[Necro]At lower levels, how the hell am I supposed to outdamage my pet?

[Ross]

I'm level 8 now and just got my new pet. I'm finding it almost impossible to outdamage my pet and it's frustrating me.

Is there any way to outdamage my pet at this level or do I just have to suck it up and take 50% exp?

[goshozal]

It can be rough at the lower levels before you can stack up dots and hold the pet back a bit. It gets easier.

Also, try finding a partner or a small group that compliments your abilities. Not solo = no pet xp loss.

[Estu]

If you're soloing, don't outdamage your pet at that level. You'll EXP faster with the 50% hit than you will outdamaging it, and it will still be faster EXP than many other classes at that level.

[Ross]

Thanks guys. I'm new to the server and the game in general (just remember the game from watching my sister play it when I was ~12) so reading about the 50% exp loss on top of being an iksar kind of freaked me out, but I'm fine with leveling slowly and enjoying the ride.

[Malone88]

If you're soloing, don't outdamage your pet at that level. You'll EXP faster with the 50% hit than you will outdamaging it, and it will still be faster EXP than many other classes at that level.
Great tip! A good pet can handle white cons....

[Estu]

Great tip! A good pet can handle white cons....

Forget white cons, at level 9 and 10 I was reliably taking down yellow cons by chain healing my pet while keeping myself Dark Pacted and tossing a dot or two at the mob when it was at half HP.

[SamwiseRed]

i think its always better for pet classes to at least duo, you get the same xp as if your pet was out damaging you but double the killing speed.

[Malone88]

At level twelve, you can outdamage pet easily by just tanking yourself with darkness + leach DOTs and Life Draw as a fallback in case your health gets low. Vampiric Embrace is also useful for "tap tanking" except it doesn't last very long so best to string a couple of kills together...Your DOTs will do more damage if you tank, so things die pretty quickly.

At higher levels, this strategy might not work so well...

[gaph3r]

It is a difficult balance to strike. I would highly recommend maximizing your mana efficiency and kill speed over trying to out damage your pet. And once you hit 12 you'll be lucky if 'ol Skeletor can hold a mobs attention for more than a second with Dooming Darkness and Heat Blood ticking away.

[Stormhowl]

How long does the "Let pet tank and just heal it" strategy work anyways? Right now I'm only level 12, but I'm having a hard time figuring what's actually more efficient for soloing: Healing the pet as it tanks, or just standard fear-kiting?

[Malone88]

At level 12, I just tanked myself.

Vampiric Embrace buff then dot it with Darkness, Leech or Heat Blood,
and things die pretty fast AND you don't worry about the pet xp
penalty AND you get full damage from your dots. Don't need uber gear either.

I could usually clear 4 blue mobs in succession before Vampiric Embrace expired and my mana was out.

Thats what worked for me at that level....getting a little tougher to do this now that I'm at level 20.

[gaph3r]

Yeah, after level 20 that strategy becomes less of an option I think, especially with fear kiting / agro kiting being so much more viable. Also - if you decide to hit zones in Kunark, the mobs hit harder than equally leveled mobs in classic, while having a bit more hp.