nico27 wrote:Trying this build. Few questions:
- Does life after each kill apply for totem/summon kills?
- Is there a point in stacking minion resists past the 75% cap to prevent enemy pierce? Does it work like with your own resists? Otherwise, I hit the cap pretty easily, I think I should mix my crafting with more fascinating crafts/bless, feels a bit of a waste to use magical just for the life.
Few comments also,
I'm now in the midgame heading for endgame (I have about 15 charms), with mostly crafts and lazarus chest which I was incredibly lucky to find very early on, exept for the staff, because I couldn't find a damn marrow staff to craft, so I kept my early choice: ngozi runeword (for the hounfor/pagan rites Oskills, +20% spell dmg), which I find really useful and powerful for being a very cheap item (kra rw, made it while still in terror). So, the comments: I tried playing with jinn at the start but recently I changed for death ward because I found that I was so much squishier than my army so whenever enemies got to me I just died very easily while my minions were tanking no problem. Also, the jinns turned out to be the weakest summon (excluding the lamia which I don't even summon), they died so much faster than the skeletal flayers. Maybe later on I will need that pierce but for this stage of the game I find my damage quite good enough, so I chose to focus on my own defense and it made a difference, it allows for a more relaxed gameplay throughout the middlegame where you can kill stuff without focusing too much on maximising damage. Then, another skill that I'm using is Black Mass, which I saw you put 1 point into but you don't mention it anywhere (didn't see all the videos to check whether you're using it). I find it very useful right after teleporting for the speed, so that the minions get faster to new targets every time.
Life after kill does not apply to you from totem/minion kills.
75% is the cap minion res in destruction, so there's no need to roll for that or MO it once you hit that number.
If you don't yet have a crafted marrow staff, the TU marrow staff is wonderful. If you've found a way to play more comfortably, then go for it. There isn't a right or wrong way to play. HechtHeftig's summoner guide chooses Death Ward as a more defensive approach instead of Jinn.
Jinn are chosen for this setup since they give a lot of pierce, which can be very difficult to come by, but also adding a new set of meat shields to your army. The reason they always die first (I noticed this often as well, especially in Tran Athulua farming) is because they're fire immune. They didn't receive the base 30% DR (I think it was 30) that the other minions received when magic immunity was removed in the 2017 patch introduction.
As for Black Mass, I make use of it in certain areas (great for Toraja), but often am teleporting --> Boneyard --> teleport --> Boneyard so quickly that stopping for a few seconds in between each teleport just to let minions spread out wider felt too inefficient, especially since they'll be the ones taking the damage anyways. Black Mass has a funky mechanic with the rapid cast as well. It takes a moment after stopping cast before you can use another skill. I noticed it most often in Toraja when I Black Mass'd to spread Edyrem and minions around, then tried to teleport to one in front of a mob of archers right away and it took 2-3 cast animations to actually teleport.
Suggestion maybe if you're taking too much damage is to teleport to a more open area instead of closer to the enemies. Having that extra step or two of space allows your minions to spread out more easily (though not really necessary, as you might see in the Fauztinville video for Black Road. There, your goal is to make sure they're almost always on top of you, soaking up the hits. If you let them spread out, you're more likely to get nicked by a piercing necrobot laser).
Thanks for the feedback too. Hopefully it goes well from here.