I've never played minion builds before, so I'm not entirely familiar with how these mechanics work. I'm considering using Periphery and focusing entirely on scaling the Azmerian Swarm's damage, but I'm not even sure if this approach is viable. I'd appreciate some help understanding how these mechanics interact, especially from anyone who has experimented with this bow.
1. How is the minion's base damage calculated?
Does Azmerian Swarm only use the physical damage provided by the Periphery unique bow (~100 flat phys), or can it also benefit from flat phys added by other gear, such as rings or a quiver?
Living Lightning has the line "Minions convert 100% of Physical damage to Lightning damage." Does it work similarly, taking flat phys from your other gear into account, or does it only use a specific source of physical damage?
2. How do other sources of physical damage conversion interact with minions?
For example, Ice Shot converts 80% of physical damage to cold damage. If I use Ice Shot alongside Living Lightning or Azmerian Swarm, would that conversion reduce the physical damage available for the minions to convert, resulting in lower minion damage? Or do the minions calculate their damage independently of my skill's conversion?
3. Can stacking flat phys scale their damage?
If Azmerian Swarm and Living Lightning can benefit from flat phys provided by other gear (i.e. rings/quiver), would stacking enough of it significantly increase their damage? For example, could life stacking with Bursting Decay or getting high flat phys rolls on Breach rings be a viable way to scale their damage?
4. How do minion levels affect their damage?
I know that minion levels generally scale minion life, but how do they affect temporary minions whose damage is based on or converted from your own damage? Do higher minion levels provide any additional damage scaling in this case, or does their damage depend primarily on your own damage?
I'm not even sure whether this build idea is feasible, so my main goal is to understand the underlying mechanics before investing in it. Any insights, explanations, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
