I am totally fine with aggro kiting, but pet tanking kills are 4 or 5 times faster kills. Necro + Mage + Healer Merc + Wizard Merc = insane kill speed. Will my necro ever be able to pet tank again or was level 90 the last pet tank level? P.S. I have been sicking the mages rogue pet on the mobs but its still not as fast a damage sheild, mage nuking and wizard merc nuking.
How to pet tank as a necro: 1) Load all of your swarm pet spells from the past 3 expansions 2) Cast only that until you have several... several pets on the named 3) ??? 4) Profit For trash mobs, I think a real necro could provide you with better advice . What I described above is simply a method to take out Named.
There's an identical thread 4 subjects down. Did none of the information in that thread prove helpful to you? 1) Mage summoned AC gear 2) Mage summoned haste mask 3) Use 87 pet (or get to 92 and use the 92 pet) (the point being to use the warrior pet for tanking) 4) Have the Necro Pet "cascading something" heal spell memmed. Use it. 5) Get the Aegis AA (I forget what level it is (if you're too low for AA.. mem the spell)). Use it. 6) Use reluctant benevolence. 7) Necro slow. Use it in whatever form you have available. a) Your pet can tank one mob at a time and you should spot heal to help the cleric merc if RB doesn't keep up. b) If you have two mobs on your pet, you will have to actively and regularly use Aegis and the Heal spell in order to keep your pet alive. c) If you have three mobs.. use Pestilent Paralysis to park one out of range so you're back down to two mobs. d) If you can't park a mob out of range, and your pet has three mobs on it, just succor to safety because your pet is going to die otherwise. PS: the real answer is "get to 92... get a 92 level pet focus... get the 92 pet... then use the same techniques listed above (you should still always succor at 3+ mobs regardless of what pet you have)" PPS: I don't play a mage, but from what I understand... the mage's warrior pet will tank much better than the equivalent level range necro pet. PPPS: As mentioned above, you can swarm pet the mobs, but that's mana intensive and won't last long. The developers have ruined mana recovery for necros. As pointed out by many in other threads.... "the first rule of necro club..." You're not likely to get a more indepth answer here because what you say here can and usually will be used against you. /trust no one because haters are gonna hate
What the above poster said. My mains a 105 necro, with maxed pet aas, Mage gear equipped and shammy buffs, my pet is able to stand up to 2-3 mobs in the Dh Ha's with my healer merc on balanced. As the above poster said, always always always use the lower level warrior pet as opposed to the high level rogue. It's durability is so much better than through pet. The 102 pet spell in my opinion is a beast of a tank if you equip it and play the necromancer with the right mechanics. As for named mobs, my pet has tanked commander alast degmar (both the instance and non instanced version). The non instanced version hits for a Max of 36,000 and has a couple nasty aoe dots. So yes the most recent necro pet spell is completely a capable tank.
I know im a bad example but ive managed to Molo almost all of TDS with my pet. Sure its a lot easier with my wizard friend and his 1 cleric merc out also. I have been away for a few months now did they change something with pet tanking in that small time frame? Cause my pet has tanked MANY named from TDS even in ARX. You just have to support your pets more rather then let the little guy just run in and have merc heal him.
The level 97 necro pet is a beast. I remember first using it, I realized the potential of pet tanking...I now use the 102 pet to tank TDS T3 named. As a 105 necro as my main, I use this technique often: If your pet does end up dying, keep casting these spells as soon as they are up...and max out Extended Swarm AA: Call Skeleton Mob Call Skeleton Throng These will keep the mob busy, then your "main" pet will eventually get aggro and die again. Recast pet, send in to fight. Recast Call Skeleton spells as soon as they are up. Keep recasting said spells until mob is dead. (Named mobs can be long fights, yet intense) This technique can be used to kill any named. Obviously Rank 2 spells will give you the upper hand, also get the highest Enhanced Minion focus earring you can find. I currently use the Sparking Bauble from Arx Mentis (EM XVIII). I believe that is the highest focus you can get from grouping. You can get higher focus from raiding...but I do not raid.
You don't need to let your (presumably armed/equipped/buffed) pet die at all. The Summon Companion AA will wipe its agro, it'll just keep on fighting & backstabbing away all day. This version of killing doesn't let you use dots, though, so it takes forever and a day.
You can cast DoTs in between, then feign death to lose aggro, but on named mobs it's risky...yeah it's slow but steady, but you'll get the loot so what does it matter?
If you are running mage in the group than mage pet should be tanking. Mage should get priority on pet focus items b/c mage will get most benefit from these. use necro pet to offtank the 3rd add, handle the 2nd add with swarms to offtank or root. Basically just taunt occasional adds off the Mage pet to relieve pressure, or use swarms to ease pressure from adds, they pull aggro well
Too late to edit: earth pet will start aoe taunting but swarms will still do enough damage to pull aggro off adds. here's my flowchart for mage pet tanking 1. Most important cast is first swarm gargoyle to first add to stop its damage to mage pet by taunting it off asap 2. Second most useful cast would be either fortify AA, aegis/host in the shell, companions blessing, and groundswell stance, in order of effectiveness (that I've seen for keeping pet up). 3. Additional adds can be handled by necro root, or Necro pet to taunt one off mage pet 4. From here it's cycling mage pet defensives, and remember to re-swarm the same add as last time, because your first swarm will die soon. If you have the AA and Mage chest for focus effect, u should be able to keep swarming an add as long as u have mana on mage Mage/ necro can handle quite a lot with fast responses without needing mez. Put the bulk of the tanking on mage pet and swarms, necro pet to split the occasional add off. Not necro pet to main tank. Worst case scenario, pull both pets off and fire a companion of necessity from mage into the mob clump (can fade mage pet here). It'll memblur them all when it dies. I can usually pick 1-2 off the companion of necessity with pet taunt and pull them out to split them, however
I aggro kited since 70. pet tanking has always been an issue. But, especially with a j5, you'll make more headway. I'm max level now and seldom have problems with trash. j5 makes things easier
Great advice. I like aggro kiting myself but at 87 there are few zones where I have found have room for such artistic endeavors. I stumbled across this post actually looking for a break down on Necro pets, i.e. level class. Anyone have a link they can share?
