Pets and how to level them to suit your needs
A. Introduction
B. pet types
1. Available pets
2. Choosing the pet that’s right for you
3. Pet status
I. The “playful-hearty” line
II. The “aggressive-dire” line
C. Skill sets
1. Setup from levels 1-15
I. Aggressive
II. Playful
2. Setup from levels 15-20
I. Dire
II. Hearty
A: Introduction
Most rangers tend to have pets (most ranger secondarys do to). Pets are useful in ways that most people don’t see without looking outside of the box (and looking very hard I might add). They can be used to tank, add extra damage, pull enemies, be minion fodder, and so on and so forth. Having a high level pet is a definite advantage in the later stages of the game and in the farming instances where a “B/P” (barrage/pet) build has suddenly become popular.
B: Pet types
Available pets
This is a list of pet types that can be captured:
Melandru’s stalker - slashing damage (two quests that you must have this as your pet, can be captured in pre searing, or post searing ascalon sardilac sanitarium.
Moa bird – piercing damage (can be captured in post searing ascalon outside of _____)
Strider – piercing damage (can be captured in pre searing outside of ashford abbey)
Snow wolf – slashing damage (can be captured in the northern shiverpeaks outside of the ice cave)
Warthog – blunt damage (can be captured in most areas in kryta)
Desert lizard – slashing damage (can be captured in pretty much every instance in the desert)
Bear – slashing damage (can be captured in the southern shiverpeaks)
Elder wolf – slashing damage (can be captured in the southern shiverpeaks outside and to the north of copperhammer mines {these start at level 15 and you cannot change their status})
Black Widow – piercing damage (can be captured in the underworld after a very long and tedious journey – start at level 20 and you have a chance of getting a dire or elder one)
Which pet is right for you?
It’s all about the looks, no one pet is actually better than any other ones, so I recommend picking one out that you like and sticking to it.
Pet status
Pets all start out as “neutral” and will be fairly weak, pets gain levels the same way as you do, except pets gain armor and extra damage when they level. A level 20 pet will have somewhere around 80 armor against everything, and should be hitting as if they are using a max damage hammer.
Pets also have another quirk that comes with leveling them – they gain “statuses” and here they are:
Neutral: pets up to level 10 are this – no extra damage or health
Playful: Pet’s level 10-15 can be this – 30 extra health
Aggressive: Pet’s level 10-15 can be this – 3 extra damage
Hearty: Pet’s levels 15-20 can be this – 60 extra health
Dire: Pet’s levels 15-20 can be this – 6 extra damage
Elder: Pet’s levels 15-20 can be this – 30 extra health and 3 extra damage
How do you choose which status your pet gets? This guide should help you get the status you want for your pet.
Leveling along the “playful-hearty” line
Leveling along this line will mean you need to do more damage than your pet. This line is a piece of cake, pretty much playing like you normally do, but save a couple of spots for your pet (charm and comfort animal).
Our skill set/attribute points:
Marksmanship: 9
Beast mastery: 12
Wilderness survival: 7
Everything else into expertise
Whirling defense/throw dirt
Barrage
Penetrating attack
Favorable winds
Edge of extinction
Troll Unguent
Comfort animal
Charm animal
(condition removal)
Our leveling spot of choice: Druids Overlook. Right outside here there are several level 17 fevered devourers that die very easily, step outside and walk north until a level 14 ranger devourer pops out of the ground and starts shooting at you, kill this one. Keep going until you see a spot where the road splits take the right fork of the road, go right to the fork and cast your spirits walk north and 4-5 fevered devourers will pop out of the ground, cast troll unguent (at 6 dots of health regeneration it was enough to keep me alive against all of them) and start barraging, they will hit you with weakness, this doesn’t especially matter (you’re doing enough damage anyway). After they die, rinse and repeat.
Leveling along this line if you’re not level 20:
I suggest playing the game along using your normal skill set – keep your pet along with you the whole time, and just do as much damage as you can – it’s pretty easy
Leveling along the “Aggressive-Dire” line:
This means you need to do less damage than your pet, this line is much harder than the other one, considering a level 20 ranger can be hitting 100s more damage than a level 5 pet. If you’re not level 20, put all points into beast mastery, and wield a staff. Try to do as much damage with your pet as you possibly can.
Our leveling spot and routine are the same as for the “playful-hearty” line, but we’ll be making our pet do more damage than us.
You will need to be an R/Mo (or Mo/R) for this part of the guide, it’s worth changing your secondary profession for it.
Beast mastery:12
Smiting prayers: 12
Wilderness survival: everything else (or in the event that you’re a monk primary, put it into healing instead)
Skills:
Troll unguent (I found that as a ranger, +6 regen was enough)
Strength of Honor
Charm Animal
Comfort Animal
Call of Haste
Call of Protection
Feral lunge
Ferocious strike {E}(if you have it, if not use scavengers strike)
The idea is to use strength of honor, and wield a staff (so you do minimal damage) and use call of haste to make your pet attack 25% faster (this can be kept up at all times) then use your pet attacks to add in extra damage (watch your energy though!)
This guide should help you get your pet to whatever status you want, so I wish you luck and fun