Soulbeast - Sic 'Em Roamer

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Strike damage and Mobility

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Difficulty:

Easy

This build was last updated on October 06, 2023 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

An iconic Soulbeast Power build for WvW roaming which takes advantage of "Sic 'Em!"'s synergy with Beastmode to pump out massive burst damage and deny Stealth access for enemies.

Skill Bar

Longbow

Greatsword

Utility

Skill Variants

Utility

For the optional slot or even instead of "Sic 'Em!" (if more sustain is needed):

• Lightning Reflexes - a defensive choice that's useful in any situation.

• "Protect Me!" - strong damage mitigation and another stunbreak.

• Signet of the Hunt - unblockable burst combos.

• Griffon Stance - defensive skill with more evasion.

Elite

• "Strength of the Pack!" - a more defensive elite that still offers a damage boost.

Pets

Owl is taken for its ehanced mobility and healing, allowing you to chase and disengage more effectively or stay survive for longer in general. Other viable options include:

• Siamoth - trades mobility and healing for a CC, a brief immunity against direct damage, and a skill which lets you gamble for an item that grants boons or stealth.

• Boar - similar to Siamoth but it's purely an offensive pet. In Beastmode it has an AoE pull that also roots enemies, perfectly setting up its rather hard hitting Maul (soulbeast porcine).

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Specializations

Variants

• Strider's Strength could increase your damage if you feel like you'll have enough Fury uptime even without Spotter. Spotter's real strength is that it procs when you enter combat, so you'll always have Fury to cover your opener. During combat it's less important, you can get Fury from several other sources.

Variants

• Oppressive Superiority sacrifices flexibility and healing for higher burst damage.

• Live Fast is worth taking when playing with Boar, the extra Quickness works really well with the pet's Beastmode burst combo.

Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Longbow
Knight

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword
Knight

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Stats

• Knight stat weapons are taken to make the build a bit less squishy. You can go full Marauder too for slightly higher damage at the expense of survivability.

• Full Marauder with Rune of Superior Rune of the Brawler could achieve similar results to the current setup.

Runes

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Brawler - makes the build more durable without sacrificing too much damage.

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Dragonhunter - almost the same damage as Scholar, if you're low on gold just buy whichever's cheaper.

Sigils

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air over Cleansing on Longbow - increased damage for less defense against conditions.

Relics

• Relic of Isgarren - a damage boost that's easy to maintain in combat, but can be hard to get value out of if you're chasing down a low health enemy for example.

• Relic of the Weaver - on-demand damage boost whenever you use a stance skill. Could give you slightly higher burst damage than Fireworks in exchange for lower uptime on the damage boost.

Consumables

Food

• - strong mix of sustain and damage.

• - more evasion uptime and Companion's Defense synergy.
  • Budget version:

• - cheap option with a nice crit chance boost and frequent, armor ignoring damage procs that also heal you.

Utility

• or .

Usage

Elite specialization basics

• Soulbeast allows Rangers to meld/merge with their pet, becoming one. This is done through Beastmode which has a 10s CD.

• Traits related to swapping pets now activate upon entering/leaving Beastmode.

• Pet related traits and skills such as Pet's Prowess continue to function even while merged, but this time you'll be the one who benefits from them, not the pet (although sometimes the effects are lessened).
  • IMPORTANT: skills that affect your pet like "Sic 'Em!" have to be used after merging if you wish to benefit from them, already active skill effects will be lost just like when swapping pets.

General

• Don't trust the wording of Relic of Fireworks, some Beastmode F1-3 skills can also proc the damage bonus not just weapon skills.

• Beastmode grants a flat 30% movement speed boost.

• Eternal Bond allows you to be more flexible with your Beastmode usage by letting you swap pets while merged. With this you can adapt to situations much better.

• Pet swapping with Zephyr's Speed can be used offensively for the Quickness, most notably to boost Rapid Fire, Maul, Worldly Impact or Greatsword autos for downed cleave. The Superspeed could also help you escape damage or chase down targets while on Greatsword.
  • With Eternal Bond you can activate this trait even while swapping pets in Beastmode, provided that it isn't on CD.

• Sometimes you might want to get greedy with Bear Stance. While this is your last resort option against condition bursts, it's also great at keeping things like Weakness, Chill and Blind off of you. If you're chasing a low HP target and you want to secure a kill, Bear Stance could ensure that you get to deal damage without any hinderance. You could even combine it with Dolyak Stance to make yourself immune to hard CC too.
  • Of course this is a bit of a gamble, if the target survives your burst you'll be left without your strongest defensive CDs so the plan might backfire.

• Weapon swapping with Sigil of Superior Sigil of Cleansing is your first line of defense against conditions. Consider using Dolyak Stance or Lightning Reflexes beforehand to get rid of non-damaging conditions, increasing the chance of Cleansing sigil removing damaging ones.

• Bear Stance is there to bail you out when conditions are beginning to overwhelm you. In condition matchups if you need to heal but don't want to waste your only mass cleanse consider using Owl's Spiritual Reprieve first while keeping Bear Stance for emergencies.

Beastmode

• Owl is for sustain/mobility while Smokescale's mainly for damage, offering you great offensive stats as well as new damaging and CC skills.

• Smokescale's Smoke Assault (soulbeast) could be used both offensively (delivering damage while making it impossible to kite you) and defensively (it's an instant cast evade frame).

• Takedown (soulbeast) is a great setup for Worldly Impact or Maul.

• Owl adds some extra mobility for chasing people or disengaging from fights via Swoop.

• Owl's F3 Spiritual Reprieve is your second healing skill and also a potent support tool when roaming in a group. This is quite handy when playing against some Power-based specs as it can make up for the lost healing when there are no conditions on your for Bear Stance to consume.

• Don't forget to unmerge once beast skills are on CD or you're done with your burst combo, as you have greater DPS while you let your pets attack your enemies.

• When playing with Boar, its Beatmode ability Maul (soulbeast porcine) will be on of your primary burst skills. Hits hard, has a short cast time and a very subtle animation most people won't even notice.
  • Try to set this up with CC, which should be easy considering how both other Boar Beastmode skills are CC skill. The F3 is especially good for this as Prelude Lash grants you Quickness and Fury via trait synergy.

• If taken "Strength of the Pack!" used while in Beastmode will grant you Might on each hit you land. Barrage -especially against multiple targets - can quickly build up 25 stacks of Might which is best used on Rapid Fire (Longbow), Maul (Greatsword), or Worldly Impact (Beastmode).

Damage

• Maul will grant Attack of Opportunity to you while melded, this is best used for boosting Worldly Impact's damage.

• "Sic 'Em!" should always be used in Beastmode. It's a really strong burst CD that also denies stealth access for enemies.

• One Wolf Pack is your other burst CD, adding extra damage to every hit you score on a target. This is best used with Rapid Fire and Barrage which deliver multiple attacks in rapid succession. Smokescale's Smoke Assault (soulbeast) also has great synergy with this.

• Maul and Rapid Fire are your main burst skills, every other weapon skill can be considered filler compared to these.

Greatsword burst combo example:

1. Takedown (soulbeast) while merged with Smokescale.
2. Maul
3. Hilt Bash to refresh Maul and CC the target
4. Maul, this also gives you a damage boost for your next attack in Beastmode
5. Swoop or Worldly Impact

Longbow burst combo example:

1. Make sure you have Fury by the time you'll unload your Longbow skills.
2. Pop One Wolf Pack before the burst.
3. Beastmode for some extra stats while casting One Wolf Pack.
4. "Sic 'Em!" which boosts the Soulbeast's own damage if used in Beastmode.
5. Point Blank Shot to increase the chance of landing your burst and to proc Twice as Vicious + Sigil of Superior Sigil of Celerity for Quickness.
6. Rapid Fire for damage.

Related Builds

• Sic 'Em Sniper - the Conquest PvP version of the build.

• Core Longbow Roamer - core, F2P roaming version.