There are other threads about this in 'Player Guides'
I'm not too familiar with the PS set up but i understand most use light armor (like bw for the cast speed) and HP blunts or some duals.
So.. Light armor and some melee weapon is not a bad start i suppose.
Don't bother with anything except casting speed stuff before your BG, after that you can start using light armour (BW is one of the most common used among summoners) and start using HP duals for example.
At AG you can continue this road of light armour, or stick with robes for faster casting speed, in group the casting speed and buffs you will obviously receive will let you cast fast enough in light armour.
1) Get robes and a mage weapon and continue to nuke while your summon tanks.
2) Get Light Armor and a dagger/duels and fight along-side your summon.
If you choose #1, note that if you want to stay with the robe set-up later on, you will basically become nothing but a healer/buff slave for your summon. You can also wear robes and use a DD weapon as long as your summon tanks for you when your nukes are no longer effective. You caqn really do anything you want and still be fine. If you have an SE buff slave you can even wear heavy armor. XD (not reccomended)
But this is what I did in Cg: Theca armor set for Def, +4 spirit*spirit duels for dmg and HP bonus. Simple and effective, did the same LA+duels set-up in Bg.
I got myself a +8 homunkulus, karmian set and went nuking at alligator island, you can 2-3 shot most stuff there for the most awesome XP you'll ever gain until you're about 48-50ish. I also used my summon to kill a different mob while I was nuking, worked out great. I had an SE in tow as well though ^^
At 52 I switched to Avadon robes, because I didn't have BW light lying around, with that and a Damascus focus I do pretty darn well with prophet buffs and duo with a BD atm.
40-52 I had +4 int +4 wit -10 men, cheap dyes from Giran shop.
52+ I have +3str -3 con, +4 wit +4 men -8 int. I can say that my mp regen got noticably better cosidering the soulless slow down my mp regen alot, i'm doing fine now at 55, stopped nuking completely since one crit from my damascus does more damage than a nuke that is likely to fail 1/10th or more :)
You're probably going to want to use robes regardless. Your summons hit hard and you won't draw a lot of aggro. Cast speed/buffer robes are best, since you will be healing often, and as always the normal caster weapons. There just isn't enough good things for a summoner with most light armor sets, except BW light.
This is more of a gear/technique addition to the thread. What gear/summon/technique would a PS use to solo group mobs like Timak Orcs or Swamp Tribes, etc. I’m talking total solo, no OOP buffs. Shadow or Souless? Nuke or Mele? What level could this reasonably be accomplished? I heard group mobs=uber xp!
Swamp Tribes give the most uber XP you can imagine. However, I doubt very very much you can pull it off 100% solo. I did them with OOP Prophet 61, SE 52 and BD 52. With that support and +8 homunkulus +karmian and +4 int +4 wit dyes, I could 2 shot the minions if I waited for Shadow Spark to cool down between each shot, while my Shadow/Soulless took aggro from minions by banging on the leader. I used soulless and opened with Poison cloud skill that the summon has, then I could 2 shot with main nuke after a couple seconds.
Shadow would be best 100% solo, but very very dangerous! Doubt you can pull it off without dumping all your MP on 1-2 groups. I could do about 4 maybe 5 groups with my uber setup.