Guild Wars 2

Cempa.5619:

Durzlla.6295:

Cempa.5619:

Geewoody.2017:

Super secret tip:

If you want to make a healing and/or tanking build, use the pig. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Do elaborate, we know about the weapons we get from it and the amazing 3sec KD but what does that have to do with healing?

The PIG gives 3 items, healing seed which gives ~2k hp + a smaller healing spring, eat egg which gives ~4k hp, and Rum which makes you immune to all damage for 3 seconds (this immunity unlike a lot of other immunitys makes you immune to condition damage AS WELL, where most others you will still take burning/bleeding/poison/confusion damage should the condition already be present.)

…and I thought all 3 ‘pig’ pets gave the same weapon! Thanks!

Nope, each pig gives 3 different weapons, the warthog has condition based items (2 of which are fields), the boar has hard CC (an aoe fear, a HUGE stun, and a long ranged multi second daze), and then the siamoth has 2 stealth items and an item that gives you all boons for 10s.

I used to use a combination of the pigs in WvW, but I found it too clumsy to be as effective as I need it to be.

Ths first issue I have with the pigs is that the item that they go find gets placed on the ground at their feet where ever they are when you tell them to forage. This means that sometimes you have to either remember right where they are when you tell them to forage, or go looking for your shiny new toy once they find it.

The second issue I have with it is that you can not simply strafe or run over it and pick it up, your character has to stop to pick it up, which can sometimes cause more harm than it’s worth. Also, there seems to be a bug in the game where if you are currently moving and try to pick it up, you will not stop to pick it up, but ionstead be locked into an auto run that is a pain to get out of.

The third and final reason that I stopped using the pigs is that even if you get past everything else I’ve said above, ANYONE can pick it up off of the ground, not just you. That sealed it for me, and I put the pigs away.

All of that makes me sad as the things they find are VERY handy in PvP. All of them. The condition damage effects, the CCs, the heals, and the stealth/boons are all wonderful. I just wish that the pig could “fetch” and bring it to me. As it is right now, it is rather clunky.

I tested ‘Pig’ weapons and the picking-up mechanic -like you described- is clunky and low responsiveness…It is a horrible gaming experience.

Even when I play melee and only use F2 after swap for quickness and know exactly the location of the item I need to MASH (F) to pick it up! Just horrible, horrible design.

Agreed. If that portion of it were fixed I would probably use a combination of 2 pigs as I really dig the stuff they find. It is all very useful in WvW.

Well not ANYONE can pick it up… Only ally’s, this actually makes it better though in more structured environments. In WvW I wouldn’t even think of bringing a pig, awful scenario to use it, a dungeon or s/tPvP as a bunker are both excellent places to use them!

Hey guys, I have a couple of questions.

First off, I created this build utilizing the Cleric’s Armor plus Sapphires. I also use a LB(purity for condition removal) and a greatsword. I’m using the same traits as the OP.

I usually run PVE, dungeons. My survivability is nice. My Healing is at about 1,000. I’m wondering how you guys are getting upwards of 1500-1700?

Also, my regen seems to be at about 140 pts without healing. I’ve heard others getting much higher regen – like 500 pts and 1,000 for pets. How is this possible, without healing?

Siphor

To get 500 regen you need to stack the regen boon, the healing signet, regen food (for example peach pies), and 6 dolyak runes.

That will give you around 500 regen with 1000+ healing.

Ok. So I’m using 0/0/20/20/30 traits, Natural Healing, Signet of the Wild, Peach Pie, and Cleric Armor. The only thing that I’m not using is the 6 dolyak runes. I’m getting about 140 regen for me and about 450 for my pet regen. What am I missing?

Also, your talking about passive regeneration, yes?

It breaks down something like

120ish for signet of the wild
60-80ish for the food (I forget the exact amount)
30 for the dolyak set
250-300 for regen boon

Thats with 1000+ healing

aeroh.8930:

It breaks down something like

120ish for signet of the wild
60-80ish for the food (I forget the exact amount)
30 for the dolyak set
250-300 for regen boon

Thats with 1000+ healing

What is this regen boon ?

Been playing with this build, pretty much an exact copy of the OP’s link, but having some problems understanding some of the synergies.

About runes, my idea of modification is not change to water, but go for centuar, then I will give all teammates 24/7 swiftness buff since in wvw mobility>all in my opinion.

I’m not seeing how centaur works with this build. What is triggering the swiftness buff? I decided to test this and I’m not getting any kind of “24/7 swiftness buff”.

To get 500 regen you need to stack the regen boon, the healing signet, regen food (for example peach pies), and 6 dolyak runes.

That will give you around 500 regen with 1000+ healing.

What regen boon? The fernhound’s F2 skill?

One more Q:
Ignoring the conditions and the pig sidetrack posts in the thread, have there been any tweaks to this build since this thread was active? I wasn’t a fan of the Flock runes, but can’t really find anything with a synergy that I liked. I tried the Centaur, but either I’m doing something wrong or the #6 Swiftness on heal skill just isn’t panning out as hoped.

Forzani.2584:

What is this regen boon ?

…. the buff that regenerates life… has “+” shapes on it. heal over time…

Sekkerhund.3790:

Been playing with this build, pretty much an exact copy of the OP’s link, but having some problems understanding some of the synergies.

I’m not seeing how centaur works with this build. What is triggering the swiftness buff? I decided to test this and I’m not getting any kind of “24/7 swiftness buff”.

What regen boon? The fernhound’s F2 skill?

One more Q:
Ignoring the conditions and the pig sidetrack posts in the thread, have there been any tweaks to this build since this thread was active? I wasn’t a fan of the Flock runes, but can’t really find anything with a synergy that I liked. I tried the Centaur, but either I’m doing something wrong or the #6 Swiftness on heal skill just isn’t panning out as hoped.

when you have 6/6 runes of the centaur, casting a heal gives 10sec of swiftness + whatever extra from boon duration. this guy also has warhorn, right, so warhorn swiftness+centuar = 10 (runes) + 4 (boon duration) + 15 (warhorn) + 6 (boon duration) = 35 seconds of swiftness. considering the heal and the warhorn have a cd of less than or equal to 35 seconds, that is permanent swiftness.

whatever source of regen boon you want. healing spring, pet, the minor trait in nature magic, reactive healing traits, runes of dwayna…

i really got to wonder though, is this kind of cheese build actually useful for wvw? sure its fun to win a 1v1 or 1v2 versus some guys who cant out damage your HoTs, but lets be real, this build probably isnt going to be killing anyone that decides to run away. people ignoring you because you do negligible damage and cant be killed isnt exactly a victory.

For the regen boon: Put a healing spring at your feet and you get regeneration every few sec. If you stay in it for the full duration with a 0/0/20/20/30 build and Water runes you have perma regeneration.
The regeneration from your fern hound is weaker if you have huge heal rating because his heal rating is taken into consideration and not yours.
So your regeneration (only from the boon) is around 300 at 1400 heal rating while fern hounds was like 130-140 if I remember it well.

But the game is kinda intelligent. The stronger regeneration is always used first. If your 300hps regen ran out the others come into effect.
That is also why a ranger with decent heal rating is a good team supporter. Most have 0-400 healrating which leads to around 130-180 regeneration while if you give them regen you augment the regeneration to around 300+ with decent heal rating.
And with the water field theres funny things to do. Like Greatsword leap (#3) or 1h-Sword leap (#2 + again #2) activate another splash heal or offhand axe #5 whirl can be used to apply regeneration to team mates.
Also the Rune of Water is decent in my opinion because it offers like 1390 heal twice in the duration of a healing spring at 1400 heal rating .

So if you go Greatsword or Sword you give the team a ~300 regeneration + 2×2000 heal (2xLeap in waterfield = 1300+0.5*1400 heal rating = 2000) and 2×1390 from Rune of water.
All that per 30 sec. So thats 6780 heal + 9000 from regen which is 15.780 heal per 30 sec instead of 4500 (30×150 regen with weak heal rating) from others weaker regeneration.
Most of that requires them to be close to you of course but if they do thats really decent healing power.
There might be even more healing potential if you use both swords for example. Use greatsword leap then switch to 1h sword make 2nd leap wait til CD is over make another 1h leap and switch back to 2h + make another leap.
I’m not sure if it can be timed that you get all 4 leaps into the 15 sec duration of the water field but I’m sure that 3 of them are possible.
If anyone knows even more healing sources let me know. I want to know what is really possible with a support ranger.

/edit: Like some people here mentioned the leap heal will only work for yourself. That’s sad I was really hoping to heal the team with it
So you can bring 9000 (regen) + 2780(water Runes) to the team which is 11.780 heal per 30 seconds. That’s still nice but it really seems that the water runes are the only thing the ranger can do to heal the group.
Thanks for clearing it up Agadar.

Arpheus, the leap finisher only heals the leaper. It is the blast finisher which also heals allies.

Agadar.4931:

Arpheus, the leap finisher only heals the leaper. It is the blast finisher which also heals allies.

This always makes me sad when I sword #2 through healing spring. I see that glittery flash of white light, but realize that it’s not helping my party at all.

I’m curious about using axe/Axe with this build somehow any ideas?

Can you post the link to your build again? The first one you have is saying its broken. I am new to the game and class and want to get some good builds to choose from. Right now I am headed down the Condition path.

Thanks!@

Not a great fan of this build as it’s damage output is mediocre, and healing spring is only useful if you get to stand in it, which i don’t find is such a good idea in any zerg battle (or near a keep that has decent siege in it.

It’s not bad for support play and is reasonably hard to kill- until people knock you out of healing spring and interupt you a bit, or hit both you and the pet with confusion (high damage pet + confusion= dead pet).

As soon as people realise you’re running this build they tend to ignore you and kill the damage dealers- most of whom won’t hang around in your spring (unless a well trained on TS guild group who undrstand the build).

try the ‘foraging’ option on other pets, and see what ‘plasma’ does- sadly it takes way too long to wait for the pet to forage, pick up and consume it as it won’t forage while your moving and most of the time by the time it’s finsihed forgaing the fight has moved on.

Raven.9603:

i really got to wonder though, is this kind of cheese build actually useful for wvw? sure its fun to win a 1v1 or 1v2 versus some guys who cant out damage your HoTs, but lets be real, this build probably isnt going to be killing anyone that decides to run away. people ignoring you because you do negligible damage and cant be killed isnt exactly a victory.

Its not a cheese build, just maybe how he presented it at first. If you read his later posts, he does mention that he intended it to be a strong group healing support build. That’s what attracted me to this build, not the 1vX aspect, but the group support aspect with Healing Spring and the AOE regens. I’m on Rall, so we’re always going to be facing the #4 server, which will be the Tier 1 “odd man out” server. Having a group support build that can help assist our smaller groups against larger group numbers is of huge interest and need.

Thank you for the explanation on the Centaur runes + Warhorn. I don’t have a Warhorn, so I was looking at it from the point of heal triggers, was confused with talk of a “permanent regen boon” so just could not figure it out. I hate to lose the gold I wasted on the Centaur set, but I am not sure its going to have good synergy with what I want to do with this build and I definitely don’t want Spring on CD at the wrong times.

Arpheus.6918:

For the regen boon: Put a healing spring at your feet and you get regeneration every few sec. If you stay in it for the full duration with a 0/0/20/20/30 build and Water runes you have perma regeneration.
The regeneration from your fern hound is weaker if you have huge heal rating because his heal rating is taken into consideration and not yours.
So your regeneration (only from the boon) is around 300 at 1400 heal rating while fern hounds was like 130-140 if I remember it well.

But the game is kinda intelligent. The stronger regeneration is always used first. If your 300hps regen ran out the others come into effect.
That is also why a ranger with decent heal rating is a good team supporter. Most have 0-400 healrating which leads to around 130-180 regeneration while if you give them regen you augment the regeneration to around 300+ with decent heal rating.
And with the water field theres funny things to do. Like Greatsword leap (#3) or 1h-Sword leap (#2 + again #2) activate another splash heal or offhand axe #5 whirl can be used to apply regeneration to team mates.
Also the Rune of Water is decent in my opinion because it offers like 1390 heal twice in the duration of a healing spring at 1400 heal rating .

Thank you for that explanation on the regen boon, I was playing with it last night and was baffled. I know someone else was trying to add it up, and could not figure it out, either. Also, my Major traits kept flipping around last night, so I could not tell if I was bugged and something wasn’t working right, or what.

Sadly, the Leap finisher is solo only. The AOE is Blast finisher, which gives great synergy to being in a group, since there’s almost always a Engi and Ele out hanging back with you. (well w/me, at least)

I found out about the regeneration when I was testing the fern hound regen. And I am glad that I now know that the leap finisher only helps myself. I always hoped I would heal the others and was wondering why it didn’t work. I thought the number might be too small to see but now I know why I didn’t see it.
What I like about tank rangers is you can dodge/block so much with a melee specc.
On high level fractals (I’m at 24 atm) thats decent. Hits are so big that you don’t want them to hit you but I can still facetank bosses sometimes for the full duration by evading their attacks + block with greatsword + massive heal if I get hit.
If as 2nd set you take the 1h-sword you have evades too.
It’s fun to play and it helps the team if someone is able to keep the boss away from them. Somehow I have aggro pretty often.

Arpheus.6918:

I found out about the regeneration when I was testing the fern hound regen. And I am glad that I now know that the leap finisher only helps myself. I always hoped I would heal the others and was wondering why it didn’t work. I thought the number might be too small to see but now I know why I didn’t see it.
What I like about tank rangers is you can dodge/block so much with a melee specc.
On high level fractals (I’m at 24 atm) thats decent. Hits are so big that you don’t want them to hit you but I can still facetank bosses sometimes for the full duration by evading their attacks + block with greatsword + massive heal if I get hit.
If as 2nd set you take the 1h-sword you have evades too.
It’s fun to play and it helps the team if someone is able to keep the boss away from them. Somehow I have aggro pretty often.

That’s good to know. I’ve always wanted to do a melee “tankish” type of ranger, but I stopped leveling mine when the ranger bot army ran rampant, leveled a couple of other classes to 80, and finally got back to my “main” and leveled her to 80 just recently. My goal is a build that needs minimal change between WvW, Open World, Dungeons and Fractals, and also fits my playstyle. Out of all that I’ve examined for Ranger, I think the OP got me started on the right track. My Necro was easy to build, now my Mesmer is the only one giving me troubles due to the unique style I play with it.

Weapons: I don’t like the Shortbow, but I do like the Sword and I’m starting to love the GS, since I started using it recently. Longbow I’ll keep for WvW, because its something that I do use a lot out there and can just swap out when I need. I’m not sure what I want to use for off-hand w/Sword, since all of the options are each very good on their own merits.

Arpheus: What type of traits and utilities do you run for Fractals? (as in would you mind posting or PM a build link?) I’m trying to decide which of my 80’s I want to run Fractals with. So far its been the Necro (still low levels) but I see so much more promise with this Ranger build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJARTjEVJ2BW2Vs2BimCNZp3j0r+27UMK/fyre0K;TsAgzCmo6y0loLbXuukdtEZIy+DA
Thats what I usually run. For the weapon sets I really switch it all the time for all the bosses. Sometimes I also use knight set instead of cleric because you don’t need that much healing power for all bosses.
Since you have so much endurance regen + protection on dodge survivability is really nice.
I also don’t use Greatswort all the time. Sometimes I use both bows. Depends on situation.
What I like to use with the greatsword as 2nd weapon set is either longbow/axe+torch/axe+axe/1h-sword+torch/1h-sword+axe
I like the offhand axe for certain encounters when you want to throw back ranged attacks like in the volcano level endboss for these nasty adds. I use longbow + axe/axe there. Activate RaO, Barrage, then heal because barrage roots you and you take damage usually, then jump into the adds (but don’t be too close to boss) and activate axe 5. As soon as it’s over dodge away. Works pretty fine usually.
For traits I use whatever I like. the 25% speed signet of the hunt is active all the time and the reason why I don’t use a warhorn even though the warhorn 5 is nice.
Sometimes I switch the fire trap for the condition removal signet or the life reg signet for condition removal (signet of renewal).
In other encounters I use search and rescue and you can also use quickening zephyr. From what I heard quickening zephyr can also be used to dodge more with GS #1 but I haven’t tested that.
Thats my setup for fractals but it also works for WvW from what I have seen. And the good thing with this build is you have good survivability and for damage you switch to damage gear while still having protection and great endurance for dodging.
For WvW I would sometimes use the spike trap.

What is very important if you want to tank is dodging alot. Use GS #4 for blocking while endurace is low, dodge alot and heal when needed. Of course sometimes you have to retreat but it works pretty well.

Arpheus.6918:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJARTjEVJ2BW2Vs2BimCNZp3j0r+27UMK/fyre0K;TsAgzCmo6y0loLbXuukdtEZIy+DA
Thats what I usually run. For the weapon sets I really switch it all the time for all the bosses. Sometimes I also use knight set instead of cleric because you don’t need that much healing power for all bosses.

Thanks! I’ll give this a good look, its got some elements that better fit my playstyle than the OP. I’m just not a fan of the SB or Warhorn, they’re nice and all, but don’t fit my style well. I also have a limited budget atm, having to gear three 80’s, which was a big appeal of the OP, since he approached it from cheap, too.

Bad link ….repost ?

You have to copy paste it.
Today I did fractal 25 again with most of the time cleric gear and I was tanking most instances. Was real fun.
After our fighter dropped after the first fractal we had to handle the icy fractal with 4 people. If you don’t make mistakes you can really face tank some fractal bosses.
And it seems to me that the damage is OK. It’s not great but for what I can tank with the build it’s ok especially if you use the fire trap.

Cempa.5619:

CRrabbit.1284:

In my experience most ppl in wvw are just playing as a pver. A well organized 5-men team can have most boons covered for at least 50% of time, they east 10 men unorganized zerg as a piece of cake and won 90% time against even 15-20 ppl with a just little strategy.
As a ranger, no matter how good your build/gears is and how well you played, your damage is still a joke (compared with some other classes). However, if you go fully support+healing, you can make your team harder than rocks, and also you get not bad 1v1 ability in case some kitten happens. I think that might be the real definition Anet want to give to ranger. You might not be a shining killing star (in fact no matter how hard you play you will never be), but you are irreplaceable in a good team.

Blizzard has already proven that players want to be great and they do not want to make others great instead of them. Blizzard designers -some time ago- decided to make a build called Shadow Priest that made others great in group play but had the Priest kind of gimped -they buffed other people damage and regenerated resources for others. The player base was furious, they absolutely hated that and Blizzard changed it and never went back to that idea again….

Players want to be great themselves!

That is the truth, because making your group great does not earn you more medals (not as much as the DPS). That is the flaw in the game design itself.

CRrabbit.1284:

Jugar is good for 1v1, but this build is already hard to beaten in 1v1 situations no matter what pet u use. Jugar is still too easy to die during zerg fight.
As I said, the biggest threaten of this build is still BS thief, due to the culling issue BS thief can do about 12k damage to u before he appears, in 1v1 and if you are in full HP it’s ok, 1 healing spring will reset the fight. But good thief probably won’t pick u when you r rdy, so double canine can save u from their burst. (you can’t see them, but your pet can, also if you switch canine, the 1st thing they do is knock down as long as there is enemy near you and atk you, 2x canine already saved my kitten many times.)

nerva.7940:

very nice build l use something similar in tpvp. l go 30 in wilderness and 30 in BM. Also why no jaguar?

I agree, but if you spot them coming at you, popping Troll Unguent at start of fight + setting Guard around you will keep your pet alert to anything that moves and both yourselves healing the big damage. Granted PD thieves are trickier to fight than BS thieves, but neither are impossible to kill. In terms of BS thieves, they are simply becoming easier to kill if you manage to get around their strategy quickly. PD thieves are a lot worse, I manage to take them down GS around after surviving their burst, plus pet kept on stunning and doing damage whenever it popped. I guess not all fights can be won, but there’s been a steady rise in victories for me in WvW against thieves, enough that I don’t fear them 1vs1, 1vs2 or even 1vs3 anymore (yes the 1vs3 are jaw dropping victories for me). Should be testament to the success of the Beastmaster build.

By the way I was wondering whether it would be more useful to combine the following:

• toughness+condition and decent healing power.
  rather than:
• toughness+healing power and x other status.

…for the build that is discussed here. I know there are a ton of ways to make this build amazing, but perhaps the community can contribute with good input here. IMO I think having condition helps more than not.

Xolosheep.1649:

Cempa.5619:

CRrabbit.1284:

In my experience most ppl in wvw are just playing as a pver. A well organized 5-men team can have most boons covered for at least 50% of time, they east 10 men unorganized zerg as a piece of cake and won 90% time against even 15-20 ppl with a just little strategy.
As a ranger, no matter how good your build/gears is and how well you played, your damage is still a joke (compared with some other classes). However, if you go fully support+healing, you can make your team harder than rocks, and also you get not bad 1v1 ability in case some kitten happens. I think that might be the real definition Anet want to give to ranger. You might not be a shining killing star (in fact no matter how hard you play you will never be), but you are irreplaceable in a good team.

Blizzard has already proven that players want to be great and they do not want to make others great instead of them. Blizzard designers -some time ago- decided to make a build called Shadow Priest that made others great in group play but had the Priest kind of gimped -they buffed other people damage and regenerated resources for others. The player base was furious, they absolutely hated that and Blizzard changed it and never went back to that idea again….

Players want to be great themselves!

That is the truth, because making your group great does not earn you more medals (not as much as the DPS). That is the flaw in the game design itself.

Countless MMO’s have had classes/specs that have made others great while being gimp themselves…

awge.3852:

CRrabbit.1284:

Jugar is good for 1v1, but this build is already hard to beaten in 1v1 situations no matter what pet u use. Jugar is still too easy to die during zerg fight.
As I said, the biggest threaten of this build is still BS thief, due to the culling issue BS thief can do about 12k damage to u before he appears, in 1v1 and if you are in full HP it’s ok, 1 healing spring will reset the fight. But good thief probably won’t pick u when you r rdy, so double canine can save u from their burst. (you can’t see them, but your pet can, also if you switch canine, the 1st thing they do is knock down as long as there is enemy near you and atk you, 2x canine already saved my kitten many times.)

nerva.7940:

very nice build l use something similar in tpvp. l go 30 in wilderness and 30 in BM. Also why no jaguar?

I agree, but if you spot them coming at you, popping Troll Unguent at start of fight + setting Guard around you will keep your pet alert to anything that moves and both yourselves healing the big damage. Granted PD thieves are trickier to fight than BS thieves, but neither are impossible to kill. In terms of BS thieves, they are simply becoming easier to kill if you manage to get around their strategy quickly. PD thieves are a lot worse, I manage to take them down GS around after surviving their burst, plus pet kept on stunning and doing damage whenever it popped. I guess not all fights can be won, but there’s been a steady rise in victories for me in WvW against thieves, enough that I don’t fear them 1vs1, 1vs2 or even 1vs3 anymore (yes the 1vs3 are jaw dropping victories for me). Should be testament to the success of the Beastmaster build.

By the way I was wondering whether it would be more useful to combine the following:

• toughness+condition and decent healing power.
  rather than:
• toughness+healing power and x other status.

…for the build that is discussed here. I know there are a ton of ways to make this build amazing, but perhaps the community can contribute with good input here. IMO I think having condition helps more than not.

In my videos I run full apothecary gear, which is Healing Power/Toughness/Condition Damage, and its extremely nice.

However full Apothecary gear isn’t reasonable for most player… The Jewelry is incredibly expensive.

You however can do a combination set of Apothecary Armor/Weapons with Shamans Jewelry (which is Vitality/Condition Damage/Healing Power)

Not sure what you can use for jewels though, probably will need the Carrion ones, as Passiflora jewels are expensive.

It’s true that Healing Power/Toughness/Condition is the best choice to such build (or something similar), but as you said, it’s so fking expensive in PVE (in PVP we have shaman gears). It’s not for everyone, at least now.
Cheaper way is just go for combination of Cleric/knight/solder/shaman.
In WvW, I would say the 1st thing you have to learn is how to deal with thieves since they are no-doubtly the biggest wvw population. If your build can not survive/counter thief, it’s not a good build for wvw. Right now I am running GS+S/horn (only change bow when needed e.g. VS guardians) in most of time coz I found GS is so good to have especially against thieves.

Xsorus.2507:

awge.3852:

CRrabbit.1284:

Jugar is good for 1v1, but this build is already hard to beaten in 1v1 situations no matter what pet u use. Jugar is still too easy to die during zerg fight.
As I said, the biggest threaten of this build is still BS thief, due to the culling issue BS thief can do about 12k damage to u before he appears, in 1v1 and if you are in full HP it’s ok, 1 healing spring will reset the fight. But good thief probably won’t pick u when you r rdy, so double canine can save u from their burst. (you can’t see them, but your pet can, also if you switch canine, the 1st thing they do is knock down as long as there is enemy near you and atk you, 2x canine already saved my kitten many times.)

nerva.7940:

very nice build l use something similar in tpvp. l go 30 in wilderness and 30 in BM. Also why no jaguar?

I agree, but if you spot them coming at you, popping Troll Unguent at start of fight + setting Guard around you will keep your pet alert to anything that moves and both yourselves healing the big damage. Granted PD thieves are trickier to fight than BS thieves, but neither are impossible to kill. In terms of BS thieves, they are simply becoming easier to kill if you manage to get around their strategy quickly. PD thieves are a lot worse, I manage to take them down GS around after surviving their burst, plus pet kept on stunning and doing damage whenever it popped. I guess not all fights can be won, but there’s been a steady rise in victories for me in WvW against thieves, enough that I don’t fear them 1vs1, 1vs2 or even 1vs3 anymore (yes the 1vs3 are jaw dropping victories for me). Should be testament to the success of the Beastmaster build.

By the way I was wondering whether it would be more useful to combine the following:

• toughness+condition and decent healing power.
  rather than:
• toughness+healing power and x other status.

…for the build that is discussed here. I know there are a ton of ways to make this build amazing, but perhaps the community can contribute with good input here. IMO I think having condition helps more than not.

In my videos I run full apothecary gear, which is Healing Power/Toughness/Condition Damage, and its extremely nice.

However full Apothecary gear isn’t reasonable for most player… The Jewelry is incredibly expensive.

You however can do a combination set of Apothecary Armor/Weapons with Shamans Jewelry (which is Vitality/Condition Damage/Healing Power)

Not sure what you can use for jewels though, probably will need the Carrion ones, as Passiflora jewels are expensive.