Dueling against Soul Beasts

New to gw2 PvP and I'm looking for some help.Going to ask some open-ended questions, I know there is a lot of different spec scenarios, but just give me any help that you can.

As a _insert profession/build what do you need to know when fighting a Soul Beast?What mistakes do Soulbeasts make when fighting you?What do Soulbeasts do well that you have the most trouble countering?

I'll be grateful for long and/or short explanations.

Edit: the wysiwyg did not include a key part of my question (always use preview 1st).

Depends what you play and what soulbeast play...

I assume you're talking about Boonbeast.Squeeze your thumbs and hope he doesn't get ecto with forage. The only real damage is axe 5 and one wolf pack, dodge these. You'll realistically never really kill an equally good soulbeast. If you're not playing Holo or str SB, don't bother dueling it. Just fight elsewhere.

I've dueled some crazy stuff over the years, but yeah, as Angel said, don't duel boon beast unless you know what you're doing and on a capable profession

Boon Beast or the sic'em glass cannons are what I see most, Boon Beast seems much more difficult though.

I'm particularly interested in the opinion of holosmith's, theives(any build), mesmer(any build), scourge, spellbreakers, and maybe revenant.

I'll duel boonbeasts on my Sword/Shield Conversion holo, but I wouldn't recommend it for most builds that aren't explicitly designed for dueling. With my build, it's generally a slow but steady victory for me, usually resulting in the boonbeast running away (I can maintain consistent high pressure, with significant damage reduction and condi cleansing, but I can't run very fast).

Steal the ecto and use it yourself

From rev perspective on boonbeast, run away and get a few friends to gang up on them. You have basically no chance 1v1 unless they are brand new to the game.

@Brendan.1309 said:Boon Beast or the sic'em glass cannons are what I see most, Boon Beast seems much more difficult though.

I'm particularly interested in the opinion of holosmith's, theives(any build), mesmer(any build), scourge, spellbreakers, and maybe revenant.

Probably not what you wanted to hear but Thief has absolutely no chance vs Boonbeast, hell not even if he interrupted as many heals as possible, it's dmg and skills are way too oppressive for Thief to handle. You can stand a chance as Rifle DE but not even those are OK as Boonbeats Hunters Call will follow to Stealth and reflect of Axe 5 will just pop everything's back to its face while Boonbeast Owl Merge skills will allow it to easily stay in DEs face.Just don't duel Boonbeast as Thief, you can't beat an equally skilled player, it's simply not gonna happen.

For Rev, probably unpopular opinion, but from my experience Rev is good at 1v1 Boonbeast due to its insane burst that can quickly force Boonbeast to defense mode, however you just have to make sure you will land every Sword 4 you are going to use. Save staff block for Hunters Call (or smoke assault if he's running smokescale) but most importantly save Staff 5 and Glint elite when the Boonbeast tries to do Axe 5 (whirling thingy), aware Boonbeast will probably manage to stow weapons and avoid, but beside that you ain't got much choices. Also, you just have to save Sword 3 for low HP enemy or when you are low on HP, otherwise it's just going to get lost in the heals and protection and retaliation, however quick popping of Sword 4 and Sword 3 with some quickness from Shiro can do such tremendous dmg that it can make Boonbeast panic and beging stumbling, it definitely made me more than once. Also saving Sword 5 for the moment Boonbeast is CCed or out of dodges might be a good idea too, but depends on the moment.

Holosmith, the only way for Holo to win vs Boonbeast is to time ALL your CCs so well that you will lend them all, which is extremely difficult cuz Dolyak stance, it's that kind of scenario where you will tear the Boonbeast apart in matter of seconds or you will find yourself in world of shit very quickly.

EDIT: Make really sure they don't pick up Ecto if they're running Siamoth, don't forget you can pick it up too. By the way it takes quite obvious and not-so-short animation to consume the Plasma, so if you have CC don't hesitate a moment.

If u find yourself as necro on a 1v1 with rng u need line of sight right away look at what’s around u if u to open u dead bro

But I was assured by top 250 player that reaper is a superior dueling spec. /s

@SteepledHat.1345 said:But I was assured by top 250 player that reaper is a superior dueling spec. /s

Its... not a dueling spec or a side noder in anyway. Its a team fighter.

Somehow it feels weird for a Reaper to need a team. Thematically it should have been a 1v1 with stealth/stalking abilities and teleports to target. Edit: but i guess thief already took that spot.

@mortrialus.3062 said:

@SteepledHat.1345 said:But I was assured by top 250 player that reaper is a superior dueling spec. /s

Hence my frustration with that 'top 250' player. Notice the sarcasm tag, my friend.

@SteepledHat.1345 said:

@mortrialus.3062 said:

@SteepledHat.1345 said:But I was assured by top 250 player that reaper is a superior dueling spec. /s

Reaper is a power burst teamfight spec with limited point holding abilities while boonbeast is a tanky point holder with limited teamfight abilities, people want build and class diversity but when they do get it...they complain, play a duellist class if you want, if everybody could teamfight/duel and hold points..what would be the reason for keeping 9 different professions in game?...one would suffice

@"Brendan.1309" said:New to gw2 PvP and I'm looking for some help.Going to ask some open-ended questions, I know there is a lot of different spec scenarios, but just give me any help that you can.

As a _insert profession/build what do you need to know when fighting a Soul Beast?What mistakes do Soulbeasts make when fighting you?What do Soulbeasts do well that you have the most trouble countering?

I'll be grateful for long and/or short explanations.

Edit: the wysiwyg did not include a key part of my question (always use preview 1st).

Boonbeast is a tanky point holder, you should use something similar against it and if I look at your avatar I assume you're a reaper, whose role is completely different, eventually a boonbeast would outsustain you because you have a power burst spec.

Now if you want a strategy ...1) If you simply want to hold the boonbeast, at equal skill level even a mender weaver can hold his ground, anything with tanking and sustain potential used by a player capable of dodging predictable axe 3/5 and warhorn 4, all 3 have obvious tell, avoid those 3 skills and the boonbeast doesn't really pose a major threat

2)If you want to kill a boonbeast on your own ..well that may be not possible, if the ranger you're facing is any decent , he will kite a lot on top of having perma regen/protection thx to this busted utility https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Moa_Stance , loads of passive sustain on top of vevry tanky stats.

In the end boonbeast will be nerfed soon enough but ranger duelling abilities will remain in a version or another, the whole class concept is based on duelling, heck you have a traitline just called skirmishing( a loose meaning but you get the point ) , the class will always have an edge vs a necro

@Arheundel.6451 This helps out a lot.

Reflects and interrupts tend to work quite well when using the sigil that steals/removes boons on interrupts (absorption?). Most SB's tend to play aggressively, as if they're invincible (and mostly, they are, unfortunately), but a good mesmer, core warrior (and Breaker), or even mallyx herald** can do pretty well.

**Full condi tank, spam banish enchant, let confusion kill them as they spam skills to try and do the damages while you block and mitigate damage.

Otherwise, if a condi soulbeast... Range damage on a good kiting class; I prefer renegade, gunflame zerker (lol, judge me), or power mesmer for that.

My personal pick for both instances is Mace/shield Hammer core tank warrior... Steal all the boons, and never /let/ them hit you. Eventually they just leave a point and let you have it if you come to contest nine times out of ten. :^)