Guild Wars 2

Alrighty, so I’m a level 80 ranger with 30 in beastmastery. I almost always have a Lynx in my pet rotation. But when I’m in low to mid scale events, I’m enjoying drakes more and more (probably because maxing beast tree makes them that much better/more durable). Personally I find that their multi-target auto-attacks are fantastic for tagging and damaging multiple mobs at once, and their special tail whip ability is fun in combo fields.

But what drake would be most efficient in general?

I’ve always used the River drake because of the absurd amount of damage from his lightning breath. However, most of the time I can’t get him to use it to full effect. Three out of 5 times something will just cause him to halt mid through the cast. It also doesn’t help that the river drake LOOKS pretty dopey (whatever you do, do NOT send him off to attack something in the distance and call him back. His quick-running animation made me laugh too hard. I think they’re more frog than drake).

So which drakes, if not river, would be most efficient in general PvE play? Marsh drake’s ability has a nice 900 range and seems to me much more successful in using it to full effect. Fire drake does more initial damage plus burning (but it’s a cone effect, not a chain effect.) Unfortunately I don’t see an effective use for the ice drake’s breath ability in PvE, which is a shame because I think he’s the most interesting visually.

i actually enjoy the ice drake, it’s skill doesn’t do as much damage, but chilling your foe greatly reduces their damage output, making the ice drake more tanky than the other ones.

I also like the Ice drake. It’s probably the best looking, and I like to use it both on and land and in water. Frost Breath/Frost Nova skill can be pretty handy when you feel overwhelmed. But if you’re looking for actual damage output, that’s somewhat of a tough one. The River Drake seems to do well, but I can’t stand the appearance. Of course, that doesn’t mean it should be ignored — if only they would reskin it.

Frankly, I still stick to my Ice Drake, although generally I mainly use a bear and Moa on land, bear and shark in water (because Bear Sharks are awesome :P).

All in all, I really think it just comes down to personal preference.

I tend to use fire drake myself. When it hits (which in the current AI state is a bit dodgy) it’s clocked over 10k damage.
As an aside, the Drakes multi-hit. That means that they can whack several things per attack, like your greatsword. I find it quite handy for Orr when you’ve got 9001 undead every two steps.

Don’t make fun of my precious little river drake you monster!! They’re ADORABLE!! That being said i’m a huge fan of sending a swarm of flies at people lol, i tend to use the marsh or the river drake paired with my extremely sexy Fern Hound.

Ice cuz be rocks a Mohawk and a stylish one at that.

I’ve used Ice drake (cold) and Salamander Drake (Fire) from low level to 80 and beyond, with 30 in BM. Haven’t found a combination I like better.

Wow interesting, so ice drake seems pretty popular! I know I used the marsh drake in my mid levels as an initiator thanks to his 900 range chain ability. I’ll have to give these other drakes more of a serious try.

@Durzlla: LOL I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make fun of your precious.

I was genuinely saddened when I wasn’t allowed to name my river drake “Dopey” (it’s inappropriate apparently?)

Beardmonger.4692:

Wow interesting, so ice drake seems pretty popular! I know I used the marsh drake in my mid levels as an initiator thanks to his 900 range chain ability. I’ll have to give these other drakes more of a serious try.

@Durzlla: LOL I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make fun of your precious.

I was genuinely saddened when I wasn’t allowed to name my river drake “Dopey” (it’s inappropriate apparently?)

Are you serious!? That’s inappropriate!? Ugh… that’s so lame… And the river and marsh drake both have a long range bouncing ability (river hits harder, but doesn’t have the anti healing/aoe poison that marsh has) as for the fire and ice ones… yeah, don’t stand in that breathe… lets just say i learned the hard way…

LOL well from last I checked, river drake’s breath range was 600, marsh drake was 900, and the rest were 250. That’s what made me fond of the marsh drake for a bit.

I named my river drake Poop Snout, but Dopey isn’t allowed? Weird.

That would be because dope is in the prohibited list.

I’ve tried drakes briefly but found their breath weapon to be too dodgy. There’s a bit of a delay before they cast it, during which time anything they were attacking invariably moves out of the way. So, I decided to stick to cats and birds.