Answers to most pet related weapon questions...

[Tastian]

Ok I've seen a LOT of questions asked here and a lot of wrong information, so I'm just going to go through and list some things that I've tested and parsed and if anything has changed or anyone has logs showing otherwise let me know and I'll edit accordingly.

-  Pets can use weapons of any type(1hs/piercing/2hb/2hs/etc) all equally well.  The only things to consider when giving your pet a weapon is the damage and effect.

-  Pets will only proc weapons once they are of sufficent level to do.  I.E the warder has to be 37+ level to proc a yak.  It doesn't matter what *your* level is, rather the warder's.

-  Pets ignore rec. dmg.  Giving a level 9 pet a weighty polearm (god dang they are cheap/common) will still see the pet hitting very hard.

-  At low levels giving the pet a weapon is basically power leveling yourself.  I've bought up lots of 2h weapons in the bazaar for under 20plat that has my warder hitting for 50+ a shot instead of 20's or whatever.

-  Pet starts to DW at 30 pet.  However, you can still give 2h to the level 30 and 39 warder's and since the level 30 warder's DW is so low it's usually more dmg to give it a nice 2h.

-  Pet quads naturally at 49 and at this point just giving 1h weapons that give procs one desires is the way to go.

-  DPoC focused pet performs almost exactly the same with hth/1hs/etc weapon types.  Again I've never been able to parse my pet doing better/worse with varying weapon types in recent history.

-  You do *NOT* have to give your pet weapons.  However, there is almost nothing else one can buy at lower levels that will give the benefit of a weapon in their pets hands.  For 5, 20, maybe 100 pp you can make your dps sore and literally power level yourself.  At level 9 having a pet hitting for 50 is crazy and sometimes you'll be fighting to hit the mob before your pet kills it.

-  Delay of weapon given to pet makes no difference.

I also just checked bazaar and found over 200 returns for 2h weapons that cost under 50pp.  Weighty polearms all over for 25(ish)pp.  With this the level 9 warder had hits of 42, it goes higher I believe, but I didn't keep testing.  Firerune brand, dark reaver, runic carver.  All of those were 20pp or less and had 18+ dmg on them.  Again you don't have to give your pet weapons, but especially early on it can make a huge difference in your exp'n.  

Again I'm sure there are other things and I maybe missed some, but basically for a quick recap.  Delay doesn't matter, rec level doesn't matter for dmg reasons, but does for proc'n reasons.  Weapon type doesn't matter for pet (DPoC focused or not).  Giving pet a weapon at lower level is amazing, but again not necessary.  You stop giving pet weapons when they stop being worth it to you (no longer adds dmg, don't need proc, just don't have the pp, etc).    Any corrections just PM me or let me know, any other questions add them and I'll test/edit it in.

[testarossa]

Can't remember which weapons you give the warder that proc snare - some dagger, some hammer, and something else I think. Anyone know? Thinking it would be good in LDoN's

[Silresa]

Serrated Bone Dirk is the first snare-proc dagger that comes to mind. ;)

[Merescata]

or those whip thingys from Split paw maybe for snare or is it just the proc?

[Tastian]

The gnoll hide lariats proc stun.  Might be another item, but I'm not sure.  SDB procs engulfing darkness.  As does the kunzar chialuviewoviewj it's warrior only 1hs from CoM, but it's lore.  There's also silken whip of ensnaring and various other weapons.  Bone dirks are the best for snare imo because they aren't lore, and they add a bit more damage.  Unless you have issues with mez they are great.  I used to use SBD as main snare in a lot of places, but almost never find the need anymore personally.

[testarossa]

Thank you so much - the bard and warrior I play with and I are doing lots of ldons, so was thinking a snare could be a good thing. I appreciate the info.  :)