Pets and Max Damage

[Maximus Neximus]

I recently discovered several pre-patch nightmares, white wyrms, bake kitsunes, as well as bane dragons and dread mares that I'm debating on selling or training for myself. This is NOT a selling/auction thread. If I decide to go that route, I will post another thread.

This thread is about pets and obtaining the maximum possible damage output. I am a firm believer in a specific pet for specific bosses based on their lowest resist. IE fire beetle for Lady Mel, cold crimson drake for Belfrey, etc.

From my own experience and from what I've read, nothing beats a chiv/AI combo on a pet. Testing has been done and posted in several places. Is there any point in making any other kind of pet when focusing on max damage output? In what situation would you prefer to use one of the pets types I listed with none of them being a 100% damage type?

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

I prefer the AI/AP Naja honestly. The high damage hits more often on that build.

 

[Pawain]

AI/Chiv bane is a powerful pet.

 

[Maximus Neximus]

I prefer the AI/AP Naja honestly. The high damage hits more often on that build.

Is your naja a pet you use for everything or are there specific times you use it?

 

[Maximus Neximus]

AI/Chiv bane is a powerful pet.

What makes it better than a chiv/AI lesser hiryu as an example? Would you use it all the time or only in certain fights?

 

[Laura_Gold]

And wtp does "AP" stand for?

 

[Chrille]

ap = armor pierce

 

[SouthPaw]

AI/Chiv is great for single target fights and against bosses. May not be the best thing to use at something like a champ spawn, although it would work well against the end boss is most cases. Using the pet on mobs with their lowest resist type is a good idea for extra damage. I have all 4 elemental crimson drakes with AI/chiv.

 

[celticus]

ap = armor pierce

Nope..@Chrille is just kidding.. AP= Area poison, innate to the banes..

 

[Pawain]

Nope..@Chrille is just kidding.. AP= Area poison, innate to the banes..

That AP was in reference to a Naj.

I prefer the AI/AP Naja honestly.

What makes it better than a chiv/AI lesser hiryu as an example? Would you use it all the time or only in certain fights?

I have been at many things that had high hit points and was using a pet with damage that matched the resists. The mob is loosing HP at a steady rate. Don walks up with his Bane and the mob starts loosing HP at more than double.

Two of were at Krampus the other night. We were there >30 min it was at 3/4 life. We rarely got 2 pets at a time on it because it was tossing minions like crazy. Don came online and said Hi in chat, I said Help! He brought his bane and the points just peeled off Krampus. Banes should not do as much damage to Krampus as a AI/Chiv Reptalon. But it did a lot more.

Banes kill stuff real well. Maybe not on a calculator but in UO.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

Is your naja a pet you use for everything or are there specific times you use it?

And wtp does "AP" stand for?

Nope..@Chrille is just kidding.. AP= Area poison, innate to the banes..

ap = armor pierce

Yeah.. Chrille was correct... the AP above was Armor Pierce.. The Naja has been the only pet I have ran across that can have both Armor Ignore and Armor Pierce on. Instead of having the AI hit 1 out of 4-5 times (or so) add in the AP and it usually hits 50+% of the time as long as you pack the mana on the critter.

It's a great all around pet and I use it for a lot of things. Never having to waste a bandie or cast cure arch cure is a nice added bonus as well.

 

[Mordha]

Very cool Kylie
I might rethink my naja, as I was thinking FWW and AI but maybe going AI and AP will be better. Thank you

 

[Khyro]

Yeah.. Chrille was correct... the AP above was Armor Pierce.. The Naja has been the only pet I have ran across that can have both Armor Ignore and Armor Pierce on. Instead of having the AI hit 1 out of 4-5 times (or so) add in the AP and it usually hits 50+% of the time as long as you pack the mana on the critter.

It's a great all around pet and I use it for a lot of things. Never having to waste a bandie or cast cure arch cure is a nice added bonus as well.

View attachment 91650

Any pet that does not come with an innate Special Move, or 2 other pre-loaded abilities can get both AI and AP together. A few that come to mind: Fire Beetle/Giant Beetle (these could get AI/AP and RC if you wanted), Fire Steed, Unicorn, Raptor, Crimson/Platinum Drakes, Ki-Rin, Phoenix, Skree, White Wyrm.

Not sure where you are seeing a 20% hit rate with AI, but AI follows the same hit chance as any melee ability, which would be 50% against an even-skilled opponent (120 vs 120), unless I am misunderstanding what you meant.

The 10% damage bonus from AP is nice, and can be beneficial in a group since it will increase everyone's damage against the target while it is active. It unfortunately doesn't synergize well with AI, as AI does direct-damage which is not buffed by AP. A fully leveled Chiv/AI pet will still do much more single target damage, as you get an 82% damage bonus when Enemy of One is active, which applies to all damage (including Armor Ignore).

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

Not sure where you are seeing a 20% hit rate with AI, but AI follows the same hit chance as any melee ability, which would be 50% against an even-skilled opponent (120 vs 120), unless I am misunderstanding what you meant.

The 10% damage bonus from AP is nice, and can be beneficial in a group since it will increase everyone's damage against the target while it is active. It unfortunately doesn't synergize well with AI, as AI does direct-damage which is not buffed by AP. A fully leveled Chiv/AI pet will still do much more single target damage, as you get an 82% damage bonus when Enemy of One is active, which applies to all damage (including Armor Ignore).

I get the 20% hit rate with AI by watching the actual damage inflicted by the pet. Sure, even IF on paper it is supposed to be a 50% chance each time (which I have never seen documented anywhere on pets) it VERY seldom is... I typically see 1 our of ever 4-5 hits actually pop AI.

Not sure where you get a 10% damage from AP though. Last I knew it was a 50% bump. If normal damage is 50 once AP hits damage increases to 75.

As far as Chiv goes, I keep it off my pets until they fix the Pet Ai. Not only with how it casts Chiv spells but in the other realms (ie running off to a critter 2 screens away while already engaging a mob of critters) as well.... which is likely never

 

[Khyro]

I get the 20% hit rate with AI by watching the actual damage inflicted by the pet. Sure, even IF on paper it is supposed to be a 50% chance each time (which I have never seen documented anywhere on pets) it VERY seldom is... I typically see 1 our of ever 4-5 hits actually pop AI.

Not sure where you get a 10% damage from AP though. Last I knew it was a 50% bump. If normal damage is 50 once AP hits damage increases to 75.

As far as Chiv goes, I keep it off my pets until they fix the Pet Ai. Not only with how it casts Chiv spells but in the other realms (ie running off to a critter 2 screens away while already engaging a mob of critters) as well.... which is likely never

All combat in the game works the same. They don't have a separate hit chance rating for pets vs players. Also, AI doesn't trigger every hit, it has a chance to proc so only seeing AI every 5th hit doesn't mean that AI misses 80% of the time.

Armor Pierce info can be found here: Special Moves – Ultima Online

And for good measure, a screenshot from a debuff of the actual Pet ability in game:

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

Yeah.... I don't sit back research, calculate, do spread sheets.. I get enough of that crap at work..

I just build pets, play the game and watch the damage fly.. My AI/AP Naja will make quicker work of Lady Mel, Trav and Dread Horn etc than my Chiv/AI Cu will... with the added bonus of never having to cure a poison...

and as the saying goes.. Time = $$$

 

[Pawain]

Armor Pierce info can be found here: Special Moves – Ultima Online

Thats nice. I noticed I gave my Archer an AP/ Chiv Cu. I was going to change to AI but that 10% will help the archer damage.

 

[Khaelor]

Yeah.... I don't sit back research, calculate, do spread sheets.. I get enough of that crap at work..

I just build pets, play the game and watch the damage fly.. My AI/AP Naja will make quicker work of Lady Mel, Trav and Dread Horn etc than my Chiv/AI Cu will... with the added bonus of never having to cure a poison...

and as the saying goes.. Time = $$$

 

[celticus]

Yeah.. Chrille was correct... the AP above was Armor Pierce.. The Naja has been the only pet I have ran across that can have both Armor Ignore and Armor Pierce on. Instead of having the AI hit 1 out of 4-5 times (or so) add in the AP and it usually hits 50+% of the time as long as you pack the mana on the critter.

It's a great all around pet and I use it for a lot of things. Never having to waste a bandie or cast cure arch cure is a nice added bonus as well.

View attachment 91650

SWEET!!!

 

[Maximus Neximus]

Lots of good info here!

 

[PlayerSkillFTW]

All combat in the game works the same. They don't have a separate hit chance rating for pets vs players. Also, AI doesn't trigger every hit, it has a chance to proc so only seeing AI every 5th hit doesn't mean that AI misses 80% of the time.

Armor Pierce info can be found here: Special Moves – Ultima Online

And for good measure, a screenshot from a debuff of the actual Pet ability in game:

Yep. What he's probably seeing, is that when a pet *activates* AI, you immediately see the poof graphic on the enemy and hear the sound, but it doesn't actually trigger the AI until the pet lands a successful melee attack. I see that happen all the time. See the poof and sound of AI, no damage, but then 2-3 attacks later the pet lands the hit, and it's the big fat damage of an AI.
My Frost Mite has RC+AP for buffing everyone's damage against the foe. I usually use him on my guild hunts against the Stygian Dragon, Dragon Turtle, Rikktor, Semidar and Serado.

Yeah.... I don't sit back research, calculate, do spread sheets.. I get enough of that crap at work..

I just build pets, play the game and watch the damage fly.. My AI/AP Naja will make quicker work of Lady Mel, Trav and Dread Horn etc than my Chiv/AI Cu will... with the added bonus of never having to cure a poison...

and as the saying goes.. Time = $$$

Lady Mel is pretty resistant to a Cu's damage type, little less so than a Naja's. Same goes for Dread Horn. A Chiv+AI 100% Fire Crimson Drake will tear apart Lady Mel much faster than that Naja (my Chiv+AI 100% Fire Crimson Drake was hitting Lady Mel for 277 AIs during EoO last night, and doing 117-140 damage a regular hit) . A Chiv+AI Lesser Hiryu would also tear apart Dread Horn faster than that Naja. Chiv pets also tend to cure themselves with Cleanse By Fire.
If you're with a group and doing those bosses, a Fire Beetle with RC against Lady Mel or Travesty and a Giant Beetle with RC against Dread Horn will make those bosses drop FAR faster than any single Chiv+AI pet will.

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

If you're with a group and doing those bosses,

100% Solo. I gave up group hunting years ago.

 

[Pawain]

Yep. What he's probably seeing, is that when a pet *activates* AI, you immediately see the poof graphic on the enemy and hear the sound, but it doesn't actually trigger the AI until the pet lands a successful melee attack. I see that happen all the time. See the poof and sound of AI, no damage, but then 2-3 attacks later the pet lands the hit, and it's the big fat damage of an AI.

So like on my archer. I click AI and sometimes it takes a swing or 2 to hit. Because my arrow did not hit the target.

So, what you are saying is pets do whiff on melee damage. Again verifying EoO is not killing the pet. The pet changing targets and missing hits is what kills pets in a crowd.

 

[Maximus Neximus]

In trying to keep max damage questions together, I'll ask here...

What is the best pet and setup for max damage in pvp? I'm talking strictly field fighting such as attacking or defending (not working) spawns. I know they lowered the damage vs players, but what's the best pet type and training for said pet?

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

In trying to keep max damage questions together, I'll ask here...

What is the best pet and setup for max damage in pvp? I'm talking strictly field fighting such as attacking or defending (not working) spawns. I know they lowered the damage vs players, but what's the best pet type and training for said pet?

Didn't they set a cap on damage from pets to players... like 35 or something like that. I have not paid close attention to changes on that front in a while, was just wondering if they ever increased that or not.

 

[Maximus Neximus]

Didn't they set a cap on damage from pets to players... like 35 or something like that. I have not paid close attention to changes on that front in a while, was just wondering if they ever increased that or not.

Not that I've read. But does that just mean melee damage? Will a spell caster do more damage since they can melee and cast?

 

[SouthPaw]

In trying to keep max damage questions together, I'll ask here...

What is the best pet and setup for max damage in pvp? I'm talking strictly field fighting such as attacking or defending (not working) spawns. I know they lowered the damage vs players, but what's the best pet type and training for said pet?

I've been wondering that myself. Most people that make a PvP pet build it more with utility in mind than damage output. Abilities like disarm, dismount, mortal strike, poison, magery, paralyze, etc. would be used. Also want a pet with high Dex for good movement speed. Pretty sure both melee and spell damage is capped at 35 for PvP.

I have a Naja bonding tomorrow, right now I'm planning on building him with aura of nausea, venomous bite, and either wrestling mastery or battle defense (both give disarm and paralyze).

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

Not that I've read. But does that just mean melee damage? Will a spell caster do more damage since they can melee and cast?

. Pretty sure both melee and spell damage is capped at 35 for PvP.

I got curious and went looking. Ran across this "Direct damage cap for pets is now based on Pet’s HP and can exceed 35" in the Publish 98.2 notes Publish 98 – Ultima Online

 

[Kylie Kinslayer]

And then saw this in Publish 98.2 as well.. so *shrugs* and they just had reduced it to 30% in Pub 97 ( Publish 97 – Ultima Online ) .

Increased Pet damage reduction vs Players from 30% to 50%.