I had not messed with them much since pub 97, mainly because I get bored fast doing T maps and when I do maps I just use a Mystic/Weaver T hunter. So I filled a Davies up with L-6 maps and decided to work on getting it empty again. No sign of cold drakes the first dozen or so maps and then started getting 2-3 on about every chest that came up and decided to log on a second account with a tamer and start loring them. Most were as I expected turd stews. Then I hit one with 116 Wrestle and 126 tactics and then another 113 wrestle and 126 tactics and another 115 wrestle 122 tactics.
Since they are 3 slot I figured they had potential and took one of the Turd Stews out for pirate training. A hour and a half later I have a trained up Cold Drake with 110wrestle and 112 tactics already in place and it got 100 anat in the pirate beating. Was impressed with how much is available to them. I ended up going AI/chiv/Goo on the T Stew. He ended up with 850 HP 700 Str 350 mana 20-10-30 regens 150 stam/dex he had 73 cold resist so I just spread the resist even down the line. They are 50% Phys and 50% Cold damage (Part of the reason I took him Chiv and AI). Going to train some of the other crap ones up and add piercing, battle defense, slashing etc to them just for kicks before I train up any of the 115+ wrestle and 122+ tactics ones.
In actual combat I took turd stew through the usual tour, Miasmas, a couple of Rends, Navrey, and a Dragon Turtle, and the run through the abyss doing the Renowned spawns. He did as well or better overall than my 110/115 scrolled pets even though not ideal for some spawns/bosses.
Biggest drawback is they are not mountable as is the case with a lot of pets.
Biggest upside is if you don't want to spend millions on power scrolls, you can find some real nice ones with 115+ wrestle and 120+ tactics on level 6 maps and it is easy enough to get them to 800-900 hp with them only being 3 slot to start. Overall a very good pet that does not cost a fortune to get into top tier range.
Since they are 3 slot I figured they had potential and took one of the Turd Stews out for pirate training. A hour and a half later I have a trained up Cold Drake with 110wrestle and 112 tactics already in place and it got 100 anat in the pirate beating. Was impressed with how much is available to them. I ended up going AI/chiv/Goo on the T Stew. He ended up with 850 HP 700 Str 350 mana 20-10-30 regens 150 stam/dex he had 73 cold resist so I just spread the resist even down the line. They are 50% Phys and 50% Cold damage (Part of the reason I took him Chiv and AI). Going to train some of the other crap ones up and add piercing, battle defense, slashing etc to them just for kicks before I train up any of the 115+ wrestle and 122+ tactics ones.
In actual combat I took turd stew through the usual tour, Miasmas, a couple of Rends, Navrey, and a Dragon Turtle, and the run through the abyss doing the Renowned spawns. He did as well or better overall than my 110/115 scrolled pets even though not ideal for some spawns/bosses.
Biggest drawback is they are not mountable as is the case with a lot of pets.
Biggest upside is if you don't want to spend millions on power scrolls, you can find some real nice ones with 115+ wrestle and 120+ tactics on level 6 maps and it is easy enough to get them to 800-900 hp with them only being 3 slot to start. Overall a very good pet that does not cost a fortune to get into top tier range.