With a Mechanist in hand and a Specter to go, it’s time for Gamespace to take the Untamed out for a walk. One of the three new specializations to land during the Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons beta that we covered recently, the Untamed is less of a change from the Ranger’s core skills set than something like the Druid. So how different is it really?
A new Weapon
The Untamed might look like a Ranger but it certainly doesn’t walk like one. It’s carrying a massive hammer after all. The Untamed is a new class of pet wielding, hammer swinging adventurer that utterly changes the dynamic of this core class. This new specialization doesn’t just add a sickly hue to one of ArenaNet’s classes, but it changed my opinion of this animal loving Tyrian.
The addition of a hammer probably is the best indication of where the new build for the Untamed is going. While the Ranger has something of a relation to the new Engineer gameplay, this warrior is making use of nature’s magic to go a little bit berzerk. As you’ll see from the above snippet, the Untamed adds a bunch of powerful, and predictable knock-down skills to the use of the hammer. Just like the Scrapper, this seemingly soft target is now a frontline brawler. Knockdowns, immobilizes, dazes, confusion, and vulnerability all feature in the Untamed’s own arsenal. This change is less about tanking and all about taking down the enemy with overwhelming force. If you’re looking to use this class to its maximum potential then it’s all about opening with aggression.
Comrades in Arms
That aggressive opening and the plethora of lockdowns all comes with some serious backup. While the Untamed makes its way through the front lines bolting down enemies, the traditional pet becomes something else entirely. Clicking a seemingly simple little button above the health bar allows the Untamed’s pet to be unleashed, channelling powerful magics drawn from nature and swapping out their skills for three new ones. Unlike the Mechanist’s companion, these are present for simplicity. They are however incredibly powerful following up the lock down of the Untamed with powers control and damage skills of their own. Venomous Outburst, Rending Vines, and Enveloping Haze mainly allow the Untamed t follow through on a group of targets, inflicting vulnerability, and other problems on opposing players.
Skills
This theme continues with the addition of a new set of skills, which are mostly designed, it seems, to compliment this playstyle of attack and disable. Rather than continue to weigh in on one playstyle, there’s a solid all round balance to the Untamed skills. Unnatural Traversal supports quick attacks, Exploding Spores seems just ridiculously good at causing chaos, while skills like the ultimate Forest’s Fortification add much needed support and damage reduction during the heat of battle.
A Bit More Destruction
Just because the Untamed’s pet gets some extra attack power, it doesn’t mean this is just a Ranger with a bigger bear. The Untamed has a sort of push and pull mechanic with the magic it wields. Eventually, your ferocious companion is going to get tired or skills go on cooldown. That’s the perfect opportunity to switch over and move in on your own. Switching the unleashed mode over to the player character provides a whole array of new abilities for the already formidable hammer You’ll notice that the new versions of these abilities are crafted to take advantage of already disabled opponents, meaning it always ends up being best to go in with an interrupt or knockdown first.
Widespread damage with some spores and more
Going Down Swinging
While we didn’t get a ton of time on the Untamed and working your rotation will be incredibly important, the Rangers move to a more all out attack is a welcome one. The Untamed feel unique. While the Mechanist might have some comparisons to the Ranger, this is unlike any Scrapper I’ve ever encountered. You can have a glimpse of the current Untamed skills and traits in our clip above or check them out for yourself in the upcoming Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons beta.
