Any way to make the MM not lag behind?

This is a problem I've had ever since heroes were implemented. No matter what skills or hero mode I use on her my MM spends the good half of every mob pull half a screen away casting Death Nova or animating new minions.I can't really be bothered to flag her ahead or use the focus command on the hero bar so is there a particular skill that would make her keep up with my main force or something?

Put "Make Haste" on some other hero, or put "Fall back" on any hero (including the MM).

Disable Death Nova between fights. That however means that the Minion bombs would probbaly not be ready at the start of a fight and the Hero will waste time casting a 2 second skill in the middle of a fight instead of other maybe more important skills.

Edit: Also give your Heroes 20/20 death magic weapons. The Halves casting time possibility will also speed up the castign every now and then which is a big difference in a 2 second cast.

Do not use Minion Bomber(Jagged bones+squishy little kamikazes), but Minion Master(AotL+BotM for keep them alive).

Or, as i'm testing sometimes(still not really sure about it), slot Death nova on a Mesmer hero. Fast casting will noticeably speed up your bombing process.

And, as said, double or more Fall back helps a lot(affects minions too).

If you can't be bothered to flag or call targets then I don't think you'll be too keen on any other suggestions.

Put Command Party on hotkey. I have mine conveniently located on my mouse. Then flagging your heroes is no more trouble then moving your own character.

Using a single "blood stained" insignia on one of the MM's armor pieces will help a great deal: minion casting time will be cut in half.

Make the minion master N/P with Fall Back.

Put Death Nova on a different hero, and remove it from your MM's bar.

Thanks for all the replies. It's not like she is slower than the rest of the team so I'm not sure how Fall Back would help. When a fight starts she just stands at the back chilling with her army. I tried putting her on aggressive but that didn't really help. I'll have to try binding the flag to the middle mouse button or something, seems to be the only way to make this work.

She is slower, they spend more time casting stuff, and fall behind the rest of the party. I used to have the same issue before heroes were implemented, I'd have to use BoTM to keep my boys up between fights, the party would charge ahead without me. The fall back helps them catch up with the rest of the party, it also gets the minions into the fight faster and helps heal them on the move, they get +10ish each second.

Quote: Originally Posted by AndrewSX

...slot Death nova on a Mesmer hero. Fast casting will noticeably speed up your bombing process. Fast-casting only works for mesmer spells (and signets).

OT: facing the same problem, even with 40/40 death sets AND bloodstained on the mm. Fall back seems like a good tip, thx.

Fast casting works on ANY spell with a casting time of 2 seconds or more. Simply put death nova on a different hero. The MM will catch up when it has enough minions, dragging the other hero with death nova along.

Quote: Originally Posted by Mr. Blarx Fast-casting only works for mesmer spells (and signets).

OT: facing the same problem, even with 40/40 death sets AND bloodstained on the mm. Fall back seems like a good tip, thx. Copy/paste from wiki:

Quote: "Fast Casting decreases the activation time of your Spells and Signets. (No effect for non-Mesmer skills with an activation time less than 2 seconds.) In PvE, each rank of Fast Casting decreases the recharge time for your Mesmer Spells by 3%." Death nova is 2 sec cast, FC work on it(tested). Also, cause it has no recharge time and a low energy cost(5 ene), u don't need SR to fuel it, and the mes will spread it perfectly and fast thanks to the primary attribute. Maybe you'll lose some dmg, but is worth it.

P.S:

As it has been said several times already put death nova on another char, it's the only way to fix it.

Personally I have it on my healer (and no I never experienced any problems with it).

Quote: Originally Posted by majoho

As it has been said several times already put death nova on another char, it's the only way to fix it.

Personally I have it on my healer (and no I never experienced any problems with it). That would make me so nervous. After all, the AI tells heroes to cast Death Nova (2 sec cast) on "things that are about to die". I'd want my healer to cast a heal on me at that time instead!

Just thinking back on all the times when I almost died, and the necro drops a Death Nova on me, just in case. If he had to choose between doing that and healing me? I'd be alarmed!

Quote: Originally Posted by Ghull Ka

That would make me so nervous. After all, the AI tells heroes to cast Death Nova (2 sec cast) on "things that are about to die". I'd want my healer to cast a heal on me at that time instead!

Just thinking back on all the times when I almost died, and the necro drops a Death Nova on me, just in case. If he had to choose between doing that and healing me? I'd be alarmed! It cracks me up when I see Death Nova on me, "I see how you are heros, want me to die eh?"

Quote: Originally Posted by AeonDemigod

It cracks me up when I see Death Nova on me, "I see how you are heros, want me to die eh?" LOL exactly! "Thanks for the death nova, Olias... your vote of confidence makes me feel terrific."

I know he's just being practical, and all that, but it just seems so inconsiderate!