+2 Minion Helm...Zombies or Skeletons?

zombies 100%......

skeletons = bombs... no need.

spectre doenst get much benefit. just more 5% damge ?? iguess

No love for speed ? Come on .. i know you want those fast zombies too ;)

"

Nithon wrote:

No love for speed ? Come on .. i know you want those fast zombies too ;)

speed is the most crappy support gem u can give your minoins
they move fast enough
if u run 2 fast they teleport to u
and if they dont attack they are stuck behind somting ( minoin speed wont fix this )

if your on hc i can give u 15% minoin speed for ( 15% other crappy gem )

This is how you do it.

Also, for those stating that skeletons are not any more useful than attaching them to a totem, it would be to my understanding that those persons have no idea how invaluable instant skeleton positioning is with large groups of mobs end-game.

"

Elynole wrote:

This is how you do it.

Also, for those stating that skeletons are not any more useful than attaching them to a totem, it would be to my understanding that those persons have no idea how invaluable instant skeleton positioning is with large groups of mobs end-game.

Mid game though, casting skeletons manually is absolutely unsustainable. My lvl 50 summoner witch tremendously increased in killing speed once i gave in and linked my skeletons to a totem.

I am also not very fond of my zombies in general, because they aren't where I need them - in the enemies' faces. To me skeletons and spectres are far more valuable (currently), so they would probably get priority for the + minion skill lvl gear

"

Cronos988 wrote:

Mid game though, casting skeletons manually is absolutely unsustainable. My lvl 50 summoner witch tremendously increased in killing speed once i gave in and linked my skeletons to a totem.

I am also not very fond of my zombies in general, because they aren't where I need them - in the enemies' faces. To me skeletons and spectres are far more valuable (currently), so they would probably get priority for the + minion skill lvl gear

I would of taken minion instability by then, and at that point skeletons still die fast enough to do a huge portion of damage if placed correctly. I find placements of your minions one of the most important aspects of playing a summoner, but that's just me - at any level.

Zombies I look at as more of a melee shield for you, I'd rather them run around me and not even attack anything but pick up the stray melees that come running from the side of the screen.

"

dragnar wrote:

"

Nithon wrote:

No love for speed ? Come on .. i know you want those fast zombies too ;)

speed is the most crappy support gem u can give your minoins
they move fast enough
if u run 2 fast they teleport to u
and if they dont attack they are stuck behind somting ( minoin speed wont fix this )

if your on hc i can give u 15% minoin speed for ( 15% other crappy gem )

i'll test them without speed but they feel very fast when i tell them where to attack, but i really hope you are right and i can socket something fancy

"

Elynole wrote:

I would of taken minion instability by then, and at that point skeletons still die fast enough to do a huge portion of damage if placed correctly. I find placements of your minions one of the most important aspects of playing a summoner, but that's just me - at any level.

Zombies I look at as more of a melee shield for you, I'd rather them run around me and not even attack anything but pick up the stray melees that come running from the side of the screen.

I was worried about minion placement myself, but in practice, it really isn't that big of a deal. The totem summons the skeletons right on top of mobs, which usually enables them to immediately start attacking, drawing aggro. After that, the entire screen is filled with skeletons anyways. Though I admit doorways are easier to handle while manually placing skeletons.

And on the subject of the totem preventing the MI explosion: If the enemy cannot kill my skeletons off in the time it takes my totem to go through a full cycle, it's not dangerous anyways.

Anyways, this is kinda derailing the thread. My main point was that for general gameplay, Skeltons > Zombies. Zombies might pick off a stray melee mob (if you are lucky and they actually notice) and eat a lot of arrows aimed at you, but it feels like the skellies are pulling the weight of defense, with the spectres being responsible for most of the damage.

"

Cronos988 wrote:

I am also not very fond of my zombies in general, because they aren't where I need them - in the enemies' faces.

Are you using a spell to guide them ?

I feel both my skels and my zombies do nothing compared to spectres. I have summon spectre, minion life, minion damage and LMP in my +2 helm.

4 spectres deal 10-20 times more damaage than all my zombies and skeletons combined. I do whatever I can to keep them alive. The zombies and skeletons can die as much as they want. Most of the time I never use skeletons apart from when I start playing to kill the first few monsters so I can make zombies. They are just too slow and their AI is retarded, they seem to run away most of the time.

I'm actually considering removing the points I have in extra skels/zombies in the passive tree because they are so useless compared to spectres. I only need a couple of zombies with extra fast movement speed to run up and distract certain monsters so they don't hit my spectres.