Guild Wars 2

Hey all. This is an update based originally on my previous shout utility thread. For those of you that don’t know me. Im a long term ranger that has run shout utilities pretty much since the beginning of the game. I believe I have above average (not im far from perfect) competency with the class. And I have moderate to high levels of success in all game modes with my builds.

What follows are my opinions based on my experience. And do not reflect the opinions of the rest of the ranger community nor can I claim to do so myself.

I made this to comment on the usefulness of ranger shout skills in the HoT content and what ive found so far in the evolving PvP scene. Of course said content has only recently released. However I feel that I have a decent grasp on where atleast these skills stand.

Note that all the following takes the use of trooper runes to be assumed.

1- Heal as One: This quite frankly is a decent heal skill. And in its current form a significant boon(pardon the pun) to the Beast Master playstyle I enjoy. As a skill it can be useful in both offensive and defensive situations. And excels at setting up pet bursts when combined with the Zephyr’s Speed grandmaster trait.

2 – Guard: This skill is in an awkward position. It has its niche uses in PvP. However in PvE and WvW it is heavily lacking in purpose. In PvE it is largely unnecessary due to the change in how pets recieve damage added recently. Simply put. You should never EVER need this skill to keep your pet alive. And using it just for the condi cleanse from the runes is kind of…lame.

In WvW this skill simply doesn’t do ENOUGH to warrant bringing it. Your pet will NEVER be able to effectively survive in close quarters combat with a significant number of players. And in a roaming environment the terrain is a bigger hindrance than the enemy is to your pets effectiveness.

3- Search and Rescue: This skill as I mentioned before has a fatal flaw. It does not do enough vs its cooldown to justify its use. I stand by what was discussed in my previous thread that this skill needs either an additional support capacity outside of simple rezzing or a lower cooldown.

4- Protect Me: Ironically this skill seems to be more effective in the HoT combat areas than it did in the previous areas. Where enemy bursts are often combined with enemy CCs. Most of the new pets have decent health pools. Meaning your less likely to suicide them the second you hit the button

In PvP and WvW this skill is still unreliable compared to its competition.

5-Sic Em: This skill is good for beast mastery play styles now that the effect can no longer be canceled by giving an additional order meaning it can now be used in combination with pet f2s. This is a VERY good change. I am satisfied with its current working.

6- Strength of the Pack: This elite skill is also significantly better in newer content than it was in previous content. The new pets work very well with this skill. Either having multi hit attacks or attacks that directly improve its functionality in some way. Stability is also much more useful to have on the pet now that mobs have as many CC’s as they do. Using this skill at the right time can guarantee you dps uptime when your pet should have been stunlocked. And pets like the smoke scale, Bristleback, and the fire wyvern with there multi hit/aoe f2’s do a good job ramping up might with this skill.

TLDR

All in all. Heal as One, Sic Em, and Strength of the pack are (relatively) in significantly better places with HoT in my experience.

Protect Me is in a slightly better place as far as PvE is concerned. But is still heavily outclassed in other game modes.

Search and Rescue: This skill still requires rework in my opinion. It simply isn’t what the shout playstyle needs.

Guard: This skill while still having niche uses, actually has LESS of a place since the release of HoT and there new methods of dealing damage to pets than it did before. In the other game modes, it is either a gimmick skill or it simply does not do enough to warrant slotting.

Please leave any opinions you have below. If you disagree with me on a point please feel free to say so. If you have an idea on how to rework the skills you feel need rework that would be Relevant To The Current State Of The Game please post below.

One thing I would like to add. This utility line has no methods of dealing with condition over load. Even with trooper runes your condition cleanses are spaced out and predictable. Meaning a condi load will signal death. I ask that if a rework for search and rescue is considered that the possibility of it becoming an anti condition skill be put forth. In that case it would justify its long cooldown.

I use guard all the time in WvW for the low cooldown condi cleanse/perma swiftness. I only swap it out if I run across a mesmer or a condi thief. It’s also a fantastic skill for solo flipping objectives since it provides your pets with protection/regen and if they are really in danger you can just stealth them until your pet swap or heal is ready.

I think if they would extend the other boon copies you get from WHaO to 5 seconds “Guard” would become a strong skill in all game modes.

Search and rescue needs it’s cooldown drastically reduced and it should have a secondary “Search and Destroy” function for sending your pet to finish downed players.

Protect me needs a complete change in my opinion. I would love something like “Protect Us” that grants 5 stacks of stability and resistance for 5 seconds to up to 5 people. Keep the stun break and lower the cooldown to 40 seconds.

Instant stab and more party support is something rangers can use in all game modes.

Last but not least they need to fix rangers shouts so they clear condi’s off your allies when using trooper runes. The fact that they can insta nerf things right and left but they still haven’t bothered to fix something as simple as this is just pathetic.

Jim Hunter.6821:

I use guard all the time in WvW for the low cooldown condi cleanse/perma swiftness. I only swap it out if I run across a mesmer or a condi thief. It’s also a fantastic skill for solo flipping objectives since it provides your pets with protection/regen and if they are really in danger you can just stealth them until your pet swap or heal is ready.

I think if they would extend the other boon copies you get from WHaO to 5 seconds “Guard” would become a strong skill in all game modes.

Search and rescue needs it’s cooldown drastically reduced and it should have a secondary “Search and Destroy” function for sending your pet to finish downed players.

Protect me needs a complete change in my opinion. I would love something like “Protect Us” that grants 5 stacks of stability and resistance for 5 seconds to up to 5 people. Keep the stun break and lower the cooldown to 40 seconds.

Instant stab and more party support is something rangers can use in all game modes.

Last but not least they need to fix rangers shouts so they clear condi’s off your allies when using trooper runes. The fact that they can insta nerf things right and left but they still haven’t bothered to fix something as simple as this is just pathetic.

Hey Jim thanks for responding. On Guard my primary issue with it isn’t the secondary effects it has. But the fact that its core functionality (the idea of making your pet tankier so it can stay in a specific area to fight more effectively) is either unnecessary (in PvE) or not enough (PvP and WvW) yes the swiftness/regen/1 condi cleanse every 10 seconds is nice. But I would prefer that this skill be worth taking on its own rights. Not just because of how much you can smash into its low cooldown.

I agree with the trooper rune setup. However I believe that will lead to guard having a longer cooldown as well has having another issue you might not have thought of.

Atm it removes a condition from both the player and the pet. However if it affects other players then it will have a cap of 5 people. That means it will automatically prioritize the the other players for its affect instead of the pet due to how boon/cleanse priority works in this game. That means that the pet itself will lose its cleanse in any location where 5 players are present.

That would lose the only controllable method we have of cleansing anything from our pet. Every other method is outside of our control. For Beast Masters atleast. that is an undesirable outcome.

That’s a good point.
But condi’s on pets needs a fix in general, we shouldn’t have to cripple our party support to have a way to clear condi’s off the pet .
The damage reduction mechanic should be added to PvP and WvW, and just have the % adjusted for PvP.
It should also be made baseline that anytime we have a condi removed our pets do as well.