how to equip pet diablo 4

Mastering the art of equipping your companions in Diablo IV is a crucial, yet often understated, aspect of gameplay. While the term "pet" broadly encompasses Necromancer's permanent minions, Druid's temporary summons, and even certain endgame companions like the Seneschal from the Season of the Construct, the core principle remains: enhancing these allies significantly amplifies your effectiveness. This guide will delve into the multifaceted systems that empower your forces, transforming them from mere distractions into formidable pillars of your build's power.

Table of Contents

Understanding Your Companion Type
The Necromancer's Legion: Gear and Paragon
The Druid's Call of the Wild: Aspects and Skills
The Seneschal: A Case Study in Customization
Universal Support: Stats and Mechanics
Strategic Synergy: Building Around Your Allies

Understanding Your Companion Type

The first step in effective pet equipment is precise identification. Diablo IV features distinct companion archetypes, each with its own rules. The Necromancer's Skeletal Warriors, Mages, and Golem are persistent entities, directly scaled by the player's stats and specialized modifiers. The Druid's wolves, ravens, and creeper are primarily skill-based, with durations and cooldowns, their power heavily derived from skill ranks and synergistic aspects. Temporary summons from items or skills follow their own unique scaling logic. Recognizing whether your companion is a permanent minion, a temporary summon, or a special entity like the Seneschal dictates which avenues of empowerment are available and potent.

The Necromancer's Legion: Gear and Paragon

For the Necromancer, equipping minions is less about direct gear and more about stacking the correct affixes and legendary powers. Key weapon and armor affixes include "Increased Minion Attack Speed," "Increased Minion Health," and flat bonuses to "Summoning Skill Damage." The intelligence stat also provides a universal damage bonus that benefits minions. Legendary Aspects form the cornerstone of a minion build. Powers like "Aspect of Reanimation" (increased damage from minions born from corpses) or "Aspect of the Damned" (bonus shadow damage for you and your minions) are transformative. The Paragon Board offers dedicated minion nodes and glyphs, such as the "Cult Leader" board and the "Deadraiser" glyph, which provide massive multiplicative damage and survivability boosts specifically for your undead army. Selecting the correct Golem type and investing in its skill tree further tailors your frontline.

The Druid's Call of the Wild: Aspects and Skills

Druid companions gain strength through a different paradigm. While affixes like "Companion Skill Damage" exist, the primary amplification comes from legendary aspects that redefine how these creatures function. The "Aspect of the Alpha" transforms wolf companions into werewolves dealing massive poison damage. "Shepherd's Aspect" grants core skill damage per active companion, creating a powerful feedback loop. "Aspect of the Stampede" adds an additional companion, directly increasing your pack's size and cumulative damage. Skill point investment is equally critical; each point in "Wolves," "Poison Creeper," or "Raven" not only increases their damage but often enhances their secondary effects, like the creeper's immobilize duration. This system encourages a deep synergy where the Druid's own skills and the companions' abilities are interwoven.

The Seneschal: A Case Study in Customization

The Seneschal companion from Season of the Construct provided the most direct "equipping" experience Diablo IV has seen. This mechanical ally utilized two core systems: Governing Stones and Tuning Stones. Governing Stones determined the Seneschal's active skill, such as a projectile attack, a protective barrier, or a buff. Tuning Stones were socketed into these skills to modify them, adding effects like multi-hit, slow, vulnerability application, or healing. By collecting and upgrading these stones, players could meticulously craft a Seneschal that perfectly complemented their playstyle—whether as a dedicated healer, a crowd-control specialist, or a significant source of vulnerable application. This model serves as a blueprint for how future companion systems might offer even more granular equipment-like customization.

Universal Support: Stats and Mechanics

Beyond class-specific tools, universal game mechanics provide substantial support to all companion types. The "Vulnerable" status effect is paramount; ensuring your build or your pet's attacks can consistently apply vulnerability results in a massive 20% multiplicative damage increase. Crowd control effects like stun, freeze, or slow, often applied by companions, synergize with damage-to-CC'd-enemies affixes on your character. Stats such as Cooldown Reduction allow for more frequent summoning of temporary companions, while Attack Speed can benefit certain minion types. Understanding these underlying mechanics allows you to build a character whose power suite actively elevates their allies, making your gear choices work double duty.

Strategic Synergy: Building Around Your Allies

The ultimate goal of equipping your pet is strategic synergy. A successful build does not treat companions as an afterthought but integrates them into its core engine. For a Necromancer, this might mean using the "Ring of Mendeln" unique, which causes minions to occasionally explode for damage based on your own stats, thereby tying minion effectiveness directly to your character's offensive power. A Druid might center their entire playstyle on the "Shepherd's Aspect," using basic skills to maintain a large pack of companions that, in turn, empower their core skill nukes. This philosophy extends to defense; minions drawing aggro allows for more glass-cannon player builds, while aspects that grant damage reduction per active companion turn your summons into a defensive layer. True mastery is achieved when the line between the player character and their equipped allies blurs, creating a unified, devastating force on the battlefield of Sanctuary.

In conclusion, equipping pets in Diablo IV is a deep and rewarding meta-game. It requires a keen understanding of scaling mechanics, a strategic eye for legendary aspects and affixes, and a commitment to building a synergistic whole. Whether commanding an undead legion, a primal pack, or a custom-built automaton, the power you invest in your companions is returned tenfold, proving that in the fight against the forces of Hell, you are never truly alone.

India's National Investigation Agency to probe Delhi car blast
U.S. California governor to release new ad against Trump's tariffs
Air India flight makes emergency landing in Thailand's Phuket after bomb threat: airport
Trump says U.S. completes trade deal with Japan
1 killed, 11 injured in new Russian raids on Ukraine