Diablo 4 - The Summoner

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class |

DIABLO 4: The Summoner

Intro Themes & Keywords Skills Summons Rituals Sigils Defensive Skills Portals Ultimate Skills Talents DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Index

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INTRO Although close to a ‘pet’ class (Necromancer, Witch Doctor), the Summoner specializes in zone control, summoning immobile creatures, monoliths, sigils and portals to do the dirty work for him. The Summoner moves to an area to completely dominate it, before quickly moving on to the next one. He/She may seemingly appear to create things from thin air, but the Summoner actually uses unseen Nether energies that bind different dimensions together, to either create portals between worlds or force extraplanar immobile oddities to manifest into our plane. This Nether is the Summoner’s resource, an energy that automatically replenishes and that is used to fuel all summons and portals. The Summoner is somehow tied to the Alliance of the Dying Sun, a mysterious group who has placed portals that lead to Set Dungeons (Diablo 3). They appear to not wish these portals to be discovered by individuals outside their order, and in some cases, have resorted to murder in order to keep them secret. DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Intro

INTRO The Summoner offers the option for a more defensive, stationary tactical approach, useful especially in chokepoints with many enemies or encounters with elite foes and bosses, as well as offering great support to close allies. This kind of gameplay is currently missing from the Diablo universe as an option. This does not mean that a Summoner is slow in battle. His Summons appear and attack instantly, the Recall ability allows him to transport instantly his stationary arsenal with him and he has also access to mobility skills like Transportals. Alternatively, the Summoner can always forego stationary summons in a battle and let his Portals do all the work for him. Alternative names: Warlock, Occultist, Conjuror, Ritualist, Sigil, Oracle (from Skovos Isles), Nethermancer Note: Using the male gender for grammatic convenience, but the Summoner can be both male/female.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Intro

THEME & KEYWORDS: The Summoner differs from the Necromancer not only mechanically, but thematically as well: the Summoner can not animate the dead, nor can he revive the fallen or communicate with spirits. He deals with Darkness, the Occult and Cosmic Rituals, but he does not tamper with the Life/Death cycle. The Summoner is also different from Demon Hunter and Warlock archetypes, as he does not directly command demons and imps. The entities and artifacts he summons are always of a cryptic, unknown nature and no scientific efforts are made to explain or describe them.The Summoner also does not use ‘Totems’- these are shamanistic in nature and create images of spirit-speakers, animal soothers and native ancestry- themes covered elsewhere. In other games, a relative class would be an engineer that uses turrets for defense and zone control- but Diablo stays away from technology, steampunk or hextech themes. Let’s consider some keywords: >The Summoner is about: Portals, cosmic, other worlds, energy, cryptic, incantation, summoning, extra planars, sigil, ritual, darkness, void, entities, nether, dimensions, worlds, rifts >He/She is NOT about: Undead, necromancy, spirits, ghosts, blood, bone, underworld, totems, voodoo, ancestors, spiritworld, shadow, demons, imps, dragons, science, galaxy, space, turrets

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Theme & Keywords

SKILLS Following the existing skill kit structure, let’s have a look at the Summoner’s skill set. BARBARIAN

DRUID

SORCERER

SUMMONER

Basic Skills

Basic Skills

Minor Destruction

Summons

Fury Skills

Spirit Skills

Major Destruction

Rituals

Defensive Skills

Defensive Skills

Defensive Skills

Defensive Skills

Brawling Skills

Wrath Skills

Conjuration

Portals

Weapon Mastery Skills

Companion Skills

Mastery

Sigils

Ultimate Skills

Ultimate Skills

Ultimate Skills

Ultimate Skills

The Summoner’s signature spells are SUMMONs, warped-in constructs or entities that are immovable and attack enemies within range. RITUALS are utility/synergy spells and PORTALS help the Summoner in indirect damage-dealing. SIGILS are immobile areas that buff or debuff. As with the other classes, the Summoner has specific DEFENSIVE options as well as powerful ULTIMATE SKILLS with very long cooldowns. DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Skills

SUMMONS These stationary objects are the foundation of the Summoner’s arsenal. It’s very important to stress that Summons appear and act instantaneously, at the location targeted (or at the caster’s position) and that the Summoner can wrap-in a summon while running. Summons are always stationary, although this does not hinder the class’s mobility and agility; they also have their individual stats (health pool, attack/defense values, resistances, etc). A summon will target automatically an enemy once it enters its area of effect; otherwise, it will remain idle. Specific kinds of Summons have their own number of maximum instances, as explained later. Once that threshold is passed, the oldest Summon will disappear to be replaced with the most recently cast. For example, a Summoner can cast up to 5 Nether Monoliths, once the spell is fully ranked. If there are already 5 Nether Monoliths in the battlefield and the Summoner warps-in a new one, the Monolith that was first summoned, will disappear.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Summons

Nether Monolith: The Summoner creates a portal and warps-in a small monolithic structure. This Nether Monolith will instantly and automatically acquire the closest enemy target and start continuously zapping its Nether ray on it.

Once a monolith is put down it cannot be moved, but a new monolith can be used to replace it. Although the Summoner’s monoliths are summoned and fixed near the caster, a player can place a monolith while moving. Monoliths have their own (somewhat limited) healthpools, are immune to AoEs and DoTs, and must be specifically attacked to be destroyed. Monoliths are exempt from GCD restrictions. Visually the Monolith should be non-organic, cryptic, minimal in nature and not similar to earthly objects. DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Summons, Monolith

Nether Monolith As the Nether Monolith ranks up, its damage output increases. Also, for each 3 Ranks, the Summoner can summon one more Monolith at a time (max number of active monoliths: 5). At its core, the Nether Monolith is a very basic summon, but there are many talents to allow customization.

Basic Monolith Talents: Elemental Monolith: Turn Nether damage into Lightning, Fire or Ice. Monolithic Doom: Monoliths explode for AoE damage when destroyed.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Summons, Monolith

Nether Monolith Specialization Monolith Talents (pick only one): 1. Duolithic/Trilithic Evo: Monoliths can attack two/three targets simultaneously.

2. Monolithic Fencing: Monoliths will not target and attack enemies any more, but will connect with adjacent Monoliths to create bonds. Enemies passing through this netherfence, suffer massive damage.

3. Megalithic Evo: Instead of summoning multiple Monoliths, create only one Megalith that combines the values of max number of Monoliths and shoots a wide AoE of Nether.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Summons, Monolith

Primal Effigy: The Summoner wraps in an effigy, resembling a humanoid form. This unmovable entity emanates threatening energies, causing nearby enemies to approach and attack it. The Effigy is a basic option for a solo Summoner to mitigate incoming damage, as it automatically taunts and tanks enemies. Enemies within the Effigy’s area of effect will ignore other heroes, allies and summons and focus their attacks on the Effigy. Visually, it’s a minimal structure, vaguely humanoid and/or bipedal; it must not have a specific look, but be more primal and generic.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Summons, Effigy

Primal Effigy The Effigy has a moderate health pool and does not fight back, although it unlocks additional capabilities as it ranks up: -At rank 5, turns into Effigy of Thorns, reflecting 10% of incoming damage to source. -At rank 10, turns into Effigy of Souls, collecting souls of nearby dead to heal 10% per soul. -At rank 15, turns into Effigy of Vengeance, bursting into an AoE nether explosion when dying.

Effigy Talents: Primal Tenacity: Ranks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% Increased armor/resistances) Ancient Echoes: Ranks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% larger area of Taunt effect)

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Summons, Effigy

Cosmic Dactyl: The Summoner creates a portal to summon an outwordly appendage, a spike that always hits critically its target within radius. The immobile Dactyl is slow to hit and (unlike Monolithis) there can be only one active at a time. Mutually exclusive talents allow for more customization.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Summons, Dactyl

Cosmic Dactyl

Specialization Dactyl Talents (pick only one): 1. Planar Tentacle: Evolution that sweeps multiple opponents in an arc, pushing them back. 2. Viral Evolution: Evolution that vomits acidic pools. 3. Carnal Maw: Evolution that lunges out and devours a small/medium enemy whole.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Summons, Dactyl

RITUALS Summons are the basic tools of a Summoner, but Rituals are very important utility skills that offer synergies and further combat options. Focus Fire: The Summoner targets a single enemy: all current Summons within range stop attacking their nearest target in favor of this focused foe. Additionally, all benefitted summons gain a +1% on Attack values for each Rank in this skill. Nethertap: If the Summoner needs an extra boost, he can sacrifice a small portion of his life to gain surplus Nether. This ratio becomes better with higher Ranks in this skill. Recall Summons: Maybe the most important Ritual, Recall allows for mobility and instant transportation of the last summons (higher ranks allow for more summons to be recalled). With Recall, the Summoner does not have to manually resummon individually everything in each combat encounter, but can wrap-in his whole army with the push of a button.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Rituals

SIGILS Paladins have their Auras, Necromancers have Curses and Monks have Mantras. Similarly, Summoners can summon massive Sigils that can either disrupt enemies with debuffs or assist allies with buffs. Sigils are large, stationary areas, clearly visible on any floor that immediately affect individuals stepping on their boundaries. Their magics are powerful but they are stationary and use medium cooldowns. Only one Sigil can be active at any given time. Costs, cooldowns, durations and areas of effect can be altered through the use of dedicated Sigil Talents.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Sigils

SIGILS

Blood Pact: As long as the Summoner, Allies and their Summons are on the Sigil, they gain a 5% lifesteal buff. This effect scales with higher ranks of the Sigil. At Rank 5, the Sigil additionally bestows a +5% Life Regen buff. At Rank 15, the Sigil additionally grants a +10% on HP pools.

Psychopomp: As long as the Summoner, Allies and their Summons are on the Sigil, they gain a +10% bonus on their resource regeneration. This effect scales with higher ranks of the Sigil. At Rank 5, the Sigil additionally bestows a +5% Life Regen buff. At Rank 15, the Sigil additionally grants a +10% on Cooldown Reduction.

Anathema: As long as the Summoner’s enemies are on the Sigil, they suffer a -10% penalty on movement rate. This effect scales with higher ranks of the Sigil. At Rank 5, the Sigil additionally enforces a -20% on enemy Attack values. At Rank 15, the Sigil additionally enforces a -20% on enemy Armor values.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Sigils

DEFENSIVE The Summoner is a spell caster and prefers to stay away from combat, letting his summons and portals damage enemies and his Effigy to tank damage. He has, however, some defensive tricks for damage prevention and mobility. Portal Armor: The Summoner creates a reactionary field around him that generates mini two-way portals when a missile approaches. This causes incoming missiles to be redirected back to their sources.

Ion Stones: The Summoner brings forth magical stones that rotate around his head, granting improved resistances. The orbiting Ion Stones move with the Summoner and improve their stats at higher ranks. Teleportals: The Summoner enters a temporary portal and appears from a secondary, exit portal further ahead. This behaves like a blink/teleport spell for mobility. At higher ranks, the distance travelled is longer and at max rank, the two portals have a delayed shutdown timer, allowing allies to use them.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Skills, Defensive

PORTALS: When it comes to Portals, Summoners have very devious and creative ways of utilizing these gateways to their advantage. Nether Portal: The Summoner brings forth a one-way portal, connecting the area in front of him to a Netherstorm. The caster must remain stationary while channeling the portal. This is an indirectly offensive spell that gives the summoner the option to damage enemies without use of Summons. At Rank 15, the spell does not require channeling and the portal will remain active if the caster moves.

Vortex Trap: An entrance portal whirlwind appears on the floor, sucking monsters in. An exit portal appears at the ‘ceiling’, dropping sucked mobs on the ground who are damaged and stunned. At Rank 15, the two portals align and create an eternal looping duoportal that keeps mobs trapped. Disorientation Field: A portal wall appears which is a two-way portal: mobs entering from left to right, come out moving right to left. DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Skills, Portal

ULTIMATE POWERS These are the Summoner’s most impressive skills, requiring large amounts of Nether to fuel and a lot of time to cooldown. All of them are locked and available only at higher character levels.

Elder Empowerment: The Summoner concentrates and channels his Empowerment, massively buffing all summons for as long as he remains immobile and channeling. While this buff is active, all summons hits are critical. Hell Rift- Summons a huge circular portal to Hell, flat on the floor, effectively turning the ground into scalding lava for massive damage. Plithic Pyramid- Summons an occult onyx pyramid that disintegrates everything in its radius before disappearing. This acts similarly to a Conduit Pylon, zapping multiple opponents for massive damage.

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Skills, Ultimate

TALENTS: Talents are a great way to offer another layer of customization. Apart from skill-specific talents already mentioned, generic talents could include: Passive Caster Talents: Natural Nethermancer: Ranks 1, 2, 3. Increase Nether passive regeneration by 5%, 10%, 15% Numeric Nethermancer: Ranks 1, 2, 3. For each active Summon, gain an extra Nether passive regeneration of 1%, 2%, 3%. Entropic Nethertap: Ranks 1, 2, 3. Nethertap generates 10%, 15%, 20% more Nether. Fearless Architect: Standing still near a Summon for three seconds, increases damage input by 1% for each second, up to 10%. Sigil Talents: Enhance Effectiveness: Ranks 1, 2, 3 (5%, 10%, 15% stronger effects) Enhance Radius: Ranks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% larger radius) Enhance Duration: Ranks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% longer duration) Reduce Cost: Ranks, 1, 2, 3 (10%, 15%, 15% cheaper) [More]

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Talents

DIABLO 4: The Summoner Class | Disclaimer

This is a fan-made suggestion for a new Diablo 4 class, submitted by a community member, not an actual developer. Random Google images used for demonstration. Copyrights for images belong to their respective owners. This presentation is not approved by Blizzard Entertainment or affiliates.