Is there a ranger specialization thats completely non pet focused?

[Linthenius.3704]

I've never really been a big fan of pet based classes in MMO's.

 

So i'm curious, is there a way to play the ranger class entirely without one?

[Abyssisis.3971]

Soulbeast, just stay permanently merged.

[Gotejjeken.1267]

2 hours ago, Linthenius.3704 said:

I've never really been a big fan of pet based classes in MMO's.

 

So i'm curious, is there a way to play the ranger class entirely without one?

 

Play Dragonhunter.  

[Dadnir.5038]

It's a tricky question.

The thing is that you can play without actively relying on the pet with most specs but you'll always miss out things by doing this.

- Core: You can put your pet in "passive mode" and consider it like an oversized mini pet. You'll lose out a bit of damage and utility but It's not an uncommon way to play ranger (It was more common in the early years of the game when the pet had pathing issue and difficulty to hit it's target unless it was standing still).

- Druid: Same as core, you can put your pet into "passive mode". You'll objectively lose out less from doing so than a core ranger would as the spec focus mainly on the avatar but it doesn't mean that you don't lose anything as the core traitlines are filled with traits that demand some interaction with your pet.

- Soulbeast: Like Abyssis said, you can stay merged with your pet. There is fewer loss in doing so than there is in putting the pet in passive mode as most traits that would proc on pet interact with the merged skills. However, staying merged make you lose the potential of merging and unmerging regularly limiting your build options.

- Untamed: I'm not sure whether there is a "passive mode" on untamed or not, but, if there is, you can probably use it like core and Druid. In any way, as far as I know, the pet don't contribute much to the main gameplay, it sure offer a few skills that can be useful but outside of bouncing the unleash buff back and forth it can also be left as an oversized mini-pet if you just don't want to use it.

 

[Duglaive.5236]

7 hours ago, Gotejjeken.1267 said:

 

Play Dragonhunter.  

 

Likely the best, if at first seemingly odd, advice you're going to get.