So far the allies that have proved the most usefull in my minions' army are :
- The bells (golden and platinium) armed with powerfull machineguns , given the "Marksman" skill through the Gene Machine (from Punks from the slavemaster of Derphy) and leveled are really great in term of damage dealing and fire support (due to their insane speed they open fire several times by turns).
They're squishy but their insane speed make up for it, as it's rare an enemy will be able to get into melee distance with them.
- The Exile (servant given by Itzpalt of Element) that shoot several spells by turns, he's squishy but powerfull, make sure to level him a bit and give appropriate items to avoid him dying a lot from enemies with area attacks (rock/potion/grenade throwers, hounds, dragons, etc...) on the 1st hit.
Isca the fallen angel and Goda the orc captain i got as ally from killing them in Hunting random missions (they ask to join you when you do) are very strong and resilient but despite they're very well equipped with weaponry, i don't see them better than a leveled and equiped little girl.
Overall i had the feel that ranged allies have been more usefull than my melee ones in my minions army.
But their resilience probably is usefull to be a distraction for the monsters while the ranged troopers shoot them.
The cat sister does not have yet enough AP so i can't go give her more ranged weapon preference at the south continent guy waiting in the Refugee Camp, and so far as a melee character, she's -always- the 1st one to die (before Isca, Goda and the little girl i have since the start) despite she got tons of money and potential training then (thanks the Harvest spell) for her level 20 and nice items