Guild Wars 2

It has been a long time I have been searching for best use of ranger in WvW especially in ZvZ/GvG situation but I can never find an ideal usage of ranger when compared with other classes.
Special thanks Erro for his norn bearform post, it gives me some inspiration.

Heavy Hammer train is so popular in WvW nowadays, pugs have been crashed by such trains badly, and even for organized teams, if you don’t have enough hammers (Guard/warriors), you have to play extremely smart and careful to against them. Hammer train is still widely used in GvG as well.
When a heavy armor hammer train rush towards you, what you can do? Being killed or dodge away/through, that’s most ppl will react in the 1st place, but have you ever think about to just simply stop them, BY YOUSELF, ALONE? It has been always my dream especially when I play my so-called most-useless WvW class — ranger.

However, the dream becomes true. Tried last night with guild team, face-rolled opponent’s heavy hammer train 4 times in a roll, I bet even now they may have not figured out how they were melt so quickly.

Build is here:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBMhFakoKxuwSyi1OQseQo9PI2jDx/F5KgqMO6jXRA-jkBBYfCiZmFRjtoqIas6aYKXER1WzFRrWKgIGDA-w

Can you see the power of the build? (Someone may say wow you are so squishy! Yes I am, but it won’t stop me becoming the secret weapon and the turning-point of the battle)

If you didn’t get it yet, let me tell you the trick — find an ele friend and grant you a Lightening hammer.

Hammer train coming? Go get them! You will see some 5 digital numbers for single hits if you are lucky and the tighter they stick, the faster they will be melt. Actually your real weapon is not important , you can use green or even blue weapon coz you only need the utility skill from the weapon to get out after your crazy burst (so I choose Sword + GS).

Enjoy!

This is neat. Static Field + Moment of Clarity might be the best use of that Grandmaster trait that I’ve seen thus far. Kudos.

actrually that’s a flaw. LH may not benefit from Moment of Clarity since LH is considered as environmental weapons (I am uncertain about this). But to maximize the damage I have no choice to put 30 into Skirmishing trait. You can repalce Moment of Clarity with what ever you want if MOC doesn’t work.
The key is the damage, stun is just bonus. SOW+LH Leap in + AOE stun ,then SOS+QZ+LH1, you will see some fantastic numbers and then dead bodies on the ground after you burst done.

Sevans.4619:

This is neat. Static Field + Moment of Clarity might be the best use of that Grandmaster trait that I’ve seen thus far. Kudos.

Aww, bummer! 4 second AoE stun sounded sexy.

Doesn’t stability kind of wreck this though?

I was expecting to come in here and see immobilize spam which is also amazingly effective since most trains don’t have adrenaline to use their hammer burst and most warriors are too brain dead to swap weapons to use a different leap skill.

Really wish the Ranger was the king of immobilize. Imagine if we had a weapon that could do what warriors can with hammer, only with immobilize. We’d be wanted then.

CRrabbit.1284:

LH may not benefit from Moment of Clarity since LH is considered as environmental weapons

Ele main here: It should still be effective as they can still be cross traited! That’s the reason Fire Axe with Pyromancer Puissance stacks might and Bursting Staff makes the size of Lightning Hammer’s Static the same size as traited staff static.

At the very least it’s worth testing mates

1, Stabilty counter the AOE stun, but static field will separate those ppl w/o stability from the train head (that’s usually what you want when fighting hammer train).
2, Your DPS is mobile, you want to focus on their train head. Train head die= train over.

Doesn’t stability kind of wreck this though?

I was expecting to come in here and see immobilize spam which is also amazingly effective since most trains don’t have adrenaline to use their hammer burst and most warriors are too brain dead to swap weapons to use a different leap skill.

Really wish the Ranger was the king of immobilize. Imagine if we had a weapon that could do what warriors can with hammer, only with immobilize. We’d be wanted then.

I am uncertain about this, wiki said environmental weapons won’t benefit from traits but with exceptions, they only give warrior’s trait as example. That’s why I still put MoC there by hoping it may work, but in fact 2 sec vs 4 sec is not much different. (of coz 4 sec will be sexier)

KeyLimPi.9031:

CRrabbit.1284:

LH may not benefit from Moment of Clarity since LH is considered as environmental weapons

Ele main here: It should still be effective as they can still be cross traited! That’s the reason Fire Axe with Pyromancer Puissance stacks might and Bursting Staff makes the size of Lightning Hammer’s Static the same size as traited staff static.

At the very least it’s worth testing mates

CRrabbit.1284:

I am uncertain about this, wiki said environmental weapons won’t benefit from traits but with exceptions, they only give warrior’s trait as example. That’s why I still put MoC there by hoping it may work, but in fact 2 sec vs 4 sec is not much different. (of coz 4 sec will be sexier)

I’m not denying the opportunity =P as I said, it’s worth testing at least in PVP. I have a ranger as well but I rarely play it, Too situation and I feel too few builds, especially in this condition meta.

not sure how well it may work in sPVP/tPVP since the damage modifier is much lower than WvW but definitely worth a try.
In WvW ranger might be the best class to use LH due to the utility benefits. In WvW ranger can quickly build 4k power with bloodlust and might stacks, and with 100% crit + 125% crit damage plus signet/rune bonus, ranger can do about ~20k damage per second (with QZ) for near 4 seconds. No one w/o Invulnerability can survive this. When I tried last night, most of opponent’s train head died instantly (under the cross fire of other teammates) even before they realized the situation and pop up skill.

KeyLimPi.9031:

CRrabbit.1284:

I am uncertain about this, wiki said environmental weapons won’t benefit from traits but with exceptions, they only give warrior’s trait as example. That’s why I still put MoC there by hoping it may work, but in fact 2 sec vs 4 sec is not much different. (of coz 4 sec will be sexier)

I’m not denying the opportunity =P as I said, it’s worth testing at least in PVP. I have a ranger as well but I rarely play it, Too situation and I feel too few builds, especially in this condition meta.

Asura. They have the most awesome animations especially on sword and dagger skills. Found out when doing the Thaumanova fractal… wish I could change my human

Interesting idea, I’ll have to try this one out!

so rangers are basically better when using skills that are not ranger skills? gj ANet.

Can you add two sigil of paralyzations for a 5.2 second stun?

DanSH.6143:

so rangers are basically better when using skills that are not ranger skills? gj ANet.

Hilarious isn’kitten

Considering you’ll find an elementalist who would change one of their utility slots to give rangers some kind of use in WvWvW big battles….

Well, you can still troll CClock people down for hours with MoC and Boar pet. I have some saved footage from things like 30 sec AoE fear, fun stuff, may post it when I have time around Feb

Looks pretty fun, actually. An ele giving up a utility slot to increase overall DPS of his group is worth it.

I don’t agree with giving your pet more crit damage though. Just get bleeding on crits for a little dps boost and make them waste their cleanses on weak DoTs.

Depending on how big your GvG fight is, spirit rangers are pretty strong due to the elite preventing stomps and removing conditions. River Drake + Spirit of Storm does very good AoE damage. Anything above 10v10 though, it starts to become more poopy, because the spirits take buffs like stability away from other party members. So this build looks very fun for 15v15 kamikaze glass cannon. If you had a mesmer/necro backing you up with boon stripping aoe, it would be very strong since dodge rolling/protection/ aegis will stop a lot of your burst since you seem to bet the farm on 6 seconds.

There are a lot of flaws in this build, but it works, at least now. The main reason is ppl don’t think you can do anything as a pathetic ranger. It’s all about surprise. When opponents stacks and you run into them alone, they think you as a troller, they will just ignore you or maybe try to kill you. But when they found 4-5 of them down to ground in few seconds it’s already too late, they are doomed by your following team.
In fact there is a lot of counters VS this burst. I myself can at least tell 3 ways.
Now I am thinking about flame axe, and replace the QZ to SOH, I am expecting at least 8-10k instant AOE damage for the 1st E-lava axe then the rest 4-5k+ every 5 seconds, and most importantly it’s ranged and instant so it’s very reliable ranged DPS. Also flame axe’s other skills give ranger much better survivalbility, all these make ranger a super back-line DPS. But that really make the ele Sacrifice a utility slot coz I have never seen any ele run FA in WvW. (there is a few running LH build, so that’s not a waste)

Shinoobi.1259:

Looks pretty fun, actually. An ele giving up a utility slot to increase overall DPS of his group is worth it.

I don’t agree with giving your pet more crit damage though. Just get bleeding on crits for a little dps boost and make them waste their cleanses on weak DoTs.

Depending on how big your GvG fight is, spirit rangers are pretty strong due to the elite preventing stomps and removing conditions. River Drake + Spirit of Storm does very good AoE damage. Anything above 10v10 though, it starts to become more poopy, because the spirits take buffs like stability away from other party members. So this build looks very fun for 15v15 kamikaze glass cannon. If you had a mesmer/necro backing you up with boon stripping aoe, it would be very strong since dodge rolling/protection/ aegis will stop a lot of your burst since you seem to bet the farm on 6 seconds.

Eh, not worth it for Flame Axe. There’s no point building pure glass cannon and trying to play safe in GvG.

So you basically use static field on them and rain hell? I need to see a video of this before I’m sold

Shinoobi.1259:

it starts to become more poopy, because the spirits take buffs like stability away from other party members.

no they wont..they only get buff´s if no mates in shout/buff range so first player than pets/ghosts

CRrabbit.1284:

… find an ele friend and grant you a Lightening hammer.

…Actually your real weapon is not important , you can use green or even blue weapon coz you only need the utility skill from the weapon to get out after your crazy burst (so I choose Sword + GS).

Enjoy!

I do like the idea but can we really be happy with “weapons that don’t matter” and “must have an ele dedicated a utility skill to you so you’re not useless” as core components of build design for this class? It’s not a bad idea and I’m sure it’s effective (as well as fun) but as a Ranger enthusiast and long time build designer I can’t support being content with this seemingly perpetual useless state the Ranger has been in since launch.

True, but I think the ‘payback time baitches’ factor is exactly what the drawcard is for this build. Because Rangers ‘are useless’ the revenge is all the sweeter for the player employing this with success.

CRrabbit.1284:

I am uncertain about this, wiki said environmental weapons won’t benefit from traits but with exceptions, they only give warrior’s trait as example. That’s why I still put MoC there by hoping it may work, but in fact 2 sec vs 4 sec is not much different. (of coz 4 sec will be sexier)

KeyLimPi.9031:

CRrabbit.1284:

LH may not benefit from Moment of Clarity since LH is considered as environmental weapons

Ele main here: It should still be effective as they can still be cross traited! That’s the reason Fire Axe with Pyromancer Puissance stacks might and Bursting Staff makes the size of Lightning Hammer’s Static the same size as traited staff static.

At the very least it’s worth testing mates

Well that’s wrong, all our boars items are environmental items and it’s well known that they are boosted by MoC, which is why you can get a 9s AoE fear or better yet a 6s skull crack (sucks to suck doesn’t it warriors?)

And seeing as how I was able to stun the moss heart fractal boss for 4-6s with his own branch a few nights ago… I’m gonna have to side with " the wiki is wrong"