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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Theory Crafting: Summoner Archetype(In response to latest Summoner Ashes twitter post)
Hrykaan
Member, Alpha Two
First post, so please go easy on me 
.
Sharing my ideas in response to twitter post:https://twitter.com/AshesofCreation/status/1689985383205916673?s=20
Spent some time crafting these ideas, so I thought I will share, not sure how much is feasible development wise, but this will be my summoner fantasy.
Please feel free to share your thoughts.
Here I go.
Looking forward to Staff and Community's thoughts
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🙌 <a href="https://twitter.com/undead_pally?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@undead_pally</a> created a glorious Niküa Summoner for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FanFriday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#FanFriday</a>!<br><br>🐺 What kind of summons are you hoping to create with the Summoner Archetype? <a href="https://t.co/MVyNWrNcFl">pic.twitter.com/MVyNWrNcFl</a></p>— Ashes of Creation (@AshesofCreation) <a href=" 11, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
.Sharing my ideas in response to twitter post:https://twitter.com/AshesofCreation/status/1689985383205916673?s=20
Spent some time crafting these ideas, so I thought I will share, not sure how much is feasible development wise, but this will be my summoner fantasy.
Please feel free to share your thoughts.
Here I go.
- Enchanter (Buff bots, Pixie or Spirits) : Earth Pixie(Tank buffs), Fire Pixie (DPS buffs), Ice Pixie (Crowd Control), Water Pixie(Regen Buff)
- Necromancer : Skeleton Warrior/Zombie(melee dps), Skeleton Knight(tank), Skeleton Mage(range dps), Skeleton Chief(Horseman-Buff+CC)
- Wild-blade(Offensive Weapon summons): Giant Sword(Tank), Spear throws(Range Dps), Berserker's Axe(Lifesteal/Heal), Chain blade(CC)
- Spellmancer(Colorful Elementals): Earth Elemental(melee tank), Fire elemental(range DPS), Ice elemental(CC), Water elemental(AOE OR Single target Heal bot)
- Beastmaster(Animal spawns): Bears(Tank), Wolves(melee dps), Snakes/Ram (CC), Frog(Healing), Rabbits(movement speed buff bots)
- Brood Warden(Shield summons): Tower Shield(Full Tank), Spike Shield(DPS+Tank), Aegis Shield(Medusa Stun/slow), Cleric Shield(rotating on target/Heal Over Time)
- Shadowmancer build(Dark shadow abilities/No tank in this build) : Shadow hole(Invisible or untargetable/or short distance Teleport), blade of shadows(summons AOE dagger spawns for dps), Shadow Potions(summons Potions for Heal over Time), Shadow Traps(CC/Snare)
- Conjurer(Mega Summoner brings Legendary Creatures/Entities) : Tortoise/Ox god(Tank/whichever suits Ashes Lore), Phoenix(range dps), Ice Dragon(CC/Slow), Tree of Life(Heal/Health/Regen buff). Miniature models of course
Looking forward to Staff and Community's thoughts
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🙌 <a href="https://twitter.com/undead_pally?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@undead_pally</a> created a glorious Niküa Summoner for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FanFriday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#FanFriday</a>!<br><br>🐺 What kind of summons are you hoping to create with the Summoner Archetype? <a href="https://t.co/MVyNWrNcFl">pic.twitter.com/MVyNWrNcFl</a></p>— Ashes of Creation (@AshesofCreation) <a href=" 11, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
6
Comments
Udyr from LoL. Druid + Barbarian from Diablo, Primalist from RIFT, Surv Hunter from WoW with animal thematics, Ranger from GW 2 with the animal thematics.
I think your list has too much of a same same kinda feeling. Almost every class has a tank, dps,cc and healing component. I think each one should have a niche that it is looking to fill and the summoner could be used as sort of a fill class in a party. Need an off tank, get the bear summon, need dps or need a certian type of dps, pick this one. This dungeon needs interrupts and cc, or we are going to pvp and cant interrupt the healers, get this class. Im not saying they dont have some level of crossover, but if they are all do the same thing, there isn't really a reason to choose one over the other for a particular event or day. I want the summoner to summon, but how those summons interact with the environment should all be different as well as how the summoner interacts with the summons.
Yeah, I imagine there will be some utility variation between fighter and wild blade
necromancer should be a solo only class with the inability to join parties or guilds, with power to compensate
(your undead summons become your party and guild, would make for interesting pvp, and we all know thats how any necromancer worth their sugar and spice would operate. why need people when you have spooky scary skeletons)
undead summons should start as skeletons that evolve into more powerful skeletons through extremely long tedious processes that only real solo players will have the patience and skill to make it through
risk vs reward
Then, to each of these things as well as persistent summons, you add an augment that modifies the appearance and/or effect. And on the balance side, some class augments could make specific areas more powerful than others. For example, the Fighter augments may make the weapon enhancement a lot better, the Tank augments could make the armor enhancement a lot better, while the Mage augments for the weapon/armor enhancements only make either a little better, but Mage enhancements make the GTAE's a lot better
Enchanter should also be good in attack when enemies are under said conditions.
If you haven't checked it out, be sure to take a look at the wiki: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Summoner
Also, if you have a question about Ashes of Creation, be sure to ask it here on the Q&A! https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/56152/next-livestream-q-a-submission-thursday-august-31-2023-at-11am-pacific/p1
agreed
I did a fun idea post for the brood warden once about summoning bugs of a sort. Similar to some Tyranid shield bugs, and having different bugs for different jobs.
Since at the very least, you have to go back to a high-ish level town to change roles, I don't think OP in general is going to be an issue. You can't just carry several sets of gear with you and swap between offtank and DPS in the middle of a dungeon run.
The limitation for a Summoner-healer is going to be that you have to be the Summoner flavor of healer. A Cleric/x will have a choice between 8 different classes to customize their healing. If a Summoner wants to heal, they will have to take what they get, with some minor customization via skill points. This will be the same for the Summoner/Tank.
And that's stating the obvious I guess. But I expect that specific classes of any base archetype will be good at some things and less good at other things. Made-up Example: Mage/Rogue is good at PvP, but bad at raids. Mage/Ranger is good at raids and 8 mans, but bad at PvP. If you want to heal as a Summoner, you can't pick the best spec for a specific activity. You just have to deal with the way it is.
Summoner/dps will have some choices in it's setup with 5 or 6 DPS classes to choose from (not sure if Bard should be counted there)
On another note: If demons are not allowed to be pets. How about different types of jinn; from imps, to temptresses, to mages, to elemental warriors
The idea is good but I would change some elements... as in this case I would leave the ice element as part of the water element and for the combination of summoner+summoner it would give another unique boost in relation to the summoning mechanics. type of invocation granting damaging abilities, with 2 elements, and another beneficial one.
Tank= life regeneration+earth and lightning element buff for damage skills.
Dps= movement speed+fire+poison buff for damage skills.
Heal= mana regeneration+ wind+nature buff for damage skills, which can be passed on to other allies.
and still maintaining his idea of larger entities related to Ashes lore.
holy shit, you do exist still.
[*] Enchanter
Emphasis on group buffs, ground target AOEs, weapon enchants, summons that provide buffs to allies
Necromancer : this one's a given from the name. Summons Undead/skeletons with lifesteal/self healing abilities.
Wild-blade:
Something like Irelia in LoL with sword summons from Fable. Spirit weapons that can be directed in quick motion and some that control themselves.
Spellmancer(Colorful Elementals): Spot on with this one using elementals. Elementals that have their own magical abilities, status fields, CCs, elemental themed support abilities
Beastmaster(Animal spawns):
Also a giveaway with the name. Everything beast/nature themed but with an offensive approach due to the Ranger secondary. Animal like abilities, Animal summons, Bears, wolves, tiger, eagle, snake, etc.
Brood Warden Spider/insect summons. A Broodmother summon that acts as a tank summons spiderlings, web ensnaring rooting abilities, cacoon ability from HOTS anubarak
Shadowmancer
Something like Zed from League of Legends with his shadows, shadows have their own abilities or mimic certain abilities that the Shadowmancer has
Conjurer : I imagine this one as well as the Summoner class being Spirit themed, group buffs, weapon enchantment buffs, Spirits with their own abilities