What skills/build are you guys using, and how is it working out?

[kazeandi]

...And I really fail to see how 'summoner' and 'support' are contradictory terms. Are you saying AH shouldn't be used for offtanking, aggro management, or include heals?

Lastly, head to head comparisons are usually bunk, as that's not what this game is supposed to be doing. Every skill is supposed to have advantages and disadvantages, and gear matters quite alot. So that's not really evidence. The aggro and damage outputs from running a similarly geared character are much better, though you do have to track power consumption.

First of all, Charm Rat is not Animal Handling, it's a preview without the skills for support of the pet.

Then for the role you mentioned: Of course pets could work as offtanks, if the mods for that would be better and they had skills for it (life leech, parry, absorbs like shield or staff, and better aggro generation/snap aggro mechanics) or damage (if their damage would be higher and they had abilities like armor penetration for, say, cats). You would then play AH with a support skill for normal grind or glass cannon style as DD, high risk for high reward. There is currently no reward tied to the risk.

Furthermore, you mention gear, but, as I showed above in my videos, naked Psychology level 42 outperforms optimized gear for Animal Handling level 63, and that's where you need to stop assuming and start actually playing a skill you post about on the forum.