I am for the first time with a artificer almost at 20 and I do like my dog. I was however wondering how dogs (and other pets like the wolf of the druid) scale in 20+ levels.
Do they stay worth having or are getting more a bother than anything else?
Those dogs are generally always a bother not only to yourself but to others. In the epics they will most likely die repeatedly in ee they will likely somehow kill you because of how worthless they are. Generally only use the dog to pull levers if there is no one else.
Now then, Artificer (and Druid) class pets gain two action points per epic level beyond 20 and they generally have about 1k HP or more if you have Augment Summons.
It is also best to have your pet a sneaky build instead of tank for those levels for avoidance unless you need your dog to get the aggro away from you or for flavor reasons.
The "Pets" (Artificer/Druid/PM) are all more useful than mere lever pullers, but it can take some skill and use of both the defensive and offensive abilities.
I found that it is important to also use the ability to guide their targets is also a good skill.
Just like yourself, gear and buffs makes a significant difference in their performance. Neglecting gear and buffs on your pet is no different than having a naked or under geared fighter in your group.
Think of your pet as an extension of your abilities and use this extension to give you a tactical advantage and you will find it to be very helpful.
Give him chaotic alignment (hunter of boxes).
I use my dog as a heal bot,I just call him and park him at the door,if there is down time I call him and he heals me while i stand next to him.
If Im solo I always drag him and let him do what he wants.
You can craft some nice gear from hand wraps also.
I wish they would take away the hp and sp penalty when the druid wolf dies and add some epic feats and enhancments for the wolf giving better DR, PRR, etc.
They may die alot... but who cares.
if you are in a party that actually cares about such things... most players charge into every room anyway.
They might mess up raids.
So use your game knowledge of a quest and decide if the dog might cause a problem or not.
Thanks for the replies. I am actually not worried about the tactical side but have to admit that it is indeed true when you should run blindly through a level they will be more of a bother in a lot of cases, but that is true below lvl20.
It is indeed like some stated that I am not sure that above 20 they are not worth having anymore. When I read that with druid past lives and feat aug summons.
So yes I would be inclined to say it only stands to reason to have their enhancement system to be capable to grow beyond 20 and/or some extra feat.
this seems to be extra true for those who concentrate on the Arcanotechnician dog enhancements.
Oh, and I wonder if the diamond augments of skill would improve the dog's bluff?