Diablo 4 has introduced pets into the game with a spontaneous yet quite large patch. These animal companions are a feature that fans have been wishing for since release. However, players have discovered that pets break some builds – while making others much stronger.
What kind of pets are they?
- Since June 9, there are pets in Diablo 4. They are actually cosmetic companions that run around for you and collect gold, materials, and more.
- You can get pets either through a new quest in Kyovashad or by purchasing the Deluxe Edition of Vessel of Hatred. However, the feature itself is free.
- The problem with the furry companions is that they count as servants, or “minions,” in the game. Some builds are significantly weaker when they have pets.
That’s why pets are a problem: Diablo expert MacroBioBoi explains in a video on YouTube exactly which skills interact with the new pets. Basically, they have an influence on everything that has to do with servants.
This especially affects necromancers, whose pet builds have become really strong in Season 4. However, there are builds for the necromancer that want to deliberately do without servants, for example by:
- sacrificing certain servants to strengthen others
- fighting entirely without minions so that the hero becomes stronger
Particularly prominent are the Paragon Glyph Sacrifice and the passive skill Stand Alone. Sacrifice significantly increases your damage when you have no servants, while Stand Alone decreases the damage taken more strongly the fewer servants you have active.
Some of the best builds for the necromancer use this glyph or skill, such as Bone Spirit and Plague. You can find the best builds in Diablo 4 Season 4 in the Tier List.
The influence of pets on the builds is not necessarily large, but especially at higher levels of the pit, even small percentages can make a difference.
“Remember to pet them for their good work!”
MacroBioBoi tests the influence of the apparent bug on other content in the game. While certain builds are weakened when you have a pet, others become significantly stronger, such as:
- all necromancer builds that rely on having many minions
- builds that use “Kalans Edict,” even if they actually have no minions
- builds that rely on Blood Wave and want to use the reaper’s follower, which is only really usable due to this new “mechanic”
Some users, for example on YouTube, comment that other druids are also affected by the pets, but in a positive way. Druids, for instance, gain significantly more damage per active companion with the aspect of the shepherd. It’s worth taking a cat or dog along.
Pets are not just minions; they are also immortal and essentially untouchable. This means: You cannot actively sacrifice them, but they also cannot die – and cannot attack on their own. You can pet them with a hello emote. The barbarian expert Rob sees the new interactions as a great win (via X.com).
The community chief Adam Fletcher has already responded that this new feature is indeed a bug. The change just didn’t make it into the current update 1.4.2 but will come with the next patch. When exactly that will be, we don’t know yet. However, we do know that the new class will be shown on July 18: Blizzard finally talks about the new class in Diablo 4 and it sounds great: ‘Will be an ultimate predator’
