In Guild Wars 2, one of the main draws of the Ranger class is its ability to tame various animals and monsters from across the world of Tyria. While tracking down juvenile creatures to fill out your pet collection can be fun in and of itself, where the class shines is in its unique mechanic, allowing your pet to fight alongside you.
Each pet has its own set of stats and abilities, including a unique “Beast Skill” that the player can activate on-command. With over 60 pets to obtain—and more coming with each new expansion—there’s a vast multitude of choices when it comes to a Ranger’s battle companion.
But, which pets actually hold their own, or bring useful skills to the table? Which are worth taking into endgame content, and which are destined to stay waiting in the stable of your new homestead? With this article, let’s rank the 10 best pets in Guild Wars 2.
10: White Tiger
The white tiger is a feline pet added with End of Dragons that can be found and tamed in Cantha. Despite being a feline, which are known for their decently high damage output, the white tiger is actually a support pet.
The white tiger performs poorly compared to its brethren due to one of its skills, ‘Phase Pounce’, which allows it to teleport to enemies. The pet AI uses this skill frequently, which actually causes it to lose out on damage from its other skills. This issue can be mitigated, however, by using it on an Untamed or Soulbeast, both of which can prevent the tiger from using the skill on its own.
What makes the white tiger notable despite its sub-par damage is its Beast Skill, ‘Guardian’s Roar’. This skill applies aegis to up to five targets on use, negating the next attack to hit each player. This skill can be useful as a support tool, and there are some encounters—such as Deimos CM—where aegis application makes it valuable.
While aegis application is a great thing to have, it’s ultimately the only thing the white tiger brings to the table. The skill also has an odd delay, and there are plenty of methods of aegis application that outclass the white tiger, including Ranger’s own Stone Spirit.
9: Bristleback
The bristleback, a dinosaur—sorry, saurian—pet introduced in Heart of Thorns, is an interesting case among DPS pet options.
Firstly, it’s the pet with the second-highest damage output when left to its own devices, just after the fanged iboga. It’s also one of very few pets to use ranged attacks, giving it a unique advantage. With that in mind, why does it land so low on this list?
The bristleback only sees frequent play on some select builds. It is a condi pet, meaning it has to compete with the fanged iboga—the one thing that outperforms it naturally. Additionally, both of these pets can be outperformed by the lynx in certain circumstances, which has to it being the top pick among condi pets.
Where the bristleback does see use is on condi Soulbeasts, where it actually outperforms its competition. It shares this distinction with the warthog, though of the two the bristleback is the primary choice.
8: Rock Gazelle
The rock gazelle is a pet introduced with Path of Fire which Rangers can find and tame in the Crystal Desert. They’re a pet with great crowd control, and an excellent alternative to the electric wyvern, which we will bring up further down this list.
The gazelle can dish out defiance damage with its ‘Charge’ skill, as well as its ‘Head Toss’ Beast Skill. While the aforementioned wyvern is the king of CC, the rock gazelle isn’t far behind. Its advantage comes in dealing slightly more damage than the wyvern, making it a viable alternative for certain encounters where you may not need quite as much defiance break. Its skills are also on shorter cooldowns than the wyvern’s, allowing it to excel in some particular encounters.
7: Carrion Devourer
The carrion devourer is one of the top performing pets as far as its passive damage when left to its own devices, coming in just behind the fanged iboga and bristleback. Its kit features several potent condi attacks; however, it isn’t used in condi builds, as its effectiveness in actual use falls short when compared to the iboga or lynx.
Shockingly, where the condi-focused carrion devourer finds its place in the meta is as the secondary pet of power Untamed builds. Allow us to explain.
In Guild Wars 2, pets don’t inherit the stats of their owners; instead, they each have their own stat spreads. Due to this, there’s technically nothing stopping a Ranger running a power build from taking a condi pet, or vice-versa. You usually wouldn’t do so anyways, since if you’re running a power or condi build, it’s usually because you’re doing content where builds of that type perform better; therefore, pets of the same type will also perform better in that content independent of you and your build.
So, then, why is the carrion devourer an exception? Simply put, its Beast Skill, ‘Poisonous Cloud’, does pretty good burst damage—enough that it’s optimal for a power Untamed running a tiger as their main pet to briefly switch to the devourer, use its Beast Skill, and then swap back to their tiger as quickly as possible.
6: Jacaranda
The jacaranda is an interesting case among pets. Added in Path of Fire and found in the deserts of Elona, this plantlike pet brings a variety of interesting utilities that set it apart form most other pets.
Firstly, the jacaranda’s main place in the current meta is actually as a condi DPS pet—specifically, it gets ran by condi Druids. Its damage, while decent, falls behind that of the fanged iboga or lynx on other builds. Its Beast Skill, ‘Jacarnda’s Embrace’, immobilizes an enemy; this can trigger the ‘Blood Moon’ trait on Druids, which applies bleeding to foes the Ranger or its pet immobilizes or disables.
Aside from its place as a damage option, the jacaranda’s kit brings some interesting utilities. The aforementioned Beast Skill can be useful for immobilizing targets for nearly 10 seconds, and the pet also has the unique ability to heal itself with the ‘Photosynthesize’ skill, making it great for tanking, competitive use in PvP, and casual use in open-world content.
5: Lynx
The lynx is the top choice for condi Rangers, just beating out the iboga’s damage output if you take the ‘Poison Master’ trait. Not only is it the general meta pick for condi pets, it’s also a good choice for condi Soulbeasts to merge with.
The Lynx applies bleeding with its ‘Maul’ skill and its Beast Skill, ‘Rending Pounce’. Additionally, the ‘Poison Master’ trait you’d want to take with it causes its next attack to apply poison after using its Beast Skill.
There’s not much else to say about the premier condi DPS of the pet world. The lynx is a reliable ally, and quite easy to obtain since it can be found all across Core Tyria. An argument could be made to place it higher, with it being the go-to condi pet, but we’ve decided to place it below its power and CC counterparts since it gets replaced by bristleback and jacaranda on two particular builds, making it a bit less definitive.
4: Electric Wyvern
The electric wyvern is a unique pet introduced with Heart of Thorns that can be found in the Heart of Maguuma. Young wyverns can be a dangerous and frustrating foe to players, but thankfully the electric wyvern makes up for it by being an excellent pet and the top choice for Rangers looking to bring extra crowd control.
While the electric wyvern’s damage output isn’t at all impressive, where it shines is with its CC output. It can dish out some crowd control passively on its own with its ‘Wing Buffet’ skill, but its main use is with its Beast Skill, ‘Lightning Assault’, which not only deals defiance break, but also creates a lightning field for players to take advantage of.
The electric wyvern has a simple job, and it does it quite well. It’s a reliable pet, if not a bit difficult to obtain thanks to its brethren.
3: Tiger
The tiger is a powerful pet with high damage, generally considered the top option for direct power damage. Found in the Heart of Maguuma (HoT), it gets ran on builds such as power untamed as the meta choice, and its damage when left to its own devices is one of the best among the pets.
While there are alternatives such as the carrion devourer with good burst damage or iboga that have good sustained damage, the tiger comes out on top for power builds with a mix of sustained and burst damage. While its passive damage is decent, it also brings good burst with its Beast Skill, ‘Furious Pounce’, which also brings the added benefit of applying fury to you and your party.
The tiger, lynx, and electric wyverns each respectively represent the pets that are generally best-suited for power damage, condi damage, and CC. A solid argument could be made for these three spots to be swapped around in any way—after all, who are we to claim the best power pet is better than the best condi pet? Simply know that, their placements relative to each other aside, these three pets are very good at their respective jobs and all deserve a place in your Ranger’s arsenal.
2. Fanged Iboga
Whereas the tiger, lynx, and lightning wyvern all serve specific roles, the fanged iboga, a pet added in Path of Fire which Rangers can tame in the deserts of Elona, is more of a generalist choice.
The iboga has the highest general damage output of all pets when simply left to its own devices, making it great for casual or general open-world play. Its high damage allows it to be easily slotted into a variety of builds, and it can be especially good for newer players who have yet to get a hang of the pet mechanic. It’s also a genuinely good option for condi builds, outperforming Lynx if you don’t take the ‘Poison Master’ trait.
The iboga can also apply an ethereal field with its ‘Narcotic Spores’ skill, allowing players to perform chaos combos that apply random boons. Additionally, its Beast Skill is a pull, giving it some great utility and decent CC.
It is thanks to its versatility and applicability that the iboga is ranked so high on this list. That said, an argument could be made for any of the 3 below it to take its place.
1: Pig
We know how this looks. “Compared to a tiger, a lightning-breathing wyvern, a giant snake monster, and a lynx, you’re trying to tell me the strongest pet is just a normal pig?” Yes. Yes, we are.
The pig may seem innocuous—and, indeed, it was for a long time, finding little to no place in the meta due to the gimmicky nature of its Beast Skill—but you mustn’t let its innocent facade fool you. While it may seem harmless, the pig is actually the best-in-slot pet for power Soulbeast, one of the best builds for top players.
The reason behind the pig’s effectiveness is quite simple. Its merged skills have some of the best damage, and it’s ‘Brutal Charge’ skill lines up perfectly with the uptime of the ‘Twice as Vicious’ trait, which increases outgoing damage for 10 seconds after disabling an enemy.
What makes such a simple option deserving of the top spot? Well, the build that uses it, power Soulbeast, is arguably one of the most powerful builds in the game in terms of damage output. It’s the premier choice for speedrunners with its insane burst damage, only recently being overtaken by Dragonhunter on select fights. If you look up the world record time for any given fight, there’s a very good chance it features a power Soulbeast or two.
We hear you ask, “Does being used by speedrunners really entitle it to the top spot?” Perhaps it does; perhaps it doesn’t. A solid argument could be made in favor of the fanged iboga, which is the most versatile and would be useful to the highest number of players, or to the tiger, lynx, or electric wyvern, which each perform the best at their individual jobs.
Ultimately, the fun of the Ranger class comes from seeking out, taming, and using a variety of pets. It’s fitting that the question of which pet is “the best” has such a vague answer, isn’t it?
