Things have changed in May 2017 when DBG implemented a patch which turned two of our "special" Kunark pets into secondary pets, id est a lesser form of the Raging Servant (the gargoyle), a temporary, fast cast pet you can summon in addition to your regular pet. Rage of Zomm and Dyzil's Deafening Decoy (both Kunark spells) are now secondary pets, which DBG calls 'swarm pets', even if they have nothing to do with our Host of the Elements AA line.
The spell descriptions have been updated :
Rage of Zomm
Rage of Zomm was a useless spell back in the days because you couldn't use it in conjonction with your regular pet and because of its low hit points (500) despite a better dps than all other pets but epic. It was supposed to suicide when its target died but its low hp usually got it killed after a couple ripostes. On progression servers Adon used it once or twice in Kunark era in the hope it would not be affected by Mark of the Old Ways, but nada.
Since the May 2017 patch, Its mana cost has been upped to 725, its base casting time lowered to 3 seconds (2 seconds with Quick Damage AA and 23% spell haste focus once you are in Luclin+), lasts 18 seconds (as the RS gargoyle), hits for max 52 (the dps of the pet was lowered too), and has a cooldown timer of 18 seconds. They kept the same graphic of an earth elemental with glowing fists. And you can summon it while your regular pet is up. I have no verified parsed information regarding its hp pool, but it tanks fairly well and enrages.
Dyzil's Deafening Decoy
DDD was an okay pet to use when fighting several light blue mobs back in the days and you hadn't access to epic. It had the hp pool of the Kunark GV Earth pet (3kish), was lower level (low 40s instead of 48) and procced a small aoe (the 'bleeding ears' proc message) to taunt mobs. Its taunting skills were not overwhelming, the proc would not rid mobs of you if you already had some hate accumulated, but it did its job. Also it had a strong self damage shield, making it kind of a lab experiment gene-crossing a classic fire pet and a classic earth pet.
Since the May 2017 patch, it works the same way RoZ does but costs less mana (350), lasts longer (30 seconds) and has a 60 seconds cooldown. The spell description is wrong, it does not consume a peridot when cast, but a malachite as all other pets. Of course, like RoZ, you can summon it while your regular pet is up. While I haven't done extended parsing, it taunts decently and tanks well, which suggests they kept the same pet model with its 3k hit points (and its aoe + damage shield). I haven't recorded the max hit but its dps seemed a bit lower than RoZ in Luclin era, which makes sense as it imitates the original DDD model. It also enrages which is some dps combined with its DS if it gets to tank and the mob brings it under 10%.
Both spells are very handy now to offtank an unexpected add or to protect your regular pet on a multi mob pull, so your normal pet (or your group tank) takes less initial damage. If you solo/your pet MTs and three mobs are incoming, you can save your pet by sticking it on mob A, sending RoZ on mob B, and sending DDD on mob C. Yes you can have three pets up ! Same applies for a real puller coming back to group you can hold 3 mobs if you are fast enough allowing your local crowd control buddy to do his job. Unlike your regular pet, these swarm pets won't outtaunt on a broken mez or snap aggro from an aoe slowing bard, but they will grab aggro over a PC or another pet if the initial aggro isn't too high and they will hold a mob before it is slowed.
Adon is very happy with these changes, he uses these two spell very often, especially DDD. Whereas these pets are not meant for dps (though on enrage, especially DDD does some damage), they are a great addition to the mage's tool and offer a limited form of crowd control. They give a little taste of the future Gargoyle Revolution without the dps numbers of course.
I need to parse more (but it's complicated with short lasting pets and there are no training dummies yet on Ragefire) the offensive -dps- side of things as the MotM penalty on raidbosses is down to 10% in PoP and lifted in LDoN, which benefits the swarm pets. My mage buddy Voland, who has an obscene amount of mana, uses RoZ on boss fights, should ask him to parse
![Question :?:](./images/smilies/icon_question.gif)
Last but not least, your groupmates wil like you if you show you can do some ghetto mez with three pets. You look cool as a swarm pet mage
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
PS - I don't know whether RoZ and DDD are affected by pet foci ; RS on live is, and in a large amount regarding hps and dps. Needs further testing.