Grim Spellbinder = Worthless?

[NightHawke]

<DIV>When I hit 20 I was excited, thinking that I will be able to have a cool undead pet that will be more effective than my previous one.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I was wrong.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I could only get my hands on an App 4 spell, but i ran into this other necro, with Adept 3 spellbinder.  We were on the thunder steppes and he sicked his pet on a level 22 griffin.  keep in mind now, he is level 21 and I am 20.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>He died, and died pretty bad.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I however, attack the same mob and never casted a spell on it.. I healed my pet once, just cause I like to play it safe.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Did my Spellbinder APP 4 do all this?  no.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My adept 3 Tellurian Recruit soloed a level 22 mob, healed once,, and I never even through a DoT up.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Is the Grim Spellbinder even viable solo?</DIV>

[doofs]

<DIV>No use it when your in a group, it gives a nice buff for groups.</DIV>

[legaleagle]

<DIV>Mage and Assasin pets are close to virtually worthless if you are soloing.  Use fighter pets if you can. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>However, if you are in a group and you don't need a puller or a tank, use the other archetype pets for (allegedly) higher dps and/or group buffs/procs.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Merciful_Shadow]

<b>Tank Pet</b>: Used for soloing <b>Caster Pet</b>: Used in groups for the "Grim Presence" buff <b>Assassin Pet</b>: Utterly worthless... as useful as **** on a bull <span>:smileyindifferent:</span> <div></div>

[NightHawke]

fighter pet huh?  which one is that?

[El Chupacabr]

<A href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=30&message.id=3829" target=_blank>http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=30&message.id=3829</A>

[NightHawke]

<P>Wow, this was a blast from the past.  I quit the game shortly thereafter the original post.  I got to level 22 with great gear and equipment. </P> <P>I just came back to the game (just seeing what is up) and I was using the Grim Spellbinder again (dont get the tank pet until 24).  He seemed to do pretty good against non heroic mobs.  But against heroic he gets spanked, and spanked hard.</P> <P>What is the "tank" pet to use before the level 24 pet?</P> <P>And any tips for a returning player/ beta tester that is coming back now?  I read the guides and FAQs and they are out of date. </P> <P>Thanks in advance.</P>

[stgninja]

<DIV>Use the same tank pet you have until you get the new one, which is the spider pet.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Note that you get a new pet type every 12 levels.</DIV><p>Message Edited by stgninja on <span class=date_text>06-13-2006</span> <span class=time_text>10:27 AM</span>

[NightHawke]

Thank you.  That is what I was considering.  Oh and your sig rocks!

[Jinxe]

<DIV>The grim spell binder is very effective at these levels.  Basically you want to fight groups of even con mobs.  Have your mage pet not defend you.  Cast your group dot on a group of mobs.  Cast your AE lifetap. Order the pet to attack the mob you have targeted.  Lifetap as it becomes  available.  At level 20-27 I did alot of killing this way.  Do not try this on heroics though.  At later levels you will be unable to tank in this way but this is one of the most fun ways to kill in the game.  Get your 24 tank pet upgraded to adept 3, try to upgrade your pet heal, pet stance if you can afford it, not necessary though.  Then go to Stormhold.  Pull the 4 lion heads in the entrance to try and spawn the blobs.  Invis up and run down second level.  There are 4-5 named that drop fabled chests, leave the named basilisk alone, hes a bad mofo.  The cash I made from 27-33 in here was extradinary.   Work on your tactics here for soloing green heroics.  When fighting ^^^s stuns are great, mobs not hitting your pet, so less damage, you get a break where you can heal your pet, lifetap some life back.  Root the mob as well, root wont hold but when the root breaks and the mob is feared, again its a pause where your pet will not be taking damage and you can get a needed pet heal in.  With root, fear, and stun you can have almost half a fight were the mob is not even hitting your pet, but watch the agro, cuz these mobs hit hard.  Also even when tanking I try to stand as far from a fight as possible.  It was something I did in EQ1 because range affected the mobs agro.  It may not be the case here in EQ2 but it does make it more obvious when the mob turns to you and gives you an extra second to get a stun or root off on the mob.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Jinxer 59 Necro</DIV>

[Bamfa_dexter]

<DIV>Does EL Chupacabras still play?  </DIV>

[Princess Ivy]

The assassin pet is great for PVP on those servers. =D But yes, you'll want to use a tank pet for those level 22 mobs and such. <div></div>

[BloodyDragon]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> NightHawke wrote:<BR> <DIV>When I hit 20 I was excited, thinking that I will be able to have a cool undead pet that will be more effective than my previous one.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I was wrong.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I could only get my hands on an App 4 spell, but i ran into this other necro, with Adept 3 spellbinder.  We were on the thunder steppes and he sicked his pet on a level 22 griffin.  keep in mind now, he is level 21 and I am 20.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>He died, and died pretty bad.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I however, attack the same mob and never casted a spell on it.. I healed my pet once, just cause I like to play it safe.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Did my Spellbinder APP 4 do all this?  no.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My adept 3 Tellurian Recruit soloed a level 22 mob, healed once,, and I never even through a DoT up.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Is the Grim Spellbinder even viable solo?</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>The Grim Spellbinder is your mage pet and should really only be used in groups or when soloing green mobs. Although some green mobs it may still take a beating while solo. It is an additional tool for you to use and not a replacement for your tank pet. It has relatively low hp and can't tank mobs very well. In fact, it tanks even worse than you would. Keep using your tellurian recruit (level 10 tank pet) to solo until it is replaced at 24. </P> <P>Also, to answer the previous post, I do not think that El Chupa plays his necro any longer. I see that he is currently level 57 and hasn't posted on the boards since 12/2005. He has either stopped playing or is playing another class. I kind of miss seeing the "Blues Brothers" running around on our server. :smileysad:</P><p>Message Edited by BloodyDragon on <span class=date_text>06-13-2006</span> <span class=time_text>02:58 PM</span>

[tur]

they are great in groups or against very weak mobs. Also not bad in pvp.

[bluegod]

<blockquote><hr>Bamfa_dexter wrote:<DIV>Does EL Chupacabras still play?  </DIV><hr></blockquote>I've been wondering that too. Haven't seen any posts from him in quite some time. Too bad, 'cause he knew his shiznit.

[Jasuo]

I haven't seen him running around in a long time.  He got to lvl 57 and disappeared. But I moved my main to MM server recently so won't be able to keep an eye out for him anymore.  Lost alot of good necros from the community when DoF launched <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[Zathrys]

As a 61 necro I completly, totally, and utterly disagree with anyone that says the necro mage pet is worthless when soloing.  I used that pet to solo almost every level from the time I got the pet until lvl 60.  Keep in mind I do not use a spell unless it is adept3 so that may make a difference, but I just find soloing more effecient with a pet that heals itself.  The tank pet doesn't do enough damage and takes too much damage increasing downtime as  have to heal it (and myself) back to full.  Actually the only time I use the tank pet is when I solo nameds or when the group I'm in needs a temporary tank until they can find one to invite.  The scout pet is/was (depending on todays patch) the end all be all in single target dps.  I use it exclusively in groups and have problems with it pulling aggro from subpar tanks. <div></div>

[Jal]

Obviously everyone differs in their playsyle but recently ive been looking long and hard at my pets deciding which to focus my AA's on.Tank - At master has sufficient agro holding for me and most groups, in groups sometimes it can lose it so i used to top this up with the knockback aa. Ad3 suffers alot from losing agro and the heal on the defensive buff is pathetic, consumption can be good for the tank though for both its agro generation and its heal. Soloing wise it holds its own damage wise but i need to work alot to kill things and throw a fair few heals on it. Never used it in a raid.Scout (pre lu24) - Hits very hard pulls agro off tanks very easily in alot of groups ive been in but can survive a fair bit of punishment. If using it to solo i find that its very situational, shove the defensive stance on it and it fares slightly in how long it lasts but its a tradeoff between killing the thing quickly or having your pet try and survive. With def stance and the wisdom aa lines def aa at max it can be quite nice for soloing but it will need healing a fair bit still. In raids its often a case of jousting when AE's are present but it can get killed quite quickly by these. Having now tried the agi line of AA's the crit line is very nice and the deagro helps alot to control peeling in groups.Mage - Hits fairly hard but from everything i can see this pet benefits the least from our offensive stance. The major point about this pet is it has a group heal of sorts so can be good in a fast paced dungeon if the healer is struggling, in raids its huge advanatge is that it can be easily held outside ae range to attack. Its pathetic amount of hp means when ive tried to solo with it it often dies despite its lifetaps, i tried speccing to the int line but could see barely any difference in groups or raids.Ive decided to focus on my scout line as this seems the best all rounder even after the lu24 changes, i have all 3 master pets so the tier of the spells has been the same for my tests which began when i had all 3 ad adept 3. Id not say any pet is bad just each has their niche.

[DarkArrow69]

I'll agree that at lower levels the mage pet is not a good choice for soloing.  Mainly because you don't have sufficient heals to keep it alive.  I got lucky and found a Master I Grim Thulian and used that religiously for grouping and soloing non-heroic mobs. I currently have the Adept III version of the Grim Terror (level 48 mage pet) and find that I can solo non-heroic yellow mobs with relative ease.  DoT, heal pet, nuke, nuke, heal pet, recast DoTs, throw in a stun or a swarm pet for good measure, repeat as needed.  I have the Master II version of the pet heal and Adept I transfer life spell and healing the mage pet with either of these is quite effective (whereas with the tank pet's higher HP it barely helps at all).  Also the tank pet at this level has a hard time holding aggro since I am out-dps'ing it by quite a bit (thank goodness for the new unbreakable stuns! should give my tank pet enough time to regain aggro while I step back out of range).  But I haven't used my tank pet since I've found this strategy with the mage pet to work so well.  Even blue and green heroics are soloable using this method (I let my pet dps and I play healer/crowd control and DoT and nuke when I can).  Never found much use for the scout pet - I don't even bother upgrading him anymore. Definitely Adept III your tank pet if you plan on soloing frequently.  My tank pet and I used to solo heroics like nobody's business back when I was a younger Necromancer.  Ahh, the memories! <div></div>