Soulbeast - Condition Trapper SB 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 April 14, 2022 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A well rounded Soulbeast WvW roaming build with good damage, mobility, CC and sustain. While designed primarily for 1v1s, the build can also hold its ground in smaller group fights and has no trouble soloing camps and other objectives roamers tend to go for.

Skill Bar

Axe/Dagger

Shortbow

Utility

Skill Bar Variants

Utility

Viable choices for the 3rd utility slot:

• Lightning Reflexes - if you're running a more defensive version of the build with Wilderness Knowledge this is an excellent short CD stun break with useful boons and great cleansing.

• Flame Trap - adds a new condition to the build, has great damage and even shorter CD than Viper's Nest which means it synergizes better with the rune.

• Griffon Stance - on-demand evasion and improved endurance regen/superspeed on low CD is never bad.

• Signet of Renewal - constant passive healing and a mass cleanse when used.

• Moa Stance - better uptime on important defensive boons, which also translates to more healing (potentially even more than what the signet provides).

Weapons

• Main hand Dagger over Axe - if you find yourself facing enemies with lots of anti-projectile you could try swapping out Axe for a Dagger to have a melee set.

Pets

• Alpine Wolf over Hawk - a more defensive Beastmode kit and some extra CC, worth considering if you're playing with at least 2 utility traps.

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Specializations

Variants

• If you're struggling with incoming conditions take Child of Earth and Wilderness Knowledge. With proper use of Sigil of Cleansing, Healing Spring and a bit of practice this shouldn't be necessary though.

Equipment

Head
Trailblazer

Shoulders
Trailblazer

Chest
Trailblazer

Hands
Trailblazer

Legs
Trailblazer

Feet
Trailblazer

Backpiece
Trailblazer

Accessory
Apothecary

Accessory
Apothecary

Amulet
Apothecary

Ring
Apothecary

Ring
Apothecary

Axe
Trailblazer

Dagger
Trailblazer

Sigil

Sigil

Shortbow
Trailblazer

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

A full set of Celestial gear also works just fine.

Consumables

Food

There are several viable options:

• - this food offers passive damage mitigation and a general stat boost.

• - keeps the 10% mitigation of the Oyster Soup, but focuses only on your offensive stats.

• - great defensive option with Companion's Defense and Rugged Growth synergy.
  • Budget version:

Utility

• - optimal but expensive.
  • Budget version: - comes from Canned Food Crates, way easier to get and barely weaker.

• - if you're playing with Celestial gear, use this.

Usage

Elite specialization basics

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

• Pet swapping is disabled while in combat.
  • Hawk is the pet you'll be using in combat.
  • Wolf is only used to avoid getting stomped while downed, as Soulbeasts can still swap pets in the downed state. Wolf has 2 CCs - 1 right after you swap to this pet, and another on the F2 ability Terrifying Howl (which you're also able to use even if the UI isn't there).
  • Traits related to swapping pets now activate upon entering/leaving Beastmode.

• Pet related traits and skills such as Poison Master 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).

• Melding with a dead pet and then exiting Beastmode instantly revives them.

General

• Quick Draw makes your toolkit way more flexible by significantly reducing the CD of the first skill you use after swapping weapons, allowing you to better adapt to situations. There are a lot of ways to use this trait, here are a few ideas:
  • On short bow you should either open with Poison Volley for burst damage (this is the most common), Quick Shot if you need sustain (evade attacks), or Concussion Shot if you want more CC.
  • On axe/dagger use it on Winter's Bite for both pressure and some damage mitigation from Weakness, or Stalker's Strike for extra sustain from the evasion.

• Usually you should merge with your pet whenever it comes off CD for the Vigor, cleansing and Protection from Unstoppable Union. Don't idle in Beastmode too long, use whatever Beast ability isn't on CD and then exit.

Mobility

• Maintain permanent Swiftness with Quick Shot and Quickening Screech.
  • Turn around before using Quick Shot in order to move "forward".

• Close the gap with Swoop (soulbeast).

Damage

• Both of your weapon sets are great at dealing damage.

• Poison Volley is one of your burst skills and should be used on CD. Due to the cone shape of the volley it's best used in point-blank range, right in melee to ensure that all the arrows hit the target. The same goes for Splitblade on axe.

• On bow spam Crossfire as much as you can between bursts, ideally from behind. Many short bow skills have increased effectiveness when striking from behind or the sides.

• If you're using Stalker's Strike for the damage and not the evasion, you should first make sure your target is crippled. Crippling Shot has the benefit of allowing you to use Stalker's Strike as the first skill after swapping weapons for Quick Draw synergy, while still getting the most damage out of it.

• Lacerating Slash (Hawk F2) is a spammable source of Bleeding and Poison from Poison Master. Use it on CD.

Sustain

• Every stance in the build is defensive by nature and can be shared with allies, which you should aim to do whenever possible.

• The build doesn't have a lot of means to deal with conditions, limited mainly to Healing Spring and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Cleansing while Signet of Renewal (if taken) serves as the panic button.

• Signet of Renewal is your last resort against both condition pressure and CC. Try not to touch this skill if you can solve things in some other way. The passive is also valuable enough to be worth maintaining.
  • If your pet is in range, the signet will transfer all your conditions to them. If you are merged, you'll gain Resistance instead. Keep in mind that the condition transfer can kill your pet (that's not a real concern on Soulbeast though).

• If damage is starting to overwhelm you and you are out of CDs, just run away with Swoop (soulbeast) and wait a little before reengaging.
  • Make sure you don't have a target selected before using this skill to disengage! Also disable auto-targeting in the settings menu if you haven't already.

• Dodging applies Protection, which also heals thanks to the trait Rugged Growth.

• Applying Poison steals some health from the target, damaging them and healing you.

• Unstoppable Union grants Protection and as Beastmode has no cast time, this can be used even while CC'd in order to survive enemy burst.

Related Builds

• Soulbeast - Condition Stancebeast Roamer - a very similar WvW build with a Trapless take on condition Soulbeast roaming.