Guild Wars 2

Hello Ranger forum!

Recently I leveled and geared my Ranger up to roam around in WvW. I wasn’t sure what to expect… but I’m seriously having a lot of fun with it. But I have some questions and I’m open minded to advice because I’m still figuring out the class.

Right now I roam around in WvW with a very predatory mindset – I work for good positioning, choose my targets that are usually alone, low health, or separated from their zerg, and start picking on them from there. If I’m not in a solid position to engage or it’s a bad numbers situation, I’m usually running until I have an advantage to exploit. But I still have some questions:

1. Pets

Right now I’m running with the Wolf and Drakehound. I’m a fan of the knockdowns, and I like the immob and fear, but the active seems slow to actually activate. Are any of the pet groups faster with their activated skill?

Is there any way to tell when the knockdown is coming, other than timing? A sound, animation, or something on the pet skill-bar?

Are any other pets useful? I know cats can bring some burst (or at least they used to), and I was thinking of grabbing a bear for clearing camps, but the dogs seem OK enough for that.

2. Heal

I’ve been using HaO because it seems to have a good HPS considering how much it heals for and the cooldown, but I see a lot of Rangers using TU. Is TU really that much better? Is Healing Spring anything worth looking at?

3. GS vs. S/X

I’m using GS mostly because I’m pretty familiar with it and it suits what I need (the running part of my post, above), but I hear that sword has potentially better mobility and damage. Is that true? Is the GS auto-attack worth using? Is axe the best offhand for sword for a power ranger? Does my description above seem to fit one or the other more to you?

4. Elites

I’m using RaO right now because I love the fury and stability, especially for stomps. Does entangle have any place here? It seems mostly like I would need to be in close range to make it work, but I’m also pretty sure it eliminates dodging – correct? That could set up a good rapid fire or maul.

Also, here is my trait set up (the armor is all berserker, with some valkyrie. Runes of the Ranger, and air and fire sigils on both weapons).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjUq0waBLusw1ig9gadAUAndHuD8I4aLKYTF

Any answers are appreciated! Thanks for reading.

Pets- Birds, spiders and drakes are worth trying out. Raven/owl’s f2 hits hard, river drakes f2 hit’s hard, marsh drake is a nice poison spam, both drakes have a bouncing channeled attack that is fantastic for might stacking when using RaO. Spiders offer immobilize and poison from range (good from tower walls and ledges)

Heal- Healing spring offers some good condi removal. It is also the best water field in the game. With GS you can proc a double leap finish with swoop, and drakes will blast the water field if you swap to them while in it.

GS vs. S/X- Completely falls under personal preference. I prefer GS for it’s utility skills and burst. Stun, ranged cripple, evades, block, leaps, and it has the advantage of free movement while using the skills. But there is nothing wrong with S/X, use what you like.

Elites- I also run RaO for my power builds. There are a lot of classes that rely on being able to chain CC you to death. Entangle is great for survival of the fittest builds, CC builds, and runes that proc on elite skills (Krait, mad king, lyssa, etc.)

1. Pet: If you’re into dueling like I do, spider is a solid choice, ESPECIALLY the poison F2 one. Poison spider have a really high uptime for poison, and can greatly hinders some of the more durable classes that relies on healing. Wolf is still a solid choice because it is one of the best counter against thief, as well as necromancer. You’ll eventually meet many of those thieves while roaming, so it’s always good to have a wolf with you on swap. Bear is an ok choice, but currently pet has some serious issue in activating F2, so bear may not help you out when you desperately need the cleanse.

2. The advantage of TU lies on the ability to precast it early when your health is still high. This is especially useful against thief when you know the backstab is coming. If you wait til your hp drops to the point which HaO can have full healing potential, it may already be too late because some classes can just chain CC you whenever you attempt to heal. Also the 2k difference is quite noticeable.

3. Personally I’m using GS right now because I find it a faster and safer option of gap maker. GS4 is also extremely useful against other range classes, and the 900 range cripple is a very nice addition to prevent target from reaching you too quickly. 5th skill stun can sometimes be a life saver against thief and necro, interrupting them from doing their burst or chain CC.

4. RaO still because it is very useful in dueling. Sometimes you need to activate this skill to outrun the chasing zerg too. But entangle can still be really useful against thief though.