Bloddhound dog traits

[WhaleMasher]

What Bloodhound dog traits did you or are you going to take and why?

Level 5
Loving -Your dog can skip detour tracks in favor of more recent clues. - You have an even more loving relationship with your dog, which increases its overall BOND.
Shortcut - Your dog can skip detour tracks in favor of more recent clues.

Level 10
6th Sense - Your dog has a higher chance of sensing when an animal is about to be spooked.
Nosy - Increases the distance at which your dog can find a blood clue

level 15
Howl - Your dog will howl like a wolf on command.
Nosier - Your dog is better at picking up the scent from smaller blood clues.

Level 20
Sharp - Your dog is naturally more willing to work and has increased FOCUS.
Spotted - Your dog has a chance to highlight the wounded animal you are tracking.

Level 25
Close - Your dog has a higher chance of staying close to you.
Poop-dar - Your dog has a higher chance to find fresh droppings when idle.

Level 30
Brave - Your dog has a chance to ward off predator attacks.
Master Tracker - Your dog has a small chance to find the harvest without needing to follow the trail.

[Bumblewoot]

Level 5 - Shortcut - because it's way better than loving. loving has minimal effect and basically none that I know of at max level

Level 10 - 6th Sense - Getting in close with the bow is my favourite hunt style. Critical Position allows the dog to monitor the animal going to alert when you can't see it. (crawling in the grass close to it. I get really close these days thanks to the dog)

Level 15 - Howl - Allows me to put the dog into idle on command for a on the spot critical position check

Level 20 - Spotted - Obvious answer. Sharp is useless in comparison

Level 25 - Poop-dar - Dog will let me know if fresh poo is there. It can actually be helpful the dog showing you the fresh stuff when you think it's all old

Level 30 - Brave because I don't think Master Tracker is really needed. With shortcut the dog is fast at finding the harvest anyways. I have a level 30 Brave dog, but haven't been able to put it to the test. I'm hoping she will save me from lions that I bow hunt.

That's all. That build is for close range hunting focusing on the misunderstood critical position. Howl is extremely helpful in it's unintended benefit of being able to put the dog right into idle from a heel/sit/stay/lay down position.

[Shizanketsuga]

I am mainly a stalking bow hunter, so I am generally quite close to my prey, and bad hits leading to lengthy pursuits of wounded animals are few and far between.
Therefore, I was mainly interested in the top trait line.

Loving: Since I have only one dog so far (waiting with the second one until there is a fix for the bug that turns all dogs female) so I don't have the direct comparison, but with how often the dog needs attention this one is probably not a bad pick.

6th Sense: This is actually quite useful when you are out and about looking for something to put some sticks into. Sometimes doggo even reacts to animals about to spook that are still concealed for you, so you can go into stealth mode and investigate where they might be.

Howl: This is just good fun... but I suspect it might actually do the same as praising doggo. One time the bond went to "Best Friend" after a Howl, so unless that was a delayed reaction to the praise before that Howl seems to do something for Bond.

Sharp: No idea. I suspect there would be a difference, but without direct comparison there is no telling how much it actually does.

Close: Having your dog stay closer when you are sneaking around and trying to get close enough to shoot a stick just seems like a good idea. If I want to get really close I still have to lie him down, but this is a nice start.

Brave: I don't like wolves. Any wolf that tries to run away rather than eat me is a win. At the very least it increases my chances of successfully sticking the remaining ones.

[paganSK]

HOWL , SPOTTED and MASTER TRACKER are Exclusive perks - your dog have all other perks as default - 6th sense is 100% active as default in lvl30.

[Bumblewoot]

Originally posted by Rig Nan Roach:

Originally posted by paganSK:

HOWL , SPOTTED and MASTER TRACKER are Exclusive perks - your dog have all other perks as default - 6th sense is 100% active as default in lvl30.

That's darned interesting. Are you getting this from some code somewhere or how did you come by this info?

6th sense is just a trait that increases the chance of critical position. I'm not sure what he's talking about there.

[D-Black Catto]

what is bond even for and how do I raise it

[WhaleMasher]

Yeah... I wish there was more intel released on what the traits are, what they impact, how they work, etc.

[Bumblewoot]

Originally posted by 黑猫:

what is bond even for and how do I raise it

Bond recharges the focus of the dog. It also seems to have a passive XP gain at 2 and 3 hearts.

[Frank Bullitt]

Originally posted by paganSK:

HOWL , SPOTTED and MASTER TRACKER are Exclusive perks - your dog have all other perks as default - 6th sense is 100% active as default in lvl30.

6th sense is default at 30 ???