What good is the Hiryu ?

[Miriandel]

I have tamed some of those and while their skills are often close to GM right off the bat, it would take them half a day to kill a swoop (I tried with a fresh tame 103 wrestling hiryu).

Is it just a weak pet and should I stick to Cu and Beetle/Nightmare?

 

[Farsight]

Hiryu are great.

+ points:
They can dismount your opponent in PvP
You can ride them
They have good resists (except for cold)
They have a lot of hit points
You can solo the monstrous interred grizzle with one
They have pretty colors.

Now granted, the resists and hit points are out-done by greater dragons, so the only real benifit you gain from a hiryu in the post GD era is "ridable" unless you like to kill the monstrous grizzle more easily (no magic = fewer acid attacks).

But they're certainly better than most other pets out there.

 

[Wenchkin]

A greater hiryu isn't a greater dragon, but I wouldn't call it weak It's just a pet that will do very well in the right situation and not so well in others. A fresh greater hiryu will easily farm normal balrons, for example. I also used a hiryu in doom for a while too.

You'll get the best out of any pet if you match their resists and attacks to the monster which will be least damaging and weakest to those attacks. Then you'll get a much better idea of what they're capable of. I wouldn't say hiryu are perfect by any means, but I still keep and use a lot of them

Wenchy

 

[Miriandel]

I haven't found a colored one yet, still looking, I've tamed like 20 or so by now.

I noticed Cu Sidhe are far more resilient and didn't seem to hit for less, I'll keep the next colored one I find, train it to GM on swoop (boy.... that will be painfully slow ) and see if I like it better than the mare/beetle combo.