Beast/Trick Arrow Questions

[ZekeStenzland]

I rolled up a new Beast/TA MM recently, and am leveling him up mostly with a all-MM group. This is my first time playing TA ever.

 

1. Sometimes, when I level, all my pets die. I haven't narrowed it down, but  seems to happen when I'm grouped, and my level is less than the mission holder's level. I haven't noticed it when soloing. I recall seeing this happen on Mercs a few times as well. Anyone else seen this before? Is this a known issue? Is there a workaround? So far it hasn't gotten me killed yet, but it's only a matter of time...
2. Poison Gas Arrow. The power info says there's a 60 second -15% damage debuff and a 20 second sleep. I've never seen the sleep last longer than about a second, and I've never seen the mobs resleep after waking up. City of Data says it creates a 20 second pseudopet which casts a 1.5 second sleep. But I'm unsure how to interpret this as other similarly constructed powers (glue arrow, disruption arrow) have long lasting pseudopets that recast one-second debuffs continuously.
   1. Am I missing something? Am I using it wrong?
   2. Also, if it's really only a one-time 1.5 second base sleep, is there anything worth slotting here besides range, recharge and endred? chance to heal, maybe?

[Uun]

22 hours ago, ZekeStenzland said:

Sometimes, when I level, all my pets die. I haven't narrowed it down, but  seems to happen when I'm grouped, and my level is less than the mission holder's level. I haven't noticed it when soloing. I recall seeing this happen on Mercs a few times as well. Anyone else seen this before? Is this a known issue? Is there a workaround? So far it hasn't gotten me killed yet, but it's only a matter of time...

When you join a team or a TF that causes your combat level to decrease (i.e., you're exemped), your pets will be dismissed. This is because pets don't exemp and it prevents people from having a stable of pets at a higher level than they are. If the team leader is a higher level and you're sidekicked up, your pets will not be dismissed. Not sure why they would be dismissed when you level in that situation.

 

22 hours ago, ZekeStenzland said:

Poison Gas Arrow. The power info says there's a 60 second -15% damage debuff and a 20 second sleep. I've never seen the sleep last longer than about a second, and I've never seen the mobs resleep after waking up. City of Data says it creates a 20 second pseudopet which casts a 1.5 second sleep. But I'm unsure how to interpret this as other similarly constructed powers (glue arrow, disruption arrow) have long lasting pseudopets that recast one-second debuffs continuously.

1. Am I missing something? Am I using it wrong?
2. Also, if it's really only a one-time 1.5 second base sleep, is there anything worth slotting here besides range, recharge and endred? chance to heal, maybe?

First off, PGA is a -30% damage debuff (15% resistable and 15% unresistable). The -dmg is autohit in PVE. The sleep is mag 2 (only affects minions) and has a base duration of 1.5 seconds and pulses every 2.5 seconds. I just tested it and the sleep does reapply if the foes stay in the poison gas cloud. I slot PGA with the Call of the Sandman %heal proc in the base slot (which is almost guaranteed to go off).

[ZekeStenzland]

Yeah, I'm used to them going away when my level drops -- team lead changes, entering an uninstanced pvp zone, starting a tf. I don't know why it happens when I level when teamed. Someone on the team said my auto accept level changes options might be 0, but they're always at 50. I'm often the lowest level on the team. Not sure why that would make a difference. I don't remember it happening when I was running the Mercs MM through a fire farm when it was just me and my L50 brute from my alt account.

 

The PGA thing was just hard to test. My typical use case would be firing it at an unaggrod group: they'd choke, then almost instantly chase after me and never choke again. Guess I'll need to put 2+ sleep enhancers on it before I can use it just as a sleep. And I'm not ignoring the -dam debuff, that's useful on it's own. I was just disappointed that the sleep part seemed more of a trap than a useful effect.

 

My napkin math says I'll need ~66% for a +0 minion, ~86% for a +1 minion, and ~335% for a +4 minion. Is it even worth slotting for sleep?

 

Also, do you think the Call of the Sandman %heal proc is better than the Fortunata Hypnosis %placate effect?

Edited July 24, 2023 by ZekeStenzland

[Uun]

20 minutes ago, ZekeStenzland said:

My typical use case would be firing it at an unaggrod group: they'd choke, then almost instantly chase after me and never choke again.

If they chase after you, they're leaving likely leaving the AoE. They need to stay in the gas cloud for the sleep to reapply.

 

Unless you have slots to burn, I wouldn't bother slotting for sleep duration. The %heal proc is much better than the %placate proc. The placate is mag 2 (minion only) and only lasts 8 seconds.

[ZekeStenzland]

Good to know. I don’t have slots to burn. But I feel better now about going from 3 to 2 slots now and putting that slot somewhere more useful.