Spectre Summoner
Necromancer
Starter build

Updated for Patch 3.6

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Estimated budget: low

A lot of changes in Patch 3.1 and War for the Atlas are related to the Summoner/Necromancer character class, including Spectre's users. With the recent change to Spectres' persistence, which made them no longer perish when you log out from Path of Exile, a lot of players will surely use this spell in patch 3.1. Not need to mention the Wraithlord helmet, which can actually turn Spectres into great tanks/meatshields, so who knows if we won't be seeing PoE players that will try a different approach to this build.

Summon Spectre is generally a minion type spell, that revives a slain monster's corpse to fight for you. It works on pretty much any non-boss corpse and is mainly used to summon powerful spell-caster minions (Solar Guards for example, which are used in this build).

If you have been looking for some other type of build, you might want to check our other Path of Exile builds in the following article: Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Spectre summoner is similar to other summoner builds. Your main role is to support your Minions with auras, position yourself to avoid enemy attacks, and have your Minions attack the right target. What makes Spectres Summoner so special is that you have to find the right corpse that you raise from the dead with the Raise Spectre skill. In this case, we will be using Solar Guards which occupy the Solaris Temple in Act 8. They are extremely powerful Fire spellcasters. Solar Guards will benefit from various support Gems that apply to spells. 

Full gameplay video: 0:07 T15 Carcass Map 3:19 T16 Pit of the Chimera 9:57 Apex of Sacrifice (Atziri)

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling phase with Spectre Summoner is very easy. You will be using Raise Zombies as meatshields and Summon Raging Spirits as your main DPS skill. There are no special item requirements for this phase, however, a +1 to socketed Gems wand is advised. You should socket your SRS setup in it. In general, a 3-4 linked Raging Spirit setup should carry you all the way to Act 8, and that is when you replace it with Raise Spectre (Solar Guards can be found in Act 8) as your main DPS source. 

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Raise Zombie
	Raise Zombie - the first minion spell you will come across when leveling up the Witch character. Just use you as meatshields, and support the spell with defensive Gems only
	Minion Life Support - one of the best support Gem for the zombie setup
	Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance Support - another good defensive option
	Fortify Support - same as above. With each point of quality, it will also improve the zombie's DPS

Fire Trap
	Fire Trap - use it as your DPS spell until you reach level 4 when you can equip the SRS Gem

Summon Raging Spirit setup
	Summon Raging Spirit - your main DPS spell until you reach Act 8. Raging Spirits act like homing missiles and have to be recast frequently as they last only for a couple of seconds
	Melee Splash Support - a mandatory Gem for fast leveling, otherwise your SRS will be unable to cope with big packs, and leveling will be too slow without any other AoE spell
	Minion Damage Support - great DPS buff, as simple as that

Bandits:

We recommend killing all the Bandits for two additional Passive Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

28 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Lord of the Dead 2) Grave Pact 3) Heart and Soul 4) Potency of Will (if using SRS)

61 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Discipline and Training 2) Constitution 3) Spiritual Command 4) Sacrifice 5) Necromantic Aegis

Recommended leveling items:

Sidhebreath - one of the best leveling amulets for any summoner character. You can use it until you swap to Spectres, or even keep it for a little longer for the bonuses it grants to all your minions
(20-30)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate +25% to Cold Resistance 0.2% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched as Mana Minions have (10-15)% increased maximum Life Minions have (10-15)% increased Movement Speed (15-10)% reduced Mana Cost of Minion Skills Minions deal (10-15)% increased Damage

Praxis - one of the best leveling rings for any mana draining builds (and spamming SRS definitely does that)
+(20-25) to maximum Mana +(30-60) to maximum Mana (3-6) Mana Regenerated per second -(8-4) to Mana Cost of Skills 8% of Damage taken gained as Mana over 4 seconds when Hit

Reverberation Rod - one of the best wands for the 3L Summon Raging Spirit setup. It will support the skill Gem with Spell Echo which greatly increases your DPS output, and on top of that it increases all socketed Gem levels by 1
(15-19)% increased Spell Damage +1 to Level of Socketed Gems Socketed Gems are Supported by level 1 Spell Echo +(10-30) to Intelligence

Victario's Charity - this shield is one of the end-game items for this build, but you can get it as soon as you reach level 50. It will help you finish the campaign in no time. Combined with the Necromantic Aegis it greatly boosts your minions DPS and toughness
3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) +8% to all Elemental Resistances +(50-70) to maximum Life +(20-30)% to Lightning Resistance +11% to Chaos Resistance 20% increased Area of Effect of Aura Skills 10% chance to grant a Power Charge to nearby Allies on Kill 5% chance to grant a Frenzy Charge to nearby Allies on Hit

4. Final Skill tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

115 Points Final Skill Tree
115 Points Path of Building(PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Invoker
2. Soul Weaver
3. Commander of Darkness
4. Puppet Master

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of the Brine King - You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul - 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Raise Spectre
	Raise Spectre - your main DPS spell. Use it on Solar Guard's corpses in Solaris Temple Act 8 (higher level Spectres can also be summoned in shaped Temple Maps)
	Spell Echo Support - spell echo will apply to the spells that your Solar Guards cast, greatly increasing their DPS
	Minion Damage Support - great DPS buff to your Spectres
	Greater Multiple Projectiles Support - most of the spells used by Solar Guards are projectile-based. This Gem gives them a lot of AoE DPS
	Summon Phantasm on Kill Support - the newly added Support Gem in Patch 3.2 It will grant a chance for your Spectres to spawn Phantasms. Your Spectres will benefit from ALL the support Gems in this setup making them very powerful on their own. They also count as Minions
	Controlled Destruction Support - increases Spell Damage of both your Spectres and Phantasms

[AURA] Anger and Purity of Elements
	[2 Links]Anger - the best DPS aura for this build. Link it with Generosity Support Gem to buff its' effect
	[2 Links]Generosity Support - it will buff your Anger aura, but will not apply to yourself. You do not deal any damage though so there is basically no downside to it
	[1 Link]Purity of Elements - this will grant additional elemental resistances to your Spectres and yourself. If you have excess Resistances on your own you can also link it to Generosity Support as well

[UTILITY] Flesh Offering + Vaal Haste
	Flesh Offering - you consume corpses for amazing attack speed and cast speed bonuses, which are granted to your minions
	Vaal Haste - greatly increases attack speed and cast speed of your minions for the duration
	Increased Duration Support - link all 3 Gems together to increase their duration

[MOBILITY] Shield Charge & Zombie
	Raise Zombie - they are amazing meatshields even in the late game. Because of a limited number of sockets, you have to link it together with a mobility skill (both will benefit from the Fortify Support Gem)
	Shield Charge - your main mobility skill
	Fortify Support - it will grant its' defensive bonuses both to your Zombies and yourself on melee hits (done with Shield Charge)
	Faster Attacks Support - this is solely for the purpose of improving Shield Charge's "movement" speed

[CURSE] Flammability and Enfeeble Curse on Hit
	Ball Lightning - a good spell for this purpose because of a rather wide area coverage
	Curse on Hit Support - will cause your Ball Lightning to apply the socketed curses
	Flammability - the best DPS-oriented curse for this build
	Enfeeble - defensive curse option that will greatly boost your sustainability

[DEFENSIVE/UTILTY] Immortal Call/Desecrate
	[3L]Cast when Damage Taken Support - will cast supported spells when a certain amount of damage is taken. Do not level it up
	[3L]Immortal Call - will grant a brief immortality when procced by the Cast when Damage Taken Support Gem. Do not level up above the level of CwDT
	[3L]Convocation - recalls your minions to your location, granting them increased Life regeneration. Again, keep its' level lower than that of CwDT Support Gem
	[1L]Desecrate - will create a pile of bones. Can be used to create Solar Guard's corpse for your Raise Spectre spell, or simply to create corpses your use for the Flesh Offering skill

5. Gear Setup

The Spectre Summoner build is not only extremely powerful but also budget-friendly. As usual, we are providing all the recommended stats for each of the items listed.

Also, remember that you can always visit our Path of Exile marketplace and restock any type of PoE Currency required to complete your build.

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS/Life/Mana to start mapping successfully

(Helmet) Rare Life/Res. Helmet - a Bone Helmet with increased Minion damage is the best in slot option but might be very expensive early in the League

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 28% Cold Resistance 28% Lightning Resistance increased Minion Damage (enchanting the helmet will remove this implicit modifier!) Optional affixes: Fire Resistance maximum Energy Shield %increased Energy Shield

(Body Armour) Vis Mortis - the best in slot item for pretty much any Spectre summoner build. Until you can afford it (most likely this is going to be the most expensive item in the entire build) you can use any rare life/res body armour with at least 4 linked sockets

3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) +(20-30) to maximum Mana (200-220)% increased Energy Shield Minions have 20% reduced maximum Life Minions deal 15% increased Damage +1 to maximum number of Spectres Minions gain Unholy Might for 10 seconds on Kill

(Weapon) Aurumvorax - extremely cheap weapon, that will almost cap your elemental resistances allowing to save up a lot of orbs on other gear choices (55%+ roll on elemental resistances will cap your Cold and Lightning resistances with just 2 items and the Aura!)

+25% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier (120-150)% increased Physical Damage 20% reduced Rarity of Items found +(40-60)% to all Elemental Resistances +3 Life gained for each Enemy hit by Attacks

(Shield) Victario's Charity - mandatory item for this build. With Necromantic Aegis passive it grants unparalleled bonuses to your Spectres

+8% to all Elemental Resistances 3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) +(50-70) to maximum Life +(20-30)% to Lightning Resistance +11% to Chaos Resistance 20% increased Area of Effect of Aura Skills 10% chance to grant a Power Charge to nearby Allies on Kill 5% chance to grant a Frenzy Charge to nearby Allies on Hit

(Boots) Bones of Ullr - pretty much the only suitable boots option for a Spectre summoner build

+20 to maximum Life +20 to maximum Mana (40-60)% increased Energy Shield (5-15)% increased Movement Speed +1 to maximum number of Zombies +1 to maximum number of Spectres

Boot enchantment: 8% chance to Dodge Spell Hits if you've taken Spell Damage Recently 10% Chance to Dodge Attack Hits if you've taken a Critical Strike Recently

(Belt) Rare Life/Res. Belt - no need for any resistances here, just grab some additional Int/Mana instead

Min. requirements: 110 maximum Life 50 maximum Energy Shield Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances Attributes Chaos Resistance

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - aim for the highest Life and increased maximum energy shield you can afford. Any other affixes, including added attributes, flat energy shield, elemental resistances are just a bonus.

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 40 maximum Energy Shield 15% increased maximum Energy Shield Optional affixes: Attributes maximum Mana

(Rings) Rare Life Rings - preferable Essence Crafted with increased Minion Speed

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 45 maximum Energy Shield 20 Intelligence increased Minion Movement Speed (Essence crafted) Optional affixes: Attributes maximum Mana

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - cap your Fire Resistance with the pair of gloves and get the highest Life/ES bonuses you can afford

Min. requirements: 110 Energy Shield 75 maximum Life 20 Fire Resistance

Glove enchantment: Commandment of Frost

Unending Hunger - increased the radius of AoE spells cast by your Spectres. It also grants them the Soul Eater buff, which grant them increased cast speed (5% per stack of Soul Eater)

Minions have (6-8)% increased Area of Effect of Area Skills With at least 40 Intelligence in Radius, Raised Spectres have a 50% chance to gain Soul Eater for 30 seconds on Kill

Anatomical Knowledge - grant increased Life. Put it on the left from Witch's starting point. It is rather inexpensive and will be a better pick early on than Rare Life/Damage cobalt jewels.

(6-8)% increased maximum Life Adds 1 to Maximum Life per 3 Intelligence Allocated in Radius

(Jewels) Rare Jewels - Life is the most important bonus on all the jewels. Additional minion damage will be

Recommended affixes: % increased maximum Life % increased Minion Damage Optional affixes: % increased Minion Life % increased Maximum Energy Shield

Suggested Flasks: Bubbling Divine Life Flask of Staunching (bleeding immunity) Bubbling Divine Life Flask of Heat (freeze and chill immunity) Life/Granite/Quicksilver Flasks of Warding/Grounding/Curing (immunities for the remaining status ailments)

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.