Petless Crab?

I plan to use double XP to make progress on my SoA, currently at level 20.

Looking ahead, I see that Crabs are generally celebrated for better AoE damage and survivability, while Banes are better ST damage. Both can offer great Team buffs and neither have huge weaknesses.

I already have a Brute, so a melee-er doesn't exactly thrill me. The "Huntsman" crowd sounds interesting, but I do like the idea of AoE damage, and I'm not a great player so survivability sounds good too.

One thing I've not heard about is how critical the pets are (particularly to the Crab). I don't tend to like pets that don't obey (heck, my MM's pets aren't obedient enough!), and I like order and structure and pets don't tend to be that. (I think - outside of my MM I don't tend to HAVE pets aside from the aggro magnets missions get me).

Anyway, is skipping pets on any of the Bane/Crab builds gimping their performance?

I hear ya, I like pet reliability too. So I'm a big fan of "Call Reinforcements" (tier 2), the 2 bot disruptors. I've never taken spiderlings so I can't speak to them. With the disruptor bots though, they don't really wander off the farm. They have good effects (holds, immobs). I won't say skipping them is gimping you, but I do like having mine available for tougher fights.

One of the thing I love about SoAs is the versatility. Now I have my 50 level set up as a Blaster/ MM. She has every long range attack possible and not only had the Spiderlings and the Bots but took Black Scorpion as a Patron and grabbed another Bot there. With Recharges I can always have at least one set out just about any time I like.

Okay that said .. they add to my damage but I can manage quite well even when they are not around. My Crab has only three melee attacks.. Air Superiority, Sands of Mu (Vet reward), and Shatter Armor (Patron Power) but you could skip the pets and take more of the close range attacks and be just as effective.

Oh and She has her Alpha slotted to increase End and Damage Resistance (Cadriac) which has made her even nastier.. never runs out of end and had even better defenses. Take the pets IF you want them .. believe me they do come in handy but don't feel like you HAVE to take them. The AT is so great no matter what you do its really tough not to wind up effective

I skipped the pets for the longest time on my crab, but when the inherent stamina came around, I re-looked at the powers, and picked up the pets. Call reinforcements pets are indeed helpful...they bring AoE and control, and are quite hardy. The spiderlings? They're okay.

They add little ticks of damage, over and over. I'm sure in the long run it's good, but it always seems...little. They have no boom. They do, however, act as nice distractions when you need that. But as a crab, that's rare. the big upside is that I've gone almost allAoE, they are single target. So they finish things off allowing me to expend less endurance. And the fewer enemies left, the more noticeable their damage is as they converge on the last living things.

Overall, they do add a significant amount of damage and mitigation.

I have all 3 spider pets on my build and I can manage fine without them, but I really don't see why I would want to. Ever.