The trials of making hybrid pet builds
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.
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Hybrid Raven + Lightning Doom Bolt Warlock didn’t have enough Regeneration to reliably beat SR bosses.
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Hybrid Vitality Obliteration + Raven & Salazar Cabalist also failed due to lack of sustain / regeneration. Just couldn’t handle big hits from monsters like Reaper or Kaisan.
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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?)
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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.
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Witching Hour Hellhound + Doom Bolt Deceiver just lacks everything. Damage, sustain, OA for the player, the Witching Hour buffs just couldn’t make this one useful. Another of of Gargabolo’s builds probably did it better here: [1.1.9.1] A Rifleman walks his Dog - Minimalist Hybrid Pet Pyromancer - SR65
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Hybrid Pets / Blade Arc Warder This build was attempting to duplicate the success of Gargabolo’s build: [1.1.9.1] Beginner's Hybrid Pet Warder - The Mogdrogen Cleaver - Blue Set - SR75, but just didn’t have the sustain to beat Nemesis bosses.
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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.