New Combat Pet Ideas Part 3: Malevolent Warden

For this summon idea, I'm moving over to the Earth tree! This time, you would be summoning a more tree like melee bruiser that's main goal would be to deal piercing damage!

Skill Name: Summon Warden

Pet Name: Malevolent Warden

Skill Tree: Earth
Requirements: Root 40, Summon Earth Elemental 40
Radius: None
Summon Category: Melee
Starting Pet Health: 245
Starting Pet Melee Damage: 5-14 physical, 25% of it is piercing damage
Starting Pet Ranged Damage: 3-9 piercing Earth damage

Description: Contrary to popular belief, not all forest spirits start as violent, savage beings. Some are extremely friendly, or shy when approached by humanoid races. However, when a particular forest spirit is subjected to witnessing the various horrors the humanoid races inflict upon each other, or when its forest is mercilessly cut down, its nature can become twisted. Such a change entice the spirit to possess a nearby flora, warping it and shaping it into a vaguely humanoid form, one with long rending claws made of stone, bark, and magic. Such creatures then began making a habit out of attacking "invaders" no matter what race they might be, hurling large boulders and leaping at them with their claws razed, rending their armor to mere fragments. Yet despite their savage nature, these "wardens" do still recognize those steeped with Earth magic, and may align themselves to such a prosperous Earth Mage seeking power....If they prove themselves first that is...

Mechanics Description: This pet has a hire than average movement speed, but will often start combat by hurling a boulder at its target, which deals splash piercing damage. Then it will use a skill similar to Engage by leaping towards its target, in which it will proceed to deal high physical damage, with some of it piercing through. Additionally, the pet's effectiveness can be further increased by leveling your Strength score, increasing its overall damage slightly. However, unlike most summons, the Warden has a major weakness to fire damage, and any fire skill used on it will immediately inflict a special, stackable Fire DoT on it that persists for ( x ) seconds.

Final Notes: The purpose of this pet was to not only give a more plant like pet for summoners to have access to, but to also create a heavy melee damage minion that utilized the Earth Tree's piercing effects and gaining bonuses from the summoner's own strength. Of course, such a powerful minion would most certainly have its drawbacks like the fire weakness. What do you guys think?

 

What about a stationary turret pet with a long range poison attack? They could take inspiration from those plants in the PVP ruin scenes. Something different then the earth elemental. Make the earth elemental a heavy melee damage dealer that scales with strength, while the flower pet could be more of a squishy long range damage dealer that is immobile and highly vulnerable to fire damage.

 

From what the health values of the Earth and Ice Elementals tell players, it's that they are meant to function more like tank pets than heavy damage dealers. That being said, since the Earth Tree has skills that inflict damage that ignores armor, there's no reason why the Earth Elemental shouldn't do the same then! There's also the innate ability the enemy Earth and Sand Elementals have that speeds up equipment damage as well, so that could be useful for the Earth Elemental to have as well.

As for the plant pet from the Shardfall areas, I love the idea, but I wouldn't make it stationary, but very slow moving (like the Lich) instead. That way you don't need to constantly summon a new one whenever you move out of range. Naturally it would have to be small enough to fit inside narrow halls and such so it could be summoned indoors.