Guild Wars 2

TurtleDragon.3108:

It’s not the slow thats useful, but the 66% cooldown increase. Although, the slow is also helpful on ranged/kite fights.

Mobs don’t suffer from cooldowns :| And if some do, it’s still not effective since any cooldowns on mobs are low, resulting at times with some bosses doing the same special move twice in a row at times, couple the issue that a majority of mobs have only one (auto) attack.

Wondrouswall.7169:

TurtleDragon.3108:

It’s not the slow thats useful, but the 66% cooldown increase. Although, the slow is also helpful on ranged/kite fights.

Mobs don’t suffer from cooldowns :| And if some do, it’s still not effective since any cooldowns on mobs are low, resulting at times with some bosses doing the same special move twice in a row at times, couple the issue that a majority of mobs have only one (auto) attack.

Yeah they do, it depends on the mob. Ginva the Butcher is an example of one where chilling is actually helpful. His whirling defense has a 15s cd, you can delay it by 10 seconds with chilled.

I use the brown bear in pvp a lot actually.. the condition removal is rather nice, considering I have basically 0 condition removal other than signet. Also, the bear doesnt instantly die if I use protect me, like a lot of pets seem to. My build doesnt really need the pet to deal much damage either, so his lower dps doesnt bother me.

I run berserker longbow/greatsword with signet of stone, protect me, and signet of renewal.

In PvE, or with other pvp builds like BM builds, I do not use the bear 99% of the time.

Haven’t you guys heard? We all run bears because they are fat. /sarcasm

I do use a bear for the condi removal/aggro while I’m just in open world stuff or where I need it in WvW or whatever (and because I love bears, dangit.) The other slot I swap out depending what I’m doing, canine for wvw, bird for dps, moa for buffs, drake for aoe, spider for ranged. I’m never going to be the most min-maxed player or character and I’m not trying to be – I don’t speedrun dungeons or GvG or anything – so it doesn’t really matter.

Every mob in PvE that does not attack permanently has a CD on it’s “basic attack” wich gets increased by chilled. So yea, chilling enemies in PvE is extremly strong.

I still see little value in it dungeon-wise. Keeping it on Rangers, would I really want to give up a better dps Drake/Cat for one that does a chill, use a utility slot for Frost Trap, position Frost Spirit in harms way so it can proc with its activated ability, or even use Axe main-hand for Axe 3? Let alone give up sigils such as force, night, bloodlust, x-slaying for a chill one? My preference is still no on all of those. I don’t think delaying a move for a couple of seconds is worth the drop in dps from a Ranger’s perspective but to each their own on this one I guess. For the movement speed reduction, it’s something nice when needed – the cooldown reduction, not “extremely strong” by any means, especially when compared to other utilities considered strong such as Aegis and reflect.

Wait … so does that mean Axe mainhand isn’t meta? o.o (quite new to ranger). I’m allways playing Sword/Axe + Axe/Torch(solo) or Horn(team)

Sword/Horn is the standard, especially when you can blast in Healing Spring for an extra party heal (groups love it when they see this). 2nd set is usually dependent on situation and who’s in your party. Usually if a LH Ele is present Torch is nice for the 2nd to provide a fire field so they can constantly blast in. Before combat you can also use Torch for Bonfire then swap it out for Warhorn to blast in for stacking might when the party is lacking fire fields. Axe for burst if extra dodges from Dagger isn’t needed or if reflection/projectile blocks are low due to party comp. Dagger for when you do need the extra dodges to keep up Steady Focus trait.

Axe main hand isn’t looked upon so highly due to its low damage. It is useful though in TA up or forward for killing blossoms when your party doesn’t have a guardian with a staff or thief with a short bow!

Well the axe mainhand still hits harder than the SB if there are more than 1 enemy. Soloing I allways use it in combination with the torch, especially 2 + 5 burn pretty nicely.

I’ve been checking out my future traits and I beleve that the only way to play the ranger is a perma swapper, like the mesmer. There are so many good “on weapon swap” boons, I need that definitly. And the bows are no range option if i get low somehow, so I go for the axe + torch / horn. Axe seems pretty bad against one target tough.

Wondrouswall.7169:

I still see little value in it dungeon-wise. Keeping it on Rangers, would I really want to give up a better dps Drake/Cat for one that does a chill, use a utility slot for Frost Trap, position Frost Spirit in harms way so it can proc with its activated ability, or even use Axe main-hand for Axe 3? Let alone give up sigils such as force, night, bloodlust, x-slaying for a chill one? My preference is still no on all of those. I don’t think delaying a move for a couple of seconds is worth the drop in dps from a Ranger’s perspective but to each their own on this one I guess. For the movement speed reduction, it’s something nice when needed – the cooldown reduction, not “extremely strong” by any means, especially when compared to other utilities considered strong such as Aegis and reflect.

You act as if you have to do all of that when the reality is you just press F2 when you need it. The DPS increase from other drakes to river drake is negligible at best and the ice breath is the same as salamander and reef anyways. Utility is just as important as damage.

And yeah, I wouldn’t call chill “extremely strong” either.(I know it wasn’t you who said it). It’s a niche condition, mediocre to good in some situations, useless in others.

This is a really funny thread.

Chewable comes in and says, “Don’t use Brown Bear all the time.” Granted, he mostly says if you ever use Brown Bear you’re a bad player, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and stick with the subject. So it should be ok to use the Brown Bear sometimes, but swap it out with other things during combat.

Then everybody and their mother comes in and says, “How dare you, I sometimes use Brown Bear where appropriate but usually have it swapped out for something else.”

Basically, everyone that stopped by, presumably to flame this thread, agrees with the OP, that it’s ok to use the Brown Bear sparingly, but you should also use other pets where they’re appropriate.

Way to argue the same side AT each other.

Bear is great in WvW, the shake it off is nice plus he’s not there to do damage he there to take damage. Bear has one of the highest HP and toughness. Try using protect me when you aoe zergs and you won’t die your bear eats the DPS, my bear has like 30,000 hit points add that to yours and add in some regen and you can take a fair amount of damage. Other pets have lower hitpoints so serve no purpose on zergs.