So...I am wandering around in the Lost Grove and want to change one of my pets to a tank but am unsure what element to use.

I already have a Air Pet for the attacking and my healer doubles as both the healer and support so for my tank it is either Shadow or Earth.

Earth seems nice but Shadow appears to do more for the pet as it attacks.

My Air and Water pet seem to do well and I had a Shadow tank but its level was 65 and it would take far too long to get it up to 70 (after I spend thousands to get a slew of Ex Orbs just to bring it closer to the others.) and it got pummeled too much and the restorative ability didn't seem to do much

The pet I want to change element on is this one:

https://www.sylestia.com/view/pets/?petid=4751872 (Sorry, trying to figure out how to make a clickable image)


Since, without any enhancements, it is a high stat pet it works out to my favor.
I read through other posts but I still am not certain what would be better.
Some insight would be helpful. Thank You

clickable image is the IMG= button. the link url goes in the [] after the = and the image url goes in-between the ] ['s

I personally run earth tank and cannot get a handle on shadow tank (you have to?? actively use the Block move? It can't just??? Protect itself like earth or water tanks do? It cannot block special moves or crits or absorb damage dealt to it?)
Earth tank has minor self healing with leeching vines, but mostly it's all about hunkering down, keeping all attention away from its teammates, and letting the enemy fling themself face-first into thorncoat while its healer covers the difference when needed.
Earth is also pretty much the tank element for fighting Vexxar, since said thorncoat blocking crits means Vex can't keep rhythmic swordplay building up.

However, I know despite my own favoring of earth and the way shadow completely nonpluses me, it's basically the opposite for many people
Additionally, earth isn't generally an element where a different pet can be subbed as slot1 tank save specific circumstances (like the golems who always aim for slot 1) since, you know. Taunt. (though water can probably still run as Buffer with one, I've just never really tried it since I run light healers on my teams)

You'll need someone else to expound on the virtues of shadow element however

This is why I am torn between the two.
Earth gives good protection from special attacks while Shadow does well for restorative issues.

In my case I have an Air as my battler and my Water serves as both battle and Support; with its Ice barrier and Ice Sphere I am unsure that Shadow would be needed.

One more question is if your rank ascension is attained solely through battles in Lost Grove or in any battles once you reach level 70?

Either way I am beginning to think that Earth would be a better choice given what my part has already.

Thanks for your reply, it was helpful.

Edit:

So I did a comparison and swapped my one pet, Jade Tempest who is an Earth Tank at level 70 for my other pet Twentyone who is a Shadow Tank at level 65 and it seems like the Shadow fares better simply because the Vampiric Strike heals as it attacks so this means I may have to waste more gold to switch Jade Tempest to a Shadow and reassign points.

I thought the Earth element was the proverbial Cat's Meow but now I am not so certain

Attack rank exp is gained only in the lost grove and the Maws of Madness. Previous areas aren't set up to do rank exp calculations


As said, Earth isn't so much about healing itself, that's what its support is for- and since I don't run water buffer, I'm not sure how well Ice Barrier/ice sphere cover that.

I'd 100% vouch for earth being an excellent element (at the least in earth/light/air setup, where you definitely get more healing done than with water, since light just heals with literally every attack it has. My team has beaten every challenge so far except Vex, and I believe we've currently one of the closest to beating him aside from Angelz's actual victory vs him)
However, as mentioned, what works for one person isn't the same as what works for another, and maybe shadow just works better for your style


I personally ran my earth tank as 2str/3agi at lv70 before we hit 75 and went 1hp/2str/3agi (although have recently swapped away to try 2/1/3, and then who knows; since her phys mit is over cap anyway now and the main thing we have left to fight is vexxar and she's absolutely not in that fight to do damage) but that was pretty unusual earth stat setup, though it worked for me.

Light is a great choice too but I need to find a way to maximize its ability to heal and fight too.

What I like about my set-up of Air, Shadow and Water is that my water can use Ice Orb to shield everyone and each can benefit from restoration. I may have to experiment but so far my current set up has made short work of some of the monsters in the caves (I haven't gotten far...)

It just seems like the Light pet isn't doing much so I need to figure out how to maximize as best I can its attributes.

I mean, I've never had any issue with my light pets 'not doing much'? They don't put out as much damage as an attacker, but they heal the party with every hit and can save you in a pinch with divine balance, and most people run them set up like an attacker for maximum damage output on beam and fairy light

Well..here is the thing..my Shadow tank doesn't do much so the bulk of the damage is done by my Air and Water so I will have to experiment.

Edited:

So I swapped out my Water and put in a Light pet which meant I had to switch around some gear and while it worked out ok I still miss being about to use Ice Sphere to protect my pets from certain attacks while still healing them.

Also my Water pet was pretty strong too so sacrificing more attack for healing...I dunno..

You haven't mentioned what rank your skills are for each of the pets you've tried. Ranks make a huge difference. My light was kind of meh until I got the skills to rank 3. At rank 5 he's a healing machine.

I switched from shadow tank to water tank once I hit LG, but unfortunately there are a few bosses that require taunt so I have an earth tank to try out eventually. I'm procrastinating on it because my past experiences with earth tanks weren't so good. I'm hoping it'll go better with a fully ranked light.

So far I've managed everything with water/air/light, but I haven't done bird boy in the temple yet. Stuck working on gear at the moment.

Ok..Jade Tempest is not even at Rank 2 for Shadow

Un-Named is on its way to Rank 4 for Air

Butternut Squash is on its way to Rank 3 for Water

I guess i could try to train up one of my other pets for Earth but it takes so long and I haven't even built anything in my barracks because it takes so much resources and I am unsure what to build first but I will see what I can do to train a pet or buy one that is high stat.

I do have a Light but again it just seems to take SO long just to build it up a percent or two.

Yep, ranking sucks. It gets a little bit easier once you get to the temple. It's designed to be a very slow process. You'll be needing to grind for the barracks and then grind for armor. I still don't have my main teams last ability to rank 5, but I did change my team around the time I opened the caves up. Going from rank 3/4 to rank 0 made me want to cry, but it was worth it to me in the long run for the higher hp. And now seeing I might need lightbringer armor instead of the pyro for my light...not sure those rikkis are worth it. Lol

I know that isn't much help. I do know that I have yet to hear anyone being unable to take a boss out with earth/air/light, so it's definitely a setup that will work once those ranks are up. That said, I will still run with my water tank if at all possible. :-P