IS mend flesh worth maxing?

[丂卩ㄖㄖ几ㄚ 丂卂ㄩㄥ]

I have 6 points in it. I have set my raven in defensive stance and i get heals on a regular basis.
I personally think its worth maxing out but i would like to hear opinions from more experienced players.

[ha..HA!]

Escrito originalmente por EolSunder:

well personally i find blood of dreeg isn't needed for me, i play a full pet character and let them do the work. I don't rely on blood of dreeg for healing because in tough fights im running in circles to make sure no boss's gank me while my pets whittle them down, staying near so my auras keep on my pets. Don't need pets being healed, thats what resummoning them does. Pet hurt? pet dead? make new pet. I have my max resists and healing potions, plenty to keep me alive while the pets do what i have all those pets to do, max offensive damage to kill fast. Regular boss fights pets do fine, tough boss fights i might have to summon them an extra time or 2, but what do i need healing for, im trying NOT to get hit, so who cares about blood of dreeg. I don't also care about the ravens mending because anyone pet that dies, oops there is a new one, full of health. Not a problem.

The only time i die to boss's is if im not paying attention and don't see the boss suddenly rush me and start ganking my main, due to all the pretty colors of everything swirling about blotting out trying to id different things. Nothing a little portal nearby won't cure when i rez and head back. I dont care about healing or personal offensive power, thats WHY i have the pets. If i was playing a offensive character who had the pets for backup and distraction, maybe the healing would be useful, push health and resists for the pets instead of damage boost, they stay alive longer taking hits keep me free to smack things.

But my pet character is built to let the pets do the work while i lead them around and point "go smack that". Don't need healing of any type diluting my aura/damage skills for them. Nothing a free re-summon won't fix.

I haven't really gone far with pet builds but I reckon the flat acid damage alone from blood of dreeg would make it worth the investment. You only see it as a defensive spell. Try it. If you have 10 pets with a 1000%+ all damage and whatever percentage of acid damage, the flat acid damage that blood of dreeg gives to each and every pet turns out to be a lot. Plus it gives a ton of OA, poison and acid resists and physical resist. The heal is nice and all but the other bonuses make it an awesome skill.

[Unicarn]

Escrito originalmente por EolSunder:

well personally i find blood of dreeg isn't needed for me, i play a full pet character and let them do the work. I don't rely on blood of dreeg for healing because in tough fights im running in circles to make sure no boss's gank me while my pets whittle them down, staying near so my auras keep on my pets. Don't need pets being healed, thats what resummoning them does. Pet hurt? pet dead? make new pet. I have my max resists and healing potions, plenty to keep me alive while the pets do what i have all those pets to do, max offensive damage to kill fast. Regular boss fights pets do fine, tough boss fights i might have to summon them an extra time or 2, but what do i need healing for, im trying NOT to get hit, so who cares about blood of dreeg. I don't also care about the ravens mending because anyone pet that dies, oops there is a new one, full of health. Not a problem.

The only time i die to boss's is if im not paying attention and don't see the boss suddenly rush me and start ganking my main, due to all the pretty colors of everything swirling about blotting out trying to id different things. Nothing a little portal nearby won't cure when i rez and head back. I dont care about healing or personal offensive power, thats WHY i have the pets. If i was playing a offensive character who had the pets for backup and distraction, maybe the healing would be useful, push health and resists for the pets instead of damage boost, they stay alive longer taking hits keep me free to smack things.

But my pet character is built to let the pets do the work while i lead them around and point "go smack that". Don't need healing of any type diluting my aura/damage skills for them. Nothing a free re-summon won't fix.

I'd argue that Blood of Dreeg is even more powerful for pet builds due to the +to acid damage and +to offensive ability affecting your pets. Especially the +to acid damage, that's a really big bonus.

[StreamWhenGuy]

Escrito originalmente por Unicarn:

I'd argue that Blood of Dreeg is even more powerful for pet builds due to the +to acid damage and +to offensive ability affecting your pets. Especially the +to acid damage, that's a really big bonus.

Not mentioning poison and physical resistances it provides. I'd say it's must have and too good to not use it, especially for hardcore players.

[Unicarn]

Escrito originalmente por StreamWhenGuy:

Escrito originalmente por Unicarn:

I'd argue that Blood of Dreeg is even more powerful for pet builds due to the +to acid damage and +to offensive ability affecting your pets. Especially the +to acid damage, that's a really big bonus.

Not mentioning poison and physical resistances it provides. I'd say it must have and too good to not use it, especially for hardcore players.

Yeah, that's a big deal as well. I didn't mention it thought because they didn't seem concerned about survivability.

[Takeda]

Escrito originalmente por Rear Admiral Saul:

I have 6 points in it. I have set my raven in defensive stance and i get heals on a regular basis.
I personally think its worth maxing out but i would like to hear opinions from more experienced players. :trump:

I've said elsewhere that I feel that Mend Flesh simply doesn't work - it's not clear what conditions are needed to force its proc and given that most players don't notice its use or activation, it can't be considered reliable. To be clear I'm sure it does activate (I doubt Crate has a skill that is simply broken) but if it goes un-noticed spend those 6 points more usefully.

Blood of Dreeg is dependable and powerful - but you decide how many points you need in it. Against this balance how much benefit you get from the Storm Crow's aura in boosting elemental damage for minions, and for extending elemental resistances. KG (another player) is very impressed with the Storm Crow's improved lightning "shotgun" effect - again, this is a judgement call as to whether it suits your build and play style.

I'd suggest that more Blood of Dreeg and Aura is more valuable until you get very good gear, where at which point you can dial back on points and improve your killing speed.

[Unicarn]

Escrito originalmente por Takeda:

Escrito originalmente por Rear Admiral Saul:

I have 6 points in it. I have set my raven in defensive stance and i get heals on a regular basis.
I personally think its worth maxing out but i would like to hear opinions from more experienced players. :trump:

I've said elsewhere that I feel that Mend Flesh simply doesn't work - it's not clear what conditions are needed to force its proc and given that most players don't notice its use or activation, it can't be considered reliable. To be clear I'm sure it does activate (I doubt Crate has a skill that is simply broken) but if it goes un-noticed spend those 6 points more usefully.

Blood of Dreeg is dependable and powerful - but you decide how many points you need in it. Against this balance how much benefit you get from the Storm Crow's aura in boosting elemental damage for minions, and for extending elemental resistances. KG (another player) is very impressed with the Storm Crow's improved lightning "shotgun" effect - again, this is a judgement call as to whether it suits your build and play style.

I'd suggest that more Blood of Dreeg and Aura is more valuable until you get very good gear, where at which point you can dial back on points and improve your killing speed.

Set the raven to defensive and it'll use it almost exclusively. I notice a difference in my survivability if my raven dies, and that's with just one point in it (although I do snapshot my raven so it's a stronger heal than normal)

Granted it doesn't help much versus enemies that deal a lot of burst damage, but against most enemies it is a substantial heal that keeps me topped off.

[Takeda]

Escrito originalmente por Unicarn:

Escrito originalmente por Takeda:

I've said elsewhere that I feel that Mend Flesh simply doesn't work - it's not clear what conditions are needed to force its proc and given that most players don't notice its use or activation, it can't be considered reliable. To be clear I'm sure it does activate (I doubt Crate has a skill that is simply broken) but if it goes un-noticed spend those 6 points more usefully.

Blood of Dreeg is dependable and powerful - but you decide how many points you need in it. Against this balance how much benefit you get from the Storm Crow's aura in boosting elemental damage for minions, and for extending elemental resistances. KG (another player) is very impressed with the Storm Crow's improved lightning "shotgun" effect - again, this is a judgement call as to whether it suits your build and play style.

I'd suggest that more Blood of Dreeg and Aura is more valuable until you get very good gear, where at which point you can dial back on points and improve your killing speed.

Set the raven to defensive and it'll use it almost exclusively. I notice a difference in my survivability if my raven dies, and that's with just one point in it (although I do snapshot my raven so it's a stronger heal than normal)

Granted it doesn't help much versus enemies that deal a lot of burst damage, but against most enemies it is a substantial heal that keeps me topped off.

Yeah this was something I'd read about and tried, and I run two Storm Crows too, but .. I dunno .. maybe 8 skellies, 2 crows, hellhound, blight and the big monstrous skellie from the Necro relic all prove to be too many targets to heal effectively. Short version, better Blood still yields much better "bang for your bucks".

[Unicarn]

Escrito originalmente por Takeda:

Escrito originalmente por Unicarn:

Set the raven to defensive and it'll use it almost exclusively. I notice a difference in my survivability if my raven dies, and that's with just one point in it (although I do snapshot my raven so it's a stronger heal than normal)

Granted it doesn't help much versus enemies that deal a lot of burst damage, but against most enemies it is a substantial heal that keeps me topped off.

Yeah this was something I'd read about and tried, and I run two Storm Crows too, but .. I dunno .. maybe 8 skellies, 2 crows, hellhound, blight and the big monstrous skellie from the Necro relic all prove to be too many targets to heal effectively. Short version, better Blood still yields much better "bang for your bucks".

That's likely it. I haven't gotten a pet build very far in the game, but I have gotten a couple non-pet characters with Mend Flesh and it's noticeable.

[mikeydsc]

If you use pets, you really need to spec for pets, otherwise in later difficulties they just die and you have to wait for the CD to call em up again. Either go full on pets or dont use em. In normal/vet and elite you can get by mostly, but by ultimate - they die faster than its worth.

Pets also change how you spec your devotions - its an all or nothing approach.