Overview
This is a pure-minion leveling plan that starts on Huntress rather than Witch, taking the character from level 1 through Act 3 without ever committing to the standard physical spear opening. The creator tested the route end-to-end before 0.5.5 launched, and the pitch is simple: a player who wants to be a summoner does not have to spend two acts as a spear attacker before switching over.
The core insight driving the whole route is that minion damage on league start comes almost entirely from “+1 to Minion Skills” gear rather than from the passive tree. Each +1 source is worth roughly a 20% damage increase, and all three slots — sceptre, helmet and amulet — are obtainable on day one for one regal, one alchemy and one exalt respectively. The guide spends as much time on trade filters and vendor-refresh discipline as it does on skills.
The single largest power spike is the King of the Mist in Act 3, which grants +30 spirit and a guaranteed level 4 uncut spirit gem on first kill. That unlocks Raging Spirits, and everything before that point is described as the hard part of the route.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Playable as a pure summoner from the earliest levels — no forced physical-spear phase to grind through
- Extremely cheap: the entire leveling gear plan costs about one regal, one alchemy and one exalt
- Trade filters are provided per level bracket, so the upgrade path is mechanical rather than guesswork
- Skeleton Arsonist at 44 spirit lets you run two of them where a single Skeleton Sniper would cost 90
- Once Raging Spirits comes online in Act 3, boss kill times roughly double or triple in speed
Cons
- Early bosses are the weakest point — the Rust King fight was done largely by kiting for around three minutes
- Huntress cannot reach the Witch-side minion cluster, so the tree gives up a lot of raw minion damage
- The route depends on trade being live; the whole gearing plan assumes you can buy +1 sceptres on day one
- Act 1 Burrow is skipped as too slow for minions, so some early progression content is off the table
Key Skills
- Skeleton Warriors / Skeleton Arsonist — the leveling core; Arsonist plus Multishot carries area clear
- Raging Spirit — the Act 3 unlock that turns the build from functional into fast
- Contagion — picked first, before any minion gem; it does the heavy lifting for early map clear
- Flame Wall — kept at a low gem level deliberately, for the reduced mana cost
- Whirlwind Slash — the early filler while dual-wielding a spear alongside the sceptre
Gear & Anointments
The gear plan is a single stat repeated across three slots: +1 to Minion Skills on sceptre, helmet and amulet. Sceptres are the biggest single jump and are gambled or bought early; the level 20 bracket opens +2 sceptres, level 32 the +2 amulet and level 33 the +2 helmet. Vendor windows refresh on every level-up, so returning to town each level is part of the routine.
- Sceptre plus shield for survivability through the campaign, dual-wield only much later
- 10% movement speed boots, cheap at one or two transmutations, to dodge boss projectiles
- Jewel socket: minion damage % and minion attack speed, never paying above one exalt
- Maximum life and life regeneration are prioritised over damage on rare slots, because Act 1 bosses have several one-shot patterns
Endgame Notes
The route intentionally ends at the Act 3 handoff to the standard companion setup — this is a leveling guide, not an endgame plan. Ascendancy goes to Wild Protector in Act 2, and the tree paths through companion damage nodes and Trusted Kinship, since the only directly useful minion node in reach is 15% minion area of effect.
Credits & Source
Build credited to Mattjestic Life. See the source video for the full build’s gameplay footage + voice commentary: FASTEST 0.5.5 Huntress & Spirit Walker PURE Minions LEVELING Build & Plans.