Guild Wars 2

So I’ve been running bearbow in dungeons and I personally feel it’s very good. Depending on what boss we’re fighting my autoattacks are doing 3.5k-4.5k damage. I can also get 15 stacks of vuln up. And by using bear, the thing SERIOUSLY tanks. I make sure to pay attention to who the boss is attacking and a lot of the time it is attacking my bear, which just means my party members are safer. I don’t see how this build is bad.

Yes it’s awesome! Serious guilds will fight eachother about who will take you to their group!

In every speedclear there’s at least 1-3 bearbows with 2k toughness and 2.4k healing power. That’s just way too good to pass.

For a pug bearbow can work, but for a group that have the minimum organization the build won’t work.
With bearbow you won’t be able to stack with the party, that way the boss won’t stay in the correct place, the buffs won’t be applied correctly, some bosses may use different skills that wouldn’t happen if all was at melee, and spotter won’t affect your party (or if you are close enough, your damage will be reduced)
For dungeons it is not only the personal damage that counts, but the tools you can bring to the group.

There are more efficient builds that benefit the party DPS and killing bosses.

Bear bow works yes, but it’s more of a solo PvE build.

Bearbow sucks. The end.

Bears are alright in certain situations but for the most part, they’re not good at all. And without a doubt our worst pets. Maybe for soloing open world content they’re good for holding aggro, but that’s it. Otherwise, Black Bears are alright for Weakness in PvP/WvW and Brown Bear is okay for “Shake It Off!”, besides that, the other bears are completely useless and the two I’ve mentioned are still no h?ll either. Cave Spider does a better job of applying Weakness than Black Bear anyway.

tldr; The only time you should even think about using a bear is if you’re soloing open world content. Otherwise you’re doing it wrong. Bears are, hands down, our worst pets. Devourers are a close second.

If you seriously insist on using a tanky pet then just use the River Drake. Lightning Breath is incredibly strong and the Tail Swipe will help your Ele friends with blasting might. Just be sure to have Jaguar or Jungle Stalker as your alternative pet so you can give good DPS during burn phases/ when people stack.

Make sure to cancel your pets skills with F3> F1 if your Drake is using the Blast Finisher when there isn’t a Fire Field though. I can’t emphasize enough how infrequently people ignore their pets in combat.

DiamondMeteor.8345:

If you seriously insist on using a tanky pet then just use the River Drake. Lightning Breath is incredibly strong and the Tail Swipe will help your Ele friends with blasting might. Just be sure to have Jaguar or Jungle Stalker as your alternative pet so you can give good DPS during burn phases/ when people stack.

Make sure to cancel your pets skills with F3> F1 if your Drake is using the Blast Finisher when there isn’t a Fire Field though. I can’t emphasize enough how infrequently people ignore their pets in combat.

cool thanks for the tip, I’ll switch to drakes/cats instead then

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

Bearbow sucks. The end.

Bears are alright in certain situations but for the most part, they’re not good at all. And without a doubt our worst pets. Maybe for soloing open world content they’re good for holding aggro, but that’s it. Otherwise, Black Bears are alright for Weakness in PvP/WvW and Brown Bear is okay for “Shake It Off!”, besides that, the other bears are completely useless and the two I’ve mentioned are still no h?ll either. Cave Spider does a better job of applying Weakness than Black Bear anyway.

tldr; The only time you should even think about using a bear is if you’re soloing open world content. Otherwise you’re doing it wrong. Bears are, hands down, our worst pets. Devourers are a close second.

Pigs. RNG potential crapshoot, lower stats to justify giving rangers a lesser version of steal’s environmental bundles.

Hyena, lower stated canine with the ability to summon an uncontrollable weak copy, basically its designwise the ‘ranger’ of the pets.

If you have a Guardain in your group with a staff , empower and stuff, use a Jungle Stalker (pre-pair might before engagement) you’ll hit Max Might very quickly with this.

also if you use 6,0,2,6 you’ll survive even in Zerks gear , clear condis off yourself , 20% off wilderness skills will let you use Quicken zyper on a medium cooldown + SotW and shared boons , just using a sigil of strenght will also boost your pet to be on a Perm 25 might+ boons given from the guardain that you pass onto your pet.

yes you yourself loose those Crit hits but your pet makes up for it by Tons with this set up.

or after a while when you got some more Experience doing these " speed runs " / making this your day to day play style or somthing.

you’ll survive with a decent guardain/ele and some friends try out the other version , 6,5,0,3 this version has less room for Error because of higher cooldowns , it just increases the rangers Dps because of skirmishing , but the same method aimed at the pet is the sam perm 25 might ect ect.

Bearbow is defo a Solo PvE casual build , for days where you just can’t be bothered or have a cold , the bear alone makes things easy for solo play.

Bear bow in the past:

Bear Meh it tanks , does very little damage, Clears condis poorly longish cooldown. (weak)
Longbow (weak not balanced)

born the Bearbow Meme’s

Present
Bear= still the same , more hp (PvE) (weakest of the pets) meh group support where other sources of condi cleanses are better than this bear)

Longbow = Powerful / Balanced , Great for Roaming (no longer that weak image)

conclusion the Bear sucks.

Bearbow? I’m really confused on if this is actually a thing or not… There’s nothing wrong with Longbow, … but with sitting in longbow and never swapping…. the brown bear specifically is an AoE condition remover on F2… he is a support bear….

I don’t know how you feel but personally I think no matter what race/class you are playing it’s smart to have at least one form of condition removal. Especially if you know you are going to be eating condition dmg in a dungeon like Twilight Arbor.

Specifically I don’t use bears… it’s not that I don’t like them, I actually think they are the cutest it’s that I label them as tank pets… and I am rarely in a situation where I need a pet to tank.

Remember you can build anyway you want the Meta will still hate on you for it… you chose the RNG life…. don’t you dare grab signets either… or they’ll call you a kittenty signet RNG (meanwhile our only 2 forms of stability are in elite or signet form)…. also don’t you dare use a longbow because ranged is out melee is in and you smoking some stuff if you think you’re going to do any

I tend to judge a ranger as good or bad not on their build or choice of pets and weapons but by weather their pet is alive or dead and weather I see both of them or just one…. because… I play ranger and I know what makes a good ranger and it isn’t solely DPS in fact I’ve come to terms with the fact that our DPS isn’t the best and I don’t care… that’s not why I rolled ranger… I rolled it because I like animals… wanna fight about it?

Here’s the thing… Swords are actually fun on RNG they really are… absolutely refreshing and unique take on this common profession seen in both RPG’s and MMO’s and I feel they executed it very well, however the Meta forcing everyone to use one? That needs to stop…When most people who went with ranger thought “Yey Ranged Class” …..

This is how you answer if something is viable: Are you, alive, did you team win, did you have fun, did you do so with minimal downtime and no wipes? If you answered yes to all these questions…. congratulations you’re doin it right… whatever “it” is. Carry them on your backs or at least be carryable… but never be a burden. RNG has plenty to offer a team when played well.

Nausiation.1469:

I don’t see how this build is bad.

Because you offer your team nothing but subpar damage. If you knew the capabilities of the ranger meta builds, you wouldn’t be asking why bearbows are considered garbage.

Simple as that.

Elspeth Tiriel.9243:

When most people who went with ranger thought “Yey Ranged Class” ……

Well, then it’s about time that “most people” realize that they were wrong and that ranger =/= ranged combat, instead of gimping themself by pretending the class is a dedicated archer.

The River Drake is generally superior in every way unless you need condi removal, and you rarely need that much in pve. In general the bear does nothing and even pets with less health can “tank” in open world so that makes the bear redundant.

In theory, I guess the condi removal in bigger wvw fights could help, and it’s the pet most likely to survive stuff or you could use it for “protect me”; however there are generally more solid options to rely on and groups shoudn’t really rely on rangers for condi removal. In smaller fights, you’d be better off using a dog to knock people down or spiders to immobolize, or ravens to dps rather than the unreliable condi removal pet that can’t do damage.

DiamondMeteor.8345:

If you seriously insist on using a tanky pet then just use the River Drake. Lightning Breath is incredibly strong and the Tail Swipe will help your Ele friends with blasting might. Just be sure to have Jaguar or Jungle Stalker as your alternative pet so you can give good DPS during burn phases/ when people stack.

Make sure to cancel your pets skills with F3> F1 if your Drake is using the Blast Finisher when there isn’t a Fire Field though. I can’t emphasize enough how infrequently people ignore their pets in combat.

Drakes are also only ones to cleave IIRC, so you do drake for groups, Cat for single, at least that’s how I do it but i’m a scrub ranger.

Didn’t read most of the comments. Sorry about that.

To get to the point:
Bearbow is an expression for Rangers that are selfish who*es. No exaggerating. Bearbow brings literally NOTHING into the group. No boosts, no utility, no mobility, and not even the damage.
Truth be told, Longbow is still the lower DPS class weapon, BUT has immense tunnel burst through Barrage and Volley. That’s why most meta Zerk builds include Longbow to open on boss fights with Rampage as One through these 2 abilities – deal nice damage, stack pet’s might into 25 immediately, and THEN every ranger swaps to his melee weapon regardless of it being a Greatsword for survival or Sword+Axe/Warhorn for static DPS.

BearBow stands in the middle of nowhere, autoattacking for negative damage almost healing the target, Doesn’t soak up damage that distributes into the party (projectiles and stuff), doesn’t help with water field, and the pet does absolutely nothing. Well, it actually dies to be honest. Also, the Bearbow doesn’t benefit from any melee traded boons.

Bearbow has always been horrible, and always will be. There’s no debate over this topic. Bearbow is something that made people hate us respectable Rangers – just as it made Rangers hate their fellow Bearbow class-mates.

And how did a Bearbow come to life? It’s comfortable. You don’t have to do anything and you feel like you are doing fine (even if you are horribly mistaken).

tells what you really think Tragic (though i agree with you).

my way off looking at this (goes for all pets) is what is it that you are trying to achieve with you pet selection as they all are a little different. For example in all most all content why would you use a bear over a say drake, what is the bear doing that the drake is not. in the opposite situating what is it that a drake can do that a bear can not well more damage and AOE, while still being tanky.

As far as weapons go some thing applies what can this weapon do better then the other weapon. and in pve where DPS is king 1 hand sword often the winner.

Bearbows are bad.

If you want a bulky pet, go Dog or Drake. Both have offensive strength, and dogs have nice supportive abilities.

The bear is not a Damaging pet , it can be useful if your running a Axe+D / Sb build because the conditions makes up for the lack of direct damage.

as Eggo said its a situational pet , and its not the best choice when using a Longbow since you ether already have a lot of burst/ Survival staying at some sort of range before Swapping to a melee set to burst/ CC cripple your target , most people forget since the sword is clunky its also quite easy to avoid so a Damaging pet like a wolf for Chill Feline/Bird is needed to provide for that Damage gap.

while as for condis using the axe/D + Sb there is no damage gap since the condis are consistant so the pet isn’t a major factor since it takes up a support role to maintain the ranger rather than provide a damage source it don’t need.

Bears are just bad to use in a Longbow build , it may see like a good options to pool all your utility and traits into improving the max damage then taking a bear to Cover a huge weakeness in the build, just means the build you made is Weak at its Core, pets are still an Extention of the class but shouldn’t be used to cover weaknesses in a build set up.

new players will just have to learn to manage damage sources for rangers unlike other classes that have 1-2 Condi or direct or both.

sources of damage rangers can maintain 2-4 sources.

the ranger condi or direct
the pet condi or direct (condi is Aoe poisons , barbs ect)
weapon bursts + pet bursts (timing)
lastly the 4th most forgetable damage source Evasive damage dealing damage while evading , learning when to evade is easy , learning when to use a rangers damaging evade to win fights is harder to learn than just evading for the sake of it.

the evasive damage maybe weak but its still enough to turn the tables.

if you can do those without relying on bear or the pet entirely for one purpose you’ll learn to be a great ranger.

though as anet said the pet is a double edged sword , it can be the bane of you or the greatest gift to the class, and that causes the pet confustion.

instead of Enforcing that longbows are still bad by using the age old Bearbow as an excuse for pointing out longbows flaws just like other weapons.

so i don’t see Bearbow now as it was in the past, its not as bad as it use to be but it still don’t have a place in Groups (dungeons mainly since the pet choice isn’t needed in any build Longbow or not)

so thats why i put Bear is simply a Bad choice for Longbow users or dungeon runners.

anywhere else like WvW they can be useful while roaming with a full condi build (in small groups ect)

Bear has its uses in soloing easy way. I use it to kill a Veteran Karka or doing the Facet of Strenght achievement in the Glint’s Lair solo intstance.

But that’s it, I normally run Jaguar and Jungle Stalker/A Drake.

Got another one…

To share the general idea.
Every weapon and every pet has it’s use. I use bear in specific situations, and yes, he helps with it’s condition removal. But I don’t use it more than at a specific Dungeon section.

Bear should NEVER be a default pet. Ever. Full stop.
The same goes for the longbow weapon. It has it’s uses, but should never be the only weapon you use.

Expression “Bearbow” stands for rangers that don’t feel the need to be active in the game and get stuck with Bears only and Longbows only, with a build that is self oriented and comfortable, but with pitiful results.

However, I agree that a Bearbow variant is pretty much effective at solo leveling up. But the use of it ends then and there. No place for it in PvE, PvP, WvW, anywhere else.

Its rarely the best but there are situations where it would be considered good imo, such as if you run empathic bond and other pets are dying too quickly, and you really need to keep cleansing. There are situations where even drakes die quickly, even on passive.

Camping a ranged weapon is always bad. It’s not just rangers btw. I see other classes guilty of this all the time in fractals.

Bears have a bad reputation because they’re often used by newer players, but they have legitimate uses in solos or high level fractals. Here are some examples of encounters where bears can be helpful:

• Belka (solo) – tanks Belka while you attack from behind
• Lupi (solo) – can self-revive in phase 3 effectively giving you a 2nd life
• Mossman – tanks, takes stealth attack
• Archdiviner – tanks, usually targeted for imprisonment instead of other players
• Ettin in Harpy fractal – takes the Ettin out of the fight until the other 3 mobs are killed
• Old Tom in Harpy fractal – absorbs Old Tom’s projectiles
• Mai Trin – tanks Mai Trin in lightning fields, buys time for a revive if people go down in the cannon phase