Evaluation of Legendary Pet Shields (just kidding, they don't exist)

I always had a soft spot for Soldier based pet tanks. Yes, they are much slower, weaker and can’t really do serious endgame stuff - but they are fun and at least perfectly viable for Ultimate. But unlike offhands, pet shields barely exist.

Stronghold Defender used to have a juicy +1 to all skills, which was moved to the set bonus.

Diviner’s Vision set uses the shield slot for an offhand. Still, Reap Spirit is the best pet for a pet tank by far, so a weaker version with only 3 ghosts definitely has its place.
A while ago Cryptstalker was added to the game - a weapon, basically tailored for the build :heart:. But not long after, RR from the mask was moved to the set bonus - which, once again, requires an offhand.

Now, what we have left:
Occulant - technically it’s a the only legendary shield with pet bonuses, but they are quite minor and just as specific. I doubt any pet Witchblade is going to use poison damage, other pet masteries don’t get skill bonuses, and the buff itself is not very reliable due to its uptime. Though a proper poison pet build could probably use it as an extra source of stackable damage.

Dreadguard - I like it. It doesn’t give a lot of stats, but it’s a proper good pet shield with +1 to Necro. Though it’s only a blue shield.
Lichguard - can’t say I like it very much. Much better defensive character stats, but almost no offense for pets.

Surprisingly, both blue shields are for necros. And that’s it, green MI shields with innate pet bonuses don’t exist at all.

What bonuses I can personally think of, based on my experience with various pet tanks:

  1. A single extra Reap Spirit summon/decently strong summons on block/being hit. Weaker than a proper pet build with a full set, but still a nice bonus. Something like a discount Gate to Many Worlds
  2. A shield with -CD to Blight Fiend, and maybe more survivablity for it. Might be not the best idea, since any proper Blight Fiend build will consider it as well.
  3. Ravna’s Guard is a good thematic shield for Shamans, and Ranva is a swarm queen. Might be a good place for pet bonuses.
  4. -CD for Ravens. They have a good survivability on my Witchblade due to being ranged, but sometimes they get wiped in seconds (Kuba and Rashalga are the most notable examples). Normal build would have much better pet survivability and DPS, but the hybrids have to sacrifice quite a lot - that’s why I like Reap Spirit and transmuted Blight Fiend so much.

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