Pet defense parses; effect of armor, buffs, and DPOC

[Coprolith]

1. Introduction

A little while ago someone asked if giving the pet some armor would make a difference. I was rather curious myself, ever since I've started 3-boxing LDoN adventures my pet has to do a lot of tanking. I've been giving him a set of mage summoned phantom plate armor on the basis that it can't hurt even if it doesn't help much. I knew that our (unfocused) pets don't mitigate all that well, the pet gets hit for max damage quite often, so my expectation was that giving the pet armor would actually help more then a little. Since I'm not one for being satisfied by just getting the impression that the pet does indeed tank better with a full set of armor, i set out to do some parses.
Since I recently acquired the Diamond Prism of Companionship, I also tried to get a better understanding what the pet focus does for the pet's defensive capabilities.


2. Parse details

The parse method i used is basically just an extension of the method i used for my recent PC vs PC defensive parses. I duelled my lvl 65 druid bot putting the pet on /pet hold. I put the pet in a corner to prevent him getting pushed out of range, allowing me to do overnight parses. I also brought my mage along to summon armor and other trinkets with AC on them.
Before doing the parses i did a run to max out my druids offensive skills. My druid's relevant stats after this were: 794 ATK, 126 STR, 175 1HS skill and 200 Offense skill. All parses were done at these stats, with the druid in the frontal position (pet still turns towards his attacker while on hold). I used the lvl 64 pet spell Spirit of Sorsha for all parses.

I've done the following tests:

1. Base line: Unfocused pet, no gear, no buffs.
2. Unfocused pet, set of phantom plate armor (+76AC), no buffs.
3. Unfocused pet, set of phantom plate armor (+76AC), Arag's Celerity (+71AC), Shifting Shield (+18AC).
4. Unfocused pet, set of phantom plate armor (+76AC), Assorted trinkets (+35AC), Arag's Celerity (+71AC), Shifting Shield (+18AC), Protection of the Nine (+32AC).
5. Unfocused pet, no gear, Arag's Celerity (+71AC).
6. DPoC focused pet, no gear, no buffs.
7. DPoC focused pet, set of phantom plate armor (+76AC), no buffs.
8. DPoC focused pet, set of phantom plate armor (+76AC), Arag's Celerity (+71AC), Shifting Shield (+18AC)
9. DPoC focused pet, set of phantom plate armor (+76AC), Assorted trinkets (+43AC), Arag's Celerity (+71AC), Shifting Shield (+18AC), Protection of the Nine (+32AC).

For tests 3,4,5,8 and 9 I used an egg-timer to warn me in advance that the buff duration was expiring and rebuffed before they did. I also hasted the druid with Celerity during these tests just to speed up the data rate. Test 5 was just a quick check to compare with #2 to see if there's a qualitative difference between AC from gear and buffs.


3. Results and discussion

3.1. Effect of armor and buffs on mitigation

The following table lists the druids average damage per hit for each test. In this table, added AC is the total of the worn and buffed AC added to the pet during that test, AC* is the added AC corrected for the melee bonus to worn AC (see below).

Table 1: Pet mitigation

test #	Added AC	AC*	Swings	Avg dmg	- error
1	0	0	13329	14.35	0.18
2	76	120	5688	11.08	0.21
3	165	209	5826	8.94	0.17
4	232	296	6057	8.13	0.15
5	71	71	3055	11.97	0.31
6	0	0	8805	13.61	0.21
7	76	120	6440	9.92	0.18
8	165	209	6061	8.51	0.16
9	240	309	6006	7.81	0.15

If we compare test 2 (phantom plate, +76AC) with test 5 (Arag's Celerity, +71AC) we see that adding a set of phantom plate gives a larger reduction in average damage as compared to Arag's then you would expect based on the 5AC difference. This had me puzzled for a bit, but then I remembered that melee classes get a bonus to their worn AC. For instance, removing 95 pts of AC on gear on Coprolith (while keeping his AGI constant) reduces his listed AC with 150 pts. I don't know if our pet gets the same bonus, but if I apply the same bonus (150/95) to the AC value on the gear I gave to my pet the results make more sense.

The following graph shows the average damage per hit vs. AC*.



As I expected, the effect of adding AC to the pet, be it with gear or buffs, does more then a little, in fact i'd go as far as say the effect is huge. Just adding a set of phantom plate reduces the damage taken by ~20%. Of course we have to keep in mind that parsing against a druid is a best case scenario because the druid doesnt have a unmitigable damage bonus. If he had for instance a DB of 13 just like we do, then the damage reduction would only be about 10%. During normal gameplay situations, against the average mob, damage reduction would be around the 15% mark. Still, in EQ terms where upgrades usually come in a few %, that's a big improvement.

If you recall my PC vs PC defensive parses from a little while ago (link here) the AC softcap when duelling a L65 druid was about 950AC. The druid had some skillups in 1HS and offense since then which may have upped the cap a bit, but i doubt the softcap increased by 100's of points. Lets call it an even 1000 AC. We can see in the graph that the pet doesnt reach the softcap until about 250AC is added. From that we can estimate that the pet's base AC is only about 750. Comparing the average damage numbers themselves with those i found parsing against Cop also indicate a ~750AC base value. This means that during normal gameplay, the pet will almost never reach the AC softcap. Unless you're farming greenies or light blues, the pet always gets full benefits from adding AC.

3.2. DPoC focus effects

It's clear from the graph that the DPoC focused pet gets an additional bonus to his mitigation. Whether this is a fixed percentage (of about 5%) or simply because his base AC is higher (by about 40AC) is hard to say based on the current data. I lean towards the former, but that's more of hunch then an educated guess. One thing is for sure; unlike Mage pets, our warders do not come pre-equipped with a set of phantom plate armor when summoned with a focus item. The focused pet still accepts the armor and gets full benefits from it.

The next two tables show the avoidance stats for the unfocused and DPoC focused pet respectively. For the unfocused pet these are averaged out over tests 1 thru 5, for the focused pet the average was taken over tests 6 thru 9 (since adding AC with buffs or gear has no effect on avoidance taking the average doesn't change anything except giving better statistics).

Table 2: Unfocused pet avoidance

	#	%	- error
swings	33955
hits	16581	48.83%	0.54%
misses	13173	38.80%	0.53%
dodges	1182	3.48%	0.20%
ripostes	1115	3.28%	0.19%
blocks	1904	5.61%	0.25%

Table 3: DPoC focused pet avoidance

	#	%	- error
swings	27312
hits	12663	46.36%	0.60%
misses	10765	39.41%	0.59%
dodges	1020	3.73%	0.23%
ripostes	851	3.12%	0.21%
blocks	2013	7.37%	0.32%

We can see that the pet focus also gives a bonus to the pet's avoidance. The hit ratio is reduced by 2.5 percentpoints (~5% damage reduction). Part of this will be due to the fact that the focused is one level higher then the unfocused pet. But there's another difference. The miss ratio increases by only 0.5 percentpoints (and this might be the level effect), dodge and riposte do not seem to be affected within the statistical uncertainty of the parses. The real difference is in the block%. The focused pet shows an increase of 1.7 percentpoints, which is a 30% increase in the number of blocks compared to the unfocused pet.


4. Conclusions

I realize not everyone has as easy access to mage summoned items as i do, but if you know up front that your warder is going to be on tanking duty a lot then finding a mage to summon some phantom plate for you is well worth the trouble. You could try to see if there's a mage in PoK looking for clarity (maybe when you're there for C yourself). If you can get him to summon a bag of focus jewelry as well that's even better. The AC on the focus jewelry adds up and they have HPs on them as well.

The DPoC focused warder takes about ~10% less damage (mitigation + avoidance) then the unfocused pet. Add to that its increased HPs, insane regen rate, and small dps boost and its a no-brainer: a pet focus item is a must-have. But i guess im not telling you anything new there :)

Edit:
Just to be safe a word of warning just occured to me. Don't give your warder an Elemental Defender unless you've already given him 2 weapons, or he'll equip in it the offhand instead of the back slot, losing his dw ability in the process. At least, that's what happens with Mage pets and i dont want to be responsible in case the same happens with our warders.

/hugs

[Dummkopf]

Awsome information, sticky this pls  :twisted:

[JillieMT]

Wow, nice work Coprolith! I sense a sticky coming on... :)

[Pussinbootz]

I just started a Bst, I'm only L24, I have always been collecting the Soft wicker and split wicker that drops off the Kobolds in Stonebrunt and giving it to my next pet. ( I tend to collect a set while leveling, then I keep it for the next one). A friend who was there as well told me I was wasting my time and the few pp I could get for the Armour.
I am increasing my L22 pet by 24 to 30 AC, I was not sure but didn't think it hurt....

[Katsandra]

I don't know how I missed seeing this for two months but great work.

Thanks!

[a_moss_snake_001]

Hopefully this isnt a de-rail of the issue but recently I was talking to a friend of mine who seemed convinced that all pets will destroy any and all NODROP items that you give them and will thus not equip NODROP armor and weapons.

Having never really tested this conclusively myself can anyone else provide any input on this?

[Coprolith]

You should probably ask the mages or the necromancers. Its much easier to test this for them, because their pets visibly show the weapons they are using. Im sure you'll find someone on their boards who has given their pet no drop weapons.

/hugs

[Xarilok]

That is right.  Pets will not equip nodrop items.

Here is the reason: Cleric summoned hammers.

End of story, hehe.

[Rakarr]

Thank you very much for doing this Coprolith. I know when I posed the question I was a bit unsure on it myself. It all seemed to make sense, and I've been using banded armour for a while when I am going to have situations where my pet is going to be tanking. I've been -thinking- I've have had somewhat better results than without, but I know just how easy it is to jump to conclusions when there's actually no real difference. Banded, while not being fantastic, has been a good low cost answer for me as I regularly group with a master smith who rather enjoys making it ( I think he's mad most likely :) )and the components are cheap. I'm considering skilling up a bit myself as I like the idea of forging my own stuff for my pet.

It's nice to have a fairly definitive answer on this one. Maybe now people won't think I'm quite as crazy when I start armoring up my pet ( yeah right :) )

[Silverblade-T-E]

Hm, interesting :)

From stuff I recall a while back, which maybe wrong, mage pets can ONLY equip, in addition to amrour, back, weapons:
Face
One wrist
One Ear
One Earring
One FInger
Belt
*NO* neck slot.
Not 100% sure on this as it was a while back form other's tests etc, and no idea if it applies to warders. I'll ask on mage boards see if anyone can recall :)

So ideally you'd want to, in this order give:
--Give pet weapons first so they go in the right slot.
--Girdle/belt of magi'kot.
--Muzzle of Mardu
--Elemental Defender
--Focus items one earing, ring, wrist
--Then armour but not wrist if give focus wrist.
Note the focus items add hps + AC.
Pet like all NPCs cannot actually use focus effects :/

[Toenan]

Silverblade, where exactly did you find the info that mage pets can only equip one ring, one earring, etc?  There was an old old misperception from way back that NPCs (including pets) could only equip one bracer, merely because the graphic for both wrists is tied together -- but I don't believe anyone has ever actually proven that NPCs have a different number of equipment slots than a PC character.

It would be easy to test, given the same test as was applied above, by giving one pet just a single bracer/earring/ring, and then the second pet 2 bracers/2 earrings/ 2 rings/ ...and a neck?  The AC difference (about 26 AC in equipped armor I think, using the mage summons) would be substantial enough to see in a fair long duration parse.  26 AC (and 80 hp for that matter) is a fair amount, especially if it adjusts to nearly 40 with the equipped AC bonus, and knowing for sure that such a test had been done would lend a lot of credibility to your statement... like I said, I cannot find it.

[Peteums]

Pets will equip 2 Lore items that is confirmed!! I went to bazzy gave pet 1 Steel Flint Hilted Dagger( or something like that) then I purhcased anohter and kept it in my inventory, I then headed to PoK and asked a chanter to NDT my pet so I cann see his hands He had 1 dagger in his hands, I then handed him the other dagger and Voila DUAL WIELDING LORE with. Surprising though, I didn't see a huge increase in DPS. Another trick I love doing is heading to the bazzy and Just Blowing 2K on Best HP/AC Armor. My best results so Far I am estimating at 10Kish--12Kish HP Pet (68 pet Focused DPoC with Conv, Focus of Allunda, Spiritual Strength  every possible inventory Slot filled ) I needed 3 x 3K heals to get my Pet to Max health after a fight, but he still had HP prior to hitting heals. I enjoy soloing WoS, atm its alittle rough becuase huge down time(I only have RM 1)  aftre 2 fights. But I once attempted to let pet kill it on it's own, was one hell of a long fight, and I ended up almost oom, but he was able to tank it on his own with only heals coming from me. Try this for a some good fun, go to bazzy buy every possible Piece of armor for every slot except for know Mage Focus items Best Price/HP/AC ratio under 200PP) Equip and enjoy. BTW Pet Can almost heal BoT Giants all alone, he needs 1 heal and t that point the giant has roughly 5% hp.

[fhrugby]

Hi I have a necro but find that beastlords are greatly knowledgable regarding pets and that you might be able to help me, and I might be able to add more knowledge to the board in return.

I would love more info on whether pets :
a) gain a bonus from attack items? ( but if they do how do they use it , since damage is calculated different)
b) gain a bonus from accuracy items?
c) gain a bonus from + regen items?
d) pets have a Worn AC cap?
(Rogues for example have a 150 worn AC cap, i do not know what others classes have, but that number was revealed on EQlive boards by a dev. Otehr classes would be higher, but might be a reachable number with gear. DoN crafter gear often has very high AC and can sell chepa for journeyman and sometimes masters. that 150 is reachable and necros have rogue pets. Would be very useful to know)

(I ask a-c becasue a Bloodthirsty Drachnid Leash has been selling for as low as 200 plat on my server and a Collar of Vigor often sells for 10-20 plat.)


I can add the following:
1) I can confirm that pets do not gain a hp bonus from stamina on items or from stamina buffs. (you probably all knew that by now)
2) I can confrim thats pets do gain a bonus to Damage Shield from equiped items, I equiped my pet with a Tainted Cloak of Treachery (was 200 plat in baz)  and got a druid DS on me and pet, pets DS hits were 3 more than mine.
3) pets can wear attuned armor, item from number 2 was attunable
4) pets ignore required level on items, item from number 2 was 65 req, pet was 53 and my toon was 55
5) pets ignore class restrictions on items, item from 2 was not rogue usuable, pet was a rogue.
6) pets can equip a range item, I gave a lvl 1 necro pet a 160 hp range item and it went up from 30 hps to around 190 judgeing by the % of health after taking aout 30 hps damge
7) pets can equip a neck item, I gave a level 1 pet a 35 hp neck item and immeaditly upon taking 3 hps damage it read at 95% health, if it had 30 hps like natural it would have been at 90%

I have read on other sites but can't confirm the following:
i)  Pets ignore recommend level on items
ii)  pets ignore race restriction on items
iii) pets use str on items ( but if they do how do they use it , since damage is calculated different)


Finally I always save my pet and his armor by shrouding before logging. When I log back in and unshroud, the pet is alive and equiped as it was when I last shrouded. Withthis technigue buying cheap gear to armor you pet becomes more economical.

[laissez]

to reply to your post i can only give you common sense hypothesis'

A. Pets do gain atk from spells otherwise our pet haste buffs with atk would be pointless also the way they itemize mage summoned pet items makes me believe they do gain bonuses for atk Summoned: Muzzle of Mowcha

B. The answer is mostly the same as above, since the above item was designed to be given to pets, it would make sense that they would get the bonuses from them.

C. This is the only i actually have tested, way back when, long b4 ooc regen, i being a young lvl 55 bst dualed pets with a necro for 3 hours.  With just pet haste necro pet would out mine, but if i only added our lvl 55 choloplast he would win just barely but would win everytime.

D. I'm not sure if u could flop on enough ac to test this if there even is one, The graphs from the original poster show AC gains from over 300.