solo?

[MongoJerry]

The question remains. Am I the only one that relegates their followers to the cheering section? Is that foolish? For those that love their little buddy, which one is your go to? Are they just a necessary evil or are you thinking of naming your next child after yours? Some lochnars want to know.

I'm sure you're not the only one, but I enjoy playing with the followers. Their damage output is really beside the point for me. The main thing they provide is a little extra crowd control.

I most often play with the Templar with my wizard. I use him as a meat shield distracting mobs in front of me. I choose to have him use the taunt skill when my health gets below 50% to taunt mobs off me, his low level healing aura, his charge that does an aoe stun for 2 seconds, and his special charge that heals me and knocks back enemies surrounding me when I get seriously hurt. Unfortunately, his AI isn't terrific, and I find that a lot of mobs will just walk right by him to attack me instead -- so he's not like having a big meat-shield barbarian in your party. I definitely want to understand his AI and the AI of mobs better to see if I can use him more effectively. Still, I find that he distracts enough mobs that I find him useful.

The other follower I've played with a lot on my Wizard is the enchantress. Her every 10-second AOE knockback is great for keeping mobs away, her 15% armor aura is great for mitigating damage, and her AOE confuse and "chicken" abilities are also great sometimes. Of course, again, her AI isn't perfect. The AOE confuse and "chicken" abilities have long cooldowns (45 seconds and 60 seconds iirc) and sometimes she wastes them on situations that don't need them and doesn't use them during situations that they could really be useful. However, I do think she adds a nice dimension to the gameplay.

If you're used to playing without a follower, I'd recommend the enchantress, since she wouldn't change how you play very much. She'd just add in some nice general cc abilities and a nice aura while providing a small amount of dps.

Note by the way that followers get 2.5x the benefit from any stats like str, int, and vitality, so if you give them some good high stat rings, amulets, and weapons, it makes a big difference with them.