Guild Wars 2

Stout gives 100 vit and 200 toughness and its skill ignores damage, stun breaks and ignores movement imparing contions. Bears also do give you the defy pain and black bears are stout pets.

Versatile gives 200 vit and 225 concentration and has that 300 range pull/imob

Supportive gives 100 vit and 25% healing increase and has the aoe heal with resistance.

Deadly gives 200 condition damage and 100 precision. Skill is the AoE bleed and vuln.

Ferocious 200 power 100 Ferocity. High damage aoe ground slam.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/List-of-Soulbeast-F-Skills

This thread was right about the other 2 skills for each pet.

Smokescale does turn is into a revenant.

Rain of Spikes has a maxe target limit of 3 and only 3 projectiles per target, pet version seems the same.

Looking through the pets it seems they have tried to give Each pet family 1 each of the types in my first post.

May I ask for the source? I didn’t think the elite specs were available until the next BWE

Open the pet Manager on a test character.

If the stats on the tool tip are right then a lot of these skills aren’t exactly hard hitting but theres some nice ones in there.

Birds swoop on soulbeast seems to be a 1200 range gap closer.

MFW you can get 7 secs of damage immunity on Black Bear only (Defy Pain + Stout). Stoneform + SoS ? Oh boy.

Nice find. They look great!

Edit: We can now get 18s of damage immunity. I can taste the tears already.

Edit2: Drakes look great for zerging haha. Trailswipe for blast and big AoE, and Chomp for a 3k heal every 10s.

Edit3: Birds are just free mobilty on any build. Virtually perma swiftness and 10s 1200 leap!

Edit4: Melee builds in general I think will get a huge boost out of these.. so many leaps and CC it’s unreal. I’m so happy!

Levetty.1279:

Open the pet Manager on a test character.

If the stats on the tool tip are right then a lot of these skills aren’t exactly hard hitting but theres some nice ones in there.

Birds swoop on soulbeast seems to be a 1200 range gap closer.

Ooooh very nice find!!

Alpine Wolf’s ability is insane nice , coupled with Smokescale could be good combo

Levetty.1279:

Stout gives 100 vit and 200 toughness and its skill ignores damage, stun breaks and ignores movement imparing contions. Bears also do give you the defy pain and black bears are stout pets.

Versatile gives 200 vit and 225 concentration and has that 300 range pull/imob

Supportive gives 100 vit and 25% healing increase and has the aoe heal with resistance.

Deadly gives 200 condition damage and 100 precision. Skill is the AoE bleed and vuln.

Ferocious 200 power 100 Ferocity. High damage aoe ground slam.

Skills seems nice(exept realy low damage numbers) and those bonus stats from enterin sbeast feels realy low for losing pets dps.

contrary to popular belief, merging with your pet isn’t meant to be a flat out upgrade, there’s supposed to be give and take.

Durzlla.6295:

contrary to popular belief, merging with your pet isn’t meant to be a flat out upgrade, there’s supposed to be give and take.

Yeah, I think they learned their lesson after the Tempest.

Cufufalating.8479:

We can now get 18s of damage immunity. I can taste the tears already.

With all those immunes, Conditions will be the counter.

If you use Black Bear + another Stout pet, you can go for a loooooooooong time.

Get in BMode → Unflinching Fortitude (4) → Defy Pain (3) → Exit Bmode (10 secs cooldown) → SoS (6) → Stoneform (5) → BMode → Unflinching Fortitude (4).

If Unflinching Fortitude cooldown is not shared with other Stout pets, then it’s a total of 22 secs of attack immunity . ! If shared, 18. Take a Smokescale for the Evade instead.

Fail to see how anyone is excited about this, you lose 30% of your damage with pet gone, reden many of your utilities/traits near useless, just so you can gain skills your pet can already use and +400 stats….lol no thanks ill pass.

^ all provided our pets were actually fixed, but apparently thats asking too much from Anet clearly

5 years of Zephyr’s Speed yet Quickness doesnt even affect the majority of pets. Goodjob Anet

Durzlla.6295:

contrary to popular belief, merging with your pet isn’t meant to be a flat out upgrade, there’s supposed to be give and take.

What give is there when it’s basically a dps loss on power builds and a direct increase on condi builds?

200 extra power isn’t mindblowing and all the fused forms of pet skills do incredibly low damage. Why would I ever combine with a tiger in pve for example? I would lose damage as well as the fury uptime.

Johnny.1634:

Fail to see how anyone is excited about this, you lose 30% of your damage with pet gone, reden many of your utilities/traits near useless, just so you can gain skills your pet can already use and +400 stats….lol no thanks ill pass.

30 % of your damage ? You’re exaggerating. Anyway, the main mechanic is that you can use your pet skills, which you can’t control when they are out normally. Use its skills, get out of BMode and leave it do what it has to do.

SBeast is clearly made to play in and out of BMode. Yes you can stay forever in BMode if you want and sometimes it will be easier to stay in BMode. Sometimes, it’s better to have your pet out.

You’re gaining options, not losing anything.

Substance E.4852:

Durzlla.6295:

contrary to popular belief, merging with your pet isn’t meant to be a flat out upgrade, there’s supposed to be give and take.

What give is there when it’s basically a dps loss on power builds and a direct increase on condi builds?

200 extra power isn’t mindblowing and all the fused forms of pet skills do incredibly low damage. Why would I ever combine with a tiger in pve for example? I would lose damage as well as the fury uptime.

Not all pets are going to be useful in BeastMode as we can see. New pets, such as Smokescale, which has unique abilities, are going to be the most useful. Ex : Smoke Cloud -> Blast -> Invis -> BMode -> Takedown -> Smoke Assault -> Out BMode -> Pet’s Smoke Assault.

Johnny.1634:

Fail to see how anyone is excited about this, you lose 30% of your damage with pet gone, reden many of your utilities/traits near useless, just so you can gain skills your pet can already use and +400 stats….lol no thanks ill pass.

We don’t know how traits and utilities change during Beastmode.
You are not supposed to stay permanent in Beastmode for optimal play. That was wishful thinking from players who want a complete petless ranger.

Gotta say, the archetype stat increases are odd. Wouldn’t it have been better to alter Deadly as 200 condition damage/225 expertise, Supportive as 25% healing/225 concentration, and Versatile as 200 precision/100 vitality?

Seems odd that Vitality is spread out on 3 of the 5 archetypes and there’s no expertise increase.

Miellyn.6847:

We don’t know how traits and utilities change during Beastmode.
You are not supposed to stay permanent in Beastmode for optimal play. That was wishful thinking from players who want a complete petless ranger.

This is also not at all true for many pets. The wolf is classified as a condi pet for some reason and any BM specced for condition is going to be in BM mode as much as possible to take advantage of the condition boost and Primal Cry.

Same with bristleback, it’s better to camp in BM and only pop out to use spike barrage.

Then there’s the black bear which is MUCH better as a BM pet than a regular one. No reason to ever leave BM when you have 2 immune to damage skills + extra toughness and health if the alternative is a bear. Black bear BM will be the go to for WvW zerging if they fix Leader of the Pack to give full stance duration to allies.

You were never supposed to be “perma beast mode” just for the fact that you can’t pet swap in it, but there’s clearly many instances where spending the majority of time in BM is ideal.

The problem is that the way things are currently set up, playing power builds in pve isn’t one of those times and frankly, it’s not worth it to ever use BM on a zerk build.

The hardest part about soulbeast is picking how I want to play it. So many choices!! That being said I don’t think we should go too crazy over the numbers, some seem way too low and others too high.

Most pets are looking pretty good, depending on what you’re going for.

Those that stood out to me:
Owl, Smokescale, Black Bear and Boar.

Holland.9351:

Those that stood out to me:
Owl, Smokescale, Black Bear and Boar.

Same for me !

Owl for Leap, Swiftness and Heal.
Smokescale for being a wannabe Rev.
Black Bear for Immunity.

Others on my mind :

Bristleback for Bleed.
Jacaranda for Ranged Power and 2x Heal.
Iboga for Ranged Condi.

I feel cats will get less play in BMode. At least the Dogs and Pigs have Knockdown, Wyvern for Knockback and the Drakes have Blast. The cats ? Nothing in particular.

Looks very interesting:

The current tooltips are based on pet stats I think(at least the bleed dmg on some of the skills), some of the base attacks tooltips looks very weak. ATM, cats and moas got nothing to offer. I think they will do some twiking to numbers.

Another thing I don’t get, the stun break skill(for the stout pets) got a casting time, how can stun break ability have casting time?

LughLongArm.5460:

Another thing I don’t get, the stun break skill(for the stout pets) got a casting time, how can stun break ability have casting time?

Some skills in the game already have a cast time with a stun break. Some of them are covered with stability, others aren’t. Well of Precognition is an example of a stun break with a cast time. Pain Absorption is one without stability but a cast time.

LughLongArm.5460:

…Another thing I don’t get, the stun break skill(for the stout pets) got a casting time, how can stun break ability have casting time?

The stunbreak happens, then the cast.

Substance E.4852:

This is also not at all true for many pets. The wolf is classified as a condi pet for some reason and any BM specced for condition is going to be in BM mode as much as possible to take advantage of the condition boost and Primal Cry.

Same with bristleback, it’s better to camp in BM and only pop out to use spike barrage.

Isn’t that the point though? If it wasn’t generally “better” to be in BM mode then the whole Elite Spec would be dead. If it was better to have your pet out then be merged why would you even run Soulbeast? It’s early days but judging by the responces here they have nailed the balanace as some people think it looks amazing and some people think the stats are too low.

To me it makes a lot of sense. Wolf is a condi pet probably just because they’ve clearly tried to put one of every pet family in each architype (with a couple of exceptions). One of the canines had to be there, but you still have a good reason to leave BM if you value CC more than bleeds in a particular fight.

Likewise with Bristleback. If you’re playing a condi spec sure, you’ll want to be in BM a lot of the time – but if you meet someone who has a ton of condi removal you might decide it’s better to leave BM to boost your burst / direct damage with a pet.

It makes sense to me that being in BM is generally better to make the Soulbeast worth using (which what they want, ultimately), while still giving situational reasons to bring your pets out. I think they’ve done that well.

In the case of the Black Bear I don’t know what else you expected. It’s a useless pet currently. They could either make it’s BM version equally useless so it stayed in line with how it is now, or they could take the opportunity to make it good so people might actually use the pet. They chose the latter, which I believe is the correct choice.

@ALL

1.) So If we meld with the pet, you gain access to 2 skills right? What if the pet uses those skills prior to Melding, won’t they be on CD? or how bout vice versa?

2.) Rather off topic, is the leap from the new dagger skill an evade? I think its very similar to the engie hammer skill but not exactly sure.

StickerHappy.8052:

@ALL

1.) So If we meld with the pet, you gain access to 2 skills right? What if the pet uses those skills prior to Melding, won’t they be on CD? or how bout vice versa?

2.) Rather off topic, is the leap from the new dagger skill an evade? I think its very similar to the engie hammer skill but not exactly sure.

1) I really hope not, since they are not really controllable for us when not melded and having them on CD will make beastmode far less enticing, since you get no benefit other than the stat increase which will not make up for the loss of the pet assuming it is attacking.

2) It would be nice to have an evade on the dagger. I hope it is a leap finisher too.

Did anyone else notice it is the same animation pounce on sword used to have? You used to be able to do the “2pounce” with sword which was a double leap exactly like the dagger has except that Dagger #3 is a gap closer with no pre-requisite.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

StickerHappy.8052:

@ALL

1.) So If we meld with the pet, you gain access to 2 skills right? What if the pet uses those skills prior to Melding, won’t they be on CD? or how bout vice versa?

2.) Rather off topic, is the leap from the new dagger skill an evade? I think its very similar to the engie hammer skill but not exactly sure.

1) I really hope not, since they are not really controllable for us when not melded and having them on CD will make beastmode far less enticing, since you get no benefit other than the stat increase which will not make up for the loss of the pet assuming it is attacking.

2) It would be nice to have an evade on the dagger. I hope it is a leap finisher too.

Did anyone else notice it is the same animation pounce on sword used to have? You used to be able to do the “2pounce” with sword which was a double leap exactly like the dagger has except that Dagger #3 is a gap closer with no pre-requisite.

Based on the videos I watched, I think it is a leap finisher. Double even. Someone correct me if im wrong.

StickerHappy.8052:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

StickerHappy.8052:

@ALL

1.) So If we meld with the pet, you gain access to 2 skills right? What if the pet uses those skills prior to Melding, won’t they be on CD? or how bout vice versa?

2.) Rather off topic, is the leap from the new dagger skill an evade? I think its very similar to the engie hammer skill but not exactly sure.

1) I really hope not, since they are not really controllable for us when not melded and having them on CD will make beastmode far less enticing, since you get no benefit other than the stat increase which will not make up for the loss of the pet assuming it is attacking.

2) It would be nice to have an evade on the dagger. I hope it is a leap finisher too.

Did anyone else notice it is the same animation pounce on sword used to have? You used to be able to do the “2pounce” with sword which was a double leap exactly like the dagger has except that Dagger #3 is a gap closer with no pre-requisite.

Based on the videos I watched, I think it is a leap finisher. Double even. Someone correct me if im wrong.

Yea I was thinking it was a leap and on an ammo system of x2

ZhouX.8742:

StickerHappy.8052:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

StickerHappy.8052:

@ALL

1.) So If we meld with the pet, you gain access to 2 skills right? What if the pet uses those skills prior to Melding, won’t they be on CD? or how bout vice versa?

2.) Rather off topic, is the leap from the new dagger skill an evade? I think its very similar to the engie hammer skill but not exactly sure.

1) I really hope not, since they are not really controllable for us when not melded and having them on CD will make beastmode far less enticing, since you get no benefit other than the stat increase which will not make up for the loss of the pet assuming it is attacking.

2) It would be nice to have an evade on the dagger. I hope it is a leap finisher too.

Did anyone else notice it is the same animation pounce on sword used to have? You used to be able to do the “2pounce” with sword which was a double leap exactly like the dagger has except that Dagger #3 is a gap closer with no pre-requisite.

Based on the videos I watched, I think it is a leap finisher. Double even. Someone correct me if im wrong.

Yea I was thinking it was a leap and on an ammo system of x2

It appears like this to me, hoping it is the case. Sweet sweet leap finishers!

Smoke field – stealth
Fire Wyvern/Torch/flame trap – fire aura
Electric Wyvern Lightning field – daze (Mark of Clarity)
Healing Spring leaps – heals
Spider/Vipers Nest – Weakness

I’m really looking forward to being able to have a hybrid build and whirl finish the fire fields with OH axe too. Axe/Axe would become a pretty ludicrous build as well, up to 212% crit damage with viper gear and traits + SotW plus tons of might stacking, 2k condi damage and then Whirling Defense inside the Torch Firefield…

Taking a look at some of the interactions, we will have some great combos for interrupting and CC too.

@Wondrouswall.7169 & @Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582

I understand now, thanks.