Actually, it's 7th level, which is not too long to wait. The giant insect summons is actually better than the animal summons at that level; just beware of having your own tanks stunned by bombardier beetles. Don't be shy about hasting your own summons.
Because of the lack of summons in the early going, you should be casting Web or Entangle in almost any fight against 3+ opponents, as your tanks will not be able to take much of a beating.
I prefer to put all my best AC items on a single tank; once the primary tank is engaged and targeted, secondary tanks can enter the fray. However, it is generally safer and more efficient to focus-fire on single enemies with your remaining characters.
[ 01-07-2006, 06:02 PM: Message edited by: Aerich ]