Last 3 traits of BM

[MeTx.6712]

If you go with the beastmaster trait line, the last 3 traits (usually the strongest), need a little rework I think.

You currently have the option of:

a) Taunt, which will focus all damage on you

b) Useless if running Soulbeast

c) useless if not running axe

 

I feel that there is not really a go-to trait here unless you want to five enemies to focus you. I would like it if it at least wasn't taunt that was inflicted, but a less dangerous condition - we're not really meant for tanking.

[Durzlla.6295]

I mean, you still get the quickness as a Soulbeast, it just requires you to drop beast mode. And the taunt has a 20s Cd, so if you use your pets F2, and then merge you won’t taunt things onto you until those 20s are up.

 

You have to keep in mind Beastmastery is a core traitline, those traits aren’t designed for the sole purpose of being used with Soulbeast, and if you were running a bruisery or tanky Soulbeast the AoE taunt could be super useful for you, especially if you triggered it on the invuln beast skill.

[Substance E.4852]

Taunts don't really focus any real damage on you. It's more like a reverse fear effect.

[Gotejjeken.1267]

Taunt is still useless for a GM IMO. Master traits same way...either GS trait or two rather useless ones.

[Durzlla.6295]

> @"Gotejjeken.1267" said:

> Taunt is still useless for a GM IMO. Master traits same way...either GS trait or two rather useless ones.

 

Taunt is hardly useless, in PvE it’s a lot of breakbar damage, and in PvP it’s a really nice AoE interrupt that will combo very effortlessly into your pets F2 attack, or your F2 attack (taunt on worldly impact is stupid good).

 

Now our BM master tier line is.... really bad, and our adept tier is passable at best. But the minors and the GMs are all solid.

[Gotejjeken.1267]

Sorry, yeah I should have specified from WvW perspective Taunt isn't all that appealing to me.

 

Keep forgetting that other modes are definitely a thing, but I 99% of time just WvW.

[Durzlla.6295]

> @"Gotejjeken.1267" said:

> Sorry, yeah I should have specified from WvW perspective Taunt isn't all that appealing to me.

>

> Keep forgetting that other modes are definitely a thing, but I 99% of time just WvW.

 

Ah, yeah in anything WvW other than dueling taunts not gonna be too useful lol.

[anduriell.6280]

> @"MeTx.6712" said:

> If you go with the beastmaster trait line, the last 3 traits (usually the strongest), need a little rework I think.

> You currently have the option of:

> a) Taunt, which will focus all damage on you

> b) Useless if running Soulbeast

> c) useless if not running axe

Somehow i agree with you, but all that could be easily improved if:

a) Taount to work in Soulbeast the same as when casting the pet's F2, to trigger at the begining of the cast. Now Taunt triggers at the end which makes the effect less than usefull. If it would trigger when the beast hability is cast (ex.. wordly impact) that trait would make the skill easier to land. Even the healing beast ability would benefit from taunt at the beggining as would make more difficult to casts CCs in melee range (affected players just AA).

b) If Sould beast would be allowed to swap pets while merged this traits would be of most usefull (minor clarion bond would be amazing too improving the survivability of the Soulbeast)

c) I use sw/axe for roa and Axe/Axe when in zerg. I find the trait fine with Sw/Axe, to make axe MH to work to would need dagger off hand (as warhorn and torch have their uses) to become a mobility/CC offhand weapon. There are some threads were other users gives some ideas.

 

 

 

 

[HeadCrowned.6834]

The BM traitline aint that bad. I feel like the 3 master traits are worse off, except the GS trait which is oke. Of the grandmaster traits, the axe trait is oke because it gives quite alot if you run axe. The Lesser QZ trait is decent, but not really worth it to take the traitline for if you don't run Wilderness Survival. The taunt trait is lacking, because you can't use your pets F2 reliably. You can have a nice dmg burst with it, but sometimes you want to use your F2 when your opponent has stability you know. So in that sense I agree with the OP that the BM Grandmaster traits are pretty narrow. Its a traitline that you can't use in a lot of setups.

[InsaneQR.7412]

Beastmastery i an overall mess IMO.

Shout trait us support, natural healing is sustain, axe trait is somewhat ferocity and somewhat a condi trait. Minors are power traits.

F2 traits are rather underwhelming and the only reason why its used for Sbeast is potent ally and the GS trait together with the minors.

It should ve reworked in a jack of all traits line where your pet gets stats depending on archetype and specific bonusses per family. Where you have 3 lines each covering something else like defense, power offense and condi offense. So it can complement builds but still be unique on its own.

[Shadelang.3012]

I...kind of have to disagree with this post.

The BM Grandmasters are a pretty solid. The only weak one I feel being the top one.... I guess they could seem lackluster PURELY from a pve standpoint.

 

Quickness and superspeed are ALWAYS good. I mean yeah you might have to unmerge. But thats not really a big deal. And superspeed is EXTREMELY useful when you need to get out of something regardless of game mode. Having a reliable low cooldown GUARANTEED source of superspeed is amazing.

 

In PVE I can see needing to unmerge being annoying but losing a little damage to get out of something is fine in my book. Especially if it keeps you above 90% (pack alpha and scholar rune damage bonuses for power builds.. as well as making it easier to maintain Oppressive Superiority)

 

The axe trait is decent. A solid stat boost. Again yeah largely a power build setup but thats fine. Beast mastery has almost always favored power builds aside from one trait that provides a source of bleeding. Thats not a bad thing.

 

As far as the taunt goes. Its difficult to use in pvp and wvw but its still fairly strong. Issue is taunt requires a "strike" to hit now ever since the nerf. Making it countered by the active defense meta we find ourselves in. (Though this just means it requires damn good timing)

 

And in pve its another CC for breakbars if you really need it.

 

I mean. Not every trait has to be amazing for PvE. They are all decent and fulfill there rolls. And they all WORK. I can't see anything really fitting the label for bad traits here.

 

GM1s taunt is decent in PvP In skilled hands. Can be lethal in WvW. Less useful in PvE but still has a niche.

GM2 is amazing in PvP and WvW as it provides the two most vital things to a ranger in combat. Increased mobility and action speed. Its good in PvE as a method of GTFO out deadly things or even just getting to a mechanic faster. Many pets do enough damage with their cooldowns to be worth having out even if its for a short time so you shouldnt lose TOO much dps unless you just leave it out longer than necessary. And the quickness will help mitigate the dps loss further.

GM3 is solid in PvP less so in WvW (just due to the build metas) and would likely be BIS in PvE if power soulbeast was meta due to the ferocity bonus.

 

Just my two cents though. I may be biased because I have almost always used this traitline in all 3 game modes.

 

As far as GM2 being useless while running soulbeast. Outside of raids I don't know why you would ever camp beast mode. You are giving up so much potential utility, cc, and burst. Just because you CAN camp soulbeast doesn't necessarily mean you should.

 

 

[Eggyokeo.9705]

I like using my axe when zerging so the axe trait is great for spamable chill.

 

The quickness triat is also great for when you have an offensive and a defensive pet. When in trouble you can unmerge swap pets straight away use the quickness to use an defensive skill (from gs maybe) or to by time to get in to your defensive pet.

 

Taunt is also use for as an intrupt in to point blake shot if some one in on you

[starlinvf.1358]

> @"InsaneQR.7412" said:

> Beastmastery i an overall mess IMO.

> Shout trait us support, natural healing is sustain, axe trait is somewhat ferocity and somewhat a condi trait. Minors are power traits.

> F2 traits are rather underwhelming and the only reason why its used for Sbeast is potent ally and the GS trait together with the minors.

> It should ve reworked in a jack of all traits line where your pet gets stats depending on archetype and specific bonusses per family. Where you have 3 lines each covering something else like defense, power offense and condi offense. So it can complement builds but still be unique on its own.

 

Its a side effect of how Core Ranger trait design being all over the place as well. Each of Ranger's weapons take 2 trait lines to properly spec, most utility skills need their associated trait to be properly effective, a damage type takes 2 trait lines to properly boost, and running 2 weapons of the same damage type causes contention in your trait choices to max out. A core Ranger build REQUIRES all 3 trait lines to be coherent; and is the only class that logically runs better by having identical weapons sets to abuse weapon swap triggers. This carries over into Druid and Soubeast, where the trait contention is made even more obvious. Druid is pure support, so you lose out on substantial damage modifiers for your weapons. However Condi Druid sort of worked because most of the personal cDPS traits are in 2 lines, and ran mostly Glyphs and Spirits. Condi Soulbeast at least has alignment with more condition sources to improve burst condi. But Power SB has issues, since Marksman has all the burst damage modifiers, Skirmish has most of the Crit modifiers, and Beast Master has most of the sustain damage bonuses.

[InsaneQR.7412]

> @"starlinvf.1358" said:

> > @"InsaneQR.7412" said:

> > Beastmastery i an overall mess IMO.

> > Shout trait us support, natural healing is sustain, axe trait is somewhat ferocity and somewhat a condi trait. Minors are power traits.

> > F2 traits are rather underwhelming and the only reason why its used for Sbeast is potent ally and the GS trait together with the minors.

> > It should ve reworked in a jack of all traits line where your pet gets stats depending on archetype and specific bonusses per family. Where you have 3 lines each covering something else like defense, power offense and condi offense. So it can complement builds but still be unique on its own.

>

> Its a side effect of how Core Ranger trait design being all over the place as well. Each of Ranger's weapons take 2 trait lines to properly spec, most utility skills need their associated trait to be properly effective, a damage type takes 2 trait lines to properly boost, and running 2 weapons of the same damage type causes contention in your trait choices to max out. A core Ranger build REQUIRES all 3 trait lines to be coherent; and is the only class that logically runs better by having identical weapons sets to abuse weapon swap triggers. This carries over into Druid and Soubeast, where the trait contention is made even more obvious. Druid is pure support, so you lose out on substantial damage modifiers for your weapons. However Condi Druid sort of worked because most of the personal cDPS traits are in 2 lines, and ran mostly Glyphs and Spirits. Condi Soulbeast at least has alignment with more condition sources to improve burst condi. But Power SB has issues, since Marksman has all the burst damage modifiers, Skirmish has most of the Crit modifiers, and Beast Master has most of the sustain damage bonuses.

 

Thats basically what i critizise about the line.

Skirmishing us the hybrid line that revolves about combat and dealing dmg during fight.

Marksmanship is about entering a fight and end it quickly and beastmastery should be the line that gives bonus depending on pet choice and improve combat with the pet.

So for example your pet gives you and itself bonus stats depending on archetype and you get nore of them as a Soulbeast.

So you could get more healing , more ferocity, more expertise etc.

This would give pet choice more meaning and more versatility which the class excels at.

This traitline should not revolve dmg it should revolve arround utility and conplementing different playstyles.

Skirmishing is sustained dmg and condi dmg.

MS is power burst and pure dmg.

WS is sustain and condi dmg.

NM is support and dmg (through boons)

And BM should be Pet utility and jack of all trades complementation.

More utility would give the traitline a distinct feel and use and bettwr usage in different builds ibstead of being power with some oddballs.

[Eleazar.9478]

> @"InsaneQR.7412" said:

> > @"starlinvf.1358" said:

> > > @"InsaneQR.7412" said:

> > > Beastmastery i an overall mess IMO.

> > > Shout trait us support, natural healing is sustain, axe trait is somewhat ferocity and somewhat a condi trait. Minors are power traits.

> > > F2 traits are rather underwhelming and the only reason why its used for Sbeast is potent ally and the GS trait together with the minors.

> > > It should ve reworked in a jack of all traits line where your pet gets stats depending on archetype and specific bonusses per family. Where you have 3 lines each covering something else like defense, power offense and condi offense. So it can complement builds but still be unique on its own.

> >

> > Its a side effect of how Core Ranger trait design being all over the place as well. Each of Ranger's weapons take 2 trait lines to properly spec, most utility skills need their associated trait to be properly effective, a damage type takes 2 trait lines to properly boost, and running 2 weapons of the same damage type causes contention in your trait choices to max out. A core Ranger build REQUIRES all 3 trait lines to be coherent; and is the only class that logically runs better by having identical weapons sets to abuse weapon swap triggers. This carries over into Druid and Soubeast, where the trait contention is made even more obvious. Druid is pure support, so you lose out on substantial damage modifiers for your weapons. However Condi Druid sort of worked because most of the personal cDPS traits are in 2 lines, and ran mostly Glyphs and Spirits. Condi Soulbeast at least has alignment with more condition sources to improve burst condi. But Power SB has issues, since Marksman has all the burst damage modifiers, Skirmish has most of the Crit modifiers, and Beast Master has most of the sustain damage bonuses.

>

> Thats basically what i critizise about the line.

> Skirmishing us the hybrid line that revolves about combat and dealing dmg during fight.

> Marksmanship is about entering a fight and end it quickly and beastmastery should be the line that gives bonus depending on pet choice and improve combat with the pet.

> So for example your pet gives you and itself bonus stats depending on archetype and you get nore of them as a Soulbeast.

> So you could get more healing , more ferocity, more expertise etc.

> This would give pet choice more meaning and more versatility which the class excels at.

> This traitline should not revolve dmg it should revolve arround utility and conplementing different playstyles.

> Skirmishing is sustained dmg and condi dmg.

> MS is power burst and pure dmg.

> WS is sustain and condi dmg.

> NM is support and dmg (through boons)

> And BM should be Pet utility and jack of all trades complementation.

> More utility would give the traitline a distinct feel and use and bettwr usage in different builds ibstead of being power with some oddballs.

 

Makes ya wonder why they nerfed the bleeding portion in BM even though axe is by their words a hyrbid weapon.

[Durzlla.6295]

> @"Shadelang.3012" said:

> I...kind of have to disagree with this post.

> The BM Grandmasters are a pretty solid. The only weak one I feel being the top one.... I guess they could seem lackluster PURELY from a pve standpoint.

>

> Quickness and superspeed are ALWAYS good. I mean yeah you might have to unmerge. But thats not really a big deal. And superspeed is EXTREMELY useful when you need to get out of something regardless of game mode. Having a reliable low cooldown GUARANTEED source of superspeed is amazing.

>

> In PVE I can see needing to unmerge being annoying but losing a little damage to get out of something is fine in my book. Especially if it keeps you above 90% (pack alpha and scholar rune damage bonuses for power builds.. as well as making it easier to maintain Oppressive Superiority)

>

> The axe trait is decent. A solid stat boost. Again yeah largely a power build setup but thats fine. Beast mastery has almost always favored power builds aside from one trait that provides a source of bleeding. Thats not a bad thing.

>

> As far as the taunt goes. Its difficult to use in pvp and wvw but its still fairly strong. Issue is taunt requires a "strike" to hit now ever since the nerf. Making it countered by the active defense meta we find ourselves in. (Though this just means it requires kitten good timing)

>

> And in pve its another CC for breakbars if you really need it.

>

> I mean. Not every trait has to be amazing for PvE. They are all decent and fulfill there rolls. And they all WORK. I can't see anything really fitting the label for bad traits here.

>

> GM1s taunt is decent in PvP In skilled hands. Can be lethal in WvW. Less useful in PvE but still has a niche.

> GM2 is amazing in PvP and WvW as it provides the two most vital things to a ranger in combat. Increased mobility and action speed. Its good in PvE as a method of GTFO out deadly things or even just getting to a mechanic faster. Many pets do enough damage with their cooldowns to be worth having out even if its for a short time so you shouldnt lose TOO much dps unless you just leave it out longer than necessary. And the quickness will help mitigate the dps loss further.

> GM3 is solid in PvP less so in WvW (just due to the build metas) and would likely be BIS in PvE if power soulbeast was meta due to the ferocity bonus.

>

> Just my two cents though. I may be biased because I have almost always used this traitline in all 3 game modes.

>

> As far as GM2 being useless while running soulbeast. Outside of raids I don't know why you would ever camp beast mode. You are giving up so much potential utility, cc, and burst. Just because you CAN camp soulbeast doesn't necessarily mean you should.

>

>

 

The taunt doesn't actually require a strike in order for it to work, it's an AoE effect around the pet, I use it in PvP quite often with a Fernhound or a Smokescale, and neither of those provide a strike on their F2

[Shadelang.3012]

@"Durzlla.6295" The taunt itself is a strike affect. What i mean by that is its an effect that needs to come in contact with an enemy and thus is vulnerable to blind/block/evasion and invulnerability. The original form of that trait went through evasions blocks and blinds. Allowing it to effectively pull someone out of their defensive abilities like shelter or blurred frenzy.

 

Yes it does work with things like smokescale f2. But the effect itself is separate from the F2. When I speak strike I don't mean something that causes damage to the opponent. But that the effect itself has to come into successful contact with an opponent to operate.

[Durzlla.6295]

> @"Shadelang.3012" said:

> @"Durzlla.6295" The taunt itself is a strike affect. What i mean by that is its an effect that needs to come in contact with an enemy and thus is vulnerable to blind/block/evasion and invulnerability. The original form of that trait went through evasions blocks and blinds. Allowing it to effectively pull someone out of their defensive abilities like shelter or blurred frenzy.

>

> Yes it does work with things like smokescale f2. But the effect itself is separate from the F2. When I speak strike I don't mean something that causes damage to the opponent. But that the effect itself has to come into successful contact with an opponent to operate.

 

ooooh ok i see what you're saying now, my bad thought you were saying that it worked like the weakness (or maybe it's the blind?) trait where the F2 itself NEEDS to deal damage for it to apply.