Animate Guardian

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ahcos wrote:

That'd be so cool. Would be restricted to melee skills only anyway, and then you could limit these to be supported by only one or two support gems max ...

Imagine a Guardian swinging a Polearm with Cleave and Multi. So cool! Summoner redefined: only one summon and you take the Marauder weapons just to give it to your Guardian. The look on their faces when my Guardian does more melee dps then they do while i'm just standing back cursing the enemies...

Meh, now i want that. GGG pls!

I'm not sure support gems would be ideal, they could be used to make him a little too OP. I mean, he can already have support gems linked to him as it is to make him a pretty solid char against regular mobs. Support gems on his skill + support gems on a skill he uses through an item would be a little... psychotic? Lol.

As for auras as someone pointed out, I disagree on these entirely, he would have no mana pool, thus could in theory have infinite auras and negate the need for using auras yourself. Even if the gems can't level, it would be a very powerful combination that might be too strong.

The real issue would lie in how many skills he can use, a spell totem can be linked to multiple skills but can only use 1 of them at a time. So if the guardian can use 1 skill at a time, it would make him slightly more useful.

Melee gems only or perhaps casting spells would be a good idea, such as Shock Nova or Spark. But he couldn't use both if they were on an item. Say if two gems were linked in the skill, he would only be able to use certain gem levels. Like Cast when Taking Damage. It can only cast spells. Maybe he could have this limit as well? Unfortunately this wouldn't work out entirely, because how would he be able to dictate which skill to use if multiple gems were inserted into his gear?

I'm just brainstorming but this does seem like a possible way to make the skill far more desirable, it would take a lot of refining though.

Maybe they could hardcode it into his skill, he can only use 1 skill gem of spell/melee kind. However, making him use ranged spells would contradict his melee nature (although, I don't see why he can't use ranged weapons)

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Rory wrote:

Post your feedback for this skill here!

Make sure you concisely state your character build, level, and other complimenting abilities you have when you talk about a skill - The more we know about your character, the better we can understand your feedback.

I don't think it matters so much in this case.... imo it's a great skill works great with every build... excellent job. I would'nt add or take anything away from it... balanced very well imo.

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Zelec wrote:

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Rory wrote:

Post your feedback for this skill here!

Make sure you concisely state your character build, level, and other complimenting abilities you have when you talk about a skill - The more we know about your character, the better we can understand your feedback.

I don't think it matters so much in this case.... imo it's a great skill works great with every build... excellent job. I would'nt add or take anything away from it... balanced very well imo.

Your in the vast minority then, and it does matter. He's extremely squishy for non summoner builds, especially if your NOT using minion life.

Hes practically useless for DPS. His accuracy is horrid, and nobody will waste a good weapon on him due to his consuming items on death aspect. Hes a suicidal tank, and so far the best use found for him is an extra leer cast aura and to use consecrate/desecrate. He doesn't do his job as a tank at all without consecrate, and if you go the DPS route with him as a non-summoner hes not gonna last long and your simply gonna lose any gear invested in him.

I like the fact that hes customizable with gear, but as others have said, he has a lot of room for improvement. A customizable minion is perfect for a game based around customization, and opening up ranged weapons and/or skills for him (with the obvious exception of Auras) would add a whole new dimension to him.

a few things I'd like to see:
- stat panel: we don't really know how much HP he has unless you keep track of his items and %HP nodes...
- inventory: it's annoying to keep track of items you put on him. For now, I take screenshots before giving it to him.
- minimap location: he's super aggressive, and once I lost track of him and he died. It would be nice to have a crosshair on the minimap.

Guardians need to be allowed to use bows. Right now they are kind of weak

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Woodfist wrote:

Guardians need to be allowed to use bows. Right now they are kind of weak

This!

First thing, playing a summoner takes time. You have to plan your minions and what you want them to do. Setting up support gems, getting you snapshots ready. Second, from the moment I started using the AG I stated keeping a character sheet on him. All you DDer know what I am talking about. Even named him Bob. But doing this has allowed me to keep him alive now going on 3 weeks. You have to plan what you want him to do.
Support you minions. As a summoner your job is to keep your minions alive. If you have a AG and no Seething Flasks of Animation, dropped regen totem, and cast curses, they you are just wasting items.

Plan you gear. I use mine as a tank. SO, what does a tank need, defensive stats. I put armor and all types of resist gear. When I raise him I do with Life gain on hit, and Melee splash, the best combo I currently use. I have him on my shield. So if there is a chance he will die, I swap weapons, run away and when its safe, pop him again and heal him. Also, leave a slot open. Say boots. When you raise him with new gear it heals him for 25% of his life.

Bob has grown on me. And is a very important part for my team. Like anything, a little bit of planning can go a long way.

I do agree with what some people has posted about a way to track stats for your minions. That would make life easier.

FWIW, I don't think Leer Cast is enough to make this skill worth having along. 15% Increased Damage is nice, but it's just one more passive node. Doesn't make much difference, and you're still losing a unique item when he dies.

I don't mind guardian taking items with him necessarily, but if he's going to do that he ought to be more useful while you have him.

I hope they buff this skill soon.

My 82 summoner on Nemisis says:

"Get yourself 3 evangelists with increased AOE and increased duration, Stack good items on your AG and try your best to protect your pimped out guardian. There's not a better setup to protect him both offensively and defensively aside from the totems/pots/etc in addition.

After doing this for about 20 minutes (and on and off for a few weeks cause you WANT it to work so bad) you'll agree:

1. Animate Guardian sucks right now because you'll spend 10x the time trying to protect a guy that does 1/50th the damage and 1/14 the meatshield of other summons.

2. They suck *especially* for summoners because our nodes make no difference.

3. You'll get irritated because you WANT the skill to be useful, but its just entirely useless at this point except for novelty sake.

I think this skill has great potential. Since summoners pretty much stink without snapshotting and heavy hitter specs, I think Animate Guardian should be *very* important to them and less so without some summoner nodes/investment -- don't think it should end up being the next phase run.

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Psomm wrote:

My 82 summoner on Nemisis says:

"Get yourself 3 evangelists with increased AOE and increased duration, Stack good items on your AG and try your best to protect your pimped out guardian. There's not a better setup to protect him both offensively and defensively aside from the totems/pots/etc in addition.

After doing this for about 20 minutes (and on and off for a few weeks cause you WANT it to work so bad) you'll agree:

1. Animate Guardian sucks right now because you'll spend 10x the time trying to protect a guy that does 1/50th the damage and 1/14 the meatshield of other summons.

2. They suck *especially* for summoners because our nodes make no difference.

3. You'll get irritated because you WANT the skill to be useful, but its just entirely useless at this point except for novelty sake.

I think this skill has great potential. Since summoners pretty much stink without snapshotting and heavy hitter specs, I think Animate Guardian should be *very* important to them and less so without some summoner nodes/investment -- don't think it should end up being the next phase run.

well said sir. as a 89 summoner on standard who also uses evangelists in a similar setup, my experience been pretty much the same. since AG cannot share charges he is not much of a utility help besides maaaybe consecrated ground