Guild Wars 2

This was considered the worst pet for pvp pre patch, its auto attack could never hit a moving target and the pet was generally slow. But now it is one of the most reliable melee damage pets, having a ridiculously sticky auto attack (seriously the thing is so good the only way it could be better is if the pet teleported with each swing).
Who ever made the pet changes deserves a cookie and a gold star and maybe a piece of cake, seriously this is one of the best changes (when it comes to rebalancing/redesigning) since the game came out.

Aaaand now the parts that are still in need of tweaks, namely the lightning assault and the wing buffet skills.
Lightning assault is strange as it will not hit the target if the pet is in melee range (pet phases through the target), and often times the pet gets stuck in place (on flat terrain) when you use the f2. Perhaps it would be best if the skill gets changed to work like the revenant staff 5 (it already works similarly, it just feels like a drunk surge of the mists)

The wing buffet has a slow cast time often leaving the pet flapping its wings at nothing and a 1 sec after cast where the pet gets back in his ‘sitting’ animation. This is simple to fix decrease the cast time and remove the horrid aftercast (seriously it is necessary why does the pet need to swap back to his ‘afk’ animation before it becomes able to move and attack again?)

other than that gj to whoever did the pet changes as now most of the core pets can attack reliably, so now the ranger will no longer be pigeon holded in to smokescale and bristilback

I’d really like for Electric Wyvern to create a lightning trail combo field like Revenant’s Inspiring Reinforcement (Jalis) so it can be easier to setup.

Wing Buffet aftercast definitely needs a look, as it does remain idle after executing the move for about full second.

Pet changes were definitely the highlight of this patch, and there is always room for improvement.

Wyverns are pretty kitten nice now. This is the level of performance they should’ve had at HoT release.

Time to capture both wyverns, never bothered with both…until now ^^

But how they perform vs other players? Can they actually hit?
Because them to hit mobs is not something we should be celebrating , that’s basic performance.

Well, increased range on Pets is always worth celebrating. For Wyverns, the addition of reduced cast and aftercasts is a huge bonus, but only for PvE instances. Against players, Canines, Birds, and Smokescale are still the top melee oriented pets.

Canines now have competitive melee ranges with Smokescale, holding the second highest auto attack melee range (240) behind birds (300), and a faster Crippling Leap burst with added range.

Also, Birds have had all their damaging moves adjusted to 300 range, which means Owl and Raven F2 bursts are easier to hit on moving opponents since pre-patch the ranges were 130.

Probably more than you might have been looking for, but yeah, the Wyvern improvements won’t help them out when facing other players – and that’s kind of all right (for me). To each their own though, as I’m just happy they are finally effective somewhere.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Well, increased range on Pets is always worth celebrating. For Wyverns, the addition of reduced cast and aftercasts is a huge bonus, but only for PvE instances. Against players, Canines, Birds, and Smokescale are still the top melee oriented pets.

Canines now have competitive melee ranges with Smokescale, holding the second highest auto attack melee range (240) behind birds (300), and a faster Crippling Leap burst with added range.

Also, Birds have had all their damaging moves adjusted to 300 range, which means Owl and Raven F2 bursts are easier to hit on moving opponents since pre-patch the ranges were 130.

Probably more than you might have been looking for, but yeah, the Wyvern improvements won’t help them out when facing other players – and that’s kind of all right (for me). To each their own though, as I’m just happy they are finally effective somewhere.

I actually love the new wyverns, the electric one does good melee dmg given its stats and the on demand knockback is invaluable now

Wondrouswall.7169:

I’d really like for Electric Wyvern to create a lightning trail combo field like Revenant’s Inspiring Reinforcement (Jalis) so it can be easier to setup.

Exactly! The way it works now is lightning filed often created on the wrong places. It would be much batter if F2 skill work the same way as for lightning wyvern mobs.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Well, increased range on Pets is always worth celebrating. For Wyverns, the addition of reduced cast and aftercasts is a huge bonus, but only for PvE instances. Against players, Canines, Birds, and Smokescale are still the top melee oriented pets.

The tiger almost seems to me like BiS for greatsword builds including Moment of Clarity and Remorseless. It’s pretty sick synergy.
I like wolves so I will stick with them, but I am bit of jealous on tigers now.

Anyway great changes for sure, gj

I was using good ol’ Zappy back when he was bad; I found the three knockdowns in a row more helpful for clearing trash in the new maps than pure DPS, even if it was just the psychological benefit of knocking down something that was about to knock ME down. I am looking forward to running him secure in the knowledge that he is low-key good now.

It would be really interesting to see the results of a rerun of those ranger pet DPS tests since the new patch.

Does anyone know if Lightning Assault procs ancient seeds just by itself or does it require damage after the fact?

Draeyon.4392:

Does anyone know if Lightning Assault procs ancient seeds just by itself or does it require damage after the fact?

You need to land an attack, not your pet. The pet can only be used for setting it up.

Im actually finding wyvern (in this case fire wyvern) to be a pretty solid pet choice in PvP. Its a little squishy. But its massive cleave range. Attack damage. And now its INSANE ability to stick to a target makes it a pretty good sweeper. In a GS/Longbow shout build im getting it to do pretty significant damage. To pretty much the entire enemy team on point at the same time.

And it is VERY good at down cleave. Especially if your mauling rezzers as well.

Are you guys talking about PvP or PvE? Because in PvP smokescale and bristleback are still the best ones I’m afraid

Supreme.3164:

Are you guys talking about PvP or PvE? Because in PvP smokescale and bristleback are still the best ones I’m afraid

Depends, fighting on point vs more than one enemy I’d say wyverns are way better now. They have pretty good cleave, and the aoe knockbacks/knockdowns are sweet. I’ll probably go smokescale/wyvern.

Speaking of pvp – anyone tried out birds after the patch?

OGDeadHead.8326:

Speaking of pvp – anyone tried out birds after the patch?

They still die to a single aoe..don’t bother

Supreme.3164:

Are you guys talking about PvP or PvE? Because in PvP smokescale and bristleback are still the best ones I’m afraid

It depends… I am using Wolf nad Lightning Wyvern for CC. They have rather defensive roles but they are also helpful for breaking defiance bars.

Beides the fact I like to having them as pets.