PoE Minion Changes 3.19

Minion Changes 3.19

Path of Exile is a game about finding items to improve your character. Minion builds historically got most of their power from their gems, and didn’t have as many strong options to benefit from finding better items.
The overall goal of these changes is to improve the variety of viable minion builds, but also make minion builds more reliant on items.

1. Problem:
There are limited options to invest in minion-related stats on player gear, meaning that their base stats have to be inflated to compensate. This leads to most minion builds caring too little about itemisation, and also limits the potential to scale high-end minion builds with better items.

Solution:
Lower minion base life and damage, but provide more ways for players to invest into minions on their own gear, allowing minion damage and survivability to each be higher than previously possible for a character with strong items.

  • The damage and life scaling values for minions have been adjusted. This affects all minions other than Raise Spectre, though the damage of Animate Guardian, Animate Weapon, Blink Arrow and Mirror Arrow minions is also unaffected as they gain base damage from items instead. Generally speaking, minion life and damage is unchanged in the very early game, roughly 30% lower in mid acts, roughly 20% lower at level 20 of the minion skill, and roughly 10% lower at level 30 of the minion skill. The base life and damage of minions that are not associated with skill gems have been adjusted to counteract these changes, except for Raised Spiders from Arakaali’s Fang.
  • The level of monster created by the Raise Spectre Skill has been lowered, though remains unchanged at gem level 1. It now creates a level 70 monster at gem level 20 (previously 72), and level 76 monster at gem level 25 (previously 77).
  • Added a new Ring base item type: Bone Ring. This Ring has an Implicit Minion Elemental Resistances modifier, and can roll Minion-related modifiers.
  • Bone, Ivory and Fossilised Spirit Shields are now found with a Minions deal increased Damage Implicit modifier (previously increased Spell Damage), and can roll Minion-related modifiers.
  • As a result of these Implicit modifier changes, the Manastorm Unique Shield is now a Lacewood Spirit Shield, and the Kongming’s Stratagem Shield is now an Ancient Spirit Shield.
  • Added two new Wand base item types: Calling Wand and Convening Wand. These base types are level 20 and 50 equivalents of the Convoking Wand and can roll Minion-related modifiers. Some of the new Minion-related modifiers have been added to the available pool for these Wands, and some existing modifiers have been adjusted and/or made more common.
  • Helmets can no longer roll +1–3 to Level of socketed Minion Gems. Instead, they can now roll +1–2 to Level of all Minion Skill Gems. The Vendor Recipe for a Helmet with a +1 to Level of socketed Minion Gems modifier has been replaced with a new recipe. Happy hunting!
  • It is now possible to obtain +2 to Level of socketed Minion Gems as a Corrupted Implicit modifier on Helmets, Body Armours, Gloves and Boots.
  • Ghastly Eye jewels have had their modifier pool updated.
  • The Indomitable Army Notable Passive Skill no longer has “Minions have 15% increased maximum Life”.
  • The small Passive Skills in the Grave Intentions cluster now provide “Minions have 8% increased maximum Life” instead of “Minions have +10% to all Elemental Resistances”.

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2. Problem:
Some minion skills are clear outliers in terms of inherent power, so become the default choice for many minion-focused builds.

Solution:
Reduce the power of a couple of overperforming minion skills, and increase the power of others, with the goal of providing more minion options that feel good to play. These changes are in addition to the global minion changes detailed above.

  • Absolution: Sentinels of Absolution now deal approximately 25% less damage at gem level 1, scaling to approximately 5% less damage at gem level 20. The player version of the skill now has +0 to radius at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to +6 at gem level 20 (previously +4). Both the player and minion versions of the skill now have 6% base Critical Strike Chance (previously 5%). The regular Minion skill now has 180% Effectiveness of Added Damage (previously 100%), and the empowered version now has 130% (previously 100%).
  • Animate Guardian: Minion’s attacks now deal 32–47 additional Physical Damage at gem level 1 (previously 22–34), up to 126–184 at gem level 20 (previously 56–84).
  • Animate Weapon: Now costs 4 mana at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 16 at gem level 20 (previously 12).
  • Arakaali’s Fang: The Viper Strike skill used by Raised Spiders now has a base Poison duration of 4 seconds (previously 8 seconds) and no longer has 25% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage. Player now gains 15% increased Poison Damage per Spider (previously 12%).
  • Herald of Agony: Agony Crawler now gains 2% increased Attack Speed per Virulence you have at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 4% at gem level 20 (previously 3%).
  • Herald of Purity: Sentinels of Purity now deal approximately 15% more Damage at all levels. Sentinels’ Crusade Slam skill now has a 5 second cooldown (previously 6 seconds) and 100% more Area of Effect (previously 80%).
  • Summon Phantasm Support: Summoned Phantasms now deal approximately 20% more Damage at all gem levels. Supported Skills now have 20% chance to Summon a Phantasm when Supported Skills, or Non-Phantasm Minions from Supported Skills, Hit a Rare or Unique Enemy (previously 10%).
  • Raise Zombie: Gem quality no longer grants 0–20% increased Minion Movement Speed. Now costs 9 mana at gem level 1 (previously 10), up to 28 at gem level 20 (previously 38).
  • Summon Carrion Golem: Gem quality no longer grants 0–20% increased Minion Maximum Life. Now has 30% more base life at all levels. Now has 0% increased Minion Maximum Life at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 38% at gem level 20 (previously 68%).
  • Summon Chaos Golem: Gem quality no longer grants 0–20% increased Minion Maximum Life. Now has 20% more base life at all levels. Now has 0% increased Minion Maximum Life at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 38% at gem level 20 (previously 68%). The golem’s Cascade spell now has an Added Damage Effectiveness of 100% (previously 60%), has a cooldown of 3 seconds (previously 3.5 seconds), has a base Critical Strike chance of 5% (previously 0%), and has approximately 10% higher base Area of Effect. The golem’s chaos storm skill now deals up to 25% more damage at gem level 20.
  • Summon Flame Golem: Gem quality no longer grants 0–20% increased Minion Maximum Life. Now has 30% more base life at all levels. Now has 0% increased Minion Maximum Life at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 38% at gem level 20 (previously 68%). The golem will now be able to use its mortar spell against targets in close range. Its Mortar spell now has an Added Damage Effectiveness of 200% (previously 100%). Its Incinerate spell now has an Added Damage Effectiveness of 80% (previously 20%). Its Cone spell now deals approximately 30% more Damage at all levels, has an Added Damage Effectiveness of 200% (previously 100%), and has a base Critical Strike chance of 5% (previously 10%).
  • Summon Ice Golem: Gem quality no longer grants 0–20% increased Minion Maximum Life. Now has 20% more base life at all levels. Now has 0% increased Minion Maximum Life at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 38% at gem level 20 (previously 68%). The golem’s Ice Spear spell now has an Added Damage Effectiveness of 150% (previously 100%).
  • Summon Lightning Golem: Gem quality no longer grants 0–20% increased Minion Maximum Life. Now has 30% more base life at all levels. Now has 0% increased Minion Maximum Life at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 38% at gem level 20 (previously 68%). Golem spells now have 6% base Critical Strike chance (previously 5%). The basic lightning projectile spell now has an Added Damage Effectiveness of 250% (previously 100%).
  • Summon Stone Golem: Gem quality no longer grants 0–20% increased Minion Maximum Life. Now has 20% more base life at all levels. Now has 0% increased Minion Maximum Life at gem level 1 (previously 30%), up to 38% at gem level 20 (previously 68%).
  • Summon Holy Relic: The Relic’s nova Spell now has 250% Effectiveness of Added Damage at all gem levels (previously scaling from 70% at gem level 1 to 146% at gem level 20). It now grants approximately 50% more Life regenerated per second to Allies and Minions at all gem levels.
  • Summon Raging Spirit: No longer has Minions gain 15% less Added Damage. Now has Minions deal 0% more Damage at gem level 1, up to 38% more Damage at gem level 20 (previously 0%). Minion base life is now 20% higher at all levels. Now costs 4 mana at gem level 1 (unchanged), up to 16 at gem level 20 (previously 12). The Helmet Enchantments that grant a chance to summon an extra Minion now grant a 16% chance from the Merciless Labyrinth (previously 12%) and a 24% chance from the Eternal Labyrinth (previously 18%).
  • Summon Reaper: The buff granted when consuming a Minion no longer grants 40% increased Damage. It now grants 40% increased Attack Speed (previously 20%), 40% increased Movement Speed (previously 20%) and also now grants 30% increased Area of Effect. The reaper’s dash slash attack now has an Added Damage Effectiveness of 150% (previously 250%).
  • Summon Skeletons: No longer has Minions gain 50% more Added Damage. Skeletal Mages now deal approximately 5% less damage at gem level 1, scaling to approximately 25% less damage at gem level 20. Now costs 5 mana at gem level 1 (previously 4), up to 16 at gem level 20 (previously 12).
  • Vorana’s March: Fixed a bug where summoned Arbalists had an effective accuracy rating that was approximately 70% lower than intended. Summoned Arbalists now deal approximately 50% more Damage. Almost every modifier that can randomly spawn on Vorana’s March has either had its values increased or been disabled.

3. Problem:
Because minions are monsters, they inherit some stats from monsters that can significantly affect build choices and power. As these stats are not detailed anywhere in-game, they are a cause of confusion for a lot of players (as well as rendering minion ailment builds near-impossible except for minions specifically designed around them). The large damage bonuses granted to minions by frenzy and power charges also crowd out alternative options, especially for shield itemisation with Necromantic Aegis and utility-focused spectres.

Solution:
Split potentially-confusing monster stats into minion and non-minion versions so that minions can behave in the manner players would naturally expect.

  • Minions no longer have hidden penalties to Bleeding, Ignite, and Poison damage. Summon Reaper no longer has a hidden bonus to Bleeding damage that counteracted this penalty. As a result, minions now deal approximately twice as much Poison damage, three and a half times as much Ignite damage, and seven times as much Bleeding damage.
  • Minions now gain the same bonuses from Endurance, Frenzy and Power Charges as players do, rather than the significantly elevated bonuses that other Monsters gain.

4. Problem:
Investing in minion critical strikes has been possible in a very niche manner for some time now, but has never been a fully-supported build option. Additionally, the removal of a large amount of potential critical strike chance from power charges in the above change would render critical minion builds near-impossible without further changes.

Solution:
Add more sources of minion critical strike investment. These changes are not intended to fully compensate for the lost critical strike chance from power charges, but instead to more than make up for the lost damage via the addition of multiple sources of minion critical strike multiplier.

  • The Spirit Offering Skill gem no longer grants Elemental or Chaos Resistance to Minions, and no longer causes Minions to gain a percentage of their Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage. It instead now grants Minions 110% increased Critical Strike Chance at gem level 1, up to 148% at gem level 20. It also grants Minions +30% to Critical Strike Multiplier at gem level 1, up to +39% at gem level 20.
  • The Fearsome Force Passive Skill Tree cluster no longer grants minion area of effect. It is now a larger cluster that grants minion critical strike chance and multiplier.
  • The “Minions have 100% increased Critical Strike Chance” Minion Offence Mastery has been replaced with an option that provides “Minions have 30% increased Area of Effect”.
  • The new minion modifiers mentioned above include a family of minion critical strike chance modifiers available on wands and shields, and a family of minion critical strike multiplier modifiers on wands.

5. Problem:
The Necromancer’s Unnatural Strength notable passive skill is extremely strong for almost all minion builds due to how well minion skills scale with gem level. This skill makes it hard to justify using other ascendancy classes for minion builds.

Solution:
Change Unnatural Strength to provide a less universally applicable stat, and allow more access to minion gem levels on items instead (as detailed above).

  • The Necromancer’s Unnatural Strength Notable Ascendancy Passive Skill no longer provides +2 to Level of all Minion Skill Gems. Instead, it now grants Minions Unholy Might.

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