Beastmastery Combat

Caerulo

I know that Poison is extremely useful in combat, but what about these abilities?

Jumping:

Any use if I already have tumble?

Flying/Climbing

Would these elevation skills be useful in combat? I'm thinking in druid demesnes, maybe climbing will let you use your beast when you're in the trees?

Gust:
Is a second Gust useful? If there's a timed instakill, I was thinking of beast order gust and tumble in opposite direction.

Blocking:

Is it useful at all?

Once blocking, can the beast still take other actions?

The AB on Xiel's website says it depends on size, while the in-game AB doesn't mention anything about it. Does it mean that it is a confirmed block all the time now?

Trampling:

I know it used to be extremely overpowered, but is it still useful now? (I'm really hoping so because I'm suppressing an evil muahaha while imagining a spider trampling everyone with all eight legs)

Edit: I also now want to know how phoenixes/eagles/thunderbirds even manage to trample with their tiny claws.

Curing:
How useful is curing? I'm thinking curing spirit might help save you some mana since it costs so much, but not quite sure how viable it is.

Bodyguard:

Does it work on ents? All ents? Only ents that deal health damage?

HypnoticGaze:

The list of afflictions look generally good, but really long as well. Is it better to use this as a guaranteed but randomized affliction, or stick to poison spit which you get to choose but can be shrugged? 

Edit: Or should I just ignore most of the active skills and just stick to spit poison and breathe fire for the ablaze?

Akyaevin

I think jumping is leap. So if you're using tumble to get past walls, it'll be useful, but remember it requires that you be mounted.

Pretty sure your beast can naturally follow while you climb. However, if you fly and your beast follows but does not have wings, it will fall down. So it can be useful for that. If you are remaining mounted to use other skills (or Cavalier?), I expect you require Climb to remain reasonably mobile, unless you can instant-mount.

Gust is very useful. Remember it's on beast balance, so you can gust twice at once to try and break through tough summon resistances.

Pretty sure you can beast block firm. While blocking, it can take other actions, but it might require you to remain mounted.

Not sure about trampling. Not seen anyone use it in a long time.

Cure spirit is horehound, not focus spirit, I'm pretty sure. Maybe reishi too?

IF bodyguard covers ents (they might be classed as player attacks), it will only absorb health damage. Afflictions and other types of damage will hit normally.

HypnoticGaze can hit for multiple affs, two of which cause a blackout effect. This is the main use I see it used for, also it can also be used as just affliction fluff to slow down curing. Keep in mind that HG is also very expensive manawise, whereas beast spit just requires poison charges.

Llandros

Beast trample requires and uses balance for beast and master so you can't combo it with other attacks. The same is true for kick. 

Never been a fan of hypnotic gaze as the aff isn't hidden and there is such a long list of affs that the odds of getting a helpful one are pretty low. Also, it uses a ton of mana so you won't get more than a couple shots off during a fight.

Beast gust and spit are super helpful.

I've only noticed bodyguard working on bashing mobs and not ents. I don't think it should work on them.

Lerad

Beast Curing is definitely useful. Heavy on beast mana usage, though, but don't underestimate the usefulness of an extra free aff cure. Especially good for getting out of locks, since a beast can be ordered to cure when you're prone. Not sure if paralysis blocks it, though. I don't use it myself, personally, but only because my beast is too heavy on body trains to have enough mana to be efficient, and also because I ran out of trains. But it's on my to-get list for if I ever get a collar/custom beast.

Trample is definitely nowhere near as OP as it once was. There might be niche combat situations where it might be useful, but most of the time, you'll be more efficient, and have more fun, using your normal class skills and strategies.

Beast blocking is based on body trains, or so I've heard. I've never tested it myself, but the rumour mill has it that a full body train beast has near to firm blocking rates. You might want to issue yourself to ask (and share the information with us!) I also think it requires mounted. I'm not 100% sure, but most of these abilities, with the exception of gust, spit and cure, require mounted. For example, trample, flying, blocking, jumping, kicking etc.

P.S. The phoenixes/eagles/thunderbirds/crows used for beastmastery are all of the giant variety in the game. If you read their descs, they weigh thousands of pounds and are as large as any mountable beast of burden, like horses etc.

Caerulo

Thanks!

I've always assumed that Curing Body/Mind/Spirit was referring to focus body/mind/spirit. Huh. So they cure based on herbs, or on the categories in Healing?

I'm not too sure about the beast block firm though. I checked the in-game AB and it only has the plain block.

Akyaevin

I think cure mind is pretty much focus mind, but cure body might cover some other stuff (I have a vague memory of broken bones coming under there, but honestly I've never used it). Get a few trans people together and have them spend their imbues on them.

Beast block firm was certainly possible at one point. It might not be. Again, get someone to test: plenty of people have block.

Enyalida

Focus spirit cures aeon, I think

Neos

Beast block firm was removed.

Iasmos

Karlach

Beast gust and poison spit are both absolutely invaluable to me now. The extra control I get from the pair of them is life saving at times.

Caerulo

Thanks for all the information!

A deep purple phoenix looks to be crushingly strong.

He is strangely weightless.

Heh, looks like the phoenixes are made entirely out of fire.