Bless on herc - good or bad idea?

sailormoon4ever · March 2015

I remember reading about how people were saying they made their herc tankier with Blessing of the Pack (HP buff). So when I saw a Bless Scroll on the AH, I picked it up.

But then I was faced with the problem of deciding where to put it!

I have :
- Strong : pdef buff
- Protect : mdef buff
- Reflect : reflect damage buff
- Bash : single target aggro skill
- Unyielding : evolved def lvl buff
- Primal Howl : evolved aoe aggro skill
- Gold Armor : "single line" aggro skill (this is a built-in skill when I evolved, so prob can't replace)

The whole point of adding Bless is to make my herc tankier. But all my skills are already tank skills (abiity to take hits and ability to grab/maintain aggro). So it means replacing 1 tank skill with another. So at this point I'm not sure if I'll come out ahead or behind using bless. b:sad

My first thought was to replace Bash, but I have trouble keeping aggro without it. Gold Armor is great, but on long cooldown so I find I need bash. I have bash on auto and use Gold Armor and Primal Howl as needed and never have problems with aggro.

I then thought about replacing one of my evolved skills, but am not sure if you can even do it. And if I can, then will it mean I will no longer be able to change my evolved skills in the future since it may overwrite the bless?

If I can't replace evolved skills, then my only option left is reflect. But that is so useful in boss fights and also with lots of mobs around (click aoe aggro skill and let reflect keep the aggro). Am I losing more than I'm gaining with Blessing of the Pack??

Thoughts? Opinions? Advice?

morenawolf · March 2015

Hello!

Uhm, personally I would keep the Herc how it is now. Mood skills cannot be replaced with normal ones, so you should remove one of the 4 existing skills... but I don't think it's worth. I don't have a Herc so I cannot be 100% sure, but I think it would become less effective by removing a single one of those skills (which are all rare exept bash, so very expensive and hard to find). You would loose defence or damage, making harder to keep aggro and survive. If you need more hp try to reroll inherit stats until you get better values, in Desdi's pet guide you can find all the factors that influence the roll. Goodluck!

Desdi - Sanctuary · March 2015

Honestly, removing Bash is the only option. You can easily re-learn Bash, but it costs a lot to re-learn the other skills

Plus, reflect is actually awesome in many places. Some bosses have high attack that get really high damage returned back, making it great source of "damage dealing".

Evolution (Mood) skills cannot be replaced by regular skills, only by other Mood skills. They can be leveled though, but that require re-rolling the mood in hopes of getting the same mood but with higher level skills.

Now...
What is your gear and your Hercules' inherit stats?
What do you mainly use the Hercules for?
Does Hercules really struggle to keep aggro without Bash? What if you hold your DD back a little?
Do you have any other pets you might consider using Bless on?

I think if you answer these questions, especially the first two, we might be able to give you more suggestions.

I actually considered teaching my own Hercules Bless, if I ever got it from the Lycaeum. I never got one though so in the end I didn't do it. That was mainly because I had nothing else to use it on though (my only non legendary pet, the Hatchling, already has Bless & Claw).

This is why I'm asking to know what you use or intend to use the Hercules for though. Will the Bless be really needed, or should you teach it to another pet? If you're planning to use it for a lot of soloing/farming it might be worthwhile... otherwise maybe a DD pet might benefit from Bless, or do you just want to build an ultimate tank pet? Etc.

Satyrion - Sanctuary · March 2015

If you are worried about aggro, I would advise reroll the mood for one where you get a high level version of the skill provoking. It's an amazing aggro skill, and you could replace bash without worry - at least I dont have bash on my herc, and he's keeping aggro decent, but I still have the lowest level version of provoking. It's basically a buff, a chance to take aggro every time he's attacking. Higher level the skill is, the higher the chance is.
Some people say its unreliable, but the skill goes off really often, so your herc will build up a lot of aggro. I tried primal howl after testing out provoking, but I missed the skill right away, so I got provoking back. The only downside of the skill is if you on one boss don't want to tank, your herc will keep trying to steal the aggro, but in that case you can turn off auto buff before summoning the herc, or use a DD pet on that boss.

Mobeta - Heavens Tear · March 2015

I HIGHLY recommend rerolling mood till you get Impetuous. Higher levels of Provoke are very good and the pet heal combined with the Bless added hp will make herc very self sufficient.
With Provoke 6, Bloodthirst 3, and bless my herc will out agro and out tank all but the best barbs on most bosses. Admittedly my gear is decient, R999 +10 gear +12 weapon, but i have barbs comment on the herc often. You will never miss bash.

eirghan · March 2015

I personally have bless on my walker (which has the other base buffs) and wouldnt trade it for the world. And my veno is HA so walker already inherits quite the tank stats. I find with a good aggro mood its worthwhile to have. For me i can control damage if i find i am pulling unwanted aggro but i cant always control how much damage gets thrown at my walker.

My walker with base buffs beats out my friends herc no problem, who has the stats he got hatched with.

But again it's just that. A personal decision. If you love bash and will miss it i wouldn't make that leap until (or if) you get a mood that makes it basically obsolete.

Mobeta - Heavens Tear · March 2015

Hercs need to have Gold armor deity skill as default spam skill. It is strait line so that it can hit multple mobs, increases threat level and keeps your herc perma buffed for 15% less damage. Bash is way less effective for tanking.

Bless on herc - good or bad idea?

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