Guild Wars 2

I am aware of similar posts already here, but I felt that all the problems with this specific skill, which is supposed to be an elite skill, merited a listing of all that’s wrong with it.

1. The flesh golem AI is buggy. More often than not, the flesh golem will aggressively attack everything in its (larger than normal) aggro range, either forcing the minion’s ‘master’ to run after the golem as it (effectively) dictates and initiates combat all over the place, or the character moves on, unaware of the fact that the golem has moved off, only to find out mid-fight that s/he is short a minion and possibly in a bad position, combat-wise. And if the golem just happened to aggro two or three or five mobs before dying, then the character is in for a lot of frustration fun, the way only a bad pull can make the game fun for someone, when those other mobs come calling.

Alternately, sometimes the flesh golem will just stand there and do nothing, even though the character is engaged in melee combat with something just an arm’s length away. Of course, one can always have the flesh golem charge the mobs, which often results in the golem bringing back other playmates, which brings me to the next item:

2. The flesh golem’s charge ability will cause nearby mobs to attack the golem. The knockdown effect of charge is very nice, and has often turned the tide for my character in a pitched fight. All too often, however, is has also caused me grief as the golem runs off while charging and aggros other mobs. Ultimately, this causes the player not only to be careful with the charge ability, but to hesitate to use it, because of the danger of increasing the number of enemies already engaged. Also, because of the long range of the charge, the golem is often absent from the fight for a time as it walks back, meaning that it (and, effectively, the player) are not as able to capitalize on the vulnerability of the enemy.

3. The flesh golem doesn’t work underwater. Not only is the golem the only elite minion skill, it is also the only minion skill that doesn’t work underwater. It might seem like a small thing, but for the golem to suddenly die because the character had to cross a small body of water is just frustrating. Suddenly, the character is one minion less (something that flesh golem users learn to live with, as per the first two points) and kittened to boot, because the skill is cooling down.

Conclusion: The flesh golem skill is fundamentally broken because it causes the player to hesitate even using it: In high-spawn (or high mob density) areas, the golem all too often becomes a liability because of its tendency to force the player into unwanted combat. The character, who is supposed to be a ‘scholar’ type, is forced into battle over and over again instead of being able to tactically assess his/her fights, because the golem is continually attacking everything in sight.

Further, even in areas with a lower spawn rate or mob density, the use of the charge ability is often contraindicated because of the chance that the golem will attract other mobs, resulting, again, in unplanned battles. Also, since the golem runs past (through?) the enemy it charges, the character is effectively unable to fully capitalize on the knocked-down enemy’s moment of vulnerability, simply because the golem is still running back. And that’s if it doesn’t get crippled by some intervening mob.

Lastly, water kills the golem. There’s always the chance that the character might have to run through some body of water, and if it just happens to dip a little, the golem is suddenly dead and the skill is cooling down. One less skill for 60 seconds. Same thing for when the character actually has to go underwater.

Most days I feel as if the 10 points I spent on the flesh golem skill were wasted. Skills, especially ‘elite’ skills, aren’t supposed to penalize and punish a character for spending on and slotting/using them, and that’s exactly what I feel about my golem a lot of the time. If the problem with the flesh golem is fundamental and something we’re unlikely to see changes to anytime soon, then it would be nice if we could get a refund for it. Sure, skill points are (effectively) a limitless resource, but it would still be nice to be able to get value for my expenditure. I’d hate to have to abandon my minion build, but if I do so, it would be nice not to have to keep seeing a broken skill in my list, one that I used a resource (and time and effort) on only to not get anything out of it.

Amen to that. You pretty much sum up the things I hate about the flesh golem.
Especially its tendency to attack anything in range, sometimes including yellow-colored (“neutral”) mobs, while on the other hand standing around doing nothing during fights every once in a while, is a continous annoyance.

I agree with all that. It would also be great if the golem could just re-appear when you exit the water.

100% this. My main is a necro and I’ve used the flesh golem for a long long time. I don’t mind it attacking random people (distracts them for me to run through), what I mind is my golem standing 2 ft away, even being attacked in some cases, and never attacking back. This happens so much and is very frustrating.

Ultimately for me, since I like the minion thing, the biggest disappointment is that flesh golem is the only necromancer-native elite skill that doesn’t kill your minions when you activate it. Plague and Lich both kill off any existing minions, which for me reduces them to “oh crap” skills that I use only when all my minions have died, instead of skills that I regularly use. I suppose you can always resort to racial elites — according to my cousin Reaper of Grenth doesn’t kill minions, so there have to be others out there — but those skills aren’t affected by your necromancer traits.