Summon shadow servant

Summon shadow servant

Wizard Attack 5

Daily ✦ arcane, shadow, summoning

Minor Action

Ranged 5

Prerequisite: You must have the Expert Mage benefit associated with necromancy or nethermancy.

Effect: You summon a creature associated with your necromancy or nethermancy Expert Mage benefit. The creature appears in an unoccupied space within range, and it is an ally to you and your allies.

The creature lacks actions of its own. Instead, you spend actions to command it mentally, choosing from the actions in the creature’s description. You must have line of effect to the creature to command it. When you command the creature, the two of you share knowledge but not senses.
When the creature makes an attack roll or a check, you make the roll using your game statistics, not including any temporary bonuses or penalties

The creature lasts until it drops to 0 hit points, at which point you lose a healing surge (or hit points equal to your surge value if you have no surges left). Otherwise, it lasts until you use a minor action to dismiss it or until you use this power again.

Summon Shadow Servant is a 5th-level Wizard attack power. Template:Cite Hos

The creature summoned by this power varies depending on which mage benefit you have access to.

• Shadow Skeleton (necromancy)
• Shadow Beast (Nethermancy)
• Shadow Wraith (Necromancy, Level 19)
• Shadow Brute (Nethermancy, Level 19)

At level 19, wizards normally gain two daily attack powers. Choosing Shadow Wraith or Shadow Brute as an additional summon requires taking one of these daily power slots.

Character optimization

The effectiveness of the power changes depending on your choice of school. Nethermancers will find this to be underwhelming, while Necromancers may consider the shadow skeleton to be of interest.

Specifically:

• Shadow skeleton is considered a good miniature defender.
• Shadow beast is considered weak, with an less impressive attack, and a cloud effect that could also hinder your allies depending on how battle progresses.
• Shadow wraith is average, as it can weaken at-will, and has an auto-damage effect.
• Shadow Brute is also average, as the immobilization effect can be negated by it's own immediate reaction.

Errata

The power itself wasn't changed, but the creatures it summoned have been updated:

• Shadow Beast and Shadow Wraith gained insubstantial in the October 2011 update. They take half damage from all sources other than radiant damage.