Some misconceptions about rare pets

Dystery - Sanctuary
Dystery - Sanctuary Posts: 52 Arc User
edited February 2010 in Venomancer
This post IS about what rare pets and fix some common misconceptions.
It is NOT about how and where and when to tame them. There are many guides that tell how and where, and that also explain the when*.

I am willing to add a few lines about rare pets in the wiki, so this is more a first draft than a final guide. I invite you to post every things you may find usefull for people to understand what rare pets are, what are their use, flaws, benefits, etc. I certainly have omitted things or committed some mistakes. Also, If you disagreee, please feel free to say why; I won't discuss it, but will add disagreements and matching explanations in this post instead.
DO NOT post about how to tame them, or ask for their locations, and so on, please.


What are rare pets?

Are considered rare pets, those that are tamable and spawn only once every x hours (from 1 to 12 hours).

Do I need them?

No you don't. Every rare pet has a matching common pet that has better (not including cash-shop nix and herc) stats, whatever the pet "speciality" is.
So, if you don't need them, it means they are a luxury.

What are they for, then?

Luxury, and trade.... mainly.

  • luxury : Some rare pets can be used to make baby-pets : they are all-class pets (trade for ex. 8 windwalking piggies + 200k for a baby piggy). They look cool but that's all what they do : they won't fight for you.
  • luxury : you want a pet no one has, even if the cost is a pet that is slightly weaker that its common counterpart.
  • trade : You need money? Try to tame one, and sell it (but be prepared to be VERY good at it, cause there will be many very good professional tamers there).
  • PvP : right, there is a point for which it is not only luxury.
    • => Cubs (shaodu and armored ones) come with a stun skill, which can be very usefull. Since it's a rare skill (worth around 15M in Auction House), this makes them usefull for PvP.
    • => Kowlin is the 2nd fastest pet in the game (phoenix comes first), and is a land pet. So may find some use especially with maxed skills (flesh realm and other support skills).

should you buy/tame them then?

No... and yes. If you can't afford to buy skills to your pet, maybe you may consider buying/taming Kowlin or cubs (according to your level). Because they come with some usefull skills for their level : buying one may be cheaper than buying the whole skill scrolls you need.
Also, if you wanna pvp and can't afford a legendary pet or the pounce scroll, the base stun (pounce) ability of the both cubs makes it sometimes easier.
But if you are wealthy, it's better buying unless you like the challenge of taming on yourself.

Usual Misconceptions

  • Kowlinis the best lurer pet : wrong! A good lurer is one that will not get one-shot while trying to lure. Kowlin deals good damage, but dies very fast!
  • Kowlinis of no use since it's not a good lurer : wrong! Although it's easy to kill, it has base usefull support skills you can use in squads while fighting a boss (and boss only), and deals good Damage Per Second (DPS).
  • If you give you rare pet the same skills as a herc/nix (matching the profile of the pet), you'll have a herc-like pet : wrong! Basicely, Herc/nix are the best overall pets because their base stats are better than any other pet. So you will have a weaker version of a nix/herc. Don't try to solo TT squad mode thus.


The few rare pets that deserve some consideration :

  • Shaodu cub : has a base stun skill that would be very expensive to buy, and is difficult to farm unless you run good raids un Dragon Temple. So for PvP purpose, it's a cheap (short) stun. Since it's also a good tank, you can train it daily while grinding/questing.
  • Armored bear : same as Shaodo cub, but is base lvl80. So you need to wait to get it... stats are quite the same than shaodu, and get even better at higher level (despite usually higher versions (same family but different name) of a pet are weaker than the base one).
  • Kowlin: it has a decent DPS, and is the fastest land pet. IT also comes with some base support skills that are usefull when you are fighting a boss in a squad (thus someone else is tanking). Otherwise, it's not very good for grinding, since it dies VERY fast and thus you heal often while you should focus on dealing damage. Actually, you may find it usefull for fast low level grinding since it's very fast... and especially ppl will hate you during wraith attacks since you will farm wraiths drops faster than anyone!


* If you can't find them, then according to me, you don't deserve to have one.
Post edited by Dystery - Sanctuary on

Comments

  • axt57
    axt57 Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Knowlin Knowlin Knowlin Knowlin Knowlin Knowlin Knowlin

    Another popular misconception seems to be that people call the Kowlin - Knowlin.

    I've yet to discover why.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • Solandri - Heavens Tear
    Solandri - Heavens Tear Posts: 2,843 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Kowlin is the best lurer pet : wrong! A good lurer is one that will not get one-shot while trying to lure.
    My kowlin almost never died when I used it to lure. It's fast enough to run in and start using flesh ream before the mobs can land an attack. The key is that the instant it starts using FR (the big red whirlwilnd forms around it), you can unsummon it and FR will still land. Basically, it only got hit when instead of running straight to the target, it would run some crazy diagonal route putting it in aggro range of another mob for a significant time before reaching the target.

    I only withdrew my support for it as best lurer because further measurements of marksman attack range established that it was faster, a ranged pet handles run-through-other-mobs-to-pull situations better, and it appears having a skill active makes a pet more likely to be attacked (ranged pets pull with no skills active, kowlin pulls with a skill active).
    kowlin is of no use since it's not a good lurer : wrong! Although it's easy to kill, it has base usefull support skills you can use in squads while fighting a boss (and boss only), and deals good Damage Per Second (DPS).
    Alas I haven't found much use for my kowlin in the support role since I got my herc. The problem is the people I normally group with are very competent. The cleric(s) do a pretty good job of keeping pdef and mdef debuffs applied, and the barbs know to hit their version of Threaten (reduce mob attack) when they need it. So the support skills on my kowlin are unneeded, and my herc does more DPS. I've actually been thinking of leveling up a scorpion or walker just to have a pure DPS pet for these situations.

    When I'm in bad groups where the kowlin's skills could actually be useful, I prefer having my herc out so it can take over tanking if the group screws up and the tank/cleric gets killed.
  • Dystery - Sanctuary
    Dystery - Sanctuary Posts: 52 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Right! It's amazing that I've been wrong for so long... I am also wondering, now!
  • tweakz
    tweakz Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    [*]Kowlinis of no use since it's not a good lurer : wrong! Although it's easy to kill, it has base usefull support skills you can use in squads while fighting a boss (and boss only), and deals good Damage Per Second (DPS).

    What do those skills have to do with it qualifying as a good lurer?

    [*]Shaodu cub : has a base stun skill that would be very expensive to buy, and is difficult to farm unless you run good raids un Dragon Temple. So for PvP purpose, it's a cheap (short) stun. Since it's also a good tank, you can train it daily while grinding/questing.

    Very low resale value, very low atk, and it's usefulness is overshadowed by a Glacial Walker while both are made obsolete by a Herc.
    [*]Armored bear : same as Shaodo cub, but is base lvl80. So you need to wait to get it... stats are quite the same than shaodu, and get even better at higher level (despite usually higher versions (same family but different name) of a pet are weaker than the base one).

    This pet has the survivability of a Herc for the purpose of luring (using Tough) and comes with Threaten making tight lures against phys mobs/ bosses safer. It's also .5m/s faster than a Herc.
    [*]Kowlin: it has a decent DPS, and is the fastest land pet.

    I don't think so. It seems there are a considerable amount of pets with better dps, and I think there are faster pets at higher levels.
    Actually, you may find it usefull for fast low level grinding since it's very fast... and especially ppl will hate you during wraith attacks since you will farm wraiths drops faster than anyone!
    [/LIST]

    Not a Veno with a ranged pet and a Bow.

    * If you can't find them, then according to me, you don't deserve to have one.[/COLOR]

    b:chuckle
    Be kind: Help the GMs to depopulate the servers.
  • Peritia - Lost City
    Peritia - Lost City Posts: 397 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    The high-contrast white is a bit... overbearing for the primary text colour, in my opinion.

    You also have a typo of Flesh Ream in the text.
    (side note: don't know why so many people write "realm"... perhaps it's simply because "realm" is a word which is used far more often)

    Seems to offer a decent overview on the subject as a whole, though.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • MANray_ - Sanctuary
    MANray_ - Sanctuary Posts: 2,311 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    As the 1 veno that actually thinks rares are good for more than just looks, i guess i have something of a duty to respond to this thread *braces for unavoidable flaming*--

    Situational awareness. I know it may not be much of an advantage but its certainly a consideration. Shift-clicking can land you running towards a wall and tab targetting can be confusing when fighting many mobs of the same kind. Rares allow you, and people in your squad, to see what's going on at all times, without a golden blob or a grey wall ocassionally obstructing your line of sight. Yes, there are plenty of ways to easily get around this, and yes, it's not as important as many other factors that can be considered when choosing a pet. But it's there.

    Small aggro print. Rares don't need to be stowed when sneaking past mobs in some instance runs, which means they're ready to be used at any sign of trouble in most of this scenarios. Also, they're less likely to attract the attention of surrounding mobs when pulling, and give the veno a better range to maneuver when around tightly packed groups of mobs. Again, i know this isn't something that will signifficantly impact general opinion, but it's also a factor to be brought up when discussing rares.

    I use a shaodu cub and a tabby plumdrop as my only land pets. I got the cub long before there was ever a walker and at the time its mag res was a strong factor going for it. I don't ever have to worry about wether a mobs attacks or aoe are mag or phys, just wether the cub can take it or no. It's also faster than walkers/magmites which makes it easier and more intuitive to use. Yes, it's got low dps (i'm adding bash in the near future and have leveled ream to 4) and will not hold aggro in any way close to a walker, but it can handle the same tanking jobs, and overall i'll take it over the alternative any day of the week.

    As for the tabby it's got good wolf-like stats and is much more ressilient than the Kowlin or the pup. I'll be adding threaten soon, so along with howl it will have good debuffing skills (unlike Solandri, i tend to do a lot of PUGs). It has proven many times over to be a terrific puller. It's speed has made it become, to me, the standard of a responsive and easy to handle pet.

    OP, i appreciate that to the best of your knowledge you've tried to make a good and perhaps necessary thread. But you seem to have acquired the same bias that generally makes venos like myself be dismissed as noobish. Rares are a pet choice that fits some playing styles. Venos using the more "common" equivalents of this pets (and btw, what's the one for the piggy?) do not necessarily outperform venos using rares. Yes, the eldergoth may make a better puller in some situations (for more common scenarios i'm pretty certain that my tabby can pull mobs at a much faster rate). And yes, they will never approach the prowess of CS pets. But they are a legitimate choice to make based on their characteristics, and not just situational pets useful only for what skills they may come with.

    And i know you may have accounted this as "luxury" but i would argue that for some players the fun factor is an important consideration. After all, this is a game.

    Edit; Grammar.
  • Lady_Sam - Lost City
    Lady_Sam - Lost City Posts: 196 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Personally, I hate my kowlin. Sure it's fast, but its still pretty squishy. I just got an armored bear for luring and although its a bit slower, its so cute! I agree that players can use whatever makes 'em happy. :)
  • Belligero - Sanctuary
    Belligero - Sanctuary Posts: 564 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    I just like Kowlins because they look pretty.

    Otherwise... meh.
    Belligero
  • SmilingCooki - Sanctuary
    SmilingCooki - Sanctuary Posts: 152 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    tweakz wrote: »
    Very low resale value, very low atk, and it's usefulness is overshadowed by a Glacial Walker while both are made obsolete by a Herc.

    Everything is made obsolete by a Herc >.>

    Like she said earlier, rare pets are more of a luxury than battle pets.
    Don't stare at me like that, I just might like it.
  • RaiKazeki - Dreamweaver
    RaiKazeki - Dreamweaver Posts: 8 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Does anyone know anything about a new rare pet in the Tideborn area called Li'l Bark? I think it's a level 8. I've encountered it twice briefly but never when my Veno was accessable.
  • rinuruc
    rinuruc Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    is it tamable? and do you have coords of it???
    and as for the best pullpet, id say an armoured bear with tough/blessing/protect/strenghten??? (tough/hpbuffofnix/pdefbuffofherc/mdefbuffofherc,... its faster than a herc, and hercs usually dont have tough on em,... though for the purpose of it, you could as well put those four skills on a herc and go for it,... though the 0.5 speed that the bear has more is kinda cool,... and a kowlin with those four buffs will be fast, but will still remain quite squishy, (so basically compare a herc a kowlin and a bear when they all have no buffs on,... what d be best to pull with,... since considering giving em buffs for pulling you would give em the same stuff we can as well compare em all without buffs on,... (assuming money is no problem,... )
  • tweakz
    tweakz Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    rinuruc wrote: »
    is it tamable? and do you have coords of it???
    and as for the best pullpet, id say an armoured bear with tough/blessing/protect/strenghten??? (tough/hpbuffofnix/pdefbuffofherc/mdefbuffofherc,... its faster than a herc, and hercs usually dont have tough on em,... though for the purpose of it, you could as well put those four skills on a herc and go for it,... though the 0.5 speed that the bear has more is kinda cool,... and a kowlin with those four buffs will be fast, but will still remain quite squishy, (so basically compare a herc a kowlin and a bear when they all have no buffs on,... what d be best to pull with,... since considering giving em buffs for pulling you would give em the same stuff we can as well compare em all without buffs on,... (assuming money is no problem,... )

    The bear doesn't prevent kiting. If you send it after a boss like Stygean at max range, and Stygean kites: you'll probably see your pet reset next to you while Stygean's running at you. Common ranged pets prevent this.

    If you send your bear through mobs to pull, you may not see exactly when it attacks. Ranged pets attack from a distance which increases their visibility.

    The Bear is faster than the Herc, but spends far more time in aggro radius, and the Herc or Bear does not outrun a projectile from a ranged pet.

    The Bear doesn't allow you to back up from dangerous pulls like Stygean, where some common ranged pets allow you to move back ~5-15m after you send them.

    If a mob is around a corner, a Bear isn't going to be visible during the lure for accurate timing of unsummon. A ranged pet often doesn't need to go around the corner.

    Terrain like ledges with ramps, rocks, trees, water, columns, etc slow down or halt a bear when a ranged pet can avoid them.

    The Bear (Armored) comes with Threaten and Tough. Threaten can make a phys only mob or boss safer to lure while Tough gives it near the same survivability as a Herc for the amount of time needed to lure. In just about every situation I've used it in: it's managed to survive long enough to apply the debuff, and a normal attack. It's my perception that without Threaten: the Bear would lose all usefulness as a lurer, while that kind of survivability (protect, strong, blessing) wouldn't just be overkill: it'd be a waste of time casting them.
    Be kind: Help the GMs to depopulate the servers.
  • Bellamontage - Lost City
    Bellamontage - Lost City Posts: 60 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    [*]Kowlinis the best lurer pet : wrong! A good lurer is one that will not get one-shot while trying to lure.

    My kowlin has never died from luring. I usually have the sense to put it away as soon as it gets one hit in, not several like other venos.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    Nerd by Nature
  • tweakz
    tweakz Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    My kowlin has never died from luring. I usually have the sense to put it away as soon as it gets one hit in, not several like other venos.

    Other venos have the sense that lag can interfere with your perception of the number of hits, that nobody is perfect, and that situations beyond level 80 can be rougher.

    Take a gander at my post above about the Armored Bear. I can find more reasons including those to not use a Kowlin including how much of a pain to level them they are.
    Be kind: Help the GMs to depopulate the servers.
  • Ms_HopToIt - Sanctuary
    Ms_HopToIt - Sanctuary Posts: 914 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    I really dont mind my kowlin dying when i lure bosses in TT, cause most of the time when im luring, I always bramble hood, so w/e its gonna get one shotted anyways. But just for normal mob luring, thats different, I dont let it die then.
    >.<
  • RaiKazeki - Dreamweaver
    RaiKazeki - Dreamweaver Posts: 8 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    the Cords for the L'il bark are about 639, 239. I haven't seen it since I posted the message, but I've been too busy to get on more than a few times since.
  • RaiKazeki - Dreamweaver
    RaiKazeki - Dreamweaver Posts: 8 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Actually, Holy **** I just ran into it. I couldn't tame it, but my veno is a lvl 14 alt I've been considering making a main. The coordinates where I hit it are 631 246. Unfortunately, its level was even lower than I remembered, and by the time I realized it was untameable and tried to call off my attacks with esc, it was dead. However, I'm thinking that many rare pets require you to be at level 20. I'm going to try and come back later, and if it's there I'll try and find a veno to try and tame it.
  • Foxymage - Harshlands
    Foxymage - Harshlands Posts: 373 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    ive seen it and i killed it on my TB its a lvl 5 swimmy thingyb:chuckle
    -i was in the million dolla meetins he was cheatin. all up in the church, he was sneakin with the deacon. cats away while the mice will play lol smiley face have a nicer day. cuz pop pop po it goes my rubber band so stop stop stop sniffin that contraband. cuz you was penny pinchin my accounts laced attenion! about face.

    ~nicki minaj~
  • RaiKazeki - Dreamweaver
    RaiKazeki - Dreamweaver Posts: 8 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    ive seen it and i killed it on my TB its a lvl 5 swimmy thingyb:chuckle

    Its adorable and being a turtle I wonder if it could be a dual land water pet. Its got that black cloud around it, and floats over things, but its a turtle. In any case, I totally want to tame it. At level 20 I could potentially exchange my Rhinodrake for it. Rhinodrake has good starting skills for tanking higher level opponents, but once the Qingfu is at a point where he can learn an offensive skill, he should be able to tank better without me ever stealing agro. Been destroying Glacial walkers and other lvl 20ish mobs since 13 with those two.
  • Aniella - Harshlands
    Aniella - Harshlands Posts: 729 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    nja on this server ppl have stop tamed rare..pets lol ..can have the rare for ur self now... whahah my friend got 6 rare pets egg a day..
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    QQ If i did Crazy stone at 3x AND not 6x, i had been lvl 105 now!
    Didnt know about Bh/CrazyStone before lvl 6x LOL
  • Aliella - Harshlands
    Aliella - Harshlands Posts: 191 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    nja on this server ppl have stop tamed rare..pets lol ..can have the rare for ur self now... whahah my friend got 6 rare pets egg a day..

    b:shutup not really? everytime i go to tame a rare there is always a lot of venos camping it, only time i've ever not seen someone camping a rare is when i was running past the puppy spawn spot and no one was there, i noticed it spawned so i tamed it. b:bye next time get your facts straight plz
  • kenlee
    kenlee Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    nja on this server ppl have stop tamed rare..pets lol ..can have the rare for ur self now... whahah my friend got 6 rare pets egg a day..
    what mobs spawn 6 times a day or more? bunny maybe...