Guild Wars 2

We see tons of bears and cats in PvE, spiders and canines are PvP favorites, bird have something of a following, And some rangers swear by devourers. Pigs though, nothing. I don’t get why not. The forge skill can give you a great buff, condition, cc, or stealth to initiate combat depending on which one you take. They have a solid bleed attack, a knockdown that can actually hit moving targets, and they don’t explode immediately.

Is there some reason people never use porcine pets? drakes I understand. The breath attacks are lousy. But why no piggies?

I don’t use them because of their F2 ability being relatively worthless and because they die easily.

Raven and Owl user here. Good (and very fast) F2, good damage, and with traits, extremely sturdy.

Also they’re small (and thus non-intrusive), and party friendly.

Echo.2087:

I don’t use them because of their F2 ability being relatively worthless and because they die easily.

Raven and Owl user here. Good (and very fast) F2, good damage, and with traits, extremely sturdy.

Also they’re small (and thus non-intrusive), and party friendly.

Not sure why you say birds are durable and pigs aren’t. Pigs have over 1k more vit at L80 and the same toughness as birds. I’ll give you the fact that those slashes hurt but its really utility over damage issue.

I actually have had fun playing around with pig pets in PvE. And the buffs provided, especially the plasma that grants all boons, would be nice to have around in WvW. (can’t speak for pvp)

But they just are not practical. You have to order the pig to do it’s F2, and make sure you don’t have anything targeted because sometimes when you do he bugs out and starts running toward the enemy instead. Okay, assuming that didn’t happen, now you have to wait for him to remember how to manifest items.. Few seconds of animation and there’s your item. Now all you have to do is move to it, pick it up, and then use it.

In other words, there’s no time for all that in a real battle. And you can’t even guarantee you get the buff you need at the time. Pigs are a novelty at best, in every situation.

But you always get fun comments if you have one with you, that might make it worthwhile!

Pigs are pretty durable, but their F2 is useless. I don’t see the point in it…yeah it can be fun and interesting but I’d rather use a pet with a solid F2 and just go to work immediately. If I need a tank, bears are perfect. If I want great bleeds cats and birds are the ones to go for. For utility and KD, wolves are great. TBH pigs are in the middle of nowhere, and until they get more love from ANET (why do all pigs have the same F2??) , I don’t think people will pick them much. Every other class of pets have their own special niche.

Oh dude i love my pig pets! however i haven’t used them since they were removed from the rending attacks (Back when it was they applied twice as many bleeds) without that their damage kinda got butchered…

Valderius Rex.4108:

Is there some reason people never use porcine pets?

Looking at stats on another site (not home to verify), it’s not hard at all to see why people don’t like the pig pets. Bears have the same power/toughness and more precision/vitality. So if you want a tanky pet, bear does better. The f2 is fair, but to me it’s kind of annoying to use, and really that’s the only reason to use them over any other pet imo.

drakes I understand. The breath attacks are lousy. But why no piggies?

River Drake probably does the best aoe damage of any pet. The other drakes are pretty mediocre though.

I grabbed my Siamoth and my Pig when I became frustrated about pets dieing instantly within Mr. A (CoE) AoEs.
Sometimes they found Plasma which was actually quite useful.
Sadly you’ll get trash most of the time so normal buff pets are superior (Red Moa+Stalker all the way).

Deleted my main ranger to start an asura, Find the statue beneficial using the games snipi9ng locations in PvP. So 2 pigs from the getgo siamoth and boar basically. PvE they work very well.

Their f2 is bloody good if you’ve reached the point the game has slowed down for you. AKA managing a pick-up use is in the cards wihtout any real effort.

Long dazes AOE 3 second fear plasma!….

The ability using pet swapping to start a fight with 2 abilities(That would be 30 second CD’s as utilities) awaiting pick up without any functional delay.

Haven’t tried them in pvp yet but can see definite possibilities in bunkier builds with advance setup similar to what an engineer does with med kit.

Really appreciate Durzlla’s post of their abilities as my testing of them missed many of their benefits.

@Valderius:

Birds can be very tanky because of their high crit rate if you take the trait for pets healing on crit.

I feel like if you’re trying to use the porcine pet skills during battle you’re going about these pets the wrong way. Most of the skills make great initiators into combat and some of the effects they provide are ridiculously powerful such as the invulnerability from the pig pet. Considering that a lot of people tend to unload their skills in the very beginning of a fight, that 3 second invulnerability can go a long way.

Plasma on the siamoth, especially, is an amazing skill. Every boon in the game? For 10 seconds? come on, who can say these pets aren’t good?

Its simple.

They do nothing “the best”.

Pigs are a little tanky, but if you want a tank, you get yourself a bear.
Pigs can give you a disable every now and then. But if you want disables in pvp, you get a dog/wolf.
If you want high damage, you don’t get a pig, you pick a bird/cat.
And if you want a pet, that can actually survive against massive AoE going on, you pick something that has ranged attack.

So why no one uses pig? Hes just half decent on everything, but there is always some other pet that can outshine him for every single build.

Easy fix for pigs that would make them 30x more useful. The f2 should work like thief steal, it should change the f2 ability into whatever they dug up so you dont have to run over, pick it up, and use it.

lunabaguna.8293:

Easy fix for pigs that would make them 30x more useful. The f2 should work like thief steal, it should change the f2 ability into whatever they dug up so you dont have to run over, pick it up, and use it.

And then the sun would be blotted out from the tears and moans from the thieves about how their unique profession mechanic isn’t unique because rangers have an almost exact clone of it… yeah no, lets keep it how it is…

As the guy a few posts up said about how they’re more for initiating, sure you -can- use them mid combat (i will do it, ESPECIALLY if im using the pig, getting a second heal? Yes plox!!)

As for them being lack luster at everything? Yeah, keep dreaming… pigs are super sturdy, they’re a bear except instead of having ONLY health and piss poor armor they have a nice balance of the two, my boar tanks like a BAMF, deals some pretty sexy damage (especially with a con build) and that charge will ruin anybodies day especially since it seems to effect anyone they run through to get to their target and not one guy…. that may be a bug though, regardless!! It’s amazing!!

Sir Oinks A Lot, you will always be in my heart!