Shaman what are your go-to pet buffs?

[Purifyre]

I normally just throw on sow, a talisman, and haste but I was killing the oasis specs last night and with the ac buff (18 ac I think) he was not really losing much health to a Togor'd spectre, he was actually gaining it back almost as fast as he was getting hit.

To my eyes the ac buff was very effective but I could have just been getting a long run of weaker specs too. Before using that buff the pets were ending the fight at 50% health, and after they were at 90%ish. (was level 39 pet, 35 hitter).

Are there any other buffs that actually have benefit? I don't bother with stat buffs since I'm pretty sure they have no effect..

[Byrjun]

Just haste, but I don't pet tank.

[loramin]

Personally the only buff I ever bother with is the strength one from my Jaundiced Arms. I haven't done extensive log parsing or anything, but subjectively I found the different between a hasted pet and an un-hasted one to be ... almost non-existent. Certainly not enough to justify spending that mana every time the buff runs out (which is often).

But YMMV.

[DrKvothe]

Once you can click epic and get paralyzing earth, it tends to be more efficient to kill 4-6 things at a time with just PE + epic than to bother ever casting slow. This was true for me in CoM ramparts and now in HS ent. I doubt I'll use a pet while soloing again until I get torpor, unless its as a sacrifice to help me get roots down on a whole bunch of mobs.

I suppose that changes against casters or summoners, but I'm not there yet.

[Purifyre]

Personally the only buff I ever bother with is the strength one from my Jaundiced Arms. I haven't done extensive log parsing or anything, but subjectively I found the different between a hasted pet and an un-hasted one to be ... almost non-existent. Certainly not enough to justify spending that mana every time the buff runs out (which is often).

But YMMV.


Weird I have buffed pet with strength buff before but he didn't hit for more damage - does it still give more atk power then?

[Buriedpast]

PE hammer, str, celerity, avatar if there's rogues around just to get a rise out of them.

[Mortiis]

-Only mana buff I use on the pet is the low lvl haste 'quickness'
-The others are the jaundiced clicky str, dex, agi. Not that they need it, but no mana cast buffs? why the hell not. Haste is the most effective.

[loramin]

Weird I have buffed pet with strength buff before but he didn't hit for more damage - does it still give more atk power then?

I could have sworn I did see him hit for more, but I wasn't being methodical when I tested so it's entirely possible the dog got killed and I summoned a newer (higher-level/higher damage-dealing) pet and mistook that for an increase from the strength, or something like that.

[Pint]

Does anyone know for sure if str makes the pets max hit higher?

[planarity]

for what it's worth, I do know that when you cast sta on the pet it's hp doesn't go below 100%, so sta does nothing.

[Jimjam]

If I remember correctly, Shaman's Crucible discovered that some of the pure stat buffs actually made your pet WORSE!

[mgellan]

The only reason I pop a pet these days is to break a room in HS - talisman, sta, torpor just before you send him in, let him eat all the HTs, root the mobs while he dies (usually, or call him back to heal up and reclaim) and rot. I guess I could AOE slow them too but never bother. The mana I use to pop a pet goes for another Bane cast.

Regards,
Mg

[BlkCamel]

Talisman, Clicky STR, Clicky Dex, AC Buff, Haste. Like Mgellan said drop torpor on him before a break. Don't need AC buff but as mentioned above pets seem to benefit more from AC buffs than PC's. Never regen your pet.

[blondeattk]

` Don't need AC buff but as mentioned above pets seem to benefit more from AC buffs than PC's.`

i used to carry cheap bp around with me, to give the pet....if i intended pp farming in same zone for few hours.
SOme zones have alot of junk armour drops, that can go on the pet......will equip if no race listed on the item.

[Shatford]

STR buff can make your pet hit for more damage IF you haven't summoned the max level pet. For example, if you cast the level 49 spell Frenzied Spirit, you summon a pet that can be between level 32-36. If you summon the level 36 pet, it'll have a max damage of 51 per hit and no matter how much STR you add, it will cap at 51 damage. If you cast the same level 49 Frenzied Spirit spell and out pops a level 32 pet, it will hit for a base of 43 damage per hit, but you can buff it with STR so it will hit harder, but not harder than 51 damage per hit.

From the p99 Shaman wiki:
Lvl 34 - Companion Spirit - LVL?-26 - Max hit 31
Lvl 39 - Vigilant Spirit - LVL?-28 - Max hit 35
Lvl 44 - Guardian Sprit - LVL28-32 - Max hit 43
Lvl 49 - Frenzied Spirit - LVL32-36 - Max hit 51
Lvl 55 - Spirit of the Howler - LVL?-39 - Max hit 53

[shamanredux]

Also, last I checked, the 55 pet is bugged and only max hitting for 52 at the highest level.

[koros]

Some of this is baloney. Str doesn't raise pet max hits. It does seem to (and definitely did on live) shift the distribution of hits upwards.