So ok, now I get Nightshade.  He has a 1 to 1 heal that is fairly quick and can be used in a pinch or for off healing in a group.  He uses the lowest shots of them all at only 2 per hit, which is an enormous savings in shot cost and carrying weight, not to mention less trips back to town.  He has like 300 patk less than the strongest pet, but that’s not really that big of a deal.  With a zone with herbs him not having VR isn’t much of a problem, and he has the highest mdef so he’s GREAT around mobs with magic attacks. He also has an AOE taunt which is super useful if you have to pop pet UD and pull ranged mobs in so you can hit them.

I basically only use him when grinding solo these days.  I call him Coupon Shadow because he’s so cheap to run.