Hello everyone! First time posting here. I’m looking for some advice on my build. It’s a Pet Ritualist. I’m about to enter Ultimate for the first time and i wanted someone more experienced to take a look at it and see if i need to make some adjustments.
I’m wondering if i should switch the points i have spent on Grasping Vines (for CC) and place those into Bone Harvest/Dread/Soul Harvest? The BH skill offers some decent damage and bonuses to pets but GV has been crucial in controlling large crowds. Dread offers a chance to confuse and BH has a slow as well. Should i go for the BH skill or should i keep GV in ultimate? Or maybe i should invest those points elsewhere?
How are my devotions? I picked up quite a lot of resistance reduction. I’m not sure if i need this much. I’m already using Devouring Swarm for Bleed RR. Or it’s fine this way? The more the better?
I’d appreciate some tips for ultimate as well. Thanks!
devos look fine’ish to me, good phys/bleed medley, could probably safely ditch 1 and focus your dmg type on one or the other
i have no idea why you’ve put attribute points into spirit or cunning for your current setup, as pet lord you don’t need those stats unless to wield items and can safely dump everything else into physique
if it were me, speaking as a total casual and not a pet super optimization expert; i’d strip the points in vines say for maybe 1 in each node, invest a bit in wendigo, and more in necro (ex potentially Ill Omen dmg reduct) - you also don’t really need dread if you go deeper into to BF
also you have 1 too many points in embloldering (see how its red)
Wow! I didn’t even notice the red on Emboldening. I didn’t know there was a maximum cap beyond the base 12 points. It’s probably time to drop the mogdrogen level 75 set. I placed points in cunning and spirit to wield equipment i found early in the game. I was considering the possibility of resetting my attribute points. I have quite a few pet items that require far too much investment in spirit but i don’t know if i should bother with those.
there are some good caster items for pet builds, requiring a fair amount of spirit, and they are indeed worth the cost - when you get there
and you can respec attribute points with the potion you get from quests in AoM
also the points wont be red in game, it can’t display points/value above hardcap for some reason - and hardcap is always base+10points
since you are 94 already, and have reached max item level, i’d start allotting points/investments and gearing towards your initial endgame setup, so if those caster pet items fit your intended build indeed use them/divert points toward their requirement
^i would probably consider the briarthorn offhand (MI), unless your build requires/aims for something else
maya has some excellent still valid pointers for pets and beginner endgame pet setups/tips in her guide section The Carnival - A Guide to Pets which is always handy for budding minion masters
Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, i can’t use a Bloodsworn Codex (or any magical off-hand really) because of its high spirit requirement. I already replaced a good portion of my equipment and i switched to a 1h + shield combo. Here’s my current setup: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/RZRPDmK2
I found this Bargoll’s Core being sold by the plant NPC in the Ancient Grove dungeon. It was kind of an amazing find. Probably the best kind of modifier for this weapon in particular. I replaced the helm and chest with the Bysmiel’s cult equipment. I had this Fleshwarped Bulwark equipped for quite some time and i decided to switch to it after i was done with the Mogdrogen set (the cleaver is still equipped on the alternative weapon tab).
I dropped Mark of Torment for Call of the Grave because of the weapon. I’m seriously considering dropping my Zaria’s Pendant for a Death-Watcher pendant as it will turn Call of the Grave into a healing skill and increase its duration to 17 seconds (+5s duration, +15% health restored). I could get almost 100% uptime on its effect this way. I did some maddening back and forth between Homestead and the Benevald secret shop yesterday to refresh his shop and see if i could find a decent pendant but nothing really amazing popped up. I’m gonna try a bit more but i’ll settle for anything with some decent resistance to aether, chaos, bleed or stun.
Another alternative i have is using a Mythical Black Scourge for more minions (summon up to three devourers on enemy death) but i’m leaning towards this Call of the Grave support setup. Any other suggestions?
you can, just dump more spirit, it’s probably one of the best briar offhands and worth it for briar builds
-ofc the choice is yours, and you can use a shield/that shield, it just might not be a “great” item compared
one doesn’t exclude the other, tho if your build/aggro management is good you might not exactly use if “often”, but Mark of Torment an help keep you alive/even at 1pt will reduce dmg you take when if you steal aggro
no
but ofc that’s just my opinion, the choice is yours, but unless Z nerfs the pendant (or offhand) it’s probably some of the best briar items, and i’m betting death watcher will be a big loss compared as long as you are including heavy briar focus in your build
(+ Total dmg is a big thing, way more than regular +dmg)
i’m personally not a fan of black scourge anymore, since your pets can’t trigger the procs means the summons rarely happens if ever,
and would only use if if needing the base pet stats like chaos res, or the +skills was better useful if ex leveling a conjurer
-let the Queen of Birbs, Maya, be the final judge
(and once again you have a skill with too many points/red, heart of the wild)
It’s going to take quite a bit of an investment to obtain the required amount of spirit but i’ll take it into consideration. Though i’d rather take a Bound Wraith over the Bloodsworn Codex. I don’t need the offensive ability on the codex and i think my pets already have plenty of stun res. I don’t know how much of a difference that little bit of flat physical damage will make. The 35% damage modifier for the Briar is certainly great but Bound Wraith offer extra health, a lower cooldown and more attack speed on the Primal Spirit and the bonus to pets look a lot better on that item. I’m still new to this so i’m probably just blindly looking at big numbers.
I’m still considering taking Mark of Torment again but i’m having too much trouble handling the amount of active skills i have. My keyboard setup is the default one so i’m having lots of difficulty with the re-summoning of pets in the middle of large battles. I’m used to having 2 and 3 as my potion keys but i know there are alternatives on the keyboard. My brain is completely used to this setup already.
I’m keeping the Zaria’s Pendant. It feels bad that i wasted more than 1 hour in a foolish pursuit for the perfect Death-Watcher pendant but it’s okay. It’s good to know that the Zaria’s Pendant is good enough. I have it for a very long time now. I tried to farm Zaria for a better one but the others were a complete disappointment. It’s also pretty annoying that you can’t just use the riftgate in the Darkvale Gate to have an easier access to her. Travelling from the Blood Grove riftgate to her isn’t exactly fun.
It’s good to know that the Black Scourge doesn’t trigger from my pets. It makes it pretty bad then. I can kill stuff from time to time (the bleed + vitality RR from Devouring Swarm alongside Grasping Vines and Blood Pool can kill trash mobs occasionally) but it’s not something that i can rely on. Thanks for the tips!
But nerfing those will only mean pet builds overall will become more nerfed. Anyway, alkamoshaters bleed/chaos conjurer performed just as sick even with primal spirit green off-hand so
What could be implemented, are similar greens for birb and blight fiend… imagine sweet extra 30% damage to those birbies
Tested with my own Bleed build and Crittrain’s Kaoscats on cally. The changes on 1.1.9.0 did not make things easier for pets so if it couldn’t on the previous patch, it is not doing it now.
Have been, once. When the Gate offhand was introduced. Pets being nerfed on 1.1.9.0 is a fact even Zantai himself agreed with.
If you are going off on the cally kill, you might want to look at not just lack of greens used in my builds but also the lack of consumables as well.
I can copy Alkamos’s exact same build and get better result in 1.1.8.1.
Build is good for its intended purpose though. Not arguing that.
