Been away. What's the current state of pet tanking?

@goranothos , correct before the taunt change pet agro was more difficult and had hard time being able to Nuke like crazy wasnt impossible but more difficult.. after patch and taunt change made it much more easy ..2 boxing a mage and shammy or any other class with a mage is absolutely doable for group content .. there is however a few group missions/tasks that will req unique pulling abilities and or CC .. good luck and have fun..

I have zero aggro issue with my pet. I can put the wizzy merc on burn and don't remember it grabbing aggro over my 101 air pet ever. If you pull aggro off your pet, you are trying to. I can nuke away on my 102 wizard and still not pull aggro. I have EM23 pet with max pet aas.

As for tanking, my pet seems great to me. I just came back a couple months ago, after a year or so. I left after the huge pet nerfs back then. I came back after I read about pets being able to hold aggro over pcs and it is an AWESOME change!!!! I can play my rogue now or attack with my BL as his pet tanks. What a great change and really makes the game much more fun for me.

My 105 magician got hit a couple of times while using an airpet in an EWK mission last night. Pet was set to taunt.

did you have your SCS on ? or off

LOL! Mage pets are not what they were @ 105 6-8 months ago, I cant remember when the first nerf went down but that one was worse than the last one. The last one just shaved more mitigation and aggro off it. Maybe if you are lower levels you dont notice...or I guess if you havent played in awhile...but in group content, in end zones on namers you see your turd getting it without vaseline!
I recommend having an enchanter or other cc as the days of at least a mage pet, in group able to handle 3 mobs at once while burn/assist is going are over! RIP lil buddy!

Wasn't the last mitigation nerf TLP only?

Well, that does seem a little too good, if a mage pet could tank 3 mobs at once (in a game where there are CC classes, anyhow!). Can they tank a single named well enough?

Also what about warders? Can they tank a single named? (That's if anyone still plays a Bst - you had to be a bit masochistic to play one when I left )

Depends on the named Mouldy.

My pet died to Deathcaller Xylok when he had no extra armor and basic buffs (burnout, iceflame, FBO, VT, shieldstone, surety, CoA robe click, mend companion and companions blessing). Merc on reactive with me cycling clicks/aa's as possible.

However things are a bit different with full dimensional armor and every paladin, shaman, ranger, cleric and chanter buff it can take.

Deathcaller Xylok on 3/17/2016 in 131sec
Zebn
--- DMG: 2128978 @ 16252 sdps (16377 dps in 130s) [25.31%]
------ Total: 2128978 -- DirDmg: 2128978
------ Normal rate: 100% (100% of DMG)
------ Attempts: 304 -- Hits: 304 -- Misses: 0 -- Defended: 0 -- Accuracy: 100%
--- DMG to PC: 1212770 @9401dps
Special: 2: Infusion 6: Staunch 7: Intensity 9: Armor G: Glyph M: Secrets K: Kiss X: Slain $: Saved by DI
Produced by GamParse v1.5.1.7

Tanking summary for: Zebn --- Total Melee --- Damage: 1212770 --- Avg hit: 5748 --- Attempts: 295 --- Riposted: 8/295 [2.71%] --- Parried: 11/287 [3.83%] --- Dodged: 3/276 [1.09%] --- Blocked: 19/273 [6.96%] --- Defended: 41/295 [13.9%] --- Missed: 20/254 [7.87%] --- Hits: 234/295 [79.32%] --- Absorbed: 23/234 [9.83%] --- Real Hits: 211/295 [71.53%]

Zebn vs. Deathcaller Xylok - Hit
Attempts: 279/279 - 100%
Invulnerable: 0/279 - 0%
Riposted: 7/279 - 2.51%
Parried: 11/272 - 4.04%
Dodged: 3/261 - 1.15%
Blocked: 17/258 - 6.59%
Defended: 38/279 - 13.62%
Missed: 18/241 - 7.47%
Hits: 223/279 - 79.93%
Absorbed: 22/223 - 9.87%
Real Hits: 201/279 - 72.04%
2070: 8/201 - 3.98%
2299: 33/201 - 16.42%
2434: 10/201 - 4.98%
2704: 46/201 - 22.89%

So a warder isn't tanking a named, then, without mage help Same as before, then!

A warder can tank named .. bsts pet heals are the best out of all the pet classes .. with a healer merc to help even easier .. its not the pet that is the problem its the operator ..
I have not played my bst in few months but didnt they just recently get companions Aegis AA also now ?

Pets do not have an issue tanking mobs significantly lower level, or when you have enough players to spread agro around. However if you're trying to solo (not molo) a pet's agro doesn't seem to cut it. Yes, you can burn AAs, but not without significant downtime.

I agree about the downtime matari .. but it seems a few peeps on this thread has the notion that pets (their pets) for some reason cant tank and were not even talking TBM mobs most this thread is about Gribble mission named .. im sorry but my 105 mage doesnt have a problem and yes I can molo said gribbles .. it does take awhile with downtime.. you can expect that if your solo/molo with no added dps your gonna burn thru your mana/ and burns rather quickly .. especially if you get a few adds you werent expecting..

Zamiam

Can I ask what tactics you use to molo a triple pull vegerog when they're even con's?

Here's the closest I can manage but still have to gate out.

Start with an earth pet that has BO, Iceflame, fbo, vt, robe click, aegis and fortify. Wind of Malo then drape of shadows (usually fails) then companion of a necessity. I cast spear to pull one off the CoN pet and lead it half way back to the zone out, almost always I get all three.

Gargoyle on mob A, rocky on other two. Aegis drops then I cast companions blessing. Another gargoyle on mob A. Use silent casting, first spire, focus of Arcanum and ITC then cycle spear and bolt. Another gargoyle on mob A. HotE then storm of many. By now the original gargoyle is dead and my pet is switched to mob A. If mob A switches to another gargoyle I'm fine but usually my earth pet has agro locked on all three.

Fortify fades usually when all mobs are around 60% to 70% and my pet is dead quickly after that.

What's your tactic to survive a triple pull of even con's? Mine is port out and make a new pet....and it's getting really really old.

ok with the Vegerog's you should be able to split them and only have a max of 2 mobs with pet focused so pet doesnt go back and forth between mob A or B .. you send in CoN on mob C if mob A and B get stuck on CoN hit them with a low dmg spell to grab their attention or send in Rocky to tag both and then call Rocky back to your side .. when mob A and B come to you send in servant pet on B .. sick rocky on A .. IF you get all 3, again have rocky Focused so he not ping ponging back and forth to all 3 send in Servant pet on mob B (mob B will then be occupied and not hitting on Rocky)then as soon as Servant is back up ssend in on mob C (mob C will then not be hitting on rocky).. i dont know about you but if i time it right i can get 3 servants up just as 1st one is dying ..bye this time mob A should almost be dead or close with Rocky on mob A and other 2 occupied with Servants Burn mob A down fast .. TC and ITC all bells and whistles .. also do you have the delayed heal blocked on your pet .. that is a useless heal that mercs love to cast try that and get back to me .. also ? do you have a pet back up suspended in case Rocky dies you can quickly pull out another .. hope that helps .. after a 3 pull you will def be having a bit of downtime .. also dont be afraid to take a few hits yourself you have a couplel of nice AA's that help you mitigate dmg also if you have the veterans AA armor of the something.. i know thats only once every 20 hours or so but it helps ..

P.S> are you using both of your Aegis blocks . the AA and you get a Spell Aegis of Japac or shieldstone stance.. (stance has a higher mitigate but lowers pets movement so only use that one if pet is stationary and doesnt have to run to mob..)

You are wrong. Pet aggro is just find for the molo magician. Chat with me if you want to discuss it further, I can offer help and advice. But please stop spreading wrong information on public boards about pet aggro.

Drape of Shadows should not be failing every time, unless the mobs are linked together regardless of what anyone does. Which is not true since I don't ever recall on my molo monk missions ever having to tank 2+ at once.

Try CON first. One mob should run towards you of the three. If not, continue to use Drape and it should drop all aggro. Then wait for pathing.

I believe you know how to handle two at once. If you still need help, contact me in game- you know where to find me

Can i solo like we did before? take 2-3 mobs on yellow con below 100 lvl because we could not split the mobs?
Basically i can box my mages again doing the add on prior to the 105 lvl one Max was 100 around the AA bonus heroic.

It was the problem that got changes back when the devs first made the huge mistake in changing the mages. Why on earth they decided to make it 15years into an old game is beyond me. It was fun then, i didn't bother anyone, i enjoyed relaxing and doing catch-up AA experiences because i was so far behind everyone then they did the massive nerf.

I am not asking to exploit, just sit in a corner, pull mobs and try to split the 3 that come along.

Did things change that much taunt again works? and the pet has the ability to survive somewhat now

Cicelee

The RNG and I have a relationship based on hatred and mistrust. Not that I'm against getting along with it but looking through my logs from when I got home from vacation to now....drape of shadows has failed 16 out of 21 times according to gamparse. This goes hand in hand with how I was able to read Anne Rice's "The Witching Hour" while camping the power of fire in Solusek's Eye for my 1.0. One of these days I'll make the RNG my ***** but until that day "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

Thanks for the tip on using CoN first then drape; gonna try that next. While I can now successfully do 2 mobs at once when I get that third one I have to get out of there.

Which zones are you having to run away from three mobs? If you ever catch me on my mage in game, I'd be glad to help you with how you approach Gribbles and current content while encountering three mobs. I'd post more on the forums, but nerfs are a thing (even when not deserved).

The Gribble mission Scouting Ahead. The first several pulls are single or double pulls. However at the first corner there's three Vegerog. When it's mobs other than vegerog this spot seems to be a double but when it's level 105 vegerog you pull one you get all three.



I did try the CoN first then Drape of Shadows. This did work on leaving one back at its spawn point. The same thing happened with the last three vegerog's before starting to kill the xulous scouts so same tactic....CoN then spear to try and get one out of the pack of three (didn't work) then drape. Unfortunately the RNG still hates me so drape failed. I rebound by Gribble, gated out and started over.