Summons Affinity

Similar to how pet training will be in Ep 2, this would allow summoners to gain "affinity" with their favored summon. Such an affinity would grant boons to both the summon and summoner based on the tree the summon is from. However, there would be a few general buffs that could be gained such as: Reduced casting time when using its summoning skill, an attunement bonus while the summon is active, and eventually the ability to keep your summon with you while traveling in the overworld or teleporting.

You would only be able to gain affinity with multiple summons if they were from the same magic tree (example: You could gain affinity with all of the Undead summons from the Death Tree, but would have to lose that affinity to gain affinity with summons from the Water tree). You would be able to choose whether or not to gain affinity with a particular summon by right clicking the skill in the tree, and you will receive a warning if you are trying to gain affinity in a separate tree.

Gaining affinity with a summon requires you to have it active and participating in combat. It will gain a very small amount of xp while this is happening. You can boost the xp gain your summon gets by using skills associated with its tree. When your affinity has reached a new "level" you will be notified with a passive "glyph" showing up on the right side of the screen. Mousing over it will detail what bonuses your summon (or yourself) will receive at that level. Every affinity "level" will increase your summon's overall damage, stats, health, resistance, and effectiveness in combat, though not to the extent of a trained tamed pet. Below is a concept/example of what each affinity "level" would grant (using the daemon):

Chaotic Affinity: Daemon

Affinity 1: Increased effectiveness (health, stats, resistance, damage) by 5% (minimum 1). Reduced cast time of glyph by 25%

Affinity 2: Increased effectiveness by an additional 5% (max 10%). Daemon Chaos has a chance to inflict a penalty to STR and DEX based on your Specialization level and affinity.

Affinity 3: Increased effectiveness by an additional 5% (max 15%).

Affinity 4: Increased effectiveness by an additional 5% (max 20%).

Affinity 5: Increased effectiveness by an additional 10% (max 30%). Daemon will no longer despawn when you teleport or travel to the overworld.

Affinity 6: Increased effectiveness by an additional 5% (max 35%). Grants a bonus to your Chaos attunement while active. Bonus is dependent on affinity level.

Affinity 7: Increased effectiveness by an additional 5% (max 40%). Reduced cast time of glyph by a further 15% ( 40% reduction).

Affinity 8: Increased effectiveness by an additional 5% ( max 45%).

Affinity 9: Increased effectiveness by an additional 15% ( max 60%). Daemon now gains 25% increased damage against its target if it has been afflicted with a Chaos debuff.

Affinity 10: Increased effectiveness by an additional 15% ( max 75%). Daemon Chaos now stacks 3 times. Additionally, the daemon now deals 50% increased damage against targets afflicted with Chaos debuffs/skills, and has a 10% chance of resetting their durations (one at a time, 20 second CD).

Of course, not all affinity "levels" would look like this, they would all be unique and hopefully bring summons in line as a perfectly viable option (other than the Water Elemental) with a nice payoff should you invest in them.