Guild Wars 2

So it says it reduces your damage by 33% as your minions attack.

Do they just straight up absorb 33% damage until the minions die or time-out?

Do they need to be ATTACKING, as in hitting something, for this to work?

This skill isn’t very self-explanatory nor visual represented well enough to tell the effects. Can someone explain?

“Shambling horrors absorb damage for their master as long as they are attacking.”
The description say everything you need to know about this skill…

When they hit an enemy you obtain a “Boon” from that minion and when you suffer damage the minion adsorb 33% of that damage until the “Boon” is active.

If the Shambling Horrors aren’t hitting any enemy they don’t adsorb damage from you.

If you’re using it in sPvP is really hard to use them against a ranged class because before the minion hits you have to wait few seconds because the minions have to reach and hit your enemy. That make Rise! extremely useless against a thief, for example, because have enough mobility/stealth to never be reached by your minions and make your skill useless.

Against a melee enemy is good because minions can hit him easly and grant you the boon. Is also useful against Power Revenant because make him hit your minions and not only you using the sword skill that teleport and evade.

In a team fight you obtain the best number of shambling horrosr and have a real chance to make the skill work, but after the nerf to they’re vitality they will not last so long under AoE pressure in the mid fight and that make them not really strong.

That skill was really strong while the minions HP was higher and the damage reduction was 50%, actually is seen be used only by Minion Master builds because grant a good synergie with the trait, expecially to remove conditions from the Master.

In WvW that skill is totally useless, as every Minion skill in the game.

In PvE is not a problem, enemies don’t move and your minions will hit them all the time long.