Wolf Tactics - A Replay

Thought I would share this with the forum and see if I can help those out who want to try leveling a wolf and aren't sure how to work with one and get the most out of it. (And keep it alive!)

Since I am currently leveling a Cleric to Prophet, I thought this was a good place to start. The Cleric in the replay is L23 (now 24) and the wolf is L22 (now 23). I originally paired the two up at 21 for the Cleric and the wolf was fresh at L15. I have a higher level Wolf on another char, but that one would be overkill (It's 57 almost 58) so I just shared the equip from the other wolf. The Gear and Buffs are as follows, most of which is leftover from various D grade alts, so some of it is pretty good.

[Cleric]
+3 "107" Duals (Crimson * Spinebone)
+5 Salamander Armor
+3 Knowledge Gloves
+3 Plate Boots
+0 Bronze Helmet
+3 Elven Ring (x2)
+3 Elven Necklace
+3 Elven Earring
+0 Omen Beast's Eye Earring

All L20 Skills are purchased.

[Wolf]
Fang of Fenril
Wolfs Mithril Armor

Of note: The wolf has ~160 patk, and I only have ~135 patk. (can't remember the pdef offhand, but its not an issue here.)

For the Cleric I have partial OL buffs going, so the only buffs of real influence are berserk 2, Might & Shield 3 and Accuracy 3. Accuracy 3 is the only one I really wanted, everything else was just because I could. Thus on the Wolf I have Shield 3, Might 2 and WW1.

At the start you see me buff, this is just me running my self buff and pet buff macros. The Ol buffs are better so for the cleric all it really gets is concentration.

Here is the Replay (http://personalpages.tds.net/~painamplifier/Int_Cl-Wf.l2r) Duration is just over 5 min in total.

You will also note, that YES I am seeding. =D

..and NO I am not using any shots. Shots here would be overkill. If I had shots going mobs would die so fast I may as well put the wolf away. I seldom use shots when I have the pets out anyway, to make more money. Only when I am in a high aggro/fast respawn area do I pull shots out for both me and the pet. (Like the pits at Pavel Ruins w/BH & Wind Hatch.)

I'm just outside Dion, as this is a very good place to level a 'starter wolf'. (As well as a low level char.) Red PKers are a hazard, but thats what the OL is there for as well. =D

And honestly, reds aren't all that common, although this is where they will be if there are any. :(

Still it's good to keep an eye out and/or level here during the 'off peak' hours to keep their interference to a minimum. If you do get bushwacked, try to hit "Return to Village" before they kill the pet as well...depends on if they go for you or the pet first though, but respawning in town brings the pet with your body. At the time of this replay Dion was very quiet...the previous night was far more busy. ('Course that was the first time the reds made an appearance, and I ended up spending part of the night playing wack-a-red with the main.)

As it is, you can see some basic tactics.

1)Always take aggro from the start! I always get the first 2 hits in before I have the wolf attack.

2)Keep magic damage off the wolf. Although the Eye's here are 2x HP, they go down fast enough that they usually only have enough time to hit the wolf once. (Watch it's HP)

3)Be wary of Archers. Again these go down fast so not much of a problem here. At higher levels I avoid both archers and magic using mobs a LOT more. Especially those w/Flare or are spam happy. Occasional magic is easier to deal with. (Like Drakes nukes.)

4)When facing the potential of 2x mobs aggroing, pre-emptively take it yourself. Either get them both attacking before using the wolf, or pull the mobs apart if you only get one. There is one spot here where I use Curse:Weakness to pull a Bugbear that was starting to move to close to another. (They are social) At the moment I have just Weakness and Wind Strike for this on the shortcut bars in addition to some heal macros. (For me and the pet.) NOTE: Root can be VERY BAD for taking aggro...if you root a mob be sure the wolf is not in attack mode...because if the wolf is in range and you aren't it's still going to get hit if it's attacking something and doesn't 'run away' from the hits. A rooted mob is also more inclined to nuke as well.

When I first started this pair, I was over farther north in the small area with just the Dion Grizzlys and Hobgoblins across the road. The Wolf leveled up FAST though and started to really eat up the XP. When it hit ~18/19 it was doing over 1/2 the damage to the mobs and taking a significant part of the XP.

At that time I was using only self buffs. And it was the frequent misses that made it hard for my Cleric to keep up with the wolf. Frequently it would pull aggro on the second or third hit if I missed once or more. Usually the mob would die before it could hit the wolf more than twice, but it was getting a bit to frequent as the wolf leveled, while the Clerics next skill level was too far away to even things out. That's when I brought the OL in, mostly as I've noted above, for the accuracy buff. (Although 'Zerk helps a little as well w/patk and attack speed.)

-I'll see if I can remember to post some more replays as I level up or swap to another char with a different pet. So question and comment away.

Very good guide, thank you.

Pain, can I copy this guide over to L2DancesWithWolves (with credit, of course)?

Pain, can I copy this guide over to L2DancesWithWolves (with credit, of course)?

Feel free...although this is hardly a full blown guide. It's just a description of what my currently setup is w/a Cleric. Perhaps, I should do a full write up in the future if things go well.

And honestly, the Wolf gear is so overpowering at this point I may need to buy a weaker weapon to keep it's damage/leveling down until the cleric levels more. (Or do some raids/XP on the cleric to boost it up.)

So far I've paired the wolf(s) up with a Destroyer (Pre-Aggro changes), an Overlord, a Shillien Knight, and a Cleric so far. (I've only used Hatchlings with my Dwarves so far) For each one, what you use and how you handle the wolf is slightly different based on your class skills. (Mostly to handle aggro/adds)

Of more interest, (As I level the wolf) to many might be just the areas I hunt in with it. Too much aggro can be bad for a low durability pet, thus where you level one can be harder to select than just having one and gear for it. From outside Dion where I am in this replay for example there are two areas I prefer to go next. The lower level of EG and a spot out by the racetrack. Once I outlevel those things start getting trickier.

I've got an SE waiting in the wings to do her D grade with (another) wolf as well. Oh, and that reminds me. The L20 class change time is a good one to do the Wolf quest. You have to go to Gludin anyway for all of them. (As far as I know) So killing the requisite 50 mobs isn't all that far out of your way and all you need is to do the Gluido/Dion/Giran run after that to complete the quest. When done the wolf and you are both in a good position level wise. (Although, as I note above, top Wolf gear is a bit much for your char.)

For higher level characters, things are a bit different based on your class and level.

Updated information! (For those who want to follow the evolution of this pair farther.)

Here's my stats (Wolf and Cleric) both pre and post buffs as of L25. I actually hit L26 earlier today, but took the screens before then.

Pre-Buffing (http://personalpages.tds.net/~painamplifier/SS_L25-PreBuff.jpg)

Post Buffing. (http://personalpages.tds.net/~painamplifier/SS_L25-PostBuff.jpg)

Of note: The wolf has better patk than me by, even though I have better buffs. I'm not sure what happened with my critical rate though..the wolf gets a few more points more than me even though we start at the same value. (evasion I can see from Berserk)

I plan on spending one more level where I am now, then it's off to new hunting grounds. I'll update with a new replay and maybe some stats when I get there.

As for the Hotbars....Bar 1 is my active bar and bar two is my buff/heal bar. I really only use the first four buttons on bar one most of the time. (Seed, Pet Attack then Harvest, pickup) When I need to use Wind Strike or Cure: Weakness I usually click those with the mouse. I do this because I can get in a good position (aka not awkward) and just grind away without moving my hands much at all.

In Detail though: [Bar 1]

[1]Harvester
[2]Pickup
[3]Seeds
[4]Pet Attack
[5]%Self Battle Heal macro
[6]Wind Strike
[7]Pickup (Mostly there to prevent mis-hits...all my chars have a pickup there and If I replaced it I'd tend to hit whatever is there a couple times before I get used to the next chars hotbar setup.
[8]Curse:Weakness
[9]Lesser Heal Pots. (I really should get rid of those. They the ~200 freebies I got from noob quests.)
[10]Shots (For emergencies, since not spamming them right now, 300 total.)
[11]BSPS (Again For emergencies, 100 total...probably increase these and the SS when I dump the Lesser pots)
[12]Sitdown (Again, std location for all my chars.)

On the second bar:
[1]Self Heal macro
[2]Self Buff macro
[3]Pet buffing macro. (Note, fails if pet is targeted before starting)
[4]Pet Battle Heal Macro (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!)
[5]Battle heal
[6]Heal
[7]Group Heal (And yes it lands on the pet when cast!
[8]Cure Poison
[9]Stop (Pet) Useful when something spawns nearby and you want to be sure you get aggro and not the pet. Or just need to get it to stop attacking.
[10]Unsummon Pet (also important. =P )
[11]Pet pickup (You can have it pickup herbs or drops, although it seems laggy at times and doesn't seem to always happen.)
[12]Toggle Walk/Run (Mostly there since I nuked in NG, although honestly I never used it.)

More to come later...

Nice guide. I have to ask about the use of pets though. I remember back in the day when everybody had a wolf or baby dragon to level up. I don't see many now whether I am on a low character or my higher ones. I'm not anywhere near end-game level yet but I just don't see them. Do they get used for anything later or is it just a thing to do?

I have one in my storage, but I guess what I'm asking is it really worth the trouble? I got it cuz I thought it would be cool to level and have just a little extra damage when I solo'd but that didn't last long.

Wolves can be decent DD's if you take the time to level them. It is not especially easy to level a wolf, but for those of us who do it (congratulations to AshleyHunter with a level 70 wolf on Lionna!) it is a labor of love.

Nice guide. I have to ask about the use of pets though. I remember back in the day when everybody had a wolf or baby dragon to level up. I don't see many now whether I am on a low character or my higher ones. I'm not anywhere near end-game level yet but I just don't see them. Do they get used for anything later or is it just a thing to do?

I have one in my storage, but I guess what I'm asking is it really worth the trouble? I got it cuz I thought it would be cool to level and have just a little extra damage when I solo'd but that didn't last long.

For the most part the pets aren't terribly 'durable'. You can't just run up and start attacking mobs like you can solo or in a normal group. (Mdef on wolves is especially bad and pdef/hp on baby pets is indictive of their name.) They can and will die very quickly unless you pay attention to what you are doing and what mobs you are fighting. (Too much work for the usual attention span impaired people in L2.)

Also pet stats and gear has evolved since they were first in game. Beast shots were added as well as some stats and abilities changed. (Mostly the hatchlings, but also the inclusion of the baby pets) Most older players simply tried them once and gave up, never going back.

Also, many players are now on FoTM rerolls or subs. And nukers/archers etc, are mostly poor wolf/hatchling characters. (Baby pets are easier for them, but most level in areas too hostile for them to survive.)

And finally, Striders. Given the grind needed to level a hatch up yourself, (without a leveling group) is hard enough. But add in the fact that a strider is slower than porting, and most people will just pay the teleport fees instead of buying or raising a strider.

Oh, and before I forget. Pet gear gets expensive. At a time when most people are still trying to outfit themselves, buying gear for the pet is usually out of their reach. And low pet gear is less effective than player gear of the same level/price. Thus those who buy and try with pet gear they can afford are underwhelmed by the starting damage/pdef of their pet. (To say nothing of the cost of buying beast shots and pet food as well.)

With all the people in such a tearing hurry to reach 'top level' and 'pvp' all the time is it no wonder that people don't slow down and level a pet?

Me, I look forward to the pet changes previewed on the Korean Kamael website teaser....it's about the only thing that I really look forward too.