ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Pasting this from reddit for posterity.

Summoner is a class that fights mainly through allied creatures. It has a high and stable damage output as it can constantly cycle through its cooldowns, it doesnt need a lot of durability since the summons tank in its stead and even most debuffs cant really harm it due to summons acting independently.

This leaves Summoner with almost no weaknesses, but not completely free of them. Its first turns in battle are particularily weak, vulnerable to being disabled and/or oneshotted before it has summoned anything. It may also struggle to keep going in long fights if equilibrium is allowed to build up. Last but not least, Summoner needs to hold its ground to allow the constant stream of summons to ovewhelm the enemies with numbers. Anti-magic+Fungus are picked to alleviate all these issues, infusions have synergy with the Harmony category as well.

Races

The best race for Summoner is Halfling, its not even close. It has absolutely everything that Summoner wants, crit for better summons, saves that synergize with Through the Crowd and stun immunity that summons can inherit. Stun removal also compensates Anti-magic's lack of Shatter Afflictions. 50% evasion is the cherry on top, a generically good bonus that gets the most value in low defense builds.

Second best race is Cornac. An extra category can go a long way.

Honorable mentions go to Thalore and Yeek which people seemingly love to pick for this class, probably because they have racial summons. However, the game doesnt treat them as summons for the purposes of Summoner talents, so there is no synergy. In fact, there is ANTI-synergy since the racial summons will usually block the way of the class summons, reducing their effectiveness.
Edit: Thalore can be pretty good if Rope Belt of the Thaloren drops, but it is ultimately RNG.

For the sake of simplicity this guide assumes in some instances the player picks Halfling, but you can pick any other race you like. Except undead and magical races if you hope to go Anti-magic, which admittedly reduces the list quite a bit. Ghoul is the challenge race.

Stats

Max Willpower & Cunning -> Max Constitution -> Leftover points in Dexterity.

Willpower is needed to rank up talents and hold equilibrium, while Cunning is needed to increase the summon limit. Neither of them works without the other, so you should raise both roughly at the same time.

Summoner doesnt benefit offensively from any of the other stats so the question is simply which one offers more survivability. In this case it is Constitution, which comes with the added bonuses of physical saves and heal mod, all of them useful.

Dexterity does have some appeal, but its crit shrug off is often less effective than the raw life from Constitution. The defense bonus is small and unlikely to make a difference since most attacks will be directed at summons. Accuracy is useless. You may optionally raise Dexterity a tiny bit early on to help you grab Light Armour Training and Through the Crowd.

Strength is useless altogether, Summoner stays behind its summons so it doesnt need armor to tank. Magic is useless too.

Prodigies

Through the Crowd and Adept are the best ones, there isnt much choice.

Through the Crowd is essential to play summoner, it helps to reposition and allows summons to attack without fear of hurting each other. The speed and saves are almost an extra. You should abuse repositioning to stay within 3 tiles of most existing summons and to place any new summons in the best location possible. As long as turtle is alive you can be fearless and move as much as you need. Also note that "swapping place with allies" is technically not "movement", and as such it is unaffected by movement speed, pin effects and such.

Adept provides around a 25% stat increase to all summons, thats a lot. No other prodigy can provide as much damage, and it improves summon durability and debuff infliction too. Then you also have to account for how it scales all the utility talents. Unparalleled value.

Inscriptions

We want to go Anti-magic, which means no runes and only 4 inscriptions. Even before we officially join Zigur, only infusions should be used as that allows for escort betrayal.

Movement infusion is the only escape Summoner has, much needed.

You also want two Wild infusions to get rid of debuffs. Damage reduction value from Wilds doesnt matter nearly as much as duration and cooldown. Early game get 1 physical and 1 mental, dont even bother with Healing infusions and such. Later on, when double-type Wilds appear, you want any combination that covers the 3 types.

Last but not least, Regeneration goes really well with Fungus. It can be kept active for 20-30 turns straight, providing constant healing and equilibrium reduction. The only concern is when to get it. I dont think it is any good before Fungus, but it is a must after getting east. That period between Fungus and east, namely Dreadfell and Reknor, is more debatable. You have the possibility of temporarily replacing Movement or one of the Wilds, depending on your race, but its optional. Halfling for example, that already has stun removal, can get rid of a physical Wild without much issue.

By lategame, Movement-Wild-Wild-Regeneration is a good setup.

Talents

Methodically listing every talent is too much work and I think it leads to pointless bloating. Instead I'll randomly yap about things I consider noteworthy and that you cant just learn by reading tooltips. Talent order is the next section.

So Summoners start with 3 different pet trees which could suggest different playstyles or builds, but this is not the case. "Distance" is the main tree for a simple reason, its summons dont need to stand next to an enemy to do damage. Most of the game transpires in closed spaces, so the ability for all summons to be active and performing no matter the situation is vital. Even in open spaces, when you have 10+ summons active rooms can get cluttered pretty fast.

Most Distance summons have AoE skills which is a huge advantage as well. Early game this AoE may lead to friendly fire if you arent careful, so just be careful until you learn Through the Crowd which solves this issue. Without Crowd, Hydra will restrain itself if using a breath would hit an ally, this can be solved by positioning Turtle diagonally to the enemy you want to hit, and then positioning Hydra next to the Turtle but orthogonally to that same enemy. Rimebark is not as considerate as Hydra so I strongly advise against using it as an early game combatant, BUT it makes for a perfect early Detonate target.

"Utility" is, well, the utility tree. Its main purpose is supporting Distance. Turtle taunts on appearance which is specially great for Summoners who like living, if you dont have a Turtle available seriously consider running away. Spider looks like a summon but it is actually a utility spell (displacement, pin, healing reduction), its value as a fighter is zero and should only be deployed if you need its effects. Pheromones is kept at 1 point for most of the game because Nature's Cycle can keep it going infinitely regardless.

The Melee tree sits in a delicate spot between damage and utility, and for like half of the game I advise not touching it at the risk of spreading points too thin. Late game it is great for several reasons. Later maps such as Reknor or Orc Prides are more open, which allows these melee fighters to collapse on someone in a way that isnt possible earlier. A lot of the power of this tree is actually in Grand Arrival which you likely wont grab until level 20 or so. And after Rimebark becomes an actual fighter we want to start using Jelly as the Detonate target instead. Minotaur is the worst summon of this tree, not worth using because it brings no useful effect, Drake has a better confusion while Golem has the same stun on top of many other things. War Hound on the other hand hits about 50% harder and absolutely destroys enemy resistance.

Augmentation tree. Rage is kept at one point because +10 stats are nothing when your summons already have 700, the effect doesnt stack either. Same reason why Resilience is kept low, 1 more turn hardly matters when the base is 15. Phase Summon is mainly a way to reposition during a fight, preferably using drake hatchlings. I tend to use it to close the distance if needed, or to jump past enemies blocking the way. Dont make an effort to save it as an escape because it requires too much set-up to work as one.

Advanced tree. Wild Summon scales hilariously bad with levels, much like Pheromones 1 point is all it needs for Nature's Cycle to keep it going. Wild Summon makes summoning order matter, I suggest Turtle > Drake > Golem > Ritch > Rimebark > Jelly (+Detonate) > Hound > Hydra as an endgame combo, but this can vary depending on the stage of the game and the tactical situation you are in. More important than perfect sequencing is making the last summon of your Frantic Summoning chain be your main Detonate target, that'd usually be Rimebark or Jelly. Any Ritch that hasnt spawned as wild (and thus has no angle of attack) or any Hydra that has already lived 3 turns (and is thus out of cooldowns) is also a prime Detonate target. Turtles who are about to die are also excellent Detonate targets to prevent other summons (and even yourself) from sharing the same fate. I recommend opening the character sheet of every summon and reading their talents if you arent familiar, wild versions get additional ones.

Combat Techniques is a category not worth unlocking. Since Summoner has absolutely no reason to ever attack in melee, most of the tree is wasted. Blinding Speed is relatively less relevant when combined with the other speed boosts and its duration is too short for a Summoner. A particularily deranged Cornac could go for Precise Strikes, but at that point it'd be a worse Halfling which isnt the reason you pick Cornac.

Now for the generic trees. Combat Training is straightforward. Max Thick Skin to prevent getting oneshot. 1 point in Heavy Armour Training to be able to equip gauntlets, helmets and heavy boots. 1 point in Light Armour Training is not strictly necessary but it gives so much value that its hard to argue against it, it can get you out of the hit range of fodder enemies at least.

In the Survival tree the goal is Danger Sense to roll saves twice and get some crit shrug off. It also unlocks Track which never hurts, using it isnt necessary though. Im not a fan of Device Mastery, Summoner has a lot of buttons to press already.

Call of the Wild. Meditation use in combat should be avoided if possible, there are much better ways of restoring equilibrium. The goal of this tree is Nature's Balance, which with only 2 points+Adept can restore up to tier 4 talents, the maximum. Earth's Eyes is a nice extra to save time in the Prides, it also combines specially well with Track.

Mindstar Mastery. 1 point in Psiblades gives really good value but above that its pretty bad. Leaves Tide can give up to 50% chance to avoid any damage in AoE lategame, but its somehow the lowest priority to level and more of an "oh shit I need to stall this a bit" button. Nature's Equilibrium can provide yet another heal and restore some equilibrium which is always nice, even more so if you hit an allied Jelly with it. Going melee with enemies is an unnecessary risk.

Harmony. This tree is automatically unlocked after consuming the Sandworm Queen's heart. Elemental Harmony will boost our speed thanks to the Drake's lingering flames, it works even with Through the Crowd active. One with Nature can hit 3 infusions after Adept which is enough, if you have to pop Movement you dont want to keep going. Healing Nexus can prevent enemy healing, but more importantly, it can restore HUNDREDS of points of equilibrium in a single turn if used in summons and then mass healing them. This last trick requires momentarily deactivating Through the Crowd but it is entirely worth the hassle.

Anti-Magic. The silence of Antimagic Zone always lands thanks to Summoner's high mindpower, it can even be coordinated with your Drakes to keep casters disabled for life, incredibly good talent. Mana Clash is TEMU Dissipation but it also does a lot of arcane resource burn which again can disable casters long term. Considering that enemies will be perma-taunted by Turtle, our main and perhaps only concern are AoE magical abilities, and this tree helps A LOT. Never activate Antimagic Shield though, it is too costly.

Fungus. 300 life, doubled regen duration, equilibrium reduction and free turns upon healing. Every talent here is great at 1 point, but they dont scale well.

Talent Order

These are some general lines to keep your build on track.

Category points: Augmentation at 10, Advanced at 20, Fungus at 34.

• Class talents:

First of all, go to options and activate manual assignment of points at birth. We dont want to touch the Melee category for a long time. Instead, start with 2 Ritch and 2 Turtle. Then

3 Ritch

3 Turtle

3 Hydra

4 Frantic Summoning

1 Phase Summon

3 Drake

3 Detonate (Rimebark is primary target for now)

5 Drake

1 Wild Summon

3 Grand Arrival

1 Jelly (new Detonate target)

1 Pheromones

3 Rimebark

5 Turtle

3 Master Summoner

3 Nature's Cycle

5 Rimebark

5 Master Summoner

3 Golem

5 Frantic Summoning

5 Grand Arrival

4 Nature's Cycle

5 Golem

2 Resilience

5 Detonate

5 Ritch, Hydra and Hound

2 Pheromones

Cornacs can max Pheromones and Resilience at the end.

• Generic talents (assuming Halfling):

Early game just follow the image at the top and take 1 point in everything you can. If you have points to spare, you can level racials.

2 Nature's Balance

1 Healing Nexus (after killing Sandworm Queen)

1 Antimagic Zone (Anti-magic category)

2 Indomitable (Halfling)

1 Mana Clash

5 Militant Mind (Halfling)

1 Sudden Growth (Fungus category, consider getting a Regen infusion)

3 Thick Skin

3 Elemental Harmony

2 Resolve

5 Thick Skin

5 Elemental Harmony

4 Leaves Tide

2 Danger Sense

Equipment

Summoners work with mindstars due to the Mindstar Mastery category. ALWAYS wield at least 1 mindstar that heals allies on nature summon, this can eliminate all excess equilibrium through Healing Nexus in a pinch. Stacking two mindstars of this type does not add more instances of healing.

Other than that, Summoners have mostly 2 goals, boosting their summons and not dying.

Not dying is achieved by stacking life, resistances, crit shrug off and saves. Armor and defense are not important since most attacks will be directed at summons, therefore robes are preferred.

Endgame aim for 50% resistances. Resolve will make you reach the cap anyway, and if you want more phys/mind res you can always pop a Wild or detonate a Turtle.

Status immunities are less important than you'd expect, Summoner can keep fighting under most conditions and it is not often targeted. Halflings specifically can reach such ridiculously high saves (100+) that they dont need any immunities, other races may want to look for immunity to stun and confusion just in case. Still, Wild infusions and Relentless Pursuit can take care of most effects.

As for boosting summons, there are several ways. Their stats scale directly with mindpower and they inherit a few other stats from the Summoner. Critical summoning is a thing too, it multiplies the summon stats by your crit multiplier so crit stats are extremely important. Halflings specifically get less benefit from crit chance but a lot more from crit mult.

The stats inherited by the summons are damage%, resistance pen%, status immunity and armor pen. However, the only really important one is damage%.

A lot of resistance reduction is already applied through Grand Arrival, so any resistance pen% you stack will have diminished returns. If an enemy "merely" has 60% resistance to an element or less, res pen% will be useless. It has a niche use against enemies with high "all res%" but they are few and far in between, mostly found endgame where you'll likely have some accidental res pen from your mindstars anyway.

Armor pen only works against heavily armored enemies which arent many, and even then most of our damage is not physical. Much like res pen it IS nice to have, specially endgame, but it is not worth focusing on.

So we come to the conclusion that damage% is the most relevant one, but WHICH element? Summoner damage is roughly divided as follows:

During early/midgame: 30% physical, 30% fire, 15%cold, 15% nature and 10% residual lightning/acid from Hydra.

Lategame: 45% physical, 30% fire, 10% cold, 10% nature, 5% residue.

As you can see stacking any single element in large amounts isnt great, but balancing them can work somewhat.

There are also some egos that increase most of the relevant elements at once. This is specially valuable, as are all the other universal offensive stats, in summary mindpower (and by extension willpower and cunning), mental crit chance, crit multiplier and all damage%.

Brotherhood of Alchemists

The best way to start the quest is with both talent point potions. The best way to end it is Elixir of Invulnerability if you picked Halfling, or Lifebinding Emerald otherwise.

Elvala Wil>Saves>Stats.

Derth Cun>Defense. PhysCrit is useless.

Last Hope Generics>Con>Armor.

Hermit Class>Luck. SpellCrit is useless.

Overall Generics>Class>Cun>Wil>Saves>Luck>Con>Stats>Defense>Armor. But the main focus is the end reward.

Escorts

Summoner is EXTREMELY good at keeping escorts alive due to its wall of bodies and its multiple heals, you may not even lose a single escort in the entire run. Always choose to sell them to Zigur when possible. Here are the best rewards for each.

Alchemist: Psiblades.

Defiler: Resonance Field.

Loremaster: Cunning. Mind Sear is a waste of a turn.

Seer: Willpower.

Sun Paladin: Telekinetic Leap.

Temporal Explorer: Dream Walk. Summons have too much AoE damage for Sleep to be reliable.

Thief: Misdirection.

Tinker: Craftsman's Eye.

Warrior: Vitality.

Cornac Summoners may want to grab some category instead.

Some Tips

The easiest T1 zone (besides Trollmire) is KorPul due to summons having their own 10 tile darkvision. During T1, hoard not-arcane-powered items for when you eventually join Zigur. Also hoard Dexterity items to unlock Through the Crowd. A few Strength items are also needed to unlock Heavy Armour Training 1 but its an easy requirement to meet.

After clearing T1, go to Derth and clear it safely with summons, you dont even need to expose yourself. Then do the Sandworm Lair. After that go to Zigur and join them.

This is VERY IMPORTANT because it allows you to head straight to Tempest Peak's second floor and level-lock it early. Dont fight anything, just enter and leave. Urkis is the most dangerous encounter in the entire game for Summoners and thus the risk of fighting him should be minimized. Urkis' spells are AoE and they bounce between targets, so if he catches you near a bunch of your summons he can literally oneshot you (and your summons as well for that matter).

So clear T2 normally and then part of T3, but avoid Spellblaze, Dark Crypt and Godfeaster. At level 33 you should go clear Tempest Peak. Be extremely careful there, spam Track and make sure you only fight Urkis when he is alone. Stay far away from your summons and only summon small groups of 2 or 3 at a time when fighting him. Stacking lightning resistance (you can detonate Hydra), having a magical Wild infusion and using the Anti-magic talents also helps.

After killing Urkis you can go for the Master whenever you want. Technically you can hunt T3 for a two-debuff Wild infusion + a good Regen, but its not necessary. An easy way to kill the Master is to engage in a proxy war of summons from out of vision, he'll eventually run out of mana and your army will run him down. If you have vision of him, the Anti-magic talents are fantastic here as well.

After the Master everything else is a cakewalk. Summoner scales really well into the endgame, you can mindlessly clear every backup guardian and vault with no worries, then go for the win.