Confirmed my setup works extremely well for all of Act III -- not skipping any packs / bosses on three full runs. Now going through Act IV -- don't expect any issues with packs -- just making sure no issues with say Rakanoth or Shadow Clones specifically.
EDIT: Hurdle 1 through. Rakanoth definitely did more incoming then they regen'd but it was workable. Took him a good bit to kill the first 3 (well first 2). I resummoned and then was wiser about using Spirit Walk Healing Journey on cooldown for some additional pet heal (14% is a fairly hefty heal at my hp). He killed one more of the dogs but still had 2 up when he went down. Gargantuan was never really in any danger that I saw.
EDIT 2: Hammer mobs guarding the Hell Rifts seem to have been missed on cap hit. They pretty much one shot Gargantuan and dogs on both summons. Just kited away and killed them anyway but yeah, broken Actually appears to be all mallet lords that have the issue.
EDIT 3: Elite Oppressor pack killed both Garg and Dog pack once. Resummoned and they lived through the rest. Fire breath sustained from oppressor is the culprit. Second oppressor pack, timed Healing Journey to breath and it worked well to keep them up.
EDIT 4: Izual down no problems -- didn't expect any. Morlu Incinerator packs annoying -- more for my survivability than my pets though. Just a chaotic fight ( especially with when the first pack was Illusionist and the second was Horde )
EDIT 5: Diablo was fine phase 1. Phase 2/3 sketchy because of the fire pools. Pets just wouldn't live through them and you have to run quite a distance before they pull out of them. Also WD Shadow Clone dots killed them as well at least once. Definitely not faceroll -- had to kite buy time resummon, etc but still one shot.
Going back to Act III now as it's more profitable place to be -- just wanted to see if the spec and gear would stand-up to all of Act IV or not -- confirmed. If I can find time, may put out a quick vid of the setup -- definitely going to be a good solid setup for 1.0.4 unless they back off or adjust the changes.
Emberos, which rune of the Dogs are you using? Like I said, I'm using Leeching Beasts, but I'm considering swapping out to Burning or Plague
Profile link is in my signature. Using Burning Dogs and Humongoid Gargantuan. Based on pre-patch calculations, I had a good hunch that a very high health pool with Blood Ritual/Fierce Loyalty plus regen on gear would make dogs very survivable so I had acquired alot of high INT/VIT, %Life, All Resist, Regen gear. The competition for it wasn't that high pre-patch though I suspect it will be soon.
Although it looked very good on paper, I honestly didn't expect it to work as well as it is. I wasn't sure how well the pets would keep the elite pack's focus. They are doing a great job. I've swapped in more damage oriented gear since my initial post but also raised health another 10k to 94k now. I took out almost all my life on hit gear in favor of more dps and just generally am aiming for more damage now. Survivability is extremely high and my damage is rising with each piece I'm adding in. At this point with a 5 stack Soul Harvest I'm around 31k damage now so packs are starting to drop fairly quickly.
I had thought to use Templar for more passive regen but honestly don't need it so I'm just using Enchantress for Armor buff plus attack speed and the fact that I have her geared for about 6k damage as well. We both just sit back and plunk away from range while the pets hold things away in melee.
Running around Act III Inferno now with 84k hp, ~1900 life regen, ~3500 armor (54% reduction) and ~650 resists (69% reduction) and dogs simply will not die. Now they don't always hold everything's attention and they don't always go where you want them but, by and large they have the elite pack focused on them and life is good. I was thinking to stack more regen but likely I can back off and start adding damage.
Passives are Blood Ritual (840 Regen right there) and Fierce Loyalty. Started with Jungle Fortitude as third but don't seem to need it so moved it to Pierce the Veil for the extra damage.
EDIT: found something that can kill them -- Fallen Maniacs That's pretty much it though.
On a less comical note, Electrified also seems to be able to kill them but slooowly - so resummon and go. Also, Great Horned Goliath charge -- pretty much one shots all three dogs -- but this is clearly bugged and is ignoring max hit cap.
EDIT: Hurdle 1 through. Rakanoth definitely did more incoming then they regen'd but it was workable. Took him a good bit to kill the first 3 (well first 2). I resummoned and then was wiser about using Spirit Walk Healing Journey on cooldown for some additional pet heal (14% is a fairly hefty heal at my hp). He killed one more of the dogs but still had 2 up when he went down. Gargantuan was never really in any danger that I saw.
EDIT 2: Hammer mobs guarding the Hell Rifts seem to have been missed on cap hit. They pretty much one shot Gargantuan and dogs on both summons. Just kited away and killed them anyway but yeah, broken
EDIT 3: Elite Oppressor pack killed both Garg and Dog pack once. Resummoned and they lived through the rest. Fire breath sustained from oppressor is the culprit. Second oppressor pack, timed Healing Journey to breath and it worked well to keep them up.
EDIT 4: Izual down no problems -- didn't expect any. Morlu Incinerator packs annoying -- more for my survivability than my pets though. Just a chaotic fight ( especially with when the first pack was Illusionist and the second was Horde
EDIT 5: Diablo was fine phase 1. Phase 2/3 sketchy because of the fire pools. Pets just wouldn't live through them and you have to run quite a distance before they pull out of them. Also WD Shadow Clone dots killed them as well at least once. Definitely not faceroll -- had to kite buy time resummon, etc but still one shot.
Going back to Act III now as it's more profitable place to be -- just wanted to see if the spec and gear would stand-up to all of Act IV or not -- confirmed. If I can find time, may put out a quick vid of the setup -- definitely going to be a good solid setup for 1.0.4 unless they back off or adjust the changes.
D3Progress: http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/emberos-1608/Emberos/51824579
Profile link is in my signature. Using Burning Dogs and Humongoid Gargantuan. Based on pre-patch calculations, I had a good hunch that a very high health pool with Blood Ritual/Fierce Loyalty plus regen on gear would make dogs very survivable so I had acquired alot of high INT/VIT, %Life, All Resist, Regen gear. The competition for it wasn't that high pre-patch though I suspect it will be soon.
Although it looked very good on paper, I honestly didn't expect it to work as well as it is. I wasn't sure how well the pets would keep the elite pack's focus. They are doing a great job. I've swapped in more damage oriented gear since my initial post but also raised health another 10k to 94k now. I took out almost all my life on hit gear in favor of more dps and just generally am aiming for more damage now. Survivability is extremely high and my damage is rising with each piece I'm adding in. At this point with a 5 stack Soul Harvest I'm around 31k damage now so packs are starting to drop fairly quickly.
I had thought to use Templar for more passive regen but honestly don't need it so I'm just using Enchantress for Armor buff plus attack speed and the fact that I have her geared for about 6k damage as well. We both just sit back and plunk away from range while the pets hold things away in melee.
D3Progress: http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/emberos-1608/Emberos/51824579
Passives are Blood Ritual (840 Regen right there) and Fierce Loyalty. Started with Jungle Fortitude as third but don't seem to need it so moved it to Pierce the Veil for the extra damage.
EDIT: found something that can kill them -- Fallen Maniacs
On a less comical note, Electrified also seems to be able to kill them but slooowly - so resummon and go. Also, Great Horned Goliath charge -- pretty much one shots all three dogs -- but this is clearly bugged and is ignoring max hit cap.
D3Progress: http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/emberos-1608/Emberos/51824579