Guild Wars 2

I’ve been messing around with a build on the builder based around kiting, staying away from people via immobilizes and cripples and dodges and evades, stacking conditions and constant pressure from the pet.

I reasoned Ranged pets may not get fooled as bad as melee pets but I like cats like the Lynx for the big bleed, and Krytan Hound is like a melee spider.

Anyway I’ve been playing with the calculator a long time, and it’s not tested, but I was looking for feedback to see if I should even bring it into the game or if it fails even on paper first.

I was thinking either the quickness Beaster Master trait or the Health Regen trait. Also the build seems to be hard countered by Conditions as it has 0 removal but every build has a weakness right?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV3YnEqQrg2xCmsAVLG4QoauBrAzA4Ae3EHbzeyMWWF-TZxAwAK3fAwDAYzRAYcZAOXEAA

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV3YnEqQrg2xCusAVLG4QoauBrAzA4Ae3EH7NfxUNVB-TJhHwADuIAAeCAg2fwYZAA

Here’s a variant of the build which may be better overall.

If you call a suicidal missions “weakness” … Then I’m not really sure if I should encourage you in playing whatever it is that makes you enjoy the game, or question your sense of viability.

Not only this build is suicidal against anything with conditions… It’s also going to lose to most of the Power Builds as well.

But as I said earlier – if you don’t intend to play it competitively, as long as it helps you enjoy the game, why not, right?

If you want something that is really fun, though, you might want to try this one. If you happen to set the burst sequence, you’ll tear anyone apart in a few seconds. Bunkers included. You’ll also be alive more often than with your mentioned build. Condition builds will still be your weakness (since you don’t have that much HP, and Signet of Renewal will bomb your pet if you can’t swap him right after), but will no longer be a death sentence.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAsf3YnEqQrgWxC+rAXLI4QoadCsCg3Nxye1Of3W4ileqC-TJxHwAOLDI4JAA4kA8Z/BA

Are both versions of my build really so bad? I was just trying to find a way to keep gap closing warriors and such off me which is why I went so heavy on the immobilizes.

Ravinsild.4637:

Are both versions of my build really so bad? I was just trying to find a way to keep gap closing warriors and such off me which is why I went so heavy on the immobilizes.

I’ll be honest, they quite were.
You simply can’t go into PvP with zero condition clears and 2500 armor. Ever. Period.

As a Beast Master – your job is to sustain out while your pet does the job. If you wanted to do damage only, Beast Master’s whole point is at a wrong place (since pet is only 30% of your damage).

Your damage was more suited for … Fighting AFK players (players that do not fight back). Because it was flank restricted and focused on nothing but keeping the enemy rooted.
The build I stated offered almost permanent cripple / chill, which is good enough.

If warrior is what you’re worried about, you’re going to be in for a very sad time when any Warrior with a Sword comes knocking.

First, they are going to bleed you to death just with AAs.

Second, warriors love to be immobilized, cripplied, chilled … because they reduce its duration and it gives them regeneration which goes great with their Signet and Adrenal Health to keep them healthy while they bleed you to death. If it’s in open-world and they take Dogged March, Melandru Runes, and Lemongrass food … you’re not going to do anything to their movement except give them free regen.

Currently, most warrior builds have a large amount of sustain. If you can’t handle a sustain build, you’re going to be very sad against a warrior.

I’ll test out your build then.

You should just avoid the condition based pet traits entirely. Even with Expertise Training your pet only has 350 condition damage, which is barely noticeable. Your pet will also be stacking conditions that will override your own much stronger conditions, so instead of doing 1,000 damage a tick with a bleed stack your enemy would go through stretches of time where they take maybe a couple hundred damage a tick instead. You’re actually lowering your damage output by setting your pet up for condition damage.

You’d get a LOT more out of your build getting rid of Expertise Training and Rending Attacks and replacing them with Vigorous Renewal and either Intimidation Training for more cripple or Vigorous Training for more vigor. Vigor likely being much more important since it provides the boon to your allies as well and you already have a done of crowd control.

Also, don’t be afraid to take Healing Spring as your heal if you’re so low on condition cleansing. Yes, Troll’s Ungent is our best heal in terms of healing potential, but if you have NO condition cleansing you really, really need something to deal with that. Being weak to conditions is fine, not all builds are effective against everything, but you shouldn’t be so weak to conditions that you accept death from the very first condition bomb. Make them work for it.

Ehecatl.9172:

Your pet will also be stacking conditions that will override your own much stronger conditions, so instead of doing 1,000 damage a tick with a bleed stack your enemy would go through stretches of time where they take maybe a couple hundred damage a tick instead. You’re actually lowering your damage output by setting your pet up for condition damage.

Is this really how it works?

This was my very first try at a build, which is probably why it’s so bad. I knew I wanted to be able to kite, and I figured my pet+conditions would whittle them down over time while I focused on keeping distance and conditions on them. The poison from Shortbow and Dagger off hand would keep their healing down.

Essentially my thought process was: constant pressure from pet and their conditions (applied through traits and F2 skills) plus my own condi pressure and really hurting their healing, and keeping myself safe by locking them down in place and keeping my distance.

I know Necro have 600-150 range usually running daggers or Axes for their builds with a Staff offhand, I knew a lot of guardians and warriors had melee weapons like hammers or maces or swords or Greatswords etc, I knew thieves run Dagger mainhand almost always, Engineers have shortish range on their rifles, so I figure I could outdistance most classes.

I chose the ranged pets initially hoping they would be less likely to get juked as they can sit back and just Attack from a range.

Basically: Keep them away and keep them on the defensive where they can’t hit me and constant pressure from pets that stay away from them and conditions so all they could do is sit still and die slowly.

I guess it doesn’t really work that way though.

OGDeadHead.8326:

Ehecatl.9172:

Your pet will also be stacking conditions that will override your own much stronger conditions, so instead of doing 1,000 damage a tick with a bleed stack your enemy would go through stretches of time where they take maybe a couple hundred damage a tick instead. You’re actually lowering your damage output by setting your pet up for condition damage.

Is this really how it works?

Unfortunately…
… Even though they might have changed it. I think that I was able to keep my own Poison damage (Poison Master increased) even after my pet used his own poison attack.

So if you apply the poison before your pet does – you should be fine (pet’s poison will start ticking only after yours; concerns Marsh Drakes and Spiders only).
If we are talking about Bleeds – that doesn’t matter. They stack. And there’s only 1 Burning pet that is hardly ever picked since he misses most of the time for short range.

Two of three Devourers have poison F2 skills and all 3 have a 10% chance to poison via their auto attack. So I guess Marsh Drake, Spiders and Devourers.

That said I realize my builds are bad but I wanted to find something more unique than relying on Metabattle.

Devourer is bad animal.
If you go beast master you might as well trait in nature magic for the silly “Guard!” shout. It gives your pet much more sustain than the line ironically called “beastmastery” does. It also gives you perma regen.
You will end up with a decent build for what it does(sustain) but it’s simply outclassed by wars/eles that also give boons to the team.

@Tragic Positive

I think that’s a unique aspect of the Poison Mastery trait. It effects both you and your pet as if you both had the ranger’s condition damage, but only for poison. I could be wrong, though.

@Ravinsild

The devourers are really bad pets. Their conditions will hurt your damage output as they do much less damage than yours, and only one of you can have your conditions ticking at any one time. They also have really, really weak direct damage and a tendency to waste time moving AWAY from the opponent, despite their knockback needing melee range.

If I were you I’d go for the Jungle Spider for the immobilize. It’s one of the best pets rangers have and would work well into your desire to keep the enemy at a distance. If you want the poison for the healing reduction and not the damage then Marsh Drake is also an excellent choice. It’s tanky, hits pretty hard, has cleave, and it’s F2 will hit really hard. It can also apply weakness which is pretty great as it makes the enemy dodge less, and has a functional blast finisher you can capitalize on if you’re good. Drakes always use their blast finisher as an opening move after being called, so keep that in mind.

It’s good to try and make your own builds, keep at it! Just ask questions and try and figure out why the metabattle builds are so effective. Once you understand why you’ll be able to make your own builds that work just as well.

@Ehecatl

You might be correct. I didn’t really push myself into testing this further. It worked for my build, so I didn’t really bother.
I’m sorry that I forgot about devourers, but as it was already said, they are situational at best.

It’s “the best” to make your own builds. And truth be told, those builds will always be better than builds from metabattle. The reason is simple – you made the build because it entertains you – which leads you to your goal of doing your best. Also, if it’s out of the meta – people will have no idea how to play against you unless you fight them 5-6 times in a row.

But then again… Suicidal builds will be no fun for you. Because it’s no fun to lose every single match up. That’s why we are here to help you out with it =)

Pretty much all you need for a BM build is mainhand axe and 3pts into NM for Fortifying Bond.

That means that every time you hit something you are granting your pet 10 seconds of might. Using this you can easily get your pet up 10-15+ stacks of might in a fight. 24 if there are multiple targets.

IMO the only two pet choices are dog/wolf, for AOE CC and knockdowns, or owl/raven for single target burst. A might stacked owl/raven can hit for 5k+ easily.

The Beastmastery line isn’t really worth the investment. Apart from Mighty Swap the traits are terrible, and the stat bonus is very minimal. Might stacking will give way more damage than the stat bonus.

Also invigorating bond is one of the worst GM traits in the game. A 2k heal every 20 seconds is pathetic. Natures Voice by comparison offers a 3k heal every 13 seconds, and swiftness, for your entire group…

Try running 0/0/6/6/2 and you will have both a harder hitting pet, and your own survivability will be much better.

Sube Dai.8496:

Also invigorating bond is one of the worst GM traits in the game. A 2k heal every 20 seconds is pathetic. Natures Voice by comparison offers a 3k heal every 13 seconds, and swiftness, for your entire group…

Depends!

For a healing support build, if anyone feels they want to play one, it’s decent.

Look at the healing potential of this build, if that’s your kind of playstyle (pve):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRBHhx+1JPi0Lo9rgvKQ0iBOEKWBw7sYZva39QQUzV82D-ThxGABA8EAy9gAso6PMp8To9HoTJIA-e

I’d say that’s a whole freaking lot of HPS you can dish out! The fern hound alone will heal for at least ~4.5k every 20 seconds (counting the regen), the moa for even more but not at once since harmonic cry isn’t on demand.

If anyone wanna do the theoretical maths on that build when it comes to healing, be my guest.

Also, your pets will hit hard.

OGDeadHead.8326:

Sube Dai.8496:

Also invigorating bond is one of the worst GM traits in the game. A 2k heal every 20 seconds is pathetic. Natures Voice by comparison offers a 3k heal every 13 seconds, and swiftness, for your entire group…

Depends!

For a healing support build, if anyone feels they want to play one, it’s decent.

Look at the healing potential of this build, if that’s your kind of playstyle (pve):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRBHhx+1JPi0Lo9rgvKQ0iBOEKWBw7sYZva39QQUzV82D-ThxGABA8EAy9gAso6PMp8To9HoTJIA-e

I’d say that’s a whole freaking lot of HPS you can dish out! The fern hound alone will heal for at least ~4.5k every 20 seconds (counting the regen), the moa for even more but not at once since harmonic cry isn’t on demand.

If anyone wanna do the theoretical maths on that build when it comes to healing, be my guest.

Also, your pets will hit hard.

Your pets will hit hard regardless… But not really since you intend to take Wolf as a DPS pet. About the maths, I’ll jump straight to practice part.

In PvE: You either didn’t dodge and died – or the 2K heal will prolong your life by 2 seconds. Full stop. For PvE, there’s only one encounter that is done on healing basis and that’s Mai Trin at Fractals.
Also, your pets are dead 50% of the time in PvE. If we are talking about casual PvE, than by not going Zerk – you put your group in danger (your target lives longer = more damage it deals). 2K heal once per 20 seconds is a joke for that trade.

Healing is effective in PvP only, where staying alive on points = objectives. You don’t really need to kill stuff to win.

I will be honest, I come from World of Warcraft and I played a hunter there. I played Beast Master, as well as Demonology Warlock and an Enhancement Shaman. They all had a pretty similar playstyle of ALL IN BURST but “poor” sustained damage.

Essentially you set the enemy up and then caught them by surprise popping all major DPS cooldowns and nuking them in one go.

I was hoping to create a similar build here because I find bunker builds sort of boring. That’s why I like Read the Wind Metabattle build. I was hoping I could make a Read the Wind style bursty build where my pet did the burst.

I did find something called kittenasination which was pretty much what I was looking for, but again it’s sort of a suicide build because it has no Condi clear.

That said, nothing is more satisfying than a QZ+Sic ’Em+Rampage As One burst and watching people melt from the Jaguar.

Condition Beastmaster …

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV3IjEqUxi/KUtEQToaHAH7m+uGK1TF-TpwNgA2lBA2fAA

2 trait points and 1 utility are up to you.

You are going to wear people down while your pet eats their face.

I generally prefer to take Canines as they provide you with more CC and have good power. They also don’t apply bleeds like the Birds, Cats, etc. so you don’t have to worry about the previously mentioned issues.

I like Barkskin because coupled with my healing I become quite difficult to take down when I’m at 25% hp. With the Settler’s rune (I prefer Apothecary in WvW), you have 15,182 hp. So when you are at 3,795 hp, you take 50% less damage … but your healing is still at 100%. This helps you outheal the incoming damage.

Dwayna and Oakheart Salve help keep regeneration on you. You regenerate from Signet of the Wild and Natural Regeneration. Natural Regeneration does even more because of Compassion Training. If you don’t want the bonus to it, swap that out for Might on pet-swap. This healing coupled with Troll Unguent and Barkskin makes you a pain in the butt. Healing Spring would provide more cleanse, but drastically less healing as you’re already going to have regeneration and you don’t have leap finishers for splashing in the Water Field.

You have vigor from your heal as well as pet swaps so you can be dodging damage even more. You’re tanky but it’s still best to just avoid damage :-)

While I usually don’t like Signet of Renewal, it does provide you a non-traited condition cleanse AND stunbreak. Since the build doesn’t have SotF, this is what you’ve got.

I’ve been toying around with changing the build to the following two alternatives:

• http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV3IjEqUxi/KUtGQToaGAH77aoUPVnJ7BA-TpwNgA2lBA2fAA

You lose Barskin but now your pet is Might Stacking from your Axe and you can remove poison more easily via Dodge roll … especially since you still have plenty of Vigor. The extra protection helps with you being tanky :-)

• http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV3YjEq0xaLL2sQ1aANhqVA8uGK1T1dyeAvMA-TpwNgA2lBA2fAA

Now you have SotF so conditions are even less of an issue. The fury isn’t going to be that much help since it’s a condition build and I don’t recommend on-crit effects when using Settler’s and 0 points in Skirmishing, but it will have some effect on your direct damage.

Two advantages a sustain Ranger has over other classes’ sustain builds:

• Ample access to Poison … both weapon sets have it even before you decide whether or not to take Sigil of Doom on either of them. This reduces your opponent’s healing which will hurt their sustain.
• Pet stats independent of your own. You may be built for wearing a person down via conditions while being a Bear yourself to take down … but your pet is completely independent and ready to chew some faces … especially since your 6 points in Beastmastery are giving your pets +300 Power, +300 Precision … on top of the +300 Toughness and +300 Vitality, of course.

Sebrent! Thank you! I really can’t wait to play this build! I must also say I only am Tiger finisher rank in PvP right now and I have maybe 325 games played and only 53 on my Ranger. I have 209 on my Engineer but no matter what I did I was always pretty bad on my Engi. I have had great success as read the wind build and so I wanted to try some new ranger builds and I love pets so I thought beast master was a great tree

In WoW Beast Master from previous expansions really made your pet special increasing its tankiness and damage and everything so something like 40-60% of your damage was from your animal pal being a kitten. In addition they added in the Burning Crusade prepatch the ability to tame special/exotic pets that only Beast Master Hunters could use and no one else. When I play a pet class I like to go all in and make it about me and my pet.

I like the animal companion aspect of Hunter/Ranger most and even fighting melee side by side with my pet rather than some Legolas/Green Arrow Archer type thing.

If GW2 had mounts I would hope Rangers could mount their companions. battle buddy, companion, friend. Like Wolves are man’s best friend!

Edit: What about the Raven bird? I don’t believe Birds have an inherent bleed and Raven applies a blind, which can honestly make you even more tanky because your enemy will miss a lot from it. Just like to consider every option not just Hawk or Eagle for their lacerating slashes.

Tragic Positive.9356:

<snip>

Hey! Never said it was a good build or anything, def. not I’m running in pve since the game doesn’t make it necessary. And yeah, burning down mobs fast to prevent their attacks from taking place in the first place is the best defense.

But still, if you want to play the support role for whatever reason, a ranger sure as hell can help their partymembers through lots and lots of healing.

:-)

Ravinsild.4637:

Edit: What about the Raven bird? I don’t believe Birds have an inherent bleed and Raven applies a blind, which can honestly make you even more tanky because your enemy will miss a lot from it. Just like to consider every option not just Hawk or Eagle for their lacerating slashes.

Raven and Owl are great pets for BM builds. They have the best burst and less problems at hitting moving targets than most meleepets.

Atm I’m testing a melee bm build in WvW with double birds, and it seems to work pretty well so far. The combination of bird autoattack + F2 + Maul (all with quickness from pet swap) allows some very nice burst.

That’s a good point UmbraNoctis … I should have been more specific when I said what I did about pets and bleeds … Eagle and Hawk bleed on their F2. The only conditions that Owl and Raven inflict are Vulnerability and Chill/Blind which you don’t have to worry about any issues with.

You do still lose out on the CC from the dogs though … and I find that if you can keep your target slowed (Shortbow Cripple, Axe Chill, Dagger Cripple, Canine Cripple) that your pet doesn’t really need that swiftness in order to keep up.

Additionally, it can be quite frustrating when you want your bird to attack and they spend ~1s doing a long swoop to gain swiftness again. Then again, you may value that Swiftness more than I do.

I agree that birds are quite likely the best pets at landing their attacks unaided. They are also harder for opponents to notice given their small size so you can often expect opponents to be less likely to dodge Bird attacks than other pets’ attacks.

I am so excited to try that regen BM build tonight

Lol, I’m glad it appeals to you. Just realize that it:

• Has 0 Power
• Has 0 Precision
• Has 0 Ferocity

So your personal direct damage is going to be very poor.
Most direct damage will come from your pet.
Your personal damage will be primarily conditions.

My buddies hate fighting it 1v1 because of the tankiness, but they can win a 2v1 if they can CC me long enough and/or keep poison on me … hence why I’m looking at the 2 alternative builds.

Keep track of your pet. If you don’t know where your pet is, you’re playing a beastmaster build horribly wrong.

A buddy of mine is awesome at controlling her pet. When we fight, her pet seems to somehow always be pressuring me but also quite close to her … and she favors longbow. Very good pet control and positioning.

I notice you mentioned Dwayna for healing? I’m an Asura, so I don’t think I have access to that.

Your heal is Troll Unguent.

I was talking about Dwayna Runes

(1): +25 Healing.png Healing
(2): +10% Regeneration Duration
(3): +50 Healing.png Healing
(4): 25% chance when struck to gain Regeneration for 10 seconds. (Cooldown: kitten
(5): +100 Healing.png Healing
(6): +20% Regeneration duration; when you use a heal skill , you and all nearby allies gain Regeneration for 5 seconds. (Cooldown: 10s)

Between that and Oakheart Salve, you should have plenty of Regeneration.

I’m a Norn… I don’t have those filthy Human skills either ;-)