Minion

Overview
Minions (a.k.a "Animated Undead") are undead servants animated by a Necromancer. A necromancer can use specific skills to exploit any nearby corpse, raising from it one or more minions. A Necromancer whose strategy focuses around the raising and maintenance of minions are called minion masters.

Minions are very handy as they follow their master closely and serve as tanks and cannon fodder. At high levels, they become formidable damage dealers in great numbers. Their biggest drawback is their constant health degeneration. Minions are considered a subcategory of summoned creatures.

Minion Varieties
There are eight kinds of minions in the game:

Summoning Minions

 * Minion Level: A minion's level is dependent on caster's Death Magic attribute rank and minion type. Higher level minions have more health, greater armor, and stronger attacks.
 * Number of Minions: A character can control 2 minions plus one for every two Attribute points in Death Magic, allowing primary and secondary Necromancers to control up to 10 and 8 minions respectively.
 * If a new summons will create too many Minions, the one with the fewest remaining hit points will die. Flesh Golems that die as a result will leave an exploitable corpse (unless the new Minion is also a Flesh Golem).
 * Minions Require Corpses: Raising minions requires a supply of corpses. Only Fleshy creatures leave exploitable corpses, so, ironically, Minion Masters are at a disadvantage combating the Undead.
 * Soul Reaping: The death of your minion will trigger the Soul Reaping energy bonus, refunding all or part of the summoning cost.
 * Minion Size: A minion's level determines its size, as the picture shows.

Minions in Combat

 * Attack Speed: Minions attack once every 3.17 seconds (Exception: Bone Fiends).
 * Holy Damage: Minions, as Undead, suffer doubly from Holy Damage
 * Minion AI: Minions do not use pet AI: they do not always attack the same target as their master; they do attack hostile creatures that enter their aggro circle; and they do not respond to called targets.
 * Minion Damage: Minions do physical damage unless under the influence of a skill that alters damage type (e.g. Greater Conflagration, Judge's Insight).
 * Critical Hits: Minions can inflict critical hits. Like animal companions, minion critical hits do not automatically inflict maximum damage.

Minion Health &amp; Effect of Spells on Minions

 * Health Degeneration: Minions are subject to constant health degeneration:
 * Upon summoning, minions already suffer 1 pip degeneration (equal to -2 Health/sec), increasing an additional pip every 20 seconds which can surpass the character health degeneration cap of -10 pips, counteracting any regenerative skills you might cast.
 * Healing Minions: Minions can be healed by any regenerative skills, including Necromancer spells (e.g. Verata's Sacrifice or Blood of the Master), Monk spells (e.g. Heal Other, Ritualist Restoration Magic), or Dervish spells (e.g. Signet of Pious Light, Imbue Health, Watchful Healing, and Dwayna's Touch). Contrary to some rumors, healing a minion with a Healing Prayers skill does not increase its degeneration.
 * Minions are Allies: Friendly minions count as allies; you can cast single-target and location-based benefit spells on them.
 * Minions are not Party Members: Minions do not count as party members and do not benefit from spells that target the casters entire party (e.g. Aegis, Heal Party, Order of Pain, and Order of the Vampire).

Related Articles

 * Animate minion skills quick reference
 * Minion master
 * General minion mastery guide