Build:Soulbeast - Sic 'Em Roamer

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

Focused on: Direct damage and Mobility

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on January 21, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Soulbeast power build for WvW roaming which takes adventage of "Sic 'Em!"'s synergy with Beastmode to pump out damage and deny Stealth access.

Skill Bar

Longbow

Greatsword

Utility

Skill Variants

Utility

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

• Dolyak Stance - great option against any type of pressure, especially CC.

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

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

Elite

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

Pets

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

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Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Diviner

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Diviner

Ring
Berserker

Longbow
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Rune

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Pack - if you either want to trade sustain for damage, or can't afford Durability runes just yet.

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Scholar - highest burst potential.

Sigils

Sigil of Severance and Bloodlust can be replaced by:

• Sigil of Cleansing - more cleansing in case you're having trouble dealing with conditions.

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Vision - 100% crit chance on your entire burst.

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

• Dodging applies Protection, which also heals thanks to the trait Rugged Growth. Second Skin reduces the condition damage you take by 20% while affected by this boon.

• Survival skills cure 2 conditions and grant Fury. Your healing, Troll Unguent cleanses 4 because it procs Child of Earth.

• Beastmode grants a flat 30% movement speed boost.

• Zephyr's Speed has many uses.
  • It can be used offensively for the Quickness, most notably to boost Rapid Fire, Maul, or Greatsword autos for downed cleave.
  • Defensively by keeping your Beastmode ready in case you need to cleanse 2 conditions.
  • Alternatively the Superspeed can help you escape damage or chase down targets while on Greatsword.

• Try to be on Greatsword when you kill players and NPCs alike in order to build up Sigil of Superior Sigil of Bloodlust stacks.

• Refined Toxins passively maintains a high uptime of healing reduction on your target.

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• The optimal burst combo is fairly straightforward:

1. Make sure you have Fury by the time you'll unload your Longbow skills.
2. Pop One Wolf Pack before the burst.
3. Get Quickness from either Zephyr's Speed or Quickening Zephyr (if taken).
4. Beastmode for some extra stats.
5. Optional, if taken "Strength of the Pack!"
6. "Sic 'Em!" which boosts the Soulbeast's own damage if used in Beastmode.
7. Point Blank Shot to increase the chance of landing your burst and to proc Twice as Vicious.
8. Rapid Fire for damage.

Related Builds

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

• Core Longbow Roamer - core, F2P roaming version.