Scoundrel Follower Skills and Gearing Guide (Updated for Patch 2.7.2 and Season 25)

As discussed in the general follower guide, the Scoundrel is a damage buffing powerhouse and a prime choice for your Follower during solo Greater Rift progression attempts. The Scoundrel is especially potent if you can lure enemies into his AoE damage buff, and characters with strong enemy manipulation skills will benefit the most from him. He's also a great choice for dual wielding characters due to their naturally higher Crit Damage stat, as he complements them with a Crit Chance buff.

The recommended abilities for the Scoundrel are:

• Level 5: It is important to note that hard crowd control from skills is something your build might want to avoid — either because it prefers to control the fights itself and CC might hamper that, or simply from speed farming considerations. In such a case, do NOT select a first skill, as there is no way to unlearn it and you will have to re-level a new character simply to get a "fresh" Scoundrel to accompany you. Otherwise, we recommend Powered Shot — a hard crowd control ability that can save your life and offer you a moment of respite every 8 seconds, topped off with a Dexterity-scaling duration.
• Level 10: Anatomy — a passive buff to Critical Hit Chance that scales with Dexterity on your follower equipment.
• Level 15: Piercing Shot — a boilerplate 10% damage buff against enemies affected by this skill; once again, its piercing properties lend themselves well to character builds that displace enemies into clumps.
• Level 20: Night's Veil — the highlight of the Scoundrel abilities, this circular AoE effect covers a decent 20 yard area and guarantees critical hits against enemies caught inside. Needless to say, this is a massive damage boon whose duration scales with Dexterity, and is the prime reason to take the Scoundrel.

The following setup reflects the best-in-slot item choices and gear rolls for a Scoundrel taken to Greater Rifts with the intent of pushing leaderboard. Note that you can either focus on Crowd Control with the inclusion of Blind Faith, Cord of the Sherma and Cluckeye in the setup, or do a straightforward "buffing" Scoundrel with Leoric's Crown, String of Ears, and a generic bow or crossbow. Tal Rasha's Relentless Pursuit is included due to its innate Increased Attack Speed roll, but is not a necessary part of the setup.

To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.