^{A copy of the article I wrote for the January 2014 Sylestia Times in my column, Flute's Notes. c:}

Flute's Notes!
Hihi everyone, happy new year~ (even if we're a month or two into our new year)
Here I am again with some more advice for you guys.

I APOLOGIZE for the lateness of my article. :c My internet has been down during the last week of January (internet provider issues). I've been communicating minimally from my 4G plan on my phone, but otherwise, this article has been written during my offtime. :c

I was suggested to do a column on pet speccing (a.k.a. stat building) and pet gearing, and was provided some input from both the suggester and Krinadon about one and the other. I'll share them with you, in hopes that you guys can have an easier time with battle instances, such as with quest bosses, event bosses (like the Ice Queen-tier bosses), and so on.



I. Choosing your pet team!

-Pick pets that you like!
You're going to be seeing your pets time and again when you're out battling, all throughout your journey when facing enemies. So pick a trio that you would like to see travel with you. All pets can be built the same way, regardless of their species, so don't feel restricted with your choices! You can pick 3 pretty puffs, 3 tough scary ny'vene, or even mix it up, it's all up to you. c:

-Generated Pets v.s. Wild/Tamed Pets
Rule of thumb is that generated pets will have better base stats than wild pets that you caught. Within generated pets, enhanced/mythical stats are better than regular generated stats (no difference between enhanced and mythical). If those hair-splitting differences are accountable (like in arena), you can keep that in mind.

-Fabled Pets v.s. Regular Pets
Fabled pets (the Ny'vene, Lighira, Ryori, Griffi, and Nephini) tend to have better base stats than the rest of the pets. This difference is bigger than the generated/wild pet gap. But it's still feasible to use regular pets if you build them right.

-Bred pets can have benefits!
There are breeders who breed to enhance stats, using philters to add points to a base stat at hatching time. It is possible to breed a pet with stats better than the previously mentioned pets with constant usage of philters, if you're interested in breeding super-statted pets for battle or arena. c:

-Figure out what your team will consist of.
I'm speaking for basic exploring/roaming teams (so not arena teams): a good 3-pet team consists of a tank and 2 main damage dealers. The main point is to have a durable team that doesn't die. That being said, you should figure out which pet should take on which role, so you know how to build each from the start, focusing on which stat it needs. (I recommend writing down how you want each pet to go on paper or keep your thoughts in a notepad.)

^{Protip: Keep in mind you can make more than one party!}
If you can't make up your mind, whether you like one set of pets to go out, or you have many which stats/builds that you like, you're able to create more than one Party set in the Party menu. c: So if you want to switch out one party for another depending on your situation (i.e. between exploring and boss fighting, or you just want to see your pretty puffs one day and ny'vene another day), you can set them from a drop-down menu.

II. Pet Building (Two Parts)

A) Proficiency Points

-Put them in stats, not attacks.
You'll be needing them in your stats, which backup what your pets stand on as a build. Put them in the top row of your respective tree, where HP and two other stats are. You won't be needing to put any in the attacks that you get at lvl25 and lvl50, because you'll already be building their effectiveness from the stats, and not their effects. c:

-Remember that proficiency points work better in stacks.
Most people put a majority of their proficiency points in one stat, which increases to an exponential effect, than spreading their points across two or 3 boxes.

^{"My lvl 60 pets just have 10 in w/e the most valuable stat is and then 2 in another stat or 2 in something that might sometimes help...
If I do put 10 in the most valuable stat (let's say Strength), then I'll probably spend most if not all of their level up points into Health. Higher health = bigger mends and less chance to get quickly wiped out by errant attacks."
Krinadon}

Don't be afraid to put all your prof. points in one area. You'll be making up for it in different areas of pet specs and pet gearing. c:
For now, I recommend putting your first 10 into the stat you need most (usually HP for tanks, and str/int for your damage dealers), then by the time you get more than 10 points, put them in a place where it'll benefit your fighting style.

^{Protip: "Current best tanks are water and shadow. Earth would be the best if we were at max level."
Savynn}

B) Level-Up Points

-Try not to spread yourself thin over all 5 stats.
Like proficiency points, stats aren't too effective when spread all over the place. A recommendation is for your level-up points to be divided over 2-3 stats at best.

Tanks: HP and Agility (can be 50/50, or 75/25, whichever; agility helps with mitigation more than putting points in other stats)

Physical Attacker: Strength and HP (same ratio as above, I recommended HP so you can have more HP on your damage dealer so it isn't too squishy; additional offensive stats like Dexterity can be built upon with gear, mentioned in later section)

Magical Attacker: Intelligence and HP (same reasoning as Physical attacker)

^{Protip: Let your level-up points be the icing of your pet build.}
Imagine your pet build as a cake.
Your proficiency points are kinda like the cake itself, baked and constant.
Your level-up points should be the suitable icing to said cake. The points themselves are cheaper and more flexible to work with, compared to the proficiency points. The focus here is to make a solid foundation with the proficiency tree points, then compliment it with finishing touches from the level-up points. c:

III. Pet Gearing
(please note I'm going to be talking about gear that drops from regular enemies and instances, not special gear like town-bought/arena-bought/mythical gear)

-Always have the best gear available for your pets.
The gear you'll equip will be the enhancers for your pet. You'll want to remember these two things:
-Legendary and epic gear (orange and purple respectively) will always be recommended over uncommon/common gear (blue/green respectively). You can find these from either doing exceptional/hard missions or on the trade broker. c:
-Always have the highest level of gear that your pet can have equiped. You don't want your lvl40 pet wearing lvl25 gear.
Exception: Legendary/epic gear can match the regular gear of 5-10 levels above it. (i.e. lvl25 legendary gear is about the same as lvl30-35 common/uncommon gear.) It's an investment to keep those.

^{Protip: "Best gear in the game currently is in the second dungeon. Second best is from arena." This tip is for people who want mythical-grade gear. c:}

-Get acquainted with the gear sets.
Each gear item has an adjective (i.e. Tough) for each level tier it's in. Here's a list of the current sets that are out.
They also have certain builds that specialize in two stats, based on the class name at the end of their name (i.e. Assassin, Evoker). The same link above says which stats each class focuses on, but here's a suggested match-up of class to pet role:

^{Physical strength-based tank (earth/water trees): Assassin Gear
Magical intellect-based tank (shadow tree): Illusionist Gear
Physical strength-based DPS (damage per second) (wind tree): Myrmidon Gear
Magical intellect-based DPS (fire/light trees): Evoker Gear
Credit to Savynn for this table!}

This table is a base example for statting and gearing. When you get to a point where you're good at fighting, you're free to stat and gear your pets differently from these guidelines. c:

^{Tip: "Always use a relic that has either physical damage or magical damage, not both...a pet can only use one type of attack, physical or magical, and that will be based on whether the physical ability or magical ability is stronger. So stats in the weaker one is worthless."
Savynn}



If you made it this far from reading everything, thank you! I hope you're able to build a better team for the future. c: It REALLY goes a long way, from being able to beat bosses that once creamed you, to cutting down the time it takes to get through battles.

"I mean, (I hope), there's never a right answer on how to spec a pet. If there is, I really failed lol.

If you can beat content, you're doing it right. And at that point, play how you want.

I'm sure there's some sort of "statistical" perfect combination... but I couldn't even tell you what it is. And I don't think any game is meant to be played that way... I hope with our new system that I'll unlock even more possibilities of how to play because I honestly think atm it's pretty restrictive."

Krinadon

Thank you, readers, and have fun playing Sylestia~ c:

Credits to:

-Savynn, who suggested to do this topic for the article

-Krinadon, for giving advice to Savynn (and thus some of my quotes lol) on the topic

-Everlost/Selestial, for taking chances on me to let me write my articles for the Times c:

_{-All the readers} that read my column and guides ^^

General update:
I wanna confirm firm that Sav's general comment about regular generated pet stats being better than wild pet stats is true. I got two un-statted lvl26 nixis, one generated and one wild.


Regular Generated
HP: 522
42 / 44 / 44 / 44



Wild Tamed
HP: 470
38 / 37 / 39 / 39

*As a note, tip from Eimell:
For every level, 1 point is added to the base stat automatically. (iirc, my memory stinks between then and now)

Good to know I wasn't leading anyone astray on that.

Btw, I just noticed it but the quote of me saying which tanks are currently best is actually me quoting more or less what Krin said in chat one day.

What is the best proficiency tree to use for Damage dealers?
[Sorry if I looked over this in your guide]

Tis cool. Thankfully, I didn't have to look too hard. xD

It's in the guide, but under gearing in parentheses.

Physical strength-based DPS (damage per second) (wind tree):

Thank you :)
I cant believe I looked over that xD
Also, Which DPS is better? Magical or Physical?

I double-checked this with Krin, it's air for single target and fire for multi-target.

Along with what Savynn said, because I assumed you meant in general, it's really personal preference when it comes down to it.
(words like "better" are always opinion lol)

Take for example Light.
Light has a lvl25 move that has a chance to heal your party.

However, Dark has a lvl25 move that has a chance to land a status ailment, Siphon, on the enemy, that saps little bits of HP off of the other per turn.

Then there's Fire which deals damage to multiple enemies 100% of the time.
HOWEVER, there are boss instances where this is a reaaally bad idea. Such as against Vierna in Dungeon of Forsaken.
Not to mention that Fire is kinda meant for players who are wanting to spread out their damage across enemies.

Also, as far as a team goes, having one of each attack, magical and physical, is good for DPS. Having two can give you disadvantages in certain situations.

Anyways, personally, Air is good for DPS.
Magically, you can take your chances on light/dark for single-DPS.
The fact is, your gear/stats will make or break your Damage.

But it's up to your playing style mostly.

Bumping this because I've been referring to it a lot and I think getting it on the first page will hopefully make it easier to find