Dire Charm - Why?

[Mortimus]

Probably a bit of a N00b question here.
I am at the stage where I can now start to save AA points for class specific AA abilities. Many of you seem to favour going for Dire Charm. This confuses me a little.

At level 63, I have access to two pets that con as DB to me. The level limit on DC means that DCable pets always con LB to me. So why are DC pets preferable to my own? Wouldn't I be better off saving towards Suspend Minion and ensuring I always have a backup pet to hand?

Your comments would be most welcome

[Schaeffer]

You're level 46 DC'd pet will last alot longer because even a level 46 mob would have 8k HP's, much more than your summoned pet. A hasted MoB is sick DPS as well and you won't have aggro problems even though a Charmed pet can't taunt.

[Mortimus]

Thanks Schaeffer,

That makes sense to me now. Guess I had better start saving up those AAs :D

[Ebonstar]

But remember that DC can be dispelled so be careful where you do it.

[Doomfir]

I am currently using a dire charmed sentry in Veksar. Why? Because he owns! My DC pet kicks allot more tail than Child of Bertoxx can even though there is a significant difference in level (46 vs. 60). DC pet has 8k hps and hits for 125+ which is almost double what CoB will hit for (78). There are mobs I have been taking in Veksar with no sweat at all that I used to have allot of difficulty with CoB.

As mentioned before, a DC pet wont taunt. This is an issue sometimes. I solve it with keeping greater immobilize up to root him. If I can stop him long enough he forgets about me. This is important when you have just shackled an undead because of the large amount of taunt slow has on mobs.

[Kompressor]

DC'ing adds a bit of excitement heh, btw, does high cha really effect DC? Im not sure does, since I have sham friend cha buff me to around 130-150 dependin on what gear im wearin, and it doesnt seem to make a difference on the length of the charm, sometimes it breaks within one fight, and sometimes it breaks 3-4 fights later.. any other experience from you guys or thoughts appreciated :)

[Schaeffer]

CHA shouldn't affect DC at all, it's Dire Charm, it lasts till you FD, zone, camp or Die

[Jebasiz]

DC is all but useless, except in veksar. At 65 it's unnecessary, and before then it's only good, not great. If they raised the cap to 55 or 60, maybe ya...but nothing I/you fight is going to be effected much by a level 45 charmed pet at level 65. Unless you plan to do endless farming of mid-level 50 mobs, imo this is a waste of time.

Jeb

[Doomfir]

This is another one of those that we totally disagree on jeb. DC pets while agro kiting in HoH is SOOO much better than kiting with your 65 Pet. I can kite multiple mobs in the GY and they die soo much faster with a DC pet it isnt funny. My pet is doing more dmg to the mob than FPoK and BoT combined on certain ticks.

For example, The other night I had a group in HoH with another necro and grabbed some "a valiant squire"'s there on the way in to the SE basement, and one druid grabbed a wrulon youngling. This was one of the best groups I had ever been in there. We really smoked the mobs in short order. If I did nothing but sick my pet in on a mob and didnt cast one dot, I would do a significant amount of dmg before the mob was dead. But with DC I can not only sick on pet (who hits for 149 in HoH), but dot with FPoK and BoT as well. I am laying down some umph without trying.

Another place you can get a dc pet is PoV near the GY or the river closer to the undead house.

Would I like to have a 55 mob instead?? hell yeah!! But I would much rather have a DC pet than my own CoB pet too. IMO, Child of Bertox, should have been allot tougher of a pet. After getting him, I have to say I am pretty disapointed. PoP mobs still tear him to shreads in very short order. He should have had something like 8000+ hitpoints and not 4400. He also should be hitting for 12X+ and not 78. But SOE in their infinite search of the almighty dollar, wants you to level as slow as they can (exp and aa) vs. your game satisfaction in your progression. A really strong pet just makes you progress faster than they want you too.

46 DC pet in Veksar
Hits for 123-125
~8000 hitpoints.

46 DC pet in HoH
Hits for 149
~9000 hitpoints

65 Child of Bertox
Hits for 78
~4400 hitpoints

What would you rather have??

[Doomfir]

One thing I have noticed on people who are down playing dire charm is that it is from people who dont even have it or use it.

One of the complaints I have heard is that DC pets dont taunt. I will address this.

First of all they don't NEED to taunt becuase they are laying down allot of dmg on the other mob. It is much like monk taunt.

Second of all in my personal experience, their dmg taunt is head and shoulders over our own pet taunt which is basically a piss poor warrior taunt. Our pets are so week in doing 78dmg quad max (78 x 4 = 312dmg) vs DC pet doing 123-149 dmg quad x 4 = 492 to 596 per round! 2x+ rounds per ticks = 1k plus dmg. possible.

In veksar, using my own pet, I get summoned ALL the time; but using a DC pet I get summoned allot less. My pet is taking the vast majority of the agro when I use DC so this is OPPOSITE of what people who downplay DC lead you to believe by saying the pets don't taunt.

Is not using FD an issue when DC pet tanking? Not really. You can substitute root for FD. I typically pull with either a mez and then slow and root on inc, or just slow and root on inc. I get far enough away to slow and then cast root, or if I cant get a fair amount away I mez, then slow, and wait for mez to break and hit with a root.

I might also just send my pet in before slowing so he already has allot of agro before I cast slow.

In any case not being able to FD with a DC pet is not an issue. I save FD only for emergencies and never use it on the whole.

The ONLY problem I have found so far with DC is that because your pet is level 46 a spell cast from the enemy mob has more of a tendancy to stick on a DC pet than a level 60 pet. The only spell issue I have found in veksar is torgur's insects which is disease based. You can either buff up your pet with a disease resist, or you can remove the slow with our remove disease spell once it hits. Either way it only happens when you are taking casters such as seers, vassels, or nihilists. I prefer to just buff my pet with disease resists and let him go.

I use DC pets more often than not if I can get ahold of one. They are so much better than CoB even though they are only 46 it isnt funny.

[Xelgadis]

My biggest gripe w/ DC is that it's very limited in use for us. On the whole, there's not THAT many zones where we can make use of it. As such, I will get DC eventually, but not for a while as there's many other AAs that I think are more worthwhile to get beforehand. But, to each their own, as it's all really a matter of personal preferance.

[boonees]

Another dc able pet is in poj , tortured wraith , 3 of them, and none of them will resist, so always go for the light blue not the green, they hit for 138 and have fair hps.

Boonees 65 necro

[Doomfir]

Thanks for the info boones. I am sure using a DC pet in there would really rock if you had it when you got good exp there.

As to whether DC is worthwhile at any given time is to intraspect your playing style and see if that is what you need. If you are in a guild that is raiding some high level places and you get your gear in raids then by all means hold off on DC. If however you are like me, and either guildless, or would like to get your good gear earlier than you would otherwise, then DC might just be the ticket. Why?

Because no matter how limited it is, there is always one zone that you can make a goldmine of pp in that you can benefit greatly with a DC pet.. Veksar. Can you make it with your reg necro pet? Yes... but not even close to as efficient in killing if you do. If you want an easy job of farming the front end of Veksar then a dire charm pet is the "cat's meow". I make 30k to 60k a day on the weekends in Veksar. I can make close to that in other zones, but not with near the ease. There is almost no zone like that for gear that sells good and is close to all undead as in veksar.

Sooo.. if you are like so many other necros.. and think you would like to farm veksar to get the gear you need, then DC is a good place to put points into. I have put points in allot of other things (many having to do with pet power of our summoned pets) and I STILL consider DC as one of my better investments. There is no way even with a focused CoB I could have made over 300kpp in a month if it was not for DC.

[Demetrii Spiritdrinker]

612,718pp in Veksar in 23 days. No Dire Charm.


Can't suspend him, and I hate to kill each and every stupid trash mob on the trip to the Shopkeeper, Chef, Warlock/Hierophant/Luminary, Slavemaster, Brother, Slaves, Lich, and Trooper. It's doable, but it bothers me.


Also, a DC pet has no super-regeneration, so Pet Focuses don't work on him. Besides that, his attack level is much, much lower than Child's, which means he doesn't max out as much -- Focused CoBertoxx, Rune'd, took down his Shopkeeper before an Enchanter-hasted Sentry took down her's.


DC was slick, back in the Luclin era. Yes, it can still be used in Planar and Veksar settings, but that's like saying one can choose to use a shotgun in a contest where precision is required. I'll bet money that I could clean out an entire cycle of Veksar nameds before a necromancer with a Dire-Charmed pet could clear his way to each.


You have 9 AAs? Spend them on Combat Agility, or Natural Durability. DC is a toy, but its not as uber as people make it out to be.


( " A Sentry " was parsed at 47.3 DPS on a similar-level mob -- another Sentry. His DPS plummeted to 21.7 when he was pitted against ' A Duke. ' Child of Bertoxxolous, however, parsed at a consistent 40 - 44 DPS on both, and could be Suspended to allow simple transition between one camp and another. )

[Jebasiz]

Like I always said...DC is USELESS. Thanks for the parses demetrii.

There is no way even with a focused CoB I could have made over 300kpp in a month if it was not for DC.


I've solo'd every single last mob in veksar except the dragon and don't have DC. Like I went through the zone and killed every single damn one, ending with remains. You can make the same amount of money with or without DC, and I'm doubting very much that DC makes it that much easier. Get crit dots, secondary forte, runspeed 5, LR5, ID5, Fom3, TOL 3-5, ND3, mc3...I'm sure those will all serve you better then dire charm...if for no other reason, they substantially increase your effectiveness in every single zone.