I'm new to the game.
First off Ranger isn’t an easy class to play period. If you are looking for something that survives well something like a guardian would be better, and I recommend having a different class for dungeons and WvW.
Now to answer the question you asked. A BM(Beast Master) is viable, but it requires you to manage your pets (which have a really bad AI) a lot. I recommend giving the LB(Long Bow) a try with the #3 skill’s inadvisability I can direct the Agro back to my pet, which means you should switch to either a Axe/Warhorn or a GS(Great Sword).
As for soloing anything above a silver or normal mobs I would be very careful, and for the most part as a ranger I avoid it.
The problem I had with BM builds is that certain mobs at higher levels (notably risen thralls) ignore the pet and go straight for you. You don’t really see this in the beginning of the video because the thralls he encounters, he kills off with another player (they die quickly). Solo with a non-power BM build, you end up wasting a lot of time dodging them while your pet tries to get a single hit in on a moving target. With a (non-tanky) berserker build OTOH, you can kill them in about 3 hits and just tank the 1-2 hits they get in on you.
The risen brutes he solos move slowly and are trivial to dodge while your pet wears them down. They are pretty much the only mobs which move like this, and are not representative of most PvE.
The video dates from January, back before shortbow’s range was nerfed and longbow’s damage buffed. I’d say it’s a toss-up or a slight advantage for the longbow now. Shortbow’s range is now the same as axe’s, so it doesn’t give you any range advantage if your “melee” weapon is axe. Shortbow’s main advantage is high rate of fire if you have effects which proc on critical hits, or for bleed damage if you’re a condition build.
Some of the traits have been switched around since then as well. Most notably, Zephyr’s speed (quickness on pet swap) was changed from the 5 point trait to a 30 point grandmaster trait. (Quickness was also nerfed in effectiveness.) That used to be one of the best traits rangers had – every build put at least 5 points into BM for it. Now AFAIK nobody uses it anymore. They far overshot their target with this nerf, for rangers at least.
All that said, BM is a viable build for ranger.
My advice is: While ranger can be played as a BM build with your pet doing most of the tanking and damage while you stand in back pelting the mob with arrows, I would strongly discourage doing this in your first run-through of the game. A lot of the game is based on dodging to avoid damage and reacting to mob attack animations. The stand back and attack playstyle really only works with ranger and mesmer, so you won’t be learning the skills you need to have an easier time with the game when you make alts. And it only works in PvE outside of dungeons. In dungeons, where stuff hits harder and has more hp, you will die messily and often if you haven’t learned how to dodge and avoid damage. The people you’re doing the dungeon with will think you aren’t contributing if you stand away from them shooting your bow, and you’ll probably be kicked.
So try to learn the non-BM playstyles during your first play-through. The game gives you “free” trait resets at levels 40(?) and 60. I would take advantage of those to play around with different builds. In a nutshell, there are 4 ranger builds:
- Berserker – all offense, no defense. Power, precision, crit damage. You can add a splash of toughness or vit to increase survivability (what I currently do).
- Condition – condition damage (mostly fire, bleeding for ranger). Trapper and/or axe/torch + shortbow are the usual choices. Put extra trait points into toughness/vit, power, or BM – your choice.
- BM – what you see in the video.
- Spirits – run around with 3 spirits. Anet changed how spirits work to make it more difficult recently, though. I was never a fan of this build so I can’t say how it plays (or used to play).
Did spirits work much differently before? I’m leveling up my Ranger and I’m having trouble finding much use for them since it seems very hard to keep them with you as you move around.
Since everyone is talking about high level PVE, I solo all champs and some group event champs regularly with this build. In WvW, i solo camps and towers (have not tried keeps, but i will most likely die since towers are hard enough as it is). For PvE, you can drop frost trap and pick up spike trap or viper’s nest. This is a condition/regeneration build and I’ve cleared all of Orr solo with this build. I have very little trouble in dungeons. Everyone has a different playing style, my suggestion to you is to find your playing style. If you like using a bow, then learn which one works for you, if you like power, go with power, if you want to be the last person standing when everyone is dead, go with condition/regen because you’ll a ton of evades, incredible regen, and very effective conditions.
I Cha Cha I – Mediocre Ranger at best
Mao Xiong – Worst Warrior GW2
Mao Xiong – Worst Warrior GW2
No offense but that guide contradicted itself left and right….
NO signet to keep pets alive longer, even specifically saying “your pets will die really often” while insisting on Zypher swap (which most newbies won’t even take full advantage of), but then insists on running Bond too??
This is why I don’t ever click through Youtube vids about GW2… b/c the people making them, are either trolling … or are competing with Biscuit & Nanners for most “bad at games” famous gamer on the planet… Or they’re like woodtaters which seems to be a combination of those two, right??
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@ the OP: It doesn’t matter what you do right now. So just focus on enjoying the ride to 80 or whatever. If you try to take the class too seriously with the lousy tools provided by it, you’ll only be setting yourself up for disappointment. IE: You could literally autoattack with LB & Bear and you’d still level about the same pace (maybe a tad slower). No the real test begins when you get your first set of all rare gear and enough trait points to find out if you can eventually adapt to using the 1H sword without dying constantly or throwing yourself off cliffs. Once you figure that out, which should take a month or so depending on how well you can break old habits from most RPG’s…. then you can start putting everything else together and get Combos and interrupts and evading down pat so that you’re actually fighting stuff face to face instead of circle-flanking all day for 1/2 the total DPS… you can even run spirits (but again: takes a lot of practice/timing)
(edited by ilr.9675)