Pet skills: Am I on the right track?

You could but Bash on your DarkBreed if you want only lvl it to 2.I would probably put Bash on your GW and only lvl it up to 2 ,3 max.The reason is I have seen a Crystalline Magmite take on a lvl 90 with only a lvl 2 bash.I am surprised though you haven't replaced Icicle with Bash.

You could add Flesh Ream lvl 2 only to your Petite Sawfly no higher lvls.I would leave roar alone at lvl 1.Yes it is nice having ranged pet like an Eldergroth MarksMan for the ranged attacks.

MystiMonk - Sanctuary wrote: »

You could but Bash on your DarkBreed if you want only lvl it to 2.I would probably put Bash on your GW and only lvl it up to 2 ,3 max.The reason is I have seen a Crystalline Magmite take on a lvl 90 with only a lvl 2 bash.I am surprised though you haven't replaced Icicle with Bash.

You could add Flesh Ream lvl 2 only to your Petite Sawfly no higher lvls.I would leave roar alone at lvl 1.Yes it is nice having ranged pet like an Eldergroth MarksMan for the ranged attacks.

Why that , i thought Icicle and bash is same , just the 1 is physical and the other is magical.

To OP : I dont think lvling Roar would make a difference , people will steal get aggro from u if they wish too b:surrender

i don't see much reason to replace icicle (or any elemental bash) with plain bash, either. icicle will do less damage on water-resistant mobs, but by the same token bash will do less damage on mobs with high phys def. when adding a damage-and-aggro skill to a pet that doesn't have any, i personally like to go with plain bash, but that may be because i like doing physical damage more than i perhaps should. i wouldn't bother switching over to it when a pet already has some kind of bash, though.

for a fourth skill on my walker, i'm saving up for threaten. the way i figure, my walker is the take-lots-of-punishment tank pet, and threaten would help it do that; if i want a pet to do lots of damage, i pull out my dark wanderer, which i've put bash on and leveled same up.

on my own character, i try to balance out weaknesses with strengths to make the gameplay even and balanced; but my pets, i specialize for one purpose each. i don't want or need my tank pet to be good at dealing damage, or vice versa. but that's just how my personal gameplay works for me, your mileage may vary.

so, that said, my answer for what skills to put on your pets would depend on how you use them, and for what. for example, if your wolf is mainly a puller i'd perhaps consider slow, to give you more time for resummoning and buffing a catcher pet or to give your squad's tank more leisure to get ready. or some other debuff, to put the mob already at a disadvantage before it reaches you.

your sawfly... is kitted out much like my skatefish, two bashes. that does awesome damage if you can remember to keep them both firing, but i don't really know what else to put on mine either. it's got slow, but i seldom pull with it so that's kindof wasted. maybe i'll give it tough, to balance out its squishiness. then again, i'm PvE and don't really know what you'd want on a PvP pet.

on ranged tanking... obviously it's not necessary, as folks have leveled venos very far indeed without ever getting a ranged pet. but i'm finding it a surprisingly powerful tool, especially against ranged mobs, and i wouldn't be without it. it does have limitations --- like any specialized tool --- but it can do things you can't really get done any other way, or not as easily / safely at any rate. i especially like the ability to keep ranged and magical mobs from kiting my pet, keeping the fight from spilling into clusters of other mobs. but on the other hand, the very weak aggro keeping does slow the fight down.

On Bash vs. Elemental attack:

In my examinations of the mob database, the general pattern I've noticed is that the mob's defenses (from low to high) follow this pattern:
a) element that the mob is weakest against.
b) physical defense.
c) other elements.
d) element that the mob is strongest against.

So if you are trying to max damage (and hold agro with damage), then a physical bash gives you the most benefit across the widest range of pets. In addition, ironwood enhances the bash damage (you would have to switch to fox and amp to enhanse the elemental attack).

Q1. Darkbreeds make for great pets, they're able to take on most mini-bosses and can deal some decent damage. I see you have leveled your Howl, which is also a smart move. Roar, as you have found out yourself, is a great skill and comes in handy in some scenarios. I must say you have made some great choices. Now, Bash is likely the best addition you can make, it will greatly improve your pet's damage output (by about 9.5% if i remember correctly) and will generate better aggro than Ream, so yes, my advice on this is to put it in your pet. There's no much difference with elemental Bashes, except Bash, as phys damage, will better benefit from Ironwood, and makes much more effective the pet part of your veno combo against mag resistant mobs, all things being equal i'd suggest you go for phys Bash first. Roar you can certainly keep, although usually i'd recommend Threaten more for an attack pet as it a) doubles as a deffensive skill, allowing your pet to hold out longer against certain mobs (such as Sac Assault) or dealing with multiples and b) it will allow you to actually help a Barb if you see a spike take out most of his hp or to better protect DD classes off-tanking. Another option would be to add an elemental Bash as a 3rd damage skill, which should greatly improve damage and make it much more difficult to steal aggro away from the wolf, or even to regain it in most circumstances. I personally think Roar is more suited for tanking pets or those on the role of back up, that is just my opinion however.

I recommend you simply add Bash, max it as soon as you're able (remember to right click it to make it a default, as it will be more effective than Ream except when pulling) and afterwards max Ream, then Howl.

Q2. Please make absolutely sure your Walker is the pet you'll be keeping as a permanent tank (other than perhaps a future herc) before you commit to skilling it. You somehow strike me as not being too fond of it and is important that you consider all alternatives before making an investment, although stat wise the Walker really is the best tanking pet you can get. Do not touch Icicle, as Solandri recently pointed out in a different thread, this will make a more situational skill its default. I'd recommend leveling it, and yes, Threaten is likely the best addition you can make. As you've pointed out yourself, it comboes nicely with Tough (i've got both on my tanking pet, and it has so far worked wonders) while Roar will likely prove it's worth on a tanking pet, especially if you use it mainly as a back up.

I wouldn't touch anything else in this set up and would leave it as is after you've added Threaten, and would simply recommend you work on maxing the skills, Icicle being the first choice.

Q3. Air pets are usually fragile, so a deffensive skill such as Tough or Threaten would probably make for the best 4th skill. Shriek is another posibility i would strongly consider, since most air mobs tend to do mostly slow casting mag attacks, and it would provide you access to this skill when out in the open world. Ream is certainly the best choice for a 3rd skill precisely because of PvP.

Being on a PvP server, i'd recommend you make it your first priority to skill Ream and to max it as soon as posible, other than that leave skilling this pet for later however, since working on your land pets will benefit you much more.

Q4. Tricky one, my own experience with leveling Roar does seem to suggest it actually does become more effective at stealing aggro as you level it up, although from what i know you're certainly right in your understanding of how this skill works, and technically the amount of aggro it applies after the reset should be the same as that provided by a same level debuff, perhaps a bit higher. This is one i'll be honest in admitting i can't fully answer. I would ask you again to consider Threaten or an elemental Bash for the wolf however, even if Roar has provided great results to you so far. Roar is situational and a back up or worst case scenario type of skill, and i'm afraid you may be loosing too much of an oportunity keeping it on an attack pet. Once again, this is only my opinion.

Q5. From what i know the pet is only a convenience, since you still have to get just as close as with other pets to send it in, and you do have alternatives such as tame pet or Earthflame if what you want to is to catch a mob a little further back or only stay in that position for a few seconds. The ranged tanking job is specialized, and while certainly an improvement to your capabilities, not necessary in the strict sense, it only allows you to tank some bosses you otherwise wouldn't. I would recommend you give it some time, as unlike other pet roles ranged luring is actually improved by a higher level pet, and there are a couple of choices at the 90+ level range where such skill is mostly required.

Phoenix_Eye - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Why that , i thought Icicle and bash is same , just the 1 is physical and the other is magical.

To OP : I dont think lvling Roar would make a difference , people will steal get aggro from u if they wish too b:surrender

It isn't though is it and I wouldn't get all those skills to max or you are wasting coin as you can just save up for Herc and a Nix.There I said it like tweaks.

Even if you're saving up for legendary pets, keeping your pet's main aggro skill up to level is well worth a measly 200k every 20 levels. Maxed Bash will pay for itself unless you already are upwards of 90% there...

Other skills are contingent on whether you'll continue using any given pet for good. Some, like the Wanderer or the Scorp, will not be made obsolete by herc. If you don't plan to save for a herc then proper skilling is certainly a worthy investment.

Q3: Other than getting flesh ream for when i'm being pked in the air, i have absolutely no idea what else to put on this lol. Please head me in the right direction b:thanks


I am wondering why no one has mentioned "Boost", this skill seems to be less helpful in it's lower levels but how does it do at level 5? I would think it would help if you were battling a tough mob and couldn't keep up the pets health by yourself.
My questionfor pet skills would be how do you get some of those rare skills like Bloodhunger, Bloodhuger, Consume, Devour, Sacrifice, Blessing of the Pack ect?

Boost only has three levels, not five like most other skills... And at its best it only heals 12% of a pet's hp... The only situation i can think of it would become useful is if you could barely tank something and Boost could make up the difference, this a highly situational scenario as you can see, and one that would only last for a relatively short level range.

I know Boost may come off as an attractive skill at lower levels, after all this is the pet healing itself on a very reasonable cooldown, but it comes down to being absolutely useless. It will not save your pet from a damage spike and most of the time its effect will be overwhelmed by your own heal.

Trust me, this skill you only keep if you don't have money to swap out for something better...

According to pwdatabase, Wurlord's water defense is lower than his physical defense, so yes, icicle should do more than bash on Wurlord.

Mayfly - Dreamweaver wrote: »

According to pwdatabase, Wurlord's water defense is lower than his physical defense, so yes, icicle should do more than bash on Wurlord.

Wurlord 2-1 solo:
1645 pdef
1188 water def
1152 pdef after 30% Ironwood reduction

Wurlord 2-2 solo:
1817 pdef
1313 water def
1272 pdef after 30% Ironwood reduction

Wurlord 2-3 solo:
1990 pdef
1437 water def
1393 pdef after 30% ironwood reduction

So unless you have to spam heal all the time against him in solo mode, you're better off with Bash and Ironwood thrown in every 10 sec.

Mayfly - Dreamweaver wrote: »

As long as we're taking into account debuffs, how about running the figures for howl + icicle?

What level howl and icicle? I could make a table, but that's 25 combinations so would get a bit long.

You really don't need to max out all your skills on a non Leg. pet as you won't be doing any soloing in instances with it.You will mostly be doing instances in squad which there are other dds there like Barb and Wiz. do the main parts of the damage.Venos are there for support and if you see a mob getting close to the squad while attacking the boss target them or it.

You can solo all you want in the persistent world but you don't need but still don't need lvl 5 skills a lvl 3 bash along with a lvl 10 heal pet will do.