This Summoner build in Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon lets you control the battlefield without ever taking a hit yourself. By combining stealth, powerful summons, and devastating critical strikes, you’ll dismantle enemies before they can react. It’s the perfect setup for players who favor indirect combat, tactical pressure, and high-risk, high-reward gameplay.
1. Why play the Shadowcaller Summoner Build?
The Shadowcaller Summoner build transforms you from a frontliner into a battlefield commander. You’ll rely on summoned creatures like Ghost of Broc Meala and Grindylows to do your dirty work while you strike from the shadows. Your power scales with Spirituality, and with the right perks, you’ll sustain multiple summons and maintain pressure through overwhelming numbers.
This build shines in prolonged encounters and chaos-heavy fights. Your minions not only distract and soak up hits but also regenerate your mana passively via Summoner’s Battery. While AI quirks remain a minor nuisance, careful positioning and timely summon cycling let you dominate even elite foes.
2. Best Attributes to Level First
As a summoner, you don’t fight on the front lines – your power comes from mana efficiency, summon scaling, and critical strikes. The most effective summoner should focus on the following attributes:
Main attributes
- Spirituality (Primary) – Increases summon strength, summon capacity, spell power, and mana pool. Aim for 10+ to unlock powerful summons like Ghost of Broc Meala.
- Perception (Secondary) – Boosts critical hit chance, critical damage, and sneak attack effectiveness. Ideal for backstabbing enemies while they’re distracted.
- Dexterity (Tertiary) – Enables stealth movement and mobility. You’ll want at least 4-6 points for sneaky repositioning and survival.
Optional attributes
- Endurance – Only if you find yourself overwhelmed or want to wear slightly heavier gear.
- Intellect – If you want to add more spellcasting support alongside summons.
3. Best Summoner Skills and Passives
Focus on Spirituality for summon power and mana regen, with key passives like Astral Bonds and Summoner’s Battery. Use Perception and Dexterity to boost stealth and crits.
Combine summons with stealth openers, then rotate with Soul Salvage to stay alive and control the battlefield. Here’s an overview of what to look for:
Summoning (Spirituality)
- Astral Bonds – Your Summon Limit is increased to 4.
- Summoner’s Battery – Each active Summon increases your Mana Regeneration by 5%.
- Hold the Line – Whenever a Summon dies, your other Summons gain 75% Attack Speed for 10s.
- Power Conduit – ach active Summon increases your Spell Power by 5%.
Stealth (Perception)
- Silent Hunter – Decrease Noise by 20% making it easier to get that bonus damage from stealth.
- Wolf Among Sheep – Increases sneak damage by 15% for every nearby enemy not in combat (within 15m).
Critical Hits (Perception)
- Extra Lucky – Increases Critical Chance by 2%.
- Critical Cascade – Every Consecutive Hit increases the chance of a Critical Hit by 2%, up to 20%.
- Go for the Eyes – Increase Critical Damage by 10%.
Utility Spells
- Soul Salvage – Essential. Light Cast refunds mana by sacrificing a summon; Heavy Cast heals based on the summon’s remaining health.
- Corpse Explosion (Optional) – Explodes a corpse to deal AoE damage.
- Arcane Mark (Optional) – A critical hit with a spell marks an enemy and causes them to take 10% more Damage for 10 seconds.
4. Best Gear for Shadowcaller Summoner Build
If you’re playing a Summoner build in Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, your success depends on the right gear setup. You need items that boost spell power, mana regeneration, and especially your summon capacity. The wrong choice will leave you out of mana mid-fight — but the right wands, robes, and rings will let your minions overwhelm enemies while you stay safely in control.
Below is a breakdown of the best weapons, armor sets, and accessories to maximize your summoning potential.
To check every possible gear from Act 1, refer to the Complete Gear List table.
Weapons
- Wands or Spellcasting Cubes – Look for those with mana regeneration, spell power, or Summon bonuses. You won’t need melee weapons unless you spec into a hybrid.
Armor
- Usurper’s Set – Increases summon limit, mana and casting speed
- Assassin’s Set – Boosts stealth and critical hit damage.
- Necromancer Robe + Hood (from Huardoc) – Requires 5 Spirituality. Grants strong mana bonuses, ideal for Summon-heavy builds.
- Waning Moon Set (Alternative) – Good mana regen, helps stay mobile.
Accessories
- Horned Warden’s Amulet – +10% Spell Power, +5 Mana Regen, +Crit Chance.
- Marksman’s Treasure – +25% Crit Chance. Core synergy with Perception.
- Ring of Binding – Some variants improve summon duration or minion health.
Available Summons and Their Effects
Spell | Effect |
---|---|
Wolf’s Call | Summons a wolf to engage enemies. Great for early-game distraction. |
Skeleton Army | Spawns multiple skeletons for mid-game frontline pressure. |
Spectral Knight | A strong, durable summon available in Act 2 (Skeletal Knights variant). |
Winged Servant | Summons a raven that blinds enemies for 10 seconds. |
Ghost of Broc Meala | A unique, story-related summon for tough fights. |
Summon Keeper | Summons a battlemage-like unit, decent for support but unreliable AI. |
Rumpolt’s Revenge | Summons a cheese creature. Fun, but situational. |
Corpse Eater | Summons a corpse that focuses attacks on a single target. |
Grindylow | Summons a small creature for distraction, decent in swarms. |
5. How to play the Summoner Build?
- Open every fight with a frontline summon – Start by casting Grindylow or Skeleton Army to engage enemies. These summons are tanky and reliable at pulling aggro, giving you space to position yourself in stealth.
- Stay hidden and let your summons take the heat – While your minions draw enemy attention, use the Silent Hunter perk to remain undetected. Either move into position for a devastating sneak attack or prepare to cast from a safe distance.
- Strike from the shadows – Once the enemy is distracted, dash in and land critical hits with daggers or use spells to burst them down. The Wolf Among Sheep perk massively increases your sneak damage when enemies are unaware.
- Rotate your summons to maintain control – If a summon is close to death or no longer useful, cast Soul Salvage where Light cast refunds mana andHeavy cast heals you based on the summon’s remaining health. This not only keeps your mana bar high, but also lets you cycle in stronger summons like Spectral Knight or Ghost of Broc Meala mid-fight.
- Always keep at least 2 summons active – Maintaining multiple summons isn’t just for damage-it supercharges your mana regeneration through Summoner’s Battery, letting you cast more often and stay in control.
- Use critical hits to eliminate key targets – Once the battlefield is swarming with your allies, identify and eliminate high-threat enemies using critical dagger strikes from stealth. Timing and target selection are everything.
- Adapt to summon AI issues – Summons can sometimes bug out or get stuck. If they stop responding:
- Use alt-cast to manually issue movement/attack commands
- Rest at a bonfire to reset their behavior
- Replace them using Soul Salvage if they’re idle or stuck
Final Tips and Summary
The Summoner build is ideal for players who enjoy thinking ahead, fighting from the shadows, and letting their minions handle the frontline. With strong utility from Soul Salvage, high-impact summons like Ghost of Broc Meala, and the ability to stay out of danger while dealing big damage, this setup rewards smart positioning and timing.
It’s not without its flaws – summons can bug out, and AI pathing sometimes refuses to cooperate. You’ll probably end up yelling at a stuck skeleton once or twice. But when everything clicks, this becomes one of the most rewarding and effective ways to play Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon.
Be sure to check out our other builds: