Nature + Earth any good?

[Mathue24]

When it comes to pet builds, i allways see people recommending N+spirit or N+dream, but what about N+Earth? I rarely see people mentioning this build and i wonder as to why. The Summon in earth seems really tanky and combined with heals I think he could make act IV much easier to do. Plus earth has a whole bunch of pet buffs as far as I know.

[Mivo]

I'm playing a Nature/Earth build right now. The target build will look like this:

http://www.titancalc.com/TitanCalc.asp?mastery=Summoner&master1=4&master2=1&sa=21&m1=32-0-16-12-0-1-8-0-1-8-1-0-0-1-6-12-1-8-1-0-1-0&m2=32-12-0-1-1-0-1-1-16-0-1-8-0-0-1-1-0-12-1-8-12-0

Currently slugging through act4/normal (almost through). A very pet-unfriendly act, but easier in SP than in multiplayer.I gave up on healing and instead use Refresh to speed up wolf summoning, and I also deal damage myself with the fire spells. What I did need to do was to make an AutoHotkey script so I can use a spell on the middle mouse button without having to select/left-click a target (basically, the spells in the skill slots then work almost like LMB/RMB skills), so now I can use Plague, Eruption and VO smoothly. I often pull with Plague, then VO on myself (all mobs run to me), and then Stone Form. Works relatively well at the moment.

I plan to get the Core Dweller for late Epic, since he just takes too many points to get him up to a usable level in normal.

[Mathue24]

Originally posted by Mivo:

I plan to get the Core Dweller for late Epic, since he just takes too many points to get him up to a usable level in normal.

Oh so then how does Core Dweller tank compared to the Liche or Nightmare in normal?

[CRCGamer]

Basically, he doesn't.

Lich needs ~30 points invested and ideally at least +2 allskills or a Mastery Shrine to get to that good'n'tanky status. Because at that point after the +100% health bonus quest in Act 3 the Lich should be sitting on ~1500 health and 79-88% damage absorbtion with 33% physical resistance. Giving him an effective health of ~16000 if you summoned off a Mastery shrine for maximum effect. Or if you have a good Heart of Oak that goes upto ~21800.

Core Dweller? Needs ~33 points invested and even with Heart of Oak up has 1875 Health +65% +100% +70% = 6281 health. Which is protected by ~26% elemental resistance and armor... which is subject to the pierce damage bypass on armor. So against *normal* damage the core dweller might be sitting near ~10K health. But the moment you look at him funny with vitality damage, piercing damage, etc. Machae archers turn him into a swiss cheese rock in short order.

Lich on the other hand only cares about Empusa Soul Carver AoEs, Spell-breaker casters, and jerks with energy drain weapons. Also Core Dweller is dependant upon regen or heals to get health back. The Lich against non-undead / constructs can just drop a Soul Blight or Death Nova and get up to a third of his health bar back in the middle of the fight instantly.

[Nathiri]

And if you love your liche, then spirit and dream is quite nice as well (dream just goes well with everything). My LK and nightmare are tanking act IV epic mobs now. Both in solo and duo. I let them pull and run in after with maxed deathchill aura and spam ternion, since dream handily boosts my energy regen as well.

I'd say the only real downside, which is much the same for the various pet builds, is that it's relatively easy for players to pull aggro with abilities. Some people like Mivo above can use this to keep their pets alive longer, but for others it can mean a lot of deaths if they're not cautious.

[Mivo]

I play pretty much exclusively with my partner (she plays an oracle), and it's noteworthy how much harder the game is in MP for pet builds, at least in the late act3 and all of act4. Substantially easier solo. Made it to epic with nature/earth, and ah, what a nice change. The pets seem indestructible now. I'll enjoy that for the next two acts. ;)

[Mathue24]

Originally posted by CRCGamer:

Basically, he doesn't.

Lich needs ~30 points invested and ideally at least +2 allskills or a Mastery Shrine to get to that good'n'tanky status. Because at that point after the +100% health bonus quest in Act 3 the Lich should be sitting on ~1500 health and 79-88% damage absorbtion with 33% physical resistance. Giving him an effective health of ~16000 if you summoned off a Mastery shrine for maximum effect. Or if you have a good Heart of Oak that goes upto ~21800.

Core Dweller? Needs ~33 points invested and even with Heart of Oak up has 1875 Health +65% +100% +70% = 6281 health. Which is protected by ~26% elemental resistance and armor... which is subject to the pierce damage bypass on armor. So against *normal* damage the core dweller might be sitting near ~10K health. But the moment you look at him funny with vitality damage, piercing damage, etc. Machae archers turn him into a swiss cheese rock in short order.

Lich on the other hand only cares about Empusa Soul Carver AoEs, Spell-breaker casters, and jerks with energy drain weapons. Also Core Dweller is dependant upon regen or heals to get health back. The Lich against non-undead / constructs can just drop a Soul Blight or Death Nova and get up to a third of his health bar back in the middle of the fight instantly.

I see, so im leaning towards going with litch, what about Nightmare tho? It has really big evasion.

[Nathiri]

Spirit and dream (Diviner) is more of a hybrid pet build, since you have fewer pets out compared with pet builds including nature, and the nightmare itself isn't really a dps pet. That being said it works quite well simply built at 5/1/8. 5 points in the base skill give the nightmare an additional AoE attack. The top synergy skill buffs other pets, so your liche and your outsider get a good boost, as well as the pets of anyone you party with.

I've also tried the ritualist route (nature + dream) and there maybe you see the nightmare buff shine a bit more since you have more pets benefitting. At this point I prefer the liche and nightmare combo simply because of the ranged engage, and general tankiness. The core dweller is probably also very robust as well by this point, so it's probably all a matter of personal preference.

I can't say how Diviner goes in legendary as I'm not there yet (maybe tonight) but act IV epic at least is straightforward, so that's promising.

[Murasaki]

Imo... From what I see and tested... pet rating goes: Lich (number 1)>Nymph(~)>Nightmare>Wolves>all other pets (not sure about Earth Golem and Wisp). Actually I want to go with Dream+Spirit (Lich mostly) and Nature, but that's impossible)