Animate Guardian - The Thread [Giving it a 2nd chance]

Mechanics:
~ You can summon an animate guardian with every equipment except belt or jewelry
~ Only melee weapons work
~ Treat it like a melee character(or zombie)
~ Taking the animate guardian gem out will desummon it
~ Putting it in a +2 helm will make it +2(just insert it into a red gem slot after you summon your zombie)
~ above mechanic could potentially save your animate guardian from dying and use it only when u know its safe
~ minion snap shotting works just like a zombie however every time u zone into a new area if u took those support gems off it will forget it had it. So if your going to do the switch make sure to connect the support gems and put it in the same red slot. However once u re-zone again into a new area the support gems will be gone. This makes minion snapshotting impractical.
~ They cannot use trigger gems

Support gem combos
mstrike + faster atk + melee physical + life leach + meleesplash

So does that mean each time you enter a new zone, it will check its support gems (and possibly the gem itself)? If so, that solves part of the problem with the guardian not being able to drop its gear on death and losing out on gem level bonuses + new supports.

I still think its not very useful until it is capable of dropping gear upon death. There are so many nice options you could do from making it a utility minion with leer cast or into a tank with Crest of Perandus + Bringer of Rain or Zahndethus' Cassock.

Anyways, I really hope this guy gets a re-work, specifically, it dropping gear upon death (allocated to you only obviously). Having your own customizable minion would add a whole new level of fun to the game.

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So does that mean each time you enter a new zone, it will check its support gems (and possibly the gem itself)

Ive done tons of experimenting on AG. Ive spent more currency than I care to admit building a mega AG (I call him Sam, he is dear to me) over multiple characters trying to see what he can do.

Unlike Zombies, AG refreshes upon zoning. It re-checks its own gem, all support gems, your minion buffing gear, etc.

What this means is you can load up on Minion gear (double Midnights, Sids) and zone into a place. Once you are in you can swap out your minion gear for your normal stuff (as long as he wasnt in one of those pieces of gear) so he maintains the bonuses and you wont get instant-exploded.

With certain gear you can make AG absolutely ridiculous. As long as he is slotted with Minion Resist, and you run Purity of Elements (or the appropriate element buff) and Grace/Determination he can basically solo act bosses in Merciless. With gear you can buy off the trade channels for no more than 1.5c he 3 shot Weaver in Merc. Sam is strong.

AG is by far the most underrated skill in the game with huge potential. I still would like to test things like facebreakers (does the code prevent an AG with breakers from using a weapon?) and maybe something insane like Bringer of Rain to test if he can still wear a chest piece with it on.

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MaxBonerstorm wrote:

"

So does that mean each time you enter a new zone, it will check its support gems (and possibly the gem itself)

Ive done tons of experimenting on AG. Ive spent more currency than I care to admit building a mega AG (I call him Sam, he is dear to me) over multiple characters trying to see what he can do.

Unlike Zombies, AG refreshes upon zoning. It re-checks its own gem, all support gems, your minion buffing gear, etc.

What this means is you can load up on Minion gear (double Midnights, Sids) and zone into a place. Once you are in you can swap out your minion gear for your normal stuff (as long as he wasnt in one of those pieces of gear) so he maintains the bonuses and you wont get instant-exploded.

With certain gear you can make AG absolutely ridiculous. As long as he is slotted with Minion Resist, and you run Purity of Elements (or the appropriate element buff) and Grace/Determination he can basically solo act bosses in Merciless. With gear you can buy off the trade channels for no more than 1.5c he 3 shot Weaver in Merc. Sam is strong.

AG is by far the most underrated skill in the game with huge potential. I still would like to test things like facebreakers (does the code prevent an AG with breakers from using a weapon?) and maybe something insane like Bringer of Rain to test if he can still wear a chest piece with it on.

i would very much interested in how to achieve that, AG so far can only be another weak tank for me, and as a summer, even one slot is too much. just what exactly is that right gear? thx a lot

"

MaxBonerstorm wrote:

"

So does that mean each time you enter a new zone, it will check its support gems (and possibly the gem itself)

Ive done tons of experimenting on AG. Ive spent more currency than I care to admit building a mega AG (I call him Sam, he is dear to me) over multiple characters trying to see what he can do.

Unlike Zombies, AG refreshes upon zoning. It re-checks its own gem, all support gems, your minion buffing gear, etc.

What this means is you can load up on Minion gear (double Midnights, Sids) and zone into a place. Once you are in you can swap out your minion gear for your normal stuff (as long as he wasnt in one of those pieces of gear) so he maintains the bonuses and you wont get instant-exploded.

With certain gear you can make AG absolutely ridiculous. As long as he is slotted with Minion Resist, and you run Purity of Elements (or the appropriate element buff) and Grace/Determination he can basically solo act bosses in Merciless. With gear you can buy off the trade channels for no more than 1.5c he 3 shot Weaver in Merc. Sam is strong.

AG is by far the most underrated skill in the game with huge potential. I still would like to test things like facebreakers (does the code prevent an AG with breakers from using a weapon?) and maybe something insane like Bringer of Rain to test if he can still wear a chest piece with it on.

I don't see any Animate Guardian surviving Merc Dominus, which means all the currency you spent goes down the drain on a skill that still needs much more work.

"

i would very much interested in how to achieve that, AG so far can only be another weak tank for me, and as a summer, even one slot is too much. just what exactly is that right gear? thx a lot

Gear I use for Late Normal, Cruel:

Weapon: Blood Reaper (NOT Reaper's Pursuit)

This is most important and you will use this for quite a while. If you socket AG in a nice +1/2 helm then you can have him equip this quite early. The downside of the weapon does not apply to him (mana cost increase) but all that life steal, life, regen keeps him alive amazingly well. The damage is just fine for quite a while, and the bleed on it is ridiculously useful. No one uses this item and can be easily bought for 1c. A must have

Armor: Ambu's Charge

Another piece no one uses. This gives a good amount of Armor/ES, resist all, and more importantly regen and endurance charges for free. 1c for something that your AG will wear for a long time.

Helmet: Leer Cast/Deid's Bell

If you can't find a nice resist helm for him to wear, just pick up one of these for 1c. Why Leer Cast? Well, I confirmed that if you give your AG a Leer Cast the Aura does indeed buff you. Free Damage. There is two major upsides to this:

1) Most Summoners use Matua Tupuna. Leer Cast is counted as an aura so Tupuna buffs that incoming damage. Also, if you get Inner Force, that's even more damage buffed. Want to go next level? Give your AG Tupuna, wear one yourself and you also wear Leer Cast. They stack, confirmed. Not only that but since Leer Casts damage increase is considered an aura it is buffed by every "increased aura effect" node in your tree

2) From my testing (I could be wrong) Animate Guardian is not affected by the 30% damage reduction. Its literally free damage to your entire team.

If you want your dude to do tons of damage, Deidbell is the way to go. The armor is all he needs for a while, the 30% gives him a real nice boost. The "cannot leech on low life" does not matter at all, since you will have Rejuv Totems, Minion Pots, Ambu's Passive and his own Life Leech healing him.

Boots: Lionseye's Paw / Anything with MS and Resist / Blood Dance

Lionseye is nice because its super cheap, again 1c. You absolutely 100% want minion speed WITHOUT socketing the Minion Speed gem. This means get a quality AG (not hard at all, no one uses it. I got a 19% for 1c) and MS boots. The more time he spends moving the less time he does damage, which is bad, MMK.

Ideally, you want a nice pair of resist, MS boots with maybe some life on them, however, Blood Dance boots also work very nice. Why? Cheap for one, but gives MS per frenzy charge, free frenzy charges, free life regen, and awesome little Sam tracks so you never lose the little guy. The passive on these boots also make him hit bosses for tons and tons of damage when they hit 30% life. Again, 1c.


Gloves: Hrimsorrow, Ondar's Clasp, Slitherpinch, Facebreakers*

This part is all optional. Ideally, get attack speed. If you can find cheap Slitherpinches and really want to keep your AG alive, go for it. I really like Ondar's Clasp here. 30% attack speed will almost always be up because of the ES on Ambu's. This is faceroll attack speed status. Hrimsorrows for cold damage utility if you like your Sam chain freezing groups.

I am looking to get cheap Facebreakers because I have a feeling AG is not coded the same way players are. I think you might be able to get that huge damage boost WHILE USING A WEAPON. MAYBE. Ill keep you updated.

Pick this stuff up and throw it into your AG. Slot your AG with Minion Resist, Melee Splash, Faster Attacks, and Minion Damage/Multistrike/Life Gain on Hit (whatever you prefer here. I use a 5/6L for mine and use Resist, Splash (for trash mobs), Faster Attacks, Minion Damage, Multistrike, Life Leech/LGoH. Swap out Splash for whatever you want for big bosses.)

Absolutely 100% assure you that you will fall in love with your non-expensive bro. I love my Sam.

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I don't see any Animate Guardian surviving Merc Dominus

People do Merc Dominus? Maps, man. Maps.

Oh, I would like to also add this is with absolutely zero points into anything minion in my passive tree.

I would definitely try that if I didn't lose all those uniques upon logout.

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I would definitely try that if I didn't lose all those uniques upon logout.

You dont. AG is persistent.

You only lose those items if:

a) he dies
b) you die
c) you unequip the gem and either wait 10+ mins to requip it or unequip then zone

Thats it. All that stuff you give him stays with you until you do something stupid.

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People do Merc Dominus? Maps, man. Maps.

No offense, but if your still suggesting Matua Tupuna your not doing the high level maps.

Sorry, but hes not gonna be good till hes re-worked. All it takes is one map with some semi-nasty mods with the right creatures and you blew what, 5 chaos minimum? Not to mention his suicide AI makes it far too annoying to constantly babysit him.

He eats up 4 Sockets and even with all that gear will STILL have trouble competing against zombies for damage/usefulness.