02-17-2014, 10:59 PM
If you've hung around, or read here on the lounge for a while, you know that my first character that I achieved any type of success with, was a summoner.
As Open Beta went along, I was really unhappy with the performance changes made to summoners, and it felt like, the AI within the minions had been downgraded, or diminished in some capacity.
With the last patch being summoner based, and including some nice QOL changes for Summoners, I decided to give summoner another shot, and started a new one in Domination.
I decided that I was going to try out as many of the passives as I could, all the new gems, all the new toys. Here is what I have found, as I cruise towards the end of A2 Cruel.
1.) Summon Raging Spirit: This is fantastic. While I don't know how in the world you would ever have the Max of 50 in play at one time, they do good damage, provides you with something to do beyond arc spam / curse bot, and are fun.
Definitely a plus.
2.) Bone Offering: This gem, is worth it's weight in gold. I was gifted a copy from VinnieJones, and It's my most cast non minion spell.
3.) Flesh Offering: It's not a bad addition. It goes really well with quicksilver flasks, or for just mowing down a bunch of chumps.
4.) Desecrate: Well.... It's an ability. I'm not really that excited about it. I tried it for a while, and I could just never get "optimum" use out of it. It might be interesting to make a build out of, with all the chaos damage that is floating around now, but it's not my cup of tea for a "traditional" summoner build.
5.) The Uniques: I have not run across any of the new uniques yet, so I can't comment on them. As I run across them, I will make sure to update with how they fare.
6.) The Passives. I have to say, the changes to the passive tree, both the summoner specific changes, and the aura based changes, are serving me well. In fact, even the new auras (the purity auras) have come in very handy for me, in making sure that my minions live.
One of the problems that arose in Open Beta, came after the resistance changes for minions, and elemental mobs would just rip through them, quicker than you could replace them, and the Minion Resistance Support on it's own was relatively ineffective at counterbalancing the difference.
I have specced out of minion instability for the time being. While leveling, it hasn't been needed, as I'm cutting through everything that I run across in fairly quick fashion, and with some of the Leech / Regen passive additions for minions, I have gone hours at a time with the same Zombies and Spectres.
7.) Speaking of Spectres: There are TONS of awesome new Spectre worthy monsters in Wraeclast. My personal favorite, is the undying evangelist. They are rather handy to have around. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they find a way to change them up a little as minions, as right now, you can achieve a god like immunity with them if you put a little effort into staying inside their bubbles. I can have 3 spectres currently. I'm normally running with three of them, unless I find myself in a position where I need a little more firepower (the evangelist's attack is great, and hard hitting, but has a cast time, and monsters can and do move out of it) I will run with a Chimeral.
8.) The AI. There are times, when your minions are still stupid. It's unfortunate, but it's just part of the AI limitations I'm assuming. They do seem to be a little more reactive, than previously.
For me though? This patch was a major step in the right direction for the summoner. I'll post my gear, and passives when I have more time, and if you have specific questions, I will do my best to answer them for you.
As Open Beta went along, I was really unhappy with the performance changes made to summoners, and it felt like, the AI within the minions had been downgraded, or diminished in some capacity.
With the last patch being summoner based, and including some nice QOL changes for Summoners, I decided to give summoner another shot, and started a new one in Domination.
I decided that I was going to try out as many of the passives as I could, all the new gems, all the new toys. Here is what I have found, as I cruise towards the end of A2 Cruel.
1.) Summon Raging Spirit: This is fantastic. While I don't know how in the world you would ever have the Max of 50 in play at one time, they do good damage, provides you with something to do beyond arc spam / curse bot, and are fun.
Definitely a plus.
2.) Bone Offering: This gem, is worth it's weight in gold. I was gifted a copy from VinnieJones, and It's my most cast non minion spell.
3.) Flesh Offering: It's not a bad addition. It goes really well with quicksilver flasks, or for just mowing down a bunch of chumps.
4.) Desecrate: Well.... It's an ability. I'm not really that excited about it. I tried it for a while, and I could just never get "optimum" use out of it. It might be interesting to make a build out of, with all the chaos damage that is floating around now, but it's not my cup of tea for a "traditional" summoner build.
5.) The Uniques: I have not run across any of the new uniques yet, so I can't comment on them. As I run across them, I will make sure to update with how they fare.
6.) The Passives. I have to say, the changes to the passive tree, both the summoner specific changes, and the aura based changes, are serving me well. In fact, even the new auras (the purity auras) have come in very handy for me, in making sure that my minions live.
One of the problems that arose in Open Beta, came after the resistance changes for minions, and elemental mobs would just rip through them, quicker than you could replace them, and the Minion Resistance Support on it's own was relatively ineffective at counterbalancing the difference.
I have specced out of minion instability for the time being. While leveling, it hasn't been needed, as I'm cutting through everything that I run across in fairly quick fashion, and with some of the Leech / Regen passive additions for minions, I have gone hours at a time with the same Zombies and Spectres.
7.) Speaking of Spectres: There are TONS of awesome new Spectre worthy monsters in Wraeclast. My personal favorite, is the undying evangelist. They are rather handy to have around. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they find a way to change them up a little as minions, as right now, you can achieve a god like immunity with them if you put a little effort into staying inside their bubbles. I can have 3 spectres currently. I'm normally running with three of them, unless I find myself in a position where I need a little more firepower (the evangelist's attack is great, and hard hitting, but has a cast time, and monsters can and do move out of it) I will run with a Chimeral.
8.) The AI. There are times, when your minions are still stupid. It's unfortunate, but it's just part of the AI limitations I'm assuming. They do seem to be a little more reactive, than previously.
For me though? This patch was a major step in the right direction for the summoner. I'll post my gear, and passives when I have more time, and if you have specific questions, I will do my best to answer them for you.
nobody ever slaughtered an entire school with a smart phone and a twitter account – they have, however, toppled governments. - Jim Wright