Talk:Summoner/@comment-80.62.117.83-20160211152411/@comment-686000-20190327065237

It depends heavily on the version of the game you play. Without fanpatches, for example, the only benefit to extra levels in Soulharvest is more Succubi (this is why Gate was crucial and why the Summoner class was unique). Summon Imp also did not give you more Imps, just higher level Imps - the key to getting Imp swarms in the long run was to summon a few Daemons. Ultimately the fanpatch screwed up several synergies by empowering some abilities (Soulharvest, Summon Imp) while killing others (the point of the Gate and, to a large extent, +morale skills). And BTW, killing critters with Succubi has a chance of spawning souls. Daemons obviously make amazing Summoners.

Anyway, arguably the fanpatch changes can be considered good in the sense that these changes have made Summoning Magic itself significantly more powerful, but at the same time these changes have pretty much killed the Summoner class. I mean, why go Summoner when you can pick a class like Archmage or Daemonslayer? You retain all the benefits of Summoning Magic AND you gain access to goodies like Invisibility, Craft Item, Mind Leech or skills like Ferocity/Smelting/Warding... As far as the fanpatch is concerned, the Summoner class is redundant.