Remove +1-2 Minion from Helm

Every character regardless of their specialization needs to get defenses on gear to progress. However the people that rely upon minions to do the damage for them run into a problem, and that is the Helm. A problem that I have noticed in 0.2.0 running maps is that players need to have as much +minion level on gear as possible to scale minion damage and survivability, however they also need to increase survivability as well to progress through maps. When a helm drops that doesn't have +1 to minion level in campaign it goes straight to the vendor, when it doesn't have +2 to minion level in maps same deal, if you Exalted Orb a good base and it doesn't roll +2 minion to Helm same deal. It makes gearing up defensively even more extreme versus other builds. Now I will point out that adding a +1 to minion on Helm implicit chance with a Vaal Orb is a good idea, however for minion players again if it doesn't have +2 to minions already on it it's worthless. If it has +2 to minions and its the wrong base or has worse defenses than the one a player is using its worthless. Just cut out the +1-2 Minion from Helm and instead increase the scaling on Minion gem scaling. If you want to instead put %Increased minion attack or cast speed on helm like for melee gloves that would be reasonable and be something to target as well as leave the Vaal Orb chance for +1 minion implicit or spirit. But if minion builds specifically have to compromise their baseline survivability compared to other classes then that is a fundamental problem with minion builds and would be solved by removing the +1-2 to minion suffix and instead increasing minion damage survivability and spirit cost.

+1 hard agree.

Minions survivability is WAY too reliant on minion gem level. Basically all other builds only need gem levels for damage. Minions should just be tankier by default and minion level should be sources of minion DPS instead.

I think you have it backwards, your class has the benefit
of being able to roll +2 to their primary skill on helmets. Nothing stops you from prioritizing defenses.

If anything, it would be cool to have +skills on helmets for other classes.

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Tommo26#1554 wrote:

I think you have it backwards, your class has the benefit
of being able to roll +2 to their primary skill on helmets. Nothing stops you from prioritizing defenses.

If anything, it would be cool to have +skills on helmets for other classes.

Nope, the benefit is only for minions because spirit cost doesn't go up with level. For other skills, especially spells, they had ramped up mana cost so bad that you are actually considering to back down on spell levels until you can sustain it. For spells I played, damage/magnitude increase after lvl 20 is almost linear, but mana cost is anything but. Minions simply don't have access to increased minion damage/health on gear other than gem levels.

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Echothesis#7320 wrote:

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Tommo26#1554 wrote:

I think you have it backwards, your class has the benefit
of being able to roll +2 to their primary skill on helmets. Nothing stops you from prioritizing defenses.

If anything, it would be cool to have +skills on helmets for other classes.

Nope, the benefit is only for minions because spirit cost doesn't go up with level. For other skills, especially spells, they had ramped up mana cost so bad that you are actually considering to back down on spell levels until you can sustain it. For spells I played, damage/magnitude increase after lvl 20 is almost linear, but mana cost is anything but. Minions simply don't have access to increased minion damage/health on gear other than gem levels.

You're right that, while plus levels for other skills has a lot of damage, there is a downside of needing to also invest in more mana stats. If you can't keep up with the mana costs then you can potentially lose damage even. There are also many many other options to increase damage other than gem level if you don't want to bother with mana investment though.

However, for minions there is an opposite downside that is far more brutal. If you can't keep up with minion survivability you don't just lose some damage. You lose basically all of your damage since they fall like dominoes in practice. Minion survivaility on gear is extremely scarce and gem levels provide the most. You're essentially forced to pay the opposite downside for minion gem levels by irononicaly NOT investing into it.

Overall having the option of minion gem levels on gear is actually MORE design restricting than not having the option. It's such a weird outcome, but that's just how it is right now.

Weird take and makes zero sence. You say minions have a problem with survivablity but want minion level mod to be removed which directly impacts minion survivability.vThen remove "add x attack", "add melee skills", "add attack speed" on gloves also because they polute the mod pool for minion players. What makes even less sence is you being ok with changing minion level to attack speed or cast speed on helm. What's the point then? It will still polute your defensive mod pool and minion level is a way better option to keep. Maybe just ask for an actual deterministic craft system where you can actually craft an item with the desired mods?

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AIDA_TriEdge#4390 wrote:

Weird take and makes zero sence. You say minions have a problem with survivablity but want minion level mod to be removed which directly impacts minion survivability.vThen remove "add x attack", "add melee skills", "add attack speed" on gloves also because they polute the mod pool for minion players. What makes even less sence is you being ok with changing minion level to attack speed or cast speed on helm. What's the point then? It will still polute your defensive mod pool and minion level is a way better option to keep. Maybe just ask for an actual deterministic craft system where you can actually craft an item with the desired mods?

I want minion survivability and power to not be so desperately tied to 1 gear mod. I would prefer if minion life was innately buffed while simultaneously sources of + minion level were changed to increased minion damage.

I don't have a problem with minion damage mods existing on gear or even minion defense mods existing on gear. I believe the issue is that both are combined into 1 mod that is far more mandatory than any other type of + gem level. The default survivability of minions without having these mods feels way too under-tuned.

Imagine if players had half of the default mana regeneration rate, but leveling up your gems actually made your skills MORE mana efficient instead of less. That is kind of how minion gem levels feel right now. I Hope I made this make more sense.

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LVSviral#3689 wrote:

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AIDA_TriEdge#4390 wrote:

Weird take and makes zero sence. You say minions have a problem with survivablity but want minion level mod to be removed which directly impacts minion survivability.vThen remove "add x attack", "add melee skills", "add attack speed" on gloves also because they polute the mod pool for minion players. What makes even less sence is you being ok with changing minion level to attack speed or cast speed on helm. What's the point then? It will still polute your defensive mod pool and minion level is a way better option to keep. Maybe just ask for an actual deterministic craft system where you can actually craft an item with the desired mods?

I want minion survivability and power to not be so desperately tied to 1 gear mod. I would prefer if minion life was innately buffed while simultaneously sources of + minion level were changed to increased minion damage.

I don't have a problem with minion damage mods existing on gear or even minion defense mods existing on gear. I believe the issue is that both are combined into 1 mod that is far more mandatory than any other type of + gem level. The default survivability of minions without having these mods feels way too under-tuned.

Imagine if players had half of the default mana regeneration rate, but leveling up your gems actually made your skills MORE mana efficient instead of less. That is kind of how minion gem levels feel right now. I Hope I made this make more sense.

But having minion gem level is still a better option than having seperate defence and damage mods. Since you then have more mod spaces for other mods and instead of chasing 2 seperate ones you only need to get one minion level mod.

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But having minion gem level is still a better option than having seperate defence and damage mods. Since you then have more mod spaces for other mods and instead of chasing 2 seperate ones you only need to get one minion level mod.

That's not technically what I mean. What I mean is that there should still only be 1 mod. Minion level on gear should be replaced with minion damage. The base life of minions should also just be buffed for minions at all levels.

Given the fact that minions are generally underpowered right now (compared to 0.1 at least), there is absolutely no reason to remove that mod. In fact, what we need is more specialized items for minion mods to roll on (like we had e.g. bone rings in poe1).