How reliant are Rangers and Necros on their pets ?

Trand · December 2015

Good Day,

Been playing the free to play and having a good time, still debating on a class but I am wondering how reliant on pets are these two classes? Do they just add DPS or like in WOW are they a good chunk of the dps?

Thanks for any help

flizzer · December 2015

I dont play a ranger but Ive been playing a necro off and on for at least a year, although not my main character I play. You can build around pets I believe but I dont bother. I dont really pay attention to what they do, hehe. The way I play they don't really add much to my dps I find.

GeezerGamer · December 2015

IT's been a while since I played. I had 2 Necros and one ranger that I never finished. I love pet class based games. But I have to say, as much as I like GW2, ANET"s pet AI is one of, if not the worst AI system I've ever seen in an MMO. I loved my Hunter in WoW and did not care for the Warlock. In GW2, it was the opposite. I didn't care for the Ranger. but IMO the Necro was the most fun to play. But with Necro. Minion Master is only one viable build. The class has many other styles to play with that work well.

While controversial in his theory, I did learn a lot about the class from Nemesis on Youtube. Though you will find his message bucks the system and gets a lot of resistance from those who support the "GW2 Meta", He knows his class and mechanics.

avalon1000 · December 2015

I like having the pet...although I tend to use them as tanks more than dps. Sometimes I wish I had one in LOTRO. Have not played on the ranger for some time. I like Mesmer and Thief a lot better.

Octagon7711 · December 2015

Rangers are balanced to always use their pets. In fact, they can't fight without their pets. In combat mode they automatically come out but you can set them to passive mode if you want. Rangers have a lot of different types of pets. Some for dps, buffs, de-buffs, you name it and there's probably a pet for it.

Necro's have fewer pets but can have more out at the same time, as Rangers can only have one out at a time but can switch during battle. Necros don't have as much control over their pets as Rangers but Necros have some good builds with or without pets, so if you want to play without them no problem. Some Necro pets can melee dps, range dps, and one can heal the Necro.

With both if you spec them right they can do good dps, especially Ranger pets.

Half the fun of being a Ranger is collecting your pets. I play my Ranger more then my Necro now but it was the other way around when I first started the game.

*This is from a PvE prospective.

deviliscious · December 2015

I main a Necro, but I only PvP / WvW . I do not know anyone who uses a viable Necro build that even uses pets for PvP or WvW. They may be viable for PVE, but I would not know. Either a glass DPS power well necro build or a frontline tanky power reaper build are better for PVP/ WvW though.

When I play my ranger, I am not very dependent on my pet.

Trand · December 2015

Thanks all, I appreciate the information.

Gaia_Hunter · December 2015

All pets have been greatly buffed with heart of thorns released, taking much less damage from AoE attacks from mobs when they aren't the primary target of the mob.

I've always found the ranger pet very in useful in PvE to tank champions (with the ability to swap between 2 pets during combat) .

Muke · January 2016

I have multiple maxed rangers (pre-expansion).

Never used my pets tbh unless in PVE. They did a bit of buffs or debuffs and a bit of dps in PVP, but 99% of my gameplay and dps came from my character, not the pet.

I sent it into battle just for giggles, then it came back in 5secs at 0% health because of aoe spam.

tom_gore · January 2016

For PvP you use them for the utility. For example, the wolf pet has a knockdown (which you cannot control) and an AoE fear (which you can control, but fires slowly).

And of course you can go underwater and become virtually unkillable.

Gaia_Hunter · January 2016

I've heard complains about smokescales and bristlebacks being to Op in PvP.

Mardukk · January 2016

Rangers are balanced with their pets in mind, so they are quite important (PvE and PvP). I don't think necro pets are overly important though. They aren't as crippled without their pet as rangers.

Loke666 · January 2016

The smokescale is very dangerous but it is also very easy to kill so there is some balance to it. The bristleback fires a rather nasty bunsh of missiles but it do have a pretty long cooldown...

They are certainly dangerous but even with them rangers are not the most dangerous class in PvP. But you can take a nasty hit if you don't notice them or are out of dodges.

And no, my main is thief, not ranger but I never had any problems with them. People tend to complain a lot about other classes and demanding nerfs. It is far too often an excuse for getting killed by someone better though.

That said, GW2s PvP and particularly WvW certainly need improvements. Hopefully will the upcomming PvP patch make PvP and particularly WvW more fun.

gw2fool · January 2016

Pets and Necro minions can be completely useless in some parts of the game. For example, the portals around SB. They just stand there, not doing anything. Pets with a range attack will do an occasional range attack on the portals, but mostly are not a real lot of use!

Dakeru · January 2016

You can play Necro with a minion zoo and not have any problems in any of the core zones up to max level.

However, the areas that were added after the core game have monsters that use strong aoe which will quickly kill your minions - the silly things never learned to dodge.

*edit to answer the question about relying on minions better*
A max level Necro will probably use no minions at all and focus on a build around death shroud or condition damage instead (or reaper if you buy the game).

Gaia_Hunter · January 2016

Dakeru said:

However, the areas that were added after the core game have monsters that use strong aoe which will quickly kill your minions - the silly things never learned to dodge.

Minions take only 5% of AoE damage unless they are the primary target since HoT release.

Granted I haven't played extensively minion master in HoT, but from the quick Verdant Brink run my minions were doing just fine.

Xorian7 · April 2016

I read somewhere that the ranger pets dont have a way to defend against aoes on bosses and die really fast.

Gaia_Hunter · April 2016

Xorian7 said:

I read somewhere that the ranger pets dont have a way to defend against aoes on bosses and die really fast.

That information is outdated. All minions have 95% damage reduction in PvE unless they are the primary target.

Aeander · April 2016

A ranger's pet is roughly a third of your damage, give or take depending on your build. Certain pets can also make Rangers one of the most potent crowd control classes.

Necromancers can build for pets, and these builds can be viable, but they often don't use them at all.

Lucifirius · April 2016

Necromancer pets are kinda garbage. I don't run them. I use full berserkers and use wells and shouts.

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How reliant are Rangers and Necros on their pets ?

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"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey