If Creation has combat-oriented creatures, this is how I would balance them

[Cruuk]

Creation's patchouli description says that the skill is about tamed/summoned creatures that help with various tasks. This would mainly be focused on summoned creatures. (I'm just gonna refer to them as minions because it's easy to).

I think combat can be 1 of those tasks. A big balance concern is that minions/summoned creatures in games like MC are effectively distraction projectiles - fodder you throw down to distract hostiles so you can easily kill them. Yesterday, a thought randomly came to me on how this could be mitigated.

Combat minions would effectively be a 3rd arm in combat. Another tool for the player to use during combat.

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Summoning
There would be a new player stat: Summon slot. This decides how many minions you can have out at a time. I know it's similar to Terraria, but come on I don't think it was the first to do this. This pertains to all summoned mobs, not just combat ones. It starts at 1, but there would be Creation skill abilities that increase the slot number, up to +2 more slots, allowing up to 3 summoned mobs.

Like old Creation, minions are summoned with a specific item tied to each minion. The item would be unstackable and would be a on a pretty long cooldown when used. It could also have durability. This is all so having a minion die isn't a big deal.

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Combat Minions
On their own, combat minions would be pretty bad at self defense, usually having below average stats compared to hostile mobs of the same tier. Their main purpose are something the player can interact with during combat.

Whereas Innervation gives mostly intrinsic combat rewards, Creation would give extrinsic rewards via combat minions that interact with specific items.

Combat minions will also despawn after a certain amount of time.

There would be 2 kinds of combat minions: ones that attack back, and ones that sit there and do nothing on their own.

Examples:
A hunting buddy wolf-like minion who has low damage, but hitting a target with a melee crit/shotgun projectile will have the target take more damage from the wolf. I chose those weapons because historically it's what hunters used I think.

A stationary runic pylon minion that does nothing, but hitting it with a staff projectile has it emit a shockwave.

A veloraptor-like minion that is normally a melee mob, but holding out meat/steak in your hand will have it lunge towards you, damaging everything in its path - including the player if they don't get out of the way.

A thing with crystals on its back. Shooting it with a blaster projectile has it spread projectiles everywhere, like how light hits a prism and stuff.

A windy breeze OR ender thing. If you shoot projectiles at it, it redirects those projectiles towards a hostile in range.

A spirit knight thing that only swings its sword if the player swings a melee weapon.