Look, there is only 1 thing you need to know to make minion builds viable…
Secret minion cheat code (deluxe edition):
- Stack armor on your character
Yes it’s literally this simple!!! Your minions get all of your armor!!! Since armor is the single best defensive stat in the game it makes them UBER tanky. Wow…
Armor sources:
- Disobedience aspect (can get from a dungeon). Very important !!! You need this!!!
- Your gear affixes
- Skull gems in jewelry sockets
- Paragon nodes (you can literally highlight every armor node with keyword search in paragon board)
What you absolutely do not do:
- Take minion life affixes on gear
- Take minion life or minion armor affixes in paragon
- Take resistance affixes on any gear (big no no)
- Take resistance nodes in paragon (completely useless)
What else helps:
- Take damage reduction affixes on gear you can
- Take dodge affixes on gear you can
- Put topaz in gear not rubies
- Take skills that increase minion durability in skill tree
- Take life affixes on gear (minions get some of this as well)
Your minions also get your damage reduction from most sources, so damage reduction stats on your gear are also pretty important.
P.S.
Finally, you need to know how to use the disobedience aspect. You must stack it to 100 stacks reliabily. This means doing a lot of hits quickly. Your minions can not stack this. So you need spells that do lots of hits quickly. Bone spear is OK at this but not the best. Blighted corpse explosion stacks it very quickly and since most builds use corpse explosion it’s a no brainer. Also blight works to get it stacking up while you engage. So take 1 point in blight for core spell.
Now you can confidently make a minion build and stop complaining about your minions dying.
Amazing !!!
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Thank you for this info this helps me a lot 
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Does armor also fix their dumb AI? No? Then minion builds still aren’t viable, doesn’t matter how much armor you stack if the mages can’t shoot past supressor fields, keep attacking invulnerable targets and avoid attacking the Damage Reduction Aura monster.
It also doesn’t fix their lack of damage scaling when compared to direct damage builds.
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Damn, if only you had some kind of hulking monstrosity to summon in order to handle things that mage projectiles can’t.
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What is the highest tier of sigils you’ve done w/o having minion life on any part of your character?
Just did a 38 on my 71 summon build. For science, I deliberately took all of my points out of any minion defense paragon node that I wasn’t already in the area for and my minions are still largely fine. Admittedly, I do still have some minion life rolls.
Sat on 6002 armor currently. Some very specific combinations can still pick off skellingtons outside of Unyielding Commander windows, namely things like the fire waves + shock lances or orbs, but not yet to a degree where Army recasts alongside Decrepify CDR can’t keep them up in a reasonable manner considering the level difference.
Definitely going to go into Scent of Death next, though. Ironically my damage is outpacing my survivability somewhat, and I want the extra defensive paragon nodes for myself lmao.
Edit: Just did a 41 at 72. Currently I am 100% being held back by my own survivability, not my minions lel.
this is good advice , i have had this aspect equiped since i unlocked it , but as u say u need to get it to 100 fast ,i find the bone spear on a good size pack will get to 100 fast , along with BCE .
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A great way to handle the 2 major problems you mentioned (damage reduction aura, and suppressor fields) is with the Aspect of the Void power (your blight pulls things in.)
I think every summoner necromancer should be using blight and this aspect on a piece of gear. Damage reduction aura packs? Simple, blight gathers them all up and your reapers and golem (mages too if they have the blizzard casting aspect) make short work of the mob providing the aura. Suppressor field? Place yourself at the edge of it, between the mob and your mages and the blight will pull them a bit toward you. Move back a little, repeat till your mages are in the field.
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Nothing you said is actually a problem. It is just that you suck at this game.
I watched a person clear nightmare dungeons with suppressors all day yesterday with a minion build. He hardly ever took much damage. He just ran into the bubble, popped bones storm, commanded golem to slam, the suppressor mob was deleted. And since he uses decripify the ult is usually up for the next pack almost as soon as he’s done with the one he is killing, thanks to decrepify CDR.
You are the problem if you can’t do it. It’s not the build’s problem.
Yes… the golem that does less than 1% of the damage mages do, I’m sure that will get you far.
The golem can literally 1 shot elites. The iron golem is insanely strong and has AOE stun and AOE vuln.
You are another terrible player who thinks they are good while spreading misinformation across these forums.
One shot elites in what? The open world?
Get out of here with your bull.
You aren’t one shotting any elites in Nightmare Tier 40+ with a golem.
You are on serious copium if you think minions are anywhere near equivalent to other far superior direct damage builds like whirlwind barb, ice shard sorc, trap rogue, whatever the druids play, or bone spear necro.
No in nightmare dungeons.
Like I said, you are terrible, know nothing about minion builds, and are just spreading misinformation because of your lack of skill.
Hey friend, can you link a build somewhere you might have? I am unsure of aspects to use/where to use them and I can’t see myself playing anything other than minion. Btw I do have the ancestral unique ring for minions.
Here is a good starter build to get you all the way to higher levels.
Just also stack armor like I said in this thread, and don’t sacrifice the golem. He didn’t realize how strong the golem was when he made this video and says it’s worth having now. You can replace reap with the golem (specifically the iron golem).
This build is very easy and works very well all the way to 100.
He’s working on the ultimate minion build for pushing high dungeon Tiers right now but he’s still leveling up his character so it will be a few days before he has it nailed.
Oh sweet! I am actually using that one with Bone Spear at the moment. Though I am wondering what aspect to give up for the ring. What do you recommend?
If you are going to use the ring give up a minion aspect like the minion attack speed one.
Just be aware, you need to stack lucky hit a lot for the ring to work properly. So try and get lucky hit on a lot of gear.
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Also the aspect for bonespear which makes it pierce and do vuln damage to all mobs is EXCELLENT for the 2 hander. I’d replace the one he has on the 2 hander with this one. It gives you permanent vulnerability.
Since your minions get your vulnerability damage they will destroy the mobs.
Just want to confirm, minions are immune to lightning, fire, poison, cold damage? The resistance is only use for the actual Necro in which most of the gameplay are behind his minions. Is that right?
Disobedience is one of the most powerful Aspects of the Pet Build. But in summary, minions get their armor and hp from their summoner. So if the Summoner is a Glass Cannon, their minions would inherit their Glassy easy-to-die characteristic.
