LA Hybrid Veno

X_Yoruichi_x - Dreamweaver

With my planned gear, I'm actually going to be tanking more than my pet, so I figured I'd get a DD pet, but I want to use a rare pet, for some odd reason that not even I can lay a finger on, but I can't decide between the shaodu cub, and the kowlin. And I intend to only stick with one, eventually, (ofc using the shaodu until I'm lvl 60 for kowlin), so, for DD/usefulness purposes, which would be better? (Don't even bother saying herc/nix as I've no real intentions of using either).

Mayfly - Dreamweaver

Kowlin has the edge on DD over the cub, but not by a huge amount. Neither really compare to the hatchling, scorpion or wanderer, nor even the cookie-cutter tank pets (walker and magmites) in damage dealt. Cub's got a definite edge in tankiness (it's among the top half dozen free tank pets), kowlin's a squishy speed demon (unmatched in speed among land pets).

Kowlin's got high attack growth, but is hampered by its high tame level. Cub's got a low attack growth, somewhat mitigated by its fairly low tame level. Other than the hatchling, there really aren't any superior DDs among the rares.

Veneir - Dreamweaver

Well~
I'm an HA veno who can tank stuff, and has a pet for DD/support with debuffs, and Kowlins are my main debuffing pets because they already come with three free ones that are normally really expensive, and they're a reasonable damage output for me having a.. minkii the rest of the time.
But because they're kind of squishy to AoEs(and by that I mean really really omfg stop dying.), I've gotten to the point of only summoning them to put on debuffs and then either let them die or unsummoning them. xD I can't wait to replace it with the hatchling x.x
The Kowlin is about mount-speed, so keep in mind that if you're sending it in to attack something you're also going to attack(if you're talking about using fox forme) then you'll have to make sure you get aggro off of it(especially if it's a group like in 51) before it dies.(like with Befuddling once you've learnt to position it's LoS, or noxious)

For your sanity's sake in not turning around from doing your own thing to heal a squishy pet every other second, I'd say to go with cub just based on that. xD

If your veno ever gets to 101, then the hatchling is better DD than everything except for Nix and it's a rare pet, too Doesn't follow the fuzzy mammal thing you have going on, though.

Edit:: Here's this page with lots of pet stats http://www.ecatomb.net/pwi/petstat.php for comparing purposes in case you haven't seen it

MANray_ - Sanctuary

While I certainly understand your wanting one of the rares (I myself use a tabby/shaodu combo) there's no getting around the fact that damage and ressilience negatively correlate through much of the pet system. The Walker is pretty much the cookiecutter choice owing precissely to being the better stats amongst the less than a handful of exceptions around. I disagree with Mayfly on the damage difference in between the shaodu cub and the kowlin not being substantial. The cub is infamous for it's very low dps while the Kowlin actually does amount to decent damage. This is very noticeable in terms of aggro and kill speed. Yes, the more traditional cookiecutters do stand head and shoulders above the competition (which has pretty much wrecked any real choice for the overwhelming majority of venos) but the differences in beween the other pets do stand more substantial than it is generally assumed. Also, I'll have to take exception to Veneir's vote for the shaodu cub for precissely this reason. The cub's low dps does become a performance hindrance when doing instance runs with squads, mine has got Roar and Reflect and even then only gets used for tanking jobs, as backup or in AoE scenarios in which I want to avoid either my main pet going down or heal aggro. My choice would be for the Kowlin, it means you'll have to wait perhaps more than a few levels to solo bosses when compared to other venos (even then, as a comparison, my tabby does fine with at level range single mode TT bosses) but should provide you with better assistance in terms of damage and squad work, as well as the added advantages of the Kowlin's speed.

On skills, the Kowlin gets Bash, Ream, Howl and Pierce. As a fox veno (you do plan on tanking) you can probably do without Howl so I would swap this out for Threaten which should allow your pet to assist you with a debuff that will improve your own survival chances AND will allow it to somewhat overcome its own frailty if it needs to handle some tanking. Later on you may want to swap out one of the damage skills for Claw if indeed this will be your only endgame pet, although you may want to consider at that point whether the derjan's hatchling really isn't a better choice for you. Still, I believe neither of the two choices you've provided to be ideal as these pets are too much in the way of specialists to effectively take on a multi-role character. They would compliment each other wonderfully as a combo, but since you insist on taking only one pet, and it is understandable given current leveling rates, I would urge you to reconsider some other options.

The dark wanderer - Yes, it is a cookiecutter of sorts (although I see them only rarely) but it's got one of the better dps figures and it's a great phys tank. It's flaw is low mag def, meaning it can be brought down fast by mag mobs or strong AoEs. For this reason I consider it is meant to be paired with the seamonster guardian, which has got very similar stats except phys def as a weak point rather than mag. Another thing to keep in mind is it always requires immediate skilling as it's got no native damage skill. Still, it makes for a very attractive model and it is a top tier pet for good reason.

Froggie - Although often derided as just a magic tank, this is a rare with both decent damage (it matches the tabby) and good phys def. No real weak points on this one even if overall it won't nearly excel tanking to the same degree as a shaodu cub or a walker, this won't be much of a difference however, no more than 1-2 levels for most bosses. If there's one small rare that can handle multi-role this is it.

I realize this isn't exactly what you were asking for, but you do have to keep in mind there are limits to the pets you've got in mind, however much they may excel in their specialized roles, and that going with just one of those means you may have to accept even more limitations than those of us already avoiding the more conventional choices do.

Veneir - Dreamweaver

As usual, Thumbs' post is trollish.
<.<' Thank you for your minimum contribution to our day.

As MANray brought up and I really should have looked at, the shadou's attack stat is even lower than the minkii's attack stat, so it really is low. Probabily not something you'd want in a DD pet, but as aforementioned Kowlie likes to die really fast, and trying to take constant time out of everything else to heal pet is really obnoxious.
It's not a rare pet, (but it's a mammal and a smaller pet) but an antelope pup along with the pets MANray mentioned may work better, too: the antelope has higher attack than both the cub and the Kowlin, higher magical defence than both and physical defence about in-between the two. Bit less HP than the Kowlin, but I have an antelope and find I have to heal it alot less than Kowlie anyway :x

MANray_ - Sanctuary

thumbs wrote: »

Not gonna bother addressing it all; as usual MANray's advice is lousy.

b:chuckle You didn't even bother addressing anything, as usual you keep trying to pass off as unwillingness your inability to refute my points by the use of either proof or reason... And why would you even bother with this thread in the first place? You don't actually consider the OP's build to be viable, much less the use of anthing other than cookiecutter pets.