Summoner Defense/survive ability options

[Mark The Devourer]

I'll make this quick. I wanted to finish some of my older playthroughs, so I got into my summoner world once again. Issue is I feel like a wet paper towel. A rude awakening especially after my melee tank build. Tiki definitely seems like a better option for survive ability over spooky, I mean that extra range and plus 5 defense sounds really appealing. I don't really want to get any of the OOA armor sets.

I have a beserkers gloves for defense, but I'm wondering if I should add either the heroes shield OR the frozen shield alongside it.

All my accessories are set to warding. I have a standard summoner using the two scrolls, beettle, and pygmy necklace.Any thoughts?

 

[DiamondFire🪓]

For summoner, you might not want to tank. Summoner is more of a DPS race, so reforge everything for max damage and just focus on dodging while whipping. Your summons will do the rest.

 

[chewythebigblackdog]

Tank summoner is absolutely a viable option, though to do it right you want the valhalla knight's set (potentially swap out the helmet for the spooky helm). I'd definitely go for frozen shield over the berserker's glove. OOA armour sets aren't too difficult to get tbh, just grind a few medals from the previous tier and you'll have enough for armour pieces when they get unlocked.
Another option is to go for hallowed set, you'd probably want to pair that with menacing reforges (though warding can also work) and some dodge chance and/or damage reduction accessories. You won't be able to face-tank stuff, but you'll be able to take a few more hits than a full glass cannon without too much investment.

 

[Mark The Devourer]

Tank summoner is absolutely a viable option, though to do it right you want the valhalla knight's set (potentially swap out the helmet for the spooky helm). I'd definitely go for frozen shield over the berserker's glove. OOA armour sets aren't too difficult to get tbh, just grind a few medals from the previous tier and you'll have enough for armour pieces when they get unlocked.
Another option is to go for hallowed set, you'd probably want to pair that with menacing reforges (though warding can also work) and some dodge chance and/or damage reduction accessories. You won't be able to face-tank stuff, but you'll be able to take a few more hits than a full glass cannon without too much investment.

I know they're not hard to get, but fighting tier 3 OOA gave me emotional damage. Betsy made me cry

OK ok I kid I kid, getting them won't be hard (or too emotional taxing) but I question how effective a sentry based summoner would be. A regular summoner is great, but a sentry based summoner? I'm not so sure. Having an army of minions are cool, but they follow you. sentries, are y'know, sentries. They don't move. Hell I don't even need to use sentries and just use regular minions, but I lose out on the extra minion slots the tiki and spooky give me. (also I'm using the berserks glove AND the frozen shield ATM. I have seven other slots for damage accessories)

For summoner, you might not want to tank. Summoner is more of a DPS race, so reforge everything for max damage and just focus on dodging while whipping. Your summons will do the rest.

I was doing that. But then I realized I am no shyguymask (that is to say I'm not the best summoner player and I can only whip stack with a measly two whips instead of an impressive four or three whips).
I think I'm at least decent at dodging. Maybe I should try using wings instead of a summon like the witches broom... Soaring insignia+wings for my last two accessory slots?

 

[chewythebigblackdog]

I know they're not hard to get, but fighting tier 3 OOA gave me emotional damage. Betsy made me cry

That's why the way I was suggesting it, you'd skip fighting t3 entirely. By getting medals from doing t2 (25 each), you can buy armour (50 per piece) the second t3 is unlocked, and if the armour is all you want, you don't have to do t3 OOA at all. By grinding t2 right before golem, you'd also have the best possible gear for it, making it a lot easier and faster to grind out the medals. I also usually don't bother with the sentries.

When I played GFB summoner, my final loadout for ML was spooky helmet, valhalla chestplate, spooky greaves (though valhalla greaves is also a valid pick, and makes you even tankier).
Accessory wise, I went for a mix of damage, mobility, and defence, with empress wings, soaring insignia, master ninja gear, worm scarf, celestial shell, necromantic scroll, and papyrus scarab. If you wanted to skip out on wings in favour of a mount, filling those last 3 slots with something like frozen shield, star veil/brain of confusion, and pygmy necklace is a decent approach.

 

[Mark The Devourer]

I came up with some ideas for armor combinations.

• Your armor set of the spooky helmet, valhalla knights breastplate spooky leggings. Or I could use tiki pants for less movement speed and 1% less summon damage for an extra +2 defense. +2 summon cap, 45 (or 43) defense, and 51% (or 52%) extra summon damage.
• Hallowed mask, spooky breastplate, tiki pants. 47 defense, a +3 summon cap, and 21% damage.

I really like the sound of having a +3 summon cap with the last armor set, but I suppose I can settle for +2.
Without armor, I can have a +4 summon cap with my accessories and my bewitching table. With a summon potion I can have another extra slot for a limited time. So at base, I can have 5 summons active, or 6 with the bewitching potion.
Wait a moment, with all those buffs plus the first armor set, 7 summons should be enough, right? 8 if I'm using a summoning potion. And the greatly increased summon damage would be much better than the extra minion slot. Not to mention the excellent +4 Health regeneration.
I also gain 20 defense from my summon accessories and an extra 12 from my berserker's glove gives me an extra 32 defense. 77 (75 with spooky leggings instead of tiki). I could use the hero shield for even more defense, but the frozen shield is more useful as I am not a full-on tank. So a frozen shield would give me an additional ten defense for 87 defense (or 85). All of the accessories I am referring to are reforged to warding.
With an iron-skin potion, I get 8 more defense for a total of 95 defense, + a bast statue for a total of 100.

Yup, this all looks good! My armor set will consist of spooky, Valhalla, and tiki armor pieces. I am very pleased with how this turned out. Thanks for the help @chewythebigblackdog!