Guild Wars 2

I have been going over some of the old videos on youtube with Rangers running around totally forsaking the bow and going GS S/S (think it’s S/S anyways( and able to out sustain warriors and such in melee only fights (granted sPvP and some small WvW roaming).

Now some of these videos are from late last year and say there where some changes shortly after they where put up so their viability I have no idea about (my ranger is only level 18 or so).

Any ideas/experience/advice as to this being possible would be great. I’m adding some of the links so people can get an idea of what I’m on about also.

<—-better one

I love the Ranger class but just unsure if you can do melee in pvp and not just be peeing against the wind in the process.
Thanks in advance

PS: I made a post lastnight but it seems to of gotten eaten somehow, so remaking.

Not yet… But it will be after the proposed changes.
…
At this point, it’s not really viable. It’s plain outshined by anyone else. It doesn’t have proposed burst, nor the needed utility or mechanics… The only thing it does have is dueling potential.
And for that reason, it’s not worth, not even one bit.

Try duelling a warrior now that they get Spiked Armor as a defence minor.

In current meta melee rangers would compete with thief as a side-point fighter.

You would be equally/more mobile on the ground and be slightly less glassy.

However thief has vertically mobility, boon strip/sharing, stealth, and more damage.

It doesn’t have any place in the current meta. Who knows what will happen with HoT though…

Sube Dai.8496:

In current meta melee rangers would compete with thief as a side-point fighter.

You would be equally/more mobile on the ground and be slightly less glassy.

However thief has vertically mobility, boon strip/sharing, stealth, and more damage.

It doesn’t have any place in the current meta. Who knows what will happen with HoT though…

+1
Yet: ‘slightly less glassy’?
A ranger is a bloody full tank compared to a thief. Thieves only have the ability to reset fights/step back to top up health again, but are by no means able to sit through/mitigate damage during an on-point-fight.
Hence I doubt whether that competition is as direct as you make it seem.

But apart from the general role of a Ranger in an sPvP match:
I understand the OP’s request that he wants to know if he will be able to win fights in that environment.
And having read about 100 of the over 200 posts in the Let’s Talk PvP Builds Thread of Jcbroe on these forums: There are Melee based ranger builds.

I have tried most of the Melee stuff out there and iam not convinced at all that they work.

• If you go Power you lack a second melee set that does pure Power damage (even S/S has tons of condition attacks on it and just AAing aint enough in my eyes).
• If you go Condi (with either Rabid or Celestial) you lack a second melee set with conditions, I ve seen a build running GS/ + S/T, trying to get some condition out with SoDoom, SoTorment, SoGeomancy + Sharpened Edges Trait as well as 2 leap finishers + a leaping Pet (canines)

I main a Guardian and none of the above options in my eyes are able to pressure any decent player enough, compared to what a Medi Guard can do, e.g.

So I really want Melee Ranger to be viable in sPvP, and I love the Greatsword and want to make it my primary weapon, but I just cannot find a build to make it work.
If anyone here can show me how to make it work, I would be a very happy person

If not I will just wait for HoT and run a GS/Staff druid, for all it’s worth

You can easily get away with it when dueling and roaming in wvw.

I have had some stupid fun with this in both ranked and unranked when feeling bored:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBMhFakRlWW7YxkFqWDoIUNLhMgZ5GAuT3e4pLYTF-TpBFwACOBAMOEAIOCA12foaZAAPAAA

But no, it doesn’t hold its own weight compared to the usual specs people run.

Right now, Melee Ranger is possible and I run it from time to time. But it’s just solo build, for duelling and such. S/A+GS has nice burst, but:

1. We have ridiculous sustain/cleanse/cele meta and melee Ranger works best against other zerkers or non-bunkers,
2. Burst requires set up.
3. The amount of dodging, blocking and evading, vampirism runes – it makes it not only hard as hell to land without landing immobilize, but even if you do and you’re about to land K.O. …whep, no, sorry, some block, reset or mist form, try again!
4. Many builds will just outsustain you when played by competitive players that already know your build.
5. Has problems sticking on very mobile targets. It has a lot of immobilize and such, but against thing like S/D Thief, it comes down to his mistakes that make you win the game. If he desires to reset, he will. Hail Shortbow.
6. Full Melee Ranger can be unforgiving. While it’s awesome against full melee or mostly melee builds like Warriors, if you have to sit on kitten point, you’ll lose to sustain, AoE and crap like Doom sigils or Combustive Shot. Also, you’re zerker.

Now Melee Ranger is a lot of fun to play. But isn’t as easy as Longbow version or condi version, requires set ups and a lot of work to achieve same, or worse, results.

I’m running melee ranger in PvP exclusively with S/D + GS.
I can 1v1 ~80% of all matches (even thieves are no problem) and stall/hold point up to against 3 players for nearly a minute (depending on skill and builds). It is a very tanky build – I often even out tank guardians with it.
Downside it kinda takes long to decap when a tanky player is bunkering a point but most of the time enemy teams panic out and come to help resulting you fighting 1v2/3 while your team has an easier time going 4v3/2.
Imo it’s really viable and the best ranger build I ever played.

However I don’t feel bothered to post the details about it since most of it’s mechanics are getting crushed with the new trait system.