A Video Compendium of the various types of Soulbeasts in WvW

This is a video compendium on the various types of Soulbeasts one may meet in the wild lands of WvW from a Necro perspective.

I was inspired to make one after watching the movie "Fantastic Beasts and where to find them" where the main character was a "Magizoology", someone who studied magical creatures and wrote a book on them.

Includes various Soulbeast solo roaming builds to duos, parties & guilds.Foreword: Many Necros died in the making of this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCJB-1ZAB8M

Nicely laid out, comprehensive video. I must say I was conflicted watching it as both Necro and Ranger are my 2 favourite toons in WvW. Couldn't decide whether to root for the Ranger or yourself! ;)

From my own experience in using my SB: I tend to run LB/GS but with marauders and some crusaders stats for a little healing kick. Frequently swap to Sword/Axe if I want to melee a little more. I've honestly come across 2-3 necros (full dps Reapers) that burst me to shreds about 4 months back when I was unaware (or just plain lazy) of the burst they had. Since then I'm more cautious and kite until I find out if they have skills but generally most necros are dead men walking (pun intended) when encountered solo.

In a duo or 3-team group I find Reaper to be deadly unless focused.

Thank you for sharing.

here is my little list of soulbeasts in wvw,

• glass cannon
• boonbeast facetanker whose pet does as much, if not more, damage
• double signet of stone but still dies in under 15 seconds

that is pretty much it

Team chat seems best when Monkey is around: 1st fight in clip.We have an alt of him in TC as well.

Kudos on making a thread/video/guide from what seems like a balanced perspective.

@Sleepwalker.1398 said:Team chat seems best when Monkey is around: 1st fight in clip.We have an alt of him in TC as well.

ooh you're right lol.Didn't notice the chat.I love Monkey. He is so full of passion when it comes to WvW.Though he can come off as toxic to many, when you strip away the layers he is just a guy who loves what he is doing and wanting to share his knowledge with the rest of the server.Its kinda funny also some of the things he say XDLike 'Lazy XXX commander', or 'Stupid XXX commander' lol.

Only ranger that had any clue on how to fight was the one kiting for longbow. This is why I no longer main necromancer and do not play holosmith. The strategy goes as such -> when opponent enters death shroud or photon forge -> kite away. A good thief will annihilate a holosmith as will a good mesmer or even a good soulbeast. Holosmith does nothing outside of photon forge unless using rifle but then he lacks defensive spam. Rifle also needs to be in melee range anyway so the point still remains.

@Ruufio.1496 said:Only ranger that had any clue on how to fight was the one kiting for longbow. This is why I no longer main necromancer and do not play holosmith. The strategy goes as such -> when opponent enters death shroud or photon forge -> kite away. A good thief will annihilate a holosmith as will a good mesmer or even a good soulbeast. Holosmith does nothing outside of photon forge unless using rifle but then he lacks defensive spam. Rifle also needs to be in melee range anyway so the point still remains.

As much as I can understand your frustration at fighting the first type of Soulbeast in the video (trust me, as a necro I weep everytime I fight them), it is not all doom and gloom.To be fair to that type of extreme kiting and high DPS from long range play-style, there are a few points I want to raise.

1. It works well against classes with low mobility/range but can fail badly against classes with high mobility/reflects/stealth (like thieves and mesmers)
2. Not every Soulbeast plays longbow so to say only the first soulbeast knew how to fight is not accurate
3. Soulbeasts with longbow who don't do extreme kiting are not wrong either because they are built to survive better against classes like thieves and mesmers unlike the first soulbeast
4. Even against the first soulbeast as a necro, I had a fighting chance because right at the end when I disengaged with spectral walk, I could swap corrupt boon to spectral pull (because he had no stab), then spectral recall near him, and pull him in before chain fearing him (because he had no stunbreak). He would die if I landed that combo because he had weak condi clear. I decided against it though because I misplayed and didn't stunbreak to dodge his rapid fire in the earlier round and lost almost my entire shroud. Necro without shroud = dead.

Good vid. I appreciate the chance to look on from the other perspective. It's especially cool to see what core necro can still do against the PoF elite spec (considered by many other classes as OP) when played so well. From what I could see the players you faced were not novice, yet you beat most without closing in on death yourself. I can also see so clearly that the greatest strength of boonbeast is its achilles heel as well. It's not news that boon corruption is a great counter to boon builds, but the execution and timing were an integral part as well. By its nature boonbeast will have swiftness, might, fury and protection up for most of any fight, which of course means it will have cripple, weakness, blind, and vulnerability up for a good deal of time as well with your build. Two hits of Corrupt Boon, Enfeebling Blood, and Feast of Corruption seemed to have good up-time on slowing and creating cover conditions for the whittling effects of bleed, poison and torment. Thanks for sharing, and glad I wasn't one of your victims.

You have forgotten the "I dont care about the WvW meta and run in zergs because i need stuff for my legy for PvE" Soulbeast.

And btw: Most edgy Gw2 compilation ever.