I'm looking at the summoners and trying to pick which to choose for a possible alt. If I really like it I might stick with it.
I'm interested at the moment about the ES just because it seems more different then the other two and I like Light Elves (but man the female cast animation is horrid).
So my question is, since it makes the most sense to use your 10% summon to level is Merrow best suited for AOE grinding only? Can he do okay with single mobs or is that a waste of time?
The Souless sounds like a bit of a pain to deal with with the mp drain. I've heard people using an OOP SE for VR to help that, but I want a summoner so I don't have to 2-box.
Kai seems fairly decent, but I'm not a fan of the human run speed. >< Though Warlocks seem the most balanced of the three.
I still really haven't heard any major positives about the ES. You hear good things about PS and WK (especially their party summon) but not so much ES. Is it just unpopular?
Also do ES's melee at all at some point? I saw a video from the Official Korean site of an ES meleeing with duals.
I know BWL is great for BG+ but wouldn't Maj Robes be good for AG?
Unless you have buffers, you will be meleeing alot for XP. Merrow casts too slow, mobs will catch up with it unless they are very slow. Most mobs aren't like that, and many of the really slow ones are high M.Def or multi-HP mobs.
There are also some level ranges where there just aren't any optimal mobs to AE.
Merrow is a melee pony with an AOE nuke, not an AOE pony with melee capabilities. Don't be fooled by people saying it's an AOE one; thats only at low level or in the right circumstances. Its nuke is too weak and casts too slow compared to what nukers do.
All summons profit from a buffer (PP or SE, depending your preference), just like other classes profit from them. As for populairity; the PS is actually the least played/liked one, as they have nothing to give to others (sieges, pvp etc). ES and WL are buffers (which isn't a fun role either but oh well :p).
At lvl 79 ES get a good AOE pony; it can 2-hit fog mobs; something no other class in L2 can do other then destroyer in frenzy.
As for melee, it's just whatever you want to do. It doesn't matter: your hit(s) will not make your summon do 1 less hit on the mob (at higher lvls that is, at low lvl (40-65) you can help using focus melee weapons). Atm I'm using arcana mace for castspeed and landing debuffs, since it makes no sense hitting anything with a weapon at my level, thats why I have a summon.
Warlock is the most team orientated, PS the most solo orientated. ES is in between there. Summon (merrow) is great for melee grinding and can easely tank for parties in mos, 4s etc. Naturally the best XP is when you solo.
btw the 10% will be 0% in Ct1 (first few lvls it wont, but later it will)
BW-L is the best; I'm closing in at 79 and still use it.
Edit: Is there a good guide somewhere on what pony to use in what situations?
Okay I just read the other thread that had the information I was looking for!
One other thing however, you say the 10%XP penalty will become 0%? Are they lowering the XP penalty on all the Summons? Or just removing it on the one?
Yeah, I know this, but many Summoners continue to nuke after 40. Some all the way to 52. I've seen people say that PS is melee orientated, Lock is balanced, and ES is caster. So I just assumed they nuked longer/more often.
they just use there lvl 35 Nukes it still does some damage till they start doing only 1 damage I can't see them still nuking at 50+ thou but I guess if the target has weak m defence you can.
I still nuke at 71 :)
Well, not playing as a nuker as such. but I still use solar spark regularly - I know this isn't what you meant though :) I have yet to have solar spark fail on anything (using a high m.atk weapon). A shame it has such long reuse, but it's a nice bonus damage to have. I nearly one-shot a mob in FotD with a magic crit one time hehe :p
One other thing however, you say the 10%XP penalty will become 0%? Are they lowering the XP penalty on all the Summons? Or just removing it on the one?
All but the pvp (90%) ones. Look it up somewhere in Ct1 patchnotes, or check l2pets.com . Has a table of summon lvl against summon type and % leech.