Farron Follower

Location

Drops

Titanite Shard
Large Titanite Shard
Follower Set

Health
NG	NG+
???	???

Souls
NG	NG+
700	???

Weaknesses, resistances, immunities

-	-	W	-	-	R	W	R

Farron Followers (ファランの幽鬼 Farron no Yūki, Phantoms of Farron) are enemies in Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel.

Description[]

Farron Followers are members of the Undead Legion of Farron, as the Abyss Watchers are, but unlike them, they wield other weapons and attack with a different combat style, favoring to use throwing spears or short swords to fight. Just as the Abyss Watchers do, they will fight with each other whenever one of them is corrupted by the Abyss.

Types[]

There are four different types of Farron Followers:

Follower Lancer[]

The most common Follower. This enemy wields the Follower Javelin and will spend most of their time throwing javelins at the player from range. Their high aggro range means that unless the player is aware of their presence, the first warning that a Lancer nearby is a spear striking them.

Follower Knight[]

This Follower wields a Follower Javelin and a Follower Shield. They will generally run into melee range to attack the player with their spear, using their shield to block incoming attacks.

Follower Torchman[]

This enemy wields a Follower Torch, using the weapon art to breath fire at the player in arcs. He can also scream to alert other Followers once he is alerted to the player's presence.

Follower Swordsman[]

This Follower wields a Follower Torch and a Follower Sabre. He will not use his torch's skill but will attack with fast and fluid combos using the sabre.

Locations[]

Farron Followers can be found in multiple locations throughout the Painted World of Ariandel. They are initially encountered in the Snowfield area shortly after arriving in Ariandel, and later in larger numbers in the Snowy Mountain Pass.

Lore[]

The Farron Follower were a group affiliated with Farron's Undead Legion^[1], whose core were the Abyss Watchers, and performed an essential function for them. In fact, the warriors of Farron could have been corrupted by the Abyss they fought and to which they were exposed^[2] and consequently the Followers had the task of hunting them down, even before they lost their human aspect and just showed traces of being infected^[3]. For this reason the group developed equipment and techniques suited to the role. The Followers would hunt the corrupted warriors in groups^[4], surrounding them and then engaging their target while they shielded themselves with shields imbued with resistance to the Dark.^[5]. They would then fight their enemies thrusting their spears to keep the distance^[6] or in close combat with sabres. On a final command, they would have hurled their spears at their fallen foe, to give the retired warrior an honorable send-off^[7], implying that their role was nevertheless charged with importance to the continued functioning of the Undead Legion and respect for their members even when they fell to the Dark. The Followers also used offensive torches to purge the Abyss that manifested inside the bodies in the form of Pus, treating it with fire as was ancient tradition^[8].

However at some point the Abyss Watchers were called to become Lords of Cinder^[9], sacrificing their shared power in the wolf blood to link the fading First Flame and then be buried with a fragment of its cinders still burning^[10]. Over time, the land of Farron, where the bodies of countless warriors of the past were buried^[11], fell into ruin^[12] and became a rotten and poisonous forest^[13], and the remaining acolytes of the Undead Legion were corrupted along with it becoming Ghrus^[14]. The Farron Followers consequently had lost their role and reason to exist along with their home and became forlorns, unwanted souls that died and survived as a wandering pack of Hollows^[15]. They kept drifting aimlessly until they were eventually drawn into the Painted World of Ariandel^[16], where they were welcomed by the other lost souls and found refuge^[17].

As the First Flame continued to fade and Prince Lothric refused to link it, the Lords of Cinder of the past were exhumed from their graves to once again be used as fuel^[18]. Among them the Abyss Watchers rose from their graves too but refused to sacrifice themselves to link the Fire again, choosing to return to their Keep in Farron^[19]. However, the Followers were no longer present to cull the warriors that would become corrupted by the Abyss, consequently forcing the Watchers to do so themselves, wasting their strenght to kill each other to limit the spreading of corruption^[20].

Artifacts[]

Strategy[]

Care must be taken when engaging the Farron Followers, as while they are not very strong individually, they tend to swarm and overwhelm the player with their numbers. It is important to try to single out weak or vulnerable Followers and kill them quickly, in order to avoid being overpowered by the others. All Followers have very little Poise and little health, and as such they will typically fall in a few hits and can be stun-locked.

The Lancers can be defeated before aggro-ing the others with good ranged attacks, such as with a bow. Their projectiles are not hard to dodge, but their greatest danger lies in hitting the player with their spears in the midst of combat with other Followers, staggering them at inopportune times. They also pose very little threat at close range, and it can be relatively easy to roll through a projectile and then bear down on the Lancer before he can ready another one.

Knights pose a danger more with their shields than with their attacks. Their shields can deflect a player's attacks if using smaller weapons like Straight Swords, leaving them wide open for retaliation. This can prove problematic when embroiled in melee combat with different Follower types, as swinging wildly can cause the player's strikes to deflect at inconvenient moments. It is best to either avoid directly engaging them until other serious threats have been dealt with, or eliminate them immediately with a guard break followed by a riposte.

Torchmen can deal a tremendous amount of damage if they can get within range to use their torches. They will generally breathe flames in streamed arcs, weaving back and forth in an attempt to hit the player multiple times in a single attack. If threatened at melee range, they will often breathe fire while backing away, in an attempt to avoid being caught by the player's attacks. The best way to deal with Torchmen is to roll through their initial fire stream and hit them with a rolling attack to stagger them and interrupt them, and then continue attacking until they are dead.

Swordsmen will move aggressively on the player and chain together multiple slashes with their sabres. The best way to eliminate them is to block their attacks with a shield, and then strike when they are recovering.