Why power soulbeast needs to be a thing in pve

So currently the power soulbeast build with the highest dps does around 27k I believe. Traitlines used are BM/MM/SB. It is however possible to do similar dps with MM/Skirmishing/SB.With this second variation, power soulbeast brings spotter, some ok-ish burst and ok-ish cc, but most importantly, only 2 utilities are needed for dps (the ferocity signet and sic'em), which leaves 1 utility spot open.

This means that, in theory, a power soulbeast could bring spotter and frost spirit in fractals for example.

And this, in turn, would mean that druid may no longer always be the optimal healing build for e.g. fractals, as the offensive support required could be taken by a power soulbeast. Instead, one could replace chrono and druid by support/dps renegade (for the alacrity) and healing/condi dps firebrand for quickness and might. This would diversify builds and it would allow other support builds to see play in a setting where they are not just "niche" and "I play this just because I want to" but where those builds would actually be an optimal way to do 5 man content.

Currently however, power soulbeast has rather bad sustained dps. Personally I think every class should have a power build that does "good" dps, where the maximal sustained dps is tweaked according to the support /cc the class brings and the difficulty of the rotation. Imo. builds like power holo, power dh and weaver are balanced relative to each other. DH has a very easy rotation, good burst, good cc and good utility, but the lowest sustained dps of the 3 (32.5k). Holo has good burst, good cc, and good sustained dps (around 34k), but a roation that is harder to master. Weaver has great burst and fantastic sustained dps (depends, but a lot), but little cc, little support, is squishy and has a relatively difficult rotation.

TLDR: Long story short, if a build like power soulbeast, which has good burst, ok-ish cc, good offensive support did around 31k sustained dps on a test golem, it would open up a lot of doors for different comps in 5 man content and potentially raids too. Also I see no reason why power soulbeast (power rev and power reaper too btw) shouldn't be good pics for power dps in instanced pve content

Wouldn't take much (well, maybe) to do this. For starters, if they change "Sic 'Em!" to be 25% damage/50% movement speed on a 25s cooldown and reduced buff duration from 10s to 6s. Already gives 25% instead of 40% damage in Beastmode anyways, so no big deal, plus the uptime is only slightly reduced (currently 25%/31% vs 24%/30%, base cooldown/reduced cooldown, respectively).

If Loud Whistle's 10% damage modifier above 90% health can work in Soulbeast and do some trait alterations so there can be a GM trait on Soulbeast that retains the bonus attributes for 10s after leaving, then things can get interesting. That and if they tweak Fresh Reinforcement to go both ways so weaving in and out isn't a total bust for the pet not getting boons. Possibly up Bountiful Hunter so Soulbeast gets 1.5% per boon merged so there can be a Nature Magic variant if the player wants to add in a bit more support in trade for damage.

@"Wondrouswall.7169" said:Wouldn't take much (well, maybe) to do this. For starters, if they change "Sic 'Em!" to be 25% damage/50% movement speed on a 25s cooldown and reduced buff duration from 10s to 6s. Already gives 25% instead of 40% damage in Beastmode anyways, so no big deal, plus the uptime is only slightly reduced (currently 25%/31% vs 24%/30%, base cooldown/reduced cooldown, respectively).

If Loud Whistle's 10% damage modifier above 90% health can work in Soulbeast and do some trait alterations so there can be a GM trait on Soulbeast that retains the bonus attributes for 10s after leaving, then things can get interesting. That and if they tweak Fresh Reinforcement to go both ways so weaving in and out isn't a total bust for the pet not getting boons. Possibly up Bountiful Hunter so Soulbeast gets 1.5% per boon merged so there can be a Nature Magic variant if the player wants to add in a bit more support in trade for damage.

Bountiful hunter also should affect condi dmg so boon condi builds are more a thing with Sbeast.Dagger needs aome.improvements too so condi soulbeast could be a thing in PvP.Power Sbeast is already decent in PvE as wondrouswall pointed out does not take much to make it really a considered option.Some changes to OS would be nice too, although this would affect all modes.

The easiest way to do this would to be if they went the route they did with spellbreaker. Add new PvE only 7-10% damage modifiers to 2-3 of the existing traits.

@"arnitheking.8427" said:So currently the power soulbeast build with the highest dps does around 27k I believe. Traitlines used are BM/MM/SB. It is however possible to do similar dps with MM/Skirmishing/SB.With this second variation, power soulbeast brings spotter, some ok-ish burst and ok-ish cc, but most importantly, only 2 utilities are needed for dps (the ferocity signet and sic'em), which leaves 1 utility spot open.

This means that, in theory, a power soulbeast could bring spotter and frost spirit in fractals for example.

And this, in turn, would mean that druid may no longer always be the optimal healing build for e.g. fractals, as the offensive support required could be taken by a power soulbeast. Instead, one could replace chrono and druid by support/dps renegade (for the alacrity) and healing/condi dps firebrand for quickness and might. This would diversify builds and it would allow other support builds to see play in a setting where they are not just "niche" and "I play this just because I want to" but where those builds would actually be an optimal way to do 5 man content.

Currently however, power soulbeast has rather bad sustained dps. Personally I think every class should have a power build that does "good" dps, where the maximal sustained dps is tweaked according to the support /cc the class brings and the difficulty of the rotation. Imo. builds like power holo, power dh and weaver are balanced relative to each other. DH has a very easy rotation, good burst, good cc and good utility, but the lowest sustained dps of the 3 (32.5k). Holo has good burst, good cc, and good sustained dps (around 34k), but a roation that is harder to master. Weaver has great burst and fantastic sustained dps (depends, but a lot), but little cc, little support, is squishy and has a relatively difficult rotation.

TLDR: Long story short, if a build like power soulbeast, which has good burst, ok-ish cc, good offensive support did around 31k sustained dps on a test golem, it would open up a lot of doors for different comps in 5 man content and potentially raids too. Also I see no reason why power soulbeast (power rev and power reaper too btw) shouldn't be good pics for power dps in instanced pve content

would this soulbeast build you have in mind be using Stance Sharing? If so then the third utility should be Vulture Stance and OWP as the elite. 5 man party dps would be increased another 1-3k bringing soulbeast well within meta build range. TBH power soulbeast is already fine in fractals/raids but if you're in a group with class nazis then it won't matter that you bring good dps because you're not playing what the Meta says you're supposed to be. LB+sw/a soulbeast already has good burst AND good sustained dps, it's just not the most optimal choice between condi and power. i'd like to see some modifier increases to bring power builds slightly ahead or equal to condi builds.

ya some simple pve only modifiers would be easy to do now that there is skill splitting. should be done.

I think the biggest work would be on sword, making it an actual power weapon with a worthwhile auto chain and worthwhile power skills overall, same with axe offhand since as it stands it's a slightly worse version of warrior's axe 5. Then fixing loud whistle and consolidating traits overall and that's about it.

I like they are reworking classes so they have several optimal meta builds (IE warrior and mesmer) and power soulbeast would be a nice thing to have for ranger with several condi soulbeast builds and a support spec with druid.

I think most players love diversity

Do you have a source for the 27k number? The highest thing I've seen was just under 26k.

Right now there is alternate comp that uses boon chrono for all boons and take another weaver instead of druid so it might be closer then you think

@Lunateric.3708 said:I think the biggest work would be on sword, making it an actual power weapon with a worthwhile auto chain and worthwhile power skills overall, same with axe offhand since as it stands it's a slightly worse version of warrior's axe 5. Then fixing loud whistle and consolidating traits overall and that's about it.

I like they are reworking classes so they have several optimal meta builds (IE warrior and mesmer) and power soulbeast would be a nice thing to have for ranger with several condi soulbeast builds and a support spec with druid.

I think most players love diversity

Yes but when you tinker with sword mainhand you will get PvPers salty.Best way is probably to tune the dmg modifier on serpent strike up by a lot and give hornet sting a movement based execution so you can stear were to roll to give it better utility.The AA is probably the hig culprit here because it should cleave on all attacks and the last attack should give might to the ranger too, not just the pet.This way sword is jot the go to Power dmg weapon but still packs a punch and shines with utility.Axe OH needs a look at thats true.Mainly movement on Axe5 and charges & skillshot ground target for Axe4.

Axe MH should be unsplittet from PvP so we can utilize it as a hybrid weapon.Dagger MH should get a better power coefficient toi and more utility on Dagger2 and a evade on dagger3.Dagger OH should be improved completely.

Overall ranger onehanded weapons are pretty lackluster because they have ni distinct weapon design or lack utility.