I just recently came back to playing GD after a long hiatus. I am currently leveling with a pet build, still in normal difficulty, but I already wonder how to deal with bosses that pretty much ignore your pets and rush your character all the time.
I mean, I can try and kite all the time but that will also greatly reduce the damage the pets can apply.
I can try and hide behind obstacles but usually this does not work so well either, especially if the boss can cover the ground around the obstacle with ground effects.
As a pure summoner I have next to no sustain, so between a single heal and potions, what is there to keep me alive once the bosses are a real threat, e.g. in Ultimate?
I had 3 pets with “additional threat” attribute and that probably did the trick, because monsters didn’t chase me that vigorously. Sometimes I could stand in the middle of battle and not get hurt.
Also set your pets to Aggressive stance so they’ll charge off and attack anything in their aggo range. If you’re using anything like Curse of Frailty wait until your pets engage foes before you cast that otherwise pets will be ignored and foes will head straight for you.
Thanks for the hints. Currently the main pet is the Hellhound, with Ember Claw, which should generate additional threat. Only the bosses do not seem to care much.
The character is not attacking or cursing, still (for example) Cronley single-mindedly was pursuing me. Does the stance make a difference when the pets are attacking anyway?
I am planning on them, but in Act 3 normal I am not there, yet.
Still, they do not solve the issue of bosses ignoring the pets or am I missing something? The taunt, once every 15 seconds, is that making a real difference ?
So having more than one pet with “generates additional threat” and/or going hybrid instead of pure summoning are the only way? I seem to recall many pet builds which do not go one of those routes. How do they work?
Most pet builds will be pure petmancers relying on pets to do their damage. Maya’s written an extensive guide linked here and also there are several of her builds listed.
Hybrids can work, but you need to know the game mechanics well.
Yeah, I had a look at Maya’s builds and guides before. But besides having good resistance, defense and health I am coming up a bit empty-handed regarding the particular issue discussed in this thread. I agree that it is possible to “just survive” boss encounters with the right choices in that department. But in my opinion it is just no fun kiting all the time while the pets have a hard time scoring any hits to a moving target.
