Guild Wars 2

Hello all,

I am thinking of going all the way down the Beastmastery trait line maximising the potential of my pets. I am thinking of get one DPS and one either tank or support depending on the situation. Whereas as a ranger myself, I am leaning towards are more tanking or supportive play-style letting the pets being the main source of damage although I am still experimenting.

For pure DPS pets, I am not sure whether I should go with birds (particularly Hawk or Eagle with their longer bleed Lacerating Slash) or cats (Jungle Stalker with it Mighty Roar). Both cause vulnerability, which is good. It is said that cats as slightly tougher than birds but the data from wiki says they are the same. Also, I do not swap pets very often so I normally run with Master’s Bond. So which one seems better?

As to a tank pet, I am most likely running either drake or devourer since I am not really a bear person.

That is just a broad framework without taking into consideration of utilities or other traits in mind. But anyway any suggestions?

Many thanks!

Here, I will lay it all out for you

pve(non dps): Bear-Why because they get super health boost
pve(dps): Jungle stalker-For might OR Lynx for their(i think its two) bleeds that stack along with your bleed. THIS WILL PUT YOUR BLEED UP THERE BY ALOT

for pvp there are two choices
1: Jungle Stalker(when you are pvping with a group, basically for might)
2: Lynx(when you are roaming, just like pvp the lynx has two or three bleeds that also stack on top of your bleeds, VERY NICE DAMAGE

there ya go

After using Beastmastery for so long, i have come to the conclusion that there are other stronger trees.

If you want to spec a bit to beastmastery go only 4 points
(pet gains swiftness when you are down)
(pet swapping is faster)

Simply not worth to go deeper into Beastmastery because:

WvW – your pet is bypassed by enemies all the time

PvE – Your pet is insta-shotted by msot bosses whether you have gone 6 or 4 points.

Oh and the best pets are:
Blue Moa (aoe protection to your party=op, decent health, decent damage)
Reef Drake (above average hp, above average damage)
Jungle Stalker (aoe might= op, superb damage, mediocre health)

Some more choices (worse) are Bears (superb health, bad damage)

From my Fractals/Dungeon Runs experience:
Blue Moa should be in every ranger build (makes parties strong)
Jungle Stalker is maximum dps, but died easier at bosses
Reef Drake is one solid choice (or other drakes)

felines have the most dps but they are squishy

For WvW etc (wolf for aoe fear, spider for immobilize, bear for when not caring about pet)

Thanks you all!

I was actually thinking only get 4 points into Beastmastery. The reasonale being those grandmaster traits are not that good. But then where to spend the rest of the 10 points?

I have been playing around with Markmanship and Skrimishing taking advantages of vulnerability, precision and critical hit (or ferocity now). But how big a different are those traits contributing towards the overall damage of the pets? How much extra does a pet crit for (+50%)?

The only stats that are available for pets are power, precision, toughness and vitality – all others are zero. So apart from boons, what else can affect, say, condition, crit, etc of a pet?

Alternatively, I can go down Natural Magic and be a spirit ranger, with again the role of DPS delegated to the pet. But I have not much experience with the spirits. How are they?

Any suggestions?

1) pets are not affected by general traits or ranger armor – so pet bleeds over rangers bleeds are not that interesting, imho, + “But how big a different are those traits contributing towards the overall damage of the pets?” : Unless you select traits for the pet, none.
2) “Any suggestions?” for which game mode? I’d strongly advise you get a general build / trait attribution for different content. In WvW zergs and most open world boss, putting points in the pet it useless. Spirits are still an option in PvP, though the new condi cleanse trait is changing it; in open world PvE, any build would do, and pet/spirits is pretty fun… and so on…
Also, do you like to play melee (better DPS, more active)? prefer ranged (less DPS, more passive)?

Spotter’s precision and spirits buffs are benefitting the pet, if you are at ranged, so spirit/beastmaser might be good – in general open PvE, yes

Going 0/0/2/6/6 isn’t a bad idea tbh. Zephyrs with shared fury and Sic Em as Sword+Axe can be nasty.

Oh My God.8423:

Hello all,

I am thinking of going all the way down the Beastmastery trait line maximising the potential of my pets. I am thinking of get one DPS and one either tank or support depending on the situation. Whereas as a ranger myself, I am leaning towards are more tanking or supportive play-style letting the pets being the main source of damage although I am still experimenting.

For pure DPS pets, I am not sure whether I should go with birds (particularly Hawk or Eagle with their longer bleed Lacerating Slash) or cats (Jungle Stalker with it Mighty Roar). Both cause vulnerability, which is good. It is said that cats as slightly tougher than birds but the data from wiki says they are the same. Also, I do not swap pets very often so I normally run with Master’s Bond. So which one seems better?

As to a tank pet, I am most likely running either drake or devourer since I am not really a bear person.

That is just a broad framework without taking into consideration of utilities or other traits in mind. But anyway any suggestions?

Many thanks!

Been using this build lately.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJAVRn8ISLL2rCesARLGIRoYFAvD2jdmdnD9QUfwvUP-TZRBwARuEA22f4cZAAHBgHPAAA

Pet

1. Raven to mitigate some damage from blind can buy you time specially if you’re dealing with Thieves.

2. River Drake aka the Mesmer killer

Runes and Utilities

1. Earth Rune to extend your protection duration (stone spirit) extended from 4.75s to 8s and live longer than your opponent. With this build you need to kite for your pet to do damage.

2. Survival of fittest for condition clear, you can also use Wilderness Knowledge instead of putting 10 in Skirmishing for companions might.

Weapons

1. Shortbow self explanatory.
2. Greatsword you want to chain Hilt Bash for your Raven to give it extra 50% more damage. (Raven normal attack 3k-4k)