Beckoner Burst Damage

[Griffonheart]

Thinking about making a Beckoner for a summon focused build. Beckoner pets have have 50% health, but they come in twice the number, I presume the burst damage is likely the best out of all Chanter subclasses?

What would be a good multi-class option for Beckoner, or should I make it SC?

[crdvis16]

A multiclass that provides AoE buffs?

[The Berathian]

Beguiler / beckoner is stupidly powerful, if played right. I think folk call it the Siren. 

[Griffonheart]

17 minutes ago, crdvis16 said:

A multiclass that provides AoE buffs?

Would Priest + Beckoner? I've yet to make a MC priest, though which god should I worship?

[Boeroer]

There are several combos that can boost summons. But actually - since the buffing/support for summons doesn't have to be done by the one summoning - it's better to use party synergy instead of multiclass-synergy because the action economy is much better compared to doing all stuff by yourself - imo. That means I would recommend a SC Beckoner and supporting his summons with another party member. Also because the upgrade of Animated Weapons with a Beckoner is very good (8 weapons). The Beckoner himself can already support with phrases (e.g. Mith Fyr + The Arrow Sings ) and Animancy Cat etc. Also Edér with the pet slot can be considered. You can have two pets then which both can be used to support summons (e.g. Animancy Cat + Harley).

You could then use a SC Priest with Spark the Souls of the Righteous (very good with multiple summons like 8 animated weapons or lots of skeletons for example) and of course the usual priest support stuff, Paladin can provide an Shared Flames, an Aura, Inspired Beacon and Exhortations, a Cipher can provide Pain Block etc. Ancient can cast Wild Growth on your beast or primordial summons (hello 2 supertanky dragons) and so on...

If a multiclass is more interesting to you: I would pick either Darcozzi (Flame Shield on summons), Kind Wayfarer (healing summons and giving them a lash with Shared FLames at the same time) or Shielbearer (BDD on summons), all Priests (general support like all Priests do), Psion (Pain Link, Valorous Echoes, Tactical Meld etc.) or Ancient (general support + Wild Growth on primordial and beast summons). 

If it's not only "passive" support you are looking for with buffs but want to actively help with debuffs, CC and so on then of course a whole lot of combos come to mind. Like Monk with AoE Stunning Surge, Wizard most prominently I think with all the CC spells, Druid again...
But in this case you's have to spread your attributes more. If you focus on the summoning and support via buffs you could easily drop PER for example since you'd never try to hit an enemy. 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

5 minutes ago, The Berathian said:

Beguiler / beckoner is stupidly powerful, if played right.

Why/how is that?

[mjo2138]

I am running a debonair/beguiler, and Beguiler is so strong, even as a multiclass!  Casting phantom foes + secret horrors gives me loads of focus. In fact, I don't even use the rogue skills for much, aside from rogue charm. Using all the deception skills occupies most of the battle, plus some occasional pain blocks.  I wish I ran SC Beguiler, just to experiment with the PL 8 and 9 spells.   

[Boeroer]

Yes, Beguiler's mechanic is pretty broken because it applies the deception's affliction first and only then checks whether you'll get focus back or not (which will always be the case if you don't miss).

What is pretty cool about Beguiler/Beckoner is that you can use summons AND mind control to turn a whole army against one remaining enemy (or a few).

But as I said above: that works even better if you have one Beckoner and one Beguiler, not necessarily a Beguiler/Beckoner. Because you can cast that stuff at the same time and don't have to cast everything one after another.  Still fun build of course.

[Griffonheart]

17 hours ago, Boeroer said:

But actually - since the buffing/support for summons doesn't have to be done by the one summoning - it's better to use party synergy instead of multiclass-synergy because the action economy is much better compared to doing all stuff by yourself - imo.

It's true that I've never considered another summon after I got Ancient Weapons, I can only imagine how brutal 8 of them would be compare to 4. I've also never tried summoning a Dragon.

Though, given that Beckoner is not a Troubadour, phrases build up much slower, I'd be left doing nothing but auto-attack after I summoned things. Wouldn't it be more "fun" to go multi-class, just so I have something to do in-between build up? I'm tempted to shift my Kind Wayfarer/Fury combo to Kind Wayfarer/Beckoner.

[Reent]

2 hours ago, Griffonheart said:

It's true that I've never considered another summon after I got Ancient Weapons, I can only imagine how brutal 8 of them would be compare to 4. I've also never tried summoning a Dragon.

Though, given that Beckoner is not a Troubadour, phrases build up much slower, I'd be left doing nothing but auto-attack after I summoned things. Wouldn't it be more "fun" to go multi-class, just so I have something to do in-between build up? I'm tempted to shift my Kind Wayfarer/Fury combo to Kind Wayfarer/Beckoner.

Troubadour is simply the go to for everything, summon uptime is just worth so much (and you can use different invocations too)... in a party you don't need the uptime, Beckoner for party play, troubadour for solo play... (that's how i would do it)

But multiclass to be able to do something in between? Depends, SC Beckoner can summon wurms lvl 3, Ogres (or strong wurms) lvl 7... and lvl 13 you can kill stuff with weapons

MC Chanter has lvl 4 wurms, lvl 10 Ogres and lvl 19 Weapons...

Trade off, SC Beckoner has strong summons all the time and can't do anything himself (okay, not much himself) while the summons of MC Beckoner are bad for long parts of the game (wurms are great against some enemies, bad against many others, ogres are good, but feel useless at the same time), weapons are strong, every fight.

In my (former) current (same build, just swapped 15 con 3 might for 3 con 15 might) run my troubadour/bloodmage summons stuff that does nothing but stare at the enemy (just a body) despite building everything for a CC+summon damage build... maybe lvl 19 (weapons) the summons could deal significant damage, however the fights take too long, much too long if i try to kill stuff with summons (while CCing them) at the moment (lvl 16) and... its tragic if you simply forget to get your spells back, don't summon something and the last enemy corners you and kills you because his 19 brothers are dead and you thought he would just fall over and die after 25 min... and you have to redo the whole fight, 25 mins down the drain because you didn't do your rotation against the last enemy^^)

 

every other summon isn't that strong - the dragon can be fun (and strong), but weapons are reliable, i don't know if i even take the dragon or +1 penetration, didn't play a SC summoner in quite some time... Summoner are great SC character, they are powerfull all game long MC Summoner just to "do something" while your summons are up? In my experience MC summons feel bad most of the game (party play)

[Boeroer]

If you need a tank or blocker the Dragon is cool. Especially if you have an Ancient in the party whic can cast Wild Growth on the dragon (it has no duration and will last until the dragon's summoning duration is over). It will have a ton of health and good AR then. And while its auto-attacks are rubbish its abilities are very good because of Power Level scaling. 

But I would also say that Ancient Weapons are more universally useful. Still... summoning a dragon... it's just very cool.