Pet Menagerie – The Bog-guardian

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And after an incredibly long break; we’re back again! The second to last installment of Pet Menagerie is here, and this time we’re examining the walking moss heap, the Bog-guardian. Of particular note for this article to determining, similar to the Eagle, whether the requirements to use this pet are worth it. The answer may surprise you.

Or it may not.

Either way, let’s begin.

 

Skills

 

The first skill given to the Bog Guardian is Angry Bees. This skill does a bit of up front damage, and then an even smaller damage over time, ticking every 2 seconds for 10 seconds, with a 30 second cooldown. Although it does have an admittedly cool animation, that’s pretty much the only good thing about it. The damage output is pathetic, really. Leave it on autofire unless you want to be careful about breaking CC.

The second skill is called Root Strike.  This ability does a little damage, but more importantly it hits the target with a +5% Incoming Ranged Crit chance debuff, lasting 30 seconds, with a 30 second cooldown. This one has its uses, obviously if you’re running with a Hunter pal, but also because the Bog-guardian’s primary damage dealing comes from range. It is unfortunate that it only increases the crit chance of ranged skills, but beggars can’t be choosers, and it’s okay considering you can keep it up almost continuously.

The third and final skill learned by Bog-guardians is Bursting Root. The effect is quite simple. It does a bit of up front damage and has a 20% chance of setting off a Fellowship Manoeuvre. Nifty when solo, as those types of stuns override normal stuns present on the target(but does not punch through the immunity), but especially helpful in group content. This one does have a 1 minute cooldown however, so don’t count on it happening too often.

 

The Stats

 

As I indicated above, the Bog-guardian’s DPS is very disappointing, specifically because by having to trait 5 blue to actually use it, you lose a ton of DPS yourself. It does come out at the top half of the pet damage scale, but this is including the various pet buffing traits and set bonuses that come with the 5 blue, so if you insist on going blue line, you’re actually better off with the Lynx or Bear if you want your pet to do damage.

On the upside though, is Flanking. And oh boy, does this guy have it. Exactly how good is dependent on whether he is attacking at range or melee, but in either case the Bog-guardian is almost unrivalled. The sole challenger to his title is the Eagle, and even then only when the Bog-guardian is at range, where he flanks slightly less often.

 

The Verdict

 

And here we are. Is the Bog-guardian worth the restricted trait options? Well… no. Not at all. Not even close.

Considering a large chunk of the blue traits are for buffing your pets(who suck stat-wise as a base, so the increase is very little), and the rest are group focused, using him solo is not recommended. If you want to have the high flank rate, I suggest using the Eagle, as it only takes up one Legendary slot, and you’re free to blow stuff up with the red line. While the blue line may have once been considered the ‘survivability build’, that was less viable after the pets stopped scaling, and became utterly redundant with the addition of Water-Lore. While he may have some okay group utility, it is far overshadowed by having to waste precious trait slots just getting to 5 blue.

My advice? At this point in time, don’t use it, or the blue line beyond the healing oriented ones, for that matter. The sacrifices you make just aren’t worth the benefits, period.

The final edition of Pet Menagerie will be coming up soon(hopefully with less of a delay than this article), featuring everyone’s favourite lightbulb, the Spirit of Nature!

8 comments

  1. Thanks for the great article Shurz!

  2. eldaeriel /

    This is the one pet I have never, ever, even tried out… and reading your guide – I’m glad I didn’t 😉

    thanks 🙂

  3. I just think they’re too ugly to use.

  4. I appreciate the info in this article (and the series of articles). I will whole heartedly agree that the number of flanks I get are fantastic while using my bog guardian. The flanks definitely seem to make my LM less squishy. You are also very accurate that he doesn’t help produce a large amount of damage. However, I hate dying so I often play with “Turnip” as I call him.

    • Ethelros /

      I can understand that. Personally though, I’d prefer to run with the Eagle. That way you can kill stuff faster with the red line, have a flank rate almost as good, AND you get a free rez. 🙂

  5. I’ve just recently decided to experiment with my bog guardian on my lvl 85 LM. After badmouthing the class all this time (like in my last comment for these articles–lol) I was pleasantly surprised that I could play him without grumbling under my breath.

    Here’s what I liked about test driving him.

    ** Because he’s ranged, he can draw aggro like your other pets AND he’ll bring the mobs into range for your melee skills. Other pets run out to the mob and make you run out with him. We all know that running and firing off skills do not mix well for our LM friends.

    ** He’s a flankin’, tankin’ maniac. My bog guardian is carrying as much morale as most of the lvl 85 wardens I know so this guy can stand there and let bunches and bunches of mobs thump on him while flanking me and letting me stay safe without their aggro.

    ** I don’t think he’d be as good if I weren’t playing him as a capped LM. Twenty levels ago, he wouldn’t be carrying near as much morale, neither would I. But at cap, he’s great for running through trivial content in a hurry. I had to finish my Esteldin rep after I started my experiment. I was able to plow right through tons of melee mobs and hit ally and kin status in about 30-40 minutes with Bogeyman.

    Bottom line, my current thinking is that if I want to run blue, I don’t mind having my Bogeyman with me or my spirit of nature. If I want to run red, I’m bringing my Eagle or my raven. If someone needs me to go yellow, I’m bringing the raven or the spirit of nature for incidental heals through my auto-skills on the spirit and the ability to control some flanks.

  6. Have your thoughts on the Bog-guardian (or any of the pets) changed with changes in Helm’s Deep?

    • Ethelros /

      Honestly at this stage all of the pets are horrendously overpowered when it comes to DPS. The Lynx and Lurker especially. Unfortunately their skillsets are largely unchanged, so most of my stuff regarding those is still true(from my perspective of course).

      I will say though that since the Lurker no longer requires you to build blue, it is probably the best overall pet to use right now.

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