peddroelm

3 might is 9% damage .. 2 Dex is an insignificant attack speed boost .. The +7 Accuracy is massive IMO ( difference between miss and hit is a LOT (0 damage to graze damage , graze -> hit -> crit 50% more additive damage ) . Missing with the main attack cancels all the potential carnage rolls ..

I like human's Fighting spirit 15% damage mod and +7 accuracy better for this sort of thing .. It has limited duration but provides a bigger damage spike ..And you can hear hats while doing it .

I wouldn't go as far as calling it "not worth taking" mostly because of the lack of alternatives (for a melee ranger) .. After testing the animal companion damage boosting perks I find them even less worthwhile ..

You're missing "Brute Force" in that line.. I actually like Threatening Presence on its own .. It reliably lowers fort saves by 24, making targets more susceptible to things like monk stunning fist and knock downs from fighter and ranger's animal companion, enervating blows (weakness) etc ..etc ..

this thread made me go and (rigorously) test the skills and question http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/78239-abilities-various-other-damage-related-mechanics-revealed/page-3?do=findComment&comment=1685422 They work as advertised but don't make much sense because ".. Animal Companions have extremely slow attack speeds, cannot enchant weapons, not DR bypass and don't live long in melee range.. If their role is not damage dealing - why waste so many of the ranger perks on (next to) useless perks ?.." But the balance guys don't agree with this since they nerfed Marked Prey's damage bonus for Ranger & AC in 1.05 ..

@ mazeltov - to understand where I'm coming from: I've been playing full melee parties in pillars of eternity ( fighter, paladin, barbarian, monk, ranger, rogue) exclusively . The ranger has always felt "the odd man out" .. His combat performance threatened even by the fighter that has 3 tanking talents .. So nerfing the ranger of all things for "balance reasons" was a bit surprising and disappointing to me.. Makes one doubt their balance team ability to do their job .. On what criteria are their balance changes based on ? IMO the little bump in cast speed does not compensate for the massive damage reduction it received . //// If you were to make a community poll on what class/ability deserves "re-balancing" - my money would be that Ranger's and their animal companions (talents) would be pretty high on that list - not for nerfing, but for getting some buffs ..

here are the test results http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/78239-abilities-various-other-damage-related-mechanics-revealed/?do=findComment&comment=1671399

Maybe it didn't warrant it from an overall balance perspective. But the fact is that the ability was changed to reflect its intended functionality, and documented as such, not stealth nerfed as you claimed in the link to your tests. Had the patch list said something specific like changed from 40% to 20% - then it would've been "documented" .. (like they did for cipher ability - they listed the actual numbers) Telling it works as intended ( and NOT as the previous and current in-game ability description says) means they did not specify what they changed .. Unspecified changes - stealth nerf .. They didn't use specific numbers for OSA either (from flat + 20 * (1 + mightmod ) down to 20% additive damage mod) but it doesn't mean the same thing - OSA was obviously broken - and needed a fix (they didn't alter a parameter - they changed the mechanic) .. And 1.05 fixed OSA behavior matches its in-game skill description. You can thus infer what "working as designed" means for that ability .. 1.05 Marked Prey's description claims it should add flat +20 damage per projectile .. If that description is to be believed 1.05 marked prey is still not working as designed .. If that description is false - then we have no idea on what "working as designed" is supposed to mean for that ability ..

More like fixed it. The change to MP is noted in the patch's Items, Spells, and Abilities section. "..Marked Prey is now working at intended..." .. Not sure it was a such warranted fix -> OSA was visibly broken on a scale that got people to notice it .. Most people didn't use Marked Prey in 1.04 when it gave 40% bonus.

beta 1.05 (steam) shows them .. Didn't do any number crunching as to how they might be calculated (no idea atm) ...

http://i.imgur.com/AktMobW.jpg

stuff like it is shown .. But NOT merciless companion .. http://i.imgur.com/AktMobW.jpg http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/79125-105-merciless-companion-talentability-not-listed-on-rangers-sheet/?do=findComment&comment=1685602

they nerfed Marked Prey http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/78239-abilities-various-other-damage-related-mechanics-revealed/?p=1685422

While testing the various animal companion damage perks I've realized they stealth nerfed Marked Prey in 1.05 .. Its down to 20% lash vs 25% DR from 40% lash vs 25% DR "..Marked Prey is now working at intended..." http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/78239-abilities-various-other-damage-related-mechanics-revealed/?p=1685422

Animal companion damage tests Used Boar 11-17 base damage edited to do 15-15 base damage Boar has 11 might => 3% might bonus L1 tests 15 *( 1 + 0.03) = 15.45 ( == 15.5 combat log hit) 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.5) = 22.95 ( == 23 combat log crit) Injure boar so combat log reads "porcu' activates Injured Boar Damage Bonus." // 20% when bellow 50% HP 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.2 ) = 18.45 ( == 18.5 combat log hit) // "Injured Boar Damage Bonus" Works and is additive 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.2 - 0.5 ) = 10.95 ( == 11 combat log graze ) L2 Vicious companion + 15% damage per hit ? 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 + 0.5) //25.2 crit 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15) // 17.7 hit 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 - 0.5) // 10.2 graze 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15) // 17.7 hit 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15) // 17.7 hit So its not cumulative as skill description suggests .. Regular additive 15% damage bonus .. L3 porcu' activates predatory sense (50% damage bonus vs targets with active DOTs ) additem hunting_bow_persistance 1 //No DOT on target 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 - 0.5) == 10.2 graze 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 ) == 17.7 hit 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 + (0.5 - 0.27) ) == 21.2 crit // test subject had girdle of mortal protection -27% crit damage // DOT from Hunting Bow Persistence on Target 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 + 0.5 - 0.5) == 17.7 graze 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 + 0.5) == 25.2 hit 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 + 0.5 + 0.5 - 0.27) == 28.7 crit // test subject had girdle of mortal protection -27% crit damage //Works OK predatory sense adds 50% additive damage to targets under DOTs as L4 porcu' activates Merciless Companion (30% sneak attack damage) porcu' activates Animal Companion Combat Bonuses (.. 12% .. damage) //BUG strikes - the boar started to do BLUNT ( animal companions do pierce) - non constant based damage at this point .. Merciless Companion does not appear anywhere in Ranger's Sheet.. Combat log registers the boar doing blunt damage (merciless companion) dealdamage Companion_P_R_5 20 // damages the ranger. Note to self - give your test characters proper names.."FindCharacter R" returned a lot of matches removetalent Companion_P_R_5 tln_merciless_companion // no effect .. No reaction to enter keypress .. Gamestate compromised ... Is merciless companion broken ? Restart PoE ...Load older save .. Add ranger console level to 4 .. Damage done is of piercing type and of plausible value.. Merciless Companion still not listed on Ranger's Sheet .. Edit "base weapon" from 11-17 to 15-15 for testing L4 porcu' activates Merciless Companion (30% sneak attack damage) porcu' activates Animal Companion Combat Bonuses (.. 12% .. damage) 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 + 0.12 + 0.3 - 0.5 ) == 16.5 // sneak graze OK 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 + 0.12 + 0.3 ) == 24 // sneak hit OK 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 + 0.12 + 0.3 + (0.5 - 0.27) ) == 27.5 // sneak crit OK Merciless companion works 30% additive sneak damage .. L12 porcu' activates Animal Companion Combat Bonuses (.. 36% .. damage) 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 + 0.36 + 0.3 ) == 27.6 // hit Tried to test Marked Prey but by this time the pig started doing slash damage .. ?!? 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 + 0.36 ) == 23.1 hit // ( SLASH ?!?) 15 * (1 + 0.03 + 0.15 + 0.36 + 0.5) == 30.6 crit // (damage numbers work BUT WHY SLASH DAMAGE TYPE ?) Activated marked prey 30.6 slash + 4.4 pierce // crit 30.6 * 0.4 - 7 *0.25 = 10.49 != 4.4 // 30.6 * 0.2 - 7 * 0.25 = 4.37 23.1 slash + 2.9 pierce // hit (23.1 * 0.4 - 7*0.25) = 7.49 != 2.9 (very different) // 23.1 * 0.2 - 7*0.25 = 2.87 So maked prey only adds 20% lash damage to AC vs 25% DR .. Sneaky suspicion .. 18.7 * 0.2 - 7*0.25 == 2.0 This was Ranger attack ( THEY STEALTH NERFED MARKED PREY IN 1.05 ( down to 20% from 40% ) //////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////// TLDR 1.05 Stealth nerfed Marked Prey lash damage from 40% vs 25% DR down to 20% vs DR ( honestly I would've preferred the 40% version even with the longer cast time ) Animal Companion damage perks work (all provide additive damage mods) - but are IMHO utterly useless .. Animal Companions have extremely slow attack speeds, cannot enchant weapons, not DR bypass and don't live long in melee range.. If their role is not damage dealing - why waste so many of the ranger perks on (next to) useless perks ?

Barb can help the initial stun via threatening presence (passively lowers fort saves in short AOE ).. And will benefit from the lowered deflection vs stunned targets to land hits (potentially crits) that will then trigger separate carnage checks vs suitable targets in AOE range which will not benefit at all from the fact the main target is stunned/weakened .. All melee attackers will benefit but none will benefit ( -30 deflection) as much as melee rogue .. And zealous focus from paladin would help a lot with all of those deflection/fortitude checks ..

It would show that the weakening check applies before the stunning check on crit hits . http://i.imgur.com/G67oMxY.jpg One SS would not suffice (to see all the roll checks vs Accuracy/Fort) - would take a short video (or you could take my word for it why would I lie ?! ) .. Fist stun check was vs 63 fortitude .. Second swing stun check was vs 35 fortitude after weakening (-20 fort and also -2 might and -2 con) ..

displaying their weapon stats (Damage/Accuracy/Interrupt like for the rest of the party members) - would be most important and would make it plain for everyone to see that wolf out-damages injured boar all day every day (because of the higher base weapon damage) while having more attack speed ( boar is currently useless as battle axes are to sabres) .. The pig gets 31 more endurance than wolf at lvl 12 ..yay ! Considering animal companions attack once in a blue moon those 30 extra endurance points might actually make the boar better than the wolf.

Stunning Fist - full attack - you get two chances to apply it when dual wielding .. Each weapon attack checks vs deflection and in case it doesn't miss a second check is ran vs fortitude to check stun duration .. (doesn't need wounds so you can open with it, or after you debuff target's fort save (ex: barb threatening presence ) ) What you need from the first swing is at least a double graze ( deflection and fortitude ).. Even on a graze the stun effect cuts target's deflection by a whooping 30 .. Second weapon swing now stands great chance to crit (vs -30 Deflection) .. Crits activate Enervating Blows - that even on a graze vs fortitude will weaken ( -20 -8 fort save) . And then the second Stun check is done this time vs -28 fort save - with good chance to hit/crit (getting good duration of the stun effect if you didn't dump INT (I like to max int on monks ) ) .. All the regular attacks during the stun duration (6+ seconds on high int crit will have great chance to keep criting for good damage and refrehing the weakened status effect for rogue sneak/deathblows ) Those debuffs synergise well with melee rogue which I keep teamed with the monk.. Stun enables sneak (very likely crits vs -30% deflection) and flanking/weakening enables deathblows .Death sentence .. Add zealous focus (+6 accuracy to all those special attacks checks ) and the full (synergising) melee squad begins to take shape.. Ranger is the odd man out but he can help out with wounding shot (hobble) and binding roots(stuck) .. Example screen shot fist stun check was vs 63 fort, second weapon swing stun check was vs 35 fortitude (weaken -20 fort -2 might and -2 con) http://i.imgur.com/G67oMxY.jpg

so you can report it to PeTA ?

Ok I think the retroactive fix worked .. Loaded save - it still lists the animal companion bonuses twice on ranger's sheet but the actual bonuses seem correct .. Lvl 7 ranger 6 ACC, 24% Damage Mod , 3 DR .. Took a swing at my Bear - it had 17 DR .. ( 11 (bear base) + 3 (resilient companion) + 3 (AC combat bonuses) = 17 ) I consoled more XP - to level ranger to 12 .. AC combat bonuses +9 ACC, 36% Damage Mod, 4.5 DR (as I remember them) .. Another swing at bear -18.5 DR .. (11 + 3 + 4.5 = 18.5 OK)

they work for me

Because I parse those sentences differently from you. check the item description again an is bolded

Not anymore (since a long time ago) .. Locked health is the mechanic that guarantees your Animal Companion's immortality .. You can sort of "abuse" it early game by tanking with the AC since they be restored to full endurance/health at the end of the combat (whereas your party members would lose health that needs resting to recover) .. Later on - stalker's link on top of the penalty for downed AC (bonded grief) gives more incentive to try to keep the AC alive ..

yup - they are downable but immortal