Vaal Summon Skeletons

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TiamatRoar wrote:

Does Queen's Decree increase their duration?

Yes. However, as stated before, they either die or run out of stuff to kill already within the usual duration, so there is very little point.

I'm using it with Remote Mine, Weapon Elemental Damage and Multistrike on an elemental animator summoner and this skill pretty much destroys bosses in 3 seconds or less. If it spawns the Fire damage aura general with this gem setup the damage is kinda high with Flesh Offering up.

My summoner uses this gem(lvl 17 and others) in a 4-link gloves(increased duration + raging spirit + vaal skeletons + flesh offering). With only Hatred as offensive aura, when the skeletal general carrying the fire damage aura is spawned, using Vulnerability as sole curse, Piety is killed in 5 seconds(together with my zombies and spectres). Imagining the potential when it is fully supported. However, 64 souls is quite a huge amount, so I'm glad at its current state as a "messing" skill. I love chaos more than instakill :)

i am lvl 38 witch i have queens decree and while using vaal skeletons i notice that the general appears and while the rest of the skeletons appear he just disappears, i have verified that this happens mostly when the general appears 1st and disappears by the end. i hope its a bug to be fixed because it affects the gameplay (ex aura general)

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davus7474 wrote:

i am lvl 38 witch i have queens decree and while using vaal skeletons i notice that the general appears and while the rest of the skeletons appear he just disappears, i have verified that this happens mostly when the general appears 1st and disappears by the end. i hope its a bug to be fixed because it affects the gameplay (ex aura general)

You are overwriting the general if you continue to spawn regular skeletons, or if you have pre-existing skeletons already summoned.

I dare to post a slightly messy and inconsistent feedback to this skill

I love it, absolutely adore to a degree i could only express the fun with endless curses and insane laughter.

It's nice as that you have to get it charged first, but its just so absolutely great to have a big vaal suprise facemelt party ready for some situations.

For me as a fan of summoner/necromancer playstyles, this is the best gem ever :D

After playing with this gem for a while now, I have to give my updated thoughts:

The skill is more of a defensive one than offensive one. While it can dish some mediocre to decent damage, think of it mainly as a huge meat shield for your main army or used for evasion maneuvering tactics. As such, you need to link it with Increased Duration gem so you can have that meat shield up a bit longer. I'm trying to figure out what other gems to link with it besides ID, and all I can think of is maybe Minion Damage and/or Minion Life...

I've even tried it in a +2 helm, and there's no big difference...

The main issues I have with the gem are:
1. The minions are all idiots.
2. They aren't efficient. More likely than not, you will have half of the minions engaged and the other half filled with wanderlust.
3. They don't really rise where you want them to around the point clicker. They spawn directly next to your character, which means you have to get close to the enemy for them to be even remotely effective.
4. They are slower than molasses.

CONCLUSION: The gem has its uses, and is fun to look at, but don't really depend on it as a crutch or try to find +1/2 to minions for it.

EDIT: I'm still trying to figure out how I can get them to pack a punch in a 4-Link item. Do I use faster attacks? Do I use multi-strike? Does it make sense to link Minion Speed? I just do not know.

Would love to hear your feedback.

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Catchafire2000 wrote:

EDIT: I'm still trying to figure out how I can get them to pack a punch in a 4-Link item. Do I use faster attacks? Do I use multi-strike? Does it make sense to link Minion Speed? I just do not know.

Would love to hear your feedback.

I use increased duration, minion speed and minion damage on them. and have a couple minion nodes in passive, they either for mobs with many rares in them or bosses.

And yes they are kind of a defense rather, you drop them when you need alot of spiky sticks at once

I'm also debating faster attacks, faster casting, along with increased duration. I thought about minion speed, but would have to try it out and see.

This skill has saved my (first ever) summoner's bacon so many times, especially with strongboxes that have the 'freezes you' mod and against CZ bosses. I made the mistake of not worrying about survivability in early game so without this, I would have been toast.

More importantly, it's pretty easy to use...I find the other vaal gems confusing to be honest what with charges and all so they just take up space in my stash as a 'maybe one day I'll need them'.

I agree, I actually look forward to using the skill. But as you even mention, you use it to save your ass. That is why I'm saying its more of a defensive skill than anything else.

However:

What if we link it with faster attacks, faster casting, minion damage. And then use the haste aura? That should be quite a punch I think.