Guild Wars 2

I recently just hit level 80 on my rangers and been using long bow for most of it with ax/war horn and it just feels kinda blah to me now. we dont have a whole lot of flash or as most professions do you can come up with some pretty crazy builds with lets say a warrior or an elementalist . So my question to my fellow rangers is there any kinda builds u would recommend to add some fun to the profession mabye a Great sword build or something interesting

The class does lack bling, no question. Compared to, say, the Warrior we lack flashy attacks. Compared to the Mesmer, we lack flashy utilities (eg Mirror Image). What we lack in Bling we gain in reliability. Look at the Elementalist: more bling than you can handle, but arguably the worst class in the game. Thieves have flashy attacks, but they are squishy and burn their Initiative a lot faster than we do all out cooldowns.

I think we would be a little flashier if we had better utility selection. Nothing flashy about Shouts or Signets, and you never see anyone use Spirits (for good reason). Traps are flashy, but Survival skills are not terribly (not saying they are bad, just not flashy). Our weapon attacks tend to be pretty dull looking. Sword is the flashy exception, but is unreliable due to buggy behaviour.

I really don’t mind being blah… I’d rather stay as blah as possible if it helps to keep those nasty melee fighters off my skin.

I am using Axe/Torch and traps(upgraded), and in PvE it is lots of fun taking on a multitude of opponents this way. Lots of fire and combo’s going off, burning axes going everywhere and with a high DPS pet (Lynx) I feel pretty powerful. I have noticed I hardly use my Short bow (secondary weapon) because I feel it is too hands off in some way, even though you can use it in melee range. And the gripe I have with true melee weapons is the fact that you must observe your distance all the time; I also really dislike the /block and /evade type of skills, never use them. Mind you, I mostly play PvE.

Axe and Torch makes me feel I am up close and personal with a group of mobs(even though Axe is a ranged weapon), paired with the flashy fire of a Fire Elementalist.

I have some longbow induced ennui myself. Aside from trying to learn to free aim the thing (oh god), I kinda’ feel like I’ve hit the ceiling on it in PvE.

Kinda’ depends on your definition of fun.
I could spend ages picking apart Pet AI and building around abuses. Seems like every pet has some hidden quirk to it once you start looking past the F2s.

Except Bears. Bears are boring.

I run a Sword/Axe and Axe/Warhorn ranger since launch and it’s been a blast. I can see how the normal crappy DPS build can be boring.

Traits are 0/5/20/15/30
Taking Off-hand Mastery, Natural Healing and Improved F2 for spiders and canines.
The rest of the traits I change depending of the area I am in.

Generally for PvE I use Zephyr + Sic’Em and 1 signet (speed or renewal).
I take Rampage as One as an elite, because both my weapon sets have a skill that stacks Might incredibly fast on my pet which coupled with Forifying Bond and Protection on dodge roll makes my pet a juggernaut.

When I’m in party I run Search and Rescue, Muddy Terrain and a signet depending on the location. Taking an elite that’s the most useful to the team (Spirit for party wipes and Entangle when there are big mobs).

I use full Cleric’s armor and accessories, Knight’s weapons.

Being rather tanky has it’s good sides. I can stay in melee dodge with Serpent strike when a big hit is coming or dodge with a dodge roll if completely dodging isn’t an option. I tend to use my leap to trigger comboes rather than for defense. Hey, we have a Mesmer… Chaos Armor… here I come ! Giving a Fire shield or something else to you, your pet and/or some random ally is as flashy as it gets.

I generally play support, always running Healing Spring in party. Having a Whirl combo from my axe which shoots bolts that heal for ~110 (on top of 12% Vulnerability) and then disengaging and landing a leap combo in the water field makes my heal even stronger. When we need more damage I switch out my signet or shout and take another combo field (mostly Fire trap).

I should also mention that the 5th Axe skill reflects most projecticles in PvE and blocks even more of them. I use it to great success when an ally is down and another player is ressing to prevent any dmg to the 3 (4 of us with search and rescue) of us.

I can buff my party with Axe/Warnhorn, as well as provide easy AoE which comboes with Muddy Terrain is a blast. I’ve won more than one fight by dropping Muddy tarrain and having the party move in circle around the helpless mob. Muddy Terrain last 20 seconds, makes them immobile for 2 and has a wooping 24 seconds cooldown if you take 20% cooldown reduction.

I use a Wolf and a Cave spider. The Cave spider provides an on demand Weakness + Cripple + 2% Vulnerability (2% !) and a poison combo field, while my Wolf has a superb disengage, that if used smart can save your party more than once. I tend do use the spider only when we need weakness or when attacking from range is better.

I dodge like a monkey, buff my pet like a madman, trigger comboes whenever I can and heal extremely well. For more juice I use a full set of Lyssa runes, random boons on heal and a devastating improvement to whatever elite I am running might not make me look flashy but sure feels powerful.

I hope that helps.

I do agree that we lack flashy stuff, but being a ranger has it’s own perks.
My English might be rather bad, sorry about that. Have fun !