noob questions

[BeRad]

Have you looked at Ranger? thats my favourite Bow+wolves=fun :-)
There are some pretty good skills like HoO and Plague (if you like poison)

When I was in act 2 I found a tendon ripper, that bow got me all the way to the lower demon camp well worth looking for untill you can get a bramblewood in act 4.

[Nightmare14]

to deal with energy issues use potions or have an onager (however its spelt) on switch out, its what i do

[Elyx]

thanks all for the suggestions and tips.

Deathchill seems ineffective to me because of its range... 2-3m maxed, right? that's pretty much in my face already, no? also, from my short time playing with pets, none of them just seem to be able to hold aggro or deck out serious dps. but of course i can be wrong. feel free to correct me.

[Medea Fleecestealer]

Deathchill's Aura maxed is 3.9 metres, but you shouldn't consider it on its own. When you add in maxed out Ravages of Time and Necrosis it's going to be much more powerful. And it will still be working on those foes as they approach, making it easier for you to kill them if/when they reach you.

Pets are going to depend on which setting you have them for. If it's Aggressive then they should be tackling enemies as soon as they sense them (sometimes that's even off screen). Normal they will attack if attacked and Defensive means they'll stay close to you and hopefully protect you when enemies get too close. The problems I find when playing pets is the fact they do hare off when set on Aggressive and sometimes in Normal they don't seem to attack when they should do. I can't really comment on the dps side of things as I haven't taken pets that far along in the game to see for myself how they perform in Epic and Legendary, but a lot of people say they don't do well in Acts 3 and 4 Normal, but once you reach Epic and onwards they come into their own. Others say they do fine all the way through. Liche King is supposed to be one of the strongest, if not the strongest, pet in the game.

And don't forget you can always drop a monster lure and retreat a little as it does draw aggro. Takes a second or two to kick in, but does work so I understand. Again I haven't used it much myself.

[Nightmare14]

if you get +4 skills to spirit the range can be 5 i think it was? but yeah it is an extremely useful skill its like a pernament plagues except in some ways better

if your a ranger the wolves will fail i admit in near end of act 3 normal and all of act 4 normal but from then on as medea said they hold thier own and the damage capablities are actually quiet good especially with SotP having 3 wolves makes it pretty much pernament with pet gear they can be doing as much as 300/400 by act 3 normal 600/700 act 3 epic and 900/1000 by act 3 legendary all though on its own doesnt sound that good but with their speed its dealing round 600/800 normal 1200/1400/epic 1800/2000 legendary per second so as you can see they can be rather strong and pet gear isnt all that hard to get