Followers and their damage output

Hi,

Is it possible to make followers to do real damage or are they only for for their abilities?
I’m playing Torment 4 and they seems useless other than supporting with their abilities. They are hitting like a wet diaper. :smile:
I got the ‘Scourge’ two-handed for my crusader and I got the same problem with its summon demon ability. It’s pretty useless other than drawing fire… and it looks cool.

Regards

Yeah, sadly follower damage is basically useless once you start moving into the torment difficulties. Most of those fun procs fall to a similar fate. For followers, they become all about the utility they can provide.

There are some follower gear options that can be useful, such as putting an Occulus ring on them. They can proc the damage boosting circles which your character can utilize.

Another popular option is to put a Unity ring on both you and your follower combined with their legendary relic that prevents them from dying. This effectively gives you 50% damage reduction if you can spare a ring slot on your character.

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Other honourable mentions:

Templar:
Weap: Thunderfury/Eun Jang Do
Shield: Freeze of Deflection
Rings: Unity/Occulus Ring/Wyrdward
Amulet: Ess of Johan/Overwhelming Desire

Enchantress:
Weapon: Sultan of Blinding Sands
Rings: Same as Templar except Wyrward
Amulet: Same as Templar

Scoundrel:
Weap: Windforce/Hellrack
Rings: Same as Enchantress
Amulet: Same as Templar/Enchantress.

There are more effects that work with them, however these items probably give out the best utility.

Also, if you want to min/max them. Aim for items with +IAS and +CDR.

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Since this is the New Player Help Forum, don’t forget to mention: You must give your Follower the “cannot die” Follower Special if you give them a Unity Ring and your Character has one equipped or cubed.

  1. This will ensure you never take more than 50% Damage.
  2. Without the “cannot die” FS you may die more often.

For example:

  1. Your Follower and your Character have Unity Rings. Your Follower has the “cannot die” FS. They get hit with 1 mil Damage. Your Character is hit with no Damage. Since they have the “cannot die” FS, they take no Damage and your Character is hit with half of that Damage. Half of zero Damage is still zero Damage. If your Character is hit with the 1 mil Damage, you still only suffer 50% of that Damage, but your Follower takes no Damage.

  1. Your Follower and your Character have Unity Rings. Your Follower does not have the “cannot die” FS. They get hit with 1 mil Damage. You and your Follower split the Damage. Since they do not have the “cannot die” FS, you both take 500k Damage. But, in an actual situation you and your Follower are probably getting hit with Damage. The Damage is added together and then split between the two of you. So, in many cases when the Follower is not using the “cannot die” FS, your Character may actually get hit with more Damage than they would have without the Unity Rings.

This is also why Unity Rings are frowned on in Group Games. :wink:

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Ah indeed, admittedly I wrote this while on my way home work, and it sort of skipped my mind to add. That… and I’m still pretty much a noob at foruming. (Keen to learn, though and slowly getting there) :grin:

Thanks for mopping up Perusoe. :v:

Thanks for the replies.
If a Diablo 4 sees the light, can we hope for more useful followers?

Regards

No problem. Glad to help. :beer:

Who knows?

Judging from past experience, Blizzard never wanted Henchmen or Followers to be separate Player Characters. They were only meant to offer our main Characters some extra benefit(s).

This was true in D2 with Henchmen (Hirelings, Mercenaries, Iron Wolves and Barbarians) and Followers in D3.

Excellent gearing advice above.

Just a little more to think about: The primary stats you are looking for on jewelry are attack speed and cool down reduction.

If you use Freeze of Deflection on your Templar, you will want block chance on your Templar relic and shield.

After attack speed and cool down reduction primaries, crowd control secondaries are nice.

If you use the Wyrdwyrd ring, you will want to make sure the damage type on your weapon is Lightning. This is pretty much the only time in game where damage type on the weapon is important.

A properly geared follower is important for solo GR’s. It’s a beautiful thing to be standing in an Oculus circle when your followers Ess of Johan proc and pulls a group of trash to the elite just as your CoE proc and everything disappears under a barrage of Cluster Arrows and the progress meter jumps well ahead.

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