[B]Best 3rd pet skill for a Barrage/Pet build[/B]

dragos flatbow is not bad, and also not good, I personally like using a zealous string on a flatbow, but many folks like different things.
You CAN use a flatbow for barrage, but you'll need favorable winds spirit.
In fact a flatbow barrager is about the best there is as long as FW remains up. Id recommend a shortbow as a weapon swap for when in close or when FW dies. If you are going into ToPK with the infamous bp group, the flatbow alone is fine since unless the group is a bunch of idiots favorable winds will be up at all times. recurve, hornbow and longbow are all inferior to flatbow under these conditions due to the flatbows faster rate of fire. Without FW, just stick with shortbow, or recurve/long as last resort. The hornbow will will give you the lowest damage per second with barrage, but its great for a spike build (unless you are using flail, but thats another build).
My recommendation for *the* best third pet skill? there isn't really a single best, but poisonous bite, distracting lunge or even call of haste are all handy.

1) Predators Pounce is good, as is Call of Protection. Poison works well against foes who'll last longer then a few seconds, like bosses. If you travel with more B/P rangers, one of them might bring Otyugh's Cry (+20 Armor for pets)
2) High (10~12) ranks in Marks, BeastMastery and Expertise
3) Despite what was said, Flatbows are good, high refire rate, long range. Equip with a vamp-srting for extra damage, or a zealous should you need the energy.

[skill]Barrage[/skill][skill]Distracting Shot[/skill][skill]Savage Shot[/skill][skill]Flail[/skill][skill]Favorable Winds[/skill][skill]Comfort Animal[/skill][skill]Charm Animal[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

Imo that's the best you can do with a B/P. The double interupts and IAS are better than anything else you can get in terms of ranger skills.

^ That's not a bad build at all.

As for stat distribution... I usually run 9 in expertise, 10ish in Beast and the rest in Marks. And if you are going to use an IAS (such as flail) I'd suggest getting your hands on a Hornbow.

^ Yeah the build is good but I wouldn't feel comfortable without a defensive stance - so I'd drop one interrupt (distracting most likely, but it depends on where I am) and replace it by WD. Or FW if I party with another ranger who has it.

If you use an IAS, a vamp hornbow of fortitude/defense is probably your best choice (alternatively any kindof horbow of fortitude if you're nor comfortable with vamp strings). With no IAS, provided you have FW up, Drago's Flatbow is nice. Or even a vamp flatbow.

Oh yeah Flail is hot.


If you're not taking FW, you could take Whirling Defense as a cancel stance I guess when you need to get out.

Flail is only 5s - it's not that scary that you'd want a cancel. I tend not to like WD, I only monk and I trust myself to prot quickly enough - but if you're not comfortable with your monks it's ok - I'd take Lightning Reflexes though - it's slightly inferior but it means you don't lose your IAS when you hit the emergency button which is the only time you should be using Whirling anyway. Also evades are better than blocks generally.

Here's a general rule of thumb for choosing a bow in a B/P build:

If you are under the effect of Favorable Winds (which will happen in a full B/P team) and don't have an IAS (Increased Attack Speed) skill:

Use a Vampiric Flatbow - It will give you the best refire rate and the arc/arrow speed will be equivalent to all other bows when under the effect of FW. Vampiric also deals a lot more damage than sundering. The life degen effect is very little and is easily made up for when attacking even one target. Just have another bow of some type to switch to when you aren't attacking or are under pressure from attacks.

This would be applicable in a R/Mo build where you likely wouldn't have an IAS, but would have Rebirth instead of a rez sig.

If you are under the effects of an IAS (such as Flail, like suggested by previous posters):

Use a Vampiric Hornbow: All bows' refire rates are increased by an IAS, but it has been found that they are all increased to a certain amount when using barrage, therefore the hornbow will refire at about the same rate as other bows in this condition. Since hornbows have an innate +10% armor penetration, they will allow the maximum DPS from barrage. Again, a vampiric mod will allow the most damage to be dealt.

If you are not under the effects of an IAS and FW:

Use a Vampiric Longbow or Recurve: These are good all around bows that will suite the circumstance best in this situation since their refire rate is better than a hornbow without an IAS and their arrow arc/speed is better than a flatbow without Favorable Winds.



As for pet skills in a B/P build, most people don't bring any pet skills in a B/P build outside of Comfort and Charm animal. If you do bring another pet skill, however, bring Disrupting Lunge. You won't be able to squeeze many att into BM in this type of build, so pet damage skills are weakened considerably and therefore not as efficient. Disrupting Lunge can provide a spammable interupt with the ability to disable skills, but since your pet will be dying often, I would reccomend you bring a bow interupt instead. Tiger's Fury will really be too energy heavy to spam in conjunction with Barrage for very long. Poisonous bite is not a bad skill, but having interupts and a defensive skill (such as Whirling Defense or Throw Dirt) is arguably a better choice.

If you run a B/P in a B/P group, then you will do the best damage with the R/W build suggested, but it might be advantageous to run a R/Mo with Rebirth at times also if there aren't many members with a hard rez in the group. If you do this, just make sure you stay back and are the last one to die if things go badly. I would additionally suggest you consider Concussion Shot as well. It is a high energy skill, but can really make a difference against bosses or other hard targets. If you do use this, just make sure you only use it against very slow cast spells since it's a big waste if you miss.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions. Sorry I didnt post my actual build I was at work when I made the posting (as I am now as well) so really didnt remember what it was
What I like most so far about my Ranger is there are so many different ways I can play him and still have fun

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