Guild Wars 2

We have a tool that can do significant damage at extreme ranges… should we use it or not? I have creativity… and a conscience, so some of what I have discovered makes me a bit concerned.

Attack Ranges:

• F1 sends your pet to a target ~2800 range from it, beyond this you get “Your pet is too far from that target.”
• By sending your pet towards a closer target then swapping to a far target, you can F1 targets range 4000 from you. You cannot target things past 4000.
• By sending your pet 1200 units ahead with Guard, you can F1 targets range 4000 from you even when there are no closer targets.

Leash Ranges:

• If you did not use F1, your fighting pet will return to you at a fairly short range.
• If your pet is on Guard but is not fighting, it will return to you at 3000 range.
• If you used F1, your pet will return to you when it or its target reaches 5000 range.

When is your pet’s range an exploit? Typically if your target can’t hit you, it might be a problem

1. If your pet chases an enemy a long time and finally kills it at extreme range?
2. If you run away from a fight, but your pet stays behind and wins at extreme range?
3. If you send your pet to attack something at range 4000?
4. If you send your pet to attack something at range 4000, then you back up outside of targettable range?
5. If you send an invisible pet to attack someone while you hide behind an obstacle so there is no way the enemy could possibly ever target you or even know where you were?
6. If you leave the pet outside a tower then go inside?
7. If you send the pet flying down from a tower wall to attack distant catapults while you yourself man siege?
8. If you send the pet flying up a tower wall to kill or revive a fallen mesmer?
9. If your pet destroys siege equipment while you are outside of siege range.
10. If your pet kills a mob while you are outside of the mob’s leash range?
11. If your pet solos a champion while you are outside of the champion’s leash range?
12. If your pet fights something while you are in an “invulnerable” area? (big red flag there)
13. If your amphibious pet chases an enemy into/out of water?
14. If you send your amphibious pet to attack aquatic foes from land or attack land foes from underwater?
15. If you send your amphibious pet underwater, activate an underwater skill such as Lash Tail Venom or Regeneration to help in a fight with a terrestrial foe?
16. If you use Guard to Jump the Trained Shark to attack siege up on a cliff on the other side of the moat?

I see people saying they are disappointed the ranger doesn’t do better damage at range, but at ranges past 1200 he does more than anyone else. His pet can solo some Champions at ranges that other classes can’t do anything. In WvW sieges, enemies have to defend against invisible jaguars attacking their catapults… is this the ranger’s niche role? Despite at least three threads asking for an official position on Guard, I haven’t been able to find one. The difference between a pet standing next to a wall doing nothing, and one hitting targets deeper than anyone else can is such a massive change that going from one to the other makes you feel cheezey overpowered… It made me feel… cheap. They removed something that allowed aquatic pets onto land, but amphibious pets retain the ability to cross the barrier… so is it ok to fight underwater from land?

How far can too far go?

EDIT: Feb 26 Patch changed Guard so it can’t be used to send pets to inaccessible places.

You must have had some fun spading this! How do you measure ranges at those distances? Did you encounter range limits for F2 skills, healing, Fortifying Bond, etc?

I get what you mean about feeling cheap. I always feel that way about using Guard. One use of one skill is all you need for a lower level “defend this location” type dynamic event? Then your job is to run around and loot corpses? Or dance? It’s not like helping the pet makes the event take less time or go better in any way. How can that not be cheesy?

New update clears one thing up: •Guard: Pets will no longer guard areas that should be inaccessible to them.

A dodge roll is 300 units according to the wiki. I checked this by walking up to a target golem and rolling back… 3 times puts you just outside axe range, 4 just outside longbow, 10 just barely outside Sick ’em’s 3000. I never noticed an effect not transferring based on range. People complain that they give us an axe as our first weapon, but 10s of weakness every 10s really helps to keep the pet alive, even more noticeable when the pet is fighting alone.

I dont think it’s cheap at all… because

1. our pet dies and has x amount of our damage
2. A.I. is not that intelligent
3. it’s apart of me so technically you were never that far out of range from the (combined me)

Updated OP with Guard changes after testing it outside a tower wall, and down from a wall. You can leave your pet outside while you are still outside, but you cannot send it up or down the wall. Jumping the Trained Shark no longer works.