You can have as many pets as you can fit in powers for. XD There's not much synergy between any of them aside from just filling the basic "MMO trinity" with them, as in having a tank (Tyrannon's Familiar/Ritual of Arcane Summoning), healer (Support Drones/Ritual of Radiant Summoning), and DPS (Attack Toys!/Ritual of Ebon Summoning).
One thing that DOES synergize well with lots of summons, though, is an aura. Aura of Primal Majesty gives your whole army a nice boost to everything, Aura of Radiant Protection will make your horde more durable, and Aura of Ebon Destruction will make the swarm far deadlier. Medical Nanites is an okay power, but generally won't be that useful compared to the auras above.
Some more synergy, if you want it, is to take Presence as a primary superstat, and the Selfless Ally specialization. Then, Sentinel tree, and the Sentinel Aura specialization. It's not a HUGE amount of healing for your pets, but if they all get damage by an AoE of some sort, the healing you'll do to them will come back to you in MASSIVE amounts.
Commander specialization tree is a pretty obvious choice, but a potentially-unseen synergy lies between the Create Opening specialization and Aura of Ebon Destruction. Every critical a pet gets deals a bit of extra damage. If you have Dexterity as a superstat so that you can get criticals often enough that Create Opening is always active, that will increase your damage massively.
Here's a build I threw together a while back, which I haven't gotten the chance to use due to lack of Freeform Slots. It's not optimized, and doesn't focus solely on summons (instead opting for some stealth powers towards the end), but it'd certainly be deadly. Make sure to head to the Wiki to check out the different types of summons... Non-controllable ones are going to be a bit harder to keep up given that they have set durations before they disappear, and your energy costs will be HUGE given the amount of summons you'll have out.
Specializations: Presence:Selfless Ally(2/2) Presence:Grandeur(3/3) Presence:Moment of Glory(3/3) Presence:Force of Will(2/2) Sentinel:Eternal Spring(2/2) Sentinel:Caregiver(3/3) Sentinel:Sentinel Aura(3/3) Sentinel:Moment of Need(2/3) Commander:Evasive Action(2/2) Commander:Rapid Response(1/2) Commander:Create An Opening(2/2) Commander:Durable(3/3) Commander:Savage(2/3) Mastery:Commander Mastery(1/1)
Dasher@Tool-box, donning his armor to prance into battle and blitz the enemy! No joke!
Cupid@Tool-box, stunningly radiant stag ready to play matchmaker between villain and arrow!
Vixon@Tool-box, frighteningly eager to summon despair for his adversaries!
Jebin Zedalu@Tool-box, elementalist weaponmaster. ...One of these things is not like the others!
The only limit is the number of powers you have. But there is a practical limit because of the reduced power regen based on the number of pets you have out. Also most pets are best if ranked up to rank 3. I find that 5 or 6 controllable pets works well especially with the Commander tree, but that's just me.
You can have 14 powers. One of those is Energy builder. Thats the limit.
You'll still not run around with 13 'pet' powers. You'll atleast want to be alive. So you''l want some heal, protection powers.
More pets is better. Thats why I like those powers that give more then one pet.
Synergy between pets? Maybe there is, but I don't care. Each individual pet weak, so I just go with more or for the looks/style.
If you don't know, pets are effected by you:
- Aura effects them. Those Aura of Protection, Ebon Destruction, etc
- they get healed by Sentinel Aura and when aura heals a pet, you get a stack of Compassion (if you have)
- pets scale with your Super Stats.
- pets 'inherit' half of your crit chance/severity
- as far as I know (tho could be wrong), pets are not bigger or smaller depending on a your role. Role effects your Aura and so pets, but role itself doesn't effect pets.
- if you have a feeling your pets are kinda lazy, resummon. They are full of bugs.
One thing that you need to be aware of is that each controllable pet you have active at one time increases the cost of your powers by 10%. Therefore, you are going to have to very concious of your energy management. Consider taking an appropriate form toggle power that grants energy as well as an energy unlock power appropriate to your attack powers.
At the moment, the most energy efficient power that I know of is ricochet throw. That deals great damage for a low cost and is useful as both a single target and AOE power. The major downside is that there is a chance that a power this good is heading towards a nerf.
Right now, I'm experimenting with a ranged, energy-efficent, pet toon. I have superstated EGO, REC and CON and depend on Concentration and Defiance for energy management. I'm only in my late-teens with this character, but so far its working out well. I usually don't run out of energy unless I keep spamming ricochet throw.
Pet's do more than simply increase the cost of all of your powers. They also decrease the energy returned from both your energy builder and energy unlock if you took one. It is best to run in the support role if at all possible given that it will not affect your pets base damage.
You have to make a choice between your pet's damage and your own. Pet damage is not increased by toggles like Concentration or Enrage. In fact, the only toggle they benefit from is Inertial Dampening Field. They are also unaffected by most Offensive buffs be they passives or active offenses.
There are temp pets and perm pets. Temp pets, like Summon Shadows, disapear after a while. Perm pets have a sub-set called Circle Pets. Perm pets stick around until they die, but Circle Pets need Unbound Ritual or they will disappear after you leave the circle.
Attack Toys! self-replicate. They create temp versions of themselves and they do decent damage. I would add Attack Toys! to any pet build.
If you look in the sticky for Pulswave guides he has a build called Hexed. Great build, plus he goes over pet and aura strategies in the write up. Helped me a lot
Comments
One thing that DOES synergize well with lots of summons, though, is an aura. Aura of Primal Majesty gives your whole army a nice boost to everything, Aura of Radiant Protection will make your horde more durable, and Aura of Ebon Destruction will make the swarm far deadlier. Medical Nanites is an okay power, but generally won't be that useful compared to the auras above.
Some more synergy, if you want it, is to take Presence as a primary superstat, and the Selfless Ally specialization. Then, Sentinel tree, and the Sentinel Aura specialization. It's not a HUGE amount of healing for your pets, but if they all get damage by an AoE of some sort, the healing you'll do to them will come back to you in MASSIVE amounts.
Commander specialization tree is a pretty obvious choice, but a potentially-unseen synergy lies between the Create Opening specialization and Aura of Ebon Destruction. Every critical a pet gets deals a bit of extra damage. If you have Dexterity as a superstat so that you can get criticals often enough that Create Opening is always active, that will increase your damage massively.
Here's a build I threw together a while back, which I haven't gotten the chance to use due to lack of Freeform Slots. It's not optimized, and doesn't focus solely on summons (instead opting for some stealth powers towards the end), but it'd certainly be deadly. Make sure to head to the Wiki to check out the different types of summons... Non-controllable ones are going to be a bit harder to keep up given that they have set durations before they disappear, and your energy costs will be HUGE given the amount of summons you'll have out.
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name:
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6: Presence (Primary)
Level 10: Dexterity (Secondary)
Level 15: Constitution (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: Divinity
Level 6: Intimidating
Level 9: Agile
Level 12: Finesse
Level 15: Acrobat
Level 18: Shrug It Off
Level 21: Survival Training
Powers:
Level 1: Eldritch Bolts
Level 1: Aura of Ebon Destruction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 6: Tyrannon's Familiar (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 8: March of the Dead (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 11: Compassion
Level 14: Support Drones (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 17: Attack Toys (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 20: Munitions Bots
Level 23: Summon Shadows
Level 26: Summon Nightmare (Rank 2)
Level 29: Command Animals (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 32: Sigils of Radiant Sanctuary (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Smoke Grenade (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 38: Ebon Void (Voracious Darkness)
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Teleportation (Rank 2)
Level 35: Flight
Specializations:
Presence: Selfless Ally (2/2)
Presence: Grandeur (3/3)
Presence: Moment of Glory (3/3)
Presence: Force of Will (2/2)
Sentinel: Eternal Spring (2/2)
Sentinel: Caregiver (3/3)
Sentinel: Sentinel Aura (3/3)
Sentinel: Moment of Need (2/3)
Commander: Evasive Action (2/2)
Commander: Rapid Response (1/2)
Commander: Create An Opening (2/2)
Commander: Durable (3/3)
Commander: Savage (2/3)
Mastery: Commander Mastery (1/1)
Cupid@Tool-box, stunningly radiant stag ready to play matchmaker between villain and arrow!
Vixon@Tool-box, frighteningly eager to summon despair for his adversaries!
Jebin Zedalu@Tool-box, elementalist weaponmaster. ...One of these things is not like the others!
You'll still not run around with 13 'pet' powers. You'll atleast want to be alive. So you''l want some heal, protection powers.
More pets is better. Thats why I like those powers that give more then one pet.
Synergy between pets? Maybe there is, but I don't care. Each individual pet weak, so I just go with more or for the looks/style.
If you don't know, pets are effected by you:
- Aura effects them. Those Aura of Protection, Ebon Destruction, etc
- they get healed by Sentinel Aura and when aura heals a pet, you get a stack of Compassion (if you have)
- pets scale with your Super Stats.
- pets 'inherit' half of your crit chance/severity
- as far as I know (tho could be wrong), pets are not bigger or smaller depending on a your role. Role effects your Aura and so pets, but role itself doesn't effect pets.
- if you have a feeling your pets are kinda lazy, resummon. They are full of bugs.
One thing that you need to be aware of is that each controllable pet you have active at one time increases the cost of your powers by 10%. Therefore, you are going to have to very concious of your energy management. Consider taking an appropriate form toggle power that grants energy as well as an energy unlock power appropriate to your attack powers.
At the moment, the most energy efficient power that I know of is ricochet throw. That deals great damage for a low cost and is useful as both a single target and AOE power. The major downside is that there is a chance that a power this good is heading towards a nerf.
Right now, I'm experimenting with a ranged, energy-efficent, pet toon. I have superstated EGO, REC and CON and depend on Concentration and Defiance for energy management. I'm only in my late-teens with this character, but so far its working out well. I usually don't run out of energy unless I keep spamming ricochet throw.
You have to make a choice between your pet's damage and your own. Pet damage is not increased by toggles like Concentration or Enrage. In fact, the only toggle they benefit from is Inertial Dampening Field. They are also unaffected by most Offensive buffs be they passives or active offenses.
Attack Toys! self-replicate. They create temp versions of themselves and they do decent damage. I would add Attack Toys! to any pet build.