Questions about Mod6 Soul Puppets on Live

rubytrue

There were quite a few discussions about SWs and Soul Puppets on the preview server before Mod6 went live. A lot of those discussions weren't very encouraging. People seem to have mellowed out now that Mod6 has gone live so I have a couple of questions:
1) Are Soul Puppets still really squishy that die in one hit post lvl 60?
2) Does the new Damnation Tree Feat where the Soul Puppet generates extra threat draw too much aggro to be of any use?
3) How many HPs do the Soul Puppets have on Live? I understood that they had 25K on preview, and I have heard they bumped that up on Live, but I haven't seen anything definitive.

Thanks for any info.

harnel

I've been running a Damnation 'lock for a bit now, and I'll see if I can answer your questions

1) Soul Puppets aren't what I'd call tanky, but they're not exactly constantly one-hits. They survive for a decent amount of time against mobs (particularly if you're killing things quickly). Thing is, even if they were squishier than they currently are, I wouldn't really have an issue, as they hit hard and if one dies you get a new one in, at very most, 15 seconds.
2) Not that I've noticed. Actually, it's pretty helpful when a puppet runs up and takes the heat off you, since combined with Spiritfire it draws all the aggro you otherwise would have garnered for yourself. It allows you to hit enemies uncontested for a short while at least. Any tank worth their salts will be able to deal with your puppet's aggro easily.
3) My understanding is that it's still 25k, mobs just hit harder now.

As an aside, if you haven't tried them out since Mod 6 hit, they deal way more damage - whereas previously they'd be doing like 1000 damage per hit, since mod 6 came out they're now doing closer to 6000 base, and damnation being damnation gets tons and tons of 20% damage buffs for their puppets. It's not unusual for my puppets to be hitting in the 9,000-11,000 damage range.

rubytrue

Awesome.

I think it is time to reroll my SW. Well, at least one of them (I have three). I had a **** Warlock a long time ago (my first 60), but deleted it to create some toons to level with my daughter. I can't seem to stay away from them.

zaaraki

From my observations: Soul puppet has 99% aoe dmg reduction so if he gets hit by red aoe ground attack he doesnt get any dmg. BUT normal attacks from mobs (sword swings, punches etc.) almost one shots him.

The question about the aggro feat: i dont like it. Soul puppet now doing a lot of dmg if specced right. So u dont want him to overaggro (which is rly not hard with this feat and his dmg) and get him killed all the time. Maybe one point is enough for soloing but for dungeons not rly.

mjytresz

1) I leveled from 60-70 with a pure Damnation build. For the leveling process, the Puppet is invaluable. Between a healing Companion and the Puppet, mobs won't have the time to focus you down. Doing T1 runs at 70, the Puppet survives for a very decent amount of time. Against trash mobs in VT, he'll survive around 2-3 packs before going down. After which you'll revive him quick enough anyway. I don't have experience with a Damnation build in T2's.
2) I never took this Feat. Ironically, the puppet seems to draw enough aggro, when soloing, that it does its job well enough. The real problem is AoE aggro. It's not reliable in IWD, for instance, to solo something like Totem of Auril because it'll only grab aggro from 1 enemy at a time.
3) No clue.

I'll also mention that I respec'd to Hellbinder Fury until the Damnation problems are fixed.

denvald

If I respec damnation I will tell you, since nothing was shown in the patch notes I assume it's the same condition as preview.

You can find this information in the bug section of my complete warlock thread.