Guild Wars 2

As MM reaper got huge buffs , I’m using all minions skills ( except wurm ) for PvE.
What minion should I sacrifice for Rise! ? Shadow fiend or bone minion ( because of the 95% damage deduction , I want to keep bone minions alive instead of exploding them to benefit from their traits ) ? Do Rise! minions benefit from minions traits ? Is the listed damage\siphon ( tooltip ) of bone minions for the two minions or 1 of them ?
This is my build http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRIQJAWRnM0AN1gdbCe1As3glpBbqldBqASDgCQAI+DWCfhA-TxRDwAH3fIxlUUC2T53L1fAprpxTKAg5PSBs1wK-e

I’d say probably Shadow Fiend, because Rise! is just much more useful, and bone minions do a hell of a lot more damage than shadow fiend

Rise! minions benefit from your traits. One thing to bear in mind with bone minions vs. shadow fiend is that with the Death Magic trait that transfers condis, the minions give you 2 transfers instead of just 1 like the shadow fiend would do.

Shadow Fiend is generally better, Bone Minions are really only useful in PvP due to bringing heavy burst to a non-burst build, plus the great Death Nova synergy, but in builds that don’t have Death Nova (like most Soul Reaping versions), Shadow Fiend is preferred.

Just don’t use his active. Ever. Period. Don’t do it.

Vydahr.4285:

I’d say probably Shadow Fiend, because Rise! is just much more useful, and bone minions do a hell of a lot more damage than shadow fiend

Bhawb.7408:

Shadow Fiend is generally better, Bone Minions are really only useful in PvP due to bringing heavy burst to a non-burst build, plus the great Death Nova synergy, but in builds that don’t have Death Nova (like most Soul Reaping versions), Shadow Fiend is preferred.

Just don’t use his active. Ever. Period. Don’t do it.

Is the listed damage\siphon ( tooltip ) of bone minions for the two minions or 1 of them ?
I have death nova ( helps with horrors and rise minions ) > linked my build link in the original post.
Is the gs cd reduction from soul eater worth sacrificing decimate defenses for zerker build ?

Never use Shadow Fiend, is just bad. Poor utility and damage.

Bone minions are much better for reasons explained above.

So the 6th bonus on the ranger works on minions? Interesting. I’ve just began to use minions as they kinda sucked before. Love how they can stand blows now!

The Demonic Spirit.3157:

Is the listed damage\siphon ( tooltip ) of bone minions for the two minions or 1 of them ?
I have death nova ( helps with horrors and rise minions ) > linked my build link in the original post.
Is the gs cd reduction from soul eater worth sacrificing decimate defenses for zerker build ?

One, but Shadow Fiend attacks twice as fast so he procs siphon just as quickly. Death Nova is great, but its synergy with Bone Minions is pretty much pointless in PvE, since you don’t need the on-demand poison field/weakness. So Shadow Fiend out DPS’s bone minions, whose only niche (burst, poison field, weakness) is completely worthless for 90% of PvE content, which makes it the better choice.

And no, DD would be the biggest damage boost by far.

Bhawb.7408:

One, but Shadow Fiend attacks twice as fast so he procs siphon just as quickly. Death Nova is great, but its synergy with Bone Minions is pretty much pointless in PvE, since you don’t need the on-demand poison field/weakness. So Shadow Fiend out DPS’s bone minions, whose only niche (burst, poison field, weakness) is completely worthless for 90% of PvE content, which makes it the better choice.

But DM ( toughness\condi transfer ) for 2 minions is better than one , don’t u think ?

An extra 20 toughness and one more condition transferred every 10s isn’t something you’ll ever need.

Some wrong ideas around.

Bone minions >>> Shadow Fiend

Exploding minions gives you great burst when you need it, in very shot CD. You can keep them alive for bonus toughness and condition removal. You are gonna need a lot of it in the new maps, since mobs like to cripple for very long duration.

In addition you gain 2 blast finishers. You cant use GS4 and explode a minion for blind, which is the same utility of shadow fiend. You can get might out of near firefields, etc.

why don’t you replace the bone fiend, that’s what I did. (granted, I’m running sinister and am using the poison field + rs 4 for 22 stacks of poison).