Wolf Companions so underwhelming

TL:DR Wolves are mid, they need a decent damage buff

L:R
So, just finished a full playthrough act 1 through interludes, semi-twink in that I used higher level support gems and jewellers spheres, as a Wolf Companion Druid. I wanted the main damage out put to be from the wolves. I finished the interludes with a total of 12 wolves, 6 from pounce 6 from Wolf Companion Spirit gem.

All gear used was what I found on the ground going through, though it was not terrible gear all around.

My Support setup was as follows:
Pounce: feeding frenzy 2/heavy swing/minion mastery/mark of siphoning 2
Wolf Pack: Minion Mastery/Hulking Minions/Rapid Attacks 2/Heavy Swing into Infernal Legion II once I got resists high enough on minions (they still died, but did not die from burning alone).

With this setup, the wolves would kill a white mob in about 2-3 hits, a blue mob in 6-7 and a yellow mob in about 20-30. Bosses I did not count, but finished the Twins at the end of 3rd interlude in about 3 minutes with the majority of the damage being from the wolves (I threw in pounces to keep Predators Mark active for damage and to get the wolves to focus Zelina first rather than splitting DPS).

So, they are not the WORST (with investment they ARE better than Skele warriors from rattling scepter... though not by much), but they are far from great. In order to get your wolves to focus a specific target, you need to leap onto them, meaning you are in melee range guaranteed (kind of counter-intuitive for a SUMMONER archetype). To get half your wolves, you need to use that SAME ability and either kill the marked mob or use Cross Slash to consume the mark. So half your summons are on a 2 ability rotation requirement for bosses. Investing HEAVILY into minion life, you get them up to 5.6k hp, so they can at least take a few hits. However, they only get 20% armour with that same level of investment (not a whole lot of minion armour nodes on passive), although I could increase it by another 12% PDR with another tree given a few levels. There are exactly 4 more minion clusters I would try to path for with this build as it is, so would be at full tank/damage at level 94 from passives. I do not forsee their damage increasing signifcantly with that investment as 3 of the 4 trees I would aim for would be defensive to allow the wolves to live long enough to do their damage.

In short, the damage numbers on the wolves needs about a 20-30% damage buff on their base. It would also be nice to see their damage numbers in the tool tip screen so I do not need to try and puzzle out the math.

Very real, I was running a wolf tactician. Got halfway through act 4 and I just couldn't be bothered, poor damage combined with squishy minions and awful AI was pretty miserable. Hope they get a buff, was super excited for the melee summoner archetype to come to poe2

Maybe wolves are meant to supplement only. There are a ton of skills that don't cut it as your primary damage source. Including other minion skills.

Could be that wolf pack druid works, but only into the very endgame with tons of skills points and proper equipment.

I mean they are clearly designed with Werewolf Shapeshift, Arctic Howl & Lunar Blessing in mind. Basically, you need to go into Melee range and smack enemies along them. All those node in Druid passive tree that boost both your damage & minion damage is also a clear hint to their intent.

I'm glad they did that, no need to have the same Occult minion build but with a Nature reskin. If you want that, play Skeletal or Specter.

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FruitLord#0833 написал:

Maybe wolves are meant to supplement only. There are a ton of skills that don't cut it as your primary damage source. Including other minion skills.

Could be that wolf pack druid works, but only into the very endgame with tons of skills points and proper equipment.

Except the explicitly said they wanted the idea of the wolf summoner archetype to be powerful? They are on record of wanting the wolves to be a primary damage source.

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Djirane#4170 написал:

I mean they are clearly designed with Werewolf Shapeshift, Arctic Howl & Lunar Blessing in mind. Basically, you need to go into Melee range and smack enemies along them. All those node in Druid passive tree that boost both your damage & minion damage is also a clear hint to their intent.

I'm glad they did that, no need to have the same Occult minion build but with a Nature reskin. If you want that, play Skeletal or Specter.

I have no real issue with them wanting the kit to be more than JUST the wolves. But they are on the record during an interview as having wanted the Wolf Summoner Archetype to feel strong, and that means the wolves NEED to work as a primary damage source.

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davieboy1228#6473 написал:

I have no real issue with them wanting the kit to be more than JUST the wolves. But they are on the record during an interview as having wanted the Wolf Summoner Archetype to feel strong, and that means the wolves NEED to work as a primary damage source.

When was the interview ? What are you quoting ?


I mean currently, they do 30-35% of my damage on boss but they also provide me huge damage boost to my damage & help me to survive (compared to a regular Melee Build). So I do consider them more that just "utility".

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davieboy1228#6473 написал:

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FruitLord#0833 написал:

Maybe wolves are meant to supplement only. There are a ton of skills that don't cut it as your primary damage source. Including other minion skills.

Could be that wolf pack druid works, but only into the very endgame with tons of skills points and proper equipment.

Except the explicitly said they wanted the idea of the wolf summoner archetype to be powerful? They are on record of wanting the wolves to be a primary damage source.

That's not how I read the passive tree though. There are a lot of nodes that give damage to both you and your minions or companions. They clearly are suggesting that summoners be active, not just AFK.

You can spec into rage and once you're sitting on 75 rage, your wolves have 75% increased damage. So you need to attack a few times, then GTFO while the wolf pack melts the enemies.

+1

+1

Yeah, wolves deal no damage and die to everything... Definitely need buffing.

I dont want to invest so many passive points in to them for a chance they could get good at late game...