Curse

Mintha Syl · Aug 04, 2010, 03:33 PM // 15:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luminarus

Id probably look at Illusion 10, Domination 10, Pet watevers left. Fragility, Shrinking Armor, Shatter Delusion, Enraged Lunge, Poisonous Bite, Charm Animal, You Move Like A Dwarf, Great Dwarf Weapon.

Why charm animal?

Aldric · Aug 04, 2010, 05:27 PM // 17:27

A pet on a caster is just silly and not even close to being effective in my view. As Luminarus rightly says you have a gimped combination of beastmaster and caster which is not as good as either individually.

A few primary ranger pet builds are fine and can sustain good damage output but they are still not going to be as o/p as many many other builds however when you play with 7 other humans 99% of GW can be done with effective rather than optimal builds so meh, run a fun build aslong as it aint utter shit (like a caster BM)

Amy Awien · Aug 04, 2010, 05:42 PM // 17:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fay Vert

Pets on casters are bad, the pet won't attack until it's owner attacks and spell casts don't count. Dreadful pet AI == dreadful pets.

Heroes have similar behaviour, you have to either call targets or just autoattack to get them to join the fight, that or when someone in the party is attacked.

In some situations pets > h&h in this respect, like when I'm using a flatbow and the petcontrols and the whole bunch just stands around admiring the view.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zwei2stein

Edit: yeah, IW/BM mesmer. Fun, but not really something great.

Dunno, almost free IAS, basically three skills to start melee, the rest of your bar is free for more mesmery stuff, it's not like wielding IW or the pet is particularly taxing

---
Smite monk might work with a pet, make it your long-distance tank, symbond+balth-aura for energy, SoH+Call of Haste, still room for your elite (RoJ maybe?) and two smite/support/attack skills.

Pets can take a beating too, 80AL - 33% damage reduction and a choice of unstripable damage reduction (Call of Protection, Otyugh's Cry, Symbiotic bond) can make it nearly indestructable. Could make it work.

Fay Vert · Aug 04, 2010, 06:48 PM // 18:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mintha Syl

True, but as long as you auto-attack together with casting (at least when you engage the target, as after that the pet will stay on the targetand you can spam your spells) there won't be any problems.

There is also evidence to suggest that pet agro range is less than spell cast range, so yes you also should have it on attack target, but then that deactivates (unline a hero) between targets. So now you are into having to not only cast and auto attack (assuming you aren't in the middle of chain casting) but you also have to micro your pet agro too! That's not fun.

Oh, and who is this Nubarus troll?

Mintha Syl · Aug 04, 2010, 07:27 PM // 19:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fay Vert

There is also evidence to suggest that pet agro range is less than spell cast range

How so? If he attacks when autoattacking in longbow range, where is this evidence taken from? Maybe it's so if you micro him, but actually not if you autoattack (and you're sure not in a chain when switching targets).

Fay Vert · Aug 04, 2010, 07:45 PM // 19:45

Dunno, just info on wiki, I haven't done much experimentation since I observered the behaviour when I was caster/BM.

Quote:

Guard: The pet moves to and attacks the same target as its owner, when the target is within range. (Casters will find this range is slightly less than casting/wand range, so they might have to take a step or two closer to the target before the pet will engage.)

And don't forget, some caster roles don't even have targets, so pets are pretty dodgy for casters.

Amy Awien · Aug 05, 2010, 05:59 AM // 05:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fay Vert

There is also evidence to suggest that pet agro range is less than spell cast range, ...

What an expression. Take a pet onto the Isle and hit the bow-target dummies, he'll go after them once the arrow hits. Go up on the ledge to increase the range and he'll still attack once the arrow hits.

Once attacking he'll also go for the next target as soon when you attack it, even when you haven't hit it yet.

This is not 'evidence to suggest' but an experiment anyone can verify.

Fay Vert · Aug 05, 2010, 10:18 PM // 22:18

Maybe it means if you don't attack while it's on guard. I only know that when I tried it with a caster the pet just stood by my side until I wanded.

G4ymBoy · Aug 07, 2010, 09:22 PM // 21:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by upier

I actually use that same build quite often (I usually replace the rez with pve skill). If you have a rit hero or player to give you splinter it works quite well. I agree that since battles do not last long enough for GDW+SoH to be useful on your pet they are really not needed (they do make your pretty yellow numbers prettier though). Obviously this build is not very well suited for HM but it can be fun anyway.

Xiaquin · Aug 08, 2010, 01:42 AM // 01:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by upier

The way to improve is to play better, use better skills in the build itself or have an outside source buffing you.
Something like this:

Just realized, that's a lot of health, especially for NM and with a pet. I run in the 520-540s, sans pet, and don't have a problem in HM. I'm not a fan of volley, but it's a nice pet build overall. In NM, at least with h/h, you can get away without a res, as it's been said. Ymlad would be a nice way to snag targets for your pet.

G4ymBoy · Aug 08, 2010, 03:45 PM // 15:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by upier

Actually in regards to HM it would be completely sufficient.
You have Volley and with Splinter on an ritualist hero it is pretty much the best thing a non-melee ranger can do in PvE. And with Volley you don't really need other slots, so you might as well waste them on the pet.
Now combine this with the insanity that are the two ritualist heroes and you don't really need to worry. Sure the heroes will do more than you for the success of the party, but as long as you win - you can have some fun.
That's the thing with BM - even-though it's nowhere near as overpowered as other things, PvE is easy enough to not demand top play AND the options that heroes can play ARE so overpowered that they make up for your deficiencies.
BM is sufficient in PvE. Even for HM.
But if you want top of the line options - you won't be using this.

Well we established al ong time ago that anythign works in PvE i personally would not choose that build for HM (i have and it was fun I just change builds way too much). For HM I prefer MW, Sunder+Penetrating, Savage, Dshot, EBSoH, Scan, IatS. I like spamming my bar but i can basically do that with the Volley+Pet bar too, I feel that i have more control with this build plus i love being able to afford the ward to beef up allies/minions.

EDIT: BTW I love your picture upier ^.^

belshazaarswrath · Aug 08, 2010, 05:02 PM // 17:02

I used to mess around with this until I realized it was baed.

MaedTur · Aug 16, 2010, 12:51 AM // 00:51

Can you cast illusionary weapon on the pet? Then you could put like just 1 point into beast mastery and use 'Never Rampage Alone' for the attack speed boost and use the rest of the bar for other purposes.

Xiaquin · Aug 16, 2010, 01:32 AM // 01:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaedTur

Can you cast illusionary weapon on the pet? Then you could put like just 1 point into beast mastery and use 'Never Rampage Alone' for the attack speed boost and use the rest of the bar for other purposes.

IW is a self-enchantment, so no. Also it wouldn't even be that great, since the effect of IW removes all effects of attack skills.

Why? · Aug 16, 2010, 03:01 AM // 03:01

Pets can be a fun diversion. They can work on casters, I've run a full setup with my char and all my heroes with pets. It is entertaining, and can kinda work.

Beomagi · Aug 24, 2010, 06:04 PM // 18:04

There's a couple ways of looking at pets (other than decoration).

One is as a major source of damage/energy.

The other is a source of damage - not a big source but some damage nonetheless, while using BM/pet related skills to buff yourself.

I think they work decently with warriors. It's one of few ways to achieve ias that's not a stance.

Consider a hammer warrior using battlerage.

NRA+BattleRage (ias/regen/double adrenaline)
auspicious blow
brawling headbutt
renewing smash
comfort animal (pet rez/pokeball...)

another skill like enraging charge can be used to close distance and power up battle rage quickly.

e.g.
run in with NRA + EC.
smack an enemy and start battle rage.
renewing smash for energy.
brawling headbutt for a kd.
renewing smash spam.

I also carry a pet sometimes for great dwarf weapon. It's not completely dependable, but having them locked on a caster keeping them down helps.