In the latest update, pet set items were nerfed while non-set items were buffed. I completely agree with the direction, to make non-set items become more competitive and sets be no longer a default option.
However, the adjustment range was not appropriate. After the update, sets were completely weaker than non-set items.
Following are some comparisons:
Lost Soul vs. Veilpiercer + Chosen Visage of Caged Souls (single rare) + Sovereign Ruby + Fiendflesh Mantle
Lost Soul:
- base DMG - 12, hound addition 120
- %DMG - 90% all
- AS -
- Crit DMG -
- OA - 23%
- DA - 8%
- Health - 10%, skeleton addition 60%
- Res - 75% in tatol (vit 25%, aether 25%, chaos 25%), skelleton addition phy 15%
- Skill points (Cabalist) - ~39(“Occultist +1 all skills” approximately equal to 14 points)
- Skeleton - summon burst +1, summon limit +3
- Hellhound - summon limit +1
Non-set:
- base DMG - 15, hound addition 200
- %DMG - 750% all, 120% fire (skill of Ruby on average 240%)
- AS - 9%
- Crit DMG - 31% (skill of Ruby on average 13%), hound addition 25%
- OA - 42 (skill of Ruby on average 42)
- Health - 10%
- Res - 163% in tatol (aether 80%, chaos 45%, bleed 38%), hound addition phy 15%
- Lots of crowd control Res
- Skill points (Cabalist) - 51
- Skeleton - summon burst +1, summon limit +2
- Hellhound - TDM 56% (1.2*1.3), 24 reduce rers
One more skeleton and 0.44 more hound? ~650% difference in %DMG means ~20% difference in final DPS. So DPS of 10 skeletons for non-set equal to DPS of 12 skeletons for Lost Soul. And 1.56 Hellhound is actually 1.87 (1.56*1.2). Considering difference in base DMG (200 vs. 120), we can say DPS of hound for set and non-set are close. If you have other pets, like Blight Fiend and Raven, non-set absolutely has a higher DPS.
23% OA vs. 9% AS + 31% Crit DMG? Maybe close.
In offensive attributes, non-set is slightly better.
In defensive attributes, Lost Soul has 60% Health for only skelletons. Don’t forget non-set has about 10 more skill points. If you put 8 more skill points into Bonds of Bysmiel, you could get 64% Health for all pets.
Non-set also provide higher Res and CC Res.
Considering multiple aspects in total, non-set is better than Lost Soul.
Beastcaller vs. Ascendant Cowl of the Wild (single rare) + Wendigo Gaze of the Wild (single rare) + Fiendmaster Raiment (or Necrolord’s Shroud, both are strong) + Fiendflesh Mantle
Beastcaller:
- base DMG - hound 120
- %DMG - 270% all, 150% bleed (skill of Cowl on average 120%)
- AS - 17% (skill of Cowl on average 12%)
- Crit DMG -
- OA - 6%
- DA - 8%
- Health - 8%
- Amor - 20%
- Res - 138% in tatol (elem 50%, vit 28%, aether 30%, chaos 30%)
- Skill points (Conjurer) - 21 (yes, only 21, as no “+1 all skill in Shaman”)
- Briarthorn - summon limit +1, higher Threat
- Hellhound - higher Threat
Non-set:
- base DMG - 30
- %DMG - 470% all, 120% aether, 150% chaos
- AS - 23%
- Crit DMG - 6%
- OA -
- DA - 8%
- Health - 10%
- Res - 255% in tatol (elem 65%, vit 60%, aether 65%, chaos 65%)
- More crowd control Res
- Skill points (Conjurer) - 38
- Briarthorn - TDM 69% (1.3*1.3)
Beastcaller has a little higher offensive attributes than non-set for Briarthorn and Hellhound. But other pets (like Primal Spirit) gain more from non-set.
In defensive attributes, non-set has little advantages.
However, non-set provides 17 more skill points. No matter whether you put it into offensive or defensive, non-set will be better than Beastcaller.
Moreover, Briarthorn is really weak now. Even in Beastcaller BDs, DPS of two Briarthorns do not account for a high proportion. Primal Spirit and Hellhound are more reliable.
Ghol vs. Necrolord’s Shroud + Fiendflesh Mantle + Bonescavenger’s Deathgrips + Rotrinker Creat
Ghol:
- base DMG - 30
- %DMG - 120% acid
- AS - 12%
- Crit DMG -
- OA - 4%
- DA -
- Health - 20%
- Amor -
- Res - 115% in total (elem 40%, acid 25%, aether 25%, chaos 25%)
- Skill points (Ritualist) - 29
- Blight Fiend - summon limit +1 (with “Unstable Anomaly”, +1 means 33% more DPS)
- Eldritch Talon
Non-set:
- base DMG - 33
- %DMG - 150% all, 410% vit
- AS - 9%
- Crit DMG - 16%
- OA -
- DA -
- Health - 36%
- Amor -
- Res - 130% in total (elem 40%, aether 45%, chaos 45%)
- Skill points (Ritualist) - 26
- Blight Fiend - TDM 30%
I admit that this comparison is not perfect, as Ghol is designed for Poision-Acid Pet BD, while Bonescavenger and Necrolord’s Shroud are designed for Vitality Pet BD. But Ritualist has stronger Res ruduce skills in Vitality than in Poision-Acid. Ghol offers 30% Poision-Acid Res ruduce, if you want more, then sacrifice other equip slots to choose non-pet items. On the contrary, Ritualist has 80% Vitality Res ruduce with Swarm (rank 16) and Spectral Wrath (rank 10), no sacrifices.
Therefore, we can say non-set can do better than Ghol.
Bysmiel’s Trinkets
There is no suitable comparison non-set object. If you want to use Reven as the core, Trinkets might be the only choice. Will of Bysmiel is a competitor in amulet slot, but the related BDs are relatively weak.
Actually, I think Reven is too weak compared with other Mastery pets, especilly after nerf on pet speed. As attack frequency for other pets is base on Attack Speed, which decreased from 150% to 100%, 33% actual decrease (50%/150%=33%), while Cast Speed for Raven decreased from 100% to 50%, 50% actual decrease (50%/100%=50%).
In ver 1.2, Bysmiel’s Trinkets BDs usually had high phy Res, really tanky, but the DPS was inferior to other pet BDs. In Playtests, as the generally decrease in phy Res, the advantate in survivability is no longer obvious, Raven-core BDs are weaker than other pet BDs in all aspects. Skeletons, Hound, Prinmal Spirit, Blight Fiend and Briarthorn all have a higher DPS. Even in Bysmiel’s Trinkets BD, DPS of 2 Ravens (with Bysmiel’s Mindweaver) in total is lower than one Hound (with Bysmiel’s Mindweaver, Chosen Visage and Fleshwarped Archive) or one Prinmal Spirit (with Bound Wraith). I feel it is necessary to increase access to Cast Speed. Gears and augments should not only have AS but also CS.
Make Sets and Non-Sets be more different
If we used Set BDs in ver 1.2 as the standard for 100 points score. Non-Set BDs in ver 1.2 might be 80, so we all used Sets. This patch, changed Sets to 90 points and Non-Sets to 120, so we turned to Non-Sets. Maybe next patch, Sets might be 110 and Non-Sets 90, then we would turn back.
IMO, such changes have little significance. I think a better way is to make Sets and Non-Sets become more different, i.e., to put them on different tracks. For example, Non-Set BDs have few pets with high single target DPS, while Sets provide more pets so can better deal with massive normal enemies.
I have three different ideas to make Sets and Non-Sets more different:
① Number of pets
Focus on Hound and Briarthorn, two vs. one seems to be a huge improvement. But pet BDs usually have multiple core pets, like one Hound + one Briarthorn + one Prinmal Spirit, or ten skeletons + three Sundered Wraiths + one Hound, so 4 vs. 3, 11 vs. 10, the disparity is small.
Therefore, we could give Sets more pets, like +2 Limit to Hound, Raven and Briarthorn, +2 or +3 to Blight Fiend and +5 or +6 to skeletons. To prevent Sets becoming too strong, might add Damage Modified penalty, probably -20% to -30%.
2 Hounds vs. 3 Hounds with -30% TDM, single target DPS were close, while three had more special attacks and more frequently devo skills, clearing large groups of enemies faster.
② Frequency of special attacks
Sets provided no Attack Speed, but reduced CD of special attacks. For example, the CD for special attacks with Sets could be 4s, and 6s without Sets.
On the contrary, non-set items could provide a moderate amount of AS and CS.
So Set BDs would be good at clearing massive enemies, and Non-Set BDs would have a higher single target DPS and be better at killing BOSS.
③ Better survival ability
Refer to Beastcaller’s Talisman. It give Hound and Briarthorn higher Threat, so the character themselves are safer. This makes Beastcaller Set a good choice at high level SR (SR 100+), although its performance at lower levels (SR 75-76) is not satisfactory.
We could give other Sets the similiar modifiers (higher Threat or Taunt), or other modifiers which enhance the player’s survival ability (Reduce Damage, Damage Absorption, or Max Res). So when we wanted to challenge high levels, we would choose Set BDs, while at lower levels Non-Set BDs would be a faster and more efficient choice.
Summary
- Overall, pet BDs are too strong now. Few player BDs can surpass pet BDs.
- In internal comparison among pet BDs, Non-Set is better than Set now. I suggest to make Set and Non-Set be more different, to adapt them to differdent scenarios.
- Based on my personal experience, Hellhond and skeletons are too strong, while Briarthorn and Raven are too weak. Situation of Primal Spirit is complicated, whose upper limit is not as good as Hellhond and skeletons, but it saves skill points. Usually, we put only ~10 skill points in Primal Spirit, while Hellhond and skeletons need more than 30. For Blight Fiends and Sundered Wraiths, I don’t have much experience, so I won’t comment on them.
- Gears and augments should not only have AS but also CS. Raven is too weak now.