Guild Wars 2

Hey all. This post is going to be in two parts so I hope you will bear (heh) with me for it.

Edit: I almost forgot. This is the build I run typically.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRnUqA9Ci1CCuCCctgBMhyP8F4x/boBq4eZL8AoknlG-TpBFABqfEAA4CAUVZAHeAAMcIAKa/BA

Some of you may know me from my shout rework threads in the past. Notably my primary one before the release of HoT where I pushed many of you to come with ideas for reworks to the Ranger shout mechanics. Others may know me as “That kittening idiot who refuses to play druid despite being in diamond que” or “That bowtard that is still using shouts for 3 years after we learned they were bad”. >.>…..<.<

In any case thats about what I have as credentials :P not very inspiring huh? But despite that I would like to take a moment to talk about some of the tips and tricks that can be used with ranger shouts. In the spirit of the upcoming reworks. As well as my own speculation for possible upcoming changes.

First the tips. Shouts are based on combos. Not on combo fields. But on combining individual skills to create a MUCH greater result.

The simplest one is opening with Sic Em to boost your pets opening attack. This is VERY effective with a smokescale as it causes there smoke assault ability to hit for quite a bit. But there are also some other combos that some of you might have not tried yet.

Assuming your running a full five shouts you will likely have Heal as One, Guard, Protect Me, Sic Em, and Strength of the Pack. Possibly Search and rescue from a minor trait. But I won’t be talking about THAT skill much.

The highest damage combo for a shout ranger comes from combining Heal as One, Sic Em and Strength of the pack as well as a grandmaster trait in the BM line which grants might and quickness on pet swap. This could be said to be the bread and butter opener,finisher for the shout ranger. If it lands in full whatever your attacking will probably die. And it sets you up to continue high levels of pressure afterwords.

Like all rangers atm. I know that smokescale and bristleback are PROBABLY our best PvP pets for most situations. There are a few exceptions. But not many. Birds are kitten ed good as well depending on what traits you pick.

Lets use the birstleback for this example as its the most extreme case though it works almost as well with the smokescale.

Enter combat and precast rampage as one. Pet swap to bristleback before the cast finishes to buff you and the pet. Immediately cast Heal as one while ALSO simultaneously casting sic em and the bristlebacks f2. Make sure to get the order right or Sic Em will cancel the birstlebacks cast as it counts as an attack order.

What happens next is pretty kitten funny. And it works because of a minor train in nature magic called Fortifying Bond.

Before your first attack even lands. You will have a minimum of 6 stacks of might and 6 seconds of quickness (likely 4-5 after you finish the heal as one cast due to cast time). Your pet will have a minimum of 12 stacks of might and 9 seconds of quickness. You will also have fury swiftness and regen ontop of those giving you a MINIMUM of 5% increase damage for you and the pet from Bountiful Hunter. Your pet will also have an additional 10% dmg increase from Loud whistle provided you are still at high health.

So your pet is already pretty buffed…And you are about to be.

As your pet starts doing its rapid fire attack assuming it lands your gonna start stacking might EXTREMELY fast. At about half way through the channel you will be at around 14 stacks and your pet will have a full 25. Thats a bristleback firing at a target while it has 25 stacks of might as well as fury and additional damage multipliers. Needless to say. This combo can absolutely DESTROY people. The bristleback on its own is deadly. Combined with all the buffs you give it from sic em and the trait damage modifiers and its damage is boosted to almost 50% higher NOT COUNTING all the might it has and its fury and ferocity bonuses.

Combined with rapid fire I have use this combo to absolutely gib everything from a glass dragonhunter who was hiding behind his traps to full bunker mesmers that didn’t even know rangers could nuke them that fast so they were focused on trying to CC me rather than blocking.

Regardless of whether or not hes dead by the end of this both you and the pet are supercharged with boons and can start pounding him with might enhanced damage.

You will do enough damage to pressure even bunker builds enough to worry them.

(But its so telegraphed he can easily see it coming and loldodge or block it) true. Bristleback burst and rapid fire bursts are both highly telegraphed. But theres things you can do to bypass most defenses or avoid them.

This leads into the trick section. Ive got 2 big ones. There called positioning and Guard.

Positioning comes first. Nearly EVERY player will focus on you. Most pvpers have kitten object permanence. Its very easy for them to forget a non player once its no longer on the screen. Meaning directing there attention is easy.

This is especially true for dragonhunters for example. Which have to face you to use there active defense (longbow projectile destruction and there f3) Try strafing PAST a dragonhunter on a point while using this. And you WILL have him turn to face you while your pet is rearing to launch. This causes him to take a large amount of damage from offscreen. Likely either killing him or forcing him to pop multiple cooldowns in order to stay alive. Frankly put. He will probably burn his f3. His heal. And his f2 all within the first 3-4 seconds of the fight. He won’t have much of a choice.

This won’t always work. So you can add an additional layer of trick to it by using Guard.
After the initial pet swap. Before you cast sic em. And while your casting heal as one. (since there instant guard and sic em can be cast simultaneously). This causes your pet to be stealthed. LARGELY improving the chance of the F2 catching the enemy by suprise. As I said before this can be used with ANY pet to similar results as long as the pet is…good. This works great with the smokescale. And I also used to use this combo with the Canines in order to hide there knockdown leaps (9k leap crits on tanky players HYPE).

I am not claiming I came up with these combos or ideas. Though I did discover them on my own. I just wanted to share this for any rangers that fealt like shouts simply didn’t have any Oomph to them.

On to my speculation part.

In my previous threads most of the ideas people came up with appeared to be in one of three parts.

Control, Support, Internal

I would guess that when Anet says that they want to make shouts more Unqiue that one of these directions is where they are going to be focused.

These are my own guesses. Many of these ideas however WERE influenced by the words of other players in my posts. And I would like to thank those players that contributed.

First up is control.

Guard: The pet aggresively guards the targeted area. The pet cannot LEAVE that target area whil the buff is active. However all enemies struck by the pet in that area are inflicted with cripple.
Potential synergy with Predators Onslaught.

Protect Me: The pet rushes to the player Launching all enemies in melee range of the player. The pet continues to do so for 3 seconds but deals NO damaging attacks for the duration.

Search and Rescue: The pet Rushes to a nearby player and for six seconds attempts a knockdown attack once per second on any player within melee range. If no enemy players are within range the pet will attempt to rez the player.

Sic Em: The pet rushes down a specific target. Its next connecting attack deals 200% additional damage and knocks the target down. Is not consumed on missed/blocked/evaded/blinded attacks. Pet has +40% movement during the duration. The pet continues to attack the target for 20% additional damage (down from 40%)

Second is Support.

Guard: The pet patrols a specific location. Defending all allies withing that locations. When the pet lands an attack all allies in the radius gain retalation.

Protect Me: The pet rushes to the player absorbing damage for him. Whenever the pet loses more than 10% of his health 5 nearby allies are healed. The pet can only trigger this 3 times per Cast. The pet does not attack during this.

Search and Rescue: The pet rushes to a downed ally and attempts to rez the player. The player being rezzed is cleansed of three conditions every second. Upon being ressurected the player has protection and resistnace for 2 seconds.

Sic Em: The Pet chases down a specific target. Marking him and making him vulnerable to nearby foes. Applies 5 stacks of vuln and 5 seconds of reveal to the specific target. All allies hitting that target gain 2 stacks of five second might per attack.

The last is internal. This is the closest to shouts in there current form.

Guard: The pet is stealthed and guards a specific location. Guard allows the pet to be active outside of the standard leash range. The stealth is permanent until the first attack and is reaplied once the pet leaves combat. The pets first attack from stealth deals 250% damage.

Protect me: The Pet and the Ranger split the damage each takes by 50%. The pet takes half the dmg the ranger takes. The ranger takes half the dmg the pet takes. The pet continues its combat actions for the duration. Both ranger and pet can a 1 second stack of protection and resistnace per second for the duration. Breaks stun.

Search and Rescue: The pet runs to a nearby ally and attempts to ressurect him. The pet itself takes 50% less direct damage. The pet takes 50% of the damage the downed player takes. Upon a succesful ressurection the pet heals the ally for 2000 additional health above what he would have been rezzed at.

Sic Em: The pet gains fury 10 stacks of might and superspeed and chasing a specific target relentlessly. 20% dmg increase to the pet down from 40%. 5 second reveal applied on cast.

Edit: I forgot to add. During Sic Em the pet would have 70% reduction on all movement impairing effects.

What do yall think. Would you use shouts if they were as above? Would you be happy seeing a shout ranger in your party if the above mechanics occured.

I am sure whatever anet has is probably much different from what I came up with here. This is only my private dream set after all:P But I am curious as to what all of you think are possible.

What do YOU think arena net means when they say they wan’t to push shouts in a unique direction?