Golems seem kind of... useless. :(

[EmberStar]

I was kind of looking forward to the Golems. But as near as I can tell, they're basically kind of useless.

Stone Golems can't carry more than a basic thrall, and have worse harvesting rates than me, using stone tools on a build with no bonuses to harvesting. The damage they do is barely even worth mentioning, and they will die if basically anything attacks them.

Iron Golems carry barely more, still can't fight, and don't have much better survivability in combat.

I can't make an observation about Crystalline golems, because in the whole time since the update I've found one arm and one leg.

They aren't even good for fighting bosses - one skull minibosses wreck even Iron golems, and as near as I can tell any boss that seems to be holding Star Metal weapons does bonus damage on top of that. The Commander in the Nameless City can flatten stone golems in about five hits.

So... they can't harvest, they can't fight, and even if I could build a Crystalline Golem they would *still* be a worse follower than a T3 Bearer wearing heavy armor and carrying a Starmetal mace.

*Edit* And in exchange for all of that, they can't be healed. That's the worst part - they might actually be usable if you could repair them somehow. As is, if I want cheap, quick followers that are going to die... why wouldn't I just use zombies? Especially when zombies *can* actually be healed, and are surprisingly decent for anything but maybe dungeon bosses as long as you're using an Authority build. (Corrputed, normal, Well Trained *or* War Party.) *End Edit*

Am I missing something here, or do they just suck that much?

[Jondar Korric]

Originally posted by Princess Muu-Muu:

Originally posted by LordGraham40:

would like to point out THEY CAN HARVEST. and soon they will auto harvest without needing to be a follower. that is powerful

This.

I was kind of under the assumption this is how they would have worked when first implemented. It was a big let-down to see they don't function this way yet... if ever.

yes they do. they don't have to be on Follow to harvest, and on PvE servers in particular a Golem set to mine Stone, Iron, and Coal at an area like The Crevice accumulates ALOT of those resources. the Iron Golem I have just outside the Crevice entrance mines all the nodes fairly quickly.

[TyAT]

Originally posted by EmberStar:

I was kind of looking forward to the Golems. But as near as I can tell, they're basically kind of useless.

Stone Golems can't carry more than a basic thrall, and have worse harvesting rates than me, using stone tools on a build with no bonuses to harvesting. The damage they do is barely even worth mentioning, and they will die if basically anything attacks them.

Iron Golems carry barely more, still can't fight, and don't have much better survivability in combat.

I can't make an observation about Crystalline golems, because in the whole time since the update I've found one arm and one leg.

They aren't even good for fighting bosses - one skull minibosses wreck even Iron golems, and as near as I can tell any boss that seems to be holding Star Metal weapons does bonus damage on top of that. The Commander in the Nameless City can flatten stone golems in about five hits.

So... they can't harvest, they can't fight, and even if I could build a Crystalline Golem they would *still* be a worse follower than a T3 Bearer wearing heavy armor and carrying a Starmetal mace.

*Edit* And in exchange for all of that, they can't be healed. That's the worst part - they might actually be usable if you could repair them somehow. As is, if I want cheap, quick followers that are going to die... why wouldn't I just use zombies? Especially when zombies *can* actually be healed, and are surprisingly decent for anything but maybe dungeon bosses as long as you're using an Authority build. (Corrputed, normal, Well Trained *or* War Party.) *End Edit*

Am I missing something here, or do they just suck that much?

that about sums it up. I made a post about the same thing in test live before it came out.
glorified base ornaments. its a nice idea to have gathering golems/thralls. it was poorly executed. a gimmick to hype up chapter 3 if you will. i didnt plan to use them for combat anyways, but was interested in the gathering. which is abysmal at best. Maybe, MAYBE FC will see how bad they are and try to balance them or something idk. salvage the golem part of the update.

[TyAT]

Originally posted by Princess Muu-Muu:

Originally posted by LordGraham40:

would like to point out THEY CAN HARVEST. and soon they will auto harvest without needing to be a follower. that is powerful

This.

I was kind of under the assumption this is how they would have worked when first implemented. It was a big let-down to see they don't function this way yet... if ever.

they will harvest on guard, or scout. But a player does need to be in the area for them to function. if a player is not, they become static lifeless rocks again.

that said, their harvest rates are not worth being afk near them for the farm, or having them take thrall cap from actually useful thralls. you can gather more in one tree/rock than they will in an hour.

[EmberStar]

Originally posted by Princess Muu-Muu:

Originally posted by LordGraham40:

would like to point out THEY CAN HARVEST. and soon they will auto harvest without needing to be a follower. that is powerful

This.

I was kind of under the assumption this is how they would have worked when first implemented. It was a big let-down to see they don't function this way yet... if ever.

I will repeat it again. THEY ALREADY DO THIS. If you place them in "Guard" with a valid item in their "collect these things" slots and *in range of resources,* they wander (very slowly) around and collect it. Until the continually respawning rocknoses or other animals that exist near pretty much *every* decent resource patch slowly gnaw them to death.

They are a *worthless* option for mining, even if it's passive. You *still* need to go to where they are, you *still* need to somehow have enough cargo capacity (bearer/caravan pet, Air Bat, Overencumbered build) to move everything they collect. And if they die and their bag has despawned you get NOTHING. If you're going to the iron patch by the Tower of Bats with a caravan elephant anyway, just bring a decent pick or a staff and *mine it yourself* to get ten times as many resources in less than half an hour.

I strongly suspect that a lot of the people who say "they're fine" are NOT attempting to use them and are just judging them "on paper." I've made a dozen of them. THEY ARE USELESS. There is no situation where the golems are a better choice than literally *any other option.*

[EmberStar]

Originally posted by Bloodartist:

Something Ive wondered but not tested: does well-trained perk do anything on Golems since they can't be healed? With other thralls their health bar increases but they don't gain health (have to heal) when you put them on follow.

It does increase their stats. It gives them more health cap, but since they can't heal it's just empty health bar. It does increase their attack damage and armor. Supposedly if you have the healing perks, it increases their "deflection" chance where an attack simply won't damage them. Realistically, this seems to accomplish almost nothing - any "skull" rated miniboss seems to do extra damage to them, and any enemy visibly holding a Starmetal weapon will eviscerate them. (The skeleton lords in the Unnamed City will annihilate them, as will the barbarians in the northern areas.)

They are pretty much NOT compatible with a Corrupted Authority build - since they can't heal at all, the LAST thing you want to do is speed up their destruction by sharing damage with them. Corrupting most of your Authority also removes the hidden extra Deflection chance from the perks, for whatever good it does.

So, short answer - Well Trained does have some benefit for them. But even with it, they're a worse choice as a follower than a basic Shaleback pet. Since at least with a Shaleback any damage that doesn't kill them can be fixed by just letting them chew on a stack of Leavening Agent plants or hops.