Curse

BigTru · Jul 04, 2005, 05:50 AM // 05:50

I've been using this for a while. It works great for me, both in PvP and PvE. I've won HoH several times using it.

Profesion

R / *

Attributes

BeastMastery - 16 (Superior Rune, Tamer's Mask)
Expertise - 9
Marksmanship 9

Total Points Spent - 193/200

Skills

Brutal Strike
Feral Lunge
Ferocious Strike (Elite)
Predator's Pounce
Call of Haste
Comfort Animal
Charm Animal
Resurrection Signet

Strategy

Keep "Call of Haste" on your pet at all times. If your pet is being attacked, spam "Comfort Animal", "Predator's Pounce" and "Ferocious Strike" (When needed).

If you are being attacked, spam ALL skills, and pray you have a good monk.

I can keep my pet alive for a very long time despite what many say. I have learned to be self-reliant, and don't count on the monk healing my pet (I actually do better when they don't, believe it or not). By doing this, I actually balloon my Health up, so to speak. It's simple - if they are attacking your pet, they aren't attacking you. If they are attacking you, they are being wailed on. It's almost as if you have the health of both you and your pet. If your pet dies (better him than you, right?), you can still res (Having your skills disabled really isn't as bad as it's made out to be, I don't feel it as much, now). If you die, you still have some offence (though not much).

PROS:

"Ballooned" Health

Attack from the grave

Pet Attacks cost low Energy, Ferocious Strike and Expertise further help this, allowing you to spam all skills as fast you can without worrying about energy at all.

Element of surprise (For PvP), so to speak. Few will think to take out your pet when they are at a vital moment (Most assume you have no points in BM and are of little expierience). It is even harder to call a pet as your target and tell your Spike group to focus on it. (Trust me, I've tried. Got cursed out quite a few times on TS/Vent). Many underestimate the element of surprise, but ask any Smiting Monk worth his salt, most of the time when they realize, it's already too late.

If you are using a pet with Piercing Damage, Ward Against Melee does not effect it.

You can keep "Call of Haste" on pet at all times, which is nice - 25% faster running speed for pet, 25% faster attack rate for pet.

Despite what many will tell you, you WILL be doing nice damage. Your pet alone does great damage, but chipping in with your bow won't hurt (yourself) either.

You can spam Pet Attack skills even while casting Resurrection Signet.

Good for soloing

CONS:

One Trick Poney (so to speak), as you rely only on your pet.

You must be attacking someone for your pet to initiate attacking

Stupid pet AI. It can be body blocked if there is enough clutter (but not just by one person). Your pet will only attack random people who wonder near our corpse when you are dead.

Your pet does not respawn with you when you wipe out.

You cannot use pets in the Doppleganger fight (Although you really don't need to).

Monk skill "Heal Area" and "Heal Party" effect Pets.

You can't see how much damage your pet is doing (does that count as a CON?)

Can't tell them when to stay back. This makes pulling a bit more tough and can cause unwanted agro.

Everybody's a critic. Everyone will want to tell you how bad pets suck, how you should give it up, how horrible being original is. They will tell you about how Air Elementalists are the only damage dealers in this game and everything else attempting damage should switch professions.

Hard to find PUGs.

If you aren't paying attention, your pet's health bar can easily slip away.

If your opposing enemy is really quick on the draw, they can all concentrate on your pet as soon as it resurrects and might kill it before you have a chance to start the healing process.

Some people really can't stand the disabled skills. This can come at key moments when you must resurrect an ally imediatly. However, all your skills (save one) are based around your pet - You know if you let your pet die, your offence will die.

Acknoledgement

Ok, before you light my ass up with flames about how much pets are lacking, I will say that I do agree they are lacking some major features (check out my suggestion thread: http://guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26800), but I feel that there is enough for me to keep going. I have plenty of fun with my build, which seems to eat Mesmer, Monks, and Warriors alive. That is what it is all about to me, fun.

IGN: S C A R F A C E (W/Mo), Robin In Da Hood Yo (Ranger Extraordinaire)

Vermilion Okeanos · Jul 04, 2005, 06:13 AM // 06:13

I was pretty sure the spider was piercing damage right? (didnt bother to look up) that ward against melee thing was new to me... heh, I wonder if that was intended by the designers... I guess this make the spider even more elite comparing to the other pets... dam... I don't like the spider look either... but I guess when you have a 3-4 feet wide spider crwaling around with big sting and strong venom... you are not going to have a good day.

I can't believe they nerf the call of haste thou... it was 33% faster attack before... well, the dev know before us that the pet have more DPS than a ranger without using any skills...

should have zealous bow string too... then while u shoot to gain energy back, ur pet will still be kicking their butt...

I wish they allow us to change the pet's target easily... so darn annoying when they went off wild by themselves.

Sir Maddox · Jul 04, 2005, 06:32 AM // 06:32

I think Charm Animal should serve to Resurrect pets instead of Comfort Animal. This way, Charm Animal would serve a much larger purpose in the overall scheme and it would allow for half your skill bar to become completely for naught should your pet die and you do not bring Comfort Animal. (In the case of perhaps, a R/Mo.)

Vermilion Okeanos · Jul 04, 2005, 06:39 AM // 06:39

that is one down side of pet... but I don't know if they going to change it... because if they do change it, it would be tough to balance the rest... because you just got a pet that have more DPS than you for almost no downside aside crappy AI.

silvertemplar · Jul 04, 2005, 09:24 AM // 09:24

Quote:

Monk skill "Heal Area" and "Heal Party" effect Pets.

I assume you meant it does NOT affect pets?

Anyway as for the whole charm animal-resurrect debate. I would imagine requiring x points in beastmastery to have the ability would already be a balancing factor? The fact that you can bring pets with you without ANY points in BM is rather absurd. Anyway if you have 16 in BM [and thus basically poured everything into it] then surely you must gain at least a charm-animal-resurrect or a shorter skill-delay [have to remember you skills are disabled when the pet die AND when you resurrect it..so that is a DOUBLE disabler]. With the double disable you cant even heal your pet when you rez it....

Myodato · Jul 04, 2005, 11:30 AM // 11:30

It's good to see more people are battling past the 'pets suck' parties to make good beast builds.

Only comment I'd make is why not take Maiming Strike. Maiming Strike + Call of Haste makes your pet a great catcher in PvP, espcially if you're grouping with Warriors.

BrokenSymmetry · Jul 04, 2005, 11:50 AM // 11:50

Some questions on this build:
- Since you don't have a bow skill equipped, would it make more sense to use a staff/wand from your second profession, to get more energy? Or does Ferocious strike produce so much energy that this is not an issue?
- You can keep your pet alive, but how do you keep yourself alive? You don't have any self-defence or self-healing skills. So what do you do if you get attacked (e.g. by a warrior) ?

BigTru · Jul 04, 2005, 02:28 PM // 14:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by silvertemplar

I assume you meant it does NOT affect pets?

Anyway as for the whole charm animal-resurrect debate. I would imagine requiring x points in beastmastery to have the ability would already be a balancing factor? The fact that you can bring pets with you without ANY points in BM is rather absurd. Anyway if you have 16 in BM [and thus basically poured everything into it] then surely you must gain at least a charm-animal-resurrect or a shorter skill-delay [have to remember you skills are disabled when the pet die AND when you resurrect it..so that is a DOUBLE disabler]. With the double disable you cant even heal your pet when you rez it....

When I do res it, it has 60% health and I heal it for 110 Health each time. That is well enough for me. People usually don't attack it within the 8 seconds it takes for my skills to come back. In fact, if you can time Comfort Animal right, your pet can be ressed as soon as it dies.

I don't feel any need to keep self-defence skills because this is a team-based game and my monk usually takes care of me just fine. Im usually one of the very last people to be attacked, even after warriors sometimes.

I equip a bow because I can chip in my share of damage to add to the pets, can direct it to attack from a distance (I usually use a Longbow, Storm Bow, Eternal Bow or Composite Bow), and REALLY don't need that extra energy.

To be honost, the Expertise is somewhat an overkill. I just have it at 9 for if a Mesmer decideds to get wise and drain me. I never ever run out of Energy naturally without being drained. I get 10 (3 for the energy used to cast it) Energy back from Ferocious Strike every time it hits.

Enigmatics · Jul 04, 2005, 03:46 PM // 15:46

Just to clarify, spiders have unexplained armor penetration, and they don't have venom. Other pets are strictly cosmetic; their specs are exactly the same: attack speed, health, damage, all the same.