Guild Wars 2

I love my ranger, but is sure seems squishy. I am getting owned hard even in one on ones.
I use Long Bow/Great Sword Build. I know many will ask what build do I wanna go with. I have NO clue. I always play WvW. Pretty much run with the zerg, its rare I roam, because lets face it, I roam, I get owned hard.

My globe only shows 16,700. Have seen video’s of rangers with much higher globes of 20 or even more.

The Runes I use are Travlers, and my weapons have Sigil of Torment, Sigil of Air, and Sigil of Fire.

I wanna tear this ranger Down, and Start from the ground up, and HOPE you guys can help me. I know there is no perfect build. There has to be a build that can survive a bit better, and do some damage in wvw. I appreciate any and all imput. Thank you and have a nice day…….

Oh I forgot to add, I am using Knight Armor.

For zergs I would suggest 1 of 3 things:

1) Play another profession, rangers are much better at skirmishing than zerging.
2) Play a tanky melee ranger. Keep your knights armor, use a greatsword as your main weapon for the evades and cleave. Take things like signet of stone or dolyak runes. Take as much group support as you can handle, like healing spring, muddy terrain, entangle, etc.
3) Get better at playing a berserker longbow. Do not stay directly on the commander; that’s for melee only. Use the ranger’s superior skirmishing to pick off thieves, necros, and eles, support the zerg with barrage and entangle, etc.

I’m sure folks will expand on the latter 2 if they sound appealing to you.

Thank you for you input fluffball. I am starting to think maybe it is time to change professions. I do have a 80 warrior that I have not had out in a very long time. Think I will dust him off, and see if I can solo a camp by myself. Seems like that may be the best way to see what works and what dosent for my play style.

Beyond the ranger’s base HP (I think around 15k), your HP is directly based on your vitality stat. For every 1 vitality you get 10 hp, so 100 vitality would be 1k hp. You can play with your gear or traits to raise that. Toughness is good against direct damage while vitality helps with conditions (as they ignore toughness). A healthy mix of both is usually ideal in a train depending on your role.

tym.3791:

Thank you for you input fluffball. I am starting to think maybe it is time to change professions. I do have a 80 warrior that I have not had out in a very long time. Think I will dust him off, and see if I can solo a camp by myself. Seems like that may be the best way to see what works and what dosent for my play style.

Before you do that, give cavalier/Valkyrie stats a go with GS and intelligence sigil. I find this sort of build very effective and fun to play in Zerg. Something like 26600.

if you really wanna keep playing your ranger in zergs:

1) use valk/zerker pieces if you wanna keep using LB, and just learn how to keep your distance. your job is to pick out other squishy casters, like staff eles.

2) if u want to be in the middle of the zerg, re-gear into PVT/zerker pieces. use GS/sword/X and slot lots of survival utilities

Traveler runes don’t help much in a zerg because swiftness is handled like candy and the smattering of stats it gives doesn’t really benefit a power ranger that much. You are free to use it while roaming, but in a zerg I would consider investing in another set of gear but that’s not mandatory.

Anyhow, your gear and build is probably fine; you are dying due to poor positioning I think. I’m guessing you are trying to be on the outskirts trying to shoot people down, and then the enemy zerg goes “hey, a ranger, let’s eat him!” Some people believe toughness attracts aggro— this is wrong— rangers attract aggro.

The second reason for death is poor or non-pet management. There is really no reason to not use passive mode for big fights; keep your pet on a tight leash and close to you while switching it away if they’re low. Personally, I like the spider for more ranged damage, but have been making good use of the hound for the immobolize.

You don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb, but of course if you go standing in red circles you’ll die because rangers do not have the same defenses of say, like warriors. But you do want to circle around your group and pick off the enemy backline… so you can’t be too far off.

As for your melee set, use it to reposition yourself and do not waste your leap on attacking enemies! You don’t want to be in the middle of all that. Use your leap to get through so you don’t get cut off.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBjYD7kRFaYx+VwWQ4axA9B16HofDge7A3/9DKZDNB-T1SBwA7U5I4+D4UH5qyvIXAQJIKND41Bs4gAgwEkmHAAgjAAZAW2CA-w

is what I use (click the U.S. flag to change to English, I don’t know why it keeps defaulting to German for me). I rarely have any trouble surviving, and support my team with spotter which is a good boost for allies. Damage is naturally weak compared to glassy rangers but enough to deal with the soft, juicy core of a zerg. Melandru runes are generally my go-to answer for zerg problems as it allows me to largely ignore condition/stun management (of which rangers are kinda bad at) but those are kinda pricey and not up everyone’s alley either. Also, the sword/warhorn is more just a support thing and to get myself out of trouble.

Also, keep moving as you attack and don’t let yourself get stuck in one place. Aka, don’t randomly throw barrage around.

“Play another profession” is a terrible suggestion. If you “love your ranger” here in the rangers forum we need to give you good tips that will help you enjoy your rangers in any scenario.
The following builds are for zerg WVW gmae type(your prefered zerg game type, rangers are awesome roamers BTW, but its a different story)
1. if you love your LB as main weapon –
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBjYDbkRlWWbVxhFiWDsHUrDgAuBYeBjgznoKq4jdA-TViFABLcQAST3Qhq/87+DA8AAOS5HDHBA9UCKwFAgUAlLMC-w
Best in organised zergs wehre you have teams of “back liners” composed mostly of rangers and eles. The build will give you enough sustain vs Retaliation(your biggest enemy) good personal dmage and buff for other “back liners”. The pets are for buffs only, keep them on non aggression mode. Your s/h is for mobility and buff support, dont go attacking with it unless you have to. If the psirits doesnt work for you, change to SOTW and RAO, take strengh of spirit or nature’s bounty instad of vigorous spirits.

1. If you love you GS as main weapon –
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR3XjMq0yaHLOsw1aAChaVA0OG6gj1dSsDbdKz6DPBB-TVCBABccEAie/BOV/RiHAAAXAgsU+xoSQGOIAIqbgUAsJMC-w
Dont be afraid to be firt liner, with 30k hp(with gurds bonus), almost 3k armor , bark skink and SoS its very hard to take you down. RAO and enlargment give you good stability uptime (your damge is at his best under 50% hp). When needed and after you used all your CD’s feel free to take a stap back switch to axe, with the might staking for you and your pet.
GOOD LUCK

My option 1 was not trying to dissuade him from playing ranger, but it’s an option. Guardians are pretty much inarguably better than rangers in a zerg setting. I love rangers more than anyone playing GW2, and I don’t view it as “cheating” when I log in on my guardian for some drunken and effective zerging.

Options 2 and 3 are for his hardcore ranger fix, and the ones I usually go with myself.

Nothing personal @Fluffball i know you’r one of true oldschool veteran rangers, its just that tym focused on your first option and kinda ignored the other 2(change the order mybe ^^) …

LughLongArm.5460:

1. If you love you GS as main weapon –
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR3XjMq0yaHLOsw1aAChaVA0OG6gj1dSsDbdKz6DPBB-TVCBABccEAie/BOV/RiHAAAXAgsU+xoSQGOIAIqbgUAsJMC-w
Dont be afraid to be firt liner, with 30k hp(with gurds bonus), almost 3k armor , bark skink and SoS its very hard to take you down. RAO and enlargment give you good stability uptime (your damge is at his best under 50% hp). When needed and after you used all your CD’s feel free to take a stap back switch to axe, with the might staking for you and your pet.
GOOD LUCK

that’s a baller build. but given that u have almost zero condi wipes, you will get crushed by immobilize very often!

@mistsim if are in the heart of zerg u’ll be alright, so much aoe condi cleans going on.You also have 3 condi cleans on demand(SOTF+HS). If its realy an issue, you take swap one of the pets for brown bear for the extra condi removal.

I actually run basically Lugh’s posted build in berserker armor from time to time, even using entangle. The meta is so heavy on the boon spam, immob and CC really aren’t a problem at all, an I don’t have to be a rallybot.

That may vary from server to server though. On FA a zerg of 25 will be like 18 guardians… you couldn’t die if you wanted to.

Zerg Version:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjMq0yaFLOsw1agAha9BEAbd7bYFaWXPRK/IKv9C-TVCEABipLYM1f+Z/BDeCAvqEsJlfDYCCgLAwDHCgAAIAc0je0je0kCYshRA-w

Roaming Version:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEq0yaBLOsw1ag+ga9DEAjd7fYGuBXXRK/IKv9C-TVCEABipLYM1f+Z/BDeCAvqEsJlfDYCCgLAwDHCgAAIAc0je0je0kCYshRA-w

WOW!! thank you guys SO very much for all the input. I know the travelers Sigil’s really dont help much, especially if you use “rage as one”. Its kinda why I am here to talk to you guys about it. Could be my computer, but the build editors you guys are linking are not showing me the information I am looking for.

What Armor, What is the Name of the Weapons you use, What are you using for Sigil’s and Rune’s. Always get them mixed up.

With Pets, I do like the wolf for “fear”. Does help. Before I rebuild, I gotta find a way to get them Travler’s Runes Out out of my gear. I hate to loose em. They were expensive.

You all make think I am nuts, probably am, Just ready to rebuild her, get different Armor, New Runes and Sigils, and While I am not sure it will help me much, Can’t hurt to try, been playing her this way for a Long time.

It is slightly expensive in that you lose the money you spent on it, but using Black Lion salvage kits on your knight’s armor is a pretty reasonable idea. You’ll get a bunch of ectos and dark matter (or whatever that ascended stuff is called) and you’ll get your runes back, and knight’s isn’t really that great of armor. For tankiness most people go soldiers and for damage people drift towards berserker, mixing in other stuff like valk or cavs or whatever.

Regarding getting the runes out of your armor, if they’re just exotic it might be worth just putting a new rune set into a completely new set of armor.

I also run an Axe/Axe + GS build from time to time using zerk/valk/cav mix and it does alright in a zerg. Could be worth a look. Lugh’s GS + A/A build is beastly btw.

I used to play BM Condi Regen exclusively in WvW, sucks in zerg fights as you have no dps (if your goal is to kill peeps), works rather well for roaming in small groups or solo. This year when I returned to the game I went for LB straight up burst DPS with GS on switch. It does much better at satisfying my need for killing peeps.

I am not sure why you feel you need to break down your character. I think you may be muddling builds and not feeling satisfied. Using Knights in an LB build is gonna kill some damage in order to have more survival, but LB build doesn’t lend itself to survival, so you are stuck between builds.

Choose a path if you want to be satisfied. Do you want some tanky melee ranger, or do you want a burst dps ranger? Tanky melee can go either condi or power. Ranged can go condi or power, but burst is all about glass cannon power.

For running with the T1 mega blobs i roll this
I do vary a few things depending on the fight size and location.

As far as going it solo, my build depends on the day of the week, how hungry i am and what colour are my underwear. To put it in perspective i have 4 sets of ascended armor even more trinkets and various collection of weapons because i play a variety of builds. My current flavor of the month is this

I still don’t understand why people feel going with a zerg means you can’t go burst dps. Being a tank doesn’t do the zerg any favors, especially a Ranger tank. You aren’t killing anything and you aren’t able to tank a zerg. Your just a fatty sitting the the road getting trampled over.

You have all the skills you need to kill people and benefit your world with the burst dps tools at your disposal. You have your obvious longbow burst skills, you have knockback, you have stealth. On GS you have block, you have a gap closer/leap to escape. On both the Longbow and GS you put burst dps sigils of your choosing, I like Air/Fire on LB and Air/Intelligence on GS. You can go with either Troll Ungent or Healing Spring, the only utilities I highly recommend specifically is Signet of Stone. I prefer Rampage as One, but you can take Entangle if you prefer control, but again you are missing out on your burst.

I am not saying don’t play what you want to play, I am merely pointing out just because you are in a zerg environment doesn’t mean you can’t play the ranger’s most effective role. Ranged Burst DPS.

I also play on a T1 server.

I was not trying to say that because I’m in t1 I’m right, I say that this is what works for me in a map blob vs map blob situation.

I favor playing front line as i found that i like it and it works for me quite some time ago. I also believe that you don’t do much DPS when you are dead or are constantly running away/saying to the sides picking of one at a time so I like gearing up tanky. I also feel that i get more bags this way as well (I’m kinda selfish like that)

I also do simple things like use a mic on voice comes and call out healing spring when i use it to heal myself, you get a few extra blasts when you drop it on the commanders head.

I also enjoy out living Guards and Warriors

I gave some thought to what you guys had to say. You were right, I think my armor is fine, and my weapons are ok. I just need to adjust my play style. I use her more for sniping from the back of the zerg, and if some thief wants to play, I simply switch to my great sword and open fire.

if u were to go zerg surfing, this might be a fun build to try:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjMq0yaFLOsw1aAAhadAkADQ7ZoZfWXRRJrIK-TlyEABNcEAu+CAoi6PD8AAUS5nN7PohuBAMBxwBBQBlgBAQAYoX36W36IDAzWA-w

I glad that we were able to help, keep in mind that you can always change down that track and nothing needs to be set in stone. The more you play the more you will work out what you need. and if you fall in love with you ranger like that rest of us then you need to buy extra bank space to store you spare sets of armor and weapons in.

Eggyokeo.9705:

you need to buy extra bank space to store you spare sets of armor and weapons in.

I thought I was the only one.

Haha.

tym.3791:

I love my ranger, but is sure seems squishy.

- That’s what the class is. Glass cannon with huge single-target damage and long range. Poor area-of-effect and party support abilities. If you want a tank, play Warrior or Guardian. If you don’t play the class to its strengths by positioning correctly in fights, you won’t fill your role. Stay in the backline or sidelines so you won’t get damaged by enemies.

This is the build that maximizes your DPS and thus usefulness. Pick a target and attack it until it goes down.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjMq0waJLGsw1ag9gadAUAnN7M4DGBXbxJDJaQA-TFCEAB6qJggLAQiq/slSQm2fU+R8RAoNdAA8AACAgAczbGAO6RP6RP6R7mH9mH9m3sUA6pMC-w

If you get attacked, you have knockback, stealth, dodges and invulnerability to get you out. This build is not meant to for 1v1 situations. You’ll do much better in groups. Use greatsword for getting away.

If you only want to use melee for getting away, s/d is a drastically better set. (I think it’s a lot better regardless, but I understand why people like GS; it does some cool things.)