Guild Wars 2

Honeymoon phase is over. The base condition damage boost to pets is fantastic, but let’s take a further look at the 5 new pets Rangers & Druids will be able to charm in Heart of Thorns and some concerns about them.

The Smokescale
Not enough information.

The Tiger
This one seems rather safe to assume it will share the same stats as the rest of the Feline family. Though the F2 ability is not currently known, it can’t be too shabby. There is not much concern here for this pet.

The Bristleback
A ranged pet that deals in both condition and physical damage attacks. The Bristleback seems to be of its own species as it currently has a unique point:ratio distribution.

[Stat Breakdown]

• Power (Above Average): Most pets have a common power stat of 1524 at level 80 without Beastmastery. The Bristleback sits at 1718, slightly below Canines and Drakes.
• Precision (Below Average): Most pets have a common precision stat of 1524 at level 80 without Beastmastery. The Bristleback sits at 1374, slightly better than Porcine which has the lowest precision of all the pet families at 1180.
• Toughness (Above Average): Drakes, Canines, Porcine, and Bears have a toughness stat of 2211 at level 80 without Beastmastery while Devourers have the highest toughness of 2898. The Bristleback sits at 2748. Not bad.
• Vitality (Lowest): Most pets have a common vitality stat of 2211 at level 80 without Beastmastery. The Bristleback sits at 2061, leaving it as the lowest (known) vitality pet.

[Concerns]
The F2 ability is weak. 30s cooldown that applies 5s of Bleeding on the next 5 attacks. The Bleeding duration could use a significant boost to make this worthwhile, like a 100% duration boost.

It’s tanky but the low vitality leaves it in a bad spot. Possibly bump it up to the average vitality stat of 2211 or increase the toughness further to make it extremely resilient to direct damage while keeping the trade off of being highly susceptible to conditions.

Finally, uniform the range of all its skills. Currently, one of its skills, Rain of Spikes, is a 600 range AOE. Not sure about the AI in terms of when this pet will use this skill, but if its anything like the Devourer Tail Swipe knockback, I don’t want to see these guys step out of their 1200 range only to step in closer to the fight (and possible AOEs) just to launch this skill and remain within 600 range.

The Wyverns
The 3rd newest pet family addition coming with Heart of Thorns. These winged baddies sport their own unique point:ratio distribution as well, but only with Vitality. With unique and useful F2 abilities for the Electric and Flame Wyvern, they are sure to be a hit, or will they?

[Stat Breakdown]

• Power (Above Average): The Wyverns have a power stat equal to Drakes and Canines of 1868 at level 80 without Beastmastery.
• Precision (Average): Most pets have a common precision stat of 1524 at level 80 without Beastmastery. The Wyverns share this stat similarity.
• Toughness (Above Average): Drakes, Moas, Porcine, and Bears have a toughness stat of 2211 at level 80 without Beastmastery. The Wyverns share this stat similarity.
• Vitality (Above Average): Most pets have a common vitality stat of 2211 at level 80 without Beastmastery. The Wyverns sit at 2898, just between the average (2211) and the second highest (3585).

[Concerns]
Attacks are too slow. Cast time for the auto attack is 2s long. It hits twice, but the long cast time and the animation lock that follows it where the Wyvern forces itself to reset its position before starting the next attack (Bears suffer from this, too) significantly gimps the damage of these bad kitten creatures.

The cast times need to be reduced and have something done about that animation lock at the end so it can start the next attack without having to reset its position. I suggest speeding up the cast time of the auto attack from 2s to 1s. Make the 1-2 punch combo a quick 1-2 punch combo. Retain the power since it hits only a single target, or lower the power slightly and have it cleave up to 3 targets. Preferably, the latter. More cleaving pets would be REALLY nice.

Tail Lash is slow as well, and there’s not nearly enough payoff to it. 1½s cast for a 6s cleaving Cripple doesn’t cut it with 130 range. I suggest taking the Drake Tail Swipe approach and extending the range to 225 so it can land more reliably and reduce the cast time down a notch to 1¼s (also equal to Drake Tail Swipe).

Wing Buffet. This skill is pretty nice, but can we have this be a cone AOE so it can affect multiple targets instead of just one?

Side Note: The Wyvern F2 commands are cool. No need to change them.

Agreed regarding the wyverns.

and hey, that’s why there’s a beta weekend for it, right?

As far as the Smokescale goes, it appears to be extremely high damage and with activatable invuln frames. Amazing for pvp.

Fire wyvern f2 + taunt trait? What’s gonna happen?

And I guess the DMG of the smokescale shadowstep-thing will be nerved hard. Almost 10k without crits.

I’m not concerned to much about the Bristle back. The low health pool doesn’t matter much it is attack at 1200 range . The mid range attack my be a problem but if its like most pets and does Its big attack on swap, then hopefully it will use it when summoned as first or second attack and then move to 1200 range.

Its sad that most of us are more excited about the new pets than the new specialization.

Smokescale look awesome. Revenent-like teleporting attack, Smoke field making pet immune and maybe clears its conditions as well. Probably pretty squishy, but good damage and can land hits.

Bristleback look great as well. 1200 range pet which shoots often. It will have great sustained damage and the bleeds will do quite some damage. Bit worried about the AoE since Spiders suffer from theirs as well.

Not a fan of Wyverns because of the auto-attack.

Are we not going to talk about the smoke sclaes smoke field and leap finishers on sword #2 and GS #3 for stealth not related to LB?

Finally, valid constructive criticism without rushing to conclusions and throwing toys out of the pram. +1 OP

the tiger seems to apply bleed judging from the video

I just found out about the new pets can someone provide a link? Thanks in advance.

Never mind found it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2ZHhJQn0B8

Sigmoid.7082:

Are we not going to talk about the smoke sclaes smoke field and leap finishers on sword #2 and GS #3 for stealth not related to LB?

This is what I also have been thinking. Could be rather amazing…I’m thinking of running smokescale in place of my canine in WvW.

Nemesis.6938:

the tiger seems to apply bleed judging from the video

The Tiger was using the Maul attack found across all felines that applies 4 stacks of bleeding. Speculating on the F2 could be an AOE Fury, possibly named “Tiger’s Fury” as a GW1 reference. If my speculation is correct, I fear it could be hindered by a roar with a 3s cast time similar to the Jungle Stalker’s Mighty Roar.

Just to point something out about the smokescale. Look at when the taunt goes off and how long it takes for the AoE to actually resolve. Seems to be longer than the wolf’s fear etc.