You want to have a level 10 card for the summon you intend on using no matter what.
The best card setup is to have two of the same cards so you can use morph multiple times to reset CD of riding skills. If you have two different cards in the grimoire, morph will only work once so you have to use summoning again to reset the cd of your primary devil.
If you have necro in your build, Temple Shooter will do higher damage than all other summons (Decay debuff gives 50% more damage to missile attacks).
Netherbovine is a good card to have, but not really necessary. If you have a good weapon, then it will be a good card to use for AoE. It can be replaced by templeshooter, especially if you have necro in your build. Lethargy attributed boosts the damage of the AoE riding skill (S for keyboard users).
Most of the summons actually deal similar damage, the difference is that many riding skills are bad. An example of this is Necroventer, who is good because his auto attack does 2 hits and is strike damage (boosted by lethargy), but his riding skills are so bad that Temple Shooter can outdamage him if you use the riding skills properly.
Other sorcs are saying yes to this. I haven’t personally tested this since I’m waiting on a stat reset potion.
I prefer to max Summon Familiars and only one point into Salamion. Salamion attacks very slow, and if you have a good weapon summon familiars will be a strong burst skill (good for bossing).
@tex_will
I can test for you later if magic attack (like through thaum buffs) affects riding at all later today. I would not trust the skill description because translations can be awkward, and I think that skill description is the exact same as before the rebalance update (when riding attribute was actually affected by magic attack).
I actually think the answer to your question is no, magic attack does not affect riding skills since I’ve never noticed my Chapparition cards affecting riding skill damage. Will test again to give definitive answer later though.
