What pets do you recommend?

fretboardhero

My sister needs a good tank, what pet would you recommend for that and why?
Thanks in advance
(I'm sure there are already threads on this, but I didnt want one that was possibly outdated)

Dandelyn - Heavens Tear

Most people go for the crystalline magmite (lvl 17) or volcanic magmite (lvl 18) due to their very high physical defense. They even have pretty high attack to keep agro. I have a volcanic that I keep leveled up, but I'm sure once I get a herc, that'll take over as my main tank. The only downsides to a magmite is that they are big, slow, and their magic defense is below par.

Scorpions and beetles also make great pets once leveled up b:pleased

I guess it's ultimately up to the venomancer; what build they have, do they want something unique or cute, or are they just concerned with performance.
Good luck in your quest for a good pet!

Erosis - Dreamweaver

Land tank - Golem until Lv 40 is usually your best bet, then go from there and see what type of pet would best suit your own personal needs after that. However, you could also go with the Beetle/Qingfu until Lv 40. Do NOT spend money on skills for it, though. You're better off saving for a Herc than spending 800K on skills for Golem.

In terms of an air tank, the Windwalking Piggy makes a good one if you manage to get your hands on it. It's a level 30 rare pet. Be aware that its attack power is absolutely awful, though. The Goldenwing Emperor (Level 28) is a decent substitute, with better attack power, but I personally find it hideous. XP

As for a water tank... Water pets are fairly expendable, but if you want a water tank for some reason, a turtle is the way to go.

LloydAsplund - Sanctuary

Land - magmite. I would say find the highest level magmite you can find. I say this because I personally find the faster speed and higher level bash helps out, better than the bit of increased attack/def. Also, because,Im assuming your goal is to obtain a hercules, which can replace other "tank" land pets. I would say no to wasting money on upgrading skills as they just slow down getting a herc.
Crystalline/volcanic -> torgirn -> fb59 rock.

air - petite sawfly. or the highest level foxwing you can find because you dont need to level them as much and have more defence if that suits you better. Use these until you save for phoenix.

water - the highest level water pet that you can find. I find turtles > water maids/****/echo things.

tweakz

Depending on the size of your bag, if you're limited, and planning on getting a Herc/Nix: I'd probably go with the wolves and upgrade / dispose of as needed. There should be a thread on that somewhere as to why. You can see the skills they come with here: http://snowbloom.110mb.com/pi.htm -Howl is very useful for quick killing!

The first keeper pet for a small cage / bag would be an Eldergoth Marksman (41), again covered in another thread.

If you're planning on a Nix, I'd treat the air pets as disposable as well. I do like the stats/ skills on the piggy though.

Golems are practically worthless. For anything they can do: it seems there's another pet that can do better, and none are as slow. Magic defense on a tank is not worthless.

If you go with a max pet bag, I'd get one of these 3: Carapest Terror, Frogling, Prickly Oddfoot Pup. If you're not sticking with Pure Mag build: don't get frog. Carapest Terror would be my first choice because it comes with slow which is good for debuff luring magic mobs.

At level 60 you can get an armored bear. If you were to buy another Herc and swap skills just for physical debuff luring or normal luring: I don't think it would be as good as an Armored Bear with it's default skills for the job.

If you don't mind leveling a water pet, the Death Dancer is an extremely fast one with high magic defense. One of the quests for level 84 can use a lot of underwater luring that a Plumpfish (another recommended pet) is painfully slow for. I think it may be decent for PvP or the Dragon Temple Event as well, but haven't tried yet.

Turtles are popular, but their defense could be overkill for the levels you need them at. Considering the comparable stats on smaller, faster plumpfish: I'd consider them disposable.

Solandri - Heavens Tear

Erosis - Dreamweaver wrote: »

However, you could also go with the Beetle/Qingfu until Lv 40. Do NOT spend money on skills for it, though. You're better off saving for a Herc than spending 800K on skills for Golem.

The Qingfu and about half of the Beetles don't come with an aggro skill (the other half of the beetles come with Bash). They'll be pretty useless as a tank without adding an aggro skill.

tweakz wrote: »

Golems are practically worthless. For anything they can do: it seems there's another pet that can do better, and none are as slow. Magic defense on a tank is not worthless.

Magmites combine the best pdef of any non-cash shop pet with close to the best offense of any pet and close to the highest hp of any pet. They are almost indisputably the best pet from 17-40, and arguably the best from 40 on up.

After 40 (maybe 50, it's been a while) you run into more magical and mixed magic/physical attack mobs. So a pet with more balanced defense becomes valuable. But you will still want a magmite (even though I hate the things) in your pet bag for the occasional phys attack boss. (The high offense is important because if you're solo and spam healing, your pet is the only source of damage. The benefit of the high pdef + high hp combo should be obvious.)

At level 60 you can get an armored bear.

Armored bear is 80.

I should add that most PvE situations are easy enough that most any pet will do. You only need to start getting picky with pets if you're doing bosses, FBs, TT, etc.

tweakz

Solandri - Heavens Tear wrote: »

The Qingfu and about half of the Beetles don't come with an aggro skill (the other half of the beetles come with Bash). They'll be pretty useless as a tank without adding an aggro skill.

At times when you actually need the kind of tanking a Qingfu, magmite, beetle, etc can provide, I don't think you'll need to worry about aggro.

Magmites combine the best pdef of any non-cash shop pet with close to the best offense of any pet and close to the highest hp of any pet. They are almost indisputably the best pet from 17-40, and arguably the best from 40 on up.

I don't know of any pet that doesn't have sufficient pdef for grinding 1-1 mobs. When it comes to handling multiple mobs with magic: mdef is important. You could sink more than a 1/5 of what a Herc cost into a magmite and still have a slow, magic weak, crappy looking cookie cutter pet. Atk isn't the only thing that pets have that helps kill faster. Wolves come with Howl and Flesh Ream. Not saying they're horrible pets for those levels, but not the best grind pet, not the best boss tanker, and certainly not worth investing in.

fretboardhero

I guess I'll get my sister a golem for now until she levels up a bit. What is a hercules and how do you get them. Same with the armored bear. How are they when compared? Thanks.b:victory

Solandri - Heavens Tear

tweakz wrote: »

At times when you actually need the kind of tanking a Qingfu, magmite, beetle, etc can provide, I don't think you'll need to worry about aggro.

Agreed, but the OP asked for a general tanking pet. Those beetles (actually just about any pet) won't work well as a general tanking pet without an aggro skill.

I don't know of any pet that doesn't have sufficient pdef for grinding 1-1 mobs.

As I said, pretty much any pet will work for general PvE. It's only the extreme fights where the different pets really make a difference.

When it comes to handling multiple mobs with magic: mdef is important.

And as I said, OP asked for a general grinding pet, and nearly all the mobs you face pre-50s won't have magical attacks. I agree with your advice at later levels, especially 60+.

You could sink more than a 1/5 of what a Herc cost into a magmite and still have a slow, magic weak, crappy looking cookie cutter pet.

No need to put any money into it. The default skillset (either Crystalline or Volcanic) will easily carry it through the 40s and maybe 50s. When Bash stops being enough to hold aggro, you can manually fire Sandblow.

Atk isn't the only thing that pets have that helps kill faster. Wolves come with Howl and Flesh Ream. Not saying they're horrible pets for those levels, but not the best grind pet, not the best boss tanker, and certainly not worth investing in.

Based on my experience, I'd say if you took pet hp*def and added it to attack or attack-boosting, then weighted each according to the phys/mag attack of the spectrum of mobs you'll encounter before level ~45, and added them up to come up with a "best pet" ranking, I'd speculate the magmite would be at the top.

I don't like it any more than you do. I hate the thing. Nearly all my experience with other pets (wolves, scorpion, oddfoot, carapest, beetles, cub, frog, antelope, eldergoth, and mechrab) was due to trying to find something to replace it. But in the extreme fights with high-damage physical bosses, its max pdef + near-max hp simply make it the best pet if you don't have a herc. It will survive fights where other pets will die because you can't heal them fast enough.

At higher levels its low mdef becomes a problem, and you can replace it then. I'm still undecided if it would take less time to level a more balanced pet from the beginning, or to use a magmite in the early levels and quickly level a balanced pet in the cube at a later time.

Serafimo - Sanctuary

OP: I'm doing pretty well at level 37 with a crystalline magmite. It's slow and big, and every veno and their mom has one, but it has tanked many a boss and an fb19 for me. I think it's a good pet for these early levels, but it'll be replacable later on.

Solandri - Heavens Tear wrote: »

At higher levels its low mdef becomes a problem, and you can replace it then. I'm still undecided if it would take less time to level a more balanced pet from the beginning, or to use a magmite in the early levels and quickly level a balanced pet in the cube at a later time.

What would you replace it with? I heard antelope pup has good magic def, though for the present I only use it to lure since it's fast.

Squeakytoy - Dreamweaver

I've been looking at a Sable Minkii as a well rounded pet. It doesn't have the attack power or physical defense of the golems, but its stats are still fairly impressive for an often overlooked pet. (Minkiis are pretty ugly though b:avoid)

Here are the Minkii's stats at level 90

Hp:2744
Atk:1944
P.Def:7724
M.Def:6535
Acc.:1677
Evade:1118
Speed:8.2 m/s

Baraya - Dreamweaver

I'm level 30 and have used a Qingfu since the beginning. I haven't had any real problems with it. Dealing with the aggro issue against normal mobs has not been a problem. I can easily get the mob to focus on my Qingfu by sending the pet in before I start my attacks. If the mob starts attacking me, I just run (kite) and my pet's next attack draws it back again. It's really a very simple combat style that anyone can learn. I plan on keeping my Qingfu forever, especially now that I've heard of the need for a well-balanced pet at higher levels. Since I plan on not buying a hercules or a phoenix, I'll probably invest in its skills to make it a truely good pet. I think it's strange that more people don't use them. I never see other players with Qingfus. Maybe that will give me an advantage later on. b:sin