Animate Guardian

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HexingCurse wrote:
So from all the replies I've been reading, even as a summoner these are useless for the investment in endgame maps? I use BoR+Monte'gruls sceptre zombies, and 6L spectres, will the guardian even make a difference in 73+ maps?

Short answer: no.
Long answer: with some really good 2h and 6linked gem setup with cast on death guardian will be hitting for about 20-100% of damage of 1 montregul's zombie, depends on your zombie gem setup.
Last edited by kepler45 on Dec 6, 2013, 6:33:35 AM
Quick question; What's Animate Guardian's base health at gem level 20?
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kepler45 wrote:
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HexingCurse wrote:
So from all the replies I've been reading, even as a summoner these are useless for the investment in endgame maps? I use BoR+Monte'gruls sceptre zombies, and 6L spectres, will the guardian even make a difference in 73+ maps?

Short answer: no.
Long answer: with some really good 2h and 6linked gem setup with cast on death guardian will be hitting for about 20-100% of damage of 1 montregul's zombie, depends on your zombie gem setup.

that is to bad. think the skill is a cool ideal
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netreader01 wrote:
Lochtonial Caress item didn't work at animate guardian.
I wanted my guardian to share his charges for me but it didn't work.
Yes, I saw he got frenzy, power, endurance charges just for himself.
Can anyone tell me why it doesn't work?


Glad you posted this before I tried, and there is no reason it shouldn't work. If he has any charges, he should share them with players. Probably an oversight, I suspect GGG never thought about minions potentially having Player Passives such as Conduit.

Things such as Leer Cast and Zahndethus' Cassock do work on him, and will benefit you and your party. Pretty much the ONLY use I've found for him is as a 2L support unit (Animate Guardian + Minion Life). I still wouldn't use him for any bosses with crazy burst though.
Last edited by Moose65 on Dec 7, 2013, 7:09:43 AM
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Moose65 wrote:
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netreader01 wrote:
Lochtonial Caress item didn't work at animate guardian.
I wanted my guardian to share his charges for me but it didn't work.
Yes, I saw he got frenzy, power, endurance charges just for himself.
Can anyone tell me why it doesn't work?


Glad you posted this before I tried, and there is no reason it shouldn't work. If he has any charges, he should share them with players. Probably an oversight, I suspect GGG never thought about minions potentially having Player Passives such as Conduit.

Things such as Leer Cast and Zahndethus' Cassock do work on him, and will benefit you and your party. Pretty much the ONLY use I've found for him is as a 2L support unit (Animate Guardian + Minion Life). I still wouldn't use him for any bosses with crazy burst though.


Oh, that's pretty nice though. Zahndethus Cassock is something like 5% life regen on that sanctified ground.

I tried the Cast on Death trick, and even with that, a rather nice 2H mace and multistrike, his damage still wasn't better than a Mon'tregul zombie. Certainly not worth the cost of the mace, but if I could just keep him alive getting that Consecrated Ground and Leer Cast boost would make him at least worth a gem slot. Until he dies.
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Quick question; What's Animate Guardian's base health at gem level 20?



I'm guessing that since it uses the base templar model it also uses our base character hp growth at a level that it can equip those levels at at a similar progression to how a real character is. So what I'm guessing at level 20 it has 50 + (73*8) + gear mods which is then multiplied by minion health effects....



so without gear to boost it maybe 1176 before minion hp boosts or a hp boost gem @level 20.
... less then half a single skeleton.


Lets say this is a summoner with +100% hp from nodes, +50% hp from gear, level 20 minion life gem at 20%, level 20 guardian and all gear is +50 hp per piece (6*50).......


3,128 hp... when a single zombie would likely be closer to the 10k mark by itself.... and skeletons likely are reaching 3k each by now.





Its just a guess but from what I saw with the skill its what I'm thinking its hp scaling is. Even with heavy investment and not horrid gear I'm guessing (and experienced in game) that its about as strong as a single skeleton and just a utterly worthless skill that is actually worse off then a empty skill gem slot.....
Last edited by Jiero on Dec 8, 2013, 3:15:08 AM
Yep, guardian's way too squishy, especially for the effort you have to put into putting together a decent guardian. I'm currently playing a bow ranger, so i'm not expecting a supertank that stands forever or anything, but some kind of mobile decoy to keep away some enemies for me. Much like the Valkyre from D2, if you remember that. He doesn't have to stand forever, neither does the guardian have to deal any damage or so, i'd just like him to tank at least SOME damage.

That's the major drawback of the skill, unfortunately. Beside that, it's kinda stupid that you effectivly can't use the skill on high level maps AT ALL, unless you go back and get some lower level items in, say, the Library first. ilvl73 is max without Empower, like what? There's no other skill in the game that has his kind of restriction (except animate weapon, which is messed up aswell so...).

Losing uniques when the guardian dies is also kinda stupid i feel. There's cool stuff you could do with the guardian if you weren't in danger to lose the invested unique. Maybe drop them back to your stash/inventory with minimum possible rolls once the guardian dies?


I love the idea, hopefully GGG will rework the skill. If they do, i'm so gonna play a witch with Guardian as a decoy and spelldamage to kill stuff. Looking forward to this!
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Moose65 wrote:
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netreader01 wrote:
Lochtonial Caress item didn't work at animate guardian.
I wanted my guardian to share his charges for me but it didn't work.
Yes, I saw he got frenzy, power, endurance charges just for himself.
Can anyone tell me why it doesn't work?


Glad you posted this before I tried, and there is no reason it shouldn't work.
Yes there is. Conduit shares charges with party members. The Guardian, like other minions, is an ally in that it's on your side, but it is never a member of your party.
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ahcos wrote:
Yep, guardian's way too squishy, especially for the effort you have to put into putting together a decent guardian. I'm currently playing a bow ranger, so i'm not expecting a supertank that stands forever or anything, but some kind of mobile decoy to keep away some enemies for me. Much like the Valkyre from D2, if you remember that. He doesn't have to stand forever, neither does the guardian have to deal any damage or so, i'd just like him to tank at least SOME damage.

That's the major drawback of the skill, unfortunately. Beside that, it's kinda stupid that you effectivly can't use the skill on high level maps AT ALL, unless you go back and get some lower level items in, say, the Library first. ilvl73 is max without Empower, like what? There's no other skill in the game that has his kind of restriction (except animate weapon, which is messed up aswell so...).

Losing uniques when the guardian dies is also kinda stupid i feel. There's cool stuff you could do with the guardian if you weren't in danger to lose the invested unique. Maybe drop them back to your stash/inventory with minimum possible rolls once the guardian dies?


I love the idea, hopefully GGG will rework the skill. If they do, i'm so gonna play a witch with Guardian as a decoy and spelldamage to kill stuff. Looking forward to this!


how in the world has this not been fixed/why release the skill like this? the animate guardian is basically gimped because you can never use high end items to make him even if you were willing to feed the beast and devote sockets to support him.

come on ggg, you come here to explain the difference between ally and party member, you can tell us there your on it and be patient.

the iron golem has a proud and noble history, he deserves better than this.
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That's the major drawback of the skill, unfortunately. Beside that, it's kinda stupid that you effectivly can't use the skill on high level maps AT ALL, unless you go back and get some lower level items in, say, the Library first. ilvl73 is max without Empower, like what? There's no other skill in the game that has his kind of restriction
This is being looked at. We're not going to change it as a knee-jerk reaction, but are looking at potential improvements to the skill, including looking at the level requirement.

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