what feats to take for animal companions

[Skadi]

So many feats and im really unsure on what i should take for my bear companion. im play sacred huntsmaster

[Dramn]

I'm not sure if it's required to have (I think 3 intelligence?) but there's 'weapon' feats that are nice for animal companions and taking the mythic beast feat or whatever is extremely good; it basically makes their attacks cold iron, ghost touch and whatnot.

Also if you really want the bear to be much stronger, taking animal boon is necessary if your class doesn't already give it, on my mounted playthrough I liked getting the will bonus feats because my horse was being feared instead of me; Diehard is cool

also don't forget like I did that animals can equip items :D

[Skadi]

i think someone told me that Sacred Huntsmaster doesnt need Animal boon.

i was kinda bummed to hear that bears couldnt trip after hearing about the tripping hype.
someone on reddit posted a way of doing, but i had to use 3 feats to make it happen, which is tempting. espcially since i have no clue what other feats i would even want to take on my bear.

il be watching out for the mythic feats :) and what weapon feats go for bear then?

[Chronocide]

Originally posted by Skadi:

i think someone told me that Sacred Huntsmaster doesnt need Animal boon.

i was kinda bummed to hear that bears couldnt trip after hearing about the tripping hype.
someone on reddit posted a way of doing, but i had to use 3 feats to make it happen, which is tempting. espcially since i have no clue what other feats i would even want to take on my bear.

Bears should be able to trip via the trip combat maneuver....they just don't have bonus trip trait as part of their attacks, like the wolves have. Trip...I think it requires combat expertise, so 13 int required might put it out of your reach to acquire the feat normally, but I think the Bully archetype for the companion can get it without meeting the requirements.

As for bear feats, Bull Rush could be fun. Especially if combined with a caster creating "pits" for them to fall into.

[Fritzpud]

mounted combat and indomintable mount on your mc provided you're taking mobility as a class skill.

If you want the mount to be highly defensive, dodge > improved unarmed strike > crane wing will grant +5 ac total in exchange for -2 attack, though the mount needs 3 int to take improved unarmed strike (and you need defensive fighting enabled on the bear). This is somewhat overkill though, unless you're playing on higher difficulties.

I think the bear uses both bite and claw attacks, so improved critical and weapon focus for one or both of those, as well as power attack. You can also grab critical focus after taking improved critical, then staggering or tiring critical (or one of the other critical based effects).

[jonnin]

there are 3 main paths for animals... damage, tanking, or riding. I am not even sure what feats you can pick animal side for riding (there are a number for the rider!) but defense as above, crane style is awesome (needs int = 3+) and power attack / cleave / crit brute force approach to damage works well. Also barding based off your dex, at least get light barding but medium or heavy is just like human armor, depends on your dex vs str vs speed. I mostly stick to light but sometimes medium.

[Skadi]

Originally posted by Chronocide:

Originally posted by Skadi:

i think someone told me that Sacred Huntsmaster doesnt need Animal boon.

i was kinda bummed to hear that bears couldnt trip after hearing about the tripping hype.
someone on reddit posted a way of doing, but i had to use 3 feats to make it happen, which is tempting. espcially since i have no clue what other feats i would even want to take on my bear.

Bears should be able to trip via the trip combat maneuver....they just don't have bonus trip trait as part of their attacks, like the wolves have. Trip...I think it requires combat expertise, so 13 int required might put it out of your reach to acquire the feat normally, but I think the Bully archetype for the companion can get it without meeting the requirements.

As for bear feats, Bull Rush could be fun. Especially if combined with a caster creating "pits" for them to fall into.

Somebody said and tested that if i take bully archetype, Improved Unarmed strike, pummeling style and the other pummeling feat. my bear should be able auto trip.

or at least he claims so, and he said he tested it

[OceanPink]

hmm no dragon pets huh
Thinking dragon knights lol

[Skadi]

my pet is a bear :P

[Razer]

Originally posted by OceanPink:

hmm no dragon pets huh
Thinking dragon knights lol

Originally posted by Skadi:

my pet is a bear :P

If you bring a Brown Fur Transmuter you can transform your animal companion into a dragon. Not sure if they patched it, but it actually makes them busted giving 2x iterative attacks. The downside is you cannot ride a polymorphed character or animal companion for some reason.

[jonnin]

there is a dragon pet, but its tied to a specific mythic path.