I was 85 using em5 for my 81 air pet. I happened to run by a 86 mage and saw his pet hitting regularly for 1200+. There was a number over 1200 I kept seeing so I assume that was max hit. I saw a few over 2k which I assume were backstabs. I asked what focus he had and he linked a em7 item. Flash forward and I gain a level. With em5 still I summon my new 86 air pet and summon ethereal armaments then buff it with the 86 burnout and 85 shaman buffs. Its max hit is only a bit over 500. Is em7 that much better than em5 or is it something else? What am I missing?
I always outfit my pets in defiant gear, sometimes T1 stuff, although not so much lately due to them having a habit of disappearing after I log. This gives them lots more stats and combat effects/attack etc. Also I try and save range items so that the pet has dodge.
I always just summon weapons, mask, and belt. I was under the impression they came pre-equipped with armor and since equip priority on pets is based on highest ac value that they wouldn't equip defiant if given to them.
I've been informed by quite a few people in game that they come summoned with the highest level armor spell you can cast. So the only point of the armor spells is for non-mage pets. Unfortunately that doesn't tell me the stats of said armor or what slots they have. I was also told as far as slots that pets have the same slots as players except only one bracer slot. I'll have to do some research to find out the stats of the armor so that if I decide to give the pets better, I'll know limitations. One thing I know for sure though is that 86 air pets with just EM5 don't tank grounds or feerott very well. With all defensive AA (at 86), plus quite a bit of pet HP AA, they take quite a bit of healing. So I'm definitely going to have to research better EM items and hunt for them as well.
Pet, with appropriate EM focus, comes equipped with everything you can summon and give him, including focus jewelry, armor, belt, and mask, plus adds a cloak whose stats are dependent on your focus. If you want to see the stats on those pieces (abysmally low), cast the spell and look at them. Your pet will replace any of these slots (except weapons) by using AC as the discriminator. If the AC is higher on the piece you give your pet, it will equip that over your summoned gear. Pet only has 1 wrist slot, and cannot equip a charm either. Giving your pet usable items that increase it's stats over summoned gear can definitely add to it's effectiveness. My guess is that you confused his pet's damage with a swarm pet's damage, and that you don't use swarm pets much (because of your statement about pet not tanking well). Try leading with, then casting RS pet every time it refreshes throughout a fight, and see how 'well' your main pet tanks, when RS pet is taking most of the hits.
don't use them much? actually never. I guess that shows how much I have to learn. Coming up in levels I had a hard time keeping up with plat to get spells and gear outside of defiant, so I never got any swarm pets. I always assumed they were just some added DPS (well damage over time really) and wouldn't draw agro off a normal pet. I've actually been 6 boxing bard, shaman, wizard, mage, mage, mage hense the trouble with money upgrading spells/songs/items. I recently went gold with the bard (my main I group with guildmates with) and got my j5 merc. I wish I'd done it a lot early but that's another story. At any rate, for the most part I leave my shaman out in place of the healer merc. Depending on where I'm going I'll ditch a mage in place of the healer so I can backup heal with the shaman. I'm also considering ditching one of the mages and replacing it with a necro. With the healer merc and it's buffs along with shaman buffs, the 86 air pets are able to tank a lot better. The merc's healing ability with R2 spells is much better than the silver shaman's too. Thanks for the input. Hopefully I can get to 91 soon for that air pet (I really like their stuns), as well as getting better EM items. I'll definitely look into swarm pets too.
RS is a great dmg spell, and off tank, but depending on the dps of your group you might not use it. Since its damage is like a dot, over time, if your groups dps is high you won't get enough bang for the buck. But, if you're soloing, its great damage, and off tank (when you get multiple mobs).
I am no mage, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Also, I sometimes box a mage. RS is very good damage for a lot of mana. It drains my poorly geared mage quite a bit. They are also high agro, the first one ( I lead with it ) will always take agro from my pet and the 2nd will likely take agro, depending on how soon after refresh I cast it. This cuts down on the amount of healing your pet will need. Also, since it is such high mana cost for my mage and because I'm cheap, when I pull a new mob and the RS is still up, I will run the mage in and get hit so the RS agros. As for your original question, you should always try to have the best EM focus you can get. It makes a huge difference in your pet.
I'm just shy of 90 now with my box set. EM5 maxes out at 90. I definitely need a new EM. I don't have funds to buy em8 or em12 off bazaar so it's time to do some research and figure out ones I can acquire. I'm in a pretty friendly guild so I'm sure I can get help from the 100s or near 100s if needed.
It's still a couple months away so probably not much help to you, but the 13th anniv mission ("A Different Perspective" I think it's called) has an EM10 ear usable at 85 (or maybe 86, I forget) you can choose. The mission can be done solo, though you'll need someone to request it for you if you haven't done all the solo tasks.
I've seen BV (em12) recently in bazaar for as little as 45k. I've been accumulating some plat as I xp and I think I'll be able to get at least 60k by the time I get 92 and can equip it. That's the one I'll shoot for.
I'd drop 1 mage for another wiz personally...I did, and now my group is bard, shaman, 2 mage, 2 wiz. Wiz does over double the damage for me on a burn at lvl 100, and 2 mage pets +rs pets is plenty. I'd gear another wiz up, but then I'd lose the safety-net mage and might have to actually try a bit... Also, you must...MUST get used to casting the gargoyle (rs pet) - when they're running the pets take no damage at all. Finally, try to keep your EM as high as possible and use defiant gear to improve your pet.
If you can get guild help, try camping in argath for the whisper steel loop or head to sarith for either the goral tooth earring or earring of primal magic. Will be a good stop gap until you get the BV and can get xp while trying to farm it.
I believe one of the helfpul Mages at the Tower also showed that equipping gear with high attack levels can significantly increase pet damage.
Any info on the spawn rate of arch Mage in Sarith? I camped him for day when it was current, and never saw him much less the pet ear
