This was my most-played build during the 1.1.9.8 playtest, and now the patch is out for everyone to enjoy, I can share this build. This build incorporates the new changes to Korvaak as a Pet devotion and Ishtak’s buffs; the increased uptime on Ishtak specifically helps for a smoother experience piloting and having the pets hold aggro.
Warden’s Judgment - Provides 100% Physical to Aether conversion for pets. Getting 100% conversion is more important than the affixes, but I chose the suffix “of Tormented Souls” specifically to get 22/12 in Siphon Souls, our main casting ability.
Mythical Necrolord’s Gaze - One of the rare pet items that actually gives damage bonuses, provides +1 to both classes, and gives tremendous uptime to our Conjure Primal Spirit.
Mythical Reaper of the Accursed - Provides more skill points, Aether Damage, and much-needed pet Elemental Resists.
Diviner’s Mantle - Reap Spirit Points, pet OA and pet Chaos resistance.
Fateweaver’s Raiment - The holy grail of hybrid pet gearing. Provides 15% Resistance to every type for you and your pets, but there was no build that could fully integrate this item in pet builds since the Chest slot is typically taken by a set item.
Mythical Spiritseeker’s Cord - Provides more Aether damage, Reap Spirit bonuses, and nice pet bonuses and resistances.
Death Watcher Pendant - Gives 120% Aether damage to you and your pets thanks to the Mogdrogen’s Pact modifier, gives 5% Physical resistance, and the opportunity to score affixes for even more damage.
Ring of Tawrot and Mythical Mark of Anathema - Pet Rings and Medals don’t offer the best when it comes to pet bonuses, so I instead take the opportunity to power up Siphon Souls with these items to make a serviceable spellcaster.
Aethereach - Converts 100% of Elemental Pet damage to Aether damage, primarily used on the Shaman’s Primal Instinct critters.
Reaper’s Leggings - Taken so I can get some more affixes and pet resistances that I normally wouldn’t be able to get. Hard to recommend a non-MI replacement since the affixes patch up pet resistances and OA wonderfully, but probably Runebrand Leggings would be the best alternative.
As you can see, this was the culmination of specific pet gear that all happen to synergize harmoniously to create a pet build that can farm SR75-76 with little struggle. (The Grimtools link is different in the video because I took the Harbinger of Souls exclusive back then instead of Primal Bond).
I’ll be making a separate post below on Hybrid Pet Builds in general, so please refrain from posting until I complete it.
This is not a demand for buffs, but a peek into the mind of creating hybrid pet builds, some of the hardest to create successfully. A lot of pet items simply don’t grant player bonuses, and pet items can occasionally run into snags when balancing for pet resistances. Thanks to 1.1.9.8 for generously sprinkling pet resistances onto devotions (the pet bonuses on Stag in particular are incredible), but that doesn’t make it any less difficult finding a hybrid pet / player concept to work. And it shouldn’t work that easily, considering that you’re effectively taking two different and sometimes contradictory sources and trying to have them work together.
Call this my meme receptacle, call it a pile of failures, but I wanted to share the numerous attempts I’ve made in making hybrid pet builds work, and the reasons why they ended up falling short (my goal is being able to run SR75-76 successfully without deaths). If you want to try them in easier content like Main Campaign or easier SR, then go all for it, but they are noticeably less powerful than the Hybrid pet builds I’ve posted in the forums.
Hybrid RE + Blight Fiend Cabalist This one actually is able to beat SR75, but it’s so slow that it doesn’t deserve a thread of its own. Pretty neat concept but is just lacking in damage (and transmuted Blight Fiend is an awful skill, what can I say?)
Chaos BWC + Black Scourge pets Pyromancer This one is also moderately successful, and actually beat Crucible which is a major milestone for hybrid pets, but you’re better off just playing the Dracarris Fire version which breezes through SR75-76 like a warm knife through butter.
Hybrid Vitality Primal Strike / Pets Ritualist Unlike the others, this build was lacking (surprisingly or otherwise) in pet damage. Shooting with Primal Strike was a lot of fun, though, if only I had room for Reap Spirit.
Hopefully we can just enjoy the meme concepts; hopefully other people can come up with fun pet ideas, but I’ve tried everything to incorporate pet skills and player skills into a functioning build, but this post comes to show that for every successful build I post in the forums, I’ve had to drudge through at least 4-5 failures just to get there.
