Dark Wolf is so useless, whats the point?

[FaceDancer]

I'm only at level 7 with my hunter, but I really haven't run into many issues with my critter (I do try to keep their collar and armor up to date as they level). Kritikal's comments seem pretty spot on and I totally forgot about Augment summoning (one to add later on!)

 

[Zaszgul]

FYI augment summoning from items doesn't work on pets, just like putting augments into their gear doesn't work on them either.

 

[FaceDancer]

I'm thinking more along the line of the feat vs. an item.

I was looking @ the wiki and yeah, it looks like augments in collars and armor for pets is (still?!?) borked.

 

[Sylvado]

I just leveled my DH to 10. I would say pets are not useless for my playstyle. My usage for the Wolf and other pets is as follows:

a. While questing, set the pet for guarding you. It won't attack until you are attacked; in which case you'll have aggro.
b. While in wilderness zones, I let them run free. Pets really shine in these zones.
c. Get Augment Summoning. Not many Items exist but the necklace from Ravenloft, Kindred Spirit, works well at level 10 so you don't have to burn a feat. Once you get to Epic (around 26), I love the Necklace from Haunted Halls, that procs a Shadow (just upgrade and the Augment Summoning is added to the necklace).
d. Convert the free handwraps from Ravenloft to a collar for some offense. Keep equipment current with the best fortification and some PRR for defense.
e. Make sure your pet has ship buffs.
f. Sometimes it's best to park them until you know they will be needed.

So far, I only have tier 3 in the Dark Hunter tree for the imbues. That is probably all I'm going to take in it. The rest is in the Tabaxi tree (for evasion and haste), and DWS. I did spend 3 points in HW for conjure arrows.

Anyone use the Cry of Battle set?

 

[Scrag]

DH dawgs sneak attack for a lot of damage if you keep them alive...

 

[Savage]

So far I only played elite with the dark wolf and I like it a lot better than the iron defenders of the artificers. Early levels it died a few times but the higher level I get the better it is. Has not died in a while now.

 

[Lopnel]

you can have your pet pull levers or grab your soul stone and drag you to a shrine but yeah they are kinda weak and die easily if only you could at least give them a pet collar maybe some armor

 

[Maze]

you can have your pet pull levers or grab your soul stone and drag you to a shrine but yeah they are kinda weak and die easily if only you could at least give them a pet collar maybe some armor

See, this is about the only use I could find for them lol

 

[rabidfox]

if only you could at least give them a pet collar maybe some armor

You can equip those...

 

[Redtalktree]

You can equip those...

aye you can equip them to the max of your DH ranger level, absolutely and utterly futile if you multi classing, as you pet stays the same level as you progress, epic levels do count towards wolf level.

 

[seph1roth5]

pets have been crap for a very long time. Like stat damage, damaging wands, guards, and who knows what else, devs keep putting these things out. Not sure if they don't know how awful they are outside of hard difficulty or what. I know they've said they know guards, stat damage, and wands were basically bad and unusable. Yet we still get them.

It wouldn't be so bad if it didn't take up resources. Like...if putting 1 point in pale master got you a fully enhanced skeleton (or got feats as you took more wiz levels and at lv 20 it got max), without having to spend enhancement pts or wasting enhancements into it. Similarly, they count having a pet as a BONUS for stuff like dark hunter. So when making that class and taking stuff away, the pet was meant to make up for some of the things removed.

 

[RangerOne]

Cannot address the OP post directly since I do not play reaper, but yeah, overall I am disappointed with Dark Hunter. At first i thought great, got a wolf companion to add to my little army, but it is underwhelming. My main is a ranger with just a single level of rogue and it is superior to the dark hunter.

 

[YeeboF]

Dark Hunter is nice conceptually, but I can't ever see putting 41 points into the DH tree. One of your other two trees is always going to be a better choice. If a universal tree or racial tree is a good fit for your build, it will barely get any investment at all.

That said, I don't see all the hate towards the wolf. It's probably the second best pet behind the wizard skelly. Yes, pets in general need a buff. They don't do enough damage, and it's really hard to improve that with a collar since augments are broken in them and the majority of abilities they can have are useless to a pet. They also die almost instantly in a fight on elite and higher if you don't play a pure build of whatever class they scale off of, and even then past very low reaper they will still get instagibbed.

However, among the four pets the wolf is one of the better ones. It's roughly as survivable as the Arti dog, and does better damage. It's very squishy at low levels, but that's my only gripe with it (at least in comparison to the other three pets).

 

[jotmon]

Any Dark hunter manage deploy the wolf in combat(reaper) without it dieing immediately oneshotted?
Only thing is that it take up alot of filler AP in the enhancement trees, just not sure if its worth it.

From my point of view it appears Dev's only intended pets to be useful for newbies in beginner training levels and not be of use to players for anything beyond pulling levers in higher difficulty.

 

[droid327]

I thought the point of reaper was for the "challenge"? Why people using hires and pets in reaper then? Especially hires? I remember prior to reaper there was a group on the forums complaining about "how easy the game was" If it's easy why have a hire? I understand wanting a pet because they are so cute.

Pets are part of a class' innate power. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to use pets, anymore than you shouldn't be able to use weapon attacks or spells that your class gives you. Looking for a challenge doesnt mean arbitrarily nerfing yourself, it just means having content that's matched to your progression.

The problem with pets is that they dont scale as well as other class abilities. They're nerfed, but they shouldnt be nerfed. They should scale comparably to players, and then the rest of the class should be balanced around having what a pet provides. Right now, though, they're a liability to have out, so they're a net negative in most R1+ content

 

[Labuff]

That said, I don't see all the hate towards the wolf. It's probably the second best pet behind the wizard skelly. Yes, pets in general need a buff. They don't do enough damage, and it's really hard to improve that with a collar since augments are broken in them and the majority of abilities they can have are useless to a pet. They also die almost instantly in a fight on elite and higher if you don't play a pure build of whatever class they scale off of, and even then past very low reaper they will still get instagibbed.

That does give me an idea: How about augment summoning also makes it so that pets counts as 4 level higher than they would be normally at your current class level, up to your total level ? Like this, it would make multiclass pets less trash, and gives Augment summoning some extra use

 

[Marshal_Lannes]

If you are interested in questing only in advanced Reaper then pets aren't ever going to be viable, and neither really is Dark Hunter. But, if you want to have fun, there are possibilities. First, you need to have three Druid past lives for the companion boost. Augment summons from necklaces have already been mentioned and in epics go into Primal and take all the abilities that boost hirelings and summons. There is also a Scion feat that boosts them. Get Doctor Lifestone's Hunting Horn, the Epic Wolf Whistle, and the epic werewolf. Along with your pet, you have a variety of summons that will probably be enjoyable in Epic Hard content. At the very least, you should have a blast in explorer zones.

 

[Onyxia2016]

If you plan to multi-class a DH then do not bother putting any points in the wolf part of the tree.
For the wolf to be of any use it needs all the levels it can get, which come for you ranger levels.

I stand by what I posted earlier. The wolf can be very helpful in the Heroic 1-20 R1-R4, After that it has diminishing returns.
If you are have trouble keeping it alive within those level ranges then something is amiss.

• First an foremost get some light armor (despite what the wiki says only light works) with the highest fortification and sheltering (PRR/MRR) you can get.
• Make sure the wolf is summoned when getting guild buffs so it gets them as well. If not in a guild or a newly started one get wands and scrolls to buff it. Don't forget buff you have from spells (resists, magic fang, stat boost like bears endurance, etc... They are not great but every bit helps.
• The wolf is not a tank so don't play it as one. Yes it can tank lower level quests but so can a wizard.
• The wolf does best went sneak attacking. Make sure you or someone else in the party hits first.
• As it levels it will get Wolf Rage, Hamstring and Takedown (trip). These can be pulled down to the wolf hotbar so you can activate or lit is use them on its own. This is more situational.

 

[Sylvado]

My wolf at level 13, holding up well doing level 11 on elite

 

[Fizban]

If you plan to multi-class a DH then do not bother putting any points in the wolf part of the tree.
For the wolf to be of any use it needs all the levels it can get, which come for you ranger levels.

I stand by what I posted earlier. The wolf can be very helpful in the Heroic 1-20 R1-R4, After that it has diminishing returns.
If you are have trouble keeping it alive within those level ranges then something is amiss.

• First an foremost get some light armor (despite what the wiki says only light works) with the highest fortification and sheltering (PRR/MRR) you can get.
• Make sure the wolf is summoned when getting guild buffs so it gets them as well. If not in a guild or a newly started one get wands and scrolls to buff it. Don't forget buff you have from spells (resists, magic fang, stat boost like bears endurance, etc... They are not great but every bit helps.
• The wolf is not a tank so don't play it as one. Yes it can tank lower level quests but so can a wizard.
• The wolf does best went sneak attacking. Make sure you or someone else in the party hits first.
• As it levels it will get Wolf Rage, Hamstring and Takedown (trip). These can be pulled down to the wolf hotbar so you can activate or lit is use them on its own. This is more situational.

These are all good suggestions. I wonder about this posts focus on the dark wolf not being any good. If you compare it to the druid wolf or artificers dog it's about the same.