Henchmen AI

If I'm a monk, is it useless to have henchmen? Since henchmen only attack the called target, or when a party member gets attacked. I have been running around with them for awhile and found out they run when you run if you face the direction your running, and they attack when you either call or get hurt, if theres a big group and you call a target and he dies, they think there done and act like no enemies in area until someone gets attacked. I think there usefull for any attacker class, but a monk? They dont know when to attack or if they should attack lol. Time they attack I'm down to 50% health.

If you want them to attack and not you then do ctrl+shift+space to announce a target without actually attacking.

Henchies are fine with a monk.

So if I hit CTRL+SHIFT+SPACE they will attack on there own if they see things? I wonder if there smart enough so that they call targets in there on chips, so that everyone in the groups attacks 1 guy without a human actually calling a target.

Also, has anyone notice if your getting a lot damage taken and you try to run it off, the healers start to run too, and when they run they dont heal you? This pisses me off because I'm running around them waiting for a heal, I'm the only one taking damage, and they run around too, you dont need to stand 1 ft away to cast orison healing lol.

Can you cast a heal spell while you are running?

no, you stop running when you cast healing spells

Scenario, mob chasing you, you dont want to get hit so you run, then your hench start running instead of trying to get mob hit them instead of you. Which is impossible to get the mob to F* off ya, because hench dont know if they should attack unless you attack, and your a healer, not a fighter, and when you attack 1st, mobs come for your 1st. Mobs go for other guy if person they attack run, and other guy is hitting him, but when you run your hench runs too. Really try it, run in a circle around your hench, and then your hench will stop fighting because it thinks your running.

I say like press ALT A for HENCH AI to ATTACK, and ALT R for HENCH AI to RUN lol. be more easier, for us monks.

When you target a baddie with ctrl+shift+space bar, the henchies "should" keep attacking the target until you are out of their agro bubble, giving you a second to reposition if you need to. I have to call almost every target when I'm running with henchies or they just stand there and do nothing.

quanzong, that example you mention is where kiting comes into play. What you need to do is run around another target, say one of your Warrior henchies. Don't attack the monster, that only makes it attack you. Just move close to the harder target and try to get the monster to change its mind about you. Then, heal away.

Is that easy to do? Heck no. Some monsters love the taste of Monk-flesh and will attack you and only you. At that point, you just need to either mitigate the damage you're taking or take that one out first.

Worst thing I hate from hench is when for example: Stefan dies, Lina and Alesia both alive and reyna or any other non-monk type hench uses Resurrection Signet. This is something I hate and should be fixed.

how is that bad? only if its outside battle, and then it does not happen. if it would still be like before, Alesia & Lina would start ressing you at the same moment, meaning your team will more or less die while they are ressing Stefan. o.o

if theres no enemies left, i dont think they use a res signet :/

The thing I really hate is when the healer ressurects, they stand on top of the body. It is like they have no range. I know they can heal from a range, but mostly they just don't.
Some monsters consider the ammount of health, and armour each of your party member has. That makes it look like they specificly target a monk. Get yourself the best armour you can get and a good health rune. The stronger you are, the lower you are on the monster's target list.
Superior runes that give +2 skill level are not always your best choice.

Ps. Hench are retarded. Deal with it

Helps sometimes to carry a non requirement bow around with you. That way you can stand back and still attack a group and the henchies will still attack. Of course you will need to change your weapon for healing but it works for distance calling (for my assassin anyway).

God, yeah. It's like they're protective of the corpse. Nobody touch him, he's mine!

To the OP: My monks hench more than they group. Once you get the ctrl+shift+space figured out and learn to stay well back, it'll be a little easier. I agree that there should be some basic henchie commands--this has been requested over and over again but falls on deaf ears.

I think they do that to show who they are resurrecting, or maybe that is theiw version of rebirth up-side-down. It only turns out bad when monsters are also whitin range, thus killing my only healer/protector.

The problem I find with using my monk with henchies is that after you target an enemy you need to be within aggro range in-order for the henchies to start fighting the target. Otherwise, the henchies will just stay by your side until your in aggro range. Most caster and support classes try to avoid the front lines, but this forces you to be on the front line for a moment just to get the fight started.

simple answer, ctrl+shift+space

like said before, it calls an target to attack, but you yourself do NOT attack. Henchies go running in, just like you would want.

I play as a smiter when I'm henching with my monk, problem solved.

That's true, so I usually call the target when I'm still out of aggro range, then go far enough so I just touch the closest baddie with my aggro circle. If you have a warrior hench in your party, they generally walk a little bit ahead of you, so sometimes you don't even if have to touch the baddie before the henchies take off after them.

I'm considering this for some of the more intense mission that my newest monk will try to hench, like Vizunah Square. I figured I'd go smite and let the healing henchies heal, but I'll have to keep that useless airhead Togo alive, I suppose. But yeah, I'll probably go smite when I want firepower and let the healer henchies do their thing.

we all know that henchmen AI is bad. i've always said the first thing that needs to be fixed in this game is the healer AI. alesia isn't chosen so she can go toe-to-toe with an enemy. she's chosen to stay back and heal and she simply doesn't do that.

You didn't read what I said. I know what Ctrl+Shift+Space does, but you and or henchies need to be within aggro range before any attacking will begin. If your just outside of a mobs aggro, then the henchies will stay by your side even after you've targeted a monster.

felinettes' solution is about the only thing you can do at the moment, but as a caster you still put yourself in danger by having to be the one to initiate the aggro.