PVT LB/GS with canines, signets, HS, entangle and muddy terrain. this kind of stuff can annihilate a backline, or get a few kills when the other team is regrouping.
As far as I know rangers are only fielded as people to hunt the opponents backline (eles/mesmers and the like).
With a LB or SB and piercing arrows you can do a huge amount of damage and doesnt take long to get your target down since theres really nowhere they can do to avoid you (especially with traited LB).
As mistsim said, rangers bring a fair bit of CC to help get at their targets and seperate them from their team.
Even so rangers are not usually played in GvGs because people just prefer to have another ele or necro on their own team, rather than someone who is going to kill the opponents eles and necros. And then often thieves are taken in this role instead of rangers, although in my own clearly biased oppinion rangers are the much better choice. With longer range, much better durability and higher sustained DPS (rather than the burst then retreat you get from a theif), its much harder for your target to shake you off or hide in their own team like they could from a thief.
Cufufalating – Ranger / Part-Time Mesmer
Gunnar’s Hold
the problem is rangers cant actually output any burst damage, unlike glassy mesmers, thieves, rifle warriors or valk/zerker necros (who can actually do top aoe damage without giving up survivability and single target burst), which is why you dont see them in backline pressure role. rangers WERE able to output DECENT burst before they nerfed the cats and quickness into oblivion. i actually ran a quickness-based SB build with good effect, but quickness nerf totally killed it. GS has good burst, but is too telegraphed therefore mostly dodged by good players.
what the ranger CAN do well currently is spam aoe immobilizes while outputing medium dps.
Certainly burst isnt the name of the game with rangers. My point was more you can pick a target and stick to them no matter where they run to. A theif or mesmer will struggle greatly trying to follow an ele they attack if they just mistform over to the other side of the melee train, and also both suffer the problem of being extremely squishy themselves. A few good hits and they will have to retreat which is really not much help if you are meant to be constatly pressuring their backline.
Rifle warrior.. yeah they are a great choice too. Probably a better choice but for some reason never really used in this role. Oh well.
Cufufalating – Ranger / Part-Time Mesmer
Gunnar’s Hold
I feel like a thief can do most of what a ranger can do in a gvg. And do it better. If they need to put out AoE damage, shortbow auto can crit really high on three targets and still retain good toughness for survivability. And if they need to focus a particularly nasty back liner down, switch to dagger and its a quick focused DPS burst until they’re dead.
Also, pets would be nice if the useful ones didn’t die before they got their skills off.
Basically, I think rangers can be effective in gvg, but I think other classes do it better.
considering gvg actually isn’t really a thing it is more like 2 organized zergs just trying to wipe each other right now. if they ever add GVG to gw2 most likly yes rangers will have a gvg build that will out play several other people, but in the zerg vs zerg style gvg that’s been going on that isn’t much a ranger can do other than spirits, traps are ok but there is usually so much aoe cleanse that the conditions don’t even last.
Giant spiders of the world are just misunderstood creatures, they love to snuggle too.
Actually if it’s a condition group spirits are usefulish- Well were pre-patch at least, I hated running them, for group stuff I run apoth traps, previously I ran a soft CC heavy ( chill/cripple/immob) glassy longbow build too, but I disliked it. We’re not great for groups, because another class can do it better, for the standard hammer train, we’re bottom of the pack with engi really
as far as I am informed, no GvG playing guild uses a Ranger in its Meta at the moment.
I think if they useed one, it was as either the Backline sniper mentioned above or a CC bomber with MT, Entangle, Frosttrap.
The problem even here is that any of the magic 4, Xsorus mentioned are considered to be batter at the possible tasks for a ranger.
Train v train you mean? What they do with guardians and necros…that’s NOT guild
V guild. Just trying to get the definitions agreed upon for this discussion, but, the fact is, with so much of the profession tied to the pet…you have less power due to a pet that wasn’t designed AT ALL for train v train. Which makes ranger better for point capping, small team combat, etc. we all know this.
That said, arguably, ranger spirits and spotter are some of the best team buffs in the game. The water field is very powerful. And the ranger’s ability to resurrect (when traited for healer’s celerity and trappers defense, runes of mercy, S&R with stability training/pig, spirit elite) is just as good if not better than guardians. But those things aren’t tested and/or require too much skill for people used to spamming.
Note: this is a little off topic but I find Train v train to be VERY casual PvP—just as casual as wvw, really. It’s casual/spammy gameplay a lot of people enjoy. I obviously don’t like it, given that it’s a perversion of gw2 gameplay that barely even gives ranger a chance.
spirit cool down changes flattened spirit uptime so spirit death really isn’t too bad. It’s
Not as good as it used to be for train v train and it did get worse but I still think they’re strong. Natures vengeance / vigorous spirits, I mean…that’s actually really strong, but what do I know? I just play ranger.
Tin Foil Hat Hearer »—> Ranger Extraordinaire »—> “Be like water…”
Well, you just have to think outside of the metabox. I’m always part of our guild’s 10vs10 GvGs and it always seems to be a huge surprise for our opposite team that there’s a ranger in there! My heal is one of the most important thing that keeps our group going, my roots are punishing and my pets helps when they just happen to survive through the melee ball. I tried a trapper build at first with canines and it seemed to be pretty o-kay, but when they added stealth to LB I switched over to a power build, because I can vanish and get the target dropped if someone ends up chasing me while I’m nuking people down from the back. Since the melee ball seems to be the thing of today, I switched from canines to spiders since ranged pets survives better and the extra CC is always nice. I usually get to freecast in peace since people have no idea what to do with me. There is a place for rangers in GvGs, you just have to play smart and prove you are worth that spot :>
Voicing the opinions of others, I would like to add to the fact that Rangers have really limited use in GvG.
In the unlikely event that you use one for a match, I would go about the following setup which utilises the strength of the ranger: ST DPS. You are a periphery fighter and need to take out the enemy support classes: staff eles, necro’s and thieves. This build hits incredibly hard and has a number of roots to keep the enemy in place while you pummel him to bits. Flat damage buff at full health is +45%, and crit damage buff is 114%. And since you are on the periphery you should be on full health constantly.
When kitten hits the fan and people target you, you have two stun breakers to get out of Dodge, as well as the evades and leaps etc. So you should be able to make it to safety.
Btw, path of scars works so nice with GS stun and maul combo…
Chopps had a build up a bit ago, condition build with survivability that I like running in group situations as long as someone(s) putting up speed not me. Cause then I can make full use of axe/torch & sword/dagger, but it gives some nice group abilities to go along with it. The water field, some haste stuff, my guildies seem to like it when we run.
PS. Don’t tell Chopps I found something good in a build post of his, he won’t believe it.
for any fight >10v10, pet die instantly, if lucky they can cast a CC before they die, 2 pets, 2 CC, that’s it. Then ranger lost 40% of damage. Then so what? Survive? Armor/HP is joke when 10v10, I have tried extreme toughness/HP combination (have 3.2k Armor + 29k HP but I can hardly hold even 10 seconds VS 3 players if not escaping), it’s not the game changer. Only thing I can do to survive is getting out of the fight, then ranger’s pathetic damage (lost pet) can be ignored and you become the best target for BS thieves (oh yeah! a longly ranger w/o pet! what a delicious meat!), and neither your buff or water field can benefit your team.
true about the pet, but HP is getting massively buffed next patch.
um id recommend running backline pressure. you wouldnt be with the melee train. your purpose would be aoe immobilize spam via MT and entangle, and aggressive HS placement. focus squishies with LB.
true about the pet, but HP is getting massively buffed next patch.
um id recommend running backline pressure. you wouldnt be with the melee train. your purpose would be aoe immobilize spam via MT and entangle, and aggressive HS placement. focus squishies with LB.
This is exactly the only point to a ranger in gvg: taking down periphery support like they’re cheap dates. Anyone that thinks they can run with the Ball is kidding themselves.
I think you could make a build that would survive fine in the ball, it just wouldn’t bring anything TO the ball outside of our 6 button.
Splitting hairs I know. /shrug
Nah man, our condi removal is just too weak for this. I know what you are trying to say, but best we can get is 2x passives, 1 signet with long cd, melandru runes and lemongrass soup. Passives are a joke in gvg, signet is good but only once, after which you’re screwed.
Ofcourse, the above is true if you go up against a Second, GD, TUP etc. Vs beginners in GvG you will survive a bit longer.
Yea, you’re right about that, the real top tier GvG’s are going to burn through a Rangers condition removal pretty fast.
I was thinking more along the lines of the physical damage the ball absorbs, a Ranger that builds for it can hang with the heavy boys in that regard without much issue really. There’s just like, no benefit to actually do so. Sure is fun though :P hehe
Problem is long cds on signets. Warrior and guard shouts all mostly 30s or less and they heal, stun break and/or give boons. The other issue is these guys can spec for survivability while still doing lots of damage. Not the case for the ranger.
I think when the GvG is 10 or less ranger could have a place, but with larger groups there just isn’t a role that the ranger could have that other class fill better.
I love my ranger in small fights, runnig a CC Power build to keep the enemies in place and bring down specific targets, but for any guild raid or GvG I have to switch to my guardian or warrior.
