Hey guys, just wanted to share a ranger build I’ve been playing in dungeons and a little explanation into my thought process that went into designing it. I’d also like to hear some feedback on it if you guys have any suggestions to make it more effective.
I went into designing this build with the idea of making a ranger with strong support capabilities. Other classes like the elementalist, engineer, and necromancer may be more effective in the role, but I still wanted to give it a try anyway. It’s a rather unusual 20/0/20/15/15 build that tries to grab a lot of utility and survivability while not sacrificing too much damage. The weapons used for this build are the shortbow for single target/line damage and daze, and axe/warhorn for AoE and utility. The pets I use are Fern Hound and the Red Moa, although you can play around with them; however, the build works best with pets that are able to grant boons to allies.
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mzozmm9coxoFooxoFoG0GffosmkMV
Skills:
Healing Spring: A no-brainer for any dungeon ranger build. While Troll Unguent is probably a better choice for solo play, the condition removal, regeneration, and water field is just too good pass up in a group setting. Probably the best supportive skill in the ranger’s arsenal.
Frost Trap: Chilled is an excellent condition for dungeons, because it gives your party a little breathing room. It makes kiting groups of mobs easier and is quite helpful at making bosses and champions easier to manage. While it is somewhat situational without proper trait investment, I find it very helpful nonetheless. It is also very useful in speed runs where you have to run past large groups of mobs (AC Path 1 comes to mind). You can lay down a Frost Trap helping you and your group run away from the mobs faster (bear in mind, this will put you in combat, reducing your run speed). While not necessary, it can be quite helpful, especially for inexperienced groups. If you don’t like Frost Trap, some other good utilities skills that can take it’s place include Muddy Terrain, Quickening Zephyr (for those who want more damage) and Lightning Reflexes (just be careful of what’s behind you!), or “Protect me!” (this will, however, more often than not, kill your pet).
Signet of Renewal: A great group utility skill, it’s a very handy condition removal skill when Healing Spring is on cooldown; however, it’s true strength lies in it’s active. A group-wide cleanse on a 1 minute cooldown is a great benefit to both you and your group. It’s probably a good idea to switch your pet immediately after using this skill to clear all of the conditions that are transferred. It also doubles as a stun breaker.
“Search and Rescue” This is a controversial utility skill that may or may not be worth taking, depending on your perspective. I find it very useful because it can often mean the difference between having two downed players come up or only having one person come up. It’s also very useful when both you and your pet are focused on the same target; players can come up from near death in mere seconds. If you don’t like this skill, you can replace it with any of the skills mentioned in the Frost Trap section.
Traits:
In Marksmanship, the main objective is to take the Master trait Piercing Arrows, which greatly enhances the shortbow’s damage capabilities. Beastmaster’s Bond is also taken mostly as a gateway to the Master traits, but is useful nonetheless; in dungeons, no matter how good you are at controlling your pet, it WILL take damage. Good use of pet switching will give you a pretty good uptime of might and fury combined with Call of the Wild.
In Wilderness Survival, I take Vigorous Renewal and Off Hand Training. Vigorous Renewal has great synergy with Companion’s Defense, which will let you keep protection on both you and your pet more often. Off Hand Training is taken to complement one of the ranger’s skills, Call of the Wild, to keep Might, Fury, and Swiftness up on your group more often. Higher uptime on Hunter’s Call is also quite useful for single-target DPS.
In Nature Magic, I take Concentration Training. Since I use the Fern Hound and Red Moa, this trait helps keep a relatively high uptime on regeneration and fury (combined with Call of the Wild and Beastmaster’s Bond, you should be fairly close to if not at 100% fury uptime).
Finally, in Beastmastery, I take Commanding Voice so I can use my pet’s F2 skills more often, resulting in more regeneration and fury. Zephyr’s Speed is excellent for burst DPS, which also synergizes well with Loud Whistle. Loud Whistle is also useful if you accidentally allow your pet to die, since it can come back up a lot faster.
(edited by FusRoDan.2638)
