Thalorem Summon build advice?

[Frumple]

Anywhere on the inside'll do, and you don't have to worry about stuff walking by and then walking off with your junk.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

Hmmm... not really so much a 'build' question as a more general one, but still... Is there a certain order in which the dungeons listed in the journal should be done, or do they all have roughly the same degree of difficulty? Is there any particular one I should watch out for, or head for first, as a summoner? And is it worth doing the 'other' early game dungeons? (Kor'pul, and Trollmire?) Did the majority of both, but avoided the Kor'Pul boss, and haven't done the extra section in Trollmire yet...

[phantomglider]

Trollmire and Kor'pul are definitely worth it. The bosses drop artifacts which have a decent chance of being something like Bloomsoul or the Wintertide Phial that would be really excellent. There's also two more tier 1 zones, the Scintillating Cave and the Rhaloren Camp, which are pretty much due south of the Maze.

As for tier 2 zones, Daikara is far and away the most difficult. I usually go Old Forest first so I can clear out the area behind it at as low a level as possible, but the Maze, the Old Forest, and the Sandworm Lair are about interchangeable in difficulty, with some variation depending on class. Of those three, Summoners would probably have the hardest time in SWL.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

Trollmire and Kor'pul are definitely worth it. The bosses drop artifacts which have a decent chance of being something like Bloomsoul or the Wintertide Phial that would be really excellent. There's also two more tier 1 zones, the Scintillating Cave and the Rhaloren Camp, which are pretty much due south of the Maze.

Scintillating cave and Rhaloren camp... I didn't find anything even close to south of the labyrinth/maze place... Found 'Elven ruins', and far southeast, I found ancient halfling ruins near Zigur... You sure those directions are right? Or have I not gone far enough south?

[5k17]

Scintillating cave and Rhaloren camp... I didn't find anything even close to south of the labyrinth/maze place... Found 'Elven ruins', and far southeast, I found ancient halfling ruins near Zigur... You sure those directions are right? Or have I not gone far enough south?

The Shaloren lands are on a peninsula in the southwest of the map; similarly to the Thaloren area, they are somewhat hidden behind forest.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

Thanks, but too late now. Last life dead on the overworld looking for them... Ah well, next time, I hope.

[skein]

Hmm, you should not be dying to wandering parties as summoner. You are one of the few classes that can hunt the hell out of them. (The others being alchemist, archmage or necro). (All 3 dominate with beam and ball area effect attacks)

You really ought to start and play an alchemist to see what the real problem with summoners are and thaloren make really excellent alchemists. You get a pet that is tougher but is not really replaceable in combat in trade for some real long range attacks of your own.

One of the reasons I want the adventurer class to get finished is that I want to play a summoner with channel staff instead of stars or an alchemist who uses summons instead of a pet golem. I played a gardener up to the mid 30s before I ran out of lives and that with channel staff is kinda fun but the summons just do not compare at all to real ones.

It is just boring to sit back and summon all day long, particularly when you are fighting rares that may take 50 or a hundred summons to kill and you have to do it at range. You have no other offensive punch. To be honest the best use of extra slots on a summoner would be some form of stealth.

Armor is just kinda a weird subject. Cloth has MUCH better stat and effects for an offensive punch, but you really just do not need an extra offensive punch with any class, while just a hair more defense frequently makes all the difference. No one really understand what the heavy armor and skill does for you. Sure it blocks physical damage but the real thing it does is stops you getting crit death at range from casters firing balls or beams. The crit chance reduction is global and fairly large, or at least that is my assumption and the reason I prefer mail.

Some of the real artifact armors you find late will have resist all. THIS is the stat that makes all the difference for later armors. There should be more caster armor available then there is, could be easily fixed by just adding a few of the cloth types into the randart engine for heavier armors. Even with out it though an enlightening massive armor of the dragon is by no means bad for a summoner. A shield of faith can add a bit of survivability as well and you can hold it with a fungal or warden sling.

[lukep]

...the real thing [heavy armour] does is stops you getting crit death at range from casters firing balls or beams. The crit chance reduction is global and fairly large, or at least that is my assumption and the reason I prefer mail.

No, it only applies to physical crit chance.

Look at lines 1251 compared to 1284-1329 (for spells) and 1332-1360 (for mind). (Link (scroll down))