Guild Wars 2

And I want to know a few things. I’m hoping the Ranger community can help me out.

1. What are the most popular defensive builds?
2. How capable would you say a good Ranger is of taking on 2+ level 80s and winning?
3. Are there any absolutely garbage weapons for the Ranger?
4. Are there any absolutely garbage attributes for the Ranger?
5. Which is more viable: a power- or condition-based build?

The goal is to achieve video-grade combat efficiency, similar to what I’m able to accomplish on my Guardian. While I obviously don’t expect to be able to do everything a Guardian can do on a Ranger that I have no experience with, what I want to know is whether it’s possible and, if so, which directions it would be best to take with my build.

Thanks in advance for any and all input you may be able to provide.

Might want to change your focus. Rangers got nerfed in wvw.

Christos de Soufre.3802:

And I want to know a few things. I’m hoping the Ranger community can help me out.

1. What are the most popular defensive builds?
2. How capable would you say a good Ranger is of taking on 2+ level 80s and winning?
3. Are there any absolutely garbage weapons for the Ranger?
4. Are there any absolutely garbage attributes for the Ranger?
5. Which is more viable: a power- or condition-based build?

While I tend to agree with the first response you got I’ll try to answer as best I can.

1) 0/0/30/10/30 or variations on that. I’ve had success with 0/0/15/25/30.

2) If you run a healing power/toughness build you can pull off a 2v1 though if they decide to leave you aren’t getting a kill. You will only kill people who over commit.

3) Honestly every weapon has a place in the right situation and the right build. Choosing weapons on ranger is more about utility than anything (e.g. greatsword for mobility and face tanking, shortbow for single target ranged, longbow for AoE ranged, axe for mid range multi-target, sword for evasion tanking and single target damage). Damage is pretty bad all around. It’s just not like choosing weapons on a Guardian or Mesmer (I have 80s of both).

4) I’m not sure what you mean by attributes. There’s a lot of garbage traits, spirits are terrible, and vitality isn’t very useful to a ranger in most builds/situations (healing power and toughness will get you way better staying power most times).

5) The ranger community could probably argue until the cows come home over this one. Both work but both also have some severe problems. Your weapon choice will determine if a condition build is even possible. Rangers just suffer from a lack of ways to reliably stack bleeding against a competent opponent. Our on crit bleed trait is a 1 second bleed and is frankly terrible. Shortbow has a flanking requirement which means someone who can face you through most of the fight negates your ability to bleed. Otherwise it basically falls on traps to provide conditions. We can maintain almost permanent burning very easily with Flame Trap and a Torch though. You also always have your pet putting out decent raw damage (pet conditions never get good, 350 condition damage when traited is as good as it gets).

The sad fact is really that Ranger in WvW is just not great. If your goal is simply to roam around and fight whoever you come across and maybe cap some camps and neutrals (basically PvE instead) you can do alright. If your goal is siege and defense of keeps/towers or zerg warfare… well you’ll likely be disappointed if excelling at those activities is your goal. Unless you want to excel for a ranger, that is compare your success to other rangers instead of other professions.

Playing another profession was the worst thing I ever did for my enjoyment of ranger. Before my Guardian and Mesmer hit 80 and got good builds and exotics I was pretty happy with my ranger. Not so much now.

You seem like a nice person, so I’m going to suggest you look at other classes. Any other class, it doesn’t matter. Just not this one.

Run and never look back.

First off, some basics for any measure of survivability in WvW.

1.Warhorn is typically the offhand of choice, it allows you, and those immediately in your vicinity, to cross the map(s) in short order.

2.Were I you, I’d spec for a high vitality, high toughness build. Yeah, it lowers our damage output, but honestly I’ve NEVER seen a ranger do more than 400-500 dmg on any bow attack that was not a critical anyway (which is shameful since even with health above 18k-19k I have been downed in seconds by warriors, eles, and thieves). Even so, you will quickly find we are still the squishiest thing on the field.

3. Ranger in WvW is a game of precision and also of chance. I’ve compared our class to the card game poker, as that’s about how playing ranger in WvW feels. Know when to hold, know when to fold, etc. Be aware of, and do your utmost to control, your surroundings as much as possible. Become good at dodging and kiting, and prepared to chip away at your opponent. Cause again, our damage sucks royal.

4. Having said that above, a solo ranger is usually a dead ranger in WvW. Travel in packs if possible. Several rangers together (again with warhorns for speed) are a fast moving, bleed and poison stacking DPS force. If you do solo, (as I often do cause I have zero friends on my chosen server) be aware of nearby NPC patrols/guards and their movements. If you do find yourself facing 2-3 vs 1, there is zero shame in leading them into an NPC ambush to help even the odds. Most of the time, you’ll find your opponents are kill-happy enough to follow a single opponent just about anywhere anyway. Use this to your advantage.

5. Interrupts are your best friend. Learn to recognize the healing animations for each profession, and fire immediately upon seeing them. Sometimes some of these cast quite quickly, so at times it is a guessing game, watching your opponent’s health bar and anticipating the cast.

6. Holds are your worst nightmare. Classes like warrior are completely outmatched mobility-wise without them against a ranger. Find ways to break/counter them. Furthermore, groups of warriors like chaining those skills.

7. Keep your pets alive at all times, regardless of whatever boon they give, a dead pet is a useless pet.

8. Try not to face a thief 1v1 if you can avoid it. 9 times out of 10 this is death (unless you’re facing a nub thief). Rangers have almost nothing to counter thief skills unless you just happen to get lucky and interrupt one of their cloaks. Kite, pack as much damage in as you can, and remember, a fleeing thief is no less a victory than a dead one. Do not give chase if alone. You are one, unlikely to catch them, and two, just as likely to get lured into the enemy group they were initially scouting for or some other unnecessary nastiness.

9. When in large groups (aka zergs), act as direct support if necessary. Use warhorn again to boost the movement speed of those around you when on the move. Healing Spring if you wish to add regen to nearby part members. Lastly, use longbow to fire AoE Barrage over the bodies of comrades fallen but not yet dead to ward off anyone attempting to “finish” them. If someone does step up to finish them, use Point Blank Shot (also longbow) to knock them away. Also use Barrage on the tops of tower walls enemies are standing on to deter them from retaliation.

I’ll not lie. Ranger in WvW is not for anything but the most diehard fans of the profession. They are thoroughly broken, and as far as anyone can tell, the issue is either not getting addressed or is openly ignored. Anyone even mentioning the fact that it’s utterly imbalanced runs the risk of having their post deleted or worse. So I hope you read this before it is. I love mine to death, as I did my original in GW. They are such a blast to play, and it saddens me to the point of overall almost wanting to shelf the game that they are so overlooked. You have been warned, I do not pity you for all the deaths you’ll suffer during your learning curve.

Arsenic Touch.7960:

Might want to change your focus. Rangers got nerfed in wvw.

Well that’s a productive statement. =/

I’ve been following your guide in the Guardian section and even watched a video or 2. Good stuff! I leveled a ranger to 80 (5 pieces of exotic armor). Honestly, my guardian at level 50 in green gear seems more effective. I will be playing him more going forward.

Rangers have a few problems:

Pets in WvW are an example of bad game design, though i assume they will get fixed at some point. They can’t dodge/block/heal when in trouble, abilities are not truly instant, get clobbered by AOE – and when they die they are rally fodder for the enemy. Many rangers stick their pets on passive because and thus lose a great deal of damage.
This in my opinion is the number 1 problem with the ranger in wvw.

Ranger offers weak group benefits compared to the better classes and subpar damage due to the pet. Barrage seems to be the best group skill, but many prefer the shortbow, (which to me seems kind of dull as abilities don’t stand out).

As far as being creative, I don’t think the class is fertile ground for the creativity you have shown with your guardian design.

Don’t really want to complain to much as ArenaNet really did a great job. $60 and no sub fee for a fun experience. I would however wait until the March WvW patch.

the best defensive ranger build imo is a 0/0/30/10/30 fully specced in regeneration. for very nice damage output you take cats as pets and spec yourself into condition damage, because with this build youll only have 1 stat free for damage which is not enough to spec power and prec, but get con dmg on a good level.

i myself am running this build and im constantly having 1v2 and 1v3 battle which i can win without big problems.
sure there are dirty combinations of classes to face and if they are a bit trained in playing together then youll prolly get owned.. but thats no shame, isnt it?

and the statement that a solo ranger is a dead ranger in wvw is just totally wrong. a ranger has great ways to escape, you can outrun zergs easily with the right weaps and skills.

few days ago ive made a video of my ranger, its no biggie and i just recorded the next best duels ive had, but maybe it helps you to imagine what this build can do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brwfBu9r5g0

(working on a new vid with better quali and more duels, will upload it within the next few days if youre interested..)

dont get the wrong picture by all the posts from ranger haters and qq’ers, the ranger is an awesome skirmishing class in wvw and you’ll have alot of fun.

Mate, don’t level a ranger for WvW. Every other class is much more useful in there. It’s a shame but true. You can play it good, you can have fun but if you ask WvW guild what profession to choose, the ranger will be on the bottom of the list. And for a reason. :/

zeus.9634:

dont get the wrong picture by all the posts from ranger haters and qq’ers, the ranger is an awesome skirmishing class in wvw and you’ll have alot of fun.

I never specifically said don’t do it, I said do it only if you love the class. My ranger is my only lvl 80 and she’s all I’d take into battle in WvW anyway. A few of Ebay’s best Commanders are also rangers.

The general concensus among most other players is, “Ranger? Are you stupid?!”

Welp, slap me with an angry wet beaver and call me stupid. Lol!

roll thief. they will only be buffed because anet is unable to balance pvp.

Don’t roll ranger. They got nerfed another time.
Play thief, it’s the only class that never gets nerfed because it’s the strongest.

zeus.9634:

few days ago ive made a video of my ranger, its no biggie and i just recorded the next best duels ive had, but maybe it helps you to imagine what this build can do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brwfBu9r5g0

(working on a new vid with better quali and more duels, will upload it within the next few days if youre interested..)

dont get the wrong picture by all the posts from ranger haters and qq’ers, the ranger is an awesome skirmishing class in wvw and you’ll have alot of fun.

A video of a ranger barely killing a couple of bad players, who at any point could have dis-engaged and escaped, is hardly proof of an awesome skirmishing class.

Guardian was my first 80, Ranger my second – mostly just because I was tired of a melee class and wanted something ranged. I have fun WvWing on my Ranger, but there is no illusion about how much less effective the class is vs basically every other class except Engineer. You can build to survive and do almost no damage (as that vid shows), or you can build for mediocre damage with no real survivability. The trait lines are a mess – and builds are not nearly as flexible as a guardian.

In a Zerg your main use is your water field, so other classes with blast finishers can combo it for a heal.. Otherwise you’ve got no real utility and are just sustained single-target damage. We used to be useful for stacking vulnerability on buffed tower/keep/camp lords as well, but that was ‘fixed’ this patch also.

Rangers need help, it’s no secret – but they are fun to play at least.

KStudios.2850:

I never specifically said don’t do it, I said do it only if you love the class.

this wasnt adressed at you, but other posters said dont roll a ranger and as you can see people still say dont roll a ranger.. only thing i disagreed with you is that a solo ranger is a dead ranger ;)

Chambered.7135:

A video of a ranger barely killing a couple of bad players, who at any point could have dis-engaged and escaped, is hardly proof of an awesome skirmishing class.

Guardian was my first 80, Ranger my second – mostly just because I was tired of a melee class and wanted something ranged. I have fun WvWing on my Ranger, but there is no illusion about how much less effective the class is vs basically every other class except Engineer. You can build to survive and do almost no damage

its not barely killing, they are dead at the end so its actual killing. and who says that if they disengage they get away? thats the good thing, when they run away then its alot easier for me to apply bleeds with the shortbow.. and its not like a ranger cant keep up, only a bunch of eles and thiefs can escape faster than i can keep up..

and yep, i deal no damage, at least not direct damage with the bow.. but theres also condition damage (omg!) and a pet that deals pretty high damage..

but well, you see what you want to see, dontya?

1: There’s the bunker Ranger, which relies on regeneration and vigor. It deals damage with the pet, since it’s only affected by Beastmaster traits, and not your stats.
2: If you play the bunker build, then winning a 1v2 should be possible. There’s a far in between great players in WvW, and most of them run in zergs.
3: No, not any garbage weapons as a whole. But direct damage weapons deal garbage damage, even though they have some good utility.
4: Yes, just don’t touch Marksmanship. Make a bunker or condition damage trap build.
5: Condition damage all the way. Direct damage for the Ranger is a joke.

Are you looking for 1on1, duels specifically? Or are you looking to do what you do in those videos specifically? I think you specified what, but I just want to make sure.

Only build that would come close to what a guardian can do , and in your videos atleast is a 30/10/30 build possibly with greatsword / sword torch but even then your damage will be horrible and you’ll be relying on pets most of the time.

Maybe we could duel as I see you’re on Blackgate and I can help you out with various builds as we duel so you can get an understanding. I know it’s only in the context of duels but should give you a good understanding of the class in general and what it’s strengths and weaknesses are.

Arsenic Touch.7960:

Might want to change your focus. Rangers got nerfed in wvw.

That’s the point. I want to see what I can make of what many consider the weakest profession in WvW.

Ryan.8367:

Are you looking for 1on1, duels specifically? Or are you looking to do what you do in those videos specifically? I think you specified what, but I just want to make sure.

Only build that would come close to what a guardian can do , and in your videos atleast is a 30/10/30 build possibly with greatsword / sword torch but even then your damage will be horrible and you’ll be relying on pets most of the time.

Maybe we could duel as I see you’re on Blackgate and I can help you out with various builds as we duel so you can get an understanding. I know it’s only in the context of duels but should give you a good understanding of the class in general and what it’s strengths and weaknesses are.

Ideally I’ll be able to defeat a minimum of 2 level 80s at a time. Being able to win 1v1 is fun, but not quite as exciting as winning out-manned fights.

I don’t have a problem with dueling a ranger or two to check out how their builds work; I actually don’t see many around (go figure), so I haven’t got a whole lot of experience fighting them thus far.

Yes, you will surely have much fun beeing useless trash.

Well I’m certainly not going to try to impress people on a Thief. :o

Thank you to everyone that provided constructive comments. All of this information is very useful to me. ^^

“I don’t have a problem with dueling a ranger or two to check out how their builds work; I actually don’t see many around (go figure), so I haven’t got a whole lot of experience fighting them thus far.”

Sounds good, add me ‘Tanbin’ in game.

If you havent dueled a bunch of rangers then in itself will be a good learning experience with your guardian as well on top learning options for your own ranger.

I tended to be able to handle 1v2’s and 1v3’s better with 0/0/30/10/30 but fights generally took alot longer and have to have smart utilization of combos for dmg efficiency. Although with my new high toughness/power trap build, I’m able to handle more 1v2’s now as I progress with the style of play it offers.

—

Also, on a side note: We usually do duel nights in south kaineng/blackgate (we’re matched atm obviously) borderlands with [DUEL] guild members and I’m not sure if you’ve been there or not but I’m pretty much usually the only ranger there so if that’s your best time to do learning duels too we can practice then as those start around midnight eastern US time not sure on your time schedule, etc.

Anyhow, besides all of this though , I hope you end up enjoying the ranger. It’s my favorite class and still is despite some it’s drawbacks. I absolutely love the style of play and enjoy destroying people in 1on1’s / team play simply because of the conception of rangers being bad in general.

Kasama.8941:

1: There’s the bunker Ranger, which relies on regeneration and vigor. It deals damage with the pet, since it’s only affected by Beastmaster traits, and not your stats.
2: If you play the bunker build, then winning a 1v2 should be possible. There’s a far in between great players in WvW, and most of them run in zergs.
3: No, not any garbage weapons as a whole. But direct damage weapons deal garbage damage, even though they have some good utility.
4: Yes, just don’t touch Marksmanship. Make a bunker or condition damage trap build.
5: Condition damage all the way. Direct damage for the Ranger is a joke.

Number 5… ^

I just began a Thief in PvE, at lvl 16 and with lvl 13 gear (dual pistols at the moment) and she’s already putting out more than 150-250 dmg per attack. More than a lvl 80 ranger standard attack with a shortbow and no points in Marksmanship (which almost no legit ranger build with any survivability uses).

I took on a mini zerg today and got 15 kills in about 3 minutes. Granted, I was in their keep they were respawning and I was just at the top waiting for them to come to me so that I could CC/ aoe fear them off. So the ground was killing them and I wasn’t…

I think direct dmg is better if you are experienced with the ranger. However, condi is all around good.

Eurantien.4632:

I took on a mini zerg today and got 15 kills in about 3 minutes. Granted, I was in their keep they were respawning and I was just at the top waiting for them to come to me so that I could CC/ aoe fear them off. So the ground was killing them and I wasn’t…

I think direct dmg is better if you are experienced with the ranger. However, condi is all around good.

What is it we have as rangers that causes fear? Is it a boon of a particular pet?

That’s one thing I won’t complain about overall. Being somewhat underpowered has really made me an expert in using the environment to my advantage in combat. It’s always amazing if you can find a way to dig in somewhere, and bottle-neck the incoming flow of enemies so they have no choice but to walk through your AoE. Like on top of jump puzzles for instance. Barrage and Point Blank Shot really shine in those conditions. Use Barrage to rain cumulative damage onto your foe, then if they persist, Point Blank Shot will usually knock them clear off the walkway and the damage you had already inflicted is usually enough to polish them off once they hit the ground (or at very least make them think twice).