Command gems -- Minion AI modifiers -- 21 new skills and supports
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This thread details 46 suggestions, including 12 spell gems, 9 support gems, 6 uniques, and a QoL and Balance section.
New mechanic concepts: 1. Command gems are minion gems that change their AI. Command gems can modify behavior, restrict attack types, and add special abilities. 2. Prismatic gems fit any socket and change effect based on the socket's color. They are functionally colorless, able to be placed into any socket, but they turn off the parts of their effect that do not match the required socket color.
Introduction
First off, this is a very dense post. I realize this can be overwhelming, so I have taken steps to condense its verticality into nested spoilers and provide a summary above each spoiler.
Note: Work in progress! I am still adding to many of the explanation spoilers, so please be patient. Thanks! The number one pitfall of spectres or Animated Guardian is their Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Guardian runs off and gets himself killed, losing valuable items. Many monster types whose abilities would turn them into fantastic spectres have AIs that melee half the time or simply derp around. Flame Sentinels make great spectres because they cast fireball, and only fireball, all the time. You can build your support links, curses, and auras around this expected behavior to push the most out of them. Minions can be used offensively, defensively, or for utility. One build might use a golem for their buff, and grumble every time the thing spins off and vaporizes. Another might focus their entire build around buffing golem DPS, but they must contend with an alternating suite of spell, projectile, and melee attack types that cannot all be supported (eg. Ice Golem). Summoners tend to use Animate Guardian with Leer Cast and Dying Breath, turning the Guardian into a buffbot; others might invest in making Animate Guardian a melee powerhouse. Spectres, like Flame Sentinels and Undying Incinerators, can inflict extreme damage, but what about the crowd-control potential of Croaking Chimerals from Sceptre of God? Alas, they have a Default Attack and Leap Slam that compete with Arctic Breath use. What would be the best way for GGG to accommodate these divergent uses with only one standardized AI per minion and monster type? Monster AI has intentional aggression delays, behavior ticks, varied attack styles, and other efficiency defects because they are first and foremost meant to go against players, and gem links are not a deciding factor in their design. Raise Spectre uses the monster's original AI, making many monster choices especially bad or cumbersome. The ability to change the AI to suit your specific build would be a major boon, but how could that fit into Path of Exile's existing game mechanics? Quicklinks 1. Command gems (Minion Technique, Minion Formation, Ritual of Sacrifice) 2. Minion spells (Blood Offering, Nether Gate, Raise Flesh Golem, and more) 3. General spells (Feasting Swarm, Hailstorm, Fulminate, and more) 4. Support gems (Mass Minions, Minion Ferocity, Ablate, and more) 5. Uniques (Grave Robber, Dragon's Teeth, Bone Fletcher, and more) 6. QoL 7. Balance 8. Archive Conversation starter: What do you like and/or dislike about playing as a Summoner?
Why I like Summoners
To be added
Last edited by Hercanic#3982 on May 19, 2016, 11:37:30 PM Last bumped on Dec 27, 2016, 7:47:30 AM
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1. Minion Technique Support - Minions cannot use certain skills based on the socket color this prismatic support is placed in.
2. Minion Formation Support - Minions form ranks around you depending on the socket color this prismatic support is placed in. 3. Ritual of Sacrifice - Minions without a Command go into this spell's area effect, their life is drained, and that life is used as damage when the area effect explodes.
Command gems
Minion Technique Support
Prismatic, Support, Minion, Command Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ STR, __ DEX, __ INT ---------------- Effect changes based on the socket color this gem is placed in. Red: Minions cannot use Projectile Attacks. Green: Minions cannot cast Spells. Blue: Minions cannot use Melee Attacks. White: Minions cannot use Default Attacks. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have 0.3% increased Attack and Cast Speed ---------------- (Current socket color effect) Minions use Skills more often Minions have +2 Levels Minions have (30 to 49)% of Damage multipliers from supporting gems converted to Minion Damage Minions have (30 to 49)% of Attack Speed multipliers from supporting gems as Extra Cast Speed Minions have (30 to 49)% of Cast Speed multipliers from supporting gems as Extra Attack Speed ---------------- Blah.
Design and Balance
Red Battlemages cannot use Projectile Attacks
Green Warriors cannot cast Spells Blue Snipers cannot use Melee Attacks White Specialists cannot use Default Attacks
Use Cases
Blah.
Minion Formation Support Prismatic, Support, Minion, Command Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ STR, __ DEX, __ INT ---------------- Effect changes based on the socket color this gem is placed in. Red: Minions form a wedge in front of you and Taunt enemies with a Charge Green: Minions spread out and Hinder enemies Blue: Minions form a line behind you and Suppress enemies with increased targeting range White: Minions encircle you, gaining Projectile Reflection on Block and Knockback on Hit ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have +0.5% Chance to Block Attacks and Spells ---------------- (Current socket color effect) Minions have +(25 to 1000) to Global Defenses ---------------- Follow: Minions will prioritize following you, move with you when you move and never leave your side. Minions will match your speed to maintain their ranks. If they fall out of range, such as when you use a movement skill, they immediately teleport to you. When not keeping up with you, minions will engage any enemies within their range of action.
Design and Balance
Red Vanguard
Green Skirmisher Blue Rearguard White Bodyguard
Use Cases
Blah.
Ritual of Sacrifice Spell, Minion, Command, AoE, Duration Radius: 20 Mana Cost: (13 to 32) Can store 1 use(s) Cooldown Time: 3.00 sec Cast Time: 0.50 sec Critical Strike Chance: 6.00% Damage Effectiveness: 150% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Carves a large sigil of decay into the ground at target location, attracting your minions to it. As more minions enter its radius, it expands and drains the life of your minions. When its duration ends, the sigil explodes, dealing the gathered life as damage. Minions with another Command ignore the effects of this skill, and are instead healed by the explosion. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have 1% increased Movement Speed when Commanded by Ritual of Sacrifice ---------------- Drains 3% maximum Life from your minions per 0.25 seconds Explosion deals 50% of drained Life as base Fire Damage Explosion grants 5% of drained Life as Life Leech to unaffected Minions (2 to 4)% increased Area of Effect radius per Minion Deals (35 to 265)-(52 to 398) Fire Damage Base duration is 4.0 seconds ---------------- Blah
Design and Balance
Ritual of Sacrifice is a necrotic version of elemental support spells like Orb of Storms and Frost Bomb, with a dash of Flameblast. It gives players an opportunity to control the application of Minion Instability and Beacon of Corruption, or direct their temporary Skeletons and Raging Spirits.
Use Cases
Blah.
Last edited by Hercanic#3982 on May 28, 2016, 7:50:20 AM
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Minion spells:
1. Blood Offering - Boost max life, elemental penetration, and AoE radius. 2. Nether Gate - Teleport to a corpse. 3. Raise Flesh Golem - Gives spell block and throws corpses. 4. Lich Incarnate - You temporarily become a minion. 5. Revenant Totem - Raises slain monsters that attack anyone, including you.
Minion spells
Blood Offering
Spell, Minion, Duration Mana Cost: (16 to 33) Cast Time: 1.00 sec ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Consumes a corpse, bolstering your minions with reserved life, elemental penetration, and increased AoE. The skill consumes other nearby corpses, increasing the duration for each corpse consumed. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: 0.5% increased Duration ---------------- Base duration is 3.0 seconds Grants Minions 50% more maximum Life as Reserved Life Grants Minions (20 to 30)% Elemental Resistance Penetration Grants Minions (20 to 30)% increased Area of Effect radius ---------------- Cruor splatters everywhere, seeping into every tear.
Design and Balance
Reserved Life
Although you don't get the life itself, anything that scales with maximum life becomes stronger, such as life regeneration, life leech, and resistance to stuns and elemental status ailments. A minion with 100 maximum life will have (100/150) life when Blood Offering is used, of which 50 life is reserved. If the minion was at half health before, (50/100), their health would become (50/150), which puts them below 35% maximum life and triggers low-life effects like Minion Instability.
Use Cases
Blah.
Nether Gate Spell, Minion, Movement Mana Cost: (10 to 30) Cast Time: 0.50 sec ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Consumes a corpse, ferrying you and all minions following you underground to its location. Everyone teleported is poisoned, but also poison on hit. A tunnel remains at your previous location that Party Members can use to follow. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: 0.5% increased Duration ---------------- Base duration is 5.0 seconds You and your Minions take (1 to 2)% of the corpse's maximum Life as Chaos Damage per second You and your Minions deal (1 to 2)% of the corpse's maximum Life as Chaos Damage on Hit ---------------- Vultures circle dying beasts Diving onto carrion feasts
Design and Balance
A chaos-aligned movement spell, like Lightning Warp and Flame Dash are lightning- and fire-aligned, respectively, with a pinch of Righteous Fire's self-inflicted harm.
Use Cases
Blah.
Raise Flesh Golem Golem, Minion, Spell Mana Cost: (30 to 54) Can store 1 use(s) Cooldown Time: 6.00 sec Cast Time: 1.00 sec ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Raises a Flesh Golem from a corpse that grants you the power to block spells. The Flesh Golem spawns gutwurms, throws corpses, and casts Bone Bulwark on allies. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: 1% increased Minion Maximum Life 1% increased Minion Damage ---------------- (0 to 30)% increased Character Size Can raise up to 1 Golem at a time Golems grant +(4 to 6)% Chance to Block Spells (30 to 68)% increased Minion Maximum Life ---------------- Gutwurms: Projectile spell similar to Spark. It spawns (3 to 5) writhing entrails that travel slowly and randomly for 3 seconds, ricochet off walls, and deal physical damage. Carcass Catapult: Consumes and stores up to 3 corpses. Launches a stored corpse in a parabolic arc that deals physical damage on impact in a small area and releases a Caustic Cloud. The corpse can continue to be used by anything that targets corpses. Bone Bulwark: Buff spell similar to Molten Shell. The Flesh Golem will cast a shield on a recently damaged ally who falls below 75% maximum life, granting them 3 orbiting bones and +20% Chance to Block Attacks and Spells for 4 seconds. Blocking deals physical damage to surrounding enemies and depletes 1 orbiting bone. The buff ends when all bones have been consumed or its duration expires.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Lich Incarnate Transformation, Cast, Duration Souls per use: 48 (N) / 72 (C) / 96 (M) Can store 1 use(s) Cast Time: 0.50 sec ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- You transform into a powerful undead Lich. Your minion passives apply to you, and minions resurrect +1 times. Curses you cast have increased AoE radius and remain as ground effects for their duration. Only one ground effect of each curse type can remain active. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: 1% increased Duration ---------------- Curses have (50 to 100)% increased Area of Effect radius Base duration is 20.0 seconds ---------------- You levitate, and are therefore immune to most ground effects. You can only be affected by one Transformation at a time.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Revenant Totem Totem, Spell, Duration Mana Cost: (16 to 37) Cast Time: 0.50 sec ---------------- Requires Level 38, 63 INT ---------------- Summons a totem that revives slain foes as vengeful spirits who attack anyone nearby, including their past allies as well as you. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: 1% increased Totem Placement speed ---------------- Summons a Totem which uses this Skill Totem lasts 8.0 seconds Base duration is (4 to 8) seconds Revived monsters deal (75 to 37)% less Damage Revived monsters have (75 to 37)% less maximum Life Revived monsters have 50% less Effect of Buffs and Debuffs on them ---------------- Revived monsters do not attack each other or the totem that revived them. Revived monsters do not drop items or grant experience. They are not minions, nor are they allied with you, so they receive no benefits from either. However, your Increased Item Rarity and Increased Item Quantity do still apply when they kill enemy monsters. When killed, the corpse of a revived monster disappears in 2 seconds.
Design and Balance
If you enjoy scenes in games where two forces are slaughtering each other while you pick off weakened foes from both sides at your leisure, that is what this totem can do. It essentially introduces a third force into any conflict.
IIR/IIQ If Conversion Trap gives you Temporary Allies, Revenant Totem gives you Temporary Frenemies.
Use Cases
Blah.
Last edited by Hercanic#3982 on May 20, 2016, 2:57:20 AM
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General spells:
1. Feasting Swarm - Waves of black insects surge forward, devouring corpses and multiplying. 2. Hailstorm - Launches a row of ice bullets that converge on your cursor. 3. Fulminate - Branching bolts of lightning explode the target area, electrifying anyone hit. 4. Herald of Corruption - Killing a poisoned enemy drops a globe of miasma that sticks to allies. 5. Mouse Trap - Attracts fleeing enemies and causes enemies to flee when triggered. 6. Scry - Identifies a monster, showing its character screen. 7. Levitate 8. Ice Pillar - Rise into the air on a column of ice, becoming invulnerable for a brief time. Activate again to topple down in the given direction.
General spells
Feasting Swarm
Projectile, Spell, Duration, Chaos Mana Cost: (20 to 50) Can store 1 use(s) Cooldown Time: 6.00 sec Cast Time: 1.00 sec Critical Strike Chance: 5.00% Damage Effectiveness: 20% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Unleashes ravenous insects that follow your cursor until they expire. They apply a damage over time debuff when they hit, and consume corpses to multiply. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: 2% increased Projectile Speed ---------------- Consumes and Forks from Corpses Deals (1 to 20)-(2 to 30) Chaos Damage Deals (4 to 160) Base Chaos Damage per second Base duration is 6 seconds Can have up to 100 Feasting Swarms at a time ---------------- Projectiles follow your cursor, but always continue moving forward. They will pass your cursor and slowly turn back around towards it. Projectiles are preserved on the target they hit and will continue traveling if the target dies. The time spent dealing damage counts against the projectile's total duration. Forked projectiles from corpses have a refreshed duration.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Hailstorm Projectile, Cast, AoE, Duration, Cold Radius: 10 Mana Cost: (12 to 24) Cast Time: 0.80 sec Critical Strike Chance: 5.00% Damage Effectiveness: 30% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Many small icicles form in a row before launching toward the targeted area, piercing enemies. After entering this area the icicles will shatter on first impact and leave behind ground ice. Four impacts close together turn ground ice into Permafrost, which freezes and damages enemies who touch it for the first time. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: 2% increased Projectile Speed ---------------- (8 to 12) additional Projectiles Deals (17 to 160)-(27 to 241) Cold Damage Impact deals Physical Damage equal to 2.5% of the target's current Life Permafrost deals Cold Damage equal to 10% of the target's missing Life Base duration is 3 seconds ---------------- Bosses take 80% reduced effect from percent life damage.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Fulminate Spell, Chaining, AoE, Duration, Lightning Radius: 15 Mana Cost: (12 to 26) Cast Time: 0.80 sec Critical Strike Chance: 5.00% Damage Effectiveness: 30% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Anvil lightning discharged from the caster strikes the ground of the targeted area and explodes. Thinner bolts branch from the main beam and strike nearby targets randomly. Enemies and allies within the blasts become electrically charged, releasing a static arc at a nearby enemy whenever struck. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: 1% increased Cast Speed ---------------- Chain +2 Times Chain hits have (50 to 31)% reduced Area of Effect radius Deals (18 to 272)-(53 to 506) Lightning Damage Static Arc deals Lightning Damage equal to (5 to 10)% of the triggering hit's total Damage Base duration is 5 seconds ---------------- Fulminate chains in a unique way, releasing all chains at once as branches of lightning from its main beam. Only targets within range of the main beam, between the caster and the target area, can be reached. Chain hits are semi-random, as they will prefer targets who are not yet electrically charged.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Herald of Corruption Cast, AoE, Duration, Chaos Radius: 15 Mana Reserved: 25% Can store 1 use(s) Cooldown Time: 1.00 sec Cast Time: 1.00 sec Damage Effectiveness: 30% ---------------- Requires Level 16, 41 INT ---------------- Channel chaos through your hands, adding chaos damage to spells and attacks. If you kill a poisoned enemy, a globe of miasma containing the remaining poison damage drops from them. Miasma sticks to allies who touch it and damages nearby enemies. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: 0.75% increased Chaos Damage ---------------- Adds (5 to 43)-(7 to 64) Chaos Damage to Spells Adds (5 to 43)-(7 to 64) Chaos Damage to Attacks Poison on Critical Hit Miasma lasts 10 seconds ---------------- Miasma contains the remaining poison damage from a slain foe, but it lasts significantly longer than a normal poison stack. Poison deals 10% of the physical and chaos damage of a hit per second for 2 seconds. Miasma consolidates all stacks into one, dealing the total per-second damage for 10 seconds instead of 2. While dropped on the ground, miasma deals damage to enemies within its radius. If an ally touches a miasma globe, it adheres to them and will continue to deal its damage in a radius around that ally. Multiple miasmas on the ground or attached to allies do not stack their damage and only the highest damage takes effect, like caustic clouds.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Mouse Trap Trap, Spell, AoE, Duration Radius: 30 Mana Cost: (13 to 25) Can store 3 use(s) Cooldown Time: 3.00 sec Cast Time: 1.00 sec Critical Strike Chance: 5.00% Damage Effectiveness: 90% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ DEX, __ INT ---------------- Throws a trap that attracts and hurries fleeing enemies, and when triggered explodes, wounding and terrifying them. Wounded enemies will bleed from the next source of physical damage that hits them. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: 1% increased Area of Effect radius ---------------- Trap lasts 16 seconds Trigger is delayed by 2.5 seconds Attracted Enemies have 100% more Movement Speed Attracted Enemy Movement Speed is Capped Deals (38 to 318)-(57 to 477) Physical Damage Causes Monsters to Flee on Hit Wounds on Hit for 8.0 seconds ---------------- Wound is a new debuff that does nothing on its own, but converts to a Bleed effect when hit with physical damage from any source.
Design and Balance
Radius
Fleeing has reduced effect on magic monsters, and no effect on rares or uniques. The large radius of Mouse Trap helps it against large mobs of white monsters, who the flee mechanic is intended for. Quality The increased AoE further helps Mouse Trap apply its effects across packs. Trigger is delayed On one hand, it allows more fleeing enemies to group up before the trap explodes, but the main intention is to minimize flee-locking targets. Once monsters arrive, they can start attacking again before the trap triggers. Attracted Enemies have more Movement Speed The speed of grouping enemies is increased, but by the same token the time they spend fleeing is reduced. Attracted Enemy Movement Speed is Capped Levels out enemy movement speed so they are more likely to arrive at the trap together. Deals Physical Damage Mouse Trap is designed as Bear Trap's cousin, both dealing physical damage. While Bear Trap immobilizes and deals massive single target damage, Mouse Trap fears and deals lower AoE damage. If Bear Trap is for bosses, Mouse Trap is for packs. Lower Damage Compared to other traps and physical damage spells, Mouse Trap deals lower damage. This is to encourage pairing another physical ability, as although Mouse Trap can apply the Bleed effect itself, it does lower damage. The defense granted by the flee mechanic also factors into its damage.
Use Cases
Blah.
Scry Spell Cast Time: 1.50 sec ---------------- Requires Level 10 ---------------- Identifies items, strongboxes, and monsters. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: 3% increased Cast Speed ---------------- A colorless gem that functions like a Scroll of Wisdom. In addition to items, it can be used on minions, monsters, and corpses, which opens a Character Screen for the monster just like a player's Character Screen.
Design and Balance
Cast Time
The cast delay is there to ensure Wisdom Scrolls still have a competitive place.
Use Cases
Blah.
Last edited by Hercanic#3982 on May 24, 2016, 7:44:54 PM
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Support gems:
1. Mass Minions Support - Creates additional minions per cast. 2. Minion Ferocity Support - Minions resurrect. 3. Minion Instability Support - Minions gain the effect of the Minion Instability keystone. 4. Ablate Support - Removes a flat amount of armor per hit. 5. Profanation Support - Curses become ground effects. 6. Seek Support - Projectiles seek enemies but have less range. 7. Sequencer Support - Uses each linked active skill in quick succession, but ends with a cooldown.
Support gems
Mass Minions Support
Support, Minion, AoE Radius: 20 Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have +0.75% increased Damage ---------------- Summon 100% more Minions Raise up to 3 additional Minions Animate up to 4 additional Minions Minions over cap expire after 3 seconds (20 to 10)% less Minion Damage (20 to 10)% less Minion Life ---------------- Blah.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Minion Ferocity Support Support, Minion Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions take +0.5% less Damage ---------------- Minions have (0.25 to 2.00)% increased Attack and Cast Speed per 1% missing Life Minions Resurrect Consumes 20 of (20 to 40) charges on Resurrection Currently has (0) charges ---------------- Minions close to killed enemies gain charges.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Minion Instability Support Support, Minion, AoE, Fire Radius: (same as MI keystone) Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have +0.5% increased Area of Effect radius ---------------- Minions deal Fire Damage equal to (2 to 5)% of their maximum Life Minions lose (4 to 10)% of their maximum Life on Attack or Cast Minions explode when reduced to Low Life, dealing 33% of their maximum Life as Fire Damage to surrounding enemies ---------------- Blah.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Sequencer Support Support, Attack, Spell, Trigger Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Per 1% Quality: +0.5% increased Use Speed ---------------- Uses other Supported Skills when you use a Supported Skill Supported Skills have 500% more Use Speed Supported Skills have a Cooldown equal to the cumulative base Cooldown Time and (1000 to 750)% of Use Time of all Supported Skills ---------------- Any skill among the supported skills can be used to trigger the rest of the skills. The order of use follows the order they are socketed, starting from the first skill used. Once started, the player cannot interrupt the sequence. Use Speed and Use Time include Attack, Cast, Throw, and Placement Speed/Time. After the skill chain is executed, the skills used go on a cooldown. It adds together the Use Time of all supported skills to determine the length of the cooldown. For example, linking an attack skill with an attack speed of 1.00, a spell with a cast time of 1.00, and 20% increased cast speed would result in a total Use Time of 0.36 seconds (1.80 / 500%) and a cooldown of 3.60 seconds (0.36 * 1000%) at level 1. If a skill originally has a cooldown, like a Warcry, all linked skills will share that cooldown in addition to the Use Time cooldown. If a skill is already on cooldown, it will not be used during the sequence. Therefore, two linked Warcries will not work.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Last edited by Hercanic#3982 on May 28, 2016, 11:34:39 PM
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Unique Jewels:
1. Grave Robber - Control what corpses Desecrate spawns. 2. Dragon's Teeth - Summon Skeletons is delayed, but summons more skeletons. 3. Brittle Bones - Summon Skeletons is permanent, but they lose health every second. 4. Phantom Hunter - Animate Guardian can animate ranged weapons and quivers. Unique Armor: 1. Bone Fletcher - Chance to summon a Skeleton Archer on Kill. 2. Parasite Queen - Tentacles leech life from nearby minions and Dominate enemies.
New uniques
Grave Robber
Cobalt Jewel Radius: Medium ---------------- Minions deal (12 to 18)% increased Damage With at least 50 Intelligence Allocated in Radius, the most recent monster type raised by Raise Spectre is summoned as one of Desecrate's corpses. ---------------- Dig, dig, dig Dig with all you've got Dig, dig, dig Dig until you rot ---------------- Place into an allocated jewel socket on the Passive Skill Tree. Right click to remove from the Socket.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Dragon's Teeth Cobalt Jewel ---------------- Summon 4 additional Skeleton Warriors with Summon Skeletons Skeletons rise from the ground over (0.75 to 1.50) seconds with Summon Skeletons ---------------- From sown bone springs forth warriors aplenty. ---------------- Skeletons are summoned in a line perpendicular to the caster, like a wall. They begin rising from the ground immediately, but do not finish until the end of the duration. While rising, they cannot attack or move, but can be damaged. Multiple Dragon's Teeth can be used, additively stacking both the number summoned at one time and their deployment delay.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Brittle Bones Cobalt Jewel Limited to: 1 ---------------- Minions have (5 to 15)% increased maximum Life Summon Skeletons no longer has a duration and instead lose 6% maximum Life per second. ---------------- Nothing lasts forever. Except skeletons. ---------------- If the skeletons are not following you, they will disappear when you move too far away from them (same as totems).
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Phantom Hunter Viridian Jewel Radius: Medium ---------------- Minions deal (8 to 12)% increased Damage With at least 50 Dexterity Allocated in Radius, Animate Guardian can Animate Ranged Weapons and Quivers. ---------------- Ready your bows! Nock! Mark! Draw! Loose! ---------------- Animate Guardian gains a Weapon Swap to hold the animated Bow and Quiver. If the jewel is removed, the Guardian swaps back to his melee set if he had one.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Bone Fletcher Carnal Mitts Evasion: 78 Energy Shield: 23 ---------------- Requires Level 50, 39 INT, 39 DEX ---------------- +(40 to 60) to Dexterity Minions have +4% to all Elemental Resistances for each Skeleton you have +2 to Maximum number of Skeletons You and your Minions have a 20% chance to summon a Skeleton Archer on Kill ---------------- Hollow the bone Carve enamel Fletch the fibers No survivors ---------------- The maximum number of Skeleton Archers is limited to your base skeleton cap, provided by passives, items, and jewels, which naturally excludes those granted by Summon Skeletons or Vaal Summon Skeletons. Skeleton Archers will be supported by any applicable support gems socketed into Bone Fletcher.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Parasite Queen Loricated Ringmail Armor: 232 (765 to 1080) Energy Shield: 68 (149 to 170) ---------------- Requires Level 58, 84 STR, 84 INT ---------------- (120 to 150)% increased Armour and Energy Shield +2 to Armour per Level +1 to Strength per Level Strength's damage bonus added as Minion Damage Strength no longer grants Life Leech Life from nearby minions while on Low Life Apply Dominating Blow's debuff to nearby enemies while on Low Life Grants level 14 Dominating Blow Skill ---------------- Sharing is caring. ---------------- While on low life, parasitic tentacles extend in a 20 unit radius from the armor to indicate the range of its effects. You leech 1% of each nearby minion's maximum life per second, while the minions lose 5% of their maximum life per second.
Design and Balance
Blah.
Use Cases
Blah.
Last edited by Hercanic#3982 on May 12, 2016, 11:55:51 AM
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General QoL:
1. Breakables - Minions should help you break jars. 2. Sockets - Add Unset Amulets and 2-socket belts. 3. Drop Hotkey - Hold while clicking on items to drop them on the ground. 4. Full Respec - Reset your passive tree in exchange for several character levels. 5. Moving Into Range
General Quality-of-Life Improvements
1. Breakable Containers
Barrels, urns, cairns, jars, and other breakables are very easy and satisfying to blow up for many builds because they use a primary AOE skill. If you major in minions, totems, curses (+ Wither), or degen (eg. Righteous Fire), you do not have a way to break them except the default "touch", which is tedious to click on each and every tiny object. At least barrels sometimes explode, but pots and jars do not. It would be very nice if any effect could pop open breakables, not just hits, which would solve the problem for those using curses and degen. For summoners and totem users, if a player breaks one object, that should signal all minions/totems not engaged in another order to target and break objects within their range. By breaking that first object, the player has shown their intentions to the game, so minions/totems should respond to that. 2. Socket Pressure Convocation, Desecrate, Offerings, Curses, Auras, Golem, Zombies, Spectres, Skeletons, Raging Spirits -- Summoners have a lot of demand on their socket space. Not to mention other standard skills like a movement ability, defensive CWDT, or even a damage spell. Luckily many of these can function fine as a one- or two-off gem, so introducing an Unset Amulet base and a 2-socket Large Buckle Belt base would be a great help. A 2-socket belt could hold a Blasphemy curse, Skeleton totem, or whatever else you might need only one support for. 3. Drop Hotkey When out in the world, holding CTRL and clicking on an item in your inventory would immediately drop it on the ground. Normally CTRL only automates moving items between your inventory and stash tab or trade window. Naturally, you would be able to customize the key in your binding options if you want to avoid mistakenly dropping an item you meant to link in chat (CTRL + ALT). Animate Weapon users need a way to easily expunge their carried items to cast Animate Weapon on. For everyone else, sometimes you need to clear space fast and dragging individual items one at a time is always a pain. 4. Full Respec Using Regrets is fine for small adjustments to your tree, but if you want a full refund it can take several hundred clicks. First you have to click on a hundred-odd Regrets to get your refund points, then you have to click on each and every passive node in your tree, starting from the branches since you can't cut from a trunk. Too tedious! Waiting for a patch refund isn't playing the game, and starting a new character isn't any less tedious. Alternative characters should be something you do because you enjoy it, not because you feel you have no other choice. You get enough free refund points to switch from a leveling build to an end-game build, so as a balance concern this should be minimal. The reasons for wanting a full refund are varied: Players who are new, learning, bored, experimenting, ignorant, made a mistake, found a core item to a build they've wanted to play, or other situations we just haven't thought of. There is value in providing a method to fully refund your passive tree in one smooth action, it only needs an appropriate cost. It shouldn't be a sadistic or impossible cost, though, as a refund is about your personal gaming experience. It shouldn't be heavily tied to RNG, either, such as a currency that might not have dropped for you. You want a change for a reason, and forcing you to keep playing your current build for that change is counterproductive. Skill QoL: 1. Permanence - Keep Spectres after logout. 2. Uninformed - Minion gems ought to show damage values. 3. Spell Echo - Try to target the same type of corpse for Raise Spectre. 4. Dominating Blow - Apply a black spectre shader to minions. 5. Melee Splash - Deal splash damage on attack rather than on hit.
Skill Quality-of-Life Improvements
Summoners require a lot of management, and this can be part of their appeal when it pays off. However, not all of it is worthwhile.
1. Permanence If you've ever played a Summoner seriously, you know the routine: After any logout or disconnect you lose all your minions. So on every login you must spend a non-negligible amount of time setting up your army. Desecrate helps, but zones are not always guaranteed to have your chosen Spectre type and must be repeatedly reloaded. The bare minimum that summoners need are permanent Spectres, stored in the gem like Animated Guardian. It would be nice if Zombies and Golems stayed with you, and a dream if most beneficial effects like auras remained active, but I won't ask for the moon. 2. Uninformed Choice Most spells list their damage values, including secondary damage (eg. Bear Trap). Minion spells have lacked this for far too long: Zombies, Skeletons, Raging Spirits, Golems, etc. Spectres are understandably more difficult to show, but a Monster Bestiary, Identify Monster, or some other special UI that could display a monster's stats would be awesome to normal players and extremely helpful to summoners! 3. Raise Spectre + Spell Echo Raise Spectre necessitates a very precise and intentional corpse-targeting. Spell Echo is practically mandatory if you are using spellcasting Spectres, but it also applies to spawning the Spectre. The problem is that Spell Echo blindly double-casts, so it does not mesh well when you only want to raise specific corpses. Therefore, you must remove Spell Echo before you raise your Spectres. Doing this every time you need to raise a Spectre is very tiresome, but can be utterly disastrous if forgotten as it will require the whole process to be repeated in order to purge an unwanted Spectre, and may overwrite an existing Spectre who might be difficult to obtain. Two ideas to alleviate this burden: Specially adjust Spell Echo to exclude its effect on raising a Spectre to prevent double-spawning, or give it some targeting intelligence to aim at the same type of corpse the player did on the first cast. 4. Dominating Graphics Dominating Blow becomes visually confusing as you build up a horde of minions. This is due to the mass of obscuring and disconnected ahnks floating about and the lack of any visual distinction on the monster itself. Try mixing your dominated minions into a pack of normal monsters and see how quickly you can tell the two apart. The hover-ahnk can end up covering and concealing monsters north of your dominated minion. This type of visual is inappropriate for the massing mechanics of this skill, and is especially messy for party members to distinguish. As your army grows, they kill faster, and it reaches a critical mass where you can't apply Dominating Blow before a monster is slain. This pressure is exacerbated in a negative way when you have trouble finding targets among your indistinct swarm. Auto-targeting abilities like Flicker Strike and Multistrike can act as a stopgap, but the visuals of Dominating Blow should not be such a source of frustration to begin with. Dominated minions should look like a type of Spectre shaded a different color. The transparency would help immensely (a small ahnk could float inside the model where their heart would be), and a darker chroma should be used to minimize their distraction. I want my eyes to jump to and focus on fresh meat, not my expiring horde. 5. Melee Trickle Melee skills with inherent AoE will splash on attack and do not need to hit a monster to do so. Melee Splash does not act this way; you must hit or there is no splash. This incongruity gives it an awkward game-feel. Single-target skills can be a pain to use, due to the skittering nature of enemies: A miss means your character uselessly runs around and holding shift will swat air. The skill I feel this issue is most glaring on is Dominating Blow. Melee Splash is essentially required, but your own minions crowd your view of legitimate targets. If you don't connect with a monster fast enough, your existing minions eliminate it, and you end up running around for nothing. If Dominating Blow was changed to a natural AoE, or Melee Splash could trigger on attack, it would go a long way toward purifying the satisfying feeling of this skill. Last edited by Hercanic#3982 on May 24, 2016, 7:52:44 PM
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General Balance:
1. Items - Add more Summoner affixes to the Magic and Rare item pools. 2. Monster Immunities - Banish this design concept, and embrace reduced effectiveness.
General Balance Improvements
1. Lack of Summoner Items
Totems benefit from your cast speed, spell damage, elemental damage, critical chance, critical multiplier, and basically everything your other skills do because they are 'remote skills'. Minions, on the other hand, only benefit from affixes that specifically name "Minions", which amounts to a few uniques, one helmet modifier, and a couple crafting modifiers. Summoners need more gearing variety and items to hunt. The affix pool for magic and rare weapons, armor, and jewelry should include more types of Minion modifiers. A couple base items with a minion implicit would be great, too. After all, the imagery and naming sense of the Necromancer Circlet, Necromancer Silks, and Bone/Crypt/Carnal Armour create an unfulfilled expectation. 2. Monster Immunities GGG avoided ever adding physical or elemental damage immunities for monsters, and for those same reasons they should have stuck to this design paradigm in regards to all monster immunities. It's no secret that Diablo 2 is the spiritual predecessor to PoE, so while D2 was infamous for immunity monsters in Hell difficulty, the lack of elemental and physical immunities in PoE can be seen as intentional. Why? The justification for damage immunities in D2 was that it "forced you to keep and use a backup skill." In PoE, the justification is "it's not damage immunity; they're just secondary effects." Why didn't D2's justification hold up for PoE's designers? Isn't a complaint held by some people that PoE emphasizes one-skill-combat as a dominant strategy? Wouldn't forcing players to have backup skills "solve" this "problem"? The actual, practical result of D2's immunities was a constriction of build variety to reliable skills like the Hammerdin, and outright skipping of content by focusing a build on one farm area. In this type of game, immunities are frustrating binaries that offer nothing compelling to gameplay. Put simply, it's lazy design, because it is not offering players any kind of practical and interesting choice. You can't counter them, you can't build around them, they are simply always there. Reduced Effect adds the challenge sought by immunities without arbitrarily invalidating entire builds. Skill Balance: 1. Animate Guardian - Fight a special boss to recover your items. 2. Raise Spectre - Remove the reduction to Life and Energy Shield. 3. Summon Skeletons - Increase base movement speed.
Skill Balance Improvements
1. Animate Guardian
Casting Animate Guardian after he has died opens a portal to a purgatory-like arena. The portal will not open for other players or your other characters even if they receive the gem. Only you can use this portal, and leaving the area resets the whole instance. Inside awaits a boss scaled to the level you were when your Guardian died. The boss is a random, super-powered Rogue Exile that also benefits from the items held by your Guardian. Once set, the boss will remain the same Rogue Exile even after resetting the zone. He is meant to be extremely challenging. If slain, your Guardian is restored with all items intact, but the boss does not award any experience or drops. You can skip this fight by casting Animate Guardian on new items, creating a new Guardian, but you will lose all the items held in purgatory. Many players would quickly answer that the most significant deterrent to using Animate Guardian seriously is the fact that nearly all items are lost on his death, and his AI is not the brightest. This change would ensure a time cost and risk of player death from his death, so you still need to build your Guardian well, yet at the same time a powerful Guardian will be that much more difficult to get back. 2. Raise Spectre Early game Spectres are scaled down too hard to even use. 3. Summon Skeletons Skeletons are exceedingly slow and underwhelming. They have decent damage numbers, but they cannot apply it effectively. Despite several inviting uniques (Queen's Decree, Alberon's Warpath, Army of Bones, Dead Reckoning) and all the incidental bonus skeletons Summoners can get on the passive tree, skeletons are currently only glorified bone walls. Maybe that's the intention, but it feels like a waste of potential. Although I would love to include them on my Summoner to achieve the full undead army fantasy, they are simply not competitive enough to make space for. Even if you go the extra mile with Minion Speed, Sidhebreath, Haste, and Flesh Offering, their movement speed is still abysmal. If their speed must absolutely remain low as part of their minion niche, then at least consider throwing them a bone:
Labyrinth: 1. Disarming Traps - Shut down traps by seeking out their control box and gain a new currency. 2. Monster Boxes - A new trap seals the passageway and a flood of monsters set upon you. 3. Hazards for Monsters - Lure difficult monsters into traps that can hurt them. 4. Checkpoints - You can reenter your labyrinth instance from each completed boss stage. 5. Confirm Enchantment - You are shown the enchantment you will receive before it is applied.
Labyrinth Improvements
To be added
Thank you for reading this far. Last edited by Hercanic#3982 on May 19, 2016, 11:31:03 PM
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Credits
I have no affiliation with the artists behind the original art used in this presentation. Check out their work here:
Artwork Credits
To be added
Archive I originally designed 9 individual Command support gems, but felt this number was excessive. I was able to cut and condense them into just two with the Prismatic gem concept. In case any of these old designs lead to an inspiration for GGG, I am archiving them here.
Original Command gems (outdated design)
General Design
Minions can only be supported by one Command gem.
Attribute Requirements: 3 are pure INT (Mimic, Mage, Specialist), 3 are INT/STR (Retainer, Warrior, Battlemage), and 3 are INT/DEX (Assassin, Archer, Sniper). Hybrids were mostly chosen to keep requirements lower on a single attribute, so more builds could use Command gems. The particular attributes chosen were to match the theme and focus of the gem. All gems are blue, since they are minion supports, but also to allow painless swapping of Command gems. Minion Instability Interactions: Minion Instability is not an attack or spell, and therefore cannot be used by minions under the influence of a Command gem that limits their actions to one of these. For this reason, Mimic, Mage, Assassin, and Archer prevent minions from exploding. INT Command supports: 1. Specialist - Minions only use skills, and can use them more often. 2. Mimic - Minions only use the type of ability you use when you use them. 3. Mage - Minions only cast spells, which are boosted to a higher level.
Specialist, Mimic, Mage
Specialist
Support, Minion, Command Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Minions cannot use Default Attacks, and their skills store up to 1 additional use. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have +0.5% increased Attack and Cast Speed ---------------- Minions have (30-49)% more Mana Regeneration Minions have (30-49)% more Skill Cooldown Recovery Speed ---------------- Skill usage for monsters is sometimes based purely on their mana. Mimic Support, Minion, Command Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Minions will only use Default Attacks, Melee Attacks, Projectile Attacks, or Spells when you do and will aim toward your cursor. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions Leech 0.05% of Damage as Life and Mana ---------------- Minions have (40 to 59)% increased Duration of all Effects ---------------- Duration bonus applies to all Effects, including skill effects, buffs, debuffs, elemental and non-elemental status ailments, charges, and flask effects. Mage Support, Minion, Command Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT ---------------- Minions can only use Spells and have +3 to level of Spells. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions deal +0.75% increased Spell Damage ---------------- Minions have (30 to 11)% reduced Cast Speed ---------------- Spells count as coming from a monster three levels higher if its spells lack gem progression. INT/STR Command supports: 4. Retainer - Minions stay near you. 5. Warrior - Minions cannot use spells, and are overall strengthened. 6. Battlemage - Minions cannot use projectile attacks, and buff their melee or spells by using the other.
Retainer, Warrior, Battlemage
Retainer
Support, Minion, Command, AoE Radius: 20 Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT, __ STR ---------------- Minions will prioritize following you, move with you when you move and never leave your side. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have +0.5% additional chance to block Attacks and Spells ---------------- Minions have +(100 to 2000) maximum Life Leash range has (0 to 100)% more Area of Effect radius ---------------- Follow: Minions will encircle you around the circumference of the radius, starting from your front to create a body-shield. They move when you do and match your speed to maintain their ranks. If they fall out of range, such as when you use a movement skill, they immediately teleport to you. When not keeping up with you, minions will engage any enemies within their range without leaving the radius. Warrior Support, Minion, Command Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT, __ STR ---------------- Minions cannot use Spells. Increases to Projectile Damage apply to Melee Damage. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have +0.5% to all Elemental Resistances ---------------- Minions have +(25 to 500) to all Attributes Minions have +(25 to 500) to Global Defenses ---------------- Projectile Damage's inclusion into Melee Damage only happens once, by adding the Projectile tag to the Minion's melee attacks. You cannot get an infinite loop with something like Iron Grip. Battlemage Support, Minion, Command, Attack, Melee, AoE Radius: 14 Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT, __ STR ---------------- Minions cannot use Projectile Attacks. After they cast a spell, Minions empower their next melee attack to knock away nearby enemies. Melee attacks reduce their skill cooldowns and empower their next spell with a critical strike. Modifiers to Spell Damage and Cast Speed apply to Melee Damage and Attack Speed. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have +0.75% to maximum Life ---------------- Minions have +(30 to 49)% to Critical Strike Multiplier Minions have (0 to 19)% increased Area of Effect radius ---------------- An empowered spell has a guaranteed critical strike chance. An empowered melee attack has 50% splash damage, knockback, and 500% increased knockback distance. Both empowered and normal melee attacks reduce their skill cooldowns by -0.5 seconds. INT/DEX Command supports: 7. Assassin - Minions only use melee attacks, and can quickly dash to their target. 8. Archer - Minions only use projectile attacks, and can gain Charges. 9. Sniper - Minions cannot use melee attacks, and have significantly increased range.
Assassin, Archer, Sniper
Assassin
Support, Minion, Command, Attack, Melee, Duration, Movement Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT, __ DEX ---------------- Minions are Phased and can only use Melee Attacks. Minions Hinder enemies on critical strikes and can use Dead Run, a rabid dash to an enemy that delivers a critical strike. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have 0.5% increased Movement Speed ---------------- Dead Run grants Minions (50 to 95)% more Movement Speed Dead Run has a (10 to 5) second cooldown ---------------- Dead Run: Minions break into a charge toward nearby enemies. Maximum activation range is 60 units and lasts 3 seconds or until the first attack. This attack is a guaranteed critical strike, and will therefore Hinder for 20% reduced enemy movement speed. Dead Run's movement bonus overrides the Spectre movement cap. Archer Support, Minion, Command Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT, __ DEX ---------------- Minions can only use Projectile Attacks and have +1 maximum Power, Frenzy, and Endurance Charges. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have 1.5% increased Power, Frenzy, and Endurance Charge duration ---------------- Minions have a (9 to 16)% chance to gain a Power Charge on Hit against Shocked Enemies Minions have a (9 to 15)% chance to gain a Frenzy Charge on Hit against Chilled or Frozen Enemies Minions have a (9 to 15)% chance to gain an Endurance Charge on Hit against Ignited Enemies ---------------- Charges have a greater effect on all monsters, minions included. Sniper Support, Minion, Command Mana Multiplier: __% ---------------- Requires Level __, __ INT, __ DEX ---------------- Minions cannot use Melee Attacks and will Retreat from melee attackers. ---------------- Per 1% Quality: Minions have +5% increased Projectile Speed ---------------- Minions have Far Shot Minions have (40-59)% increased Skill and Targeting Range ---------------- Retreat: Minions blink 15 units backward and away from melee enemies who strike them, leaving behind a patch of chilled ground. 6 second cooldown.
Command Gem Vendor Recipes
Sell a Command support gem along with certain white items to change the gem into another Command support gem. The quality of the gem is preserved, but not its experience.
Command support gem + any white wand = Mage Command support gem + any white wand + any white bow = Sniper Command support gem + any white wand + any white melee weapon = Battlemage Command support gem + any white bow = Archer Command support gem + any white bow + any white melee weapon = Warrior Command support gem + any white melee weapon = Assassin Command support gem + any white shield = Retainer Command support gem + any white jewelry = Specialist Command support gem + any white armor = Mimic In a previous thread I reached the 50,000 character limit and ran out of room. Thus, I restarted in this thread so I could reserve the first few posts for an unbroken presentation. However, two replies would be lost, so I will quote and respond to them here.
Previous replies
" I have split some of the effects of Mage into Specialist, so now it's not quite as stacked as it was. The idea behind Command gems is to tweak and control minion AI to suit your particular needs, and as a result many more monsters would become viable Spectres. For Spectres that already work well, though, they can use a non-Command support that offers a more potent or specific effect, like pure damage. " Thanks! I have now added specific numbers to give an idea of just how much damage it could actually do. Because the damage is less than the health drained, there is risk and sacrifice involved. Although the damage potential has a high ceiling, consider that not only is it delayed damage, which exposes you to more dangers and can miss, but when a minion dies you lose all their potential DPS along with their tanking and body-block interference, so this should be kept in mind when factoring the skill's balance. For instance, a lvl20 skeleton has an average base DPS of 919 over 20 seconds. That's 18,386 potential damage. He also has 1897 life, which if fully drained over 2-3 Ritual of Sacrifices, it would only give 948 damage. Minion Life nodes would act as a damage multiplier here, so depending on your build you could easily double that damage with 100% increased minion life. 1,897 damage, or roughly 10% of his melee potential. One Raging Spirit has 9,738 melee damage potential. One cast of RoS drains 48% minion life, and deals half of this as damage. Basically 24%. A Raging Spirit has 3252 life, and so would add 780 damage to RoS. 50 Raging Spirits would add 39,024, compared to their melee damage potential of 486,900. The advantage of Ritual of Sacrifice is it can cover a wider area, turns life into damage, heals your other Commanded minions, deals its damage potential sooner, doesn't immediately kill your minions so you still get some of their melee potential, can concentrate your temporary minions (who tend not to listen) where you want them, synergizes with Minion Instability, and any spell/elemental damage bonuses you have get to interact with your minion life bonuses. Last edited by Hercanic#3982 on May 19, 2016, 11:34:42 PM
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What are those
IGN: LarsPunkNado (dps ts/punture)
IGN: larshuijskens (max dps auramancer) |
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