Increasing Knowlin utility in squad instances - Claw and other skills

Alphae - Lost City

Knowlin is usually used for pulling due to its high speed and super-obvious casting animation.

What I want to do is improve my Knowlin's use as a puller, but also increase its general utility as DPS on bosses behind a barb tank both by debuffing and by doing more damage, AND I want it to still be at least semi-decent in instance PvP.

I'll probably drop Bash for Slow for pulling, and I'm most likely going to keep and level Howl. Keeping FR is a given. What I'm interested in is dropping Pierce for another skill, and the first one that came to mind is Claw. What I'm concerned with is stealing agro. I hear herc users lament that they put Claw on the big guy and now he can't hold agro for ****, but herc has fairly low base attack, and 130% of low is still low. However a Knowlin has a pretty decent attack stat, and I do NOT want to be stealing agro from the barb.

Thoughts? Would my Knowlin steal agro with it? Does anyone have it on a Knowlin? If he wouldn't steal agro, would it be worth it, or would I be better off with a skill like Sacrifice (lose HP to do great physical damage) or Penetrate (ignore physical defense)? Or would I be better served overall by just leveling Pierce?

Be reminded that I mainly want to use him in squads as DPS or a debuffer behind a barb. PvP utility is a nice bonus but not required.

ElonaFiorna - Sanctuary

Mind you, this is coming from a PvE carebear on Sanc, but it might give you some ideas.

I do believe the Kowlin can make a good support pet behind a Barb. It's attack is not so high as to be worried about stealing aggro. I personally am planning on removing Flesh Ream from my Kowlin and leveling up Bash for the extra dps. I'm also going to level up Howl and Pierce to assist there. Lastly, I plan to put Threaten on my Kowlin. Reducing the physical attack of a boss the barb is tanking would certainly be a big help!

Granted, all of this costs a ton of coin I don't have yet, but I'll figured something out.

In your case, being on a PvP server, I'd say it's a no-brainer to drop Bash instead of Flesh Ream. I'd consider Threaten though instead of Slow. It's expensive, but the Barb you are supporting will probably appreciate it! b:victory

Alphae - Lost City

Slow interests me in solo pulling as well, so that I have a second or two more to summon herc before I go X_X to the boss that's barreling at me full speed b:chuckle Threaten is an interesting choice though. When I say I worry about stealing agro though, it'd be due to the 30% extra attack from Claw.

And I'd nearly rather have a carebear advising me, this is a pretty carebear thread for an LC resident. ;D

Byno - Sanctuary

The extra damage might pull aggro on TT bosses if the barb isn't spamming their flesh ream, since pets tend to do more damage than players in the first place. If you're going to be using debuffs the bonus damage might not be a good idea, unless your barb really wants to work hard. I would think you should up the debuffs first and see if using those pull aggro before putting Claw on.

Also, I'm pretty sure slow doesn't work on bosses, though it can help with normal mobs.

Alphae - Lost City

I'm not sure that'll be a terribly effective strategy Byno, as I wanted to drop Pierce for a rare scroll, and I don't terribly like the idea of spending nearly half a million coins to try something out, especially when I can get no return from it. Conversely I could drop Howl, which would move the debuff to favor archer/BM DDs but -I- can drop a phys debuff and keep it up fairly constantly, so I'm not sure it's worth wasting a space. I can't mag debuff

Has any veno had issues using pet debuffs on bosses in TT and so drawing agro, specifically from the barb to the pet?

And how sad, Slow doesn't work for bosses? T_T I might get Threaten after all.

Akasera - Sanctuary

I routinely use an armored bear with maxed threaten and howl on TT bosses, and it never takes aggro if the barb is doing his normal aggro retention moveset. Debuffs have little built in aggro anyway. Granted, the armored bear's attack sucks, but still, kowlin is fine so long as you just stick to debuffs and basic attacks. The problem wil be kowlin's defense, or lack thereof; TT bosses that aoe are going to routinely kill it anyway, so I'd prefer a bear, golem, or frog as your debuffing pet.

Vinat - Sanctuary

Alphae - Lost City wrote: »

herc has fairly low base attack, and 130% of low is still low. However a Knowlin has a pretty decent attack stat

kowlin has a lower attack stat than herc does

Alphae - Lost City

Does it really? I stand corrected. >_< I admit I'm going on hearsay mostly, and I haven't actually looked at the numbers, but most of what I want is hearsay anyway.

And yet I still manage to make myself look dumb. b:sad

Alphae - Lost City

Akasera - Sanctuary wrote: »

I routinely use an armored bear with maxed threaten and howl on TT bosses, and it never takes aggro if the barb is doing his normal aggro retention moveset. Debuffs have little built in aggro anyway. Granted, the armored bear's attack sucks, but still, kowlin is fine so long as you just stick to debuffs and basic attacks. The problem wil be kowlin's defense, or lack thereof; TT bosses that aoe are going to routinely kill it anyway, so I'd prefer a bear, golem, or frog as your debuffing pet.

Good point. In that case I might slap Threaten on the Knowlin and use rare scrolls on a bear at 80; my cub is woefully underleveled.