Author: Ethelros

Sabertooth, y u suck so much!?

I’ll be honest with you guys; I hate the Sabertooth. HATE it. If my hatred for the sabertooth were converted into a liquid, there would be enough to fill a large bathtub and two dozen beer mugs. That is how much this pet grinds my girdle.

But, alas, it is still a pet, so I must persevere and press into this edition of LOTRO Menagerie. For this one I shall explain exactly why I feel this particular pet would be worth more as a housing decoration than as a combat companion.

Damage

 

Statistically speaking, it’s bad. Real bad. The sabertooth comes out just above the Eagle on the scale of pet DPS, which given the Eagle’s vastly higher utility(and MUCH higher flank rate) is not good at all. And speaking of flanking, a rough estimate puts the sabertooth at the very bottom of the list(assuming it’s hitting a single target; more on that below).

On the subject of damage, it should be said that the Sabertooth does AOE. It’s autoattacks and all three of its skills do AOE damage of up to three targets. The autoattack part is interesting but not very practical. To get it to hit multiple targets you first need to get them group up tightly. Then, you need the sabertooth to be in the right position to hit all of them. In short it’s more trouble to get working properly than it’s worth. And as I said above, the damage output is so low as to make it irrelevant either way.

 

Skills

 

The first skill the sabertooth has is Frostbite. This ability does damage to the targets and hits with a -10% Frost Mitigation debuff that lasts one minute, with a two minute cooldown. Now from a player perspective this is pretty darn awful. The only skills that spring to mind that use Frost type is the LM’s Gust of Wind, which you won’t be using very often, and certainly not for the damage, and a few RK skills that don’t see frequent use either. While there is a small benefit in the fact that the Sabertooth does Frost damage as standard(being the only pet to not use Common), the increase is minuscule. Unless you know an RK that uses their Frost skills a lot, best keep it on autofire.

The second ability the pet learns is Fury of Winter. It does a small amount of damage, has a higher than normal Crit Magnitude and on a crit will flank the target, and also has a two minute cooldown. Now this sounds okay in theory, but in practice I found the pet crits with this so rarely that the flank isn’t worth considering, and definitely not something to count on. Leaving on autofire is advisable for the shot in a million chance of a flank.

The last skill the sabertooth learns is Throat Slash. This particular one is sort of connected to Fury of Winter, in that when it is used on a flanked opponent, it has a chance to open up a Fellowship Manoeuvre. I’m not certain as to what the chance is, as the tooltip does not state it. After playing around with it though, I find it fails more often than it succeeds, so take that as you will. If it works the stun can be useful I suppose, although again you have a bunch of stuns of your own, so the possibility of another one is not the most enthralling prospect.

 

Conclusion

 

The AOE aspect of the Sabertooth is really it’s only saving grace. The only pet more fragile than it is the Lynx, which makes it a horrible tank. The flank rate is atrocious and there are no additional abilities granted to it like the Raven and Lynx have. In short, there is no situation I can conceive of where this pet would preferable over any other. Just don’t use it.

I understand that some might heavily disagree with this article, and if you do please comment with your reasoning. I’d like to like this pet, but from where I’m sitting it’s simply all around terrible. Either way, thanks for reading, and in the next article we’ll be moving on to the Legendary Pets, first up being the Eagle.

And we’re back! Today’s edition centers around the cute furry cuddly wuddly pet, the Lynx!

The Lynx is the straight up DPS pet. Its stats and abilities are all based on damage output, with little room for anything else. We will be looking at just how viable the Lynx’s DPS really is, and in particular whether it’s enough to make it a good choice above more varied pets.

 

Damage – Burst

 

When examining the damage potential, we must look at both burst and sustained DPS. The Lynx comes equipped with a number of skills to aid in doing solid burst damage. The first of these is called Surprise Attack. As you’d expect from the name, this skill is used only from stealth. Yes, stealth. Unlike any other pet, the Lynx exists in a permanent state of stealth when out of combat. Upon directing it to attack an opponent, the Lynx will open it’s assault with this move. It does a good amount of damage, about 600-800 at level cap, and does even more in terms of percentage at lower levels(I had it knock off a good 30-50% from a normal mob with a good hit), and has a high crit multiplier. On criticals it can hit upwards of 1.7k.

The downside of this skill is that it serves no purpose once the pet has left stealth and entered combat, meaning it can only be used once per fight. It is very much advised to keep this skill toggled on autofire at all times, else you miss out on the damage this skill can do. A final note about this skill is that it works just like certain Burglar and Warg skills, in that it does more damage when attacking from behind. So when you’re preparing to take on a tougher opponent, get behind it and send your Lynx in first to get some good damage in from the start.

The second skill available to the Lynx is Feral Strike. This skill does exactly the same amount of damage as Surprise Attack, with a number of differences. Firstly, it has a two minute cooldown instead of one. Second, this skill can be used out of stealth. And thirdly, it is an AOE skill that hits up to three targets. As a simple damage skill, using it as often as possible is recommended, but be aware of the AOE effect that has the potential to break CC.

The third and final skill Slashing Claws(Spridra would like this one). This is a two hit skill that does roughly the same damage as the previous two. Just like Feral Strike it is also an AOE skill, but it can hit up to 5 opponents instead of 3 and has a one minute shorter cooldown. Just like the previous skill frequent use is better, at least for solo questing.

Overall the Lynx’s burst capability is pretty decent by pet standards, and were you to save the latter two skills you could feasibly use them to go for a quick finish on a weaker mob.

 

Damage – Sustained

 

Alas, here is where the Lynx loses its shine. After conducting a few tests I can make a general observation that this pet actually struggles to out-damage the Bear when you take the burst skills out of the equation. One interesting thing to note though is that the lynx has an innate ability in a similar vein to the Raven’s debuff proc. Upon achieving a critical hit with an autoattack, the Lynx will apply a short duration bleed on the target, ticking ever five seconds for ten seconds. The damage isn’t much, but with a boosted crit chance your pet can keep this up almost indefinitely. Of course, where there’s bleeds there’s the danger of breaking CC, which means it’s probably a good idea to have the Lynx attack something that cannot be CCed, either by immunity or by it being a primary target of your group.

Even with this ability the sustained damage just isn’t there, so for bigger mobs that may take longer to bring down, you may be better placed to run with the Raven or Bear, as both provide more utility in the long run.

 

Conclusion

 

Overall, the Lynx is quite viable for use in general questing. Indeed, it’s likely the quickest one to run with, with the possible exception of the Raven with its Fire Mit debuff. Similar to the Bear it does not have much of any utility, and even worse in the fact that it is very fragile, making it not very helpful as a distraction. If you’re confident in your own survivability, using the Lynx is definitely a good option. However, if you’re more worried about dying, the Raven or Bear may be a safer choice.

Thanks for reading folks. Leave your comments, thoughts and disagreements below as always and I’ll see you next time when we’ll be covering the, eugh…

Sabertooth. -_-

 

Welcome back, folks! Before we get into the topic of this week, I would like to take the time to thank ya’ll for the responses to my last (and technically first) article. It’s very encouraging and I’ll be bearing(har) the comments in mind for this edition and for future ones. Today we’ll be looking at the second of the Lore-master’s zoo of companions, the Bear.

The bear is intended to be the ‘tanky’ pet for the Lore-master, and is more sturdy than the others (aside from the Spirit) to fit this role. We will examine the bear and try to determine just how effective he truly is at that role and as a companion in general.

 

Damage

 

In terms of damage dealing capability the Bear comes out at the top end of the scale. Depending on how long the fight lasts, it’s either ahead or just behind the Lynx. As of this writing it is the only pet whose autoattacks have properly scaled in damage.

He also has a couple of skills that can boost his damage. The first of which is his Shatter Arms skill. This ability increases the incoming Melee and Ranged damage of the target by 10% for 30s, with a 1min cooldown. Naturally this will buff the Bear’s damage output, but it will also increase your own Melee damage, including Staff Strike, Staff Sweep, and your autoattacks which make up a substantial amount of your overall DPS.

This is pretty much the only use I can see for having the Bear out in group instances and raids, as for fights with a single boss mob it can work great for Champions, Hunters and Burglars in particular. Bear (har) in mind however, that the damage component of this skill does NOT scale correctly. Shatter Arms can be set to autofire, and in general solo questing that’s a pretty good idea. In group instances you might be better off saving it for tougher mobs instead of him hitting the trash instead, or for when you know your teammates will be going for a burst of damage.

The second damage skill available to the Bear is Bear Hug. This skill stuns the enemy for three seconds and is also on a 1min cooldown. That’s it. Now you might be thinking, “Hey Ethelros you contemptible berk, LMs have a bunch of stuns! What use is another one?” Well, you’re right really. At lower levels you might be lower on the CC you can use, but as you get higher up this becomes a more and more dismal ability. Unless you’re having your pet distract an enemy way over yonder, I personally don’t see it being a whole lot of good. This skill is like Shatter Arms in that the damage component does not scale and it can be set to autocast. It’s really up to you whether to do so or not, if you really have no other CC to use it can be a decent last resort I suppose.

 

Utility

 

In comparison to the Raven, the Bear does not have quite as much variety in the things that it can do. It’s flank rate is pitiful, being among the lowest of all the pets. But what it does have is one VERY, VERY useful ability that if you can get to grips with using, can amplify your survivability against NPCs tremendously. The ability in question is known as Roaring Challenge. Just like the Guardian’s Challenge skill, this forces the target’s attention to the user for a short period of time, and there are few occasions where this focus can be broken. The force taunt lasts for a period of ten seconds, with a 1min 10s cooldown. If timed right to hit immediately after your initial stun has worn off, you can keep yourself completely free from harm(which also helps your inductions) for 13-15 seconds, depending on what stun you use.

Of course Roaring Challenge is also great for when your Morale starts getting dangerously low. The Bear is generally tough enough to withstand the damage for those ten seconds, and it can buy you enough time to heal yourself with Water Lore, or if you do not have it yet, then Inner Flame (which has the added benefit of healing your companion, ensuring he stays up to defend you, and also transfers part of your threat to him). Unlike the other two skills, this one cannot be set to autocast, so you must remember to cast it yourself.

Now we look at the big question surrounding the Bear; can he tank effectively? Well from my perspective, no. No he can’t. He’s survivable enough, sure, and with healing support from his owner he can hold up strong against most opponents. The big issue here is that he simply cannot hold aggro from an LM that is making even the slightest effort to do damage. The taunt will wear off eventually, and when it does that mob is going to make a beeline straight towards you.

In short, the Bear can be the best tank ever… unless you’re attacking the same mob as it.

 

Conclusion

 

My final thoughts on the Bear; it’s a decent pet. In terms of the things it can do it’s not that great, but it does do fairly good damage (for a pet) and that force taunt is just amazing stuff. It’s most helpful for solo questing due to the increased DPS, but as noted earlier the debuff can be situationally useful in group and raid content to speed up killing.

That’s all for this edition. Thanks for reading and in the next article we will be looking over what is possibly my favourite pet, the Lynx! Remember to leave a comment and any advice, feedback or disagreements below. See you all next time!

Welcome to the first of what should be many articles showcasing the pets available to LOTRO’s resident animal fanatic, the Lore-master! I plan to look at each pet individually, examining the different abilities available and how it matches up statistically with the others. In this initial edition, we will quite appropriately be covering the first pet you get, the Raven.

Damage

The Raven comes in at the bottom of the pack in terms of damage output, and by quite a wide margin too. On its own the Raven is almost useless when it comes to dishing out the hurt. However, where it excels is in amplifying your own output, in two specific ways.

Firstly, it has a skill callled Benediction of the Raven, which places a debuff on the target that decreases fire mitigation by 10% for one minute. This makes the Raven a very good pet to use if you trait heavily in the red line, as you will utilising fire damage quite frequently. This also comes in handy in group instances and raids, where you may often be running with fire traited Rune-keepers and Hunters using fire-oil. This skill has a ten second cooldown, which means it can be kept up continuously.

Second is the fact that the Raven has the highest flank rate of all non-legendary pets(The Bog-lurker and Eagle are both more effective are procing flanks). Especially for an LM who likes to get up close and whack things with their staff, this can be a great boost to your damage output.

Utility

A really cool feature to the Raven, and one that is not noted anywhere ingame, is the pet’s ability to apply a debuff upon achieving a critical or devastate with an autoattack. This debuff increases the target’s miss chance by 15% for fifteen seconds. A great little thing to have procing without motivation, and one that happens fairly often. You can boost the chances of applying this debuff in several ways. Firstly, equipping a Brooch of Rage increases your companion’s raw crit rating. There is also the Hardy Companion trait, which increases it’s crit chance as well as it’s level. The Legendary trait Noble Savage increases the pet’s crit chance as well. It should be noted that Benediction of the Raven has a chance to apply this debuff as well, but only a 50% chance *after* a critical or devastate.

The second skill available to the Raven is Distraction. It is a channeled skill, lasting fifteen seconds with a fifteen second cooldown. This means that if set to autocast, the pet will often chain use the skill. The most important effect of this skill is to reduce the targets outgoing ranged damage by a gargantuan 50%. Definitely not something to overlook when fighting predominantly ranged opponents, particularly Uruk Blackarrows in PvMP. Used in conjunction with Wind-Lore, you can utterly cripple his ability to do damage. It’s important to note that if used on an NPC along with Wind-Lore, it will usually switch to melee combat instead. In addition to the damage debuff, Distraction also applies a 10% miss chance debuff, always nice to have, and applies a fairly mediocre damage-over-time.

The third and final skill given to the Raven is Evasion. As you might imagine, this skill increases the Raven’s Evade for a short period of time, as well as increasing it’s armour value and shadow mitigation. Not incredibly useful, as the pet’s lack of damage output means it is unlikely to ever take sustained damage that would necessitate using the skill. That said, it can come in handy as an extended distraction for you to escape past some troublesome mobs, or as added insurance in instances with heavy AoE damage flying around.

But probably the biggest appeal to using the Raven, and the thing most people associate with the pet, is it’s innate aura ability that extends to itself, his owner, and anyone in the group with him. Shield of the Raven’s Wing, aside from sounding totally awesome, bestows a  hefty amount of tactical mitigation. This is not quite as useful to the LM as it used to be, due to the change making Will increase tact mit,  but for those who are not yet capped it’s still a great buff.

Conclusion

Final thoughts on the Raven; it’s in a pretty good spot overall. It does have the same damage issue that all pets in LOTRO have, but the amount of varied abilities, its potential in different situations makes it arguably the most well rounded pet. Where I would personally recommend using this pet over others, would be these in particular:

• Solo questing while built for MoNF, for the Benediction debuff and flanks
• Group instances and raids with heavy tactical damage for the tact mit buff
• Solo PvP for Benediction, the tact mit buff and frequent flanks for healing and power restoration

So that’s it for this article. Please leave a comment if you’d like to weigh in, any disagreements with what I’ve said or if there’s something I have missed out. And in particular, if anybody has any advice for writing these articles, ways to improve my structure or SPG, it would be much appreciated. Thank you.