Guild Wars 2

“Beastmastery” without the Beastmastery

Since pets are supposedly taking a massive nerf, this is the best I could come up with to “artificially” buff them via boon applications while not having to waste a bunch of points in the watered-down BM traitline. This relies on spamming “Guard”, which will apply invisibility, 13s protection, as well as perma regen/swiftness if the patch works as it’s supposedly going to. If you decide not to use guard, then the pet is just less tanky in the calculations.

So how do boons stack compared to beastmaster perks? Take Sebrent’s thread (I miss that guy) as a good basis for the beastmastery math: http://www.ehmry.com/topic/2170-ranger-beastmastery-math/

With x/x/x/10/30:

• +14.1% dmg (6 × 2.35%)
• +14.28% crit chance (6 × 2.38%)
• +3000 hp (300 vitality)
• +14.1% dmg mitigation (6 × 2.35%)

With x/x/x/30/10:

• +9.9% dmg ((1.05 × 2 × 2.35%) + 5%) —> 5% bonus via trait
• +4.76% crit chance (2 × 2.38%)
• +1000 hp (100 vitality)
• +39.3% dmg mitigation ((1.33 × 2 × 2.38%) + 33%) —> 33% bonus via protection

NOTE THE 1.05 and 1.33 multipliers for the x/x/x/30/10 setup since the trait and boon bonuses apply after the BM stats.

Looking at damage on average specifically, we can use the added crit chance as a multiplier as well. Crit chance multipliers are italicized:

With x/x/x/10/30:

• +16.1% dmg (1.1428 x 6 × 2.35%)

With x/x/x/30/10:

• +10.2% dmg ((1.05 x 1.0476 x 2 × 2.35%) + 5%)

Ratio:

• 1+0.161 : 1+0.102 —> 1.161 : 1.102 --> 1 : 0.949

Overall, your pet is much tankier, is almost always stealthed, the damage it does is only about 5.1% less on average, and the health pool is mostly the same (only 2000 hp difference). I feel this is a very fair trade.

Lastly, a note on pet nerfs. Aside from canines, autoattacks are being left alone. Canines will suffer since their autoattack is getting hit by 27%. Felines, however, are only having their 3rd skill “Maul” nerfed. That’s one out of four attacks. For the most part, they will be hitting the same, and Jaguar is only getting a small invisibility crit chance nerf.

It’s not the end of the world, you guys. Pets are still very viable, even canines despite the reduced autoattack.

Shouldn’t the HP boost via vitality in your calculation be switched?

No, the vitality is for the pet, not me.

Nice build faux…any plans to flesh this out on a build editor site?

I recently started using more in NM again in preparation for tomorrow’s patch and noticed a nice boost in pet performance. Granted, this is with 0 in BM. I run power/crit builds mostly in WvWvW and prefer zerg fights so I never run any of those builds with BM points (complete waste). Tables turn somewhat in smaller fights but stealth classes and excellent mobile classes that are well played really make pets feel pretty insignificant sometimes. That said, I am interested in seeing how I can do once I start using guard. Double Invisi-wolf knockdowns (well at least before the KD attack) sound like fun. Time to give thiefs and mesmers at least a super small taste of their own medicine.

I actually have the full build made already. Editors aren’t up to date with something that doesn’t even exist yet (and might not even). This is a copy/paste from the post I plan.

When the update comes out, I’ll post what I’ve got if things stay true to the leaked info.

PS: 10 points in BM lets you stack perma regen and swiftness for your group with the reduced shout duration trait if the notes are right. Not bad for zerg fights imo.

Well I guess I was really interested in seeing your armor/trinket/weapon/food choices etc.

I am stacking boon duration runes instead of the more common dwayna runes since it helps all boons instead of just regen and I need more offensive boon duration as a power crit user.

I was wondering if you were doing the same.

Nope, sticking with Dwayna and Forge primarily. Boon duration is only helpful really if you have reliable ways to stack boons, and I don’t like having to stand still in order to stack regen (which is way more important to me than the other boons).

Just a personal preference really. Fits best with my playstyle.

This spec would be pretty darn tanky since you can go full Forge runes, natures protection, protection on dodge from WS and still have perma regen, not bad at all.

I like forge runes alot. I combo’d that with a GS and SoS and survived some crazy kitten stuff. Still use them in many of my builds.

Well I have 70% boon duration along with Nature’s Bounty I’ll have 103% regen duration.

Using guard (No Shout Mastery), I’ll have 20s of regen every 15s and 17s of swiftness which i can cast while running. Allows me to drop Signet of the Hunt.

How would you mod your build for sPvP?

Manekk.6981:

This spec would be pretty darn tanky since you can go full Forge runes, natures protection, protection on dodge from WS and still have perma regen, not bad at all.

That’s a good point and shows how much Shout Mastery helps with this build. I don’t have that option with my build (if I want to hit my breakpoints). If they ever change how stat allocation favors condi builds then that would change!

Pretty sure the pet loses stealth as soon as it hits once, but still perma regen and swiftness is good if they keep the duration the same. Will allow you to dump 25% movement signet. That gives you some nice options. You could get spirits for near 100% protection and fire which is good for 1 on 1 battles or battles near objectives where you can hide them. You could do traps for another fire combo and bleeds. While the traps aren’t double duration, they can still be effective. Not very good with a power build unless you give up empathic bond. Guess it can work if you take spring.

Faux Sheaux.6179:

PS: 10 points in BM lets you stack perma regen and swiftness for your group with the reduced shout duration trait if the notes are right. Not bad for zerg fights imo.

That would be Too Good To Be True and actually make Rangers comparable to other classes in terms of support, , I’ll bet there will be a long global cool down for this, otherwise everyone will run it.

If the notes are correct though, the radius for the shouts is only 360 units, or basically only those standing right next to you, making that only viable in a pure melee build. So forget about buffing the party unless you stack on the same spot.

Hell, with pet moving behind the target, that would put it out of range from time to time…

I run with zerg busting groups so we’re all tightly stacked anyways. Still, to each their own.

Debating whether to say “screw it” and just post the build despite the updates not actually being out.

Faux Sheaux.6179:

I run with zerg busting groups so we’re all tightly stacked anyways. Still, to each their own.

Debating whether to say “screw it” and just post the build despite the updates not actually being out.

I don’t see why you can’t. Just use a placeholder for Nature’s Call and call it good.

its funny this is being mentioned. because with that new condition coming out ive been looking for a more reliable way to dump conditions immediately rather then every 10. So ill be dropping the run speed signet in exchange for the condition one. then dropping the condi removal trait in lieu of 20% sword recharge.

exciting times ahead of us…adapt or die.

Faux Sheaux.6179:

I run with zerg busting groups so we’re all tightly stacked anyways. Still, to each their own.

Debating whether to say “screw it” and just post the build despite the updates not actually being out.

360 radius is really, really small though. It’s basically “can I hit you with my GS from this position”. If not, then no shouts for you.

Personally, I find it a very weak Trait for being a GM trait. You NEED this Trait to have your shouts do anything other than buff your Pet (in other words, be useful). And in return you get Swiftness and Regen, arguably the weakest and most redundant Boons in the game, on a range shorter than any other Shout.

Compared to the Guardian’s GM Shout Trait that converts conditions on allies into boons, while the shouts themselves provide boons and have a larger range, there’s no point in running a Shouting Ranger over a Shouting Guardian, especially given the other support Guardians can bring.

hyjaxxx.1584:

its funny this is being mentioned. because with that new condition coming out ive been looking for a more reliable way to dump conditions immediately rather then every 10. So ill be dropping the run speed signet in exchange for the condition one. then dropping the condi removal trait in lieu of 20% sword recharge.

exciting times ahead of us…adapt or die.

Yeah, don’t remind me about this new condition! Gonna be interesting to see how it plays out. It seems to really fit into the thief power mold since they can already run you down very well. Not sure how I feel about that.

I dropped Empathic Bond which my pet loves but I am concerned for my sake. So far my pets feels super solid in smaller battles where even the smaller amount of conditions would demolish my pets. It’s amazing the difference, it really is.

So far my mega zerg tests came out decent. Running healing power feels weird since I am not used to running that stat on my power/crit builds. Still adjusting to using Healing Spring proactively to help with conditions instead of waiting longer since I never had issues with conditions before with EB and food.

Regardless, this still makes a viable roaming build. And 360 is still a decent radius. Not sure where all the hate over that is coming from lol.

Also, I was only trying to show how you can replace the old “beastmaster” mindset. This is a proposition, not a guide :P

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Regardless, this still makes a viable roaming build. And 360 is still a decent radius. Not sure where all the hate over that is coming from lol.

Also, I was only trying to show how you can replace the old “beastmaster” mindset. This is a proposition, not a guide :P

Hey FS, we aint paying you the big cash to supply propositions. Finish that guide up…pronto.

SirJack.4760:

Faux Sheaux.6179:

I run with zerg busting groups so we’re all tightly stacked anyways. Still, to each their own.

Debating whether to say “screw it” and just post the build despite the updates not actually being out.

360 radius is really, really small though. It’s basically “can I hit you with my GS from this position”. If not, then no shouts for you.

Personally, I find it a very weak Trait for being a GM trait. You NEED this Trait to have your shouts do anything other than buff your Pet (in other words, be useful). And in return you get Swiftness and Regen, arguably the weakest and most redundant Boons in the game, on a range shorter than any other Shout.

Compared to the Guardian’s GM Shout Trait that converts conditions on allies into boons, while the shouts themselves provide boons and have a larger range, there’s no point in running a Shouting Ranger over a Shouting Guardian, especially given the other support Guardians can bring.

The cost does indeed seem steep but this is still better than then what we had before. Hard to say for sure what the effects will be of this but I plan to test this the hell out of this in large organized zergs.

I already see a benefits over what I have now, my pre-patch build requires me to use my RaO whenever its up to maintain perma swiftness. I have to do this since I dropped Signet of the Hunt to slot in guard. After the patch I won’t need to use it once its up, I can save it for when that mega hammer train rotates my way (in case im too close and need stability to survive the “Hello” CC before the train hits me).

Forzani.2584:

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Regardless, this still makes a viable roaming build. And 360 is still a decent radius. Not sure where all the hate over that is coming from lol.

Also, I was only trying to show how you can replace the old “beastmaster” mindset. This is a proposition, not a guide :P

Hey FS, we aint paying you the big cash to supply propositions. Finish that guide up…pronto.

It’s up. No promises though. It might not even be legit after next update lol.

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Regardless, this still makes a viable roaming build. And 360 is still a decent radius. Not sure where all the hate over that is coming from lol.

Also, I was only trying to show how you can replace the old “beastmaster” mindset. This is a proposition, not a guide :P

When they say 360 AoE, does it mean radius or diameter? This would really change things up if it were radius.

Dodge roll distance is 300, so if it’s radius, anyone a little over a dodge roll would get buffed.

If you have 15 in ws and 15 in nature magic your pets gets like 4-5 seconds of protection when you dodge.

Nugget.8031:

If you have 15 in ws and 15 in nature magic your pets gets like 4-5 seconds of protection when you dodge.

I really don’t see any point in trait that buffs the pet apart from damage though..Maybe it’s just me but when I play torny my pets rarely ever dies and I can always switch (and get buffed) when one does.

showatt.9413:

Nugget.8031:

If you have 15 in ws and 15 in nature magic your pets gets like 4-5 seconds of protection when you dodge.

I really don’t see any point in trait that buffs the pet apart from damage though..Maybe it’s just me but when I play torny my pets rarely ever dies and I can always switch (and get buffed) when one does.

Fortifying bond works for all boons so it will increase your pets damage. It synergises well with skills that give you and your pets a boon, because the pet will get the boon from the skill and then again from fortifying bond.

If you use rampage as one your pet will get might every time you hit and an extra 10 seconds of might for every might stack it gives you.

Fortifying Boon does not give your boon to the pet. It gives the pet a FRACTION of the boon, so it’s actually not 5 seconds of protection. It’s 4. For fury it’s even less. Might is the only real significant gain.

its not 4.
At least +15% boon duration.

Wild.3847:

its not 4.
At least +15% boon duration.

Check the wiki. Your boon duration bonuses do not transfer to the pet.

Zenith.7301:

Wild.3847:

its not 4.
At least +15% boon duration.

Check the wiki. Your boon duration bonuses do not transfer to the pet.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fortifying_Bond

Says it is affected by boon duration.

When I tested it a while ago I was definitely getting over 4 seconds but not quite 5 which is why I just said 4-5 seconds duration.

It would be pretty op of they didn’t have a set duration, because pets would essentially get double the effect from any aoe boons. At least might works well with the 10 seconds duration.

Your boon duration isn’t transferred to pet skills. Boons applied by you that your pets get still get your boon duration bonuses.

Traiting for protection on dodge rolls for pets isn’t necessary since protection is 100% uptime already.