Buff Pet with Virtue

[Origomali]

I am not sure how many of you have tried this but recently I was grouped on the roof of Velks for some simple xp/AA and velium farming and a Guildie (Cleric) cast Virtue on my "Monk" pet. Combined with "Augmentation of Death" and "Regrowth", he was un-stoppable.

Currently I am on the road again, working, as I travel a lot for the Construction Company that employs me and have no time to level further but I am very interested to see how tough my EoT and LoZ pets will be once I am able to conjure them.

From now on, considering how long it lasts and the ability to cough up the dots and twitch, I am always going to request "Virtue" for my pet.

[Ahura Mazda]

medding up for a raid or LDoN Adv you might be hard pressed "sometimes" -please note the qualifier- to find a or the cleric willing to dish out the mana it takes to cast virtue on your pet.

Not all groups or clerics are responsive to buffing pets.

Obviously the most HP buffs you can get on your pet the better, its just a matter of finding the necro firendly clerics that dont mind the dot and extra mana/med time to give it to you.

With that in mind. If you have an appropriate lvl enchanter in your group: I always suggest asking for NDT to be cast on your pet. It will make him proc like mad!

[Jebasiz]

I'm usually lucky if they heal my pet at all, nevermind buff it. Then again I don't ask, if it dies I just make another heh.

Erm to answer your question, Legacy of Zek pretty much owns alot of older content
if you were to make him in velks and goto the roof, it'd be pretty easy.

Jeb

[Fizzleplink]

Yeah, if he's tanking for you and your group, ask for whatever you can get. Goner (my shaman's companion) rarely draws agro, so hp/ac buffs are wasted on him. If you're using your monk or rogue pet as a boney DoT (backstabbing and taunt off), I probably wouldn't bother.

[Ebonstar]

I always ask for focus for my pet is there is a shammy in the group because it's component-free and shammys always have mana. The hps come in handy if the pet off-tanks an add or something, the str should help it's dmg output (anybody know if it does ?) and the dex should help it proc (anybody know ?).

I always get Virtue for too if there is a cleric in the group. If they seem hesitant, I offer to give them the pdot, and twitch them the mana. I've never had one refuse after that. Sometimes they are surprised or bemused, but CoB with Virtue and Focus has >6khps, so when the tank dies and the pet tanks a mob hitting for 400s and then the same cleric lands a 6K cheal, they suddenly don't mind so much.

Ebonstar,
Arch-lich of Innoruuk.

[Fizzleplink]

Extensive parses from a number of sources should still be available on the Shaman's Crucible (http://forums.interealms.com/shaman/index.php) for anybody interested in digging for them.

According to what I recall, there were mages and necromancers also contributing. I do not recall whether the summoned armor was used on monk/rogue pets, or just standard "warrior" types. It was shown that even allowing for the streakiness of the random number generator we all know and love:

First, what we'd expect:

STR and single-target ATK buffs: Improves average damage and hit frequency.
HP: Yep. They get more hp.
DEX: Improved proc rate. Anecdotally quite noticable.
AC: Native shaman AC buffs have a negligible effect at later levels, Aegolism and Virtue have a noticable one. "Hard armor" sources such as mage-summoned and/or dropped stuff was quite effective on shaman pets, and on necromantic / mage pets. I do not recall whether monk/rogue pets were tested, or just the standard "warrior" flavor.
HASTE: You already know this one. All hail haste!
REGEN: Both spells and items work. (How do we know items work? Some poor shaman handed his fungi tunic to his pet instead of his friend. Luckily, he got it back.)

Now, what surprised us:

STA: Stamina buffs (or items) have no measurable effect. Pets seem to have same max hp before and after top-of-the-line stamina buffs. In addition, one small thing we noticed: Cast STA on a person, and their max hp increases while their current hp does not, which causes their health to display as "wounded" until they heal up to their new level of health. Pet health bars don't even twitch when getting Stamina.

AGI: Agility is a buff that has diminishing returns (http://www.users.qwest.net/~taleisin/pages/AC%20from%20AGI.htm) anyway. We found no measurable effect on pets.

Hope this helps! Like Ebonstar said, shaman always have mana, so your pet should at least have str/dex/hp shortly after you start. If your shaman doesn't have the mana to do it within 10 mins of your group starting, either you're tearing through things so quickly as to not have to worry...

... or you should run. Fast.

- Fizzy



* If you have a good shaman who's past 49 but not yet 63, don't be surprised to see the following spells on your pet instead of the standard Focus/Harness line:
- Infusion of Spirit
- Maniacal Strength (if Lev 58+, Strength if not)
- Mortal Deftness (if 59+, Dexterity if not)
- Talisman of Kragg
These will provide Boney with +50 Dex/Str over Focus of Spirit, and roughly +40 Dex/Str over Focus of Souls, at the expense of some HP (25 hp less than Focus of Spirit, 164 less than Focus of Souls)

This is what I tended to give pets when at nice, controllable camps. Lev 63 or better, Focus of Souls + Strength of the Diaku becomes the working standard.

OK, back to digging. Ciao!

* Edit: Typos when writing after midnight? Never!

[NeSikWay]

A mage, me and cleric went to GD for some faction/exp, and my pet was the tank, did temperance, and mage DS, procing weapons as they dropped, mage armor, the pet kick butt against the giants. I know pets don't get use of songs, and never get any MGBs cast, I can even give my pet dmf, and magic resist stuff. All make for a better pet, though I don't know how many things he actually does get to resist but does seem less. so I do buff him what I can.

In dungeons I don't ask for an hp/ac buff unless I need to help off tank, then I want it to keep my pet up longer cause I don't like to fear in dungeons.

[Schaeffer]

I have a question related to this. Has anyone tested out how many buffs your pet can actually have at once. My UI displays only four at a time, but i've yet to see if i could put more on. I know I get the message when a spell cast on a pet has worn off so maybe that's one way to tell...

[Fizzleplink]

They seem to have the same buff slots as other NPCs. Dorking around one day, Goner ended up with strength, dex, agi, sta, infusion, talis/kragg, PR, DR, AC, symbol, potc, fr, cr, haste, lev (no effect, but he reported it), enduring breath, and a damage shield. Then dueled a druid friend who landed several dots on poor Goner. Nothing got overwritten.

20 confirmed, but likely 30.

Edit: We gave him charisma, too. A fine-lookin' hound, he was.

[Schaeffer]

Originally posted by Fizzleplink@Jan 12 2004, 01:47 PM
20 confirmed, but likely 30.

Edit: We gave him charisma, too. A fine-lookin' hound, he was.
Thanks, lol love the fine looking hound bit...

[Yinaa]

if you mess with the UI at all, you know the buff windows have an entry for every possible buff it can hold. As for the pet window, it goes 0-29, so thats 30 buffs your pet can hold (or at least report to you)

[Doomfir]

The biggest problem with your pet pre 64 is that you have no good way to heal him. Even if you have the hp buffs, he can't be maintained well. Shadowbond is the best you have and it sux when you get into a good fight. The frenzy spider of uppers camp in velks will hurt LoZ pretty good if all you are using is shadowbond. He might even kill it. I know the one at the bottom of velks (Frenzied velium hunter) will kill LoZ in an out and out fight with only shadowbond for a heal. BUT there is good news. Once you hit 64 and get Touch of Death, your pet power is increased a tremendous amount because you can heal him 1000 hps on top of shadowbond. That is some very good healing power. It isn't as good as the 2100 hp heal that bst's get (we wish), but it suffices well if you bond to him as well.

[Ebonstar]

Originally posted by Schaeffer@Jan 12 2004, 04:01 PM
My UI displays only four at a time

Actually if you are using the standard pet window, you can expand the size of it just like any other window and the buff icon area will also expand so that you can see more than 4 icons.