Do You Recommend adding Area Effect Abilities?

[Tatos]

So I've been resistant to adding any of the area effect abilities...probably because "goo" is not really the name of an effect I want on one of my pets. It's strange, but true.

But...I want to be open to it, if it's really worth it. Plus I've used all my funds on high end Power Scrolls for my Dread Warhorse and Bushido Lesser Hiryu, that I only really can afford 110s for my White Wyrm at this point...so if area effect is worth 100 points, I don't want to be missing out.

What are your thoughts on the Area Effect? Is it necessary? Just recommended? Or not really worth it at all?

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Donavon]

Good evening, Tatos, There are pro's and cons to having aoe pets... to be honest certain pets are coded to use certain aoes a lot smarter then others are, many fine testers have tried the vast amount of them.. and while they do vary on options. most agree that there are a few that lead the pack....In just pure bust range aoe exp goo leads the pack... even though its a fire based move tactics and wrest increase its damage. Next in line for pure melee force we have Frez whirl.. this double as an extremely powerful signal target and aoe move... These 2 are best in terms of smart programing and mana effectiveness... There are soooo many great aoe single target build out there... but in terms of pure single target damage ( as my friend Khaelor and Rails fire steeds proved) less moves means more key moves firining... so that one of the cons.. I'm sure you will get a lot of nice hits on this post.. and if ya want we will single out some temps for you... and talk about str and weaknesses of them... I hope this helps mate.. =^-^=

 

[railshot]

Donovan makes very good points as always.
A few things I would add. Whether you should add AoE to your pet is dependent on two things - 1) Will your pet be regularly fighting more than 5 mobs? 2) Can your pet tank well?
Good AoE is mana consuming. In my experience if you are doing something like a dungeon crawl where 5 mobs is the upper limit of what you engage, it is best to limit the abilities to a good single target ability like Armor Ignore. If you are planning to do champ spawns, then adding AoE is very useful.
At the same time, when you put something like Goo on your pet, it will aggro every single mob on your screen. So you better make sure your pet can tank (with your help) that much incoming damage.

 

[Maximus Neximus]

I'm going to piggy back off this thread... For champ spawns, I was thinking about a lesser hiryu with bushido and an area effect. @Donavon is this you use or would use? My main focus would be clearing out the spawn with less focus on the champ itself.

 

[Khaelor]

I'm going to piggy back off this thread... For champ spawns, I was thinking about a lesser hiryu with bushido and an area effect. @Donavon is this you use or would use? My main focus would be clearing out the spawn with less focus on the champ itself.

That is not what my guild uses, but it could be a valid spawn fighter.

With regard to goo, you need to be very sure you want it as it will use it even if only attacking 1 mob. I would tend to put go on a dedicated aoe/spawn fighter vs adding it to something with say armor ignore and/or a magic ability

 

[Donavon]

ahh the old double aoe bush lesser hiryu, He is a beast at clearing spawns as he uses goo to bring the stuff in, whirl wind attack to double aoe it and lighten strike in place of armor ignore... Sadly , this build has seen it fair share of nerfs( including mana regen nerf, dex nerf, and bush lighten strike nerf) since it was released.... they still do pretty well, often pets like Fire beetles with goo,ai,and rc will bring more to the table.. but I still enjoying playing around with mine from time to time.. =^-^=

 

[railshot]

I'm going to piggy back off this thread... For champ spawns, I was thinking about a lesser hiryu with bushido and an area effect. @Donavon is this you use or would use? My main focus would be clearing out the spawn with less focus on the champ itself.

Bushido LH with Goo is one of the first pets I trained under the new system. IMO, as far as clearing spawn goes it's almost as good as it gets. But it is rather slow with the champ, since it does not have AI.