Guild Wars 2

I finally hit 80 the other day, and I have decided that I am going to play the game for WvW. I have switched to a tank build and want to find a good place in WvW.

There is every kind of situation in WvW where a different build, or weapon set, or skill set is needed.

This is what I have found so far:

1) When attacking keeps:
-A ranger is good for his longbow skills in shooting the enemy on the wall, especially with his AOE longbow attack.
-If you have the trait skill, you can manually place a trap wherever you want, so in addition to the longbow AOE, you can put the traps on the edges of the walls to keep enemies away from the edge.
-Horn buff for the attacking troops
-AOE heal for the warriors and guardians hitting the gate, as well as other allies on siege equip.
-Pets that cure conditions, cause regen, or give protection to troops at the gate.
-traps outside the enemy access door so when they try to run in, you can nab them

2) When Defending Keeps
-Aoe heals for people on the walls defending
-Same pet advantages as above
-you can jump down in to the gate where the enemy is attacking, drop 1-3 traps for CC and CD
-Use your wolf in the same situation to howl and fear everyone away
-Both longbow and shortbow for pushing enemies back from the wall.

3) In a large group fight
-Avatar of Melandru + Greatsword / sword + torch CD the enemy (tank build only)
-AOE healing of course
-have your pet revive downed allies, the elite spirit that will revive downed allies, as well as the other buffing spirits for protection and other CD
-Pushing back enemies with longbow
-chasing down enemies with shortbow cripple conditions
-traps that cripple/slow enemies are always useful

What else do you guys think?

I am glass cannon build, full CoF power/prec armor + full set of Ranger Runes. Crit is around 58% without outside buffs.

I enjoy Longbow lots for Barrage, both using against advancing hordes in WvW and keep assaults on walls. I’ve killed lots of people who don’t get out in time and I think it’s underrated for this reason. For 1v1, not the case. I get anxiety if I try to fight this way with LB so I switch to Axe/Horn and SB for those. But I carry all + a GS in inventory with me.

But I still feel the Glass Cannon build Ranger is around 70% Glass and 30% Cannon. The class, especially the build, need help.

Bugs alone are frustrating, but when you calculate a lack of Balance for this Ranger build, it adds insult to injury.

Standing on a wall, you can annoy your enemy, but personally, I don’t think spending a bunch of time in zerg fight is a good reason because:
A) most enemies will take some damage, then run back out of range before they die, even if you are doing good damage.
and
B) you’ll be more useful and will get more rewards from sticking with a moving group to take supply camps and take out dolyaks.

If you’re going to defend a keep, work on setting up a siege weapon or getting supplies for other people setting them up.

Rangers serve several roles in WvW fairly capably.

1. Decent single target and aoe ranged damage for keep defense
2. Aoe damage for attacking keeps. Unfortunately its on a fairly long CD.
3. Decent single target, ranged damage for skirmishing and large zerg fights in the field. Fairly easy to contribute damage without taking much damage.
4. Strong at taking supply camps solo.
5. Aoe regen, condition removal and long duration water field.

Ranger has no place in WvW you might as well paint a giant target over your head.

What that ^ guy said. I will completely ignore PvP until Anet has the responsibility to fix the main issues with this profession.

For now PvE is where Rangers are good at.

i don’t know about you guys, but i’ve ran solo in WvWvW since day one. getting to know all the jump spots, know when to take advantage of terrain but mobs as well. get really good at running away when you have a feeling kitten will hit the fan, keep your camera alwayse moving and watch the map for odd movements on flags and dolyks.

today i basically controlled the Spirit’s/Spirits equivalent by just solo roaming for 3 hours today in Yaks Bend Borderland. i had the benefit that our zerg was the main drawing point, but i denied supplies for everything for that time period, and really only lost to a perma-stealth thief or a bad situated 3v1. but then again i only attacked when i had ambush advantage or the ability to fall back to safety behind a camp officer.

Ranger’s make great roamers, if done properly they can solo camps between 2-4 minutes. it’s the best feeling to cap a point just as your zerg turns around the hill, you join them and take advantage of the one sided fights and then split off again because sieges don’t earn you money.

I disagree, barrage is very useful in WvW and so are traps. Just last night I downed and/or defeated at least 10 invaders defending a single keep (before getting yanked off the wall and torn to shreds). If your opponents are at full health then barrage is no more than an inconvenience, but if you have a few tanks outside the gate weakening invaders you can quickly down multiple targets with QZ + barrage. Defenders, on the other hand, like to jump off the wall, do some quick damage and run straight back in through the gate. Muddy terrain + ice trap in front of the entrance can really mess with their plans, your allies will rip them apart before they can get back inside.

On the other hand I don’t feel at all useful as a tank. It’s not that rangers can’t tank, it’s just that other classes can do it so much better. Personally I feel far more effective as a glass cannon with the above mentioned tactics, or hanging back in open combat to weaken and cripple multiple opponents. Pet and horn buffs are important too, they can mean the difference between sucess and failure, if used correctly in a large group.

Luriyu.6873:

i don’t know about you guys, but i’ve ran solo in WvWvW since day one. getting to know all the jump spots, know when to take advantage of terrain but mobs as well. get really good at running away when you have a feeling kitten will hit the fan, keep your camera alwayse moving and watch the map for odd movements on flags and dolyks.

today i basically controlled the Spirit’s/Spirits equivalent by just solo roaming for 3 hours today in Yaks Bend Borderland. i had the benefit that our zerg was the main drawing point, but i denied supplies for everything for that time period, and really only lost to a perma-stealth thief or a bad situated 3v1. but then again i only attacked when i had ambush advantage or the ability to fall back to safety behind a camp officer.

Ranger’s make great roamers, if done properly they can solo camps between 2-4 minutes. it’s the best feeling to cap a point just as your zerg turns around the hill, you join them and take advantage of the one sided fights and then split off again because sieges don’t earn you money.

This is basically what I do in WvW on my ranger. I just wish we had better mobility/escape tools, but oh well. Dolyaks, supply camps, check points, and neutrals can all be soloed pretty easily regardless of upgrades.

My ranger in WWW is stick commander like shadow.
-AoE on wall anoyy people on wall/killing toy force them out from use them.
-Bleed them,Cripp them,Poison them,weak them,make enemy worst condition.
-Give change for our friend/mate/buddy for move forward.
-Control ground by trap force them avoid it or stomp it.

Or

Move forward with group with plan B.
-Control camp / kill yak.
-Cut enemy back up hunt group of enemy who run to support keep/tower.
-Lure a mob/ton of enemy to kill you(and make sure u will not die alone…)split enemy group to kill you buy time for main force to finish plan A.
-Focus on enemy who will be trouble maker.

Or full support on 3rd line.
-Run supply with warhorn.Buff your people with it.
-Run with your colorful spirit.
-Help down player with yourself/skill/pet/etc…
-AoE skill or do something cover your friend from retreat.

In WWW am not focus on killing I just open strike or boost morale for our comrade.
Killing job I give to another bloody thirsty player who love to murder people.

Ive had huge amounts of success and fun in every aspect of WvW with my ranger. I use my longbow 90% of the time which was rough until I got my trait that decreased my timers 20 percent. I didnt go glass cannon, although my power is my highest ability, my close second is toughness. I played the largest Norn I could and wear bright red so everyone can see me. in 1v1 Ive never been killed by a tank class…Point blank knocks em back, sharpening stone to bleed, (then quickening zepher if its up) then hunters shot to slow em, then rapid fire..by the time they get to me my timers are ready to do it again, then they die. Elementalists and mesmers simply dont do enough damage to hurt me before I can heal myself so I just got to pick the right target when fighting a mesmer or stay on an ele long enough to kill him (they usually get away if they wana). The only class that is unbeatable to me is a thief (if played right, I love a poorly played thief) and im pretty sure they are just broke. Im zergs or tower / keep battles, I can take out cannons and stuff on the walls at a good safe range, and if someone jumps off the wall…knock em back away from the door, cripple em, and burn em down with rapid fire…I dont play to much but this month Ive out killed my mesmer bud who I play with 1000 wvw kills to 910 Love my ranger

Attack a zerg and there will always be at least 10 lame players who chase you.Sadly we dont have the speed of a thief or a 1000mph Elementalist, but disrupting and delaying the enemy in skirmish benefits the team as a whole.