You kinda get used to it - I'm playing Essence Drain as my starter this time and that has two as well, and for mines a lot of people get around it by just putting the Detonate Mines gem in a spell totem. I'm with you though, it just feels different for mines. Not crazy about them at all.

 

Finally got back into this game due to the massive buffs to summoners. Enjoying it while I can before they nerf it, because I'm sure they will.

Also LOL as someone who eschews participation in the game economy. I've had a self-found Atziri's Mirror sitting in my stash for probably years now. Never had a clue what it was worth until I stumbled on a mention of it in some Reddit thread.

 

It's probably the prophecy upgrade version, Atziri's Reflection, not Mirror, that is worth tons.

They also did a massive mine rework too, they're thrown now so it's just traps with extra steps.

I played arc mines to 90 and tried the new icicle and pyroclasm, the single target on the latter is absurd though it's more eye damage than the old cast on crit of yore.

I rolled a witch to try out the new changes but leveling is annoying despite how strong minions are. All in all it's really just not my style of play, all the power and agency is offloaded into a management sim.

 

Idk how much is even management. I literally just linked Feeding Frenzy into the usual zombie setup and now just sit back and do nothing except selfcast a pack of skellies whenever they blow up (Infernal Legion gem + Minion Instability node). Running Evangelist spectres for that proximity barrier, because I have no need whatsoever of spectres as far as DPS contribution goes.

Have yet to run into anything that this build can't easily rip down, and most deaths are just a result of me either getting reckless and outrunning my coverage, or doing things that I've never done before and don't know the mechanics for (Catarina).

Yeah, you're right. Like I said, I don't do the trading stuff at all (though I don't literally play SSF and thus always have the option to change my mind on that point). But everything I have and use is something I've found on my own.

 

Ooof, Catarina the Mastermind remains one of the more awful fights in the game because it's such a visual clusterfuck.

Offering skills and the new deathmark really amp up minions, along with convocation, but yeah it's frustrating to die because you're leading the charge and you dorks aren't as fast as you. One thing I loved about playing golemancer elementalist back in Delve was that ice golems would zoom past you and shred stuff, but I put it down because it was really non-interactive and hit a wall with tougher t16s.

I spent a bit of currency on stuff to wrap up 24/40 challenges and now I'm done with the league. The Tower Defense mechanic isn't bad, it's just not terribly interesting and rather slow compared to how I've gotten used to playing the game.

 

I've only ever run her twice and both times I've only gotten that shitty flask to drop. Reward isn't really worth the effort, and I'm not good enough at the fight to get past her without 2-3 deaths. I think I'll just be raiding the lesser strongholds (set up with the members I want for each) and just not doing Catarina as far as Betrayal content goes from now on.

I'm running Queen's Escape on my character, so it's not really that the minions can't keep up. Zombies are generally clearing a screen or two ahead of my character, and I've gotten pretty good about keeping Bone Armor up during the Evangelist bubble downtime. I just occasionally get reckless and keep on going while my minions are fighting. Almost all of my deaths were from before I changed to the Evangelist spectres. It's only high-end boss content (really just Catarina) and the very occasional random oneshot sneaking through that gets me lately.