What exactly is the point of the Jackal?

So I've gotten into mounts rather late as some other games came out at the time, and have unlocked the Jackal finally. So I really have to ask, what exactly is the point of them...?I feel like I'm missing something here, I do like them, and I'm sure the Sand Portal thing will come in handy when I finally unlock it but like, the wiki says they can be used for precision jumping, but they can't teleport upwards onto a high cliff, they can't teleport downwards to a lower cliff, they can't be used for 90 degree teleports and they don't snap to a target or floor. So what do the Jackals do exactly besides Sand Portal? A short forward-teleport in midair?

One really odd thing I found about it was that during the heart to get one, talking to the Djinns they specifically say: "of course you can use the sand portal!" and then you get the Jackal can't use the portal, and it doesn't say that you actually can't use the portals without the mastery for them. I actually had to go hunting on the wiki to figure this out. Not to mention a THIRD level mastery? I mean I know masteries are easier to get now and the xp for them isn't nearly as much as like it was in heart of thorns, but it feels really redundant to put in a feature that's in the tutorial area but also locked until you get more masteries.

Maybe the Dev video about Mounts, and the Jackal part specifically, would offer some answers. You can find them on Twitch or YouTube.

Good luck.

It looks good, doesn´t it ? ^^

Raptor is for flat terrainJackal is for uneven terrainSpringer is for essentially vertical terrainSkimmer is for waterGriffon is for very specific high starting points.

The point? You got me! Seems only to be useful in the one zone with sand portals, which makes it a gimmick. I mainly use Raptor, which is useful everywhere, and Springer and Skimmer where needed, also good in any zone. The only times I've ever used Jackal is when I've had to go through those sand portals. So, it's mainly useless to me.

I was also quite confused when I discovered I could not use a sand portal after acquiring my jackal. I filled the heart and purchased my jackal and immediately went to SW Desert Highlands to finally get the mastery point and POI in the big jugs and was confused when I couldn't jump into the portal and ended up splashing into the water. ( #1 )

• ( #1 ) Of course I figured I did something wrong and just 'missed' it or something, so I fought off the drakes and then hopped onto my skimmer to get back up to try again. Attempt two mirrored the first. I tried a third time and then decided to rebind all of the jackal mount skills and began trying them to see if something changed and one of them activated the portals. I got sick of being mauled by drakes after taking my jackal for yet another swim and then went online to see if I could find any reports of the portal being bugged. Instead I found source after source saying to just jump into the portal as I thought, but then I finally saw one mention that portals require Jackal Level 3 Mastery and I immediately thought "are you freaking kidding me?!"

Regardless of whether my confusion was my own fault due to overlooking some text at the Djinn that explained that portal use was locked behind a later mastery level or if it was not my fault due to that not being mentioned, the fact that, in the end, this ability is locked behind Jackal L3 disappoints me.

• Raptor L3 mastery upgrade = longer jump distance
• Springer L3 mastery upgrade = higher jump height
• Skimmer L3 mastery upgrade = higher hover height
• Jackal L3 mastery upgrade = core traversal mechanic that provides access to mastery points and even to map completion locations (POIs)

Jackal L3 should've been comparable to the upgrades of the other mounts ( #2 ) and the portal use should've been a base functionality.

• ( #2 ) more teleport notches, longer teleports, or teleport distance control where distance can be short or long based on how long you hold down the key like the raptor, skimmer and springer abilities.

I think it's mostly preference. Personally, I don't use the raptor much unless the situation deems it necessary, I mostly use the skimmer, Springer and jackal.

Raptor: it's the best for horizontal movement and with the movement skill, can be there fastest on- land speed but it's easy to get walled by small bumps. It's slow to turn from a stop and can struggle if you need to hop up a short obstacle.

Springer: no question, the most essential of mounts. Even when not specifically jumping up, it can be very good in places with many obstacles and it's fun to just parkour stuff.

Skimmer: one of my favorites. It sacrifices speed on dry land but it's easy to turn from a stop, can ignore changes in elevation, eliminated fall damage, can travel safely over dangerous terrain and with the jackal mastery, it can evade for a long time.

Jackal: nearly as fast as the raptor in horizontal speed but is better at turning both while moving or from a full stop. It can jump slightly higher to clear smaller obstacles and the sand portals are useful shortcuts it open up unaccessible areas. Lastly, the disengage skill, I feel, is more useful in general (things I probably would like the raptor to pull are immune to CC but a hefty barrier can help yourself and those close by).

Griffon: likely the least used, for me. It's fun to fly around from certain spots out of you're trying to get some place asap, but neither of those are things I'm usually aiming for.

Jackal moves faster while climbing steep terrain. Raptor can't even dash there.

Jackal can jump as high as he wants and reset the fall damage by using the dodge skill.

Jackal can cover huge gaps much like raptor, and even go right through minor obstacles.

Jackal looks better, and its footsteps sound better as well.

Jackal is easier to maneuver in tighter spaces.

Jackal has more precision when it comes to difficult jumps.

@Sarge shot Grif.6450 said:Raptor is for flat terrainJackal is uneven terrainSpringer is for essentially vertical terrainSkimmer is for waterGriffon is for very specific high starting points.

Please read this.

Raptor is good for flat surfaces -- it's simply the most effective for this terrain.Jackal, on the other hand, handles hills and bumps way more effectively than raptor ever could.

When people compare the speeds of the two mounts, raptor is somewhat faster on flat ground (jump included), and jackal is significantly faster on uneven ground (jump included).

It takes practice, but the Jackal really can do a "90 degree teleport". You have to jump, teleport (if needed for distance), then quickly turn the camera to face your goal and teleport again. It is NOT easy to do, much less accurately, but it's doable.

And while they can't teleport down to the ground from a high ledge, they calculate fall damage from where they fell from OR where the started to fall from after their last teleport. So jump off of a cliff, and teleport right before you hit. The jackal lands with no damage and no loss of speed.

Finally, check out the final mastery of the Jackal, and think about what that means. Once you have that, the raptor is effectively dodging while doing its long jump. And the skimmer? Yep, while it's doing the higher glide, it's dodging. Remember those tar mines that I'm sure dismounted you a time or twenty on the way to getting the jackal? Just press the space bar, and pass right over them, no problem. The Jackal's real power is that it makes the raptor and skimmer almost broken when it comes to ability to avoid being hit, you just need to master it.

Palador nailed it. I'll add that the jackal also really shines in those narrow passages full of spider webs that dismount you, root you, and summon a million spiders on your face. Teleports safely right through them.

@TheMagicFace.9854 said:So I've gotten into mounts rather late as some other games came out at the time, and have unlocked the Jackal finally. So I really have to ask, what exactly is the point of them...?I feel like I'm missing something here, I do like them, and I'm sure the Sand Portal thing will come in handy when I finally unlock it but like, the wiki says they can be used for precision jumping, but they can't teleport upwards onto a high cliff, they can't teleport downwards to a lower cliff, they can't be used for 90 degree teleports and they don't snap to a target or floor. So what do the Jackals do exactly besides Sand Portal? A short forward-teleport in midair?

One really odd thing I found about it was that during the heart to get one, talking to the Djinns they specifically say: "of course you can use the sand portal!" and then you get the Jackal can't use the portal, and it doesn't say that you actually can't use the portals without the mastery for them. I actually had to go hunting on the wiki to figure this out. Not to mention a THIRD level mastery? I mean I know masteries are easier to get now and the xp for them isn't nearly as much as like it was in heart of thorns, but it feels really redundant to put in a feature that's in the tutorial area but also locked until you get more masteries.

I think the point is that it's slightly faster than the raptor, it can cover longer gaps with its teleport than the raptor's leap, it can change direction in mid air, it basically doesn't take fall damage, and it gives a huge amount of barrier upon entering combat. Unless you can get into the air easily with the griffon, the jackal is the fastest mount for covering varied terrain and the most versatile.

Two advantages of the Jackal no mount can duplicate. Spider webs in desolation that dismount you (you can't fly over them and you can't avoid their location to move on to Vabbi), Jackal can tele through these without forcing you dismount. More evade action than any other mount, you get three evades of any attack and tight spaces don't hinder movement unlike the Griffin or Raptor.

@Sarge shot Grif.6450 said:Raptor is for flat terrainJackal is uneven terrainSpringer is for essentially vertical terrainSkimmer is for waterGriffon is for very specific high starting points.

You got that backwards with the raptor and jackal. I see the difference between raptor and jackal as the difference between a off-road motorcycle and street motorcycle. While there is some amount of crossover between their capabilities; the raptor is best at going across rough terrain and climbing hills. The jackal is fastest going straight line speed when you use the sand jump while traveling on paths.

@Tekoneiric.6817 said:

@Sarge shot Grif.6450 said:Raptor is for flat terrainJackal is uneven terrainSpringer is for essentially vertical terrainSkimmer is for waterGriffon is for very specific high starting points.

I don’t follow. Raptor has the best run speed and the canyon jump sends you off like a rocket, but trying to use it going uphill, or any obstacle that turns up absolutely kills ability’s distance, on the other hand, the Jackal has a slightly slower run speed but its teleport dash is completely unhampered by such obstacles.

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:Maybe the Dev video about Mounts, and the Jackal part specifically, would offer some answers. You can find them on Twitch or YouTube.

Good luck.

I think that kinda qualifies what he is saying.. information is often very lacking in GW2.... its a case of "we told you some, now you have to go scour the web for the rest of the info"

Did you want it as a tool-tip? There may be a thing as too-much-information in-game. It might be a lot of extra work that only a small percentage of the playerbase would even notice. Heaven knows, there's plenty of examples of players not noticing text/information in-game.

There's 72,000+ articles of information in the Wiki; I can't imagine how bloated the game would be if that was all in-game.

I did some speed tests on the jackal during the halloween races. I won almost all my races done on a raptor, but I did a few of them on a jackal too, to see how it compared. The jackal would often only finish ~900 yards behind the lead raptor. And there isn't much for slopes on that race, but with the little there was, it's enough for jackal to keep pace with the raptor.

For any terrain with 20-30% of it being in an upward slope, you'll likely get more speed out of the jackal. I personally always use the jackal, so I don't have those frustrating moments taking a raptor up a hill. I'll really only use the raptor for walking new characters across the desert, to unlock waypoints, etc. Either way, the difference in speed is pretty small, and I like the jackal. (If the springer was a bit faster and could jump farther distances faster, I'd probably only use it) As someone who owns a pet bunny, I love the springer.

Jackals are also good for hostile areas - when you have to cross a location packed with combat and monsters, then the jackals sand jumps will often prove much safer than using the raptor for the journey.

The Jackal is my go-to mount. As others have described, it lets you dodge damage like crazy and it allows you to quickly fall unlimited distances (with a last-minute port).

I also find it to be the most maneuverable of the mounts. The other mounts are all hard to precisely maneuver, and are disorienting to use at times, but the Jackal is smooth and maneuverable. At least for me.

To be honest, my default mount ('x') is the Skimmer, because if you need to quickly mount and flee over difficult terrain -- burning sands, electrified ground, lightning-strike areas, deep water, etc -- that's the one you want, and it also allows you to fall unlimited distances. But when I am not in survival mode, I choose the Jackal unless I'm going over deep water. (Of course, once you level up the Jackal skills all the way, you get the dodge evade for other mounts, which is pretty sweet as well.)

What I read above, and generally what I hear inside game, confirm that it is really a matter of preferences. Personally, I use Raptor and Springer. I find them the most efficient way for all sort of terrains in and out of Elona.Aside of them, I use the Skimmer for special cases, like crossing over long distances safely via water. Typical example. Rapid and safe "fly" through out area Strait of Devastation via water side of it. I also use it in PoF where necessary (sulfur and such).I never use the Jackal apart from one specific case in PoF areas: When to use a sand portal is the easiest solution.

As for Griffon - sorry in advance for what I will say now - I do not enjoy it much. I agree that it is nice to fly with it, but I find the landing by far too imprecise, or better said, I do not achieve to control it well enough. I do not count anymore the numerous times I failed to reach target due to lack of control at landing. And since every times I failed, I then reached the location by using Raptor and Springer in an easier and faster way, I tended more and more to stop using Griffon at all.

So, OP, to answer your question, my personal opinion is that:

• Raptors and springers combined with normal gliding (without mounts) remain the most practical and efficient method everywhere.
• The skimmer can be comfortable for crossing over safely and rapidly.
• The jackal serves only for sand portals in PoF areas.
• As for the Griffon, it probably depends a lot on how good we are at controlling landing. For players like me who totally fail at that, the added value of using a Griffon gets lost.

Well all of the new zones have portals in them, but some are more like short cuts that aren't needed...others are... impossible to reach otherwise.

You know that you don't have to actually ~jump~ to use the Jackal teleport skill, right? You can bind it's special skill to another key if you want. Mine is "V" and I think that might be the default. Also...just "look" where you want to teleport. Also...you can teleport in any direction you can look...even 180 degrees.

The purpose of the Jakal was so that they could add a $25 mount skin into the gem store.

The jackal is for caves and choke points with a lot of mobs, the teleport allow you to not get tagged in close quarters.

Jackals are the only mounts besides Griffons that can fall far and still survive if you teleport just before hitting the ground. I like this because it keeps the momentum active.