Project Gorgon: Providing a "Stable" Environment for your Pets

I ran into a really cool player of Project Gorgon the other night who recognized me from my blog. Mr. 7!  One of the questions he had for me was concerning my Fae Bee pet, Buzz Tightrear.

The question was . . . Do I like him?

My response was yes and especially because I'm a poison damage build, but I don't like him if I'm going up against a poison resistant enemy.  If I am, Buzz is useless.

That said, if I am going against a poison resistant enemy, I typically switch to my fire rat pet, Bernie.  Yup, a fire rat . . . that same fire rat that crawls across the Eltibule hillside. And I switch my kit up so that I'm no longer using poison knife skills and instead am using more Slash type skills.  You can quickly do that through the power of loadouts. (Pro Tip: Click that little star icon on your button tray skill bar and level a few skills to 50.)

This conversation got me thinking about the pets I currently have in my stable, and it also made me wonder if most people know that each pet has a special trick and a damage type to it? I have to admit it took me awhile to really figure out what was going on with my pets and how to use them.

Animal Handling Tip 1: 

After charming a pet, target it and look at it's damage type and any special abilities. You do this by targeting them and clicking on the "i" in a circle.  Here's what happens when I do this with Buzz.

The deets on a Fae Bee pet.

You can see that buzz has high evasion, think armor. He's immune to poison damage. He only deals poison damage. He does a Poison Damage Over Time for his big attack. His special trick is a debuff Poison Vulnerability that's a ranged attack.  You also see that I really don't want to pit him toe to toe with mobs that do crushing, fire, and cold damage. Psychic and nature damage don't harm him much.

This is actually what makes you incredibly special as an animal handler. Unlike a person that solely specializes in one type of damage, you can own a whole stable of pets that specialize in a variety of damage types. The downside of course is you have to level all those pets up and keep them happy.

Here's a look at the rest of my stable.

The Blinding Wasp does piercing damage and applies a piercing debuff. 

The Fae Bear does slashing and crushing . . . serious crushing. 

Fire rat does fire damage, reduces rage, and applies a fire DOT. 

Freeze Wasp does cold damage, slows enemies, and poisons. 

Grimilkin is all about armor, slashing, crushing, and . . . fleeing

Looking at my stable, my pets do the following damage types:

• Fae Bee Pet = Poison
• Grimilkin = Slashing
• Blinding Wasp = Piercing
• Fire Rat = Fire
• Freeze Wasp = Ice
• Fae Bear = Crushing

I still have room in my stable for one more pet.  I hear that "Hissy" the giant red cat is a crown jewel for Animal Handlers . . . I may have to get that.

Animal Handling Tip 2: 

Click on your pet and use that big "Check" button to inspect it. There's a lot of interesting information in that window.  Here's how Buzz was looking earlier this morning.

Let's break down that information line by line.

Owner, Health, Armor are all pretty explanatory

Pet Level: 80 is the current maximum level for a pet . . . even if your animal handling skill is higher than 80.  That's just the way it is.

Bond Level: Per the wiki entry on Animal Handling. "As you fight alongside your pet, its Bond Level increases. A new pet will begin with a Bond Level of 0, or a pet you receive from another player (not yet available in-game). For each Bond Level, pets' base damage increases by 1 or 2, max health increases by 4, and max armor increases by 1."

Happiness: Basically, if you let your pet die, they lose happiness. If they lose happiness, their experience gains slow down.  Make sure you're always feeding and petting your pet between combat when you can.

Enthusiasm: Per the wiki entry on Animal Handling. "Pet Enthusiasm is boosted by its owner's equipped items. Enthusiasm determines the chance for pets to critically hit enemies. Higher Enthusiasm is required to critically hit higher level monsters. If a pet performs a critical hit, the pet's direct damage is increased by 25% (for cats), 40% (for bears), or 50% (for rats)."

I don't have any information on critical hit damage boost for bees. If someone knows the answer, you should update the wiki!

Unfortunately I don't have all my mods built out to really increase enthusiasm on my pets.  I'll get there eventually. Um, Animal Handling Tip 2.5 . . . get gear mods to increase enthusiasm for your pets. ;) I should do that myself.

Animal Handling Tip 3:

Don't let your pet die and always have a back up pet when you're in combat.  If you see your pet is about to go down, do your best to not let him die.  In fact, it's better to click on the "x" button under his health bar to dismiss him before he does.  Always have a secondary pet summon ready to go if you get in trouble like this.  The first two buttons on my side skill bar are always related to summoning pets.

This side bar is what I use for group play.

Animal Handling Tip 4:

Unnatural Wrath is your friend . . . even if it's a pain in the butt to have those Anchor Runes. I've recently been playing more and more with Unnatural Wrath, and the damage you can get out of your pets is impressive.

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And that's all I can really think of for now. Feel free to share your insights in the comments below.

Happy Dueling!