Death Must Die · Infernal Menagerie
Merris Summon Build
Stop attacking, command a five-slot army, and let cursed skeletons, clones, fire creatures, and Merris's own pets scale together while she stays safely on the move.
Updated for game data v0.8.8
- Gods
Mort
Time
Summer
- Core
Ravens of Pestilence
Necromancy
Clone
Fire Elementals
Fire Dragon
Influence
- Gear
- Summon Damage
- Armor
- Summon Duration
- Shard Pull Area
Gods
Mort
Cursed skeleton engine
- Ravens of Pestilence
- Necromancy
- Influence
Malady
Ravens apply Cursed for longer-lived Necromancy skeletons, while Influence directly raises the whole army's damage.
Time
Permanent summon scaling
- Clone
Deathlessness
Gem High
The Summoner permanently increases Summon Damage, Clone adds a high-value ally, and Deathlessness extends temporary summons.
Summer
Burning menagerie
- Fire Elementals
- Fire Dragon
Gehenna
Fire Elementals and Fire Dragon join Merris's native fire pets, while Meteor Shower and Malady keep Burning spread across the pack.
Blessing Priorities
Core
8 blessingsRavens of Pestilence
Mort · Summon
Spawn ravens that attack enemies, applying Cursed .
Build role: Fills the first Summon slot and applies Cursed so Necromancy can raise longer-lived skeletons.
Necromancy
Mort · Summon
You raise skeletons when you kill a number of enemies. Skeletons raised from Cursed enemies last longer.
Build role: Fills the second slot with the army's main scaling body count; Cursed kills produce longer-lived skeletons.
Clone
Time · Summon
A clone of you fights alongside you.
Build role: Fills the third slot with a copy of Merris that benefits from global Summon Damage.
Fire Elementals
Summer · Summon
Whenever you apply a Burning status there is a chance you summon a fire fox to fight alongside you.
Build role: Fills the fourth slot with fire foxes generated from the build's recurring Burning applications.
Fire Dragon
Summer · Summon
Legend
The red dragon fights alongside you, Burning enemies with its breath.
Build role: Fills the fifth slot with another durable Burning ally alongside Merris's talent dragon.
Influence
Mort · Passive
Every few seconds, your Summons gain damage temporarily.
Build role: Adds a recurring 5-50% Summon Damage window depending on rarity and level.
The Summoner
Time · Cast
On cooldown, the damage of your summons increases permanently.
Build role: Every cooldown cycle permanently adds 3-6% Summon Damage, giving the army a clear late-run scaling engine.
Deathlessness
Time · Passive
Your Summons last longer.
Build role: Adds up to +130% Summon Duration so temporary skeletons, clones, and fire creatures overlap for longer.
High Priority
4 blessings
Meteor Shower
Summer · Cast
Meteors fall from the skies, damaging enemies and Burning the ground.
Build role: Applies Burning without requiring basic attacks, helping Fire Elementals appear while Channel remains active.
Malady
Mort · Passive
Legend
Enemies that die spread their statuses to enemies that don't have them. Your Status effects deal more damage.
Build role: Spreads Cursed and Burning from defeated enemies, maintaining the Necromancy and fire-summon setup across dense waves.
Gehenna
Summer · Passive
Legend
Every second, gain experience for each unique status applied to each individual enemy.
Build role: Turns the army's Cursed and Burning coverage into more experience and therefore more summon upgrades.
Gem High
Time · Passive
Legend
Whenever you collect an amount of experience, you gain Movement Speed, Attack Speed and Cooldown Reduction for a limited duration. Refreshes duration on stack.
Build role: Experience pickups add Movement Speed and Cooldown Reduction, supporting safe positioning and The Summoner's permanent scaling.
Situational
2 blessings
Searing Attack
Summer · Attack
Your Attacks become stronger, apply Burning and have a chance to create fire trails that burn enemies.
Build role: Useful for applying Burning before the army is established; stop basic attacking once Channel and the autonomous Burning sources are online.
Vampirism
Mort · Passive
Legend
Whenever you hit enemies, restore life.
Build role: A healing fallback when incidental hits from Merris are frequent enough to sustain it; it is not the build's primary damage engine.
Gear Priorities
primary
Summon Damage
Scales all five blessing summons plus Fire Pals, Pet Dragon, and item-granted companions.
Armor
Keeps Merris alive while she gives up direct attacks and lets the army do the fighting.
secondary
Summon Duration
Overlaps more temporary skeletons, clones, and fire creatures alongside Deathlessness.
Shard Pull Area
Collects experience safely while Merris keeps moving and avoids breaking Channel.
useful
Cooldown Reduction
Accelerates The Summoner's permanent damage cycles and other cooldown-based support.
Unique Boosts
Great if you have it
The Summoner
Epic · Tier 3 · Sorceress
The Summoner staff is Merris-specific and adds skeletons, +75% Summon Damage, and +30% Cooldown Reduction—every fixed effect supports this exact engine.
Great if you have it
Colorful Gloves
Mythic · Tier 2 · Unrestricted
Adds three status-applying parrots together with Summon Damage, Armor, and Shard Pull Area. The extra statuses also improve Malady and Gehenna.
Situational unique
Red Dragon Ring
Mythic · Tier 3 · Unrestricted
Adds another Red Dragon and fixed Summon Damage for the full fire-menagerie version, but the build remains functional without it.
Talents
Fellowship
Rank 5/5Your Summon Damage is increased.
Build impact: Adds +10% Summon Damage to every creature in the menagerie.
Affection
Rank 3/3You have more Summon slots.
Build impact: Adds three Summon slots, taking Merris from two base slots to five.
Channel
Rank 4/4While you are not attacking, you and your Summons deal more damage.
Build impact: While Merris is not attacking, she and all Summons deal +40% Damage.
Fire Pals
Rank 3/3Fire Elementals fight alongside you, Burning enemies they hit.
Build impact: Adds three permanent Fire Elementals with 3 base damage each; their attacks apply Burning.
Pet Dragon
Rank 1/1A Red Dragon fights alongside you, Burning enemies with its breath.
Build impact: Adds Merris's 250-Life Red Dragon, which burns packs without consuming a blessing slot.
Green Tea
Rank 5/5You and your Summons have increased movement speed.
Build impact: Adds +25% Movement Speed to Merris and +50% Movement Speed to her Summons so the army reaches new targets quickly.
Concentration
Rank 5/5You gain more experience.
Build impact: Adds +5% Experience Gain, helping the summon package reach its key upgrades sooner.
Astral Warp
Rank 3/3Your experience pull area is increased.
Build impact: Adds +60% Pull Area so Merris can collect experience while circling behind her army.
Arcane Intelligence
Rank 3/4Your chance for Expert offers is increased.
Build impact: Adds +6% Expert offers for stronger early summon and passive rolls.
Mystical Prescience
Rank 2/2You gain more control over your god offers.
Build impact: Adds four Alterations for assembling the specific Mort, Time, and Summer package.
Lightning Circle
Rank 1/5Whenever you dash, a Lightning Circle damages enemies around you.
Build impact: Provides a small dash-triggered safety ring while Merris avoids attacking.
Talent Tree
Fellowship
Rank 5 / 5Your Summon Damage is increased.
- Summon Damage: +10%
Blast Impact
Rank 0 / 5Your Attack Damage is increased.
- Attack Damage: +1%
Static
Rank 1 / 5Your Dash Damage and Area are increased.
- Dash Damage: +2%
- Dash Area: +2%
Arcane Breeze
Rank 0 / 5Your Cast Damage is increased.
- Cast Damage: +2%
Mystical Prescience
Rank 2 / 2You gain more control over your god offers.
- Alterations: +4
Affection
Rank 3 / 3You have more Summon slots.
- Summon Slots: +3
Flare
Rank 0 / 3Your Attack Range is increased.
- Attack Range: +12%
Concentration
Rank 5 / 5You gain more experience.
- Experience Gain: +5%
Astral Warp
Rank 3 / 3Your experience pull area is increased.
- Pull Area: +60%
Green Tea
Rank 5 / 5You and your Summons have increased movement speed.
- Self Movement Speed: +25%
- Summon Movement Speed: +50%
Fiery Fingertips
Rank 0 / 5Damage dealt by Casts has a chance to apply Seared.
- Max Seared Stacks: +5
- Fiery Fingertips: Chance: +20%
Lightning Circle
Rank 1 / 5Whenever you dash, a Lightning Circle damages enemies around you.
- Lightning Circle: Damage: +1
- Lightning Circle: Area: +960
Arcane Attraction
Rank 0 / 1Your Attack Projectiles aim towards enemies.
- Attack Aim Rate: +360
Fire Pals
Rank 3 / 3Fire Elementals fight alongside you, Burning enemies they hit.
- Fire Pals: Elemental Respawn Cooldown: +10s
- Fire Pals: Elementals: +3
- Fire Pals: Elemental Life: +50
- Fire Pals: Elemental Life Regen: +2
- Fire Pals: Elemental Movement Speed: +320
- Fire Pals: Elemental Damage: +3
- Fire Pals: Elemental Attack Area: +50
- Fire Pals: Elemental Attack Time: +0.42
Incineration
Rank 0 / 4The maximum Seared stacks you can apply are increased.
- Max Seared Stacks: +5
Charged Field
Rank 0 / 4For every level spent in Dash blessings, your Lightning Circle deals more Damage.
- Charged Field: Damage per Dash Level: +10%
Attunement
Rank 0 / 5Your Cast Cooldown Reduction is increased.
- Cast Cooldown Reduction: +3%
Bookworm
Rank 0 / 1Your Cast Damage is increased for each Lore item in your Library.
- Bookworm: Percentage: +0.2%
Channel
Rank 4 / 4While you are not attacking, you and your Summons deal more damage.
- Damage: +40%
Molten Hot
Rank 0 / 5Your Cast Damage is increased by a percentage of your Attack Damage.
- Molten Hot: Percentage: +5%
Energize
Rank 0 / 1Whenever you Dash, gain a status that increases the Attack Speed and Projectile Velocity of your next attack.
- Next Attack Speed: +150%
- Next Attack Velocity: +60%
Arcane Intelligence
Rank 3 / 4Your chance for Expert offers is increased.
- Arcane Intelligence: Expert Skills Chance: +6%
Burn Through
Rank 0 / 5Your Prime Damage is increased.
- Cast Damage: +4%
Discharge
Rank 0 / 5Whenever you dash, you release lightning sparks around you that deal a percentage of your Attack Damage per second.
- Discharge: Percent of Attack Damage: +2%
- Discharge: Lightning Spark: +8
- Discharge: Duration: +1.1s
- Discharge: Velocity: +420
High Sorceress
Rank 0 / 5For every level spent in Cast blessings, deal more Damage but increase your Cast Cooldowns.
- High Sorceress: Damage per Cast Level: +2%
- High Sorceress: Cast Cooldown Reduction per Cast Level: -2%
Esoteric Flow
Rank 0 / 5Whenever you dash, there is a chance you trigger a random Cast. The chance for certain skills is diminished.
- Esoteric Flow: Chance: +4%
Fireball
Rank 0 / 3If you do not attack for a given time, your next attack becomes a Fireball that has only one Projectile with infinite Pierce. This projectile has increased Damage and Area.
- Fireball: Fireball Channel Time: +1.8s
- Fireball: Attack Damage: +200
- Fireball: Area: +6
- Fireball: Velocity: +120
Firesoul
Rank 0 / 5You gain additional Attack Damage bonuses from items.
- Attack Damage: +5%
Twincast
Rank 0 / 5Whenever a Cast triggers, there is a chance it triggers an additional time.
- Twincast: Chance: +4%
Magic Missiles
Rank 0 / 3Your attacks have a chance to shoot out aiming missiles.
- Magic Missiles: Chance: +33%
- Magic Missiles: Cooldown: +0.33s
- Magic Missiles: Damage: +1
- Magic Missiles: Aim Rate: +360
- Magic Missiles: Area: +6
- Magic Missiles: Velocity: +900
- Magic Missiles: Range: +800
- Magic Missiles: Magic Missiles: +3
- Magic Missiles: Projectile Pierce: +3
Pet Dragon
Rank 1 / 1A Red Dragon fights alongside you, Burning enemies with its breath.
- Pet Dragon: Dragon Respawn Cooldown: +14s
- Pet Dragon: Dragon Life: +250
- Pet Dragon: Dragon Life Regen: +5
- Pet Dragon: Dragon Movement Speed: +410
- Pet Dragon: Dragon Breath Damage: +1
- Pet Dragon: Dragon Breath Area: +420
- Pet Dragon: Dragon Attack Time: +1.1
Blaze
Rank 0 / 1For every level spent in Attack blessings, your Attack Damage is increased.
- Blaze: Damage per Attack Level: +8%
Surge
Rank 0 / 1Your Dash Recharge Speed is increased.
- Recharge Speed: +40%
Aspect of the Hydra
Rank 0 / 1Your Cast projectiles are increased, but their Damage is reduced.
- Cast Projectile Count: +100%
- Cast Damage: -100%
Telekinesis
Rank 0 / 1Your experience pull area is increased. Your Cast Damage is increased for every 100 Pull Area points you have.
- Pull Area: +100%
- Telekinesis: Cast Damage: +0.2%
Alternatives
Five-slot loadout
Merris starts with two Summon slots and Affection adds three. Ravens, Necromancy, Clone, Fire Elementals, and Fire Dragon fill all five; later Summons are replacements, not additions.
Stop attacking
Channel grants +40% Damage while Merris is not attacking. Use movement, dashes, Meteor Shower, and autonomous summons once the army is established.
No Mort?
Use Ninh for Stone Golem and Terracotta Army. You lose the Ravens-to-Necromancy loop and Influence, but keep a large five-slot army with direct Summon bodies.
No Time?
Use Winter for Frost Wolves and Crystalline Deer. You gain Chill and control but lose The Summoner's permanent damage growth and Deathlessness.
Safer god trio
Replace Summer with Lady Justice for Sword of Justice, Arbiters, Protection, and Divine Shield when survival matters more than the Burning menagerie.
Offer order
Secure Necromancy or another damaging Summon early, then assemble the five core slots. Prioritize Influence, The Summoner, and Deathlessness before collecting unrelated damage skills.