Curse

Indra · Oct 21, 2007, 06:47 PM // 18:47

A quick disclaimer: I realize having a pet as a monk is silly, and that I'll be a less effective monk because of it. However, I only play with my guild, which consists of a bunch of my friends irl who are just playing to have fun, and they don't mind me having a pet. And I really want one.

I've envied you guys your pets for quite a while, so I recently decided that since I don't use any secondary class skills anyways, I'll just become a Ranger secondary and carry Charm Animal so I can have a pet. I have a few questions about pets, since I've never dealt with them before, and am hoping someone can answer them.

The main practical reason I want a pet is I'd like it to defend me whenever an enemy attacks me. I don't plan to send it off after enemies, and I rarely attack enemies, so it's important that it recognizes when I'm being attacked, and goes after that enemy without being told to. I have a level 13 Aggressive Lion right now, but I've read that there are multiple leveling paths (Dire, Elder, Hearty, etc). Is there a certain way I should try to level the pet up so that it is more effective at this?

Also, if my pet is standing next to me in battle, will the enemies go after it instead of me? That would be even better, since I'm great at healing others, but not so great at defending myself. However, it would suck if the enemies are too attracted to the pet, and I thus end up with more enemies on me than normal.

Thanks for any replies.

Tab · Oct 21, 2007, 06:51 PM // 18:51

Using a pet as a form of self defence isn't really a great idea, seeing as they do minor damage, and take two skill slots to be effective, whereas a skill such as Shield of Absorption does better in one.

However, it's PvE and anything works, so just run whatever you want.

iridescentfyre · Oct 21, 2007, 07:07 PM // 19:07

The only real defense it might give you is by accidentally body-blocking something that's on its way towards you. There really isn't anything else it can do other than stand near things and bite them for pretty low damage.. especially with low Beast Mastery. Compared to the some of the defensive skills you have as a monk, its negligible. If you really want to play with a pet though, go for it.. sounds like you already know it won't be doing much. You'll also need Comfort Animal on your bar as well, otherwise it will just stay dead as soon as it dies until you rezone or something.

You should make a Ranger!

MBP · Oct 21, 2007, 08:02 PM // 20:02

well to obtain different evolutions the pets have to level a certain way and each evolution has its own kind of bonus except for elder.

I personally prefer the dire evolution (dire evolution guide) because of the damage bonus the pet recieves
check out this wiki article for some more general info

Chthon · Oct 21, 2007, 08:40 PM // 20:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indra

A quick disclaimer: I realize having a pet as a monk is silly, and that I'll be a less effective monk because of it. However, I only play with my guild, which consists of a bunch of my friends irl who are just playing to have fun, and they don't mind me having a pet. And I really want one.

OK, good you understand that.

Quote:

The main practical reason I want a pet is I'd like it to defend me whenever an enemy attacks me. I don't plan to send it off after enemies, and I rarely attack enemies, so it's important that it recognizes when I'm being attacked, and goes after that enemy without being told to. I have a level 13 Aggressive Lion right now, but I've read that there are multiple leveling paths (Dire, Elder, Hearty, etc). Is there a certain way I should try to level the pet up so that it is more effective at this?

First: The pet AI does NOT vary with its evolution. Your pet is going to behave the same regardless of whether it's elder, hearty, or dire. Unfortunately "stick close and defend me" isn't a natural part of the pet's AI. There's two ways I can think of that you might get something close though:
1. As a monk who plays with a guild group, you probably don't have to wand stuff. So don't. With your pet set to "Defend" AI, it will just stick around you as long as you don't attack. Then, when something gets dangerously close to you, wand it and your pet will attack.
2. Set the pet to "Heel" AI. Then, when a threat comes, set it to "Defend" or even "Lock Target." Then, once the threat is dead, set it back to "Heel." You will probably have to wand the threat at least once too.
As you can see, these aren't quite what you want, and do require some input from you, but that's the closest I think you can get.

Second: Yes, there are ways to dictate the pet's evolution. It's widely believed that the evolution path is determined by a composite of the ratio of damage the pet deals to damage it takes and the ratio of damage it deals to damage you deal. So, to get a hearty pet, play normally and let the monsters beat on it. (As a monk, you might have to go smiting (or ursan) to boost your own damage.) To get a dire pet, make a high-damage beastmaster build (enraged lunge is great) with lots of damage prevention (call of protection, Otogu's cry, maybe life bond and life barrier) and go find some melee-only mobs to level it on (the minotaurs at ice tooth cave and elona reach and the bugs at Yohlon Haven are popular choices). I don't know of a reliable way to get elder, but I've heard that leveling to 12 using the dire method, then to 15 using the hearty method is supposed to work.

Quote:

Also, if my pet is standing next to me in battle, will the enemies go after it instead of me?

The enemies will evaluate it using the same algorithm they use to evaluate all potential targets. It's certain that monsters "consider" each potential target's proximity, armor, and hp. Some people also believe they "consider" class and weapon type. At any rate, you're going to have a problem getting them chosen over you since they have 80AL and you only have 60AL. You'd probably also want a dire pet for the -60hp penalty (and avoid heavily rune-ing yourself), but, even then, the AL difference is probably still going to make you look tastier. Sorry.

lennymon · Oct 22, 2007, 07:46 AM // 07:46

pet-smite was fun way back when

Probably still is!

be sure to read Jenoseviel and Epinephrines guide on pets in the community works section, its seminal and very good.

Draginvry · Oct 22, 2007, 11:47 PM // 23:47

I don't recommend pets on monks for the simple fact that if you want them to do anything at all, it will take way too much micromanagement. Since I assume you will be healing or protecting, rather than attacking, your pet will ignore the monsters, and most of the monsters will ignore your pet. You will have to use the pet commands to have your pet "engage" the monsters. So, here's the pros:

Pro 1) The pet can be used to bodyblock enemies, if you use it correctly.
Pro 2) The pet can add some extra damage.

Here's the cons:

Con 1) Properly using the pet as a distraction takes a lot of effort that you could be using to protect your party.
Con 2) If the pet dies, your skills are disabled. If you have a low Beast Mastery attribute, this disability is quite lengthy.

Considering that a monk is one of the most important professions, I wouldn't advise a pet for the simple reason of Con number two. If you are going to use a pet, you should make a hybrid beast mastery / healing monk. But then again, I wouldn't advise that either.

Pets on hero monks can be pretty usefull though, since heroes are perfect at micromanaging pets, and more often than not the tanking power of the pet will protect the hero monk from dying.

The problem with micromanagement has to do with the fact that the "guard" command isn't significantly different than the "heel" command. The pet will still ignore monsters even though it is supposed to "guard" you. Your pet won't successfully guard you unless you tell it to engage. Otherwise your pet will happily stand with a stupid grin on its face while you are being pounded by warriors. Pets will only engange monsters under these circumstances:

1) The pet is set to Guard, and the player has performed the default attack or an attack skill on a targeted foe.
2) The pet is set to Guard, and the pet's controller comes under attack, in which case there is little hope of getting monster AI to switch to attacking the pet rather than yourself.
3) The Target Lock is selected when the player has already targeted a foe. In this case, the pet will attack that target as long as the target is in its detection range. Otherwise, it will attack whatever target the player is attacking.

IMHO, there are only two ways to use pets. The first is to use it on a character who rarely does anything other than attack, such as warriors or rangers, and just ignore the pet entirely, using it for extra damage. The other is to make a hybrid beast mastery build to have the pet distract the foe and do extra damage. But because of the micromanagement issues, this is best left to a class that has a lot of down time, like a Ritualist, or possibly a Paragon.

This isn't to say you can't use a pet on a monk. But realize that if you bring along a pet and expect it to do anything without your input, you will be wasting your skill slot.

Indra · Oct 23, 2007, 05:14 AM // 05:14

Thank you all for replying. I didn't realize that my skills would be disabled when the pet dies, nor that the pet wouldn't just automatically defend me. Those two things totally kill me wanting a pet.

Smiting with a pet might be fun, but I'm much more into healing. I thought I could still be a very good (just not great) monk, just minus one of my normal skills (so I could stick in Charm Animal), but it looks like that's not the case. No pet for me, I guess.

I love the idea of getting one of my heroes a pet, though. That's sort of like me getting to have my pet, without all of the drawbacks. I think I'll have to go do that now.

Anyways, thanks again for the replies.

Ben-A-BoO · Oct 23, 2007, 01:21 PM // 13:21

Hey,
Get a mini pet!

The highly underrated mini pig is a great companion and can be purchased very cheap ...

Cheers,
Timebandit

Draginvry · Oct 24, 2007, 11:48 PM // 23:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indra

I love the idea of getting one of my heroes a pet, though.

You could give all of your heros a pet...

lennymon · Oct 25, 2007, 02:22 AM // 02:22

You can get a pet and just run it when you want to go smiting

air of enchantment pet smite

Quaker · Oct 25, 2007, 02:43 AM // 02:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indra

Thank you all for replying. I didn't realize that my skills would be disabled when the pet dies, nor that the pet wouldn't just automatically defend me.
I thought I could still be a very good (just not great) monk, just minus one of my normal skills (so I could stick in Charm Animal), but it looks like that's not the case. No pet for me, I guess.

Having your skills disabled is the biggest problem with a monk having a pet - I know, I've tried it. It's always just when the tank gets spiked that your pet decides to die.

(Oops, sorry, I would have healed you but....)

Also, of course, just putting Charm Animal in your skill bar isn't enough. You'd need Comfort Animal too, to rez it if it dies. If there's a ranger in the group though, you could get them to bring [skill=text]Revive Animal[/skill]

I did find that the pet did help to protect you - it's fairly easily too target the foe and get the pet to attack - but, there are plenty of other self-defense options.
Still, it was fun sometimes to bring my Black Moa along for "show" (I don't play Monk much anymore). Since it's so easy now to change secondaries and builds, you can always get a pet for fun and just bring it along occasionally, when it's not important.

(the pet will still be there if you swap secondaries and back.)