Scoundrel Follower Guide

[Vlad 411]

This thread is for comments about our Scoundrel Follower guide.

[Guest Jeff]

Can someone help me understand what’s the point of a “buffing scoundrel” with string of ears, skeleton’s key, and Leoric’s Crown socketed with ruby(bonus XP)? If using skeleton’s key(Your follower cannot die) why would you need String of Ears which “reduces damage from melee attacks by %”, and Leoric’s Crown socketed with a ruby. Neither are (Emanates). Is the Leoric’s Crown with socketed ruby for leveling only?

[Deadset 108]

The bonus experience from Leoric's Crown affects Paragon levels as well. The String of Ears is not necessary in a Skeleton Key setup, but is a nice thing to have in the slot if you ever decide to transition your Scoundrel to a speed farming setup (although the Enchantress is mostly recommended for the purpose) with Ribald Etchings equipped instead. With an "all skills" follower item, the Scoundrel will need all the mitigation he can get!

[Guest Connie]

Scoundrel Dex capped at 25K.

But can toughness be augmented with Vitality on Ancients?

My understanding is Scoundrel is like a extra hand, mostly support, on Solo GRs? 

And you share somewhat. Is this right.

[Deadset 108]

The skill scaling benefits from Dexterity cap out at 25k, yes. And yes, augmentations will affect your follower accordingly, including toughness ones! 🙂 

Followers are 99.9% there for utility and crowd control when you solo farm rifts and push GRs. Do not try to push them into damage, it will be a futile effort!

[Guest Xerxes]

What is the best gem for the helm or does an emerald just give Dez?

[IveGottenSoLucky 1]

2 hours ago, Guest Xerxes said:

What is the best gem for the helm or does an emerald just give Dez?

Flawless Royal Emerald for +8.2% Gold Find while you farming Nephalem Rifts and Bounties, of course if you need gold or Ruby for +0.82% experience from monsters for everything, that is speed farming and solo pushing.

[Guest Name]

Can someone tell me if there is another option to the unity ring on the scoundrel for pushing?

My build doesn't use unity (GoD Hungering Arrow Demon Hunter)

[IveGottenSoLucky 1]

13 hours ago, Guest Name said:

Can someone tell me if there is another option to the unity ring on the scoundrel for pushing?

My build doesn't use unity (GoD Hungering Arrow Demon Hunter)

You can use Wyrdward instead of Unity. This ring has a up to 35% chance to Stun an enemy for 1.5 seconds and works great during Rift Guardian fight. Make sure you have Lightning Damage on follower's weapon, so he can actually proc it. Stat priority for ring: high affix roll, Attack Speed Increase.

[Guest AlbBalk]

Ruby in the cluckeye?

[Guest scramasax]

The scoundrel guide should include a second ring for the build that do not use unity. 

Wyrdward require ligthning damage which the build does not provide so it require a weapon that deal lightning

[Deadset 108]

On 6/3/2021 at 9:20 PM, Guest AlbBalk said:

Ruby in the cluckeye?

Critical Hit Damage is capped on followers and can be easily maxed out via the follower token item. That being said, increasing damage dealt by followers is not at all a priority over increasing their utility capabilities.

Wyrdward is a viable alteration since it can be procced via the weapon damage type (the text written down next to the numbers for the damage range of a weapon - i.e. physical, fire, lightning...), not just a lightning skill. Either a lucky initial roll on the weapon, or a simple reroll at the Mystic can take care of that. I will include this item recommendation in the next iteration of the guide.

[Guest AlbBalk]

On 6/18/2021 at 7:48 AM, Deadset said:

Critical Hit Damage is capped on followers and can be easily maxed out via the follower token item. That being said, increasing damage dealt by followers is not at all a priority over increasing their utility capabilities.

Wyrdward is a viable alteration since it can be procced via the weapon damage type (the text written down next to the numbers for the damage range of a weapon - i.e. physical, fire, lightning...), not just a lightning skill. Either a lucky initial roll on the weapon, or a simple reroll at the Mystic can take care of that. I will include this item recommendation in the next iteration of the guide.

Keeping in mind that all weapons get a free socket via ramaladni's gift, what should fill that socket on a follower?

 

[Deadset 108]

I would use a Life per Hit (Amethyst) gem for convenience when I alter to a non-immortality follower token (i.e., the one that grants all abilities) during speed farming. If you usually stick to an immortality token however, the socket is not a priority over utility stats like Increased Attack Speed or Cooldown Reduction; you can consider a Ruby to optimize the follower's  damage with a flat increase.

[Guest JonSnoWight]

Why the Cluckeye? What am I missing? Why do I want my Scoundrel to "cluck?" Wouldn't Windforce be better to proc Bane of Trapped or Strongarm Bracers or to simply keep enemies away from you (assuming you don't need to be close to them)?

[Bubble181 14]

22 hours ago, Guest JonSnoWight said:

Why the Cluckeye? What am I missing? Why do I want my Scoundrel to "cluck?" Wouldn't Windforce be better to proc Bane of Trapped or Strongarm Bracers or to simply keep enemies away from you (assuming you don't need to be close to them)?

The cluck gives 100% weapon damage (probably negligible) and knockback to the enemy hit. I assume the main benefit is the knockback 😉

[Guest AlbBalk]

The special effect causes a chicken to occasionally spawn(up to 50% chance) along with fired arrows and fly in tandem with them, dealing 500% weapon damage to the one target it hits, and confuses the victim for 2 seconds. This will proc bane of the trapped

[Guest Jinpo]

Thank you for everything. You guys do a lot of hard work keeping the site updated over the years, and we all appreciate it.

Now something I don't get: 

Oculus Ring: Creates a ring of power, but you gotta *stand still* in it...which something as a tempt rush monk, I cannot do. 

What do you recommend other than that?

If you're basically gearing him out in almost all ancients, wouldn't the old Litany of the Undaunted/Wailing Host ring set be better? 

Like 750% x 10 items = 75,000%

Or am I missing something in the fine print? 

Thanks again!
 

[Bubble181 14]

As far as I know, sets don't work on followers' skills/attacks - only Emanating bonuses apply to your character.  Though, hey, feel free to try it out 🙂

Depending on your skills (I'm not at home with monks), the Avarice band may be useful (for WD, for example, quite a few other skills also use the gold pickup radius), though in GRs it obviously doesn't do anything.

Leoric's Signet ring can be used for its XP bonus, though it's very limited (1/10th of the bonus is shared if your follower equips it, I believe?)

Depending on his damage type, Wyrdward can be useful (reroll his weapon to Lightning if necessary)

And, again depending on how you kit him out otherwise, a RORG can make sense so you can use Cain's set and the Sage's set together if you're farming DBs and GR keys.

[Deadset 108]

What Bubble said above is correct, sadly the Litany/Wailing Host combo will not work; only Cain and Sage are the only sets allowed on followers so far. Wyrdward can provide limited usefulness if you’re looking for extra CC, while Leoric’s or Hellfire Ring can be used for extra XP during Paragon farming. I’d still bet on Oculus to be honest, as a lucky proc can be clutch in dealing an (even bigger) chunk of damage in certain fights, though I certainly understand your frustration with that recommendation for your chosen build.

[Guest Hardcore build.]

Goodday,

Im playing GoD Hungering Demon Hunter with the Scoundrel on Hardcore only. Now I'm wondering if I should switch gear around when pushing GR. Going for the Skeleton Key I need Vanish instead of the cloud skill wise.

Do Leg. Gems work in Scoundrel gear. And what gems do you suggest there.

I'd love to see your expertise on Hardcore followers,

Thank you.

Witherhorn

[Deadset 108]

Hey there! The only Legendary Gems that work on follower gear are Esoteric Alteration and Mutilation Guard, but for Greater Rift pushing you're basically guaranteed to need the immortality legendary Skeleton Key so survivability legendary gems become unnecessary. For GR pushing, basically turn your Scoundrel into a buffing / CC machine as per the gear recommendations in the guide, you will not be able to squeeze out any meaningful damage out of him.

[Witherhorn 0]

On 10/8/2021 at 10:55 AM, Deadset said:

Hey there! The only Legendary Gems that work on follower gear are Esoteric Alteration and Mutilation Guard, but for Greater Rift pushing you're basically guaranteed to need the immortality legendary Skeleton Key so survivability legendary gems become unnecessary. For GR pushing, basically turn your Scoundrel into a buffing / CC machine as per the gear recommendations in the guide, you will not be able to squeeze out any meaningful damage out of him.

Thank you very much for your reply.

[Guest Sc. page not loading]

Hi, for me the https://www.icy-veins.com/d3/scoundrel-follower-skills-and-gearing-guide does not load. 

[Natalia 18]

23 hours ago, Guest Sc. page not loading said:

Hi, for me the https://www.icy-veins.com/d3/scoundrel-follower-skills-and-gearing-guide does not load. 

Thanks for flagging this. It should be fixed now.