new found use for bears as pet?

theory here that might do well for discussion

ok it is universally accepted that bears make the worst ranger pet because of the skill "brutal mauling" which in taking time to activate yet having no benefit, reduces the overall DPS.
But it is a "skill", is it classed as an "attack skill"?
If yes then it would it not trigger many of the new paragon buffs.

example
Anthem of flame
Chant. For 10 seconds, the next attack skill used by each ally within earshot also causes Burning for 1...3 seconds.

I can already see the massive potential a paragon has to a barrage/pet team (the above skill + barrage = group burning), but to have a specialised beastmaster and paragon pairing working in tandem might prove useful to a balanced team.

understanding the distinction between "ally" and "party member" check guildwiki's skill page for other paragon skills for considration
http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Paragon...uick_reference

All it says in Brutal Mauling's description is that it is an "attack." Dunno what it means by that; someone will have to test.

Haha, that would be one well trained bear. Sets people on fire by command.

I wonder if beastmastery attacks count as attack skills when executed by pets.

Mildly off topic: I hope pets get the same sort of controls as hench-heros. And maybe the elite minion as well.

Flourish works on attack skills, and Flourish works on pet attacks.... logic suggests that when a ranger hits a pet attack on his/her bar, their pet counts as using an attack skill.

Whether or not Brutal Mauling counts as an attack skill inherent to the pet.... maybe u should've tested it yourself during the preview

By this logic, could you not just use diversion on the bear, and nerf it for 50-something seconds?

Not really sure about that logic. Sure the ranger uses the skill, but it doesn't show the pet using anything. For example Diversion on pet has no effect on Ranger's pet attack skills. Edit: And the Diversion does not get removed from the pet after the attack.

Should test that I suppose...

That would be SO awesome it's not funny. I'd make a ranger just for that :P

lol yeah ill have to tst this

- off topic but the thing on guildwiki still says that ectos drop in the bloodstonefen mish (is this even true)?

Yes; however, it's not worth trying to farm them there.

On a side note: They should really allow you to use the hero control options for pets too. That would make pets a lot more versatile and useful.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Mantra of Flame + Barrage only sets one foe on fire, not upto six. Same as how Splinter Weapon only splinters once per Barrage, not upto six times. Basically the game treats Barrage as several different attacks in quick succession.

i know, its stupid. i had high expectations for splinter weapon barraging.

Yea, but who would bother putting Diversion on a pet? Much less 8 pets if it's set up like that.

I have a feeling Pet controls may never be implemented as during the Nightfall preview the pet trainer said about how they are strong but hard to control and slow to respond but also about how one can use these to their advantage.

Personally the only part of their AI i really want fixed is the bit where they pause afew seconds before attacking a target.
e.g it catches up to a running monk, then half does its attack then pulls out and has too, again try and catch up =/

Strange, my barrage hero ranger was setting whole groups on fire, another ai only advantage?

Hmm. If the bear attack does work as speculated here, I could see Anet nerfing it in about six seconds flat.

Besides, I don't wanna give up my cute Black Moa.

brutal mauling is a bear only attack...i didnt know they had specific attacks for specific pets or what the hell are you talking about...

If it works...
best case scenario is anet include a natural attack skill on all pets
(moa:furious peck? warthog:gorging charge? wolf:jugular strike? crab:annoying pinch? )
If nothing changes then the bear does indeed become useful to r/p, p/r or a p/x and r/x beasmaster pairing.
worst case scenario is if anet remove the brutal mauling skill then that is still a win since many beasmasters have been calling for the removal anyway.

If it doesn't work and anet still ignore the brutal mauling issue then that will be a shame, bears will continue to be used for purely aesthetic or ill-informed reasons only.

If animal skills did set off mantra, your'd still be better off sticking with a lizard - final thrust and no reduced attack speed.

it's no good. as soon as they see that people are actually making use of it they'll 'fix' it.. that's what they do. they look at trends and put in a 'fix' to stop them... if people are happy, they'll be content.. that's not always good.

First off, i would like to say, this is wrong, read Jeno and Epi's pet guide if you want to learn about pets.

I ran afew tests here are the results>

First off i ran out of port sledge and found the bears there using brutal, first off the description for the attack states that it is an "attack" and that it costs 4 adren, and has a four second recharge.

First off i threw ignorance on him which prevents the use of sigs (yeah i know, had to try everything ) It did not affect him at all.

Second used cry of frustration>
Spell. If target foe is using a skill, that foe and all foes in the area are interrupted and suffer 10...37
And yes it interupted it every time.

Third i used Arcane theivery (again, had to try everything) Tthe target had no spells.

Fourth i used diversion (as suggested early on in the thread)
Hex Spell. For 6 seconds, the next time target foe uses a skill, that skill takes an additional 10...47 seconds
It was clear that it worked as he stopped his usual one about every ten seconds for the one minute time span.

Fifth, i used wastrels worry>
Hex Spell. After 3 seconds, target foe takes 8...53 damage. Wastrel's Worry ends prematurely if that foe uses a skill.
The bear did not take the damage if he used his brutal in that time, again saying its a skill.

And last i spirit shackles then soothing images, with spirit shackles i used energy tap to make sure he was out of energy and he still used brutal. With soothing which prevents adren gain, he stopped using it while the hex was on him.

So yeah for this i think we can clearly consider the skill used by bears called "Brutal Mauling" a skill which uses four adren, after which it is disabled for four seconds before the bear can begin gaining adren for it again. So yes, if the skill remains consistant, it WILL trigger those pagan skills and in doing so, create a use for the bear

Im sure Spinter Weapon works on barrage because i used to test it out frequently on the Dummies outside of Isle of the Nameless. Each single arrow had its own Blue Splinter spark and 5 of the 6 dummies took twice the damage, the only one that didnt was the main target, i dont know why though.

Edit: Splinter Barrage: It works though but i never found it useful and satisfying because i probably used it wrong or something, but the 5 is the damage from Splinter Weapon, the 2-digit numbers are the normal ones. No points put into Channeling Magic.

1st Pic: Without Splinter Weapon.
2nd Pic: With it.



Pointless info in this thread but i had to get it out.

Rex, that screenshot just supports the assertion that Splinter Weapon doesn't fully stack with Barrage. SW is triggering off the first hit - on the target second from the left (and splashing out to far left and to center) - but not on any of the others.

If the two worked together absolutely, then each hit on a target would splinter, in which case you'd see at least six "5"s on your second screenshot.