Summons to build a strategy around....

[Crafty]

Teach me the power of conjuration!

What are some of the best or most interesting summons to build a strategy around? SP only.

I know dread lords is good, any others? National summons maybe?

[Gandalf Parker]

I cannot do without "awaken sleeper" (depending on what nation you are playing). He is big and strong and has good aim which makes a thunder bow great to give him (or any bow). He can lead alot of troops including undead and magical. For many nations he becomes very necessary to get my armies moving without having to think too hard about what leaders I need to lead what units.

Heliophagus with a black heart can be a very powerful assassin. And since he flies you can get him quickly to someplace in order to break up a large army moving toward you.

[Shovah32]

In the school of conjuration the following are good although many of them shouldnt have a strategy built around them.
Tartarians
Wraithlords
Banelords
'Sleepers'
Abominations
Tarrasques
Naiads(not too powerful but can make clams for a late game boost)
Streams from Hades(gets you a skilled death mage)
Spectre(can give some diversity)
Summon Ghosts cast by a high death mage(D2, 2+ ghosts and 9 gems. Scales nicely)
Lamia Queens(magic Diversity)
Troll Kings(E2 mage with boots of earth can cast to give you an E3 mage, 4 with boots. Also good fighters/thugs)
Sea Trolls(Very tough. Combine with shark attack for a powerful underwater tactic)
Ivy Kings(Similar to troll king magic boosting strategy but with nature. Can get you big vineman/ogre armies)
Faerie Court(allows nature nations to get air magic+healers)

Of course some are stronger than others but those are some which i find very useful.

[vfb]

Harbringers are great. Pythium/Marignon only, but able to self-bless and self-buff (A3). They have great MR, decent stats, and flight.

[Sombre]

Bog beasts. Nuff said.

[Morkilus]

If you're going to build a strategy around a particular spell, it had better be something that accumulates and feeds back into the system. Ivy Kings to produce Vine Ogres can be such a strategy, since they produce an extra three Vine Ogres for each casting; it's quite a deal. You need to support them with other army-buffing spells since they have low protection, so it's good to focus on the Earth path as well as Nature. It can be difficult to get enough nature gems to get started, so be sure to pick a nation with good nature and earth mages so you can get your site-searching done quickly.

[Shovah32]

Army of vinemen+army of gold(fire resistance )+mass regeneration+some form of battlemagic(charm spamming, bladewind ect) can result in some very nasty things

[Rytek]

Tien Chi's national summons, River Demons and Celestial Soliders, are fun to base armies around. water 9, nature4 river goddess gives a good bless for them and you get water gems to fuel the summons.

The various Ape nations have a great national summons. sacred with awe and plate armor and good hits.

another nice summons that scales well is animate statue. An e9 cyclops with a nation that has a good earth gem income can raise a bunch of them. i think at earth 9 you get 22 statues.

[SlipperyJim]

I'm not sure that you really want to build a strategy around any single spell, even the really cool ones. There's simply too many wild possibilities for what can happen.

Still, the Conjuration summons that have already been mentioned are very good. I'm especially fond of Ghosts because of the way that the efficiency of the spell "ramps up" with more levels in Death magic. If you can get to D3 (maybe D2, with Forge of the Ancients active), you can "bootstrap" your way into higher levels of Death magic with the right booster items. So now you have a couple of D4 (or higher) mages. Let those guys spend a few months summoning Ghosts, and you have a very respectable force.

Of course, the Ghosts themselves are pretty good. Stealthy, ethereal, life-draining, fear-causing, chill-bringing ... what's not to like? Their only weakness is that a Ghost's only real protection is being ethereal, so magical weapons and spells will shred them quickly.

Another great Conjuration spell is Earth Attack. No, it's not exactly a summoning spell, but it's in the same school of magic. Earth Attack is an assassination spell, arguably the best of them all. Any E4 mage (see Shovah32's note about the Troll Kings!) can send a monstrous Earth Elemental to kill nearly any commander.

Finally, don't forget the Elemental royalty. As unique summons, it can be hard to form an entire strategy around them, but they're certainly powerful enough to be a part of your strategy.

[Shovah32]

Arguably the best assasination spell? Can you argue with my annointed of rhuax being killed by over 400 vengeful spirits(damn vengance of the dead - killing maenads with falling fires wasnt such a good idea) .