Underwhelming pet items:
Wendigo Gaze – MI medals are great for pet builds that don’t have a required equipment slot here anyway (Beastcaller’s Set) as it’s the best slot to fill with perfect MI prefix / suffix combos that either grant great resistances (Incorruptible) or amazing skill bonuses (you can get up to +4 to Raise Skeletons if you get the right combo). However, outside the small Crit damage and total speed, there’s not much about this item that separates it from other MI items like Kymon’s badge. The modifier to Summon Briarthorn is weak because if you’re trying to support Briarthorns, you’re using the Beastcaller’s set to get a second pet. Fishing for +Raise Skeletons affixes is definitely worth it for Necromancer builds, but considering the costs of ravaging all of Ugdenbog to try and get a good Wendigo Gaze, I’d much rather take the effort and either craft a Watcher Crest or look for a much easier to obtain Kymon’s badge.
Ascendant Cowl – Considering how good this is for Skeletons, I’m surprised that the Lost Souls set gives as much love to Raise Skeletons as it does, especially as you can fish for a prefix that gives up to +3 to Raise skeletons in addition to the other bonuses.
Zantarin’s Mantle – 10% Total Speed, without any damage or OA, makes it a very disappointing choice for MI shoulders. It is surprising that this MI gives bonuses to Blight Fiend instead of Raise Skeletons, considering his whole stick is bringing lots of skeleton adds to the fight.
Bloodsworn Codex – As much as I want to see how far I can push Briarthorns with this item, I don’t see any reason why I’d take this item over the Fleshwarped Bulwark. It’d be interesting to find a way to make this item stand out, but I don’t see where I can give this a unique use.
Lunal Valgoth’s Girdle – Lunal Valgoth’s Girdle now grants Chaos Resistance and pet Crit. The 6% Pet Crit is pretty good and Chaos resistance is a tough resistance to get, but considering there are multiple belts that are much easier to obtain than a Boss MI, it needs to stand out more. Outside of the craftable Malmouth Arcane Girdle that grants +Conjure Primal Spirit, there’s the Ugdenbog Girdle that grants Armor + Armor absorption, Puppetmaster Links that are craftable and grant pet OA, and Stoneplate Waistguard, that is also craftable and grants valuable Stun Reduction. I wouldn’t go through the effort fighting this boss just for this belt.
Reaper of the Lost’s Legguards – I’m surprised that these pants gave pet bonuses instead of Kubacapra’s pants. Anyway, as much as the devs want Soldier pet builds to be a thing, why did you replace the bonus to Squad Tactics with Field Command? Squad Tactics is a far better choice for bonuses as the pets would far better use the additional damage and attack speed, especially as both Shaman and Occultist have additional ways of supplying flat OA.
Mythical Black Hand of Sanar’Siin – Having pets that only live for 15 seconds is far too short to give the pets any consideration, especially when the pets need time to reach the enemy in the first place. The damage variation is far too wide for these critters- the high Chaos damage is 100 damage, but the low goes all the way down to 6? Considering how pathetic their health is, their Chaos damage should be 100 at a minimum, and go up to around 150 so they could be slightly worse than their Primal Instinct brethren.
Mythical Blightstone Invoker – A great item for Poison Pet Builds, though the skill bonus to Blood Burst is confusing. Pet bonuses are wonderful, and it’d be interesting to see how this item meshes with the Vestments of the Great Guardian and Wildshorn Legguards to mix Poison Retaliation with the large amount of Poison and Acid bonuses.
Mythical Blightshard Amulet – Quoting from AyyyLmao who made a Poison Pet build work:
Mythical Black Grimoire of Og’Napesh – The skill bonuses are alright, even if it only benefits Necromancers who should have no problems getting a good amount of pets. I haven’t had much experimentation with this item, as off-hands really need the +All skills or extremely good skill bonuses to be considered using, especially with the high amount of Spirit required makes it a no-go for most builds.
Mythical Grim Harvest Boots – The 4% DA and the Master of Death bonus is wonderful, but the Armor is so bad that you legitimately feel like you’re going to die by getting hit in the feet. Literal Achilles’ Heel is present in this item.
Mythical Dreadguard – The first real pet shield in the game, this would have been great to give Soldier bonuses to, but instead continues to be custom-made for Cabalists. Cabalists aren’t likely to use the shield as they have far better item support, which is a shame, as the item is amazing for anyone wanting to use pets and have a bit more survivability.
Mythical Spiritcannon – 10% Crit Damage and 255% Vitality damage is really good and it’s on an Epic weapon. Add in the 45% conversion to Vitality and the AoE Vitality on-attack proc and this could turn into a viable weapon.
Mythical Crown of the Winter King – Considering that Veil of Shadow is an aura, it would have been much more beneficial to give it a reduced DA debuff rather than a Movement Speed debuff that’s just going away when the summoner runs away from the pack. Pet bonuses are okay and the granted skill is nice for characters that need more active skills to activate devotions.
Mythical Padala’s Will – The skill bonuses (Soul Harvest + All Necro skills) are nice, not to mention the pet OA. It just doesn’t have anything that makes it stand out among the Legendary brethren.
Will of Bysmiel - The regular Will of Bysmiel is satisfactory at best, it would be great to see the Voidfiends be summoned on attack as opposed to having a hard cooldown so they are similar to the Primal Instinct critters (the summon limit of 3 is fine).
Claw of Hagaraz – Another great pet build item ruined by dumping everything into Cabalists and making 90% of them obsolete. Ritualists already have the Ravager’s Bite, so I don’t see what other class could benefit from the Vitality damage buff to Call of the Grave. Maybe if there was Elemental to Vitality conversion the same way there is Elemental to Acid for Putrid Amulet, maybe Spellbinders would have a nice boon.
Eye of Dominion – Even if you can get pets to have 100% resistances, it’s difficult giving them the offense necessary to make good use of their nigh-invulnerability. Mind control is middling at best - the only real use for it is getting Witch Doctors and other healing enemies to heal your pets for large chunks of health.
Mythical Reaper of the Accursed – Another legendary item with pet Spellbinders in mind, the Elemental to Aether conversion is also done by the Diviner’s Codex, and it’s a bit shocking that this item’s proc now has a longer cooldown than Mark of Divinity’s 100% damage absorption.
Mythical Rotdrinker Crest – Between this medal and the Rotmender rings, Poison Cabalists should feel very fulfilled. The –Total Speed debuff is wonderful to keep enemies attacking slower and away from the Summoner.
Poison Cabalists have more than enough Poison and Acid Resistance, so it’s rough to build around these items and obtain good resists, especially as the Elemental to Acid conversion requires good investment in Cunning which takes away from obtaining an appropriate DA level.
The Overseer – While the medal slot for Briarthorns is much better used by the Beastcaller’s Talisman, the extra Crit damage to Hellhounds can help with the Lost Souls set and the exploding Hellhounds. Especially as Pierce resistance is very hard to find for non-Shaman pet builds, it can be an interesting item indeed.
Mark of the Nymph – This item would be really good if only it gave any sort of resistances. Since the medal gives the pets additional current elemental resistance, it would be fair to have a Mythical Mark of the Nymph that gives the summoner some elemental resistance as well.
Wildpact Emerald and Empowered Marrow Band – Why are there no Mythical version of these rings?
Completely Obsolete Items:
Mythical Fiendgaze Tome – Considering the huge amount of pet fire damage the Mythical Wyrmclaw receives, I don’t see how this item isn’t overshadowed by the Wyrmclaw at all, especially when the modifier to Reap Spirit does little for the actual wraith itself and the proc is not only on crit, which pet builds rarely have sufficient OA to reach the threshold to do critical hits in the first place, but is far too paltry to justify sacrificing anything to reach that OA in the first place. I have made a feedback thread discussing this item.
Mythical Touch of the Everliving Grove – No offensive bonuses to speak of, a pet resistance that is fairly easy to obtain (Vitality) and weak resistances make it far less of an option than the Overlord Iron Grips, even with the heal proc.
Mythical Spiritseeker Cord – While pet speed bonuses are becoming more welcome, the skill bonuses are meant for Spellbinder pet builds that have a very hard time getting good pet OA. That and Spellbinders are most associated with the Diviner’s Set, which already trivializes getting Reap Spirit to 26/16.
Mythical Rotmender’s Hat – Completely overshadowed by Mythical Cowl of Mogdrogen, which is already a mediocre epic pet set. Necromancers already have more than enough Vitality resistance and there isn’t anything redeeming about it.
Mythical Acolyte’s Cord – Why do you bother making this belt Cabalist-focused when you go ahead and give that class the ultimate BiS belt that surpasses even Mythicals? Take the bonuses from Call of the Grave and give it to a class that really needs the support.
Bargoll’s Core – Definitely a nice gesture for those who want to make good use of the Blight Fiend – the skill modifier makes using Dying God much less painful (which is especially nice since DoT builds thrive on huge crits), and it’s nice that the weapon itself contains some CDR. With the Plaguebearer of Dreeg providing nice pet OA and huge Poison RR, however, it’s hard to see this as anything but a placeholder until you get that mace.
Mythical Wretched Crow of Bysmiel – I can’t say I know how much the Physical conversion to Chaos and the Poison / Chaos combination will help the player, but I can see that having only +1 to Occultist (the class that needs pet Poison help the least) and the huge cunning requirements to use the weapon means that you’re much better off with either the Plaguebearer of Dreeg or the Elemental to Acid conversion if you’re going to invest the Cunning points anyway.
Mythical Whispers of the Dead – Pet bonuses and skills to Necromancer and Arcanist get me excited, only to see Health and Defensive bonuses and no offense to speak of. Why???
Bloodsworn Signet – The fact that many pet builds would much rather use Gollus’ rings rather than these rings says a lot about how underwhelming this ring is. Aren’t there any other bonuses you can give to this ring to make it even somewhat competitive? A resistance or even some Spirit / Physique?
Mythical Rifthound Leather Boots – With the Grim Harvest boots and the Mythical Fiendflesh Greaves, this item is completely obsolete. Pet bonuses are ho-hum and Ember Claw simply isn’t worth putting points into at the moment as there’s no real support for it. Thanks to the increased stat points, the 4% Cunning and 4% Spirit bonuses don’t make a big splash compared to pre-expac.
Mythical Mark of Broken Oaths – What good is Flames of Ignaffar going to do for a pet build, though? It’s a massive energy drain for pet builds that already need some creative ways to ensure they don’t run out of energy. Death Sentence would be a much better skill bonus for this item, considering the name is based on Oaths. If you’re giving Occultist skills any love (Summon Hellhound), don’t give Poison and Acid resistance, as that’s the easiest thing for players to cap. The Legion of the Void faction item is much, much better than this.
Trollgut Eviscerator – Two-Handers in general are awful for pet builds - there’s no reason why you’d take this over the Mogdrogen’s Peace set, which itself is completely unviable.