Minion builds: are they viable?

[TwoTonTuna]

Total GW2 noob here. I did some research on minion builds. specifically Necromancer summons and Engineer turrets/mech. I found a lot of posts saying that minion builds are only viable for open world. And even then, they perform worse than other builds.

For the GW2 vets out there, is this still true? Will I be essentially lock myself out of certain GW2 content if I decide to go for a minion build?

[Drakth]

I have been playing with Necro Minion Master since the closed beta and to me is the best class for PvE Open World / Story, lots of survavility unlike other clases. But thats just my opinion

[TwoTonTuna]

Got around 35+ hours in as a necromancer. Almost going to hit 71 to unlock all three specialization slots. Would just like to clarify some stuff that other people said earlier in the thread:

1) All your minions attack whatever target you are attacking. They will attack whatever is attacking them, but they will switch to whatever you are targeting. This allows you to focus their attacks.
2) Minions do indeed do relatively low damage. They do *some* damage over time, but they really cannot match the DoT of properly-specialized corruption spells.
3) The right specializations (Blood Magic and Death Magic) allowed my minions to face-tank a world boss while eating all of its AoE skills. They leech life for themselves and for me. For comparison though, I noticed that my minions die to even plain mobs without the survivability bonuses Death Magic or the sustain of Blood Magic.


That said, I now see Minion Necromancers as a self-sustaining support class with CC, revive, and party-wide life-leech bonuses. Blood Magic lets you, your minions, and your allies steal health from a target with each attack. If multiple allies go down, you can teleport them to you and begin reviving them while your minions supply you with health. Death Magic adds survivability to both you and your minions, allowing said minions to add toughness to you while stripping conditions away from you with each of their attacks. One sixth-tierperk in Death Magic also allows you to survive a potential lethal deathblow by activating shroud. The third specialization slot could be filled with whatever, but a purely support-dedicated Necromancer could go for soul-reaping for even more healing and survivability. You can also hybridize for melee DPS (Spite, Reaper) or ranged DPS (Scourge, Harbinger).

Do end-game instanced dungeons/raids *really* not need a tough, self-sustaining healer with CC that strips boons, grants mass life-leech, and teleports downed allies to safety?

[SinisterSlay]

Kodesh lähetti viestin:

Got around 35+ hours in as a necromancer. Almost going to hit 71 to unlock all three specialization slots. Would just like to clarify some stuff that other people said earlier in the thread:

1) All your minions attack whatever target you are attacking. They will attack whatever is attacking them, but they will switch to whatever you are targeting. This allows you to focus their attacks.
2) Minions do indeed do relatively low damage. They do *some* damage over time, but they really cannot match the DoT of properly-specialized corruption spells.
3) The right specializations (Blood Magic and Death Magic) allowed my minions to face-tank a world boss while eating all of its AoE skills. They leech life for themselves and for me. For comparison though, I noticed that my minions die to even plain mobs without the survivability bonuses Death Magic or the sustain of Blood Magic.


That said, I now see Minion Necromancers as a self-sustaining support class with CC, revive, and party-wide life-leech bonuses. Blood Magic lets you, your minions, and your allies steal health from a target with each attack. If multiple allies go down, you can teleport them to you and begin reviving them while your minions supply you with health. Death Magic adds survivability to both you and your minions, allowing said minions to add toughness to you while stripping conditions away from you with each of their attacks. One sixth-tierperk in Death Magic also allows you to survive a potential lethal deathblow by activating shroud. The third specialization slot could be filled with whatever, but a purely support-dedicated Necromancer could go for soul-reaping for even more healing and survivability. You can also hybridize for melee DPS (Spite, Reaper) or ranged DPS (Scourge, Harbinger).

Do end-game instanced dungeons/raids *really* not need a tough, self-sustaining healer with CC that strips boons, grants mass life-leech, and teleports downed allies to safety?

Usually only one of them. And minions tend to cause more problems since you can't tell them to stop attacking. And end game mechanics almost always have death spots on the ground that your minions will keep walking into and dying instantly. They will be on cool down more often then not.

[TwoTonTuna]

SinisterSlay lähetti viestin:

Usually only one of them. And minions tend to cause more problems since you can't tell them to stop attacking. And end game mechanics almost always have death spots on the ground that your minions will keep walking into and dying instantly. They will be on cool down more often then not.

Oof. Insta-death spam and the inability to recall minions will definitely put a dent on my dreams of using minions in raids.

Also, will Vampiric Mark not stack? It lasts 6 seconds and has a 16 second cooldown, and would be a shame if it couldn't stack in duration

[Suspicious Stains]

ChiasaChan Allkeyshop lähetti viestin:

Calling Engi turrets "Minions" is a bit of a stretch because they are just stationary items. I would call the Mechanist and Ranger a pet class (with only one main pet that can be given commands) and only the Necromancer a class with minions (more than one).

99% of the game really is about playing what you want, not playing what performs best. If you want a pet just play Engi and go Mechanist, or play Ranger and go anything. If you want to be the master of a tiny army go Necro and make as many minions as you have skills. You can always change and go minionless if you feel the need to do that for the very difficult content where a minion build may not be really suited for. Also you can adjust the number of minions you have on the fly and simply switch some of them out for other skills that you might need for a specific situation anytime when you are not currently fighting.

True gamer