'Guild Wars 2': A Closer Look At New Giant War Turtle Mount

All three waves of the “Guild Wars 2” elite specialization betas may be over, but ArenaNet isn’t quite done teasing the “End of Dragons” expansion just yet. After giving players a sneak peek of the revamped Jade Sea, the devs went ahead and showed off the expansion’s upcoming new mount: the Siege Turtle.

Like the rest of “Guild Wars 2’s” lineup of ridable creatures, the Siege Turtle fulfills a very specific role: it lays siege to things. These giant amphibians are literally walking tanks armed with cannons that are designed for clearing out large groups of enemies, as presented by PC Gamer in its exclusive hands-on preview of the mount.

Normally, mounts in “Guild Wars 2” are designed to help players traverse the environment in one unique way or another. The basic Raptor mount is fast and can leap through large, horizontal gaps, while the stingray-like Skimmer is meant for traveling over water and underwater. This isn’t the case with the Siege Turtle.

Instead of fulfilling a traversal niche, the turtles are slow and heavy, but they build up speed and momentum the more they move. The faster they sprint, the harder they become to control. Watching a giant turtle sprint and drift around corners might be quite the spectacle, but their true strength lies in their combat potential.

Siege Turtles are significantly more durable than the other mounts. With roughly 40,000 HP, these beasts can stay in the fight longer than their smaller counterparts.

Their cannons aren’t just for show either. Each blast deals considerable damage over a large area, although their slow rate of fire and limited ammo capacity dampen their DPS by quite a bit.

The mounted guns can only be operated by a co-pilot. Any member of a player’s squad or party can hop aboard a friendly Siege Turtle and act as a gunner who controls the cannons, while the owner of the mount handles the movement. Co-pilots can also activate buffs that increase the turtle’s speed and ammo regeneration.

So far, Siege Turtles are shaping up to be great new additions to the existing roster of mounts for “Guild Wars 2.” Players will be able to try these turtles out in an upcoming beta event featuring all of the new elite specializations on Nov. 30.