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'''Followers''' are [[NPCs]] who assist your hero in his or her battle against the [[demons]] overrunning [[Sanctuary]].  There are three Followers in Diablo III, each of whom has a unique story, look, and combat style. They are: the [[Eirena]] the [[Enchantress]], [[Kormac]] the [[Templar]], and [[Lyndon]] the [[Scoundrel]].
 
  
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Followers are only usable in single player games; they return to town and will not assist you when playing with other players. While the initial plan was for Followers to only be usable through [[Normal]] difficulty, fan feedback influenced the developers to revise the system to make Followers viable companions[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/followers-viability] throughout [[Nightmare]], [[Hell]], and [[Inferno]] difficulty. The design theory is that Followers will be helpful when playing alone, but not so powerful as to make them mandatory, and not so complicated that players need to constantly attend to their survival. (There is no way to feed them potions, though they do share in the benefit of health globes. As they do not die there are no resurrection costs.)
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'''Followers''' are [[NPCs]] who assist your hero in his or her battle against the [[demons]] overrunning [[Sanctuary]]. There are three Followers in Diablo III, each of whom has a unique story, look, and combat style. They are: [[Eirena]] the [[Enchantress]], [[Kormac]] the [[Templar]], and [[Lyndon]] the [[Scoundrel]]. There are no additional followers in [[Reaper of Souls]].
  
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Diablo III's Followers are updated versions of the hireable {{iw|mercenaries mercenaries}} that were available in Diablo II. Improvements to the system in Diablo III include, integration into the quests and story, spoken dialogue, additional equipment options and in-game looks, and numerous unique skills/abilities for each of the three Followers.
 
  
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Followers are only usable in single player games; they return to town and will not assist you when playing with other players.
  
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==Followers in Diablo III==
 
  
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The three followers take on different roles in combat, though they should be roughly equivalent in usefulness, with their style of combat determining which one your character will find most useful. (This is a big change from Diablo II, where the Act 2 mercs with their powerful Auras were by far the most useful of the four mercenary types.)
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The design theory is that Followers are helpful when playing alone, but not so powerful as to make them mandatory, and not so complicated that players need to constantly attend to their survival. (There is no way to feed them potions, though they do share in the benefit of health globes. As they do not die there are no resurrection costs.)
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==Follower Types==
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The three followers take on different roles in combat, though they should be roughly equivalent in usefulness, with their style of combat determining which one your character will find most useful.  
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Each follower has eight unique skills, four of which can be enabled at a time, with two new ones coming online every five levels. Players can retrain their follower at any time afterwards, to use different abilities. See the various followers pages for full details on their skills.
 
Each follower has eight unique skills, four of which can be enabled at a time, with two new ones coming online every five levels. Players can retrain their follower at any time afterwards, to use different abilities. See the various followers pages for full details on their skills.
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* The [[Enchantress]] Eirena is a mage with numerous powerful ranged magical attacks and a variety of helpful buffs.
 
* The [[Enchantress]] Eirena is a mage with numerous powerful ranged magical attacks and a variety of helpful buffs.
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[[Image:Followers 3.jpg|center]]
 
[[Image:Followers 3.jpg|center]]
  
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===Lore-Abiding Citizens===
 
  
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The followers, much like the [[Artisans]], are recruited through [[quests]] that the player must complete in order to gain their trust and companionship. Once this is done, the Followers can always be found in the town area, where a player may choose one of them to accompany him into battle. Followers have their own individual quests, which shed more light on their backstory as well as the overall game plot. A player will need to work through the entire game with each of the followers, individually, to experience the full game plot and all of the quests.
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==Followers Availability==
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Followers can only be utilized in single player playing in a game on Battle.net. If another player joins your game, your follower will return to town. [[Jay Wilson]] contributes insight to this design philosophy in an interview with Now Gamer.<ref name=nowgamer>[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:I7CTo2B7bmsJ:www.nowgamer.com/features/921601/diablo_iii_interview_jay_wilson_talks_followers.html+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk Followers in Multiplayer] - Now Gamer interview with Jay Wilson, Blizzard Entertainment, 13/05/2011</ref>
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<blue>Followers aren’t in [[PvP]] at all, and in cooperative Followers return to town. We found that having four players and four Followers on-screen all at once was pretty chaotic and hard to tell what’s going on. We logic’d out that a player is better than a Follower, they’re better companionship and they’re certainly more effective than a Follower. We figured any player would prefer to have another player, so at that point we decided to have the Follower return to town. You can always get him back later – if the other player leaves the Follower will return.</blue>
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If the other people in your game leave you will be asked if you'd like your follower to rejoin you and will instantly appear where you are, if you say yes.
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When starting [[Adventure mode]] with a new character, all followers are instantly unlocked.
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In [[Adventure mode]] in [[Reaper of Souls]] followers are available instantly, there is no requirement to discover each of them again.<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/unlocking-followers-adventure-mode Followers in Adventure mode] - Blizzard CM, 19/02/2014</ref>
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<blue>Grimiku: You’ll still need to complete the campaign mode at least once in order to unlock Adventure Mode, but once it’s unlocked all of your characters of that game type (Normal or Hardcore) will be able to access it, even brand new ones.</blue>
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==Follower Skills==
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Upon reaching [[level]] five, the player can choose one of two [[spells]] or [[skills]] for the [[Templar]] and [[Scoundrel]] and again choose between another two spells at level 10, 15 and finally 20. Skills for the [[Enchantress]] can be chosen first at level 15 then again at 20, 25 and finally character level 30.
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Each different type of follower offers a customizable skillset to either boost the player's effectiveness in a certain area, or cover a weakness in another. Details of those in the skill sections of the [[Templar]], [[Scoundrel]] and [[Enchantress#Skills|Enchantress]] pages.
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Followers' skills can be changed at any time by simply left clicking on the new skill you want, the other skill is automatically deselected.
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==Experience==
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In D3V, much like the player, followers gained experience and benefited from plus to experience items, however they were never more than one level behind the hero. Followers also benefit from bonuses such as the [[Massacre]] boost which gives bonus experience.
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In Reaper of Souls, followers now automatically acquire the player's current level, and will level immediately when the player does.
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[[File:Followerdetails.jpg|right|thumb|160px|Benefiting from a Scoundrel's items.]]
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==Gear==
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Any gear or gems you equip on your follower that adds [[Gold Find]], [[Magic Find]] or [[Experience]] will add 20% to the player's total bonus for those. For example, a [[Hellfire Ring]] that adds +35% experience bonus, if worn by a follower, will be worth 7% bonus to the player.  The 20% bonus can not take the player beyond the 300% cap for GF/MF however.<ref>[http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6413021282?page=2#38 Follower Magic/Gold Find] - Blizzard CM, 24/08/2012</ref>
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Followers can only equip certain weapons, rings, and amulets. In addition, each have their own special class-specific item slot, the [[Templar]] has [[Templar Relics]], the [[Scoundrel]] has [[Scoundrel Tokens]] and the [[Enchantress]] has [[Enchantress Focuses]]. [[Reaper of Souls]] added six legendary items. Each follower has two legendary items, one granting immortality, the other enabling all skills. Along with the legendary property these each spawn with 5 random affixes.
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Each of the followers has a different Main Stat, which influences damage done.
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*Strength for the Templar
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*Dexterity for the Scoundrel
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*Intelligence for the Enchantress
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Set item bonuses for wearing multiple items from a set do not apply when they are equipped by a follower. As a Blizzard CM clarifies:
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<ref>[http://blues.incgamers.com/Posts/10/1/72/1334/214395/followers#postId_554307 Set Bonuses from Followers] Blizzard CM, 11/10/2012</ref>
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<blue>Vaeflare: As it stands currently, in order to receive the benefits of set bonuses, the set items need to be equipped on your main character. Set items equipped on Followers will not contribute to set bonuses.
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We’re aware that this isn’t ideal, and we’re looking into some possibilities that would make using set items on Followers a more appealing choice in the future.</blue>
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Fortunately, there are plenty of words from the men in blue themselves on the aspect of [[lore]] in the follower system, such as these quotes from [[Leonard Boyarsky]] in an interview with FZ.se[http://www.fz.se/artiklar/intervju/20110513/diablo-iii-followers]:
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[[File:Ashearas-vestments.jpg|right|thumb|100px|Calling all Followers]]
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There is an interesting set, Asheara's Vestments which, when all four items are equipped by a player, has a chance to summon all your followers, fully equipped. They will disappear after a period until the bonus chance spawns them again.
  
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<blue>The first thing that happens when you meet them is that you can play through a short sequence that sort of explains their roles in the world. Then it's up to you whether you want to dig deeper into their stories by completing side missions and such. They’ll also make small talk while you run around in the world and you get to know them that way, too.</blue>
 
  
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<br>...First, I think they [the followers] are much more distinct characters now than they ever were before. As I’ve already pointed out we’ve put much effort into developing your companion's personalities. We want the players to use them as much for their personalities as for their abilities.
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The specifics of what followers add to the player's stats is listed under 'Adventure' in their 'Details' tab, see the image on the right.
  
  
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Continuing on that theme, Boyarsky also conducted an interview with Game Planet[http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/games/156898/features/136995.20110513.Diablo-IIIs-Followers/] where he stated:
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Items worn by followers will lose durability and require repairing just like players' items, however each item has to be placed in the repair slot individually for the merchant to repair.
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<blue>As you’re running through the main story arc, you’ll encounter them doing similar things to you. They’re adventurers fighting the good fight. You’ll interact with them in their story and then they have reason to follow you and to help you in your quest. These happen in the first third of the game, they’re spread out a little bit. Once you’ve unlocked them you can keep them with you or send them back to town and choose which one you want.</blue>
 
  
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In addition to this, each quest for the follower is character specific so, as an example, a quest for Kormac involved retrieving holy scrolls stolen by [[Lazarus| the Archbishop Lazarus]].
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==Buffs==
  
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While the mercs in D2 had no personality whatsoever, the followers have their own sets of motivations, their own goals, and they also react to the world around them. Boyarsky goes into a bit of detail about this in an interview with Ausgamers[http://www.ausgamers.com/features/read/3058885]:
 
  
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<blue>We’ve put a tonne of work into their voice-talent and the number of lines they have to talk to you about stuff, to really bring them to life and add a lot to the experience of the world.</blue>
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There is no mechanism to feed [[health potion]]s to your Follower, though they do share in the benefit of [[health globe]]s, [[Nephalem Globe]]s. The Followers also possess various buffs and healing spells, which they can use to help your character, as well as themselves.
  
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The rather jarring days of having a mercenary step into the [[Burning Hells]] for the first time, and immediately poking things with a stick without so much as a comment, seems to be over.
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Any buffs that a player can apply to party members in a multiplayer game will apply to your follower when playing with them in a single player game.
  
  
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===Followers in  Single and Multiplayer===
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==Follower Death==
  
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Followers can only be utilized in single player, either offline or playing solo in a game on Battle.net. If another player joins your game, your follower will return to town. [[Jay Wilson]] contributes insight to this design philosophy in an interview with Now Gamer[http://www.nowgamer.com/features/1353/diablo-iii-interview-jay-wilson-talks-followers?o=4#listing]:
 
  
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<blue>Followers aren’t in PvP at all, and in cooperative Followers return to town. We found that having four players and four Followers on-screen all at once was pretty chaotic and hard to tell what’s going on. We logic’d out that a player is better than a Follower, they’re better companionship and they’re certainly more effective than a Follower. We figured any player would prefer to have another player, so at that point we decided to have the Follower return to town. You can always get him back later – if the other player leaves the Follower will return.</blue>
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Followers do not 'die' - if their health reduces to zero, they rest for a short while and will automatically return to your side once their health is restored.
  
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There are also Legendary Follower Items with the 'Follower cannot die' affix: [[Enchanting Favor]] (Templar), [[Skeleton Key]] (Scoundrel), and [[Smoking Thurible]] (Enchantress). While these items are equipped, followers not only cannot die, but they in fact take no damage whatsoever. This can be used in conjunction with a [[Unity]] ring to have followers absorb half of all damage dealt to players in single player mode.
  
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===Follower Death===
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==Follower Quests and Lore==
  
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Followers do not die in Diablo III. They are simply incapacitated for 15 seconds, after which they will get right back into the fight. Players can accelerate their resurrection/nap to 5 seconds by standing near them while they are recuperating.
 
  
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There is no mechanism to feed [[health potion]]s to your Follower, though they do share in the benefit of [[health globe]]s. The Followers also possess various buffs and healing spells, which they can use to help your character, as well as themselves.
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The followers, much like the [[Artisans]], are recruited through [[quests]] that the player must complete in order to gain their trust and companionship. Once this is done, the Followers can always be found in the town area, where a player may choose one of them to accompany him into battle. Followers have their own individual quests, which shed more light on their back story as well as the overall game plot. A player will need to work through the entire game with each of the followers, individually, to experience their full game plot and all of the quests.
  
  
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===Gaining Experience===
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==Follower Achievements==
  
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Much like the player, followers will gain experience, and also benefit from plus experience items. There are some differences, however.
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There are a number of achievements players can earn that are related to Followers.
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Followers will level up along with the player, in a manner of speaking. If the player has Kormac at their side, and the player levels up, then Kormac will not automatically level up as well. However, a follower will never be more than one level behind the hero. If they are, then the follower can be dismissed, and when the player re-hires them in town, their experience bar will reset to zero, but will have leveled up to precisely one level below the hero.
 
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Obviously at level 59, they gain no automatic leveling to 60. That final level must be gained through combat.
 
  
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Followers also benefit from bonuses such as the [[Massacre]] boost. It is unknown if they gain the full massacre bonus or just in part.
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{{achievement header}}
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<achievement type="single">The Comfort of Strangers</achievement><achievement type="single">Dirty Little Secrets</achievement><achievement type="single">The Art of Conversation</achievement><achievement type="single">For the Order</achievement><achievement type="single">Secrets of the Ages</achievement><achievement type="single">To Catch a Thief</achievement><achievement type="single">A Guiding Light</achievement><achievement type="single">Me, Myself & Eirena</achievement><achievement type="single">Stolen Moments</achievement><achievement type="single">Friends with Benefits</achievement><achievement type="single">I Got What you Need</achievement><achievement type="single">I'll Be Your Wingman</achievement>
  
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===Beyond Normal Mode===
 
  
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[[File:Ench action.jpg|thumb|350px|The [[Enchantress]] in action.]]
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==Follower Development==
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The initial plan was that Followers would not be viable past [[Normal]] difficulty, as Bashiok explained in May 2011.[http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27808220764&pageNo=1&sid=3000#11]
 
  
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<blue>Well, followers are essentially a flavor bonus to those playing through normal the first time by themselves. It provides some story elements, but more importantly it gets the idea in their head of playing with another person. You come across each of them pretty quickly in Act 1, and then they help you throughout the rest of the game if you'd like. They aren't required to beat the game on Normal, even if you're playing by yourself. Feel free to leave them behind if you like. But they are pretty awesome.
 
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They're also tuned so that they become very weak starting in Nightmare, and then are completely unusable in Hell. Even if you're playing alone, you will probably not be using Followers past Normal - - you can try but they're going to just be one-shot back to back. They're there as a bit of flavor, to help get people into the mindset of co-op if they're a bit reluctant, and... that's about it. They won't be usable at end-game, and they'll never replace the abilities and power that another player can bring.</blue>
 
  
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'''August 2008'''
  
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After players talked about finding ways to make Followers viable in Hell, especially for their Magic Find and other item finding bonuses, Bashiok made the developer's intentions even clearer. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/official-followers-page-plus-blue-answers/]
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The development team said they hoped to include full mercenaries as a feature, and that if they do they'll be bigger and better than mercs were in D2. But they gave no details at that time.<ref>[http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/games/156898.Diablo-III/features/133759.20090831.BlizzCon-Diablo-III-devs-discuss-design-decisions-direction-depth-drops/ First mention of Mercenaries] - Gameplanet interview with Julian Love, Blizzard Entertainment, 31/08/2008</ref>
  
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<blue>Followers will not stay alive easily past Normal, and if they’re not alive you aren’t going to be getting their bonuses. I’m sure people will try to game this, and ideally they will fail. If not we will ensure followers are not part of the end-game MF equation. They are not intended to be, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure they cannot be.</blue>
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<blue><font color="#FFFFFF">Do those NPC's provide abilities to the hero, like a proper party system?</font><br>
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<b>Julian Love:</b> That's also not yet finalised. We're trying to make them definitely a step above the henchmen of Diablo II, but how big of a step is something I can't say yet. Hopefully next time we reveal something I can show you more.</blue>
  
  
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The developers changed that design theory later in development, and announced at BlizzCon 2011 that Followers were being rebalanced to remain viable throughout the higher difficulty levels. Bashiok added an update on that in early January, 2012.[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/followers-viability]
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'''October 2008'''
  
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<blue>A lot of us wanted to see followers become viable throughout the game too, and agree they really add something to the experience as a whole. One of our main driving forces in making this decision was the benefits of the co-op experience, and the disadvantage of playing alone in the Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno difficulties. Followers won’t follow you into co-op games because you’ll already have the superior firepower of your friends to help you, but playing alone you’re going to want to take advantage of their benefits. We’ve made the later difficulties of the game brutally difficult, and we realize that for those attempting to tackle these later difficulties alone, they’re really going to actually want some additional support in the form of the followers.
 
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Some players didn’t like their experience with mercenaries in Diablo II. We took feedback regarding mercenaries very seriously when designing Diablo III followers, and they differ from mercenaries in a few key ways that we think set them apart and resolve many issues. First of all, there is no resurrection or cost to your followers’ deaths, which makes their upkeep far less intrusive. When a follower takes enough damage to “die”, they simply take a knee, catch their breath, and after a few moments are back in the fight. That downtime could potentially have an effect on your own survival, but it’s unlikely to create a situation where you’re worrying about them or constantly working to keep them alive. We don’t want to turn what could be a fun benefit into a punishment by making players pay for their followers’ poor combat choices.
 
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Secondly, when you die, so does your follower. These aren’t characters that can hope to compete or continue on without you. While some players prefer to be the lone wolf taking on the forces of evil, our intent isn’t to dilute the hero aspects by adding more wolves to your wolf pack. We want followers to be an extension of your bad-assery, not a liability. The followers could almost be considered automated buffs/damage skills, but of course with quite a bit more flavor and customization options.
 
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We still have some tweaking to do with the followers, including their skills and end-game balancing. We continue to discover cool little ways to improve how each follower performs and the complements the different heroes. Our intent is to ensure players who take followers along find them to be helpful additions to their single-player experiences.</blue>
 
  
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[[Leonard Boyarsky]] spoke in more detail about their plans for Mercenaries at Blizzcon in October 2008 in an interview with IncGamers.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=u1R2P7Jzsag Two types of Mercenaries] - IncGamers interview with Leonard Boyarsky, Blizzard Entertainment, 10/10/2008</ref>
  
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<blue>We have two different types of mercenaries now. As you saw in the demo, if you got the quest where you could rescue the adventurers or their leader, those guys are a low level and are just along for the quest, or are cannon fodder. You can't really control them or have anything to do with them at all.
  
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===Follower AI===
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When you have what we are calling followers, they are the guys you can equip, give them different weapons, you can give them different armor. They will probably have some quests that involve them. Much more than in Diablo II, you could equip them but they were more like a game mechanic in a body of an NPC. Where this time, were making them much more individuals with their own back story and their own reason for being in the world.</blue>
  
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Diablo II players have not-so-fond memories of the lacking pathfinding talents of the Mercenaries, who would often get stuck in corners, or remain locked in combat long after the player had run away -- not to mention the maddening habit of not turning on their Auras when newly-hired. The AI and pathfinding of followers in Diablo III is much improved, but it's one-size-fits-all; there are no options to set the Followers in some sort of "aggressive/defensive" mode, nor can players point to specific spots and tell the Followers to remain there.
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Leonard went on to say that there would be different hireables to fill different roles, such as tanks, artillery support, etc.  
  
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[[Jay Wilson]] spoke about the AI challenges they faced, and what players can expect from follower AI, in an April 2011 interview with Now Gamer[http://www.nowgamer.com/features/1353/diablo-iii-interview-jay-wilson-talks-followers?o=2#listing]:
 
  
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<blue>'''NowGamer''': You’ve talked in the past about improvements to enemy AI – what about NPCs?
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'''May 2011'''
  
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'''Jay Wilson''': They were a bit easier because they tend to lean on the monster AI, use a lot of the same things as them. Making the Followers interesting revolved around making our monster targeting systems better. In Diablo II monsters pretty much just targeted whatever was closest to them, which meant if you played as a necromancer, it could be kind of a boring class because you almost never get attacked by anything. Your scouts always moved fast to get in front of you. So we said ‘OK, let’s have enemies that attack in different ways, or choose their targets in different ways’.
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It was said by the Diablo 3 development team for ages that they "weren't ready" to reveal mercenaries in Diablo III, or otherwise they "didn't know" what they would do with them. However, in May 2011, the follower system was indeed revealed, but to the chagrin of Blizzard, it was leaked by the Korean Blizzard official website by accident.<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/new-follower-video/ Follower video leaked] - Blizzard Korea, 12/05/2011</ref>
  
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<br>Take an enemy that burrows for example – they’re really most dangerous to a ranged class, so that’s what they focus on – they burrow and make a beeline for a ranged character. Whereas a lot of enemies will go ‘I want to attack somebody, but if I can’t reach one of the guys closest to me, or he has a lot of people attacking him already, I’m just going to choose somebody else’. So the attacks get spread out a little more. It makes having a Follower a lot more interesting because they’ll pick up some of the enemies’ focus but not all of it.</blue>
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The Diablo community quickly picked this up and accepted it as real due to the superb quality of the presentation of the video. The day after, Blizzard unveiled the followers in an official capacity in a deluge of interviews, information, and new screen shots.<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/followers-artwork-and-interface-shots/ Blizzard reveal Diablo 3 Followers] - Blizzard Entertainment, 13/05/2011</ref>
  
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The Templar is available in the [[beta]], and players have found his AI quite good. He [[tanks]] appropriately, and stays quite close to the player, breaking off combat and quickly catching up to your character if you head the other direction. As the Mystic and Scoundrel are not available in the beta, nothing is yet known of their behavior.
 
  
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'''May 2011 - Only Viable in Normal'''
  
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The initial plan was that Followers would not be viable past [[Normal]] difficulty, as Bashiok explained in May 2011.<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/official-followers-page-plus-blue-answers Followers in Normal difficulty] - Blizzard CM, 13/05/2011</ref>
  
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===Follower Personalities and Voices===
 
  
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The developers have repeatedly stressed that all of the Followers have full voices and numerous pieces of dialogue, all of which stem from their individual personalities. Kormac is said to be stoic and noble and determined, Eirena is pure of heart and concerned for the suffering the demons inflict, and Lyndon is sarcastic and cynical and funny.  
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<blue>Well, followers are essentially a flavor bonus to those playing through normal the first time by themselves. It provides some story elements, but more importantly it gets the idea in their head of playing with another person.... They aren't required to beat the game on Normal, even if you're playing by yourself. Feel free to leave them behind if you like. But they are pretty awesome. ...(snip)...
  
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Kevin Martens talked about the early days of the Follower dialogues in an April 2011 interview.[http://www.diablo3-esp.com/entrevistas/followers-diablo-3-esp-interviews-kevin-martens-english-version-82.html]
 
  
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<blue>They are actor-voiced right now so when we are early in the development we just had sort of computer-generated voice so they sound like Stephen Hawkings *laughs*. It sounded like an Australian GPS. Now that they actually have voice acting it's supercool to walk around with them, they'll comment on the architecture, one of them will thank you for helping on its mission and your character will comment back to him as well. It really has made a huge difference in the world when you don't have the opportunity to play with another friend or something. Playing with a follower is the next best thing. </blue>
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They're also tuned so that they become very weak starting in Nightmare, and then are completely unusable in Hell. Even if you're playing alone, you will probably not be using Followers past Normal. They're there as a bit of flavor, to help get people into the mindset of co-op if they're a bit reluctant, and... that's about it. They won't be usable at end-game, and they'll never replace the abilities and power that another player can bring.</blue>
  
  
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After players talked about finding ways to make Followers viable in Hell, especially for their Magic Find and other item finding bonuses, Bashiok made the developer's intentions even clearer.<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/official-followers-page-plus-blue-answers/ Preventing use on higher difficulties] - Blizzard CM, 13/05/2011</ref>
  
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==The Follower Interface==
 
  
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[[Image:Templar_skillpane.jpg|250px|thumb|The [[Templar]]'s interface.]]
+
<blue>Followers will not stay alive easily past Normal, and if they’re not alive you aren’t going to be getting their bonuses. I’m sure people will try to game this, and ideally they will fail. If not we will ensure followers are not part of the end-game MF equation. They are not intended to be, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure they cannot be.</blue>
  
−
The [[interface]] for followers is separated into three basic sections: Gear, Skills, and [[stats]].
 
−
* The gear portion of the pane lets players equip their followers with [[item]]s.
 
−
* The skills interface allows the player to assign skills or spells to the follower for each milestone bracket of levels.
 
−
* The stats portion of the interface allows the player to view relevant statistics such as [[health]] and [[elemental]] resistances.
 
  
 +
'''October 2011 - Now Viable in Higher Difficulties'''
  
−
===Skill System===
 
  
 +
The developers changed that design theory later in development, and announced at BlizzCon in October 2011 that Followers were being rebalanced to remain viable throughout the higher difficulty levels. Bashiok added an update on that in early January, 2012.<ref name=viability/>
  
−
One of the larger changes from mercs in Diablo II is the ability to assign abilities to the followers, instead of picking a vague type from a list. Gone are the days of useless [[Flux]] mercs from Act III!
 
  
−
Upon reaching [[level]] five, the player can choose one of three [[spells]] or [[skills]] for the follower. Each subsequent five levels, up to level twenty, will award an additional choice for the player. Each different type of follower will offer a customizable skillset to either boost the player's effectiveness in a certain area, or cover a weakness in another.
+
<blue>A lot of us wanted to see followers become viable throughout the game too, and agree they really add something to the experience as a whole. One of our main driving forces in making this decision was the benefits of the co-op experience, and the disadvantage of playing alone in the Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno difficulties. Followers won’t follow you into co-op games because you’ll already have the superior firepower of your friends to help you, but playing alone you’re going to want to take advantage of their benefits. We’ve made the later difficulties of the game brutally difficult, and we realize that for those attempting to tackle these later difficulties alone, they’re really going to actually want some additional support in the form of the followers.
  
−
Once the skills or spells are assigned, that is the end of it, unless the players choose to [[respec]] them, which will be small in cost. There are no extra ranks of abilities for followers, nor do they benefit from [[trait]]s of their own.
 
−
Follower abilities may not be affected by [[rune]]s.
 
  
  
−
===Follower Inventory===
+
Some players didn’t like their experience with mercenaries in Diablo II. We took feedback regarding mercenaries very seriously when designing Diablo III followers, and they differ from mercenaries in a few key ways that we think set them apart and resolve many issues. First of all, there is no resurrection or cost to your followers’ deaths, which makes their upkeep far less intrusive. When a follower takes enough damage to “die”, they simply take a knee, catch their breath, and after a few moments are back in the fight. That downtime could potentially have an effect on your own survival, but it’s unlikely to create a situation where you’re worrying about them or constantly working to keep them alive. We don’t want to turn what could be a fun benefit into a punishment by making players pay for their followers’ poor combat choices.
−
[[File:Followerspecial.jpg|left|thumb|250px|A Scoundrel special item (rare quality).]]
 
−
The player is able to equip the follower with two [[ring]]s, an [[amulet]], an a weapon load-out that is specific to the follower (ie, Kormac can equip one-handed weapons while Eirena cannot). The locked box in the inventory pane holds an item that is unique to that follower, which is unlocked automatically at level 18. The items are referred to as "Follower Specials" and they can roll as either [[magical]] or rare items. They often have very large ranges for attributes, much more than what the player can find on a piece of gear at the level. As an example, a [[Demon Hunter]] cloak at level 30 may be able to roll [[dexterity]] up to 30, but a Scoundrel relic at level 30 would be able to roll dexterity up to 130. The numbers are used as example only.
 
  
−
There are no legendary follower specials, nor any special attributes that can only roll on their items.
 
  
−
{{clear|both}}
+
Secondly, when you die, so does your follower. These aren’t characters that can hope to compete or continue on without you. While some players prefer to be the lone wolf taking on the forces of evil, our intent isn’t to dilute the hero aspects by adding more wolves to your wolf pack. We want followers to be an extension of your bad-assery, not a liability. The followers could almost be considered automated buffs/damage skills, but of course with quite a bit more flavor and customization options.
  
  
−
===Follower Statistics===
+
We still have some tweaking to do with the followers, including their skills and end-game balancing. We continue to discover cool little ways to improve how each follower performs and the complements the different heroes. Our intent is to ensure players who take followers along find them to be helpful additions to their single-player experiences.</blue>
−
[[File:Followerdetails.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Benefiting from a Scoundrel's items.]]
+
 
−
Followers have a similar system for statistics and items as the player, with the caveat that they are severely limited in what they can equip. As previously mentioned, they can equip a weapon, three pieces of jewelry, and one follower special.
+
 
−
Followers do not benefit from a player's gear in any direct way, but a player may benefit from a follower's gear. In the follower's "Details" tab, anything in the adventure section listed at the bottom is the percentage of benefit that the player also receives. This includes experience gain from items, [[Magic Find]], gold find, and more.
+
===Follower AI===
−
The player doesn't receive full benefit from the items, but only 20% of the amount. So if a Templar has a set of gear with 100% magic find on it, the player will receive an additional 20% magic find.
+
 
 +
The AI and pathfinding of followers in Diablo III is much improved, but it's one-size-fits-all; there are no options to set the Followers in some sort of "aggressive/defensive" mode, nor can players point to specific spots and tell the Followers to remain there.
  
−
A follower's kills aren't checked against their adventure statistics. So if the Templar mentioned above with 100% magic find kills a monster, the game will only check the magic find of the player (combined with the follower's contribution).
+
[[Jay Wilson]] spoke about the AI challenges they faced, and what players can expect from follower AI, in an April 2011 interview with Now Gamer: <ref name=nowgamer/>
  
−
{{clear|both}}
+
<blue>'''NowGamer''': You’ve talked in the past about improvements to enemy AI – what about NPCs?
  
−
==Follower Achievements==
+
'''Jay Wilson''': They were a bit easier because they tend to lean on the monster AI, use a lot of the same things as them. Making the Followers interesting revolved around making our monster targeting systems better. In Diablo II monsters pretty much just targeted whatever was closest to them, which meant if you played as a necromancer, it could be kind of a boring class because you almost never get attacked by anything. Your scouts always moved fast to get in front of you. So we said ‘OK, let’s have enemies that attack in different ways, or choose their targets in different ways’.
  
−
There are a number of achievements players can earn that are related to Followers.
+
<br>Take an enemy that burrows for example – they’re really most dangerous to a ranged class, so that’s what they focus on – they burrow and make a beeline for a ranged character. Whereas a lot of enemies will go ‘I want to attack somebody, but if I can’t reach one of the guys closest to me, or he has a lot of people attacking him already, I’m just going to choose somebody else’. So the attacks get spread out a little more. It makes having a Follower a lot more interesting because they’ll pick up some of the enemies’ focus but not all of it.</blue>
  
−
{{achievement header}}
 
−
<achievement type="single">The Comfort of Strangers</achievement><achievement type="single">Dirty Little Secrets</achievement><achievement type="single">The Art of Conversation</achievement><achievement type="single">For the Order</achievement><achievement type="single">Secrets of the Ages</achievement><achievement type="single">To Catch a Thief</achievement><achievement type="single">A Guiding Light</achievement><achievement type="single">Me, Myself & Eirena</achievement><achievement type="single">Stolen Moments</achievement><achievement type="single">Friends with Benefits</achievement><achievement type="single">I Got What you Need</achievement>
 
  
 +
==Patch Changes to Followers since Release==
  
−
==Design Goal of Followers in Diablo III==
 
  
−
The function of a mercenary in Diablo II was a permanent helper that would scale with their level. Upon release of the expansion pack, Lord of Destruction, mercs gained a lot of power, particularly due to [[dupe]]d [[runeword]] items. Many [[Magic Find| MF]] characters relied on mercs for defense and damage.
+
'''[[Patch 1.0.2b]] - 6 June 2012'''
  
−
This is not the case with followers. The design philosphy for the follower differs drastically, where the dev team has stated that they want the followers to be a sort of introduction to co-op multiplayer. [[Bashiok]] expands on this idea[http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=27808220764&pageNo=1&sid=3000#11]:
+
*Monsters who are charmed by the Enchantress’s skill “Mass Confusion” can no longer kill event NPCs.
  
−
<blue>Well, followers are essentially a flavor bonus to those playing through normal the first time by themselves. It provides some story elements, but more importantly it gets the idea in their head of playing with another person. You come across each of them pretty quickly in Act 1, and then they help you throughout the rest of the game if you'd like. They aren't required to beat the game on Normal, even if you're playing by yourself. Feel free to leave them behind if you like. But they are pretty awesome.
 
−
<br>
 
−
They're also tuned so that they become very weak starting in Nightmare, and then are completely unusable in Hell. Even if you're playing alone, you will probably not be using Followers past Normal - - you can try but they're going to just be one-shot back to back. They're there as a bit of flavor, to help get people into the mindset of co-op if they're a bit reluctant, and... that's about it. They won't be usable at end-game, and they'll never replace the abilities and power that another player can bring.</blue>
 
  
−
The development team has done a bit of a turn-around with their philosophy towards followers in end-game. They are now viable and can still help out the player in [[Inferno]] difficulty.
+
'''[[Patch 1.0.3]] - 19 June 2012'''
  
 +
[[Enchantress]] Skills
  
−
==Development==
+
:[[Mass Control]]
 +
:Radius reduced from 15 yards to 8 yards
 +
:If Enchantress also has [[Reflect Missiles]] trained, Mass Control will no longer accidentally [[hex]] the player when both skills are activated
 +
:Skill will now correctly target enemies in all circumstances
  
−
It was said by the D3 development team for ages that they "weren't ready" to reveal mercenaries in Diablo III, or otherwise they "didn't know" what they would do with them. In April of 2011, the follower system was indeed revealed, but to the chargrin of Blizzard, it was leaked by the Korean Blizzard official website on accident. Diablo fans quickly picked this up[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/new-follower-video/] and accepted it as real due to the superb quality of the presentation of the video. The day after, Blizzard unveiled the followers in an official capacity[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/followers-artwork-and-interface-shots/] in a deluge of interviews, information, and new screenshots.
 
  
 +
'''[[Patch 1.0.4]] - 21 August 2012'''
  
−
Previous comments by the development team follow:
+
*The last follower a player had active in a single-player game will now be restored automatically after leaving a multiplayer game
 +
*The frequency of follower dialogue has been reduced
  
−
The team has said they hope to include full mercenaries as a feature, and that if they do they'll be bigger and better than mercs were in D2. But they've given no details yet. [http://www.gameplanet.co.nz/pc/games/156898.Diablo-III/features/133759.20090831.BlizzCon-Diablo-III-devs-discuss-design-decisions-direction-depth-drops/]
 
  
−
<blue><font color="#FFFFFF">Do those NPC's provide abilities to the hero, like a proper party system?</font><br>
+
'''[[Patch 1.0.8]] - 8 May 2013'''
−
<b>Julian Love:</b> That's also not yet finalised. We're trying to make them definitely a step above the henchmen of Diablo II, but how big of a step is something I can't say yet. Hopefully next time we reveal something I can show you more.</blue>
 
  
 +
[[Templar]] Skills
  
−
[[Leonard Boyarsky]] spoke in more detail about their plans for Mercs at Blizzcon 2008.
+
:[[Loyalty]]
 +
:Now regenerates 310 life per second (up from 155)
  
−
<blue>We have two different types of mercenaries now. As you saw in the demo, if you got the quest where you could rescue the adventurers or their leader, those guys are a low level and are just along for the quest, or are cannon fodder. You can't really control them or have anything to do with them at all.
 
  
−
When you have what we are calling followers, they are the guys you can equip, give them different weapons, you can give them different armor. They will probably have some quests that involve them. Much more than in Diablo II, you could equip them but they were more like a game mechanic in a body of an NPC. Where this time, were making them much more individuals with their own back story and their own reason for being in the world.</blue>
+
==Media==
  
−
Leonard went on to say that there would be different hireables to fill different roles, such as tanks, artillery support, etc.
+
===Gallery===
  
−
No more updated info has since been released, though in April 2011 Bashiok hinted[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/mercenaries-system-reveal-draws...-closer/] that an announcement was imminent.
+
<gallery>
 +
File:Ashearas-vestments.jpg|Calling all Followers
 +
File:Ench action.jpg|[[Enchantress]] in action
 +
</gallery>
  
−
<blue>We’re not quite ready to talk about our approach, but I will say it’s something that’s been a part of the game since before announcement. We have a very solid direction for them. </blue>
 
  
 +
===Video===
  
−
==Video==
 
  
 
This is the reveal video for the Followers released on the 12th May 2011 by the official Korean site before, it seems, Blizzard Irvine was ready to do so.
 
This is the reveal video for the Followers released on the 12th May 2011 by the official Korean site before, it seems, Blizzard Irvine was ready to do so.
  
 
<youtube>2S3U8I_a_x8</youtube>
 
<youtube>2S3U8I_a_x8</youtube>
 +
 +
 +
==References==
 +
<font size="-3">
 +
<references/>
 +
 +
  
  

Latest revision as of 16:45, 20 August 2015

Followers are NPCs who assist your hero in his or her battle against the demons overrunning Sanctuary. There are three Followers in Diablo III, each of whom has a unique story, look, and combat style. They are: Eirena the Enchantress, Kormac the Templar, and Lyndon the Scoundrel. There are no additional followers in Reaper of Souls.


Followers are only usable in single player games; they return to town and will not assist you when playing with other players.


The design theory is that Followers are helpful when playing alone, but not so powerful as to make them mandatory, and not so complicated that players need to constantly attend to their survival. (There is no way to feed them potions, though they do share in the benefit of health globes. As they do not die there are no resurrection costs.)


Follower Types[edit | edit source]

The three followers take on different roles in combat, though they should be roughly equivalent in usefulness, with their style of combat determining which one your character will find most useful.


Each follower has eight unique skills, four of which can be enabled at a time, with two new ones coming online every five levels. Players can retrain their follower at any time afterwards, to use different abilities. See the various followers pages for full details on their skills.


  • The Enchantress Eirena is a mage with numerous powerful ranged magical attacks and a variety of helpful buffs.
  • The Scoundrel Lyndon is an ex-thief and archer who wields a crossbow. He has numerous bow attacks and can debuff monsters, slowing and poisoning them.
  • The Templar Kormac is a heavily-armored tank, ready to act as a meat shield for your ranged attacker. He can take on large groups of melee fighters and draw enemy attention in the toughest scrap.


Followers 3.jpg


Followers Availability[edit | edit source]

Followers can only be utilized in single player playing in a game on Battle.net. If another player joins your game, your follower will return to town. Jay Wilson contributes insight to this design philosophy in an interview with Now Gamer.[1]

Followers aren’t in [[PvP]] at all, and in cooperative Followers return to town. We found that having four players and four Followers on-screen all at once was pretty chaotic and hard to tell what’s going on. We logic’d out that a player is better than a Follower, they’re better companionship and they’re certainly more effective than a Follower. We figured any player would prefer to have another player, so at that point we decided to have the Follower return to town. You can always get him back later – if the other player leaves the Follower will return.


If the other people in your game leave you will be asked if you'd like your follower to rejoin you and will instantly appear where you are, if you say yes.

When starting Adventure mode with a new character, all followers are instantly unlocked. In Adventure mode in Reaper of Souls followers are available instantly, there is no requirement to discover each of them again.[2]


Grimiku: You’ll still need to complete the campaign mode at least once in order to unlock Adventure Mode, but once it’s unlocked all of your characters of that game type (Normal or Hardcore) will be able to access it, even brand new ones.


Follower Skills[edit | edit source]

Upon reaching level five, the player can choose one of two spells or skills for the Templar and Scoundrel and again choose between another two spells at level 10, 15 and finally 20. Skills for the Enchantress can be chosen first at level 15 then again at 20, 25 and finally character level 30.


Each different type of follower offers a customizable skillset to either boost the player's effectiveness in a certain area, or cover a weakness in another. Details of those in the skill sections of the Templar, Scoundrel and Enchantress pages.


Followers' skills can be changed at any time by simply left clicking on the new skill you want, the other skill is automatically deselected.


Experience[edit | edit source]

In D3V, much like the player, followers gained experience and benefited from plus to experience items, however they were never more than one level behind the hero. Followers also benefit from bonuses such as the Massacre boost which gives bonus experience.

In Reaper of Souls, followers now automatically acquire the player's current level, and will level immediately when the player does.

Benefiting from a Scoundrel's items.

Gear[edit | edit source]

Any gear or gems you equip on your follower that adds Gold Find, Magic Find or Experience will add 20% to the player's total bonus for those. For example, a Hellfire Ring that adds +35% experience bonus, if worn by a follower, will be worth 7% bonus to the player. The 20% bonus can not take the player beyond the 300% cap for GF/MF however.[3]


Followers can only equip certain weapons, rings, and amulets. In addition, each have their own special class-specific item slot, the Templar has Templar Relics, the Scoundrel has Scoundrel Tokens and the Enchantress has Enchantress Focuses. Reaper of Souls added six legendary items. Each follower has two legendary items, one granting immortality, the other enabling all skills. Along with the legendary property these each spawn with 5 random affixes.


Each of the followers has a different Main Stat, which influences damage done.

  • Strength for the Templar
  • Dexterity for the Scoundrel
  • Intelligence for the Enchantress


Set item bonuses for wearing multiple items from a set do not apply when they are equipped by a follower. As a Blizzard CM clarifies:

[4]

Vaeflare: As it stands currently, in order to receive the benefits of set bonuses, the set items need to be equipped on your main character. Set items equipped on Followers will not contribute to set bonuses.


We’re aware that this isn’t ideal, and we’re looking into some possibilities that would make using set items on Followers a more appealing choice in the future.


Calling all Followers

There is an interesting set, Asheara's Vestments which, when all four items are equipped by a player, has a chance to summon all your followers, fully equipped. They will disappear after a period until the bonus chance spawns them again.


The specifics of what followers add to the player's stats is listed under 'Adventure' in their 'Details' tab, see the image on the right.


Items worn by followers will lose durability and require repairing just like players' items, however each item has to be placed in the repair slot individually for the merchant to repair.

Buffs[edit | edit source]

There is no mechanism to feed health potions to your Follower, though they do share in the benefit of health globes, Nephalem Globes. The Followers also possess various buffs and healing spells, which they can use to help your character, as well as themselves.

Any buffs that a player can apply to party members in a multiplayer game will apply to your follower when playing with them in a single player game.


Follower Death[edit | edit source]

Followers do not 'die' - if their health reduces to zero, they rest for a short while and will automatically return to your side once their health is restored.

There are also Legendary Follower Items with the 'Follower cannot die' affix: Enchanting Favor (Templar), Skeleton Key (Scoundrel), and Smoking Thurible (Enchantress). While these items are equipped, followers not only cannot die, but they in fact take no damage whatsoever. This can be used in conjunction with a Unity ring to have followers absorb half of all damage dealt to players in single player mode.

Follower Quests and Lore[edit | edit source]

The followers, much like the Artisans, are recruited through quests that the player must complete in order to gain their trust and companionship. Once this is done, the Followers can always be found in the town area, where a player may choose one of them to accompany him into battle. Followers have their own individual quests, which shed more light on their back story as well as the overall game plot. A player will need to work through the entire game with each of the followers, individually, to experience their full game plot and all of the quests.


Follower Achievements[edit | edit source]

There are a number of achievements players can earn that are related to Followers.

Name Points Description Banner

<achievement type="single">The Comfort of Strangers</achievement><achievement type="single">Dirty Little Secrets</achievement><achievement type="single">The Art of Conversation</achievement><achievement type="single">For the Order</achievement><achievement type="single">Secrets of the Ages</achievement><achievement type="single">To Catch a Thief</achievement><achievement type="single">A Guiding Light</achievement><achievement type="single">Me, Myself & Eirena</achievement><achievement type="single">Stolen Moments</achievement><achievement type="single">Friends with Benefits</achievement><achievement type="single">I Got What you Need</achievement><achievement type="single">I'll Be Your Wingman</achievement>


Follower Development[edit | edit source]

August 2008

The development team said they hoped to include full mercenaries as a feature, and that if they do they'll be bigger and better than mercs were in D2. But they gave no details at that time.[5]

Do those NPC's provide abilities to the hero, like a proper party system?
Julian Love: That's also not yet finalised. We're trying to make them definitely a step above the henchmen of Diablo II, but how big of a step is something I can't say yet. Hopefully next time we reveal something I can show you more.


October 2008


Leonard Boyarsky spoke in more detail about their plans for Mercenaries at Blizzcon in October 2008 in an interview with IncGamers.Two types of Mercenaries - IncGamers interview with Leonard Boyarsky, Blizzard Entertainment, 10/10/2008</ref>

We have two different types of mercenaries now. As you saw in the demo, if you got the quest where you could rescue the adventurers or their leader, those guys are a low level and are just along for the quest, or are cannon fodder. You can't really control them or have anything to do with them at all. When you have what we are calling followers, they are the guys you can equip, give them different weapons, you can give them different armor. They will probably have some quests that involve them. Much more than in Diablo II, you could equip them but they were more like a game mechanic in a body of an NPC. Where this time, were making them much more individuals with their own back story and their own reason for being in the world.

Leonard went on to say that there would be different hireables to fill different roles, such as tanks, artillery support, etc.


May 2011

It was said by the Diablo 3 development team for ages that they "weren't ready" to reveal mercenaries in Diablo III, or otherwise they "didn't know" what they would do with them. However, in May 2011, the follower system was indeed revealed, but to the chagrin of Blizzard, it was leaked by the Korean Blizzard official website by accident.[6]

The Diablo community quickly picked this up and accepted it as real due to the superb quality of the presentation of the video. The day after, Blizzard unveiled the followers in an official capacity in a deluge of interviews, information, and new screen shots.[7]


May 2011 - Only Viable in Normal

The initial plan was that Followers would not be viable past Normal difficulty, as Bashiok explained in May 2011.[8]


Well, followers are essentially a flavor bonus to those playing through normal the first time by themselves. It provides some story elements, but more importantly it gets the idea in their head of playing with another person.... They aren't required to beat the game on Normal, even if you're playing by yourself. Feel free to leave them behind if you like. But they are pretty awesome. ...(snip)...


They're also tuned so that they become very weak starting in Nightmare, and then are completely unusable in Hell. Even if you're playing alone, you will probably not be using Followers past Normal. They're there as a bit of flavor, to help get people into the mindset of co-op if they're a bit reluctant, and... that's about it. They won't be usable at end-game, and they'll never replace the abilities and power that another player can bring.


After players talked about finding ways to make Followers viable in Hell, especially for their Magic Find and other item finding bonuses, Bashiok made the developer's intentions even clearer.[9]


Followers will not stay alive easily past Normal, and if they’re not alive you aren’t going to be getting their bonuses. I’m sure people will try to game this, and ideally they will fail. If not we will ensure followers are not part of the end-game MF equation. They are not intended to be, and we will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure they cannot be.


October 2011 - Now Viable in Higher Difficulties


The developers changed that design theory later in development, and announced at BlizzCon in October 2011 that Followers were being rebalanced to remain viable throughout the higher difficulty levels. Bashiok added an update on that in early January, 2012.[10]


A lot of us wanted to see followers become viable throughout the game too, and agree they really add something to the experience as a whole. One of our main driving forces in making this decision was the benefits of the co-op experience, and the disadvantage of playing alone in the Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno difficulties. Followers won’t follow you into co-op games because you’ll already have the superior firepower of your friends to help you, but playing alone you’re going to want to take advantage of their benefits. We’ve made the later difficulties of the game brutally difficult, and we realize that for those attempting to tackle these later difficulties alone, they’re really going to actually want some additional support in the form of the followers.


Some players didn’t like their experience with mercenaries in Diablo II. We took feedback regarding mercenaries very seriously when designing Diablo III followers, and they differ from mercenaries in a few key ways that we think set them apart and resolve many issues. First of all, there is no resurrection or cost to your followers’ deaths, which makes their upkeep far less intrusive. When a follower takes enough damage to “die”, they simply take a knee, catch their breath, and after a few moments are back in the fight. That downtime could potentially have an effect on your own survival, but it’s unlikely to create a situation where you’re worrying about them or constantly working to keep them alive. We don’t want to turn what could be a fun benefit into a punishment by making players pay for their followers’ poor combat choices.


Secondly, when you die, so does your follower. These aren’t characters that can hope to compete or continue on without you. While some players prefer to be the lone wolf taking on the forces of evil, our intent isn’t to dilute the hero aspects by adding more wolves to your wolf pack. We want followers to be an extension of your bad-assery, not a liability. The followers could almost be considered automated buffs/damage skills, but of course with quite a bit more flavor and customization options.


We still have some tweaking to do with the followers, including their skills and end-game balancing. We continue to discover cool little ways to improve how each follower performs and the complements the different heroes. Our intent is to ensure players who take followers along find them to be helpful additions to their single-player experiences.


Follower AI[edit | edit source]

The AI and pathfinding of followers in Diablo III is much improved, but it's one-size-fits-all; there are no options to set the Followers in some sort of "aggressive/defensive" mode, nor can players point to specific spots and tell the Followers to remain there.

Jay Wilson spoke about the AI challenges they faced, and what players can expect from follower AI, in an April 2011 interview with Now Gamer: [1]

'''NowGamer''': You’ve talked in the past about improvements to enemy AI – what about NPCs?

'''Jay Wilson''': They were a bit easier because they tend to lean on the monster AI, use a lot of the same things as them. Making the Followers interesting revolved around making our monster targeting systems better. In Diablo II monsters pretty much just targeted whatever was closest to them, which meant if you played as a necromancer, it could be kind of a boring class because you almost never get attacked by anything. Your scouts always moved fast to get in front of you. So we said ‘OK, let’s have enemies that attack in different ways, or choose their targets in different ways’.


Take an enemy that burrows for example – they’re really most dangerous to a ranged class, so that’s what they focus on – they burrow and make a beeline for a ranged character. Whereas a lot of enemies will go ‘I want to attack somebody, but if I can’t reach one of the guys closest to me, or he has a lot of people attacking him already, I’m just going to choose somebody else’. So the attacks get spread out a little more. It makes having a Follower a lot more interesting because they’ll pick up some of the enemies’ focus but not all of it.


Patch Changes to Followers since Release[edit | edit source]

Patch 1.0.2b - 6 June 2012

  • Monsters who are charmed by the Enchantress’s skill “Mass Confusion” can no longer kill event NPCs.


Patch 1.0.3 - 19 June 2012

Enchantress Skills

Mass Control
Radius reduced from 15 yards to 8 yards
If Enchantress also has Reflect Missiles trained, Mass Control will no longer accidentally hex the player when both skills are activated
Skill will now correctly target enemies in all circumstances


Patch 1.0.4 - 21 August 2012

  • The last follower a player had active in a single-player game will now be restored automatically after leaving a multiplayer game
  • The frequency of follower dialogue has been reduced


Patch 1.0.8 - 8 May 2013

Templar Skills

Loyalty
Now regenerates 310 life per second (up from 155)


Media[edit | edit source]

Gallery[edit | edit source]


Video[edit | edit source]

This is the reveal video for the Followers released on the 12th May 2011 by the official Korean site before, it seems, Blizzard Irvine was ready to do so.


References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Followers in Multiplayer - Now Gamer interview with Jay Wilson, Blizzard Entertainment, 13/05/2011
  2. ↑ Followers in Adventure mode - Blizzard CM, 19/02/2014
  3. ↑ Follower Magic/Gold Find - Blizzard CM, 24/08/2012
  4. ↑ Set Bonuses from Followers Blizzard CM, 11/10/2012
  5. ↑ First mention of Mercenaries - Gameplanet interview with Julian Love, Blizzard Entertainment, 31/08/2008
  6. ↑ Follower video leaked - Blizzard Korea, 12/05/2011
  7. ↑ Blizzard reveal Diablo 3 Followers - Blizzard Entertainment, 13/05/2011
  8. ↑ Followers in Normal difficulty - Blizzard CM, 13/05/2011
  9. ↑ Preventing use on higher difficulties - Blizzard CM, 13/05/2011
  10. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named viability



Characters & NPCs[e] Import. Chars Rumoured Diablo 3 NPCs Diablo 2 NPCs Diablo 1 NPCs Minor A-K Minor L-Z Fanmade
Important Characters

Angiris Council
• Auriel
• Imperius
• Itherael
• Malthael
• Tyrael

Lords of Hell
• Andariel
• Azmodan
• Baal
• Belial
• Diablo
• Duriel
• Mephisto

Horadrim
• Jered Cain
• Tal Rasha
• Zoltun Kulle
• Nor Tiraj

Miscellaneous
• Abd al-Hazir
• Akarat
• Albrecht
• Anu
• Arcanna
• Atanna
• Athulua
• Astrogha
• Aust

Miscellaneous (cont)
• Bartuc
• Blood Raven
• Bul-Kathos
• Esu
• Fiacla-Géar
• Gregus Mazi
• Gulag
• Hakan I
• Hakan II
• Harkin Khan
• Hefaetrus
• Horazon
• Inarius

Miscellaneous (cont)
• Izual
• Kalan
• Karcheus
• Khalim
• Lachdanan
• Leoric
• Lilith
• Lucion
• Madawc
• Magda
• Marius
• Mendeln
• Lazarus

Miscellaneous (cont)
• Quov Tsin
• Rathma
• Serenthia
• Siggard
• Sankekur
• The Summoner
• Uldyssian
• Vasily
• Yaerius
• Zerae
• Zular Khan

Diablo III's Possible NPCs

Franklin Burroughs - Humbart Wessel - Pablo DeSoto - Quov Tsin - Kentril Dumon - Zayl

Diablo III's NPCs

Artisans: The Blacksmith - The Jeweler - The Mystic
Followers: The Enchantress - The Scoundrel - The Templar -- Hirelings
Abheek - Adenah the Curio Vendor * - Adria the Witch - Alesar - Arghus the Collector - Asheara - Bron the Barkeep - Brother Malachi the Healer - Captain Rumford - Captain Davyd - Chiman - Crazed Hermit - Crazed Miner - Crying Ghost - Dane Bright - Deckard Cain - Dying Necromancer - Escort Soldier - Halmin the Alchemist * - Husam - Injured Villager - Ironsmith Maldonado - Iron Wolf Bowden - Javad the Merchant * - Kadala * - Kala - Karla * - Karyna - Kyr the Weaponsmith * - Lachdanan - Larra * - Lazarus - Leah - Lieutenant Lavail - Lieutenant Vachem - Little Girl Ghost - Lorath Nahr - Lugo the Miner * - Mehtan the Necromancer - Mercenaries - Mikal - Mr. Meat Wagon - Nek the Brawler - Poltahr - Queen Asylla - Rike the Apothecary - Rodger the Alchemist * - Sadeir the Innkeeper - Squirt the Peddler - Tashun the Miner - Treasure Hunter - Urshi - Varna - Vendel the Armorsmith * - Wandering Tinker * - Wounded Man - Zakarwa - Zaven the Alchemist *

NPCs of Diablo II

Act I: Akara - Charsi - Chickens - Deckard Cain - Flavie - Gheed - Kashya - Rogue NPCs - Warriv
Act II: Atma - Cain - Drognan - Elzix - Fara - Geglash - Greiz - Jerhyn - Kaelan - Lysander - Meshif - Tyrael - Warriv
Act III: Alkor - Asheara - Cain - Hratli - Meshif - Natalya - Ormus - Iron Wolves - Dark Wanderer
Act IV: Cain - Halbu - Hadriel - Izual - Jamella - Tyrael
Act V: Anya - Cain - Larzuk - Malah - Nihlathak - Qual-Kehk - Ancients - Tyrael - Barbarian NPCs - Bunnies - Bunny Roaster

NPCs of Diablo I

Diablo NPCs: Adria - Cain - Cows - Farnham - Gillian - Griswold - Kael Rills - Ogden - Pepin - Wirt
Hellfire NPCs: Lester the Farmer - Complete Nut - Celia
Monster NPCs: Gharbad - Lachdanan - Lazarus - Snotspill - Zhar - Defiler - Na-Krul
Others: Tremain - Unused Dialogues

Minor A-K

Achilios - Adria - Akara - Albord - Aldric Jitan - Alkor - Anya - Arkaine - Asheara - Assur - Atma - Augustus Malevolyn - Baerna - Banagar - Benjin - Brek - Buyard Cholik - Camylle - Celestia - Cornelius - Darrick Lang - Diomedes - Drognan - Edgewulf - Elora - Elzix - Emilye - Fara - Farnham - Fautzin - Galeona - Garda - Gheed - Gillian - Gorst - Greiz - Griswold - Guthwulf - Hagan - Halbu - Hanos Jeronnan - Hargo - Hays - Hratli - Hrothwulf - Humbart Wessel - Hunfrith - Hyram - Icharion - Jace - Jamella - Jerhyn - Jodas - Juris Khan - Justinian IV - Kabraxis - Kara Nightshadow - Karybdus - Kashya - Kentril Dumon - Kethryes - Korlic - Kreghn - Ku Y'leh

Minor L-Z

Lam Esen - Larzuk - Linarian - Lysander - Malah - Mat Hu-Ring - Meshif - Mirakodus - Mordecai - Natalya - Nefriti - Nellia - Nihlathak - Nor Tiraj - Norrec Vizharan - Ogden - Ord Rekar - Orlif - Ormus - Oskal - Palashia - Pepin - Qarak - Qual-Kehk - Riordan Nesardo - Sadun Tryst - Salene Nesardo - Sardak - Sarnakyle - Septumos - Simon - Talic - Taramis Volken - Tilgar - Tobio - Toko - Tylwulf - Vischar Orous - Warriv - Wirt - Wulfgar - Xazax - Zagraal - Zayl - Zorea

Fan-made Characters[e]

• Run Azar

* NPC is a merchant


Classes of the
Diablo games 		Skills - Active skills - Skill runes - Passives - Resource - Movement ability [e] Barbarian Demon Hunter Monk Necromancer Witch Doctor Wizard   Followers Other Classes Fan-made
The Barbarian Fury - Barbarian Active Skills (Archive) Barbarian Passive Skills (Archive) [e]

Primary attribute:
• Strength


Skill specialties:
• Shouts

Primary
• Bash (1)
• Cleave (3)
• Frenzy (11)


Might
• Ancient Spear (9)
• Revenge (13)
• Furious Charge (21)
• Overpower (26)

Secondary
• Hammer of the Ancients (2)
• Rend (5)
• Seismic Slam (12)
• Whirlwind (20)

Tactics
• Weapon Throw (14)
• Threatening Shout (17)
• Battle Rage (22)
• War Cry (28)

Defensive
• Ground Stomp (4)
• Leap (8)
• Sprint (16)
• Ignore Pain (22)

Rage
• Earthquake (19)
• Call of the Ancients (25)
• Wrath of the Berserker (30)

Pound of Flesh (10)
Ruthless (10)
Nerves Of Steel (13)
Weapons Master (16)
Berserker Rage (20)
Inspiring Presence (20)
Bloodthirst (24)
Animosity (27)

Superstition (30)
Tough as Nails (30)
No Escape (35)
Relentless (40)
Brawler (45)
Juggernaut (50)
Unforgiving (55)
Boon of Bul-Kathos (60)

(X) = the level at which the skill becomes unlocked.
Barbarian skill categories: Primary Secondary Defensive Might Tactics Rage

Bash
• Clobber (6)
• Onslaught (13)
• Punish (26)
• Instigation (44)
• Pulverize (52)

Cleave
• Rupture (9)
• Reaping Swing (18)
• Scattering Blast (30)
• Broad Sweep (47)
• Gathering Storm (55)

Frenzy
• Sidearm (17)
• Triumph (22)
• Vanguard (34)
• Smite (51)
• Maniac (59)

 [e]

Hammer of the Ancients
• Rolling Thunder (7)
• Smash (15)
• The Devil's Anvil (27)
• Thunderstrike (39)
• Birthright (53)

Rend
• Ravage (11)
• Blood Lust (19)
• Lacerate (33)
• Mutilate (45)
• Bloodbath (56)

Seismic Slam
• Stagger (18)
• Shattered Ground (25)
• Rumble (35)
• Strength from Earth (48)
• Cracking Rift (57)

Whirlwind
• Dust Devils (24)
• Hurricane (29)
• Blood Funnel (37)
• Wind Shear (44)
• Volcanic Eruption (59)

 [e]

Ground Stomp
• Deafening Crash (12)
• Wrenching Smash (18)
• Trembling Stomp (28)
• Foot of the Mountain (40)
• Avalanche (54)

Leap
• Iron Impact (14)
• Launch (21)
• Toppling Impact (32)
• Call of Arreat (44)
• Death from Above (60)

Sprint
• Rush (23)
• Run Like the Wind (29)
• Marathon (38)
• Gangway (46)
• Forced March (53)

Ignore Pain
• Bravado (26)
• Iron Hide (31)
• Ignorance is Bliss (36)
• Mob Rule (43)
• Contempt for Weakness (58)

 [e]

Ancient Spear
• Grappling Hooks (15)
• Skirmish (23)
• Dread Spear (32)
• Harpoon (39)
• Rage Flip (49)

Revenge
• Vengeance Is Mine (19)
• Best Served Cold (25)
• Retribution (36)
• Grudge (41)
• Provocation (52)

Furious Charge
• Battering Ram (27)
• Merciless Assault (33)
• Stamina (38)
• Bull Rush (47)
• Dreadnought (56)

Overpower
• Storm of Steel (29)
• Killing Spree (34)
• Crushing Advance (42)
• Momentum (48)
• Revel (59)

 [e]

Weapon Throw
• Mighty Throw (21)
• Ricochet (25)
• Throwing Hammer (33)
• Stupefy (42)
• Dread Bomb (54)

Threatening Shout
• Intimidate (23)
• Falter (28)
• Grim Harvest (37)
• Demoralize (43)
• Terrify (57)

Battle Rage
• Marauder's Rage (26)
• Ferocity (31)
• Swords to Ploughshares (38)
• Into the Fray (46)
• Bloodshed (54)

War Cry
• Hardened Wrath (32)
• Charge! (35)
• Invigorate (41)
• Veteran's Warning (49)
• Impunity (60)

 [e]

Earthquake
• Giant's Stride (24)
• Chilling Earth (29)
• The Mountain's Call (39)
• Aftershocks (50)
• Path of Fire (56)

Call of the Ancients
• The Council Rises (31)
• Duty to the Clan (37)
• Korlic's Might (45)
• Madawc's Madness (51)
• Talic's Anger (58)

Wrath of the Berserker
• Arreat's Wail (36)
• Insanity (40)
• Slaughter (46)
• Striding Giant (52)
• Thrive on Chaos (60)

 [e]
The Demon Hunter Hatred/Discipline - Demon Hunter Active Skills (Archive) Demon Hunter Passive Skills (Archive) [e]

Primary attribute:
• Dexterity


Skill specialties:
• Discipline spells
• Bow skills
• Rockets

Primary
• Hungering Arrow (1)
• Entangling Shot (3)
• Bola Shot (11)
• Grenades (15)

Hunting
• Vault (9)
• Preparation (13)
• Companion (17)
• Marked for Death (21)

Secondary
• Impale (2)
• Rapid Fire (5)
• Chakram (12)
• Elemental Arrow (20)

Devices
• Evasive Fire (14)
• Fan of Knives (17)
• Spike Trap (17)
• Sentry (25)

Defensive
• Caltrops (4)
• Smoke Screen (8)
• Shadow Power (16)


Archery
• Strafe (19)
• Multishot (22)
• Cluster Arrow (27)
• Rain of Vengeance (30)

Tactical Advantage (10)
Thrill of the Hunt (10)
Vengeance (13)
Steady Aim (16)
Cull the Weak (20)
Night Stalker (20)
Brooding (25)
Hot Pursuit (27)

Archery (30)
Numbing Traps (30)
Perfectionist (35)
Custom Engineering (40)
Grenadier (45)
Sharpshooter (50)
Ballistics (55)

(X) = the level at which the skill becomes unlocked.
Demon Hunter skill categories: Primary Secondary Defensive Hunting Devices Archery

Hungering Arrow
• Puncturing Arrow (6)
• Cinder Arrow (17)
• Shatter Shot (26)
• Devouring Arrow (42)
• Spray of Teeth (52)

Entangling Shot
• Chain Gang (9)
• Shock Collar (18)
• Heavy Burden (34)
• Justice is Served (47)
• Bounty Hunter (54)

Bola Shot
• Volatile Explosives (14)
• Thunder Ball (24)
• Acid Strike (37)
• Bitter Pill (51)
• Imminent Doom (57)

Grenades
• Tinkerer (22)
• Cluster Grenades (32)
• Fire Bomb (40)
• Stun Grenades (48)
• Gas Grenades (60)

 [e]

Impale
• Impact (7)
• Chemical Burn (15)
• Overpenetration (28)
• Awareness (53)
• Grievous Wounds (58)

Rapid Fire
• Withering Fire (11)
• Web Shot (19)
• Fire Support (32)
• High Velocity (45)
• Bombardment (56)

Chakram
• Twin Chakrams (18)
• Serpentine (26)
• Razor Disk (34)
• Boomerang (48)
• Shuriken Cloud (57)

Elemental Arrow
• Ball Lightning (24)
• Frost Arrow (29)
• Screaming Skull (36)
• Lightning Bolts (43)
• Nether Tentacles (59)

 [e]

Caltrops
• Hooked Spines (12)
• Torturous Ground (18)
• Jagged Spikes (28)
• Carved Stakes (41)
• Bait the Trap (54)

Smoke Screen
• Displacement (14)
• Lingering Fog (23)
• Breathe Deep (33)
• Special Recipe (44)
• Choking Gas (59)

Shadow Power
• Night Bane (21)
• Blood Moon (29)
• Well of Darkness (37)
• Gloom (51)
• Shadow Glide (58)

 [e]

Vault
• Action Shot (16)
• Rattling Roll (23)
• Tumble (33)
• Acrobatics (38)
• Trail of Cinders (49)

Preparation
• Invigoration (19)
• Punishment (25)
• Battle Scars (35)
• Focused Mind (44)
• Backup Plan (52)

Companion
• Spider Companion (22)
• Bat Companion (29)
• Boar Companion (41)
• Ferret Companion (46)
• Wolf Companion (59)

Marked for Death
• Contagion (27)
• Valley of Death (31)
• Grim Reaper (39)
• Mortal Enemy (48)
• Death Toll (60)

 [e]

Evasive Fire
• Hardened (21)
• Parting Gift (26)
• Covering Fire (34)
• Displace (42)
• Surge (53)

Fan of Knives
• Crippling Razors (23)
• Retaliate (32)
• Hail of Knives (38)
• Fan of Daggers (44)
• Assassin's Knives (59)

Spike Trap
• Echoing Blast (27)
• Sticky Trap (30)
• Long Fuse (39)
• Lightning Rod (46)
• Scatter (55)

Sentry
• Spitfire Turret (28)
• Vigilant Watcher (36)
• Chain of Torment (45)
• Aid Station (52)
• Guardian Turret (60)

 [e]

Strafe
• Emberstrafe (24)
• Drifting Shadow (29)
• Stinging Steel (37)
• Rocket Storm (50)
• Demolition (56)

Multishot
• Fire at Will (26)
• Burst Fire (31)
• Suppression Fire (39)
• Full Broadside (46)
• Arsenal (55)

Cluster Arrow
• Dazzling Arrow (33)
• Shooting Stars (36)
• Maelstrom (41)
• Cluster Bombs (49)
• Loaded for Bear (58)

Rain of Vengeance
• Dark Cloud (35)
• Beastly Bombs (40)
• Stampede (47)
• Anathema (54)
• Flying Strike (60)

 [e]
The Monk Spirit - Monk Active Skills (Archive) Monk Passive Skills (Archive) [e]

Primary attribute:
• Dexterity


Skill specialties:
• Spirit Generators
• Mantras

Primary
• Fists of Thunder (1)
• Deadly Reach (3)
• Crippling Wave (11)
• Way of the Hundred Fists (15)

Techniques
• Dashing Strike (9)
• Exploding Palm (13)
• Sweeping Wind (21)

Secondary
• Lashing Tail Kick (2)
• Tempest Rush (5)
• Wave of Light (12)


Focus
• Cyclone Strike (14)
• Seven-Sided Strike (17)
• Mystic Ally (22)

Defensive
• Blinding Flash (4)
• Breath of Heaven (8)
• Serenity (16)
• Inner Sanctuary (22)

Mantras
• Mantra of Evasion (19)
• Mantra of Retribution (21)
• Mantra of Healing (26)
• Mantra of Conviction (30)

Fleet Footed (10)
Resolve (10)
Exalted Soul (13)
Transcendence (16)
Chant of Resonance (20)
Seize the Initiative (20)
The Guardian's Path (24)

Sixth Sense (27)
Pacifism (30)
Beacon of Ytar (35)
Guiding Light (40)
One With Everything (45)
Combination Strike (50)
Near Death Experience (58)

(X) = the level at which the skill becomes unlocked.
Monk skill categories: Primary Secondary Defensive Techniques Focus Mantras

Fists of Thunder
• Thunderclap (6)
• Lightning Flash (14)
• Static Charge (30)
• Quickening (42)
• Bounding Light (52)

Deadly Reach
• Piercing Trident (9)
• Keen Eye (18)
• Scattered Blows (34)
• Strike from Beyond (47)
• Foresight (54)

Crippling Wave
• Mangle (17)
• Concussion (26)
• Rising Tide (36)
• Tsunami (51)
• Breaking Wave (57)

Way of the Hundred Fists
• Hands of Lightning (24)
• Blazing Fists (32)
• Fists of Fury (40)
• Spirited Salvo (48)
• Windforce Flurry (60)

 [e]

Lashing Tail Kick
• Vulture Claw Kick (7)
• Sweeping Armada (15)
• Spinning Flame Kick (28)
• Scorpion Sting (38)
• Hand of Ytar (52)

Tempest Rush
• Northern Breeze (11)
• Tailwind (20)
• Flurry (33)
• Slipstream (45)
• Bluster (56)

Wave of Light
• Wall of Light (18)
• Explosive Light (25)
• Empowered Wave (35)
• Blinding Light (49)
• Pillar of the Ancients (57)

 [e]

Blinding Flash
• Self Reflection (12)
• Blinded and Confused (19)
• Blinding Echo (28)
• Searing Light (41)
• Faith in the Light (55)

Breath of Heaven
• Circle of Scorn (14)
• Circle of Life (21)
• Blazing Wrath (32)
• Infused with Light (44)
• Penitent Flame (59)

Serenity
• Peaceful Repose (23)
• Reap What Is Sown (29)
• Tranquility (39)
• Ascension (47)
• Instant Karma (54)

Inner Sanctuary
• Safe Haven (26)
• Sanctified Ground (31)
• Consecration (37)
• Circle of Protection (43)
• Forbidden Palace (58)

 [e]

Dashing Strike
• Way of the Falling Star (15)
• Flying Side Kick (23)
• Quicksilver (32)
• Soaring Skull (39)
• Blinding Speed (49)

Exploding Palm
• The Flesh is Weak (18)
• Strong Spirit (25)
• Creeping Demise (36)
• Impending Doom (44)
• Essence Burn (51)

Sweeping Wind
• Master of Wind (27)
• Blade Storm (33)
• Fire Storm (38)
• Inner Storm (46)
• Cyclone (56)

 [e]

Cyclone Strike
• Eye of the Storm (21)
• Implosion (25)
• Sunburst (34)
• Wall of Wind (41)
• Soothing Breeze (55)

Seven-Sided Strike
• Sudden Assault (23)
• Several-Sided Strike (29)
• Pandemonium (37)
• Sustained Attack (43)
• Fulminating Onslaught (60)

Mystic Ally
• Water Ally (27)
• Fire Ally (31)
• Air Ally (39)
• Eternal Ally (46)
• Earth Ally (53)

 [e]

Mantra of Evasion
• Hard Target (24)
• Divine Protection (33)
• Wind through the Reeds (40)
• Perseverance (50)
• Backlash (58)

Mantra of Retribution
• Retaliation (28)
• Transgression (36)
• Indignation (41)
• Against All Odds (56)
• Collateral Damage (59)

Mantra of Healing
• Sustenance (31)
• Circular Breathing (38)
• Boon of Protection (42)
• Heavenly Body (48)
• Time of Need (53)

Mantra of Conviction
• Overawe (35)
• Intimidation (44)
• Dishearten (47)
• Reclamation (55)
• Submission (60)

 [e]
The Necromancer Intelligence - Necromancer Active Skills (Archive) Necromancer Passive Skills (Archive) [e]

Primary attribute:
• Intelligence


Skill specialties:
• Cursess
• Life Steal

Primary
• Bone Spikes (-)
• Siphon Blood (-)
• Grim Scythe (-)


Corpses
• Corpse Explosion (-)
• Corpse Lance (-)
• Devour (-)
• Revive (-)

Secondary
• Death Nova (-)
• Bone Spear (-)
• Skeleton Mage (-)


Blood and Bone
• Bone Armor (-)
• Bone Spirit (-)
• Blood Rush (-)
• Simulacrum (-)

Reanimation
• Land of the Dead (-)
• Command Skeletons (-)
• Command Golem (-)
• Army of the Dead (-)

Curses
• Decrepify (-)
• Frailty (-)
• Leech (-)

Fueled by Death (-)
Life from Death (-)
Stand Alone (-3)
Bone Prison (-)
Commander of thr Dead (-)
Swift Harvesting (-)
Aberrant Animator (-)
Eternal Torment (-)
Blood for Blood (-)

Blood is Power (-)
Draw Life (-)
Extended Servitude (-)
Final Service (-)
Grisly Tribute (-)
Overwhelming Essence (-)
Rathma's Shield (-)
Reaping (-)
Rigor Mortis (-)
Separation (-)

(X) = the level at which the skill becomes unlocked.
Necromancer skill categories: Primary Secondary Corpses Blood and Bone Reanimation Curses
Template:Skill navbox Necromancer primary
Template:Skill navbox Necromancer secondary
Template:Skill navbox Necromancer corpses
Template:Skill navbox Necromancer bloodandbone
Template:Skill navbox Necromancer reanimation
Template:Skill navbox Necromancer curses
The Witch Doctor Mana - Witch Doctor Active Skills (Archive) Witch Doctor Passive Skills (Archive) [e]

Primary attribute:
• Intelligence


Skill specialties:
• Pets
• Physical realm spells
• Spirit spells

Theorycrafting

• Skill Proc Rates

Primary
• Poison Dart (1)
• Corpse Spiders (3)
• Plague of Toads (11)
• Firebomb (21)

Terror
• Soul Harvest (9)
• Sacrifice (13)
• Mass Confusion (22)

Secondary
• Grasp of the Dead (2)
• Firebats (5)
• Haunt (12)
• Locust Swarm (21)

Decay
• Zombie Charger (14)
• Spirit Barrage (17)
• Acid Cloud (22)
• Wall of Zombies (28)

Defensive
• Summon Zombie Dogs (4)
• Horrify (8)
• Spirit Walk (16)
• Hex (22)

Voodoo
• Gargantuan (19)
• Big Bad Voodoo (25)
• Fetish Army (30)

Circle of Life (10)
Jungle Fortitude (10)
Spiritual Attunement (13)
Gruesome Feast (16)
Bad Medicine (20)
Blood Ritual (20)
Zombie Handler (24)
Pierce the Veil (27)

Fetish Sycophants (30)
Spirit Vessel (30)
Rush of Essence (36)
Vision Quest (40)
Fierce Loyalty (45)
Grave Injustice (50)
Tribal Rites (55)

(X) = the level at which the skill becomes unlocked.
Witch Doctor skill categories: Primary Secondary Defensive Terror Decay Voodoo

Poison Dart - Rune effects
• Splinters (6)
• Numbing Dart (13)
• Spined Dart (25)
• Flaming Dart (43)
• Snake to the Face (52)

Corpse Spiders
• Leaping Spiders (9)
• Spider Queen (18)
• Widowmakers (33)
• Medusa Spiders (45)
• Blazing Spiders (55)

Plague of Toads
• Explosive Toads (17)
• Toad of Hugeness (24)
• Rain of Toads (35)
• Addling Toads (51)
• Toad Affinity (54)

Firebomb
• Flash Fire (28)
• Roll the Bones (31)
• Fire Pit (38)
• Pyrogeist (47)
• Ghost Bomb (60)

 [e]

Grasp of the Dead
• Unbreakable Grasp (7)
• Groping Eels (15)
• Death Is Life (25)
• Desperate Grasp (28)
• Rain of Corpses (53)

Firebats
• Dire Bats (11)
• Vampire Bats (19)
• Plague Bats (29)
• Hungry Bats (45)
• Cloud of Bats (56)

Haunt
• Consuming Spirit (18)
• Resentful Spirit (23)
• Lingering Spirit (35)
• Grasping Spirit (48)
• Draining Spirit (57)

Locust Swarm
• Pestilence (27)
• Devouring Swarm (33)
• Cloud of Insects (37)
• Diseased Swarm (42)
• Searing Locusts (59)

 [e]

Summon Zombie Dogs
• Rabid Dogs (12)
• Final Gift (19)
• Life Link (28)
• Burning Dogs (40)
• Leeching Beasts (54)

Horrify
• Phobia (14)
• Stalker (21)
• Face of Death (34)
• Frightening Aspect (44)
• Ruthless Terror (56)

Spirit Walk
• Jaunt (23)
• Honored Guest (29)
• Umbral Shock (38)
• Severance (47)
• Healing Journey (53)

Hex
• Hedge Magic (26)
• Jinx (31)
• Angry Chicken (36)
• Painful Transformation (43)
• Unstable Form (58)

 [e]

Soul Harvest
• Swallow Your Soul (15)
• Siphon (21)
• Languish (32)
• Soul to Waste (39)
• Vengeful Spirit (49)

Sacrifice
• Black Blood (18)
• Next of Kin (24)
• Pride (36)
• For the Master (41)
• Provoke the Pack (51)

Mass Confusion
• Unstable Realm (26)
• Devolution (34)
• Mass Hysteria (43)
• Paranoia (46)
• Mass Hallucination (54)

 [e]

Zombie Charger
• Leperous Zombie (21)
• Undeath (27)
• Wave of Zombies (33)
• Explosive Beast (42)
• Zombie Bears (54)

Spirit Barrage
• The Spirit Is Willing (23)
• Well of Souls (32)
• Phantasm (37)
• Phlebotomize (44)
• Manitou (59)

Acid Cloud
• Acid Rain (26)
• Lob Blob Bomb (30)
• Slow Burn (39)
• Kiss of Death (46)
• Corpse Bomb (55)

Wall of Zombies
• Barricade (32)
• Unrelenting Grip (35)
• Creepers (41)
• Pile On (49)
• Dead Rush (60)

 [e]

Gargantuan
• Humongoid (22)
• Restless Giant (29)
• Wrathful Protector (39)
• Big Stinker (48)
• Bruiser (56)

Big Bad Voodoo
• Jungle Drums (31)
• Rain Dance (37)
• Slam Dance (44)
• Ghost Trance (50)
• Boogie Man (58)

Fetish Army
• Fetish Ambush (34)
• Devoted Following (40)
• Legion of Daggers (46)
• Tiki Torchers (52)
• Head Hunters (60)

 [e]
The Wizard Arcane Power - Wizard Active Skills (Archive) Wizard Passive Skills (Archive) [e]

Primary attribute:
• Intelligence


Skill specialties:
• Signature spells
• Armor spells

Primary
• Magic Missile (1)
• Shock Pulse (3)
• Spectral Blade (11)
• Electrocute (15)

Force
• Wave of Force (9)
• Energy Twister (13)
• Hydra (21)
• Meteor (25)
• Blizzard (27)

Secondary
• Ray of Frost (2)
• Arcane Orb (5)
• Arcane Torrent (12)
• Disintegrate (21)

Conjuration
• Ice Armor (14)
• Storm Armor (17)
• Magic Weapon (20)
• Familiar (22)
• Energy Armor (28)

Defensive
• Frost Nova (4)
• Diamond Skin (8)
• Slow Time (16)
• Teleport (22)

Mastery
• Explosive Blast (19)
• Mirror Image (25)
• Archon (30)

Blur (10)
Power Hungry (10)
Evocation (13)
Glass Cannon (16)
Prodigy (20)
Astral Presence (24)
Illusionist (27)
Cold Blooded (30)

Conflagration (34)
Paralysis (37)
Galvanizing Ward (40)
Temporal Flux (45)
Critical Mass (50)
Arcane Dynamo (55)
Unstable Anomaly (60)

(X) = the level at which the skill becomes unlocked.
Wizard skill categories: Primary Secondary Defensive Force Conjuration Mastery

Magic Missile
• Charged Blast (6)
• Split (13)
• Penetrating Blast (31)
• Attunement (42)
• Seeker (52)

Shock Pulse
• Explosive Bolts (9)
• Fire Bolts (18)
• Piercing Orb (33)
• Lightning Affinity (47)
• Living Lightning (54)

Spectral Blade
• Deep Cuts (19)
• Impactful Blades (24)
• Siphoning Blade (35)
• Healing Blades (51)
• Thrown Blade (57)

Electrocute
• Chain Lightning (22)
• Forked Lightning (29)
• Lightning Blast (36)
• Surge of Power (44)
• Arc Lightning (59)

 [e]

Ray of Frost
• Numb (7)
• Snow Blast (15)
• Cold Blood (28)
• Sleet Storm (38)
• Black Ice (53)

Arcane Orb
• Obliteration (11)
• Arcane Orbit (20)
• Arcane Nova (32)
• Tap the Source (45)
• Celestial Orb (55)

Arcane Torrent
• Disruption (18)
• Death Blossom (25)
• Arcane Mines (34)
• Power Stone (49)
• Cascade (57)

Disintegrate
• Convergence (26)
• Chaos Nexus (30)
• Volatility (39)
• Entropy (48)
• Intensify (59)

 [e]

Frost Nova
• Shatter (12)
• Cold Snap (18)
• Frozen Mist (28)
• Deep Freeze (41)
• Bone Chill (51)

Diamond Skin
• Crystal Shell (14)
• Prism (20)
• Mirror Skin (32)
• Enduring Skin (44)
• Diamond Shards (56)

Slow Time
• Miasma (23)
• Time Warp (29)
• Time Shell (39)
• Perpetuity (47)
• Stretch Time (53)

Teleport
• Safe Passage (26)
• Wormhole (31)
• Reversal (37)
• Fracture (43)
• Calamity (59)

 [e]

Wave of Force
• Impactful Wave (15)
• Force Affinity (22)
• Forceful Wave (32)
• Teleporting Wave (39)
• Exploding Wave (49)

Energy Twister
• Mistral Breeze (19)
• Gale Force (24)
• Raging Storm (36)
• Wicked Wind (41)
• Storm Chaser (52)

Hydra
• Arcane Hydra (26)
• Lightning Hydra (33)
• Venom Hydra (38)
• Frost Hydra (46)
• Mammoth Hydra (56)

Meteor
• Molten Impact (29)
• Star Pact (34)
• Meteor Shower (43)
• Comet (48)
• Liquefy (58)

Blizzard
• Grasping Chill (35)
• Frozen Solid (42)
• Snowbound (47)
• Stark Winter (54)
• Unrelenting Storm (60)

 [e]

Ice Armor
• Chilling Aura (21)
• Crystallize (31)
• Jagged Ice (42)
• Ice Reflect (49)
• Frozen Storm (53)

Storm Armor
• Reactive Armor (23)
• Power of the Storm (33)
• Thunder Storm (37)
• Scramble (43)
• Shocking Aspect (58)

Magic Weapon
• Electrify (27)
• Force Weapon (35)
• Conduit (38)
• Venom (46)
• Blood Magic (55)

Familiar
• Sparkflint (30)
• Vigoron (40)
• Ancient Guardian (44)
• Arcanot (50)
• Cannoneer (57)

Energy Armor
• Absorption (32)
• Pinpoint Barrier (41)
• Energy Tap (48)
• Force Armor (54)
• Prismatic Armor (60)

 [e]

Explosive Blast
• Unleashed (24)
• Time Bomb (29)
• Short Fuse (39)
• Obliterate (50)
• Chain Reaction (56)

Mirror Image
• Simulacrum (31)
• Duplicates (37)
• Mocking Demise (45)
• Extension of Will (51)
• Mirror Mimics (58)

Archon
• Arcane Destruction (36)
• Teleport (40)
• Pure Power (46)
• Slow Time (52)
• Improved Archon (60)

 [e]
Followers Kormac the Templar Lyndon the Scoundrel Eirena the Enchantress [e]

• Followers FAQ
• Hirelings
• The Caravan
• Diablo III NPCs

Level 5:
• Heal
• Intervene

Level 10:
• Intimidate
• Loyalty

Level 15:
• Charge
• Onslaught

Level 20:
• Guardian
• Inspire

Level 5:
• Crippling Shot
• Poison Bolts

Level 10:
• Dirty Fighting
• Vanish

Level 15:
• Multishot
• Powered Shot

Level 20:
• Anatomy
• Hysteria

Level 15:
• Charm
• Forceful Push

Level 20:
• Powered Armor
• Missile Ward

Level 25:
• Disorient
• Erosion

Level 30:
• Focused Mind
• Mass Control

Diablo III Other Classes Diablo II Classes Diablo I Classes [e]

Archetypes:
• Caster
• Melee
• Ranged

Archetype sub-types:
• DPS
• Healer
• Summon/Spawn
• Tank
• Utility

Other classes:
• Archivist (April Fool's)
    • Book Vision
    • Lorenado
    • Quest Bolt
    • Shush
• Dervish (rejected)

Diablo II:
• Amazon
• Barbarian
• Necromancer
• Paladin
• Sorceress

Expansion:
• Assassin
• Druid

Diablo I:
• Rogue
• Sorcerer
• Warrior

Hellfire:
• Barbarian
• Bard
• Monk

Fan-made Classes Fan-made Skills [e]

• Alchemist
• Arcane Warrior
• Artisan
• Aurian Mage
• Bard
• Channeller
• Dragon Warrior

• Flagellant
• Giant (U)
• Hollow Man
• Nomad
• Onaga Manji
• Phase Knight

• Ranger
• Slayer (U)
• Techpriest (U)
• Telepath
• Untainted (U)
• Zealot

Dragon Warrior Skills
• Bow and Throwing Skill Tree
• Dragon Disciplines Skill Tree
• Martial Arts Skill Tree

Untainted Skills
• Divine Skill Tree

Aurian Mage Skill
• Holy Power Skill Tree
• Shadow Spells Skill Tree
• Nature Forces Skill Tree

(U) = Unfinished

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