Beast master

Beast masters are Rangers who, instead of focusing on dealing damage through their bows, focus on strengthening their pet and Beast Mastery attribute, and use almost exclusively pet-oriented abilities. While previously almost non-existent, due to numerous updates and expansions (Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North) they are slowly gaining acceptance as a plausible character type.

Pets resemble Warriors, who can either take an enormous amount of damage through the use of defensive shouts, or utilizing multiple pet attack skills that are made to inflict large amounts of damage. Often a beast master takes a role that falls in between a pure offensive build and a defensive build.

Beastmasters subtypes include:
 * Pack Hunters
 * Bunny Thumpers
 * Barrage/pet teams

Common abilities used
Some common shouts (or skill, in the case of Feral Aggression) used by a beast master include:

Defensive abilities

 * is the most common defensive ability for pets of all, tied with Symbiotic Bond, as few abilities can compete with Call of Protection's base damage reduction.
 * is generally used if the Beast Master prefers a defensive role for their pet, most commonly used in a Beast Master build known as the 'Tank Master.'

Offensive abilities

 * is used in a role where they want the pet to be dishing out the most damage possible, though many were turned away from it when Feral Aggression was nerfed.
 * allows the pet to move from target to target quickly, alongside the pet's base 20% movement speed increase, and conveniently dealing bonus damage in the process, effectively moving 59.6% faster than a player and receiving the IAS bonus as well, unconditionally.
 * is the most common pet attack used, partially because it has the largest + damage bonus of any Pet Attack, and is the only way for Rangers to inflict deep wound without a secondary profession skill.
 * is generally used when a Beast Master does not wish to use Enraged Lunge as their elite ability, and comes in as the second highest + damage pet attack skill at +74, though has less controllable conditional requirements to meet the +damage bonus than Enraged Lunge.

Healing abilities

 * is arguably the strongest healing ability a beast master can use, as it can resurrect the pet, and heal you, even when it resurrects the pet, which effectively performs 3 functions at once. Some are turned away by the fact it costs the ranger their elite ability though.
 * , when not using Heal As One, is the only way for a beast master to both heal and resurrect their pet, though does not take up the elite ability. Also, in PvE this skill now counts as Charm Animal to bring the pet with your party, allowing another skill to be taken instead of Charm Animal.
 * is also useful to heal yourself or your pet conditionally based on who has the lowest health, but does not provide the resurrection that the two above skills do, though it is only worth the risk when a Beast Master has ensured that the pet will never be defeated, even when you are dead, in the case of Symbiotic Bond users.

Other abilities

 * , now a welcome ability within the beast master community, crosses the line of pure offense and defense, as your pet gains an additional 24 armor, and cannot be blocked throughout the duration.
 * , now a welcome ability within the beast master community, crosses the line of pure offense and defense, as your pet gains an additional 24 armor, and cannot be blocked throughout the duration.
 * , now a welcome ability within the beast master community, crosses the line of pure offense and defense, as your pet gains an additional 24 armor, and cannot be blocked throughout the duration.

Strengths
Beast masters, like minion masters and spirit lords, function as a living build - though instead of summoning up to 10 disposable minions or spirits, which are impaired by requiring corpse exploitation or complex rituals, they lack the ability to have numerous creatures following/guarding them, instead, having a single, powerful ally, that does not need corpse exploitation to function. They only need one of two skills - Call of Protection and Symbiotic Bond, to become one of the most effective tanks in the game, and are able to deal incredible damage, and through the use of several high damage skills/buffs, particularly Enraged Lunge and Feral Aggression, they also are one of the most effective damage dealers available. A skillful beast master can turn both general PvE into a surprisingly painless task, since they conform to the general demand of PvE - high defense and damage, and dominate the grounds of general PvP, since few consider the pet a threat, and have some very PvP based buffs - Call of Haste and Otyugh's Cry, in particular. Although their ability to body block is limited compared to a minion master, beast masters have more control over their pet, and it does not become hostile to all when a beast master dies, unlike a minion master. Alongside minion masters, they also have something no other character can do - perform an action, such as resurrecting a party member, while being able to deal all their primary damage at the same time. Their primary tool, the pet, does not suffer from death penalty in PvE as well, meaning they can stay out of danger and know that their pet will not be harmed by numerous deaths.

Disadvantages
The primary drawback is that while a Ranger may have a powerful pet that deals the highest damage of most build types, and have the most defense, this comes at the price of suffering the limitations melee attacking characters suffer from, and the ranger is most likely to have a ranged weapon which has damage that cannot compare to the damage their pet can do. The pet also suffers from being considered an "ally" so certain skills will not affect it, and opposing AI consider pets of second importance compared to players, making them less useful tanks for large groups. Although for some it may not be an issue, PUGs in particular tend to not understand that Beast Mastery has become a character type that can challenge the warrior's ability to deal damage and tank. In PvP, while they have an additional ally to body block, they must needlessly sacrifice two skills at the very least to heal themselves, their pet, resurrect it, and make sure the animal stands by their side, in the case of Charm Animal; however, in PvE, Comfort Animal can be used in place of Charm Animal. Pets, like minions (though to a lesser extent compared to minions) suffer from AI algorithm, meaning a build that requires special timing is less plausible for a beast master, and although it is more advanced than minion AI, it is not on par with the AI of heroes - they may needlessly become stuck behind certain NPCs and objects, do not flee from AoE, and only respond to attacks when the attacker is almost right next to the character, or if the beast master is attacking. By using "Strike as One", a beast master can teleport a stuck pet and the pet will reactivate fighting as the beast master engages the next available enemy. Summing up the various faults of pets; they receive death penalty PvP areas, and generally do not receive morale boosts in most areas of PvE, save for some select areas, such as the giants of the Thirsty River, and the very last non-elite mission in Nightfall.