Best Pet to Tame ? Worth investing into highlevel Hunting ?

[karolinerna2000]

I have hunting level 2 and have had my bear for a long time. I just upgrades to hunting lvl 3 to and tamed a Mantis and a Forest Spider but both are weaker, have less armour and the same amount of hitpoints or even lower (spider). Do I miss something ? Is it the pets abilities that are important instead ?

[ilanstep]

Speaking of hunting, do you notice getting more meat/animal ingredients with higher level of hunting? I did a test-save where I upgraded to level 3 hunting and killed a beetle, but I still only got a gland, same as I get with a level 0.

[DashHash]

lvl 2 and 3 of hunting are basically same thing when it comes to taming.
the real deal is lvl 4! then u get to tame better stuff!!

[kirill-busidow]

Spider gives you both Web and Stun. Bear is worse since it gives you just Stun. Your pets wont tank anyway so why would you need for them to have a lot hp. You need pets for extra abilities.

[Llamamoe]

Actually, with the +50 armor pet skill on Bear, it can tank a lot of damage, I'd say often enough to kill you 1-2 times over.

[kirill-busidow]

Originally posted by Llamageddon:

Actually, with the +50 armor pet skill on Bear, it can tank a lot of damage, I'd say often enough to kill you 1-2 times over.

if you want tanking, then Wolf/Dog +dodge ability is even better. But how they will keep agro? You do much more damage then them.

[Llamamoe]

I usually initiate combat with my pet, since out-of-combat enemies don't seem to aggro it, and while I'm not sure, I think that the order of actions matters a lot. Most of the time, 2-4 attacks from the Bear, armor reduce, stun, armor will keep the enemy aggroing the bear for long enough for it to tank 1-2x my HP's worth. I'm thinking of investing into the threat reduction spell and/or potions as well, since I've got Arcane Arts and Alchemy anyway.

[WarNerve]

Originally posted by kirill-busido:

Originally posted by Llamageddon:

Actually, with the +50 armor pet skill on Bear, it can tank a lot of damage, I'd say often enough to kill you 1-2 times over.

if you want tanking, then Wolf/Dog +dodge ability is even better. But how they will keep agro? You do much more damage then them.

There's a difference between damage and Threat...

[Dorok]

For now the default pet is rather cool and I regret have spend LP on taming, perhaps taming level 2 will be more satisfying but I'm not sure I'll try it.

[Dorok]

Originally posted by Baiyne:

Originally posted by kirill-busido:

if you want tanking, then Wolf/Dog +dodge ability is even better. But how they will keep agro? You do much more damage then them.

There's a difference between damage and Threat...

Not that much I think, anyway it's better share the damages with the pet, if it does damages, the later the pet dies the more it will do damages. I found interesting manage the aggro on the rope to control it. Best aggro mechanism I ever experimented is still Antharion, but it's not that bad in Balrum.

[Dorok]

I wonder what are/is the best pet. For now I tried Initial pet wolf, bear, Mantis, Moth:
- The bear walk is too slow, found it non manageable so I quickly stopped try it.
- Moth seems has too few HP, the long range spell is a pointless skill, 10 cooldown, can't influence agro, not useful to start a combat. Mana steal and Get aggro attack are good stuff.
- Mantis has more HP like wolf and bear, Mana steal, Get aggro and stun. Moreover I suspect it has some immunities perhaps poison, not sure.
- Wolf (not tamed original pet), enrage, dodge, and damage reduction skill. Same HP than Bear and Mantis. On paper it seems the best pet for tanking, my mage has multiple tools to manage the agro and the wolf skills allow it be rather resistant.

But if on paper and with my mage the original pet seems the best choice, in practice I got the feeling Mantis was better, but it's not easy to prove and it's not a huge difference.

Still have to try multiple pets, the Moth felt a bit disappointing for a hunter level 4 pet.

Suggestions are welcome.

[Dorok]

I quoted pets various attributes, those easy to check, for most pets, all at level 8:
Deer 540, Song of the forest (cooldown 27 turns)
Rat 945 Fear, Take Over, Shadow Spit
Wolf 1350 Wolf Enrage, Wolf Howl (5 turns), Focus Dodge (6 turns)
Mantis 1485 Drain Mana, Take Over, Stun
Beetle 1485 Stun, Resist Magic (5 turns, 40% res Fire/Frost/Arcane/Poison), Take Over
Frog 1012 Drain Mana, Take Over, Poison Spit
Moth 1080 Drain Mana, Take Over, Arcane Ball
Bear 1485, Bear Roar, Bear Thick Hide (12 turns), Stun

It is missing Spider and Crab.

Overall with my mage the best two pets seem to be Mantis and Wolf. And I feel overall the best is Mantis.

Potentially Bear and Beetle are the best pets but their slow walk make them a boredom to manage. You could use dismiss and recall to make them teleport close to you, but if you are surprised by a combat you can't.

Deer is a bit special, only one skill healing you. Eventually it's an ok special alternative.

Moth and Frog are huge disappointment for Hunter level 4 pets.

There's missing information about damages done, eventually dodge and resistance if they differ from a pet to another.

Tame another sub species of a pet species change nothing to obvious attributes, HP, walk speed, skills set.

I'll try Spider and Crab and eventually Rat. I'll perhaps try use a bit more Bear or Beetle to see if the too slow walk can be ok anyway.

From a first global check it's half disappointing, but I should add I didn't tried much most of them, only Wolf, Mantis and Moth, plus a little bit Frog and Beetle. Overall it's not bad stuff and it let the taste that its design could have been a bit more polished, or there's key hidden attributes I didn't quoted for hunter level 4 pets.

[kirill-busidow]

Originally posted by Dorok:

From a first global check it's half disappointing, but I should add I didn't tried much most of them, only Wolf, Mantis and Moth, plus a little bit Frog and Beetle. Overall it's not bad stuff and it let the taste that its design could have been a bit more polished, or there's key hidden attributes I didn't quoted for hunter level 4 pets.

For mage or archer, Spider is best pet for lvls 1-3 hunting. It gives Web for 4 turns (!) and Stun.


Where did you find level 4 hunting trainer?

[Dorok]

I'm playing with a spider right now and it's ok but not that great in my opinion. At level 8:
Spider 1080 Stun, Web (4 turns), Spit Shadow.

Spider HP si definitely low, I don't see it having any special dodging or armor, probably has poison immunity. The problem of web with mage is fire broke it. Also web is close range meaning most chance is the pet will get attacked.

I played the Spider after playing a while with a Rat, Rat didn't felt that bad and could has a better dodging. Fear is a good spell but that's it. Rat seems almost never take aggro against it.

I started try check damages attacks and it looks like Spider has about 50% more damages than Rat.

So yeah Spider is feeling better than Moth, Frog, Rat, Deer, and better than Bear and Beetle just because they are unplayable because of a too slow walk. But Mantis feels a bit better and eventually Wolf too. With an Archer spider is probably on top, not with mage.

Im' worry I won't be able try crab because there's perhaps none to tame anymore.

Originally posted by kirill-busido:

Where did you find level 4 hunting trainer?

Balrum the hunters village, a girl is looking for a prey to win a trophy competition, found the giant bear, reported to the girl, she refused kill it, I killed the bear, reported to the girl and pushed her take the skin anyway. At this point she offers training and shop. Past that you have different options to finish the quest, but at this point you can train hunter level 4 and traps level 3.

[Dorok]

A recapitulation for all pets at level 8.I also quoted only the most frequent damages but only for few pets and its a very rough number:

Hunter Level 1:
Wolf (default pet) - HP 1350, Wolf Enrage, Wolf Howl (5 turns), Focus Dodge (6 turns)
Rat - HP 945, Dmg 45,Fear, Take Over, Shadow Spit

Hunter Level 2:
Bear (slow walk) - HP 1485, Bear Roar, Bear Thick Hide (12 turns), Stun
Deer - HP 540, Song of the forest (a skill healing character, cooldown 27 turns)

Hunter Level 3:
Mantis - HP 1485, Dmg 75, Drain Mana, Take Over, Stun
Spider - HP 1080, Dmg 75, Stun, Spider Web, Shadow Spit
Crab (slow walk) - HP 1282, Stun, Deep Wound, Resist Fire

Hunter Level 4:
Beetle (slow walk) - HP 1485, Stun, Resist Magic (5 turns, 40% res Fire/Frost/Arcane/Poison), Take Over
Frog - HP 1012, Drain Mana, Take Over, Poison Spit
Moth - HP 1080, Drain Mana, Take Over, Arcane Ball

Sub species change nothing, at least to obvious attributes.
There's a ring, Beatmaster Ring, in practice it seems help a lot the pet.

My feeling with mage is:
Mantis is the best pet, then Spider and Wolf.
Bear, Crab and Beetle are unplayable because of a too slow walk.
Deer is just a special option with a skill than can heal the character.
Rat felt as much playable than Frog and Moth but that's a very vague feeling. I feel bizarre Frog and Moth aren't better, perhaps I don't use them well, but I don't see how use them better than how I do.

EDIT: Added Crab.

[spiritchan]

Personally, I find that having the Stag is the best pet.

While it's nice to have that extra buff of damage with the wolf, bear, etc. - I find that their ability to "tank" is simply too lacking. I do way too much damage comparatively (archer), and with them just doing some extra damage, I have to rely VERY heavily on healing potions.

Meanwhile, the Stag can not only pop a heal on you once or twice during a battle (depending on whether it's a boss or not), which helps prevent you from using any healing potions about 90% of my battles (where-as with the bear or wolf, I'd have to stock up on them).

In addition to which, it also prevents you from needing to heal AT ALL outside of battle. You don't have to use splints, healing potions, or max out your food in order to heal - just sort your inventory, harvest trees, or pick herbs and press that Song of the Forest button a few times as you walk toward your next battle. You'll be maxed out on health in no time.