Best Lore Invulnerable Support Pet/Tree

Opinions please.

The total number of options across all Lore pet trees is cool but a bit overwhelming.

Let's narrow the field and discuss ONLY the Invulnerable Support Pets. Ignore their partners unless they provide a support synergy! I have not detected any but have never played a Pet AT.

Which Untargetable Support Pet is best at Tier 3 and/or at Tier 4 (Could be different trees). Why? What makes the pet you pick superior to other choices. Pure survival help? Mixed buff/de-buff? Anti-Mez help?

Feel free to make a choice based on the character you are thinking of supporting.

Just reading the right-click info I am leaning toward the IDF. (I'll edit this tomorrow [LOL - later Today - 5:40 AM] with my reasons. Too whipped now, and just opened Lore.)
EDIT: See post below my thoughts have changed.
Jak

PS: Someone should start a thread about the most powerful Pet Duo, for Pure offense. Set the boundries to define the field.

I was looking into them for my Bane. I'm thinking of going with the Seers because of their holds... but because of their lack of good support... I may go with the other tree.

From what I can tell, the Warwork seem to have the best support overall. They have a good AoE defense bubble with a decent heal... I think. My memory sucks.

In regards to the battle orbs with the defense bubble, I'm hearing reports of the bubble not being on all the time. It's a toggle that the orb sometimes decides to toggle off. I, personally, haven't used them so this is just information I've read about. Considering that they're only providing a 5% def boost, I decided against them and went for the other side of the tree that provides additional damage output.

The best one is the Clockwork Mender, hands down. Strongest heal on second-shortest timer, more or less perma 7.5% defense buff even if you account for the fact that half the time it'll cast it on your other pet.

The Seer Seeker is the worst, its Fortitude gives negligible damage and tohit buffs, and its recharge is so long that it can only keep one out at a time, and half the time it gives it to the other pet. Its heal is the weakest, though on the shortest recharge (8 vs. 10 vs. 16 secs)

The Battle Orb is okay, though only within the context of the other support pets. Its heal is the strongest, but it's on the longest recharge, apparently to make up for the ludicrously short-lived mez protection it gives (5 secs). The shield generator can help your teammates, but it's only up half the time and gives a minor 5% defense buff. It protects against low-grade stuns and immobilizes. My knowledge of mez mechanics might be a little rusty, but I'm pretty sure the amount it protects against isn't enough to actually mez you with no protection.

I sat there with the seer for awhile and I never saw it cast on the other pet. Its fort buff has target type "owner" or something similar so it probably can't. What is really bothersome about it though is that it isn't perma. The buff times out then a few seconds later the pet decides to recast it, leaving about 5 seconds downtime. They should really add some duration to that buff so it doesn't time out so early.

Also, I agree that making the buffs useless for positional sets is not such a satisfying mechanic.

Well, I spent 2 hours last night reasearching and writing an extensive self reply about just the Invulnerable Support pets, and my personal choice.

Then a HUGE line of thunderstorms moving 60 miles an hour rolled in. I submitted and had to immediately shut down. I guess the post did not transmit but for the comp turned off.

I'll try to recreate that post later today. After I craft my Seer Seeker. Thanks all for responding.

Jak

Seems like my plan is to get the Seers pet for Soloing and the Warworks pet for when I join TFs and Trials. I know I will get at least rare on both of them. So I will have at least 2 rares and 2 very rares with 1 rare or very rare for the new slots.

Here is the 10k question: Do the INV support pets buffs equate to the lost damage by not getting another damaging pet? Sounds like all the buffs are pretty weak for a 5 minute up 15 minute recharge power.

And remember when you get the level shift that shifts your pets level also, which means nothing to a support pet, but helps out a damage pet alot.

I just dont see how the inv support pets can live up to the +damage and the leuit class damage dealer pets. Treat lore more like a 5 minute nuke instead of a buff.

Its a good question... as a knee jerk reaction Im going to say.

No way

The Lts do some pretty nice damage on thier own, the Bosses even more. At T4 if you take the Boss + Lt option they get a damage boost.

I dont see how a Boss + LT with Damage boost vs Boss + Supp pet (who throws a heal here and thier and 1 weak Def boost) are equal.

Theme and squisher character types I can certainly see going that root however.


For me... I just want the 3rd Warworks option... 2 Lts with the Damage boost

Ok, I am not going to try to recreate the lost post, it was too long anyway.

My reasearch was only about the Invulnerable Support Pets. Now that I have a Tier Two Seeker pair, I find exactly what I expected. The Pets both go up like straw in a fire vs. the content we are facing. Perhaps the Tier 3-4 pets will last long enough to be of some offensive use.
Mephe if you, or if anyone, can share some in game experience using Tier 3 damage duos on Incarnate trial teams I would be glad to see it here. Or perhaps someone will start a new thread about that side of the tree as I suggested in my OP. For me even solo vs +3 x 8 normal content the Tier Two MELT.

That is why I started this thread. I want SOMETHING to be around the whole 5 minutes.

I can't comment on the effectiveness of the 'negligble' Damage buff my Seeker is providing yet, as i have not taken the time to find weak enough opposition.
As an aside - Vanden, if you could buy a recipe that let you craft a power that for 20 endurance gave you an almost constant 15% damage buff for 5 minutes and then had a 10 minute cool down would you buy it? I DAMN sure would! Gee Whizz it comes with +5% To-Hit and some nifty little defense bonuses too, for free. It even heals you a little bit sometimes, and wow once you craft the power you get to use it - Forever -. OMG it has a baby that comes with it, too. The Invulnerable Seeker Pet duo has to be a dissappointment to you only in comparison to your actual favorite Pet duo (which obviously does not include an Invulnerable Support Pet, please share your choice) and/or vs. your expectations for this power tree. At least I hope that explains it. Lore is what it is - so lets explore how to maximize the benefit of an essential Level Shifting Slot, cause the Devs are probably not going to change much if anything.

I did find that since I use Rebirth Tier 3 heal + regen now, I could lock the pets on 'Follow Me' and keep them alive a short time that way.

Also I want to test and see if the +15% Damage Buff from the Seeker Pet buffs Incarnate power damage like Pyronic blasts or Reactive tics. It is the only Damage Buff I have noticed in the new Incarnate trees and I feel any Incarnate Buff ought to buff any Incarnate power; (excluding recharge of course, as the Devs have wisely decapitated that balance nightmare in the new stuff) but reading the Dispari guide linked below leads me to believe it does not buff all I-Damage . So Vanden is not the only disappointed person here.

Anyway long story short -- there are three and only THREE Invulnerable Support Pets. Each type has Two and only TWO powers we can look at by right clicking in the create window.

I. the Clockwork Mender a Single Target Invul. Support Pet
a) Tier 3 and Tier 4 Menders have Identical 'right click stats'
b) The heal is the EDIT: 2nd largest ST though the majority of it is HoT and it does have a pretty fast recharge, compared to other pets only.
c) The buff is +7.5% defense to six types, S-L-F-C-E-N. No psionic. A standard type of buff in this game, from a non-player source as far as my experience goes. Everything I can find indicates that it will not Stack from the same caster. Also a standard limitation for a whole bunch of powers. As someone mentioned, the Support Pets that are single target type are locked on OWNER. They don't heal or buff anything else. Finally all the ST buffers will let their buff drop most of the time so it will be almost, but not quite, permanent.
d) The difference between Tier 3 and Tier 4 Invulnerable Support Pets is the HUGE increase in the ??? value ??? of the Boss Pet that partners them at Tier 4.
e) There may be hidden differences in Tier 3 and Tier 4 Invulnerable Support Pets as there are the two Lore powers at the bottom of their powers list that we cannot open. Does anyone have in game experience to share? Does Dispari, creator of this most excellent guide http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=257011, have any special insight to share?

II. The Seer Seeker Support Essence a Single Target Invul. Support Pet
a) As with the Mender Tier 3 and 4 have Identical 'right click stats'
b) The heal is 141.36 and is on the shortest recharge. As this heal equals about 2-3 seconds worth of my regeneration, depending on whether I am Rooted and/or under Earth's Embrace or not, it is not very exciting, but every point matters sometimes. For a 1200-1500 point squishy, with 20 points per second or less regen, it might be a lot more meaningful.
c) The buff, as joking described above, is a Fortitude type, granting 30 seconds of +15% damage, +5% to-Hit and +5% Defense to 7 types S-L-F-C-E-N and Psi. the Pet is on a 30 sec recharge and seems to always take a second to notice the drop. Testing in my Base I found it was usually down 2-3 seconds. One time it was recast before it expired (How?) and a couple of times it was down about 4 sec. If the pet lived for any length of time in actual combat I would be very pleased. looking forward to Tier 3.
d) as above the Tier 4 difference appears to be the Boss Pet and whatever hidden bonus Tier 4 duo gets. Does anybody having a Tier 4 care to share?
e) as in Mender

III. The two Battle Orbs, identical EDIT: Single target + AoE Invul Support Pets
a) as above T3 and T4 both skins have Identical 'right click powers'
b) The heal is a EDIT: Single target 209.9 points on a 5.93s activate and 16s recharge. It also has a 5 second duration anti mez-protection buff which I hope acts like a break free. I have never seen it in action. I wonder how the AI is coded for the Orb to decide to activate that heal. Almost 6 seconds could be an awful long time in the current trials.
c) the Shield Generator, a - toggle - power. 16 targets 25' radius +5% to S-L-F-C-E-N and Psi. two 1% anti Mez protection adds. Stun and Immobilize. As some have noted and as I found in other threads I reviewed, at present, It turns the toggle off, It Turns it Off, IT TURNS IT ######## OFF, sometimes. Either it has inadequate recovery, or more probably, to balance it with the other support pets, the devs coded it so it would not provide a constant buff. Or could it perhaps be the pet control settings?? Time will tell, but I will not, cause I won't be getting one any time soon.
d) as above but you do get too chose a Warworks partner or an IDF partner
e) as above

So that's it. I picked the Tier 3 Seeker as the best all around for my Stone tank and until a lot more info is available that is all I am planning to do, as that will get me my level shift. I may craft a tier 3 invulnerable battle orb for teaming, later.

I hope this look at one small corner of Lore helps someone else find the pets they want.

Jak

As mainly a Tanker player, I also went with the Tier 3 Seer Seeker (invulnerable support). I haven't tried any of the other options, but I'm happy enough with the watered-down Fortitude buff that I get. And the Seer Seeker has been good, so far, about recasting it as soon as its duration expires. So for me, the Seeker is nice to have around especially since the Diviner (lieutenant) inevitably ends up dying from AoE splash damage since I'm typically in the middle of x8 spawns for most fights.

I have had the tier 3 seekers for a few days now. I have the right side, with the attacker + invincible buffer. The buffer is ok, but I totally didn't like the attacking one. It has only about 850 HP, so it literally gets 2 shotted by some stuff. Plus the damage seems very low.

So with that in mind, I went for the left side and got the other tier 3, with the Augur + regular buffer. Now the buffer dies in 5 secs lol. But at least the Augur is worth it. It has over 2500 HP, which is even more than myself. Plus I can heal it with my rebirth Destiny.

I am one component away from crafting my tier 4, which will be the Augur + inv buffer. I think that will finally make me happy. The Augur does do noticeable damage, plus it's fairly survivable. And the buffer does need to be invincible in my opinion. 850 health just doesn't cut it in the new trials.