See … you’re a min/max person. I’m not. 12 skeletons are more than enough. Adding one more would mean an extra summon.
Case in point … you can kill dummies?
A good trick one of the veterans (Korsar) shared with me is to measure changes against an objective, unchanging standard.
This would be the test dummies which can be found at devil’s crossing, fort ikon, etc.
What he does is kill the dummy 3 times over, and averages the kill time with build A.
Makes the changes.
Repeats the process once over.
Compares the results.
It’s not a perfect test, nor is it definitive. But it’s a pretty damn good indicator as to whether or not an idea that you have is worth testing further.
I’m aware of the dummies, and the advice makes sense. I usually just pilot the pets away from the dummies because their auras cause damage which is noisy while I’m shopping or sorting gear. 
I’ve never actually spent enough time damaging one to see that it gets destroyed.
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Worth a test though. Shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes, especially if it’s a simple matter of rearranging skill points.
If the results between the 2 changes are huge, then you know for certain that one is better than the other.
RE dummy kills…They are tanky blighters, so it can get boring, especially when you will not be able to apply spectral wrath’s RR on them.
That reminds me of another weakness of the build, if you want to call it that. It is very power hungry due to the Reap Spirits. Long battles require chugging a tonic to bring up energy.
I’ll give it a go later tonight.
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/0V03XeE2
^Try this. I didn’t touch blight fiend, hounds, or birbs because I don’t know how effective they are. But for sure I’d max out soul harvest + skeles.
EDIT: If you have 13 skeles, it makes sense to me to hardcap the 3rd node too. But I’m not sure where to get the points from.
I don’t have all the skill points available yet. I still need to run SR ultimate for those. That is why grimtools shows I have unspent ones.
Ah crap. 
I’d drop hell hound then. If what maya and sig have told me is to be believed, hell hounds are terrible.
IMHO, Bonds of Bysmiel from which you robbed points is important for skeleton survival.
Doesn’t the fire proc benefit from the Hound aura’s fire damage enhancement? I’m not an expert on mechanics.
I don’t know mate. I’m just as clueless as you are with pet builds. (EDIT: probably more clueless, tbh)
My only good one was a charizard. And that was on a colorless gameboy
2nd EDIT: This is what the dummies are for
Not to beat a dead horse, the best way to learn is to build and run one from the ground up. Nothing beats firsthand experience. And I’m sure with your mindset and attention to detail, you won’t have any trouble. Point is that Cabalists are relatively easy.
I’m working up a Dervish currently, in between breaks farming with my Cabalist, and it is much more of a piano character than the Cabalist ever was. I’m in agreement with Maya’s lazy build philosophy. 
Agree completely. Piloting pet builds isn’t something which excites me though. That’s the biggest reason why I’ve stayed away from them.
I’d love to learn the mechanics behind them, and fiddle around with the crafting process, but I very much so prefer piloting glass cannons.
If you like to kite, pet builds may be for you.
If you like to run around and pick up loot while someone else does the fighting, pet builds may be for you.
If you like to smack things with a big stick, pet builds may not be for you.
^This is what I like. High DPS, glassy casters which are heavily reliant on positioning
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From what i gobbeled together from sigatrev builds, the following skills buff the pets and should be maxed out for max damage
soul harvest, storm spirit (birbs) , hellfire (doggies), rotting fumes (fiends), Manipulation
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Btw, if anyone wants a pet build of a particular kind which doesn’t exist yet, feel free to PM me or just @Maya anywhere in the forum with your request. I might not get the time to test it, but can atleast provide you with something to work with instead of starting from scratch.
And I have a solo pet Shaman that smacks Ravager in the butt with a small stick. I can easily change it into a big stick if needed.
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@ Maya
Did you get around to testing a DW Korvaak’s Burning Blade concept - fire pets? It was a while ago.
@Maya so that I get pinged 
As for DW’ing Korv BB, I haven’t. Mostly because Bysmiel’s Mindweaver exists and I don’t really want to lose out on an Off-hand.
But there are also other reasons.
- In case of Pets, going for a particular elemental type has very little benefit over simply converting into and focusing on Elemental dmg.
Solael’s Witchblade is also too far out from my usual go to devo route(s). - Primal Instinct sucks, in my humble opinion. If it gets buffed, then there might be a reason to focus on fire dmg.
- Hellhound also doesn’t do much other than derp around. Would also need to be buffed.
- The other fire pet is Og’Napesh… Let us pretend it doesn’t exist…
- Unlike Lightning, there is very little support for Pet Cold/Fire dmg interms of items.
All in all, outside of going for it just to get the fire pets theme, I can’t see another reason. And I pretty much 
every build that can’t faceroll stuff, so yeah…
So if we are going to convert into a single dmg type, I rather just go the Ultos + Kelp Rings Lightning route with Trinkets/Beastcallers.
All that said, I can make one if you want me to. Just let me know of the class combo you want to go for.
@Maya i would have to look, but im fairly certain I sent you a cold pet build awhile back. I dont think i ever got around to testing it
Aye, you did. Winter king one. Also a DW Deceiver with 2x Mindweavers.