Any theorycrafting with the fg info released today?
No more double familiar unless you equip a full set.
Damn, woke up for a midnight snack and saw this.
No more double birb eh. That is sad news for conjurers 
But, don’t see the need for any updates on any of my builds though. A little less dps due to lacking a second birb, sure. But it won’t make anything unplayable.
If we keep will of Bysmiel on my builds, there is still a manaless P.Spirit with less than 3 sec downtime (Beastcallet set got buffed).
Or you take the other route and go for Fluffy with HoM amulet. But that would put some strain on the mana for every single build of mine without Tree of Life due to the mana cost for P.Spirit.
Also, I will finally update the Headless Chicken. Most likely something like this. But we will see…
My observations so far:
cold/poison pet builds look very good at first thanks to the winter king helmet giving 50% phys to cold, unfortunately the hood prevents you from having a 2nd briarthorn though. This does however couple very well with the fact that you will likely be using yeti amulet when the next expansion hits. but the big reason poison/cold looks so good is the rumour devotion + blizzard being so amazing on pets.
scorpius pummeler also converts phys to poison on briars/blight fiends.
the new acid pet set looks good, but i don’t know that i would do ritualist. blood of dreeg just gives so much, same with bonds of bysmiel. theres at least ring augments to give them poison res + OA i guess. and blight fiends don’t exactly die easily. I certainly wouldn’t use skeletons, but I don’t plan on having that set for a long time, so not too worried about it right now. Looks amazing if you can keep the pets alive.
elemental centric pet builds will also be an option through 1 faction weapon (Bysmiel’s Mindweaver) + 1 blue offhand (Mythical Manifestarius) to get full 100% phys to ele conversion. Might come in useful once you get the familiar set, or perhaps it will make wind devil more useful even before then. can’t really see it making arcanist a better option for pet builds though, as much as i’d like to see that. Probably gonna look into this more though, cause it seems like it should be very strong.
cabalist unstable anomaly blight fiend+yeti+familiar should also still work in campaign, but i’m still kinda annoyed that unstable anomaly blight fiends haven’t had a duration buff. think they need to be buffed to 15 second lifetime. the gameplay is far too restrictive with 12 seconds that if you forget your summon for half a second you’ve lost a large bit of DPS for the next 12 seconds. honestly though, you could probably just take sigatrev’s old familiar blight fiend build and slap yeti on it and it will work.
the korvaak devotion was interesting to see. the moment I saw on stream it was 100% chance to proc on crit i immediately worked on devotion setups to wait for it – and now that we have the rest of the devotion’s stats… it has pet bonuses. that said it’s very possible to mix in with something like ishtak or dying god. still working up some setups. actual damage of course has yet to be seen.
also speaking on devotions, shifting sands (the eternal sands constellation) could make the old classic phys/pierce centric conjurer even better – that proc has an extremely low cooldown. the hardest part about getting that devotion is if the build needs manticore for RR. Getting another T3 (ishtak, mainly) is really hard with that, if even possible without giving up too much. Perhaps with veilpiercer it would be good. Shame I probably won’t be able to test it because i’ve still never found a veilpiercer.
lost souls actually has good bonuses now. perhaps the double hellhound dream is coming back.
necrolord shroud is hella nice now. Gained 12 flat vit damage.
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I want to try something like this: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/p25yL5m2 – has tons of room for changes, but basically just a phys/pierce focused build, similar to one of sigatrev’s older builds. this should EASILY be HC viable, and i don’t really see much of anything that’s much worse. Perhaps sticking to primal spirit and voidmancer belt is better, dunno – honestly haven’t been a fan of primal spirit for a while though. Not too hard to switch them out, they don’t really break resists, and this setup should also be better for campaign and against any resistance reductions. Bonus for it being a pretty lazy build.
I have yet to come up with a beacon of the winter king build that I like the look of. Biggest problems is that it breaks circlet of the great serpent, as well as beastcaller set. So no unstable anomaly and no double briarthorn. Really kind of a shame, the damage mix would be kinda cool. Perhaps there’s advantages to it over going pure acid though, which a lot of items are enabling.
Still working on figuring out something for Korvaak devotion usage. I’m sure there should be something decent there. The proc looks really good in practice, they showed it on stream a few days ago.
Lost Souls should actually be great now. With the hefty bonuses added to skeletons, I’m tempted to spec my Cabalist into trying out this set with skeletons/hellhounds being the main focus. Will have to theorycraft that later, but shouldn’t be too hard. Super happy about the changes that I saw, hopefully it’s as good in practice. And perhaps that’s my answer to the Korvaak devotion usage? Kinda doubt it though.
Also another note: Fiendgaze offhand converts cold to chaos. Could be interesting for Blizzard procs or for yeti even though you lose witching hour. Should give a nice distribution of vit/chaos dmg on lost souls though.
@Maya – you really have energy issues with Primal Spirit? Only time I really have found myself having problems is when I’m not using a caster offhand, other than that the energy regen usually is enough I’ve found
The nerf hammer is huge for sure.
Is there a link with updates/changes on existing items and what items will be added in the expansion?
Took the liberty to update previous Sigatrev build with this:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YZe7BmY2
what do you think?
“the nerf hammer” boy I didn’t even like double raven anyway as yeti is my favorite pet.
Nothing but buffs for my type of build.
You guys still think Mythical Beastcallers for double brairthorn is the way to go for conjurers?
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/w263L70V
Not my build (author is Alexgoldfish) but i’m worked around to polish it
Posted this in the larger theory craft thread and reposting here for pet focus.
Pets in various forms have usually been my jam so here is my first pass on the Ghol set
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/a2E8k8bN
A few things of note for the other pet lovers out there, the Ghol Set on a Ritualist hurts for resists a lot. You are going to have to make some painful choices on where to trade damage for resists on components/augments/devotions.
A pet heal for Ritualists who lack Blood of Dreeg? Sign me up for a https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/13708. A pity the resist reduction isn’t going to stack with reduction already on Ghol’s but I expect this to be the new go to amulet in a lot of pet builds. You can even cycle casts of this with a Witching Hour to always have reduction effects from items.
The Ghol set also has changed since the live stream reveal where I started theory crafting with it. If you want to convert pet physical damage to acid now, you either need copies of the new ring https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/11727 or more likely https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/12487. This conversion also makes Bull Rush look like a tasty devotion proc.
Attack speed is higher for pets than sheet listed, up to a full 32% higher from pet auras and Iris use. Similarly remember that all the +acid and poison damage is not factored in so another 570% pet damage of acid with higher spikes when the ring above triggers. Another 114% poison damage above this with Call of the Grave (which inexplicably continues to boost Vitality Damage and Poison Damage but not Acid Damage or Vitality Decay on pets)
One of the new properties on https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/9144 is 100% mind control reduction. No clue how much this is going to matter but considering what some Titan Quest bosses did to pet players, pet lovers should beware and perhaps keep a copy of these on them at all times https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/12219 to swap in if they hit that mechanic in a crucible/shattered realm run.
Unstable Anomaly appears to have been nerfed from +2 summons to +1 summon in conjunction with the +1 summon limit to Ghols. Can’t say I am a fan as this makes 3 Blight Fiends without Ghols impossible now and 4 would have been ideal since my current 3 Blight Fiend char has slightly under 4 second recast on the skill meaning that spamming the button on cooldown kills a fiend prematurely and while noone would be running around with 4 Fiends up all the time, the extra summon would have let my Fiends die naturally.
On an entirely different note I expect to build a different sort of Ritualist in the future focused on bleed since there are 3 new bleed to pet items https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/12219 https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/12166 https://www.grimtools.com/db/items/12132 and the new Night Talon devotion to pair with the old mainstays of Huntress, Mogdrogen the Wolf, and Primal Bond. Multiply the applications with Swarmlings and Skeletons and there may be something there. Or it may be total crud.
And to go completely off the rails it appears you can wear full Bysmiel’s Trinkets and Diviner’s Vision at the same time. Not sure what direction to take that yet but it should be memetastic.
Diviner’s Vision + Bysmiel’s Trinkets should be interesting (two heals!),
Regarding pet items with +bleed damage i am not too optimistic as Ghol Set should be broken in order to equip the medal so i doubt it can work, but it never hurts to try in any case.
The bleed pet idea is more a death of a thousand cuts sort of thing. Max skeletons and then 5 swarmlings from primal instinct. Each an application source of their own bleed stacks. And at least for me, when I max out skeletons the other pets get a lot less attention since the skeletons are such a skill point hog.
EDIT: Corrected by Zantai and co, Unstable Anomaly is not nerfed. Below is original post
Wait, Unstable Anomaly nerfed to 2 summon limit?
I thought it was +2 summon limit, but you’re right it’s just 2 summon limit… wtf, why? I would have preferred if they kept the old limit and have the helmet add lifetime to them and make the set give +1 still. Now I don’t see any reason to ever go unstable anomaly. ESPECIALLY with the set which gives you +1 permanently.
This is just a Grimtools display error.
We had to change the way that transmuter functioned to be compatible with Ghol’s set.
I think that’s just a grimtools thing. I think it’s just missing the + symbol from “+2 Summon Limit”. I’m pretty sure it was still listed the same as before.
Yes, it was formatting issue in GT. It’s fixed now.
Ah, that’s much better than. Salt avoided.
Definitely still would like to see a 4x blight fiend unstable anomaly build, just kinda rough cause a lot of the items that are good for them lack CDR%. Part of why I’d love to see the duration be longer too.
EDIT: Initial Lost Souls Skelehound Cabalist: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/eZPWqbdV – don’t like the bleed res being low on pets. Offhand/pants probably replacable. Wish I could get 22/12 infernal breath but doesn’t look possible. Might drop Shepherd’s for some other stuff?
The new Ateph’s Will ring/amulet augment can help with that.
Bysmiel Trinkets Set: I think the idea of running full Elemental Pets is very exciting, but the Shaman / Necro bonuses feel like they were tacked on simply because they’re “the” pet classes to have. Why force people to have to choose between Beastcaller’s Set and Bysmiel’s Set? Why give so many bonuses to Call of the Grave and not have a single modifier that increases the duration of it (nobody actually uses the Death Watcher Pendant)? I would have placed the skill bonuses on an auxiliary class like Inquisitor (2 Familiars with Aura of Censure + so many heals from Touch of Purity + Amulet + the two class heals? Much more exciting than random Shaman bonuses) so that you can make pet builds outside the typical mold.
Shepherd of Lost Souls Set: Vitality Swarmlings, ohm nom nom. The Fire to Vitality damage also helps with the Black Grimoire Skeleton pet so it’s nice to see that set get more of an identity.
Diviner’s Set: Aether / Vitality pets looks to be pretty cool, especially since Spectral Wrath hits both RR’s and you don’t have to worry about half the pets’ damage being wasted. Sadly, the 45% Vitality to Aether conversion gets a lot in the way of making a proper dual damage build; otherwise, I’d consider going Apostate and use the Decree of Malmouth and Diviner set to go full split damage.
Ghol’s Malice Set: I was first going to harp on the follies of making pets proc on Critical Attack, but I saw that you gave a healthy dose of OA to all of the set pieces. That, combined with Blood of Dreeg, should be plenty to proc the glove pets on a regular basis.
Solael Vile Cuirass: The meme of Skeletons + Soldier bonuses continues unabated.
Mythical Deathrite Handguards: Great way for passive pet builds who want maximum Vitality conversion: 30% Guardian Death’s Gate + 25% Master of Death + 25% these gloves are great for building for Vitality, though those skill bonuses are pretty sad.
Mythical Runebrand Legwraps: Only having Bleeding Resistance is rough, but Stun resistance and IEE bonuses are a wonderful addition.
Mythical Deathwalker’s Grace: Proc isn’t nearly as good as the Fiendflesh Greaves, but skill bonuses to Reap Spirit and Elemental Balance make these a decent choice.
Korvaak’s Burning-Blade: Not likely to replace Dracarris, but having a more passive weapon that also gives good Fire bonuses to pets is good for those who are leveling.
Scorpius Pummeler: BiS for those looking to build around Poison Pets. Shame that neither Shaman nor Necromancer have Poison RR, but this weapon is perfectly tailor-made for those wanting to use Ghol’s Set.
Bysmiel’s Grasp: An amazing weapon for Beastcaller’s Set Druid. You won’t have any Cold conversion for Primal Spirit, and I don’t know if just building around the Briarthorns without investing in Primal Spirit is enough, but nice to see pets used in a more unique way than what’s already offered.
Bysmiel Stormbreaker: Lightning Swarmlings! I know Spark of Ultos + Offhand is likely better than dual-wielding these weapons, but again, it’s nice to see more creative build aspects explored.
Bysmiel’s Mindweaver: A very interesting concept for a Warlock themed build, especially as Overload is not traditionally seen in builds at all, much less pet builds. Interesting to combine with the new Bysmiel set to get 2 Familiars.
Mythical Manifestarius: The Physical to Elemental conversion means that Arcanist pet builds just need this item and Manifestation to get near 100% conversion.
Mythical Yugol’s Ichor: The unfortunate thing about this ring is that it directly competes with the Rotmender Rings. With the MI weapon converting 100% Physical to Acid for both Briarthorn and Blight Fiends, I don’t see this one being used for much outside of using that 600% Poison bonus and throw Skeletons and Primal Instinct swarmlings at the enemy to get as much of that extra damage as possible.
Heart of the Sand King & Mark of Bloody Ends: The new BiS to use for Bleeding pets, and since the medal cuts off Beastcaller’s Talisman, it’s great to see new build concepts arise. Probably the Bleeding equivalent of Poison Pets, since it’s all about getting the flat damage + get as many bodies to get the DoT bonus as high as possible.
Dreeg Mark of Chills: Let’s keep pretending that Aura of Conviction is actually a thing and not erased off the map when Aura of Censure got that damage buff. The skill bonus to the other Aura just adds insult to injury.
Mythical Mark of Unlife: Huge DA bonus, Elemental Bonus, pet Crit and a Circuit Breaker? This item is just incredible.
No pet relics or new stand-alone pets (meaning those outside the Ghol’s Set) make me sad. Overall, nice that Arcanist is getting love for pets, love the changes on existing items, wish there were more Demo pet support as Demo doesn’t get a lot of love. I think Beastcaller’s will still be dominant due to how sturdy it is, but who knows, maybe Sigatrev can get the new pet sets to work with all classes the way he did for the current pet sets.
I imagine he already did given that he’s a praetorian. 
I think he was referring to these threads (Lost Souls, Will of Bysmiel, Beastcaller’s) where I did Gladiator with Deceiver, Pyromancer, Warlock, Druid, Elementalist, etc. I have not yet done that with the new sets, but I hope to eventually.