Wolfs are definitely top tier, but I did fight a warrior who avoided EVERY single wolf fear. Don’t forget the fear howl has a very long, obvious animation. the spiders f2 is basically unavoidable because it’s a venom. Drakes are something I’m experimenting with and honestly it’s the most fun I’ve had on ranger. There’s just so much to explore. If you use GS, you can hiltbash the air (no target) and still give them an attack of opportunity, this combined with tail swipe is deadly.
Wolfs are definitely top tier, but I did fight a warrior who avoided EVERY single wolf fear. Don’t forget the fear howl has a very long, obvious animation. the spiders f2 is basically unavoidable because it’s a venom. Drakes are something I’m experimenting with and honestly it’s the most fun I’ve had on ranger. There’s just so much to explore. If you use GS, you can hiltbash the air (no target) and still give them an attack of opportunity, this combined with tail swipe is deadly.
Theres a way that will give you an edge on good players that pays close attention to your animations. You can fake people out and push them to waste dodges by F2 then quickly F3 for wolf. You can also do the same for entangle, but you’ll need to keybind stow weapon.
I’ve been using dual birds (raven/owl) on my Invigorating Bond build, but I have perma-chill for maximum pet damage and having pet F2’s be nearly the same as the ICD as invigorating bond while also being reliable now is the big reason.
Comparably, the wolf F2 is too valuable to “use on cooldown” and can be used for much “bigger” plays, where as with the bird F2’s, they are a damage option and should really be used just, at the best time to do damage mostly.
Other than that though, every other build I would run would have wolf on it. Really, I just wouldn’t run it with Invigorating bond, with the way I build my build.
I’ve been using dual birds (raven/owl) on my Invigorating Bond build, but I have perma-chill for maximum pet damage and having pet F2’s be nearly the same as the ICD as invigorating bond while also being reliable now is the big reason.
Comparably, the wolf F2 is too valuable to “use on cooldown” and can be used for much “bigger” plays, where as with the bird F2’s, they are a damage option and should really be used just, at the best time to do damage mostly.
Other than that though, every other build I would run would have wolf on it. Really, I just wouldn’t run it with Invigorating bond, with the way I build my build.
What Build are you using that makes you not want to use wolf?
I’m using a condition build at the moment and I absolutely love it. Having a bit of free space in my traits I decided to buff my pets damage by adding increased pet condition damage and duration to compliment my own, so I’ve been using devourers and I really enjoy them. The fact that they generally stay out of the way of my opponents and shower them with bleeds and poison from a distance, and occasionally burrow under ground to launch them is great.
Prior to using devourers however I always ran with salamander drake, which has always been a personal favorite. They’re just a very good happy medium, decent damage as well as great for tanking, and their F2 ability, even if it rarely hits someone for the full cast, can absolutely destroy. I do run wolf from time to time depending on where I am, but I spend the majority of my time in WvW, and although most people won’t focus on your pets, they can still die in the crossfire. Devourer’s being ranged attackers and having extremely high toughness to boot, just make them a great option. That, and the Lashtail Devourer’s F2 literally dumps stacks of bleeds on people to compliment my own already high use of bleed.
I mostly run with wolves. Hound and Wolf to be exact (root + fear).
But I remember one time when I was running a full condition tanky support.
I found Bear (black / brown) to be kinda useful. You could either use them for Party Condition removal (2 conditions per person) or the Black bear could use his roar to reduce endurance regeneration of enemies, as well as their damage by roughly 25%.
I also ran “Protect me!” at that time making tanky pets exactly what I needed. But I was trying out the build, only. It was a fine one, but wasn’t competitive enough.
There are rangers who center their yolo burst burst or their about to die here we go tactics around canines. That’s for sure a (maybe more) over 3/4 times successful strategy. But there are players out there who understand ranger rotations quite well, especially when they push you into a corner or when you give signs of doing a burst attack; they will pay more attention to the canine who just got spawned to save your butt than your pew pew action, so they will avoid whatever they and you attempt to do to drag them into a corner. I tend to switch the pace off their strategy by playing the ‘oh no, I made a mistake come at me and waste your burst’ strategy (mainly dodges and a nice crimson red bonfire on their feet) before turning a switch back into the canine pounce of death that we all know about and know how to exploit.
i prefer a cat (mostly snow leopard) and wolf… the wolf is there to rescue my friends or myself in a tight spot. couple of days ago, i got downed by a guard. First i struck him with the downed 2. Then when he came back – Wolf knockdown. Then when he got up, Wolf F2. During this timeframe, my Downed 2 and 3 were ready and i had managed to get a little self healing done between the stomp attempt… so i recalled my wolf to heal the remaining 15%. Struck the guard with downed 2 a second time and got revived…..
That wolf saved my hide that day
Lv 80 Guard, Ranger, Ele, Thief, warr, engi
Currently @ some T1 server in EU
I’m using a condition build at the moment and I absolutely love it.
If you’re using shortbow, Wolf opens up the option as to when an enemy gets too close and you fear them, it exposes their back to you.
Leaving you and your shortbow to lay some bleeds in, can even add Quickening Zephyr to the mix to hit them hard.
If you ask me, the most glorious pvp pet is Siamoth. F2 gives you either plasma (all boons!) or stealth. Then from stealth sneak up on people and hit ’em with 9k Mauls. If you swapped to jaguar beforehand and made him stealth too as you approached; double the fun.
If you ask me, the most glorious pvp pet is Siamoth. F2 gives you either plasma (all boons!) or stealth. Then from stealth sneak up on people and hit ’em with 9k Mauls. If you swapped to jaguar beforehand and made him stealth too as you approached; double the fun.
I am going to assume that you are serious.
The RNG is just not worth it. You might not get the stealth when you need it most.
The RNG is what puts me off pigs… I want to like them but I just cant.
I remember a few months back when they changed MoC and people were so interested by our 9s fear… I spent litterally 15 mintues swaping out between all the pigs using their F2s and didnt get a single skull. At that point I figured, not matter how good it is, its nothing going to work for me.
Cufufalating – Ranger / Part-Time Mesmer
Gunnar’s Hold
I’d love it if the pigs gave me the things right in my hands… I just don’t like running on it,s track to pick-up an item, no matter how good it might be…
And it seems to me the enemies can pick it up, so really not much. Though I do like Siamoth best
I like dual birds cause their tells are harder to read and they give some speed, and they hit pretty bad, without missing much. But that is just in general duels…
Wolf is often a better option in sPvP…
