Help! My dog is broken.

[Wraith]

Well, not what I wanted to hear, but certainly fast replies. Thanks guys.

[dalikmere]

Get rid of your dogs clicky moves. He tries to spam them when they are on timer. Go the rouge rout and just have him beat on mobs. Improved evasion on your dog is a godsend when casters are launching fireballs and such. Mine tanked Harry in the shroud the other day.

[nibel]

I always find funny when anyone starts a thread talking about how useless the iron defender is. I used mine all the time while leveling, I used it all the time while capped at 20, used it all the time when the expansion hits to level to 25, and STILL use it all the time in every epic raid I enter.

If your dog goes braindead, unsummon it, wait 5 minutes for his AI to reset (don't resummon immediatelly), and enjoy your litle metal ball ripping appart mobs again.

My only experience with him going braindead almost every time is when he had the "hunter of boxes" enhancement. If he aims for a box, and you (or a group member) break the box before the dog, he takes some time to compute "the box is gone". So, now, my dog is true neutral, and equip a superior stability docent.

Also, since they level up on epic levels, my dog is a level 25 pet, having an AC of over 90 unbuffed, more than 1200 HP, and whilke he dont hit fast, he hit hard enough to get the attention of mobs I'm not aiming into. His bluffs are free sneak attacks for me too, the trip trick with a vertigo +8 module knocks down every caster I faced on Epic Hard.

Don't use your pet as a tank. Use it as a melee CC, and you'll see what he can do. And max the armor enhancements as soon as you can.

[Wraith]

I ended up making a WF Arti and while I wouldn't call him useless, (in fact many times I'm really happy with it) but he does get wonky.

I noticed that if I heal it to full it snaps out without the re-summon. I think it may be tripping up on the old hireling AI code that made them squeamish when their HPs fell. Unfortunately in it's case it gets scared (wonky) as soon as it loses 5-10 hp.

In any event he works well enough as a tank at my level, but I will definitely change him over to a more useful build as I level up.

[droid327]

I've noticed that manually setting him to passive, and then back to active, sometimes clears up his AI.

I also have "return" hotkeyed, and hit it pretty often whenever i'm moving around and want him to stay at heel, or dont want him to run off and pull aggro. Returning seems to distract him, pretty often, from whatever he gets "stuck" trying to do. Both those are a little quicker and easier than trying to unsummon/resummon, though that obviously works too.

[Lyria]

My dog works great, even on epics. Course, I tend to solo on epic normal but my dog tanks like a champ, often taking on 2-3 mobs at the same time and keeping them on him (for some reason bluff seems to work as a taunt for the dog, cause he holds aggro REALLY well) while I riddle them full of crossbow bolts. I'm 21st right now, and my dog has the Ancient Gemstone docent and a +8 trip collar, so he keeps stuff on their butts CONSTANTLY. He's capable of tripping just about anything on two legs (I think his trip DC is around 38-40), and I generally sic him on casters because he'll keep them on their butts for literally the entire fight. At 21st he's got about 900hp, something like a 65 AC, improved evasion, and around +40 to reflex/fort saves. More if I buff him.

The only time I get mad at my dog is when he bugs out and stops attacking, just chasing mobs around and staring at them. Then I dismiss and resummon him and he's back in business.

I <heart> my little metal doggy. I couldn't imagine questing without his little metallic barking and growling nearby. He's saved my butt plenty of times.