Build:Soulbeast - Power Melee Stancebeast

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Strike damage, Control and Mobility

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on November 29, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A burst damage focused Power Soulbeast build for PvP opting for 2 melee sets after the Sword rework.

Skill Bar

Sword/Warhorn

Greatsword

Utility

Skill Variants

Utility

"Sic 'Em!" can be replaced with:

• "Protect Me!" - better sustain.

• Signet of the Hunt - makes your burst unblockable.

Pets

• Siamoth over Boar - mostly the same skills, but Siamoth offers better sustain in Beastmode in exchange for less CC, and Siamoth's Forage item gives stealth instead of extra CC.

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Equipment

Sword

Warhorn

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Equipment Variants

Runes

• Rune of Scrapper - slightly more defensive version of Spellbreaker rune.

Relics

• Relic of the Weaver - same damage boost as Fireworks but it's activated by stance skills instead of weapon/beastmode skills and cannot be maintained for extended periods of time.

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.

• 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.

• You get to revive pets in combat by melding with a dead pet and then exiting Beastmode.

General

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

• Use Call of the Wild, Pounce, Serpent's Strike and Swoop to roam between capture points. These are also great tools for disengaging or chasing after targets, and the Sword skills can do a lot of damage as well.
  • All 4 of these skills are also combo finishers that could be used inside Smokescale's Smoke Cloud for Stealth, covering your movements and burst attempts.

• 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.

• Boar's Beatmode ability Maul (soulbeast porcine) is your primary burst skill. 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.

• When used in Beastmode, Maul is going to give you the Attack of Opportunity effect which increases the damage of your next attack. It's only the next strike however, doesn't cover 2 part attacks like Maul (soulbeast porcine). Consider following up with a weapon swap into either Pounce or Serpent's Strike.

• 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.

• "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 Hunter's Call which delivers multiple attacks in rapid succession. Smokescale's Smoke Assault (soulbeast) also has great synergy with this, and you could even combine the two and use SA while Hunter's Call is active.

Sustain

• You're heavily reliant on blocks, stealth, mobility and evasion to avoid damage. Stance skills are there to let you fix some mistakes. Once stance CDs have been used you should play much more carefully as you could become an easy target.

• Smokescale's Smoke Assault (soulbeast) is an instant defensive skill with evasion while merged.

• Condition cleansing is rather limited. Bear Stance is more of a last resort for when you've taken too much damage and need to survive. Under heavy pressure use the time while your healing skill is active to disengage and reset fights using Stealth and mobility skills.

• Sigil of Cleansing removes 1 condition when you weapon swap, you could consider using Dolyak Stance right before swapping to increase the chance of cleansing damaging conditions with it.

• Griffon Stance is basically an extra dodge which improves your endurance regen so you can avoid even more attacks right after. Great skill when you're being pressured and need to play more defensively.

• Dolyak Stance protects against any type of pressure be it direct damage, CC or conditions.

• Every mobility skill is also a defensive skill in a way, useful for putting distance between you and your enemies. Comboing them with Smokescale's Smoke Cloud for Stealth makes you even more slippery.

• Call of the Wild is the best defensive skill on Sword/Warhorn, dazing targets in melee and applying Weakness to them while also being a Blast finisher that could give you stealth.

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