Pet weapon questions

[bcbrown]

Since starting a necro I've become curious about the details and nuances of giving a pet a weapon.

Delay isn't affected at all, right? Whether I give a rusty dagger or a weighted axe, it won't change the pet's delay. Is that correct?

If a weapon doesn't do as much damage as a pet is already doing, it won't reduce the damage, right? Giving the pet a Gnoll Hide Lariat won't lower the max hit? And I think max damage is 2 times weapon damage plus 1, so if the pet is already doing 31 damage, you'd need to give it at least a 16 damage weapon to make it hit for additional damage? Does giving a pet a strength buff have any effect on damage?

How does dual wield work? If a pet is high enough level to dual wield, you can simply give it a torch and it will begin dual wielding? Can you give a pet a 2-hander and a torch and still get it to dual wield? If so, does the order matter?

If you give the pet two 1-handers, will the offhand weapon proc? I'm assuming the first weapon given will go in primary, and the second weapon goes in secondary?

Pets ignore class restrictions on weapons, right? You can give a warrior pet a ranger-only weapon and it'll use it? Do they follow level restrictions on procs or can a low-level pet get procs on a weapon that only procs 50+?

What are some good pet weapons? Gnoll hide lariats, deadwood staves, tash sticks, swarmcallers, what else is worth knowing about?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by bcbrown [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Since starting a necro I've become curious about the details and nuances of giving a pet a weapon.

Delay isn't affected at all, right? Whether I give a rusty dagger or a weighted axe, it won't change the pet's delay. Is that correct?

If a weapon doesn't do as much damage as a pet is already doing, it won't reduce the damage, right? Giving the pet a Gnoll Hide Lariat won't lower the max hit? And I think max damage is 2 times weapon damage plus 1, so if the pet is already doing 31 damage, you'd need to give it at least a 16 damage weapon to make it hit for additional damage? Does giving a pet a strength buff have any effect on damage?

How does dual wield work? If a pet is high enough level to dual wield, you can simply give it a torch and it will begin dual wielding? Can you give a pet a 2-hander and a torch and still get it to dual wield? If so, does the order matter?

If you give the pet two 1-handers, will the offhand weapon proc? I'm assuming the first weapon given will go in primary, and the second weapon goes in secondary?

Pets ignore class restrictions on weapons, right? You can give a warrior pet a ranger-only weapon and it'll use it? Do they follow level restrictions on procs or can a low-level pet get procs on a weapon that only procs 50+?

What are some good pet weapons? Gnoll hide lariats, deadwood staves, tash sticks, swarmcallers, what else is worth knowing about?

It's been a little while since I've thought about pets, but this is what I remember:

1. Delay does not affect the pet.

2. Weighted Axe specifically doesn't work when given to a pet. There are a few items flagged like this, since it would be overpowered.

3. Max damage can only increase based on weapon damage. It won't decrease. If I remember right the rule is "If Weapon Damage * 2 is greater than the pet's max damage, Weapon Damage * 2 becomes their new max damage". So if your pet's max damage was 40, and you gave it a 25 damage weapon, it's max damage becomes 50. Note that this only works for pets that can wield weapons. Shaman Doggo cannot wield a weapon, for example.

4. STR/ATK buffs improve pet DPS as far as I am aware. Your pet should get more max hits, but the max hit itself will not increase. So a pet with Avatar and 40 max damage will still do a max damage of 40, but you should see more 40s.

5. Pet needs to be able to Dual Wield. For Necros/SK's at least, this is based on pet level. They also get innate dual wield at a higher level. For Necro/SK's level 19+ pets can dual wield with a torch, and pets level 33+ get innate dual wield (they will do so without needing a weapon).

6. It's been a while since I've tried this on my SK, but I think you can get a pet to dual wield with a 2h weapon, and order does matter. This is easy enough to test with torches and rusty weapons.

7. Both weapons should proc if the pet has two proc weapons and can dual wield.

8. Pets ignore class and race restrictions. This is why pets can use Swarmcaller, which is Ranger only.

9. Pet weapon procs are restricted by level I believe. I don't remember ever seeing a low level using a nice 50+ proc weapon on their pets to power level.

10. Cheap pet weapons get harder to find as their max damage increases. I think the best Necro pets hit for ~60 damage max, so you would need a weapon with over 30 damage to increase it's max damage. The weapon list you provided is already a great start, although Swarmcaller would be a weapon less commonly used due to it being harder to come by. You'd ideally want to be raiding or camping something nice for a long session to give a swarmcaller to a summoned pet.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Coldain_Crossbow - 30 damage weapon, but temporary. So you can't keep them stored in your bank/bags after you camp. You can corpse them. I can't remember if these drop from dwarfs that are not a part of Ring War.

[Jimjam]

I’m sure on live NPCs including pets ignored level requirements (which later got changed to being checked vs the pet owner’s level, not the pet) but I can never find anything that backs up or falsifies this convincingly in era.

[Wayward]

Originally Posted by bcbrown [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

How does dual wield work? If a pet is high enough level to dual wield, you can simply give it a torch and it will begin dual wielding? Can you give a pet a 2-hander and a torch and still get it to dual wield? If so, does the order matter?

[...]

What are some good pet weapons? Gnoll hide lariats, deadwood staves, tash sticks, swarmcallers, what else is worth knowing about?

Yes, you can dual wield a pet with a 2 hander, the order does matter(i believe, but tbh am not 100% certain). First give it a torch, or something offhand only. (works with shields, too)

Then give it the Swarmcaller.


IMO, swarmcaller is the only pet wep I use in most situations. I don't like the deadwood staves as much as a Necro, because they break root. On an enchanter its much better with 2 Staves + Boon + VoG --- but with a Necro, i use swarmcaller and just reset the pet.

Necros have the easiest time resetting their pets, even easier than Enchanter. On my enchanter I typically cheese it.. Pacify the pet while it's still charmed and /camp.

Necro, however, can use Rest the Dead on pet while its charmed and then FD to break charm / mem blur all in one. For this reason, I don't bother giving the pet the staves, or anything but a Swarmcaller to lengthen the time between needing to reset.

This also works wonders for getting the solo exp. Before pet is about to kill the mob, back it off, Rest the Dead, and then FD. Stand up, finish mob with a Deflux or let Splurt / Epic Click finish the mob for full exp. Pet will reset and start regenning 5% a tick, recharm and get going again.

[kjs86z2]

Originally Posted by Wayward [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yes, you can dual wield a pet with a 2 hander, the order does matter(i believe, but tbh am not 100% certain). First give it a torch, or something offhand only. (works with shields, too)

Then give it the Swarmcaller.


IMO, swarmcaller is the only pet wep I use in most situations. I don't like the deadwood staves as much as a Necro, because they break root. On an enchanter its much better with 2 Staves + Boon + VoG --- but with a Necro, i use swarmcaller and just reset the pet.

Necros have the easiest time resetting their pets, even easier than Enchanter. On my enchanter I typically cheese it.. Pacify the pet while it's still charmed and /camp.

Necro, however, can use Rest the Dead on pet while its charmed and then FD to break charm / mem blur all in one. For this reason, I don't bother giving the pet the staves, or anything but a Swarmcaller to lengthen the time between needing to reset.

This also works wonders for getting the solo exp. Before pet is about to kill the mob, back it off, Rest the Dead, and then FD. Stand up, finish mob with a Deflux or let Splurt / Epic Click finish the mob for full exp. Pet will reset and start regenning 5% a tick, recharm and get going again.

mob has to be 46 to proc swarmcaller

order doesnt matter IIRC - but i always tossed it swarmcaller first then a torch (tome of the eternal works as well if you're going -MR kit)

for normal XP solo you would never do this - far more efficient to just charm and cycle pets unless you're in a spot where there aren't a ton of undead to choose from

if you're in HS you just use the HTs to do the dmg, not keeping 1 pet with a swarmcaller that would be big dumb

[Wayward]

Originally Posted by kjs86z2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

for normal XP solo you would never do this - far more efficient to just charm and cycle pets unless you're in a spot where there aren't a ton of undead to choose from

"You would never do this." That's quite the phrase. I believe what you're looking for is, "I prefer not to play like this." Because many necros do it... it's quite efficient.

Beguile Undead is 170 mana. That's only 9 standing ticks with Lich. By the time the mob is dead, you've regained all of the mana from Charm.

Granted, I had epic, the soul well staff and the SS pants by 55, so I didn't really use mana for anything else, but it's crazy efficient regardless. It's more efficient than using that mana to kill 2 mobs. I was barely ever below 80% mana with this method and flew through levels lol.

[bcbrown]

Thanks for the responses everyone, sounds like most of my assumptions were correct. I hadn't considered that deadwood staves could break root, thanks for calling that out. And the lull/fd way to reset a pet sounds super useful.

Playing the necro has been tons of fun. I'm not trying to level super quickly, but rather trying to explore dungeons and camps I haven't seen much of before. Hag tower in unrest was nice, a good mix of being usually smooth sailing combined with the occasional "oh shit" when the middle spawn popped at an akward timer or the outside pather aggroes.

I did Mistmoore CE for a couple levels to see what it's like grouping on a necro and it was fun how different the playstyle is from soloing. We had an amazing group for a while and although I'm not sure whether I was being carried by the rest of the group I sure felt useful. When there wasn't an enchanter I could do passible CC with roots and screaming terror, and then otherwise nuke off excess mana while twitching the cleric whenever he got low. Was also fun just watching a really talented bard chain pull the entire castle.

Recently I've spent most of level 39 charming in Kaesora, and the xp's been good even though a lot of the fights are frustrating. I've been mostly posted up at the safe spot by the library near #6 on the map, sometimes by the two undead rooms on the way down from the spiders to the library. The heals from the wardens are obnoxious, and that little nook has three spawns, including one that's always a ravener, so it's a little annoying to break in. I've only died once down there, though, and that was after two consecutive crit FD failures.

I think I'm going to try the five towers area for a bit with a summoned pet and take it easy, letting it take 50% sometimes. I watched a bit of a video of someone doing that and it seemed real chill. I'm pretty well twinked with tunnel gear plus a z-heart and that's definitely helped a lot.

[spoil]

Originally Posted by DeathsSilkyMist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

https://wiki.project1999.com/Coldain_Crossbow - 30 damage weapon, but temporary. So you can't keep them stored in your bank/bags after you camp. You can corpse them. I can't remember if these drop from dwarfs that are not a part of Ring War.

They drop off archers in Thurgadin near the exit to GD.

[kjs86z2]

Originally Posted by bcbrown [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Thanks for the responses everyone, sounds like most of my assumptions were correct. I hadn't considered that deadwood staves could break root, thanks for calling that out. And the lull/fd way to reset a pet sounds super useful.

Playing the necro has been tons of fun. I'm not trying to level super quickly, but rather trying to explore dungeons and camps I haven't seen much of before. Hag tower in unrest was nice, a good mix of being usually smooth sailing combined with the occasional "oh shit" when the middle spawn popped at an akward timer or the outside pather aggroes.

I did Mistmoore CE for a couple levels to see what it's like grouping on a necro and it was fun how different the playstyle is from soloing. We had an amazing group for a while and although I'm not sure whether I was being carried by the rest of the group I sure felt useful. When there wasn't an enchanter I could do passible CC with roots and screaming terror, and then otherwise nuke off excess mana while twitching the cleric whenever he got low. Was also fun just watching a really talented bard chain pull the entire castle.

Recently I've spent most of level 39 charming in Kaesora, and the xp's been good even though a lot of the fights are frustrating. I've been mostly posted up at the safe spot by the library near #6 on the map, sometimes by the two undead rooms on the way down from the spiders to the library. The heals from the wardens are obnoxious, and that little nook has three spawns, including one that's always a ravener, so it's a little annoying to break in. I've only died once down there, though, and that was after two consecutive crit FD failures.

I think I'm going to try the five towers area for a bit with a summoned pet and take it easy, letting it take 50% sometimes. I watched a bit of a video of someone doing that and it seemed real chill. I'm pretty well twinked with tunnel gear plus a z-heart and that's definitely helped a lot.

damn homie i should catch my enchanter up and we can duo charm kaesora $$$

[Wayward]

Originally Posted by bcbrown [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Recently I've spent most of level 39 charming in Kaesora, and the xp's been good even though a lot of the fights are frustrating. I've been mostly posted up at the safe spot by the library near #6 on the map, sometimes by the two undead rooms on the way down from the spiders to the library. The heals from the wardens are obnoxious, and that little nook has three spawns, including one that's always a ravener, so it's a little annoying to break in. I've only died once down there, though, and that was after two consecutive crit FD failures.

I think I'm going to try the five towers area for a bit with a summoned pet and take it easy, letting it take 50% sometimes. I watched a bit of a video of someone doing that and it seemed real chill. I'm pretty well twinked with tunnel gear plus a z-heart and that's definitely helped a lot.

I did 39-45 in the area outside of Xalgoz spawn. It's the easiest place to set up, theres a safe spot for AFK / camping. And plenty to keep going if you get a burst of energy and want 0 downtime.

Plus, the Fang will rot from someone camping Xalgoz and you've got half your HS key done.