The Minion Master: Difference between revisions

 

[[Zerg Rush]] often describes the most common combat method of [[The Minion Master]]. Because of their tactics, they often fall under [[Anti-Hero]] categorization, and often have to convince the player that [[Dark Is Not Evil]]. Can occasionally be [[Game Breaker|Game Breakers]], occasionally [[Crutch Character|Crutch Characters]]. If the minions are copies of the master, it's a [[Doppleganger Attack]].

 

* The Overlord from ''[[Overlord]]'' is one of these, but he's still a very strong character in his own right once sufficiently powered up.

 

* To a certain extent, Captain Olimar is one of these in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''.

** King Dedede summons an army of Waddle Dees, Waddle Doos, and Gordos to swarm the stage for his final smash in ''[[Super Smash Bros.|Super Smash Bros. Brawl]].''

 

* Summon-focused Necromancers in ''[[Diablo]] 2'' can end up with sixteen skeletons, one golem, and 20 revived monsters. Additionally, you can also hire a mercenary (and should, an act 2 nightmare merc can have Might and increase every minions damage.)

** Note that, while pre 1.08 Necromancer had far more skeletons, they also became next to useless as the game progressed. Current Necromancers are accompanied by a smaller group of far more efficient undead minions.

* ''[[Sacred]]'' featured the Vampiress, who could in vampire mode, turn creatures into undead. When she reverted, they died. However, with careful timing the running of the spell on the body could complete after she turned back to normal, which meant that the creature was not subject to destruction until the character changed forms again. What really made it fit the trope though was that the character following could turn enemies into the same state when killed, though not always. Thus a Vampiress could relatively quickly amass a huge army that, because of the way the change worked, potentially turn dragons into undead minions. Such a sight is naturally impressive.

 

* [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Minion Master]] [[Necromancer]] [[An Adventurer Is You|character builds]] [[All Blue Entry|in]] ''[[Guild Wars]]''

** Currently they can only have a maximum of 10-12 minions at any given time, but they can be replenished very quickly (which is good, because they decay very quickly once they've been around a while). In the past however, there was no limit to how many minions a necromancer could summon and control, you could have massive hordes of 50+ minions if you and your teammates had enough AoE healing to keep that many alive.

** Controllers initially were allowed to summon as many pets as they wanted to but they would die in about four minutes. With proper recharge and [[Random Number God|some luck,]] they could summon up to 20 pets at a time, letting them overwhelm everything. This was nerfed, of course. Now the pets are permanent but you can only summon one set at a time.

 

* The Necromancer unit from the Undead faction in ''[[Warcraft]] 3''. A couple of these guys could summon hordes of skeletons using corpses (obtained from a graveyard, meat wagon, dead unit, or even a dead critter) and [[Mana]]. The skeletons were individually weak and short-lived, but the explosive [[Zerg Rush]] of that the Necromancers could create, summoning 2 skellies every 8 seconds, could turn a straight battle between initially equal forces into a rout, or at least force the enemy to run away. Thankfully, as of ''Frozen Throne'', mass dispelling abilities were available to all factions, so all it took to clear a skeleton horde was the correct unit (Priest/Wisp/Destroyer/Spirit Walker) and a bit of micro.

** Some [[Hero Unit|heroes]] could become [[The Minion Master]] using the correct abilities. Like the Death Knight, who could raise 6 short-lived but invincible minions using its ultimate ability, Animate Dead, or the Night Elf Warden, who could ''summon a [[The Minion Master|minion master]]'', the Avatar of Vengeance, who then spammed further, weaker summons called Spirits of Vengeance. And the Keeper of the Grove, whose Force of Nature ability summoned an extra [[When Trees Attack|Treant]] for every point invested in it after the first. Or the Firelord, whose Lava Spawns would multiply over time if not killed quickly. Or the Dark Ranger, who would turn any unit she killed into a buffed-up skeleton. Yeah, basically, Blizzard loves this trope.

** Similarly, ''[[Brutal Legend]]''.

 

* Summoners in the [[Roguelike]] ''[[Tales of Maj Eyal|T.o.M.E.]]'' Kill an animal, and you can make a totem out of it's corpse. Kill an [[Explosive Breeder]], make a totem out of it, and the children of the summon are friendly towards you - and don't cost you. Filling entire levels with your pets is easy, but considered cheating.

* The Necromeister in ''100 Rogues'' can summon up to four skeletons and a Shade when the right skills are maxed out. Be warned: it's [[Cast From Hit Points]].

 

 

* Focusing on Charm skills in ''[[Torchlight]]'' can make your character into one of these.

** This is especially true of the Alchemist if you invest into the Lore skill tree.

* While all three player classes in [[Geneforge]] can be this, the Shaper class is best suited for this.

 

* The BFT Carrier from ''[[Bubble Tanks|Bubble Tanks 2]]'' can summon 6 attack drones that shoot its unlucky victims and burst them in a matter of seconds. It's also [[Mighty Glacier|rather large and slow]].

 

* Marona from ''[[Phantom Brave]]'' and Zetta from ''[[Makai Kingdom]]'' are this.

 

 

* Gecko Moria of ''[[One Piece]]'' fame has hordes upon hordes of zombies running around on his gigantic island/ship [[Cool Ship|Thriller Bark]] thanks to the Devil Fruit he ate.

* Shino Aburame from ''[[Naruto]]'' is this, letting the bugs that live within his body do most of the work for him.

 

* One of your options when building a deck in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' is to be fill it with [[Zerg Rush|hordes of cheaply-summoned teeny-tiny monsters to overwhelm one's opponent.]]

 

* ''[[The Banned and the Banished]]'' adds a touch of [[Body Horror]] to this. The first corrupted spellcaster in the series has man-eating spiders living in her womb and gives birth to them when she needs someone dead. Later varieties include a former healer who has leeches living on his flesh, two [[Evil Albino|albino]] [[Creepy Twins|twins]] who grow pustules that explode into rats, and one villain who's connected to ravens in an unexplained but presumably unpleasant way.

 

* Most summon spells in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' can be used to summon a swarm of lower-level creatures instead of one high-level creature.

** ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' also has the hordeificer artificer build that uses the large number of constructs.

* ''[[In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas|In Nomine Satanis Magna Veritas]]'', the prequel of ''[[In Nomine]]'', allows you to choose lots of human troops that serve and obey you, if you're an angel. The demons get, instead, a lesser demon or some undead troops.

 

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'''s Minion Master is a subversion, since he had no minions until Torg volunteered himself, Sasha, and Bun-bun. And even so, he's been easily manipulated into rubber-stamping Torg's pursuit of his own agenda.

** Subverted further; it doesn't appear he's pulled as many strings as he's been played himself. His sister may have more control over his organization, but the lunatics have systematically been permitted to run the asylum.

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[[Category:Video Game Characters]]

[[Category:The Minion Master]]

[[Category:CRPG Tropes]]