Guild Wars 2

Only. One. Viable. Build.
This is not good.
The Ranger class is in a very bad place right now. Spirit Ranger (which many describe as a boring build) is what Rangers have to take to do tpvp. All of Ranger’s other builds our out-shined by other classes.

(If this is “lol too long didn’t read” for you, just skip ahead to the end, I’ve summarized the whole thing, in doge language)

Why are Rangers in such a bad place? these are the main reasons:

1. Power based builds will always come short:

as long as the must-have “Empathic Bond” trait is located in a toughness/condition trait-line, power builds will always lack 30 trait points in a useful stat.
Power builds can’t get to the strong minor traits and grandmaster traits in other trait-lines, simply because of that. and if they do take “Empathic Bond” they don’t have enough survivability in the current meta.
At the end of the day the other classes have better burst builds that do more damage to more targets while having a much better sustainability (yes even Elementalists).

2. Weapons Are too weak:

- Longbow – too slow for the low damage it deals, resulting in low DPS.

- Greatsword – It’s just too weak. Sure, “Maul” can be strong… occasionally… if you have the right traits…

- Sword – The auto attack ruins everything. sure, it has a “unique behavior”, but it’s a bad behavior.

- Warhorn – “Hunter’s Call” is too weak, it should be a lot stronger than that. Considering it attacks 17 times, if I attack a target that has retaliation on, I’ll take more damage than the target.

- Off-Hand Axe – “Path of Scars” will miss the pulling part at least 50% of the times.

- Torch/Dagger/Shortbow – These one are actually pretty good! on a condition build!!!

3. Pets are terrible

Pets. They are terrible.
I mean really terible.
The Necromancer’s Flesh Golem is better than ALL of the Ranger’s pets, it’s ridiculous.
1) Flesh Golem cripples the target with its auto attack, therefore it’s easier for it to keep attacking it and not missing half of his auto attaks like Ranger’s pets.
- Ranger’s pets miss half of their attacks, they simply can’t keep up with moving targets, since they can’t attack and move on the same time.

2) It gains stability when it’s initiating its active skill “Charge”, and therefore it will always activate without being interrupted.
- Ranger’s pets often get interrupted while casting their very long animated active skills by AoE crowd controls.

3) Its active skill has a huge range, and a huge impact on the target – AND it actually happens when you cast it. Many times it determines 1v1’s.
- Ranger’s pets’ active skills are often too weak to make the target care to dodge. Not to mention the huge delay between casting the skill and actually making it happen, it often fails because the pet tries to get in proper range with the target.

Even if you have 30 points in Beastmastery, the pet’s broken behavior is still going to get in the way.

And that’s basically it. Thanks for reading guys.

- as promised, a much shorter version:

lol ranger is pve boy
only 1 good build
much sadness
power build is noob
such bad weapons
pets are wtf so lame
lol thx 4 reading k bye

I do agree…I have played over 1400 games with my ranger. Pvp was soo much fun when I was able to spend hours on different builds on the profession I most like and actually see progress made with a lot of them. I have tried an unbelievable amount of builds on my ranger now, yet I am forced to play one build: Spirit Ranger. I could move on to a different profession, but why should I be forced to move to other professions when I want to play Ranger? Every profession should have different viable builds. There are a few other builds like trap build or a few power builds but they aren’t nearly as viable as spirit ranger.

One of my favorite things about guild wars 2 pvp is the fact that everyone starts at the same level and that skill and theory crafting is what is suppose to put you on top of others. But sadly with rangers that is not an option, I am almost the same as all other rangers with small insignificant differences with the build and some differences with skill level when it comes to using that ONE build…and there might be other professions with the same issue…I HATE IT!

Edit: There are many rangers that I have met through solo queues and tpvp that despise this as well. Sometimes I meet rangers not running spirit builds…and why? “Because I am bored of the spirit build,” which sadly I have done as well.

Albaraa.1635:

I do agree…I have played over 1400 games with my ranger. Pvp was soo much fun when I was able to spend hours on different builds on the profession I most like and actually see progress made with a lot of them. I have tried an unbelievable amount of builds on my ranger now, yet I am forced to play one build: Spirit Ranger. I could move on to a different profession, but why should I be forced to move to other professions when I want to play Ranger? Every profession should have different viable builds. There are a few other builds like trap build or a few power builds but they aren’t nearly as viable as spirit ranger.

One of my favorite things about guild wars 2 pvp is the fact that everyone starts at the same level and that skill and theory crafting is what is suppose to put you on top of others. But sadly with rangers that is not an option, I am almost the same as all other rangers with small insignificant differences with the build and some differences with skill level when it comes to using that ONE build…and there might be other professions with the same issue…I HATE IT!

Edit: There are many rangers that I have met through solo queues and tpvp that despise this as well. Sometimes I meet rangers not running spirit builds…and why? “Because I am bored of the spirit build,” which sadly I have done as well.

Here with you man… i really enjoy playing ranger since beta its one of the reason i bought gw2. At its current state in spvp really not much for us right now since most other classes have been getting buffs and well we either get nothing or we get the nerf bat. I have given up on spvp finally as i can’t take all these very passive/AI builds anymore.

+1
more love for ranger builds
like trapper or dps rangers (longbow and longsword skills feels so slow and bad)

and maybe it would be nice to have more useful pets because atm ~75 of the pets are just bad

oh and active condi cleanse pls
because we have always to play 30 into wildness survival…
dont know why you anet guys was talk with battosai at sotg and agree him on most points, but you do nothing!!!! -.-

spirit build is not passive. spirits have active skills too. stop calling it passive build. a ranger equipped with signets that’s passive.

Valentin.2073:

spirit build is not passive. spirits have active skills too. stop calling it passive build. a ranger equipped with signets that’s passive.

Because signets don’t have active effects right? And because you’re totally using sunspirit for the delayed blind and not for the burning procs on auto right? Maybe think before you type?

PS: Srsly Griften? Doge?

PPS: I almost forgot to be constructive. I don’t know where your sudden love for power rangers comes from seing how you only play condi stuff, even on war and meser but you’re making good points. The damage on most weapons just sux, the only thing that really hurts is haul which is pretty unreliable due to obvious animation and unreliable ways to set it up/cc somebody (gs 5 is meh).

I wouldn’t really agree on the active condi remove stuff… you got Signet of Renewal which is ok with signet traits and you could even go lyssa runes with rampage as one. I see the problem in general lack of survivability compared with the meh damage. You just can’t kill somebody before he kills you. Most of the times your heal doesn’t even come of cd and you’re already dead.

Some things that would be cool IMO would be rampage as one with 60s cd and only 10s of fury, stability and swiftness. You could run lyssa runes with it and even without them less stability on less cd is more useful in general and especially for stomping people.

Way more damage on longbow, especially on barrage which is just ridicolously weak for the setup it needs. It would actually make power ranger somewhat useful in teamfights.

Not to sure about that one but i think the heals are all kind of meh for a glascannon… healing spring is nice for bunkerish or just sustained ranger builds that fight on a point since they can abuse the remove and the combofield way better than a glascannon and can put it right on a point to support the team with it. A power ranger won’t be able to stay on a point or just stay in one spot in general most of the times.

I’ll have to agree, honestly it’s probably not as bad as most people think. But it still sucks.

For power builds you have to kill them fast enough so conditions don’t stack up. The problem here, is that this game can place 7 conditions on you in a couple of seconds or less. So going against a condi bunker is impossible, and going against carrion or especially rapid geared players is extremely tough.

Healing spring won’t even cure all the conditions because of the ridiculous ability of some classes to spam condis.

Keksmuffin.1450:

Valentin.2073:

spirit build is not passive. spirits have active skills too. stop calling it passive build. a ranger equipped with signets that’s passive.

Because signets don’t have active effects right? And because you’re totally using sunspirit for the delayed blind and not for the burning procs on auto right? Maybe think before you type?

PS: Srsly Griften? Doge?

i use the sun spirit for blind on stomp :P

just think of spirits as moving signets. at least, spirits die not like signets.. signets are just plain boring. spirits take rangers to the frontline. they make rangers tankier and more aggressive. spirit rangers ftw!!!

what rangers need is more buffs on spirits. anet, please give us back that 33% damage on our storm spirit already. thank you.

i play spirit ranger but i use longbow and shortbow i also use frost spirit instead of storm also different trait except i carry all spirit as my utility skills and still owned players

Valentin.2073:

spirit build is not passive. spirits have active skills too. stop calling it passive build. a ranger equipped with signets that’s passive.

No, the only even slightly viable way to play a signet ranger in sPvP is with Signet of the Beastmaster and use them actively.

Again, by bad design, it requires a 30 point investment in the power line to get signets to apply to the whole character (ranger + pet) rather than the currently useless part (the pet). Then they become more like warrior stances. Of course the warrior doesn’t have to spend any points to make stances useful. (I play warrior too.)

Valentin.2073:

just think of spirits as moving signets. at least, spirits die not like signets.. signets are just plain boring. spirits take rangers to the frontline. they make rangers tankier and more aggressive. spirit rangers ftw!!!

what rangers need is more buffs on spirits. anet, please give us back that 33% damage on our storm spirit already. thank you.

spirits should be removed from the game. along with other passives & evade spamming.

Bsgapollo.5364:

Valentin.2073:

just think of spirits as moving signets. at least, spirits die not like signets.. signets are just plain boring. spirits take rangers to the frontline. they make rangers tankier and more aggressive. spirit rangers ftw!!!

what rangers need is more buffs on spirits. anet, please give us back that 33% damage on our storm spirit already. thank you.

spirits should be removed from the game. along with other passives & evade spamming.

Maybe you haven’t noticed- it already has been virtually removed. Even before the thief nerfs, though, S/D thieves were extremely vulnerable anyways due to casting times, immobs, the LS in the FS/LS chain, and an overall lack of damage from simply trying to spam 3.

As for my input: while I think that spirits should be removed, keep in mind that eles have 0 viable builds (they do have plenty of fun but inferior ones, though), and all of the thief’s “viable” builds are extremely gimmicky and easily countered, while builds like S/D have joined the ranks of “inferior but fun” builds.

Arganthium.5638:

Bsgapollo.5364:

Valentin.2073:

just think of spirits as moving signets. at least, spirits die not like signets.. signets are just plain boring. spirits take rangers to the frontline. they make rangers tankier and more aggressive. spirit rangers ftw!!!

what rangers need is more buffs on spirits. anet, please give us back that 33% damage on our storm spirit already. thank you.

spirits should be removed from the game. along with other passives & evade spamming.

Maybe you haven’t noticed- it already has been virtually removed. Even before the thief nerfs, though, S/D thieves were extremely vulnerable anyways due to casting times, immobs, the LS in the FS/LS chain, and an overall lack of damage from simply trying to spam 3.

As for my input: while I think that spirits should be removed, keep in mind that eles have 0 viable builds (they do have plenty of fun but inferior ones, though), and all of the thief’s “viable” builds are extremely gimmicky and easily countered, while builds like S/D have joined the ranks of “inferior but fun” builds.

S/d thief is still extremely good and broken, I’d 10x rather face a d/p thief then this bullkitten.

Bsgapollo.5364:

S/d thief is still extremely good and broken, I’d 10x rather face a d/p thief then this bullkitten.

I’d rather face a D/P build too, but only because I understand how D/P works and how to counter it, and once you know those two things, D/P becomes farrrr worse than S/D (unless in the hands of an extremely skilled player like Caed, but any good player can make a bad build work well).

I encourage you to try actually playing an S/D thief in its current state though. We have two decent skills, one kinda bad skill that we still absolutely have to use for condi removal and mobility (the main attraction of the weapon set), and two virtually worthless skills. Our defensive resources are also extremely lacking compared to other classes as well; pretty much the only one that we have is evades, and given that every evade comes at the cost of time we could’ve spent doing damage, and that evades don’t go through condis, the build has honestly fallen into pretty bad shape. Our offensive resources don’t really make up for it, either; we don’t have a consistent stream of damage like condi builds do, we have virtually no CC or area control, and our skill coefficients aren’t nearly as high as those you might see on warriors, either.

Arganthium.5638:

Bsgapollo.5364:

S/d thief is still extremely good and broken, I’d 10x rather face a d/p thief then this bullkitten.

I’d rather face a D/P build too, but only because I understand how D/P works and how to counter it, and once you know those two things, D/P becomes farrrr worse than S/D (unless in the hands of an extremely skilled player like Caed, but any good player can make a bad build work well).

I encourage you to try actually playing an S/D thief in its current state though. We have two decent skills, one kinda bad skill that we still absolutely have to use for condi removal and mobility (the main attraction of the weapon set), and two virtually worthless skills. Our defensive resources are also extremely lacking compared to other classes as well; pretty much the only one that we have is evades, and given that every evade comes at the cost of time we could’ve spent doing damage, and that evades don’t go through condis, the build has honestly fallen into pretty bad shape. Our offensive resources don’t really make up for it, either; we don’t have a consistent stream of damage like condi builds do, we have virtually no CC or area control, and our skill coefficients aren’t nearly as high as those you might see on warriors, either.

Well atleast you gave some good counter arguments, s/d just seems broken in my eyes simply because you are still able to spam evades so much, I’ve met plently of s/d thieves already who completely kitten on me. There’s little counter play to it since everything is so random. When I’m facing a d/p thief I can actually say I’ve been outplayed when I die. The same doesn’t go for s/d thiefs.

DanSH.6143:

Only. One. Viable. Build.

- Torch/Dagger/Shortbow – These one are actually pretty good! on a condition build!!!

A fairly minor point, but dagger seems fairly well built for both power and condition builds. Poison is not a DPS condition, it’s a heal debuff, and 10s base duration is solid. 1.25s evade is also nothing to complain about. With bleeds, a cripple, and projectile finisher, Crippling Talon also has something to offer to both Power and Condition builds.

This is probably the most annoying thing about GW2… Where’s the promised re-worked ranger that was talked about after launch?

These are all lies!

Keksmuffin.1450:

Valentin.2073:

spirit build is not passive. spirits have active skills too. stop calling it passive build. a ranger equipped with signets that’s passive.

Because signets don’t have active effects right? And because you’re totally using sunspirit for the delayed blind and not for the burning procs on auto right? Maybe think before you type?

PS: Srsly Griften? Doge?

PPS: I almost forgot to be constructive. I don’t know where your sudden love for power rangers comes from seing how you only play condi stuff, even on war and meser but you’re making good points. The damage on most weapons just sux, the only thing that really hurts is haul which is pretty unreliable due to obvious animation and unreliable ways to set it up/cc somebody (gs 5 is meh).

I wouldn’t really agree on the active condi remove stuff… you got Signet of Renewal which is ok with signet traits and you could even go lyssa runes with rampage as one. I see the problem in general lack of survivability compared with the meh damage. You just can’t kill somebody before he kills you. Most of the times your heal doesn’t even come of cd and you’re already dead.

Some things that would be cool IMO would be rampage as one with 60s cd and only 10s of fury, stability and swiftness. You could run lyssa runes with it and even without them less stability on less cd is more useful in general and especially for stomping people.

Way more damage on longbow, especially on barrage which is just ridicolously weak for the setup it needs. It would actually make power ranger somewhat useful in teamfights.

Not to sure about that one but i think the heals are all kind of meh for a glascannon… healing spring is nice for bunkerish or just sustained ranger builds that fight on a point since they can abuse the remove and the combofield way better than a glascannon and can put it right on a point to support the team with it. A power ranger won’t be able to stay on a point or just stay in one spot in general most of the times.

Ehh, Most Rangers won’t pop their signets because unless they invest 30 points into Marksman, it has no effect on them… so yea.. Signets are passive on a Ranger, Spirits Are not.

All rangers builds are broken… but not only builds, whole ranger mechanic needs huge reworking too.

Marks is a terrible line. Wilderness is a phenomenal line.

Power coefficients are reduced due to pet system. Condi coefficients are not reduced due to pet system.

Storm Spirit does not scale with Power dmg. Sun Spirit scales with Condi dmg.

Notice the trend? Ranger cannot mathematically escape Condi spec.

Bear/Bow is the best build for realz… just do bear attack and pew pew pew.

People that run BearBow have ultimate skill of the universe.

faeral.7120:

Marks is a terrible line. Wilderness is a phenomenal line.

Power coefficients are reduced due to pet system. Condi coefficients are not reduced due to pet system.

Storm Spirit does not scale with Power dmg. Sun Spirit scales with Condi dmg.

Notice the trend? Ranger cannot mathematically escape Condi spec.

I took 1 quick look at Marks traits and…you have my sympathy.