Curse

3246251196 · Oct 29, 2007, 03:47 AM // 03:47

I like my little spider, but I think I prefer something bigger and more aggressive looking. The Bear fits this description. However, Black Bears become useless with their Brutal Mawling. When I get EotN I will probably charm a Polar Bear. Unless there is any major reason someone can come up with to stick with the Black Widow..

Angelus... · Oct 29, 2007, 11:56 AM // 11:56

Go with the polar bear, it's awesome.

3246251196 · Oct 29, 2007, 01:16 PM // 13:16

Yeah I am thinking of doing that.

Though, I am tempted to make him an Elder, rather than a regular Hearty.

1. Does the polar bear still growl like my Black Bear did
2. How do pets gain XP. Do they get exactly the same XP you do?

Chthon · Oct 29, 2007, 05:03 PM // 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marverick

Is Great Dwarf Weapon still bugged right now?

Think so. I also find it painfully expensive without expertise.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3246251196

I was just wondering what Pet dmg is more effective:

Slashing or Piercing?

There's very little difference. They each have an inscription that hoses them, which you encounter rarely. They each have a skill which hoses them (shields up and bladeturn refrain), which you encounter rarely. Necromancers have an armor insignia that hoses piercing, which no one wears. Probably the biggest difference is that there's a number of Prophecies plant monsters that are weak to slashing. Besides, most of your pet damage in a full-on beastmaster build is untyped, armor-ignoring +damage from skills anyway.

Marverick · Oct 29, 2007, 07:15 PM // 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

Think so. I also find it painfully expensive without expertise.

Well if the +damage is working properly then I'll probably run Ferocious Strike with it as I don't need Enraged Lunge, that'll give plenty of energy for Great Dwarf Weapon and some other PvE skills.

cr00mz · Nov 01, 2007, 11:59 AM // 11:59

i was thinking of going beastmaster but i wanna know when you got like all BM skills, what do you as a player do? you just stand back and let your pet attack? or do you use the bow as a back-up? but if you use a bow wouldnt you spread your attributes too much?

3246251196 · Nov 01, 2007, 03:16 PM // 15:16

For an effective beastMaster the majority of your skills should be beastMaster. I, for one, use two other skills not from beastMaster. That being Favourable Winds (interchangable with Read the Wind, of course) and the other being Distracting Shot.

While your pet is attacking causing -7 Degen with Poison and Bleeding as well as hitting massive when the enemy is under a condition and being healed with ease with HaO AND having the advantage of Otyugh's Cry - you can stand back and look out for those skills that the enemy try and use to either heal them selves or whatever. This is my style. Of course, you AND your pet could have an interrupt. It all depends on what you want.

cr00mz · Nov 01, 2007, 04:05 PM // 16:05

and how have you put your attributes?

Chthon · Nov 01, 2007, 06:37 PM // 18:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by cr00mz

and how have you put your attributes?

Attributes on a beastmaster are kinda ugly. Since there's no BM-linked weapons, you have to split 3 ways to get the job done. Generally you should use:

Beast = 12 + 1 (headpiece) + X (rune)
Marks = 8 + 1 (rune)
Exp = 10 + X (rune)

Now, here's the nasty part: What do you do with the runes? Lots of BM skills scale pretty decently at the top, and you get increased base damage on the pet. That's a strong incentive to go with the sup rune to get 16 BM. But, lots of BM skills are also 5e skills, and the next Exp breakpoint for 5e skills is at 13. That moves your costs from 3 to 2, or a 33% energy savings. So it's also very, very enticing. But it takes a Sup rune too. So what do you do? Since you're in the backline with decent armor, you can usually get away with 2 sup runes (I can hear the throngs of Minor Rune Nazis clamoring in anger over that comment). In fact, I often do just that when I play beastmaster. Otherwise you have to make some hard choices about what's more important and whether to consider a major rune somewhere..

Johnny Madhouse · Nov 01, 2007, 08:54 PM // 20:54

I believe that the black bear's mauling skill can actually be useful at times, since the introduction of paragon anthems that trigger on use of an attack skill. I'm not sure, but I think I read somewhere that brutal mauling does count as an attack skill for the purpose of anthems.

cr00mz · Nov 01, 2007, 09:08 PM // 21:08

the 9 in marksmanship is just for the bow? you dont use any bow attacks?

Chthon · Nov 01, 2007, 09:50 PM // 21:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by cr00mz

the 9 in marksmanship is just for the bow? you dont use any bow attacks?

Yep, it's just so that your auto attacks aren't wasted. You may not be a warrior, but your auto attacks still aren't so trivial as to just discard.

iridescentfyre · Nov 01, 2007, 09:58 PM // 21:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Madhouse

I believe that the black bear's mauling skill can actually be useful at times, since the introduction of paragon anthems that trigger on use of an attack skill. I'm not sure, but I think I read somewhere that brutal mauling does count as an attack skill for the purpose of anthems.

That's true, provided said Anthems affect "allies" instead of just "party members." The following would theoretically be the only options:

[skill]Anthem of Envy[/skill]
[skill]Anthem of Fury[/skill] (would just result in the Bear spamming Brutal Mauling more...)
[skill]Zealous Anthem[/skill] (Bears have little need of energy)

cr00mz · Nov 02, 2007, 09:49 AM // 09:49

if the pet skills allready is cheap, then 2-3 isnt really much difference, (in the long run it will be, if you think how much energy/min you save) but in a battle i think you wont get Out of mana since the ranger has 3 arrows of regeneration and pretty low mana pool, it will be regenerated quickly

Chthon · Nov 02, 2007, 05:34 PM // 17:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by cr00mz

if the pet skills allready is cheap, then 2-3 isnt really much difference, (in the long run it will be, if you think how much energy/min you save) but in a battle i think you wont get Out of mana since the ranger has 3 arrows of regeneration and pretty low mana pool, it will be regenerated quickly

They also recharge quickly. The difference between 2e and 3e is often the difference between spamming Enraged Lunge on the recharge for an entire battle and running out of energy and needing to rely on auto attacks while your energy recharges.

Saving 1e off your Enraged Lunge every 5 sec is the equivalent of 3/5 of a pip of energy regen. And that's just one skill. Let's take a example with more skills: Assume you've got 16 BM; and you're using Enraged Lunge, Brutal Strike, Otyugh's Cry, Feral Aggression, and Call of Protection as your often-used, expertise-caring-about skills; and you use everything either on the recharge or when it expires, whichever is longer. For all of those skills, 13 expertise saves 1e over 11 expertise. Now, we prorate that 1e over the each skill's frequency of usage, and we get: (1/5) + (1/5) + (1/30) + (1/21) + (1/120) = ~0.49 e/sec = ~1.5 pips of energy regen. So, for this build, the difference between 11 Exp vs 13 Exp is the same as 3 pips vs 4.5 pips of regen. That's a very big difference (+50%!!), and it only gets bigger the more fast-recharging attack skills you add.

That's why I said that choosing between sup BM, sup Exp, or risking dual sup runes is a tough one.

3246251196 · Nov 03, 2007, 05:56 AM // 05:56

Maybe you could risk having two Superiors if you use a Sup Vig.. What you guys think?

Lourens · Nov 03, 2007, 11:35 AM // 11:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3246251196

Maybe you could risk having two Superiors if you use a Sup Vig.. What you guys think?

thats a pretty waste i run mostly minors and have 75hp more

(i care more for 75hp then 2 more points in an atribute)

3246251196 · Nov 03, 2007, 02:42 PM // 14:42

Yeah, something I never really considered but a good idea. I normally use two Maj. But the minors is an interesting point ^^

Marverick · Nov 03, 2007, 03:05 PM // 15:05

Except in PvE most PuG casters are tards running around with dual sups, and henches only have 480 health, so having more than them is just meaningless because mobs will just go bash on them.

cr00mz · Nov 03, 2007, 07:06 PM // 19:06

how is this build.

Call of protection
symbiotic bond
enraged lunge
feral aggression
charm animal
comfort animal
otyhgs cry
some kind of res.

atributes would be
9 marks
12 bm
expertise the rest

note that this is for pve