My new 5-slot Giant Beetle

[BrianFreud]

I managed to avoid getting hit by the slot-skip bug, and got the abilities in the right order so not as to trip the rune corruption bug. So, here's my new 5-slot Giant Beetle. I still need to train up his skills, but already he's quite a tank.

The one possible gotcha I noticed, which might bite some people, is that until you get wrestling to 100 and unlock parrying, you can't scroll up parry. I found the beetle stopped getting any wrestling gains off Crazeds somewhere around 85.0, even though he was still able to get training gains. So when I got to 5 slots, before I used up the last 1500 points, I went and spent a few hours with the wind elementals, to make sure parry was unlocked, so I could scroll it before I ran out of points.

 

[Deadly Serious]

very nice, tell me at what stage did you train up the STR + INT of the pet as I'm thinking that could lead to slot jumps.

 

[BrianFreud]

Str I bumped to 300 at stage 1>2, 500 at stage 3>4, and the rest in the final training. Int I took to 500 back at 1>2, then the rest in the final training.

Side note, any mage/tamers looking to finish off a Crazed, I found switching masteries and using Death Ray quite effective.

 

[DJAd]

Nice write up @BrianFreud. I'm planning a beetle myself. What do I need to do to avoid this rune corruption bug?

 

[BrianFreud]

Nice write up @BrianFreud. I'm planning a beetle myself. What do I need to do to avoid this rune corruption bug?

I went AI, then Mortal, then Rune Corruption, then Poisoning. Seems others who've used that same path have been able to avoid problems with the RC bug.

Training the first 1>2 is seriously tedious; I did it mostly using a beetle+4-slot Tsuki wolf, chewing on Crazeds til I stopped gaining, then switching to Wind Elementals. 2>3 I used a beetle+ossian ram combo on the same guys, and it was in that 2nd 1500 points that I added the abilities and scrolls (except parry). 3>4 and 4>5 I again used Crazeds and Wind Eles, using the beetle solo. 1>2 took maybe 2 days, the others all took only a 1-2 hours each.

Side note, now that I've had time to play with this beetle, training him up a bit. He's been able to handle grobu+lurg+3 trogs at the same time with just a little healing, killed ice fiends in 2 hits, and kills ancient wyrms in under 10 seconds, both without needing any healing. I haven't bothered finishing a Crazed with him, but he dropped one's HP by 30% in the 5 minutes I gave him to play with one. Pretty much the only mob I've tried so far who he just couldn't handle was the slasher of veils; the slasher managed to kill him in just 3 hits.

 

[Donavon]

Solid build ,mate.. The giant beetles are one of the best sustained single target pets Ive ever leveled.. I think ya will enjoy it.. ya should try its cousin the fire beetle as well.. ya just use the order Goo,AI, rune, poison... its about the same single target with a nice aoe clearing effect for spawns... With anyluck the buff to the poison skill will come into play soon and make them even better... enjoy traveling the lands with your new powred up beasty. =^-^=

 

[BrianFreud]

That does sound pretty nice. I'd have preferred to go with Goo, Life Leech, or Steal Life, instead of Mortal Strike, but they're not options on the blue beetle. Having fire damage as an option to physical has been tempting me to train one of those up too... it's just so tedious doing that first stage.

That said, I have to wonder about the other 2 "poor country cousin" beetles... They seem a bit crippled without anything to recommend their use. Deathwatch beetles can only train to 4 slots, do physical damage, no area effect ability training options, and have fewer special ability training options. Simiilar problems for Iron Beetles - no area effect ability training options, they start at 2 slots, and they too do physical damage. I could see changing Iron Beetles to 100% energy damage and Deathwatch Beetles to 100% poison damage, and changing their slots to be 1-5 like the Giant and Fire beetles... then maybe they'd be worth a 2nd look.

 

[Donavon]

Sadly, when the pub first landed these could all learn goo and other aoes...but it was taken away as the giant beetle with goo was just too good... while it didn't do much harm to the value of the giant beetle, and they allowed the fire beetle to keep it.. it really hurts most of the other members of this family... the frost mite is in an amazing place too..but its more of a Gar tamers giant beetle.. as it can learn basicly the same combos but comes a lot closer to hitting all the caps when investing points.. There are still some amazing combos for the other beetles... but so many factors have to come into play to pull them off... it would be a grand idea to change their damage value base.. I hope they take that info consideration, mate ^_~

 

[Synbad]

what did you train the Beetle on for the level 1 training? im training mine now.. getting gains but nothing spectacular in the speed of training category....looking for quicker gain rate.. thanks

 

[BrianFreud]

what did you train the Beetle on for the level 1 training? im training mine now.. getting gains but nothing spectacular in the speed of training category....looking for quicker gain rate.. thanks

I did earth eles for a little bit, over in the Haven mines, but quickly got tired of the ultra slow gains with that. Best bet is swoop or the crazed mage, tanking with a solid 3 or 4 slot pet, then letting the beetle join in for training gains without him getting targeted in return. It's slow, but steady. You should be able to get about 30% per crazed, if you're patient enough. The tedium of the first level pays off though; the end is a solid pet, and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th stages of training all go by quite quickly.

 

[Synbad]

ok thanks... where is the crazed mage?

 

[BeaIank]

A 1 slot they get good gains from wind elementals in shame, but you may have a bit of trouble keeping it alive.

 

[swampjumper]

Crazed mage is in the level 5 of Shame usually wandering by the lake,can be pulled to the 5th level gate or the other passage and will usually respawn there if you are lucky. Beware of the void vortexs hard to handle when on a weaker pet good luck training.

 

[BrianFreud]

Crazed mage is in the level 5 of Shame usually wandering by the lake,can be pulled to the 5th level gate or the other passage and will usually respawn there if you are lucky. Beware of the void vortexs hard to handle when on a weaker pet good luck training.

That's the Burning - you don't want him, as his fire attack every 10 seconds does ~60 HP damage, which can get you and the beetle killed quickly.



A. Unbound Energy Vortexes (avoid while training)
B. Crazed mage (stay to the back to not lure in any UEVs)
C. Burning mage (avoid!)
D. to Eternal Gazers (when you want a change of pace in training, but with a good bit more danger)
E. Wind Elementals and 1 Purifying Blood Elemental (lure 1-2 wind eles over the bridge to the safe area for training your pet)

The Crazed is your best bet. When he stops giving gains, if you can't kill him to get gains off a new one, switch to Wind Elementals. Lure 1 (training stages 1>2, 2>3, 3>4) to 2 (training stage 4>5) over the bridge; once you round the corner into the long straight area of the cave, you should be safe for training, unless someone lures something else in. Try to avoid the Purifying Blood Elemental, at least until you're at stage 4>5; he's a much bigger challenge than the Wind Elementals. If you get bored, you can train off the Eternal Gazers (through the moongate at D), though they're a good bit more dangerous and give slower gains.

When you're ready ton finish up, but need to boost wrestling to over 100 to activate parry, quit with the crazed mage and switch to the wind eles. 2 wind eles at a time is manageable, and gives decently fast wrestling gains.

 

[Deadly Serious]

additional : When you train pets near any crazed mage for so long if you have any replica's/high priced kit remember to take it off as the dura will sink (my royal guard! xD)

edit - on 2nd thought it probably only applies to me because i leave peacemaking masteries on ^^

 

[MalagAste]

additional : When you train pets near any crazed mage for so long if you have any replica's/high priced kit remember to take it off as the dura will sink (my royal guard! xD)

edit - on 2nd thought it probably only applies to me because i leave peacemaking masteries on ^^

No it applies to me as well as I go down there with my Tamer and an Archer to destroy the Mage but the corruption hurts your stuff... so does running consume damage all the time.

 

[Synbad]

Thanks for the good info everyone!

 

[Gabriel Rowe]

would it be significant if you skipped the 120 parry and went w/ 20 stam regen? I ask because that's what i did and I wanna know if I need to start over. TY!

 

[Gabriel Rowe]

i think the difference bet 100-120 is 5%? So I was wondering if that would be more desirable over a higher base DPS?

 

[Please Dont]

On a lot of my highly trained pets i do not add stam regen because i don't see many times where i need it. That's just my 2 cents as i don't PVP but my pets dance with some of the hardest hitting mobs around and i have found better use of the stam regen points.

 

[Please Dont]

Almost forgot fantastic beetle. Nothing like saving a few sending charges and bank runs when you can load your blue tank and keep rolling on.

 

[RockoNV]

I went AI, then Mortal, then Rune Corruption, then Poisoning.

"edited out"

Thank you for this write-up....it has been most informative.

 

[Gabriel Rowe]

On a lot of my highly trained pets i do not add stam regen because i don't see many times where i need it. That's just my 2 cents as i don't PVP but my pets dance with some of the hardest hitting mobs around and i have found better use of the stam regen points.

Thank you for the feedback! Gonna go get another beetle... back to grinding out that 1st slot, lol!

 

[celticus]

No it applies to me as well as I go down there with my Tamer and an Archer to destroy the Mage but the corruption hurts your stuff... so does running consume damage all the time.

Hmm how does the crazed made corrupt your armor/items?

 

[MalagAste]

Hmm how does the crazed made corrupt your armor/items?

Spells he casts cause you to damage your armor/weapons as you use mana....

 

[Pawain]

Hmm how does the crazed made corrupt your armor/items?

If you have Antique items. Anything decreases their durability.

The crazed mage has a spell. Its like a small hit.

 

[celticus]

Yiaiks.. ty for info...

 

[celticus]

So antiques etc are not POF able right?

 

[Pawain]

So antiques etc are not POF able right?

The following negative item properties can now be found on magic items:

• Brittle – Cannot have powder of fortification applied to the item, will have a default max durability of 255
• Prized – Item insurance cost is increased, cannot be blessed
• Massive – Increased strength requirement (example below)
• Unwieldy – Increased item weight (example below)
• Cursed – Cannot be insured or blessed
• Antique – Increased durability loss, can be powdered 3 times (excluding jewelry, which cannot be powdered). Each powder will reduce max durability to 250, 200, and 150 respectively. Can be repaired.

 

[MalagAste]

The following negative item properties can now be found on magic items:

• Brittle – Cannot have powder of fortification applied to the item, will have a default max durability of 255
• Prized – Item insurance cost is increased, cannot be blessed
• Massive – Increased strength requirement (example below)
• Unwieldy – Increased item weight (example below)
• Cursed – Cannot be insured or blessed
• Antique – Increased durability loss, can be powdered 3 times (excluding jewelry, which cannot be powdered). Each powder will reduce max durability to 250, 200, and 150 respectively. Can be repaired.

Brittle= Imbued Same difference basically.
Prized=Repair etc as normal item just can be pricey to insure.
Massive=Waste of time... is near always 125str requirement to wear... no one ever can use this item... since if you get cursed it'll be in your pack rather than on your person...
Unwieldy=Basically weighs 50 stones... now that's pretty hefty but if you don't need to carry much can be ok to use.... in a pinch...
Curse=Garbage only good for unravelling since soooo many things will loot the crap out of you.
Antique= Okish if you aren't a dexer where you are taking loads of damage or a mage who casts spells often as you'll find it's quite often in need of repair after just a short time. I find it moderately ok on a Tamer.

 

[Daon]

Why did you make HP 599? not 600
Is there any reason?

 

[celticus]

Brittle= Imbued Same difference basically.
Prized=Repair etc as normal item just can be pricey to insure.
Massive=Waste of time... is near always 125str requirement to wear... no one ever can use this item... since if you get cursed it'll be in your pack rather than on your person...
Unwieldy=Basically weighs 50 stones... now that's pretty hefty but if you don't need to carry much can be ok to use.... in a pinch...
Curse=Garbage only good for unravelling since soooo many things will loot the crap out of you.
Antique= Okish if you aren't a dexer where you are taking loads of damage or a mage who casts spells often as you'll find it's quite often in need of repair after just a short time. I find it moderately ok on a Tamer.

WOW.. so a mage just casting spells often will lose durability of these items without getting hit?
No wonder my garg mystic has gotten the poops beat out of his gear, including the tali..

 

[RockoNV]

Why did you make HP 599? not 600
Is there any reason?

He may have needed to move points to something else.

 

[SwordofExcalibur]

Most excellent write up. What a great benefit to have a backpack that can kick lots of ass and cuddle with you at night.

 

[jojo_la]

n/m