unicorns

[Shannow]

Hi all, after some advice on unicorn builds please.

These are all the builds I've tried:
Disco, Conductive Blast, GOO
Disco, Steal Life, Armour Ignore
Magery, Steal Life, FWW

Disco, CB, GOO - theory being unicorns do 25% energy damage, and both disco and CB would lower energy resist for GOO to do damage - it was pants on damage, and it switches targets too often.

Disco, SL, AI - theory being disco lowers the enemy generally, unicorn heals from SL, and AI ensures resists are negated - is good (never have to heal the unicorn, and damage is good on single targets, and it doesnt switch targets)

Magery, SL, FWW - too general - does some damage with lots of different things on lots of different targets. As a result of doing too many things the unicorn doesnt excel at anything. Does odd heals, does odd damage etc.

So, is the disco, SL, AI build as good as it gets? Or is it possible something else works?
maybe disco, CB, force of nature
or disco, SL, FON
or disco, CB, FON & FWW (if I can have all of those and stand the points)

Reason for force of nature - gives 50-100% damage increase, based on str, according to special moves page description.

I could build all these too and try them out, but thought someone might be able to help.
PS i'm only considering unicorns not CU's or tritons.
Thanks for any help

 

[Keven2002]

I'm sure @Pawain or @Khaelor / @Khyro can give more specific advice but I think it's going to start with "It depends".

What is your play style and what are you looking to use the unicorn on? Your answer will likely determine the route to take. From my experience if you are looking for a "jack of all" build you could absolutely find it (likely Chiv/AI build) but that will leave with you a master of none too. If you are looking for something specific I'm sure one of them can help guide you there but there will be a caveat of it won't work for everything (like if you go with FWW obviously using it on Dreadhorn doesn't make sense).

 

[Pawain]

I like my Kirin. The Ks like Unicorns. I would be afraid to recommend an AI/Chiv build for a pet...
I took my Kirin to Blackthorns the other day. He did fine.

Lots of the ability descriptions sound really good. Most of them do not deliver. I saw a Cu with Dragonbreath and Chiv the other day.

Unicorns and Kirins are kinda short on points so you need to plan ahead for your build. The Ks have built way more Unicorns than I have. I'll defer.

 

[Shannow]

Aye, I see what you mean.

Playstyle is mage/tamer using greater heals and bandies to keep unicorn alive if needed. Else - use magery on spawn and bandies on pet as needed.

I was thinking of a generic for all the stygian spawns but powerful enough to maybe do a champion spawn.
The build disco, SL, AI - it did the ratman spawn and boss without me using a single bandage. But that is probably the easiest. Doubt it would be that easy against the demon spawn. As for say the dragon turtle champ, it wouldnt survive the tiger level probably.
Still waiting for it to bond before I try anything hard.
In meantime I was trying other possibilities on the build. But before I waste anymore time (and pet bonds) I thought someone might be able to point me in another builds direction to try.

 

[MalagAste]

Mine have Magery Mastery and AI... I like this combo... it's great for hunting Pirates as the Unicorn will teleport onto the boats and start killing...

 

[MalagAste]

I also like the Unicorn at things like the Turtle spawn and stuff where the use of poison is high... as with a mystic/mage tamer both can be immune to poison...

 

[Shannow]

I also like the Unicorn at things like the Turtle spawn and stuff where the use of poison is high... as with a mystic/mage tamer both can be immune to poison...

do you use the magery/AI build at the turtle spawn?
I found magery was ok, but was very generic on what was cast and seemed to prevent as many special moves being used

 

[Tabby Kapak]

would lower energy resist for GOO to do damage

Goo is fire damage, how can that still be wrong in the Wiki?!
see among other things:

Fire damage special ability for spawning suggestions please

I'm happy with my chiv/ai/goo triton but that area effect is energy based. I would like to build a chiv/ai triton with a fire based area attack for undead spawn in the Halloween event. Which special ability would you all suggest: angry fire, inferno, or raging breath?

community.stratics.com

and it switches targets too often.

That is also one thing we find annoying about the Goo. We will not easily add it to a second pet we think.

 

[Shannow]

Goo is fire damage, how can that still be wrong in the Wiki?!
see among other things:

Fire damage special ability for spawning suggestions please

I'm happy with my chiv/ai/goo triton but that area effect is energy based. I would like to build a chiv/ai triton with a fire based area attack for undead spawn in the Halloween event. Which special ability would you all suggest: angry fire, inferno, or raging breath?

community.stratics.com

That is also one thing we find annoying about the Goo. We will not easily add it to a second pet we think.

GOO does fire damage not energy?
Well if thats the case, no wonder its pants with that build

 

[Pawain]

Goo is fire damage, how can that still be wrong in the Wiki?!

Ya I Asked Kyronix about that at a Meet and Greet in 2017. Now that I know who writes the Wilki, I'll ask her to change that.

 

[Shannow]

Shame it's wrong, would have saved me a few hours, if I'd known.
Anyway, seeing as a few things dont live up to the wiki description - does FON do 50-100% damage increase
So if you had disco to lower resists and FON to increase your damage, would that then combine with say another special move like FWW or whatever - in the perfect world lol

 

[Haidon]

Please post your final build for the Unicorn. I have one that I haven't finished the last round of attributes/skills/abilities. It's not a big deal, but I don't train up pets very often, so I'd like this to be "decent".

 

[PlayerSkillFTW]

These are all the builds I've tried:
Disco, Conductive Blast, GOO
Disco, Steal Life, Armour Ignore
Magery, Steal Life, FWW

When it comes to pets, oftentimes, Less is More. The more abilities it knows, the less it'll spam the individual abilities it does know. Disco+Conductive Blast Unicorn is a specialized build used with a Death Ray Tamer/Mage © to increase Death Ray damage. Adding Explosive Goo to it makes it too unpredictable, especially with the target switching. CB will have a lot less uptime then too.
Steal Life does a total of 70 Energy damage (pre-resist), and heals the pet for 100% of the damage it deals. Thing is though, that the victim's Energy Resist will lower the damage (and therefore Healing) that Steal Life does, so Steal Life ends up sucking pretty hard against most high end mobs.

Honestly, the best builds for a Unicorn, is either Chiv+AI (Unicorns have no "wasted" Specials, so will spam AI hard), or Disco+CB with a Death Ray Tamer/Mage ©.

 

[MalagAste]

do you use the magery/AI build at the turtle spawn?
I found magery was ok, but was very generic on what was cast and seemed to prevent as many special moves being used

Yes sometimes but no not always was using just AI and something can't recall but magery mastery has them jumping about all over which can be annoying.

I think it's conductive blast and AI that I have on the one that I like.

 

[Khaelor]

Do you have taming mastery 2 or 3?

Last we tested, FoN was not working how it should based on documentation for the ability.

CB I think is wasted on a Unicorn with just 25% energy damage unless the tamer is a mage and uses just ebolts or death ray as a primary source of damage. Death ray is a situational ability ability though.

Best single target will be the Chiv/AI unicorn. As an above poster said, less is generally more with pets unless specialized for something in particular.

I have quite a few unicorns, some unicorn builds i have other than Chiv/AI are:
poison breath, fww ones that I use a lot for things like Voidpool. (have tried this spec with a bunch of magics, low hitpoints on a pet doesn't scare me)
Chiv FWW


Below is a couple of sample templates for unicorns.

Chiv AI Uncorn Template (75% starting intensity) (click here)
Poison Breath/Frenzied Whirlwind Template (75% starting intensity) (click here)

 

[Pawain]

@Tabby Kapak and all. Mariah verified and updated the wiki.

Goo is a fiery spray that does fire damage... Anything else? Let her know or I cam pm her.

 

[Shannow]

Nice one on the update to the Wiki.

tested FoN - it does NOT do the damage increase of 50%-100%.
I believe it just does the 15-35 delayed direct damage.

I believe the chiv AI
or disco AI / Disco SL AI
or FWW instead of AI are the better builds (and only true options)

Haven't got magery mastery to test the disco CB death ray thing

I'll build just the chiv AI and Disco AI over the next week or so and see how they compare, for single targets

I've read up on all other specials, Area effect abilities.. and the only other one that might be worth a try is repel + AI + chiv
but doubt repel lives up to the read.

 

[Pawain]

Repel does not do enough. Always set Mana Regen to 30 and your pet will use and regen mana as it fights. Nothing wrong with AI/CB/Chiv on a Cu or Triton, if you want something other than AI/Chiv.

 

[SouthPaw]

Mine has magery mastery and armor ignore. Would love to have a chiv/AI one but if I do that it's going to have low HP or low/no scrolls.