Guild Wars 2

One of the things which disappointed me in GW2 is the lack of hammers for Rangers, and the lack of classes who can use hammers. Only the heavy classes can use hammers at the moment. So why not resolve that?

Allow Rangers to use hammer skills! Bring back the Bunny Thumper from GW1!

Right now in PvE the Ranger is scoffed at in dungeons. But what weapon is it missing? It has long-range bow DPS, close-range “chase” sword, bursty evasive greatsword, and AoE ranged axes. Problem with all these are the lack of synergy between any of them.

The Ranger is blessed with uncommon combo fields. Besides fire from Bonfire and Flame Trap, the Ranger also has access to Frost, Poison, and Water. Why not make better use of them? That is the premise for hammer.

Firstly, the skills:

Hammer Bash
Activation: 1/2
Damage: 241
Range: 130

Chain. Strike your foe.

Crushing Blow
——-Activation: 1/2
——-Damage: 254
——-Range: 130

Chain. Activates faster if foe is under 50% health.

Irresistible Blow
——-Activation: 1/2
——-Damage: 258
——-Range: 130
——-Combo finisher: Blast

Chain. Cannot be blocked.

Crude Swing
Activation: 3/4
Recharge: 10
Damage (9x): 600
Blind4: 3s
Range: 160
Combo Finisher: Whirl

Spin while moving and swing your hammer while blinding foes with dust projectiles.

Never Rampage Alone
Activation: 1/2
Recharge: 15
Damage: 300
Swiftness: 5s
Range: 1130
Combo Finisher: Leap

Hop like a bunny towards your target. If you strike a foe, your pet teleports to your location. You and your pet gain swiftness for 5 seconds.

Needling Shot
Activation: 1/4
Recharge: 20
Damage: 362
Range: 130

Bash your foe with dextrous speed. Recharges instantly if your target has half health.

Brambles
Activation: 3/4
Recharge: 30
Damage: 200
Duration: 10
Bleeding10: 8s
Immobilized: 1s
Range: 130

Smash the ground to tangle your foe with brambles. They are immobile until the vines are destroyed.

This weapon setup is designed to synergize with the Ranger’s many combo fields while chasing wounded foes to harass them. It has access to every combo finisher except projectile.

In PvP this weapon set shines by leaping to the foe and using ice trap to slow them down while spiking them with Needling Shot to finish them.

In PvE you can use torch or fire trap and then swap to hammer to spam blast finishers for might on your team. It also allows you to spam weakness on a foe through the use of Poison fields, and to spam heals through Healing Spring.

This set shines most in boss fights however because it allows the Ranger to burst when the boss reaches 50% hp (similar to D/D heartseeker) and match the damage potential of other classes.

Anyways, this is just something I thought of on the spot while playing Ranger today. The numbers themselves could be tweaked, but what do you think of the concept?

Really… what disappointed you in GW2 was the lack of hammers?

How about they fix the LB before adding another melee weapon to “ranger”? I’d like that.

I would actually love the hammer. My ranger looked so cool using the cursed fractal one .. tee hee hee , good times

Chain finale blast finisher? On the Ranger who until now has only had it on a long cooldown pet skill? Erm… That’s a little insane. But I suppose it should be the basis of what we’re working with.

The hammer’s focus should definitely be that blast finisher, but I think the whirl is a bit overkill. It also still feels like the Greatsword in that it’s about burst damage thanks to that high damage whirl and Needling Shot. Never Rampage Alone also doesn’t work with spiders, which can be great for a melee ranger. Maybe… This little homage is better?

Bestial Pounce
Activation: 1
Recharge: 10
Damage: 400
Knock-down: 1 seconds
Confusion: 5 seconds
Range: 800
Leap into the air to crash onto your foe, causing knock-down if your foe is moving. Your pet’s next attack inflicts confusion.

A powerful and somewhat spammable attack with the counterplay of accepting that you can’t dodge the leap and standing still to avoid the knockdown. For comedic effect and in honour of the original build, the skill channels the spirit of a rabbit jumping on your foe.

I like your ideas but I don’t think the concept of ranger for gw2 will make him see a hammer any time soon. First there would be Engineer to recieve a hammer and overall Ranger is designed as a mobile evasive class that uses accuracy to kill foes.

A hammer is the brutal opposite to that. If anything they would get a maze I guess or rifles/pistols.

Oh and I agree that your skillset feels a lot like Guardian GS.

Dojo.1867:

I like your ideas but I don’t think the concept of ranger for gw2 will make him see a hammer any time soon. Overall Ranger is designed as a mobile evasive class that uses accuracy to kill foes.

A hammer is the brutal opposite to that. If anything they would get a mace I guess or rifles/pistols.

The Ranger takes whatever they can get on hand and provides their own spin on that, they are just as capable of brutal melee as they are evasive precise shooting (i.e. Their swordplay is easily describable as brutal and evasive, but by no means precise). Bunny Thumpers were a group of Rangers 250 years ago who took up the hammer to lock down opponents and allow their pet to claw them to shreds. In a sense, the Guildwars 2 Ranger evolved from that ideal, someone who fights with a partner as a single unit. The only prerequisite is that their weapon doesn’t prevent them from using their pet, which includes bright flashy magic (scepter, staff, focus, trident) and ear splitting explosives (rifles, pistols).

If Rangers found in the 250 years between the two games that using pets was an exceptionally useful thing, it only makes sense that one of the first groups of rangers to pick up this ideal should still be around.

My inspiration is drawn from the bunny thumper. Although Warrior has the knock-down niche already, my proposal is to harass the enemy instead.

I believe a Bunny Thumper Ranger would look awesome. We typically imagine hammer as a slow weapon, so why not do the total opposite for Rangers? Make it a speedy weapon the Ranger hops around with, and give Needling Shot/Renewing Smash (whichever name more appropriate) the same attack speed as Crossfire!

@ Concerns about Blast Finisher autoattack:
Lightning Hammer. Which also blinds on autoattack and has much more damage.

Omg yes!! Give me back my Bunny Thumper!! I was absolutely baffled by the absolute lack of hammer for ranger, I mean, c’mon!! That was one of -the- ranger weapons in GW1 (along with bows and staffs), yet we can’t use it? So dumb….

I think the Hammer should pay homage to the original build, make it a spike build! Which looks exactly what you did which makes me happy!!

I -was- gonna say put a HUGE CD on needling hot if used outside of the 50% health or lower window, but you already did that (20s for a weapon skill is LONG).

As for brambles I think that either 1) the roots need to be nearly one shot able or 2) it’s a nornal immob with a lot of bleed on it.

PS: I prefer the Bestial Pounce over Never Rampage Alone, more synergy for all pets.

I remember reading somewhere ANET considering Greatsword for Elementalists in the future.

Well if Elementalists get a Greatsword, give us Hammer, PLEASE ANET!

(Robert Hrouda, please back us up on this… We GW1 vets wuv our bunny thumper!)

You know what was like throwing salt in the wounds? The fact that Ranger Nente is a bunny thumper…. Stupid Nente….

Durzlla.6295:

You know what was like throwing salt in the wounds? The fact that Ranger Nente is a bunny thumper…. Stupid Nente….

I think it was funny how Zho shows up in the Norn fighting tournament as a bunny thumper with Onyx. But y’know, kinda hard to snipe people without depth perception.

I was hoping Ranger hammers would add “boon-hate” to the ranger’s skillset. Give us something to counter all those boon heavy builds out there. cough shout-guardian cough

How about the ability being called "Thunder Clap " . The ranger leaps and slams the hammer with such force that it dazes opponents for XX seconds . Blast finisher

Actually, for a “Ranger” or rather, an archer, it would be quite natural to use a hammer.

Back in the g’old days, british longbow men were given battlehammers to counter the well armored french armies, which wore thick metal armors.

Prysin.8542:

Actually, for a “Ranger” or rather, an archer, it would be quite natural to use a hammer.

Back in the g’old days, british longbow men were given battlehammers to counter the well armored french armies, which wore thick metal armors.

“Ranger” =/= exclusive use of range weapons in this case. More like a wilderness ranger than an archer. Pop culture example: Aragorn is a ranger, because that is his occupation – a ranger of the north. He ranges around numenor’s ruins. Legolas may or may not be a ranger, but he wouldn’t be a ranger specifically due to being good with ranged weapons.

I have no problem with ranger getting more melee weapons, although the hammer as the op is describing it seems borderline OP.

BUNNY THUMPER!! Yes please.

Please make this happen, ANET! Be the first MMO ever to have a dexterous, speedy hammer user!

Kain Francois.4328:

I remember reading somewhere ANET considering Greatsword for Elementalists in the future.

Anet more than considered making this game an Esport at launch.

How was Ranger Staff in GW1?

As for the OP, I think it’d be a cool concept. I don’t think it’d have so many combos though. Perhaps 1 blast finisher on something other than the auto-attack. If the auto had a blast finisher, don’t you think it’d kind of obliterate any other weapon choice for melee? Sure, it probably wouldn’t have the versatility that all the other main/off-hand options have, but wouldn’t it still be just as good if, say, the #3 or #4 were the blast finisher? Perhaps with a 10 second cooldown though?

And why doesn’t Greatsword auto have a whirl finisher at the end? Yeah it’s an evade too, but come on! And it’s not like whirls are that great anyway but it’s sure be nice.

Anyway, I find the concept of a hammer Ranger odd. But Greatsword seems odd too as I don’t think either weapon is practical in the wild but if it’s in the lore…

Ranger will probably get Great Axe eventually. I hope it doesn’t get hammer. I would also love for it to get rifle.

What about Shield? I could imagine a Ranger using a shield, not quite to block enemy attacks, but instead to literally hide by using camo (stealth).

Ranger with a hammer in GW1 was funny. Their role was to stunlock foes while your pet delivered the beatdown.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Bg0KvpO_s

As for “Staff” Rangers (better known as “Trapper” Rangers) their role was to go place a bunch of traps somewhere and hide in a place you can lure stupid people. Commonly used for PvE farming, also used in PvP to OHKO stupid people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13GR-lVX-2w

Leo G.4501:

Anyway, I find the concept of a hammer Ranger odd. But Greatsword seems odd too as I don’t think either weapon is practical in the wild but if it’s in the lore…

If you think of the ranger as a hunter, then you’d also know that they don’t just track and hunt down deer. Their list of prey also includes, but is not limited to; sharks, giants, zombified eyeballs, treants, wurms, Trahearne, ettins, ogres, fingers, ice brood sharks, branded ogres, risen chickens, Dredge machinations, Flame Legion effigies and Bun-nados.

A large, imposing weapon is likely to be more effective against a large portion of those targets than arrows. It’s also a lot easier to make a slab of metal with a handle than it is the ammo needed to hunt those things with a bow.

I think a Ranger with a staff should get camo instead of shield. We already turn into Elementalists when we go down, so we might as well get a staff too.

If a staff Ranger would be primarily focused on traps like their GW1 counterparts, then that should be the weapon to get camo.

HotHit.6783:

A large, imposing weapon is likely to be more effective against a large portion of those targets than arrows. It’s also a lot easier to make a slab of metal with a handle than it is the ammo needed to hunt those things with a bow.

Oh, I agree, it’s definitely practical to use a big hammer or sword for hurting things but it seems about as practical as a gun even if it’d need ammo and maintenance, for a ranger that is. I can see the concept working, it just doesn’t seem quite natural to me.

Their list of prey also includes, but is not limited to; sharks, giants, zombified eyeballs, treants, wurms, Trahearne, ettins, ogres, fingers, ice brood sharks, branded ogres, risen chickens, Dredge machinations, Flame Legion effigies and Bun-nados.

Wait, one of those in that list is weird.

Ranger should get hammer solely because they are one of their most iconic weapons in GW1.

Kain Francois.4328:

Ranger with a hammer in GW1 was funny. Their role was to stunlock foes while your pet delivered the beatdown.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Bg0KvpO_s

As for “Staff” Rangers (better known as “Trapper” Rangers) their role was to go place a bunch of traps somewhere and hide in a place you can lure stupid people. Commonly used for PvE farming, also used in PvP to OHKO stupid people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13GR-lVX-2w

Staff was also a VERY common weapon for using a BM build where you’d take say, enraged lunge and 6 shouts (7 if you didn’t take a rez) and just bark orders at your pet to ascend them into what was essentially god hood while you were super squishy but super mobile and just ran away whenever danger reared its head.