Elective Mode
If you turn on Elective Mode, you can use more than one spell from the same school!
This means you can use fear, confusion, hex to further help your pets survive better.
I've done some research on which stats scale with pets.
I am testing my Gargantuan against a Walking Corpse (fat zombie) in nightmare mode, Act 1.
I try to use gear that has only one stat, strength/dexterity/vitality/intellect. So if I test Strength, I will have 500+ Strength, and the rest of the stats will be at 40 (base) unless otherwise specified.
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Acronyms
DR = Damage Reduction from Armor
PR = Physical damage reduction form Physical Resistance
Test Results
No gear
Gargantuan dies in 4 hits.
Strength test (Strength increases armor)
545 Strength
1729 Armor (51.17% DR)
11 Physical Resistance (6.03% PR)
Gargantuan dies in 10 hits.
Dexterity test
535 Dexterity
1135 Armor (40.75% DR)
11 Physical Resistance (6.03% PR)
Gargantuan dies in 8 hits.
Vitality test
574 Vitality
39.78% DR
11 Physical Resistance (6.03% PR)
Gargantuan dies in 8 hits.
Intellect test (Intellect increases physical resistance.)
566 Intellect
1164 Armor (41.28% DR)
57 Physical Resistance (25.60% PR)
Gargantuan dies in 10 hits.
Physical Resist test
173 Intellect (from my weapon, I cannot find weapon with PR stat)
1105 Armor (40.11% DR)
141 Physical Resistance (46.12% PR)
Gargantuan dies in 17 hits.
Summary
Gargantuan benefits from armor (strength) and physical resistance (intellect). The damage reduction was very noticeable.
Vitality and Dexterity do not benefit pets. My tests show the gargantuan taking 8 hits to die only because of the extra armor from the gear, not from the stats.
Notes
For Dexterity, I cannot test whether the Gargantuan dodges more. It appears to dodge more, but I cannot confirm. I was testing 4% base dodge vs 20% dodge from full dexterity gear. However, logic dictates that if pets benefit from the WD's armor, why not dodge as well?
I have not done any testing for other resistances like fire. But if pets benefit from physical resistance, then it makes sense that they will benefit from other resistance stats like fire.
The gear aims to get the best possible stat value for my level. Stacking physical resistance seems to be the most cost efficient method to damage reduction compared to strength or intellect. But it leaves your damage horribly low, and it only helps against physical attacks. Whereas intellect increases all resistances and gives you dps. The balancing act of stats is up to you.
