Diablo 4 introduces a surprising new force to contend with in the realm of challenging bosses, and it’s not a burly barbarian wielding a massive hammer.
Enter the resilient robot spider pet that was initially dismissed as useless by many before Blizzard issued an emergency patch to enhance its capabilities. Now, this adorable arachnid is dealing billions of damage to endgame bosses, and its power is set to increase even further.
Before the launch of season 3, Blizzard stated that the Seneschal companion would scale one-to-one with your character’s stats and remain indestructible. However, during the Season of the Construct,
the Governing and Tuning Stones responsible for imbuing the pet with skills took an extended time to level up. Players initially overlooked this mechanical companion until Blizzard significantly boosted the drop rates for these stones. Now, with max-level skills, players are discovering ways to amplify its damage output to effectively farm bosses.
Diablo 4 streamer Rob2628 ingeniously engineered a robot capable of achieving damage numbers in the billions, rivaling that of a season 1 barbarian. This required extensive testing by Rob and the community to identify which skills and stats transfer to the Seneschal. While some Legendary powers don’t carry over, others do, and Rob graciously shared a spreadsheet compiling everyone’s findings.
Classes like barbarians and sorcerers excel at enhancing their pet’s stats through skills that scale its bleed and fire damage. The Firefly Governing Stone, unleashing exploding bugs, stands out as one of the robot’s most potent attacks. These fiery insects repeatedly pass through enemies, dealing substantial damage that scales with your character’s attack power and critical strike damage.
Presently, these fireflies enable the Seneschal to defeat the level 100 boss, Echo of Duriel, in approximately three minutes, as demonstrated on the Maxroll Discord server and highlighted by Diablo streamer Wudijo.
A similar timeframe applies to defeating Echo of Lilith.
Rob anticipates that every class will have unique methods to empower their pet, though each requires thorough testing. The upcoming patch is expected to make this experimentation even more accessible, with a 10% damage boost for Firefly and a 30% increase in potency for several other skills, offering diverse possibilities for other classes.
The Season of the Construct is finally delivering on the strength Blizzard initially promised. Systems game designer Sean White emphasized the pet’s formidable abilities in an interview with PC Gamer before launch,
and now, as players invest more time, the true potential of each attack is becoming apparent. While the pet may struggle in dungeons and against packs of enemies, its ability to solo bosses—some that other classes find challenging—is undeniably impressive. If this remarkable companion isn’t single-handedly defeating bosses in the coming days, it will be a genuine surprise.