Level 30 conj having pet problems...

[Eetog]

Recently I've been having a heck of a time with the level 24 tank pet. I chose the M2 version of the defensive stance, which has the aggression addition to it. Before I parked him back in the day, I remember him holding aggro infinitely better...So they revamped things, put in aggression, that's fine. I'm generally cool with change. I go to BB. Cast him, buff him to the hilt, pull a silly blue con aviak. It kinda went like this :Send in pet give him about a 5 second head start to get aggro. (5 pts in enhance earth)Dot him with the flame dot.Nuke with DD (5 pts in it in the Blast AA tree toward Abate)Nuke again when it cyclesCritter on meRootOh crap, resisted (AD1, skill maxed)Root again, resistedRoot again, stuck, down to 20 percent health, potion back up to 40%Let pet beat the critter down, which seemingly takes forever. Odd behavior, perhaps it was because the pet has his attk speed dropped in Def stance. Put on the offensive stance, pull same critter, same way, same level...Send pet in, give him about 5 second head start to get aggroDot him with flame dotNuke NukeNuke NukeDead critter.Pet takes a bit of a beating though while I do this. His ward didn't take the "edge" off the mob dmg. This pet has angered me to where my finger hovered over the Delete button. This problem is just with me. If pet kills and I suppliment his dmg when we solo, it takes a week and a half. If he's in offensive, we kill stuff fast, but if we get an add or things start to go south, we're dead meat. No self healing blows.Any advice (cept the obvious "be a better player")?Thanks,T.<div></div>

[Xalmat]

Welcome to Earth Pet. What you are experiencing is normal. Defense stance, the pet takes the hits but doesn't dish the damage. Offense stance, pet kills fast, but can't take hits or adds too well.Curious, what rank is your pet? It should be Adept III. If it's not, upgrade to Adept III ASAP.Are you remembering to put Fireshield and Fire Seed on your pet, and not yourself?

[Eetog]

He's adept 3, and I chose the Master version of the defensive stance. I give him all the buffs I have. Damage Shield (AD1), Fire Seed, (AD1), Conjuror's Mark (AD1), Alluvial Brand, (AD1) and then the stance of choice. I make sure he has 5 buffs on. I even have the robe that drops from Crushbone that procs a hate reducing spell....Well, crap. Kind of frustrating. I'm thinking of either sticking it out till 32 and scribing the AD3 rogue and seeing if I can balance my upcoming 34 master choice (probably the 28 def stance again) so I can get damage and tankability, or ...*sigh* try to come up with something. Kind of a let down having a tank that can't taunt for crap.Word on my server is that the defensive stance of the necro, with that reverse lifetap damage shield, lets you dot and lifetap as fast as you can hit the buttons. I know the pet won't be as good, but it's a long way to Planar Shift and the other spells that make the earth pet rock again.<div></div>

[de lori]

<P>I dont know if you have a stun yet at that level.....but a quick stun then backing out of proximity is often enough to get aggro back on pet.</P> <P>Dmg is a great aggro generator....its why the other 2 pets can gank aggro off player tanks....and also why they hold aggro better when you solo with them.</P>

[Eetog]

I have AD1 of Frozen by Time, but it only seems to infuriate the critter more. When I'm in "Oh, crap" mode, I'm doing anything I can to stun / root. The FBT stun is never long enough to be considered anything more than a spell interrupt. I do have the APP4 of Shattered Ground which I use when Cementhead loses aggro and I need to keep the thing from pounding me, but again, by that time, there's no peeling the mob off me. I have to root and hope for the best. <div></div>

[Xalmat]

Consider going down the Stamina Achievement line. At the least, Shockwave is a <I>great</I> tool for your tank pet to instantly grab aggro.

[Krovis]

<P>I too am a level 30 conjurer.  My tank pet is adept III and I am using the master II defensive stance.  I never have trouble with it holding aggro.  All my spells however are only adept I or app IV except Shattered Ground the level 25 encounter AOE dot which is adept III.</P> <P>Against a solo monster, it goes like this.</P> <P>Send in pet, wait almost 5 seconds.</P> <P>Start heroic opp, Spiked Rain (3 points in AA), then Burning Agony (3 points in AA) then Frozen by Time (the 5ish second stun) then another Spiked Rain to complete the HO.</P> <P>I then hit it with Shattered Ground then another Burning Agony then one last Spiked Rain.  At this point, most even level solo monsters are at about 5% health and shortly die.</P> <P> </P> <P> </P>

[Draco the Grey]

I can't recall ever having had aggro holding problems with my tank pet since LU13, except maybe when fighting orange-con mobs or multiple unlinked mobs.  I can't check since I'm at work, but perhaps the hate gain component for the lower level defensive stances are lower than the higher level ones.  When you reach level 28 look over the difference between the new defensive stance and the lv14 master, and seriously consider investing in an Adept III for the 6 levels before you can get the Master II at 34.  If your pet is getting beat up, you should be mixing in a heal every now and then, though your heal will be weak right now as it is near the end of its life cycle and will be upgraded at lv28.  Consider putting some points into Enhance: Pet Heal as it will make adding it to your spell mix far more painless.You should also be leading your fights with your (hopefully Master II) Aqueous Swarm whenever it is up, since it is DOT with no hate to you until the dumbfire pets die.  Things will get better in your 30s.  Along with the upgraded Master II defensive stance at 34, you will get a 2nd dumbfire pet (Roaring Flames) and a single target DOT / Defense debuff (Swarm of Bats) at 35.  You don't get Swarm of Bats automatically, so be sure to get an AppIV/AdeptIII scroll from a Sage ahead of time.  Once you get Vehement Stone (lv40) and Blazing Presence (lv50) you will be golden.<div></div>

[Eetog]

<div></div>I do use the M2 version of the fishes. In fact, I use them every fight when I'm not testing aggro or running for my life. It's usually the first spell I cast, if only to give the pet more time to do his thing. I went over my strategy last night, just to see what I can and can't do. Admittingly I only have the app1 of the newest (level 2<img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> pet stance, I wanted to see if I could hold out till 34 since I'm 30 and right around the corner. I don't have alot of rares to burn up on spells that I will upgrade in 4 levels to master quality.If the pet has the older version of the M2 pet stance up, which has a 14.3% agression "boost", 2 spiked rains will pull an aviak, gorilla or CB orc onto me. Every single time. Note that I went with a regular blue solo mob, a blue ^ mob and a green ^^^ just to vary the results. With the offensive stance up, I couldn't nuke hard enough, DoT enough or send enough fishes at a critter to peel it off onto me. Perhaps this is a EoF thing, cause I didn't have problems before. I remade my conj to take advantage of the the earlier AA's with EoF. Sounds like I could have made a mistake. <div></div><p>Message Edited by Eetog on <span class=date_text>01-16-2007</span> <span class=time_text>07:15 AM</span>

[Kaku99]

I'm in my 30's also.  My pet is adept3 and I have the M2 defensive stance.  My pet almost rarely loses agro.  If it does, I sick it on the mob attacking me ( I 'm usually fighting multiple mobs).  I always use my DOTs before nuking (aqueous, bats, shattered, etc.) as they seem to draw less agro per the damage they dole out.  I've also noticed it seems to help sometimes to be a few paces away from the mob(s) and the pet.