PvE Pet training build, looking for a critique

VGJustice

VGJustice

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2005

Tyria, cappin' ur bosses

Boston Guild [BG]

R/W

Ok, I've got myself a (somewhat) new pet, but all I've ever gotten with a pet is Hearty, so I wanted to get something else. ANYthing else, in fact. So far, I've leveled it up once, so the build seems to be working out ok for me so far, but I'd like to expadite the process a bit. Here's what I'm using currently:

R/Mo
Attributes:
Smiting : 5 (extra), Beast Mastery: 12 + 1 + 3, Expertise: 8 + 1, Wilderness Survival: 9 + 1
Skills: Feral Lunge, Brutal Strike, Strength of Honor, Symbiotic Bond, Call of Protection, Troll Ungent, Charm Animal, Escape {E}
Weapon: Gardock's Staff, but any +15 energy staff will suffice

I stole the staff offa' my trapper build, and it seems to work rather well so far. I'm recharging Symbiotic Bond when Call of Protection resets, so I know that's staying up the whole time. Strength of Honor seems to help a little with the damage (small bonus to DoT, not a problem to cancel), and the -1 regen doesn't hurt so bad with Expertise. Escape is PURELY deffensive, but it's also fluff. I don't have the Pet Elite yet, so I felt like taking something else :P

I read the Pet Guide (which any aspiring Beast Master should read), and it recomended the Minotaurs outside of Ice Tooth Cave, so that's what I've been testing with. I can handle a small mob on both myself and the pet at the same time (6 total at once), but if it gets much bigger than that, I can't heal myself and thus that screws my pet. But, I'd like to fight bigger things now. I have a great deal of patience *COUGH*4th pet*COUGH* but I'd like to see the fruits of my labor already. Enogh of that, though.

Anyone see anything that could be improved for this build? Bear in mind, it's for PvE, and it's for soloing with the pet. Thus, the reason for no res.

[EDIT]And with a minor tweak, I can now solo 2 of the Mino's in Elona Reach at a time! Go me!

R/-
Attributes:
Beastmastery: 12 + 1 + 3, Expertice: 9 + 1, Wilderness Survival: 9 + 1
Skill Changes: Strength of Honor -> Throw Dirt

I also discovered that Escape is going to be more useful with this build than Whirling Defense, due to Skill Recharge Rate.

Epinephrine

Epinephrine

Master of Beasts

Join Date: Mar 2005

Ottawa, Canada

Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

Sure: Since you are running as an R/Mo you'd be better off with Life Bond on your pet instead of Symbiotic Bond - same reduction for your pet, less damage coming through to you when they hit you. I suspect you could afford to move a few points around, the strength of honour doesn't look necessary in my mind. Protection then instead, replace Symbiotic with Life Bond to protect yourself a bit better, maybe use another protection skill (like shielding hands) in place of strength of honour, to reduce damage and heal up faster. I'd swap Escape for Ferocious Strike, for energy maintenance, and swap Brutal Strike for something like Serpen't Quickness - that cycles your skills faster, so you can use the ferocious/feral faster to kill them quicker, you get to use the shielding hands faster to prevent damage more often, you get to use troll unguent before the previou one wears off, getting overlapping heals and so on. Should make it easier to tank more.

So long as the pet isn't taking damage and is dealing it you should be on your way to an aggressive pet.

VGJustice

VGJustice

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2005

Tyria, cappin' ur bosses

Boston Guild [BG]

R/W

sweet, thanks for the help. I don't have Ferocious Strike yet, so I swapped Escape for Scavenger's. I deal some very nice damage, very comparable to what I was doing before on a hit-to-hit basis, but now I deal it much faster. I didn't have either Life Bond or Shielding hands with the char, so they didn't even come up for concideration when I first made the build. That helps so much, you probably wouldn't believe me.