Back From Long Ago - Advice For New Pet

[RunningMan]

Wow! Things have really changed for tamers. Looks like Greater Dragons are still king but any decent pet can be built up to be something special. I want a pet to help me get back into the swing of things on Tram. I used this template to tame sneak around to find something good to tame and take Greater Dragons places to kill stuff.

Magic 80
Vet 106
Taming 115
Animal Lore 119
Resist 100
Stealth 80
Hiding 80

This template still needs some work but think it will work well until I figure out what pets I want to work into end game combos. Thinking that a CU is a must and was going to go hunting for a good one but am curious what folks recommend for my tamer style of play. Again, I pretty much sneak around searching for good pets and tame them. Then take them to Tram dungeons for fun. Looking for a strong creature to do all the work while I cower in the back, hiding and sneaking around. Many thanks in advance.

 

[Archnight]

Looks like Greater Dragons are still king

Welcome back but yeah the king was definitely dethroned... I threw out most of my Greater Dragons after the taming patch came out . The new king in general would be the Cu Sidhe, though other pets can be scrolled up quite well and depends what your fighting

 

[North_LS]

The Cu Sidhe, giant beetle, fire beetle, lesser hiryu, and 2-slot reptalon all make excellent pets. Do your research here before applying your first round of training and you'll be much more successful, there's some very good writeups on how best to spend points, what order to apply abilities, and some of the most effective pet templates.

 

[RunningMan]

Thanks for the reply! I went ahead and tamed the best one I could find without killing them and waiting for re-spawns but in Pincos UO only gave it a 3.2 out of 5 with 601 Strength and 599 Hit Points. Not sure if it is any good but will bring in a Greater Dragon to kill them all and check re-spawns. Any advice on starting stats?

 

[North_LS]

thats actually quite good - strength on cus doesnt seem to vary much, but getting the HP near 600 is great, saves you a lot of points.

 

[Khaelor]

Welcome back but yeah the king was definitely dethroned... I threw out most of my Greater Dragons after the taming patch came out . The new king in general would be the Cu Sidhe, though other pets can be scrolled up quite well and depends what your fighting

I would not call the cu the new king, is it highly popular, yes. But it is not the best pet out there.

There are many great pets out there, a lot of it ends up being personal preference and what you want your pet to excel at.

Greatest are still some of the best tanks in the game, when they have over 900 health, over capped phys and fire resists and wrestling that can top out at 128.

 

[Khyro]

Thanks for the reply! I went ahead and tamed the best one I could find without killing them and waiting for re-spawns but in Pincos UO only gave it a 3.2 out of 5 with 601 Strength and 599 Hit Points. Not sure if it is any good but will bring in a Greater Dragon to kill them all and check re-spawns. Any advice on starting stats?

Welcome back!

In general the old pet rating system is deprecated. It can be a good rough guide for finding higher spawning pets at a glance, but with the new taming system there are a lot of nuances you need to watch for. A few examples:

• Anything that can spawn at multiple control slots - Throw the rating system out. You want a high-rolled low-control slot pet (confusing, I know). Lets say you are getting a nightmare -- you will want a pet that is at the cusp of becoming a 3-slot pet, but is still a 2-slot. This will allow for an extra round of training to be applied. This is next to impossible to quantify in the rating system, since it will be based on a combination of all stats/resists. You could have a 1.8 3-slot, and a 2.1 2-slot, depending on stats.
  
  
• Anything that can spawn overcapped resists (such as Cu Sidhes, White Wyrms, and others) - The rating system goes out the window on these as well, because a higher rating on these pets will most likely indicate a very high resist value in one of those overcapped resists. This can be bad because with the pet training system, you are limited to 365 total resists, so if a Cu has 85 Cold/Energy, you lose a lot of potential for an even resist spread for the pet. This makes hunting Cu's and WW's with low-end resists (in the ones that can overcap) the better method, which goes against the pet-rating system.
  
  
• Anything that spawns at a 5-control slot level, like Greater Dragons (Greater Dragons CAN actually spawn as a 4-slot pet, but the rating system works for 5 slot GD's) - This is where the system is still most relevant and probably the only place it is really used. However I find the rating system is still lacking in a lot of ways, such as it not taking into account overcapped skills. A greater dragon with ~100 wrestling will rate the exact same as an identical dragon with ~127 wrestling. This difference however will be pretty huge, as the higher wrestling will cause the dragon to hit way more often.

You will find a lot of people saying get a Cu Sidhe, and they make fine pets. Just don't feel pigeonholed into only getting a Cu. Tame lots of stuff, see what you like, give them different specs, take them to Test Center and play around. Find what you like visually, lore-wise for your character (if that matters to you), and what works well for your playstyle.

Enjoy the new ever-expansive world of the Animal Taming revamp! Be warned though... once you get in the water, you may never leave!

 

[MalagAste]

Right because I happen to really love my Unicorn of all things... seconded by my Lesser Hiryu... over the Disco Cu that I also like.

My first new pet was a Dread Spider and before they nerfed it into uselessness it was my all-time favorite pet. Now it's just a novelty pet.

 

[RunningMan]

It is a bit overwhelming but thanks for the awesome replies! It is a nice change of pace that Greater Dragons are not the "be all" and "end all" any more. Looks like I will need to tame a bunch of stuff and figure out what is best for my style. Giant Beetle and Fire Beetles here I come!

 

[Pawain]

It is a bit overwhelming but thanks for the awesome replies! It is a nice change of pace that Greater Dragons are not the "be all" and "end all" any more. Looks like I will need to tame a bunch of stuff and figure out what is best for my style. Giant Beetle and Fire Beetles here I come!

The addiction will become strong in you.

 

[celticus]

The addiction will become strong in you.

You mean to say "Luke, the power of The Force will be strong in you, my young Jedai"..