Phys pet needs damage conversion

Beastcller is a Phys and Bleed pet set. Bleed pet is okey/acceptable now, but Phys pet is underwhelming.
The biggest problem for Phys pet is that there is no non-Phys to Phys conversion. Occul (hellhound and raven) has Elem damage, but we dont have Elem to Phys conversion. Necro (skeleton, blight fiend and wraith) has Vit damage, but we dont have Vit to Phys conversion. The lack of conversion makes lots of damage wasted/inefficient for Phys pet.

Fire pet, Vit pet, Poison Pet, Elem Pet, etc., almost all pet builds can convert different damage into one type. Only Phys pet has absolutely no way to conversion. This is awful.

As most pet gears have already been designed for other pet builds, only a few left can be changed/redesigned for Phys pet. Following is the shortlist:

  1. Weapon slot: I think no MIs or legendary gears can be changed without affecting other pet builds. Only two epic weapons are appropriate, Deadbeater and Wendigo Mace.
  2. Shield and off-hand slot: None. All off-hands are used in other pet builds. Maybe MI shield Fleshwarped Bulwark is a possible choice. As there is no pet affixes on shield, it is not a good choice.
  3. Head slot: Beastcaller occupies this slot.
  4. Ring slot: All legendary rings are designed for non-Phys. MI ring (Bloodsworn Signet) is widely used so not appropriate. Two epic rings can be changed, Crimsonbriar Band and Wendigo Conjuring Seal.
  5. Necklace slot: Only Binding Emerald of Mogdrogen. Heart of the Sand King is another choice, but Im afraid it becoming overwhelming. And Sand King can be used in Vit-Bleed mixed builds.
  6. Waist slot: Nosferattis is a good choice, because it has been used and only used in Bleed pet build.
  7. Medal slot: Beastcaller occupies this slot.
  8. Hand slot: None. All legendary gloves will affect other pet builds.
  9. Set bonus: I think it is a bad option to directly add Phys conversion to Beastcaller Set. This change may limit it usage.

Compare the above options, I suggest:

  1. Elem to Phys: add Elem to Phys conversion to Nosferattis.
  2. Vit to Phys: redesign Deadbeater or Wendigo Mace to support Phys pet and give it Vit to Phys conversion. Or add Vit to Phys conversion to Crimsonbriar Band or Wendigo Conjuring Seal.
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The elemental damage is totally wasted. It still benefits from the +Damage pet stat. The Reaven is really not the focus off the build and the Hellhound already does physical damage, too. It’s mostly the Briarthorn + Hellhound set, with a focus on Briarthorn (since he gets two of them). So the Bloodsworn Codex is a very good choice, especially if you find a Houndmaster of Caged Souls one.
The mentioned Heart of the Sand King is an excellent amulet for the set, since it pairs perfectly with Conjurers who in turn work very well with Bleed damage (since both classes over Bleed RR).

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I would think the post’s most likely referring to how limited the physical damage sources on items are. Obviously the off hand for Briarthorn is one of the main items for the set, but the shield is mentioned since it also gives additional physical damage for the pets with its auras.

And yes, I do agree that there should be more conversion options on pet items when it comes to focusing on physical damage.

I was thinking about making a thread on this, but getting assassin mark + dire bear with no pet stats is also a bit of a blocker for phys pets. I think the changes required would need to either be bigger to formally support physical pets, or just consider them a non-starter and adjust beastcaller bonuses to all damage

For Phys/Bleed pet, % Phys/Bleed Damage is higher than other type. And Phys/Bleed RR is also higher. So 100 Elem/Vit damage may equal to only 50 Phys damage. That is what I said "wasted/inefficient". For Hellhound, more than 60% damage is non-Phys, so 30% damage is wasted.

For Fire pet, you can use Dracarris to take full use of all Fire, Phys and Chaos damage. For Vit pet, you can use Bonescavenger’s Deathgrips and Spiritbinder Glyph to take full use of all Vit, Phys and Elem damage. But only for Phys pet, you have no conversions and only take half use of non-Phys damage. This half use is inefficient. Only Phys pet suffers this problem. It is unfair/unbalanced.

Yea, Beastcaller and Bloodsworn Codex are good combination. But it is not a good idea to add conversion on the off-hand. If we do this, the off-hand will be only used in Phys pet and Bleed pet. I dont want to limit it usage. I want to minimize negative impacts on non-Phys pet. So what I list are gears rarely used in non-Phys and non-Bleed builds.

Agreed. Phys pet needs multiple adjustments, and conversion is just one of them.

I like this idea, but it is contrary to recent changes. In v1.2.1, Beastcaller was made more Phys rather than all damage.

wasn’t beastcaller changes made to “nerf” general use of it, because it was too strong/too generally good and widely used?
so making it phys bonuses is then a slight nerf, but not a direct encouragement to make “pure” phys pets a direct thing?
or rather the dmg is intended to be “wasted”/you’re intended to have that dmg mix mi0 is lamenting?

Well, it got bonked enough that other pet sets now handle aoe + single target damage better, so I don’t think it’d be the end of the world to make them generic anymore (or generic but reduced). Otherwise phys needs a dedicated effort to add some pet starts to the east side of the devo tree imo

right, it was strong, but it is poor.

That’s the fact, and disappointing.
Only “pure” Phys pets and Phys-Bleed pet can take good use of % Phys damage. Besides beastcaller, Mogdrogen’s Pact and Stag also have % Phys damage. It’s a pity that all these are intended to be “wasted”.

BTW, here is an interesting thing. Beastcaller has % Internal damage, but no pets can deal Internal damage by theirselves. And no gears give pets base/global Internal damage. Pets must rely on devo proc/celestial power or an Oathkeeper teammate with Presence of Virtue to deal Internal damage. This looks more like intentional waste.

% internal damage could be “flavour” dmg just there to match %phys, since it would have been covered under all dmg prior anyway.
Can’t say if Z thought so far ahead as to “prevent egregious trauma stacking from pets” and that’s why there is no flat trauma/making the %trauma seem more weird, but if i had to guess it’s just collateral change from last patch/“thematically fitting the %phys”

Maybe there will be more direct phys intentions coming to pets in FoA?, but since this was a last minute change/only a change in last patch, and there was no conversion to indicate it either(prior/after), it doesn’t seem like it’s there to suggest “pure” phys pets, but perhaps just a bonus to the 30%? amount of phys dmg other pets have?
"some dmg instead of 0 dmg"set

but if all other pets are stronger now, just flip the switch and turn it back to all dmg for a spin?, to see if it changes it back to egregious wide used or still slightly under the curve

%physical dmg to pets are not stats ‘intended to be wasted’

assassins mark + dire bear works well on hybrid pet builds and stag is very good.

on the old balance my budget mogdrogen peace build could already get through SR75, over time but deathless, nowadays this build can be reoptimized to be a lot better since a lot was changed.

hybrid pet warder

elem to physical and vit/acid to physical has been requested multiple times in the past but was never added. so i guess if we see it it will be in the expansion and maybe also 100% armor piercing on pets :pray:

I hope it will be on amulets, medals, belts not caster off-hand since that blocks weapon use.

intended to be “wasted” in the sense your pets only does, 30%? or whatever much phys dmg mi0 said it was, ie not pure dmg pets
intended to be “wasted” in the sense there exactly is 0 conversion so making pure phys builds isn’t a thing, so the dmg “split” is deliberate as is then only boosting the partial side of it

“wasted” = not 100% utilized as with other pet dmg types