Guild Wars 2

Just started making a necro, and since i usually level up through dungeons primarily, i’d like to know if minions are of any use there at all.

They work fine for just running around doing tasks, but i can imagine they’ll get destroyed pretty badly in a dungeon where the damage is increased by quite a bit, and they are too stupid to dodge.

So in short, can you use minions in dungeons without them being dead as soon as you spawn them, and if so, is there any general traits i should consider?

They are buffing minions slowly (they buffed health in PvE and they also regenerate health out of combat finally), but I have not tried minions in dungeons for a very long time. If minions cannot stay alive long enough during boss mechanics, then they aren’t doing enough damage to be useful as a utility slot. Don’t let it stop you from trying tho!

im using MM everywhere

not long ago I done Arah and maaaan Stupid Lupi was putting his aoes and teleporting to my minions instead of players while they ressed each other also minions heals are POWERFULL the siphons heals ALLOT.

also they not always die fast sometimes yes but who cares ? few sec and they all back again.

After the 10/15 patch… Yes absolutely! I have played Necromancer sence beta and have wanted to play as MM for a long time but they were just not viable. (outside of leveling and solo pve roaming)

I have tested MM in every dungeon and almost every path (there are a few I just hate so meh) they have preformed quite well. Of course there are some bosses with instant death mechanics and your minions just end up dead, but tbh those are few and far between.

In short, go for it! Best trait to pick up is the 20 point death magic trait that buffs hp by 50%

Minions are still have very slow reaction (especially bone minions, like 5 seconds before they start run to target), still dying way too fast, but..

I recently tried it in a few dungeons (30//20/20/ or something along those lines, full zerker) and was pleasantly surprised… until they decided to mess with some of the cheese tactics (lol this game/community).
In CM they worked really well

The one thing you might need to watch out for is against bosses whose mechanics require them to be lured to certain spots (e.g. the Ghost Eater). Bosses have a tendency to aggro onto minions, and since minions can’t be called off the way pets can, this can annoy your party.

In other situations, bosses targeting minions is actually a good thing. One good example is the Jade Maw; although him targeting minions slows down killing him, it also gives the party more time to build up a stash of crystals in preparation for his final attack.

The major problem you are going to have with minions is the sacrifice of utility. The necromancer does have the flesh wurm which will give you a stun break but the Wurm is Immobile which can be a problem when you need to be on the move or if it gets killed. You can easily put yourself into a bad situation with minions because you wont have access to your normal utility skills. And if you decide to take Blood Fiend, then if that dies you lose your heal as well. Which becomes extremely dangerous.

You then have to ask yourself if Minions are worth losing your utility skills for. I’ve asked that question myself and the answer I have gotten is no. Even after the update with the increased health, they still have a problem if they take a threshold of damage you lose a good chunk of your damage as you will have to wait for them to recharge. And it becomes a very real possibility that half your minions will be dead 60%-90% of the time which makes your damage even less reliable.

Compare this to a power build or a Condition build. With a power build you have to worry about building life force. Which becomes far easier because a power build gains life force rather quickly and allow you to hit much harder then minions and doesn’t sacrifice utility to do so. The Condi build lets you hit just as hard as a Power build but also has better armor and also doesn’t sacrifice your utility and will deal far better AOE damage then the minion set. The Big thing the minion master has over the other damage sets is your health and armor will be better because you can focus on personal health more then damage. But the trade off for utility is far greater then it should be.

Then we can compare this to a supportive set. A Support necromancer will be able to provide far better support then the minions could along with its healing and protection. Not only that, your survivability will be just as good with a support set if not better then a minion master.

That said, I wont tell you not to run a minion master. You can do whatever makes you happy.

Hi , I’m playing as a MM since GW1. MM build has much survivability along with damage .
When facing any boss ( who has single target hits ) , you won’t worry about dieing as your HP won’t drop below 90% ( thanks to your Vampiric army and 2nd dagger skill ).
I belive that MM build is better than both power and condition as it has the highest HP/Armor you can ever have. You won’t damage you foe when you are dead , will you ?
You are not sacrificing your utilities as you have damage , blind , immobilize and knock down.
This is my build > http://tinyurl.com/opjsdrw

Zoltreez.6435:

also minions heals are POWERFULL the siphons heals ALLOT.

also they not always die fast sometimes yes but who cares ? few sec and they all back again.

They also heal lupi with hover jesus mode n kills and summon grubs, so no please dont.

I’m finding a 20/0/20/20/10 is quite good/ballanced for good single & ok AoE.
Transfusion to heal up minions, might & pice/vuln giving LifeBlasts so you still got some DS usefulness. Vamp Master not only gives you a spray of small heals, but the extra dam per minion hit is nice.

The minions still suffer from ‘1 shot kill’ mechanics. (Then again so do necro’s past 30secs on them fights)
It’s sad they can nurf spectral’s to only give x% life force per second, but not have minionsonly take x% max life per second. (And a vigor like type of endurance return to necros)

So yes, to the extent of necro’s being useful in a dungeon. (As in bringing any other class can be more useful, but it’s fun & do’able.)

Andele.1306:

Zoltreez.6435:

also minions heals are POWERFULL the siphons heals ALLOT.

also they not always die fast sometimes yes but who cares ? few sec and they all back again.

They also heal lupi with hover jesus mode n kills and summon grubs, so no please dont.

so your saying its hard to kill lupi with 3 stack of his buffs ? pffffffffffff

and I never ever saw his health moving up.

Please dont act like you know what your talking about when you really dont.

http://www.gw2dungeons.net/?Search#giganticus+lupicus