Pet tanking

[dohrian]

To kill summonning mobs I use pet tanking. I root then debuff mob, start dotting, send pet before getting summoned, then dot the mob to death (12 dots loaded), my healer merc healing the pet. It works pretty well (I finished mercenary in Chelsith that way and I am finishing Xorbb mercenary), but it is often close (pet under 20%), and pet dies about 20% of the time, I have to finish the mob tanking it.
I have all passive pet AAs (8800 AAs), but no activated one (like Companion's Blessing or Fortify Companion). I was wondering if they are worth using, or if I should find other way to boost pet (like mage gear). Any advice ?

Thanks

[Sowslow]

I summon tank anything that I can root. I don't use pet unless I am straight up tanking or group or some raids.
Cast dots in between summon. Its a little slower than straight root rot, but pretty close. Let merc heal me in between summon.

[dohrian]

I took Fortify Companion (level 9 only yet), it works quite well. Tanking Minos in Xorbb Valley my pet who used to go below 20% and sometimes died does not go below 40%. Only drawback is that it needs to be activated, and recast is 15 min after all hastened AAs.

Doh

[Sowslow]

Any reason you prefer pet tanking over summon tanking? Just the challenge? I have always found it easier to keep myself alive than keep the pet up under any situation.
I know I have better gear than you but I still think we make better tanks than pet no matter the AAs, unless you count pet DA for tanking.
Summon tanking is pretty easy and not much loss of dps over root rotting depending on adds and such.

[dohrian]

[Sowslow]

Maybe we are talking different things. I don't tank straight up mobs that I know will have chance to kill me.
I root a mob, debuff and usually load up 3 dots before I get summoned. Step back out of melee range and cast next dot. Get summoned and repeat loading up 12 dots also, same ones I use for root rotting.
Yes you do lose a little dps over traditional root rot but it is almost impossible to die unless you get adds.
If you can survive one round, merc will heal you up after each summon vs constant heal on pet. If you are getting one rounded by a mob, your pet is definitely getting one rounded and neither approach is going to work.
Straight in your face tanking is really only something I do for mobs that I cannot root.
Maybe I am lazy as I am not going for speed of kills anymore, just working to complete tasks.

[Valdemar]

Dohrian,

You know now that the active pet AAs are well worth it, and you asked if pet gear could be helpful also. I think if you make a point of gearing up your pet, you'll notice a significant boost to your pet's tanking ability and lethality.

The main failing of our pets in the tanking role is the lack of hitpoints. No matter how much AC you slap on your pet, if the mob can kill it quickly - more quickly than you or your cleric merc can get off a heal - then the AC is wasted. Obviously, AC is critical but hitpoints are what our pets need most. I'm sure I'm not saying anything you don't know already but I wanted to define the problem so that my tactic that I recommend to you makes more sense.

What I do is use a combination of Mage summoned gear and defiant armor. Nothing beats the summoned weapons for pets and that is a well-understood and accepted fact, so I won't say more. The same can be said for the summoned belts which add copious amounts of hitpoints. The masks that can be summoned at your level are good also, even though the lack of added hitpoints takes some of the luster away. Lastly, the summoned "jewelry" items can't be beaten for all-round stats and ease of access even though the AC on them is unimpressive. So that leaves the regular summoned "armor" pieces. Here's where I depart from the Mage-gear-it-and-forget-it crowd. I equip my pet with Elaborate Defiant Plate pieces on every slot possible, except for the belt. The reason is that the AC is comparable the level 96 Mage summoned armor but has WAAAYYYY more hitpoints and stats which your pet needs. Its also readily available and cheap if you don't want to farm it. I have seen that my pet when geared in this fashion is MUCH more survivable from damage spikes and AOEs. The Defiant armor really stacks on the hitpoints and is worth the small sacrifice in AC verses the level 96 summoned armor, not to mention the other stats which don't exist on the equivalent summoned pieces.

The downside is that you need to spend some serious effort on gearing your pet, you need to keep track of the gear in each slot, and you probably should keep extra pieces in your bank for the inevitable pet death. More significantly, when you spend this much effort on the Defiant armor pieces, you want to KEEP your pet since its a real PITA to gear up a new pet. In other words, your pet ceases to be as disposable.

The final word is that the Defiant armor will make a big difference in pet survivability via hitpoints and stats over summoned pieces. So, summoned weps. Summoned jewelry. Summoned belt and mask. Highest Defiant tier armor that is practical for the rest. Also, if you can find a mask that is easily farmed which will add some AC/HPs, you can consider replacing the summoned version.

Regards,
Valdemar

[dohrian]

Thanks for your extended answer Valdemar !
I shall keep it in mind when soloing / moloing summoning mobs (after I get my MM ring, which still eludes me after ~100 solo kills)...

[Benedorf]

Heya Dorian, another Bristlebane Shammie here -

I'd recommend getting the active Pet AA's. Pet DA for one has saved my pet for me, it only lasts 15 seconds for me, but more than enough time to get a heal ready. I also recommend having a pet in the bank fully buffed. While in the LAGPILE I fully buff a pet with best in game buffs, including Heal Over Time's (Stacked), Epic clicky, Panther/Lynz/Tiger/Lion line highest one and Pet's Divine Aura (Yepper even the best rune and spell/melee block spells I can get). Now this pet fully geared up with Mage and Defiant I suspend, right after using Pet Divine Aura AA. Then I make another pet and gear up as my primary one to use, when it looks like he might die I'm already 3/4's casting Suspend Minion to pop the one banked out.

When this pets comes in he is a "Monster" for about 30 seconds, long enough for me to recover and set about making whatever killed pet number one deaded, or worst case to beat a hasty retreat while pet holds the mobs for me.

Maybe I should add that my pets perma name is "Speedbump", and I use him exactly like that, he is my mercenary that actually does what i tell him to

Benedorf Shaman 92 of Tribunal
Benemage 86
Napalnb Druid 87
Rangabene 75

[Benedorf]

Pet update - Less than impressed. I now have our level 97 pet spell RANK III even, and combined with the level 98 Pet haste/dps increasing buff and to say I'm less than impressed would be an understatement.

Basically unless your farming LB con's pet is basically useless. Even against DB mobs pet requires almost chain healing to stay up. Pet Divine Aura keeps your pet alive, but immediately dumps agro off pet and onto YOU if your soloing (Easier just to step forward and melee yourself with a big HOT burning on you.

This is supposed to be our BEST pet in the game!

[Kaisung]

I've never seen our pet as anything more than another body to hang a Leopard/Panther/whatever proc on. Even with mage toys on him, he's been an underwhelming tank. There was a thread on the Mage boards a while back about loading pets up with bazaar gear (http://www.eqmagetower.com/forums/viewt ... f=5&t=3947) that might help if you are serious about wanting to use fluffy as a tank.

[Benedorf]

Thanks for the suggestion, but earlier in this thread you'll see we already talked about equipping our pet with defiant gear and haste belt.

The reason I posted the update really is because I had just tried out our BEST pet in the game Rank III coupled with the NEW pet haste/dps mod spell we got (Also rank III) and I was less than impressed.

I used to count on our pet as basically a mana free DOT, but I had hoped our *END GAME* pet would atleast allow us to solo a bit. Of course we can use a tank merc and our pet just becomes DPS, But I certainly feel we SHOULD be able to solo with our pet and no merc if we choose (Like a mage can), okay so our pet doesn't need to be the monster a mage pet is, But it should be more powerful than it is.

Note I've even tried by keeping Rampant Growth up on dog dog, it just isn't enough HPS.

[Sowslow]

I just finished up the passive pet aas as I put them towards the end of my list.
Pet tanks decent with just those on most trash mobs. I still need to the activated ones to see if it helps at all on named, but as of right now it doesn't last very long an named mobs without multiple healers and even then dies pretty quick.
The biggest problem I have with even trying pet tanking is pulling aggro off him, which is way too easy. After just a few dots, I pull aggro off him and have to wait for a lucky taunt of for one of the dots to wear off. It is a very inefficient process and I would still rather tank myself.
I don't use pet very much as the dps is low and upkeep is high. Unless they up the dps or do something else to make it beneficial I will continue rarely cast pet.