Utilitarian Inclinations

[Sa1loR JaRRy]

Anyone here like to run their pawns utilitarian primary? I like to play with a Utilitarian squad. Utilitarian/Challenger Rangers and Sorcerers are easy to find, but I've been having a rough time finding Utilitarian/Scather warriors and Utilitarian/Mitigator fighters (the most scarce).

I run Utilitarian/Challenger on my main pure ranger pawn Naomi. I've been using the same pawns over and over again and some of them are too high/low level now. I'd really like more variety so I can spread the renting love around.

If anyone out there has Utilitarian/Mitgator fighters or Utilitarian/Scather warriors, Please add me. (I ain't payin' for pawns) Spending 20-30min in the rift to find the right squad is gettin tedious.

[minusthedrifter]

Originally posted by Sa1loR JaRRy:

but I've been having a rough time finding Utilitarian/Scather warriors and Utilitarian/Mitigator fighters (the most scarce).

That's because Utilitarian on melee is a terrible idea, especially as a primary. That is, unless you like your damage dealers doing no damage because they get touchy feely with enemies and grapple them all day.

[Candy Witch]

In your experience, what exactly do they do better than pawns that don't have Utilitarian as their primary inclination?

I'm honestly curious.

[BurlsoL]

Originally posted by minusthedrifter:

Originally posted by Sa1loR JaRRy:

but I've been having a rough time finding Utilitarian/Scather warriors and Utilitarian/Mitigator fighters (the most scarce).

That's because Utilitarian on melee is a terrible idea, especially as a primary. That is, unless you like your damage dealers doing no damage because they get touchy feely with enemies and grapple them all day.

Also because warrior is more suited to a mitigator role, while fighter is more suited to a scather role by means of their skill setup and how the AI usually uses them.

As for utilitarian pawns grabbing more often... It's possible, but that's also kinda what you're wanting from a melee class since it lets the pawn do focused damage to a weak point while also lowering the mobility of the thing they're clinging to as well as holding its attention. This isn't WoW or Darksouls, hacking away at ankles and kneecaps is not always the best use of your time. Even with smaller things like saurians, grappling them greatly reduces their defense and makes them MUCH easier to kill. Grabbing and climbing isn't necessarily a bad tactical choice, it just happens to usually be contrary to what you "want" them to do.

[minusthedrifter]

Originally posted by BurlsoL:

As for utilitarian pawns grabbing more often... It's possible, but that's also kinda what you're wanting from a melee class since it lets the pawn do focused damage to a weak point while also lowering the mobility of the thing they're clinging to as well as holding its attention.

Not maybe, it does. Hire yourself a few Uti inclined melee fighters then go stand on the wall in post-dragon Gran Soren. They spend more time grappling and doing no damage than they do actually killing things. Even the wiki makes note of this behavior in melee pawns.

A pawn doing no damage because they're holding onto an enemy waiting for the Arisen to kill it is a useless pawn seeing as they could have spent that same amount of time actually killing it. Perhaps if your style of play is to sit back and simply snipe and babysit the pawns as they grapple everything for you I guess that would be handy, however for the majority of players watching over pawns during an active battle is not what one wants to be doing. Most players want a pawn that goes into combat and actually kills things and contributes to the fight.

Grappling does have it's uses, I'll give you that, Saurians being the main enemy it's useful against. However for everything else it's not really that useful.

[BurlsoL]

Originally posted by minusthedrifter:

Not maybe, it does. Hire yourself a few Uti inclined melee fighters then go stand on the wall in post-dragon Gran Soren. They spend more time grappling and doing no damage than they do actually killing things. Even the wiki makes note of this behavior in melee pawns.

Seemed to happen no matter what inclinations I had at the time, pretty sure I was running challenger/scather when maxing professions. But this is also why you have more than 1 pawn. It's also still a valid strategy against humanoids.

The main problem is that the pawn has no understanding of maximal damage output like the player does. From a design standpoint this makes perfect sense since they had to create an AI that functioned well in a wide range of situations, but which would never get to the point where the player could just sit back and have the pawns do all the work. The AI is designed at its core to facilitate the player and other pawns by creating openings. Utilitarian puts a greater priority on this behavior, which is why multiple pawns with Utilitarian work so well together. But even without utilitarian, they will still grapple enemies once they have the bestiary for it.


I've tried putting my fighter as different inclinations over my playthrough, about the only times where it was rented by non-trolls was when it was utilitarian primary.

[Swamp Sweaty]

my warrior is scather\Utilitarian
finished the game with most utilitarian party pawns at it went well
(grapel mage\sorc or stun ranger\strider is a nice touch)

[Paranoia]

I made my pawn Utilitarian/Mitigator/Challenger, but Utilitarian went secondary within a day (full Utilitarian squad, no pawn commands). There doesn't seem to be a way to reinforce it without using a gamepad, so I guess it's for people who can afford to buy a full set of tonics every once in a while.

[Blanc]

Utilitarian is only useful on support mages.

[Rob'sEvilTwin]

My favourite Tank and Strider both have Uti as a tertiary - so they use it but don't overuse it.
(No I can't see it on their stats, they are friends pawns).

As a primary it is mostly useful on support mages like my Nicola (Uti>Med>Mit in her case).

[Anacra]

My team is full Util primary:
Ranger (Util - Scather)
Ranger (Util - Challenger)
Strider (Util - Scather)

They usually take care of enemies without my help -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNo96OaGTmA

[Sa1loR JaRRy]

Originally posted by Anacra:

My team is full Util primary:
Ranger (Util - Scather)
Ranger (Util - Challenger)
Strider (Util - Scather)

They usually take care of enemies without my help -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNo96OaGTmA

That's what I'm going for. I usually play sorcerer, so a party combo like this works wonders. I pretty much debuff and tie up loose ends that the AI can't handle.

[Sa1loR JaRRy]

Originally posted by minusthedrifter:

Originally posted by Sa1loR JaRRy:

but I've been having a rough time finding Utilitarian/Scather warriors and Utilitarian/Mitigator fighters (the most scarce).

That's because Utilitarian on melee is a terrible idea, especially as a primary. That is, unless you like your damage dealers doing no damage because they get touchy feely with enemies and grapple them all day.

I haven't been noticing them doing it that much, but I have noticed all the pawns give each other call outs and go to town. It also allows the sorcerer I rented ample time to get off all kinds of grand level spells off regularly.

Each fight is pretty much this: Warrior engages, Ranger kills the ranged, warrior occupies all the enemies for about 30 sec, grand bolide kills everything, loot.

[Sa1loR JaRRy]

Originally posted by Wratts:

In your experience, what exactly do they do better than pawns that don't have Utilitarian as their primary inclination?

I'm honestly curious.

They rape bosses.

Cyclopes: 1. I rush the dummy and get his helmet off. Then I watch. 2. Warriors/Fighters grab legs. It falls down. 3. Ranger Great Gambles its face. 4. Loot.

Chimera/Gorechimera: 1. Warrior draws agro 2. Fighter climbs it (at this point the beast will ignore mages and rangers) 3. Ranger Great Gambles the tail. 4. Ranger Great Gambles goat. 5. loot

Ogres: 1. Warrior draws agro 2. Fighter climbs and commenced stunlock in tandem with warrior. 3. Ranger Great Gambles face 4.loot

Dragonkin: 1. Warrior agro 2. Fighter joins in/climbs 3. Ranger Great Gambles wings/then horns 4. Sorcerer cast high gicel 5. Arisen gives a barehanded punch to the heart. 6. loot.

I like to have the fighter as a mitigator since his attacks are much faster than the warrior's and can engage many foes quickly. The warrior is slow but can occupy bosses by himself as well as stunlock them.

[Anacra]

Originally posted by Sa1loR JaRRy:

That's what I'm going for. I usually play sorcerer, so a party combo like this works wonders. I pretty much debuff and tie up loose ends that the AI can't handle.

I use a Mystic Knight, and basically make sure the team has the right enchantments. The debuffing comes from the strider in team, which has a rusted bow. Very useful!

[Sa1loR JaRRy]

Originally posted by minusthedrifter:

Originally posted by Sa1loR JaRRy:

but I've been having a rough time finding Utilitarian/Scather warriors and Utilitarian/Mitigator fighters (the most scarce).

That's because Utilitarian on melee is a terrible idea, especially as a primary. That is, unless you like your damage dealers doing no damage because they get touchy feely with enemies and grapple them all day.

After reading the replies, I'll try some fighter/warriors that are utilitarian secondary. Maybe it'll work even better. Especially if there's this much hatred for utilitarian melee. I won't ask someone to commit pawn rental suicide just so I can play how I want.