Guild Wars 2

I really do love the ranger greatsword, but I can’t deny that it is currently underperforming a bit. For one, many players consider this to be a defensive or utility weapon, which should immediately show its lack of potential. Greatswords across all classes are meant to be high damage, bursty weapons. Currently, the greatsword isn’t our highest dealing damage weapon nor is it really bursty (it can be, but I’ll explain later). Our highest damage dealing weapon is actually the sword. Now, I would be okay with this IF the greatsword fulfilled its role to some point, but it doesn’t.

The only situation where the greatsword can achieve considerable burst is if the wielder is signet spec’d and has both Signet of the Wild and Signet of the Hunt popped, which have 48 and 24 second cooldowns if traited. Let’s also not forget that that the ranger “burst” skill (maul) isn’t a channel like 100b or Whirling Wrath, which means all its damage can be negated by a single block, blind, or evade. So, if all these conditions are met, then sure, the weapon is “bursty”. And even then, this burst is only repeatable every 48, and to a lesser degree, 24 seconds. No one should have to trait so much just to have their weapon function as it naturally should. With that in mind, I’d really like arenanet to consider a few changes I have proposed.

First of all, the auto attack needs a base damage boost. I’d suggest a boost of around 15%. As it stands, it deals little damage compared to the auto’s of other weapons such as sword and shortbow, thanks in part to its casting times and aftercast.

Secondly, I think that maul should be reworked a significant amount. It is too easy to negate the weapon’s burst, and the skill itself deals too little damage. And as such, I propose that Maul’s damage is increased significantly, probably around 20% but in return, to prevent signet spec’s from having one shot bursts (I know I’m complaining about weak burst, but Maul can crit for over 10k in WvW on glassy targets), maul counts as two strikes instead of one. This way, non signet specs can actually have some decent bursts, signet spec’s don’t receive too much burst (the damage boost from Signet of the Hunt count’s on one strike, not skill), and a mere blind/block doesn’t entirely negate the burst. Also, it makes no sense to have vulnerability on Maul when it is the weapon’s burst skill. Instead, have the skill weaken for around 3 seconds or so (if you get mauled by a bear, youll probably be weakened) and move the vulnerability to Swoop. Because Swoop has twice as long a cooldown as maul, give it 10 stacks instead of 5. This would also give incentive to use the skill as more than a gap closer/creator.

Lastly about the greatsword, please allow the knockback portion of Counterattack to be usable while moving and reduce it’s aftercast slightly, as a QoL change.

I assumed the reason for it’s relatively poor auto attack damage was due to the fact that the third strike is an evade giving it a boost in defense if you have the timing set up correctly.

Keep in mind that Sword’s rotation is mostly auto attack with horn thrown in because the other skills lower DPS whereas GS’s rotation is actually the auto+maul combo. Once you factor those in, the DPS between the 2 weapons is very close. This means increasing the auto chain or maul’s damage will likely invalidate the existence of the sword. From PvE anyway.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Ranger has a fair bit of room to make up for before it encrouches on the top 5 classes so there is room for increase in sword and GS.

Now that all said, I do agree with you on counter attack. I also agree that if you move vuln off maul you could beef up its damage some to compensate and it may not overtake Sword in PvE because you’ll want to use Swoop in your rotation at that point which is a DPS loss over the auto attack chain.

Personally, I’d much rather see Maul turn into a blast finisher than a Weaken though. Could always attach the weaken to hilt bash if you really wanted it on the set.

Atherakhia.4086:

Keep in mind that Sword’s rotation is mostly auto attack with horn thrown in because the other skills lower DPS whereas GS’s rotation is actually the auto+maul combo. Once you factor those in, the DPS between the 2 weapons is very close. This means increasing the auto chain or maul’s damage will likely invalidate the existence of the sword. From PvE anyway.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Ranger has a fair bit of room to make up for before it encrouches on the top 5 classes so there is room for increase in sword and GS.

Now that all said, I do agree with you on counter attack. I also agree that if you move vuln off maul you could beef up its damage some to compensate and it may not overtake Sword in PvE because you’ll want to use Swoop in your rotation at that point which is a DPS loss over the auto attack chain.

Personally, I’d much rather see Maul turn into a blast finisher than a Weaken though. Could always attach the weaken to hilt bash if you really wanted it on the set.

But the sword has its own advantage in staying on target due to the two leap skills.

And isn’t the point of a great sword to be a high damage burst weapon? Why is sword the best dps we have when it should be great sword?

If by some miracle anet did decide to implement these changes, I really don’t think the sword would become invalidated from a PvE standpoint. Its damage is still totally consistent and it has the pet might advantage as well as the WH for offhand.

Atherakhia.4086:

This means increasing the auto chain or maul’s damage will likely invalidate the existence of the sword. From PvE anyway.

I think quite a few rangers would be very happy if they didn’t have to use the sword anymore.

Sword isn’t the best by much though. GS is about even with it. I also consider the sticking mechanic of Sword more of a hindrance than an aid. Especially in some PvE encounters that require quick evasion and such. I can’t imagine too many players would complain if it was removed from Sword#1.

It’s probably also worth mentioning that there’s nothing wrong with one weapon being better than another so long as the 2 weapons are unique and have their own niche. Even if GS were better, Sword would still have its role. While it’s a strong power weapon, more people probably use it on condi builds than power builds for example.

Personally, I think the whole class is a mess and ANet has let their desire to force the Ranger into a sustained damage role (which it sucks at) override their better judgement and it has choked all life out of the class. Deep down they probably don’t want GS to be a burst weapon. They said as much in the CDI thread.