Guild Wars 2

First of all, I’m asking for advice, not complaining. I’m a level 34 ranger who really wants to use birds. The problem with any pet with weaker defenses, is it just dies too fast. They end up with all the aggro and I just can’t pull it off them. I’m told that in later levels, the ranger main character starts doing more and more damage than the pet and therefore is able to generate more threat to pull aggro. Also, I’m told beastmastery helps toughen them up a lot. My question is, when do these things happen? How long should I expect to wait? Do I need 30 beastmastery for them to be viable? I’m not claiming to be a very skilled player. However, I do try my best to micromanage my pets away from telegraphed moves, Even then some of them are just too frail.

Note: I posted this yesterday, but accidentally deleted the main post which caused the whole thing to get deleted. I apologize for having to repost it.

I use a hawk (Hudson) who never dies.

I’m assuming you’re referring to PvE. The more points you put into Beastmastery, the tougher your pet is going to become, but there are also some traits that make them more survivable.

Compassion Training (BM IV) coupled with Natural Healing (BM XII) and Carnivorous Appetite (Skirmishing VII) make almost any pet into a ‘tanking’ pet and make bears and other tough pets nearly unkillable.

Master’s Bond (BM II) is also amazing for both offense and defense.

Besides that, it pretty much boils down to which pet you want to use and how you want your character to play (i.e., bows, axes, etc.).

[Edit: Almost forgot to mention skills! Use Signet of the Hunt active every time it’s up. It gives your pet an incredible alpha strike and coupled with Alpha Training (MM Master) is an AMAZING amount of burst. Hudson can half health an even level mob on the first hit.

Signet of the Wild and Signet of Stone are better saved for “oh kitten” situations, since the passives on them are way nice. Rampage as One is awesome and I use it almost every time it’s up.]

I agree with dixon, and would like to emphasize the importance of Beastmastery traits on pet survivability. I only use 15 Beastmastery, but notice a substantial difference when compared to having 0 Beastmastery. Remember: Beastmastery will also boost your pet’s damage output, so you’re increasing your damage two-fold: once by making your pet hit harder, and secondly by keeping your pet alive to do damage.

Birds are also one of the most frail pets we have access to. I, too, went on a ‘bird-stint’ where I insisted on using birds who died too often for my tastes while leveling. My solution? Use one bird and a second, beefier pet. Usually my Fern Mastiff.

After I put five trait points into Beastmastery, I could feel a difference in the pets, against mobs. I use birds for the most part, as well. I currently have 20 trait points in Beastmastery, and now my bird only dies if I am completely overrun by mobs, or if I forget to heal the bird at times. Against bosses and in dungeons I only use bears or devourers, though. Birds are build for damage dealing, not tanking.

nldixon, you know, “Sick Em” might be better to use than Signet of the Hunt for an alpha strike. It boasts of a 30% damage increase and lasts for 15 seconds. Of course, it has a longer recycle though. 60 seconds compared to 30 with SotH.

Lonewolf Kai.3682:

nldixon, you know, “Sick Em” might be better to use than Signet of the Hunt for an alpha strike. It boasts of a 30% damage increase and lasts for 15 seconds. Of course, it has a longer recycle though. 60 seconds compared to 30 with SotH.

Sick ‘Em provides a 30% damage increase for 15 seconds on a 60 second CD. Signet of the Hunt provides a 150% damage increase for the pet’s next attack on a 30 CD, making it far superior for an alpha strike. In addition, you get the passive benefit of a 10% speed increase which is handy for getting around after you kill something.

I’m don’t math, so I’m not sure which would come out on top for extended fights, but I prefer Signer of the Hunt for burning through mobs quicker during PvE.

[Edit: Having spelling and grammar trouble today.]

They’re actually aboutish equal kinda depending on your pet type.

Sick ’Em gives 30% damage increase for 15 seconds per 60 sec, Signet of the Hunt gives 300% damage increase for two attacks per 60 sec.

If your pet can do 10 attacks in 15 seconds, then they’re equal. If it can do more (like some birds), then it’s superior. If they can’t, Hunt is superior.

So, if you have a bulky, slow attacker, then Hunt kicks butt. If you have a quicker attacker, Sick ’Em is preferable.

Could anyone give me any insight into the other half of the problem? How do I keep my pet from aggroing every mob? I don’t want to play a “sit back and let your pet tank for you” ranger.

kOfNa.6321:

Could anyone give me any insight into the other half of the problem? How do I keep my pet from aggroing every mob? I don’t want to play a “sit back and let your pet tank for you” ranger.

That part I’m not sure about. My pet occasionally loses aggro and I don’t want it to lose aggro. I’ve never tried to intentionally gain threat.

The bottom line with pets is that unless you spec into a Beastmastery build designed to turn your pet into a viable tank, no pet (not even the mighty Bear) will last for more than 10 seconds once you reach Orr. Unless you do this, you’ll have to get proficient at kiting mobs and snaring/stunning/slowing things down because without a BM build, you’ll pull aggro off even the most damaging pet, and if you don’t, it’ll just die in a couple seconds and you’ll have to kite anyways.

Prior to reaching Orr, the Ranger and it’s pet work well together regardless of your build and unless you aggro too many mobs, the pet does a fine job of handling the aggro and staying alive, even in Frostgorge Sound. The only problem comes with, as mentioned already, the Orr zones, Fire, and oddly, your Personal Story (throughout my entire personal story it felt like the mobs completely ignored my pet, was annoying as hell)

On that note, am I the only one that feels like Fire damage from mobs does way too much damage compared to everything else?

For some reason mobs do totally ignore my pet sometimes, which is a PITA, since my build is based around my pet doing all the work.

I use an eagle and a raven myself, the key is to swap your birds on cooldown, that gives each a chance to heal up.

In terms of avoiding aggro, two things you can do:

-Deal more damage to mobs (srsly) the more they hate you, the more they leave your pets alone

-Keep them in avoid combat mode, start a mob by taking a few hits yourself, then press F2 for the pet’s ability
to get them to start fighting, they are usualy left alone.

I had trouble keeping track of pets cooldowns early on, what I did was put 5 points in BM, that gives you quickeness for 2 seconds when you swap pets. It’s an amazing buff and since then I keep pet swapping every 15 seconds when it pops.

SicJake.6871:

I use an eagle and a raven myself, the key is to swap your birds on cooldown, that gives each a chance to heal up.

In terms of avoiding aggro, two things you can do:

-Deal more damage to mobs (srsly) the more they hate you, the more they leave your pets alone

-Keep them in avoid combat mode, start a mob by taking a few hits yourself, then press F2 for the pet’s ability
to get them to start fighting, they are usualy left alone.

I had trouble keeping track of pets cooldowns early on, what I did was put 5 points in BM, that gives you quickeness for 2 seconds when you swap pets. It’s an amazing buff and since then I keep pet swapping every 15 seconds when it pops.

Only problem with swapping pets for the Quickness buff: you lose Master’s Bond stacks if you’re using that trait.