I'm back!!

Hey everyone,

I am a long time PvP Ranger player! Coming back to the game.

Yet things are way different now. New specializations. New maps. New heart of the mists. I've been playing a little this past week to get some of the rust off and some of the old ranger neurons firing.

Anyway, I had some questions and I wanna know some things.

1. What are the main soulbeast builds? Seems power is the way to go... but what do you all prefer? Raw dps, more tanky...? This meta is way different than how GW2 used to be and I'm still trying to figure it out. Is condi viable?

2. What are the go-to pets. Smokeskale, duh. Birds seem alright. Arctic wolf for the endure pain and decent movement skills seem alright. Jacaranda seems amazing one done right. What else? Gazelle that good? RIP fear wolf.

3. What are the combos people are mainly building for? Might stacking? Sic em? Mass stealth plays? Wolf stance? Etc.

4. How do we match up with different builds? Like build vs. Mesmer = mesmerBuild vs necro = easy mode, if they don't catch youEtc.

5. Anything else....?

Looking forward to get some feedback and looking forward to some awesome soulbeast time.

From a balanced Boonbeast build that emphasizes on self buffs and sustain to a gimmicky oneshot build i can say Sbeast is pretty versatile. But for competitive play Power is the way to go, condi weapons lack utility.

You answered your own question. Even the order is pretty much on point

Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes

Still thief killer, but we have hard matchups against CC, everything that can combo fast into Stunlocks is dangerous. Also projectile deflects are not rangers best friend but you can counter that with unblockables.

Give it a good test run. Try out meta builds, and vary them at your liking. Best played is not always best playable.

I was watching Moof's stream last night and did a double take when I saw your name on his team!! But no, Eurantien confirmed!!

Welcome back!!

I don't own PoF so can't answer your questions well, I'll leave that to others. I will say however the pace of the game has picked up quite a lot. Ranger overall feels like it has been pushed back to it's old pre HoT roles, plus one, peel and damage for teammates, etc.... vs. Druid dominating the HoT era pvp with forever kiting and 1v2 shenanigans. Just my two cents.

There are really 2 main variations of Soulbeast builds that people are running. My personal choice is the boon build variant: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRBHPxG2JhKQLLYJLgDLALvYZSwyzt/2kbTAoBMBcicXuMXJS/A-jJxHABiv/AAPBAlPJA2XGAA

There are some choices I made with that build that differ from the build posted on metabattle that suit my playstyle better, but ultimately, I find this build to be better suited for being able to hold your own in a duel as well as teamfight.

Optionals: I'm experimenting with offhand dagger over axe. I'm uncertain, I like Axe when it works but Dagger is safe and there's always opportunity to utilize the evade. Dolyak Stance over SoS, Moa Stance over one of the Survival Skills, Strength of the Pack over One Wolk Pack. Maybe different Sigils or Runes, idk, they don't seem super impactful either way. Pets: Jacaranda, Gazelle over Owl. Siamoth over Smokescale if you want to F2 gamble for self utility instead of having a good pet.

The other is the Sic Em based build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRnEqAtCilsAOsAs8ilJBrJA0AmAPBhLwHLP3+bTulI9DA-jpBHQB5rMAAOEAD4IA0i9HC4DAQcXAAA

This seems to me more like a +1 deal big damage and kill something build, but it doesn't suit my playstyle so I don't play it enough, I prefer a Core build to this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRnEqAtCilsAOsAs8ilJBrJA0AmAPBhLwHLP3+bTulI9DA-jpBHQB5rMAAOEAD4IA0i9HC4DAQcXAAA

Pretty much the same description for optionals.

Honorable Core mention: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRjUqQLLWyCOsAVLG+DqOFqhdYf9MIA+04HO6Sk+cA-jJxHAB2XGAgnAg47Po8lAAA

I think you get the gist of what I'd say here by now.

As far as matchups, I can't even begin to tell you anymore, because of the skill disparity. Anecdotally, the only thing that's annoying to kill is Spellbreaker, everything else dies easier.

Just get your Beastmode in and out cadence down. If you decide to use Owl like I do, it's the emergency healing/escape and mobility Pet. Travel and get to fights with Owl, fight fights with Smokescale, recover and kite or leave fights with Owl.

Let me know if you want or need more detail, I know you laid out what you were looking for with good organization and I just kind of rambled while trying to address everything.

Why is everyone running demolisher ammy? and for boons wouldn't diviners and leadership be a good choice?

Demolishers because it's a very power heavy meta and the builds typically have the cleansing to deal with the current condi builds without needing the vitality buffer.

Diviners or Seekers (whichever is the other one with Concentration is) could probably work, but there's still enough Boon removal present that I think we all just build towards reapplication sources instead of duration and allow trait synergy to take care of uptime so we can focus the stat investment elsewhere.

Does anyone actually know the numbers for One Wolf Pack? how good is it really?

@"Eurantien.4632" said:Does anyone actually know the numbers for One Wolf Pack? how good is it really?

Pretty damn good. Aside from autoing with quickness, there are three good skills to combo it with. Rapid Fire, Hunter's Call, and Beastmode Smoke Assault. It deals significant damage in a combo.

This is the build I ran this season. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBMhF6kgXohXsjXwVQglXs0JYPtgBwCLv0uantO9tAQhrkzlG-jJxHABA8EA0Y/BlPFA0XGAA

Ran it every match without any changes. This where I ended up finishing.

Soulbeast is pretty versatile though. You could ask ten different Soulbeasts what they're running and you could get ten different builds. Wouldn't say there's any one way to play it, as long as you're running power. Whatever you experiment with and find most comfortable is probably what will suit you best.

@Soilder.3607 said:

@"Eurantien.4632" said:Does anyone actually know the numbers for One Wolf Pack? how good is it really?

@bhaldor.9837 said:

@Soilder.3607 said:

@"Eurantien.4632" said:Does anyone actually know the numbers for One Wolf Pack? how good is it really?

The question is: run without any big condition removal with mirages and scourges around, just jacaranda beast ability should not be enough. Do you dodge 1v1 against mirage in side nodes?

In some ways I feel like you have an advantage coming in not understanding the meta. You're experienced enough with the game you can undoubtedly come up with your own builds and fine tune them until they work. If you wind up with the meta build, neat, if not, hopefully you've made something that adds to GW2 and the ranger forum.

@Eurantien.4632

Send me a pm in game when you see me and I'll get you caught up to speed. ;)

Welcome back buddy.