Rangers in WvW now

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

At the risk of duplicating the pvp ranger thread, I’m trying to ask a slightly different question here.

What are you seeing in WvW now with rangers and how are you dealing with it?

In tier 3 roaming, what I’m seeing is that in group fights, there’s almost always a ranger (or multiple rangers). So even if it’s a small group versus a small group, it’s a pain because if I ever get to a point where I need to disengage, it feels like I will frequently get targeted by the ranger(s). I’m disengaging because I’m low (or out) of cooldowns or health is down, so often, I’m just screwed when the ranger locks on.

1v1 fights are not bad with a ranger. For me, it’s a matter of block, dodge, interrupt, etc the first burst and then counter-attack. Most of the rangers I see are glassy builds and they go down quickly.

I’m glad rangers are having some success. I used to think of them as free kills.

But I’m finding that I don’t want to engage as much in group fights or take as many risks. Maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be, but it’s definitely an adjustment.

Just wondering what other folks are finding in WvW and how you’re dealing with it. Thx!

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: kaikalii.4198

kaikalii.4198

I love the ranger buffs. Feedback and focus trait are incredibly strong against them. They melt themselves.

Kaliiii (Thief) – SoS

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Swish.2463

Swish.2463

Problem i find with the ranger buff is that the rest of the meta hasn’t moved to ranged.

You can build for reflects but that kinda leaves you boned against bunkers or melee classes who focus you.

this is more true in sPvP from my experiences, I don’t go into WvW hardly ever anymore.

~Elyssion~
“Gw2, It’s still on the Table!” – Anet

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Mak.2657

Mak.2657

I love the ranger buffs. Feedback and focus trait are incredibly strong against them. They melt themselves.

Whut???
Probably reflects are strong against newbie ranger, but not against half-decent one. Just cancel Rapid Fire (through evade, character turn, stow). And repeat RF after 10 sec (while your reflect on CD). Tested longbow ranger at eotm – not feedback, nor reflecting wall (guardian skill) does help. This new trend to slot reflect as solution of ranger problem only makes me smile. Just stop fire and wait or relocate my ranger. As far as i see now – biggest contributor to def against rangers is LOS. Organized party of rangers can be very dangerous.
Seems it is ltl against one of main principles of game – melee fight is more dangerous, but more rewarding then safer range fight.

(edited by Mak.2657)

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Sandrox.9524

Sandrox.9524

Well,as far as I can see it,in group play the ranger is the new necro→you target it first.

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Mogar.9216

Mogar.9216

I love the ranger buffs. Feedback and focus trait are incredibly strong against them. They melt themselves.

Whut???
Probably reflects are strong against newbie ranger, but not against half-decent one. Just cancel Rapid Fire (through evade, character turn, stow). And repeat RF after 10 sec (while your reflect on CD). Tested longbow ranger at eotm – not feedback, nor reflecting wall (guardian skill) does help. This new trend to slot reflect as solution of ranger problem only makes me smile. Just stop fire and wait or relocate my ranger. As far as i see now – biggest contributor to def against rangers is LOS. Organized party of rangers can be very dangerous.
Seems it is ltl against one of main principles of game – melee fight is more dangerous, but more rewarding then safer range fight.

mirroe heal is on 15 sec cool down I find that it shuts down a single ranger very nicely. Together with interrupts from F3 or if you run the stun signet or the Mantra of Distraction you should be fine vs 1 ranger. When there are 2 or 3 then the only way is to cut los when they focus you. Not much you can do about that atm.

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Mak.2657

Mak.2657

Yep, but mirror heal would reflect nothing to decent ranger – only set RF on 8-10 CD and blow your bad (in terms hp\sec restore) heal skill CD. Same with Diversion. And even auto can inflict good damage.
As i wrote have a good result against reflect mesmers and other classes. But probably didn’t meet much good players from both sides (wvw).

(edited by Mak.2657)

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Squee Squashington.5189

Squee Squashington.5189

Excerpt from the Time Warp nerf.
" In PvP, this speed gives most players almost no chance to react to incoming abilities and allows for massive spike damage in extremely short periods of time."

Confusing Images is pretty underpowered, can we buff that to 14,000 damage too please?

Legendary Defender of Casuals

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: zapv.8051

zapv.8051

In wvw it is tough because the skill still channels when you enter stealth, but i’ve found the best way is to be very aggressive. Rangers damage is now pretty high, but they sacrifice a lot of survivability. Blink in, dodge point blank shot and go to town.

Necros don’t have reflects, invulns, vigor, blocks,
extra dodges, real stability, mobility skills,
burst skills, sustain, or good support. GG ANET.

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Lord Jim.3971

Lord Jim.3971

In groups just nuke the rangers, honestly most are terrible players, they will die in seconds, if you are really having trouble slot Arcane Thievery and Feedback then get condi cleanse from your party while you totally lock down any Ranger, AT their Rampage as One, call in the CC and nuke. Realistically all that isn’t necessary, a well timed Engi stealth pull into a group nuke will 100-0 any LB ranger that is a threat. When it gets to the stage where there are more LB rangers than your party members just go “serious business”, 2 Guards, 2 eles ( D/D and D/F) with a War or Necro and bomb them, if they want to Barrage you let em eat retaliation ticks at 350 a pop.

Conchis – Tchuu Tchuu I’m A Train [TCHU] – Gandara

(edited by Lord Jim.3971)

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: KaporHabakuk.6219

KaporHabakuk.6219

I play LB ranger for past 2-3 days,and have yet to see those suicide reflects.As some1 in here mentioned,its easy to interupt and drop aoe “LB5” on u,or stealth on clone and wait,or just swap for gs,elite root and finish off the poor mesmer :-).So far only effective reflect was the healing one,and not in dealing dmg back to me,but in prolonging mesmers life.I dont believe such situational healing is good way to go,but u can swap it just before fight starts,if u got problems with LB rangers.

As for tips,i would say,surely spare staff2,blink or cleanse for possibility of ranger root elite,that in 99% cases ends into dead mesmer,so far i noticed :-).And ofc,being in stealth and leaving dirty work on phantasm helps too :-).

OTAN guild,WSR server

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Mogar.9216

Mogar.9216

This is the problem with fourms everyone has his/her version of the truth and really there is no way to tell . What one person consider as avg player another may think as noob or expert. Really there is no way to tell who is right and who is wrong. All I can say is I dueled a friend whom I consider to be a very good ranger after the patch . We fought 4 times and we each won 2 . The 2 I won was because I timed my mirror right. Now it could be both me and my friend are terrible players and I’m just talking out of my kitten . I do solo 99% of the time, I play on T3 server and I show up to OS duels every week. I don’t win them all but I do win more than I lose. IMO mirror heal IS good enough to shut down RF in 1 v 1.

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: eldenbri.1059

eldenbri.1059

Thx for the notes – it helps to hear other experiences.

I think 1v1, there are ways to win. I agree that, even if health is low, you’re better off facing most wvw rangers than trying to keep running away.

I just keep having cases where there’s a group battle and a ranger pops in later in the fight. And then I’m screwed…

Anyway, I’ll keep learning and adjusting. For sure, I try to take out rangers first now if there are multiple targets

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: dan.3618

dan.3618

Feedback,
Mirror,
Phantasmal Warden and Temporal Curtain if Warden’s Feedback is traited,
Masterful Reflection.

Thats alot of reflect if you want it.

Im actually loving all the rangers in wvw zergs.

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Sebrent.3625

Sebrent.3625

Mirror … cancel it before it completes casting … much shorter cooldown. Now it’s ready before their 10 (8s traited) cooldown on rapid fire.

Welcome to using Mirror.

Also, traited Focus is superb. Temporal Curtain and PHantasmal Warden don’t care if your enemy is ranged or melee … they affect both.

Temporal Curtain swiftness for you, cripple for them, light aura if you leap through, and can use it to pull as well (off cliffs for maximum effect).

Phantasmal Warden is solid damage and loves to eat projectiles for you. If a melee doesn’t want to stand in the Warden … you should stand in it and make chicken noises at him.

Christian. Husband. Father. Friend. Developer. Gamer.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.

(edited by Sebrent.3625)

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: EnderzShadow.2506

EnderzShadow.2506

Lot of talk how hard it is vs multiple rangers and I can imagine. But they are even more effective if they call targets and you assist them in dmg/CC and heals.

I played with one last night and although he went down a few times, he hit like a truck and put 20-25 stacks of vulnerability on targets (if they lived that long)

If I had played a heavy CC spec, it would of been absolutely brutal.

Shadowbane DarkAges Of Camelot WoW AION WarHammer GuildWars2

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Sebrent.3625

Sebrent.3625

Multiple Thieves would cause more single-target havoc … and continue to do it from stealth.

Multiple Warriors would stunlock to death a group without stability … just like multiple Ranger’s can single-out a single target that doesn’t have any sort of reflect, block, invuln, projectile block, etc.

Multiple Mesmers … you can’t reflect our greatswords’ beams nor our phantasmal berserkers … enjoy! … we’ll strip you too … of boons, of course ;-)


If you get focused by a group with some coordination and don’t have some sort of defense … yeah, you’re going to die. This isn’t exclusive to groups of Rangers.

Christian. Husband. Father. Friend. Developer. Gamer.
Try your best to not make mistakes, but, when you do make mistakes, learn from them.
Better yourself.

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Khenzy.9348

Khenzy.9348

As pointed above, melee them, melee them as hard as you can, once you’re there, strafe to their back so they can’t shoot you, the only issue is PBS as it’s instant and it doesn’t have a tell (Anet is going to nerf it soon enough, so don’t worry) save blink if you get hit by that, if he switches to greatsword, GOOD, that thing is incredibly telegraphed. Save distortion/sword 2 if you get trapped by muddy terrain becouse a wolf fear/knockdown, a Maul or even possibly a Entangle is going to follow. Proceed to shatter his/her kitten .
Main things to save dodges on: Maul, Entangle, Rapid fire, Wolf Fear.
Shatter mesmers shouldn’t have a problem against zerkbow Rangers, if you are PU… who plays that crappy and trolly spec anymore when any shatter spec is 10 times better?

Reflects only work againt crappy facerolly players, decent ones just cancel/stow weapon and turtle the fight (or even kite you with GS 3) until those are on CD, but they can also give you higher and more agressive damage uptime if properly used, they are incredibly effective in group settings, not so much in 1v1.

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: Hamster.4861

Hamster.4861

I’ve been using the F4 Masterful Reflection on my mesmer, and Daggerstorm, to great effect against rangers.

Many rangers have been very eager to rapid fire my teef, but they dont see the daggerstorm+infiltrator signet until they’ve taken, on average about 5k damage. I’ve only ever run into a small minority of rangers who actually cancel the rapid fire or stow the LB.

As mentioned above, in a 1v1 situation, i think that rangers have more ability to compete, but in group situations, they’re the first targeted because they’re STILL easy bags, not because they’re the new necromancer. Many of these LB guys freak out once you close the gap on them, and the ranger GS attacks are very easy to dodge due to their massive telegraphs.

Now, this is not to say that they dont have their purpose. A group of three rangers in VoIP coordinating cripples and damage and knockbacks would be a pain in the kitten, but still not nearly the pain in the kitten of a pair of Dire/Rabid engineers who know what combo fields are.

I think the rangers are in a better place, but not where they need to be for their group utility to take off.

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: EnderzShadow.2506

EnderzShadow.2506

I love the ranger buffs. Feedback and focus trait are incredibly strong against them. They melt themselves.

Whut???
Probably reflects are strong against newbie ranger, but not against half-decent one. Just cancel Rapid Fire (through evade, character turn, stow). And repeat RF after 10 sec (while your reflect on CD). Tested longbow ranger at eotm – not feedback, nor reflecting wall (guardian skill) does help. This new trend to slot reflect as solution of ranger problem only makes me smile. Just stop fire and wait or relocate my ranger. As far as i see now – biggest contributor to def against rangers is LOS. Organized party of rangers can be very dangerous.
Seems it is ltl against one of main principles of game – melee fight is more dangerous, but more rewarding then safer range fight.

You said it—nub rangers. I come across many of those In WvW.

Longbow rangers are typically soft. They might hit really hard, but they can’t hit what they can’t see.

So yeah los, getting mixed in the crowd of phantasms, other players, using a stealth to get behind them or get right on them—all that has worked well for me.

Shadowbane DarkAges Of Camelot WoW AION WarHammer GuildWars2

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: KaporHabakuk.6219

KaporHabakuk.6219

Lot of talk how hard it is vs multiple rangers and I can imagine. But they are even more effective if they call targets and you assist them in dmg/CC and heals.

I played with one last night and although he went down a few times, he hit like a truck and put 20-25 stacks of vulnerability on targets (if they lived that long)

If I had played a heavy CC spec, it would of been absolutely brutal.

Rapid fire is 10 vuln. stacks,another 10 comes from yours and pets opening strike “first hit when u enter combat trait”,that why ranger can hit so hard in the begining.That is in first 2-3 sec of fight.

OTAN guild,WSR server

Rangers in WvW now

in Mesmer

Posted by: vincecontix.1264

vincecontix.1264

Multiple Thieves would cause more single-target havoc ... and continue to do it from stealth.

Multiple Warriors would stunlock to death a group without stability ... just like multiple Ranger’s can single-out a single target that doesn’t have any sort of reflect, block, invuln, projectile block, etc.

Multiple Mesmers ... you can’t reflect our greatswords’ beams nor our phantasmal berserkers ... enjoy! ... we’ll strip you too ... of boons, of course ;-)

-----

If you get focused by a group with some coordination and don’t have some sort of defense ... yeah, you’re going to die. This isn’t exclusive to groups of Rangers.

Actually multiple thieves is easier to deal with than multiple rangers. If thiefs want to do any serious damage they have to put them self in danger a ranger does not. Rangers rangers are ok 1v1 they aren’t great.

The current lb zerker rangers aren’t op just to rewarding for effort involved to be some whats effective. Its really easy to pew pew from range esp if you have slight numbers advantage.

Shikamaru X Thief, Warrior, Mesmer, Engi(FT leader)
Highest ranked reached 28 soloq
Isle of Janthir