Animate!

I do make rather a lovely krokomummy, don't I?

I do not get as many questions as our dear Friendly Necromancer, but I do get a few now and then. One question that I have received multiple times is about the spell Animate. Animate is of course the death minion spell. Of all the schools that receive minions, this spell is quite unique in that a necromancer is able to summon so many different minions with different traits and health with only one spell. For example, a myth wizard has to use the minotaur minion card to get the minotaur minion. To summon different minions, myth has to keep each of those separate cards in their deck. A necromancer can use animate to summon every minion available to death with only one card. I am not intending to say that death minions are superior to other schools, because each is different. I will keep my opinions out of this - this is an informational post and not one intended for argument about who has the better minions.

As a necromancer, you either use animate to its full potential or probably not at all. Animate can be one of a necromancer's most powerful tools when used correctly, and certainly helps one to solo nearly everything. Animate is useful in questing if you don't mind chancing your minion messing up your setup. Minions have a way of knowing just when you have your feint set and then using some ridiculously low level spell to ruin the setup lol. Animate is also deadly useful in arena (1v1) when used correctly. In my experience in arena, if you shield and boost yourself while retaining pips to summon a high level minion, it typically leaves your opponent trying to kill your minion while you are able to setup and kill them instead. Several times I have setup and shielded, summoned a wraith (death incarnate) and watched my opponent go solely for the minion with 1400 health while ignoring me. Ends in their death lol. Doesn't work every time, but my point is simply that when used correctly, minions can be an advantage in 1v1 in arena.

The question I have received is about how animate works, how many minions can be summoned, what are they, what are their specs, etc... So, I took some time and spent a day playing with animate over and over to see exactly what I could get at each pip level. As my necromancer is a grandmaster, I can't seem to get rid of my power pips no matter what I do, so I may have missed some minions. If that is so, PLEASE post a comment and let me know what you've summoned that I've missed so we can have a complete list. Below you will find a list of each and every minion I was able to summon (the total stands at 14 different minions right now), their rank, health. I will also tell you a sampling of what spells they cast for me. Also included is the pip level at which I summoned them. I have screen shots of most of them as well, which will be included at the end of the post.

Minions summoned using Animate:

1. Ethereal Servant. Rank 1. 100 health. 1 regular pip.
   
2. Charmed Sprite. Rank 2. 200 health. 1 power pip.
   
3. Crypt Watchguard. Rank 2. 300 health. 1 power pip, 1 regular pip.
   
4. Ghoulish Retainer. Rank 3. 400 health. 2 power pips.
5. Summoned Soul. Rank 3. 500 health. 2 power pips, 1 regular pip.
   
6. Captive Banshee. Rank 4. 600 health. 3 power pips.
7. Living Scarecrow. Rank 4. 700 health. 3 power pips, 1 regular pip.
   
8. Ghostly Spectre. Rank 5. 800 health. 4 power pips.
9. Enchanted Howler. Rank ?. 900 health. ?.
10. Crypt Walker. Rank 6. 1000 health. 5 power pips.
11. Risen Tomb Master. Rank 6. 1100 health. 5 power pips, 1 regular pip.
12. Skeletal Sergeant. Rank 6. 1200 health. 6 power pips.
13. Soul Crusher. Rank 6. 1300 health. 6 power pips, 1 regular pip.
14. Death Incarnate. Rank 7. 1400 health. 7 power pips.

As I said, I may have missed a few because I could not get the pip levels needed to summon some of the lower rank minions. If you know of others, please post a comment. Ok now for the fun part! Pictures of most of the minions:

Ethereal Servant, Rank 1, 100 health.

Charmed Sprite, Rank 2, 200 health.

Crypt Watchguard, Rank 2, 300 health.

Ghoulish Retainer, Rank 3, 400 health.

Summoned Soul, Rank 3, 500 health.

Captive Banshee, Rank 4, 600 health.

Living Scarecrow, Rank 4, 700 health.

Ghastly Spectre, Rank 5, 800 health.

Crypt Walker, Rank 6, 1000 health.

Risen Tomb Master, Rank 6, 1100 health.

Skeletal Sergeant, Rank 6, 1200 health.

Death Incarnate, Rank 7, 1400 health.

The minions all cast very similar spells at their own levels. They cast blades and traps, weakness, and several spells including: FireElf, Lightning Bats, Evil Snowman, FireBird, Kraken, Shark, Taunt, Tower Shields, Vampire, Dark Sprite, Ghoul, Cyclops, Ice Wyvern, and the list goes on. You see that they cast both boosts and damaging spells. All in all, quite helpful. And by no means is this list exhaustive. As I said, this is what I saw the day I was doing research.

Animate can be a wickedly useful spell. Any questions regarding any of this information, please post a comment! I hope I have answered your questions :)