GD nerf: changes to best drags/templates?

[Alexi]

Okay, first off, if you want to moan about how terrible the new nerf is, there's another thread for it.

I was wondering if anyone was interested in discussing how to continue to get the best (PvM) damage output from a GD?

Firstly, there's the template choice. Discord/tamer seems to be an obvious good one, but there are also other variants.

Secondly, dragon choice. I've gone for dragons with high wrest/tact/str to maximise combat damage and the fire breath attack, but is this now less important than magery? What would your ideal dragon have?

Thirdly, benchmarking. What's a good monster to test out how good a GD is (to compare with other GDs)? Peerless and champ spawns are both out because doing them repeatedly is tough. Suppose Doom is crowded and therefore also out.

 

[Taylor]

Templates won't really change much in light of this nerf. Old templates were designed to maximize damage - the same ideas still apply.

I would still aim for high wrestle with a dragon, as it determines how frequently your dragon hits and how infrequently it gets hit. Tactics is still important for damage output, unless you're certain that you're hitting the damage cap. There are two schools of thought on magery: one group says high magery seems to make dragons cast more often, whereas the other group says high magery really has no tangible benefit. I fall into the latter category.

I suppose you can try swoop or cus.

 

[Alexi]

Is the damage cap pre or post resists?

 

[Taylor]

The maximum amount of damage you can do period, even if the target has no resists. Adding resists to the mix further reduces the amount of damage dealt.

 

[Wulf2k]

If you're going for damage, there are better combos/packs out there. The GD's a tank with damage secondary, in my opinion. As such, I'd say wrestling is top priority (to keep it from getting hit as often) with resists a close second. HP doesn't matter too much, as if it's depleting its health bar that much in the first place, something's going horribly wrong.

But, none of that's what you asked.

I was wondering if anyone was interested in discussing how to continue to get the best (PvM) damage output from a GD?

The GD's wrestling first and foremost. I wouldn't care enough about STR/tactics to pass over a max wrestling GD.

Nothing is going to do a bigger damage boost than discord.

 

[Lord Frodo]

Before you change anything you need to take your GD out and do monsters that you have done a lot before SA came out. You know what you did before the "nerf" so you should be able to tell how this has effected you and your playslyle. Doing the new monsters will tell you nothing. Do what you know and then if you think you need to adjust your toon, then do so. After testing and adjusting then do the new monsters and adjust as needed.

 

[Wenchkin]

Personally I use a wide range of pets so I won't be changing my templates as they suit that purpose already.

What I will suggest however is that tamers don't hinge their whole character on one pet and specialise to the point where changes are going to really hit them hard if they arrive. At least I wouldn't recommend it if you only have one tamer This change was something I kinda expected, but it obviously caught a few tamers out, so I'd hope that experience teaches us to think ahead and avoid the upset in future.

Wenchy

 

[Samaira]

Along these lines... I took my slightly-above-average GD out tonight to solo an AW, and I think I hear what a few people are saying about the adjustment to the firebreath - the last sliver of health on the AW took almost as getting it down in the first place. Perhaps a good benchmark mob to test against?

That said, it was my first experience solo with an AW. I've only ever done them in small groups before.