After just finishing 3 different pet characters with their 3 sets that match, I have to say no they are not easy! When you have the sets oh yes they become easier! Are they the easy mode? Hell no! Tell me, can any pet build beat either lokaar, ravager, mogdrogen, callagadra or crate? NO! It requires alot more things to be added to the build! Not just legendarys, but skills and various devotions, many of which detract from the pets… Really any character you make in this game can not simply walk in and beat any of the fore mentioned bosses! No character can be simply made by maxing out said skills you want and going on to beat all the super bosses! I think the problem here is many of you are min/maxers and have forgotten what it’s like to just play the game! This game is not easy and requires (to my displeasure) min/maxing to beat all the super bosses… If all it required was get a set and max out all skills from set then everyone would have stopped playing ages ago! The fact you can at least do everything else in the game without min/maxing (for me anyway) makes this game awesome! Are pets the easist? With just about all classes that if you select a skill that kills quick it will trump any pet in elite up! Pets are one of the toughest to make and least beneficial for end game due to limited options for skills and items. When you get items they can be fun but the same problem is always there. Constant recasting of pets because they will never have the defense or health to take on any of the super bosses.
I’ve read skeletons are intended to be so vulnerable.
Is this for real? You have videos of cruci runs with pets? I want to see you not engaging in battle and “dodging shit” seriously I hope I learn something.
Where did you read that?
I would find that weird.
It would be good if Zantai could clarify some things regarding this.
I couldn’t find the quote I was thinking of but I did find this
Sounds like you’re contradicting yourself to me. It’s you who needs to broaden your perspective if you claim lvl 100 is a timesink with no (!) inherent difficulty.
Say that to the vast majority of players who never even make it to ultimate. I’d venture to say, that those that actually do reach ultimate for the first time (and perhaps the second, third,… time) would disagree with you. I certainly would have back then even though I played a vit caster.
They don’t make it, because they stop playing. As to why they stop, the reasons are many. The point is, you are telling others to broaden their perspective, while your own seems to be only getting narrower.
The OP seems to be directed at new players, because of the vit caster -> dark one farming comparison. So no, pets are not easy mode, at least not for new players, that don’t know what they are doing. But then, what build is?
So the fact that monsters and bosses gets harder and harder, has nothing to do with the game itself?
I do agree with you in principle, compared to other ARPGs, getting to max level in GD is kind of a joke.
power scaling usually mean that you have to farm better gear because your skills and devotions can only take you up to a certain point. If a boss is unkillable at a certain point and keeps killing you over and over again, the remedy is to step back a bit, respec and fine tune some skills and find better gear.
If this is a mere a time-sink or not, it depends on the point of view of that particular player.
You would be surprised to see what kind of bad vit caster builds that are actually able to farm dark one set…
Wendigo totem is kinda bad unless you have Dark One set where they grant extra heal, dmg reduction AND you can have two of them for double effect.
Cabalist, Sentinel and Oppressor have no Wendigo Totem, broaden your perspectives.
Likewise.
The comparison was malawi’s, not mine. I agree with it though. Another irony in your posts is, that you blame others of being antagonistic and go on to accuse others of backwards logic because you don’t like/understand/want to understand their opinions.
Just a small hint: I did not say vit caster is easy mode either.
Good day to you.
Yes, but we have different standards and experience. Wendigo Totem does not on its own make you “immortal”. How many fully geared builds do you own that has Wendigo Totem as primarily source of heal which does not use Dark One set? Afaik, you have 2 (!) level 100 chars in GD? I have +50 and I bet I have more game-time leveling Vit Casters from scratch than what you have in the game in total 
When you have some more chars, some posted builds etc, I might take your opinions more seriously.
Perhaps it is the tone, like
that might make you come off like antagonistic.
Also, you might come off as cocky with usage of terminology like “backwards logic”.
Easy game can be achieved only if you know exactly what you’re doing. 
I use Wendigo in lots of Shaman builds either as one pointer or 12/12. But outside Dark one is purely support skill, diminutive heal and negligible damage. Dark One makes it great! Ofc for melee builds you should max Blood Pact for flat damage, while main skill is usually one pointer.
It is all good man, you are making progress!
It’s just that compared to most of the standards of us veterans, things like killing Mogdrogen deathless is you know, cute and all … but you can do that with a freaking SSF faction item build too.
You also have some, for “us”, weird perks like playing SSF without exp pots etc up to level 94 to get “true results” and THEN twink the living daylights out of your char. Calling it “basically HC” is also kind of … not true, because one of the harde parts in HC is to build your HC stash.
And also, we tend to post our stuff here all the time, claiming a build to be “secret” or whatever you wanna call it can thought of as weird, but I can understand that approach too - you wanna experience the game as true single player as possible (?).
We veterans have a different meta than you, and its all good man! That is the beauty of a single player focused game - you decide for yourself how you wanna play. But it is still a forum and we discuss things back and forth so you have to be prepared that ppl with not agree with you.
Shall we bury the hatch and keep discussing the main-subject of this thread?
I disagree with that “Pet builds are easy mode” statement. I consider it a trope, just like “XY Vitality Caster is basically unkillable”.
I’m a HC player and just recently tried a version of Mayas Fluffy Squishy build. It’s very strong of course but a lot of endgame builds are very strong. I had some clutch moments where I got basically swarmed/surrounded and almost died because I’m not a seasoned Pet Master. So my assessment is: On harder content you still have to be a somewhat decent pilot even as a Pet master.
For me it basically comes down to what Nery already said:
“The rules are simple: use common sense, respect the ideas of others even if you disagree with them, no advertising or selling products, no spamming, don’t be offensive.”
https://forums.crateentertainment.com/faq
Both of you cool it or the thread will be closed. You’ve already been warned twice already.
As a member of this community for 10 years now and with hundreds of hours played I think I can objectively and rightfully say that I got basically no clue about pet builds.
Whenever I try to make a pet build I usually stop around level 30/40ish on Veteran and sometimes Elite, usually out of frustration.
So what can I contribute. The feedback of someone who has experience with building a char but just cant get a pet build going.
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It has a super weird power curve.
In the earlier stages of the game they are strong especially if maxed. They will rarely die except in bossfights. In the mid stages they still dont die but also dont do much damage. Skeletons are insanely good early on if maxed iff their base stats and numbers alone. On veteran you can make it to act 2 or 3 without having to actually play the game. After that they might as well be non-persistent combat pets like Wind Devil because you recast them constantly anyway. I have tried quite a few builds that fell off after their first powerspike but damn, pets are the worst (for me).
I obviously cant judge lategame but given the sheer amount of aoe-damage, shot guns (I still think getting hit by multiple instances of a spell should have dimishing return) and ground hazards it feels like having untargetabeable or very tanky few pets is better than having a lot. Also full healing Salazar within 2 second of him dropping seal is fun. I exaggerate but still. -
Itemization is … daunting
First you need to actually find pet items. Of all “damage” types those felt the most rare but might be anecdotal. Then you need to find it on items that suit you. Then it needs to be the stats you need and want. +25% fire damage to all pets is fun unless you play necromancer/shaman. If you have more than one pet it also feels like you need to itemize for 10 different stats to optimize your dmg performance because everyone has different dmg types and often they have secondary types rop. And we didnt even get to defense yet. And if you want to get cute you can even try to find items that make both you and your pet better. Play a selffound pet char. It will be annoyong and painful and tedious unless you know very well what you are doing and are a bit lucky with drops. It might still be good but its in my opinion far from easy mode. -
aggro
I dont get how pet aggro works. I send some pets to enemies while standing almost a screen away from them and as soon as monsters notice my pets they rush straight past them to me. Usually. Not always.
I get some pets can ‘increase threat’ and while noticeable at times I still dont get how any of this works. Also leash range of pets feels arbitrary.
I can totally see how a properly built pet char can breeze through the game and even endgame content but getting to that point requires knowledge and dedication that goes beyond what other builds require.
Edit: to the two in here leading the discussion. If it helps your way of arguing, I can tell that I dont even know what point of either of you are arguing anymore. Try to look back at what you have written so far and summarize it for each other. You might be closer to each other’s opinion than you think.