Guild Wars 2

How do you guys feel about pet performances in dungeons after the patch?

I started running a jaguar and hawk in CoF and they seemed to do fine (then again, most pets were viable in that path any way). They still had a little trouble if they stood in the way of a cleave or an AoE. The new AI to move behind the target seems to only matter when engaging and is completely ignored once they take any kind of cleave or AoE damage so that’s disappointing – it could be improved though.

The vitality buff is a welcome change. I was running a signet build so my pets were getting a passive toughness increase (which I used to save them a few times) and I noticed even cats were able to take on a lot of trash mobs. In the new dungeon my pets were doing just fine… until the final boss. Ugh. That’s when I remembered how terrible pets have been (and still are) for so long. I honestly want to know why the devs design a mechanic which is countered by jumping and then they don’t make pets immune to it (pets don’t jump). The constant AoEs, all the fire fields, the burning… my pets were defeated for the vast majority of the fight (a cat and a wolf, 15 points in Beast Master and Signet of Stone, heals on crit trait). Pets are still very unreliable when it comes to boss AoEs (even toned down ones like the new dungeon ones who aren’t anywhere near as punishing as explorable dungeon boss AoEs).

So all in all, I’d say the changes are definitely noticeable but the problem persists. Pets take on trash a lot better, they don’t pull adds all the time and the new attack from behind AI occasionally works but far from reliable. Their durability from boss AoEs and the continued development of mechanics intended to have players dodge or jump but not giving pets some kind of ability to counter then… well that’s still a problem in dungeons. I saw a ranger who kept his pet by his side for entire boss fights because he still knew it would keep dieing.

That’s my limited experience with pets since the patch, what do you guys think of pet survivability in dungeons (particularly boss AoEs and cleaves) since the patch?

well I haven’t tried many dungeons post patch besides the new one in which I ran with Jaguar and Reef Drake with almost no problems. of course this is with 30 beast master and natural health regen + regen signet

I definitely found that I was having to switch pets a lot less than before. In fact, I usually only switched for quickness. Felines still have to be monitored a bit, but drakes with that massive health increase seem to be pretty good tanks now. I even managed to keep them going for most of the final bosses (albiet with help dodge protection).

I’ll still need to run some other dungeons to get a good idea AoE performance, but I’ll probably just be doing what I’ve always done. Recall/switch when I can, or give em some dodge roll protection :/

Well I’ve never -needed- to swap bubbles in an instance since the patch, I’ve done the new dungeon twice, done AC rumble path, and 2 CM paths and Bubbles just kinda doesn’t die anymore, every dungeon he’s ended with 25MB and face tanked several mobs for the group…

Oh yeah, then there’s also the whole Bears have ascended to Immortality and just don’t even know what death is anymore.

Another side to this is that Guard is now basically 66% uptime Protection on the Pet. Extending that to 100% really shouldn’t be too hard (not sure if +Boon Duration boosts it, it should though right?)

I made a pet dodge macro. I recommend everyone who has the ability to make a macro: “F3 (wait 3 seconds) F1”

And no, my bears lasted about a minute longer than before against the bosses in AC and MF. All the rest died just as easy as before. All still fall very very easily to AoE.

I have only taken my pets to the new dungeon thus far. They lasted up until the final bosses. I don’t have any points allocated to the BM line so YMMV.
I wonder if the dev’s couldn’t buff pets specifically in dungeons and only dungeons?
That way they would never be OP outside of the dungeons and have a chance during an AOE storm inside them.

Pets do better against single mobs, but they still die to aoe unless you take a drake, moa, or bear.

Any pet with less HP dies easily.

So basically, kill your DPS potential to have any pet uptime. Don’t expect to run jaguars or ravens and have them live for long, especially fractals.

This patch changed very little outside drakes and bears.

Zenith.7301:

Pets do better against single mobs, but they still die to aoe unless you take a drake, moa, or bear.

Any pet with less HP dies easily.

So basically, kill your DPS potential to have any pet uptime. Don’t expect to run jaguars or ravens and have them live for long, especially fractals.

This patch changed very little outside drakes and bears.

Pigs can hold their own now too, they actually have some armor now.

Asthalon.6875:

Another side to this is that Guard is now basically 66% uptime Protection on the Pet. Extending that to 100% really shouldn’t be too hard (not sure if +Boon Duration boosts it, it should though right?)

Nearly perma uptime with Shout Master traited (12 s CD for 11.5 second protection). I tested guard with sotw in southsun based on a suggestion by durzlla. Indeed, the bear can solo a couple karka, try it yourself.

Guard is undervalued. Protecting your pet is a big goal of ranger and it is not a waste of a utility slot by any means. Also, if you are getting ranged, gaurd the tanky pet and kite around it, using it as cover. With healing spring you’ll be just confortable dishing ranged damage while using the pet for cover. When in combat, it’s easy to use devourer for cover without even using guard, making devourer fantastic for many dungeon encounters. Yesterday, I hid behind my devourer, using it to absorb old tom’s poison bolts. You can still fire arrows or throw axes from behind it too.

Ranger has many quirky tactics like the one I just explained, making it extremely powerful in the hands of a practiced player.

thefantasticg.3984:

I made a pet dodge macro. I recommend everyone who has the ability to make a macro: “F3 (wait 3 seconds) F1”

And no, my bears lasted about a minute longer than before against the bosses in AC and MF. All the rest died just as easy as before. All still fall very very easily to AoE.

That macro is actually a pretty good idea, o-o I’ll see if think I may try it with the razor Configurator…

What if they built in a % of AoE damage to just completely miss pets. The tanky pets could have a higher % to miss then the DPS pets.

Just have pets have 70% aoe damage reduction. Jaguars and birds could use a buff to toughness or vitality still.

Melee pets need to cleave.

Sorry, meant a % chance, not a flat %. Zeniths idea works too.

I generally agree with your perspective Shiren.

AOE is still leaving my pets twitching piles of gore on the dungeon floor, but that’s to be expected. These weren’t changes to improve the situation vs. AOE, they were to keep pets from getting cleaved quite so often. As an anti-cleave solution, it’s actually pretty good. But it’s clear they still need to come up with a similar bright idea for AOE.

This is the exact topic I was looking for I did the new dungeon yesterday with my ranger and today with my engineer.
And I first want to ask the more experienced rangers: Is there a way to avoid the damage to a pet when the red fire ring comes out of the last boss? The only way I could think of is to move REALLY far away ( only possible when the boss is more near the edge of the platform) and pull your pet back since the ring expires there.

But has somebody a good idea? With my engi I had no problem dealing with this guy alone and I don’t see how I could do that with my little ranger.

Also from a suggestion pov: Why can’t the pet dodge when you dodge? Not more not less. At least this way you can avoid the big hitters.

Thanks for the help

ehjhey.1894:

thefantasticg.3984:

I made a pet dodge macro. I recommend everyone who has the ability to make a macro: “F3 (wait 3 seconds) F1”

And no, my bears lasted about a minute longer than before against the bosses in AC and MF. All the rest died just as easy as before. All still fall very very easily to AoE.

That macro is actually a pretty good idea, o-o I’ll see if think I may try it with the razor Configurator…

I’m pretty sure macros are verboten.

As far a Guard, I’m not a PVE or dungeon guy, but it looks like those with high-healing power/BM builds could have a pretty amazing pet. Trait for Shout Master, Master’s Bond, 25 stacks of healing power bonus (from sigil), and equip Guard and Sig of Stone, maybe even healing power food. Also if Sic ’Em works with Guard…

thefantasticg.3984:

I made a pet dodge macro. I recommend everyone who has the ability to make a macro: “F3 (wait 3 seconds) F1”

And no, my bears lasted about a minute longer than before against the bosses in AC and MF. All the rest died just as easy as before. All still fall very very easily to AoE.

They really should just give pets a dodge ability that we can control. I know ANet doesn’t want to add too many control options so that rangers are accessible to new players, but as it stands, rangers are a relatively easy profession to play and it’s better than just pitting the player against the frustration of watching their pet die to something completely unavoidable.

Durzlla.6295:

Well I’ve never -needed- to swap bubbles in an instance since the patch, I’ve done the new dungeon twice, done AC rumble path, and 2 CM paths and Bubbles just kinda doesn’t die anymore, every dungeon he’s ended with 25MB and face tanked several mobs for the group…

Oh yeah, then there’s also the whole Bears have ascended to Immortality and just don’t even know what death is anymore.

I did a little experiment with an ele I had been dueling in WvW. I run a tank/regen bm build, so I took SoS, SotW, and Guard and had her attack my bear, and while guard was up it basically didn’t take noticeable damage.

On the other hand, bear does less DPS than an engineer’s burning tick, so…..pointless test

True enough, they kind of suck in the damage department. I was just curious to see how survivable they are after the patch.

I just want to know why we can’t have the same darn flat 33% damage reduction for pets that we got in GW1.

They out-survive, out condition remove, out-regen warriors! :>

Daecollo.9578:

They out-survive, out condition remove, out-regen warriors! :>

Warriors that face tank. Fortunately, in a game that has content designed to force you to dodge or die, warriors can dodge. Pets cannot. If they can’t make the AI dodge, they need some other solution to one of the game’s most predictable problems (pets that don’t dodge in dungeons which require dodging = dead pets).

As stated earlier, I’m not a PVE or dungeon guy, but, I might do some dungeons if some pets can now survive. Doing some quick (and hopefully accurate) math, it looks like with Master’s Bond at 25 stacks a bear will have 1724 power and 1724 precision.

Without Master’s Bond:

- – - – - – - Power——Prec
Canines —1868-——-1524
Cats —-—1374———2061

If I’m correct, then bears should have very respectable damage, if you can get them up to 25 stacks and keep the alive/out of water and otherwise unswapped.

Edited for clarity.

Edited to add: And of course, their toughness and vitality will also be improved.

Pet survival was fine pre-patch. Honestly, I have no idea what you’re doing to kill your own pet so easily.

Cant speak for Dungeons but my Birds with Signet of Stone and 30 BM with Compassion Training and Natural healing with SoTW are healing machines,

Barkskin in WS 30 trait also gives pets 30% Dam reduction at 25% health.

In WvW they can survive fine with 3-4 Vet Mobs on them. Has anyone seen good pet survival with all the healing applied in Dungeons?

slingblade.1437:

As stated earlier, I’m not a PVE or dungeon guy, but, I might do some dungeons if some pets can now survive. Doing some quick (and hopefully accurate) math, it looks like with Master’s Bond at 25 stacks a bear will have 1724 power and 1724 precision.

Without Master’s Bond:

- – - – - – - Power——Prec
Canines —1868-——-1524
Cats —-—1374———2061

If I’m correct, then bears should have very respectable damage, if you can get them up to 25 stacks and keep the alive/out of water and otherwise unswapped.

Edited for clarity.

Edited to add: And of course, their toughness and vitality will also be improved.

Are you trying to compare cats and dogs or cats and bears?…

I’m confused. Canine =/= Ursine… Bears.

Neb, I’m comparing Bears’ damage potential with 25 Stacks of Masters’ Bond to canines and cats without, since most people consider cats to have very good damage output and dogs to have decent output, even without MB.

In other words, it looks like a bear with 25 stacks of MB will have damage output somewhere between what a non-MB dog and a non-MB cat can produce, but have much greater health.

Which is pointless, because the idea is that you can use cats to begin with.

Bear does less damage than a condi spec’s burning tick. It’s that bad.

And when ranger are hitting autos for half the damage of other classes’ autos, then the kitten pet better be compensating for that. And the only pets that compensate for that are cats.

Zenith.7301:

Which is pointless, because the idea is that you can use cats to begin with.

Bear does less damage than a condi spec’s burning tick. It’s that bad.

And when ranger are hitting autos for half the damage of other classes’ autos, then the kitten pet better be compensating for that. And the only pets that compensate for that are cats.

You do realize bears have a quicker attack animation and thus attack faster than other pets right?

That being said, bears will NOT do damage between cats and dogs because of one very simple thing, their skills will not allow them to, their 1 skill is their only real “damage” skill, granted it does scale very well with power and precision. Their 3 skill is a defensive ability, and although their 2 does “more” damage it’s defensive, longer cast, and prevents them from using their quick auto attack.

Pet survival is fine except against bosses that do ridiculous amounts of AOE. Against those, you can often get unlucky and your pet die. Using ranged pets against those bosses obviously helps quite a bit.

Pet survival can also be challenging when you have large numbers of enemies such as in a high level (26+) dredge fractal.

Using a ranged pet is useless when you are a melee ranger because when aoe lands on them you just can’t f3 them back to you.