best pet summoner?

[Valerio80]

I like sommoners too, and i'm trying with a diviner (spirit + dream).

It's true that dream mastery has one summon only (nightmare), but that little bat has a lot of nice skills, like aoe, a high rate to avoid hits (around 50% when maxed), a buff for all other summons, and the ability to control monsters (that will give me some more cannon fodder, i hope). Too bad it's so ugly ^_^'

Dream, also, have trance skills that affects allies too (and so my pets are, at the moment, always under effects of trance of empathy, reflecting damage they take and draining more hp than usually), and another skill that let you take directly one mob under your control.

I'm still too low level to say how good can be this build, but atm i like it a lot... i hope i will not be disappointed in the end ^_^

[Swift]

Umm, you misunderstood some skill descritpions in the Dream tree. I'm running an 54 level Ritualist (Dream+Nature) so let me give you the correct answers:

The Nightmare is ace, enemies can hardly ever hit it due to high dodge, quickly get it up to Level 5 so it can gain an area attack. But, it cannot control monsters... It has a Confusion Gaze attack, which works like the Rogue's Mandrake, it makes the enemy wander around aimlessly and hit the thin air for a while. Lasts pretty long, btw, and the Nightmare casts it often, it's a real life saver as it can take the tougher monsters out of the picture for a while! Word of advice though - put your Nightmare into Normal, not Agressive. Otherwise, it'll run into enemy mobs instead of attacking from afar with range attacks.

Also, Dream has no are skills that controls other monsters - I think you confused it with Spirit's...

Of the trances, I agree, Empathy is the best. The regenaration trance is nice (I used it for a while) but at max level, your Nightmare's permanent aura does the same mana/HP regeneration effect!

[Poinas]

Nightmare's aura has no effect on you even if it shows as an icon under your HP bar.

[Valerio80]

Originally Posted by Swift

Umm, you misunderstood some skill descritpions in the Dream tree. I'm running an 54 level Ritualist (Dream+Nature) so let me give you the correct answers:

The Nightmare is ace, enemies can hardly ever hit it due to high dodge, quickly get it up to Level 5 so it can gain an area attack. But, it cannot control monsters... It has a Confusion Gaze attack, which works like the Rogue's Mandrake, it makes the enemy wander around aimlessly and hit the thin air for a while. Lasts pretty long, btw, and the Nightmare casts it often, it's a real life saver as it can take the tougher monsters out of the picture for a while! Word of advice though - put your Nightmare into Normal, not Agressive. Otherwise, it'll run into enemy mobs instead of attacking from afar with range attacks.

Also, Dream has no are skills that controls other monsters - I think you confused it with Spirit's...

Of the trances, I agree, Empathy is the best. The regenaration trance is nice (I used it for a while) but at max level, your Nightmare's permanent aura does the same mana/HP regeneration effect!

You're right about controlling creatures, sorry for the mistake :-)

Anyway, i think that the big boost that nightmare and trances gives to liche king and outsider, makes diviner a great pet-based class. I mean, without any skill from item, bonuses are:
> 3-10% damage converted to health
> 60% damage reflected
> +40% total damage inflicted
> +135% Health & Mana Regeneration
Really a lot, for already powerful pets like liche and outsider... not to mention that nightmare itself is a good pet

Answering to Poinas, yes Nightmare's Buff affect only pets unfortunately... ando only other pets i think (not the nightmare itself)...

Just wondering why the buff's icon appears under my bars too ^_^

[Damnationed]

Originally Posted by Valerio80

> 3-10% damage converted to health
> 85% damage reflected
> +60% total damage inflicted
> +190% Health & Mana Regeneration
Answering to Poinas, yes Nightmare's Buff affect only pets unfortunately... and only other pets i think (not the nightmare itself)...

that's fixed stats for +4skills
I am pretty much sure that nightmare gets the bonuses too
as a pet build I'd rather go with ToC; +15hp/sec, +4ep/sec, 20% dmg absorption
this way they have 46 - 48 health reg/sec and are practically immortal
I'm playing ritualist based on Immortality, pets and DR/TR
maybe I'll do a guide; its a pretty good build; 10k life, all important (elemental, pierce, stun, disruption, vitality) resists maxed, all pets pretty strong and TR onehits everything but bosses (yes, even traps and heroes)

[Swift]

Originally Posted by Damnationed

that's fixed stats for +4skills
I am pretty much sure that nightmare gets the bonuses too
as a pet build I'd rather go with ToC; +15hp/sec, +4ep/sec, 20% dmg absorption
this way they have 46 - 48 health reg/sec and are practically immortal
I'm playing ritualist based on Immortality, pets and DR/TR
maybe I'll do a guide; its a pretty good build; 10k life, all important (elemental, pierce, stun, disruption, vitality) resists maxed, all pets pretty strong and TR onehits everything but bosses (yes, even traps and heroes)

Umm, could you explain some stuff you used in that description? I'm guessing DR is Damage Resistance, but what is TR and Immortality?

I'm in Epic Act II now with my Ritualist, and it was pretty much a cakewalk so far (with +4 to Nature skills...) I just go around collecting stuff and let my pets deal with the enemies... They are simply unkillable. I killed the Minotaur King by walking around destroying the traps while my pets killed him easily. The only one who caused some trouble was Talos, with his flamethrower he can kill the wolfies fast. Still, I can summon them faster then he can kill all three...

While my Ritualist was the main tank in Normal and I had to hit the monsters personally, in Epic I'm mostly a 'special agent', I only interfere with a well-placed Phantom Strike or Distortion Wave when too many monsters are encircling my pets. Oh and I hardly ever have to heal due to the Empathy Trance - only when I'm facing Undead or Constructs.

[Damnationed]

DR=distort reality
TR=temporal rift
immortality=combined resistances, high life, meat shield (pets), damage absorption, run speed, chance to avoid projectiles and health regeneration ->reasonably high

my ritualist is casting

[The Fallen One]

Originally Posted by Graphtina

The outsider maybe able to take down bosses, but he isn't always there, ready to take the mob off of your hand. I don't know what I would call the best summon (I haven't used them all enought).

In a -100 charge build, Outsider is THE best. I usually use him against bosses, but every once in a while, I use him to take out large mobs and camps when I am being overwhelmed.

Only times that I've had trouble with him are when a Telkine turned him on me and when he takes on a trap with low health.

[Barnacle_Ed]

if we're talking -100% recharge here, any spirit build is definitely king...enslave spirit + outsider spam is just too good

[Runefang]

Should a pet class be putting most of attribute points into INT for good pet gear? is there any good STR based pet gear?