I"m more a range build player. POE and titan quest. I’m having a hard time trying to find a range build. I’ve tried a pet build,
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24703
But there are only 3 pets (4 if I include the temp pet), The pets are mostly crappy even at max, I have to use a pistol range, with crappy damage to help take down the crowds. (they can’t do it on their own). This worked ok until a bit after level 20. Now running into bosses that flat out wipe out the maxed out pets with ONE SHOT. Pretty pathetic. And the bad part is when they die, you are automatically aggro to you so they will ignore your pets for the rest of the fight, or you die, or you run away far enough for them to retreat.
So I’m asking for help on pure range (or more range focus) build using pistols, or rifles, crossbow, what ever. Hopefully something I don’t have to micro manage until I get use to the game. (newbie). help?
Pure ranged I’d suggest maybe some shaman with that lightning skill + transmuter for instant attack… but honestly, ranged tend to end up in melee more often than summoners, especially if you’re trying to get used to the game…
Did you max the pets? They shouldn’t get wiped that easy in the beginning, especially not when maxed, but you’re the second one I see in a while that seem to have the same problem.
Briarthorn is at max. Hellhound almost at max. Finish the right side of the map, was started the quest on the left of the map. In one or 2 in the mines. One that says at max hp and can one shot by pets a bit random for it to use the skill that one shots them. Others are bosses outside very hard to take down, pets seem to be weak now.
Lightning - http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48326
Cold - http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49058
Acid - http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49070
If you have questions regarding any of these builds then post in their respective threads
I’ll respond 
It’s probably because his pets have zero devotions skills and pet support, a side effect of rushing the Briarthorn too early. It’s a common error among new players.
Since it’s unreasonable to expect new players to be stacking pet bonuses from items at this point, we’ll skip that factor.
The most critical early game skill for summoners (or at least the ones using Occultist as their base class) is Blood of Dreeg, your AoE heal/HP regen/crit rate bonus skill. Combined with something like a Searing Ember (a component, which can you can buy from stores), Curse of Frailty/Vulnerability and the Raven’s Storm Spirit, you and your pets can pretty much just nuke your way through most of normal.
This gives you plenty of opportunity to work on giving your pets devotion skills and shopping for +pet bonus jewelry from stores. The Briarthorn is completely skippable until you have enough devotion points to assign him a devotion skill. He’s very unimpressive otherwise, mostly because to make him as useful as the others you’d need to have started with Shaman as your base class.
Food for thought, in case you want to try and make a summoner again in the future.
I do have Mogdrogen’s Pact running. But not Blood of Dreeg. I do have Curse of Frailty running. A little hard to use. Use it too soon, they ignore the pets.Would be nice if game makers allowed the pets to aggro enemies back to them. I do have just a few items for pets. thanks for the info Tyr.
I have started trying this one:
http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31535
Wow, what a huge learning curve in this game! Fairly tough using ranged weapons. using a 2 handed. 2 shot to take out most enemies, others can be 10 to 100 shots to kill. The bosses are so extreme OP compared to all others. Wish there were some guides to help how to create decent characters.
If you want your pets to keep aggro, give them damage over time devotion skills or abilities. Skills like Curse of Frailty work by generating a large number of “hits” in a short time (which is also why Curse of Frailty is so great at proccing devotion skills). You need to counteract that.
The way I usually do this is to assign Scorpion Sting (from the Scorpion constellation) to my Hellhound early on.
Weapon users take a while to hit their stride, so as a general rule use components skills like Fireblast to get you through early levels.
The goal is for you to max out all the actives/passives you need to be good at ranged combat before skills like Fireblast finally start to lose usefulness.
Just pay close attention to components, in general. Many of these significantly improve how well weapon users do in early game.