i dont know a thing about ranger axe, but how is this possible?
i’m on my 2.2 armor d/p thief. he runs in, i die from full hp hardly seeing any animation whatsoever. bewildered, i look up log, says path of scars x2 = 9k.
i switch to spectator, look up his build. nothing special, path of scars 573 damage. can s1 pls explain, what magic turns 573 damage into 4.5k?
I’m not sure if it works the same way in PvP, but in PvE Path of Scars can do much more damage than its listed damage because it actually hits multiple times when pulling the enemy towards you. You might have gotten hit by the same mechanic.
A setup like this should and could hit 9k and beyond. Path of scars is basically 2x maul minus 10-15% raw damage. Also, rangers can instantly apply 5-10 stacks of vulnerability on the first strike. Leaving you further weakened before the next.
Lv 80 Guard, Ranger, Ele, Thief, warr, engi
Currently @ some T1 server in EU
There is also a bug where if you use path of scars at around 700 range (rather than the max 900 range) you will hit the enemy 3 times instead of 2 times. The extra 50% damage can make it hit pretty hard, and glass builds have a good chance of getting 1-shot if they aren’t at full health. In general it’s a pretty easy to avoid skill (much easier to avoid than a thief backstab which hits just as hard), and the axe #5 is completely terrible which is why very few if any rangers use off-hand axe.
There is also a bug where if you use path of scars at around 700 range (rather than the max 900 range) you will hit the enemy 3 times instead of 2 times. The extra 50% damage can make it hit pretty hard, and glass builds have a good chance of getting 1-shot if they aren’t at full health. In general it’s a pretty easy to avoid skill (much easier to avoid than a thief backstab which hits just as hard), and the axe #5 is completely terrible which is why very few if any rangers use off-hand axe.
Axe 5 is good if used in the right way.
Ranger burst rotation: quickenin zephyr → axe 4 → entangle → axe 5 → swap to gs then maul.
Use pet f2 at any stage of the rotation to gain further vuln and damage.
By the time maul lands, the target should have 22 stacks of vuln on them. This rotation works fairly well i wvw, but pvp may have too low stats to get the same effect.
Lv 80 Guard, Ranger, Ele, Thief, warr, engi
Currently @ some T1 server in EU
I’m not quite sure what you call these abilities, but they CAN do incredibly high damage in some circumstances. Highly depending on environment.
Abilities such as Necromancer’s Flesh Golem Charge. If you are against a wall (or some small rocks sometimes) you can be rooted to the spot as well as the Golem, and thus the whole charge ticks constant damage on you for the duration rather than 1-2 single hits.
Other abilities are Elementalist’s Fiery Greatsword Elite #4 Fiery Rush. If you use it on an untargetted NPC against a wall, all the damage is on 1 location and ticks for a lot of damage.
Take a look at this for example. It has the same effect.
I’m not quite sure what you call these abilities, but they CAN do incredibly high damage in some circumstances. Highly depending on environment.
Abilities such as Necromancer’s Flesh Golem Charge. If you are against a wall (or some small rocks sometimes) you can be rooted to the spot as well as the Golem, and thus the whole charge ticks constant damage on you for the duration rather than 1-2 single hits.
Other abilities are Elementalist’s Fiery Greatsword Elite #4 Fiery Rush. If you use it on an untargetted NPC against a wall, all the damage is on 1 location and ticks for a lot of damage.
Take a look at this for example. It has the same effect.
Path of scars doesn’t function the same as rush abilities. In fact, if you use it against a wall it will only hit once because the axe just goes inside the wall and disappears never to be seen again making it do even less damage than it should.
I’m not quite sure what you call these abilities, but they CAN do incredibly high damage in some circumstances. Highly depending on environment.
Abilities such as Necromancer’s Flesh Golem Charge. If you are against a wall (or some small rocks sometimes) you can be rooted to the spot as well as the Golem, and thus the whole charge ticks constant damage on you for the duration rather than 1-2 single hits.
Other abilities are Elementalist’s Fiery Greatsword Elite #4 Fiery Rush. If you use it on an untargetted NPC against a wall, all the damage is on 1 location and ticks for a lot of damage.
Take a look at this for example. It has the same effect.
Path of scars doesn’t function the same as rush abilities. In fact, if you use it against a wall it will only hit once because the axe just goes inside the wall and disappears never to be seen again making it do even less damage than it should.
the axe bug is caused by server lag. it happes a LOT in WvW.
The reason it hits multiple times is because during the pull the server/client has a minor lag, this causes your toon to accelerate a tiny tiny bit ahead of the axe, thus it registrers as multiple hits during pull. In WvW, it is more easily seen then in PvP, because the massive zerg lagfests causes widespread lag all over, while PvP lag is mostly client lag due to poor PC performance coupled with some latency and too much particle effects.
Lv 80 Guard, Ranger, Ele, Thief, warr, engi
Currently @ some T1 server in EU
There is also a bug where if you use path of scars at around 700 range (rather than the max 900 range) you will hit the enemy 3 times instead of 2 times. The extra 50% damage can make it hit pretty hard, and glass builds have a good chance of getting 1-shot if they aren’t at full health. In general it’s a pretty easy to avoid skill (much easier to avoid than a thief backstab which hits just as hard), and the axe #5 is completely terrible which is why very few if any rangers use off-hand axe.
Axe 5 is good if used in the right way.
Ranger burst rotation: quickenin zephyr -> axe 4 -> entangle -> axe 5 -> swap to gs then maul.
Use pet f2 at any stage of the rotation to gain further vuln and damage.
By the time maul lands, the target should have 22 stacks of vuln on them. This rotation works fairly well i wvw, but pvp may have too low stats to get the same effect.
That burst would require the enemy player to not dodge the path of scars, not dodge the entangle, use no condi clears/teleport skills to get out of the entangle, and use no block or evade skills to avoid the damage. It also assumes that you will somehow hit the enemy first with a slow-moving, short-range projectile skill. But there’s a lot of really bad players in WvW, so I’m sure that works on a few people.
I’m not quite sure what you call these abilities, but they CAN do incredibly high damage in some circumstances. Highly depending on environment.
Abilities such as Necromancer’s Flesh Golem Charge. If you are against a wall (or some small rocks sometimes) you can be rooted to the spot as well as the Golem, and thus the whole charge ticks constant damage on you for the duration rather than 1-2 single hits.
Other abilities are Elementalist’s Fiery Greatsword Elite #4 Fiery Rush. If you use it on an untargetted NPC against a wall, all the damage is on 1 location and ticks for a lot of damage.
Take a look at this for example. It has the same effect.
Path of scars doesn’t function the same as rush abilities. In fact, if you use it against a wall it will only hit once because the axe just goes inside the wall and disappears never to be seen again making it do even less damage than it should.
the axe bug is caused by server lag. it happes a LOT in WvW.
The reason it hits multiple times is because during the pull the server/client has a minor lag, this causes your toon to accelerate a tiny tiny bit ahead of the axe, thus it registrers as multiple hits during pull. In WvW, it is more easily seen then in PvP, because the massive zerg lagfests causes widespread lag all over, while PvP lag is mostly client lag due to poor PC performance coupled with some latency and too much particle effects.
It’s not lag, I tested it in PvE zones on regular mobs and could consistently get 3 hits.
I’ve been using this for ages. It requires a very streamlined glass-cannon setup:
1)The ranger has to spec into Signet of the Beastmaster (“signets have an effect on the ranger”), Beastmaster’s Signet (gain 3 might on signet use), and Moment of Clarity (increased damage if you interrupt a foe).
2)Full points into the power, precision and crit damage trait lines.
3) Using Signet of the Wild and Signet of the Hunt (+150% damage on next attack) while Opening Strike is up (100% chance to crit on first attack)
4) Line up Path of Scars so that it goes through the opponent twice while the opponent is using a skill (in order to interrupt and trigger Moment of Clarity). If the opponent strafes, dodges, or moves at all, the attack has a high chance of completely missing at least half the damage.
It is only effective vs. players that have never seen it before, or those who are afk on point since it basically requires that the stars align for it to hit for high damage.
Edit: You can get much better results using Maul on GS with the same setup. 10k Maul vs glass cannon is pretty easy to do.
you can also use path of scars when your target is falling back, not seing what you do, it’s way more effective since it does full damage and knock back your target, leaving it without defense for a good melee combo. I usually use it when player is healing (usually standing still) fleeing, trying to hide in a group, being rooted (elite) or down (in my way for a good stomp) to maximize damage.
Then this skill is quite effective, it shouldn’t be used while in front of an agressive enemy, cause it has barely no chance to deal damage.
