Curse

TopGun · Mar 25, 2006, 02:26 PM // 14:26

Posted previously in this thread:

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...45#post1005045

Ideas of a Rt/N were quite creative. Unfortunately, the FPE doesn't really supply us with the skills necessary to test out such a build, so we're left to a fair bit of blind guessing (hehe, blind, like the Ritualist). Thus far, I've found very limited effectiveness with a Rt/N build. Of course, I'm using all the worst skills- a Rt/N would never bring ranged Fiends to a battle because of the mana cost- my lack of mana has really become a massive issue. Not having soul reaping is a terror to behold. Worse, I haven't come across Vereta's ANYWHERE in the FPE, so testing out a "true" Rt/N MM is pretty much impossible.

Regardless, the persisting issue is that I can't seem to heal my mininon effectively while they're under fire. I believe even Vereta's won't solve this issue, simply because you never have enough mana to cast Blood of the Master in the first place. With a Necro primy, the benefit from Soul Reaping, usually around 10 mana, allows you to cast Blood of the Master (BotM) in a persistent fashion. But without that mana draw, you're pretty much left to hang back and do just one thing- make minions. Most wont' survive.

The extra hp oomph from Spawning Power is more than noticeable. If your minions aren't under fire, you'll notice that their stamina is much more acceptable. They won't just start dying on you. But once you run into some attackers, your minions end up more f-ed up than Timothy Leary at a house party.

If anyone here has managed to acquire Veretas, a 15 mana minion summon, and BotM, your input would be largely appreciated. I, unfortunately, only have a very limited amount of time to play on weekends, so acquiring all three skills is difficult.

SnipiousMax · Mar 26, 2006, 04:30 AM // 04:30

I think the idea is with a Rit/N you'll have fewer minions, but you'll be able to keep them alive longer without any support spells (BotM, etc.). You essentially use them like you use your spirits. Call them for the battle, but don't maintain them. I did find that using Summon Flesh Golem, was an easy way for my Rit/N to have at least one beastly tough minion floating around. It's awsome that it leaves an exploitable corpse! When it dies, you can just reanimate it.

TopGun · Mar 26, 2006, 05:21 AM // 05:21

But are the points you put in Death Magic for a Ritualist really enough to warrant the loss in damage doing spirits you can summon with communing? 3-4 spirits doing 20dmg each is 60-80 damage... how can you possible dump all those points into death magic when spirits can generate those numbers? 12 Death Magic and 10 Spawn leaves nothing for Communing; certainly not enough to hit up spirits that put up anywhere near the damage numbers that 16 Comm. can generate. Plus, that flesh minion is an Elite, which means you can't have Ritual Lord either... I'm definately starting to believe that pure Necros can reap far greater benefits from Minions than Rt's can... and it probably should be that way.

SnipiousMax · Mar 26, 2006, 06:56 AM // 06:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopGun

But are the points you put in Death Magic for a Ritualist really enough to warrant the loss in damage doing spirits you can summon with communing? 3-4 spirits doing 20dmg each is 60-80 damage... how can you possible dump all those points into death magic when spirits can generate those numbers? 12 Death Magic and 10 Spawn leaves nothing for Communing; certainly not enough to hit up spirits that put up anywhere near the damage numbers that 16 Comm. can generate. Plus, that flesh minion is an Elite, which means you can't have Ritual Lord either... I'm definately starting to believe that pure Necros can reap far greater benefits from Minions than Rt's can... and it probably should be that way.

And no one is saying its not that way. I'm just saying, that it's still possible to make good use of Minions as a Ritualist, even if you focus on Spirits. Now I did point out that it was elite. As you are not focusing on minions, you do not need 12 death. It is true that a Rit will never be a "mm", but it doesn't mean he can't dabble.

TGgold · Mar 27, 2006, 11:17 PM // 23:17

Did you try running Attuned was Sangoki (sp?) as your elite? I wonder if 12 death and 12 Spawning could work, because it would drastically cut the cost of minions (by about 40%, for about 45 of every 60 seconds).
What about Boon of creation with AwS? Does Boon work with minions? It seems if it did, there shouldn't be a big problem making them.

I ended up using blood skills for my rit, and acted as a tank. It was fun.

SnipiousMax · Mar 27, 2006, 11:44 PM // 23:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by TGgold

Did you try running Attuned was Sangoki (sp?) as your elite? I wonder if 12 death and 12 Spawning could work, because it would drastically cut the cost of minions (by about 40%, for about 45 of every 60 seconds).
What about Boon of creation with AwS? Does Boon work with minions? It seems if it did, there shouldn't be a big problem making them.

I ended up using blood skills for my rit, and acted as a tank. It was fun.

Crap why didn't I read this when I could still test it!

Vilaptca · Mar 28, 2006, 07:37 PM // 19:37

Using the skills they gave me as a PvE Rt/N, I ran 12 in Death and 12 in Spawning.

I used Boon of Creation, which does work with minions. Animate Flesh Golem and Animate Bone Fiends. I also tossed in the other Death spells, which were Rotting Flesh and Deathly Swarm. I had the Rt rez, which I would have rather had Rez Sig by the end of the night. Two more Rt skills...but I can't remember.

Boon of Creation did help. But I felt like I was playing a MM with only a few points in SR. The energy back from Boon rarely helped me. I also found it getting stripped a lot from Mesmer enemies, so I had to start paying attention to upcoming groups and staying away from the Mesmers if I wanted to keep Boon on.

I would NEVER run Fiends again with a Rt. They sucked my energy dry. The Flesh Golem on the other hand...maybe. At 12 Death, he was level 21. Could tank quite well and was a fine minion to lead my small armys.

I was too busy playing and trying not to die to pay attention to exactly how long extra my minions lastest, but with a lack of any healing for them, they really did last longer than regular minions. I was disappointed to find that when I went back to make a N/Mo, that Heal Area was not included in the skills given to us.

Playing a MM was hard in this event unless you went the PvP route.

I'll be trying this out again, but with Horrors, and hopefully some way to heal them.

carbajac · Mar 29, 2006, 02:47 AM // 02:47

For the time that I was playing with an MM build for the Rt/N, it seemed to me (given the skills available) that it wouldn't be practical. Boon of Creation doesn't give enough of an energy boost. The minion spells are just too expensive for the Ritualist.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TGgold

Did you try running Attuned was Sangoki (sp?) as your elite?

As for running Attuned was Songkai (AWS) as my elite, there were a couple of problems. When you hold something, you lose your weapon, so that took away ten energy. Being an MM with only about 30 energy wasn't a good idea despite Boon of Creation and AWS, given that creating a fiend costs 25 energy (I suppose it could work though, if your Spawning Power was high enough, the cost per fiend could cost from 5-10 energy which would be very good-I didn't try this aspect...I should have, but didn't). The other problem, which is relavent to PvE, was the AI when holding an item. What makes SF farming so successful? The fact that whoever is holding an item is the focus of all enemies. So when my ritualist wants to carry some ashes, I get attacked by all the enemies. Some of the ashes are meant to be dropped around enemies, but not AWS.

So my conclusion is that being an ritualist MM would work in PvP but not PvE.

TGgold · Mar 31, 2006, 11:36 PM // 23:36

I was aware of the energy drop, believe me. I experimented with AwS as my elite for a while. And that's why I went blood in PvE.
I thought this more more viable for PvP anyways. I think that MMs with Flesh Golems will become the more viable PvP MMS soon.

Weezer_Blue · Apr 01, 2006, 12:35 AM // 00:35

While you could possibly get more health with minions of Rt primary, their attack power would still be under because of their level. If you're not using them for their muscle, you can always throw on Explosive Growth and watch stuff blow up. I've been working on several minion and spirit bomb builds, but I'd rather get back to you with tested details than predictions that may fall miserably short.