Just a thought, while we see that minions can battle, why not influence it more by making them a type of accessory slot that can give some kind of boost to our stats. Here are some examples,

Kain minion, lv 1 effect slight boost to JUMP Dmg, Max Level lower wait timer by 10 sec or chance of CRITICAL hit 100%.

Shantotto -lv 1 Magic DMG +1o Max Level occasional quick cast on spells.

and so on, any ideas or perhaps other things that we can do?