Guild Wars 2

In the last Ranger balance collaboration AN again recognised people enjoy Archer classes.

Link: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/Collaborative-Development-Ranger-Profession/page/54#post3746046

However despite the latest update I am struggling to find a build for an “archer” that is viable for high level content such as dungeons.

What are peoples thoughts on how this might progress whether it’s ranger, theif, warrior tweaks or a new profession. Or do people think AN think this one’s case closed since the update?

I’ve been playing the GW franchise since it came out and have constantly found a Ranger with a bow is often left out of high level content – and am wondering if my desire to play an archer-class is better suited in another game.

Disclaimer: I will completely ignore any talk about the class “Ranger” in GW2 not meaning ranged class. If you think (having read my post & link) that I don’t understand that – we’re not the type to hold constructive discussion.

Thief or Warrior have better bow skills than Ranger.

ranger longbow rework need
skill 1 max dmg around 900-1000 all time and 0/1/2 vulnerability with range.
Skill 2 change vulnerability stack for u gain 1 migh each hit and 1 sec cripple each hit ennemy.
skill 3 need 3 sec immobilise on ennemy.
Skill 4 need trow 2 more arrow un fan and give 100 % endurance regen for 10 sec
Skill 5 need upgrade aoe = météor shower staff elem.

StalasQc.3507:

ranger longbow rework need
skill 1 max dmg around 900-1000 all time and 0/1/2 vulnerability with range.
Skill 2 change vulnerability stack for u gain 1 migh each hit and 1 sec cripple each hit ennemy.
skill 3 need 3 sec immobilise on ennemy.
Skill 4 need trow 2 more arrow un fan and give 100 % endurance regen for 10 sec
Skill 5 need upgrade aoe = météor shower staff elem.

1 – agree

2 – thats 10 might stacks. way too many. 3 might stacks for 10 seconds would be okay.

3 – i do agree that the longbow needs an immob but i dont want to lose the stealth as its quite handy sometimes. change auto attack in stealth to an immob similar to the thief’s shortbow.

4 – thats equal to 10 sec of vigour which is way too much. 4 skill is too clumsy sometimes it doesnt work at all because of the LoS. engi rifle 4 is way better and more reliable.

5 – agree, barrage needs a big increase in raw damage. landing this skill is way “too hard” with the small reward you get for it.

to make bows better they should also change some stuff with the traits. either merge eagles eye and piercing arrows together or move 1 of them down to adept, move quick draw down to adept.

for the trait in first line we need rework for 5 15 25 need change
5 arrow piercing or 10% dmg full endurance.
15 longbow 5% dmg +300 range or passive buff precision party.
25 is first strike 5 +15 +25 in one trait.

And i aggree my skill 4 rework is little bit op for vigor :P so X3 multi shop i great ideat because on cac is good burst of 6k in berzerk X3 2k on crit + good cc on wvw

and skill 2 10 ming for 10 sec is not op because its not a burst skill and guardian skill 4 12 might war have migh on each crit elem might on each fire attack guardian too so all classe have 10+ might all time so range have only 1 might on skill 5 warhorn and good might for the pet so not good might for the archer.

so we have many good idea so this idea not give very over power stat to ranger so just give a normal stat for an archer

StalasQc.3507:

for the trait in first line we need rework for 5 15 25 need change
5 arrow piercing or 10% dmg full endurance.
15 longbow 5% dmg +300 range or passive buff precision party.
25 is first strike 5 +15 +25 in one trait.

Bad idea. That revisits the problem necros had with their Death Magic line. Minor traits need to benefit every build because you can’t choose to not take them. Tying minor traits to particular weapons or skill types is means that many builds literally get nothing at the 1/3/5 point levels.

urdriel.8496:

Thief or Warrior have better bow skills than Ranger.

This is a blatant lie. Thieves only have shortbows and warriors only have longbows, and both have situational applications and don’t work particularly well as primary weapons.

Rangers have both Longbows and Shortbows, and they both have a generalized design scheme that allows them to be fairly versatile and usable as primary weapons. I’m not saying that there aren’t areas that need improvement, but the only true archer in the game is unquestionably a ranger wielding a shortbow and longbow.

Einlanzer.1627:

urdriel.8496:

Thief or Warrior have better bow skills than Ranger.

This is a blatant lie.

wrong,

thief can apply large poison fields and deals huge aoe damage with cluster bomb without a cooldown, their auto attacks also hit pretty hard and bounce between targets.

and warriors deal massive hybrid aoe damage from permanent burning and bleeding combined with direct damage of combustive shot and arcing arrow,
also aoe might stacking every 10 seconds.

rangers do indeed need a buff to be the “master archers” that anet claim they should be.

Liewec.2896:

Einlanzer.1627:

urdriel.8496:

Thief or Warrior have better bow skills than Ranger.

This is a blatant lie.

wrong,

thief can apply large poison fields and deals huge aoe damage with cluster bomb without a cooldown, their auto attacks also hit pretty hard and bounce between targets.

and warriors deal massive hybrid aoe damage from permanent burning and bleeding combined with direct damage of combustive shot and arcing arrow,
also aoe might stacking every 10 seconds.

rangers do indeed need a buff to be the “master archers” that anet claim they should be.

And Rangers have 1500 range autoattack, Barrage which makes a cripple field, stealth, and a reliable range interrupt.

Liewec.2896:

Einlanzer.1627:

urdriel.8496:

Thief or Warrior have better bow skills than Ranger.

This is a blatant lie.

wrong,

thief can apply large poison fields and deals huge aoe damage with cluster bomb without a cooldown, their auto attacks also hit pretty hard and bounce between targets.

and warriors deal massive hybrid aoe damage from permanent burning and bleeding combined with direct damage of combustive shot and arcing arrow,
also aoe might stacking every 10 seconds.

rangers do indeed need a buff to be the “master archers” that anet claim they should be.

Beside the point. Warrior and Thief “Archers” lack any real versatility. They are pretty much only good at manic burst (thief still limited by initiative) and both are severely lacking in both single target DPS and sustained DPS. They also don’t have much to speak of in terms of utility. Shortbow is limited to 900 range and the Warrior longbow functions better at short range.

Rangers function much better as committed archers even if they could stand to use some improvements simply because they have way greater versatility between their bow options.

I pretty much posted everything I had to say in the CDI and have done so as well throughout these boards for a while now.

But I’m mostly popping in just to boast a little bit for the OP quoting my post from the CDI :P

That said, thief shortbow and warrior longbow are not adequate substitutes.

Cluster bomb is pretty much the only thing that a thief has going for it in terms of damage from the shortbow. AOE poison is cool, and can be a game-changer, but it’s close range and the overall weapon’s lack of damage potential pushes the thieve’s shortbow into utility territory. Shortbow on thieves is never taken as a valid mainhand weapon due to its low DPS, forced AOE’s, and simply the fact that it provides an immense amount of utility which the class lacks elsewhere, such as AOE, range attacks, evade spam/reposition, heal cutting via the toxic field, and a teleport. To call this a mainhand possibility on par with playing ranged DPS, however, is simply untrue.

With warriors, the issues resides in mobility and ranged maintenance. The warrior’s longbow actually performs the best when standing on top of your foe. Arcing Arrow’s low projectile speed allows for it to be dropped instantly in front of you if you’re on top of the foe, and the weapon’s overall slow projectile speed and lack of any real influential synergy with itself makes the kit feel clunky and awkward. You’ve got condi burning on the adrenaline, but basically every other skill in the kit is either out of place or simply weak. Ham bow is part of the meta only because it allows for some poke, but mostly because of Arcing Arrow and a burn field.
Not to mention the slew of flavor issues it has; a heavy warrior is running around (slowly) using a bow in melee range to shoot fireballs. …What is that supposed to be?

Rangers have definitely gotten better, especially with RtW now actually allowing for longbow attacks to hit, however the class still needs either a rework to accommodate for solo archers, or again, as I mentioned in the CDI, another class needs to take upon the role. A dedicated archer is doable, albeit it’s not some crazy build that’ll let you perform well. It doesn’t really have a particular place anywhere, but it can do some nice damage to squishier targets and help pick off low-HP targets or back-liners.

I can’t say I can recommend another game for you. I could have five years ago, but that game has since gone to hell due to pay2win/internal company issues (stole my heart on how well they implemented ranged classes in the core game, though, and nothing since has touched those).

Ultimately, if you think you can bear waiting to 80 and making a nice ascended longbow (or two), a 6/6/2/0/0 berserker longbow/longbow swap (from traits for fury) build isn’t too bad damage-wise.

runeblade.7514:

And Rangers have 1500 range autoattack, Barrage which makes a cripple field, stealth, and a reliable range interrupt.

Sadly barrage is a horrible skill easily dodged and due to retal, can often kill the ranger using it.
And now with Runes of Strength, it can provide large groups of enemies immense stacks of might very quickly.

Really all they have going for them is the ranged damage and the knockback at the moment, and even that’s kind of meh with all of the gap-closing in the game.

DeceiverX.8361:

runeblade.7514:

And Rangers have 1500 range autoattack, Barrage which makes a cripple field, stealth, and a reliable range interrupt.

Sadly barrage is a horrible skill easily dodged and due to retal, can often kill the ranger using it.
And now with Runes of Strength, it can provide large groups of enemies immense stacks of might very quickly.

Really all they have going for them is the ranged damage and the knockback at the moment, and even that’s kind of meh with all of the gap-closing in the game.

• Barrage is a huge AoE. If enemies are dodging that, then they are not capping the point.
• Retal hardly hurts me at all.
• You underestimate the defensive strength of a 1500 range attack. It opened up new environments. I can camp on the cliff using my environment to protect me. Even their gap closers are not good enough. It is the equivalent to a 20 second endure pain if someone notices you. If the ranger doesn’t use the environment to protect themselves, they deserve to die.

Oh you’re referring to sPvP. I was talking WvW.

Spirit bunker is already considered a solid build there, and I believe power/survival longbow is beginning to make a presence in sPvP thanks to RtW.

Their success in WvW is wildly inhibited as opposed to sPvP where they can flourish more due to the lower volume of targets.

runeblade.7514:

And Rangers have 1500 range autoattack, Barrage which makes a cripple field, stealth, and a reliable range interrupt.

1. 1500 range is useless when you’re in a tight dungeon or pvp where standing on nodes is how you win.

2.stealth? you’re going to try to argue against thief by using stealth?

3. i’ll give you the interrupt and cripple, but thief has, immobilize and cripple without any CDs, and warrior gets an aoe blind and alot of might stacking from fire field.

don’t get me wrong, i like ranger, but they do need alot of work done to them if anet are going to keep telling us that they are the masters of bows when they’re so impractical compared to thief and warrior (for dungeons and pvp, wvw they are good for the range, but thats it)

Longbow could be fun from cliff or tower sniping/troll :

Change Hunters shot for/or fuse it with Keen Arrow – Bow Attack. Deals ~350? damage. Deals + 50 more damage if you land a critical hit, target is knockdown if bloked.
(1000+ range, caster gets stealthed if do not moves after the skill. )

I dont play a ranger… other bow classes can be more efective.

Einlanzer.1627:

urdriel.8496:

Thief or Warrior have better bow skills than Ranger.

This is a blatant lie. Thieves only have shortbows and warriors only have longbows, and both have situational applications and don’t work particularly well as primary weapons.

Rangers have both Longbows and Shortbows, and they both have a generalized design scheme that allows them to be fairly versatile and usable as primary weapons. I’m not saying that there aren’t areas that need improvement, but the only true archer in the game is unquestionably a ranger wielding a shortbow and longbow.

you should try thief and warrior bows, both are AWESOME, they have cc,control and damage.

ranger LB is a bleh…..sry to dissapoint you but this game have not an archer class archetype, ranged weapon have less damage than melee, and with one gap closer you can close 1200 in 1 sec, so, it is really hard to kite a player.

Best ranger builds are condi , bunker or a mix.

LB is supposed to be a DPS weapon, but it doesnt have any burst skill, the best damage is with Auto Attacks,and , when your enemy is under 900 SB have better DPS tan LB…..

PD: Yes , sadly, rangers are masters of Autoattack….

Wish they would bring back the unique advantages to bow use, like extra damage if you’re at a much higher elevation than your target, different missile paths for different bows, etc. That and ranger traits/skills seem a little out of whack with how spread out some are and how pathetic others are and how some are almost essential to function.

I blame being pet bound :/

Ranger is forever doomed to mediocrity because ANet is not willing to alter their design philosophy or introduce sweeping changes to an underwhelming and bland profession.

See the Ranger CDI for more info