Curse

Lady Kalvam · Jun 13, 2006, 01:52 PM // 13:52

I knew someone would just throw a "you're to bad, suck it up, get better" at me. Not using these words, but similiar ones ^^

I'm not a bad player and i'm honestly not suggesting to make the enemies more stupid. I'm sorry if you read that from my posts. They will still switch targets if someone is not careful enough. They will still hate the casters like they allready do.
I'm only suggesting to make the 'sin somewhat of a less priority. This doesn't affect any other class at all, this does not even require a single skillchange which would furthermore throw PVP out of balance. All it does is make an insanely hard to play class, in comparison to others, more playable so the casual player can enjoy the game a lot better. And as an added bonus the very very bad 'sin reputation could calm down a bit.
As it is now, the class is unplayable for the majority of players, resulting in a very poor performance of these players and furthermore creates a wall of game based discrimination. Have a look around, i'm not making these things up.

If a single class is much much harder to play than every other class it should be rebalanced. If it can't be rebalanced by changing skills (due to them being balanced allready, plus the PVP Side of the game) it can only be a change in the environment. The most obvious and easy change would be to simply rework the mob priority.

Take very other class out there as an example. Easy to learn, hard to master. Why exactly should the 'sin be a difference? The class has allready got the combo and energy dilemna, with the addition of a very very weak armor and a low base damage. Which other class does suffer from so many weaknesses to offset the strength of movement and conditions? Imho, not a single other class does.

On a sidenote, we maybe should cut the discussion about this here and either start a new thread in suggestions (to see more opinions as well) or end it completely.

P.S.: I hope my words don't read as a flame or flamebait. I'm a bit out of training with the language

Isis Mordecai · Jun 13, 2006, 02:10 PM // 14:10

when i play my assassin in groups, i always wait til the tank runs in head first then ill side step about until i see a gap to go for an enemy caster and pounce in and out, wait for regen then do it again. I never go for warrior like enemies unless its the only type of enemy in the mob or its one left over n at that ill attack from the back, n if i see the enemry turning i tele out of there.

so far its worked well for me.

wilebill · Jun 13, 2006, 02:44 PM // 14:44

The assassin takes a long time to learn to play it well ... or at least well enough to stay alive, which is all I claim to do.

But there is the problem with the assassin. It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, and some study of the forum postings to make it work.

Vecte · Jun 13, 2006, 02:49 PM // 14:49

**ATTENTION** - *Before reading this post, bare in mind that I only read the first few posts of this topic, so if anything similiar to this was posted, I apologize, and I also apologize for any grammatical errors.*

Ok, I've gotta admit, being an assassin and trying to complete the game without henching it is a chore on its own. It took me all but two days to get out of arborstone because groups would not take me, and the final part of the mission is quite hard with henchman. I ended up beating the mission with a very good friend of mine (barrage ranger) and the rest henchman. What really got me ticked is when a group said, "Looking for 2 more, Have monks already, invite self". Naturally I invited myself. Well as soon as I did, I got rejected. I looked and saw the group still had the same amount of people, so I assumed the leader had accidently hit reject. Well, I invited myself again, and was accepted into the group. As soon as I joined, the leader said, "Hi noob assassin, bye noob assassin," and I was immediatly kicked from the group. This really got me mad, and it takes a hefty amount of anything to get me mad. I am not a person who spams stuff, or annoys people, much less talks to anybody in a mission. I quietly look for a group, and then do the mission like im supposed to. But this really got to me. Well off of this stupid sob story and back to what I originally came here to post. After running a countless amount of builds, I have discovered 2 that in my opinion, work well for both pve and pvp. The later build is probably commonly seen in pvp, but I haven't watched many assassins pvp. I'll start off with my first build:

Recommended Daggers: 15^50, 20/20, +30 (if using recall, Zealous Mod might be better for you than 20/20, but if using Death's Charge, go for 20/20)
Dagger Mastery: 12+1+3
Shadow Arts: 10+1
Critical Strikes: 8
Skills:
1.Leaping Mantis Strike
2.Jungle Strike
3.Horns of the Ox
4.Moebius Strike (Elite)
5.Recall (or Death's Charge, downside is 45 sec recharge)
6.Dark Escape
7.Shadow Refuge
8.Resurrection Signet
Discussion: This is a more pve oriented build. Plain and simple, the first 3 attacks are the most worth while in my opinion for any assassin. They all have a low energy cost, do good damage for the cost, and have some pretty nice things included with each (crippling, +dmg to crippling, and knockdown). What makes this build is Moebius strike. This allows the instant recharge of your attack skills, if the enemy is below 50% health (which most squishies are after you have pounded on them with your first 3 attacks). Doing this allows you to keep a constant assault on the enemy granted you arn't being attacked. This is why i placed recall in the line up. Since Moebius uses your elite, AOD is out of the option. I've found it is better not to shadow step to the enemy in pve, because for some reason, it usually ends up bad, even if you didn't begin the assault, which no assassin should ever begin the assault. Just place recall on one of your spellcasters, or a ranger and if things get bad, get the funk out. You also have Dark Escape as an alternative escape. You can throw in deaths charge if you insist on shadow stepping to the foe, and you can dark escape out, but that has a large recharge, and is not recommended. Another bad thing about this build is the place where you cap Moebius, it is outside eternal grove, and is a bit of the ways into the game, so if you are no to this point, try my alternative build below. It is more pvp set, but works nicely in pve as well.

Recommended Daggers: 15^50, Zealous, +30
Dagger Mastery: 12+1+3
Shadow Arts: 10+1
Critical Strikes: 8
Skills:
1.Leaping Mantis Strike
2.Jungle Strike
3.Horns of the Ox
4.Falling Spider
5.Aura of Displacement (Elite)
6.Dark Escape
7.Shadow Refuge
8.Resurrection Signet
Discussion: This is probably a common dagger build in pvp, but granted I don't do much pvp, and haven't really seen many assassins pvp, but it works well for pve. AOD is a fairly easy cap, and it is right outside of House Zu Heltzer, so you can get it fairly early on. AOD allows for excellent hit and runs, and you rfirst 4 attacks add a large amount of damage for you, with the possibilty of some degen in the end. With the Zealous mod you will be getting +1 energy every hit, and a chance for +2 more every hit from critical strikes, so energy management is never a problem. Also, if for some reason AOD is in cooldown, Dark Escape out if things get nasty. Pretty much though, the build explains itself. Now, for the assassins that are not able to cap either of these elites, below is a little build that can help you up to the point of capping AOD.

Recommended Daggers: 15^50, Zealous, +30
Dagger Mastery: 12+1+3
Shadow Arts: 8
Critical Strikes: 10+1
Skills:
1.Palm Strike (Elite)
2.Horns of the Ox
3.Falling Spider
4.Golden Lotus Strike
5.Sharpen Daggers
6.Recall
7.Shadow Refuge
8.Resurrection Signet
Discussion: This is a simple build, with an early elite cap. Start by sharpening your daggers, then just spam your first 2 skills, and if the foe ever gets knocked down, just hit them with falling spider for extra damage and more possible degen. If your energy gets low(make sure you are still enchanted with Sharpen Daggers) Throw out a Lotus strike for some more energy. The rest of the build explains itself.

Now, I gave you some builds, so what is the use of the assassin in your group? Killing Squishies. The best use for the assassin, is to wait for the tank and or ranger to pull, and rather the tank try and run through the group to get to a healer or another high damaging spell class, let the assassin do it. The tank is better to keep the other warriors or assassins busy, and off your groups healers and spell casters. An assassin on his own can take out a healer very quickly, as well as other classes like ritualists, eles, mesmers, and necros. He of course needs to be careful against classes like ele and mesmer, spiking and empathy can drop him quick. The assassins quick attacking and high damage, and some aid from another spellcaster or two from your group, you can make short work of all the enemy squishies. After his work is done with them, he can then add in the assault on the other melee class enemies, but he should be very careful when doing so, if they turn on him, he needs to move out, because chances are, he won't last. Now granted, not everyone is gonna use these builds, they may have found something out that works better for them. The best way of picking out the better assassins, are to ask. Ask them a question that gives them the opportunity to explain there build in short terms. If they answer something along the lines like, "I'm Uber Hit and Rune", or something of the like, chances are they will only bring despair to your group. If they answer something along the lines like, "After the assault has begun, I'll shadow step to a healer or spellcaster, attack, then get away," you will probably be safe with this person. Seeing as they explain in more detail instead of using internet slang, it usually means they put more thought into things than stupidity. Of course, this is not always the case. You can't always tell about a person, it is best to just give everyone a chance. If they end up causing your group to wipe, o well, try it again. Any class can make a group wipe, but the big discrimination so to speak against assassins is ridiculous. Please everyone, let all the assassins have a chance, there are some good ones out there.

Killmur · Jun 13, 2006, 03:39 PM // 15:39

The thing I do with my assasin now is tell the Monk\s in the group that I only bring Healing Breeze and Ressurect. That let's them know I am not gonna tank it with Mending and other Healing Prayer skills. Hell all I need to keep myself alive is Healing Breeze. I found constanly maintaining Mending got boring after a while. As for Vecte's builds maybe I will try them out.

Vecte · Jun 13, 2006, 03:56 PM // 15:56

the only bad thing i found with assassin, but not really all that bad, is their lack of healing. shadow refuge is very nice, and death's charge can somewhat help, it still is hard to self heal.

my thoughts on using heals outside of the assassin are kind of, harsh i guess you would say. Using skills from a secondary profession require you to put points into that trait. this is going to take away from your assassin attributes. IMO!, all sins should run points in dagger mastery and critical strikes. if you are using a secondary profession skill, it leaves you without points on shadow. this can hurt other skills, especially the very common dark escape, which is almost a must in every build. this is why i chose to stick with an all assassin build. As for secondary proffession, monk is a good choice if you plan yo use the skills, especially if you are a deadly arts assassin, but those are few and far between.

of course, everyone needs to use what works best for them.

Tauruse · Jun 13, 2006, 04:03 PM // 16:03

My son plays an assasin and I'm letting him learn the hard way that Assasins aren't tanks. He's twelve and backing off isn't in his vocabulary, yet.

A big help for assasins in pve would be a base ten damage reduction skill that lasted 4 seconds and took 30 seconds to recast. They probably already have one of these?

Vecte · Jun 13, 2006, 04:13 PM // 16:13

well, if he plays a/w there is an option there. instead of shadow arts points, if he is using them, use tactics points instead. add in watch yourself and healing signet. healing signet will replace shadow refuge for the lose of shadow arts points, and watch yourself will give him +20 armor, as well as the rest of his nearby allies +20 armor. this helps him, and the party. also, losing shadow arts makes you lose dark escape, so i would add in the warrior skill rush. using these skills will also reduce his energy usage a good deal, and will let him continuously use his attack skills without a great worry for energy.

the above will work, but imo, i don't recommend it to anyone. like said multiple times before, assassins arnt meant to tank, and it seems that is what your son is doing. he needs to learn the basic fundementals of the assassin. he shouldnt be focusing on things that hit him hard, like warriors, or other assassins for that matter, he needs to focus on the squishies like monks and other spellcasters. if you want, i can play with your some son, and help him out with his build. but, that is entirely up to you.

edit: if for some reason he can't be broken from the tanking thing, below is a build that can work. still, i would not recommend it.

Dagger Mastery: 12+3 (Needs sup dagger rune)
Tactics: 10
Critical Strikes: 8+1+1 (Needs critical strike mask and minor crit rune)
Skills:
1.Palm Strike (Elite)
2.Horns of the Ox
3.Falling Spider
4.Blades of Steel
5."Watch Yourself!"
6.Rush
7.Healing Signet
8.Resurrection Signet

This build won't kill his energy, and it will dish out the damage. He should only use rush as an escape to get away and heal. Of course, he should never use healing signet when he is up close to, or being attacked by a physical damaging class, because he will definitly get rocked.

GloryFox · Jun 13, 2006, 04:55 PM // 16:55

Quote:

1. A list of 1-3 things that assassins do better than any one else or extremely valuable things that they do almost as well, and an explanation of why I'd want an assassin doing it instead of whatever classes normally do it.

Here are 2 off the top of my head.
a) Surgical Strike your enemy DEAD, similar to a Mesmer only faster and more direct.
b) An assassin’s ability to Maneuver on a battlefield is superior then any other class. (If you ever studied the art of warfare then you understand that mobility is a valued key to success on the battlefield.)

Quote:

The names of the cookie cutter builds (PUGS are all about the cookie cutter :P ) that let assassins shine at the above task(s), as well as a basic summary how they work.

Once again here are a few off the top of my head
a) Chain Knockdown (the ability to keep an enemy down and down and down and down again)
b) Surgical Striker (The ability to shadow step in and out in make a kill or do LOTS of damage and get out.) MY FAVORIT!
c) Degenerating wonder. (The ability to Poison and Bleed your opponents to death. This is an Assassin Ranger Build. You can easily keep –9 degen on an opponet up over a long period of time.-3 to -5 if they run away.) (Poison and Bleeding is -7 but there are other skills that add to it)
d) Up Front Interrupter (Great for irritating the crap out of boss & player monk’s and ele’s. You can chain interrupt over and over and over and over again similar to knockdowns only with less mana cost and you damage at the same time.) Assassin Warrior Build.
e) Critical Strikes Barrage (Use barrage but with bleeding attached.)

Quote:

a few questions and answers to ask an assassin that whow whether or not they are any good. ( ie what is your build and how do you see your role in the group?)

a) Are you a Tank? AWNSER IS NO!
b) Who leads in the attack you or the warrior? AWNSER IS WARRIOR
c) What is Your Elite? A simple question getting a simple answer. For example PALM STRIKE might mean he is a surgical striker.

My Surgical Strike Build

Dagger Mastery 9 8+1
Shadow Mastery 11 10+1
Critical Strike 16 12+1+3

+ 50 HP Vigor Rune
Zealous Daggers +30 HP (Green dagger at the endgame)
485 HP
Armor Choice is +15 armor when attacking for 85 total.

SKILLS
Unsuspecting Strike +32 and +42 more when Health of victim is above 90%
Palm Strike Touch attack for 90 (counts as offhand strike)
Twisting Fangs Double Strike for +21 damage; Bleeds and Cripples for 21 seconds
Blinding Powder 12 seconds (my anti warrior option)
Critical Eye Gets my mana up real fast or Option such as a Res Sig
Deaths Charge Shadow Step to Target Foe
Return Time for EVAC!
Shadow Refuge Healing

Notice I did not bring any Res SIG or other resurrection skill and left it as an option. My reason for it is simple. If the Assassin had to resurrect the party then the assassin or party failed. An assassin should gladly give his life to protect back rank casters including monks. (If I have to stop shadow stepping across the battlefield to raise someone then we are all dead anyways. In the few seconds it takes to raise someone I should be killing something instead.) I should be constantly looking for ends for instant kills or damaged enemies for instant kills. This is probably the only class I would not include a resurrection skill in. A warrior has armor to keep damage to a minimal so he can res. An assassin does not. All other classes are back rank classes anyways. Don’t get me wrong an assassin is a front rank class just not a Tank. Warriors should always go in first followed by an assassin for back up and aggro control.

GloryFox · Jun 13, 2006, 05:05 PM // 17:05

Quote:

posted by Tauruse
My son plays an assasin and I'm letting him learn the hard way that Assasins aren't tanks. He's twelve and backing off isn't in his vocabulary, yet.

A big help for assasins in pve would be a base ten damage reduction skill that lasted 4 seconds and took 30 seconds to recast. They probably already have one of these?

Yes its a A/Mo build the uses protection skills. You might introduce your son to protection monk magic. I also have this issue with my 10 year old son who is not allowed to leave Shing Jea island or join up with other people.

Vecte · Jun 13, 2006, 05:55 PM // 17:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by GloryFox

Yes its a A/Mo build the uses protection skills. You might introduce your son to protection monk magic. I also have this issue with my 10 year old son who is not allowed to leave Shing Jea island or join up with other people.

i never though about protection pairs. definitly need to look into that. only thing though, energy management could come into play there.

Siren · Jun 13, 2006, 05:58 PM // 17:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by GloryFox

Once again here are a few off the top of my head
a) Chain Knockdown (the ability to keep an enemy down and down and down and down again)
b) Surgical Striker (The ability to shadow step in and out in make a kill or do LOTS of damage and get out.) MY FAVORIT!
c) Degenerating wonder. (The ability to Poison and Bleed your opponents to death. This is an Assassin Ranger Build. You can easily keep –9 degen on an opponet up over a long period of time.-3 to -5 if they run away.) (Poison and Bleeding is -7 but there are other skills that add to it)
d) Up Front Interrupter (Great for irritating the crap out of boss & player monk’s and ele’s. You can chain interrupt over and over and over and over again similar to knockdowns only with less mana cost and you damage at the same time.) Assassin Warrior Build.
e) Critical Strikes Barrage (Use barrage but with bleeding attached.)

I've got F for you:

Assassin's Promise with high Dagger Mastery. ~_^

GloryFox · Jun 13, 2006, 06:26 PM // 18:26

Quote:

posted by Siren
I've got F for you:

Assassin's Promise with high Dagger Mastery. ~_^

LOL... at first I thought you were giving me an "F" for my listings when i noticed I left off at e)

Yes assassins Promise with high Dagger Mastery is a great skill and combo however what would you name the build? My response was to the opening post in what cookie cutter builds are there and what do they do?

Siren · Jun 13, 2006, 07:40 PM // 19:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by GloryFox

LOL... at first I thought you were giving me an "F" for my listings when i noticed I left off at e)

Yes assassins Promise with high Dagger Mastery is a great skill and combo however what would you name the build? My response was to the opening post in what cookie cutter builds are there and what do they do?

Haha, gotta love getting creative with language. ^_^

My build isn't exactly cookiecutter, though I suppose when people discover Assassin's Promise like I have, we'll see more of it. I don't even have a name, necessarily, for the build, either.

The build is focused on using Assassin's Promise, Mark of Instability, Black Lotus Strike, Twisting Fangs, Falling Spider, and Death Blossom, primarily, with Crit Eye and Rez Sig. I've found that it's an excellent killing machine--and when I'm really on top of things, I can knock out non-bosses faster than Warriors can, and I can chain those kills together. Usually goes like this:

Mark of Instability-->BLS-->A.Promise-->Death Blossom or Twisting Fangs-->Falling Spider-->Death Blossom or Twisting Fangs

My target's health often dictates which Dual Attack I use. If they're within the danger zone, I'm going to use Twisting Fangs to finish them off. If they've got above 50% health, I bring out Death Blossom to maximize its AoE damage potential.

What's really nice about the build is that A.Promise will recharge everything on my skill bar, and Death Blossom will inflict 80-something damage to all foes, so that means killing the next target is incredibly easy. And then after one or two kills, that Death Blossom AoE damage starts to kill my off-off-targets, which makes things easier for everyone.

That strat enables me to chain-kill, which is something I can't really see Warriors ever being able to do. ^_^

I suppose...the build could be called The Chain Killer.

Beat_Go_Stick · Jun 13, 2006, 11:09 PM // 23:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by GloryFox

Notice I did not bring any Res SIG or other resurrection skill and left it as an option. My reason for it is simple. If the Assassin had to resurrect the party then the assassin or party failed. An assassin should gladly give his life to protect back rank casters including monks. (If I have to stop shadow stepping across the battlefield to raise someone then we are all dead anyways. In the few seconds it takes to raise someone I should be killing something instead.) I should be constantly looking for ends for instant kills or damaged enemies for instant kills. This is probably the only class I would not include a resurrection skill in. A warrior has armor to keep damage to a minimal so he can res. An assassin does not. All other classes are back rank classes anyways. Don’t get me wrong an assassin is a front rank class just not a Tank. Warriors should always go in first followed by an assassin for back up and aggro control.

Your logic is flawed. Your res is there to keep the party from failing, not to get them back up when it has already failed. Mid-combat, when your Mesmer, Warrior, Ranger, Monk, whatever goes down, you use your res sig so they can resume combat and give your team a better chance of not wiping.

Unless you can prove that Critical Eye (or any one of those skills) is more effective than a teammate with a full skill bar including their own res sig to bring you back to life should you fall in combat, then you have no reason to be one of the guys who doesn't bring one.

I've partied with no end of people who think that their 8th slot is more important than keeping their team alive. Thoughts like that are absolute garbage.

I don't mean to single you out like this but people really need to learn that unless your teammates have given you the 'Ok' to not bring a Res Signet, it is your responsibility to the team to sacrifice one skill slot so that you may regain the aid of a teammate in a crisis.

Anything less just contributes to the masses of horrible PuGs out there.

XvArchonvX · Jun 14, 2006, 02:37 AM // 02:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Kalvam

I knew someone would just throw a "you're to bad, suck it up, get better" at me. Not using these words, but similiar ones ^^

I'm not trying to say that you're bad and to suck it up. I am saying that AI goes for soft targets and I like that. If AI was to go after other professions besides assasins, just because assasins were getting killed in PvE more than other players, I would see that as a problem with either the abilities of the assasin class or the person playing that class. I will not say which it is, because I have not seen every person who has an assasin play. Therefore there was no accusation, so I'm sorry you saw it that way.

Rikimaru · Jun 14, 2006, 04:38 AM // 04:38

The cookie-cutter build for assassins is this (I don't think it even has a name, but i've heard it referred to as "Falling Spider"):
The attacks are Golden Phoenix Strike/Palm Strike > Horns of the Ox > Falling Spider > Twisting Fangs, and they usually have Shadow Refuge incase of degen or aggro, and Critical Eye for extra criticals and energy management.
With that build, I can actually solo any stray enemies that aren't directly next to another (I also take Blinding Powder).
The role of a decent dagger-using assassin in PvE is to take out trouble enemies that are seperated from the giant melee, like elementalists or monks.

fezpenguino · Jun 14, 2006, 05:13 AM // 05:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rikimaru

The cookie-cutter build for assassins is this (I don't think it even has a name, but i've heard it referred to as "Falling Spider"):
The attacks are Golden Phoenix Strike/Palm Strike > Horns of the Ox > Falling Spider > Twisting Fangs, and they usually have Shadow Refuge incase of degen or aggro, and Critical Eye for extra criticals and energy management.
With that build, I can actually solo any stray enemies that aren't directly next to another (I also take Blinding Powder).
The role of a decent dagger-using assassin in PvE is to take out trouble enemies that are seperated from the giant melee, like elementalists or monks.

Yeah, right off from the bat I started doing this sort of thing. As an Assassin, you will tend to avoid hitting warriors. Also rangers too. Warriors and Rangers have good defensive capabilities, and hinder you greatly, and your use. It is good to use your skill on those who take massive melee damage, such as monks, ritualises, elementalists, mesmers. Just teleport to them, throw on your combo's, and they'll die quickly, and that'll reduce the enemies from the back, while your tank takes the full brunt of the melee and spell damage. It's best to quickly get rid of the elementalists and mesmers first, for they'll do damage. Once damage is nuitalised, it wont be hard to take out the rest.

I've been given compliments for my Assassin-useage in PvE and that put a smile on my face. =)

GloryFox · Jun 14, 2006, 06:15 AM // 06:15

Quote:

I don't mean to single you out like this but people really need to learn that unless your teammates have given you the 'Ok' to not bring a Res Signet, it is your responsibility to the team to sacrifice one skill slot so that you may regain the aid of a teammate in a crisis.

I think you could get your point across without trolling. AND yes I do ask about the res its only polite. That is why I do leave a few skills as optional in my build. Most think that an assassin will die fast. I don't; and to my surprise that Critical Eye has been the difference between party life and death. As long as I can keep my mana up the enemies fall over dead. However as a combat source that does more spike damage then other classes, it's best a non spiker res a dead member.

Some warriors feel this way as well so this argument could be on a different thread.

wilebill · Jun 14, 2006, 10:27 AM // 10:27

Vecte, you obviously know ten times more about dagger builds than I do. I stand in awe. I'm responding only to the problem of getting into casual player groups when you need to.

I'm an A/R and getting into groups is much easier if you advertise yourself as a "Critical Barrage Archer with Interrupts lfg" -- which actually is an excellent damage-dealing build with 13 crit, 12 marksmanship, and 10 shadow for Refuge.

This is also very effective for henching, and makes it easy to take out healers at range. I've henched all over Mourning Veil Falls, the Morostav Trail, and the road down to Amatz Basin with it, and also many quests and missions including Raisu Palace.

You can add a pet and get Beast Mastery up to about 9 by dropping crit to 8 and taking a point or so out of shadow. I've got a Dire Tiger. Advertising yourself as "Critical Barrage Archer with interrupts and Dire Tiger" gets you into even the most stubbornly anti-assassin groups, because they want to see the Dire Tiger! The pet helps control aggro and the pet's damage about equals the loss in crits by dropping the attribute, so, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. Besides, the pet is fun!