Meat Shield + Feeding Frenzy results in defensive AI when combined

From the Necromancer gem reveals, referring to Meat Shield + Feeding Frenzy:

"

If minions are both Aggressive and Defensive, those effects cancel out, returning the minions to their original behaviour. All other bonuses from [Feeding Frenzy and Meat Shield] still apply.

This is not the case. Minions supported by both of these gems are ONLY defensive. They do not go where you cast, nor do they attack anything that isn't close to you. Tested with both Animate Guardian and Zombies. Removing both returns them to their default AI.

(actually not sure if I prefer it like this or not, honestly...)

I was curious as to how exactly this worked, I did a little (non-empirical) testing, attempting to figure out why these two do not cancel out exactly. Warning for wall of text:


->Minions follow your cursor when you attack, move, or cast a spell. Instant spells and warcries do not work. Moving your cursor while not issuing a command will not cause the minions to move, hanging around where you last issued a command. Almost like an invisible beacon where you last clicked.

->Minions will attack enemies within an area around this beacon. This area seems to increase with feeding frenzy, and decrease with meat shield support. This range is probably the aggro range talked about. Having both returns the aggro range to original.

->If the minions find themselves outside the beacon radius, they will move to be inside the beacon radius. This is how you get minions to move with you. If there is an enemy along the path to the beacon, they will not attack it unless it is inside the aggro radius of the beacon.

-> If there is an enemy inside the beacon aggro range and the minion is outside it, the minion will attack straightaway, rather than running to the beacon and then attacking (needs further testing).

->SRS and summon skeletons probably work without these beacons in mind, as when spawned they either aggro enemies or end up just standing there. This is probably the reason as to why the aggro range of skeletons is larger than the feeding frenzy aggro range; because, if it wasn't, they would literally just stand there once anything nearby was dead.

-> If minions are really far away from you, they will do either one of two things. Regular minions will teleport to your position. SRS and Skeletons will despawn.

->The big thing that meat shield does is that this beacon is placed at your feet for attacks or spells, and your cursor for move only. Meat shield minions will still run toward this beacon for move commands, and potentially run in front of you if they are much faster than you. However, they will no longer move for anything else. If you run and then attack, this movement beacon is placed at your feet and your meat shield minions return to you.

-> beside altering the aggro range, Feeding Frenzy does not change anything regarding minion behavior.

-> thus, if you use both meat shield and feeding frenzy, the aggro range is returned to normal, but the beacon is at your feet for any attacks or spells.


The wording about this in https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2623295 makes it seem as if these effects cancel each other out perfectly, but they don't.

I used meat shield support with my zombies while using cyclone in my current build. The zombies, supported by meat shield, will just be following my feet. Since the zombies only moved once they got out of radius, it results in the minions always trailing behind me. Without meat shield, however, the minions just followed the cursor while I was using cyclone.


While I was testing, I figured out that there is a way to have the effects cancel out. The game seems to always keep track of where you are standing and where you are attacking while using an attack or spell. Using some simple vector mathematics, you can calculate a point between where you are standing and attacking, and send minions there instead. They will literally stand between you and where you are attacking, as a meat shield. Hell, with feeding frenzy support, you can have the minions overshoot where you are attacking. If you then equip both of these, you can have the changes to minions locations cancel out, and return their behavior to normal.