Minionmancer: Why do you?

[LetoII.3782]

We see them in every match.Usually by a camp, usually alone, usually dying.Yet always there.So what's the appeal? Is it a Nightmare Before Christmas kitsch thing? Is there like some secret society? Are you masochists?

Why?

[Zexanima.7851]

• They are new to WvW and don't know that PvE open world builds are not good for WvW.
• They are just there trying to do dailies and don't actually care to switch builds and rough it on what they are use to
• They just prefer that build because players are encourage to play whatever they find fun.

What does it matter if what build they are running if they are running solo?

[LetoII.3782]

So you're saying this build is good in PvE?I'm curious because I constantly see them and they never seem to do anything but die O.o

[Zexanima.7851]

@LetoII.3782 said:So you're saying this build is good in PvE?I'm curious because I constantly see them and they never seem to do anything but die O.o

Yeah, it's easy mode for open world PvE in particular. Minion necromancer I kind of thing as a 'comfort' build because you don't have to worry about much. People you see in WvW with that build are probably just new/don't play WvW much.

[acdspydar.8920]

The scout reports are brilliant for them tho. There's always that new guy who yells out 10+ guild group in the camp!!! You run in with the boys and it's a MM dying to the veteran supervisor. Good times

[LetoII.3782]

@acdspydar.8920 said:You run in with the boys and it's a MM dying to the veteran supervisor. Good times

^

See he knows

[LaGranse.8652]

@"LetoII.3782" said:So you're saying this build is good in PvE?I'm curious because I constantly see them and they never seem to do anything but die O.o

It is a build that work very well for Open world PvE.

The open world section for necromancers on metabattle has minion master builds for both the core necro, reaper and scourge.

[Drarnor Kunoram.5180]

That said, on rare occasions, you run into the MM that knows what they're doing, and they can be a pain to fight depending on your build. These ones make judicious use of Bone Fiend and Flesh Wurm/Golem for CC and mobility while constantly ducking behind one of their minions to let them tank projectiles.

[Voltekka.2375]

Actually, if 3 minionmancers roam together, they look like a small zerg from the distance. Intimidates people.On a side note, pve MM can pretty much solo most pve content

[Dawdler.8521]

50 true minionmancers (golemancer/lich+rise+nova) have a theoretical max of ~850 minions.

Too bad all 850 are dead when a well scourge sneeze in their direction.

[steki.1478]

@acdspydar.8920 said:The scout reports are brilliant for them tho. There's always that new guy who yells out 10+ guild group in the camp!!! You run in with the boys and it's a MM dying to the veteran supervisor. Good times

Someone on my server called it a small zerg once. I use that term every time I see a MM necro now.

[Etterwyn.5263]

Well, Rise is great damage reduction, until you hit Scourge AOE. :o

Flesh Golem I admit I use because I hate all Necro elites but at least I don’t feel alone out there with my lil’ buddy.

All the others, meh.

[Chaba.5410]

@"Etterwyn.5263" said:Flesh Golem I admit I use because I hate all Necro elites but at least I don’t feel alone out there with my lil’ buddy.

Aw, but then you're missing out on all the little minions from https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Summon_Madness

[Anput.4620]

A well optimized minion mancer can be a very good duelist/bunker, i used to run it with healing power and it stood toe to toe with roaming specs, but yeah most poeple just use their open world PvE build.

The amount of flat damage reduction and heals you can get is insane.

[LetoII.3782]

I guess it's really not a surprise that a cruise control build is popular in open world pve..

[iKeostuKen.2738]

MM is actually a legit build for roaming.

[EremiteAngel.9765]

@iKeostuKen.2738 said:MM is actually a legit build for roaming.

I’ve seen MM Scourge roamers and they can be pretty tough.

[Blocki.4931]

I always feel bad about killing them... :(

[Sovereign.1093]

always scared me. its like omg, 10+ again?

[Zephyra.4709]

Clearly he is advertising for his guild of minion masters only, a formidable scare tactic with just one.

Just you watch, one day he will recruit the ultimate blob....

[Sovereign.1093]

could work. bring in the lag and dc

[DeadlySynz.3471]

I'd love to see a map que of MM's. Unfortunately, i'd probably DC long before that'd ever happen.

[LetoII.3782]

OK, now there's definitely more people who say minionmancer is good than there is good minionmancers in this thread.I might've believed one or two in the game had something special going....

[Drarnor Kunoram.5180]

@LetoII.3782 said:OK, now there's definitely more people who say minionmancer is good than there is good minionmancers in this thread.I might've believed one or two in the game had something special going....

I didn't say it was good, I said there were some people who really know how to use it well, and they can be a pain to fight as a roamer. They still can't stand up against multiple opponents well.

[Shroud.2307]

@"LetoII.3782" said:OK, now there's definitely more people who say minionmancer is good than there is good minionmancers in this thread.I might've believed one or two in the game had something special going....

It can do a surprising amount of damage if all the Minions explode in your face consecutively. Think of it like a hybrid Mesmer that can only shatter all it's clones once every 30 seconds - 1 minute. If you get caught in the "shatter" it's definitely going to hurt, but it's probably easier to avoid it than it is to hit someone with it.

I disagree that it has any viability in WvW roaming/small scale however. Literally anything with good cleave and moderate durability ( basically meaning minimum of 2.4k armor and 18k health ) should be able to dispatch the Minion horde with minimal consequence. Assuming the Necro isn't a complete potato though, the player themselves can still be dangerous with all their Minions gone. So it's more about the player relying on their Minions to do everything for them than about Minions being useless.

Honestly I'd say regardless of skill, a Minionmancer is basically a free kill. The only exception is if you're glassy and allow all the Minions to pop in your face.