Early on, I tried a Summoner and Wind build against Duriel. I learned something from that aweful experience. Pets are too weak to last 2 seconds against Duriel, and Tornado is too expensive with only 15 mana resource, leaving my pet re-summoning dry. It didn’t go too well. I did defeat Duriel eventually without dying, but it was costly in gold with the countless mana potions and health potions and scrolls of town portal.

For Mephisto, a few hours later, I wanted to try a different build. I went to Akara to use the respec option.

This time I placed all my Skill points in the Summoning Skill Tree. What a damn good difference. I went through Act II quests, and found myself barely drinking mana potions.

With the Sorceress, I found myself spending too long pulling the Council Members one by one to the west-most buildings and spending several minutes to kill only one.

Enter the Druid Summoner. I took on several Council Members at once, and all I could see was the screen going all orange with hydras. Still, I managed to survive and kill them all by spamming Dire Wolves, and replenishing my 5 Ravens and Oak Tree spirit (if needed).

Mana management is so much lenient as a Summoner. Eventually, I faced Mephisto (Normal) with 3 Dire Wolves, 5 Ravens, the Oak Tree Spirit and my Act II Mercenary with Defense Aura. Mephisto died in 33 seconds.

If you wish to go Wind/Summoner, I recommend starting level 1-30 as Summoner, then add points into the Wind skills when you have mana recovery or mana on hit gear to sustain the high costs of Tornado. Believe me. Going summoner is cheaper and gives you survivability.

Once you get gear to replenish your mana, you can lean to your Wind build.

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BlizzCon 2019 Panel Transcripts