Path Of Exile 2 Patch 0.4.0 Summoner Builds Tier List | Best Minions & Class Picks
Posted: Dec 11, 2025 Views: 170
Path of Exile 2's class and skill combinations are incredibly complex, resulting in numerous playstyles. Unfortunately, summoner builds have consistently lacked a place among the top-tier builds.
While it's unclear whether the new Druid class can change this, each league has a dedicated group of players researching minion builds. Below, we'll examine the performance of minion builds in Patch 0.3.0 and the adjustments in Patch 0.4.0 to see which ones will perform best in Fate of the Vaal league.

Tier S
Spectre Builds
Since skills in Path of Exile 2 aren't tied to classes, you can choose either Spectre Infernalist build or Spectre Shaman build.
Of all summoning skills, Spectre performed best in Patch 0.3.0, allowing you to enslave Spectres to fight for you. The strongest Spectre was Frozen Mandibles. Unfortunately, it was removed in Patch 0.4. As compensation, the developers stated they will buff some summon variants.
Therefore, as long as Spectre builds aren't significantly nerfed, you can use Powered Zealot Spectre to clear monsters and single enemies, or Death Knight Spectres to deal with single enemies.
Ascendancy Recommends
If you're only focusing on the early game, Spectre Shaman has a greater advantage because its Sacred Flow talent can provide a large amount of Spirit by sacrificing charm slots. Thanks to the changes in Act 2 quest Valley of Titans, Shaman can obtain a belt that grants +2 charm slots at lower levels, allowing for a large amount of Spirit early on.
Later in the game, you can respec to Oracle, as Oracle talent tree contains many summon-related nodes, providing strong late-game defense or damage.
Alternatively, you can choose the classic Infernalist build from patch 0.3.0, or Ritualist and Lich using Evergrasping Ring. Shaman and Infernalist may perform similarly with a moderate PoE 2 currency investment, but Lich and Oracle are likely the strongest with top-tier gear.
Tame Beast Builds
This build requires you to control Tamed Beast by switching weapons and using Infernal Legion auxiliary gem to deal area-of-effect fire damage.
Patch 0.4.0 did not significantly nerf its damage, and while the reduction in high-density maps may diminish its value for clearing, Tamed Beast builds remain consistently strong in single-target damage and overall performance, its strength proportional to your PoE 2 currency investment.
Ascendancy Recommends
The energy shield nerf in patch 0.4.0 may make Titan Tamed Beast better, but you can also choose to start as Shaman and transition to Oracle later, again due to the summon life and defense nodes included in the talents, and the higher your summons‘ HP, the higher their damage.
Tier A
Skeleton Archer Ritualist Build
This build requires Ritualist to equip Evergrasping Rings, granting summons additional Chaos that also affects enemies within range. It typically requires Chaos Inoculation to mitigate the additional Chaos damage taken.
This build performs exceptionally well with high investment, but it's not a comfortable early-game choice. Upgrading with summons is not recommended without transitional gear; other skills are usually needed for early game progression, followed by a gear swap to reach full potential later.
In Patch 0.4.0, any summoner build relying heavily on Spirits was affected by reduced reservation efficiency and weakened Relics. However, this build, primarily reliant on the ring's damage boost, was relatively less affected.
Tier B
Skeletal Reaver Builds
Skeletal Reavers gain attack speed and damage by stacking rage. Patch 0.4.0 fixed this skill's description; now, its attack speed bonus only applies when they are enrage-enhanced.
The challenge was ensuring Skeletal Reavers survived after enrage was active. Tecrod's Revenge support gem enhancement solved this problem. It allows summons to survive longer after their health reaches 0, increasing this time from 10 seconds to 20 seconds. Dialla's Desire support gem can improve skill quality, further increasing rage effects, which might potentially lead to higher damage.
Ascendancy Recommends
This skill gem can be used by Titans, Ritualists, Shamans, and Liches, but its effectiveness depends on which class allows Skeletal Reavers to stack rage more efficiently.
Unearth Raise Zombie Builds
This build primarily relies on summoned enhanced zombies that consume Power Charge. Its damage bonus has changed from a fixed 100% to a dynamic value that scales with skill level, meaning high-level zombies have significant damage potential.
You can use Unearth to quickly generate summons for clearing maps. When single-target damage is needed, summon 10-12 enhanced zombies for burst damage. This build is completely unaffected by the reduction in reservation efficiency, but it heavily relies on Power Charge.
The best method is to use new Lineage support gems, which generate one Power Charge every 4 seconds. Additionally, Profane Ritual can consume corpses to generate critical strike orbs.
Sacrifice aura can treat permanently resurrectable summons as corpses, consume them with Profane Ritual, and then resurrect them with Skeletal Cleric, allowing you to continuously generate Power Charge.
Ascendancy Recommends
For this build, Ritualist is the best ascendancy choice because it doesn't rely on a lot of spirit and benefits from Evergrasping Rings and Uul-Netol's Embrace. The problem with this build is that it's relatively cumbersome to operate, and the summoned creatures are temporary and cannot exist indefinitely. Furthermore, using Raise Zombie is very mana-intensive, so you need to be mindful of your resource consumption.
The above minion builds are just basic concepts. You can research how to increase minion damage in new leagues, and perhaps you can even create a stronger build.
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