Possess Essence is my favorite spell, and I've been doing a lot of research with it over the past month. I've published an extensive section about it on the EQ2 wiki if you want to read more about it, here: http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Coercer_Pet_Strategies As you will read, your pet's peformance will depend partially on its character class. On some levels, one PE is as good as any other, but if you like to play a PE mini-game like me, then you might enjoy this article. Anyway, I'm constantly updating it as I learn more, and I wanted to share it with you guys since it's pretty much buried. Now I just hope nothing gets nerfed becuase of it.
I've recently updated and reformatted the article to include more comprehensive information about all the classes of PE. And, for those of you that would like a quick summary, here are the highlights of my findings: Every PE is assigned a class (wizard, defiler, brigand, etc.) when it is created. Doesn't matter what the live mob was doing, the PE gains a class and will perform a limited number of abilities according to a probability script. Autoattack damage is normalized across classes. It's called Confound, and it hits for mental damage. Otherwise, a PE will use class skills (see article). Direct damage is nerfed big time and does 40-80% of the damage of Confound autoattack depending on the skill. Even ice comet hits for less than Confound. If you're not autoattacking, you're missing out on lots of DPS, so get your PE in there when possible (even the mages). Buffs and debuffs scale with your level, though, so when your PE uses one of these, be happy. Bard PEs give buffs and many other class types will use debuffs, particularly in longer fights where they have more time to come up. Re-think your PE! It's not just for damage, it's also for debuffs. As just one example, a brigand PE can debuff attack speed, all magical mitigation, defense and AGI - and it does the same autoattack as any other class class (plus an occasional proc for poison damage). This section of the article lists debuffs you might see for each class. While you're considering debuffs, try not to overlap classes since debuffs don't stack; pick a class that's not in your party if you have access to it. If you're wondering, "What's the best class of PE?" well that's open to interpretation. I explain various scenarios here. In general though - If the mobs die quickly it doesn't matter what you have since a PE needs time to mix in class skills with its autoattack. In longer fights (duoing heroics, heroics in general, boss mobs, etc.) I prefer a debuffer, specifically one that complements my group (e.g., debuffs physical mit when I got lots of melee dps, magical mit when you're caster heavy, etc). And a bard is always good. For more information see this article on the wiki. Comments welcome!
You might want to add to your excellent wiki article that for raiding coercers getting hold of Ilsaad's Control Rod gives your PE pet (or charm pet for that matter) a superb 4k regening ward, which makes it an even more awesome tank pet.
Bariel wrote: Amazing idea. I'll update it now. I'm also going to mention that post-GU 58 we'll be able to possess named and boss mobs (though they will not have special abilities, it will depend on their class just like with any other PE). Still, I'm looking forward to hurling Queen Gwarthlea and Delahnus at themselves - if only so I can watch them actually move.
its just to bad that the pets can't zone with you. i would really like to have the same looking pet. they should make a customizable petamorph wand, then i wouldn't care so much. nice write up btw...
Target the mob and look at its' buffs in the target window, it will have at least one class buff usually.
