Storm Crows beastmaster as distance spellcaster

First, I usually never play a minion build in ARPG, never enjoying them. But I am changing my ming with LE storm crows (level 80 so far).
However, I am quite disappointed in the fact the beastmaster mastery has been build with synergies with melee attacks only, and stormcrow skill have little to no synergy with other skills (the only real synergy being cold stormcrow and cold warcry).

Here are some suggestions :
skills:

  • Summon Wolf : So far, I had to specialize in that skill to get “Pack Hunters” maximum companion bonus point, without using that skill more than that… thus almost losing a specialisation slot. I propose to move that companion limit bonus somewhere else (into primalist passive tree, or to make a similar one into stormcrow)
  • Frenzy totem : There is nothing special for stormcrows wile other companions get something with “Bestial frenzy” node. I propose to change bestial frenzy into give also minion spell damage. This nod could also branch to another one dedicated to stormcrows.
  • Eterra’s blessing : Skyboon is redundant with Frenzy Totem. I propose to replace it with another node. For exemple, a node allowing Eterrra’s Blessing to affect ALL stormcrows while cats on one (the bonuses are nice, but targetting them one by one is not efficient). If considered too powerfull, it could cost several points to rech 100% chance.
  • Storm Crows : “Huntsman” only works with melee hits, allowing it to work with spell hits could allow a proper spellcaster gameplay.

So far, the main synergy is with cold Warcry, so Storm crows are in fact “cold crows”. I propose to introduce synergies with other skills giving a boost in lightning damage (maelstrom “power of the storm” nodes, or tornado “charged storm”)
For exemple, stormcrows could gain a % bonus for each stack of maelstrom (if is as power of the storm). Same idea with the number of active tornados.
The idea however is introduce changes to other skills giving bonuses to stormcrows (like energizing them) not stormcrow skill tree only

Item :
The helmet "Artor’s Legacy is again a melee exclusive helmet, please change its bonuses to work with spells or make a similar one with bonuses with lightning spells.

Globally, even if the beastmaster passives tree is almost only limited to melee, the changes I propose could allow distance builds without changing the passive tree itself (although it is quitte frustrating to use as a spellcaster, the druid and shaman trees do offer alternatives).

Thank you for reading :slight_smile:
And I am of course interested in reading others opinions on this !

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When you play with the said skills did you ever look at Druid? Druid offers more to the crows then BM imo. Sure it’s another mastery and you have to play everythng again but maybe give it a spin when you are bored in the future.

I wanted to play that skill with the maximum number of crows, thus beastmaster :slight_smile:
Besides as I said at the end of my first post, the passives are not what I propose to change.

I took a look in druid passive tree, the “piercing gale” node is really cool (and cold oriented, I suggest the possibility of a lightning build for stormcrow) but I doubt it is better than the 2 more companion limit given by beastmaster + aspect of the lynx.
Thanks for your answer by the way, it got me to take a better look in the druid passive for my current build :slight_smile:

Edit : The synergy with entangling root does exist. It might be better than frenzy totem (especially since eterra’s blessing already gives frenzy).

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I’m looking for a build @boardman21 did in the past with a spriggan pet that decimates bosses in seconds :D. There is a way to incorporate crows for sure but I can’t find it right now. Maybe he knwos what I talk about and reacts to the ping so you might see what I talk about. I don’t have said char at hand right now because I wipe my progress from time to time.

This one?

That was before the Spriggan tree update unfortunately.

Yeah but still works prwtty well as a starting point.

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For the passives and the like, yes, just not the Spriggan skill tree.

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