Guild Wars 2

Hey,
I’ve been doing a lot of reading (reddit and official forums) and a bit of testing on the robots.

Am I correct in understanding that there is no pure Ranged class/profession in GW2?

Excepting world bosses/ normal pve where ‘everything works’ as everyone says, for serious content like Dungeons/Fractals, PvP and WvW I was unable to find a class that only uses ranged attacks.

You are correct. There are no purely ranged professions, and likewise no pure melee ones. I think the nearest you can get is an engineer without the elite specs – then all their weapon choices are ranged (shield skills both work at range).

But you’d still have to move into melee range sometimes, even if you’re still using ranged attacks. Especially in dungeons and Fractals where there often isn’t room to stay far away from the enemy and PvP where they will close with you even if you try to stay away.

Danikat.8537:

You are correct. There are no purely ranged professions, and likewise no pure melee ones. I think the nearest you can get is an engineer without the elite specs – then all their weapon choices are ranged (shield skills both work at range).

But you’d still have to move into melee range sometimes, even if you’re still using ranged attacks. Especially in dungeons and Fractals where there often isn’t room to stay far away from the enemy and PvP where they will close with you even if you try to stay away.

To add to this, there is also the fact that most boon giving, condition removing, and healing skills work in melee range only, being away from the group in group content is actually worse. So you will likely be in melee range just due to that, even if you are using ranged attacks.

Elementalist, necro, engineer, mesmer, guardian, ranger and thief can go all range (not counting doubling up on the same weapon). That’s 7 out of 9 classes. Only the revenant and warrior lack a “secondary” ranged weapon. So saying there are no pure ranged is kind of… odd.

Whether you want to go full range is a whole other matter.

Dawdler.8521:

Elementalist, necro, engineer, mesmer, guardian, ranger and thief can go all range (not counting doubling up on the same weapon). That’s 7 out of 9 classes. Only the revenant and warrior lack a “secondary” ranged weapon. So saying there are no pure ranged is kind of… odd.

Whether you want to go full range is a whole other matter.

Warrior can use longbow and rifle
Revenant hammer attacks are ranged and they can use a shortbow

condi ranger can fight at mid range all the time…except torch 5

Haishao.6851:

Dawdler.8521:

Elementalist, necro, engineer, mesmer, guardian, ranger and thief can go all range (not counting doubling up on the same weapon). That’s 7 out of 9 classes. Only the revenant and warrior lack a “secondary” ranged weapon. So saying there are no pure ranged is kind of… odd.

Whether you want to go full range is a whole other matter.

Warrior can use longbow and rifle
Revenant hammer attacks are ranged and they can use a shortbow

Oh right I forgot about the longbow as its never ever used lol. Rev dont have shortbow yet, I only count current options. So correction, 8 out of 9 classes, yes.

Looks down at his main weapon…yes a long bow and my secondary is a short bow. Apparently I must be kitten somehow though I enjoy this toon most of all.

My pet is a fine little tank and I dps for him. Sadly the next time I am in game I will have to tell him we should not be having fun, <sigh>

Dawdler.8521:

Elementalist, necro, engineer, mesmer, guardian, ranger and thief can go all range (not counting doubling up on the same weapon). That’s 7 out of 9 classes. Only the revenant and warrior lack a “secondary” ranged weapon. So saying there are no pure ranged is kind of… odd.

Whether you want to go full range is a whole other matter.

doubling up on the same weapon is really bad. They share cooldowns.

Dawdler.8521:

Haishao.6851:

Dawdler.8521:

Elementalist, necro, engineer, mesmer, guardian, ranger and thief can go all range (not counting doubling up on the same weapon). That’s 7 out of 9 classes. Only the revenant and warrior lack a “secondary” ranged weapon. So saying there are no pure ranged is kind of… odd.

Whether you want to go full range is a whole other matter.

Warrior can use longbow and rifle
Revenant hammer attacks are ranged and they can use a shortbow

Oh right I forgot about the longbow as its never ever used lol. Rev dont have shortbow yet, I only count current options. So correction, 8 out of 9 classes, yes.

Hammer is ranged…. All 9 classes have ranged options.

I think Dawdler meant 8 of 9 classes currently have the option of making a completely ranged build, with both weapon sets (for those who have two) equiped with a ranged weapon.

dchsknight.3042:

Hammer is ranged…. All 9 classes have ranged options.

All classes have at least 1 ranged option, but revenant is, currently, the only class to have only 1 ranged option.

So every other profession could go pure ranged, if they wanted to.

Dawdler.8521:

Haishao.6851:

Warrior can use longbow and rifle

Oh right I forgot about the longbow as its never ever used lol.

Uhh… you mean rifle, right? Longbow is amazing, it’s just not a pure power weapon (though it still dishes out decent damage in a power build)

Longbow is my go-to weapon on my hybrid warrior, but most of the time i’m GS // Sword/Torch.

I have a rifle, but i’ve never found a situation where it feels superior to longbow.

Lochmann.7463:

Looks down at his main weapon…yes a long bow and my secondary is a short bow. Apparently I must be kitten somehow though I enjoy this toon most of all.

My pet is a fine little tank and I dps for him. Sadly the next time I am in game I will have to tell him we should not be having fun, <sigh>

Yes, clearly people in this thread are saying that you’re not allowed to do that.

Meanwhile, what they’re actually saying is that you ought to be in range of some of the aoe buffs – you can still use your favourite weapons from there.

I’ve run pure ranged and pure melee builds before, but I typically prefer a mix of melee and range. My Guard always has a scepter or DS longbow on the offhand, and my Necro’s Greatsword is nearly always paired with a staff.

I actually like pure ranged Druid, Revenant, and Engineer.

My Druid uses Longbow and Staff to snipe away at enemies, teleport out of melee, block their projectiles, heal its pet, and then snipe again. Celestial Avatar on command for emergency burst heals.

My Rev uses twin Hammers, swapping between them for Sigil of Intelligence procs. Shiro gives really nice Ability Spam, while Glint offers helpful passive buffs, and Ventari gives near-constant healing and projectile protection. I alternate between the three depending on what I need at the time, and it works pretty well.

My Rifle Engie just has a bunch of utility and belt skills for blasting faces at range, traits to boost damage/give swiftness/boost survival, and when mobs get up close I have Rifle 2, 3, 4, and 5 along with all my ranged skills to destroy things. I think my utilities are currently Heal Turret, Grenade Kit, Bomb Gyro, Rifle Turret, and either Mortar or Supply Crate depending on my mood.

Pure ranged isn’t hard to do.

Narrrz.7532:

Uhh… you mean rifle, right? Longbow is amazing, it’s just not a pure power weapon (though it still dishes out decent damage in a power build)

Longbow is my go-to weapon on my hybrid warrior, but most of the time i’m GS // Sword/Torch.

I have a rifle, but i’ve never found a situation where it feels superior to longbow.

In WvW bow is basicly never used. Rifle happens sometimes. 95% are nike builds sword/sheild/greatsword.