Command warriors from the underworld to do your bidding using the summoner build in V Rising. Wield the dark arts as you bend spectral forces to your will, turning the tide of battle through cunning and otherworldly allies. If this character build interests you, continue reading, as we guide you through building the best summoner in Vardoran.

Best Summoner Build in V Rising 1.1

The V Rising summoner build uses the right weapons, armor, abilities, and blood types. Note that these elements help improve this build’s various features, but mainly its ability to survive hits, summon minions, and deal as much damage as possible.

Best Weapons

Arguably, the best weapons in V Rising are those in the Legendary Artifact category. However, the ideal options for the summoner build are Mortira’s Lament Reaper and Oaksong Longbow. Here are quick overviews of each legendary weapon's stats and effects:

Mortira’s Lament

• Gear Level: 30
• Physical Power: 33.7
• Attributes: +25% physical damage to undead, +20% spell critical strike power, +15% spell critical strike chance, and +10% spell cooldown recovery rate
• Durability: 3,800
• Ability Modifications: Tendon Swing: Consume up to 3 allied skeletons, healing self for 50% of your spell power and increasing your spell and physical power by 10% per skeleton for 8 seconds. Howling Reaper: Hits inflict Condemn and have a 25% chance to summon a skeleton warrior.

Oaksong

• Gear Level: 30
• Physical Power: 33.7
• Attributes: +15% physical critical strike chance, +10% weapon skill cooldown recovery rate, and +5% movement speed
• Durability: 3,800
• Ability Modifications: Multishot: Each hit grants Focus. Guided Arrow: The initial hit from a fully focused shot deals 25% bonus damage and inflicts a 0.5s stun.

Equipping the Mortira’s Lament Reaper lets you get up close and personal with groups of enemies. Don’t forget to take advantage of the weapon’s boosted skills as much as you can to summon as many skeleton minions as possible. Then, use Tendon Swing to consume the summoned skeletons for a quick heal if you’re running low on health. But what happens if you’re at critical health, your weapon abilities are on cooldown, and enemies are still out for your vampire blood? If so, switch to the Oaksong Longbow. Then, take advantage of your summoned minions drawing aggro while you aim and fire charged arrows. Apart from using these weapons, it's also wise to use the new coating item introduced in Update 1.1. In particular, take advantage of the Unholy Coating, as doing so will cause your next hit to deal with an additional 40% magic damage. Additionally, the hit inflict Condemn, summoning an unholy warrior upon that enemy's death to add more battle-ready minions to your side. Note: Craft the Unholy Coating at the Alchemy Table using 16x Corrupted Flower and 16x Venom Sap. Unlock this crafting recipe by defeating Stavros the Carver at the Carvers Logging Outpost in the Oakveil Woodlands.

Best Armor

A vampire in Vardoran taking advantage of the summoner build should ideally go for the Dracula’s Maleficer armor set. Aside from improving the wearer’s health, equipping all components improves different spellcasting elements, which are advantageous to the summoner build. In particular, wearing what could be the best summoner armor set grants the following stats and bonuses:

• Gear Level: 9
• Durability: 1,359
• Set Bonus: +812 Total Max Health, +6 Total Spell Power, +16% Total Spell Critical Strike Chance, +10% increase spell leech (equip two pieces), +10% increase spell cooldown recovery rate (equip three pieces), and +15% spell critical strike chance for 4 seconds after using a veil ability (equip four pieces).

Abilities & Spells

• Dash: Veil of Bones
• Spell Slot 1: Soulburn or Death Knight
• Spell Slot 2: Ward of the Damned
• Ultimate: Army of the Dead

As a summoner in V Rising, you’d want to summon as many unholy minions as possible. With that, each ability and spell in your arsenal should take advantage of this concept and elevate it to new heights. For instance, the Veil of Bones dash ability applies Condemn to the next enemy you attack. However, modifying it with the Tier 4 jewel that applies the status effect to enemies hit with the dash can improve minion-summoning opportunities. Next, vampire summoners can choose between Soulburn and Death Knight to take the first spell slot. Soulburn improves survivability by leeching 50% health to hit enemies and silencing them. Alternatively, Death Knight summons a powerful undead warrior that lays waste to your enemies, albeit without the leeching effect. However, a Tier 4 jewel attached to the Death Knight ability can imbue the warrior with the life-stealing effect. Moving forward, Ward of the Damned is your basic Unholy counter spell that blocks melee and projectile attacks. However, recasting it releases an energy wave that inflicts Condemn on enemies. Last, but not least, is the ultimate ability, Army of the Dead. As its name implies, it summons five skeleton warriors and three skeleton mages to aid you. Although seemingly basic, the summoned skeletons don't require nearby corpses, unlike most spells in the Unholy Magic tree. As for the Passive Abilities, consider these options for your summoner in V Rising:

• Arcane Animator: 15% chance to summon a Skeleton Mage when a Condemned target perishes and minions deal 10% bonus damage.
• Bastion: Increases Maximum Health by 8% and reduces damage taken by 25% when affected by a crowd control effect.
• Hunger for Power: Increases Spell Leech by 5%, and using Bite increases your movement speed by 15% and your spell power by 15% for 5s.
• Soul Drinker: Reduces the cooldown of Feed by 2s, and there is a 20% chance to summon a Skeleton Warrior when triggering Bite.
• Spiritual Infusion: Deal 10% increased spell damage to Weakened enemies and increase the duration of Weaken by 1s.

Best Blood Types

Arguably, the best blood types for the summoner build in V Rising are the Rogue and Brute. Consuming the blood of a high-tier Rogue provides various offensive bonuses. These advantages include increased weapon critical strike and damage, improved movement speed, and the chance to expose the victim's armor. As for the Creature blood, consuming this blood type improves the vampire’s overall survivability. Unlike the Rogue blood type, Creature blood improves the user’s maximum health, healing received, and overall resistances. So, consume Rogue blood if your V Rising summoner is more attuned to maximizing damage output. However, consider the Creature blood if you want increased opportunities of surviving enemy hits, especially those from V Blood Carriers and Dracula himself.