Pankration Command Strategy Updated!

[Thistle]

My Puk's level 37 now and for the past 4 fights I've been spamming "Don't think, kill!" almost exclusively. It hasn't budged from "wild+agg." while doing so. The "Don't think, kill!" is the wildest command on the tame>wild spectrum is it not?

'Don't think, kill!' is what I use to move away from tame, yeah.

Four fights isn't a lot though, toss on a few more and maybe you'll see it shift? Seems like it takes ~six for mine to move.

[Asdra]

I've updated the list after personal experimentation and what people have stated inside this thread.

[Amok]

For the people who read my previous post. It took one more fight of using "Don't think, kill" and "Show no mercy" to move my puk into the "very wild and very agressive" sector. Both changed at the same time, mind you.

My puk is level 40 now and it lost a very close fight to a lv40 tame+defensive hound that had ensleep and used lots of drain. If I had left my puk on tame+aggressive it wouldn't have had such trouble against a spellcaster, which really makes me regret my decision. Also, crosswind doesn't do more than a regular hit but does take longer to do. No, I'm not very satisfied.

[Halion]

Give em a little more bite' and Don't think kill' triggers bubble shower on a defensive crab. Using Less thinking more striking seems to use bubble curtain more. Big scissors must be linked to aggressive, I may play with it some but I doubt it's better than scissor guard. Metallic body blocks less than 100 damage at 44 and can trigger sneak attack, so imo it's not very good. Scissor guard seems to give better than 50% physical damage resistance.
I have gone from extremely tame to very wild and not noticed a difference at all in behavior except perhaps using TP moves less often, but it also may be perceived or coincidence, it's hard to say. If you have weak TP moves on a very good pet this might actually help you trigger sneak attack less often. For reference I'm using a MNK/WAR crab. I haven't been leveling that fast really, but in 12 levels I have yet to see a counter and yes I do have traits>< I wonder if it's a bug honestly.
The next thing I am testing is whether Watch your opponent then attack works the same way as Back off a bit if your pet does not have a sleep/stun move.

[Thistle]

For reference I'm using a MNK/WAR crab. I haven't been leveling that fast really, but in 12 levels I have yet to see a counter and yes I do have traits>< I wonder if it's a bug honestly.

I'm wondering how many bugs are in the Pit. My latest mob came with auto-regain. From 5-30, this seriously rocked -- he WSed four times more than anything he battled (and opo-opos have great WSs, so he was kicking ass). Once he hit 31, with no other changes, he stopped WSing. Auto-regain capped somewhere in the 20s. I had his temperment set in the teens and never touched it again. For no reason I could see, he just stopped WSing. Maybe, if we got lucky, he'd WS once in a fight (5-30 he was WSing every third round).

That's got to be a bug...

[Asdra]

Once thing I'd love to get, is a listing of what each command for each mob causes in terms of tp usage. Theres some mobs that have really hard to find TP attacks, like Wild Carrot on Rabbits, or Radiant Breath on Wyverns. It would be awesome to pin down what actually can trigger them, to make for alot more interesting matchs

Also, what each command does for spellcasters. I've seen spellcasters than spam drain, that sleep/nuke, that do nothing but -ga over and over and over with no other spells. I'm going to level a mage type mob next, but any input from people who have done it would be helpful

[Priran]

My Wyvern used Radiant Breath with I think Guard! Parry! etc or whatever. It was definitely defensive.

I think people with DRKs have said that defensive commands make them spam Drain?


To be honest, though, it's probably not possible to single out a WS unless your mob only has like 1 offensive and 1 defensive. I've had my wyvern use all 3 of its offensive WS for the same command.

[Thistle]

I think people with DRKs have said that defensive commands make them spam Drain?

/

My DRK spammed drain when I had him as most defensive... but only for a period of levels. (Like 30-39, I think?) Drain was grouped with Aspir and Stun. Every 10 levels his spells seemed to change. (Yay the period of time he was doing nothing but absorbs... go go go absorb-INT! MND! CHR!)

[Amok]

What temperament was your Wyvern when he did Radiant Breath while you commanded "Guard block parry"? Because, if your pet is agressive enough it won't even react to a defensive command.

As for mage type mobs, I believe it's really random. I fought the same mob twice in a row, where I was on the command platform and the other guy wasn't, so his mob wasn't getting any commands. The one fight, it spammed drain, the next fight it opened with aeroga. Also, it turns out my puk has really high resistance to wind spells without any Feral Skills. So, I'm guessing it's not just the HP and attack speed that bridge over into the pit. I was kinda hoping it would recover HP from it just like real puks

[Halion]

I'm somewhat tame now and still don't notice a difference, that whole side of commands is nearly useless for monk crabs from what I can tell, neither forces only metallic body over only bubble curtain, with think and think again and watch then attack you can usually force metallic body, and with the other two bubble curtain, but it's not guaranteed like scissor guard is for guard block etc.
This is really making me struggle with his final set up. He has a good HP rating, scissor guard is a helpful TP move but he has no power. If I change him to side attacking he will spam bubble shower with his auto regain and still get owned by others that side attack, and then he will also lose his defense boost and struggle more against enemies that don't trigger side attacks. Most of the job classes seem to be balancing out towards 50, I did ok in the 30s but have gotten steadily worse compared to things like.. BRD Puk. If I rearranged my abilities I think I could make a great defense set, but if future content is like Diablo you need to win to win, you can't just draw. So yeah I'm going to call monk crab failed experiment #1.

[Priran]

What temperament was your Wyvern when he did Radiant Breath while you commanded "Guard block parry"? Because, if your pet is agressive enough it won't even react to a defensive command.

It's extremely aggressive, and defensive commands make it use WS like Wind Wall and Dread Shriek so I don't think that's quite right.

[rath]

What temperament was your Wyvern when he did Radiant Breath while you commanded "Guard block parry"? Because, if your pet is agressive enough it won't even react to a defensive command.

It's extremely aggressive, and defensive commands make it use WS like Wind Wall and Dread Shriek so I don't think that's quite right.

I agree my extremely wild and aggressive wyvern uses defensive TP moves when told to "guard block parry hold!", and my draugar uses blood saber or that blinding TP move.

Show no mercy moves you from tame to wild, as well as defensive to aggresive.

[Asdra]

What temperament was your Wyvern when he did Radiant Breath while you commanded "Guard block parry"? Because, if your pet is agressive enough it won't even react to a defensive command.

It's extremely aggressive, and defensive commands make it use WS like Wind Wall and Dread Shriek so I don't think that's quite right.

I agree my extremely wild and aggressive wyvern uses defensive TP moves when told to "guard block parry hold!", and my draugar uses blood saber or that blinding TP move.

Show no mercy moves you from tame to wild, as well as defensive to aggresive.

Nope. On my ant, I spammed more show no mercys than anything for awhile, and it became Very Tame, and Very Aggressive. I hit Don't Think, Kill! a few fights and it started moving gradually up to wild.

And spellcasters aren't random, because I'm watched very consistant spellcasters. The ones who do nothing but sleep and nuke immediately afterwards with no attack rounds, and the 1 mimic who just started with his highest -ga spell, and just rotated through them randomly, from waterga2, to firaga, thundaga, blizzaga, and on. I watched it for something like 60 fights before it lost, and it never cast a single spell but a -ga.

To be honest, though, it's probably not possible to single out a WS unless your mob only has like 1 offensive and 1 defensive. I've had my wyvern use all 3 of its offensive WS for the same command.

You probably can't 100% for wyverns, since they have like a billion tp moves, but for the mobs with less moves, like saplings, treants, crawlers, ants, rabbits, bee's, crabs, and any mob with less tp moves than commands, I'm willing to bet you can pretty close. Guard, Block, Parry, Evade is 99% whip tongue on a doom toad, show no mercy forces it to do that stupid -int attack almost every time. On ants, show no mercy is almost always mandibular bite, with a rare venom spray, show more bite and back off are always sandpit. On a crawler, show no mercy is always poison breath, show more bite and back off are always cocoon, guard/block/parry/evade is always sticky thread. For alot of mobs you can pinpoint it down with a high chance of success.

[Amok]

What temperament was your Wyvern when he did Radiant Breath while you commanded "Guard block parry"? Because, if your pet is agressive enough it won't even react to a defensive command.

It's extremely aggressive, and defensive commands make it use WS like Wind Wall and Dread Shriek so I don't think that's quite right.

Huh, did I misunderstand? Didn't you say it used Radiant Breath while you gave it a defensive command? You said it's ext. aggressive, which is exactly my point. If it's really aggressive telling it to "guard block parry" won'taffect its choice of tp move. It's the same with my puk. Saying "guard block parry" when it was on "somewhat aggressive" would make it use Obfuscate, but since it hit "Very Aggressive" that command no longer has an effect, instead it will still use Crosswind.

[Priran]

What temperament was your Wyvern when he did Radiant Breath while you commanded "Guard block parry"? Because, if your pet is agressive enough it won't even react to a defensive command.

It's extremely aggressive, and defensive commands make it use WS like Wind Wall and Dread Shriek so I don't think that's quite right.

Huh, did I misunderstand? Didn't you say it used Radiant Breath while you gave it a defensive command? You said it's ext. aggressive, which is exactly my point. If it's really aggressive telling it to "guard block parry" won'taffect its choice of tp move. It's the same with my puk. Saying "guard block parry" when it was on "somewhat aggressive" would make it use Obfuscate, but since it hit "Very Aggressive" that command no longer has an effect, instead it will still use Crosswind.

It's extremely aggressive. Left to its own devices, it will use Fang Rush or Tail Crush. With a defensive command, it usually uses Dread Shriek, rarely anything else. I've only seen Radiant Breath once, on a defensive command.

[rath]

What temperament was your Wyvern when he did Radiant Breath while you commanded "Guard block parry"? Because, if your pet is agressive enough it won't even react to a defensive command.

It's extremely aggressive, and defensive commands make it use WS like Wind Wall and Dread Shriek so I don't think that's quite right.

I agree my extremely wild and aggressive wyvern uses defensive TP moves when told to "guard block parry hold!", and my draugar uses blood saber or that blinding TP move.

Show no mercy moves you from tame to wild, as well as defensive to aggresive.

Nope. On my ant, I spammed more show no mercys than anything for awhile, and it became Very Tame, and Very Aggressive. I hit Don't Think, Kill! a few fights and it started moving gradually up to wild.

My Manticore moved from extremely tame and extremely aggressive to just tame and extremely aggressive using "show no mercy"

To be honest, though, it's probably not possible to single out a WS unless your mob only has like 1 offensive and 1 defensive. I've had my wyvern use all 3 of its offensive WS for the same command.

You probably can't 100% for wyverns, since they have like a billion tp moves

I have seen radiant breath when I switched from "give em a little more bite" to "show no mercy" while fighting my friends mimic on numerous occasions, I have not seen it any other time.

[Halion]

Kraken
Extremely Aggressive & Show No Mercy - Cross Attack
Very Aggressive & Give em a little more bite - Tentacle
Aggressive/Somewhat Aggressive & Watch your opponent then attack - Whirlwind
? Extremely/Very Defenesive ? & Guard black parry - Hard Membrane

Just to clarify for side attacking - do you *have* to be somewhat tame or can you be wild and use the command Give em a little more bite to trigger?

Edit: nvm answered my own question, apparently wild doesn't work.
Edit 2: Using give em a little more bite is definitely taking me from somewhat aggressive to aggressive.

[Khamsin]

I've been spamming "Think, then think again!" and "Guard! Block! Parry! Hold!" and "Back off a bit!" in an effort to change my monster from wild -> tame, and aggressive -> defensive, but it's not budging.

I've managed to go from extremely wild to somewhat wild, but I'm stuck at extremely aggressive. And I can't seem to get wild any closer to tame.

[Not Kuno]

Trying to get my bee to side attack and I'm not sure what to do after reading this thread due to alot of random info everywhere.

Currently I'm at Very wild/somewhat defensive. Do I need somewhat tame + somewhat defensive to do it?

[Priran]

I think it's somewhat tame, somewhat aggressive?