Guild Wars 2

Hi,

Can someone tell me what a good ranged combat profession is?
I started with an engineer and although he’s cute and I like him, he dies so much and does little dps (okay, I’m only level 20)

What ranged combat profession has good survivability?

Every profession is good at ranged. Every, single, one.

There is only one profession with limited melee though – engineer. Their only melee option is their tool kit, which isn’t that good of an alternative, because of the abilities it gives.

Also, my advice – try the grenade kit on your engineer. It only costs 1 skillpoint. It’s pretty hard to get used to, but it’s among the strongest weapons in the game.

Final note: there isn’t any profession with “bad” survivability, unless we’re talking about scholar classes, that depend on not getting hit. Engineers have great survivability, rangers get a pet, but otherwise are the same on the survivability scale. Thieves also wear the same armor, but have 5k less HP at max level (that’s a third less). Guardians and warriors wear heavy armor, warrios have the most HP in the game and good DPS, but are boring to play as, while guardians have the lowest HP in the game and medium-low DPS, but have the most healing skills in the game.

I have the grenade kit, its okay but I still die too often.
I guess engineer just isn’t my play style, I might go elementalist or ranger.. or?

Ranger has the longest ranged combat and a pet to use as a tank.

Even so it is largely how you play and your build that determines survivability. High DD DPS means you need power and precision which means you take away from putting stats into Vitality, toughness and healing.

You kinda need to choose but you can also switch armor depending on the situation.

One thing to note is learning how to constantly strafe around the mob will greatly improve survivability. In this game you can’t stand still and cast.

VakarisJ.5619:

Every profession is good at ranged. Every, single, one.

Not true, Guardian is atrocious at ranged combat.

Give Warrior a try, you can use rifle/longbow combination, rifle for single target dps and longbow for AoE situations.
Besides having heavy armor Warriors have the largest health pool, and they can hit out to 1500 with their rifle F1 skill.
With Stronger Bowstrings in Tactics you can also increase the range of their longbow skills.

Ranger…..by far. Use a shortbow for melee and ranged. Though, you can switch greatsword if you get too close. Invest a few points in your pet and use him to tank sometimes. My favorite solo class.

Actually, ranger’s range is 1200, 1500 with a trait.
Engineer’s grenades have a range of 1200, also 1500 with a trait, but do AoE damage.
Engineer’s mortar has a range of 1400 and two traits that should affect it. Not sure if one does, but the other is currently bugged. The way I see it, is that once the bugs are fixed, the mortar will have 1700-2000 range.

The guardian has a short-ranged AoE with a staff and long-range slow-projectile scepter. Both are good in different situations.

If one thinks engineer dies too often, he shouldn’t try elementalists – they’re even more fragile. As for rangers… it would be a bit more of the same, only with less AoE and less need for personal skill. The pet is about as good as turrets, so the only change there is that the former is mobile and can be healed via self-heals.

My recommendation is to stick with the engineer. It’s much easier to learn the class you already invested time in, then learning something new.

He’s level 20 for pete sake. Its not like there so much time invested that he can’t try something else. I’ve got 5 classes running concurrently and have deleted a mesmer, necro and ele. (guess I just don’t care for casters)…and I really only play on weekends..maybe an hour in the evenings.

Steve…man…just try something else if you aren’t satisfied with your Engie. You have 4 more slots. Leave the engie where its at and try a warrior or ranger for awhile.

To level a character from 1 to 20 is the same as to level him from 61 to 80, thanks to the flat leveling curve.
If you level 3 characters to level 21, you might’ve just leveled 1 char to 80 instead.
While levels mean less then in other MMOs, they still mean traits, gear and currency.