Way back in Champions Online's beta, I looked on at the Sorcery pets with a little bit of disdain. They didn't do as much DPS as a pair of Munitions Bots, and many of them were tied up in annoying ritual circles that you had to constantly stand in. Being required to stand still isn't a huge problem in many MMOs, but Champions has a very fast-paced, mobility-intensive combat system. Melee heroes need to move quickly from enemy to enemy and often have to chase down runners. Ranged characters are best served by kiting during battle to elude melee foes. In this kind of fast-paced world, who has time for a pet that forces you to stick around?

Naturally, I ate my own words a month or two ago when I discovered the Primal ritual. Originally I chose the Primal ritual because his huge AoE Snow Storm was pretty darn good at thinning mobs and gathering aggro. I also really liked that he had a travel-disabling lunge. After my crazy PvP antics at the anniversary event, I also noticed a lot of other goofy things about him. I asked myself the question: Are the other rituals this good?

The answer is no, but for the most part, all of them are worth taking. Unlike most pets in CO, rituals are pretty strong. I'll be pretty sad if the devs change them too much.

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Behind the Mask: Ritual pets don't suck originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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