Heal As One - Pure Beast Mastery Ranger Build

Template Code
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The Concept
  • Pure beastmastery build. 
  • Great single target spike capabilities.
  • Cripple + 33% improved run and attack speed on pet (Call of Haste) means very few things are able to get away.
  • +3 Health Regen and halved damage on pet (Symbiotic bond) means even dire pets are highly survivable.
  • Pet is a great tank, especially running with h/h and no melee.
  • E-management (Scavenger Strike) is part of spike chain.

Skills
Maiming Strike
Feral Lunge
Scavenger Strike
Brutal Strike
[Optional Slot]
Heal as One [Elite]
Call of Haste
Symbiotic Bond

Stats
Beast Mastery [12+3+1]
Expertise [12+1]

Gear
  • Beastmastery insignia - keeps PvE attention off you, reduces damage, and your pet will be alive 99% of the time.
  • Any 15-20e staff. 20e is ideal, but 15e is fine if you can't get it.
  • If you're comfortable with your e, +5e spear + shield is also a good choice (more armour).
  • Superior Beast Mastery rune, Minor Expertise rune. You can reverse the order if you are having e-troubles, but your pet will do appreciably less damage.

Campaigns Needed
Prophecies
Factions

How To Use
  • Keep Symbiotic Bond up at all times, except when you are finding it kills you. (In a group situation, this should be - never. The one time Symbiotic Bond killed me was when I was fighting Magni the Bison, without the correct optional slot.)
  • Make sure your pet control panel is open. (Press the little number beside your pet's name in the party bars to open it.)
  • Keep your mouse over the 'Lock Pet Target' button.
  • Pick a target (tab works best).
  • Lock pet target.
  • Heal as One + Call of Haste
  • Move to the distance shown in the minimap image. If pet target is locked, your pet will automatically move to engage once you hit this distance. If the opponent is out of LoS, your pet will go around the obstacles. Your pet can be body blocked by other opponents though, so keep an eye out for that happening.
  • Maiming Strike + Feral Lunge + Scavenger Strike (Repeat Maiming Strike if recharged, and target is above 50% health)
  • If target is below 50%, Brutal Strike + [Optional: If your optional is a finisher]
  • Refresh Heal as One whenever: a) It's about to run out, b) You or your pet need healing.

Optional Slots

  • Finish Him! [Requires EotN] - Makes for very powerful petspike, and doesn't require stats.
  • Draw Conditions - At Protection Prayers [3], completely deconditionifies your pet, and heals you for 10 per condition. Since you're Pure BM, blind/cripple on you don't matter much - and those are the ones you really want to remove from the pet.
  • Healing Breeze - At Healing Prayers [3], +5 health regen. Only take this if both your pet (and by extension, you - with Symbiotic Bond) are taking a large amount of damage that Heal as One cannot heal through. This is what I brought to defeat Magni the Bison.
  • Never Rampage Alone [Requires Nightfall] - Replace Call of Haste with Run as One if you want to use this.
  • You Move Like a Dwarf! [Requires EotN] - Knockdown effect is useful for interrupts (only on targets that can be knocked down, naturally). Cripple effect is unconditional, and you can use Scavenger Strike to regain the e from YMLaD. Shout, so it doesn't matter where your pet is.
  • Pain Inverter [Requires EotN] - You easily have the e for this. Toss this at bosses and elementalist foes for numbergasms.
  • Great Dwarf Weapon [Requires EoTN] - Knockdown chances, and extra damage fun. Nuff said! (Well, ok, not quite enough. At R0 Deldrimor rep, using GDW will give you 50-60dmg autoattacks on a 100ar target.)
  • Poisonous Bite [Requires Factions] - Unconditional conditioner (hee!) except against non-fleshy foes.
  • Disrupting Lunge - Interrupt that requires your pet be beside the foe to hit, so it can be tricky to land. Gets easier with practice.
  • Bestial Pounce - [Requires Prophecies] Knockdown effect is useful for interrupts, but bear in mind not all casters can be KD'd. (Hydras, etc.) Replace Maiming Strike with Bestial Mauling (daze on KD'd target) for synergy.
  • Distracting shot - Great interrupt, doesn't need any points in MM. But obviously, you'll need to switch in your bow for this, then back to the staff.
  • Hard rez - You won't be horribly gimped if you need to bring one.
Optional slots that DID NOT work for me
  • Spirit Bond [Requires Factions] - Because Symbiotic Bond splits half the damage your pet takes to you, much of the time, the individual damage packets aren't high enough to trigger this either on yourself, or your pet.
  • Feral Aggression [Requires EotN] - At Beast Mastery [16], it lasts 21s. Since Call of Haste already provides your pet with Improved Attack Speed, what this gives you is improved consistent damage. I didn't find it to be worth it, but your mileage may vary. If you bring something other than Call of Haste though (Call of Protection, for instance), then this would work very well.
  • Otyugh's Cry [Requires Prophecies] - Can't be kept up constantly, and since my pet doesn't get blocked much unless fighting rangers/sins, didn't seem worth the slot. Could work if you only have Prophecies.
  • Melandru's Assault [Requires Prophecies] - Doesn't trigger Splinter Weapon, Strength of Honour, Mark of Pain or Barbs. Makes it very 'meh' as an aoe. Could work if you only have Prophecies.
Counters
  •  Heavy degen on you or your pet.
  • Heavy e-denial.
  • Losing track of your pet's location (pet is bodyblocked and you can't see it, happens a bit when learning to use the build).
  • Can be tricky to multitask Pet Target Locking + Target calling + controlling H/H all at the same time.
Additional notes
Agh! I can't keep all the buffs up, all the attacks straight, and my pet locked on a target, all at once! My brain is exploding!
As mentioned, it can initially be tricky to get the hang of this (or any other) pure BM build, because it's yet another level of micromanagement. What I find works best for me is to a) get my target, b) lock pet target, c) call target so that I can d) return to the pet target if I had to target another target at any time.

Is there a keypress to make my pet go attack my target? When I ctrl-space, he just sits there like a lump.
There is no key-binding for Lock Pet Target that I know of (If you know better, please do share!), so you need to keep your mouse near the silly Lock Pet Target button ALL THE TIME. -_- This is a bit of a pain, but once you learn to leave your mouse there after doing whatever it is you feel like doing, it gets easier.

Telling your pet to use a skill WILL NOT cause your pet to attack. If you want your pet to attack, you either need to a) attack the target yourself (whether through a direct damage skill/spell, or autoattack), b) make sure your pet's target is locked while it's close enough to the locked target (see minimap image).

If you bring a pure caster setup (minions work fine), your pet can be an amazing tank if allowed to wander on in first. 

Hey, I pressed all my pet skills in sequence, and used up a crapload of e, but nothing happened?
Your pet can only use skills as fast as it can attack. This means that you need to keep a close eye on your pet's buff bar (the skill it's about to execute is shown there as well). If you don't, you'll just be wasting E, hitting skills before your pet can execute them. Only one pet skill can be active at any one time, and hitting a new skill cancels the old one - but you still lose the e.

What happens if my pet is blinded, and has a skill buff up?
Skill charges will not be expended while your pet is blinded.

It's hard to target my pet because I have to leave my mouse cursor over the Lock Pet Target button.
To quickly target your pet to remove conditions/for whatever reason - click your pet's health bar in the pet panel. No need to mouse all the way to the party panel. 

But pets are so squishy in Hard Mode!
As of the August 2009 update, PvE pets (especially BM pets) are far from squishy. In PvE, since the updates, pets gained a 33% damage reduction, as well as a 33% damage-dealing increase. Scary beasties. 

What if I only have Prophecies? Heal as One is a Factions elite! 
Use Ferocious Strike, and replace Scavenger Strike with Comfort Animal. You won't need the e-management from Scavenger Strike, and you do still need to bring your furry/scaly/feathered/beasty friend.

Can Heroes use this?
No. They absolutely refuse to use Heal as One. Even if you threaten to send them to bed without supper. Or stuffed toys. Or without even a bed.
 
Where have you tested this?
All over the place! But most notably, in the walk from Beacon's Perch to Droknar's Forge. I couldn't find a runner, and I wanted my Drakescale armour. XD So I walked (and fought my way through) from Beacon's Perch to Droknar's Forge on NM. This means that the 2 henchies I brought were essentially fodder for Ollie's minions. (Stefan + Little Thom at level 10.)

As I was still learning/testing the build at this point - this is where I found out that pet could be an uber damage-dealing Tank. Most of the time it was just me and Ollie since I didn't bring a rez. >.>