Minions are allied monsters summoned by the player. Minions have their own damage and their actions are treated completely separate from the summoner's. Zombies and Skeletons do physical damage, Spectres and Dominated do whatever damage they did before they died, and Raging Spirits do physical damage of which 50% is converted to fire (much like 
Infernal Blow).
Minion damage is affected by Minion Damage passives, support gems linked to the minion skill gem, auras and Necromantic Aegis. Of particular note, support gems will support the attacks and spells of the minion if the skill is relevant. Minions can critically strike but cannot proc Module Error: No skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Cast On Critical Strike". Unlike totems, minions can gain charges.
Neither passive skills nor stats from your other equipment affect minions unless they specifically say "Minions _____".
Life Flasks with the "of Animation" suffix will heal minions life by 40-60% of the flasks recovery. This effect works even when you have full life or Chaos Inoculation.
When a minion kills an enemy you are partially rewarded with the kill. This means:
- You gain Flask Charges
- Your IIQ and IIR is added to the minion's support gems values to calculate drops.
Totems, Traps and Remote Mines are not counted as minions, they are remote skills.
Minion Skills
These skills summon minions. Monsters converted using 
Conversion Trap do not count as minions and are not affected by minion passives.
| Skill | Icon | Description | Duration | Level | Attack | Spell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Animate Guardian
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Animates a melee weapon or armour, attaching it to an invisible Guardian that fights by your side. Animating multiple items attaches them to the same Guardian. Guardians killed in PvP areas will not lose their items. | N/A | 10 | ✗
|
✓
|
| Module Error: Too many skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Animate Weapon". Please choose only one of the following ids: AnimateWeapon - Base duration is 40 seconds, Can use Items requiring up to Level (9-100), Minions deal (10-48)% more Damage, Minions have (10-48)% more Attack Speed, Minions' Attacks deal (5-126) to (8-184) additional Physical Damage, Maximum (5-14) Animated Weapons, Animated Lingering Blades deal (1-17) to (2-80) Added Attack Physical Damage (page) TriggeredAnimateWeapon - Base duration is 40 seconds, Can use Items requiring up to Level 100, Minions deal 148% of Damage, 126 to 184 Added Attack Physical Damage, Maximum 14 Animated Weapons, 25% chance to Trigger this Spell on Kill, You cannot Cast this Spell directly (page) |
|
Animates a melee weapon to fight by your side. There's no limit on the number of weapons you can animate. | 37.50 | 4 | ✗
|
✓
|
 Blink Arrow
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Fires an arrow at the target destination. When the arrow lands, you are teleported to it and a clone is summoned at your old location. The clone is a minion that uses your bow and quiver. | 3.00 | 24 | ✓
|
✗
|
 Dominating Blow
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Attacks the enemy with a melee strike. If a non-unique enemy is killed shortly after being hit by Dominating Blow, that enemy is revived as a minion until the skill duration ends. | 14.00 - 33.00 | 24 | ✓
|
✗
|
 Mirror Arrow
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Fires an arrow at the target destination. When the arrow lands, a clone is summoned. The clone is a minion that uses your bow and quiver. | 3.00 | 24 | ✓
|
✗
|
 Raise Spectre
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Raises a spectral version of a defeated foe as a minion to fight for you in battle. | N/A | 19 | ✗
|
✓
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 Raise Zombie
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Raises a zombie minion from a corpse, which will follow you and attack enemies. | N/A | 1 | ✗
|
✓
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 Summon Chaos Golem
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Summons a Chaos Golem that grants you Physical Damage Reduction while active. The Chaos Golem can use a damage over time Chaos aura and a cascade of Chaos spikes in addition to its melee attack. | N/A | 34 | ✗
|
✓
|
 Summon Flame Golem
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Summons a Flame Golem that grants you increased Damage while active. The Flame Golem can use a fire spray, a wave of fire damage, and an explosive arcing projective. | N/A | 34 | ✗
|
✓
|
 Summon Ice Golem
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Summons an Ice Golem that grants you increased Critical Strike Chance and Accuracy while active. The Ice Golem can use an icy barrage spell and a chilling spinning dash in addition to its melee attack. | N/A | 34 | ✗
|
✓
|
| Module Error: Too many skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Summon Raging Spirit". Please choose only one of the following ids: AshwakerSummonRagingSpiritOnKill - Base duration is 5 seconds, Maximum 20 Summoned Raging Spirits, 10% chance to Trigger this Spell on Kill, You cannot Cast this Spell directly (page) SummonRagingSpirit - Base duration is 5 seconds, Maximum 20 Summoned Raging Spirits, Minions gain 15% less Added Damage, Minions cannot Taunt Enemies (page) |
|
Summons a short-lived flaming skull that rushes at nearby enemies and attacks them rapidly. Enemies cannot directly engage these spirits and can pass through them. | 3.50 | 4 | ✗
|
✓
|
 Summon Skeletons
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Summons slow moving skeletal minions that decay over time. Does not require a corpse to be consumed. | 20.00 | 10 | ✗
|
✓
|
 Vaal Summon Skeletons
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Summons an army of Skeletal Warriors, Archers and Mages, led by a powerful General. | 20.00 | 10 | ✗
|
✓
|
Other Skills
These skills have the minion keyword.
| Skill | Icon | Description | Duration | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Module Error: Too many skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Bone Offering". Please choose only one of the following ids: BoneOffering - Base duration is 5 seconds, Grants Minions +(25-35)% Chance to Block Attack Damage, Grants Minions +(25-34)% Chance to Block Spell Damage, Additional 1 seconds Base Duration per extra corpse Consumed, Minions recover (11-594) Life when they Block (page) BoneOfferingTriggeredUnique - Base duration is 5 seconds, Grants Minions +35% Chance to Block Attack Damage, Grants Minions +34% Chance to Block Spell Damage, Additional 1 seconds Base Duration per extra corpse Consumed, Minions recover 594 Life when they Block, Your Offering Skills also affect you, This Skill is Triggered by the Item granting it, You cannot Cast this Spell directly (page) |
|
Consumes Corpses and grants your Minions the Ability to block both Spells and Attacks. | 3 | 24 |
 Convocation
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Recalls all your minions to your location, and grants them a temporary life regeneration effect. Does not work on Skeletons and Raging Spirits. | 2 | 19 |
| Module Error: Too many skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Flesh Offering". Please choose only one of the following ids: FleshOffering - Base duration is 5 seconds, Grants Minions (20-30)% increased Attack Speed, Grants Minions (20-29)% increased Movement Speed, Grants Minions (20-30)% increased Cast Speed, Additional 1 seconds Base Duration per extra corpse Consumed (page) FleshOfferingTriggeredUnique - Base duration is 5 seconds, Grants Minions 30% increased Attack Speed, Grants Minions 29% increased Movement Speed, Grants Minions 30% increased Cast Speed, Additional 1 seconds Base Duration per extra corpse Consumed, Your Offering Skills also affect you, This Skill is Triggered by the Item granting it, You cannot Cast this Spell directly (page) |
|
Consumes Corpses and grants your Minions Swiftness (increased Attack, Cast and Movement Speed). | 3 | 24 |
Support gems
There are a number of support gems related to minions, that increase their damage output, defense or movement speed.
- Module Error: No skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Minion Damage"
- Module Error: No skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Minion Life"
- Module Error: No skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Minion Speed"
- Module Error: No skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance"
Passive skills
There are passive skills that grant minion bonuses.
Minion damage
These passive skills grant increased damage for minions.
Template:Passive table
Minion attack speed
These passive skills grant increased attack speed for minions.
Template:Passive table
Minion cast speed
These passive skills grant increased cast speed for minions.
Template:Passive table
Minion life
These passive skills grant increased maximum life for minions.
Template:Passive table
Minion life regeneration
These passive skills grant additional life regeneration for minions.
Template:Passive table
Minion life leech
These passive skills grant additional life leech for minions.
Template:Passive table
Minion chance to block
These passive skills grant additional chance to block for minions.
Template:Passive table
Minion elemental resistances
These passive skills grant additional elemental resistances for minions.
Template:Passive table
Minion chaos resistance
These passive skills grant additional chaos resistance for minions.
Template:Passive table
Minion limit
These passive skills raise the limits for active zombies, skeletons, or spectres.
Template:Passive table
Duration
These passive skills extend the Duration of Module Error: Too many skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Animate Weapon". Please choose only one of the following ids:
AnimateWeapon - Base duration is 40 seconds, Can use Items requiring up to Level (9-100), Minions deal (10-48)% more Damage, Minions have (10-48)% more Attack Speed, Minions' Attacks deal (5-126) to (8-184) additional Physical Damage, Maximum (5-14) Animated Weapons, Animated Lingering Blades deal (1-17) to (2-80) Added Attack Physical Damage (page)
TriggeredAnimateWeapon - Base duration is 40 seconds, Can use Items requiring up to Level 100, Minions deal 148% of Damage, 126 to 184 Added Attack Physical Damage, Maximum 14 Animated Weapons, 25% chance to Trigger this Spell on Kill, You cannot Cast this Spell directly (page), Blink Arrow, Dominating Blow, Mirror Arrow, Module Error: Too many skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Summon Raging Spirit". Please choose only one of the following ids:
AshwakerSummonRagingSpiritOnKill - Base duration is 5 seconds, Maximum 20 Summoned Raging Spirits, 10% chance to Trigger this Spell on Kill, You cannot Cast this Spell directly (page)
SummonRagingSpirit - Base duration is 5 seconds, Maximum 20 Summoned Raging Spirits, Minions gain 15% less Added Damage, Minions cannot Taunt Enemies (page), Summon Skeletons, Vaal Summon Skeletons
Template:Passive table
Miscellany
These passive skills are related to minions, but do not fit into any other category.
Template:Passive table
Unique equipment
The following unique items affect minions: Lua error in Module:Cargo at line 896: bad argument #1 to 'gsub' (string expected, got nil). Furthermore there exist the mod +(1 to 2) to Level of Minion Gems in this item which can roll on helmets.
Unique jewels
The following jewels affect minions: Lua error in Module:Cargo at line 896: bad argument #1 to 'gsub' (string expected, got nil).
Divination cards
The following divination card affects minions: Lua error in Module:Cargo at line 896: bad argument #1 to 'gsub' (string expected, got nil).
Crafting
Catarina, Master of the Dead provides minion crafting for body armour and gloves. As you level her up, more crafting options will be unlocked. See below for a list.
| Effect | Prefix | Suffix | 
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Cost |  |
 |
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 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +2 to Maximum number of Skeletons | ✓ |
✗ |
35 | 5 | 5x  Chaos OrbChaos OrbStack Size: 10Reforges a rare item with new random modifiersRight click this item then left click a rare item to apply it.Shift click to unstack.  |
✗ |
✓ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗
|
| Minions have 10-15% increased maximum Life | ✓ |
✗ |
35 | 6 | 2x Chaos OrbChaos OrbStack Size: 10Reforges a rare item with new random modifiersRight click this item then left click a rare item to apply it. Shift click to unstack. |
✗ |
✗ |
✓ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗
|
| +1 to Maximum number of Zombies | ✓ |
✗ |
35 | 6 | 10x Chaos OrbChaos OrbStack Size: 10Reforges a rare item with new random modifiersRight click this item then left click a rare item to apply it. Shift click to unstack. |
✗ |
✓ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗ |
✗
|
Spectre choices
As players progress through the game, there are several monsters that present interesting choices to supplement summoner and hybrid-summon builds alike. Even for a non-summoner build, a single curse-casting spectre whose AI helps them stay away can be quite useful. In practice, it's not that easy to keep a sole spectre alive without having other bodies around to shield it - this means parties and hybrid/full-summon builds. NB: Spectres keep their original monster-level, so you can't take a normal mob into Merciless and expect it to survive 1-hit.
The following short-list are spectres that are compatible with parties in general since they are both useful and have a relatively low graphics load for others' sakes:
- Enduring Cry Bears, various (Act 2)
- Chaos DoT Bears, Waterfall Caves 1 (Act 2)
- Frenzy-inducing Gorillas, Old Fields.
- Curse-specialists
Here is the full-list of potentially useful ones sorted by their abilities + location.
Ranged multi-shot/AoE: High DPS, and generally compatible with traditional ranged/spell supports such LMP, Chain, Faster Projectiles, etc.
- Arc - Barracks mages
- single-target Arc - Solaris lightning mages (slow to cast)
- Spark - Sins-3 skeleton mages
- Spark/Thorns - Crematorium & battlefield lightning mages
- Spark/Shock nova - Prisoner’s Gate goatmen
- Poison Arrow - Upper Prison Archers Sins 1 skeleton Archers, Western Forest archers, etc.
- Poison-Bomb - Chaos Alchemists in Sewers
- Lightning Arrow - many skeleton archers
- Fire-bomb - Flame Alchemist in Crematorium
- Fireballs - Rocky Climb Goatmen, Slums/Marketplace Queens
- LMP/Fork fireballs - Solaris Flame Sentinels
- LMP ele projectiles - Pyramid cold mages (NOT Waterfall 2), Crematorium fire mages.
- LMP chaos/phys projectiles - Warehouse Serpents
- LMP chaos bolts - Pyramid constructs
- Flame totem attack - Docks monkeys
- Machinegun fire-bolts - Tentacle Miscreation (Lunaris 2/3)
- LMP AoE attacks - Birdman
- Delayed Blast,AoE Physical spell and ranged invulnerability aura - Undying Evangelist (Sceptre of God)
Combat Support/Distraction: Those that make better tanks and are melee.
- Flicker strike - SGcave pirates, Weaver spiders, Sewer leaders
- Frenzy-inducing cry - Gorillas in the Old Fields
- Leap slam - Melee Goatmen, Sewer Maws
- Whirling blades - various undying crawlers (use Marketplace versions, they come with Puncture too)
- Roll-attacks - golems (doesn’t seem to hit many, use Crematorium versions)
- Fire-rolls - Crematorium Golems.
- Enduring Cry - many Bears in Act 2 (attacking decoy totem).
- Chaos DoT Aura - Waterfall 1 Bears (the DoT itself is not as impressive since monsters have more life).
- Unrighteous Fire - Burning Miscreation (Lunaris mob).
- Temporal Chains/Projectile Weakness/Detonate Dead - Lunaris Mages
- Long-melee Vulnerability-on-hit - Lunaris 2/3 mob
- Raise zombie - Lunaris 1 mage (maximum of 3 zombies per mage, they don't count to the total shown)
- Detonate dead - Lunaris 2 and 3 mages
Curse specialists: Because it's cheaper to summon a single spectre . Comes with lvl 20 curses in Merciless.
- Module Error: No skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Projectile Weakness" - Waterfall 1 Skeleton Archers (high cast rate)
- Module Error: Too many skills found with q_where = skill.active_skill_name="Warlord's Mark". Please choose only one of the following ids:
WarlordsMark - Base duration is (6-9.8) seconds, Hits against Cursed Enemies have (40-59)% chance to double Stun Duration, Cursed Enemies grant 20 Rage Regenerated over 1 second when Stunned, Cursed enemies grant 2% Life Leech when Hit by Attacks, Cursed enemies grant 2% Mana Leech when Hit by Attacks, Cursed enemies have a 100% chance to grant an Endurance Charge when slain (page)
WarlordsMarkTriggered - Base duration is (7.4-8.2) seconds, Trigger this Skill when you Hit a Rare or Unique Enemy (page) - Oak’s Devoted (high cast rate, easy to obtain) 
Elemental Weakness - Church Necromancer- Flammability - Crematorium Necromancer
- Conductivity - Chamber of Sins Necromancer
- Enfeeble - Lower Prison Necromancers, Lunaris 1 mages
- Vulnerability - (Upper Prison Necromancers)
- Temporal Chains - Shipyard Grave Cave Sirens (low cast rate, prefers Freezing Pulse), Lunaris 1 and 2 mages
- Vulnerability - many Sirens in Act 1 (low cast rate, prefers Freezing Pulse)
Achievements
If you manage appropriate number of minions, you will be rewarded the following achievements:
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
Behold My Army  |
Have 60 minions at the same time. |
Zombie Horde 
|
Have 9 Raised Zombies at the same time. |