Halberd  

 

If you want to get a young mage up into his 20s rapidly and you have plat to burn, buy him some of these for his pet.

It's still true that you can improve pet damage output with a high-damage weapon. I logged some data last week (January 2002) with a level 14 mage to confirm:

- Armed pet's max hit is weapon's damage rating times 2 plus 1.
(this doesn't hold true for HUGE damage like 45/150 Weighted Axe, there's still some ceiling).
(also, if pet's normal max damage is higher, it's not decreased.)
- Pet's attack delay is unaffected by the weapon! (3.0 seconds regardless.)

I was using a 12/44 Forged 2-Hand Sword with level 12 pet. He was hitting for 25 max, instead of the normal 16! Very nice. His delay was unchanged.

Unarmed, the best pet's max damage at each level is:
Level 4: 12
Level 8: 14
Level 12: 16
Level 16: 20?
Level 20: 22
Level 24: 26
Level 29: 28...

Armed with a 14/50 halberd, these pets should all hit for 29 max with no decrease in speed.
(Edit: I haven't proved it all. But the 12 pet hits for 25 with 12/44 weapon, and I remember level 4 and 8 pets hitting for 19 with a 9/45(?) rusty 2-hander. It's possible the 4 and 8 pets cap at 19, like people.)

33 plat a pop though. Pet dies = mage cries.
Of course that's often true anyway.
Even though this gives a sucky pet the same MAX damage as a good one, you'll still want to cast and recast for that top-level pet...especially before handing him a halberd that cost 33 plat.(...and weighs 14 pounds, you're not going to have 50 of them on ya.) Armed or not, lower-level pets are easier to hit, have less hitpoints, and have more trouble landing hits on the mob.


Edited, Thu Jan 31 00:08:16 2002