The dog is such a HUGE dissapointment

[BucketPls]

I truly went into the game with excitement about the dog handler, but the further you get into the game the more it weighs you down.
At the start it is pretty neat to have a little buddy walking around, as most enemies are ground enemies, but you just get to a point where it feels everything is flying and the dog just becomes straight up useless as non of the skills trigger anymore. This is especially disappointing if you use your dog as a tank, as there is a 0% chance of the dog getting more Threat due to it not being able to attack. Really hoping that there will be some bark added that will activate on the same rate as attacking that allows it to still generate threat or anything else that activates on hit.
Another HUGE disappointment is how targeting the dog is sometimes a straight IMPOSSIBILITY. The same as tagging something for another player, whatever gets tagged/targeted is almost never what you were aiming at. Most of the time it is a weirdly high part on a 'low wall' you were covering behind or another enemy that is not even near the reticle where the enemy you aim at is dead center. I am assuming this has to do with hitboxes being bigger for some reason, but it makes yet another important feature unusable.
And the last, but certainly not least, disappointment is how it can only revive a single player during battle. I know there is a cooldown that pops up when it revives someone, but even after that cooldown it refuses to pick anyone up anymore. At least, it refuses it for me and I have no idea why.

Overall, if you can I think any player should avoid this ball and chain if they have the option to, as you have a HUGE chance you'll end up having to grind out another archetype for the final boss. Something you'd might have to do anyhow, but this way it feels more like a waste of time instead of a nice way to spend the time post-game.

Either way, I genuinely hope the devs are going to revamp the whole dog as a whole. Too much depends on situations needing to be based something the dog can do, which in fairness hardly ever happens. All other classes I have tried so far don't really have that problem, as you just get those buffs for being that archetype instead of the dog needing to do the exact thing to trigger it.

[Bloodrider]

i, too, was excited and then very disappointed with the doggo. it definitely needs a revisit.

[Denys]

I dont find the Dog bad.
I learned to micro manage him/her and not just wait for his/her hp to fall to zero. He/she is very fun in coop especially when your partner is down and you can just order Dog to revive. It does not cost your Dragon heart. But you have to order the Dog more and more in late game, reposition Dog often to get maximum results.

The other cool thing is the bleed that can stack with so many items you can wear. Everything dog does counts as player actions too. You can get infinite haste with Anastasias Ring and other cool little things.

My opinion on the Dog changes as I play, but having over 170 hours in the game and unlocking more and more items, I am starting to like Dog more and more. Its a good starting Archetype and a tricky one to master for late game, but supper fun.
Also you can pet the Dog!!!! Now if only we can give Dog a name.
I do agree that the accuracy and priority of targets needs more work, however.

[✰N0ni✰]

Doggo is probably the best archetype for new players, just for the revives alone. Also counts as a summon so any summon bonus items pair well with it.

[Denys]

Originally posted by ✰N0ni✰:

Doggo is probably the best archetype for new players, just for the revives alone. Also counts as a summon so any summon bonus items pair well with it.

Exactly, Dog is easy to start with but hard to master!

[Cutlass Jack]

Dog clearly needs to train you better.

[Grim@FU_BARRACUDA]

The dog is maybe the most powerfull tool in the game if used smart. I think he was never meant as a pure tank, he was meant for distracting enemies and help the players in overwhelming situations by providing some bonuses or heal or revieve. But you can also send him into rooms to trigger enemies, while you stay at a save distance and just snip the enemies. He also makes many rings and amulets usefull as someone said already. So overall this good boy is a fantastic tool if you use him smart, especially in solo play ;-)

[Kappa]

To me it's pretty solid until nightmare.

At that point you need to slightly support them ( and call them back not to get killed, if you fail to properly get aggro on yourself ), as doggo is not going to last more than 4 hits from regular creeps ( being considered a summon, does this also mean they might benefit from rugged?

Although I wouldn't waste 10 points to give the do 100% extra hp, being a handler summoner might be worth it ).

One QoL I'd like to have is for the call back pet to make them passive, aka let the dog to just stick on the character, without going attacking anybody.

This would greatly help with bosses that oneshot them ( sometimes, even when you call them back, they go wandering back after a few seconds ).

Anyway, I agree it's an excellent class to start with ( new player friendly, as they allow a second chance if the player goes down ).

[BananaBadman]

It's not just the dog that needs a revamp. Summons in general don't seem to be fully fleshed out. The lack of scaling, bad AI and lack of useful equipment/traits to boost them mean they will just be early game/low difficulty toys.

[RyouDeeLuLu]

they might need to tweek the res call, i have had plenty of times where I sent the doggo to res but does nothing and just attacks if anything is near him.

[Andy]

they should allow player to equip a gun to the dog as a perk for level 10 handler
or just add mini-gun/rocket launcher to the dog for handler level 10 perk

[Kappa]

Originally posted by BananaBadman:

The lack of scaling, bad AI and lack of useful equipment/traits to boost them mean they will just be early game/low difficulty toys.

I am doing fine with summons ( apo ), apart from some bosses that has oneshot aoe attacks ( I have to sacrifice and resummon, to better deal with them ), but I totally agree on the bad AI ( pathfinding and disappearance, mostly ).

Sometimes I have to swap midfight from flyers to big guy ( last boss phase 2 only, ircc, but still ), and it's not affordable to open the menù and change it.

What I can suggest for those that want to approach the summoner way is to full cap rugged and pair the summoner archetype with the medic one.

Probably even Handler ( support pet for aoe health regen ) + Summoner might do the trick, though I didn't try that out yet.

[Ulfhedinn]

THE DOG IS AMAZING!
You arent playing it long enough....
My group uses him, and he is dope as hell. And if you have two, you can basically health regen your whole health in seconds.
As you level up handler he starts doing really good damage. He currently kills most mobs in two hits on the second hardest difficulty. And he can tank a distract 2 to 3 opponents without dying usually.
You guys dont know what youre doing with him apparently,.
I dual classed assassin and handler, and it basically makes me an unstoppable force for mobs and mini bosses.
You guys need to stop complaining and maybe look up some guides, builds, or figure out his mechanics more and let him level up. At higher levels the dog is great. He is awesome against anything on the ground, he cant fly so flying enemies are on YOU to kill.
But his three commands are all really good and do different things depending on how you are using his build and role.
I have zero complaints with him so far. and after doing a bunch of levels with him, I miss him if I switch over to my other dual class, technician.

Also, if you are dual classing him, you NEED TO BE HANDLER PRIMARY and secondary your main class. WONT change anything for you as a player, BUT; the dog wont resurrect you or other players if he is a secondary class. Only if you are a primary handler.
Which is THE ONLY THING currently I think they should change.

[Kappa]

Originally posted by Ulfhedinn:

I dual classed assassin and handler, and it basically makes me an unstoppable force for mobs and mini bosses.

What's the assassin?

Originally posted by Ulfhedinn:

Also, if you are dual classing him, you NEED TO BE HANDLER PRIMARY and secondary your main class. WONT change anything for you as a player

That's false though.

Having a class as primary gives an unique perk ( for example, the handler gets the ability to have their pet to resurrect themselves, or others, every XX seconds, the medic gets relics uses back once they healed a certain amount of damage, the challenger gets a revive every 10 minutes, the invader spawn a clone on a perfect dodge, the explorer gives you a 35% chance to get more mats, etc... ).

[Thorp]

My grievance with the dog is as stated already, when something is flying the dog is useless. Otherwise the dog is amazing for me as it cleans up and distracts.

But it is a big glaring issue when most bosses that I've come across are immune to doggo and melee. They have almost all been flying or are unreachable with melee.

Overall, R2 seems infatuated with not allowing melee combat. Conversely, R1 had most bosses reachable by melee which allowed players to do whatever build they really wanted throughout the game. ... ... R2, naw, they mostly all flying. (At least so far in my first playthrough).

[Kazaanh]

The only thing i would fix with dog would be to make distant Revive ping for teammate more clearer to use.

Otherwise its perfect.

Free revive, and abillity to grab minion aggro onto himself so they don't do chip dmg on you so you can focus on the boss is already great.

With dog, you have to get used to proper whistling. Like a handler duh, can't let the dog free roam. Single tap whistles to aim at certain enemy and double tapping to back so he won't get stuck in between gang bang getting melted.

Doggo been great asset to us and credit to the team with clutch revives.