Cu Sidhe training questions

[startle]

Hi all,

I just had my 1st Cu Sidhe bond to me, and I'm ready to take it out and start training (which I have never done).

I have read the FAQ's and Training Guides but I'm not completely clear on the training part. For instance Lady Ghost's guide says:

1) Ensure the creature/beast that your pet is training on is not too much higher in skills than the pet. If it is your pet will not gain from it very easily, if at all.

Are my pet's skills vs. opponent skills ALL I should concern myself with? And which skills are the most important to match (since they obviously won't ALL be close)? What about resistances?

Sorry to not know more of the basics, but I have done some searching and am still not clear. I want my new Cu Sidhe to get off to the right start training up....


Oh yea, one last thing. Should I keep it healed constantly during training or should I let it heal itself as much as possible?

 

[Farsight]

Your pet's wrestling skill should be within plus or minus 20 points of the wrestling skill of whatever it's killing.

Tactics also, but that tends to take care of itself.

And yes, let your cu heal itself, but still keep an eye on its health.

Example:
Your cu starts with 65 wrestling (approximately). You find a shadow iron elemental with 85 wrestling and start to bash it. Your skill goes up, the shadow elemental's skill goes up, so progress is slow-ish. You don't heal the cu, so the cu's healing skill also improves to about 90 over time. (higher than 90 requires special training)

Note:
The best results come when your pet's wrestling/tactics are slightly higher than the targets. This is because you hit more often, thus you get more chances to gain skill.

 

[Taylor]

I second the shadow elemental method. Make your way to the Yomotsu Mines, find a fresh shadow elemental, and lead it to the mine's entrance. Shadow elementals are immune to pet damage, so your pet can train indefinitely against them. Also, by starting fresh, the shadow elly's skills will raise in conjunction with your pets. This is the quickest way to train a cu to GM wrestling, tactics, and anatomy.

If you cu is tanking the shadow elemental, you can quickly raise its resist to GM by casting first-level curses on it, such as weakness or feeblemind. Before you do so, ensure that you pet is taking damage from the shadow elly, or your pet will attack you.

Finally, for training healing, I recommend venturing to doom. There is an area near the dark guardian room where two rotting corpses spawn (circled with red in the attached map). Let you cu heal the mobs' poison. Healing is a pain to raise, but this is the best way I've found to train it.

 

[Wenchkin]

Cu's are tough enough that they can handle being hunted with from day 1, so I've always looked for spawns that gave decent loot while also within the skill requirements for maximizing gains.

With healing...I let my pets heal themselves but as long as they're constantly healing, it's worth supporting them with veterinary rather that let health fall below the half way mark.

I also train on magic casters whenever I can, to get gains in resist. And to finish off healing, you'll either need to train on rotting corpses or disco the pup and cast poison on it. Normal hunting will likely get you healing gains to 90 then it'll pretty much stop. I then went to kill rotting corpses and around 95 disco'd the pup and cast heal on it. Just a little each day before I went out hunting.

My partner used to put his pup in with 2 demons in Hythloth to finish their fighting and resist skills. But there are plenty of options for that. I combine pet training with resource gathering, gold farming or working event spawns etc. Whatever I want to PvM on, I try to find an untrained pet to use.

Another tip - look at your pets lowest skill when determining what to fight - then as that lowest skill rises, it'll catch up on the other melee skills and you'll be able to raise several at the same time because they're all "matched" to the spawn you're fighting.

Another guide you might want to look at is this....It's a little out of date but very clearly set out and explained, so I think it's a useful starting point.

Wenchy

 

[startle]

@Farsight, Syrus and Wenchkin...

Thx very much to all 3 of you for your much appreciated input. I'm really looking forward to training-up my new Cu and will take all of your advice with me....

Cheers

 

[Taylor]

Good luck! Shout if you need more assistance.

 

[Giles]

If you discord your dog it will raise skills (especially healing) faster.

 

[startle]

If you discord your dog it will raise skills (especially healing) faster.

Any spell that is cast on the dog (or discord) should only be done AFTER the dog is already "engaged" in combat... correct?

 

[Wenchkin]

Any spell that is cast on the dog (or discord) should only be done AFTER the dog is already "engaged" in combat... correct?

You can disco your pet at anytime.

I usually give either a kill or guard command to get my pets in aggro mode so I can't flag grey by casting on them.

Wenchy

 

[startle]

Another question regarding Cu Sidhe... Can skills be trained beyond GM?

 

[Taylor]

Not that I'm aware of.

 

[startle]

Not that I'm aware of.

Thx Syrus...

 

[startle]

All your advice regarding training on Shadow Elementals was great...
I've been training him almost non-stop for the last 2 nights and he's really gained. I think by the end of the night he might even be GM in Wrestling, Tactics and Anatomy.

What would you think would be the best monsters to train Resist on?

 

[Farsight]

If you're in a hurry, spectral spellbinders.

Just don't kill them, collect a bunch of them and let them go to town.

 

[startle]

If you're in a hurry, spectral spellbinders.

Just don't kill them, collect a bunch of them and let them go to town.

Thx Farsight... How exactly do I get them "engaged" with my dog without him killing them?

 

[startle]

I'm wondering if there's places by the shore where spellcasters could cast on my pup and he couldn't get to them to kill... ?

 

[Wenchkin]

All stop/all follow will stop your pet fighting back. I do that with imps and other small casters rather than spellbinders, it works anywhere. Disco'd pup + imps gains resist and healing, you just need to support him if necessary.

Every now and then I'll let my pet kill them to refresh the spawn. Otherwise they get low on mana and the gains aren't as good. You'll get them eventually, but I find fresh spawns cast better spells

Wenchy

 

[startle]

All stop/all follow will stop your pet fighting back. I do that with imps and other small casters rather than spellbinders, it works anywhere. Disco'd pup + imps gains resist and healing, you just need to support him if necessary.

Every now and then I'll let my pet kill them to refresh the spawn. Otherwise they get low on mana and the gains aren't as good. You'll get them eventually, but I find fresh spawns cast better spells

Wenchy

GREAT !! Thanks so much for all your help, Wenchy...

I read one of the 2 stickied Pet Training guides, the one from Kane. This one:
http://vboards.stratics.com/1894971-post11.html

He said that it was best to train Resist, that one should find monsters that are close to the pet's. Right now my pup is:

He's at 65.5 Resist so I decided to take him to the Gazers around the Ilshnar Valor forest area - where he got surrounded by Gazers and Titans and Cyclops, etc. who were also attacking me. He was holding his own pretty good, but I got worried about him (and me )and left the area...

If I die, should I just run to a calm area and log out and back in? I sure don't want him dieing if possible. I know it's inevitable, but I'm avoiding it till I'm sure how all this works with pets.

Regarding your post, I read that using the Stop command -while a pet was fighting- included a danger of the pet going wild... Is this true?

Also, I've been wondering about is the All Guard Me command. When we were at the Ilshnar Valor forest area I told him to guard me, but he just kept following me while an ettin was hitting me. Could you tell me more about how the All Guard Me command works?

Sorry for being a pest, but you have been so generous with your help and your advice really helps me understand all this pet stuff...

 

[Nexus]

I'm wondering if there's places by the shore where spellcasters could cast on my pup and he couldn't get to them to kill... ?

Set up a hotkey for your "Stop" command, have the dog sitting where the spell binder is just inside it's targeting range have it attack the spellbinder and as soon as you target, follow up with a stop.. The Dog will flag on the spellbinder then ignore it. You might loose a few if the Cu "Jumps" across to attack but you should be able to get 5-10 on him easily doing this. You can have it follow you around to collect more spellbinders, the flagged one's will follow it. If it gets too many on it you might have to toss on a bandage every great once in a while, but generally Cu Sidhe can vet themselves.

 

[startle]

Set up a hotkey for your "Stop" command, have the dog sitting where the spell binder is just inside it's targeting range have it attack the spellbinder and as soon as you target, follow up with a stop.. The Dog will flag on the spellbinder then ignore it. You might loose a few if the Cu "Jumps" across to attack but you should be able to get 5-10 on him easily doing this. You can have it follow you around to collect more spellbinders, the flagged one's will follow it. If it gets too many on it you might have to toss on a bandage every great once in a while, but generally Cu Sidhe can vet themselves.

Ahhh... I'm so dumb.... Thx Nexus

 

[Ncdiablo]

I just got back into the game after a 9 year break from it. I just wanted to throw out a training tech for Cu Sidhe's that I stumbled upon while taming some.

To cycle through to find new colors there was a plain one stuck on a rock that wouldn't move so I tamed another boring color version and sent it in to hopefully lure the cu off the rock. It didn't work, in fact it back fired. The one I threw in there and released wound up simply running away after a while and healed up and they then left each other alone.

So i tamed another plain one and then sent it in against the former tamed to take the karma hit but to get rid of it.

What I stubled on was that this is a perfect way to train up your new tamed cu sidhe.

Keep your bonded cu sidhe in the stables. Go out lead a plain cu sidhe to the grass, tame it and release it. Go back grab your training cu sidhe and bring him back to train against the one you just released. They will be comprable levels in Wrestling, Tactics, and such. They will continually heal and the battle will go for a while. Occasionally heal your pet and when the released one is close to death, simply jump on the back of yours, invis and let the released one heal back up it's health and then send them back at each other. Eventually when satisfied do your fellow players a favor and take the karma hit and kill off the training buddy.

Not sure if this is illegal but I stumbled on the process when eliminating one of my mistakes but was seeing quick and very nice gains in skills. (gotta do something when watching to cu sidhe's at the same skill level take each other out).

 

[startle]

I just got back into the game after a 9 year break from it. I just wanted to throw out a training tech for Cu Sidhe's that I stumbled upon while taming some.

To cycle through to find new colors there was a plain one stuck on a rock that wouldn't move so I tamed another boring color version and sent it in to hopefully lure the cu off the rock. It didn't work, in fact it back fired. The one I threw in there and released wound up simply running away after a while and healed up and they then left each other alone.

So i tamed another plain one and then sent it in against the former tamed to take the karma hit but to get rid of it.

What I stubled on was that this is a perfect way to train up your new tamed cu sidhe.

Keep your bonded cu sidhe in the stables. Go out lead a plain cu sidhe to the grass, tame it and release it. Go back grab your training cu sidhe and bring him back to train against the one you just released. They will be comprable levels in Wrestling, Tactics, and such. They will continually heal and the battle will go for a while. Occasionally heal your pet and when the released one is close to death, simply jump on the back of yours, invis and let the released one heal back up it's health and then send them back at each other. Eventually when satisfied do your fellow players a favor and take the karma hit and kill off the training buddy.

Not sure if this is illegal but I stumbled on the process when eliminating one of my mistakes but was seeing quick and very nice gains in skills. (gotta do something when watching to cu sidhe's at the same skill level take each other out).

Very interesting, and makes complete sense... Thx Ncdiablo

 

[Warpig Inc]

In the future instead of waiting for a bond before traing. Get some green thorns. The vopral bunny is good training prior to bonding with gold, unravel and smelt loot. Strap on that luck suit. Hell take along a pack horse and farm away at the southern most fenced in Moonglow field.

Cu cross heals. Suck on some poison bottles. Level poison as Cu skills up. Strap on som POT gear. There is also the Rotting corpse NW of Ish desert.

 

[Ncdiablo]

In the future instead of waiting for a bond before traing. Get some green thorns. The vopral bunny is good training prior to bonding with gold, unravel and smelt loot. Strap on that luck suit. Hell take along a pack horse and farm away at the southern most fenced in Moonglow field.

Cu cross heals. Suck on some poison bottles. Level poison as Cu skills up. Strap on som POT gear. There is also the Rotting corpse NW of Ish desert.

Warpig,

Good ideas I will use later on. Right now pretty much starting from scratch. Was psyched my old pets were still around but other than some left over gold I didn't have much. Rebuilding and gathering some new pets and letting them bond. After that I will start working back up the ladder and gather some of the things you mention like green thorns and such. Working on imbuing so I can create a luck suit.

Baby steps. Baby steps back. Baby steps again.

RadioActive of Chessy

 

[ehb]

I have just returned myself to the game. But when I was playing before, the trick we used to train healing and resist was using pixies. Use the same area that the cu's and swoops spawn at.

The trick is to have your pet cu attack the pixies that are in the rock area. The cu cant get to them and the pixies will not generally move from their protected spot. If your cu is holding his own with healing fairly easy, then have your cu attack a second pixie. Again the second, third and forth pixie needs to be in the rock areas and close to each other so your pet isnt wandering off too far to attak any of the pixies. This way you can assist with healing if need be.

Use as many pixies that your cu can handle. I found that 4 or 5 pixies was decent to train your pet when at higher levels.

But I will repeat start out with 1 pixie then add second if your pet is doing fine on healing itself, then add the third, forth and fifth at your descreation. If you need to train your own vet skill use one pixie more than your cu can handle and heal your cu to raise your own vet skill.