Guild Wars 2

Rangers sure have it tough when it comes to dungeons in this game. Especially rangers that:

1) Are still leveling or are trying to use the dungeon to level/get good gear for their level. For example a level 30-35+ ranger.
2) Do not use swords (instead use long and short bows).
3) Are not elementalists (this is sort of made in jest but one run could not be completed because there was no ele).

I’ve noticed that “low” levels are at a disadvantage when it comes to random grouping or waiting to join a LFG group. Maybe this can be solved by getting a better guild that runs lowbies through their dungeons. But it’s sort of silly to call someone a “low level” when they are the level required for the dungeon. And it’s sort of ridiculous to not be able to get into the dungeon for your level bracket (the only dungeon you can run for the next 10 levels) because you’re not 80.

I guess the sword equip goes into the whole “zerk” thing I keep seeing all over the place. I’m not entirely sure what this is though. I would think the range, AOE, and controls the bows have would be more helpful to the group. But someone please explain this to me.

Finally I would like to know how to maximize my usefulness in dungeon groups. I thought I was doing perfectly fine until I ran Path 1 (the one that couldn’t be completed because there was no ele). The burrows part was what made me see that maybe I should equip/learn how to play with a sword (or is it greatsword that people want rangers to use in groups?). Or maybe there’s some other tips to bust through those burrows as a ranger that I’m missing? Such as CCs, pets, skills? I’m a bit lost. It’s a little frustrating to finally get to the level bracket where the rest of the game starts to open up to you and then see that 90% of the community doesn’t want to run with you unless you’re “zerk” or 80 or an ele.

I’m planning on playing other classes anyway but I wanted my first 80 to be my ranger. This kind of experience makes it understandable that some people just ignore the dungeons of the game because of that kind of atmosphere.

99.9% of people in dungeons have done them tons of times and are now just speed clearing them for the rewards. You have two options: make your own LFG that explains your situation (low level, not speed clearing the dungeon, etc.) or just wait till you’re level 80 and geared.

Speaking of which, this thread will get you started on how rangers typically build themselves:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Guide-PvE-Meta-Ranger/first#post3868491

For the burrows, you’ll want to use a Greatsword instead of a sword or bow. The reason is that you want to move while hitting them and the sword does not allow you to do that. If you facetank the skelk, they’ll stack a ton of bleeds on you very quickly.

Basically it works like this:

1) People who are FARMING the dungeon for the rewards want to do them quickly, or at least easily. A level 80 character will have his health, damage, etc. scaled down to match the dungeon level (for AC, 35) but he will still retain all his minmaxed best-in-slot gear and have the full range of traits available to him. By comparison an actual level 35 is probably in green-tier gear and doesn’t have any traits, and the stats on his gear probably aren’t coordinated in any given manner. Simply put, you can probably get by, but you won’t be as strong as an 80, and people don’t want to have to carry a bunch of lowbies around when they just want to semi-afk through the dungeon quickly and get the gold pot at the end.

2) Bows are bad because melee is better. Melee tends to be better because:
- If everyone is standing in the same place, their AOE boons/heals all get shared.
- If everyone is standing in the same place, melee mobs will all go to the same place to engage them (and ranged ones as well if there’s an obstruction, hence LOS stacking), so you can mass-CC them then AOE them all down in one go, rather than running around trying to pick them off one by one.
- Melee weapons tend to do more damage in general, all other benefits aside.
- When everyone is standing in the same place, AOE attacks targeted on players are much easier to avoid because they all hit in the same place and at the same time. For example, there’s a boss in a later dungeon who casts AOEs centered on all players in the fight, with closer players getting hit first then progressing outwards. If all party members are ranging, it’s pretty common to avoid the attack targeted at you only to roll right into the AOE targeted at someone else. Conversely, if everyone melees, you can basically autopilot and dodge simultaneously with a simple count.

3) Bow rangers tend to not understand point #2, so they are stereotyped as bad automatically when people see them shooting arrows. Precisely because there are very few reasons to objectively prefer a bow over a sword for dungeons, most of the “bearbow” types who insist on using a bow anyway tend to be bad players who over-aggro mobs, can’t dodge attacks, and generally aren’t very useful in a fight.

I created my pve ranger some days ago, just run DnT ranger build and you should be fine, frost spirit and spotter are kitten OP for speed clears and any group that kicks you is just ignorant, now if u run LB don’t expect people to take you in their runs.

Sons.5493:

I created my pve ranger some days ago, just run DnT ranger build and you should be fine, frost spirit and spotter are kitten OP for speed clears and any group that kicks you is just ignorant, now if u run LB don’t expect people to take you in their runs.

FYI level 35 rangers don’t have access to spotter…

@ OP
All said previously are good points.
Mainly just make your own LFG post for discovery of dungeons or find a guild that suits your needs…

My problem in dungeons is that we’re playing a CQB (or even worse, stacking), where LB isn’t that good. We get out of Support when we mantain range. And even out of sight, which means less chance to be cared during a non-zerg fight. (Even there, because people are so greedy. -.-’)

Being a Ranger spotter/scout is an another failure because of lack of Stealth and slow movement against nearly all the other classes. GS#3 Swoop isn’t that Nitro as people think…

Thanks a lot for your input everyone. It looks a like some of the initial issues I’m having (getting into AC in the first place) can be solved by just finding the right group or guild.
As for the weapons to use, would a sword/torch with a longbow to swap be a good combination? Because the longbow has the AOE…I don’t mind changing my equips for dungeon runs though.
Also I find that when I am inside AC things tend to go pretty smoothly and if something goes wrong it’s because someone didn’t listen or someone fell behind/had crappy timing, or was unfamiliar with the place, not because of their level or class…