Guild Wars 2

tldr: Can I Ranger as pure melee?

Hi Rangers!

I started on a whim thinking that I wouldn’t like the class at all, but it turns out to be a lot of fun. I’m leveling open world PvE right now, mostly solo. I know, I know, face tank everything and bash head on keyboard to win, no problem.

Last week I was messing around with melee weapons after mostly using LB and the occasional GS. Something about Sword really piqued my interest so I played a bit with LB+Sword/WH. Then I tried Sword/Torch and really liked that too… (torch 5 + wh 5 is nice)

So I ditched LB completely. For the past week I’ve been all sword/torch/wh and it’s been a blast.

On to my question. I know that I should do whatever the frak I want- and I will. But I’m always curious about efficacy. Can I be a good Ranger in a group dungeon/fractal/WvW/sPvP scenario as all-melee? Obviously keeping a bow in inventory for those edge cases. Am I just being a squishier warrior, or can I bring interesting/effective nourishment to the team smorgasboard?

The meta dungeon build for ranger is sword/axe with longbow to just apply aoe cripple and fast vuln at the start of the fight (the cripple helps get the Predator’s Onslaught damage bonus). Axe is used as the preferred off-hand because of skill 4. It’s a very high damage skill, and can be used to pull mobs if needed. Another thing you should do before a fight is just drop a Bonfire (torch 5), swap to warhorn from your inventory, use skill 5 on that and swap an axe back from the inventory. That way you can get some pre-fight might stacking and still have the most useful offhand for the actual fight.

So overall, you’re on the right track for maximum PvE ranger efficiency. Keep at it, get used to the sword autoattack and the windows it allows for dodging and that’s pretty much it. Swap the pets when/if they’re about to die but that goes without saying. Another good thing that’s about to hit the PvE ranger build will be the upcoming specialization update, with multiple traits and skills commonly used in PvE getting a buff, or being placed in trait lines that make for stronger builds overall. So this is probably the time to be a PvE ranger if there ever was one.

As long as you bring Spotter and traited Frost Spirit, you are adding to the team. Then make sure you have Fortifying Bond, zerk armor and a sword and you are as good as we get for DPS in a dungeon.

If its WvW/sPvP, you will want a lot more sustain than zerk, so look at other armors and traits.

Thanks for the reply! Interesting. Axe OH, huh? I’ll play around with that today.

Elorna.5329:

Keep at it, get used to the sword autoattack and the windows it allows for dodging and that’s pretty much it.

I was thinking about this earlier today… Can I just take the AA off auto and hit it manually (assuming fingers of steel) to better be able to dodge at will? Does that even make sense?

I play a melee (mostly) ranger to good effect. Sword/dagger combo gives plenty of poison and dodge ability. Also, I use traps (at least two) to deadly effect. Sometimes, I’ll switch to axe/horn for range and buffs and it’s better for multiple (‘crowd control’) targets. Loads of fun to play!

sarasvatri.6871:

Can I just take the AA off auto and hit it manually (assuming fingers of steel) to better be able to dodge at will? Does that even make sense?

Yes, that is how rangers bypass the sword crazyness.
AA manually but don’t just smash it, otherwise it will create a skill queue and the dodge frames will be gone.

sarasvatri.6871:

Thanks for the reply! Interesting. Axe OH, huh? I’ll play around with that today.

Elorna.5329:

Keep at it, get used to the sword autoattack and the windows it allows for dodging and that’s pretty much it.

I was thinking about this earlier today… Can I just take the AA off auto and hit it manually (assuming fingers of steel) to better be able to dodge at will? Does that even make sense?

That’s one way of doing it, but requires a lot of spamming, I just got used to the small windows of time after second and third part of the chain, you can weave in Serpent Strike during those. And if you can, always use serpent strike for dodging, cause that way you keep your endurance maxed out for the 10% damage bonus. On fights that require more dodging than serpent strike offers, getting a dagger offhand is actually better than dodging (Subject Alpha in CoE is the prime example of such a fight).