Why use Skyscale?

[Memoranda.9386]

I use the Skyscale for it's utility.

Previously, that was the Griffin. Arguably, the Skyscale is too good at verticality, as I have used my Springer only a handful of times since acquiring it. Still using my Griffon frequently, just not as much.

But that's just my thought on it.

[Bellefon.1259]

@"Cyninja.2954" said:Skyscale excels at:

Thanks for these flight tips. I knew the Bond of Faith trick, but it didn’t occur to me to use Bond of Vigor with the skyscale. Huh, go figure.

Poor skyscale got a bad rap for being slow, probably because it got evaluated based on the temporary loaners in Dragonfall. And they ARE heavier than griffons, so initial lift off drags a bit on the first wing flap up vertically.

Yet, apart from that initial lift stutter, skyscale just doesn’t feel as slow to me, even before learning the figures on the wiki https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Movement_Speed#Mounts:

• land speed: griffon = skyscale
• airborne without movement abilities: griffon’s 624 u/s = skyscale’s 612 u/s

Two more tips to improve skyscale speediness:

1. Touch-and-go altitude reset:For the first couple days, I would land on a ledge and wait for the teal altitude bar to fill completely before taking off again. No need to pause, or even land, just touch “valid” ground and keep going.

2. Dash to descend:Angle down and double-dash towards your ground destination, rather than helicoptering down vertically, if going for speed rather than precision landing.

One more tip:

Keybind the interface that should have been:I’m not sure why Anet created a distinction between a “skill” and a “mount ability”, such that there is often confusion now between skill 1 and mount ability 1 — two skills, both labeled “1”, that land/water mounts share, and a third skill labeled “2” for air mounts. And then gave mount ability 1 a default “V” key positioned to the right of mount ability 2 with the “C” key, putting them in reverse 2-1 instead of 1-2 order.

But I think of them as three mount skills 1-2-3. Anet already put skill 1 on the skill bar, but it’s possible to fill in the “invisible” UI skill slots 2 and 3 by binding the two mount/movement abilities to those keys. I didn’t do this at first because I thought it would overwrite weapon skills, but it doesn’t.

[Derdzvero.7051]

@Bellefon.1259 said:

Keybind the interface that should have been:I’m not sure why Anet created a distinction between a “skill” and a “mount ability”, such that there is often confusion now between skill 1 and mount ability 1 — two skills, both labeled “1”, that land/water mounts share, and a third skill labeled “2” for air mounts. And then gave mount ability 1 a default “V” key positioned to the right of mount ability 2 with the “C” key, putting them in reverse 2-1 instead of 1-2 order.

But I think of them as three mount skills 1-2-3. Anet already put skill 1 on the skill bar, but it’s possible to fill in the “invisible” UI skill slots 2 and 3 by binding the two mount/movement abilities to those keys. I didn’t do this at first because I thought it would overwrite weapon skills, but it doesn’t.

This!I'm going to try to remap mount abilities 1&2 to ctrl+lmb, ctrl+rmb in my Logitech software. And I think beetle's and skyscale's abilities are twisted by Anet, by whatever reason.. terrible. Currently it's impossible for me to use the beetle's drift ( holding all W+A/D + C/V )...

P.S. you're correct about griffon too- it got nerfed to oblivion, useless mount now IMHO.

[Crystal Paladin.3871]

One main advantage with skyscale is, we need not worry about annoying enemies that spawn in map locations. If I park my character in Orr,SW,sparkfly fen take a break after a boss fight, I usually find my character lying there helplessly and a filthy risen ugly walking over my dead corpse... Now I can safely park my character in air even ranged enemies couldn't reach skyscale's altitude

[Kaliwenda.3428]

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:I just used my Skyscale to finally map-complete Tangled Depths, and would have finally completed Verdant Brink if not for that darn Vampire Beasts Hero Challenge.I really like the Skyscale. It's very useful.

I got a few map completions yesterday with the Skyscale, and a few mastery points too. I love using the Skyscale now.

[Goettel.4389]

I like the Skyscale but I like my griffie more. YMMV.

[Turkeyspit.3965]

@Scared.7195 said:I'm aware of the discussions regarding this mount but in my opinion most of the info I saw was pre the patch to improve the mount.

What I'm asking now is how good is this mount really? When is it worth taking over griffon? Finally, does it still suffer from the red bar when you mount up after getting an updraft or mounting too high up?

When it launched, and after using the rentals in Dragonsfall, I couldn't understand why anyone would use this mount ever, especially considering the long grind required to get it. I opted to get it though in case ANET decided to implement mechanics in future maps that would be completed easier with the Skyscale, and I didn't want to get left out.

After several weeks with the mount, I barely if ever take out my Griffon.

If speed from A->B is your only consideration, then the Griffon is the go to, without question. But if you're trying to reach a specific point, such as POI, Vista, or anything at height, this can be done so much more precisely (albeit slower) with the Skyscale. I'm sure there are players who are really skilled with the Griffon and can hit any target they want. For the rest of us though, there is the Skyscale.

I don't even notice how much slower it is tbh, because I can get to exactly the point I want to in as straight a line as possible. I saw this in play yesterday when I opted to go treasure hunting. I could follow a straight line to where the chest would be. If there was a canyon wall or tower in the way, instead of finding my way around it, I could just go up and over it.

So for me, for some of these hard to reach places, the Skyscale takes me less time to get there than the Griffon.

EDIT: let me add though, the REAL casualty here is the glider. With the Skyscale, I can see little if any reason to ever use the glider outside of 'no-mount' areas.

[Witch of Doom.5739]

Like some others here, after getting used to my Skyscale, I love it and rarely use the Springer or Griffon. Thanks to the Skyscale I've been able to reach a mastery point or two that I never could before. I still say the acquisition was a boring, tedious grind (the map currency reqs, the repetitive hunts in Dragonfall) but I am glad I have the mount.

[Vision.7265]

It's quick, but not fast so it definitely has some uses. It's best at short bursts because you'll eventually have to cling on something when the bar runs out or hit land (which reminds me of when I had asthma as a kid and had to break a bit to recover my bars). Best at ascending those narrow plank Krait towers. I've used it at TT and the short burst of double barrel roll is good at filling extractors at Crimson wurm but terrible when you have to go back to the ground and crawl around to get more color clouds. The pro Griffey users just dive down to retrieve clouds and deposit at the extractor without touching the ground. Only a few who mastered that and it looks really fun if you can pull it off consistently.

If you're doing that slow exploration thing, it really is good. I can take breaks at berry farming in between some nodes. Whenever I try to engage the huge mobs, the decent is of course so slow that they will ice cube me down and wreck my ungeared berry farmers so I tend to use the other mounts for battle transition or just to get out of there lol.

I only truly enjoy the speed mounts of griffey and beetle, however. If you master them (I have seen few who have) you will play them to play them without any need for exploration. Both speed mounts have races designed for them and the roller beetle has custom guild track pieces you can earn to design your own. That in and of itself means they cared a whole lot about its implementation into the game.

I have a ton of toons that have all or most of the waypoints because of the 2 speed mounts alone. I had full map comp for a handful of toons before mounts even existed so I don't have need for the exploration hover skills of the skyscale.

Overall, all the mounts have their place. I will still use Mr. Bun Bun whenever I can because he's the cutest of all the mounts. Totally the floofiest.

[Cobrakon.3108]

If you doubt its ability to maneuver through maps and various terrain, check this out:

[Starfall Leyline.2481]

When it comes down to it, honestly, I think the amount of overlap the mounts have is healthy. It's not necessarily a bad thing for there to be overlap. Some people will simply play the mount that they enjoy the most regardless if it is "the best" at a particular thing. For example, I see a lot of people riding their springer babbits. They love them to death and use them all the time.

I hate the springer babbits, so much so that the very first skin I got was the goataroo just so I wouldn't be riding a big rabbit. I hate them. I hate them I hate them I hate them. So I use other mounts I like! Not everything in mount play is going to be "this is the best mount so everyone is going to use it." Sometimes it's just preference, and thus overlap in utility gives players more, rather than less, freedom, and actually ensures that no particular mount will be left behind. (Unfortunately. shakesfist at Babbits)

[Rauderi.8706]

If you're not concerned with raw speed, it's a great all-around mount. Climbs height more accurately than Springer (though slower), flies long distance without constant flapping (blue bar slowly degrades, need to recharge/reset on terrain). I don't even have all the masteries yet, but I still lean on it pretty hard for complex terrain.

[Rauderi.8706]

@Starfall Leyline.2481 said:I hate the springer babbits, so much so that the very first skin I got was the goataroo just so I wouldn't be riding a big rabbit. I hate them. I hate them I hate them I hate them.

I feel the same way about that bug. :| Armadillo skin saved Roller for me.

[Vision.7265]

@"Starfall Leyline.2481" said:When it comes down to it, honestly, I think the amount of overlap the mounts have is healthy. It's not necessarily a bad thing for there to be overlap. Some people will simply play the mount that they enjoy the most regardless if it is "the best" at a particular thing. For example, I see a lot of people riding their springer babbits. They love them to death and use them all the time.

I hate the springer babbits, so much so that the very first skin I got was the goataroo just so I wouldn't be riding a big rabbit. I hate them. I hate them I hate them I hate them. So I use other mounts I like! Not everything in mount play is going to be "this is the best mount so everyone is going to use it." Sometimes it's just preference, and thus overlap in utility gives players more, rather than less, freedom, and actually ensures that no particular mount will be left behind. (Unfortunately. shakesfist at Babbits)

Bunnies cute tho. :(

Everyone on the Skyscale wagon, but in the end, it is the freedom in preference that I respect. As long as people don't tell/force others to use or not use a mount for whatever reason, I'm fine with it.

[Turkeyspit.3965]

@XYLO.7031 said:Bunnies cute tho. :(

The bunny is the most unique mount in the game imo. Griffon is old skool, Raptor is Jurassic Park / WoW Horde mount, Skimmer is just a manta floating rather than swimming...but if you need to gain vertical height, why not use a giant fwuffy BUNNY?!

It's fun sometimes to just hop around...lol

[jediwolf.8724]

I had my doubts at first about the Skyscale, but now I use it all the time.I just wish the ground attack dismount had better targeting.I also think it is awesome to see a flock of players on them soaring in to attack a boss.

[Vision.7265]

@jediwolf.8724 said:I just wish the ground attack dismount had better targeting.I also think it is awesome to see a flock of players on them soaring in to attack a boss.

I agree with these two items. I would like to see a coordinated attack using them. However, some people see it as a a flapping eyesore.

[Scared.7195]

Thanks all for the great input!

[Aenaos.8160]

I honestly don't get it.Besides the "hover over everyone's head flapping my flappy wings before events" which I have to admit seems to be a big thing among Skyscale owners,for the little time I used it during the story missions it was way too slow and boring.I prefer my Grriphun.I feel the need,the need for speed.