In Guild Wars 2, Ranger Pets are a key part of the Ranger Profession. They are utilized in many different ways and each has a differing utility with their many different skills. If you are built to stay alive, the pet's damage can mean the difference in a successful kill. If you are a "glass cannon" (like me), pets can give you boons, remove conditions, and control your target. Pets come in melee and ranged damage forms, and are very important in your underwater adventures. This basic guide gives information about how pets are classified (attribute sharing), as well as how to acquire, select, and control your pets. Pets tend to "aggro" mobs from longer distances than the Ranger alone. Knowing how and when to have your pet on "Guard", "Avoid Combat", or even stowed ... is all a part of learning the Ranger Profession. Good luck with your Ranger, and GOOD HUNTING!

Fraternally,

Drae

Rangers gain access to the different pets by charming them.  All pets are Juveniles.  They exist throughout the world in all the various zones.  They are friendly, meaning their names are green above their heads.  To charm a new pet, a ranger simply approaches a Juvenile and the "Charm" button will appear on the screen:

After clicking the Charm button, the Ranger will be given the option to use the pet immediately, or just add it to the collection:

The later sections of this Ranger Pet Guide help with the most difficult part of obtaining that special pet ... FINDING THEM!

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All Ranger Pets - 3 Habitat Groups : 12 Families : 44 Species

Usable on Land - 2 Habitat Groups : 9 Families : 39 Species

Usable Underwater - 2 Habitat Groups : 7 Families : 20 Species

Habitat Groups:
Terrestrial (Land ONLY) 5 Families : 24 Species
Amphibious (Land or Underwater) 4 Families: 15 Species
Aquatic (Underwater Only) *3 Families: 5 Species
*Note: The Official WIKI has only 2 Aquatic Families.  Since the "Shark" and "Armored Fish" share neither Attributes nor Skills, I place them in their own Families.

As an example, The Juvenile Brown Bear is a member of the Bear Family, which is a member of the Amphibious Habitat Group, which is usable on Land and Underwater.  There is an exception to this rule. The Juvenile Lynx is a member of the Amphibious Feline Family, however the Juvenile Lynx is only usable on Land (Terrestrial).

Each Habitat Group contains a number of Family Groups.  The Family Groups each contain a number of Species (which are the unique pets themselves).  As an example, the Canine Family includes the following Species --- Juvenile Alpine Wolf, Juvenile Fern Hound, Juvenile Hyena, Juvenile Krytan Drakehound, and the Juvenile Wolf.  Species (pets) within a Family Group share the same Attributes (Power, Precision, Toughness, Vitality), as well as three main Family Group Skills.

Each Species (of pet) has four skills.  One skill which is unique to that specific Species, and the three Family Group Skills.  All Family Group Species have the same Family Group Skills and Attributes.  The three shared Family Group Skills operate automatically without the Ranger having any ability to control them. The one unique Species (pet) skill is controlled only by the Ranger/player.  The control for this skill is the second button, [F2], on the Pet Control Panel (next section). This is why the Species' unique skill is referred to as the "F2 Skill", and is often a major factor in pet selection.
Note: Amphibious Species most often have two [F2] Skills. One [F2] Skill is usable on land, and the second is usable underwater.

Exceptions

Feline Family
- All Felines are Amphibious with the exception of the Juvenile Lynx, which is Terrestrial.

Canine Family
- The Juvenile Hyena has less than half the Power Attribute of other Canine Family Species.  At level 80, the Hyena has 824 Power, whereas the other Canine Family Species have 1718 Power.  The Hyena's [F2] skill, "Howl of the Pack", calls a second Hyena named "Hyena Ally" (same attribute and skills as the Juvenile Hyena) that fights with the Juvenile Hyena, as long as combat lasts, or 45 seconds ("Howl of the Pack" has a 45 second cooldown).  The "Hyena Ally" cannot be healed with the Ranger's "Heal as One" skill, but can be healed with area of affect healing skills such as the Ranger's "Healing Spring".  If "Howl of the Pack" is used properly, the Hyena can have the highest survivability of all species but still will not be able to do as much damage as other Canine Family Species, even given the double use of the Family skills, "Crippling Leap" and "Brutal Charge".

Spider Family
- The Juvenile Black Widow Spider has half the Vitality Attribute of other Spider Family Species.  At level 80, the Juvenile Black Widow Spider has 1,374 Vitality, whereas the other Spider Family Species have 2748 Vitality.

Bird Family
- There are 5 birds, but only 3 unique [F2] skills.
- The Juvenile Hawk and the Juvenile Eagle are identical with only a difference in name.
- The Juvenile White Raven and Juvenile Raven differ only in color and Vitality.  The Juvenile White Raven has only 1,374 Vitality, whereas the other Bird Family Species have 2,061 Vitality.

Boar Family
- All Boar Family Species have the same [F2] skill. Though the icon and tooltip are the same, the items that are "Foraged", tend to differ with the various Species of the Boar Family.

Oddities:
While in the Heart of the Mists (or Structured PvP), pet skills do about 5% less damage.
Canine Family / Drake Family have equal Attributes (not skills).
Moa Family / Spider Family / Jellyfish Family have equal Attributes (not skills).

Hall of Monument Pets

This is a good time to discuss the Hall of Monument pets.  Players, that were active in the original Guild Wars, were given a Hall of Monuments Portal Stone, when they linked their accounts.  This stone allows them to port to a special place ... The Hall of Monuments. Depending on certain achievements in the original Guild Wars, players have received points.  Players can still play the original Guild Wars and earn points for their "linked" accounts.  At certain point levels, the pets become "Charmable" in the Hall of Monuments.  The points required for the pets to become available are contained in the list below.  The Hall of Monument Pets have four skills just as other pets do, but they share their [F2] skill with another member of their family group.  No Hall of Monuments Pet has any unique skill, and some have inferior attributes.  When any Ranger enters the Heart of the Mists (Structured PvP staging area), the Hall of Monuments Pets are available to the Ranger until leaving Structured PvP.

The Hall of Monuments pets are listed below followed by the family group member sharing the [F2] skill, and any notations on differences from family attributes:

15 points - Juvenile Black Moa (Juvenile Pink Moa) Identical in all attributes and skills.
20 points - Juvenile Rainbow Jellyfish.  The Juvenile Rainbow Jellyfish and Juvenile Blue Jellyfish are identical, with only a difference in name.
25 points - Juvenile White Raven.  The Juvenile White Raven and the Juvenile Black Raven are identical in all but color and name.  While in the Heart of the Mists (or Structured PvP) the Juvenile White Raven has only 1,374 Vitality, whereas the other Bird Family Species have 2,061 Vitality.
30 points - Juvenile Black Widow. The Juvenile Black Widow and the Juvenile Jungle Spider are identical in all but appearance and the Vitality Attribute.  At level 80, the Juvenile Black Widow Spider has 1,374 Vitality, whereas the other Spider Family Species have 2748 Vitality.

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The example below, is the Pet Control Panel for the Juvenile Owl.  The Pet Control Panel has a red health (or hit points) bar and seven buttons.  The buttons must be clicked on to activate.  The buttons with F1 through F4, may be activated by pressing the corresponding function key on the keyboard.  The sixth button is an icon image of your pet.  This button opens your Pet Management Panel, which can also be activated by pressing the "K" key on your keyboard.

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The Pet Management Panel displays your selected pet's Name (Species Name by default), icon image, Habitat Group, Level, and where the pet was Charmed.  To the right are the Attributes (Family Group Attributes).  In the bottom are it shows icons for your pet's four skills .  The leftmost skill is the pet's F2 skill, followed by the three Family Group Skills (ordered by increasing cooldown).  Place your cursor over a skill icon, and the tooltip will appear listing the skill name and what the skill does. Below it will list in order: Physical Damage; Conditions, Boons, or special affects; "Combo" interactions; and lastly Range.  In the top right corner of the tooltip are numbers and icons representing the cast time and cooldown of the skill. If either is missing, its value is 0 seconds (instantaneous).  In the example below, "Swoop" has a 3/4 second cast time and an 8 second cooldown.

The four pet icons on the left of the panel are the pets selected for use by the player.  The two topmost icons are surrounded by a dark brown background, and represent the two LAND pets to be used.  The topmost of the two is the primary pet and will be selected when the player enters the game or is revived.  The lower two pet icons are surrounded by a blue background, and are the pets selected for Underwater use, with the upper pet as the primary.  When entering the water, the underwater pet will appear.  If the player is using the secondary pet, the secondary underwater pet will appear.

Selecting Pets

To select a pet for any of the four locations, click on the small arrow at the top right of the desired slot location.  As you move your cursor over the little up arrow, your cursor will become a gear and the up arrow will illuminate.  Click and you will get:

Rangers can swap pet's in combat, but they cannot SELECT a pet while in combat or while the "Pet Swap" button is on cooldown.  If you are failing to see the pet select occur, check that the "Pet Swap" button (on the Pet Control Panel) is not on cooldown, and you are out of a combat state.

Renaming Pets

To rename your pet, use the Pet Management Panel and click on the small green box with the gold quill pen (left of the pet name).  Click and you will get:

As long as your pet is selected in one of the land or underwater slots, it will keep the name you give it.  Once it is removed from all four slots, it will revert to its default Species Name.  When Charming a pet, if you select the "equip now" option, the newly Charmed pet will keep any custom name that was present for the pet replaced.

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