A scholar eye on minionmancy

[Lensor]

If you like a small army of minions, look no further. This primer will give you all that you need to know to get started. I will focus on necromancer summoning skills as well as traits that directly modify minions. Weapons Unfortunately, or fortunately, no weapon specializes in minionmancy. You can therefore freely opt to [...]

(feature by Alaris)
More...

[Alaris]

Please let me know if you find this kind of article interesting. In each, I'll pick a role and profession, and focus on the bare bones of it.

I'm hoping to get some theorycrafting going in the discussion after.

[Tyris Requiem]

focus on the bare bones of it.

... bad pun is bad.

[Alaris]

... bad pun is bad.

Hahah, that was NOT intended.

[djacob]

Yeah, I am partial to the necro so that may be swaying my thoughts on the article, but I like it. As for your builds, I like the Lich Form one, though I might use Necromatic Corruption instead of Training of the Master... though this could go either way depending on how many boons people are using in pvp/wvw or how many I'm running into in a pve zone. The axe causes vulnerability so damage should be enough in most situations, and a protection boon decreases damage by 33% and would affect me as well as my minions... and allies as well. Add in the ability to remove swiftness so my minions can catch the enemy, and remove retaliation so that they don't die when they do, and I think it's worth the loss of 30% damage from minions, except when boons aren't being used obviously.

As for the Summon Flesh Golem one, well umm hmm...

Spoiler

I drooled.

Oh, but I should probably mention that the axe is the weapon that causes vulnerability. I think the axe would be a good choice for the build if that's what you meant. Hmm, was thinking dagger for the offhand but I just realized that since minions will take your conditions it might be better to use a scepter offhand.

Maybe with a staff as the secondary weapon, so you can pop into death shroud practically whenever you want. Also, putrid mark + fetid consumption could be interesting... minions do count as allies right? If that's the case, then you could pop putrid mark after a decent amount of conditions are given to your minions, swap to axe/scepter and use feast of corruption for a nice spike. If you have time (ie, the enemies don't walk over the mark immediately) you could apply vulnerable and bleed/cripple right beforehand.

Yes, definitely drooling.
Please don't nerf it Anet, it probably isn't overpowered.

[Alaris]

though I might use Necromatic Corruption instead of Training of the Master...

Maybe it would be worth switching the two depending on the foes in the area. The tendency is often for foes to use stronger buffs later in the game, so it might be a good idea then to switch from damage to boon removal. Just speculating...

minions do count as allies right?

I have no idea. Nice idea about the spike though hahah. Yeah, I am not that good at theorycrafting to find those optimizations, now we have a few cool ideas to test.

Drool.