Any interesting Summon Weapon build?

[Hoo]

Hello.

I'm looking for some interesting build that mainly uses Summon Weapon, especially except Wizard's, since the previous threads had discussed the weapons a lot already. 

I'll use BPM with CM, so most of the Summon Weapon would scale with PL and I expect this change will make the weapons a bit more attractive.

 

Could you suggest Any good synergies/builds related the topic? Thanks in advance!

[Boeroer]

Heh, besides Wizards there aren't that many summoned weapons.

Priest of Woedica has nice summoned claws with a raw lash. But you'll have to roleplay according to Woedica's dispositions to make the lash strong (as is the case with all "Spiritual Weapons" of Priests). I can imagine a "Wolverine" like build in combination with a Berserker maybe? Or a Streetfighter? Using Barring Death's Door + Salvation of Time to stay flanked and bloodied etc.

I haven't checked if Wael's Spiritual Rod also applies its lash to the blast (should be). That could be nice with Berserker's Barbaric Smash + Bloody Slaughter + Blood Thirst (circumventing the long recovery of Blast).

Still mad that Priest of Eothas gets flails and not a Morning Star.

Rot Skulls is not bad either. Should be cool with a Ranger because of Driving Flight and the accuracy. 

Firebrand can be used with Ring of Focused Flames. It profits from the +10 Accuracy at all times. I did a Bleak Walker/Druid once (don't remember the subclass) with Scion of Flame and Spirit of Decay for +2 PEN (and +20 ACC) on Flames of Devotion. You could use Firebrand with the Great Sword modal then and still hit reliably or without the modal to hit high defenses enemies. 

Reaping Knives are cool. But they are a bit special because you can't give them to yourself and you have to be a SC Cipher. I tried an SC Psion who would cast Reaping Knives onto several party members from stealth before going into battle and the focus flow was pretty incredible then. Combined with Time Siphon I could spam CC spells non-stop. Would also work with other cipher subclasses of course. Imagine a Soulblade who gets fueled up by several Reaping Knives and constantly dumps his focus into Soul Annihilation. Unfortunately no summoned weapon for him then. But one can also build the other party members around Reaping Knives use then (e.g. make them all speedy dual wielders or something). Reaping Knives always transfers +5 focus per hit. The damage is not important. But they do raw damage which is awesome for damage dealing, too.

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Boeroer

[Elric Galad]

11 hours ago, Hoo said:

Hello.

I'm looking for some interesting build that mainly uses Summon Weapon, especially except Wizard's, since the previous threads had discussed the weapons a lot already. 

I'll use BPM with CM, so most of the Summon Weapon would scale with PL and I expect this change will make the weapons a bit more attractive.

 

Could you suggest Any good synergies/builds related the topic? Thanks in advance!

BPM does not make summoned weapons scaling with PL. Several summoned weapons are buffed to keep up with enchanted weapons though.

What is CM ?

[Kaylon]

Priest/streetfighter combo has good synergies and the 30% lash on spiritual weapons is pretty good. Druid/Trickster using Firebrand can work too.

[Manu22]

I used a Cleric Devoted/Berath using the summoned Greatsword and he was cool. 

[thelee]

I had a bit of a summoned weapon subtheme with my current sorcerer. Firebrand + various wizard buffs (eventually Draconic Fury at tier 7), plus the aforementioned Ring of Focused Flame. Taste of the Hunt at tier 2 (though probably only one casting because it shares with Firebrand) is a nice spot heal and leaves some lasting damage. It's only a subtheme because between druid and wizard spells (even if most are fast-cast self-buffs) there's a lot of action economy constraints, but doing 100-ish dmg per melee hit ain't shabby when you're running low on spells (great sword + legendary + modal [helped by ring of focused flame] plus 40% fire lash plus 15% slashing lash plus occasional crits + overpen), and those melee hits come relatively fast (schwungvoll, +15% action speed from deletrious alacrity of motion, plus druid soulbound SSS armor, plus helm of the falcon). Makes sunlance the spell look extremely crappy; a highish spell slot and longer cast time to do less single-target damage??

 

against fire immunes or fire aborbers, being part wizard helps because you can summon lance or one of the two staffs, though firebrand does a stupid amount of damage compared to those options in normal situations. (though llengrath's staff is fun simply for knocking people around and preventing them from doing much of anything)

Edited August 8, 2021 by thelee

[Hoo]

10 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

BPM does not make summoned weapons scaling with PL. Several summoned weapons are buffed to keep up with enchanted weapons though.

What is CM ?

Ohh, I've misunderstood about BPM. What I wanted to mention was exatctly what you said (buffs of sommoned weapons, anyway).

 

and CM is typo.  I mean, it is Community Patch.

[Hoo]

1 hour ago, thelee said:

I had a bit of a summoned weapon subtheme with my current sorcerer. Firebrand + various wizard buffs (eventually Draconic Fury at tier 7), plus the aforementioned Ring of Focused Flame. Taste of the Hunt at tier 2 (though probably only one casting because it shares with Firebrand) is a nice spot heal and leaves some lasting damage. It's only a subtheme because between druid and wizard spells (even if most are fast-cast self-buffs) there's a lot of action economy constraints, but doing 100-ish dmg per melee hit ain't shabby when you're running low on spells (great sword + legendary + modal [helped by ring of focused flame] plus 40% fire lash plus 15% slashing lash plus occasional crits + overpen), and those melee hits come relatively fast (schwungvoll, +15% action speed from deletrious alacrity of motion, plus druid soulbound SSS armor, plus helm of the falcon). Makes sunlance the spell look extremely crappy; a highish spell slot and longer cast time to do less single-target damage??

 

against fire immunes or fire aborbers, being part wizard helps because you can summon lance or one of the two staffs, though firebrand does a stupid amount of damage compared to those options in normal situations. (though llengrath's staff is fun simply for knocking people around and preventing them from doing much of anything)

 

This is quite similar with what is in my mind! 

 

I guess that Zandethus Draconic Fury now get Fire keyword so this spell can benefit from Ring of Focused Flame, doesn't it?

 

It's out of topic, but the build I'm considering is Berserker/Enchanter (I just thought this because the spell's keyword is Enchanting ) with the Grimoire. Several Enchanting Keyword spells can bring lots of defensive options, especially in aspect of DR, for Barb, including eliminating the Confused affliction (via Infuse With Vital Essence spell), and finally with both the Zandethus Draconic Fury spell and Ring of Focused Flame, ANY weapons wielded by the character could get very high accuracy which is very much essential for Crit build. 

 

Of course I'm still interested in your build, especially Druid/something multiclass because I've really enjoyed to play PoE II with Druid, but the problem is, there is only one of each item so I cannot build both in a story. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Hoo

[Manu22]

And about a Fury/Tactician? You can get brilliant from Sunbeam, and I think Firebrand has the pen bonus from Fury 

[Hoo]

21 minutes ago, Manu22 said:

And about a Fury/Tactician? You can get brilliant from Sunbeam, and I think Firebrand has the pen bonus from Fury 

Oh, really? I didn't expect that the PEN bonus applies to the summoned weapon. I probably need to test it myself, since I really love Fury Druid!

Edited August 8, 2021 by Hoo

[Hoo]

19 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Priest of Woedica has nice summoned claws with a raw lash. But you'll have to roleplay according to Woedica's dispositions to make the lash strong (as is the case with all "Spiritual Weapons" of Priests). I can imagine a "Wolverine" like build in combination with a Berserker maybe? Or a Streetfighter? Using Barring Death's Door + Salvation of Time to stay flanked and bloodied etc.

I haven't checked if Wael's Spiritual Rod also applies its lash to the blast (should be). That could be nice with Berserker's Barbaric Smash + Bloody Slaughter + Blood Thirst (circumventing the long recovery of Blast).

Still mad that Priest of Eothas gets flails and not a Morning Star.

 

10 hours ago, Kaylon said:

Priest/streetfighter combo has good synergies and the 30% lash on spiritual weapons is pretty good. Druid/Trickster using Firebrand can work too.

 

9 hours ago, Manu22 said:

I used a Cleric Devoted/Berath using the summoned Greatsword and he was cool. 

 

This! 

I've barely played Cleric, so I'm curious how much the summoned weapons are strong. Is it just different-element-and-weapon-type version of Firebrand?

[Boeroer]

A bit. But Firebrand has a fixed lash and longer duration. 

The spiritual weapons of priests have a scaling lash (it scales with your divine dispositions) that can be higher than Firebrand's - and the summoning duration is shorter.

Woedica's spiritual fists or claws are a bit special because they have a raw dmg lash instead of an elemental one.

High lashes up to 30% are rare even among unique weapons. For damage dealing that is a very good property. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Boeroer

[Elric Galad]

4 hours ago, Hoo said:

Ohh, I've misunderstood about BPM. What I wanted to mention was exatctly what you said (buffs of sommoned weapons, anyway).

Yeah, and Martial Caster buff. It's basically Quickswitch for summoned weapons with BPM.

[thelee]

30 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Woedica's spiritual fists or claws are a bit special because they have a raw dmg lash instead of an elemental one.

in particular, the fists as a base weapon are already better than any other base weapon (iirc it's essentially already like a 30% lash on a weapon like a sabre).

for pure damage dealing via summoned weapons it might be hard to beat woedica fists. 

[thelee]

5 hours ago, Hoo said:

Oh, really? I didn't expect that the PEN bonus applies to the summoned weapon. I probably need to test it myself, since I really love Fury Druid!

i didn't see it confirmed elsewhere this thread, but yes, firebrand benefits with extra PEN.

the wizard ranged spell kalakoth's minor blights also benefit from the spell PEN keywords, but each blight benefits separately (so you need all four to get +1 PEN across the entire range of blights).

 

i don't think other summoned weapons benefit from any keyword effects, directly at least (only longer duration from bonus PL for a conjurer, for example).

[Boeroer]

5 hours ago, Hoo said:

Oh, really? I didn't expect that the PEN bonus applies to the summoned weapon. I probably need to test it myself, since I really love Fury Druid!

Firebrand does NOT get the bonus PEN from Fury.

The Firebrand summoning spell itself is tagged with "Elements" - so it would get a PEN and range bonus if it had any damaging or ranged part (which of course it has not).

The actual Firebrand weapon is not affected. I guess it has no "Elements" tag but only the "Fire" tag - since it works with the Ring of Focused Flames and doesn't damage fire-immune foes.

I don't know if it would get the PEN bonus from Fury if one attached the "Elements" keyword to it. Might be worth a try for a mod (cause it makes sense imo). I wonder it that also would increase the weapon's reach by 20% via passive though... :  

But as for now it does not profit from the Fury passive. 

So if you want to mainly use the Druid part for summoning Firebrand then Fury isn't worth it imo. It still is good for complementing your melee dmg with stuff like Nature's Terror and Relentless Storm and such though.

It does get bonus PEN from Scion of Flame.

[Manu22]

https://fextralife.com/pillars-of-eternity-2-deadfire-builds-guide-cleric/
 

Maybe this interest you 

[Viryu]

On 8/7/2021 at 9:14 AM, Boeroer said:

Firebrand can be used with Ring of Focused Flames. It profits from the +10 Accuracy at all times. I did a Bleak Walker/Druid once (don't remember the subclass) with Scion of Flame and Spirit of Decay for +2 PEN (and +20 ACC) on Flames of Devotion. You could use Firebrand with the Great Sword modal then and still hit reliably or without the modal to hit high defenses enemies. 

Is that a stacking PEN for the entire damage on all elements, or just for the element in question. As in, it's split and +1 goes to fire part of damage, and +1 to corrode? Does the ACC bonus really stack that way with Firebrand and Flames of Devotion? What about the long lasting lash?

[dgray62]

If you wield firebrand and cast Flames of Devotion while wearing the RoFF, you get +20 ACC for the attack, +10 from the ring and +10 from FoD. If you have Scion of Flame the attack also gets +1 PEN. If you are a bleak walker, and have Spirit of Decay as well, I'm 99% sure that the entire attack gets +2 PEN, and not just the lashes. This is because FoD has a fire keyword, while Black Flames has both fire and corrode. FoD and Black Flames are really great if you buff them in this manner.

[Boeroer]

Yes, I meant stacking +1 PEN from Scion of Flame and +1 PEN from Spirit of Decay on Flames of Devotion attacks. The Bleak Walker's FoD is keyworded with fire AND corrode - and thus profits from both passives. And it works. I tried it once as a "Templar" concept (only that the Priest wouldn't be an actual Priest but a Druid - a Priest of Galawain if you will) but didn't really play it out.

I can't think of any other ability at the moment that does one attack roll which is tagged with two keywords - but for all the abilites that have this the PEN would stack. 

 

[dgray62]

Yes, this makes Bleak Walker much better than it initially appears; the 12% lash might seem like not much, but combined with the extra PEN it's great. Can you combine Bleak Walker and Priest of Woedica? If so, Black Flames with those fists would be devastating. Or maybe a priest of woedica/ ascendant using Biting Whip (with CP). You'd have a 50% raw lash plus the 30% damage boost while ascended, which you could prolong indefinitely with Salvation of Time. Add the Sash of Judgement, Hylea's talons and the Pes pet you'll boost your damage by over 100% I think.

[Boeroer]

11 minutes ago, dgray62 said:

If you wield firebrand and cast Flames of Devotion while wearing the RoFF, you get +20 ACC for the attack, +10 from the ring and +10 from FoD.

Yes, but tbh this is also the case with any weapon. Firebrand just makes it so that even the other attack abilites and auto-attacks profit from the Ring's ACC bonus (which is nice, don't get me wrong. )

One can later also add the Helm of the White Void (did I write that already in this thread? Feels like it...) because Black Flames also sickens - which adds another +10 ACC. So all in all +30 ACC with +2 PEN which is very cool imo. In case of crit (which is likely with +30 all-stackable ACC - even if you turn on the Great Sword Modal) your PEN (including the 2 bonus PEN) will get multiplied by 1.5 - which in turn makes Overpenetration very likely, too. 
When using FoD a lot it may be better to pick another weapon than Fireband maybe and only use that when Zeal is empty or you really want to cause fire dmg (bc. of enemies' AR or so).

Edited February 13, 2022 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

10 hours ago, dgray62 said:

Yes, this makes Bleak Walker much better than it initially appears; the 12% lash might seem like not much, but combined with the extra PEN it's great. Can you combine Bleak Walker and Priest of Woedica? If so, Black Flames with those fists would be devastating. Or maybe a priest of woedica/ ascendant using Biting Whip (with CP). You'd have a 50% raw lash plus the 30% damage boost while ascended, which you could prolong indefinitely with Salvation of Time. Add the Sash of Judgement, Hylea's talons and the Pes pet you'll boost your damage by over 100% I think.

I wanted to try a Bleak Walker/Stalker bc. of the awesome defense and also ACC stacking - but then remembered that Rangers (as Ciphers) don't get Spirit of Decay.
Maybe I'll still do it even though I'll have one less PEN (but a metric ton of ACC)...

Edited February 14, 2022 by Boeroer
typo

[Porkchopsandwiches247]

As mentioned, Priest of Woedica probably has the most impressive summoned weapons outside of a Wizard’s. They do a ton of damage. Combine them with classes/subclasses from a Fighter, Rogue or Barbarian and I imagine youll be melting enemies. With a Devoted Fighter youll even get your Woedica fist proficiency bonuses for ‘free’, since they count as fists (which you're innately proficient with)

Normally fists (with the perk) are the most damaging weapons in the game in terms of pure damage, held back by their lack of equipment modifiers on other high level equipment. With the 30% raw damage lash on them, theyre even more devastating.

[dgray62]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

I wanted to try a Bleak Walker/Stalker bc. of the awesome defense and also ACC stacking - but then remembered that Rangers (as Ciphers) don't get Spirit of Decay.

It's too bad that Bleak Walkers do not get the option of selecting Spirit of Decay.