+2 Minion Helm...Zombies or Skeletons?

I have a pretty nice 4 link +2 Minion Helm and am not sure whether to put the Skeletons or Zombies in it. The decision is a little tough since the only stat shown for minions is their life.

Skeleton Life is 3958 without the +2, with it, it goes to 5356. Zombie life without the +2 is 8482 and with it is 11476. I have a maximum of 10 Skeletons and 6 Zombies. Part of me thinks I should put the Skeletons in there since during maps, in heavy AoE situations the zombies don't last very long and I typically sit there resummoning Skeletons until Minion Instability withers down the enemies.

What configuration would you guys use?

Put zombies in it and get a spell totem to cast your skeletons. One time mana cost near infinite suicide bombers.

Zombies ftw!

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HackrOnSteroids wrote:

Put zombies in it and get a spell totem to cast your skeletons. One time mana cost near infinite suicide bombers.

I'm not a fan of putting Skeletons on a totem as a Necromancer. In a heavy AoE situation where I need to constantly resummon Skeletons, the totem has no chance of surviving. In all other situations, the Skeletons live long enough to deal damage and eventually explode dealing even more damage. A skeleton totem in the second situation is going to resummon Skeletons before they've had a chance to explode, lowering my damage output. I also don't trust the AI to summon them where I want them. Mana cost is not an issue for me, I have 150 mana regen per second and the skeletons cost about 140 per cast, so I can sit there and spam.

Skeleton totems are only good in my opinion for non-Necromancers that use them purely as a distraction, and not a source of damage.

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CK011885 wrote:

Skeleton totems are only good in my opinion for non-Necromancers that use them purely as a distraction, and not a source of damage.

This is the only purpose of skeletons, whether in a totem or not.

For a summoner, a Skeletotem is a source of distraction and damage. Its all about placement of the totem which makes the difference.

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Dhrakken wrote:

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CK011885 wrote:

Skeleton totems are only good in my opinion for non-Necromancers that use them purely as a distraction, and not a source of damage.

This is the only purpose of skeletons, whether in a totem or not.

That's definitely not true, my skeletons deal a good amount of damage with the Added Chaos Damage support gem and Anger & Hatred auras. I also use Elemental Equilibrium with Arc to lower mob's Fire and Cold resist, increasing the damage even further. The lowered Fire Resist also makes Minion Instability do even more.

Also as a summoner, using a skeletotem as a way to scout out rooms is a great technique to avoid being over run.

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Jiman wrote:

Also as a summoner, using a skeletotem as a way to scout out rooms is a great technique to avoid being over run.

You can just summon a pair of skeletons into the room, it's very easy. o.O I really think way too many people are using Skeleton totems and gimping themselves.

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CK011885 wrote:

I have a pretty nice 4 link +2 Minion Helm and am not sure whether to put the Skeletons or Zombies in it. The decision is a little tough since the only stat shown for minions is their life.

Skeleton Life is 3958 without the +2, with it, it goes to 5356. Zombie life without the +2 is 8482 and with it is 11476. I have a maximum of 10 Skeletons and 6 Zombies. Part of me thinks I should put the Skeletons in there since during maps, in heavy AoE situations the zombies don't last very long and I typically sit there resummoning Skeletons until Minion Instability withers down the enemies.

What configuration would you guys use?

Why choose one or the other? Why not just drop the added chaos damage and use both? I love unlimited fodder.