is band of thugs, and double up worth upgrading?

[yohann koldheart]

<p>the inspect window for the app 1 and the master show exactly the same thing.</p><p>so is it worth upgrading these two ca's at all ?</p>

[Dareena]

<p>More than words can describe. </p><p>Double Up makes a copy of the CAs which have been cast within the duration timer that DU checks off of.  However DU only casts at a spell grade level equal to DU or the original CAs, except it's based on the worst possible choice.  So if you can x3 Apprentice grade abilities and then cast a Master DU, the DU copies come out as Apprentice grade.  Or if you cast x3 Master grade abilities and an Apprentice DU, they still come out as Apprentice.  Only by having everything at Master do they all come out as Master versions under DU.  Also note that DU always casts its copies based on the highest tier of each CA.  So even if you have a Mastered 70's version of Dispatch on your hotbar, but are in the mid 80's, the DU version cast will be based on the grade of your 80's version of Dispatch (regardless of the fact that you cast the 70's Master version).</p><p>Band of Thugs are dumbfire pets for the Brigand.  To be honest, that can die rather easily at Master level.  However at that grade, they might be able to soak an AE or a single auo attack.  At an Apprentice grade, they won't survive being breathed on by a mob.  This means that their instant deaths will rob your of their potential dps output on the mob.  Also this means that the Thugs won't live enough to fullfill their true purpose.  People use these on named mobs which have specific abilities which the Brigand wants to avoid.  Between the various ways to drop -1 Threat positions, a Brigand uses the pets to try to drop aggro for the split second needed to avoid being hit with things.  The Thugs can never hold aggro off of you for any real length of time.  They just exist to help Brigand who want to solo mobs which can charm and other such encounter breaking / lock down abilities.</p>