Never played Ranger. Does Soulbeast 100% gets rid of the pet?

[Aodlop.1907]

Or rather: can it be viable to NEVER summon it?

Because I can see the appeal of the Ranger toolkit and gameplay, but I'm just not a pet person in video games. 

So I could be interested in Soulbeast if the pet is never summoned, but I know too little about it for now.

 

Can't test it out in the Mists either cause I've reached my character limit and I'm debating on whether I should spend 800 gems on a character slot, so your answers will impact my wallet.

[Arheundel.6451]

While you can play 24/7 without the pet, for anything else but PvP/WvW, it is imperative that you learn when to unmerge and vice versa  to maximise results. There are many traits that trigger on merging and unmerging.

Edited July 14, 2021 by Arheundel.6451

[Aodlop.1907]

Someone just sent me 250 gold by the mail so I could purchase a character slot and make a soulbeast.

Holy kitten.

[MaikHaensel.8059]

I'm looking forward to your experiences 🙂 Hopefully, you will share them with us

[bigo.9037]

It is largely without a pet. In pvp and wvw you briefly summon pet to pop the smokefield for stealth and let the pet do whatever until you can merge again. That is simplifying it a bit but for most ppl that’s all they need to worry about.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

It depends on the pet for the most part. Like if you use the gazelle, you probably won't unmerge. Being forced to have a pet out is one of the reasons I didn't play core ranger more at launch. I always wanted a button to park the critter elsewhere and play without it. Soulbeast does just that, but depending on the content you may have to unmerge and remerge to maximize your capabilities.

[Aodlop.1907]

I see. For PvP, which set of weapons do you recommend? And which stat priority?

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

6 hours ago, Aodlop.1907 said:

I see. For PvP, which set of weapons do you recommend? And which stat priority?

GS for power builds. Pairs well with Longbow. Shortbow and axe pair well too for condi builds. I'm not going throw stats at you since that depends on your play style. I'm general you don't want to run full glass unless you are great at avoiding damage.

 

Edit: To be a tad more specific. If you are good at using LOS to negate attacks, good at using LB's range to your advantage, and good at evading key attacks and blocking them with Greatsword's 3s block you may have more fun with Berserker stats on power builds for  example. But if that is getting you killed then try Marauder or Demolisher. The next upgrade in defense would be Paladin or Avatar depending on your build and needs.
 

Try some games and see what works for you. Playing is the best way to learn.

Edited July 14, 2021 by Lan Deathrider.5910

[Aodlop.1907]

18 hours ago, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

Playing is the best way to learn.

I mean I keep telling my college teachers the same thing, but for some reason they don't seem pleased when I do.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

1 minute ago, Aodlop.1907 said:

I mean I keep telling my college teachers the same thing, but for some reason they don't seem pleased when I do.

🤣

Still, not knowing your playstyle or preferences that is the best advice I can give you. Go only as tanky as you need to be in order to be successful, otherwise play around with the weapons and pets to find what you like the most. I'm not going to judge you if you run double bows and a Bear pet if that is your jam so long as you are able to play it well.

 

There are meta options obviously, but if you don't like them then what's the point of playing? Find what you like playstyle wise, find stats that work for you for that playstyle, then go have fun.

[Aodlop.1907]

So far I've tried power GS/Longbow but I didn't get too much success with it. I mostly got rekt, I felt squishy and my big damage spells seemed easy to avoid.

I'll give condi a shot, maybe I'll have better luck with it.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Aodlop.1907

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

23 hours ago, Aodlop.1907 said:

So far I've tried power GS/Longbow but I didn't get too much success with it. I mostly got rekt, I felt squishy and my big damage spells seemed easy to avoid.

I'll give condi a shot, maybe I'll have better luck with it.

Did you try out different stats and utilities? If you went full glass cannon while trying to learn it then getting rekted would be expected.

Use GW2Skills.net and you can put the builds you use together there and share the link here on the forum thread. People can give you better pointers on your builds from there.

 

If you're inclined to record your gameplay and share it, then people can also give tips based on your gameplay.

[bigo.9037]

On 7/15/2021 at 12:21 PM, Aodlop.1907 said:

So far I've tried power GS/Longbow but I didn't get too much success with it. I mostly got rekt, I felt squishy and my big damage spells seemed easy to avoid.

I'll give condi a shot, maybe I'll have better luck with it.

Unfortunately these days the playerbase has been around for a long time so you’re gonna be behind the curve for a while unless you put some effort into getting better for a while. 
 

ranger is not that strong in spvp atm, it plays best in wvw when it comes to pvp modes. There it’s also easier to learn the ins and outs. 
 

i wouldn’t recommend condi tho, it’s a lot harder to deal high damage and it’s also more difficult to survive. 

 

what you need to learn first is NOT your damaging abilities, but your defensive abilities. Damage will come , staying alive is more important. Especially when you’re just starting out. 
 

 

heres a rotation tip for gs/lb, use with grain of salt.. or maybe an entire pile. But it’s something to get started:

 

start Lb, use lb#4, then lb#2. Continue auto attacking until enemy retaliates, then use hunters shot and reposition yourself. Now cast lb#5 on top of yourself, and auto attack enemy until they come close. ( assuming they are melee) when enemy comes close, cast gs#4 and block their attacks, follow up with the gs#4 again to knock them back, then cast gs#2 to deal damage. Now unmerge with pet, (smokescale is a must) use the smoke field, use gs#3 to leap into smokefield for stealth. 
 

depending on what enemy does now, stay gs and try to land another gs#2 on enemy, or switch to longbow and open with lb#2, then cast lb#4 as soon as they start doing literally anything just to interrupt them. Follow with auto attacks, or lb#3 if enemy uses stunbreak and tries to hit you back with melee or ranged abilities. 
 

rinse and repeat. You have a LOT more options than this, and there are many counterplays to certain classes including mirror fights, but with this rotation you’ll get the hang of it. 
 

the most important  part is using lb#3, gs#4, and leaping into smokefield for stealth with gs#3. 
 

and I haven’t even mentioned the merged skills.. but the base weapon skills are most important to learn, the merged pet skills are more of a utility or counter play measure which isn’t important when you’re just learning the basics.

 

As for utilities, dolyak stance gives you stab but also 33% dmg reduction, so if you’re in melee and you’re gonna be trading hits, it’s a good idea to pop that skill while trying to deal damage depending on situation ofc. 
 

 

Edited July 26, 2021 by bigo.9037

[Spartacus.3192]

pets was also the reason i barely played ranger. I tried druid back in HOT days but could never get into the pet swap thing. Might give soulbeast a go if i dont have to worry about my pet too much

 

[Arrys.7145]

1 hour ago, Spartacus.3192 said:

pets was also the reason i barely played ranger. I tried druid back in HOT days but could never get into the pet swap thing. Might give soulbeast a go if i dont have to worry about my pet too much

 

When you die and respawn, reset terrain (New pet availability transition zone) (Highly Annoying).

 

Find the right pet and you have a ranger with 3 extra abilities.

[voltaicbore.8012]

One important thing to note is that your pet's ability cooldowns are separate from your merged ability cooldown. So in the case of the gazelle, for PvE breakbars it's extremely handy to have the gazelle unmerged so you can command it to do an F2 cc, then it can do its charge cc, at which point you can merge and press F2 again for another cc (on top of your own weapon or ability ccs). Similar things can be achieved with other pet abilities that are handy to have multiple copies of.

 

I generally have much more success with full glass (zerker stats) power longbow/GS builds in spvp. As @bigo.9037 mentioned, it's kind of hard to do enough damage with condi and the sustain is based on dodges anyways - might as well do the same thing on a more reliably damaging build.

 

Overall though it sounds like ranger is not really your thing anyways, so I guess you don't have to concern yourself with any of this.

Edited July 27, 2021 by voltaicbore.8012

[KeyOrion.9506]

Soulbeast can "merge" with their pet, and you can add additional skill set to use in combat.  Or you can stow the pet, if you don't even want that option.  Either/or, soulbeast does have options beyond having your pet run around now.

[BadSanta.6527]

If you are looking for petless class dont play ranger !! yes you can play petless soulbeast but you will lose alot 

[Head Kracker.4790]

So honestly I never recommend full Berserker to anyone. Instead I always recommend Marauder gear with either marauder trinkets, assassin trinkets, Berserker trinkets or Valkyrie trinkets depending on what effect your looking for. Pets wise pve I like Electric Wyvern and Jacaranda with a smattering of Bristleback. I would recommend trying out your pets overall to find one to suit your playstyle. Smokescale and a somewhat dealers choice for wvw, alot of people use Hyena, Bear, and Rock Gazelle.

[Aodlop.1907]

On 7/29/2021 at 12:51 AM, Head Kracker.4790 said:

Jacaranda

Heh. I hate cheesy bullsheet in PvP games. I don't want to be that guy.

[Lazze.9870]

28 minutes ago, Aodlop.1907 said:

Heh. I hate cheesy bullsheet in PvP games. I don't want to be that guy.

 

I mean, the F2 root is easy to dodge and other than that there isn't much cheese about it. Call Lightning is good for node fighting. The merged abilities with soulbeast has zero cheese involved.

[Head Kracker.4790]

55 minutes ago, Aodlop.1907 said:

Heh. I hate cheesy bullsheet in PvP games. I don't want to be that guy.

That was for PVE mind 🙂. I dont pvp much so no opinion here on that. No idea if its any decent WVW.

[superkaratemonkey.7408]

On 7/30/2021 at 3:40 PM, Aodlop.1907 said:

Heh. I hate cheesy bullsheet in PvP games. I don't want to be that guy.

then you will not like PvP in any game because cheesy=wins/carries, meta specs for the most part are cheesy, including DH... I would say the least cheesiest spec of ranked carry is p.herald 

 

you might wanna save yourself the frustration in that case and not step foot in pvp with that mentality because at the very least you'll have to play them to understand how they work, so you'll basically be trying to learn stuff in an environment you dislike to begin with because it favors the cheesiness you hate so much.

 

 

 

[Aodlop.1907]

14 hours ago, superkaratemonkey.7408 said:

then you will not like PvP in any game because cheesy=wins/carries

Not necessarily. RMP has dominated WoW PvP and yet rogue/mages were the most complicated classes to play correctly back when class design was still a priority. 

In SC2, it's also very easy to scout and counter cannon rushes or most all-in strategies.

 

GW2 roots are just a pain. The animation is discrete and you can't dodge in it. Unlike WoW roots, they also don't break easily on damage.

Edited August 16, 2021 by Aodlop.1907

[Farohna.6247]

WoW always has the flavor of the month, every class has one that offsets it, and the pvp is quite different in playstyle.  If you go in thinking that it will be the same in GW2, you're setting yourself up for frustration. 

 

Much like hunter in WoW, ranger is allied with it's pet, it's a large part of the appeal for many.  It's not the best choice for pvp, but with practice it's more fun.  You will need to master dodging, positioning, and timing so you're not just standing there waiting on cooldowns.  WvW can be fun, especially as a roamer.  You are indeed squishier than some.