The New Minion Bomber

Quote: Originally Posted by Bargamer

There's actually two bridges. The first one, when you cross, there's Afflicted pwning some Guards. When I was in that area, so long ago, I wasn't at lvl 20, so I usually chose to kill the Afflicted for XP. The Southern bridge indeed, has no enemies. Editted the quoted post for the other, lazier, route.

I find the explosive growth portion of it kind of redundant. It's nice when it works but the chances of it hitting many enemies is kind of low. So pretty much the best part about this build is that it allowed me to churn out more minions. Olias is also such a slacker when death nova is needed

I'm wondering if this build might not be better as a necromancer instead though. I've had times when I used taste of death on a minion and ... they didn't die. So playing this as a necromancer primary would have the creation phase (when boon is up) and the enchantment phase (to cast death nova). Rit spawning just makes the minions have more hp. Not 100% sure this is needed. Higher death stat due to items may be more useful.

Anyway, just wanted to leave my thoughts on this build.

Well, well, well. This has to be the FIRST time I've heard this arguement, in a polite manner. This warrents the same consideration.

Pre-Soul Reaping nerf, I would have been slightly inclined to agree with you. Now, though, it's slightly in the Rit's favor with regards to Energy management, which to a Necro, IS Creation.

Taste of Death not killing a minion? Yeah, it happens. Spawning Power just buffs them too much. In a heated fight however, they die soon enough from getting beaten on, or with another tap of Taste. Sure-fire kill-triggers include Animating past your Minion Cap, Reclaim Essence, Putrid Flesh, etc. Often though, the high HP allows me to target and cast Jagged and Nova on the doomed minion before it's beaten down.

Thirdly, a Necro-main Minion Bomber doesn't have access to skills similar to max-Spawning Explosive Growth and Spirit's Gift, which IMO, are key to the build. When you can't keep up the Novas, EG does the AOE-damage for you. When you can't shoot off random party heals, possibly on yourself, SG does it for you. When a Necro doesn't want to bring Verata's Sacrifice, Spawning Power does it for you. There's a lot of Rit-MMing that's automated, in exchange for pre-nerf SR. Now, Rits have the advantage.

The point of the build isn't to keep your minions alive, but to make them blow up as often as possible. Higher Death Magic? This would affect to a small degree half the skill bar, but most relevant, the level/armor/HP of the minions, which is largely un-important. In fact, a Necro Minion Bomber plays completely differently. In their case, they complement their melee minions with Fiends, as the DPS isn't high enough with just minions and Nova. For my example, I'm remembering the Maguuma Jungles in Prophesies. You might have a different build in mind. The Rit's minions... tank, sort of.

The odds of Explosive Growth hitting targets is really about the same as Death Nova, since enemies tend to clump together on your minions, and second-hand rumor, especially in Hard Mode. If only our minions obeyed flags... *Sigh.*

Your rebuttal, please?

i'm thinking of dusting off my old Rt/N left in factions and porting it over to nightfall.. after reading up on Jagged Bones.. capping the skill is nearly end game which makes me feel the urge not to.

Jagged Bones got nerfed, so you really don't need it anymore. Run with Flesh Golem, Reclaim Essense, or something else until you cap Jagged.

Honestly speaking, for the capping difficulty and recharge time, it's a pretty lousy elite. Necro-mains who usually bring lots of HRT mods appreciate it more, if they're not bringing OoU or something else.

But eh. Don't let Jagged Bones' end-game cap bring you down, just play through the game until then.

You guys ever heard of elite tomes?

Quote: Originally Posted by ArKaiN

Heh if that doesnt look like the Rt/N build from waaaay back at the start of factions! With the nerf to SR, it might be a little more competitive now. What I remember to be most annoying was conveying to your PUG member that you are indeed a MM.

Btw, why is there Karei's and Healing Circle in the hero bars? Seems to be pointless to me.

- Xeeron

Quote: Originally Posted by dicecube

Xeeron: You talking about the Necro Hero section, when you first get him? Because essentially, I haven't played a Necro-main since Factions started. That means that my idea of a Necro-main MM is still the Prophesies build. Minions + Heal Area = Old School MM. If someone would like to suggest something else for my Necros to do, make a post. But as of right now, my Heroes are Tah, Dunkoro, and either Razah or Zhed.

And while I'm on the subject of posts, could you Elite skill tome nuts keep it down? I've already had to endure this kind of stupidity ONCE already. *Cough.*AnimateBoneMinionsIsTWOMinions.*Cough.* (Maybe if I got one, even a non-elite, I'd feel differently. )

My rit runs a bomber build...works very well, actually. I have Razah setup the same build, and I find he has NO problem keeping enchants up...just put them at the front of the bar, and he has them up pretty much always. Puts out Nova's like a madman too. Now, with him, I wasn't sure how useful Explosive Growth actually was. Playing the build myself, where I SEE all the damage numbers popping up from it...no way is it leaving my skillbar.

First off, thanks to everyone for another 4K views in 2-3 months. Minion Bombers FTW!

Secondly, is anyone else seeing improved Enchantment AI for Razah or any of the other Heroes and Henchies?

Finally, and this is way out there, if the Weapon Spell buff comes true, it might be funny to spam Splinter Weapon on a buncha minions, and see what kinda numbers come out. Would have to drop Resto and add Communing, though. :-p

Ok, just tested Razah in Vizunah Square, and I noticed no difference with his Enchantment AI. He STILL keeps running out of Energy because he doesn't maintain Boon.

LAWL, the Home page proved it. Gogogo Splinter Weapon! Not just for R/Rits anymore. Oh, and SR still sucks. Sorry, Necros.

Man, I hope they fix the AI. And add the changes I keep wishing for. C'mooooon, Cycle-Minion-Button! I have SO many enchants and weapon spells I wanna drop on minions, especially Flesh Golem. Is it a balance problem? I want to know!

You understand that people seeing this thread periodically doesn't mean anyone actually plays minion bombers, right? I've seen one ingame since I started playing a year ago, and he sucked ballz.
Car crashes get a lot of views also. Thats why they cause traffic.

You're welcome to watch me play. Granted, my build might be going against the "Rits = Spirits" grain, but hey, I'm quirky, Rits are quirky, that's why I love them. Well, that and the "making things go BOOM" aspect. Without being a Fire Nuker! XDDD

Well, I'm definitely getting GW:EN. The new skill Putrid Bile seems like it will replace Death Nova on your own skillbar, and Razah can pick and choose. Without the required minion-selecting, this build should become more popular, at least until the game goes live, and we see if any other possibilities crop up.

Putrid Bile, for those of you who don't have the Guild Wars Wiki bookmarked. It's almost like an Afflicted Explosion hex, except you're blowing up just your enemies. Jeez, what is it with my build and the Putrid stuff? Putrid Flesh, Putrid Explosion, now Putrid Bile...

I'd deleted my gw.dat file a while back while freeing up memory for LOTR Online, so most of my play time was spent waiting for the darn thing to load. Once I'd hit the Eye of the North, I went straight for the Skill Merchant. Oh noes! I was broke! A few minutes of spamming Trade to sell Peppermint CC got me nowhere, so it was back to Vizunah Square for money. A few failed runs and one successful later, I had a cool 3K.

After checking out the available skills, I decided to go with MoW for Signet of Lost Souls and Putrid Bile. Death Nova, Animate Shambling, Deathly Swarm, Icy Veins, Bitter Chill, and Rez Chant rounded out his bar, so onward I went. The only change to my own bar was my aforementioned Death Nova -> Bile. And that was my first 3 hours of GWEN.

Check this thread tomorrow for the further adventures of Soy Oil and Master of Whispers, the invincible duo!

Finished the Primary Quests that are possible. Got my 2 Monumental Tapestries, and you get one for free, and basically running around wondering which I should do next. Dwarven Boxing is pretty fun, reminds me of my days on poor Bargamer the Wammo. Nowadays he's just a mule.

Defense of the Eye and Mano a Norno were pretty easy, actually. For that solo battle, I switched to a Rit Lord spirit build, and just basically Shadowsong, Pain, and Rupture Soul-ed him to death.

I've been trying out this build for a couple days now. I had a MM back in the Prophecies days but I like the idea of the "bomber rit". Kind of finding it tough to get the Novas on my minions, everytime I click on one, they scramble around and I can't tell which have Novas on em =/

Probably need some more practice.
Thanks for the build ideas=)