Pet weapon questions

[bcbrown]

Since starting a necro I've become curious about the details and nuances of giving a pet a weapon.

Delay isn't affected at all, right? Whether I give a rusty dagger or a weighted axe, it won't change the pet's delay. Is that correct?

If a weapon doesn't do as much damage as a pet is already doing, it won't reduce the damage, right? Giving the pet a Gnoll Hide Lariat won't lower the max hit? And I think max damage is 2 times weapon damage plus 1, so if the pet is already doing 31 damage, you'd need to give it at least a 16 damage weapon to make it hit for additional damage? Does giving a pet a strength buff have any effect on damage?

How does dual wield work? If a pet is high enough level to dual wield, you can simply give it a torch and it will begin dual wielding? Can you give a pet a 2-hander and a torch and still get it to dual wield? If so, does the order matter?

If you give the pet two 1-handers, will the offhand weapon proc? I'm assuming the first weapon given will go in primary, and the second weapon goes in secondary?

Pets ignore class restrictions on weapons, right? You can give a warrior pet a ranger-only weapon and it'll use it? Do they follow level restrictions on procs or can a low-level pet get procs on a weapon that only procs 50+?

What are some good pet weapons? Gnoll hide lariats, deadwood staves, tash sticks, swarmcallers, what else is worth knowing about?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Since starting a necro I've become curious about the details and nuances of giving a pet a weapon.

Delay isn't affected at all, right? Whether I give a rusty dagger or a weighted axe, it won't change the pet's delay. Is that correct?

If a weapon doesn't do as much damage as a pet is already doing, it won't reduce the damage, right? Giving the pet a Gnoll Hide Lariat won't lower the max hit? And I think max damage is 2 times weapon damage plus 1, so if the pet is already doing 31 damage, you'd need to give it at least a 16 damage weapon to make it hit for additional damage? Does giving a pet a strength buff have any effect on damage?

How does dual wield work? If a pet is high enough level to dual wield, you can simply give it a torch and it will begin dual wielding? Can you give a pet a 2-hander and a torch and still get it to dual wield? If so, does the order matter?

If you give the pet two 1-handers, will the offhand weapon proc? I'm assuming the first weapon given will go in primary, and the second weapon goes in secondary?

Pets ignore class restrictions on weapons, right? You can give a warrior pet a ranger-only weapon and it'll use it? Do they follow level restrictions on procs or can a low-level pet get procs on a weapon that only procs 50+?

What are some good pet weapons? Gnoll hide lariats, deadwood staves, tash sticks, swarmcallers, what else is worth knowing about?

It's been a little while since I've thought about pets, but this is what I remember:

1. Delay does not affect the pet.

2. Weighted Axe specifically doesn't work when given to a pet. There are a few items flagged like this, since it would be overpowered.

3. Max damage can only increase based on weapon damage. It won't decrease. If I remember right the rule is "If Weapon Damage * 2 is greater than the pet's max damage, Weapon Damage * 2 becomes their new max damage". So if your pet's max damage was 40, and you gave it a 25 damage weapon, it's max damage becomes 50. Note that this only works for pets that can wield weapons. Shaman Doggo cannot wield a weapon, for example.

4. STR/ATK buffs improve pet DPS as far as I am aware. Your pet should get more max hits, but the max hit itself will not increase. So a pet with Avatar and 40 max damage will still do a max damage of 40, but you should see more 40s.

5. Pet needs to be able to Dual Wield. For Necros/SK's at least, this is based on pet level. They also get innate dual wield at a higher level. For Necro/SK's level 19+ pets can dual wield with a torch, and pets level 33+ get innate dual wield (they will do so without needing a weapon).

6. It's been a while since I've tried this on my SK, but I think you can get a pet to dual wield with a 2h weapon, and order does matter. This is easy enough to test with torches and rusty weapons.

7. Both weapons should proc if the pet has two proc weapons and can dual wield.

8. Pets ignore class and race restrictions. This is why pets can use Swarmcaller, which is Ranger only.

9. Pet weapon procs are restricted by level I believe. I don't remember ever seeing a low level using a nice 50+ proc weapon on their pets to power level.

10. Cheap pet weapons get harder to find as their max damage increases. I think the best Necro pets hit for ~60 damage max, so you would need a weapon with over 30 damage to increase it's max damage. The weapon list you provided is already a great start, although Swarmcaller would be a weapon less commonly used due to it being harder to come by. You'd ideally want to be raiding or camping something nice for a long session to give a swarmcaller to a summoned pet.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Coldain_Crossbow - 30 damage weapon, but temporary. So you can't keep them stored in your bank/bags after you camp. You can corpse them. I can't remember if these drop from dwarfs that are not a part of Ring War.

[Jimjam]

I’m sure on live NPCs including pets ignored level requirements (which later got changed to being checked vs the pet owner’s level, not the pet) but I can never find anything that backs up or falsifies this convincingly in era.

[Wayward]

How does dual wield work? If a pet is high enough level to dual wield, you can simply give it a torch and it will begin dual wielding? Can you give a pet a 2-hander and a torch and still get it to dual wield? If so, does the order matter?

[...]

What are some good pet weapons? Gnoll hide lariats, deadwood staves, tash sticks, swarmcallers, what else is worth knowing about?

Yes, you can dual wield a pet with a 2 hander, the order does matter(i believe, but tbh am not 100% certain). First give it a torch, or something offhand only. (works with shields, too)

Then give it the Swarmcaller.


IMO, swarmcaller is the only pet wep I use in most situations. I don't like the deadwood staves as much as a Necro, because they break root. On an enchanter its much better with 2 Staves + Boon + VoG --- but with a Necro, i use swarmcaller and just reset the pet.

Necros have the easiest time resetting their pets, even easier than Enchanter. On my enchanter I typically cheese it.. Pacify the pet while it's still charmed and /camp.

Necro, however, can use Rest the Dead on pet while its charmed and then FD to break charm / mem blur all in one. For this reason, I don't bother giving the pet the staves, or anything but a Swarmcaller to lengthen the time between needing to reset.

This also works wonders for getting the solo exp. Before pet is about to kill the mob, back it off, Rest the Dead, and then FD. Stand up, finish mob with a Deflux or let Splurt / Epic Click finish the mob for full exp. Pet will reset and start regenning 5% a tick, recharm and get going again.

[kjs86z2]

Yes, you can dual wield a pet with a 2 hander, the order does matter(i believe, but tbh am not 100% certain). First give it a torch, or something offhand only. (works with shields, too)

Then give it the Swarmcaller.


IMO, swarmcaller is the only pet wep I use in most situations. I don't like the deadwood staves as much as a Necro, because they break root. On an enchanter its much better with 2 Staves + Boon + VoG --- but with a Necro, i use swarmcaller and just reset the pet.

Necros have the easiest time resetting their pets, even easier than Enchanter. On my enchanter I typically cheese it.. Pacify the pet while it's still charmed and /camp.

Necro, however, can use Rest the Dead on pet while its charmed and then FD to break charm / mem blur all in one. For this reason, I don't bother giving the pet the staves, or anything but a Swarmcaller to lengthen the time between needing to reset.

This also works wonders for getting the solo exp. Before pet is about to kill the mob, back it off, Rest the Dead, and then FD. Stand up, finish mob with a Deflux or let Splurt / Epic Click finish the mob for full exp. Pet will reset and start regenning 5% a tick, recharm and get going again.

mob has to be 46 to proc swarmcaller

order doesnt matter IIRC - but i always tossed it swarmcaller first then a torch (tome of the eternal works as well if you're going -MR kit)

for normal XP solo you would never do this - far more efficient to just charm and cycle pets unless you're in a spot where there aren't a ton of undead to choose from

if you're in HS you just use the HTs to do the dmg, not keeping 1 pet with a swarmcaller that would be big dumb

[Wayward]

for normal XP solo you would never do this - far more efficient to just charm and cycle pets unless you're in a spot where there aren't a ton of undead to choose from


"You would never do this." That's quite the phrase. I believe what you're looking for is, "I prefer not to play like this." Because many necros do it... it's quite efficient.

Beguile Undead is 170 mana. That's only 9 standing ticks with Lich. By the time the mob is dead, you've regained all of the mana from Charm.

Granted, I had epic, the soul well staff and the SS pants by 55, so I didn't really use mana for anything else, but it's crazy efficient regardless. It's more efficient than using that mana to kill 2 mobs. I was barely ever below 80% mana with this method and flew through levels lol.

[bcbrown]

Thanks for the responses everyone, sounds like most of my assumptions were correct. I hadn't considered that deadwood staves could break root, thanks for calling that out. And the lull/fd way to reset a pet sounds super useful.

Playing the necro has been tons of fun. I'm not trying to level super quickly, but rather trying to explore dungeons and camps I haven't seen much of before. Hag tower in unrest was nice, a good mix of being usually smooth sailing combined with the occasional "oh shit" when the middle spawn popped at an akward timer or the outside pather aggroes.

I did Mistmoore CE for a couple levels to see what it's like grouping on a necro and it was fun how different the playstyle is from soloing. We had an amazing group for a while and although I'm not sure whether I was being carried by the rest of the group I sure felt useful. When there wasn't an enchanter I could do passible CC with roots and screaming terror, and then otherwise nuke off excess mana while twitching the cleric whenever he got low. Was also fun just watching a really talented bard chain pull the entire castle.

Recently I've spent most of level 39 charming in Kaesora, and the xp's been good even though a lot of the fights are frustrating. I've been mostly posted up at the safe spot by the library near #6 on the map, sometimes by the two undead rooms on the way down from the spiders to the library. The heals from the wardens are obnoxious, and that little nook has three spawns, including one that's always a ravener, so it's a little annoying to break in. I've only died once down there, though, and that was after two consecutive crit FD failures.

I think I'm going to try the five towers area for a bit with a summoned pet and take it easy, letting it take 50% sometimes. I watched a bit of a video of someone doing that and it seemed real chill. I'm pretty well twinked with tunnel gear plus a z-heart and that's definitely helped a lot.

[spoil]

https://wiki.project1999.com/Coldain_Crossbow - 30 damage weapon, but temporary. So you can't keep them stored in your bank/bags after you camp. You can corpse them. I can't remember if these drop from dwarfs that are not a part of Ring War.

They drop off archers in Thurgadin near the exit to GD.

[kjs86z2]

Thanks for the responses everyone, sounds like most of my assumptions were correct. I hadn't considered that deadwood staves could break root, thanks for calling that out. And the lull/fd way to reset a pet sounds super useful.

Playing the necro has been tons of fun. I'm not trying to level super quickly, but rather trying to explore dungeons and camps I haven't seen much of before. Hag tower in unrest was nice, a good mix of being usually smooth sailing combined with the occasional "oh shit" when the middle spawn popped at an akward timer or the outside pather aggroes.

I did Mistmoore CE for a couple levels to see what it's like grouping on a necro and it was fun how different the playstyle is from soloing. We had an amazing group for a while and although I'm not sure whether I was being carried by the rest of the group I sure felt useful. When there wasn't an enchanter I could do passible CC with roots and screaming terror, and then otherwise nuke off excess mana while twitching the cleric whenever he got low. Was also fun just watching a really talented bard chain pull the entire castle.

Recently I've spent most of level 39 charming in Kaesora, and the xp's been good even though a lot of the fights are frustrating. I've been mostly posted up at the safe spot by the library near #6 on the map, sometimes by the two undead rooms on the way down from the spiders to the library. The heals from the wardens are obnoxious, and that little nook has three spawns, including one that's always a ravener, so it's a little annoying to break in. I've only died once down there, though, and that was after two consecutive crit FD failures.

I think I'm going to try the five towers area for a bit with a summoned pet and take it easy, letting it take 50% sometimes. I watched a bit of a video of someone doing that and it seemed real chill. I'm pretty well twinked with tunnel gear plus a z-heart and that's definitely helped a lot.

damn homie i should catch my enchanter up and we can duo charm kaesora $$$

[Wayward]

Recently I've spent most of level 39 charming in Kaesora, and the xp's been good even though a lot of the fights are frustrating. I've been mostly posted up at the safe spot by the library near #6 on the map, sometimes by the two undead rooms on the way down from the spiders to the library. The heals from the wardens are obnoxious, and that little nook has three spawns, including one that's always a ravener, so it's a little annoying to break in. I've only died once down there, though, and that was after two consecutive crit FD failures.

I think I'm going to try the five towers area for a bit with a summoned pet and take it easy, letting it take 50% sometimes. I watched a bit of a video of someone doing that and it seemed real chill. I'm pretty well twinked with tunnel gear plus a z-heart and that's definitely helped a lot.

I did 39-45 in the area outside of Xalgoz spawn. It's the easiest place to set up, theres a safe spot for AFK / camping. And plenty to keep going if you get a burst of energy and want 0 downtime.

Plus, the Fang will rot from someone camping Xalgoz and you've got half your HS key done.

[Crede]

Thanks for the responses everyone, sounds like most of my assumptions were correct. I hadn't considered that deadwood staves could break root, thanks for calling that out. And the lull/fd way to reset a pet sounds super useful.

Playing the necro has been tons of fun. I'm not trying to level super quickly, but rather trying to explore dungeons and camps I haven't seen much of before. Hag tower in unrest was nice, a good mix of being usually smooth sailing combined with the occasional "oh shit" when the middle spawn popped at an akward timer or the outside pather aggroes.

I did Mistmoore CE for a couple levels to see what it's like grouping on a necro and it was fun how different the playstyle is from soloing. We had an amazing group for a while and although I'm not sure whether I was being carried by the rest of the group I sure felt useful. When there wasn't an enchanter I could do passible CC with roots and screaming terror, and then otherwise nuke off excess mana while twitching the cleric whenever he got low. Was also fun just watching a really talented bard chain pull the entire castle.

Recently I've spent most of level 39 charming in Kaesora, and the xp's been good even though a lot of the fights are frustrating. I've been mostly posted up at the safe spot by the library near #6 on the map, sometimes by the two undead rooms on the way down from the spiders to the library. The heals from the wardens are obnoxious, and that little nook has three spawns, including one that's always a ravener, so it's a little annoying to break in. I've only died once down there, though, and that was after two consecutive crit FD failures.

I think I'm going to try the five towers area for a bit with a summoned pet and take it easy, letting it take 50% sometimes. I watched a bit of a video of someone doing that and it seemed real chill. I'm pretty well twinked with tunnel gear plus a z-heart and that's definitely helped a lot.

Warders arent bad. Just always charm them first and let them get smoked. Then when low break charm and nuke will land before they get a heal off. Easy pz. I forget if they actually heal if they are your pet but you can prob sit interrupt them if they do? Been a minute since I charmed in kaes.

[Wayward]

Warders arent bad. Just always charm them first and let them get smoked. Then when low break charm and nuke will land before they get a heal off. Easy pz. I forget if they actually heal if they are your pet but you can prob sit interrupt them if they do? Been a minute since I charmed in kaes.

Screaming Terror!

It's a PITA with the warders, but if you pet them -- then before theyre about to die, here's the keypress order. This works wonders with a pre-nerf CoS

1) F1 twice to target pet
2) Break with Circlet of Shadow click
3) Cast Screaming Terror
4) Cast undead Nuke

This is guaranteed to kill them (given they are low enough HP for 1 nuke to do the trick) without them healing.

[Crede]

Screaming Terror!

It's a PITA with the warders, but if you pet them -- then before theyre about to die, here's the keypress order. This works wonders with a pre-nerf CoS

1) F1 twice to target pet
2) Break with Circlet of Shadow click
3) Cast Screaming Terror
4) Cast undead Nuke

This is guaranteed to kill them (given they are low enough HP for 1 nuke to do the trick) without them healing.

Screaming terror shouldn’t be necesssary if you have a pre nerf cos just break at 1% and the nuke will win. The lower level nukes cast fast. I used hungry earth a lot too to finish mobs off.

[Wayward]

Screaming terror shouldn’t be necesssary if you have a pre nerf cos just break at 1% and the nuke will win. The lower level nukes cast fast. I used hungry earth a lot too to finish mobs off.

Yeah if you get em real low this works, but that's low enough for a double attack to kill them.

The level 39 undead nuke is a longer cast time than Healing and Greater Healing, but will do approx 20% damage to the warders.

The level 29 undead nuke is a longer cast time than Healing and only 0.45s less than Greater Healing, but will do approx 12-15% damage to the warders.

The level 20 undead nuke is only 0.25s less cast time than Healing and much faster than Greater Healing, but will only do approx 8% damage to the warders.

Hungry Earth is faster than Healing and Greater Healing, but will only do approx 3-4% damage to the warder.

I always preferred the safe bet, which worked 100% of the time, which was Screaming Terror and either the 39 nuke for 10% or more HP remaining, and the 29 nuke for less than 10%.

Too many times I've tried to time it so that the pet was like 2% HP and it gets double-attacked and killed.

[Vivitron]

I did 39-45 in the area outside of Xalgoz spawn. It's the easiest place to set up, theres a safe spot for AFK / camping. And plenty to keep going if you get a burst of energy and want 0 downtime.

Plus, the Fang will rot from someone camping Xalgoz and you've got half your HS key done.

I did that area too, some big pulls around there but fun. Towards the end of your stay in Kaesora (maybe 43+) you can do Xalgoz itself when you find it open. Some risk to killing him at that level, but doable.

[bcbrown]

damn homie i should catch my enchanter up and we can duo charm kaesora $$$

I've been saying that (https://www.project1999.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3790376&postcount=13)! I can put the necro on ice for a while if you want to catch up, I've got other toons I can play in the meantime.

I did 39-45 in the area outside of Xalgoz spawn. It's the easiest place to set up, theres a safe spot for AFK / camping. And plenty to keep going if you get a burst of energy and want 0 downtime.

I did a bit of exploring around the upper part of the five towers and it was decidedlly not chill. Too many pathers. I'll go back down to near the Xalgoz spawn. By safe spot do you mean the ramp behind Xalgoz or somewhere else?

I always preferred the safe bet, which worked 100% of the time, which was Screaming Terror and either the 39 nuke for 10% or more HP remaining, and the 29 nuke for less than 10%.

Too many times I've tried to time it so that the pet was like 2% HP and it gets double-attacked and killed.

Thanks for the suggestions and for listing all the timing of the nukes. I've only been memming the lvl39 nuke and hadn't been hitting the warder with screaming terror, so that advice should make dealing with them a lot easier. And I found out the hard way that Hungry Earth only works on undead, which sucks when one of the spawns in the corridor to #6 is always a Ravener.

I've only got a post-nerf CoS and a pre-nerf isn't in the budget yet, even though saving the 2-second click for charm breaks would make things much easier. I used a GGR for a while on a druid and it's amazing the difference an instant click makes.

[Crede]

I've been saying that (https://www.project1999.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3790376&postcount=13)! I can put the necro on ice for a while if you want to catch up, I've got other toons I can play in the meantime.



I did a bit of exploring around the upper part of the five towers and it was decidedlly not chill. Too many pathers. I'll go back down to near the Xalgoz spawn. By safe spot do you mean the ramp behind Xalgoz or somewhere else?



Thanks for the suggestions and for listing all the timing of the nukes. I've only been memming the lvl39 nuke and hadn't been hitting the warder with screaming terror, so that advice should make dealing with them a lot easier. And I found out the hard way that Hungry Earth only works on undead, which sucks when one of the spawns in the corridor to #6 is always a Ravener.

I've only got a post-nerf CoS and a pre-nerf isn't in the budget yet, even though saving the 2-second click for charm breaks would make things much easier. I used a GGR for a while on a druid and it's amazing the difference an instant click makes.

Instant clicky means you can break at 1-2% and get full exp with a nuke. Screaming terror is wasting mana but if you don’t care about that then by all means go for it. At later levels I’d use deflux to finish a mob off and splurt if one mob was winning too much. Also root in slot 1 is ideal as you can gcd reset to chain root mobs when you get to places like com/hs. Hungry earth is actually extremely efficient too I think I kept it up until deflux when mobs just have too much hp.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

You don't need an instant clicky for full XP breaks at a lower mana cost. As of yet, nobody has proven this actual helps, beyond the placebo effect. It isn't difficult to get a feel for combat and use a non-instant clicky. I have no trouble with non instant clickies.

Pre-nerf CoF's are great, and I suggest SK/Necros get them. But you don't need to wait for that. Post-nerf CoS works fine while you are saving up for pre-nerf.

[Goregasmic]

You don't need an instant clicky for full XP breaks at a lower mana cost. As of yet, nobody has proven this actual helps, beyond the placebo effect. It isn't difficult to get a feel for combat and use a non-instant clicky. I have no trouble with non instant clickies.

Pre-nerf CoF's are great, and I suggest SK/Necros get them. But you don't need to wait for that. Post-nerf CoS works fine while you are saving up for pre-nerf.

Instant charm break is nice to have and it helps a little but absolutely not necessary especially if it comes with a hefty price tag. Wouldn't have traded my GGR while leveling but at 60 I tossed it for the RoST, which I pretty much never leave home without.

I don't play necro but if I recall correctly the main draw of pre-nerf CoS is basically standing up invis from FD. Most people I saw talking about it said it is nice to have but isn't really worth the price tag either.

[kjs86z2]

I don't play necro but if I recall correctly the main draw of pre-nerf CoS is basically standing up invis from FD. Most people I saw talking about it said it is nice to have but isn't really worth the price tag either.

this

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Instant charm break is nice to have and it helps a little but absolutely not necessary especially if it comes with a hefty price tag. Wouldn't have traded my GGR while leveling but at 60 I tossed it for the RoST, which I pretty much never leave home without.

I don't play necro but if I recall correctly the main draw of pre-nerf CoS is basically standing up invis from FD. Most people I saw talking about it said it is nice to have but isn't really worth the price tag either.

I am also going to switch to Ring of Stealthy Travel for charm breaks on my Ench when she can use it. GGR is nice while leveling since it has a lower level requirement. Post nerf CoS is clickable at 20 I think, so it's still great for leveling if you don't want to spend 5k on GGR. And the invis is more useful since it's regular invis.

Yeah Pre-Nerf CoF is great for other things besides charm break. I have one on my SK. That is why I still recommended getting one in my previous post. Instant Invis after FD is nice for sure. Being able to re-invis while running if it drops is fun too. It isn't a requirement though. You can always carry around a few Ring of Shadows for instant invis after FD if you want to be cheap.

[Wayward]

I don't play necro but if I recall correctly the main draw of pre-nerf CoS is basically standing up invis from FD. Most people I saw talking about it said it is nice to have but isn't really worth the price tag either.

The main draw is instant charm break, really. Mobs 35+ won't mem blur instantly when you FD, and most higher level dungeons have mobs that see invis anyway.

But when you have 2-3 mobs rooted, and your pet is tanking one - then one breaks root and you get interrupted and have to manage re-rooting to get things under control.. and then you notice your pet is 1 hit away from dying so you can just click your CoS to save your torch / exp / Tola robe.

At least that's what I've found most useful in my hundreds of hours playing Necro on p99 Green.

[Wayward]

I am also going to switch to Ring of Stealthy Travel for charm breaks on my Ench when she can use it.

Yeah the biggest benefit to the Ring over a GGR is that you don't have to target yourself to cast it -- works well when you have to Nuke your old pet, or Mez, or Root and you don't have to switch targets before casting the offensive spell.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Yeah the biggest benefit to the Ring over a GGR is that you don't have to target yourself to cast it -- works well when you have to Nuke your old pet, or Mez, or Root and you don't have to switch targets before casting the offensive spell.

I agree. I don't like having to self target with GGR. When you take the time to retarget into account, Ring of Stealthy Travel isn't much slower than GGR anyway. Plus you can use Ring for normal invis, so you don't need to mem it anymore.

[Goregasmic]

I'm so drilled to grr that a year later I still self target for invis even if I don't have to.

Not having to self target is better but shows you how much of a non-issue it was, at least for me.