Pack Boost

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The Pack Boost is a unique status effects along with  Mate Boost, this effects appear as an icon above the affected creatures instead of the player's UI.

Description

The Pack Boost activates whenever 2 or more allied pack creatures from the same species stay nearby.

With every pack member after the first one the entire pack will receive +[Pack members -1] pack boost. For example, a pack of three  Compys will get +2 pack boost above them. This scales up to the pack limit of each species.

This effect increases their damage and damage resistance of the pack by specific amounts, this increase depends on the species and number of members in the pack.

Affected Creatures

The following creatures have the Pack Boost as ability with their respective data.

Species / Common Name Diet Temperament Rideable Breedable Damage Increase (Per Member) Damage Resistance (Per Member) Maximum Pack Boost1
 Armadoggo Omnivore Opportunistic No Yes 10% 5.5% 6
 Compy Carnivore Curious No Yes 30% 10% 8
 Direwolf Carnivore Aggressive Yes Yes 5% -3.5%2 4
 Electrophorus Carnivore Extremely Territorial No Yes 3% 1% 6
 Fenrir Carnivore None Yes No 5% 3.5% 4
 Hyaenodon Carnivore Opportunistic No Yes 10% 5.5% 6
 Kentrosaurus Herbivore Short-Tempered No Yes 5% 0%3 4
 Megalodon Carnivore Aggressive Yes Yes 28% 8.5% 8
 Microraptor Carnivore Aggressive No Yes 25% 10% 4
 Ravager Carnivore Aggressive Yes Yes 5% -3.5%2 4
 Troodon4 Carnivore Nocturnally Aggressive No Yes 33% 11% 4
 Xiphactinus Carnivore Aggressive Yes Yes 30% 10% 8
  • 1 This represents the maximum pack boost that the species can reach, any extra member after that maximum will also get the Pack Boost but it will not add more members to the boost. This number is the bonus that appears on the UI above the pack creatures.
  • 2 Both  Direwolf and  Ravager receives negative damage resistance, which means they receive more damage instead of less. However, in the Direwolf case their negative resistance turns into positive after the pack howls and they receive  Pack Mate buff.
  • 3 The  Kentrosaurus is the only pack creature that does not reduce the received damage when it is on pack. Also it seems that the Pack Boost does not increase the reflected damage of the Kentro.
  • 4 The  Troodon only receives the Pack Boost during the night.

Notes

  • This effect does not activate if for example the player has a tamed  Compy and a wild one appears nearby, both Compys can only be boosted by allies of the same species.
  • In general the  Troodon has the best Pack Boost in terms of increase gained per member, but in terms of the total increase after the Pack Boost reach its maximum pack members number the  Compy and  Xiphactinus are the best, followed by the  Megalodon.
  • Commonly, the better base stats a species has with access to the Pack Boost, the less its stats scale with it.
    • Even though the  Megalodon and  Xiphactinus are decent stat-wise creatures, for some reason they have some of the best Pack Boost variants, being comparable with that of the  Compy. This extremely number advantage in combination with the  Bleed debuff that both aplies makes them an incredible fighters in groups, being even unfair in most of the cases.
    • On the other hand, the  Electrophorus pack boost is very weak due to its low base health and damage, it can shock its target and reduce its damage in the process though, but it is not enough to make it viable to use.
  • The wild  Compy behavior is curious if its alone, it will just follow and watch its prey and it will not attack unless it is attacked first or if at least one more Compy came. This behavior is possibly attached to the Pack Boost mechanic, where the Compy dont attack first unless the Pack Boost atcivate with at least one more member.
  • The  Ravager seems to share the same effect variation of Pack Boost with the  Direwolf. Curiously, this seems to have been the case since the release of Aberration, but then the Direwolf receive its TLC, which changes a little how its Pack Boost works, but the Ravager's variation was never separated from it, and this affects negatively to the creature because having no way to "howl" its resistance always remains negative.
  • The reason why the  Kentrosaurus will not have damage resistance bonus from its pack boost could be because of gameplay purposes, because the damage reflection is stronger with as few damage resistance buffs as possible.
  • For some reason the  Xiphactinus Pack Boost only activates when the pack is really close to each other, also the Xiphactinus is very quick, so its normal that they move a lot during a battle. This make the buff not very consistent during battles.
  • Even though there are more creatures in the game whose nature is to hunt in packs like  Terror Bird,  Allosaurus or  Raptor they will probably not received its own pack boost yet in order to have a balanced gameplay.