Guild Wars 2

I have never ‘liked’ sword because of the perceived ‘root’ (I know its not a real root per say), last night a Sword dropped during regular game play and I used it without an off hand -had none at the time- and was blown away.

Veteran mob, I jumped in with my Lynx, used Rampage and QZ and the mob melted…Literally it went down so fast I could not believe it so I targeted my pet it had 18 stacks of Might! I had never downed a mob regular or Veteran of same level that fast before…and I had no off hand either!

without any further modification i get 3 stacks of might on pet with 1h sword. that’s +105 dmg. not bad!

Ha, yep, welcome to the best weapon we have. There’s a reason some of us fear when they decide to ‘alter’ the sword because of everyone complaining about the ‘root’.

Definitely takes some getting used to, though.

i love the sword also, i dont mind the root in place, but at least can they make it possible that we can use dodge easily hehehhe

Oldgrimm.8521:

i love the sword also, i dont mind the root in place, but at least can they make it possible that we can use dodge easily hehehhe

You should turn auto attack off (ctrl + right click the skill). It means you have to press 1 all the time, but it makes it much easier to dodge.

Its true, turning off the auto attack helps, but its clunky as hell and not nearly as smooth as it should be.

With that said, I use sword/dagger as often as I can. It makes for a great defensive, hard-hitting set when you’re backed into a corner by a thief, warrior or guardian. Its a table-turner and a wonder weapon – except not being able to dodge during a chain.

I also use the 2 ability to leap away and swap to my ranged weapon again, unless I feel I can safely return to melee and finish the fight.

Ranger w/ sword, I wonder if the designers had a thing for Drizzt Do’Urden. lol

This weapon is a must in sPVP since you can easily escape with 2, unselect, leap away, evade/poison and deliver a nice burst with Qz. However, the “root” portion of the second attack can hinder you if you’re unlucky or you play with auto-attack toggled on. Also, when using quickness it can be a pain to try to dodge while attacking at melee range. I feel that dodging should override kick but even at as it is, it’s a very fine weapon.

Pair it with warhorn (for buffs/birds vs stealthers), torch (for condition-based builds, in which case the sword serves mostly as a poisoner and escape tool) or dagger (for extra evading and cripple) depending on your playstyle.

In WvW, however, i don’t advise using it since the kick can prevent you from dodging at decisive moments and get you killed. For large scale i rather sacrifice the sword’s DPS and use GS instead, for mobility and some blocking.

Have fun playing ninja ranger. Best kind there is!

Yea, I really underestimated swords as well as the BM tree when I first started my ranger. I still wish they would fix the root issues with the sword so that it didn’t keep us from being able to dodge, but overall, it’s a great weapon.

If you’re looking to go deeper with the sword and want a good build that focuses on the synergy between the 1h sword and pet stacking, try this out:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQRBMPxG2JRFVWGZhVQsWII6H4ErwhePS/sav/woy4pEWxA;ToAqiMFJKyWkrIZRrMGZsFZKC
(copy and paste link into browser for it to work)

Sword is actually one of the Ranger’s best weapons. The root itself is not so bad since it’ll “chase” the target. The problem is we’re unable to dodge during the attack.

Sword is supposed to be our “dodgy” weapon, but it cannot reliably cancel the autoattack to dodge.

That is something I’d like to see fixed instead of root.

Kain Francois.4328:

Sword is actually one of the Ranger’s best weapons. The root itself is not so bad since it’ll “chase” the target. The problem is we’re unable to dodge during the attack.

Sword is supposed to be our “dodgy” weapon, but it cannot reliably cancel the autoattack to dodge.

That is something I’d like to see fixed instead of root.

i agree, just enable us to use dodge during auto attack, and we will be fine,

Singh.8206:

Ranger w/ sword, I wonder if the designers had a thing for Drizzt Do’Urden. lol

Doubt it – rangers have used swords since Tolkien.

i love sword/torch, drop the bonfire leap out and leap back in with a flame shield

but yeah i would like to sometimes cancel out of skill 1 to dodge an aoe

Kain Francois.4328:

Sword is actually one of the Ranger’s best weapons.

It’s our best weapon

Singh.8206:

Ranger w/ sword, I wonder if the designers had a thing for Drizzt Do’Urden. lol

Probably not, but they knew you would.

it is. i dont even know why people say SB gives the highest DPS. But the disadvantage of sword is that in auto, its hard to break the continuous combo.

Ben K.6238:

Singh.8206:

Ranger w/ sword, I wonder if the designers had a thing for Drizzt Do’Urden. lol

Doubt it – rangers have used swords since Tolkien.

On that note, much more likely inspired from Aragorn on the hilltop in the first book/movie with a sword and torch fending off the wraiths.

if they made the pounce part a leap finisher then i’d be a happier with the root

either way i’m going to use sword, it’s my favourite weapon

Kam.8109:

Singh.8206:

Ranger w/ sword, I wonder if the designers had a thing for Drizzt Do’Urden. lol

Probably not, but they knew you would.

I do?
Only reason I know of the character is because umpteen million people in GW1 named their ranger that (same for Legolas) not to mention Guenhwyvar his pet.

DeTechTive.9251:

Ben K.6238:

Singh.8206:

Ranger w/ sword, I wonder if the designers had a thing for Drizzt Do’Urden. lol

Doubt it – rangers have used swords since Tolkien.

On that note, much more likely inspired from Aragorn on the hilltop in the first book/movie with a sword and torch fending off the wraiths.

Never read the book or watched the movie, I’ll have to check that out.