Pet Skills Guide

*Subject to updates and corrections

*Helpers:
Laranda

Introduction

There are many misconceptions about pet skills, and choosing pet skills can be costly mistakes. Many of us have heard that we should have Bash for our pet to hold aggro, but bash has a multiplier effect on the pet's base attack. If your pet has a low base atk, it's not going to benefit as much from bash as other pets. Adding another applied skill like Threaten, Howl, or Slow which could be more useful and still generate some aggro.

Multiplier Damage Skills can change the DPS (Damage Per Second) ratings of a pets. If you have a hard, but slow hitting pet that has lower DPS than a lighter faster hitting pet, a Multiplier Damage skill like Bash, Flesh Ream and or one of the Elemental attacks can change that. Claw being a buff that applies to all damaging hits wouldn't work the same. For normal grinding aside from with a Phoenix, I've found that the DPS of a pet is almost irrelevant. A skill like howl makes a bigger difference in speed of combined killing but has a slow cool down rate. During boss fights with a barbarian tank, it's not wise to use your pet's applied skills. So, DPS and Damage multiplying skills appear to work best for when you're letting your pet fight while you're mining or doing something else.

Rare pet skills can be found on legendary pets, rare pets (the bears), in treasure chests in the Dragon Temple event on Tuesday nights or in the Auction House and Kitty Shops. Consider them carefully, as many of the common skills can be more effective for how you may be using your pet. IE: Tough would be better than Blessing of the Pack, or Protect & Strong for luring. Howl may work as good as Claw for normal grinding.

Common Skills

Bash (Launch a fierce strike at the enemy, dealing 140/155/170/185/200% of Pet's base physical damage)

Coin Cost: 300,000
Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 8 seconds

Bash works great as an aggro holder and damage dealer for hard hitting pets as it multiplies on their base attack. Flesh Ream deals more damage but because it's cooldown rate is longer, it can fail to hold aggro as well as bash. Pounce is popularly replaced by Bash on Baby Hercules to make it a better grinding or squad tanking pet.

Flesh Ream (Bite an enemy, inflicting base damage plus 120/140/160/180/200% of Pet's base damage over 9 seconds)

Coin Cost: 300,000
Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 15 seconds

Flesh Ream does 300% of base attack over time making it the highest DPS multiplier common skill (Claw and Sacrifice do more but are rare). Because it has a slow cooldown rate, it isn't as good for maintaining aggro as Bash or one of the Elemental skills. It's commonly used on Baby Phoenix's because the Phoenix has a high enough DPS to hold aggro well on it's own.

Roar (Roar to attract enemy's attacks)

Coin Cost: 150,000
Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 15 seconds

Roar does no dammage, but is the best tool for initiating or regaining aggro. Unlike it's use for Barbarian's, the pets Roar is not AOE (Area of Effect - only works on one mob at a time). Roar apparently resets aggro on the mob and sets a hidden amount on your pet which makes it useful for regaining aggro.

Howl (Scare the enemy with a howl, decreasing enemy's Magic Defense by 20/24/28/32/36% for 15 secs.)

Coin Cost: 750,000
Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 30 seconds

A great compensator skill for pets with low DPS since it raises yours in addition to generating some aggro. Works great on a fast pets like wolves and the Kowlin which come with it, as they can apply it faster. I put claw, flesh ream, and bash on the highest well known DPS pet (Varicose Scorpion), and found that I can grind through mobs faster with a well rounded pet and howl.

Pierce (Attack enemy and decrease enemy's Physical Defense by 20/24/28/32/36% for 15 secs.)

Coin Cost: 750,000
Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 15 seconds

Not as useful as Howl because Ironwood Scarab has almost the same effect while applying damage. With land pets: you're doing a large percentage of the damage. Multiplying on your pets damage even if it's very high isn't near as gainful as multiplying on your own. Pierce could be more useful to the venomancers that prefer fox form, or let their pet do most of the work while they do other things.

Threaten (Threaten enemy to decrease enemy's Physical Attack by 20/24/28/32/36% for 15 secs.)

Coin Cost: 750,000
Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 30 seconds

Not to be mistaken as a tanking skill, the cool down on this would render your pet unprotected for 15 secs! It's best use is for luring physical mobs. It's best applied on a tank lurer that can take some hits while applying it like the Armored Bear that comes with it. *Threaten does not count as a hit when luring.

Shriek (Shriek at an enemy to have a 60/70/80/90/100% chance to interrupt channelling)

Coin Cost: 900,000
Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 10 seconds

Many complain that the timing is difficult with this skill, and it's use is probably very limited. If you got a frog which comes with it, it's high magic defense along with this skill on auto could probably spare a party some AOE damage with a nice fast cool down of 10 seconds. -*untested

Slow (Decrease enemy speed by 30/35/40/45/50% for 6 secs.)

Coin Cost: 900,000
Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 10 seconds

This skill comes on all the petali's (a fast common pet family) I've seen. It doesn't count as a hit when luring, so the Petali's will best get away using it around physical mobs. It's also good for attempting to regain aggro since it will at least slow a mob down even if it fails.

Tough (Reduce damage taken by 30/35/40/45/50% for 15 secs.)

Coin Cost: 300,000
Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 60 seconds

Because of it's long cooldown, this is best used as a luring skill on a tanker lurer like one of the bears which come with it.

Boost (Recover 8/10/12% of Maximum HP)

Coin Cost: 300,000
Pet level 10,20,30
Cooldown 10 seconds

On high defense pets like a frog (which comes with it), this can save some time and mp from casting a heal between each mob if timed right (hit boost just as you're finishing it). It doesn't recover a lot even at it's highest level, but can often put the right pet back in that comfort zone. After some time, I found it too burdensome to use.

Elemental Skills

Fireball, Icicle, Toxic Mist, Thunderbolt, Sandblow (Inflicts element damage equal to 140/155/170/185/200% of Pet's base physical damage.)

Coin Cost: 300,000
Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 8 seconds

Because most of your attacks are wood based, using Toxic Mist (wood damage) on your pet may help your pet maintain aggro on an earth based mob. Because you do little damage yourself to Wood based mobs, Thunderbolt (metal) could help do extra damage. It's probably wisest to stick with Bash if you'd like just a dd aggro holder, or use one of these to supplement Bash.

Rare Skills

Pounce ( Have a 80% chance to stun enemy for 3 secs. Increase attack rate by 15/25% for 15 secs if enemy is stunned)

Pet level 20,80
Cooldown 60 seconds

A very rare but popular as a PVP skill which comes on Hercules, Phoenix, and the Bears. It's often trashed on the Hercules for it's slow cooldown and poor aggro holding ability. It's also very useful for those occasions when you get an increased magic defense mob. You can Ironwood Scarab -> Fox Form -> Amp Damage -> Pounce, then melee your tail away! Normally the 25% inrease in speed would speed up your MP burn, but for Melee: it speeds up Chi building. Pounce is also good at interrupting channeling and useful for drawing aggro after the interrupt.

Sacrifice (Lose 75% of current HP to inflict 400% of Pet's base physical damage to an enemy)

Pet level 80
Cooldown 30 seconds

Practically useless on PvE, but can be a nice finisher surprise for PvP.

Penetrate (A fierce attack which inflicts 200,400,600,700,800 damage, neglecting target's defense)

Pet level 30,45,60,75,90
Cooldown 30 seconds

Reflect (Reflect 30/40/50/60/70% of melee damage taken for 1 hour)

Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 3 seconds

The closest you'll get to having an AoE skill on a pet! Hercules comes with this skill which helps it hold aggro a little when AoE'ing the mobs attacking it. One thing people don't realize is that when your pet isn't getting hit by melee (physical), it won't be able to hold aggro as well. Aggro will also be affected by how hard and frequent it's getting hit.

Claw (Increase Pet's base physical damage by 10/15/20/25/30% for 1 hour)

Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 3 seconds

This skill comes with the Phoenix. Because it works as a multiplier, it would be more effective on a high DPS pet.

Protect (Increase Pet's Magic Defense by 30/60/90/120/150% for 1 hour)

Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 3 seconds

This skill comes on the Hercules. Because it works as a multiplier, it would be wasteful to use it on a low magic defense pet.

Strong (Increase Pet's Physical Defense by 30/60/90/120/150% for 1 hour)

Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 3 seconds

This skill comes on the Hercules. Because it works as a multiplier, it would be wasteful to use it on a low physical defense pet.

Blessing of the Pack (Increase Pet's Maximum HP by 10/15/20/25/30% for 1 hour.)

Pet level 1,20,40,60,80
Cooldown 3 seconds

This skill comes on the Phoenix. Because it works as a multiplier, it would be wasteful to use it on a low HP pet.

Bloodthirst (Drain enemy life equal to 15/20/25% of Pet's Maximum HP, restoring Pet's life)

Pet level 40,60,80
Cooldown 30 seconds

Bloodhunger (Absorb enemy's life equal to half of Pet's missing HP, restoring Pet's life *Requisite Skill: Bloodthirst Level 3)

Pet level 40,60,80
Cooldown 30 seconds

Consume (Drain mana from the enemy equal to 15/20/25% of Pet's Maximum HP, restoring Pet's life.)
Devour

Pet level 40,60,80
Cooldown 30 seconds