Guild Wars 2

Seeing as how this class has issues, and this thread is so full of unhelpful banter about broken bows and under-powered underpants. I thought we should have a thread where we just gave out tips on how we are overcoming our shortcomings, something for the new Rangers in town, it’s not all that bad.

This is not for posting builds. This is where we share the things that we think everyone should know about. Anything really. You may think everyone knows, but new Rangers might not! My only request would be that you name your tip with a * bold *

I’ll start it off shall I? lol

Downed Pet Management
When you’re downed, you can still tell your pet to do things, if it is dead as well, you can switch pets while downed. For example, say you have a Wolf, it can have it fear everyone away while you try to bandage yourself or have a friend revive you. Using your pet wisely when downed can save your life.

Zephyr’s Speed
Now this is just a 5 point trait in the Beast Mastery tree, even if you are not using a BM Build, this is a must-have trait. 2 seconds of quickness might not sound like much, but when you use it wisely it can give you a hell of an advantage. Not to mention your pet will use its first ability much faster.

Drakes
You should definitely know this by now, Drakes have had their aoe ability polished and boy can it shine. This is a 2blast finisher that the Drake will attempt to use right off the bat, meaning you have an on-demand blast finisher that does some serious damage.

Ascended Quiver
If you can’t get a fractals group, but boy do you want that vial for your Quiver. Just set it to level one and jump on in. You can solo those initial elite harpies, you can solo those greedy grawl. The vial drops off of any mob loot dropping mob in the dungeon it’s all down to luck.

That’s actually all I can think of off the top of my head, what tips do you have for new Rangers?

Good thread.

condition removal
Sometimes rangers have problems with conditionremoval. If u really get killed by them in spvp/wvw a lot, then here are 3 ways how to deal with them:
1) Brown Bear Pet. Shake It Off clears one condition.
2) 30 Points into wilderness-survival-trait line, Empathic Bond removes ALL conditions on yourself every 10 s if your pet is alive. Even in spvp i take a bear with me, cause they r hard to bring down and most time ignored. That ensures that i have a pet up so conditions are removed.
3) Signet_of_Renewal.
…u can get lots of health regen as a ranger, if specced so. That also helps a lot against burning, bleeding, poison…

handling of red circles
In dungeons, spvp, wvw u might have trouble with enemy’s AOEs. Ofc u can kite them, but as a melee-ranger, there is a way to still deal dmg without getting hit. Sword and dagger combo. If u see those red circles (think about TA-explo, those vines), u can evasion-dmg the mob for some time without taking care to escape. use sword3, dagger4 and sword2 in a row in whatever order, without a delay in time (its possible, not that hard, even with worse connections), and u will jump and dance around, attack but not been hit.

pvp, small scale
Get at least one dog, set on active. Every thief that jumps on you will get knocked down, enough time for u to react and kill it -or make him leave at least. Chilling howls for escaping or decreasing dmg. Wolf-fear is awesome: if your enemy is on low health, but might heal up again (like a guardian does…), fear him. 2,5s disabled, while u can continue to hack him down.

pet-managment
In dungeons, wvw, and spvp, watch what your pet is doing, have an eye on its healthbar. Heals u have also heals them. Call em back -yes, use that F3-button during a fight! And Let em attack anew if they r back on health again. Switching pets before it dies prevents longer cooldown. Don’t expect your pet to be tougher then yourself! If you know u have to stay ranged, no need to send your pet in. Set it on passive, or choose a ranged one. Dont expect even a bear to survive what kills a guardian within seconds.
Chilling howls r great for escaping a mob, or decreasing the dmg u get.

Pet dodge Mechanic -

15 points in Wilderness survival auto-matically grants you protection on dodge roll plus boosted endurance regen. another 10 points in nature magic and you can have vigor on heal. Congratulations your pet is now tanking like nobodies business the damage that the rest of your party is now attempting to rally from. I’ve yet to come across an AoE that this doesn’t get the pet through to swap (BM specc’d).

Zerg Fighting-

Two ways to do this. First method, passive pets and utilize pet utilities for buffs heals whatever… not as much fun. Second method, fight from the edges of your zerg on the outer flanks. Use guard to stealth your pet behind enemy lines (tanks through AoE as well). Once your pet is on the other side of Red Circle no mans land it is free to attack at will. Hardly anybody ever pays attention to pets when they are two busy hopping out of circles and aiming their own circles. I’ve had best luck using wolves as they pack their own CC.

Pets attacking moving targets-

It is possible to kite pets indefinately. Until you CC your opponent. Once the pet catches up they are on them like glue. Some pets attack on the move better than others. I’ve had good luck with wolves. All primary hand weapons come with some form of CC and we have several utility CCs as well. Also try fighting in melee, your opponent doesn’t move as much in melee range allowing you to bring all your damage to bear.

[edit] fixed incorrect numbers

Birdspeed
While travelling with a Bird pet, target a creature along the way then assign your pet to attack it from range. It will use its Swiftness ability first. After getting the boon, hit F3 to prevent the pet from actually hitting anything and entering combat.

Three-Tailed Devourer
While using a Longbow, position yourself behind your devourer. Your arrows will pass through, but your target’s projectiles will hit your devourer’s tough carapace. If the enemy approaches your devourer, push it away once with Point Blank Shot. When it approaches again, let it reach the devourer. It will either knock the opponent back with a Tail Lash or it will do an Evasive Retreat. If it retreats, reposition. By swapping between two Devourers you can keep up a long lasting meatshield that knocks foes away from you. This technique makes some fights trivially easy.

Pocket Moa
Moas use their AoE heal when they are injured. In melee, it is one of their possible skills, so when they use it is random. At range though, it is their only viable skill. If you order an injured moa to attack a target at range, it typically uses Harmonic Cry on the spot as long as the skill isn’t on cooldown. This can be accomplished in several ways… pulling it out of combat to heal you, pushing the target away from the moa, assigning it a different target farther away, or keeping it on passive near you as a pocket heal.

Bear Traps
Take a sturdy pet like a Bear, get it to hit something with F1. Then get it to hit a second, a third, and maybe a fourth thing. Wait for them to cluster around the pet. Pull the pet back to you, positioning yourself so that the Bear drags the clump of mobs directly into a pile of traps. While the mobs are in the traps, you should be raining AoE down on them, and might want to swap to a Drake pet to apply further AoE and get a nice blast finish from the traps. Then throw on some more traps.

Great thread! I look forward to picking up some pointers here myself

Lick Wounds
If your pet is in combat when you’re downed, swap your pet out as soon Lick Wounds is off cooldown. Your second pet will appear right next to your corpse , ready for res. A quick Wolf Howl can also scare your opponents off a stomp.

Knockdowns on Demand
Canines will usually execute their knockdown as soon as they go into combat. Pull your canine out with F3, and send him in with F1 once his leap skill is off cooldown for an easy knockdown.

Dealing with Thieves
Thieves are a pesky bunch in PvP, the best way to deal with them is to get them to blow their initial burst and initiative with skills like traited Signet of Stone (6 seconds of invulnerability) or Protect Me. Expect a backstab when you see them stealth in front of you, drop traps at your feet and try to time a dodge accordingly. If you have a longbow on you, keep in mind that LB2 (Rapid Fire) will track a stealthed opponent if you target them before they pop stealth.

Use your combo fields
Rangers have an excellent array of combo fields, between fire trap, ice trap, torch, healing spring, and poison from pets. Use these as often as possible in dungeons and other group fights, remember you can splash healing and regeneration around your party with healing spring.

Extra long range
Your arrows will connect beyond their maximum range, if fired towards a targeted opponent. With Eagle Eye, this can give you super long range shots with your longbow, allowing you to hit certain dungeon bosses from positions of safety.

Meat shield
Some boss encounters involve constant projectile dodging. These are ideal situations for a meat shield, set a bear in front of you in defensive mode and he will absorb the projectiles for you as you fire away.

Autotarget is NOT your friend!
Turning off autotarget will turn GS3 and Sword2 into excellent escape mechanisms, as they would otherwise fling you towards the closest enemy. If you don’t know how to use Sword2 as an escape, the trick is to hop out of combat with the first attack, rotate 180 degrees, and hit sword 2 again for a double-leap away from your opponent.

Consider your racial skills
Certain racial skills can provide benefits you might not have considered. Asura Pain Inverter can be used in conjunction with Protect Me or Signet of Stone to completely reverse damage taken from spike attacks. Sylvari Seed Turrets can “tank” for you as they draw aggro from mobs, and often cause them to waste special abilities like CCs. This skill also gives you brief invulnerability as you cast, so a good trick for Sylvari rangers is to drop healing spring and then Seed Turret in quick succession.

Immobilize is your most powerful skill in WvW
Nothing will damage your opponents in WvW more than your allies! Muddy terrain, ice trap, entangle, spike trap, axe chill, and canine knockdowns are all excellent ways to slow down your opponent long enough for the pack to tear him up. Muddy terrain in front of keep entrances will cause the death of many a brave fool.

EDIT: Corrected “Auto-attack” to “Auto-target” in point 7. Thanks for pointing that out Solandri!

Here’s a guide I wrote for dungeons and caudicus manor as applied to rangers

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Dungeon-Basics-as-Applied-to-Rangers/first#post1365701

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Dungeon-Guide-for-Rangers-Caudecus-Manor/first#post1365865

DaisyRogers.6837:

Pet dodge Mechanic -

5 points in Wilderness survival auto-matically grants you protection on dodge roll plus boosted endurance regen. another 10 points in nature magic and you can have vigor on heal. Congratulations your pet is now tanking like nobodies business the damage that the rest of your party is now attempting to rally from. I’ve yet to come across an AoE that this doesn’t get the pet through to swap (BM specc’d).

Except you get Companion’s Defense with 15 points in W.S. not 5.

Trap Hucking

If you’re traited to toss traps (or actually, any ground-target skill would benefit), you don’t need to click to drop the trap. You can press your skill button, aim the reticule, and then press your skill button again to drop it (instead of clicking the ground).

This helps mitigate unwanted target-change/camera movement.

misterdevious.6482:

Three-Tailed Devourer
While using a Longbow, position yourself behind your devourer. Your arrows will pass through, but your target’s projectiles will hit your devourer’s tough carapace.

This is golden. I’d been using this with melee pets on the bosses which shoot out bolts. But I hadn’t even thought of using it with a ranged pet against regular mobs.

Daemon.4295:

Autoattack is NOT your friend!
Turning off autoattack will turn GS3 and Sword2 into excellent escape mechanisms, as they would otherwise fling you towards the closest enemy. If you don’t know how to use Sword2 as an escape, the trick is to hop out of combat with the first attack, rotate 180 degrees, and hit sword 2 again for a double-leap away from your opponent.

Autotarget you mean. I wish there were a way to toggle autotarget on/off with a keybind, as I like it off when traveling, but like it on in combat.

Try turning off autoattack with sword and GS
With sword it avoids the dreaded root effect since you have to mash the 1 key to attack and root yourself. With greatsword, the third attack in the chain is also an evade. With autoattack off, you can pause a bit on the third attack to try to time the evade to match up with your opponent’s next attack.

Muddy Terrain is a survival skill, not a trap
1) This means the trap traits won’t enhance the skill.
2) But the trait to reduce survival cooldown will. It reduces the cooldown to 24 seconds. The mud sticks around and slows down opponents for 20 seconds. It’s probably the closest thing in the game to a permanent cripple.

Peter.9406:

DaisyRogers.6837:

Pet dodge Mechanic -

5 points in Wilderness survival auto-matically grants you protection on dodge roll plus boosted endurance regen. another 10 points in nature magic and you can have vigor on heal. Congratulations your pet is now tanking like nobodies business the damage that the rest of your party is now attempting to rally from. I’ve yet to come across an AoE that this doesn’t get the pet through to swap (BM specc’d).

Except you get Companion’s Defense with 15 points in W.S. not 5.

yay buggy keyboards… thanks for mentioning it. Never picked up the one. Editing it now.

Reganov.3569:

Seeing as how this class has issues, and this thread is so full of unhelpful banter about broken bows and under-powered underpants. I thought we should have a thread where we just gave out tips on how we are overcoming our shortcomings, something for the new Rangers in town, it’s not all that bad.

This is not for posting builds. This is where we share the things that we think everyone should know about. Anything really. You may think everyone knows, but new Rangers might not! My only request would be that you name your tip with a * bold *

I’ll start it off shall I? lol

Ascended Quiver
If you can’t get a fractals group, but boy do you want that vial for your Quiver. Just set it to level one and jump on in. You can solo those initial elite harpies, you can solo those greedy grawl. The vial drops off of any mob loot dropping mob in the dungeon it’s all down to luck.

That’s actually all I can think of off the top of my head, what tips do you have for new Rangers?

What is this about ?

Pet lure;
Want a chest but don’t want to fight the champ guarding it?
Simply put down guard on one side,when your pet unstealths the champ will rush him,run for the chest from a different side and pop signet of stone to keep your pet alive and distracting!

the reason why people don’t want you in dungeon because people out there is only excel at using a range weapon..most of the ranger i seen only want to be in a range but not in melee which will result your party will lose dps…. a good party setting is need 3 melee and only 2 people doing range..class?? not matter because every class can either be in melee or range..this is the most problem that party having problem in dungeon because either there too many people in party is using a range weapon and too many player using same melee weapon..all ranger out there is only focus train their skill in range but very bad at melee and say that ranger is bad..if u train your skill in melee,u will be surprisingly seen the ranger is very good at melee even equal to guardian or warrior in dungeon..even me still standing without dying try to defeat kohler while all guardian and warrior is dawn..and im a ranger?? u dont believe?? try and see..ranger can also tank..if u have the right stat of armor..most people will be using armor that increase dps stat that make them really fragile..this is guild wars 2,, u cant survive with using all stats that increase precision, power,and condition damage..u will die really fast..its all about equality in GW2,,all the class can do melee and also range..so train your melee skill and u see the difference..and choosing the right pet is also needed..if u want to play melee in dungeon don’t use a pet with very low vitality and sucks at toughness to fight by your side..choose the pet that have high vit and toughness example bear..they wont die easily..if u like to move using a bow use a bird pet cause they can give u speed,,if u dnt like move much use the spider pet cause they are very hard to die..its all depends on what weapon u use..but greatword is great..i love it..use it with utilities signet,,signet that give toughness, signet grant regen, and signet remove condition with rampage elite skill with a bear tank..try it and u will see what im trying to say here..try it first dont complaint yet..sory for bad english im from asia..

this is a good thread.

1) Rangers are Hardmode. Can’t deal? Change classes, and spare us the QQ please..
-they’re pretty involved, and you need to spend time thinking about your playstyle and adapting your build and armor appropriately. Yes lag adversely affects the lifespan of this character. If you’re prone to lag-fits, building a pvp or wvw ranger will just serve to frustrate you…

2) In team fights on wvw.. don’t let a low hp pet stray near a downed enemy
-They kill it and stand up again. This is a rookie move. If your pet is squishy, keep it on defense so you can at least use its f2 skill. A good traited and well-chosen pet can deal more damage than you can, even with partial exotics equipped. and contributes to a high overall-dps. Wondering where your pet is, then looking over and seeing that he’s done a solo-takedown of an opponent is hilarity incarnate. Don’t underestimate it…

3) Dodge duck dip dive and dodge.
-If you die, and your dodges are off cooldown and your endurance bar is half or full, you’re doing it wrong. Rangers have an healthy amount of dodge-based abilities, and [Lightning Evade] is a beautiful stun-breaker. All you need is a little timing, and you can really extend your lifespan. learn to chain your dodges properly when you’re in a bind.

4) equipment and build: damage only
-if you’re tempted to go glass cannon stats only, I won’t stop you. But you’re generally going to be dead 90% of the time before you can deal any damage, either in pvp, or pve. Getting kicked from parties? They may be tired of ressing you all the time…

5) about to die..
-When nearing the downed state, (because you’ve been diligently watching your hitpoints..=p) try to find a level surface. The 3 skill when downed causes your pet to revive to full health if dead, find you, and revive you at an accelerated pace. Generally if you’re not on a flat surface, the pet will not be able to find you and revive despite the fact it’s standing directly over top of you..Try to work around this by dodge-rolling or heading towards a flat location.

-If submerged, the pet can usually find you quite easily, luckily enough..and it may be a better idea to remain beneath the surface, rather than swim to the top, like the game suggests…because the pet disappears when you break the surface…bye bye fast res…

This is a good thread. Keep up the tip posts, I love em.

Pet Burst

Rangers don’t have too much burst on their own outside of rapid fire. Our burst is GREATLY increased when you throw a pet into the equation. RaO and QZ also affect the pet! Sick em, Zepher’s speed, Pet’s prowess, and Signets are really good ways of getting a burst of damage for your pet. Find a way to slow your opponent, and then pop skills for your pet. Jaguar stealth+QZ+Sick em+RaO does soooo much damage. This is where the ranger’s burst is at. Builds can be made around this.

Stun ’n Gun

The skirmishing trait line has more than traps and crit. The pet can be majorly buffed here. +30% crit damage and +30% movement speed. Throw in one more thing. Moment of Clarity. This grandmaster trait I think is underrated, because I don’t know many people that use it. This means whenever you interrupt a foe, you AND your pet gain 50% extra damage on the next attack. While this can be a lot for you, it does much more for the pet. Your stealthed jag goes from a 4k crit to a 6k. At the very least, it can guarantee about 2k on crit if jag is untraited(not confirmed but a strong guess). You can have potentially 3 interrupts at your disposal, between longbow/shortbow/greatsword. Not only this, but daze/stun duration is increased by a lot, allowing your pet to come up to get a delicious chomp. This trait goes very well with the above tip, as it allows you to let your pet hit often and hard. Pet burst can be really strong. And when combined with yours, it becomes formidable.

Running jade maw a lot? Don’t be that Ranger who only has bows and insists on shooting themselves in the face when facing perma-reflect mobs. Equip a sword or gs or at the very least stop shooting…

Vexacion.3971:

Running jade maw a lot? Don’t be that Ranger who only has bows and insists on shooting themselves in the face when facing perma-reflect mobs. Equip a sword or gs or at the very least stop shooting…

Jade Maw: Pet Fetch
If nothing else you can use your pet to pull the colossus things (w/e they’re called) to where your group is camping out by crystals (F1 to Attack then F3 to call back once it has aggro). For obvious reasons parties want to hang out where there are crystals on the ground and not be running off to go get another thing to kill for a crystal. Your pet can’t pick up crystals anyway so make him good for something and get more crystals near your designated camping spot.

Love the initiative!
Overcoming the obstacles makes the world go around.

For now i’ll just go on necroing this thread, in exchange of a bump.:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/The-Glass-Half-Full-shortbow/first#post436494

See you in Tyria

We need to sticky a thread like this!

Adaptability
Rangers have more versatility than any other class, in fact far too much, which is what makes them so complicated to master. Experiment with all the possible builds and how you react with each possible scenario. Try out combat with all weapon sets and learn how to use your strongest weapon (your pet) in more than one way. This will hone out your ranger-ability and in no time you will find that being so adaptable is what will make your ranger shine the most. Remember: don’t spread yourself too thin!

Dungeons
Your allies need your support and crowd control skills, not just your arrows. Make yourself a bit tougher by investing in the Wilderness Survival tree. Using healing spring combo efficiently (short sword 2 Monarch’s Leap, Great sword swoop) and have a nice fern hound with you for extra healing. QZ for reviving allies is a true lifesaver in times when things are very rough for your party. Make sure that the skills you use are further enhanced by your traits. If you choose to be a Beast Master then combine with condition damage or support build, keep your pet alive and always keep an eye on it so that it can properly support in fights (good timing of using ‘guard’ and ‘search and rescue’ is invaluable). Glass cannon should always combine it’s killing power with traps and smart ways to control+burst the enemies. Tank build should combine with Support or Beast Master build to keep those lovely AoE heals from yourself and your pet.

Your pet is your most versatile weapon
Use it to help an ally guard an area while you scout for enemies in PvE, PvP or even WvW. Another bad guy coming your way? Learn the amazing value of pet kyting in both boss fights and PvP fights. Just like a warrior can time their shouts to sound something like ‘on my mark, fear me for great justice!’ you can also learn how your pet mechanic works and use them for optimal destructive and protective means.

Combine techniques
Being a jack of all trades means you have too many options and ways to combine them. Lately I have found (personal opinion) that the most successful offensive combo comes from a Beast Master + condition damage build that I’ve been running lately. I send in a jaguar in stealth mode to a selected enemy and approach them to get within range of short bow and start firing (works 4/5 times for me in pvp, pve, wvw). When the Jaguar is in striking position I use QZ + skill 5 for a quick stun, immediately after the stun wears off I use skill 2 for poison + Sick ‘Em and a rooting skill (Muddy Terrain or Entangle) then follow through with skill 5 of torch and a quick burst from sword 1 while the QZ has a few seconds left to go. That combo easily takes down an enemy faster than you can realize it. If the enemy survives just keep on coming at them and use a combination of dodges if the fight gets out of hand in order to give yourself enough time to reset the burst. There are plenty of dodge combinations you can use to have an enemy waste their own burst, but that is entirely up to your own ability. Do keep in mind that as a beast master, your pet will do lots of damage so proper pet kyting is important. All that was long but it’s just one example of the many things that rangers have at their disposal.

Keep contributing people! I am actually interested in reading about ways of enhancing your Power and Condition damage while keeping toughness high. Any suggestions?

Sick ’em
As awge, I am running a WS+BM build for PVE, WvW and sPvP. With 10 in skirmish for the pet buff (either +30% run speed or +30% crit damage), the jag is a great burst tool. If you are careful, you can effective use this to pick off single target even during zergs. I’m beginning to think the +run speed is the best choice for the pet, since their biggest weakness is catching up to targets. What do others think?

Protect Me
This is really an amazing ability, especially in sPVP. I can get out of very sticky situations by hitting this and doing a quick pet switch before it dies. Highly underrated

Learn to use 1-h sword+dagger defensively
I’m still getting the hang of this, but you can really surprise people by pulling out the sword and dagger and doing 3 consecutive evades and then crippling. My advice is if you need to get out of bad situation and create some distance, use sword 2 to leap back then swap to SB and hit 3. Now you have some room to work with.

Bredin.5368:

Sick ’em
As awge, I am running a WS+BM build for PVE, WvW and sPvP. With 10 in skirmish for the pet buff (either +30% run speed or +30% crit damage), the jag is a great burst tool. If you are careful, you can effective use this to pick off single target even during zergs. I’m beginning to think the +run speed is the best choice for the pet, since their biggest weakness is catching up to targets. What do others think?

Protect Me
This is really an amazing ability, especially in sPVP. I can get out of very sticky situations by hitting this and doing a quick pet switch before it dies. Highly underrated

Learn to use 1-h sword+dagger defensively
I’m still getting the hang of this, but you can really surprise people by pulling out the sword and dagger and doing 3 consecutive evades and then crippling. My advice is if you need to get out of bad situation and create some distance, use sword 2 to leap back then swap to SB and hit 3. Now you have some room to work with.

You can leap back with sword 2, press the key to rotate 180 degrees, and press sword 2 again to do a double leap away. You have to cancel your target first though, and disable auto-target.

Some things I found while testing in the Mists the other day:

Malicious Training
This trait in marksmanship line is quite overlooked I think in many builds over the expertise training because most BM builds stress survivability but it’s actually quite powerful. I tested it on the running heavy golem and it seems to almost double the chill duration from my snow leopard. This should apply to cripple, bleed, daze and knock-down or immobilize from the other pets as well but I didn’t have time to try all the pets yet, will do so today.

Chill with Snow Leopard, Owl and Alpine Wolf
So I think most people use felines for the dps and canines for the cc and they are awesome for that but I think the chill F2 skills of the Ice region pets(above) are not as appreciated as others such as drake breath bursts and jaguar’s amazing stealth crit or fern hounds regen.

With the above Malicious training the snow leopard can chill for about 8 seconds on a 30 second cooldown(24 with commanding voice trait) in those 8 seconds you can pop your sick’em QZ RAO SoW for a huge 4 second burst. Of course there is condition removal in pvp but here is where pet choice matters. The Owl has chilling slash a similar chill F2 ability which has 16 seconds cooldown(16 with commanding voice) this chills for 3 seconds but with Malicious training you get that to 6 seconds.

So you will have Axe 3 chill for 3 seconds(10sec CD), Owl chill for 6 seconds and Snow Leopard chill for 8 seconds. If they don’t have any condition removal then they will be almost always chilled, not that you need them chilled for that long anyway as your snow leopard has a strong burst which coupled with the extended duration bleeds should kill anything. The wolf has a howl chill for 4 seconds so similar in duration to leopard but its AOE as a consequence it takes ages to howl and won’t hit anything but the thief sneaking in for a BS

Fortifying Bond
This is a great trait to have for your pet especially if you have some allies that are combo field lovers as they will get all your boons. Another thing with this trait is that you pass on your boons from any source including Healing spring and any F2 ability, which are AOE. Therefore these skills with double the boon duration/intensity for your pet.
Example: Mighty Roar from Jungle Stalker gives 5 stacks of might for 15 seconds, pretty ok, with this trait that jumps to 10 stacks and if you had mighty swap then you could always start off with your Jungle stalker with 13 stacks of might and 2 secs of quickness, pretty awesome. Another thing is regardless of the pet HS will also double in duration, so with extended boon duration/sufficient points in NM you can have perma regen for your pet coupled with SoW and Natural Healing your pet should be good against any condition stacking.

Healing Spring
Ok so HS which I recently discovered and am using is pretty cool with extended boon durations. One thing that many people don’t like is that you have to stay in the field and that’s kinda a half truth. HS pulses every 3 seconds to make it seem like you have constant regen while in the field. You don’t have to stay there. Just chuck it down and move away and then maybe roll into it every 3 seconds to get that refresh and then leave, so yes you do need to be in it but not always.

sorry for the wall of text!
Happy Ranging!

nice thread, though i wish people would stop stealing all the advice i want to give :P

1. Spirits If you’re using spirits on both above ground an water skill bar, don’t cast them underwater if you’re not planning on staying under for a while – they will NOT turn to land forms once you exit, they will just disappear and be on a 50second cooldown.

2. Amphibious Warfare If you use amphibious pets in or near water, they can chase ppl out of or into the water

3. What cooldowns? Pet abilities are off cooldown when you swap pets even if they appear not to be, so the BM trait which recharges them is usually useless as you’ll swap before it has a chance to do anything…

4. Quickness Quickness can be popped at any point when ressing but has to be popped before you initialize stomping for it to work.

5. breach shots Underwater ranged skills can hit people on the shore

6. Mobility and sword We all know greatsword leap can be used for extra mobility, but proper use of the 180degree turn button (I think it’s un-assigned by default) can have monarchs leap work almost as well, but with a little more management.

7. Stealh crits if you’re using jaguar and have at least 15 points in marksmanship, don’t stealth them right away if pure dmg is your goal, as first strike will crit anyway (of course if you want to sneak up on ppl it’s still necessary).

8. Mind Games. If you do stealth your jaguar, back off your enemy a little, he will be less likely to dodge etc if you’re not an immediate danger to him.

9. Range effectiveness longbow damage can be just as effective at close range – only the auto-attack suffers from the damage reduction.

10. Small print on condition removal your pet has to be in range for signet of renewal to work.

11. Questionable traits the cripple on activated effects of wolves trait in BM isn’t great if you plan on using wolf fear to move people out of points, into holes or away from downed players as they will move a shorter distance and hence may not leave the point, drop down or get out of/as far out of stomping range respectively.

12. Have a heart! dont be afraid to heal your pet! if you have full hp drop heals to save your pets if swap is on CD because having a dead pet is a massive blow to your effectiveness.

13. Healed as one?? the healing portion of healing spring will heal your pet regardless of whether it’s within the range circle, just like the other heals, so you can essentially use it from half the map away.

This video is great, found it recently, might help for pet rangers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=e3PpFLUsRO8

Daemon.4295:

You can leap back with sword 2, press the key to rotate 180 degrees, and press sword 2 again to do a double leap away. You have to cancel your target first though, and disable auto-target.

In practice this doesn’t work as well as it seems it would. I tested it and for covering a set distance it’s pretty much the same speed as just running away with signet of the hunt (25% run speed buff).

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Explain-Sword-Root/page/2#post1352421

Solandri.9640:

Daemon.4295:

You can leap back with sword 2, press the key to rotate 180 degrees, and press sword 2 again to do a double leap away. You have to cancel your target first though, and disable auto-target.

In practice this doesn’t work as well as it seems it would. I tested it and for covering a set distance it’s pretty much the same speed as just running away with signet of the hunt (25% run speed buff).

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Explain-Sword-Root/page/2#post1352421

true, but if you don’t want to use a utility slot on signet of the hunt, it’s worth it in certain situations.

Thought of another tip – The longbow 4 knocback knocks them back further the closer they are to you. When i first started using it i’d wait until the enemy was almost upon me to use it, but i did the math, and if all you want to do is create distance, it’s better to use it sooner rather than later:

for some reason the exact numbers aren’t on the wiki but i remember they are or were on the game tooltip at one point, i’ll just use example numbers to demonstrate my ppoint:

knockback = 50 if witthin 600 range
knockback = 100 if within 300 range
knockback = 150 if within 100 range

so as you can see from these made-up figures, whilst the knockback is increasing, the sum distance you create between yourself and your target is actually decreasing. Assuming the skill wasn’t changed – i don’t have access to the game at the moment to check the tooltip or test it etc.

However if you want to create maximum distance between your target’s original position and their final position, ie moving someone as far off a point in spvp as possible, then it’s best to use it at point blank.

Wanderer.5471:

Solandri.9640:

Daemon.4295:

You can leap back with sword 2, press the key to rotate 180 degrees, and press sword 2 again to do a double leap away. You have to cancel your target first though, and disable auto-target.

In practice this doesn’t work as well as it seems it would. I tested it and for covering a set distance it’s pretty much the same speed as just running away with signet of the hunt (25% run speed buff).

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Explain-Sword-Root/page/2#post1352421

true, but if you don’t want to use a utility slot on signet of the hunt, it’s worth it in certain situations.

Thought of another tip – The longbow 4 knocback knocks them back further the closer they are to you. When i first started using it i’d wait until the enemy was almost upon me to use it, but i did the math, and if all you want to do is create distance, it’s better to use it sooner rather than later:

for some reason the exact numbers aren’t on the wiki but i remember they are or were on the game tooltip at one point, i’ll just use example numbers to demonstrate my ppoint:

knockback = 50 if witthin 600 range
knockback = 100 if within 300 range
knockback = 150 if within 100 range

so as you can see from these made-up figures, whilst the knockback is increasing, the sum distance you create between yourself and your target is actually decreasing. Assuming the skill wasn’t changed – i don’t have access to the game at the moment to check the tooltip or test it etc.

However if you want to create maximum distance between your target’s original position and their final position, ie moving someone as far off a point in spvp as possible, then it’s best to use it at point blank.

Faulty logic imo. The point of knockback is for two things.

1. He can’t hit you in melee unless he is close.
2. He eats arrows because he loses interupts when he is not close.

Using your numbers. Assume he can travel 50 feet every second.

1. He starts at 600, and you knock him back another 50 feet to 650. He can damage you in melee at 50 feet. So you have 600 feet/50 = 12 shots (1 per second)

2. He starts at 600 feet. You shoot at him until he gets to 100 feet = 10 shots of damage. Then you knock him back 150 feet = 250 feet away = 5 more arrows for a total of 15 shots.

Of course it is just theory craft unless we know the exact numbers.

Forzani.2584:

Wanderer.5471:

Solandri.9640:

Daemon.4295:

You can leap back with sword 2, press the key to rotate 180 degrees, and press sword 2 again to do a double leap away. You have to cancel your target first though, and disable auto-target.

In practice this doesn’t work as well as it seems it would. I tested it and for covering a set distance it’s pretty much the same speed as just running away with signet of the hunt (25% run speed buff).

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Explain-Sword-Root/page/2#post1352421

true, but if you don’t want to use a utility slot on signet of the hunt, it’s worth it in certain situations.

Thought of another tip – The longbow 4 knocback knocks them back further the closer they are to you. When i first started using it i’d wait until the enemy was almost upon me to use it, but i did the math, and if all you want to do is create distance, it’s better to use it sooner rather than later:

for some reason the exact numbers aren’t on the wiki but i remember they are or were on the game tooltip at one point, i’ll just use example numbers to demonstrate my ppoint:

knockback = 50 if witthin 600 range
knockback = 100 if within 300 range
knockback = 150 if within 100 range

so as you can see from these made-up figures, whilst the knockback is increasing, the sum distance you create between yourself and your target is actually decreasing. Assuming the skill wasn’t changed – i don’t have access to the game at the moment to check the tooltip or test it etc.

However if you want to create maximum distance between your target’s original position and their final position, ie moving someone as far off a point in spvp as possible, then it’s best to use it at point blank.

Faulty logic imo. The point of knockback is for two things.

1. He can’t hit you in melee unless he is close.
2. He eats arrows because he loses interupts when he is not close.

Using your numbers. Assume he can travel 50 feet every second.

1. He starts at 600, and you knock him back another 50 feet to 650. He can damage you in melee at 50 feet. So you have 600 feet/50 = 12 shots (1 per second)

2. He starts at 600 feet. You shoot at him until he gets to 100 feet = 10 shots of damage. Then you knock him back 150 feet = 250 feet away = 5 more arrows for a total of 15 shots.

Of course it is just theory craft unless we know the exact numbers.

mind = blown. There are more levels to this than i realised. As you say we’d need the exact figures to work it out properly, and we’d have to factor in at what point he comes into range too, e.g. shooting from 1500 – 750, then using knockback, vs 1500 – 50 etc against starting engagement range of 750. But i think you’re right in theory – what i would add though is that whilst your way maximises dps, my way is still better for creating distance, and hence arguably better for survivability.

We also have to factor in how it synergizes with other skills – for example after knockback at max range, i lay down longbow 5 – normally leaves you vulnerable and/or not all shots hit as it’s such a long cast time, but he’s on his butt as you cast. So putting it between you and the target at that range means he hobbles towards you for the whole time, whereas if you used it before knockdown followed by close range PBS, the enemy would get 1/1.5 secs of travelling before the first bolts from the 5-skill fell (significant as normal travel speed is probably closer to 300-500 [Depending on speed buffs ofc] than 50 range per second), so he could travel a greater distance cripple-free.

Easy first attack damage boost
Signet of the Hunt applies a 16 minute buff to your active pet when used. Yes, 16 minute. Activate it, wait for the relatively short cooldown, then swap it or keep it for the passive. The buff stays until your pet attacks or you swap pets (or dies, but the likelyhood of that before the pet gets an attack off is low).

Bump. I wish this thread could be stickied. More Tips!

Evading damage

This one is a bit obvious, but I only say it because I met a few rangers in tPvP who were practically standing still. The bunkers already know this, but evasion is a powerful defense. Rangers have a lot of it. Use it. Sword, Dagger, Greatsword, and Shortbow all have evades built into the weapon. Traiting 5 points into WS gives you extra regen for evades. Also use vigor, which doubles evade regen. Outside of lightning reflexes, we have 3 traits (all in different traitlines) that grant vigor under certain circumstance, including on demand. Runes and Food also help with this.

Aside from pure evasion, we have a few stuns/knockback/cripples that also help out. These skills can become a psuedo-evade, in that they interrupt or prevent the foe from reaching you. Shortbow/greatsword/longbow all have that. Figure out traits and sigils that help you out with this as well.

The point is, we have so many ways to avoid damage. There have been many times when using my full gauntlet of evades I have escaped a thief or warrior initial burst and then killed them, in fact, I always open a fight against a warrior with my evades. These greatly assist in offensive builds, when you can’t take the big hits. Ranger definitely has a strength in this, use it. A still ranger is a dead ranger.

+1 for stickying!

Balancing heal and condition removal with Healing spring

Ok so Healing spring cures all conditions and heals for around 5k depending on your healing power. This tip pertains to the poison condition. If you are poisoned, heals are 33% less effective. In my experience conditions are removed after the heal, not before, meaning poison will still weaken your heal so instead of 5000, you’ll only be healing for 3350 – a huge difference. Therefore, it is sometimes advisable to use a different condition removal method before your heal despite the fact they’ll all be removed shortly after the heal.

Disclaimer: this will be down to your judgement, obviously you’d need another form of condition removal, and you’d only do this if you were actually down by ~5000 health of course, if you’d still be healed to 100% with the 3350 poisoned heal, then of course do that (or wait a bit to do the _ condition removal then healing spring combo). Against enemies which rely heavily on condition damage you may not want to use all your condition removal options at once – as i say it’s situational and down to your own judgement

Jazenn.7526:

This is a good thread. Keep up the tip posts, I love em.

Pet Burst

Rangers don’t have too much burst on their own outside of rapid fire. Our burst is GREATLY increased when you throw a pet into the equation. RaO and QZ also affect the pet! Sick em, Zepher’s speed, Pet’s prowess, and Signets are really good ways of getting a burst of damage for your pet. Find a way to slow your opponent, and then pop skills for your pet. Jaguar stealth+QZ+Sick em+RaO does soooo much damage. This is where the ranger’s burst is at. Builds can be made around this.

This, +1 to this. I hear people say rangers have no burst all the time, this is where it’s at. Although might I also recommend traiting 30% more critical damage under skirmishing for Jaguars, increases their damage quite a bit (along with all the other skills, of course.)

Great tips coming in everyone! Keep it up! Even if it’s a small tip drop it in!
I don’t really have anything new to add that hasn’t already been said.

Jellyfish, ain’t jelly.
Don’t let this pets stats fool you, the Jellyfish is a seriously strong defensive pet with good utility (mm blind spam) and the Blue Jellyfish specifically has a rather high damage AOE with it’s F2 ability.

Po-Po-Po-Po-Porcine Power

Give the Porcine pets a try when fighting in melee range. Their foraged items are amazing if you can deal with the clunky mechanic. Since you & your pet will be fighting side by side (and porcine are pretty hearty) their F2 item will pop up next to you, easy to pick up. Study the items each Porcine forages, and use them according to your build. Can also really benefit teammates in dungeons, so long as they know what Foraged items are/do.

Pig – heals, invulnerability
Siamoth – conditions, ethereal field
Warthog – blind, stealth, boons
Boar – control, ethereal field

Warning: I don’t PvP, but I’ve heard that an enemy player can pick up Foraged items (who came up with that idea??). Use wisely if in PvP.

Amazing thread. Nuff said.

Seras.5702:

Po-Po-Po-Po-Porcine Power

Give the Porcine pets a try when fighting in melee range. Their foraged items are amazing if you can deal with the clunky mechanic. Since you & your pet will be fighting side by side (and porcine are pretty hearty) their F2 item will pop up next to you, easy to pick up. Study the items each Porcine forages, and use them according to your build. Can also really benefit teammates in dungeons, so long as they know what Foraged items are/do.

Pig – heals, invulnerability
Siamoth – conditions, ethereal field
Warthog – blind, stealth, boons
Boar – control, ethereal field

Warning: I don’t PvP, but I’ve heard that an enemy player can pick up Foraged items (who came up with that idea??). Use wisely if in PvP.

I don’t like Boar pets because you never know what you’re gonna get and can’t strategize, unlike with all the other pet F2s. For example when a thief steals, he knows exactly what skill he’s picking up so he can use that to his advantage better. I think it would be great if the piggy F2 items depended on terrain type.

Daemon.4295:

Seras.5702:

Po-Po-Po-Po-Porcine Power

Give the Porcine pets a try when fighting in melee range. Their foraged items are amazing if you can deal with the clunky mechanic. Since you & your pet will be fighting side by side (and porcine are pretty hearty) their F2 item will pop up next to you, easy to pick up. Study the items each Porcine forages, and use them according to your build. Can also really benefit teammates in dungeons, so long as they know what Foraged items are/do.

Pig – heals, invulnerability
Siamoth – conditions, ethereal field
Warthog – blind, stealth, boons
Boar – control, ethereal field

Warning: I don’t PvP, but I’ve heard that an enemy player can pick up Foraged items (who came up with that idea??). Use wisely if in PvP.

I don’t like Boar pets because you never know what you’re gonna get and can’t strategize, unlike with all the other pet F2s. For example when a thief steals, he knows exactly what skill he’s picking up so he can use that to his advantage better. I think it would be great if the piggy F2 items depended on terrain type.

yeah i agree, -or having it cyce through the items in sequence would be a lot easier to implement/plan around

They do have a common theme though. So you know that if survivability is your main issue, use Pig. If you’re heavy on conditions, use Siamoth. Boar control is good for PvP. Warthog’s blind/stealth is awesome for 1v1.

Mighty Pets!
You can get some very big numbers from pets with effective use of Fortifying Bond. Use Sigil of Strength on a 1h sword along with Sigil of Battle on two offhands(ex: horn and torch or horn and axe). The 1h sword main attack will build might on your pet by itself and you’ll get additional might by triggering Sigil of Strength. You can then swap weapon sets on cooldown to trigger Sigil of Battle as well as to get a fresh set of offhand abilities off cooldown. On top of this, pet cast buffs will be increased when they use them since they gain the benefit of what they cast on themselves along with what they cast on you. Because of this, a lynx can get 10 stacks of might on themselves from their F2.

Maximum Piercing
If you talent into Piercing Arrows, try to target the farthest enemy possible when lining up shots. The reason for this is that arrows tend to arc down quickly after reaching their target, so if you target the close enemy, the arrow may not reach the distant one. Also, if you’re targetting a tall boss, stand close to any target between you and the boss to prevent your arrow from shooting over the additional target’s head. Also, Point Blank Shot will knock all targets in its path to the same location, so you can use this as a quick way to get mobs off a teammate as well as to group them up for AoE.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Easy first attack damage boost
Signet of the Hunt applies a 16 minute buff to your active pet when used. Yes, 16 minute. Activate it, wait for the relatively short cooldown, then swap it or keep it for the passive. The buff stays until your pet attacks or you swap pets (or dies, but the likelyhood of that before the pet gets an attack off is low).

I thought I was the only one who did this. My Black Raven has taken 60-65% of their health away from thieves and ele’s on first attack.

Edit: Take a Longbow with you on your WvW Jumping Puzzles. Point Blank enemys all day.

Wanderer.5471:

9. Range effectiveness longbow damage can be just as effective at close range – only the auto-attack suffers from the damage reduction

Has this been verified?

Actually, I think I understand what you were saying.

ItIsFinished.9462:

Wanderer.5471:

9. Range effectiveness longbow damage can be just as effective at close range – only the auto-attack suffers from the damage reduction

Has this been verified?

Actually, I think I understand what you were saying.

As a longbow loving ranger, i can safely say that the fact is correct. the only skill that is reliant on distance for damage is the auto attack. the point blank shot is dependent on how close the target is to have how far the enemy gets knocked back.

Longbow range is not super accurate on the skill icon
what i mean is, the little red line under the auto attack is supposed to be an indicator that it is out of range to your target. which is great, however it stops auto attacking when that red line is there. here is where this kicks me in the nuts the most. when you get the 1500 range trait. the skill still thinks the range is roughly 1000, what that means is for your max damage at greatest distance, you will need to fire the skill yourself. the thing is you need to practise this yourself. either in pve or in heart of the mists. get yourself the longbow and the 1500 trait. and find yourself a stationary target. and play around with the range, as a ranger you will need to get used to the range of a longbow.

here is how i do it when i need to know if im in range or not, take off auto cast target AOE, hit barrage once and do not activate it, just look at your range. it might save your life sometime. for dungeons this is amazing, for example the AC run with the asura. you can position yourself to be in range for almost all of the first 5 burrows.

Edit: Take a Longbow with you on your WvW Jumping Puzzles. Point Blank enemys all day.

heres the bad side to this, if you hit anything that reflects projectiles, the point blank shot does the correct knockback for the distance fired at. so at point blank, if it gets reflected. you are the one going off the cliff if not backed against a wall

not my tip, saw it in another thread – can’t find it so no credit for the author XD

sick ‘em – don’t press f2 or apparently f1 etc after using it, as it will cancel the active effect of the ability.

extra tip: this means the jaguar is the only pet you can use the active + sic em with at the same time as you can stealth first then activate it.

Unspecified.9142:

Vexacion.3971:

Running jade maw a lot? Don’t be that Ranger who only has bows and insists on shooting themselves in the face when facing perma-reflect mobs. Equip a sword or gs or at the very least stop shooting…

Jade Maw: Pet Fetch
If nothing else you can use your pet to pull the colossus things (w/e they’re called) to where your group is camping out by crystals (F1 to Attack then F3 to call back once it has aggro). For obvious reasons parties want to hang out where there are crystals on the ground and not be running off to go get another thing to kill for a crystal. Your pet can’t pick up crystals anyway so make him good for something and get more crystals near your designated camping spot.

To follow up, on this fight don’t use petswap for quickness instead save for when your pet gets the skull generally you can keep your pet active the entire fight this way sometimes it’ll be kitten when he gets it multiple times in a row but usually it will work.

Bredin.5368:

Sick ’em
<snip>

I’m beginning to think the +run speed is the best choice for the pet, since their biggest weakness is catching up to targets. What do others think?

I was thinking this way too having the traitpoint to have your pet share your boons and using warhorn and while it cetainly helps them catch up initially I find the biggest problem is they keep losing target over and over during the slow execution of their skills, wolves are abit better than cats on their mainattack wich is only 1/4 compared to the cats 1/2 but yes they all do the same thing they stop to animate the ability then start running again to catch up to target.

Uncategorized Fractal (Harpies platform):

• Greatsword is a must. Use block (#4) to keep the arrows and bolts away.

• Also if you have 10 p in WS you have to use Shared Anguish (III). Again keeps the bolts away from you.

awe extender.1908:

Uncategorized Fractal (Harpies platform):

• Greatsword is a must. Use block (#4) to keep the arrows and bolts away.

• Also if you have 10 p in WS you have to use Shared Anguish (III). Again keeps the bolts away from you.

The best thing for Harpies there is Rampage as One for stability, since the problem isn’t damage but them knocking you off ledges after fractal lvl 10. It’s also great for the windy ledges in the Colossus fractal.

If you happen to be a Norn ranger with condition dmg build, use “Call Owl”. I think it’s awesome.
You get 2.769 bleed damage (range 1200, cooldown 30 sec.). ps. I have 1200 in condition dmg.

Actually, this is kind of sad as well: racial skills are better than Ranger profession skills.

awe extender.1908:

If you happen to be a Norn ranger with condition dmg build, use “Call Owl”. I think it’s awesome.
You get 2.769 bleed damage (range 1200, cooldown 30 sec.). ps. I have 1200 in condition dmg.

Actually, this is kind of sad as well: racial skills are better than Ranger profession skills.

great tip just checked on a build editor, and if the numbers are correct you get slightly more dps with owl than sharpening stone, even if you take the 20% reduced cooldown on survival skills