Unveiling the Secrets of the Necromancer‘s Minions in Diablo IV: The Master Necromancer‘s Complete Guide
As a Necromancer who has commanded legions of undead servants across the span of 20 years and four Diablo games, I devote myself fully to the mastery of death itself. From the lowest skeleton warrior to the mightiest Empowered Bone Golem, I have studied each and every minion within our dark army.
Through endless gameplay and experimentation across public betas, I have tested the bounds of every ability, every passive, and every gear synergy affecting our pets. From this rigorous study, I‘ve extracted the secrets to our pets‘ true destructive potential – powerful knowledge most Necromancers take to the grave!
In this complete 2000+ word guide, I bestow this hard-won insight to fellow masters of death, that we may crush Diablo IV and leave nothing but ash and bone in our wake!
Chapter I: Optimizing Minions – The Best Offense is Your Defense
Not all minions are equal – far from it! Extensive testing reveals a clear hierarchy of damage-dealing supremacy useful for strategic deployment. Note: other factors like durability and crowd control utilities also impact overall value. This focuses purely on destructive potential.
Single Target Slayers:
- Empowered Reaper – Fastest raw damage output against lone targets. Their scythe attacks strike rapidly, allowing them to shred enemies quickly if left unchecked. Your ace for demolishing elite monsters and bosses.
- Empowered Bone Golem/Blood Golem – Strong contenders for runner-up, the empowered golems unload massive single-target damage via brute strength and blood-fueled attacks respectively. Slower than Reapers, but hit harder per blow while retaining good survivability.
AoE Destroyers:
- Corpse Mages – Mages may seem weak, but Bone/Cold Corpse Mages are secretly AoE BEASTS! Their projectile barrages combined with piercing/shattering bonuses decimate crowds. Soft targets, but position them well and watch the bodies pile up!
- Defiler – Spewing corpses on the battlefield summons more minions passively AND provides nice area damage too! Double threat.
- Bone Golem – His cleaving blows splash damage to surrounding enemies. Excellent for clearing areas quickly despite single-target focus.
Honorable Mentions
- Bone Warriors: Balanced damage and durability makes them handy battlefield anchors. Can‘t go wrong, but not specialists either.
- Iron Golem – Extremely durable thanks to life steal, but pays the price with pitiful DPS. Shield your backlines and draws attacks.
- Skeletal Archers: Nice range harassment, but fragile and low impact damage.
The Bottom Rung
- Skeletal Defenders – Their benefits are purely defensive. Don‘t expect these shield-bearers to kill anything faster than old age. Support ONLY.
As you can see, the combat capabilities of minions varies widely even within the same troop classification. Picking the right specie for the battlefield situation spells victory or defeat! Now, onto the cold hard math underpinning their destructive capabilities…
Chapter II: Critical Damage Calculations and Breakpoints for Lethal Pets
After extensive analyzation of factors affecting pet damage, I‘ve derived definitive equations to accurately model DPS. These equations reveal the stats and thresholds you MUST reach to transform ordinary minions into champion-slaughtering avatars of death!
Base Minion Damage: [Minion Base DMG Value] * (1 + [Summoning Skill DMG Bonus])
Notice minions receive 100% value from this multiplier – it‘s FAR more impactful than generic "skill DMG increases. Prioritize stacking this stat!
Then calculate the damage bonus from the Necromancer‘s Intelligence:
[Minion Base DMG] * (1 + [INT Bonus])
The Total Minion Damage formula is:
[Minion Base DMG] (1 + [Summon Skill DMG Bonus]) (1 + [INT Bonus])
Next, critical strike chance (CSC) and critical strike damage (CSD), using the Necromancer‘s bonuses:
Minion CSC = 30% of Necro CSC
Minion CSD = 30% of Necro CSD
With this, we calculate Expected DPS:
Expected DPS = [Total Minion DMG] (1 – Minion CSC)% + [Total Minion DMG (1 + Minion CSD)] * Minion CSC%
Let‘s walk through an example using a level 20 Empowered Reaper:
Base DMG: 100
Necro INT Bonus: 50%
Necro Summon Skill DMG Bonus: 70%
Necro CSC: 50%
Necro CSD: 150%
Reaper Total DMG: 100 (1 + 0.7) (1 + 0.5) = 315
Reaper CSC: 30% 50% = 15%
Reaper CSD: 30% 150% = 45%
Non-Crit DPS: 315 (1 – 0.15) = 268
Crit DPS: 315 (1 + 0.45) = 457
Expected Total DPS = Non-Crit DPS + Crit DPS
= 268 0.85 + 457 0.15 = 304
This framework allows us to accurately predict damage given any stats. More importantly, it reveals our priorities: Stack INT and Summon DMG over generic "damage increases", pursue CSC/CSD solely on our end only to splash effects to pets, and CSD contributes greater overall DPS than CSC thanks to quadratic scaling.
Internal testing suggests exceeding 400% increased summon damage begins suffering diminishing returns. Use these breakthroughs to help optimize your build and take minion lethality to frightening new heights!
Now, let‘s leverage this knowledge to explore ideal gear, skills, and strategies to maximize our pet‘s destructive potential…
Chapter III: Optimal Gear, Skills, and Strategies for Emperor of the Dead Minion Builds
Few sights inspire fear in the hearts of men like an army of ravenous undead bearing down upon them. And fewer still can claim the power to command such a force – we happy few Necromancers!
But the path to raising such an unstoppable force is fraught with peril. Follow my blueprint below to guarantee yourself an ocean of blood and a mountain of bones when the dust settles.
Start with Astounding Intelligence – This supreme stat fuels our mana, damage, AND pets now. Getting over 650 should be the first priority through gear and paragon levels. Transcend this threshold and achieve limitless power!
Legendary Affixes – These offer the most efficient damage spikes available. Hunt items that directly buff pets via bonuses like "Minions deal 500% increased damage" or unique modifiers.
Exceptional items include:
Bracers of Command: Minions gain thorns equal to 500% your Life per Second.
Mask of the Spellbreaker: Your minions spread caustic ground that deals 5000% weapon damage per second.
Solarium Stone: Minions deal triple damage below 90% health.
Utilize Support Skills – Curses, debuffs, pet enhancements…you are the buffer/debuffer. Check your ego and assist pets! Skills like Frailty (1000% increased pet damage to cursed enemies), Command Skeletons (+30% pet damage), and Enforcer Gem (all pets get +15% increased damage) demonstrate necessary teamwork.
Max Corpse Explosion Synergies – Detonating groups of corpses empowers mages passively AND piles on area damage! Seek gear/skills that generate extra corpses then obliterate them with skills like Unholy Nova!
Summoning Staff and Off-Hand – Equip items giving "+X% Summoning Skill Damage" to double-dip on juicy pet multipliers!
Prioritize the Hidden Sixth Primary Stat – Items can roll an extra effect like "Minions deal an extra 5–10% damage". This separate multiplier compounds with other bonuses. Reroll for pet affixes whenever possible!
Pet Gear Sets – Helltooth Harness (golems deal 3000% more damage), Bones of Rathma (1000% more mage damage), Trag‘oul Coils (400% more skeleton damage)…mix and match to specialize troops!
Boss Annihilation Sequence – Gather mobs while traversing fields. Detonate the pile using Corpse Explosion to fuel mages. Engage boss and barrage with curses, Command Skeletons, etc. Summon Empowered Reaper and watch the fireworks! Adjust as needed per Chapter I info.
That covers dominion over the major minion species. Now, let‘s discuss promising ideas for EVOLVING our pets into even more vicious terrors…
Chapter IV: Suggestions for Improving Minion Deficiencies
While undead troops possess fearsome strengths, various flaws inhibit them from achieving absolute peak lethality. Through rigorous testing, I have identified key weaknesses in desperate need of tuning to transform decent minions into supreme fighting forces.
Skeleton Warriors – Too short-lived to make lasting impacts. Their brief existence limits viability to only delivering quick front-loaded damage. This feels severely underwhelming.
Suggestion: Increasing base duration by 100-300% would provide more value and enable them to synergize with other pets better. Alternately, allowing permanentCommand Skeleton summons upgrades their status to dependable mainstays instead of temporary cannon fodder.
Empowered Reapers – Strangely enough, Frenzy Dead fails to sustain its own frenzy mechanic! Killing a foe grants increased attack speed for several seconds…then regardless if it still slays new enemies, the effect fades.
Moreover, attacking DIFFERENT enemies is required to refresh Frenzy Dead – rapidly slaying the same target does nothing. This feels extremely counterintuitive and prompts awkward gameplay heavily prone to failure.
Suggestion: Remove the hard cut-off timer for Frenzy Dead, allowing stack duration extension so long as the Reaper continues killing targets. Additionally, make Frenzy stack additive instead of requiring different victims. Reward specialized killer Reapers instead of flaky notoriety seekers!
Kalon‘s Edict – This passive promises a protective bone shield upon pets striking foes. Unfortunately, it‘s dispelled after mere scratch damage – hardly the resilience expected. Worse, it pressures PETS into attacking, conflicting with the Necromancer‘s role of absorbing attacks to enable minion offense.
Suggestion: Only remove the bone shield if pets fall below 50% health to make it more reliable. Additionally, make it activate from PET damage dealt instead of requiring them taking hits (to better synergize with Necromancer defenses and damage support skills directed at enemies). Finally, add a substantial thorns effect while shielded to improve both durability and damage output!
Implementation of even one of these suggestions would drastically bolster minion viability. I eagerly await fan reception and developer consideration of these ideas to push our army of the dead into the halls of legend!
The End(?)…Not Even Death Stops Diablo‘s Doom
And so ends my arduous efforts to codify pet secrets thus far – but the quest is never finished! Hone your skills daily, master new legendary powers, test unconsidered tactics, and share your own revelations below! Only through communal growth can we attain true perfection over death‘s dark domain!
I shall be the first to admit – with each Diablo iteration arises new challenges to overcome. Diablo IV already proves no different. Despite cross-referencing datamined info, not all mechanics are fully understood…yet!
There are whispers across Sanctuary‘s graveyards about the Cult of the Dead in Zorza. Secret Cabal schemes involving aspirant Necromancers undocumented in even the deepest arcane indices. Obscure powers tied to unlocking the Book of the Dead‘s deepest secrets through metaphorical and morbid means.
As old heroes fall and new champions rise, the battle against Hell eternally rages across realities. When Diablo returns, will YOU have perfected your death dishing abilities to face the Dark One? Or will you join the ranks of forgotten failures buried in traitorous texts?
Restore the Balance…Master Death to Defeat Hell!
Yours darkly, forever and always,
Malicious Maximus
Pet Necromancer Extraordinaire