Looks like beast mastery is really NOT that popular. Well, since I am a pet lover, I think I've discovered either a bug or maybe the skill description needs to be changed. I've posted it in another forum so I'll just copy and paste here:
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So I was testing all kinds of pet attack skills. I just want to see how I can use Melandru's Assault, Brutual Strike and Scavenger Strike more effectively.
I tested MA and BS. I found something interesting... I haven't seen any thread about this but I'll mention, or maybe it's a common knowledge that I didn't know.
Melandru's Assault - Pet Attack
Your animal companion attempts a Melandru's Assault that deals +5-17 damage. If that attack strikes a foe "Enchantment" that foe and all adjacent foes takes additional +5-17 damage.
Brutal Strike - Pet Attack
Your animal companion attempts a Brutal Strike that deals +5-17 damage. If the attack strikes a foe who's health is below 50% that foe takes an additional +5-17 damage.
Assuming there is only one target, do you think both MA and BS do the same damage if the condition is met?
The Answer is no! I found out this and it has been tested:
Brutual Strike's damage is: Pet's Base Damage + 17 (original) + 17 (condition) = Total Damage
Melandru's Assault's damage is: Pet's Base Damage + 17 (original) + 17 (condition) + 17 (AoE effect) = Total Damage.
Judging from the skill description, you would think both skills add the same damage when the condition is met. I've tested this so many times and MA seems to do +17 more if the condition is met. Hopefully my test is correct!!!
Melandru's Assault bug/not?
jibikao
jibikao
My second post:
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Ok, I just tested it again and I've confirmed that MA DOES add extra +17 dmg.
I only used the monster outside of North Kryta, the one that casts Deep Freeze. My BM lvl is 12.
20 Hits for Brutual Strike when condition is met:
83, 91, 73, 75, 67, 68, 86, 69, 89, 78, 69, 104, 80, 82, 73, 89, 83, 84, 94, 66
The average is: 80.15
20 Hits for Melandru's Assault when condition is met:
83, 90, 95, 93, 94, 101, 107, 90, 86, 74, 105, 86, 108, 91, 94, 93, 75, 93, 76, 82
The average is: 90.80
And plus each MA has +17 as the second damage number.
I don't know. I would like some of you to try the same thing. MA seems to do even more damage even without the +17 from AoE. Maybe it was due to only 20 hits but I am 100% sure there is one extra +17 from MA.
Conclusion:
I am amazed that nobody has found this out. Is Beast Mastery that unpopular?? Maybe I haven't browsed the web enough to find other "bug reports" but my feeling is it's either a bug or the skill description is wrong. Maybe the description is wrong?? I hope so!!!
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Ok, I just tested it again and I've confirmed that MA DOES add extra +17 dmg.
I only used the monster outside of North Kryta, the one that casts Deep Freeze. My BM lvl is 12.
20 Hits for Brutual Strike when condition is met:
83, 91, 73, 75, 67, 68, 86, 69, 89, 78, 69, 104, 80, 82, 73, 89, 83, 84, 94, 66
The average is: 80.15
20 Hits for Melandru's Assault when condition is met:
83, 90, 95, 93, 94, 101, 107, 90, 86, 74, 105, 86, 108, 91, 94, 93, 75, 93, 76, 82
The average is: 90.80
And plus each MA has +17 as the second damage number.
I don't know. I would like some of you to try the same thing. MA seems to do even more damage even without the +17 from AoE. Maybe it was due to only 20 hits but I am 100% sure there is one extra +17 from MA.
Conclusion:
I am amazed that nobody has found this out. Is Beast Mastery that unpopular?? Maybe I haven't browsed the web enough to find other "bug reports" but my feeling is it's either a bug or the skill description is wrong. Maybe the description is wrong?? I hope so!!!
Epinephrine
Could be - I've never used it, and I'm a big time pet lover who plays BM a lot - just looking at the decription you can see it is vastly inferior to the other skills, so why even try it?
If it deals the damage, plus a conditional bonus, plus the area damage (on top of the conditional bonus) that results in a respectable +51 damage per hit (+17*3) on an enchanted target. Unfortunately, that's still less DPS than you get through brutal strike (because brutal strike hits more frequently) and while the damage per energy is slightly better than brutal strike it isn't going to save you that many points. If it isn't fixed for being a bug (which it might be) it ups Melandru's Assault from being a truly useless skill that was outclassed by all the other pet attacks to a moderately useful skill vs enchanted foes, but still outclassed by many.
Sorry, it just isn't a great skill. Even at +60 damage at level 15, hitting every 10 seconds with it will only result in +6 DPS; since you can't exactly spike too well with pets (though maybe this will encourage folks to try) one tends to rely more on wearing them down, so DPS is the important measure, and a 15 BM brutal strike will deliver +8 DPS. And frankly, brutal strike is a conditional skill that I'd rather not use either. Scavenger is more reliable, since you can make a build that will likely keep conditions on people, but it is much harder to make a build that will keep people enchanted or keep them under 50% health.
If it deals the damage, plus a conditional bonus, plus the area damage (on top of the conditional bonus) that results in a respectable +51 damage per hit (+17*3) on an enchanted target. Unfortunately, that's still less DPS than you get through brutal strike (because brutal strike hits more frequently) and while the damage per energy is slightly better than brutal strike it isn't going to save you that many points. If it isn't fixed for being a bug (which it might be) it ups Melandru's Assault from being a truly useless skill that was outclassed by all the other pet attacks to a moderately useful skill vs enchanted foes, but still outclassed by many.
Sorry, it just isn't a great skill. Even at +60 damage at level 15, hitting every 10 seconds with it will only result in +6 DPS; since you can't exactly spike too well with pets (though maybe this will encourage folks to try) one tends to rely more on wearing them down, so DPS is the important measure, and a 15 BM brutal strike will deliver +8 DPS. And frankly, brutal strike is a conditional skill that I'd rather not use either. Scavenger is more reliable, since you can make a build that will likely keep conditions on people, but it is much harder to make a build that will keep people enchanted or keep them under 50% health.
jibikao
Quote:
Originally Posted by Epinephrine
Could be - I've never used it, and I'm a big time pet lover who plays BM a lot - just looking at the decription you can see it is vastly inferior to the other skills, so why even try it?
If it deals the damage, plus a conditional bonus, plus the area damage (on top of the conditional bonus) that results in a respectable +51 damage per hit (+17*3) on an enchanted target. Unfortunately, that's still less DPS than you get through brutal strike (because brutal strike hits more frequently) and while the damage per energy is slightly better than brutal strike it isn't going to save you that many points. If it isn't fixed for being a bug (which it might be) it ups Melandru's Assault from being a truly useless skill that was outclassed by all the other pet attacks to a moderately useful skill vs enchanted foes, but still outclassed by many.
Sorry, it just isn't a great skill. Even at +60 damage at level 15, hitting every 10 seconds with it will only result in +6 DPS; since you can't exactly spike too well with pets (though maybe this will encourage folks to try) one tends to rely more on wearing them down, so DPS is the important measure, and a 15 BM brutal strike will deliver +8 DPS. And frankly, brutal strike is a conditional skill that I'd rather not use either. Scavenger is more reliable, since you can make a build that will likely keep conditions on people, but it is much harder to make a build that will keep people enchanted or keep them under 50% health. I agree with you 100% man. I post this "bug" just for the fun. I took MA with me to CA yesterday. While the damage is nice, the 10s recharge is terrible and not everyone has a enchantment! And I don't know how many times I used it on Monk's Guardian, Reversal and Protective. lol Wasted. The +17-21 AoE effect is something you can just totally ignore IMO. That AoE is not the reason why the skill takes 10s to recharge. If that's the case, I would rather have them get rid of the AoE effect and reduce the recharge time to 5s.
The problem we have with pet skill is that:
1.) While Brutual S and MA do respectful damages, pet is too hard to control to provide the "spike" the expert players need. Most experienced spike teams cast the skills at the same time so the monk can't heal in time. With pets, you can't really control their attack action and they can't change target soon enough. That's why MA, Brutual S and Scavenger can't provide the spike damage useful enough IMO.
2.) The things you can do with pet, you can probably do better with bows. Sad truth. With exception of Ferocious (this skill rocks!), Disrupting (it's as useful as distracting IMO) and Predator's Pounce. Miaming Strike can't compare to Pin Down. You need the foe to "run" first... that sucks.
3.) And since beast masters don't have enough skill slots, chances are they are not going to bring MA, BS and/or even Scavenger Strike.
I hope thisMA is not a bug. It won't ruin the game obviously since very few people use it. lol I am just amazed that I discovered it. That usually doesn't happen to me!
If it deals the damage, plus a conditional bonus, plus the area damage (on top of the conditional bonus) that results in a respectable +51 damage per hit (+17*3) on an enchanted target. Unfortunately, that's still less DPS than you get through brutal strike (because brutal strike hits more frequently) and while the damage per energy is slightly better than brutal strike it isn't going to save you that many points. If it isn't fixed for being a bug (which it might be) it ups Melandru's Assault from being a truly useless skill that was outclassed by all the other pet attacks to a moderately useful skill vs enchanted foes, but still outclassed by many.
Sorry, it just isn't a great skill. Even at +60 damage at level 15, hitting every 10 seconds with it will only result in +6 DPS; since you can't exactly spike too well with pets (though maybe this will encourage folks to try) one tends to rely more on wearing them down, so DPS is the important measure, and a 15 BM brutal strike will deliver +8 DPS. And frankly, brutal strike is a conditional skill that I'd rather not use either. Scavenger is more reliable, since you can make a build that will likely keep conditions on people, but it is much harder to make a build that will keep people enchanted or keep them under 50% health. I agree with you 100% man. I post this "bug" just for the fun. I took MA with me to CA yesterday. While the damage is nice, the 10s recharge is terrible and not everyone has a enchantment! And I don't know how many times I used it on Monk's Guardian, Reversal and Protective. lol Wasted. The +17-21 AoE effect is something you can just totally ignore IMO. That AoE is not the reason why the skill takes 10s to recharge. If that's the case, I would rather have them get rid of the AoE effect and reduce the recharge time to 5s.
The problem we have with pet skill is that:
1.) While Brutual S and MA do respectful damages, pet is too hard to control to provide the "spike" the expert players need. Most experienced spike teams cast the skills at the same time so the monk can't heal in time. With pets, you can't really control their attack action and they can't change target soon enough. That's why MA, Brutual S and Scavenger can't provide the spike damage useful enough IMO.
2.) The things you can do with pet, you can probably do better with bows. Sad truth. With exception of Ferocious (this skill rocks!), Disrupting (it's as useful as distracting IMO) and Predator's Pounce. Miaming Strike can't compare to Pin Down. You need the foe to "run" first... that sucks.
3.) And since beast masters don't have enough skill slots, chances are they are not going to bring MA, BS and/or even Scavenger Strike.
I hope thisMA is not a bug. It won't ruin the game obviously since very few people use it. lol I am just amazed that I discovered it. That usually doesn't happen to me!
Epinephrine
Agreed on most counts - if maiming delivered a cripple regardless it'd be nice. I do run it sometimes for ranger builds that are bow-less, like a touch-ranger, blackout ranger or IW ranger.
Really they should rebalance most of the pet skills...
Really they should rebalance most of the pet skills...