is it recommended to have a staff in the secondary slot that deals a different elemental damage than fire? how much will it be worth in later difficulties?

Thank you!