Minions feel way too weak and doesn't feel fun to play - POE2

TLDR - minions are functionally useless and clunky right now because they die too much no matter what you do.

Before anyone goes crying in the comments to just get good. I've played minions in multiple ARPG's and made builds that took me to end game though still very rough builds. I'm not expecting to blast through campaign. But I at least expect to not feel like every fight is just stacked against me because I'm playing minions. So far it feels and looks like there will be only 1 or 2 build for minions and only at endgame. Leveling with minions is shooting yourself in the foot because any other occult damage skill is stronger even with no modifiers to damage.

I love the idea of summons having separate skills and the auto revive is good quality of life but that's where the praise ends.

Minions feel very underpowered both in damage and survivability. Bossing just from act 1 and 2 half the fight is just waiting for minion respawns. I invested heavily into minion HP but just white mobs are enough to 2-3 shot them.

Also the flame hound from ascendancy is terrible and or bugged. The stats panel says it has 1.2k hp and 300 hp regen but its again getting 1 or 2 shot from white mobs. And even if it does survive a hit it doesn't regen at all. I think it's bugged because i have around 500 hp and basically non existent resistances but i can tank quite a lot before needing an hp pot.

Bosses one shot minions with almost anything and they get one shot after respawning making them just straight obsolete. Best i could do is ice mage skeletons because they slow and freeze, but the dps is still terrible no matter what combination of supports I try. In the stats panel it says that the only base/hit damage they have is from a scepter mod and the damage numbers seem to reflect that. Why is there no basic attack without scepter mods?

The since the base damage is almost non existent the passives from the passive tree does basically nothing. Health doesn't matter because it either doesn't work or the mobs are overtuned. Rare mobs sometimes feel like boss fights themselves and that's only 2 mod ones.

I feel like I'm playing a baby sitter of suicidal infants rather than a commander of undead.

I would like if someone somehow checked if the passives from the tree are applying or not.

Damage can be figured out probably but minion survivability is a serious issue as it stalls fights making them feel unfun. And if minions can't even survive one second after respawn then there's no damage and a point to have them.

This isn't to say the game is bad but it is frustrating. I feel weak no matter what i do even after grinding previous areas for gear so minions are better.

Edit 1: infernal hound is definitely not working properly and stat window is just lying.

150% increased minion damage and my minions still don't do any meaningful dps. Essence drain and Contagion do more damage with no damage modifiers. How and why? In the passive skill tree the minion passives say they don't apply to anything I'm using. So it makes me think that ,like i stated before, nothing is applying to minions.

Dreadnought area and any place with tight doors/corridors make minions block each other obviously making them even worse than they are.

Personal opinion: Why can't we dual wield scepters? Minions are pitiful right now so at least make it so we can have more of them to try and offset it.

Personal opinion: The first tier of support gems seem lack luster and useless with a few exceptions (duration, area of effect, multiple projectiles).

Sorry if there's any typos or it seems like I'm repeating myself English isn't my first language.

Any tips about your finds with minion is also welcome.

I’m loving the game, even as a minion build, however I totally agree with this.

1) you can’t get a decent amount
2) they don’t do enough damage
3) they are constantly dead in most boss fights

We need more gear options for summoner, particularly extra spirit on amulets, rings, off-hand

thanks for summing up my frustrations so well. Anyway, Netflix time waiting for the first balance patch - hopefully before the X-mas vacation :D

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TheBalrogslayer#7574 wrote:

I’m loving the game, even as a minion build, however I totally agree with this.

1) you can’t get a decent amount
2) they don’t do enough damage
3) they are constantly dead in most boss fights

We need more gear options for summoner, particularly extra spirit on amulets, rings, off-hand

But you have more options.
I have an amulet with 30 spirit, I have seen an offhand and chest, pretty sure rings have it aswell...

I know there are passives that help with this later, but stuff like Raise Zombie the little scorpion guys are useless skills to go deep on, because a lot of bosses don't have chodes who die, or any kind of corpse providing mechanic (at least <20).

So far I've been playing minion build, and it's OK-ish. As far as I'm concerned, in PoE 2 minions are not your main attack force, they're your support. You still have to invest in direct damage skills for it to work. It would seem that there's been a strong emphasis on "priming and detonating" mechanics, and minions can do either of them, like when sniper skeletons deploy gas arrows which you then detonate with fire.
Still, we should keep in mind that it's EA, and a lot of things can change. Maybe there will be an exclusive minion build that's viable.