Guild Wars 2

Hi, just started this game (lvl 10) as a Necro with minions.

For some reason they attack spiders along the road even they are just standing there.
Killed me a few times. Will be fixed I guess.

So my question is:
Will minions be ok in pve or should I drop this build and try another class.
I will not do wvwor pvp at all. Only pve.
So I wonder if minions can be ok at later levels as right now they are weak and frankly not much fun.

The AI is getting bugged all the time, they do not get out of combat regenerations, so minions are ok in low lvling areas, since they can tank a bit better there, when you get higher lvl drop this build, go condition with epidemic.

Good that you are not planning to do wvw or spvp, because full mm necro will almost always get targeted first (most people already know that we have 0 useful utilities then).

P.S. If you want to be a minion focused player, go and create a mesmer, the summons he has (from weapons i may add, not from utilities) are a lot better than anything necro can do now.

nothing has improved in ai/minion master since Beta2/3. Nothing.

oh, kinda feared that answer. Since I wanted to be minion master and not condition with epidemic build type, I guess the short answer is
“Forget it, still sux.”
Maybe mesmer could be fun even not really a mm.
Funny, they got it ok right GW1. Was fun to play. Minions were not that weak and
confused.
Well, thank you for the answer.

I’m a MM and specialized in Vitality , toughness and healing power.
My main weapon is staff ( got DD too > using it for siphoning in serious situations ).
Now I’m level 64 and my hp is 19k , it’s rarely to drop to 10k(thanks to my minions which I rely on them to damage my foe ).
I’m the last man standing in all dungeons and events so I think that MM is the best build for the necromancer and it’s even better than condition master.

So you are saying it is possible to use minions at higher level even they seems so weak ?
> Vitality , toughness and healing power.
Can you provide more details?
You are the only one I saw that thinks MM is good at all so you either just like it as is or
found a way that works.

MM is tanky but the minions suffer from a few key things:
-In PvE you don’t have an elite underwater as the flesh golem dies while plague form destroys all your minions
-In dungeons minions die extremely quickly to the mass AOEs in them, and pull mobs you don’t want
-In PvP moa form kills all of your minions making you even more useless while also disabling you for 8 seconds.

its fine for leveling in pve/ but it is still very buggy…the Ai is horrible we really need a “atk” command to force pets to take action as well as giving pets out of combat regen (dont see why they dont already) or the very least a “resummon” ability we can do while moving from point A to B

Sir Meta.3402:

So you are saying it is possible to use minions at higher level even they seems so weak ?
> Vitality , toughness and healing power.
Can you provide more details?
You are the only one I saw that thinks MM is good at all so you either just like it as is or
found a way that works.

Indeed , as I mentioned before >> My HP is the biggest one in the game ( when all players down-level to my level). I focus on Vitality as I siphon health from my enemy as long as I breath via Vampiric , Vampiric master and Blood-thirst traits. So it’s rarely to drop to 70%.
I focus on toughness too to absorb much damage that my minions can compensate it by siphoning,
Finally, the healing power is for one thing which is Mark of Blood ( Staff ) that keeps my undead army alive as long as possible.
This is my build to be clear , http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQQQNAW4YjEal61aua07JApHRT91TK4GcIF3KNA;TAB5WCtkap2SpFlNGbE2YtxZj0mFEjGOQsh4BB4BB
I rarely swim so I don’t care that I can’t use flesh golem in water , however I hope that Anet allow us to use it underwater. As for the issue that our minions agro many foes , just keep walking and they will teleport to u automatically. In dungeons my minions don’t die quickly as striker mentioned as I use mark of blood to keep them alive , if they die , it won’t be any problem as I got -20% recharge on minions skills so I can resummon them quickly so I can keep 3 minions alive out of 6 all the time.

The Demonic Spirit.3157:

I’m a MM and specialized in Vitality , toughness and healing power.
My main weapon is staff ( got DD too > using it for siphoning in serious situations ).
Now I’m level 64 and my hp is 19k , it’s rarely to drop to 10k(thanks to my minions which I rely on them to damage my foe ).
I’m the last man standing in all dungeons and events so I think that MM is the best build for the necromancer and it’s even better than condition master.

It could be too that the mobs don’t think you are a threat so you aren’t getting any aggro (or not much) until you are the last man standing. (Also vitality isn’t a good thing to spec into as a necro. You get dimishing returns at higher levels. Or so I’ve heard.)

To the OP:

I’m sorry. I want to be a MM as well, but as others have pointed out. MM AI, such as not aggroing when needed, and then getting undesired aggro combined with a lack of regen on minions and other misc bugs, it just isn’t a viable build, especially in dungeons, where picking up unwanted aggro can end up in a wipe.

I personally prefer stacking 15-25 bleeds that last for 10-50 seconds and tick for 160 dmg onto 5 other targets. During which we get a stack of 10 might from BiP. Conditionmancer is one of our class’s best builds. It’s just too good to pass up. Atleast until we get bugs fixed and/or buffed. But there is nothing to stop you from disagreeing, or just playing a build for flavors sake.

No.
I too didn’t play my necro for a while.
I bought vampirism runes.
Being stupid, I thought they would have fixed the issues with on % hp runes/traits and deathsrhoud by now.
It’s such a boring class.
I mean out of the utlities there are
-a couple which are ok (spectral walk, epidemic)
-one which would be ok if it wasn’t broken (plague signet)
-a few which are ok-ish, against idiots or in point capture (which I personally don’t care about), but require heavy investment in trait
-most which are just plain kitten. signets. corruptions. spectral. (all a very long cooldown for a very small effect). Throw in the poison field spell, not sure what that is classed as but it sucks. ANd of course minions which just flat out do not work. And even if they did they would probably still suck due to low damage, low hp (in pve), and the fact they take up utility slot. Only nice thing with minions I have noticed is when they bodyblock stuff for you, and the minion life steal trait which imo is the best lifesteal trait. They are flat out not viable at ALL in most dungeons. They really need to do something about thsi imo because it affects the entire mechanic of 2 professions (mesmer and ranger).
-same with traits.

Too much useless stuff makes for lack of variety.

Dan.3814:

The Demonic Spirit.3157:

I’m a MM and specialized in Vitality , toughness and healing power.
My main weapon is staff ( got DD too > using it for siphoning in serious situations ).
Now I’m level 64 and my hp is 19k , it’s rarely to drop to 10k(thanks to my minions which I rely on them to damage my foe ).
I’m the last man standing in all dungeons and events so I think that MM is the best build for the necromancer and it’s even better than condition master.

It could be too that the mobs don’t think you are a threat so you aren’t getting any aggro (or not much) until you are the last man standing. (Also vitality isn’t a good thing to spec into as a necro. You get dimishing returns at higher levels. Or so I’ve heard.)

To the OP:

I’m sorry. I want to be a MM as well, but as others have pointed out. MM AI, such as not aggroing when needed, and then getting undesired aggro combined with a lack of regen on minions and other misc bugs, it just isn’t a viable build, especially in dungeons, where picking up unwanted aggro can end up in a wipe.

I personally prefer stacking 15-25 bleeds that last for 10-50 seconds and tick for 160 dmg onto 5 other targets. During which we get a stack of 10 might from BiP. Conditionmancer is one of our class’s best builds. It’s just too good to pass up. Atleast until we get bugs fixed and/or buffed. But there is nothing to stop you from disagreeing, or just playing a build for flavors sake.

I didn’t say that Conditionmancer is bad , however it’s just as good as MM. All of my mates in dungeons die more than I do which is very good because of repairing cost .
I really hope that Anet fix all minions issues in the November big update , but MM is still perfect. You have mentioned that “Conditionmancer is one of our class’s best builds” so MM is one of our class’s best builds too XD. I don’t like Conditionmancer because of our well’s long recharge time.

The Demonic Spirit.3157:

Sir Meta.3402:

So you are saying it is possible to use minions at higher level even they seems so weak ?
> Vitality , toughness and healing power.
Can you provide more details?
You are the only one I saw that thinks MM is good at all so you either just like it as is or
found a way that works.

Indeed , as I mentioned before >> My HP is the biggest one in the game ( when all players down-level to my level). I focus on Vitality as I siphon health from my enemy as long as I breath via Vampiric , Vampiric master and Blood-thirst traits. So it’s rarely to drop to 70%.
I focus on toughness too to absorb much damage that my minions can compensate it by siphoning,
Finally, the healing power is for one thing which is Mark of Blood ( Staff ) that keeps my undead army alive as long as possible.
This is my build to be clear , http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQQQNAW4YjEal61aua07JApHRT91TK4GcIF3KNA;TAB5WCtkap2SpFlNGbE2YtxZj0mFEjGOQsh4BB4BB
I rarely swim so I don’t care that I can’t use flesh golem in water , however I hope that Anet allow us to use it underwater. As for the issue that our minions agro many foes , just keep walking and they will teleport to u automatically. In dungeons my minions don’t die quickly as striker mentioned as I use mark of blood to keep them alive , if they die , it won’t be any problem as I got -20% recharge on minions skills so I can resummon them quickly so I can keep 3 minions alive out of 6 all the time.

This is very questionable.
Mark of blood is enough to keep them alive through the pbaoe 1 or 2 shots in most dungeons? I don’t think so.
TA: flowers kill golem, first boss ground aoe, spider boss aoe one shot, 2nd spider boss they live, final boss one shot. Similar for other paths. Mesmer boss notable exception.
COE: aoe kills.
COF: I haven’t tried but I assume they get owned by the flamethrower-like aoe and burns.
HOTW: again a lot of ground aoe ice spikes which will kill, underwater bosses will kill though to be fair underwater u dont have much other options for utilities.butcher will kill
AC: I haven’t tried but I think they could work here. lizard guy will kill, lieutenant will kill. but otherwise it would be nice to have them especially if the scavengers may choose to target them with the knockdown instead
CM: not enough runs to comment
arah: good luck :/

non-dungeon pve: they are great.
gathering nodes: if u have squishy gear they are good, tho they slow u down by keeping u in combat they keep aggro off you. If you have knight gear you can just run around gathering without minions and it’s quicker.

I just hit 76 this morning with a minion/power build and I’m having a blast (PVE only). Sure, there are issues with the AI that I would love to see fixed, but it’s still completely playable in PVE. I run with blood, shadow, bone, fleshie and well of suffering or spectral walk (depending on if I’m in a big fight or want quick movement). I play around with stats, but usually 30/0/20/16 (not 80 yet). I’m not saying this is the best build ever, but it’s fun and I almost never die while MOWING through mobs (plural, no issues with multiples). I use staff mostly, but switch between my other set (sometimes Scepter/Dagger and sometimes Axe/Dagger – dagger for another condition removal) and DS frequently giving me a 3 weapon rotation. My minions siphon a little health, add a little damage and take a lot of aggro (then their not attacking a weapon rack). Even if they attack some inanimate object, I can kite around them and they’ll be back in the mix. So, point of this post is to say give it a shot, after lvl 40 (when you get more minion health) I found this to be my favorite setup.

Thank you all for your input. I think I will try it to lvl 30 to see if I might manage.
Seems that MM can be ok if you are a good player. Maybe I just need pratice as currently I get my kitten handed to me if monsters are just +2 lvl.
If I can just do the story line with a MM I will be happy.

Mr. Spirit. It says Bad link. ?
Really want to see your build.
Thanks
ps. It replaces name for part you sit on with kitten (LOL)

@The demonic spirit

Since when are Wells a condimancer skill? :P Wells are mostly for Powermancer.

I tried condimancer, MM and powermancer. I personally prefer powermancer, but condimancer is as effective.

In PVE, MM was good. But as soon as there AI bugged, I was left with such a low dps, it was sad. In End Game dungeon, your minion will always die. You will more often then not be fighting alone.

Also, minions stats not being affected by our stats is just dull for me. It mean stacking offensive stats won’t be as efficient as other build. You will have to rely on defensive stats.

MM can be fun, but at endgame I wouldn’t recommend it until they debug there AI at least.

Well after google(ing) the topic on many sites,
I have come to conclusion that MM in gw2 is simply so far off
my idea of a mionion master.

Bascally the minion part is two skills and some traits.
Those two skill cannot be wastly more worth (dps etc) than for other classes.
Also the 4 slots comes from weapon,
so its already impossible to have minions skills first etc.
Unless you could find a true necro weapon. (that gives new minions).
So within the game design, it can never be.

Unlike (some) other games, the necro is a mixed class
and since Con/Power build seems far/somewhat better,
its clear to me that the designers never intended to build
a real M.Master as having like 16 good minions and power to
keep them alive would be a small army
and would simply not work with pvp.

So I might never see a true master in any MMO
and it stikes me that “my necro” could only be
allowed in SP game. (as I want him to be)

Anyway, at least the community is friendly and the games look so nice in 1920×1600.
If it was like Amalur with skills (100% freedom) I would love it to death.

(¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯)
Best Regards
Meta

So you hate MM because of their bugs , check my topic which gives suggestions about our minions >>
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Suggestions-for-minions-that-all-players-agree-with-them/first#post644124

I bought GW2 to play Necromancer with a MM build. But like this is impossible…
Had to stop GW2… Was hoping that they could fix this issues but nothing so far…I am starting to lose hope :|

Feathers.7261:

I bought GW2 to play Necromancer with a MM build. But like this is impossible…
Had to stop GW2… Was hoping that they could fix this issues but nothing so far…I am starting to lose hope :|

Exactly same here… wante to play only MM Necro and they just ruined for me…and also they dont fix nearly anything major…. but still they add fluffy stupid new events…. i m losing hope as well….

I dont hate MM in gw2. or gw2. Its simply just not the type I expected it to be. Maybe at lvl 30 it feels more like “home”. Stacking condtions is just not me.
And Mr. Spirit. I did read your ideas and yes – that would absolutely help