Hey guys, new to Giant Bomb, but it seems like a cool community :)

This post came from the discussion from the latest LincolnCast. It's really good discussion and entertainment, check it out. Sorry this post is so long, I am awful at condensing.

I'd like to give my perspective about the current state of ranger pets. As someone who basically only played ranger to level 35 and did a bit of everything during the BWEs. I'd welcome any corrections/discussion you'd like to add to my points here :)

First thing, you can still swap pets to revive them at this stage, people thought it was removed as it was in the leaked notes before the BWE however it did not eventuate. Swapping pets has a long cooldown in combat though (but out of combat it's basically instant).

It should be noted that I saw large improvements between BWE1 and BWE2 on pets, however there are still major issues at this point. The biggest problems I've come across with them are:

• Pathing. Examples include running around cliffs instead of following over them; not being tethered closely enough (ie. if I stop, my pet runs past where I'm stopped and aggros a mob in front of me; this could potentially wipe a group in a dungeon. I think this is a lag issue as the pet just seems to take a second to realise you've stopped).
• Responsiveness. Going from passive to attacking often fails to function, or occasionally even if it shows attacking the pet remains passive or vice-versa. I feel if this was fixed to a point of extreme responsiveness it would allow a ranger to micro the pet in order for it to dodge to some extent (and hence increase survivability on pets that aren't bears). Aside from this, hitting F1 for a pet to attack doesn't always work either.
• Ability Delay. This is particularly applicable to their unique abilities which you have to activate (F2). Often you'll hit an ability, it takes a little while to register, then there's an animation (such as a leap, roar etc) that takes another couple of seconds before the effect is applied. This often results in >3s ability delay. In some cases it's better to just let the pet auto-attack atm.

A lot of complaints have hinged around pet survivability, and there's a few options to fix this. One is, as you mentioned on the podcast, to give them dodge AI. This is probably really tough to implement though, and I'd be worried that it would dodge the wrong way or wouldn't be reliable. Or you could just give them all more HP/toughness. This creates other problems though, mainly in sPvP where pets seem pretty good at surviving tbh. Also there's no reason to take a tanky bear/drake if the cat/bird is survivable enough, as they do tons more damage.

Another option is to have them negate most AoE damage. This would help a little in some situations (mainly WvW), however it's worth noting that the combat in GW2 works such that a swing with, say a greatsword, is always a cleave as hits trigger on where the swing is, not on the target specifically. A lot of big mobs have these sort of cleaving attacks. So you end up rigging the damage input to the pet being basically no damage (if it negates cleave), or just big negating other AoE in which case the cleave kills them anyway. The latter still might be the best option though, it probably would help. Personally I think if they fix everything else, especially responsiveness, pet survivability will see a marked increase and once rangers learn to micro the low HP pets will be used more as they output some insane damage (see lynx).

Another side note to all of this is the ranger's utility skills. Currently 3 of them are missing from the build and all of these are likely to involve pets (as utilities are sorted into groups of four and currently the 'pet' group only has one skill). This may influence how pets function, however I don't want to see them hinging on these skills as obviously a lot of the time you may choose other utilities that better complement your build. The one skill that currently exists is 'Search and Rescue', which directs your pet to go rez an ally (85s CD).

Here's hoping the pet stuff gets fixed before launch (and hopefully BWE3) as they said in the recent interview!

TL;DR: It's the same pet problems we all know and hate by this stage. IMO Responsiveness needs fixing first, then we can debate the other stuff. Thoughts?

@garion046:

As a completely random aside, I've been considering switching from rifle warrior to ranger. What are your / everyone's feelings on the weapons available to ranger? To me, longbow seems like the general way to go.

Also, what kind dynamic do pets add? (do you feel that their commanded ability / what pet you choose is an intrinsic element of a ranger's build?)

I find myself apprehensive about having to rely on AI, and wriggling out from under my snugly warrior blanket - any input with depth would be much appreciated.

Great, informative post. As I haven't touched the ranger yet, I was wondering about the remaining issues for pet functionality. Looks like more of it is down to rough AI than I thought.

The best way I would think it would work is for a pet to have an evasiveness rating. Rather than worrying about which way your pet is going to dodge or imbalance them by bumping up their HP, just have a dice roll to determine whether the attack is "Evaded" by your pet. If they evade it they take no damage, if not then they get hit. Seems like a simple enough solution to me that would work for all parties.

Really nice post. I played the ranger to around level 8 in the first BWE, and didn't really give the pets any thought. I played around a tiny bit more in one of the stress test and they are pretty useful, although I mainly used them for the traits you get for extra crit on pet switch (or something similar to that)

@selfconfessedcynic: The longbow is pretty handy. I run it in PvE and WvW due to the high damage it can do at long range, and the utility of having a vulnerability, knockback and AoE on one weapon is very powerful. However my must-have combo at the moment is axe/warhorn. The axe has a bouncing default attack, splitblade attack (5 fanning axes which bleed and can hit multiple targets, or a single target if you're in melee), and a chill axe which is great for slowing down fleeing opponents. Combined with the warhorn which has those nifty birds and a huge AoE swiftness/fury/might buff, it's a very dangerous combination. For PvE/WvW I plan to run this build (note this doesn't always link well to the traits, some of it may be incorrect to what I entered). For sPvP I currently run this. The greatsword's damage is just too good to pass up for PvP, especially as it allows you to fight on the point whereas the longbow forces you to stay at range.

As far as pets go, I think the type you choose is important, because it will dictate how much you're going to let your pet 'tank', and how much you're going to take the mobs attention. If the abilities were more responsive, there's definitely some tactical ways to use both their intrinsic and activated abilties. Note: each pet type (like bear or feline) has 3 intrinsic abilities which are AI controlled, and then each pet within the type (such as polar bear or lynx) has a 4th unique ability that can be activated at will by the ranger. All these have different CDs. I'm going to copy what I put on reddit a week or so ago, it's still pretty much what I think. I'll just do a run-down of everything I've managed to figure out that works for me. Take from it what you will. I haven't done a lot of sPvP so tactically I don't know much I'm afraid, I just tend to throw my pets at them and hit the skill when it seems to make sense.

PvE:

• Bears. They're just very tanky. The polar bear has slightly more power according to luna atra (I get a lot of my info on skills from their skill calculator), but I suspect that might be incorrect as a lot of numbers seem to vary strangely. Regardless, the chill is pretty handy if you're not worried about conditions.

• Drakes also are tanky and have increased toughness. They also have some damaging bouncing skills or conal AoEs. Nifty.

sPvP:

• I used a lynx + marsh drake combo. The lynx has a heavy bleed and does a lot of damage in general, and the drake has a ranged bouncing swarm of insects and is a bit more tanky.

• Dogs have both a knockdown and cripple on their leaps, and have a variety of activated useful skills varying from fear to fear to chill to immobilize to granting regen. I haven't really tested them yet.

• Apart from the other dogs, Hyenas in particular are interesting as they can summon another hyena, which is on a timer unless killed. It has its own health bar, and will not die if your pet does, however it does disappear if you swap I think. Good for confusing players who don't know about the hyena, and it does good damage.

WvW:

If you find yourself getting into a lot of small fights, use your sPvP pets. Otherwise, there are a few different options.

• Moas have an AoE heal, the white one also has an AoE regen. The golden one is listed as having a vigor and swiftness buff, however I don't know if it's actually a tamable pet as I haven't seen it found by anyone yet.

• Birds such as ravens and hawks have an AoE swiftness, which they activate when you tell them to attack something. You can be running through an area with mobs and just tell your pet to kill one of them, get the buff, and just keep running and pull your pet back.

• Ranged pets such as spiders or devourers are also an option. Some of these also create poison combo fields; I think all spiders do this, as well as the carrion devourer's poison field. The marsh drake's insect swarm and the river's drake's bouncing lightning are also ranged.

I'm yet to look into aquatic pets, that will probably have to wait until release. Some pets are amphibious, and their unique skill changes underwater to one that makes sense in that environment but usually has much the same effect.

I should say that the ranger seems to be the class I've heard people be most divided on liking. Some love it, others find it completely boring. So I wouldn't assume anything before testing things out for yourself.

@garion046: Thanks for that

You're not the only one who recommends axe + warhorn, and to me that sounds like pretty much the perfect offhand, especially as I don't love the way ranger handles the greatsword. (I love the idea of being able to strike at someone from 1500 units away. Man. The longbow.)

As you say, it will all come down to play testing on my end to finally make the call.

I'm making the SHIT out of an Asura Ranger this BWE.

I gave bears a try during the stress test and they are by far the best pets IMO (in PvP at least). I used birds, spiders, cats, and dogs in BWE2 and they always kept dying. I also found that their F2 skills were very unresponsive (sometimes they would attack, other times they wouldn't). Bears can stay alive forever while still packing a bit of punch. Spec for 2 second quickening zephyr on pet swap, and you're good to go. I mained a petless ranger in GW1 so I was disappointed with the forced pet mechanic in this game, but after trying out bear pets I'm okay with it. You don't need to micromanage them at all and you don't need to invest anything in beastmastery.

I think a ranger is a lot more effective if they just focus on doing their thing while letting the pet act as a meat shield and distraction. You lose a lot of damage potential by speccing in beastmastery as pets are much less efficient at dealing damage than your bow or sword. They also hinder your awareness when you have to spend too much time micro-managing them.

@garion046: Thanks for that

You're not the only one who recommends axe + warhorn, and to me that sounds like pretty much the perfect offhand, especially as I don't love the way ranger handles the greatsword. (I love the idea of being able to strike at someone from 1500 units away. Man. The longbow.)

As you say, it will all come down to play testing on my end to finally make the call.

I'm making the SHIT out of an Asura Ranger this BWE.

@Dark_Lord_Spam said:

@selfconfessedcynic said:

@garion046: Thanks for that

You're not the only one who recommends axe + warhorn, and to me that sounds like pretty much the perfect offhand, especially as I don't love the way ranger handles the greatsword. (I love the idea of being able to strike at someone from 1500 units away. Man. The longbow.)

As you say, it will all come down to play testing on my end to finally make the call.

I'm making the SHIT out of an Asura Ranger this BWE.

I think the ranger might be the profession where I've heard the most variation on people's favorite weapons. Hopefully, using greatsword + longbow on my bad-ass norn ranger will work out well.

That's one of the most powerful weapon combinations in the game.

Longbow can deal over 9k with rapid fire, and the greatsword auto attack deals between 2.5-3.5k (numbers on target golems). Couple that with quickening zephyr and you can shred people (squishies go down in seconds if they catch all your arrows/hits). Of course the catch is that rangers don't have much control skills (with that weapon setup) so it's easy to dodge out of attacks.

I normally don't mind reading walls of text but this thread is out of control! At least most of it is interesting.

@shinboy630: haha! I love reading longer, more in depth posts.

SO THERE.

@Dark_Lord_Spam: @shinboy630:

Woah Woah, everybody CALM DOWN....

and listen to some of this sweet Mike B remix : D

ED: See? Good music breaks down all barriers and calms all conflicts.

I loathed the Ranger in BWE 1, and it was mostly because having to revive your pet after each fight just killed the pacing. That got fixed in a real big way in BWE 2 and I just loooooooooved me some ranger.

I wasn't paying that much attention, but the only one of your issues that really stuck out was the ability delay (not saying the others aren't there!). I used a Stalker (that Roar is super powerful! A must-have to take down those regenerating Skales...) and I pretty much had to hit F2 in preparation for battle. I imagine it would be an even bigger issue if you had pet skills that did blind or interrupt in which timing is everything. Personally I think that having pet skills be "act first, animate later" would be fine by me (because honestly, it's not like people in PvP are going to be looking at a pet's animation cue).

I took a norn ranger in the last few betas up to 20, and at first I was like many of you, not really impressed with the ranger, most of the bow attacks were pretty lame, but then I discovered this beautiful tool of death called the greatsword. I know most people hated the ranger greatsword, but I guess I'm just strange, it seemed to work perfectly for me. For my weapon swap I used the longbow. I absolutely abhorred the shortbow, totally worthless. The axe was ok, but I didn't like the fact it would agro so many if you weren't careful. With the greatsword I would either slap out a few hits with the bow then superman it in, or superman in, smash em down real fast, then bow and fall back some. The pets, as many mentioned still suffer from horrible AI, pathing, and skill responsiveness. I did find that with the greatsword, the hyena was a pretty beastly..well..beast lol. The ability to add yet another damage packet with the summoned hyena made a huge difference, I did mess with a drake some, btu didn't get as far with it as I really wanted to. I'm gonna try to hunt down more pets to test this next beta and see how well they work while using a greatsword because I believe it might be important to choose the right one in that situation. With some of the other weapon combos you have a little more wiggle room. I will say that despite my hangups on the axe, the axe/warhorn combo was pretty good when I was using a bear for a tank and needed some extra survivability, especially when I loaded the warhorn with vitality lol. Sorry for kinda straying to weapons when this is a pet thread but I think the two go hand in hand really.