Question about Shadow Hounds

Grimbeard · February 9

popps said:

Grimbeard said:

popps said:

Pawain said:

You sure are spending a lot of time analying pets that you would only use on the MoE gates that are not around anymore. Or Generals from town invasions, also not around any more.

How long before you think they will make another object in the game that does little damage to pets and does not switch targets? Well you will be prepared for it in 2030 I suppose. In the 27 years of UO, we have had two of those things...

So, if I understand what you are saying, the Shadow Hounds just introduced in the game have basically no use for anything ?

If so, why would the Developers have wasted their time to make them available and players' time to get them for pets which will hardly be used for any hunt ?

It's a very small niche pet no need to over think

It sure is a problem for a Tamer to walk a pack of pets through a spawn... it is already a pain to walk not mountable pets dragging along, for example, a dungeon, imagine doing that with a pack of 5 pets all getting aggroed by the spawn as one walks or runs around...

The Developers should really introduce something to facilitate the use of pack pets in UO...

You want a pack you can ride???

KroDuK · February 9

He'll learn to use some stuff soon enough.. like u still can leave your pack at home.. run to your location and log out/in and voilà.. if you need to PvP on a champ spawn u just need to honor your ass while swinging bolas.

Violet · February 10

To find out jut how important strength is we have: https://www.uo-cah.com/pet-damage-calculator

You need to account for pet damage is PvP is halved and UO rounds down when it comes to calculations.

At 61 or 70 resists anything 238 strength or above with be doing top damage unless you find a "unicorn" 275 strength one for pvm. From what I know of Popps he does not PvP, if he did I think there would be many other posts on this forum~

Example of Shadow Hounds pre and post Grasping Claw in PvP:

For the Hit Point/Resists:

Example:

A 400 strength, 100 tactics, 100 anatomy attacker with 100 wrestling and 100 physical damage on two different resisted shadow hounds:

Shadow Hound A 190 hit points and 55% physical resists gets hit for 27-36

Shadow Hound B 160 hit points and 65% physical resists gets hit for 21-28

It would take 4 hits to for those resists on Shadow Hound B to outweigh the added hit points of Shadow Hound A.

On the mob in question above it would be an added 140-160 damage per minute (at a 50% hit rate, for these calculations I simplified and did not include parry chance) to Shadow Hound A vs Shadow Hound B.

There is a lot of nuance in the conversation regarding hit points and resists. There are things like environmental damage. You want enough hit points to keep the pack alive.

I see Pawain still has his bad takes on taming.

Also @popps If you have questions about our website we have a public discord you can join to ask those questions: https://discord.gg/ta26pT63qb . We rarely read these forums unless someone DMs us to check something out, so these forums aren't the place to ask things regarding our website. If you don't have discord, you can private message us on these forums.

KroDuK · February 10

I am VERY surprised of how little strength affect their damage.. thanks for the info.
So we can add str to the list with int/mana for stats u don't look to be almost perfect. (238str)

Pawain · February 10

KroDuK said:

Pawain said:

KroDuK said:

Pawain said:
The more important question, is why are you wasting so much time messing and writing about these instead of getting drops from the event that will soon end?

You good Paiwan?

Do you want to share something with us?
This is a safe space..

Nope. I'm still getting drops. Have to equip 8 toons

I was given 5 shadow hounds

make sense now.. stll have to grind a main event design to bribe the bots and their frame skippers.. it explain the bad mood!

The world doesn't revolve around you.. if u were given and accepted the first 5 weaker specimen u were presented.. do not pull everyone down to your level.

You shame him for not knowing stuff and shaming him for learning the stuff you don't... pick a lane.

PS: I lied, this is not a safe space.

Ya taming a dog is so difficult. So you lored the ones I was given, or you just make up stuff? I don't have room for junk in my stables.

KroDuK · February 10

bro.. u legit have a fully built archer with 110 archery and like 75.8 resist.. how can u care that much about your stable and neglect your toons that much at the same time.. PICK A LANE!

PS: you really missing out on the power of that shadow pack.. on paper this is unreal.. without even considering THE ONE mastery nor the bard partner.

Like if the game was not in such a bad state and worth to be played.. I would mess around with a tamer no using vet.. and try to cheese on a ninja T. for a 6 pack.. always dreamt of having a 6 pack.

Pawain · February 10

KroDuK said:

bro.. u legit have a fully built archer with 110 archery and like 75.8 resist.. how can u care that much about your stable and neglect your toons that much at the same time.. PICK A LANE!

PS: you really missing out on the power of that shadow pack.. on paper this is unreal.. without even considering THE ONE mastery nor the bard partner.

I'll put the archers drops per hour up against your archers. What shard? He can travel.

It's all about luck and damage.

KroDuK · February 10

Paiwan be like:

Image: https://forum.uo.com/uploads/editor/en/hbcmq3nhb30x.png

You're a feather weight bro.

Pawain · February 10

So that's a no huh. All talk no play. I expected as much.

Just like 1 slot pets have a build for a special encounter. So does my luck archer.

KroDuK · February 10

If u can't read between the lines.. u got baited.. I was ready with the Six Pac meme.

Joke is on you.. my archer is freaking RED and necro.. I win u lose.. your archer is dead before u even can collect your first artifact.

Get schooled.

Edit:

Notice her name.. and the capital letters.
Also, I don't make stuff up u were given inferior DEX specimen during the invasion.. u dumb dumb.

popps · February 10

Grimbeard said:

popps said:

Grimbeard said:

popps said:

Pawain said:

You sure are spending a lot of time analying pets that you would only use on the MoE gates that are not around anymore. Or Generals from town invasions, also not around any more.

How long before you think they will make another object in the game that does little damage to pets and does not switch targets? Well you will be prepared for it in 2030 I suppose. In the 27 years of UO, we have had two of those things...

So, if I understand what you are saying, the Shadow Hounds just introduced in the game have basically no use for anything ?

If so, why would the Developers have wasted their time to make them available and players' time to get them for pets which will hardly be used for any hunt ?

It's a very small niche pet no need to over think

It sure is a problem for a Tamer to walk a pack of pets through a spawn... it is already a pain to walk not mountable pets dragging along, for example, a dungeon, imagine doing that with a pack of 5 pets all getting aggroed by the spawn as one walks or runs around...

The Developers should really introduce something to facilitate the use of pack pets in UO...

You want a pack you can ride???

No, I would like, for example ( @Kyronix? ), a special Crystal Ball of "pack" pets summoning that works anywhere and can summon "all" pets in a pack once the Tamer gets to the Hunting location so as not to make it a nightmare to try walk an entire pack through various spawn aggroing all individual pets in that pack... and this special Crystal Ball of pack pets summoning should also work to send back the pets into the stables once the hunting is done so as not to have to walk them out from the hunting ground gaving to walk them through a variety of spawn aggroing all the various pets in the pack.

Furthermore, I think this as something much needed also because it is ridicolous, to my opinion, that a Tamer using 5 Shadow Hounds, for example, needs to have 5 Crystal Balls of pets' summoning in one's own backpack...

Or some other tool that would basically help UO tamers the same with the handling of their pack pets.

popps · February 10

Violet said:

To find out jut how important strength is we have: https://www.uo-cah.com/pet-damage-calculator

You need to account for pet damage is PvP is halved and UO rounds down when it comes to calculations.

At 61 or 70 resists anything 238 strength or above with be doing top damage unless you find a "unicorn" 275 strength one for pvm. From what I know of Popps he does not PvP, if he did I think there would be many other posts on this forum~

Example of Shadow Hounds pre and post Grasping Claw in PvP:

For the Hit Point/Resists:

Example:

A 400 strength, 100 tactics, 100 anatomy attacker with 100 wrestling and 100 physical damage on two different resisted shadow hounds:

Shadow Hound A 190 hit points and 55% physical resists gets hit for 27-36
Shadow Hound B 160 hit points and 65% physical resists gets hit for 21-28

It would take 4 hits to for those resists on Shadow Hound B to outweigh the added hit points of Shadow Hound A.

On the mob in question above it would be an added 140-160 damage per minute (at a 50% hit rate, for these calculations I simplified and did not include parry chance) to Shadow Hound A vs Shadow Hound B.

There is a lot of nuance in the conversation regarding hit points and resists. There are things like environmental damage. You want enough hit points to keep the pack alive.

I see Pawain still has his bad takes on taming.

Also @ popps If you have questions about our website we have a public discord you can join to ask those questions: https://discord.gg/ta26pT63qb . We rarely read these forums unless someone DMs us to check something out, so these forums aren't the place to ask things regarding our website. If you don't have discord, you can private message us on these forums.

@Violet

thank you for the additional info about Shadow Hounds and about the discord.

In order to benefit more UO players as possible with the informations on these new tameable pets, I think it would be better to continue the discussion about what Shadow Hounds to look for, on these Forums which UO tamers might also search out in the future to seek Shadow Hounds informations.

I did understand your comment about the 160 hit points Shadow Hound B but with better physical resist taking 4 more hits from the target to outweight the added hit points that Shadow Hound A but with worse physical resist has... what I did not understand, is the second part of your comment where you say "On the mob in question above it would be an added 140-160 damage per minute (at a 50% hit rate, for these calculations I simplified and did not include parry chance) to Shadow Hound A vs Shadow Hound B."

Could you please explain it more clearly ?

I am, only trying here, as I guess many other less knowledged UO players playing a tamer, to figure out which Shadow Hounds would be good to keep and use, and which would not be.

An indication of what is the most relevant stat to look for, and at least at what level, and then going down what other stats could also be considered as important and which other stats can be overlooked because not mattering much, I guess could be helpfull for many UO players out there trying to understand which Shadow Hounds to keep and which not.

And this, especially considering whether a UO player is looking to train them whether to 2 or 3 slots because, I would imagine, one thing are the "non-adjustable" stats that one was to have to deal with with Shadow Hounds remaining at 1 slot, with no training, and another thing would be instead those Shadow Hounds which one would train up to either 2 or 3 slots thus being able to raise those low stats to better levels (albeit then having to deal with a reduced number of pack pets and thus with a lower damage bonus that the pack can do...).

Perhaps, and correct me if I am wrong, the very best Shadow Hounds, those tamed with their Hit Points, Physical/Fire resistances and Dexterity as high as possible, would be best used as 1 slot pack pets (pack of 5), not trained, while the weaker Shadow Hounds, could be used to train them up to 2 or 3 slots since then, their weaker stats could be adjusted through training (pack of 2 or 3 pets) ?

I think, that such guidance from those more expert at UO taming would be important for other, less expert UO players since, normally, players look for trainable, high intensity pets so as to be able to have more training points to allocate to raise their stats as high as possible, train them in abilities as well as scroll them with 120 scrolls of power.

But here, with pack pets, it looks to me that one might need to think the opposite and "not" want to train up the very best Shadow Hounds but leave them instead as untrained at slot 1 ?

That is, the best pack pets to be left at slot 1, untrained, should be preferred among those with the best intensities or, if one will, with those stats which matters the most (hit points, physical/fire resist, dexterity) being towards the high end of the spectrum, while the weaker pack Shadow Hounds, with those stats/intensity lower, becoming those to be chosen to train them to slot 2 or 3 since their values could be adjusted through training ?

Thank you for the help.

KroDuK · February 10

popps said:
I did understand your comment about the 160 hit points Shadow Hound B but with better physical resist taking 4 more hits from the target to outweight the added hit points that Shadow Hound A but with worse physical resist has... what I did not understand, is the second part of your comment where you say "On the mob in question above it would be an added 140-160 damage per minute (at a 50% hit rate, for these calculations I simplified and did not include parry chance) to Shadow Hound A vs Shadow Hound B."

They were saying on the mob A u'd take 140-160 more dmg per minute.. with a high hit rate against the pack; miss one then land one.. and it has 0 parrying.. it was to emphasis on how important is the intensity and how dumb it is to just focus on few things; like HP/phy/fire/dex (take the time to find good & well balanced intensity specimen).. cuz few seconds after the engage the resists are your sustain... once again it all depend on how you are using them, for what, with whom.

You fishing for the cheat code but there is a tons of nuance.. personally I would ignore int/mana, I want 238 STR (minimum and not too much.. to not waste good RNG intensity points) while neglecting cold resist.. the rest I want it near perfection.

PS: I could be wrong for int/mana.. I hvn't tested.. but in my mind 5 pet with the lowest mana; 185 each and the only thing they got that cost mana is grasping claw (30 mana cost).. on paper it looks solid.. maybe i'm wrong but i doubt it.. If i am u want INT for the regen on your PvE pack.

As for the weak hound.. u can make hide from them

Edit: as for the lesser pack; I already given my opinion.. would u eat your own limb? i'm pretty sure u could find 1-2 good reasons to reduce your pack numbers.. but u'd have to tell me why before asking for a stew recipe... till then keep those 5 limbs.

PlayerSkillFTW · February 11

KroDuK said:

Energy 25-35 (overall resist minus 7-12 from perfection and if possible most of those point coming from cold resist)

KroDuK said:

I want 238 STR (minimum and not too much.. to not waste good RNG intensity points) while neglecting cold resist.. the rest I want it near perfection.

Actually, i'd say Cold Resist is good for a pack pet like Shadow Hounds. One of the biggest threats to a pack, is Wither, which deals Cold damage to everything within an area of the caster, and it doesn't split the damage. "As One" doesn't do shit against Wither. As soon as a Necro caster casts Wither, you'll see your entire pack take a big chunk of damage. Wither hitting a 5 slot 65 Cold Resist pet for 20 damage is no big deal, but Wither hitting five 45 Cold Resist pets at once for a total of 150+ damage is a lot to heal. Some SW mobs will cast Essence of Wind, which also deals Cold damage in an area and doesn't split it's damage. So Cold Resist is definitely something you don't want to deliberately neglect on a pack pet.

Pack pets have their niches, especially when they're not the ones tanking, or they're being buffed by As One+Inspire+Invigorate. I was using a pack of Wolf Spiders to farm the new rare Nightmare colors. Five GM skilled Wolf Spiders being buffed by Inspire, were literally insta killing Nightmares the moment i said "All Kill". Nothing else compared to that killing speed, not 5 slot fully 120d Chiv+AI pets, not Sampires, not ABC Archers, nothing. The faster i killed, the faster they respawned and i could turn the spawn over, so more rare Nightmare colors from each Totem of Chromatic Fortune, maximizing it's use. A pack was perfect for that purpose.

I just used a pack of Shadow Hounds under As One+Inspire+Invigorate to competely tear apart a discoed Allosaurus. They killed the Allosaurus faster than any other pet or Sampire i've used. None of the Shadow Hounds went below 90% Health, due to "As One" splitting the damage between them all, and "Invigorate" healing them all back up.

Now, would i use even an empowered (As One+Inspire+Invigorate) Shadow Hound pack against Osiredon the Scalis Enforcer? No, his water ball AoE would destroy the entire pack at once. Would i use them against Corgul the Soulbinder? No, his AoE flame explosions would also obliterate the pack. But against Navrey? Hell yeah. Against Dreadhorn? Hell yeah. Medusa? Yep.

Shadowguard Roof? So long as you pull the pack away from Virtuebane when he's about to blow up (he at least announces/telegraphs it) or when Anon turns into Earth Ele form, yes.

KroDuK · February 11

@PlayerSkillFTW that is some solid pro tips.. I was not aware about the "bug" with wither & essence of wind with as one mastery.

It's very good to know but to be fair it wouldn't change my mind set for a PvP Pack.. I was more scared of the PvE heroes.. those PvPers could use on their spawn like sampire with consecrate weapon, whirl wind and parrying.. in my mind PvP wise for a necro to stand and wither my pac he'd need parrying and a necro (or spellweaver) with parrying except the sampire u don't see them really often.. call me crazy, but my first PvP pack I would stick to this plan.

Hopefully popps read your post tho.. a lot of pro (experienced) tips.

Personally i only messed with a pack by using a 5 frenzied ostard at yew fel gate (mostly to troll) back in the days ~2005 or the double fire steed for barracoon (I believe u could cheese the pack with an imp from spellweaver in the early days; they would take only 1 slot unlike the tamed one.. maybe i'm wrong)

Very interesting use of the wolf spyder.. good stuff, thx!

PS: I talk and all that.. but even if the game was in a better state (not pro cheat engine; for us by us) and worth to invest time/ play the game.. I would not use a shadow hound pack for the simple reason.. I don't have access to those mastery without ToL.

And I wouldn't touch my tamer for a WHILE; for the simple fact i'm still salty i couldn't get access to those sexy bear 200 artifacts cuz of them cheaters killing the vibe... i was working on them before I give up on Boardsword main content the first week of dec. (event design to bribe the cheaters).. had 138 artifacts at home.. I won't even take the time to go claim other shard bound/heresy with those.. wich is a shame and sad.. but hey.. i'm not giving up, it's only fueling me.. things gonna change for the worse or the better.. but they going to change in 2025.

JackFlashUk · February 11

No, I would like, for example ( @ Kyronix? ), a special Crystal Ball of "pack" pets summoning that works anywhere and can summon "all" pets in a pack once the Tamer gets to the Hunting location so as not to make it a nightmare to try walk an entire pack through various spawn aggroing all individual pets in that pack... and this special Crystal Ball of pack pets summoning should also work to send back the pets into the stables once the hunting is done so as not to have to walk them out from the hunting ground gaving to walk them through a variety of spawn aggroing all the various pets in the pack.

Furthermore, I think this as something much needed also because it is ridicolous, to my opinion, that a Tamer using 5 Shadow Hounds, for example, needs to have 5 Crystal Balls of pets' summoning in one's own backpack...

Or some other tool that would basically help UO tamers the same with the handling of their pack pets.

do you want a god mode button as well?

wow 5 slots for the pet balls? outrageous, unacceptable

give it a rest

only 1 crappy tamer will be running these crappy pets and that's you

Where you running to?

Where could you possibly want to take these that a Cu could not do instead?

I se it now

ALL KILL, ALL KILL, panic, ALL KILL, ALL FOLLOW ME, ALL KILL

dirt nap

how about instant invis for the agro mobs?

don't forget you will need 5 buttons for commanding each pet individually

if you are ALL KILLING then it really is a crappy way to run this don't you think?

I guess you need a special belt now of the pet balls

WORST........TAMER........EVER

this VETERAN obviously does not know about pet logging!

KroDuK · February 11

lol, I ignored that post.. like he ignored mine addressing this problem before he did this post. (play with someone leading the way or just leave the pack at home, go where u want to go and log out/in; aka pet logging)

To leave, you still can find a quiet spot; all stay.. invis them if u want to go back home; log out/in.. or simply recall if u can.. wich I assume he can by not hunting in Fel Dungeons.

He's pretty much asking for the dev to nerf the pack leader template after making it easier/ more casual to play.. some good stuff shouldn't be user friendly on a sandbox. (like the sappire was before SA)

Edit: fun fact without the rework on pet AI (easier to control) My runebeetle would have eaten my ass a couple time already; when I was farming hide in Ice Dungeon and training the beetle.

I would have blame the general chat without the rework.

Grimbeard · February 11

KroDuK said:

lol, I ignored that post.. like he ignored mine addressing this problem before he did this post. (play with someone leading the way or just leave the pack at home, go where u want to go and log out/in; aka pet logging)

To leave, you still can find a quiet spot; all stay.. invis them if u want to go back home; log out/in.. or simply recall if u can.. wich I assume he can by not hunting in Fel Dungeons.

He's pretty much asking for the dev to nerf the pack leader template after making it easier/ more casual to play.. some good stuff shouldn't be user friendly on a sandbox. (like the sappire was before SA)

Edit: fun fact without the rework on pet AI (easier to control) My runebeetle would have eaten my ass a couple time already; when I was farming hide in Ice Dungeon and training the beetle.
I would have blame the general chat without the rework.

The bears were selling for 105 on Atlantic

Pawain · February 11

Yup, I bought two on Atlantic for 100M each, one got turned into an Ethy and came to LS. The other will stay there for a future tamer from NL.

KroDuK · February 11

Meh.. I was doing 80-100 artifact a day at the begin.. after ~8-9 days of non sense on Felucca.. I hvn't played the game since.. the initial plan was to farm 5+ bears, at least!.. I was in middle of doing that (138 artifacts in bags at home for the tamer to trade) when I realised how sad the MAIN content UO has to offer under BS is and protest.. it's a shame.. cuz I was having a good time bashing undead during the invasion.

I'm not paying any money for what I can farm.. plus had fun to farm and was fairly fast to acquire.

PlayerSkillFTW · February 12

KroDuK said:

And I wouldn't touch my tamer for a WHILE; for the simple fact i'm still salty i couldn't get access to those sexy bear 200 artifacts cuz of them cheaters killing the vibe... i was working on them before I give up on Boardsword main content the first week of dec. (event design to bribe the cheaters).. had 138 artifacts at home.. I won't even take the time to go claim other shard bound/heresy with those.. wich is a shame and sad.. but hey.. i'm not giving up, it's only fueling me.. things gonna change for the worse or the better.. but they going to change in 2025.

The Solen Caves were surprisingly devoid of most scripters (even on Atlantic), so i was able to rack up a lot of Artifacts and get all the rewards i wanted with my Swords Sampire on two shards. I just had another char parked outside the Lich Fields Solen Hive waiting to rez my ass if i died.

popps · February 12

JackFlashUk said:

No, I would like, for example ( @ Kyronix? ), a special Crystal Ball of "pack" pets summoning that works anywhere and can summon "all" pets in a pack once the Tamer gets to the Hunting location so as not to make it a nightmare to try walk an entire pack through various spawn aggroing all individual pets in that pack... and this special Crystal Ball of pack pets summoning should also work to send back the pets into the stables once the hunting is done so as not to have to walk them out from the hunting ground gaving to walk them through a variety of spawn aggroing all the various pets in the pack.

Furthermore, I think this as something much needed also because it is ridicolous, to my opinion, that a Tamer using 5 Shadow Hounds, for example, needs to have 5 Crystal Balls of pets' summoning in one's own backpack...

Or some other tool that would basically help UO tamers the same with the handling of their pack pets.

do you want a god mode button as well?

wow 5 slots for the pet balls? outrageous, unacceptable

give it a rest

only 1 crappy tamer will be running these crappy pets and that's you

Where you running to?

Where could you possibly want to take these that a Cu could not do instead?

I se it now

ALL KILL, ALL KILL, panic, ALL KILL, ALL FOLLOW ME, ALL KILL

dirt nap

how about instant invis for the agro mobs?

don't forget you will need 5 buttons for commanding each pet individually

if you are ALL KILLING then it really is a crappy way to run this don't you think?

I guess you need a special belt now of the pet balls

WORST........TAMER........EVER

this VETERAN obviously does not know about pet logging!

only 1 crappy tamer will be running these crappy pets and that's you

I am not sure if I understood your agument correctly, please, correct me if I understood it as wrongly...

Are you perhaps saying that Shadow Hounds are crappy pets and that only inexperienced UO Tamers would be interested in using them ?

Well, I seem to understand, from his very good and informative posts, that, for example, @PlayerSkillFTW seems to have an interest and is using these pack pets and I consider him one of the most and best experienced and knowledged UO players browsing these official Forums... whenever he write something about UO and its mechanics it is always very well knowledged and on spot.

Perhaps, just perhaps, if he has interest in Shadow Hounds these pets might be far from "crappy" ?

I'd love to hear what PlayerSkillFTW thinks about this new tameable... do you consider them crappy ?

popps · February 12

KroDuK said:

lol, I ignored that post.. like he ignored mine addressing this problem before he did this post. (play with someone leading the way or just leave the pack at home, go where u want to go and log out/in; aka pet logging)

To leave, you still can find a quiet spot; all stay.. invis them if u want to go back home; log out/in.. or simply recall if u can.. wich I assume he can by not hunting in Fel Dungeons.

He's pretty much asking for the dev to nerf the pack leader template after making it easier/ more casual to play.. some good stuff shouldn't be user friendly on a sandbox. (like the sappire was before SA)

Edit: fun fact without the rework on pet AI (easier to control) My runebeetle would have eaten my ass a couple time already; when I was farming hide in Ice Dungeon and training the beetle.
I would have blame the general chat without the rework.

To leave, you still can find a quiet spot; all stay.. invis them if u want to go back home; log out/in.. or simply recall if u can.. wich I assume he can by not hunting in Fel Dungeons.

Why should, to my opinion, a UO tamer have to end up using work arounds when having to get to a hunting spot or coming back from it (if a no recall/gate area) with a pack of pets on tail, when all it would take is from the Devs ( @Kyronix ? ) is giving a tool, like a special Crystal Ball of Pet summoning that was to be able to work with a pack of pets, rather then individual pets ?

It is very annoying to walk through a spawn an individual pet, continuously aggroed by the MoBs and slowing down the walk to one's own end target, imagine doing it with a pack of 5 pets all getting aggroed all the time by this or that MoB as one walks through the area... it is clearly a bummer for UO tamers to want to go out and hunt with pack pets... there has to be, from a Developer's point of view, a better way to handle this "practical" issue for UO tamers and pack pets.

PlayerSkillFTW · February 13

popps said:

Are you perhaps saying that Shadow Hounds are crappy pets and that only inexperienced UO Tamers would be interested in using them ?

Well, I seem to understand, from his very good and informative posts, that, for example, @ PlayerSkillFTW seems to have an interest and is using these pack pets and I consider him one of the most and best experienced and knowledged UO players browsing these official Forums... whenever he write something about UO and its mechanics it is always very well knowledged and on spot.

Perhaps, just perhaps, if he has interest in Shadow Hounds these pets might be far from "crappy" ?

I'd love to hear what PlayerSkillFTW thinks about this new tameable... do you consider them crappy ?

Shadow Hounds are the top tier pack pet. Pack pets have their uses in dishing out extremely high damage against certain foes, mainly ones that don't do much AoE and are somewhat vulnerable to the pack pet's damage type. Would i use a Shadow Hound pack against a high HP boss with 90 Physical Resist and/or frequent high AoE damage (like the Stygian Dragon)? No. But there are plenty of bosses and mobs that fall within the range of what a Shadow Hound pack is suitable for and excel at.

When using a pack, remember that the first (or earliest) pet you pull out of the stables, is usually the one that tanks the enemy when giving the "All Kill" command (assuming the first pet doesn't disobey the command). So you want to pull out your tankiest Shadow Hound from the stables first, especially considering the damage split by "As One" is based upon the damage that would've been taken by the tanking pet.

Example 1

Shadow Hound A has 65 Physical Resist, and gets hit with a 100 damage (before resists) Physical attack, it's reduced to 35 damage by resists, and with "As One" is split between all 5 Shadow Hounds, so all 5 Shadow Hounds take 7 damage.

Example 2

Shadow Hound B has 55 Physical Resist, and gets hit with a 100 damage (before resists) Physical attack, it's reduced to 45 damage by resists, then "As One" splits it between all 5 Shadow Hounds, so all 5 Shadow Hounds take 9 damage.

With Shadow Hound B tanking, the pack would be taking about 28% more damage than with Shadow Hound A tanking.

Pawain · February 13

Pets usually don't die at Travesty, I wonder how a pack would do there in a group.

popps · February 13

PlayerSkillFTW said:

popps said:

Are you perhaps saying that Shadow Hounds are crappy pets and that only inexperienced UO Tamers would be interested in using them ?

Well, I seem to understand, from his very good and informative posts, that, for example, @ PlayerSkillFTW seems to have an interest and is using these pack pets and I consider him one of the most and best experienced and knowledged UO players browsing these official Forums... whenever he write something about UO and its mechanics it is always very well knowledged and on spot.

Perhaps, just perhaps, if he has interest in Shadow Hounds these pets might be far from "crappy" ?

I'd love to hear what PlayerSkillFTW thinks about this new tameable... do you consider them crappy ?

Shadow Hounds are the top tier pack pet. Pack pets have their uses in dishing out extremely high damage against certain foes, mainly ones that don't do much AoE and are somewhat vulnerable to the pack pet's damage type. Would i use a Shadow Hound pack against a high HP boss with 90 Physical Resist and/or frequent high AoE damage (like the Stygian Dragon)? No. But there are plenty of bosses and mobs that fall within the range of what a Shadow Hound pack is suitable for and excel at.

When using a pack, remember that the first (or earliest) pet you pull out of the stables, is usually the one that tanks the enemy when giving the "All Kill" command (assuming the first pet doesn't disobey the command). So you want to pull out your tankiest Shadow Hound from the stables first, especially considering the damage split by "As One" is based upon the damage that would've been taken by the tanking pet.
Example 1
Shadow Hound A has 65 Physical Resist, and gets hit with a 100 damage (before resists) Physical attack, it's reduced to 35 damage by resists, and with "As One" is split between all 5 Shadow Hounds, so all 5 Shadow Hounds take 7 damage.
Example 2
Shadow Hound B has 55 Physical Resist, and gets hit with a 100 damage (before resists) Physical attack, it's reduced to 45 damage by resists, then "As One" splits it between all 5 Shadow Hounds, so all 5 Shadow Hounds take 9 damage.
With Shadow Hound B tanking, the pack would be taking about 28% more damage than with Shadow Hound A tanking.

When using a pack, remember that the first (or earliest) pet you pull out of the stables, is usually the one that tanks the enemy when giving the "All Kill" command (assuming the first pet doesn't disobey the command). So you want to pull out your tankiest Shadow Hound from the stables first, especially considering the damage split by "As One" is based upon the damage that would've been taken by the tanking pet.

@PlayerSkillFTW

Thank you for the clarification and the always good and klnowledged info provided.

Please, correct me if I am wrong... in regards to which Shadow Hound to pull out of the stables since the first pulled will be the leader of the pack and the one tanking the target and, thus, taking the damage to share with "As One" among the pets of the pack, does this mean that, since we have 5 resistances, Physical, Fire, Cold, Poison and Energy, and we can have 5 Shadow Hounds in a pack, it could be a good and effective idea to have 5 Shadow Hounds in the pack each being maxed out in one of those 5 resistances (that is SH 1 with Physical 65, SH 2 with Fire 45%, SH 3 with Cold 65%, SH 4 with Poison 35% and SH 5 with Energy 35%) and then, depending on the weakest resistance damage done of the MOB to fight (always considering what you said, that is, not one with too high Physical Resist and/or delivering AOE damage), pull out as first that Shadow Hound with that particular Resistance capped when fighting a MOB that does most damage in either Physical, Fire, Cold, Poison or Energy ?

Thank you for the knowledged help.

PlayerSkillFTW · February 13

Pawain said:

Pets usually don't die at Travesty, I wonder how a pack would do there in a group.

Likely extremely well, considering having 5 Shadow Hounds attacking at the same time would quickly decimate Travesty's Mirror Images faster than she can summon them, and leave her open to attack more often. If using a Bard to empower the Shadow Hound pack, then you'd need to soulstone off your Discord (so Travesty doesn't start using Discord against you and the pets), which will make the Inspire/Invigorate somewhat weaker. If someone else in the group is using a Discord pet, then Travesty can be discoed without risk.

I usually do Travesty on my Death Ray Tamer/Mage © with a 120 Disco+CB Triton. Once Travesty transforms into me (as i'm in Wraith Form), she becomes vulnerable to Undead Slayer then and i channel Death Ray on her with an Undead Slayer spellbook.

KroDuK · February 14

popps said:
does this mean that, since we have 5 resistances, Physical, Fire, Cold, Poison and Energy, and we can have 5 Shadow Hounds in a pack, it could be a good and effective idea to have 5 Shadow Hounds in the pack each being maxed out in one of those 5 resistances

On paper that sound like a solid and clever idea.

PS: personally for the poison and energy i'd try to combine these two with another perfect resist.. to have 3 different pack leader at most.. keep in mind this is a headache to lead a pack.. to start making it over complicate with 5 different leader.. try to reduce that number.. my first thought would be to merge the 2 weakest resist with another one.. and make sure to read his comment about that cold "bug" the cold leader would work for melee dmg type but not if he uses those AoE spells player mention.

But yeah.. once more u trying to go for a cheat code (all around) on a very niche template.. niche template are made for niche content.. overall tho.. I dig your idea.. it could work.. not optimal but gj.

Edit: to make sure u understand what I mean.. take example on the nightmare dmg type:

Image: https://forum.uo.com/uploads/editor/z6/r4xxo7yaeeml.png

Clever idea, but the cheat code does not exist (specific stats for an all around pack leader template)
The 3 leader would be nearly perfect phy/fire.. then perfect cold.. copy pasta for poison.. copy pasta for energy. (when i was talking about merging) type of stuff.
Focusing on one single perfect resist even on a high intensity specimen ain't optimal.. but it's clever and could work.. depending on your toon skills/build, how you're playing and what niche use/content u doing.

PlayerSkillFTW · February 18

Remember, Shadow Hounds will stop spawning when Pub 119 launches, so get them while you can!

KroDuK · February 18

I cannot be bribe..

Let me know when BS fix their poo poo.. game is unplayable on Felucca and those MAIN event is such a shame.. y'all are too deep.. take a 2 week break/vacation to play something else then join me on the picket line.

I'll be on BnS NEO starting the 25th..

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