I havent seen another thread on this but it's incredible now. Per encounter 40 second duration and instant activation means it might as well be constant.

 

Best part is, the only reason it's got a small area is because stag has 5 int, base area seems to actually be the same as for a barbarian, here's a picture of what happens if you cast Crowns for the Faithful with the stag in the radius (Stag also looks pretty sweet with the crown-halo):

Edited February 1, 201610 yr by limaxophobiacq

Party idea to make use of this: Santa Claus bearded dwarf priest plus five hearth orlan ranger companions with stags named after santas reindeer.

Edited February 1, 201610 yr by limaxophobiacq

Only problem with identical animal companions is if you use Stalker's Link. They're damn hard to tell apart and you need to pair their attacks with their bosses.

Party idea to make use of this: Santa Claus bearded dwarf priest plus five hearth orlan ranger companions with stags named after santas reindeer.

You, Sir, are a visionary :D

Very cool find! One of the best things about 3.0 beta I experienced/heard of.

Only problem with identical animal companions is if you use Stalker's Link. They're damn hard to tell apart and you need to pair their attacks with their bosses.

 

Combined with having to activate carnage on every stag every fight, it is going to be pretty micro-intensive.

Edited February 1, 201610 yr by limaxophobiacq

Can you use weapon procs with stag carnage?

 

Edit: nevermind I was confused and thinking druid spiritshift for some reason, not ranger companion

Edited February 1, 201610 yr by Dr. Hieronymous Alloy

Even then: no weapon. But I asked the same thing once: if the Sandals of the Forgotten Friar work with Spirit Shift.

 

They do not.

 

But a stag companion build for damage with all the according talents/abilities and a druid (for AoE DoT effects to trigger Predator's Sense) could be devastating. IF the carnage works with these skills.

Edited February 1, 201610 yr by Boeroer

Merciless Companion (Sneak Attack) I can say works for sure with Stag carnage, as it's displayed in the combat log when it hits.

 

Can't be sure if the bonus damage vs. enemies suffering DoT works since it doesn't display in the combat log (even for non-carnage hits).

 

Effectively having Rending + Vulnerable Attack (-8 DR on hits) with no penalty at all time also helps the carnage a lot. Vicious Companion should probably be first Talent pick.

 

You could maybe avoid the abilities that give a bonus when attacking the same target as your companion, if you want your ranger to focus a big-bad or caster while the stag uses carnage to take down the trash. Would give room to take other abilities.

Edited February 2, 201610 yr by limaxophobiacq

Against bosses or tough buggers Stalker's Link is still great. You can also lower PER a lot if you take it. Also stunning shots only works with the animal companion. Too bad there's no ranged weapon that does direct AoE damage (maybe WMII ). That, stunning shots and stag carnage could be so good.

Decided to actually to actually try this out, working well so far (PotD). Armor of Faith + rather decent base DR for animal companions is making life pretty easy early game. Had one stag go down against the boars (didn't have armor of faith up) but otherwise they are tough enough even without Resilient Companion (which I'll be getting at level 4). With Vicious Companion the carnage is basically ignoring the DR of foes this early in the game.

 

 

Edit: Temple cleared now. Shades where no trouble at all but the 2x skuldr kings fight at the end was a pain with all the stags getting stunned.

 

Edit2: Mearwald down, traffic-jam with all the stags in the back at the start of the fight almost killed me, Rangers got to 4th level after that and now have Resilient Companion, the jump from DR 9 to DR 15 is making a big difference.

Edited February 5, 201610 yr by limaxophobiacq

Does it even work now in the latest patch or is it bugged again? I tried to keep the enemy really close, and there is still no combat log about carnage misses from that silly stag of mine.

It doesn't as far as I can tell, just tried it out to verify. I posted it in the Technical Support forum, maybe they can fix it for the coming patch.

I just checked on the 3.03 beta and it is working.

Edited June 2, 20169 yr by nem0