Curse

Shadowmere · Mar 06, 2008, 12:07 AM // 00:07

Some of you may remember a while back I posted about my idea to have a 4 person Minion Master team that would be able to overcome corpse shortages, saccing costs and the general oddity of having 4 necros on a team. By the end of that thread I had a working setup for this concept. However, being the first incarnation of this idea, it had some flaws, I've since reworked and refined the team and am now confident it is entirely workable in almost any area a regular Minion Master can operate. The Build is workable in 4 man areas with slight modifications, but truley shines when used with a standard 8 person group for the ease of the first few kills and increased survivability.

The initial question is, "Why four MM's?" & "How's that possible? Won't there be not enough corpses for everyone?"

To the first question I simply say, because it's obscenely fun and will have you cackling like a Bond villian when you get past 30 minions.

To the latter question; what makes this all possible is that the death magic hex [wiki]Malign Intervention[/wiki] allows bone horrors (albiet masterless) to be created upon the death of enemies without exploiting their corpse. Horrors created in this way can be captured via [wiki]Verata's Gaze[/wiki]. This process essentially allows each enemy corpse to be utilized twice gaining two minions from each enemy death.

The truth of this build is that there is only one "true" Minion Master in the sense that we usually know a MM as. There is one Master who acts as the main Minion Animator, using more traditional minion skills ( i.e. [wiki]Animate Bone Fiend[/wiki], [wiki]Animate Vampiric Horror[/wiki]), while the other three Masters bring additional minion support tools such as; [wiki]Blood of the Master[/wiki], [wiki]Heal Area[/wiki], or [wiki]Barbs[/wiki], in addition to controlling additional minions via the afformentioned Malign & Verata's Gaze Method.

The masters, their skills and equipment as well as a description of their role in the team are as follows.

Master of Hordes ~ [N/P]

Description: This master is armed with the majority of the traditional minion creation spells, as such this master will usually reach their minion cap before the others and maintain their minion numbers with much more ease as well. He/she also makes use of paragon shouts for increased damage and battlefield mobility.

Attributes: Death Magic; 12+1+3 Soul Reaping; 10+2 Command; 8
Skills:
[wiki]Animate Flesh Golem[/wiki]{E}
[wiki]Animate Vampiric Horror[/wiki]
[wiki]Animate Bone Fiend[/wiki]
[Optional Slot]
[wiki]"Fall Back!"[/wiki]
[wiki]Leader's Comfort[/wiki]
[wiki]Signet of Lost Souls[/wiki]
[wiki]Resurrection Signet[/wiki]

Skills for the optional slot;
[wiki]"Go for the Eyes!"[/wiki] For a brief minion damage spike
[wiki]Deathly Swarm[/wiki] For aiding in the first few kills
[wiki]Verata's Aura[/wiki] For use in an emergency

Armor: A Bloodstained insignia & Minion Masters, Radiant, or Survivor as you see fit.

Master of Redemption ~ [N/Mo]

Description: The Master of Redemption ensures that minions deaths do more than simply provide the masters with more energy. Using Jagged Bones and Dwayna's Sorrow minions that die on the field are either replaced instantly or provide a heal to the masters' party. Further minion support is provided by several area heals to quickly and painlessly keep minions going. (NOTE: Death Nova has not been included in this build due to it not being a feasable tactic with these numbers of minions; AI will do nothing but cast it & it's nearly impossible for a human to target specific minions with an army this size)

Attributes: Death Magic; 12+1+3 Soul Reaping; 10+2 Healing Prayers; 8
Skills:
[wiki]Malign Intervention[/wiki]
[wiki]Verata's Gaze[/wiki]
[wiki]Jagged Bones[/wiki]{E}
[Optional Slot]
[wiki]Dwayna's Sorrow[/wiki]
[wiki]Healing Ring[/wiki]
[wiki]Heal Area[/wiki]
[wiki]Resurrect[/wiki]

Skills for the optional slot;
[wiki]Animate Shambling Horror[/wiki] Allows this master to more easily build up minion numbers, the long recharge means that this won't grind against the Master of Hordes' animating.
[wiki]Heal Other[/wiki] Useful for areas where more party support is needed (can be used interchangably with the other Healing Prayers skills)
[wiki]Healing Seed[/wiki] Useful for additional minion healing & party support (can be used interchangably with the other Healing Prayers skills)
[wiki]Signet of Lost Souls[/wiki] Gives a better degree of energy management

Armor: Radiant is a must.

Master of Pain ~ [N/Rt]

Description: Along with providing more minions to the army the Master of Pain gives the army a much more deadly offensive punch through the use of curses.

Attributes: Death Magic; 12+1+3 Soul Reaping; 9+1 Curses; 9+2
Skills:
[wiki]Malign Intervention[/wiki]
[wiki]Verata's Gaze[/wiki]
[wiki]Animate Flesh Golem[/wiki]{E}
[wiki]Barbs[/wiki]
[wiki]Mark of Pain[/wiki]
[Optional Slot]
[wiki]Signet of Lost Souls[/wiki]
[wiki]Death Pact Signet[/wiki]

Skills for the optional slot;
[wiki]Awaken the Blood[/wiki] Drop the extra points into Blood Magic for a boost to Barbs and Mark of Pain
[wiki]Taste of Death[/wiki] A potent self heal for greater survivability
[wiki]Parasitic Bond[/wiki] A useful cover hex and self heal

Armor: Focus on defense and survivability, Tormentor's or Survivor make great choices.

Master of Blood ~ [N/D]

Description: The Master of Blood has the somewhat unenviable job of being the one to provide army wide minion healing via Blood of the Master. In order to safely sacrifice for this many minions this master must maintain several potent defensive enchantments at all times. The result of those enchantments is a build capable of spamming Blood of the Master even at hight minion levels.

Attributes: Death Magic; 12+1+3 Soul Reaping; 10+3 Earth Prayers; 8
Skills:
[wiki]Malign Intervention[/wiki]
[wiki]Verata's Gaze[/wiki]
[wiki]Blood of the Master[/wiki]
[wiki]Aura of the Lich[/wiki]{E}
[wiki]Dark Bond[/wiki]
[wiki]Masochism[/wiki]
[wiki]Mystic Regeneration[/wiki]
[wiki]Resurrection Signet[/wiki]

Notes: This role cannot be performed by a hero, the maintaining of Mystic Regeneration & Aura of the Lich is EXTREMELY CRUCIAL. Using Blood of the Master outside of Aura of the Lich can be fatal. Maintaining Masochism while saccing will provide you with very very agreeable energy management.

Armor: Blessed insignias are recommended as you'll always be meeting the requirement.

Use any weapons for these roles that you would normally use for a Minion Master.

To sum things up all of these roles except the Master of Blood can be filled by heroes effectively (some more effectively even).

This team build is designed for sheer minion overkill, the joys of being an evil overlord, and generally having a ton of fun with minions. Works almost anywhere a regular MM would (normal mode and hard mode).

Feel free to leave questions or comments, and have fun!

Trylo · Mar 06, 2008, 12:12 AM // 00:12

from my experience heroes do not understand how to use veratas gaze, and anything produced from malign gets killed if i do not micro it and have it pre clicked...

other than that looks like a good build.

is there a way to put in something like [skill]Order of Undeath[/skill] with masochism and some insane self healing?

OR go 105 with prot spirit and some way of self healing? could Healing Breeze catch up with 2% damage an attack?

mrmango · Mar 06, 2008, 12:14 AM // 00:14

How do you get corpses to begin with in HM? Do you kill animals or get one of the heroes to die a couple times?

Calista Blackblood · Mar 06, 2008, 12:16 AM // 00:16

wow, dude could you pm the build templates in game please or post them in[QUOTE ]>>Template code here<<[/QUOTE ]

thanks,i just have to try this

Marverick · Mar 06, 2008, 12:19 AM // 00:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trylo

from my experience heroes do not understand how to use veratas gaze, and anything produced from malign gets killed if i do not micro it and have it pre clicked...

Just assign a hotkey to Verata's Gaze - I use Caps Lock.

Also wouldn't Jagged Bones be better than a Flesh Golem?

Shadowmere · Mar 06, 2008, 12:29 AM // 00:29

My heroes don't have a lot of trouble using Gaze, it's hit or miss but they will catch enough on their own to have a sizable force.

Order of Undeath wasn't included, because as far as I know it only affects the minions you directly control. Not especially useful for a team focused MM.

You can also switch out both the Golems I use for jagged bones, it's really just a personal prefrence thing there.

When I take it into hard mode I usually put damage spells in the optional slots and target animals first or small groups before moving on.

oh and here's the template codes (with the optional slots open) for all the builds mentioned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master of Blood

OApkQIFshuikewVgcAegiwWI7lAA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master of Hordes

OAljUwGqJOAtSGVAAsjhxVV5NA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master of Pain

OAhDUslXO6hrAQrMYJAAV1kL

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master of Redemption

OANDUspNO6hrwSFAY0cnYkYC

Calista Blackblood · Mar 06, 2008, 12:54 AM // 00:54

this team build is evil

mrmango · Mar 06, 2008, 12:57 AM // 00:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmango

How do you get corpses to begin with in HM? Do you kill animals or get one of the heroes to die a couple times?

You didn't answer my question lol.

Calista Blackblood · Mar 06, 2008, 01:00 AM // 01:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmango

You didn't answer my question lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadowmere

When I take it into hard mode I usually put damage spells in the optional slots and target animals first or small groups before moving on.

there ya go

Boogz · Mar 06, 2008, 01:01 AM // 01:01

im also curious to know how do u get corpses on HM , i think that u must kill some animals or let the heroes die sometimes , this build is only for 4-man areas right?

Shadowmere · Mar 06, 2008, 01:09 AM // 01:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boogz

im also curious to know how do u get corpses on HM , i think that u must kill some animals or let the heroes die sometimes , this build is only for 4-man areas right?

I've used it successfully in 4 man areas however that's by no means it's optimal area. if you're using yourself and 3 heroes for this (in 6 man and up areas), simply filll out the rest of the team with henchies (they'll help a lot in the begining). Physical damage dealers like warriors and rangers are handy due to barbs and MoP being present.

Sorry if I mis-represented it that fact. I've used it in 4 man areas to good effect however it's predominately designed to work with a complete 8 man team (though the other 4 can start to seem redundant once the army is going).

kazjun · Mar 06, 2008, 01:09 AM // 01:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadowmere

When I take it into hard mode I usually put damage spells in the optional slots and target animals first or small groups before moving on.

It's a nice idea and can work. But like Trylo has mentioned, it's quite difficult to get gaze to get the minion from malign. Though since you have 3 copies of gaze it may function better than when I tried using only 1 copy on MoW. I know that with only 1 copy 80-90% of the time the minion is killed before it can be captured.

Carinae · Mar 06, 2008, 01:41 AM // 01:41

Reminds me of when we could field 100 minions ourselves. Sigh, memories.

Mickey · Mar 06, 2008, 01:46 AM // 01:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carinae Dragonblood

Reminds me of when we could field 100 minions ourselves. Sigh, memories.

This also reminds me of the time when *gasp* Soul Reaping didn't have a timer. Those were the days.

All those minions seem like overkill, and I really don't understand why you would want all of them. Unless it just completely steam rolls everything in Hard Mode, I would just take Sabway. I should probably try out the build first, but answer this question. Is it effective in Hard Mode? I can run Sabway for 90% of the areas I would vanquish, can this build be run just as effectively for at least 80%? Or is it just for the pure joy of seeing 40 minions stampede into an enemy mob?

isamu kurosawa · Mar 06, 2008, 01:48 AM // 01:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carinae Dragonblood

Reminds me of when we could field 100 minions ourselves. Sigh, memories.

Ahh the good old days...until the MM disconnected.

Calista Blackblood · Mar 06, 2008, 01:50 AM // 01:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by isamu kurosawa

Ahh the good old days...until the MM disconnected.

i want my army back

i felt all powerfull

blue.rellik · Mar 06, 2008, 03:29 AM // 03:29

Holy crap that looks like so much fun. I'm going to try this immediately

Shadowmere · Mar 06, 2008, 04:38 AM // 04:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mickey

All those minions seem like overkill, and I really don't understand why you would want all of them. Unless it just completely steam rolls everything in Hard Mode, I would just take Sabway. I should probably try out the build first, but answer this question. Is it effective in Hard Mode? I can run Sabway for 90% of the areas I would vanquish, can this build be run just as effectively for at least 80%? Or is it just for the pure joy of seeing 40 minions stampede into an enemy mob?

While I haven't done a ton of vanquishing (only 1/2 done with Tyria

) the areas I have taken this build into it has well and truley steamrolled everything. It's a bit shakey for the first few kills (which will be gotten largely by the rest of the team) but once it gets going it's got a lot more punch than Sabway imo. That being said, I still take Sabway for many areas where minions are a weaker point (lots of aoe, few corpses, minion stealing foes, etc.).

So it's 1 part effectiveness, 1 part overkill, and 2 parts pure joy

Chthon · Mar 06, 2008, 03:45 PM // 15:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carinae Dragonblood

Reminds me of when we could field 100 minions ourselves. Sigh, memories.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mickey

This also reminds me of the time when *gasp* Soul Reaping didn't have a timer. Those were the days.

Sigh.... No kidding. It now takes 4 characters to do what I used to be able to do with just one. I think I'm going to go cry now...

Qdq Swi · Mar 06, 2008, 04:55 PM // 16:55

Lol.. those screenies are awesome ;p.