Protective Brace better than Grisly Brace ?

[Jaince]

HiI just dinged 28 yesterday and got Grisly Brace, the new Defensive Stance.I looked at the stats and continued using my old Level 14 Protective Brace.Granted its upgraded to Master II while Grisly is just Apprentice IV, so it might be slightly unfair to compare them, but at least for now I see no reason really to use Grisly over Protective Brace.But judging from the Increase the spell got from App 1 to 4, I'm not sure even Master II will be better.Pros for Protective Brace:- Wards against 23 damage, while Grisly heals 5 damage each time it gets damaged (it was 4 at App1, so might be 7 or 8 at Master II?).- Decreases Attack speed only by 11.4%, while Grisly decreases it by 25% (should not change with Master II)- Increased Health of 16.5% vs 10.5%... (was around 8% App1, so not sure it will reach the 16% at Master II)- Increases Hate gain by 19.8% vs 17%- No decrease to INT, while Grisley takes 54 of INT away. Not sure how important that is for the Tank pet.Pros for Grisly Brace:- Inflicts 11 Damage each time it gets hit. - Increases Mitigration against all magical Damage by 294.So... the different asspects of these buffsHate generation:Grisly Brace does 11 damage each time it gets hit, but I assume the 25% instead of 11.4% attack speed reduction cancel that, since the pet attacks slower and does less damage that way.The 11 points however should affect all targets hitting the pet. So not sure, it might add up.Assuming just one enemy though, doing less damage means the pet generates less "initial hate". Less initial hate means, that the "increased hate" will be lower too.Adding to that, that the "increased hate" modifier is just 17% not 19.8%, that would result in overall LESS hate for the pet.This might be different if the pet tanks 3 or 4 enemies, it will get more hate for the mobs it doesn't attack, I think, because those get hit by the Damage shield, and accumulate aggro against the pet.Protection:23 vs 5... well sounds obvious, but I know that the Protective Brace doesn't protect against every hit, but only every few seconds.But it also means, that in the time the pet needs to "refill" the ward, it has to be hit 5 times, so the Grisly Brace buff would be better than the Ward. I don't know, usually won't happen against 1 or 2 enemies, again will have to tank 3 or 4 at the same time.Mitigration against magical Damage... not sure how useful that is, most stuff i attack are melee mobs.So it seems like for taking a beating, the Prot Brace is better.Damage done:Even though I mainly use my pet not to do damage, when its on Defensive Stance, but to hold aggro, keep the mobs away from me, and take a beating, while i cast them down or watch my Rats bite them to death (or both), damage is a nice addition. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />25% attack speed reduction and 54 less INT... not sure if INT affects the Zombie and not sure if Attack speed effects the Caster pet, but both would do less damage with this buff than with the Protective Brace. (usually I would use the Offensive buff on the Caster though, it dies too fast anyway should it get aggro, only using it in groups)I'm sorry if all this sounds very wierd <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />I'm just not sure what buff to use. It kinda sounds better to stick to the Master II Protective Brace buff for now, at least till I can get my hands on an Adept 1 or even 3 or till I get the Master II choice?Or am I wrong in some of my assumptions and Grisley Brace App 4 already beats Prot Brace Master II ?

[El Chupacabr]

<P>There are certainly scaling problems on the defensive master II's vs. the next tiers spells, this holds true when comparing Grisly Stele master II to Grisly Ward adept III as well (the lower tier M2 is still better than the Ad3).</P> <P>The only concern I'd have is that once a spell greys out, its "cast" effects will start to be resisted by mobs.  Only advice I can give is to get EQCompanion and fight the same mob a few times with one buff, then fight the same mob with the advanced buff.  That's really the only way you'll know for sure which is best at the cusp level.</P>

[Eriol]

I wouldn't downplay the importance of the reactive lifetap, ESPECIALLY against multiple mobs. The ward is a regenerating one, but it only regens at a certain rate, whereas the lifetap is ever-present. There's probably an attack speed threshold where one is better than the other, but it still does a great job in at least damaging the mobs in a multi-mob pull, and an OK job healing too. It'll never be greater than mob attack of course, but I would think that it IS better than the regenerating ward in MOST circumstances.But yes, it is kind of a raw deal how it's not noticably better, or at least as good.

[cfteagu]

<P>I did a little testing in Nek (very gray to me) on this.  The summoner def stance (protective brace?) does NOT stop 23 damage from EVERY hit.</P> <P>It has a 23 hp ward.  When this is used up, it doesn't block damage until it regenerates.  But, it regenerates fast.</P> <P> </P> <P>Basically if your pet is tanking one mob, especially if that mob is slowed, then the ward will be blocking 23 most of the time.</P> <P>If your pet is tanking several mobs, then the hits will be coming in too fast, so the ward will only partially regenerate.  It will probably block only about 8-12 damage per hit.</P>

[Nosewar]

<DIV>Grisly Brace app4 is a huge upgrade on master Protective Brace. Particularly when you use it with your tank pet and with Necromancer's Mark. It really shows its power when you have your pet take on groups of mobs because the health transfer upon every hit on your pet works like a damage shield with self regen.  The pet becomes far more effective and it shows. Test this by taking yourself to Necromancer's Lair which you can solo at your level. After you kill the 4 undead guards, you will have to take a group of 4 worshippers (28s) and then the Necromancer boss will spawn, and when you cause enough damage he will someone two large skel guardians.  You an solo all of these at your level with your pet using these buffs.  However, you'll need a friend to kill the named giant spider in the same area...its poison is very powerful and may kill your pet by the time you get it to 50%.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Oh and you'll get some nice necromancer pantaloons as a drop.</DIV><p>Message Edited by Nosewarts on <span class=date_text>09-30-2005</span> <span class=time_text>03:47 PM</span>