CE blows up a monster corpse and does a variable percentage of that monster's base life in damage (half physical and half fire) to other nearby monsters. I'd use it sparingly unless you can count on a steady stream of mana replenishment (either lots of potions or a Meditation aura from somewhere), as it can drain your mana in nothing flat until you reach high character levels.
I'd focus a bit more on skeleton warriors until they're maxed out, since they're what makes a summoner tick these days. Mages, revives, and golems all do supplemental damage, but it's the warriors (in tandem with the occasional CE blast) that get most of the kills - and for that matter keep most of the monsters off your pasty hide.
Pretty much every curse is worth one point; the only ones that get any real benefit from increased skill levels are Lower Resist and Dim Vision.
On the subject of revives ... well, it's not so much that the revives themselves have been nerfed as the monsters' abilities have been changed. Monsters have far more health relative to the damage they inflict than in 1.0x, and they also tend to be highly resistant or immune to their own damage type. This is also why Iron Maiden (along with other damage-reflectors) has lost most of its value.
I'd focus a bit more on skeleton warriors until they're maxed out, since they're what makes a summoner tick these days. Mages, revives, and golems all do supplemental damage, but it's the warriors (in tandem with the occasional CE blast) that get most of the kills - and for that matter keep most of the monsters off your pasty hide.
Pretty much every curse is worth one point; the only ones that get any real benefit from increased skill levels are Lower Resist and Dim Vision.
On the subject of revives ... well, it's not so much that the revives themselves have been nerfed as the monsters' abilities have been changed. Monsters have far more health relative to the damage they inflict than in 1.0x, and they also tend to be highly resistant or immune to their own damage type. This is also why Iron Maiden (along with other damage-reflectors) has lost most of its value.