Pet Modding Advice

[Almagnus1]

So I'm looking at my Adarza Kavat mods (and really, for any of the biological companions), and I'm wondering if there's any way I can improve the mod setup.  This is:

• Link Armor
• Link Shields
• Link Health
• Maul
• Bit
• Cat's Eye (or whatever the useful pet precept is)
• Primed Animal Instinct
• Pack Leader
• Medi-Pet Kit
• Fetch

Of all these mods, Medi-Pet Kit, Fetch, and Primed Animal Instinct are what I consider to be basically mandatory mods.  While the Link mods are arguably in the same category, I'm open to switching between armor/health and shields/health if there's a compelling reason to.  I'm also looking for other ways I can optimize this loadout (assuming there are any).

So, thoughts/suggestions?

[Berzerkules]

I don't mod for damage on pets. I never noticed any difference when i did. I run Tek Enhance on my kavats for a little longer buff duration.

[(NSW)Quarky]

Sharpened claws is mandatory in my book, too, for everything but PT pretty much. I personally like having at least one synth set mod, too. Reload while holstered for essentially no cost is fantastic.

[UwUber]

I'd switch Maul and Bite for the Tek set of mods, pet AI is too dumb to ever be meaningful in a fight

[(PSN)crashteddy03]

I would say it is personal preference and somewhat depends on what stage of the game you are at. Once you reach the higher levels modding for damage is less effective. I recently stripped all the damage mods off my Smeeta and went with whatever provided the best support for my frame.

Like you said, Medi-Pet Kit, Fetch and Animal Instinct are pretty much mandatory. As @(NSW)Quarky said, Sharpened claws is brilliant as it completely strips armor from enemies (great at high levels). As@Berzerkules said, Tek Enhance would work well alongside Cat's Eye to increase the duration. It's worth looking at the other Tek mods too.

The Link mods really depend on what frame you are using. For example, if your frame has low armor, you might find that Metal Fiber provides a better bonus. I've never really bothered with shields unless I'm running Hildryn or occasionally Frost for hijack missions, but I do use Link Health (try it with Inaros for insane pet health!). For pet survival Pack Leader can be ok, but don't worry about putting too many levels in to it as even at mid levels one melee hit will likely fully heal your pet.

The rest is really up to you. Experiment and see what works.

Have fun!

[(PSN)Viveeeh]

You don't need both Pack Leader and Medi-Pet Kit. If you're with a frame who can get up close and personal with enemies, I'd say Pack Leader is better, because you can heal your pet whenever you want with that. The activation of Medi-Pet Kit is basically RNG, better not let RNG decide if your pet lives or dies! Equip Tek Enhance on the freed up mod slot.

I'm not sure about the damage mods. Pets have a ridiculously low kill count, so maybe they're not worth using. But I think that, in theory, if the pet attacks an enemy, and can't deal with them quickly, the enemy will attack back and kill the pet quickly from melee range. Never had the chance to actually observe how this works, but I have Bite and Maul in my builds, just in case.

Also don't forget that the order of mod placement is an important factor affecting your mods' activation frequency. The mod in the upper left corner has the highest priority, the one in the lower right has the lowest. So for example, if you prefer the buff from Cat's Eye over Reflect, don't place Reflect before Cat's Eye.

Edited May 14, 2020 by (PS4)Viveeeh

[(PSN)crashteddy03]

7 minutes ago, (PS4)Viveeeh said:

You don't need both Pack Leader and Medi-Pet Kit

Maybe. The two have different uses. Pack Leader is for healing your pet on your own terms using melee. Fantastic if you use a melee frame, less useful when using a frame like Mesa. The health regen on Medi-Pet Kit is next to useless, but the bleedout timer increase can be worth it. If your Kavat is like mine, it can often get sidetracked in a mission only to die over 400m away. Or in the middle of intense fight when you're trying to revive your teammates, having a few extra seconds to not have to worry about the pet can be helpful.

14 minutes ago, (PS4)Viveeeh said:

Also don't forget that the order of mod placement is an important factor affecting your mods' activation frequency.

I'd forgotten about this. Need to go check my mod placements...

[Captain_Rocket505]

16 hours ago, Berzerkules said:

I don't mod for damage on pets. I never noticed any difference when i did. I run Tek Enhance on my kavats for a little longer buff duration.

If Its a vasca or a Hemlith then I'd argue that damage is mandatory, since they can handle themselves much better. As for medi pet kit, it extends the bleedout timer so even if the pet goes down then they're fine for a bit. That's why I generally mod for that and pack leader, but a maxed pack leader isn't needed if you got insane damage on your melee