Follower

A Follower is Diablo III's answer to Mercenaries. Followers can be equipped with a small amount of gear, and spells and skills can be chosen for the follower by the player. There are three basic classes: the Enchantress, a ranged magic caster, the Templar, a melee tank similar to the Paladin, and the Scoundrel, who is a ranged crossbow user.

Followers in Diablo III

As the Follower system has yet to be revealed by Blizzard in any official capacity[1], there are many unknown details. For example, the recruitment method of the followers is largely unknown. As they are no longer called "mercenaries", it may not be good speculation to assume that they are hired. In addition, there would be little dignity or honor in hiring a Templar, and the logic of such is rather off. However, much can be gained by viewing the tidbits that have been revealed.

To see more about the individual followers, visit:

• The Enchantress entry.

• The Scoundrel entry.

• The Templar entry.

The Follower Interface

The interface is separated into three basic sections: Gear, Skills, and stats. The gear portion of the pane lets players equip their followers with items. 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.

Skill System

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-five, 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.

The interface for the Templar's skill selection can be seen below.

Follower Inventory

The player is able to equip the follower with two rings, an amulet, a main-hand weapon, and an off-hand item when applicable, which includes shields and possibly orbs.

An unknown area of interest lies directly to the left of the follower inventory, a small icon which denotes something which is unlocked at level 25. It is currently unknown as to whether this is another slot for an item, a small talisman, or something else entirely.

Follower Statistics

The attribute section of the interface for mercenaries is gone with the introduction of followers. Instead, the relevant statistics displayed are the health of the follower (current health and maximum health), the range of damage they will inflict with a standard attack, and also resistances. It is currently unknown what effect, if any, equipping a follower with an amulet containing player attributes will have, or if there are restrictions on gear or modifiers that the followers will be able to equip.

Development

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[2] and accepted it as real due to the superb quality of the presentation of the video. Previous comments by the development team follow:

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. [3]

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.

Leonard Boyarsky spoke in more detail about their plans for Mercs at Blizzcon 2008.

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.

No more updated info has since been released, though in April 2011 Bashiok hinted[4] that an announcement was imminent.

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.

Christian Lichtner's Templar?

Concept art for the Templar follower.

There is one point of curiousity surrounding the followers, however. Christian Lichtner took over as art director for Diablo III at some point in 2009. A post on diablo.incgamers.com revealed a piece of fan art that Mr. Lichtner drew before he was hired at Blizzard[5]. The piece is not only strongly reminiscent of the Templar, but the templar concept art also appears to have been done in the same art style, indicating that Mr. Lichtner was the artist responsible for the look of the follower. So it may be speculated that Blizzard has been working on the followers since then, yet felt they weren't ready to reveal them to the fans and press.