Pet stance question

Souplov · 01-22-2006, 04:14 AM

I've got a 28 Necro and am enjoying it immensely. However, I've recently gotten upgrades to both my offensive and defensive stances and I'm not entirely convinced that they're better. I think the reason I'm not sure is because I don't fully understand the underpinnings of stats and abilities, so I'm looking for a little insight.For offensive stances I have Agitation and the upgrade, Boon of the Lifeless. Agitation increases offensive melee skills, INT, and ATK speed while Boon increases offensive spell skills, gives them a life-tap of sorts, and also increases ATK speed. Is the increase in offensive spell skills more effective than an increase in INT of my pet? And besides the minor life-tap addition is there any reason I'd ever use Boon over Agitation for a melee pet? In other words, does the life-tap make up for Agitation's slight increase to melee skills?Similarly, there is an upgrade to Earthly Brand (increase DEF and Mitigation) and an overwriting upgrade: Mark of the Miasmic (increase STA and INT). Since either of these affect my pet as well, does the increase in STA help my pet as much as the extra defenses of Earthly Brand? When I'm soloing (which is often) I'm tempted to think the extra defense on my tanking pet is more useful than the added INT for me. Or does the boost to STA compensate for the benefits of the older spell?I guess I'm really just not familiar enough with the interactions between stats and skills and which is better to boost. If my pet has less DEF but the added INT lets me kill the enemy that much faster then I can see why the upgrade would be valuable, but until I notice my damage output go up substantially I think I'll stick with the older defensive buff.Thanks in advance for your comments!P.S. - what is the difference between Defence and Mitigation?

Magu · 01-22-2006, 06:08 AM

The STA/INT on Mark helps you more then the mediocre buffs on Earthly Brand.To clarify, INT won't help a melee pet at all, so you should never even consider it. Use Boon.The lifetap can help keep your pet alive, which is nicer then a small damage boost on the mage pet from agitation's int buff.

01-22-2006, 04:14 AM	#1
Souplov Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 5	I've got a 28 Necro and am enjoying it immensely. However, I've recently gotten upgrades to both my offensive and defensive stances and I'm not entirely convinced that they're better. I think the reason I'm not sure is because I don't fully understand the underpinnings of stats and abilities, so I'm looking for a little insight.For offensive stances I have Agitation and the upgrade, Boon of the Lifeless. Agitation increases offensive melee skills, INT, and ATK speed while Boon increases offensive spell skills, gives them a life-tap of sorts, and also increases ATK speed. Is the increase in offensive spell skills more effective than an increase in INT of my pet? And besides the minor life-tap addition is there any reason I'd ever use Boon over Agitation for a melee pet? In other words, does the life-tap make up for Agitation's slight increase to melee skills?Similarly, there is an upgrade to Earthly Brand (increase DEF and Mitigation) and an overwriting upgrade: Mark of the Miasmic (increase STA and INT). Since either of these affect my pet as well, does the increase in STA help my pet as much as the extra defenses of Earthly Brand? When I'm soloing (which is often) I'm tempted to think the extra defense on my tanking pet is more useful than the added INT for me. Or does the boost to STA compensate for the benefits of the older spell?I guess I'm really just not familiar enough with the interactions between stats and skills and which is better to boost. If my pet has less DEF but the added INT lets me kill the enemy that much faster then I can see why the upgrade would be valuable, but until I notice my damage output go up substantially I think I'll stick with the older defensive buff.Thanks in advance for your comments!P.S. - what is the difference between Defence and Mitigation?

01-22-2006, 06:08 AM	#2
Magu Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 1,332	The STA/INT on Mark helps you more then the mediocre buffs on Earthly Brand.To clarify, INT won't help a melee pet at all, so you should never even consider it. Use Boon.The lifetap can help keep your pet alive, which is nicer then a small damage boost on the mage pet from agitation's int buff.