Guild Wars 2

This isn’t really supposed to be a legit suggestion, but I did want to post it because I thought it’d be interesting to hear what people said (again I’m not suggesting this for real.) But what if Shadow fiend was like Phantasmal defender. It got about a 20% increase to HP and was as such:

Summon Shadow Fiend: Summon a Shadow Fiend that follows the Master, absorbing 30% of the damage dealt to the master. (30 second Cd)

Basic Attack: Shoots ranged shadow orbs at the enemy (Deals about 30% less damage than currently)

Ability: Shadow Dispersion – Sacrifices the Shadow Fiend, breaks stuns and cures all conditions from the master. (40 second Cd)

This is just kind of being silly, but what do you think? :P

It would die. Fast.
Loosing any point in having it in the first place. Minions heal you not tank for you. Also fastest hitting minion after golem… which translates on regular trash mobs into highest actual damage done, not calculated dps.

Boring actives and no on hit effects is a major “meh” factor how ever. Two minions that do have on hit… both have cripple its great on golem because its general minion. But the other one already has root capability and second cripple serves little purpose. Also… yeah jagged horrors do bleeds but lets be serious here. Nowdays 1 is max you ever have and that 1 second bleed is pitiful. Also Why the bloody hell blood fiend and flesh wurm don’t regen O_O. And… anytime this century can we get elite minion in water…. even rangers have one.

If you want silly, how about if Shadow Fiend’s skill became a location exchange (teleport) with the Necromancer. When it dies, it explodes with a stun. When not in combat, a string tied to it will allow the Necromancer to float over Tyria.

I think it would be great if minions gave passive effects to their master and a big effect on sacrifice (except Flesh Golem). That sort of thing might make it more viable for non-MM builds to run a minion sometimes.

The specific suggestion here, though, would require the Shadow Fiend to have a truly ridiculous number of hit points, otherwise it would die pretty much instantly… unless it were itself immune to damage except from sources that targeted it.

Yeah, I actually think this would be cool/fun, I just wasn’t sure exactly how much HP it currently has. I personally (Even as an MM) Don’t even run with him. :/

Yup. And we know how fast anet took back their “buffing minion hp” promise. Not that it would fix anything in dungeons unless they literaly gave them million hp.

But yeah problem with minions is that they lack anything coherent that could be valuable to someone not speced for mm. Most minions have utterly bland actives in too many situations and they provide no benefit past damage and healing IF your MM.
Golem is all around useful thats why condition necros take him… thats why a lot of power builds prefer taking him over lich which has cd and locks you out of your own skills etc. Golem just gives u fairly durable minion with a solid on hit effect and a great active. Same for wurm… lacks mobiliy and on hit… but it provides amazing active + dmg and ability to postion him someplace npc can’t reach etc.

That’s actually why I suggested this, even though just to be silly, it would be more beneficial for the overall necro (having a damage transfer, plus some added trickle DPS), but I do agree HP would have to be REALLY buffed up, and to be perfectly honest. I don’t really think ANet is wanting to look into MM that much, they never seem all that interested in them.

Why not have it merge with you as an active, shielding you for X sec or until he dies, and then explodes in a cloud of smoke that blinds enemy. Now that would be a minion worth having and bring a bit more survivability in a full minion build.

That would be cool, having it place a 100% absorb shadow-shield on you too. That’d be fun.

The whole problem with the minion, is like with any melee pet with an activatable skill that holds the pet stationary, it is readily avoided and neigh useless in PvP AND PvE.

Melee pets in this game are generally worthless in PvE and this one is no exception.

They either need to make them exceptionally resistant to AoE PvE damage AND make their activatable have a shorter cooldown, or simply make them ranged and give their skill an incredibly long range.

How about this:
Sacrifice your shadow fiend. You gain “x %” life force and for “x” amount of seconds you are shrouded by shadow fiend’s essence. Attacks against you blind the attackers for “x seconds”
Would make for some cool visuals if nothing else :P