Olias as MM? - Page 2 - Guild Wars Forums

Spidey · Feb 08, 2007, 07:36 PM // 19:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lonesamurai

Olias and Master of whispers are better than any human Minion master can ever be... because they can keep track of minion health bars

And that makes them better with Death Nova. They can target a low health minion in the middle of a large fray, something I have difficulty doing, and apply Death Nova. I don't seem to have problems with either Olias or Whispers raising minions or with over using Death Nova. I do have the skills set up the way I'd use them (left to right) with DN near the right, but I'm not sure that makes any difference to the heroes.

I wonder if we could get anyone from ANET to confirm or deny that skill placement matters? Gaile?

Patrick Smit · Feb 08, 2007, 07:39 PM // 19:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zinger314

Death Nova is not a MM skill! It's a minion bombing skill. Both are completely builds.

The best MM skillbar for Olias is as follows:

Animate Bone Horror
Animate Bone Fiend
Blood of the Master
Order of Undeath (e)
Signet of Lost Souls
Leech Signet
Power Drain
Res Signet

Everyone has the misconception that Death Nova is a must for MinioN mastery, whereas you only really need 2 skills; a Minion spell and BotM.

I swapped fiend, BotM, and order of undeath, leech signet, powerdrain with death nova, veratas gaze veratas aura, taste of death and jagged bones. Olias was an absulute killer with it. With the new jagged bones i dont know. He didnt use taste of death as a bomber would, but he would be the last man standing in a party wipe. I guess your build will do very nice or even may be one of the best builds since the nerf of jagged.

What i find as well is that hero monks and mm dont go well together. hero monks tend to waste energy on minions healing/protecting them. They do silly things like casting protective spirit and such on em. Best take henchies with you or even better human monks.

Titan Chrae · Feb 08, 2007, 08:17 PM // 20:17

I've found that the Necro heros do a really good job at running almost any MM build I give them. This includes Straight MM, Jagged MM, or DN Bomber and almost every combination of the three. I intuitively priortize thier skills from left to right but I'm not sure it makes a difference. They work great as a team with one running Standard MM build and the other a Jagged Bones/Death Nova Bomber supporter. They usually are running around with 20 minions after the first few encounters.

Sandblasted Skin · Feb 09, 2007, 12:37 AM // 00:37

My hero mm's always seem to lag behind and be out of energy. But as has been stated many times here they are far better than I am at casting death nova. This does not seem to be a bad thing to me. What does annoy me is that they have a tendency to raise a lesser minion from the corpse of a flesh golem.

Saying that I almost always run a MM hero because they support the party so well with death nova spamming.

cellardweller · Feb 09, 2007, 12:56 AM // 00:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zinger314

Death Nova is not a MM skill! It's a minion bombing skill. Both are completely builds.

The best MM skillbar for Olias is as follows:

Animate Bone Horror
Animate Bone Fiend
Blood of the Master
Order of Undeath (e)
Signet of Lost Souls
Leech Signet
Power Drain
Res Signet

Everyone has the misconception that Death Nova is a must for MinioN mastery, whereas you only really need 2 skills; a Minion spell and BotM.

I use the same except with tainted flesh in place of OoU - I prefer the general damage spread it gives while doubling as a cover enchant.

SotiCoto · Feb 09, 2007, 02:24 PM // 14:24

It never even occurred to me NOT to have Death Nova on Olias's MM build.

Now... lets see if I can recall his build from memory...

Flesh Golem, Shambler, Bone Fiend, Feast for the Dead, Taste of Death, Blood of the Master, Verata's Sacrifice, Death Nova...

I think thats it... (if you'll excuse the short-form references to certain minion spells)... Works just fine. O'course I wouldn't mind something that works a bit better... if possible... though for the record having individual minions do too much damage would negate my own heavy use of Mark of Pain.

Tyrnne · Feb 09, 2007, 04:49 PM // 16:49

Only problem I've ever had with Olias is that from time to time he nearly kills himself with Blood of the Master trying to keep his troops alive. For this reason, I use Animate Flesh Golem for my elite instead of something like Order of Undeath - I worry that another sacrifice skill might lower his health too much.

All in all, Olias makes a great MM. I'm lucky enough to have two Ghial's Staffs, so I gave my monk's Olias one to beef him up a bit. He might lose that staff if I ever get a good offer on it though.

SotiCoto · Feb 09, 2007, 04:56 PM // 16:56

My Olias has Ghial's Staff as well.... Customised...
My Necro got the second one, though given how much better Hero MMs seem to be than player-ones, I doubt she'll be using it for herself. More likely her own Olias will be getting it while she goes SS.

Bastian · Feb 09, 2007, 06:21 PM // 18:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerian_Skybane

There is only one problem I have had: and that is Flesh Golem. Olias, and for some reason not as much (could be just luck) MoW, tend to be stupid and cast it even if there is one up, which is not fun because it can potentially take away an extra minion when at capacity when they cast it.

Last I checked, Flesh Golem does not leave an exploited corpse. This is why you can have 6 MM's run 6 Golems off 1 body. This also means that you can re-exploit the corpse with another minion skill.

Also, for the OP. Make sure you are not running from one mob to another, because Heroes tend to stop their spell casting once the party starts moving. Instead, I would flag the heroes for battle, this way Olias or Master of Whispers doesn't stop casting and raises the minions properly. I have run into occassions where they like to use other corpse skills like Putrid Explosions more than raising minions. I have since taken those skills out of the bars of my MM's.

Feb 08, 2007, 08:17 PM // 20:17	#23
Titan Chrae Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Frozen Lake Guild: Illustrious Chromatic Enigmas (ICE) Profession: Mo/	I've found that the Necro heros do a really good job at running almost any MM build I give them. This includes Straight MM, Jagged MM, or DN Bomber and almost every combination of the three. I intuitively priortize thier skills from left to right but I'm not sure it makes a difference. They work great as a team with one running Standard MM build and the other a Jagged Bones/Death Nova Bomber supporter. They usually are running around with 20 minions after the first few encounters.

Feb 09, 2007, 12:37 AM // 00:37	#24
Sandblasted Skin Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: St. Paul, MN Guild: Strength and Virtue Eternal [SaVe] Profession: W/	My hero mm's always seem to lag behind and be out of energy. But as has been stated many times here they are far better than I am at casting death nova. This does not seem to be a bad thing to me. What does annoy me is that they have a tendency to raise a lesser minion from the corpse of a flesh golem. Saying that I almost always run a MM hero because they support the party so well with death nova spamming.

Feb 09, 2007, 02:24 PM // 14:24	#26
SotiCoto Banned Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Drazach Thicket Guild: Temple of Zhen Xianren [Sifu]	It never even occurred to me NOT to have Death Nova on Olias's MM build. Now... lets see if I can recall his build from memory... Flesh Golem, Shambler, Bone Fiend, Feast for the Dead, Taste of Death, Blood of the Master, Verata's Sacrifice, Death Nova... I think thats it... (if you'll excuse the short-form references to certain minion spells)... Works just fine. O'course I wouldn't mind something that works a bit better... if possible... though for the record having individual minions do too much damage would negate my own heavy use of Mark of Pain.

Feb 09, 2007, 04:49 PM // 16:49	#27
Tyrnne Academy Page Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: USA Guild: Swords of Honor (Officer) Profession: Mo/Me	Only problem I've ever had with Olias is that from time to time he nearly kills himself with Blood of the Master trying to keep his troops alive. For this reason, I use Animate Flesh Golem for my elite instead of something like Order of Undeath - I worry that another sacrifice skill might lower his health too much. All in all, Olias makes a great MM. I'm lucky enough to have two Ghial's Staffs, so I gave my monk's Olias one to beef him up a bit. He might lose that staff if I ever get a good offer on it though.

Feb 09, 2007, 04:56 PM // 16:56	#28
SotiCoto Banned Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Drazach Thicket Guild: Temple of Zhen Xianren [Sifu]	My Olias has Ghial's Staff as well.... Customised... My Necro got the second one, though given how much better Hero MMs seem to be than player-ones, I doubt she'll be using it for herself. More likely her own Olias will be getting it while she goes SS.