CC Petmaster

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• flowcyto Posts: 12,742 Arc User

  November 2021 edited November 2021

  For that many pets, I'd prob be using Commander spec. The main drawback to this build is that your personal dps will be quite low (esp for bosses), and ofc pets won't be great in some types of content (though it sounds like you won't be doing higher-end stuff w/ this anyways). I guess you could boost your dmg a bit by adding something like Ball Lit in there, which can also increase the frequency of applying NI. I'd also prob skip the 3-pt adv on Elec Current and just get it to R2 for more dmg and stun duration from it. I'd also prob either take Pres PSS for more of a support_CC focus, or Ego PSS for more of a dps focus, since Int PSS's Detect Vuln doesn't apply to pets (and neither it nor Battle of Wits would be as strong if Int isn't the main stat anyways). Here's an example edit of it:
  
  CC Petmaster - Freeform (Support)
  v3.44:37
  
  Super Stats
  Level 6: Ego (Primary)
  Level 10: Presence (Secondary)
  Level 15: Constitution (Secondary)
  
  Talents
  Level 1: The Blazing (Ego: 8, Pre: 10, Rec: 10, End: 10)
  Level 6: Showmanship (Ego: 5, Pre: 5)
  Level 9: Shrug It Off (Con: 5, Pre: 5)
  Level 12: Ascetic (Con: 5, Ego: 5)
  Level 15: Prodigy (Pre: 5, End: 5)
  Level 18: Daredevil (Ego: 5, End: 5)
  Level 21: Boundless Reserves (Con: 5, End: 5)
  
  Powers
  Level 1: Electric Bolt
  Level 1: Electrical Current (Rank 2, Bad Wiring)
  Level 6: Ionic Reverberation
  Level 8: Aura of Ebon Destruction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 11: Manipulator
  Level 14: Ball Lightning (Rank 2, Triplicity)
  Level 17: Command Animals (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 20: Attack Toys (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 23: Support Drones (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 26: Ritual of Primal Summoning (Rank 2, Unbound Ritual)
  Level 29: Munitions Bots
  Level 32: Entrancing
  Level 35: Resurgence (Rank 2)
  Level 38: Mental Impact (Rank 2)
  Adv. Points: 34/36
  
  Travel Powers
  Level 6: Superspeed (Rank 2, Rank 3)
  Level 35:
  
  Specializations
  Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
  Ego: Insight (3/3)
  Ego: Follow Through (2/3)
  Ego: Sixth Sense (3/3)
  Sentinel: Torment (2/2)
  Sentinel: Caregiver (3/3)
  Sentinel: Sentinel Aura (3/3)
  Sentinel: Wither (2/2)
  Commander: Evasive Action (1/2)
  Commander: Rapid Response (2/2)
  Commander: Create An Opening (2/2)
  Commander: Multitasker (3/3)
  Commander: Durable (1/3)
  Commander: Savage (1/3)
  Mastery: Sentinel Mastery (1/1)
  
  The Ult will be expensive to throw in, so I'd consider it more optional here, but I suppose w/ decent enough gear you can overcome that. You may want to consider using the Mechanical Monstrosity pet as the Ult instead, though (if you have it). You could consider opting for a normal healing power as well, but it's up to you and your own experiences if you think you'd get any mileage from that. Also, if a pet dies, then the shorter cast time from Commander's Rapid Response can help a bit there.

  <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
  - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!

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• h4forums Posts: 268 Arc User

  November 2021 edited November 2021

  Hey flowcyto thanks for the reply. If you'd like to bounce thoughts a bit more:
  
  Commander tree vs sentry: I did think about this but had went with sentry to milk out the cc duration. I agree with your points that rapid response is some good qol, and being so pet heavy benefits from commander anyway. I think I lose out on maybe .5 sec of stun to go commander, but will probably do so anyways since there was nothing else I liked in sentry.
  
  Int pss vs Ego pss: I'm not sure I agree with what you are saying here. I assume you suggested the crit specs from ego tree to help feed the "create an opening" spec from commander? While it'll be more damage, I'd be giving up 10 sec stuns at this point to do so, defeating the draw of doing a cc/pet build in the first place. Might as well just make a normal petmaster! On the other hand, if I ignore crit and go int pss, I can slot 3 growth mods (int), and use wrath secondaries on offense and utility as well, all of which help push for that long stun. Also I'm fairly certain int pss is the way to get the longest duration stun, beating out even pre pss. EDIT: This was wrong, pre pss has more hold duration than int pss by a little bit.
  
  Electric current: R2 on electric current doesn't increase stun duration. The stun is tied to the bad wiring adv rather than the power itself and thus won't improve on ranks. I took unlimited power was there to help sustain energy since I will run out of energy without it--though maybe with the 3 spec pts in commander's "multitasker", I could do without. It would certainly be nice to free up those 3 adv points to beef up some other pet. On the other hand, leaving in unlimited power means I can free up the 3 specs pts in "multitasker" for combat performance ones.
  
  Unbound Primal vs Air Elemental: Why is the unbound primal so good? Having to toss 2 adv points to unbound just felt bad, and I wasn't sure if it was worth. I did notice you added it in instead of the others so it must have something going for it.
  
  Mech monstrosity vs Mental Impact: I do have mech monstrosity. I agree its a better fit here, I just didn't like how it was duration based.
  
  Some extra data to help me figure out how worth the "durable" spec is compared to "evasive action":
  durable ranks: 0 / 1 / 2 / 3
  Black wolf R3 hp: 3045 / 3238 / 3431 / 3624
  
  How frustratingly difficult it is to assign the spec points within the commander tree since everything there is so helpful. If only we could move some of the extra sentinel tree points over huh?

  Post edited by h4forums on November 2021

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• flowcyto Posts: 12,742 Arc User

  November 2021 edited November 2021

  Yea, imo Commander has too many 3-pt options that it feels like you want everything for a pet build but can't get nearly as much as you'd want (the curse of being a very niche spec, I guess). Re-scaling most of those 3-pt options to be 2-pt-max instead would be nice, but oh well.
  
  You were correct about the stun duration on Elec Current, though I may still go for the higher dmg anyways, that is if you won't have any energy issues if using Commander spec and Multitasker. Ball Lit w/ Trip adv can also help by more frequently procing Ionic Reverb in the background itself, but it's not essential either. Ofc, Current's 3 pt adv can still be fine if you want to skip Multitasker, and if you want to toy around with that option instead. I was just considering different ways to help boost the dmg instead, and there's prob other power, spec, or SS options out there for that too. I will say that after brief testing w/ a partial build (using 5 active pet powers, Elec Current w/ stun adv, Manip, Ionic Reverb, ~450 Pres, 3/3 Multitasker, and some cost discount gear), I'm not really having any energy issues spamming Elec Current, and even w/o its 3-pt adv, but ymmv.
  
  I like the Primal summon just cause it's pretty sturdy and cause it can Howl at baseline (not a huge buff, but it can also help nearby allies). Many of the remaining pet choices have pretty similar dmg, though, so you could replace it w/ another if you'd like. R2 of it isn't that important, either way; Unbound is much more important if taking a ritual summon like it. You could also consider a temporary pet power (will have to be re-summoned regularly, ofc, but they can get higher uptime dps vs. a normal pet).
  
  And yea, if you want to emphasize the CC aspect a bit more than the overall dmg (since pets can gain both crit & severity from Ego PSS, and ofc your own dmg will be higher then) then you could take Pres PSS w/ Dominion instead (and Moment of Glory, since pets can also benefit from that). I just don't really like taking Int PSS if one isn't going to get much (or any) mileage from DVuln- which most pets builds won't, and esp if Int isn't the main stat. You could also recover some of the dmg lost in taking Pres PSS by making Dex one of the SSs too (PRES/Dex/Con), assuming energy is still fine then. You could also potentially boost your pet and group dmg by taking adv of Vuln in Pres PSS, but then you'd have to include Ego Sleep or an (AoE) paralyze power in there.
  
  So yea, there's many options to explore out there, and any number of them could work, depending on your priorities.

  <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
  - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!

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• h4forums Posts: 268 Arc User

  November 2021

  I like the Pre/Dex/Con version, the base secondary dex with "moment of glory" was enough to get 20% crit chance, which theoretically should crit at least once every 5 secs to keep uptime on commander's "create an opening". This let me keep growth mods on offense instead of putting in crit gear. Thx for the heads up on primal summon, yeah that howl ability definitely worth. As for the energy thing, I think multitasker + the cost discount gear you had probably made the difference. I used cosmic wrath + R5 brooch, and then 2x R7 brooch in primary utility. I put the multitasker points elsewhere into commander tree.
  
  I was feeling real good about this Pre/Dex/Con version, but then I learned I would have to resummon all the pets at the start of each alert. This was kind of disappointing and I'm not sure it was always this way.
  
  

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• flowcyto Posts: 12,742 Arc User

  November 2021 edited November 2021

  Nice to hear that the PRES/Dex/Con version is getting some good results. And yea, I don't recall if it was always that way in Alerts or not (think it was). If you do have to re-summon the pets, then at least you have Rapid Response to make that a bit less annoying

  <CO stuff> .: Petco :. // A basic FF building guide (see 1st reply) // PSA on Power Activation Delay // Ayonachan's Gift Horse (misc stat data)
  - Be safe and have fun, champs - for science!

  0