Making the Skeletal Footman Worth using

After the stream on 6/24, I've been thinking about how to make the Skeletal Footman worth using over the Lich Fighter summon in some situations and I think I've gotten a pretty good idea about how to do it @Chris .

This would probably require a lot of work though, as it not only makes the Footman useful, but would also make it visibly different from the rest of the other skeletal footmen that spawn (un)naturally in zones.

The easiest part (imo) would be to give the Skeletal Footman summon a much higher aggro generation per hit, solidifying it as a "tank pet." This makes the fact that it does MUCH less damage than the Lich Fighter summon irrelevant, since that wouldn't be its primary role. This would be the first step.

The second, would be to give it the ability to use the skill Taunt, further solidifying it as a tank summon. Both this skill and it's natural aggro would have their effectiveness increased dramatically by leveling the Summon Skeleton skill and the Death Specialization. Then it would gain a Rend skill from the Death Specialization, less for dealing damage and more for keeping aggro (as I've noticed that tamed pets that inflict DoTs are much better at holding it with said DoTs).

The last would most likely be the most difficult to add (imo), as it involves changing the Skeleton Footman's appearance. The goal would be to make it look something like this (image taken from DDO):


Giving it additional armor for aesthetical reasons, and the shield for both aesthetics and to reduce incoming damage (that an actual shield does) to further supplement its role as a tank pet. This would also make the Skeleton look visually different from the others.