Monsters and Memories Beastmaster Guide

01The Beastmaster at a Glance

The Beastmaster is a leather-armored melee brawler with a bonded animal companion. You tame a beast, raise it, feed it and fight beside it — hitting hard with a two-handed weapon or a pair of claws while your wolf, bear, spider or crocodile tears into the same target.

The official class page describes a fighter “who fights without magic, instead choosing to have a bonded beast at their side.” The developers want the Beastmaster to be “a competitive DPS class,” with damage split between you and your pet — a DPS pet should make up a little less than half of your total. With a Tank pet, your companion can hold solo and small-group fights for you.

02Is the Beastmaster Right for You?

For new players, the Beastmaster is one of the friendlier classes: the pet absorbs mistakes, soloing is viable from level 1, and the melee attacks are easy to learn. The skill lies in keeping your companion alive and choosing the right pet for the job — Tank pet alone, DPS pet in a group.

03Choosing Your Race

Six races can be Beastmasters at Early Access. Your class adds +4 STR, +2 AGI and +2 WIS to your race’s base stats, and you get 10 bonus points to spend at creation. Starting values before bonus points:

Spending your 10 bonus points

Since the rework you are a melee fighter first. Strength drives your hits, Stamina keeps you alive when a mob turns on you, and Dexterity and Agility help your melee and defense.

• Recommended for most players: about +5 STR / +5 STA.
• Ogres already have the most STR and STA — put a few points in DEX or AGI instead.
• Wood Elves and Goblins start low on Stamina; lean STA harder (+6 or +7).
• The class still adds Wisdom, but the rework moved you away from spells, and the developers haven’t said how Wisdom affects your bond mana. Don’t spend bonus points on it.

Troll is listed as a Beastmaster race on the official site but isn’t playable at Early Access.

04Recommended Traits

You pick one trait from each of four categories at creation (see the New Player Guide for the full lists). For a Beastmaster:

05Getting Started

Your starter quest

Every Beastmaster begins with a class starter quest that teaches the basics and hands out your first gear. For the full step-by-step walkthrough, with every NPC, location and reward, see our Beastmaster Starter Quest Guide. Individual quest pages: Beastmaster Starter Quest (Faelindral) · Beastmaster Starter Quest (Night Harbor).

Abilities are bought from your guild’s trainers. Goblins, Deep Gnomes and anyone else starting in the Underdocks can take the boat to Night Harbor for the guild and its quest.

06Your Toolkit

Beastmaster abilities come in lines: you learn an ability, then buy stronger versions every few levels. Levels shown are when the first version (and each upgrade) becomes available.

07Abilities to Prioritize, Levels 1–28

You won’t be able to afford every ability as soon as it unlocks. This is the order that matters most for a new Beastmaster:

Past level 28, the pattern continues: upgrade your Spirit buff, pet heals and Revive first, then your melee attacks. Sight of the Beast at 32 removes the need for a light source.

08Playing in a Group

In a group you’re melee damage with a second damage dealer attached, plus a group-wide buff.

Before the pull

• Bring a DPS pet (Jackal, Snake, Wasp or Wolf) and buff it with your offensive Spirit. Leave Guardian Spirit off — it raises your pet’s threat, and you don’t want it pulling aggro from the tank.
• Turn on Predatory Instinct for the group’s Offense and Agility. Switch to Prowler's Instinct when the group wants to sneak through.
• Shrink your pet if the dungeon has tight halls and doorways.
• Tell the group what you bring: beast lulls and fear for splitting pulls, Mangle for mobs that heal, Kick for casters.

During the fight

1. Let the tank establish aggroSend your pet in a few seconds after the tank, not before. A pet that pulls aggro gets itself and the healer in trouble.
2. Open with Chop or Enraging StrikeChop makes your pet land critical hits for five seconds; Enraging Strike buffs you both. Then fire Command: Kill.
3. Work the cooldownsAlternate your Might and Martial attacks — each group shares a cooldown. Savage Strike hits harder once your pet’s Rip or a Rogue or Archer has the target bleeding.
4. Control and debuffKick casters, Mangle anything that heals, and use Howl of Dominance or Maul on hard hitters.
5. Keep the pet aliveYour pet heals take 12 seconds to land in full, so start one early. If it dies mid-fight, finish the fight first and revive afterward.

09Soloing

Beastmasters are among the more comfortable soloers. The developers’ goal is that a Tank pet with Guardian Spirit can tank solo and small-group encounters.

• Tank pet plus Guardian Spirit: a Bear, Beetle or Crocodile takes the hits while you deal damage from behind the mob.
• Pull singles: Lull a beast to shrink its aggro radius before you engage, and Fear Beast to send an add away.
• Pre-heal your pet: heals land over 12 seconds, so start one when it drops to about two-thirds, not when it’s nearly dead.
• Command: Protect transfers half your damage to your pet when you pull aggro. It cancels if your pet falls below 25% health.
• Recover between fights with Lick Wounds, bandages and a campfire for faster regeneration and the Rested bonus.
• Try pet families: each family has its own utility ability (Spiders can web targets in place).

10Leveling Path

A suggested route for a Beastmaster. You can solo much of it with a Tank pet, then switch to a DPS pet when you find a group.

See Where to Level in the New Player Guide for more spots, and each zone page for maps and named mobs.

11Gear to Look For

Wear leather and stack Strength and Stamina, then Dexterity and Agility, with AC and hit points to survive the fights where your pet drops. Pick a weapon style: two-handers unlock Chop and Mangle, while claws (one in each hand) get the most from Maul, which hits once per equipped weapon.

Early gear (roughly levels 1–16)

Upgrades for later

Stats from our item database. Item levels aren’t published, so “early” is based on where they drop. Don’t forget your starter-quest rewards: the Keeper claws and Shroud from Faelindral, or the Initiate's Cord and Adept's Tunic from Night Harbor.

12Your Pet

Your companion is half your damage and, when soloing, your tank. It is tamed, not summoned, so it stays with you, grows with you, and needs looking after.

• Taming: use Bestial Bond on a beast to bond it to your side. Consider it first — bonding is a taming mechanic, not a summon.
• Leveling and feeding: pets gain experience and level up, and each is fed on a specific diet. The rework lowered the experience pets need, so raising more than one is practical.
• Swapping: stow and swap pets at a Kennel Master. From level 50, Call of the Faithful summons a stowed pet to replace your current one from anywhere.
• Family abilities: each pet family has its own utility ability — for example, Spiders can root opponents with a web. Try a few families to find what suits you.
• One Spirit at a time: pick Savage Spirit (and its upgrades) for damage or Guardian Spirit for tanking.
• Mana is the bond: since the rework, your mana is mainly spent on abilities that interact with your pet — heals, revives and Spirits. Save it for them.
• Rare beasts: the developers plan to make sharks and more mythical beasts quest unlocks during Early Access.

13Common Beastmaster Mistakes

• Healing the pet too late. Heals land over 12 seconds — start early.
• Running Guardian Spirit in a group. It adds pet threat; use your offensive Spirit when there’s a tank.
• Sending the pet before the tank. Let the tank grab aggro first.
• Fighting on after the pet dies. Back off, revive and recover.
• Using the wrong weapon for your attacks. Chop and Mangle need a two-hander; Maul wants a pair of claws.
• Ignoring pet families. A Tank pet solo and a DPS pet in groups is a big difference.
• Spending mana on Lick Wounds mid-fight. It’s a channeled self-heal best used out of combat — keep mana for your pet.

14Beastmaster FAQ