Cleo's Miniguide On Pets

After reading several new pet question threads recently, I wrote a long **** reply to one of them. Then figured, I might aswell post it in its own thread, so it can be found easier. Maybe this will help for 2-3 weeks, until it's on page 4 or 5 of the forum, but 2-3 weeks still look decent.

Here we go.

What ppl seem to forget is, that more pets also have you go out of your way to lvl them, because it's not easy to keep them up your level. Especially after the huge TB-quest-jump, when you get from 40 to 46 in 2 hours. And then, BHs level you quickly, while your pet arsenal takes its time. To minimalize the pain of leveling pets, get them at the point you'll need them, then get them to the lvl needed to do the job.

Let me guide you through my preferred pet choices through the levels:

For levelling, get a Dark Wanderer at 10. They're the best universal pet while levelling up. I tanked stuff in BH39 with it, offtanked trash in 51/59/69/79. It also worked fine against melee bosses. Alternatively, you could get a GW, but if you ever get a Herc, the GW will be replaced - the DW won't.

Somewhere on your way at 40+, get a Sawfly/Skatefish/Foxwing. Do an hour or two on Staunch Worms near RTcity every 10 levels, to lvl it close to you. Up to 84, my Sawfly did a decent job, even tho it's only 77 right now. At 85, I'll get it up to me and go on for 10 more levels.

In your 60s, getting and levelling an Eldergoth Marksman/Sharpshooter may pay out, because you'll be able to solo your BH 59 with it when you're 73+. This pet is agreat lurer, so it will still have its uses after you got your legendaries, so it's a keeper.

While you'll tame a water pet along your way when you need one, none of them will stay with you forever. There are huge gaps at several points, when you can't lvl up a water pet without a problem, so the general consesus is: At 80, get a Celestial Plumpfish, this one is a keeper.

Following this path, at the end you'll have a Dark Wanderer as universal land pet, an Eldergoth Marksman/Sharpshooter as your main lurer and range tank, a Sawfly for air tasks and a Plumpfish for water stuff. If you plan to get a Herc, no pet will have to be replaced, only your air pet would become obsolete upon getting the Phoenix.

- If you plan to get the Herc, but not the Phoenix, get the Petite Sawfly, level up Bash, get Flesh Ream for PVP, maybe Tough or Boost. Bash and Howl are the best skills on the Dark Wanderer - probably Pierce instead of Howl for melee Venos (but I don't have experience at melee). Tough is great to have on your Eldergoth.

- If you plan to get the Phoenix, but not the Herc, get the Glacial Walker instead of the Dark Wanderer. Replace Icicle with Bash, get Howl.

- If you wanna have both leg pets, the miniguide above applies. The only pets worth upgrading with skills would be Wanderer, Marksman, Plumpfish (this one comes with Bash and Howl, it's worth getting those to 5).

A few words on pet leveling:

From 40 on, when I got my Sawfly, I did the first 25 pet levels infront of Archosaur, oneshotting mobs. After that point, it's harder to find good places where you can level your pets this way (maybe go on with the routine at 50+ in the 30s area of Silver Pool for 10 more pet levels), and Cube of Fate is where it's at. Inside Cube of Fate, unequip your weapon to completely negate your rep costs. The tombstones you will kill have 10 hp. You'll do more than 10 damage even at 60, without a weapon equipped. There's no real reason to go there before you want to level your Eldergoth, though. The first few levels after the TB-quest-jump can be done with your main pet of choice via normal questing/grinding.

Air Pets can be levelled at Staunch Worms around 648 113. I would recommend getting some armor pieces with dex for this, get the best bow you can then equip and go, since they're immune to magic. At 70+, your air pet can kill them fast on its own, the Phoenix at 50+

The goal of this miniguide was to share my thoughts on minimalizing time spent on finding/maintaining "the best pets", while avoiding money spent for unneccessary skills, but invisting in them where it makes sense.