General minion mastery guide

Overview
The primary focus of this build is extremely simple: create and sustain as many zombies as possible. It will be your choice on which animation to bring: Fiend, Horror or Minion. Each has their own set of pros and cons. The Fiends attack quickly and deliver high amounts of damage but are extremely frail. Horrors are slower to attack and deal less amounts of damage but can survive longer. Minions degenerate very quickly and don't do much for initial damage, which is why they are used as bombers. The following example build will be for a complete destruction specced Minion Master. I have completed every available mission with just myself and a monk. The idea? A small army that doesn't take crap from anyone. This is the original build I have been discussing on this site for quite some time. I have found a similar knock-off since my discussion on this site that virtually uses, verbatim, what I've discussed. But it was done in such a poor manner that I can't let anyone think this other build is what I mean. Hope you enjoy!

Attributes
You will notice that I leave the secondary profession and third attribute your choice, as you will not be needing any specific profession to further your abilities as a Minion Master.

Skill Set
You may replace the final three signets with any skill you choose, it is entirely up to you. I prefer to use Consume Corpse, Vile Touch or another type of damage or rez skill is fine.

Playstyle
While this build may not be for some, I have had no issues with sustaining on average 15 Fiends at a single time. I have, however, pushed the limits to upwards of 20 or more. Any MM understands that animating the first few Fiends will not be easy due to your lack of damage-causing spells, but a good Monk will make sure you stay alive long enough to create a few. Once when you've begun with 5-7 minions, you will need to accellerate your progression through the current mission and kill everything that is along the way including animals. Yes those cute little level 5 animals will give you the carcasses you need for more Fiends and they're an easy kill.

The idea behind sustaining Fiends is easy: Verata's Sacrifice and Blood of the Master. Simply using these skills does not mean infinite life for your Fiends. Fiends generally tend to group together so they are easier to heal than Minions, but they are that much easier to attack via AOE spells. Before the fight begins, start by casting Verata's Sacrifice followed immediately by Blood of the Master - begin the fight as soon as possible, keep a watchful eye on your Fiends as they create corpses to Animate, watch their health along with yours and above all: don't waste Soul Reaping! You get 10 energy for everything that dies - including your allies, enemies, pets, minions, creatures or anything without a heartbeat in the area! Try to keep your energy 10-15 BELOW full at all times! Why do this? Why not do it, you've put those points into reaping, use time spent NOT animating more Fiends doing things like healing your minions, healing yourself or using damage spells. You've got free energy headed your way, don't waste it, but don't get too far ahead of yourself.

Due to the sacrificial nature of your healing spells on your minions, you will eventually need to heal yourself. This can be done by Taste of Death and Consume Corpse. Remember that sacrificing your minion for 420 health also will yield you 5 energy as well. Not to mention the 1/4 second casting time and NO cooldown! Try using that under extreme circumstances. Consume Corpse is another favorite of mine. Not only do you gain a substantial amount of health, but you also teleport yourself away from enemy aggro AND get an extra 11 energy to boot! Now... back to your little buddies. MM's have to move FAST! Your Fiends MUST stay protected and healed at all times and you must never stop animating as long as you are in battle, every 5 seconds should yield another Fiend. Don't forget to watch their health and yours the whole time.

Playing the MM this way is extremely tricky as you have one too many things going on: our health, your Fiend's health (all of them), your energy vs Soul Reaping, available corpses to exploit, explode, consume etc. Sacrificing too much will certainly wipe your entire team. They won't like it when once subservient Fiends turn on them because they now have no master! It is extremely important you maintain your health! Sacrificing a minion is not always a bad thing, it can save your hide! Remember, there are plenty of corpses lying around to animate!

Don't worry if your fiends happen to die, just animate another and keep rolling through baddies. Contrary to what most people believe about any type of minion, is that they DO degenerate health IMMEDIATELY and will not gain the full healing benefits of Verata's Sacrifice. Verata's Sacrifice is +10 health regeneration for X number of seconds. Each arrow of health regeneration is 2 hit points... so +10 means 20 hit points per second. Your friends will NEVER see that, since they are born with a degen penalty of -1. As time goes on, they begin to degen faster and faster until even Verata's Sacrifice will not help. This DOES take time, however, time is something you cannot afford. Blood of the Master in effect at 16 Death Magic is more powerful than Verata's Sacrifice, however, combine the two for an excellent advantage. Do not use Verata's Sacrifice while out of battle, simply spam your AOE heal-bomb every 5 seconds. Verata's Sacrifice is much more important in-battle than out of it.

Moving fast is where it begins to get slightly difficult. As a MM you cannot afford the time to wait for cooldowns on healing spells or cooldowns on "utility" spells or skills. Waiting for your own health to regen if your Monk just happened to fall a bit too far from the tree is not an option. You must continuously press forward, wether your entire party is ready or not, maybe taking a few moments before a boss to get your bearings, but never waiting on excessive cooldowns. This is the only way you can create and sustain so many Fiends at once that they literally have to line up on top of one another because there just is no more room to stand. You have to be constantly animating whenever you get the chance and make sure you stay alive. You really don't have to worry too much about your group, if you are moving along with 15+ minions, I guarantee they are riding YOUR coattails and their actions will be negligible, at best.

You have a LOT to keep an eye on and it can be pretty hectic at times. This build requires a LOT of patience and practice to adjust to constantly throwing a heal every 5 seconds, animating, maintaining sub-full energy levels, healing, aggro control, not over-healing, over-using skills etc. Don't be discouraged if you aren't able to get the hang of it right away. Just remember the key to mastering this build is time. That's it. You can't wait for Bob or Larry to finish grabbing loot or gaining health, YOU have to move forward constantly at gut-wrenching speeds.

Equipment
Bloodstained Boots

Bone Staff from Luven Underwood

Perfect Staff Wrapping of Fortitude +30 Health

Perfect Insightful Staff Head +5 Energy

Or simply use whatever Staff Wrapping or Staff Head you choose. Armor can be anything you like, you can mix and match flavors or go with a complete outfit. It is entirely up to you.

Understanding Healing
I've been playing my Necromancer since June of '05 and have tried virtually every build in the book. By far this build offers the most healing to your Fiends and yourself. Simply do the math: heal amount / (casting time + cooldown time) = hit points healed per second. Some skills may boast a greater heal as an over-time or single use - but they come with a hefty price: excessive cooldowns which means LESS healing. A larger heal may also not be needed if your Fiends are still pretty good on health, it would just mean a wasted heal when you could have saved it for a more dire situation. You need fast, reliable heals every few seconds at times, but at the same time heals that do not over-heal your Fiends while requiring excessive cooldowns.

Example: Blood of the Master heals for 20.33 damage per second - 122/(5+1)=20.33 ... Verata's Sacrifice heals for no more than 18 damage per second and is subject to constant health degeneration of your minions. Remember any condition your Fiend may be suffering will LOWER the healing ability of Verata's Sacrifice. The conditions transferred to you are only upon the initial cast of the spell, any degeneration will counter the regeneration of the spell. Your minions are animated with -1 health degeneration.

Example: Your minion is currently degenerating health at -4 ... you cast Verata's Sacrifice -4 + 10 = 6 ... your Fiend is now regenerating at +6.

Remember and pay close attention to these examples. Just because a heal may seem better, don't forget to take into consideration the casting time, cooldown time and heal over time (if applicable) per spell. These are all important factors when considering what healing skills to bring.

And to put an end to a myth: Fiends DO NOT degenerate quicker the more you heal them, it is a time-based degeneration system.

Soul Reaping and Energy Management
Although I haven't included really any different skills that another MM may choose to bring, it's how you use these skills together that make for a good MM. Most people do not pay attention to wasted Soul Reaping. It is a key factor in maintaining the ability to animate every 5 seconds. You have to anticipate an enemie's death and pay attention to all health of all enemies, allies and Fiends to know when you are going to recieve the benefits of Soul Reaping. You must be aware of how much energy you use to take full advantage of a fresh carcass on the ground when one becomes available. Sometimes, I may pick out a Fiend that is on the brink of death and sacrifice him using Taste of Death for the energy I gain, simply because a NEW minion as fast as possible may turn the tide. Perhaps two or three corpses are on the ground and I need to animate but only have 18 energy, Consume Corpse will not only heal me, but give me 11 energy on top of it! (10 energy to cast, 21 energy in return = 11 gained) Soul Reaping and energy management are key factors to maintaining a large and healthy group of Fiends.

Pressing Forward
Moving fast is a key aspect of sustaining a large army, taking time to wait for cooldowns is not a viable option with 20-something minions running around. Move from battle to battle as quickly as you can to keep the minion train rolling.

Dying
Dying is a bad thing. Your party now has to deal with their original set of enemies as well as 15-20 MASTERLESS minions. Your party WILL wipe. Apologize and move on.

Making Money
You've got the tools and the talent, now go make some cash! How? XP runs! Grab a few XP enhancing runes, a party of low-bies, then blast them through mission after mission. I leveled a single player from 11-20 in just under 5 hours. I took him on every mission from Lion's Arch to Amnoon Oasis. Just the two of us with NO henchmen. Yes, you CAN do that. I've completed every mission except those in the Ring of Fire Island Chain with myself and one other player.

Epilogue
This may be a lot of information to take in and a LOT of things you constantly have to be aware of. You may not get the hang of it right off the bat and you'll have minions dying left and right, but keep trying. Sooner than you think you'll be rotating your field of view in every direction at once, taking everything going on within the battle in, processing that information and making the appropriate choices. There is a LOT of work involved with a Minion Master but the payoff of destroying everything in sight is soooo nice. Enjoy!