Battle Command's double-helpfulness to minions

[lemekim]

I am not sure how long ago this was implemented (I think it's actually something new in 1.1), perhaps someone who encountered this before has better information, but for now I'll bring this up for a discussion. In short, Battle Command cry can give in effect +2 to certain minions (instead of the usual +1; although the additional benefit may vary); which is a way to squeeze out the most from your minions with just a little extra effort, as it doesn't seem to be a bug, just a method of implementation.

In essence, certain minions (such as Oak Sage and Spirit of Barb) have skills that they use. Oak Sage has, for the lack of a better term, "Life Boosting Aura" skill, which it uses all the time. Battle Command can be cast on Oak Sage, and it gives Oak Sage +1 all skills, which boosts the aura's level by 1.

For example, a Druid has Oak Sage minion at level 28 without Battle Command, and this minion provides the party with a level 28 "Life Boosting Aura". A nearby friendly Barbarian uses Battle Command, boosting Druid's skill "Oak Sage" to level 29. Happy Druid recasts improved Oak Sage, which is now created with a level 29 skill "Life Boosting Aura", to match Oak Sage's higher level. Happy Barbarian uses Battle Command again, giving this new Oak Sage +1 All Skills, which boost Oak Sage's own skill, the "Life Boosting Aura" by 1 to level 30. So now the Oak Sage is giving everyone a level 30 "Life Boosting Aura" instead of level 28, a 2 point (and 10% more life) difference.

It might sound complicated, but it's not. All you really need to do is cast Battle Command on your minion to boost its skill.

It seems that this works only for minions who have some type of "sumskill" listed in skills.txt, a list of which I tried to gather below, along with what skills do they get benefit to (With my second computer broken, I can't test this extensively, perhaps someone can verify this?). One notable exception is Iron Golem, whose Thorns aura seems to be his attribute rather then his skill. Conversely, Fire Golem does have a skill "Holy Fire". (Of course, if someone has a better knowledge of what minions have skills and which don't, it would be great to see this information)

Druid

Plague Poppy (Poison Vine) - Vine Attack
Oak Sage - Oak Sage Aura
Cycle of Life (Carrion Vine) - Vine Attack, CorpseCycler (life returned)
Heart of Wolverine - Wolverine Aura
Vines (Solar Creeper) - Vine Attack, VineCycler (mana returned)
Spirit of Barbs - Barbs Aura

Necromancer

Fire Golem - Holy Fire
Skeletal Mage - NecromageMissile
Revives - Whatever skills they may have naturally

Paladin

Converted Monsters - Whatever skills they may have naturally

Amazon

Valkyrie - Dodge, Avoid, Evade, Critical Strike

Assassin

Converted Monsters - Whatever skills they may have naturally
Shadow Master*
Shadow Warrior*

*Even though they have nothing listed in sumskill column, their skills should benefit from +1 all skills.

One example of how this can be useful goes back to Crystallion's post about Shadow Master and Warrior skill levels.

http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.p...T&f=7&t=2776&s=

While naturally 3 points into Shadow Master skill will only give +1 to the level of spells that Shadow Master/Warrior uses, Battle Command will boost their skills directly, giving +1 to all their skills (at least I believe that it works like that - it would be nice to get some confirmation from testing).

Thanks to plethora of new items introduced in 1.1, this extra +1 skill can be benefited by almost anyone. A Call or Arms runeword can provide Battle Command if no friendly Barbarian is available. And charges of various Druid's spirits, which are available on many new items and usually are fixed at some level, can be improved with Battle Command. It might not seem much, but for so little effort (provided you have the right items), a level 6 Oak Sage is better then level 5.

Questions? Comments? Perhaps someone willing to provide addition information?

[Crystalion]

While naturally 3 points into Shadow Master skill will only give +1 to the level of spells that Shadow Master/Warrior uses, Battle Command will boost their skills directly, giving +1 to all their skills (at least I believe that it works like that - it would be nice to get some confirmation from testing).

An interesting thought. The easiest way to test would be to mod BC to give like +20 instead of +1, as the difference would be readily apparent. The more subtle question is whether this increased level would be what the shadow "knows" for remembering prior skill cast levels (for synergy calculations).

I may not have time to test this for over a week, alas.

[lemekim]

Are you implying that BC's +1 all skills might be added to the current level of skill in "memory"? Or do you mean that it when Shadow Master casts a skill with BC on, it might only be remembered at the level without BC? And yea, I wish we could test it properly =\

[Obi2Kenobi]

The addition of the skill point to the converting skill doesn't boost them at all... (minor clarification nit)

Voluminously loquacious turnips.

[lemekim]

The addition of the skill point to the converting skill doesn't boost them at all... (minor clarification nit)

Voluminously loquacious turnips.

You are taking my +2 skill comment too literally =). Well, BC does boost the converting skill itself (which usually grants higher % to convert), and the BC on the converted monsters will boost the skill level of whatever they might have (Frenzy on Minotaurs or Inferno on Pit Lords), so it will still be beneficial in a way.

[Obi2Kenobi]

Hence the minor clarification nit. :) I wouldn't want someone to read that and think that converted monsters will gain +2 to any skills they may use. :) I knew what you meant, though.

[lemekim]

Ok I modified the statement so people don't get too confused =) I mainly added the +2 part for the "shock effect" :P

[whyBish]

I mainly added the +2 part for the "shock effect"  :P

Troll :P