Silly Newb Questions.

I've been playing GW for about 2+ years now... I've never quite been able to figure out a good use for my pet... I understand that there a some decent beast master builds. However, I'd rather my pet took aggro in combat instead of over all damage. So is there a way to make your pet take aggro for you? In most cases every part of the mob will attack me instead of my pet... my pet will do damage and help out, but it seems more or less invisible to the mobs. Any help here... thanx in advance.

PS.
I saw that there were some threads about pets already on here, but this really didn't fit the topic and I didn't feel like hijacking.

Pets are haxx0rs and demented wammos when it comes to attacking. Best way is to wait till it charges in and run off, but it can be tricky. It has 80 base AL and the AI probably knows its got more buffs on it than a 55 monk so will generally ignore it.

With a bit of luck we'll be getting pet controls soon anyway.

Since I started playing guild wars, I've been begging for pet controls. I used to be able to fake it back in the day, but this strat rarely works these days. Fire one arrow and cancel your pet will rush in and attack... needless to say the NPC's will attack you, either have dust trap down or use throw dirt. They will give up on attacking you and go for the opponent that is attacking them. Back away and start to attack again... by the time the enemies start to attack you again you should have your favorite evasion spell recharged again. This doesn't work well in later missions because you usually make your monk stand on dust trap (well at least I do).

A dire pet draws more hits than a Hearty pet because it has lower overall health. Avoid using skills like Call of Protection, and you're pet will get hit more often because it has lower armor. The idea is that you make your pet look like a more attractive target than you are.

well pets were good for old RaO builds but RaO was nerfed. it can still be used if you use a zealous hammer, however

Hmmm... to bad illusion of weakness can only be cast on the caster... it would work wonders for making any target take aggro. Now that you mention it though, when I grabed a tiger from cantha about mid game. The tiger usually was the first to die in battle. Anyway good info, less armor less health more aggro. I always wondered why casters were attacked more than warriors.

Health, Armor and according to some, health regeneration appear to be factors in aggro.

It can require some practice to get mobs to attack your pet, it usually seems to take some tries and a bit of running, eventually the pet will run in and the mob swarm around it (good time to activate Call of Protection). Crippling skills also seem to help.

It really bugs me that rangers get penalized for having pets... If the pet doesn't have it's own spell bar at least give us the option to have it out free of charge. I could tolerate comfort animal, but charm animal, comfort animal and additional attack spells is kind of lame. How about this NC-Soft, If you have ranger as your primary you can toggle your pet without charm animal in or out of the spell bar. As a secondary however, you need charm animal in your bar. What ever, I'm just whining at this point. Lots of good info in this thread.

I've always thought pets to be useful for barrage builds. I usually go with a fiery bowstring, conjure flame, barrage, favorable winds, charm animal, comfort animal, poisonous bite, feral lunge, resurrection signet. only two of those spells cost more than 5 energy, you can do a decent amount of damage for little energy cost.

PS.
I wouldn't mind different pets having different advantages, other than how much space it blocks (ie. pre black bear). I mean like, fast attack speed but low damage or slow attack speed but high damage.

I have a crocodile that seems to run pretty fast into attack range. I may just be hoping, but it looks cool when it heads in. However, I just use my pets for RaO and whenever B/P teams ask me to join.

I have a R/E and I usually carry Firestorm, which I use to clear the adjadcent enemies, making them focus on other stuff, including my pet. Firestorm doesn't do much damage (next to none, really, since most of my attrib points go into Marks and Expertise) but it will get them away from me.

For barrage builds, I don't carry pet attacks, but I do use Predatory season. With a vampiric bowstring and barrage, I have very good health gain. Might take Feral Lunge as well, but that depends on where I'm going.

Chris

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Gaile wrote not too long ago that ANet is experimenting with a rudimentary pet control system, which will be put into play soon.
About time!

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I'm fairly lazy, obviously.

Anyway, I switched secondary profession for trapping purposes, and I'm going elite hunting, so it will be a while until I go back to Ele skills. I still like using firestorm, though. I mean, it rains fire on the enemy. How cooler can it get?

Chris