Quick tip for new players and pets
 

So I am a noob.

Ever since I discovered you can give weapons to pets I always wondered about the mechanics. I never spent much time with a "pet having class" until I made my Mage.

Looking up information on giving pets weapons can be pretty vague, with different sources contradicting each other on certain points. So I did some testing because that kind of stuff is fun for me.

One thing that is clear: no matter what weapon you give to your pet, it will attack at the same speed. So the slower the weapon, the better.

The pet is a level 4 Fire Elementalkin.
The target is Decaying Skeletons.

I let my pet kill 20 of them. (collecting bone chips to sell!)

Then I gave my pet a Rusty Two Handed Hammer, and killed another 20.

After recording every damage number, The results are in.

Without a weapon my pet hit for an average of 8.2 damage.
With the 2 Handed hammer my pet hit for an average of 11.7 damage.

Now apparently as you get higher level pets, they hit harder with their fists. Now I know you are thinking, "but you should always be able to hit harder if you have a weapon". I will do some more testing when I get my level 8 pet.

The goal when you get to the higher level pets is usually to get them a proccing weapon like a dagger of dropping or a gnoll hide lariat, or give them a pair of weapons so they dual wield. With mage pets, each elemental version of the pet has a different magic attribute like a damage shield or a magical root or stun they cast on whatever they're fighting.

At lower levels you want to give your pet weaps with the highest damage. Shiny Brass Halberds work very well and can be found on vendors for like 5plat.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Shiny_Brass_Halberd

The stupid shape slashing weapons in Kunark (ones that stick out at different angles) are the best ones to give to your pet... a level 1-4 necro pet really ups its dps with one equipped <3

I will leave that here:

http://wiki.project1999.com/Pet_Guide

For low level pets, a high damage weapon is great. For higher level pets the kind of weapon does not matter (unless it procs), but in a certain level range pets need 2 weapons in order to dual wield. Later dual wielding is automatic even without weapons.

Another concern may be to give a pet a weapon in order to be able to hit magic mobs like wisps. A mage summoned dagger is sufficient for this.

This site is still confusing. For example;

Ok so My level 4 Pet does 8-12 damage with his fists. I give him a hammer that does 7 damage. His dps goes up. But at some point, (as I get stronger pets) giving that weapon to him will lower his dps? :confused:

This is a very rough example that may not be reflected in real gameplay, but serves as an example of how this works:

Let's say starting out your level 4 pet's fists are something like 6dmg/24dly. Give him a hammer that's 7dmg, his dps goes up.

Your level 8 pet's fists are more like 8dmg/24dly, so if you give him that 7dmg hammer, his dps goes down. It's just like swapping between two weapons. (Unlike you, the caster, the pet's dmg/dly on hand to hand does go up as it levels, just like a monk.)[/QUOTE]

http://wiki.project1999.com/Baton_of_Faith is really good to give to a pet in your mid 20s+. It makes your pet hit for 60 damage.

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Would be nice if we could get those types of stats on the pet wiki page. Thanks for the insight!

It's really hard to say the exact stats on pet damage because players are essentially blind to pet stats in general...but since the wiki as always is a work in progress and you seem quite interested, perhaps you can compile the information and put it up there for everyone. :) I don't know the details since I don't play a pet class.