Diablo 3: Ideas For Improving Follower Emanate Pool

A friend and I discussed the idea of useless or under utilized but cool legendary item effects. With the addition of Emanate to items, Followers gained a large buff to mostly utilitarian effects. There were a few that could be argued had major influence in the ability for one to push higher Greater Rifts but for the most part, the items in the Emanate pool have been mostly relegated to non-Greater Rift situations. While this has improved the overall stature of certain legendaries, there still are others which will continually be shoved into the “salvage” category. Thus, I decided to examine as many legendary items as possible and list what I think can be added into the Emanate pool that should make legendaries more meaningful and potentially fun in Greater Rifts and normal situations alike.

Bracers

• Warzechian Armguards – Every time you destroy a wreckable object, you gain a short burst of speed. Not a game breaker item; really can help in situations where a rift is dry and a character does not have fast movement
• Promise of Glory – 5% chance to spawn a Nephalem Glory globe when you Blind an enemy. Blind is only applied in a few abilities like monk or crusader. I think a few other items have blind that might synergize here. And since Blind tends to be a cooldown ability, I don’t see this as being a game breaker.

Belts

• Vigilante Belt – Reduces cooldown of all skills by [5.0 – 8.0]%. I like the idea of a follower having this belt with Emanate enabled because the cooldown is not huge but would allow a poorly rolled item the chance to substitute a different stat for rerolling.
• Goldwrap – On gold pickup: Gain armor for 5 seconds equal to the amount picked up. This along with Boon of the Hoarder are my top candidates that should belong in the Emanate pool. Preventing a build switch is just a quality of life feature here.
• Sebor’s Nightmare – Haunt is cast on all nearby enemies when you open a chest. Very niche item. Maybe good for something like a Necromancer or Witch Doctor. There aren’t any chests in Greater Rifts so again, an item like this does not seem super harmful.
• Sash of Knives – With every attack, you throw a dagger at a nearby enemy for 622% weapon damage as Physical. [500 – 650]%. This would be a really cool item for a Demon Hunter that uses Fan of Knives and perhaps this could use the ability on the bar to be like an auto cast ability. I don’t see it doing a huge amount of damage but more of an interesting effect that does not get used frequently.
• Razor Strop – Picking up a Health Globe releases an explosion that deals 342% weapon damage as Fire to enemies within 20 yards. [300 – 400]%. Sadly, this belt has potential really doesn’t fit anywhere outside of leveling. Nonetheless, this might be a neat addition for builds that generate a large amount of health globes and can augment their dependence on them with a small boom.

Boots

• Fire Walkers – Burn the ground you walk on, dealing 342% weapon damage each second. [300 – 400]%. Not a lot of interesting nor good boots. I think these might be neat just for the visual. If Krede’s Flame had some sort of interaction with flame effects you generate, then it would be a better ring and Fire Walkers would be a pretty neat item to use.

Amulets

• Overwhelming Desire – Chance on hit to charm the enemy. While charmed, the enemy takes 35% increased damage. I’m going to assume most people will continue to use a Flavor of Time but the idea of a charming amulet allowing one to do increased damage would make this an interesting choice.
• Kymbo’s Gold – Picking up gold heals you for an amount equal to the gold that was picked up. Really belongs in Emanate. Could be a substitute for Goldwrap.

Rings

• Rechel’s Ring of Larceny – Gain 57% increased movement speed for 4 seconds after Fearing an enemy. [45 – 60]%. There’s a few cases where Fear is used or is an ability. Not a massive game changer but you’ll either need a Fear skill or have an item that fears to make this work.
• Band of Hollow Whispers – This ring occasionally haunts nearby enemies. Feels like a real niche item. But it might be interesting as a special effect. Not sure if this would synergize with a Witch Doctor’s Haunt ability nor the rune.

Helmets

• Deathseer’s Cowl – 19% chance on being hit by an Undead enemy to charm it for 2 seconds. [15 – 20]%. This goes back to having just another item that synergizes with other pieces of equipment. Like using this with an Overwhelming Desire would make it a very cool combo.
• Andariel’s Visage – Attacks release a Poison Nova that deals 380% weapon damage as Poison to enemies within 10 yards. [350 – 450]%. Not a crazy great item these days. I see this used by some LoD builds but it’s more supplemental damage. And that’s how I see it being used here.

Shoulders

• Pauldrons of the Skeleton King – When receiving fatal damage, there is a chance that you are instead restored to 25% of maximum Life and cause nearby enemies to flee in fear. Would be really great for Greater Rifts. Then you won’t have to use the Follower cheat death ability and have a little more flexibility on that skill (such as using a Templar’s resource regeneration instead).
• Death Watch Mantle – 30% chance to explode in a fan of knives for 750-950% weapon damage when hit. [25 – 35]% Like the Sash of Knives, this might be cool for Demon Hunter followers to do a little extra damage with their own Fan of Knives ability. Since this isn’t exactly Demon Hunter specific though, I’ve included it here just like Sash of Knives.

Chest Armor

• Chaingmail – After earning a survival bonus, quickly heal to full Life. So the idea of a survival bonus is leaving combat after nearing fatal damage. I can see something like this being used in Hardcore for really sketchy conditions.
• Tyrael’s Might – +[10 – 20]% Damage to Demons. A very cool looking chest piece that quickly became under utilized. The bonus demon damage would be nice.

Weapons

• The Butcher’s Sickle – 22% chance to drag enemies to you when attacking. [20 – 25]%. I can see a melee character like a Barbarian or Crusader using this.
• Mad Monarch’s Scepter – After killing 10 enemies, you release a Poison Nova that deals 1265% weapon damage as Poison to enemies within 30 yards. [1050 – 1400]%. Actually, a decent leveling weapon. Seems like that has a similar ability to Andariel’s Visage. I can see these two with Gem of Efficacious Toxin being used to help augment builds with terrible AoE.
• Solanium – Critical Hits have a 3% chance to spawn a health globe. [3 – 4]%. Imagine an item like this with Razor Strop. Could be cool.
• Sever – Slain enemies rest in pieces. This was used against enemies that could re-summon/raise enemies. Niche item that might be interesting just as effect.
• Skycutter – Chance to summon angelic assistance when attacking. Cool effect idea. Would be great with a Crusader for visuals.
• Butcher’s Carver – The Butcher still inhabits his carver. Bizarre item that sounds like a novelty. Would be kinda cool in boss fights (Butcher vs  Butcher?)
• Ahavarion, Spear of Lycander – Chance on killing a demon to gain a random Shrine effect. Might sound overpowered but I like the idea of random Shrine effects especially speed ups.
• Maloth’s Focus – Enemies occasionally flee at the sight of this staff. A fear type of item that can compliment other items that require a fear spell where a class does not have the ability.
• The Tormentor – Chance to charm enemies when you hit them. Similar to above except with regards to Charm.
• Scourge – 40% chance when attacking to explode with demonic fury for 1800-2000% weapon damage as Fire. [20 – 45]%. Another interesting visual type of effect. Good for leveling usually but never used except out of sheer desperation in the end game. Wish it could synergize somehow with Krede’s Flame to make the ring useful.
• Stalgard’s Decimator – Your melee attacks throw a piercing axe at a nearby enemy, dealing 646% weapon damage as Physical. [550 – 700]%. No idea where to use this weapon but something like a Barbarian doing Spear Throw might use this type of item on a follower.
• Corrupted Ashbringer – Chance on kill to raise a skeleton to fight for you. Upon accumulating 5 skeletons, they each explode for 1000% weapon damage and the sword transforms into Ashbringer for a short time. Attacking with Ashbringer burns your enemy for 5462% weapon damage as Holy. [5000 – 6000]%. Very cool idea pre-Seasons and set item paradigm shift. Might be cool for a Crusader or Necromancer. There are other items that summon skeletons so I wouldn’t mind a mini Follower type of build that does that.
• The Raven’s Wing – A raven flies to your side. I read that it just picks up gold so I assume double gold pick up with a pet enabled.
• Windforce – [30.0 – 50.0]% Chance to Knockback on Hit. Would be good as a way to enable Strongarm Bracers or Bane of the Trapped for ranged characters that decide to use Strongarm Bracers.
• Pus Spitter – 45% chance to lob an acid blob when attacking. [25 – 50]%. Not a great weapon by any means but might be visually fun for laughs.
• Hellrack – Chance to root enemies to the ground when you hit them. Just another CC weapon.
• Demon Machine – 58% chance to shoot explosive bolts when attacking. [35 – 65]%. More for effect. Imagine a GoD build with this thing.
• Wall of Bone – [20 – 30]% chance to be protected by a shield of bones when you are hit. Just a way to compensate for builds that lack high defense or are vulnerable during periods of downtime.
• Defender of Westmarch – Blocks have a chance of summoning a charging wolf that deals 927% weapon damage to all enemies it passes through. [800 – 1000]%. Would make using a Templar on a Crusader somewhat novel in having an extra minion.

In addition, I have argued for including Asheara’s Vestments as part of the Emanate collection. Now, before people go off on me saying that with all the items I’ve included adding Asheara’s Vestments making followers too OP, I want to defend myself by saying that nothing will be out group play just in that Followers don’t scale their damage and defenses the way a person with a high powered build can. Also, Followers cannot have the same support capabilities as say a Monk.

But I would have Asheara’s Vestments re-imagined. The basic bonuses I do not see changing. However, what would change is the number of followers that can be summoned in a permanent state. I would have it function similar to a Unity ring where you would need multiple copies on each Follower to get the bonuses. Having only one Follower wear 4 pieces (or 3 with a Ring of Royal Grandeur) would just get the normal, temporary bonus. Two sets would enable the two Followers wearing them to be summoned. And Three sets would allow all three to be summoned.

So the penalties here are that you would be required to have enough crafting materials to get the full bonus. Also, you would need three Rings of Royal Grandeur if you want to avoid having to craft 12 pieces of gear. That makes it a bit of a grind but totally worth it. Not to mention you will not be able to use all the gear in lacking enough slots. So it’s really about what you have and trade offs.

The last part of the Emanate update I would like to see is a place for unused Legendary Gems. One of my pet peeves is that many Legendary Gems are considered worthless. And even if you decide to upgrade them for augments, they still have no practical use in many cases. In turn, I wanted to introduce the idea of having a new pool of Legendary Gems that have Emanate and would use the Follower token slot (which would be able to have a craftable socket) to get the effect of a 4th Legendary Gem slot (or the even rarer 5th and 6th from Gem of Ease or the Red Soul Shard for the helmet, which is just for leveling and in a very narrow time frame). Here is my list of gems that I think would make good candidates for entering that Follower Emanate pool:

• Boon of the Hoarder –
  • 25% chance on killing an enemy to cause an explosion of gold.
  • Upgrading increases chance by 1.5%. (Maximum rank is 50.)
  • Rank 25 bonus: Gain 30% increased movement speed for 3 seconds after picking up gold.
  • This one is pretty obvious. It already has a utilitarian function and is useless in Greater Rifts. But the quality of life improvement from not having to swap builds would be huge. Also, some builds already are pushing the limit of gear in the current slots like Akkhan/Invoker Bomber. This just allows for those builds to get that option.
• Gem of Efficacious Toxin –
  • Poison all enemies hit for 2000% damage as Poison over 10 seconds.
  • Upgrading increases damage by 50%.
  • Rank 25 bonus: All enemies you poison take 10% increased damage from all sources and deal 10% less damage with all attacks.
  • This used to be a decent gem for the earlier versions of the Firebirds Wizard build where Wizards would use Blizzard to do area wide damage. Since then I can’t remember the last time I had seen this in use. But it’s an interesting gem in that it’s a moderate buff for the secondary property. The rest of the damage is just a DoT. So perhaps for DoT builds, this might have some additional improvements especially poison based ones.

• Iceblink –
  • All Cold skills always Chill enemies, slowing them by 60% for 1 second (unless already better), and slowdown potency of all Chill effects increases by 5% (up to 80%).
  • Upgrading increases speed reduction by 0.4%. (Maximum Rank is 50.)
  • Rank 25 bonus: gain additional 10% Critical Hit Chance against Chilled or Frozen enemies.
  • This was one of those skills that sounded great on release then went poof shortly there after. Not all builds use Cold so this will be a very niche type of gem. Part of the idea here would be allowing say your amulet slot not to need the 10% roll in situations where it’s already tough to get that roll (like a Traveler’s Pledge)
• Mirinae, Teardrop of the Starweaver –
  • 15% chance on hit to smite a nearby enemy for 3000% damage as Holy, healing the character for 3% of maximum Life.
  • Upgrade: +60% damage as Holy per Rank.
  • Smites a nearby enemy every 3 seconds (Requires Rank 25)
  • The only time this gem had a use was during a very early season when Crusaders could use the auto-smite ability to their advantage. But it got quickly nerfed and no one heard from this gem again. It would be a nice comeback type of gem for Crusaders since the holy damage goes very well with many of their builds. Also, the healing is a nice bonus for those situations where the build is a bit squishy.
• Wreath of Lightning –
  • 15% chance on hitting an enemy to gain a Wreath of Lightning, dealing 1250% damage as Lightning every second to nearby enemies for 3 seconds.
  • Upgrade: +25% damage as Lightning per Rank.
  • While under the effect of the Wreath of Lightning, gain 25% increased movement speed (Requires Rank 25)
  • This is actually a pretty cool gem that has a very limited use case. I’ve seen it used with high speed Whirlwind Barbarians and older Natalya’s Strafe Demon Hunters but do not see much use anymore. But I could see it being useful for a slow Wizard like Hydra that needs an extra boost of speed in a Greater Rift.
• Invigorating Gemstone –
  • Each hit done increases healing received by 1.00% for 5 seconds. Stacks up to 10 times.
  • Upgrade: +0.02% additional healing per Rank.
  • Become immune to control impairing effects (Requires Rank 25)
  • I have never seen this gem used in any build. I’ve only leveled up these gems to be consumed for Augments. But I think it would make for some very interesting use cases like canceling the effects of Stone Gauntlets for LoD builds. Also, it might simply be a great additional defense for squishier builds.

• Moratorium –
  • 35% of all damage taken is instead staggered and dealt to the character over 3 seconds.
  • Upgrade: +0.1 seconds stagger duration per Rank.
  • 20% chance on kill to clear all staggered damage (Requires Rank 25)
  • Like the Invigorating Gemstone, I have never seen this gem used. But at least with the Invigorating Gemstone, I heard at least one practical use case with Stone Gauntlets whereas Moratorium there is none. I would like to think that a gem like this would have a definite use on Hardcore game play. But even for a squishy class, this gem might have some use.

At any rate, this is my review of all the various legendaries and gems that I feel deserve to become part of the Emanate pool. I hope that we see more and that the developers realize that too many potentially useful items are simply under utilized for one reason or another. I want to see those existing items get a second life besides becoming Forgotten Souls or Augments on gear. I did my best to not pull in items that are too powerful (e.g. Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac or The Furnace) but still allow for interesting game mechanics, visuals and the chance for new builds to exist as a result of Followers in the future.

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