Guild Wars 2

I’ve tried longbow, shortbow, greatsword, axes, and regular swords, but I always feel like I’m doing subpar damage. It can’t be that all the weapons for Rangers in the game are broken, I must be the problem.

Could anyone please give me some tips for a really good PvE damage build, or how to be a better Ranger? I’ve already spent like 10g theorycrafting and I don’t have anything left to spend.

these are just my opinions, if someone below says otherwise, they are probably right.

the ranger doesnt have as much damage a other classes, but we are good at sustained fights. i use the various dodges on the weapon skills and a steady supply of endurance to survive a drawn out fight

also a large portion of our damage (people have said things from 15-50%) is bound to our pets and might not be apparent right away.

i havent found a build that does tons more damage than another build, getting good armor and runes might be the only way to go.

I’m currently working on a Ranger as an alternative character to my Elementalist, which is ironic, but you can get a high damage and survivability if you focus on conditional damage. This means that Fire, Poison and Bleed are your new best friend(s), and your pet is not. Forget about sustained bow damage and using your pet to assist.

Your pet is nothing more than a way to migrate damage away from you, thus you should be using two Bears due to their massive health pool and high toughness. Swap them out when they are about to die, and use the following utilities, Signet of the Wild, Signet of the Stone and Flame Trap. Flame Trap is used after you run into the enemy to apply AoE fire damage, not to actually set a trap and lure.

Next you need is a Shortbow for Crippling Shot, which is exclusively used to apply bleed, and Poison Volley. When using Poison Volley, do it after you come close and personal because you want all 5 bolts to hit for a long duration of poison. Your switch weapon set will be a Sword with a Torch. Serpent’s Strike is another source of poison, Throw Torch is a good flame source and Bonfire is an AoE flame source.

Whenever you fight against normal monsters, don’t go overboard and use only two types of damage and then finish it with automatic attacks of your sword. This allows you to chain almost indefinitely due to a proper use of your cooldown. Example like this, Flame Trap and Cripping Shot, switch to sword and kill, Serpent’s Strike and Throw Torch, kill using your sword, Bonfire and Poison Volley after switching, repeat at the first combination.

Against Veterans and Champions, you just do all of those chains and use Hornet Sting/Monarch’s Leap to do a combo finisher to gain a fire aura on your own bonfire. Remember conditional damage? That’s just another source of it. Of course, in 1vMany or 1vChampion you have to remember to switch your pet when it is about to die and throw as many healing springs as you can. As a side note, having 100% critical chance is largely useless, look for Conditional Damage as your primary statistic. If you are the appropriate level, use Ravager or Rampager equipment. If not, just use whatever you can grab that has Conditional Damage.

You’ll appear a bit unorthodox using this play style, but it works. Good luck!

Deleven.7508:

these are just my opinions, if someone below says otherwise, they are probably right.

the ranger doesnt have as much damage a other classes, but we are good at sustained fights. i use the various dodges on the weapon skills and a steady supply of endurance to survive a drawn out fight

also a large portion of our damage (people have said things from 15-50%) is bound to our pets and might not be apparent right away.

i havent found a build that does tons more damage than another build, getting good armor and runes might be the only way to go.

More like 40-60% depending on the pet. I do not agree with deathspike. For a damage build you dont want a tank pet, they will keep agro anyways, I say pick up my favorits, raven and jag, both hit hard, both melt enemy face, however when you send jag at an enemy and use his f2 he wont hit them when they start running towards you. So use it wisely, its very good, use it on ranged enemies, enemies in melee range, and on mobs who have their attention focused on another player.