Guild Wars 2

So, im hitting fotm 20+ and found out its a new ball game. I’d like to hear from lev 20+rangers what gear and specs your running, how it works.

Im cirrently running full cleric, 0/0/20/20/30.

I just got to 21 and still pretty clueless about this class. Running 6 trait points in Marksmanship & also 6 points in Wilderness Survival thus far.

I’m also on Lv20. My build is 30/20/0/0/20. Even though I don’t have much Vitality or Toughness, I would say I’m doing pretty good. “Active effects of Signets also affect you” makes Signet of Stone really useful. Also Lightning Reflexes has saved me so many times :P. I have full Berserker gear. I know many people think I’m a freaking glasscannon, but people have to understand that ranger is in his element when he stays at long range to the enemies.

Around Lv20 I noticed that people think Rangers aren’t useful for parties, which is really sad.

Hyperdermix.2640:

Around Lv20 I noticed that people think Rangers aren’t useful for parties, which is really sad.

This is sad but true. Today I got kicked from a lvl25 party.

On topic, I run a 20/30/5/0/15 full glasscannon Berserker’s build. Well, ok, my ascended back and the other ascended ring is Cavalier’s (power/toughness/crit dmg). But everything else is Berserker’s.
Healing:Healing Spring
Utilities:Lightning Reflexes, Quickening Zephyr, “Search and Rescue”
Elite:Rampage as One or Entangle
Runes:Runes of the Ranger
Weapons:Primary is Shortbow (Sigil of Force, because I think 55% crit chance is enough, so I won’t use Sigil of Accuracy). Secondary is Sword (Sigil of Force, again) and Warhorn (Sigil of Earth, because I can’t think of anything better). I switch to the secondary set only if I know I can survive in melee range.

endgame Ranger for me, has been much less than what i expected so far, we just seem to be a weird blend of whatever was left over when they finished with everything else lol. hopefully it will get better down the line, but from right now, I usually feel like the odd man out unless it’s something that requires being hit from a mile away.

My experience is that up to all levels to 80 it is better to get alot of health and survival. And as long as you upgrade all your stuff every 10-15 levels through bying it in BL (and if you do it smart it is like playing with exotic gear all the way to lvl 80 for only some few silver..) Get HP-gear as priority 1!!
Then condition dmg, crit dmg and all that isnt really that important until level 80. You are free to experiment, and you should. Get a high crit gear and try it out for some 10-15 lvls. Then get condition dmg gear and try that out. You dont really go that much wrong.
Personally i dont like glasscannons. When you get closer to level 60-80 you will find that you die alot, and it isnt fun. Do you really want to sacrifice your life in order to hopefully kill one second faster?^^ Make your ranger as sturdy as possible, and with nice bow you get the job done in lower levels. Actually what i find is that the pet helps alot in dmg in 1vs1 situations also.

IMO, the biggest thing is having appropriate AR for the lvl and knowing the fights and switching trait skills/utilities/pets for each fractal and/or boss. Micromanaging the pets and having one ranged and one tanky pet is what I tend to run. As far as my build/spec:

0/30/30/5/5
Armor: Rampagers 5/6, Berserker coat 1/6 (full divinity)
Acc: Berserker Neck & Earrings, Ascended Cav ring and Ascended Rabid ring, and Quiver of swift flight
SB: Dreamer w/ Sigil of Strength
Axe/torch, Axe/wh, sword/torch, sword/wh (depends on fights)
Foods/tools, depends on fights

I tend to run QZ, SotH, and a trap (varies)…..but I’ll switch up depending on boss/instance as well……. (i.e. Charr instance…..I will go with lots of toss traps until boss, then switch out)

This is all just preferential and my style for PVE….WvW is another setup
Some rangers prefer LB and GS or going full GC……I’d rather stay speedy and kite and do cond w/ decent “white” damage

Hope this helps and gives some ideas for any that reads this……cya all ingame

I’ve learned not to rely on, “get out of jail cards” like Protect Me! and traited Signet of Stone, and by learned I mean died many times.

I’m running 0/25/15/0/30 With a combination of Soldiers/Knight’s gear. Nice passive healing and durability.

im running with 0/30/30/5/5, with full berserker set and sometimes switch with carrion set, major rule in fotm is to slow down the boss movement speed by using muddy terrain, spike trap and short bow #4 & currently running 30+ lvl fractal.
The only issue i face is my pet are really dumb and fragile, pet cant even stand a hit of agony or AOE by boss.. really need to be improve on this

I’m using a 0/0/20/20/30 build too and reached frac lvl 22 today. I switch weapons/gear really alot and also the active skills.
I was using cleric set too until yesterday. I found out that my survivability is really good even with knight’s set and some berserk accessoires but the cleric set is nice for powerful healing, especially powerful regeneration. If your heal rating is higher than the others your more powerful regeneration is favored by the game. So they will have your stronger regeneration and only if that one runs out the weaker ones from the other players comes into effect.
The weapons I use most are Greatsword and Longbow. Sometimes I use Axes and Shortbow.
For JadeMaw I use both bows. I switch weapons really often.
I lately tried to go to a full damage specc (berserker and only ranged) and two runs simply failed. I was pretty frustrated and went back to my 0/0/20/20/30 spec and it works fine.
The point is: With my actual specc I think I can really change the outcome of the run because I tank the mobs/bosses most of the time while still dealing OK damage and helping with heal and fire fields. The problem in random groups you rarely have a decent guardian or warrior who can keep the group alive by keeping the boss away from others.

What is really really annoying is the pets. Since frac lvl 20 pets die in one single agony (for example colossus end fight). I can manage to keep my pets alive even there but it is not really fun. I have to keep my pets on passive all the time and send them to fight the boss as long as it is safe. As soon as he starts to put his agony fields I call them back. If it works I dodge the agonly fields ranged attacking the boss and my pet usually stays with me. If it gets hit it dies in 2 sec. You have to swap the pet 1/2 sec before it dies. I wait so long because otherwise if you are unlucky your newly called pet will also die because of agony and you really don’t want the 45 sec CD.
They absolutely have to fix the agony resistance on the pets. Pets need the rangers agony resistance. Once that is done the ranger is fine for me. Some AoE damage mitigation would be decent but I usually keep the pet alive by puttin him behind the boss and always dodge to give him protection when there is a big hit from the boss. Usually that tactic (if you have the trait) + often switching pets keep them alive. I use one melee pet (river drake or jaguar) and one ranged (devourer) usually. If there is no instant death AoE I use river drake and jaguar.
They also need to give us a stow pet function. It’s there already they simply have to change it so that the pet doesn’t come out if you get attacked or attack.

I run 25/20/20/0/5 build and use power/tough/vit gear for 4 pieces which gives me about 21k hp, I am at fotm 27. Best advice I would give make sure to switch weapons and pets to leverage damage and utility. I switch between every weapon, and different skills depending on group makeup and mobs were fighting. The only permanent spots on my bar is healing spring and usually QZ . Like others said maximize AR, I currently run with 25 AR. I find that I can hold my own in a group.

I’m currently lv25 so far i hadn’t had any trouble playing high tier fractals. I admit rangers aren’t that useful as guardians (on high levels) but we can deal a decent amount of support and high damage at the same time. My goal was to increase my survivability without loosing to much power. I’m still running full Rampager’s gear except the backpiece and two ascended rings (all rabid stats Precision / Toughness / Condition) which gives me a solid amount of power, constant 72% critical chance and a good amount of condition. In combination with a warhorn, gaining fury when switching weapons (trait), gaining fury when pet is on 50% health and Rampage As One (a shout Warrior is also welcome) i can build up almost infinite fury (so 92% critical chance).
So here’s my build:
http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/ranger#19|0|1242|4253|374|465|1888|20|1798|822|0|30|1307|827|1301|15|1343|0|0|0|0|0|0|5|0|0|0|0|0|5|28033|28033|53493|53493|53493|53493|53493|0|0|0|0|0|0|

Mostly i use the short bow with the Superior rune of Earth extra bleeding, so with so traits the Crossfire skill i have almost 100% chance to cause bleeding on hit. Lighting Reflexes is a great stun breaker and has saved my live many times (also with trait it has shorter recharge time). Quickening Zephyr is a skill that i don’t recommend i high level fractals, i use it on mob fight only and not on boss fights. on boss fights i like to switch to Search’n Rescue. Signet of Renewal is pretty useful not only as a condition removal but also as a stun breaker. Thanks to marsksmanship trainig our first hit (and our pets) inflicts ten stacks of vunerability to a foe..and with piercing shot ths can be pretty useful at the beginning of a fight. Companion’s might gives with each critical hit a stack of might in conbination with Rampage as One and Quickening Zephyr both the bet and the user can stack up 25 might. The lest thing i wanted to say is, use the Axe/Axe or the Axe/Warhorn combo when fighting multiple ( two or more foes). The secondary axe can deflect projectiles (i use it to throw agony back to the shaman boss) and the warhorn gives some aditional support. And btw i use the brown bear and juvenile fern hound as my pets.

Well I go 30/30/10/0/0, always on TS and I don’t see any problems doing fractals at all.
Lb and Axe/Wh + flame, poison and bleed traps + entagle or rampage as one.