Pets from Patron Pools: Yea or Nay?

[Yomo Kimyata]

Do you ever pick these powers?  If so, why and which ones?  How do they synergize with your build?  How many slots do you give them and how do you slot them?

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Luminara]

Discovered the hard way that they're a poor choice for tankers.  They inherit Gauntlet, so everything they do pulls aggro off of the tanker, resulting in a spectacular failure to fulfill any role beyond cannon fodder.  I expect that the same thing happens with brute PPP pets, but the tanker PPP pet experience left such a bad taste in my mouth, I refuse to even consider them when I'm making a brute build.

 

Sentinel - tried to make the Toxic Tarantula work with my Archery/Energy, but even with every pet damage mitigation unique and Maneuvers, it was a waste of animation time.  It rarely survived long enough to finish combat with one spawn.  

 

My defender results were better, using TA/Dark/Mace, but it's never proven to be terribly useful.  It doesn't add shave off much combat time, takes a lot of damage (how, i can't figure out, since everything's hit chance is floored), runs into melee range EVERY FUCKING TIME... it's more of a burden than an assistance.

 

I've pretty much given up on the idea of using PPP pets at this point.

[tidge]

Hmmm...

 

In this Homecoming Era, I think it is only my Crabbermind who has one.

 

In an earlier era, I used them on (maybe two?) on some characters that did very little damage. In this era, luckily %damage from procs means that lower-damage ATs can get through even-level spawns without having to struggle.... the 15-minute recharge times on those Patron Summons didn't look too bad when it took 45 minutes to clear a map.

[kanga]

I have a DP/MC blaster that took the spiderlings, and its about the only time I notice the patron pets doing anything. Of course the play style has me being the complete centre of attention with burst of speed and reaction time, the mobs tend to ignore the spiderlings most of the time and they do tend to survive with me.

[Techwright]

1 hour ago, Luminara said:

Discovered the hard way that they're a poor choice for tankers.  They inherit Gauntlet, so everything they do pulls aggro off of the tanker, resulting in a spectacular failure to fulfill any role beyond cannon fodder.  I expect that the same thing happens with brute PPP pets, but the tanker PPP pet experience left such a bad taste in my mouth, I refuse to even consider them when I'm making a brute build.

 

 

It's been so long since I ran the Patron stuff I remember nothing, but this comment got me thinking:  If it could be made so that the pets auto-targeted through the tanker, like glass archetypes do, their aggro would be added to the tank's, yes?

 

EDIT: Forgot to add...If that were possible, would that improve the pets notably?

 

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Techwright
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[Luminara]

4 hours ago, Techwright said:

It's been so long since I ran the Patron stuff I remember nothing, but this comment got me thinking:  If it could be made so that the pets auto-targeted through the tanker, like glass archetypes do, their aggro would be added to the tank's, yes?

 

EDIT: Forgot to add...If that were possible, would that improve the pets notably?

 

No.  Targeting through a character doesn't affect aggro in that way.  When a player character targets through a tanker or brute, they're not adding their aggro to the tanker/brute's, they're relying on the tanker/brute's aggro to override theirs.  They still generate aggro, but if their tanker/brute is also aggroing the selected target, the tanker/brute's higher aggro multiplier keeps the enemy focused on him/her.  If a pet targeted through the owner, the pet would still generate aggro on itself, because the pet is the source of the attacks, not the owner, and the pet has Gauntlet/Fury, so it's aggroing like a tanker/brute.  Then it's Gallaghered.

 

If PPP pets were excluded from Gauntlet/Fury, that would fix the problem entirely and make them useful and usable for tankers/brutes.  There is no code, of which I am aware, that allows an exclusion from Gauntlet/Fury, though, so it would have to be created.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Luminara

[Faelia]

On my Symphony/Dark/Soul controller I have them but since they're a ranged pet, helps a bit more than I expected.

[honoroit]

patron pets die in a heartbeat on hard stuff for me. never. never ever. unless you REALLY need slot diversity.  maybe on a crab, because spiders are scary and pvp

[Scarlet Shocker]

I do like the pets on ranged characters ... I found they are crap on anything that gets within sptting distance to mobs because they run in and melt - but I play a lot of controllers so it's just another pet to juggle and on my Huntsman I have about 6 pets at full strength which is fun

[kelika2]

Crab Spider, yay

Everyone else, nay

Frankenslotted for Recharge

4/6 Exp Reinf.

2/6 Call to Arms

 

[Coyotedancer]

My favorite Stalker (and the Scrapper rebuild who exists here-) has a perma-summoned Mu Adept partner.  To say that either version of Kestrel's build is highly invested in having and keeping Cardinal around is an understatement. In play they've always been a surprisingly fierce pair. 

 

That said, I went for the whole perma-summon/partner-not-occasional-sidekick thing in the first place for roleplay reasons, not for min-max power-gaming. They ended up terrors as a side-effect of what it took to accomplish that on a /WP Stalker and Scrap. 😝

 

[Slots-wise, Cardinal has a Soulbound set. One version is 5-slotted, the other is the full set, but off-hand I don't remember which one of those is Stalker!Kes' version and which belongs to Scrapper!Kes'. Both have Incarnate toy picks that were chosen specifically for Cardinal's benefit, and a few other bits and bobs like Aid Other in the older Stalker's case and the Sorcery pool ally HP power in the newer Scrapper's. Adepts are glass cannons. If you can do something about the brittleness, given half a chance they'll make a mess of things.]

 

FCM also reminded me to mention his Earth Dom with the Perma-ed Mu Guardian. Who is pretty terrifying himself. And the recharge-focused Illusion Controller with a perma-ed Fort Mistress. But with that particular character, she's more the icing on an already-ridiculous cake. 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Coyotedancer

[Carnifax]

My Time / Sonic defender has the Fort pet and uses her. Have it permaed because Time defender. 

 

Tried the Spiderlings on a Water / Temporal blaster but they were useless without the buffs one would need to keep them alive. 

 

[TheZag]

Ive only ever used the patron pets to good effect on a crabbermind and a controller.  Both had enough recharge to resummon as they expired and the controller has support abilities to keep the pet alive.  They arent really worth the investment to make them permanent unless that is what your build has anyway.

 

[Nyghtmaire]

I was sooooo disappointed on Live when I learned MMs did not get a patron pet option. I wanted more. More pets!!!

 

(but no, only take on controllers and I haven’t gotten around to leveling a crab)