@Maya, just want to ask one thing. Which of this four builds (your top 3 pets and your retal warlord) is the best in terms of playing safe and laziness? I like to facetank enemies and be lazy. I have a warlord, im just missing 4 items to follow your retal build, I also have most of the items in your pet build. So I’m thinking if I should continue farming for the retal warlord or make a pet build.
If you want to facetank, Warlord will be the better choice.
That said, if you want to be safer, then Fluffy Squishy Conjurer’s Lazy version would be the best option.
Reason is mostly that with the Warlord, you still need to be wary of things like Grava and can still die if you bite more than you can chew. Also you have no option other than to face tank things since it is a melee build.
Pet builds on the other hand, have the advantage of having Pets be your sword & shield. That allows you to keep your distance from the action and still kill stuff. Ofcourse, since you are reliant on pets, if something makes it past them and to you, you will find yourself somewhat fragile.
And that is where Fluffy Squishy’s uniqueness comes in. The Lazy version boasts permanent 80% phys res, provided you get good rolls on items. That combined with the overly defensive nature of the build + Pets also having 52% phys res (AotG+Em.Presence) = both you and your pets are hard to kill.
That is not to say that Pets > Ret Warlord, however. Since my warlord can for eg: facetank Callagadra while with if you were to try it with Pets, you will die faster than you can blink.
Note: My warlord cannot kill Crate of Entertainment. So if you want 100% completion, or wish to farm Crate for whatever reason, go with pets.
TL;DR- Both are viable, but they do things differently.
Warlord is “in your face”, while Pets are more “I will be here enjoying the scenery while stuff dies”.
EDIT: So why is it called the fluffy squishy again?
Because pets are huggable and squishable 
(Originally it was supposed to be about a fluffy, squishable Chillmane, but the build got changed while the name stuck)
52% phys res disagrees with that sentiment
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@Maya, I’ll make both then. Only need to find the belt and a ring for the lazy fluffy squishy no green version.
One more thing, what helm can I substitute for the callagadra MI for the retal warlord? Coz I need to farm calla first to get that helm right?
Going from what Glenn said;
For easy Cally, use consumables and don’t fight under Big Tornadoes.
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Hello, @Maya. Wanted to say “thank you” for the work you have done on this forum that helped me understand better how the pets work in this game 
Also, I want to ask you a question: can you equip some items with +summon some fluffy pet skill, then summon it and then change that +skill equipment to items that give +pet stats (like all damage, total speed)? Does it make any sense and profit for quite a low level character? I`ve done such things when I played Titan Quest with my summoner long ago 
I have just returned to Grim Dawn after a long break and if I remember correctly pets were unsummoned if you changed the level of any skill that was related to that pet. And now it seems to be working, but only if you change the value of an overcapped skill.
Thank you for your attention
Glad to hear that I could be of service 
As for what you are describing (Snapshotting), personally, I don’t think it’d be worth the trouble of having to switch between items every time you need to resummon one of your pets.
When it was used, it was used mostly in Crucible since the idea there was to keep your pets alive so that they keep their Crucible Blessings, which inturn means no resummoning.
Also there were talks of removing the mechanic altogether. Not sure what came of it, but given Crate’s love for undocumented changes, it wouldn’t be a surprise if it gets removed in a patch with no mention of it in the patch notes.
@Maya, thank you for your answer. Now I even know how this strategy is called
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Heya Maya
Do you have some sort of Odin/Votan build? 2 familiars and melee hybrid?
That would be some fun! More for good RP and lazy play than top performer in crucible and SR…
/Mike
PS. I have Cabalist…
PS2 Warlord kinda dude with two familiars…
Hybrids unfortunately do not work. The closest you can get is a Reap Spirit build where you still need to cast the spell on enemies to get your Spirits out.
Trying to melee with a pet build will end up like torture instead of fun even if you are not planning in Crucible or SR.
I’M a masochist, i love torture!!!
/:
Not even a warlord type with familiar just for healing?
Is it the scale with petdmg that nerfs it?
Problem with using familiar without getting pet stats is that it will die to even a sneeze from everything.
Also if you want 2 Familiars, then you need the full Bysmiel’s Trinkets set, which unless you are going for a pet build, will severely cripple you.
Other than that, if you still want to go for it, just pick a build that uses Occultist, put 1 point in Familiar, set it to defensive and you can pretend that it is doing something useful
Maya you are a genious!
I knew the answer, i guessed it before i asked, but getting a onepointer in familiar would actually be enough!
Raising my Cabalist now, still a noob with 1.4 k hours in game…
Ps. I’m an altoholic…
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Ok, as always the guide is amazing. Writing is great. I refer to it ANYTIME I decide on a pet build.
Annnnnddddd, with that introduction. I have been tinkering on and off with a Trickster for sometime now, originally trying to use the Winter King helmet and sword. (I’m a sucker for lore so early on I started writing a story based around it.)
That said, my efforts were subpar and I wasn’t happy with it and keep leaving it and coming back to it.
Tonight I decided to completely ditch the helmet and go full on pet.
After spending time theorycrafting I just did SR 35/36 fairly easily. Thought I’d come here and get the expert opinon. Thoughts?
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/m233bXB2
EDIT: Here’s the original post.
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First of all, ty for the praise
Now for a bit of bad news… I don’t know how to make Winter King Pet build work…
A few patches ago, I tried this: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4NODQ4d2
But the results weren’t satisfactory. I did manage SR 76, but with deaths and it was painfully slow. I certainly won’t be against it if WK sword were to get some buffs on the pet side.
So in other words, I am fairly confident that it isn’t you.
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Ah. Okay, I see. Hmm. Yeah maybe it’ll get a little love soon. We can dream right?
As to your specific build, I think maybe I’m gonna steal some from your devotion lineage. 
I see you did go with Nature’s Guardian (I hemmed and hawed about whether I should stretch for that or not) and your judgement is probably way more sound in this regard.
Thanks!
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