Skatefish?

Walpurga - Dreamweaver

A veno from my fac told me that the level 22 skatefish was a better air pet than the sawfly; there is no stats for the skatefish on ecatomb, so I'd just like to ask about the relative worth of the skatefish.

Sorry for being so brisk; it's late at night. THanks

Jeremied - Sanctuary

After leveling a sawfly to 50 before the TB came out and getting tired of it dying, I definitely recommend the skatefish. They don't hit as hard as the sawfly (only by a little, though), but have a bit more defense, and the two skills they come packed with are amazing because most flying mobs you'll be fighting are either metal (use the fire bash skill) or wood (use the metal bash skill).

I personally love my skatefish and wouldn't give it up even for a windwalking piggy.

Kazeodori - Heavens Tear

I put aside my skatefish... But after reading this, I think I'm going to drag it back out and get it up to level. Current fly pet is just not holding up well with me.

And on another note, I gave a skatefish to a friend at a low level, and she loves it. Looks like I should have never put mine away.

MANray_ - Sanctuary

The skatefish is a good compromise in terms of an outstanding PvE pet with decent PvP capabilities, mostly it solves many of the complaints one usually hears about the petite sawfly (frail, annoying) so it is certainly a good choice for those in PvP servers that may not have immediate access to a phoenix. It should be noted however that, much like any other air pet, final endgame skilling would require it to be given Claw, Pounce and Ream. Given the much greater capabilities of the nix in terms of base stats, and that with the current prices of rare skills it is a more ideal solution in terms of cost effectiveness, I would not recommend working on it, or on any other air pet, on a PvE server.

Basically, PvE only air pets are not needed any more than water pets, it is a waste of time and resources to keep one properly skilled/leveled. The sole reason to really work on an air pet is PvP, and in PvP servers a skatefish that's skilled with flesh ream would make a suitable holdover, but nothing more. While the role of pets in PvP has been greatly diminished by the power creep of endgame gears, a proper pet remains a must. A nix remains significant damage, may still be used for stunning, and will still on its own defeat the unprepared/noobish. Basically there's currently no other reason to prefer the sawfly/skatefish other than personal choice (which I do respect as someone basically opossed to hercs as the cookiecutter must) but do keep in mind this does effectively make them vanity pets.

Edit; I should point out that with the upcoming expansion, I am planning on catching up my elyssium fowl and adding ream to it, by no means I mean to imply it isn't worth it to work on pets other than the nix. The point here is that I don't consider it worth it to do so for PvE only, and that for those planning on significant endgame PvP the nix is not only relatively cheap (compared to gearing costs) but the ideal pet by far. For casual/occasional PvP the sawfly/skatefish are certainly worth it, although myself I wouldn't go through the enormous leveling effort.

Mayfly - Dreamweaver

<Skatefish> have a bit more defense

Um... got any figures to back up that assertion? What I've seen (which is all low level side-by-side comparisons of stats, up to about level 30 or so) is that the skatefish never surpasses the sawfly in any stat (some they are equal, but they have virtually identical growth charts, with only speed being noticeably different on the growth char. The few stats where the skatefish lags the sawfly stay lagging by the same constant amount.)

Kazeodori - Heavens Tear

Want facts? Here's my lvl 46 Skatefsh:


HP: 1144
Phys Att: 1075
Phys/Mag. Res: 2895/2895
Accuracy/Evade: 922/610

I'm not likely to level it fast, as I get easily distracted. But I'll post an update at lvl 50, and then every 10 levels after that.

Xx_BeLLa_xX - Harshlands

someone have a level 46 sawfly to compare?

MANray_ - Sanctuary

Here are the respective wiki entries for each pet:
http://pwi-wiki.perfectworld.com/index.php/Petite_Sawfly
http://pwi-wiki.perfectworld.com/index.php/Cloud_Skatefish

Highest level listed for both is 33, although from the near identical growth charts it seems unlikely to expect any real variation at higher levels. The sawfly does actually come ahead in terms of hp and both phys and mag def, so that's one myth debunked (good catch Mayfly) leaving the skatefish with apparently no other advantage than skill set and "tactical" shape/color. Apparently some people really dislike the sawfly, as this is far from the first time I've heard comparisons tipping the scales towards the skatefish (at least for PvE purposes) which I was ready to believe myself. Probably observation bias.

Jeremied - Sanctuary

By "having a bit more defense", I'm talking from early game when the quests send you off to kill massive amounts of flying mobs/you're grinding on them for coin or some such. If the sawfly surpasses it later game (like level 80 or so), well, that's fine. Do 5-10 more points of hp or defense at level 80+ really make that much of a difference when you're either easily healing it to full with maxed pet heals or stealing aggro from it in one hit anyway?

I disliked my sawfly because "it kept dying". Whether or not that was my lack of experience in the early days playing a veno or actual recordable stats are rather negligible. I got sick of it dying.

I also disliked my sawfly because "it was annoying". It was both enormous and loud. And I ran my tail all the way from lost to bamboo village at level 8 to catch one because it was the best free flying pet everyone told me about.

Then the TB came out and I caught every single tameable pet that was released to level and test them. Even the silly Tunneldigger and the Iceprison Wraiths. (the latter of which I love even though his stats are sort of bad).

If you can afford a nix, obviously it's going to outclass every other flying pet in terms of pve and pvp. However, if you can't, get what you like. It's not right to tell someone not to level a free pet that many people find to be extremely useful just because pwdatabase or ecatomb say the it's not the best pet evar.

I'm sticking with my opinion that the skatefish is awesome. It's small, it doesn't make obnoxious noises, and it seems to hold it's own fine with flying mobs even 15+ levels above it where the sawfly struggles. Its free skills are extremely useful for most mobs that quests send you after. (Not only that, but it's blue and matches my skymanta and looks like a little pancake and is adorable. But those are just my reasons for liking it.)

EDIT: I did not use a percent sign forum, stop it. >:| Edited to fix truncated post.

Allisandre - Sanctuary

Personally, I love my SkateFish and it'll get me by until I can afford a Nix.

Mor_Toran - Sanctuary wrote: »

Since we're off-topic here and on veno pets... The Skatefish is actually a decent choice.

Comparing numbers at 96 (Because that's what level my veno is)...
Nix HP 3671 Attack 4583 Pdef 9552 Mdef 11462 dps 4853
Pig HP 3324 Attack 2077 Pdef 8645 Mdef 8027 dps 1846
Ska HP 2394 Attack 3636 Pdef 6225 Mdef 6225 dps 2680
Fly HP 2429 Attack 3691 Pdef 6321 Mdef 6321 dps 2721

That's pretty much your top 4 air pets. Skatefish isn't a bad trade for not being as annoying to use as the Sawfly. Sure it doesn't have the Def of the Pig, but then the Pig can't hit worth a damn either.

Source..
http://www.ecatomb.net/pwi/pet_database.php

Mayfly - Dreamweaver

Wiki updated (I wrote most of the pet wiki pages, by the way) for 46 skatefish and 96 sawfly and skatefish.

If the skatefish prevails over the sawfly in any way, it's in the starting skills. With near equal defenses and HP compared to the sawfly, it's going to die just as easily against the same mobs... but may kill most air mobs slightly quicker.

Yagrum - Dreamweaver

My Veno ran to get the sawfly when she could like everyone else. When she first saw the skatefish she just had to have it and put the sawfly away. She has been very happy with the skatefish and even uses it on ground mobs when collecting mats to help it level faster.

I'm glade I saw this thread and will continue to use the skatefish and my Snake Valley Wolf (can't remember the real name right now) which I affectionately named Dogmeat.

Thanks for all of the great info in this thread.