Herc Skills

Nocticula - Harshlands

I just recently got a Herc and noticed that some people replace Pounce with Bash for aggro but are there any other skills it would be a good idea to replace?

Also, in mutiple mobs Herc holds one with aggro but I am being attacked by the others. Isnt he supposed to hold them all?

XxJeniferxx - Lost City

Well my faction leader has Fleshream on her herc . . . more for a pvp usage reason. It all depends on you i would suggest either bash or fleshream because they don't have an element making them more consistent(excuse me if i'm wrong!). It all depends on what you want ur herc to do,

Mayfly - Dreamweaver

Pounce is really the only one you should even consider replacing.

Have you activated the herc's reflect buff? Are the mobs that are attacking you ranged or melee? Reflect will only hold aggro on melee mobs that have attacked the herc, and only weakly.

Demetrios - Harshlands

None of the hercs other skills you'd replace mainly because they'd be expensive to try and regain if you wanted them. Pounce is replaced by either bash or flesh ream pending on what you want him for. Bash is morely used for tanking whereas flesh ream is used for pvp. As to the herc not holding aggro on all mobs, if the mob is ranged or magic, the reflect buff(the buff you should have on at all times besides when luring) won't affect them. It has to be melee dmg or the herc has to hit it at least once w/ bash so you don't aggro. Also if you're just attacking the mobs straight away in a group, you'll almost immediately grab aggro each time. You have to make sure that you at least bash each target once before doing any dmg, and keep it going through the mobs, or just focus one mob and have reflect hold aggro itself.

tweakz

Pounce is a PvP skill.

Flesh Ream is based on pAtk. Here's some numbers to consider:

pAtk @ 100
Phoenix: 4922 +30% (claw) = 6398.6 x 3(total dmg from FR) =19915.8 ttl dmg FR
V.Scorpion: 4008 +30% = 5210.4 x 3 = 15631 ttl dmg
Hercules: 3210 x 3 = 9630 ttl dmg

-A whopping 6k dmg difference between Herc and a Varicose Scorpion with Claw!

Now consider other factors like Sage Amp (+30%):

Phoenix: 25890.54
V.Scorpion: 20320.3
Hercules: 12519

+ Extreme Poison (+20%):

Phoenix: 31068.648
V.Scorpion: 24384.36
Hercules: 15022.8

Now other factors like Ironwood + Tangling Mire + Extreme Poison or Armor Break + Extreme Poison are going to further widen the gap.

Flesh Ream is horrible for holding aggro. It's useful as a supplement to Bash but actually causes reduced dmg on [?] mobs / bosses (which become extremely common). The choice imho is between Bash and Pounce and should be carefully thought out. I don't regret going with bash but I do regret doing it hastily.

Squeakytoy - Dreamweaver

tweakz, you should either run those numbers again without Claw, or give Claw to the Hercules too. Giving Claw to one but not the other skews the results in favor of the critter with Claw.

Vitenka - Dreamweaver

Well yes - but where would you PUT claw on a herc?

Of course, suggesting it is within the bounds of reason for a player to be able to put claw on anything else is somewhat silly too.


Anyway - to the OP: Make sure your herc hits them (or they hit the herc and get deflected) at least once before you heal.
If you are damaging them, make sure the herc hits them MORE - it's pretty easy to outdamage reflect damage even with your AOEs.

kenlee

part of herc damage will come from reflect, actually its alot of damage in pve but kinda useless in pvp

Squeakytoy - Dreamweaver wrote: »

tweakz, you should either run those numbers again without Claw, or give Claw to the Hercules too. Giving Claw to one but not the other skews the results in favor of the critter with Claw.

well the point is, nix already has claw and herc doesnt have claw and no real reason to put claw on a tank

MystiMonk - Sanctuary

To the Op just replace pounce with bash and lvl it up every 20 lvls.

Solandri - Heavens Tear

tweakz wrote: »

Now other factors like Ironwood + Tangling Mire + Extreme Poison or Armor Break + Extreme Poison are going to further widen the gap.

No they won't. You've calculated base damage before reduction for defense. In essence, they're the damage numbers you'd see with Armor Break on (zero defense). Without Armor Break, the gap will be smaller than what you've calculated because you still need to factor in reduction for defense. Ironwood and Tangling Mire only reduce defense (they don't eliminate it), so their damage figures will be closer to the zero-def figures you've calculated, but still smaller.

kenlee wrote: »

well the point is, nix already has claw and herc doesnt have claw and no real reason to put claw on a tank

His point was that tweakz's figures have claw on the scorpion. AFAIK none of the scorpions come with claw, so claw really should be left out of its damage figures. Otherwise your comparison is useless for the 99.9% of players with regular scorpions, and only applicable to the 0.1% of players with a scorpion with claw.

Nocticula - Harshlands

Thank you so much for all the info. Although, I got a tame book for Bash, to lvl it up to 3 but it will not work. Is it because I'm supposed to wait and do it every 20 lvls or is that by choice? I go to the Pet skills trainer and have the tame book in my inventory but nothing shows up when I click on, Train pet new skills....

Wow is there a Herc guide...? lol

Kismeta - Dreamweaver

Have you unlearned one of the skills (theres 4 on a herc right... working on having my own but not quite there yet )? Cause if you havent you cant teach a new skill, because all the slots a full.

Cocobelle - Sanctuary

You go to Mrs. Zoologist when it comes to pet skills. You need a forget scroll (if you're going to delete a skill which in a Herc's case - Pounce) and use the scroll again to learn bash.

Then you'll have bash lv. 1 and you need to buy those levelling scrolls in order to level them.

_Leiian_ - Heavens Tear

LMAO @ Solandri & Tweakz, and their math.

When someone's asking which is the best aggro skill, the reply is just one: bash. Pounce is useless in holding aggro. Flesh ream has a looooooong cooldown. Roar too, and roar it's unsafe, cuz it resets aggro and gives 2 of aggro to herc. With bash on, noone of ur lvl will steal aggro off u on ? bosses, and u'll steal aggro off herc really hard and only on earth mobs, spamming atk skills from the beginning.
Bash is the only skill on herc that could save u from stealing aggro. Reflect doesnt hold aggro on ranged mobs.

Vangova - Raging Tide

hib:victory

Solandri - Heavens Tear

_Leiian_ - Heavens Tear wrote: »

When someone's asking which is the best aggro skill, the reply is just one: bash. Pounce is useless in holding aggro. Flesh ream has a looooooong cooldown. Roar too, and roar it's unsafe, cuz it resets aggro and gives 2 of aggro to herc.

OP didn't ask which is the best aggro skill. He asked if any skills other than Bash were worth putting on a herc.