Magician Summoned Weapons: Sword vs. Others

[loramin]

Ever since I got https://wiki.project1999.com/Sword_of_Runes I've been using it exclusively for both of my pet's weapons. However, at 39 I got https://wiki.project1999.com/Dagger_of_Symbols and ... it seems very underwhelming: the sword has a better ratio (and a proc).

So my question is, are there any conditions under which I should be using the summoned dagger (or summoned staff, or any other weapon except the sword) instead?

[Endorra]

As far as I'm aware, Loramin, there are no reasons to pick one or the other on p99.

I played a necro/mage in Classic, and there were a couple of good reasons to be picky back then. In vanilla there was a time period when pets would take the delay of weapons given to them. So daggers were amazing because they were essentially hasting the pet by cutting its delay down to 20... which could then be further hasted. This was eventually patched.

However as I recall P99 does not include this classic evolution of mechanics, and pets have the same delay regardless of weapon at any point in the timeline.

Once that got changed in classic, the next discovery was that summoned mage swords would proc their DD on any type of target, not just summoned ones. So the ideal summoned weapon became the swords because of the proc.

As I recall, P99 does not include this classic mechanic either, so there's no advantage specific to summoned swords at any point in the timeline.

[loramin]

As far as I'm aware, Loramin, there are no reasons to pick one or the other on p99.

I played a necro/mage in Classic, and there were a couple of good reasons to be picky back then. In vanilla there was a time period when pets would take the delay of weapons given to them. So daggers were amazing because they were essentially hasting the pet by cutting its delay down to 20... which could then be further hasted. This was eventually patched.

However as I recall P99 does not include this classic evolution of mechanics, and pets have the same delay regardless of weapon at any point in the timeline.

Once that got changed in classic, the next discovery was that summoned mage swords would proc their DD on any type of target, not just summoned ones. So the ideal summoned weapon became the swords because of the proc.

As I recall, P99 does not include this classic mechanic either, so there's no advantage specific to summoned swords at any point in the timeline.

Thanks, that helps, but:

As I recall, P99 does not include this classic mechanic either, so there's no advantage specific to summoned swords at any point in the timeline.

... don't they have the advantage of greater damage/ratio vs. the other summoned weapons?

[Endorra]

If wielded by a player character, yes, the sword is a better DPS item.

If wielded by a pet, the sword will not affect the pet's damage except possibly at very low levels where the pet's inherent damage is very low. Like maybe level 1 to 4 pets who don't naturally hit for 14+ would benefit from equipping a sword, which would allow them to hit for 14.

Once you're high enough to summon the swords and the dagger, there's no difference between their effectiveness for a pet. The ratio has no effect on an NPC's performance.

[Sabin76]

I can't speak for Blue, but Swords definitely proc on everything on Green, currently. Don't remember when they were patched to fix that.

To answer your question, though... I'd say the dagger and spear would be ok in a situation where the swords proc gets resisted all the time (it's magic-based AFAICT). This means the resists from the spear and dagger would at least do SOMETHING to help the pet. Both of those weapons together add 5 to every resist stat.

[Endorra]

I can't speak for Blue, but Swords definitely proc on everything on Green, currently. Don't remember when they were patched to fix that.


Oh maybe it does work that way temporarily on green. I could be wrong.

[Snaggles]

I forgot when exactly but soon (if not already) your max pet won’t even need weapons to DW. At 49+ at least you don’t so unless your fighting summoned things where the sword procs will do extra damage just skip them.

I do carry a pair of gnoll hide lariats, deadwood staves, and a serrated bone dirk just in case. In the lower levels (20-30’s) I was constantly burning 75-100p 2hs. A max pet in the 30’s hitting for 60 is a pretty fun beast :).

[Tenloar]

Snaggles brings up some good suggestions but I feel like your original question has gone unanswered (or at least I dont like the answers here):

The delay NEVER matters for pets. They have their innate delay built in regardless of weapon type or unnarmed.

Damage pretty much ONLY matters at lower levels when their max hit is less than 20 (giving them a 2 hander summoned staff can increase their max hit to 20).

As far as the summoned items go, on Green (I haven't played since pre-Kunark so this needs to be fact checked by someone else please) the summoned swords proc on any mob at the moment. In the timeline this gets adjusted to only work on summoned mobs so you'll need to check when exactly this gets adjusted. (On Blue this only works on summoned mobs)

Dual summoned swords will be the way to go to maximize damage on Green. Once it gets adjusted I usually only use 1 sword and 1 dagger (So I can tell when the pet dual wields cuz im crazy like that)

Hope this clarifies!

[plzrelax]

Unrelated, but the dispel staff is good to hand to monks and other pullers because of it’s long range and instant click. Some mages would just summon a bunch of them and leave them on the ground

[loramin]

Awesome, thanks all for the explanation (and especially Endorra and Tenloar)!

[Blingy]

So my question is, are there any conditions under which I should be using the summoned dagger (or summoned staff, or any other weapon except the sword) instead?

If your pet is fighting mobs with a magic, disease or poison proc these daggers will help your pet (or even toons) resist the proc. Trak comes to mind with his Poison Breath (https://wiki.project1999.com/Poison_Breath). It won't make a huge difference but some fights; every little bit helps. There's also Rotting Flesh (https://wiki.project1999.com/Rotting_Flesh) that's disease based. There are other encounters where having a resist boost would help but this is a good start.

[Zipity]

If your pet is fighting mobs with a magic, disease or poison proc these daggers will help your pet (or even toons) resist the proc. Trak comes to mind with his Poison Breath (https://wiki.project1999.com/Poison_Breath). It won't make a huge difference but some fights; every little bit helps. There's also Rotting Flesh (https://wiki.project1999.com/Rotting_Flesh) that's disease based. There are other encounters where having a resist boost would help but this is a good start.

Lol if you think a lvl 45 pet is resisting a lvl 65 dragon AoE :)