PET TANKING

Discussion in 'Casters' started by Damezza, Dec 10, 2018.

  1. Mintalie Augur

    There are plenty of group-geared player tanks who are far better than a pet tank. Generally speaking, any tank who knows how to play their class properly will be better than a pet tank in every scenario.

    This does not speak to anyone who is severely under-geared, is a lower level, or just plain sucks.

    Pet tanks are not better than real tanks. Pet tanks are not better than real tanks. Pet tanks are not better than real tanks.
    Marquele and Belexes like this.
  2. ZGE1999 New Member

    Pet tanking can be very effective vs. Group named in my experience. Whether it's grouping with a healer merc, or being a part of groups with NO healer, most of the last 100 named mobs that I've seen go down were tanked by pets or 'handled' by pets.

    I have never avoided a fight with a named group mob because there was no tanking class around. It just doesn't seem necessary. The last raid I was on was actually a long time ago but we decided to use my pet for the main tank. (It was VoA)
  3. took2summit11 Augur

    Damezza it comes down to play styles really. Since you’re original comment was on pet tanking, and it seems that’s what your naturally drawn to, you should give it a shot, it works well. I have seen a necro pet tank named mobs in ROS T2 (hardest zone) and mage pet should be even better than that. To answer your question, and I think its been answered before, I think the best option for pet tanking would be mage/ench if you want to play 2 classes. If you want to min/max, a real tank will be better, at any level, when compared to an equal mage.
  4. Gnomeland Augur

    It works just fine.

    The reason you are getting different answers is because you are asking the wrong questions.

    Pet tanks are not better than player tanks. Pet CLASSES, however, are better than player tank CLASSES when you are examining the situation from a TWO BOX.

    This is because pet CLASSES also offer COMPETITIVE DPS. Which a player tank, especially a paladin, is not going to.

    That is, unless the player tank actually has end game equipment. THEN the player tank classes are the most powerful classes in the game.

    To make a two box with a player tank work without end game equipment, you must make a hard choice as to what you're going to sacrifice for the second box. Roll a DPS, and you will lack crowd control, player heal, and utility - which is usually fine, but not always. Roll a heal, and you will be forced to use mercenary DPS, which are garbage, so you should never do it. Roll a crowd control, and you will lack player heal and DPS. There is no perfect option.

    Pet tanks are better because you DON'T have to sacrifice nearly as much. You get three out of the four: DPS, tank, heal, crowd control, instead of two. This will become significant when you actually play the game - ie you will notice how slow a tank actually kills, and how much faster it goes by with a pet class.
    Voxvixen likes this.
  5. Sheex Goodnight, Springton. There will be no encores.

    Only if the player tanks you play with are terrible, terrible players that are both completely inept and ridiculously undergeared/aa’d.
    Sancus likes this.
  6. Vizula-Emarr Elder

    From your responses of incorrect knowledge and crying over peoples responses, its pretty obvious you are the one that doesnt know crap about this game. You should just stick to 1 character, or minecraft.
  7. Brohan07 Journeyman

    On a side note, can one buff their MT with:
    Shining Fortress (real cleric)
    Guard of the Reptile (druid)
    Incapacity (Lethargy line, Shaman)
    Do all the 3 above stack and can be used, if one were to have the LUXURY of having a cleric, shaman and druid?
  8. Damezza Augur

    lol haters gonna hate. you just pegged yourself.
  9. Damezza Augur



    i agree with asking the wrong questions. especially because you addressed the reality of the situation in the most concise and accurate way i have read.

    "Pet tanks are better because you DON'T have to sacrifice nearly as much. You get three out of the four: DPS, tank, heal, crowd control, instead of two."
    with the current meta, which 3 do you think are most critical?
  10. Damezza Augur



    i boxed mage/chanter years ago. worked pretty well though i found i had to main the chanter more and that made controlling agro with the mage pet harder. id like to main the mage experience more but find that the bard doesnt quite give me enough. plus after using Exodus once, im addicted to the druid... i figure with snare/COTH for single pulls and root for CC?

    also there's lots of good information in this thread: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/slow-vs-attack-debuff.253041/

    basically addressing how druid debuff are comparably as effective as a slow and in some instances, better. thats not even considering how mage pet block works...

    thoughts anyone?
  11. took2summit11 Augur

    Your thoughts are in the right places, and the Druid would work in 95% of the situations. There are several missions in every expansion that absolutely require real CC, not just roots. However, you could invite an enchanter or bard in these rare instances. Also, I am not sure how mage pets were in previous expansions, but simple pet taunt now is extremely powerful. I can have my paladin chain casting every agro mechanic he has and will often need to say in group “so and so, please turn pet taunt off :)” or else the paladin won’t be able to consistently hold agro off the pet. The paladin can be extremely lazy and hold agro off everything else in the game, except a pet with taunt on. The answer is again down to preference, it sounds like you are leaning towards Druid, and in that case, mage/Druid are a powerful duo and will do just fine for all normal xp/grind spots!
  12. took2summit11 Augur

    The biggest thing I miss with my paladin/necro combo is dps. I am sure a mage/support duo will say the biggest thing they miss, is the ability to tank 3-4 pulls when a pull goes wrong. Having a Druid to succor instead may be a great solution. If you intend to MOSTLY duo, I would say go with a mage/Druid or enchanter. If you want to be social and group with other people as much as possible, then I’d say consider choosing a tank/Druid or enchanter.
  13. took2summit11 Augur

    This comment was completely uncalled for. These boards are here to ask questions. If you don’t want to be helpful, don’t. But don’t be mean for no reason whatsoever.

    As someone who returned to the game 2 months ago after missing the previous 6-7 expansions I had a really hard time choosing between a mage tank and a real tank as well. After scouring the boards looking for the right answers, I ultimately decided to try a real tank, since my previous playing experience involved using a mage tank, and I wanted to try something new.
  14. Gnomeland Augur

    DPS, tank, and heal are the most important. Crowd control is less important. But enchanters actually increase the DPS of DPS classes further, so it's like having 1.5 DPS, or even 2 when you make use of their full abilities. This is why pet class + enchanter is strong. You get almost 2 DPS + 1 tank + 1 crowd control. The only deficiency is lack of a player heal, but two mercenary heal can usually cover it.

    Right now, the most important rule when optimizing a box team is to minimize the use of mercenary tank and DPS, because they are garbage. The only exception is 2 mercenary wizards for alliance, in which case you must have a wizard yourself, and in that case you should have three characters because you can't fit 2 mercenary wizards + player wizard into a two box. Knowing that, it should be straight forward to figure out what classes you want in a two box.
  15. Damezza Augur


    Makes a lot of sense!

    Chanter dps and adps is better than Druid? (Adps in context of mage partner)

    Not trying to campaign for Druid but genuinely curious. Never played a Druid. Played a chanter before though. Can they dps that hard without charming?
  16. Tucoh Augur

    All three stack, and those three spells are just scratching the surface of what each priest class can do to absorb damage.

    And in a group I think three priests isn't a luxury, it's more of a burden because one or two of those priests would be better served as being a DPS class. Three priests in a group is like having three minivans. It'd be better if one of those vans was a pickup truck and the other a sports car!!
    Pirlo likes this.
  17. Tucoh Augur

    A lot depends on what you're trying to do. A mage/enc for example, will do well against most T1 mobs in RoS. With a good EM(enhanced minion) focus and good skills they can take on named mobs in T2. So in that context a pet tanking works against group named.

    But with TBL out now a better question is how pet tanks are doing in TBL. Asked the folks who are telling you that pet tanks can compete with a non-raid geared player tank how far they've gotten in TBL with their pet tank. I'd be impressed if they said they were able to get to the second zone.
    took2summit11 likes this.
  18. Vizier Augur

    I'm a group geared mage (albeit with max AA) and my pet is able to do all of the content I've unlocked so far. That said, this expac is tuned for groups using tactics, aoe mez, off tanking and such. So yes, I have had the benefit of proper groups, but that seems reasonable to expect for this expac.
    Tucoh likes this.