Demons like melee?

Playing a demon /dark and I am getting more than a little frustrated with the demon AI always wanting the demons to go into melee after they fire off one round of shots. Usually it is 1 or 2 of a grouping.

Is there any way of stopping this or do I just have to micro manage and bring the offending idiot back to me every time?

I haven't played demons so I cannot offer you any real advice. Other than puling the offending minion back.

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Mastermi...d_Pet_Controls

Controls won't make a difference, it's a bug with pet AI. One that was supposedly fixed last patch, but it turns out wasn't at all.



Happens to most Henchies and pets as well.

All pets like melee post I17. Apparently the devs adjusted pet AI so the bruiser/ninjas/grave nights and I believe the Demon Prince would enter into melee. Unfortunately ALL pets now enter into melee as soon as they have exhausted their ranged attacks.

In fact I'd go so far as to say the pet AI has gone nuts. I have provoke on auto fire. I can place my pets on defense/follow and be outside a mobs agg range and as I am upgrading my assault bot he'll target someone who is not attacking me and I'll taunt them. I've seen battle drones IGNORE the present mob we are fighting and go into the next mob and agg them for no apparent reason.

And the controls are useless.

It can be a real pain in the butt to be a MM these days.

Hmmm, what level is your DS/DM MM? I have a DS/thermal MM, and I very much like when everyone gets together in melee to fight because the ember demon shield covers everybody, the hellfire gargoyle aura covers the foes, and the Demon Prince slow aura affects the killing field. When I hit the thermal heal aura it covers all the pets usually, and I can spot heal the pets that need more healing with cauterize. This is all after the level 32 upgrade I should mention. My fire demonling usually likes to lag back and throw fire balls.

If you are level 32+ I would suggest embracing the melee killing field strategy. You probably have shadowfall, darkest night, tar patch, and the other dark miasma goodies to mitigate incoming damage. Your twilight grasp should hit most of your pets in this mode, too. The safest place to be is as close to your darkest night anchor as anywhere else. When you get your dark servant, more tohit debuff goodness will multiply and synergize.

Don't forget the whole getting stuck in zone entrances and unable to dismiss bug.

The problem with demon summoning, aside from the obvious general mm AI bugs, is that 2 of the demons are melee oriented (prince, and gargoyle), 3 are ranged (the demonlings), and the ember demon is better suited for ranged combat, but is better served in melee because of its AoE resistance buff and heal. If you stick the 3 T1 pets in melee, then their cone attacks aren't going to be hitting near as many targets as from range.

While I agree with Psylenz that demons are more suited for the "melee killing field" strategy, its an awful waste of their cone attacks and like most T1 pets, they go down a lot in melee. If they're going to be in melee, they should lose the cone attacks and give them PBAoEs or even ranged AoEs like fireball, which would still be useful in melee.

Maybe I'm expecting the set to perform as well as my defense softcapped bots/traps MM with taunt, where I can clear +2/X8 spawns solo quickly and efficiently without problems. I know not all power sets are created equal, but I feel like the set is trying to do too many things at once to be really successful. I'm waiting to see how the AI performs after they fix these stupid bugs before I make up my mind for sure.

Ahhh, so you chaps are advocating I play my demon/dark like I play my necro/dark, in close and personal. I have been experimenting with the demon attacks and they still seem to fire off their ranged when in melee range as well, which I have never seen before on MM minions, is this also a behaviour change in the patch?

Ergh also noticing that my thugs MMs are also affected, one of the enforcers now always runs up and shoots at close range, losing the lovely cone from distance that it usually has.

It never even occured to me that I should try to keep my demons at range. I always saw them as a set that needs to be in the mix romping and stomping. Thats exactly what I do. Demo/Therm is a beast combo if your not the type that whines about bubbling. Buff everything up > charge in BG mode > spam provoke and warmth > watch the bodies hit the floor. DPS is great too man. Take the chaosminder approach bro, you won't regret it.

Just another comment. I am noticing if I tell the pets to stay behind me a distance, where they are required to run in to fight, that they do less running around and are pretty much on auto attack. Where as if I start pointing them to mobs to fight I keep having to point them to the next mob or they just stand there..

Demons being in melee with a set that performs VERY well in melee is a bad thing because...?

Everything synergizes perfectly when they enter melee (and if you add on the debuffs and occasional heal from Dark Miasma).