Guild Wars 2

So as title says I always liked the class and am big on pets and really its the only class other then ranger and I prefer magic casters in general. I know during launch there were lots of issues with minion balance as well as other issues.

My question are minions ai a bit better now or still horrible? is there more balance now in the class?

I prefer to solo(but most classes can in this mmo so thats a no brainer) but id like to know my minions are worth using as well as contributing to dmg.

And I am not big on pvp a dabble a little but im more into dungeon runs,pve content.

Thanks.

Here’s my understanding of them:

Minions can help put out a lot of damage, but tend to be very single target. They can also soak some damage for you (especially if they body block projectiles) but that comes at the cost of then reducing their damage.

You can’t control minions as well as a Ranger can his pet (it’s Attack My Target or nothing, really) but they do follow pretty well. You also don’t have quite as many tools as a ranger does to heal your minions, but you can also resummon your minions much more frequently than a Ranger.

From what I’ve noticed, they’re perfectly suitable for PvE stuff and even dungeons. You just have to be aware of your minions and desummon them (Swap out the skill) if you’re trying to sneak around. Once you’re in a fight, they’re gold.

Edit: I just remembered, there are a few fights that still punish for minion usage (usually by contributing extra AoEs) such as Subject Alpha in CoE path 2/3, and SE path 3 with the fire & geyser dredge mid-boss, for example.

1) Minions are not pets. If you want a build that focuses around baby-sitting a cute furry AI creature that can do a lot of damage, this isn’t the class to do it with.
2) Minions are balanced fine and as long as you pay attention to how they aggro (hint: just auto attack your target) you’ll be fine.
3) They work great in PvE, just beware that in some dungeon fights they get in big trouble because of specific boss mechanics. They also have a lot of trouble in Fractals 10+ because of agony.

well I got kicked from 3 different potential Arah parties before the dungeon began for not being a guardian/warrior/mesmer, so take that as you will.

striker.3704:

well I got kicked from 3 different potential Arah parties before the dungeon began for not being a guardian/warrior/mesmer, so take that as you will.

Ive done a million arah runs with my necro. u found the uptight groups ftl.

I dont use minions in dungeons, they are not all bad but i personally dont like them there. I am gunna buy some magic find gear for my nec so i can farm with minions tho, since their stats dont change except based on lvl it would b the perfect magic find farmer!

Minions still just watch you fight.
If a dungeon boss or normal mob just looks in their direction they all die.
They don’t scale with your gear AT ALL.

tldr: minions are terrible

My advice, try mesmer. Illusions are as durable as minions but much faster replaced.
Plus phantasms scale with your gear and can deal tons of damage unlike minions.

Not scaling with gear is the best part of minions. It means I can wear full PVT gear for 3.2k attack, 27k HP, and 3k armor, and I’m still doing comparable damage to people with significantly less defense.

striker.3704:

well I got kicked from 3 different potential Arah parties before the dungeon began for not being a guardian/warrior/mesmer, so take that as you will.

pfff .. i was kicked few times b4 start already as mesmer cuz leader says mesmers are useless ….

I’m full mm… I simply don’t feel like treating others the way I wouldn’t want to be treated. So dungeons are no go. WvW … if you are a masochist sure. SPvP well… meh… its luck game get good people you will get rolled like you weren’t even there get bad people… you can stomp them w/o spending any trait points or picking utility skills so its just flavor.
PvE farming is fine… compared to others not as facerolling but PvE is kitten friendly here so you should be ok.

Bhawb.7408:

Not scaling with gear is the best part of minions. It means I can wear full PVT gear for 3.2k attack, 27k HP, and 3k armor, and I’m still doing comparable damage to people with significantly less defense.

I’ve only went minion master in 1 dungeon once and I didn’t like it. My minion kept dying easily and after they died I felt like a burden to my group…

nolop.8095:

Minions still just watch you fight.
If a dungeon boss or normal mob just looks in their direction they all die.
They don’t scale with your gear AT ALL.

tldr: minions are terrible

My advice, try mesmer. Illusions are as durable as minions but much faster replaced.
Plus phantasms scale with your gear and can deal tons of damage unlike minions.

I’m sorry, but I have experience with both classes in pve and pvp and I’ll say that illusions are NOT, in fact NOWHERE near as durable as minions. Illusions are either momentary distractions, shatter bombs, or phantasmal burst damage. Illusions can drop in single hits even to normal mobs, and phantasms even faster. What saves illusions in this case is the fact that you can generate them fairly quickly, and once you get deceptive evasion you can pretty much have the enemy up to their ears in clones.

Illusions do not take and keep enemy aggro like minions do. What minions are best at are keeping the enemy distracted long enough for you to take them down. And for their specific abilities like immobilize or knockdown.

Of course minions in turn are nowhere near as durable as ranger pets, especially when traited for beastmastery. You can’t really compare minions to pets though, since they serve different functions. In the same way, illusions are very different from minions.

If you like pets, go ahead and roll a Necromancer. They get the most pets in the game. You can have six, sometimes 7, out at once. As Bhawb said, they are not pets you will want to fall in love with, nuture, and cherish. You will want them to die in a glorious explosion of putrid flesh; an ability that will apply to all of them once you get the third trait tier. Each minion has a special attack; poisonous explosion, siphoning health, blind, bind, knock-down, and even a really sad teleport. Use their abilities and use them as meat shields. Together with the Necromancer’s higher health and exceptionally handy Consume Conditions heal, you can farm in places other professions have difficulty with.

Regarding their perceived deficiencies, minions are totally stupid but they will attack your target, or defend you when you are attacked, when they feel like it. The best thing about having a fist-full of minions is that they will not all goof off at the same time and, with the AI patch in January, they also run on a shorter leash so they no longer go fetch everything that aggro’s until one of you is dead.

So, be a Necromancer and enjoy making your undead minions dead, again. Farming with minions is excellent, as others have said, and the February patch buffed both minions and a weapon commonly used by minionmasters.

I ran an all-necro minion master run in the New AC and took my minions into a 15 minute full clear of CoF P1 with all necro’s we weren’t even trying for speed run. Unfortunately all the audio is gone, but the recording is going on youtube later today.

Minions are completely fine in dungeons, they rarely die, and when you have 5 MM single targeting any mob, the mob dies so fast it’s hilarious. We are not a hinderance to any dungeon, and in fact we can be a huge benefit thanks to minions tanking mobs and the ability to survive forever. Last night, 3 out of our party died to the fire boss (don’t ask me how) on the spider boss in AC, two of us MM continued to summon and kill a boss who makes being an MM a chore. In fact near the end it was our constant minion summoning poison and boom boom of bone minions that killed him off.

I can has all necro dungeon runs yes? big kitty eyes

Takarazuka.3025:

I can has all necro dungeon runs yes? big kitty eyes

huh?

Bas.7406:

Takarazuka.3025:

I can has all necro dungeon runs yes? big kitty eyes

huh?

It’s too early and I still haven’t had coffee…. all necro dungeon runs sound fun haha

Takarazuka.3025:

Bas.7406:

Takarazuka.3025:

I can has all necro dungeon runs yes? big kitty eyes

huh?

It’s too early and I still haven’t had coffee…. all necro dungeon runs sound fun haha

absolutely, last night was impromptu because I wanted to test some stuff out.

Incarmine.1953:

nolop.8095:

Minions still just watch you fight.
If a dungeon boss or normal mob just looks in their direction they all die.
They don’t scale with your gear AT ALL.

tldr: minions are terrible

My advice, try mesmer. Illusions are as durable as minions but much faster replaced.
Plus phantasms scale with your gear and can deal tons of damage unlike minions.

I’m sorry, but I have experience with both classes in pve and pvp and I’ll say that illusions are NOT, in fact NOWHERE near as durable as minions. Illusions are either momentary distractions, shatter bombs, or phantasmal burst damage. Illusions can drop in single hits even to normal mobs, and phantasms even faster. What saves illusions in this case is the fact that you can generate them fairly quickly, and once you get deceptive evasion you can pretty much have the enemy up to their ears in clones.

Illusions do not take and keep enemy aggro like minions do. What minions are best at are keeping the enemy distracted long enough for you to take them down. And for their specific abilities like immobilize or knockdown.

Of course minions in turn are nowhere near as durable as ranger pets, especially when traited for beastmastery. You can’t really compare minions to pets though, since they serve different functions. In the same way, illusions are very different from minions.

Well my illusions do exactly that. Just the other day I had to solo that spider boss in Twilight Abor from 40% to 0 and that mostly thanks to the boss always attacking my illusions first. If I had been on my necro in that moment I would have died.

Also if you take normal mobs as a measure, illusions take 3 hits until they die most of the time. A bonefiend (that scorpion thingy) can take 4 hits if it’s lucky so the difference isn’t that big, the cooldown however is much shorter on the phantasms/illusions.
The problem is, if the mobs get stronger, it becomes less and less relevant because at some point both, illusions and minions, die in one blow no matter what.

Minions definately need a pve buff. Scaling with equipment, and AoE resistance and most importantly out of combat reg for ALL minions. Having them survive with a sliver of health just so they insta die from the next flower petal flying by is soooo anoying !
(I don’t care and know about pvp, just talking pve here)

nolop check out the Minion AC dungeon run we did. Minions are just fine in dungeons, even in the aoe castle of AC. We destroyed it running multiple minion builds with only one spider wipe and one other wipe due to pulling half the dungeon. It was one of the easiest runs I have been in, and proved quite easily that people way overreact to minions.

http://youtu.be/NVU4noYqrQE – Because Minions are just fine.