Minions Build and End-game survivability

I am in act 3 merciless and my zombies/spectres live very well depending on the area/enemies.

My biggest problem unitl now has been getting my witch to survive while my minions do the work. Their AI is still somewhat lacking.

Anyways being a summoner is still a good build. Necromantic Aegis is an important key to helping them out.

Hint

for groups with high AoE that destroy zombies & spectres, Skeletotem and summon Zombies within the monster pack and rely on Minion Instability to whittle down the pack

can also use Enfeeble curse to reduce monster damage

Discipline and Purity aura also helps with minion survivability

summoners should not expect to have their minions survive everything imo

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iamstryker a écrit :

I am in act 3 merciless and my zombies/spectres live very well depending on the area/enemies.

My biggest problem unitl now has been getting my witch to survive while my minions do the work. Their AI is still somewhat lacking.
...

To take on your point about *still somewhat lacking*:
My observation during CB was that minions actually were able to taunt mobs off of my witch.
This does not happen atm.
I could be wrong about the taunting, but I'm positive it used to be that way.
Now that servers are constantly overworked, it could be for that reason (not enough cycles to do that taunt thing), or for some other reason.
Bottom line:
Would be cool if taunt (in general, name it aggro management) would put players or minions on top of the aggro list depending on range, damage done, curses, DoT potential (not a code monkey here, but I'm positive this is doable, also need testing to get the priorities right).

About AI of zombies:
They idle too much!
Also I still get 1 or 2 zombies going down on their own after zoning occasionally(without any aggro or DoTs applied to them). If I can help to /debug that let me know what the best approach is.

About MI and army whipes:
A3 i.e. Slums has some mobs that are clearly able to shoot off-screen (beetle carrion queens, vile serpents for instance)
edit
To clarify this, MI would only work if the player is able to see the mob (in LoS; on screen)
Problem is with minions walking around a lot, their position would be okay if it was my avatar's position, I could target the mob / drop skeletons / whatever.
As it stands ranged mobs have an advantage there when they get triggered by my wandering minions, and there is little time to react to prevent an army whipe.

About resistances on minions:
They go down very quickly on i.e. mad bombers doing their chaos bombs (sewers) or in crematorium (fire), so there's my suspicion that difficulty related penalties are applied to minions as well? (0 / -20% / -60% respectively).
Would like to hear a word if this could be the case and if so, intentionally or not?

"

Menasthos a écrit :

Well minions are an "accessory". Helps the fight while you do your work. You cannot expect a pure minionmaster build or an army of minions playing for you while you smoke your cig.
I don't see anything needed to be changed about minions. Minion instability is more than enough of a powerful addon.

No they're not, yes I can. My build revolves around minions because this has been presented to me as a valid option. Now I find out - 50 levels later - that this is not true.

"

Mune a écrit :

To take on your point about *still somewhat lacking*:
My observation during CB was that minions actually were able to taunt mobs off of my witch.
This does not happen atm.

About AI of zombies:
They idle too much!
Also I still get 1 or 2 zombies going down on their own after zoning occasionally(without any aggro or DoTs applied to them). If I can help to /debug that let me know what the best approach is.

About resistances on minions:
They go down very quickly on i.e. mad bombers doing their chaos bombs (sewers) or in crematorium (fire), so there's my suspicion that difficulty related penalties are applied to minions as well? (0 / -20% / -60% respectively).
Would like to hear a word if this could be the case and if so, intentionally or not?

Seconding all of these points, especially the one on 'taunting'. Minion builds are not survivability builds, and they do not have a way to get rid of enemies that get too close to the summoner. Zombies need a way to taunt nearby enemies.

"

Dreggon a écrit :

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Menasthos a écrit :

Well minions are an "accessory". Helps the fight while you do your work. You cannot expect a pure minionmaster build or an army of minions playing for you while you smoke your cig.
I don't see anything needed to be changed about minions. Minion instability is more than enough of a powerful addon.

No they're not, yes I can. My build revolves around minions because this has been presented to me as a valid option. Now I find out - 50 levels later - that this is not true.

It IS true. They just require a bit more work than closed beta. If you enjoy the playstyle then go for it because it can be very rewarding. Summoners can run very high magic find for farming and still do fine. Not a lot of builds can do that.

Try putting Chance to flee support on skells. Since they get totem cast on enemies they can thin out the mobs just a bit. I was also debating combining melee splash with this for AOE mob thinning.

Mind blank and I'm too lazy to check passive tree, but get the keystone that gives your shield to minions. Use vitality aura and use Springleaf unique shield.

Spectres for AOE. You could give your zombies "melee splash" if you really wanted, though. :p

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GoldenGoldBars a écrit :

Summons are fine for me except when in act 3. I'm level 67, my summons get destroyed by the undead chemist (Sewers) and those LMP cobras (marketplace).

This. I despise Act 3, and not just on my summoner. But it's like it was built to be anti-summoner. I always take my time and enjoy acts 1 and 2 on all three difficulties. Then I grudgingly group up to rush through Act 3 and get it over with.

I'm also building a summoner, lvl 41 in HC. It's fun, but it seems that the zombies refuse to follow me through doors half of the time and that gets annoying. They'll just sit there on the other side of the door while I'm fighting things on the other side with nothing blocking the door.