Boxing 4 Mages , 1 Bard, 1 Merc Cleric

[dilrodel]

Hi everyone.
I'm dusting off my old mage and have started boxing 4 mages with a bard and a cleric merc (have an enchanter but am chosing bard for adps).
The mages are all L90.. Dil has about 2500aa's and his focus has been defensive pet. The other mages are very low aa.

I plan on being mostly in SS as we're all flagged.

Many of the mobs in SS run at low health.

My question is:

What set of pets would be best for this situation.

I currently set Dil's pet (tank) to taunt. I have him attack on inc. I cast rumbling servant and malosinette aa; at the same time have my boxes /pet attack and cast RS.
Then, it's a series of fire nukes, usually bolt of R, Fickle, clash of many (cause of all the pets) from each mage. Then RS again, then fire nuke series again, rinse and repeat till mob is dead.

Question (quest for comments for better dps / fun):

1. What set of mage pets (4) would you deploy in this situation?
2. Do you see any defects in my attack strategy?
3. Do you have any general suggestions relative to increasing performance or just upping the fun.

Appreciate any and all comments and suggestions.

Dilrodel, Dilrodoll, Dilrodess, Dilrodessa, Dilrodiva (Luclin)

[svenalo]

Air x 4. The mobs won't know what hit em.

[Adonhiram]

Yes, on multi mage pets situation air ftw. To stop runners, mem both of our HoT fast cast nukes and make yourself a multibinding key (for me its NUMPAD 3, which will either cast Blazing Sands or Strike of Sands), with 4 mages doing this, mobs will be finished quickly, even with nowadays hit points

[Sillaen]

4 mages .. /drool

It doesn't matter much. If the mob is stunnable, it won't be running very far with 4 air pets on it. If not, Adon's suggestion works fine.

[Shardin]

I use earth pet. Can't stun certain mobs like named and higher level ones

[Danille]

There are very, very few non-raid mobs that cannot be stunned by an air pet.

The air pet utilizes a totally different rule set (NPC stuns) than player stuns..

Same reason why the earth pet's root will root things that most player root spells will not.

[Piemastaj]

Except air pets stun is curently capped at 90 and not 95 like it should be. So there are a lot more mobs that can't be stunned by Air pet now then there were back in UF.

[dilrodel]

Except air pets stun is curently capped at 90 and not 95 like it should be. So there are a lot more mobs that can't be stunned by Air pet now then there were back in UF.

SS giants con yellow to me at L 90 and certainly appear to be getting stunned? At least I see the stun graphic with the giant dropping his head .. jolting back and not swinging.

Would I be getting a giant pile of stun resist messages if 4 air pets stuns were being resisted?

Dil

[Adonhiram]

Yes, that's right, but Earth has another disadvantage in a boxing situation where you cannot be as mobile as when playing only one toon. As you know, a fleeing mob will fight back if rooted, this can be a problem when you have to control 4 toons and mob runs close to you, gets rooted by the earth pets, fights back, and pounds one of your toons because of the PC>merc>pet aggro rule. You better watch with attention how you position your 4 mages and look the pathing when the death run begins

I also suggest in a "tetraboxing" situation to always park pet and not be in follow mode, could get you killed if you call a pet back for some reason and that pet has aggro. Do not use greater hold but simple hold too, solo or in groups I find it much better, that way pet doesn't come to you (or goes back to park spot) after the first mob dies if there are several foes.

[Piemastaj]

Except air pets stun is curently capped at 90 and not 95 like it should be. So there are a lot more mobs that can't be stunned by Air pet now then there were back in UF.

SS giants con yellow to me at L 90 and certainly appear to be getting stunned? At least I see the stun graphic with the giant dropping his head .. jolting back and not swinging.

Would I be getting a giant pile of stun resist messages if 4 air pets stuns were being resisted?

Dil

Unless something has changed, the mobs aren't getting stunned. And judging form patch messages there haven't been any changes to air pets stun cap. Pay attention to the stun it is casting, iirc it is only casting the one capped to level 90 which shoulda been the same one in UF. EDIT: The air pet is currently casting Air Elemental Strike VII, which on lucy it shows it capped at lvl 90. The air pet should be casting Air Elemental Strike VIII which is capped at 100.

And no, stun messages are person casting it only. So you will see the pet cast the stun and it will do dmg and still generate aggro (much like pallys, they stun for aggro not to actually stun mobs), but it should not be working on mobs over level 90.