Guild Wars 2

Greetings Rangers!

My name is Stawker. I am not actually an elementalist like my sig suggests :p I have been playing nothing but Ranger since day 1. I am the leader of [RET] an organized WvW guild (30 or so per night) that has been around since October 2012. For all those months, everyone in my guild, my server, and the GW2 community in general has pretty much ignored rangers as a class. They claim we are useless, that we are walking loot bags.

My challenge to the Ranger community is to prove them wrong. I am currently working on a build that emphasizes the few things that rangers do offer. What I have come up with has worked pretty well so far. I wont be releasing that build to the public right now cuz its not complete yet.

So, Rangers, post a build, post tips, videos, ideas, anything. How can rangers maximize our effectiveness in organized GuildvsGuilds or WorldvsWorld? Maybe you guys will teach me something I dont know yet that will help with my build completion.

Ill start with a few things we offer to get this going.

1. Fire Field
2. Best Water Field in game
3. We can immobilize 20 people at once
4. We can cripple entire zergs
5. We have an ability that (when traited) removes all condition from 10 allies within 1200 range
6. We have Blast Finishers on drakes, and a whirl finisher on axe 5
7. We have a very hard hitting AoE on longbow
8. We have access to tons of projectile finishers
9. 1500 Range

Now. Enough QQ to Anet. They dont read these forums anyways. Lets become useful in WvW by working together to emphasize our strengths

Something else you forgot, rangers have access to THE MOST fields and field variety in a single build

altough i dont have a build ready to show i run 80% berserk and 20% pow/crit/toughness ( for extra protection ). running a 30/30/10/0/0 build now, but i might change it in a near future. using my trait so that signets also effect me i use elite rampage as one, signet of wild ( sweet 25% extra damage ) and quikness to Barrage a WvW zerg with stone signet to get out of it during and after barrage. most of the times it even changes the tide of battle since there scared of 2-3k barrage hits * 12.

this build helped me in many places and so far i got to lvl 31 fractals, but i tnk way more rangers are higher then that. proofing that Rangers are a serious class no matter what other people tell about rangers. with the right build we can do the work other classes also do.

Also i making a melee build for my ranger more about the survival and so far i outlive warriors in close combat and stealthy thiefs.

ya, I didnt post everything we offer, jus the ones that came to mind while I was typing

Right on Franklin! Barrage is definitely the best offensive we have for WvW fights. I do something very similar in opening engagements.

My only suggestion for your technique would be to drop rampage as one and pick up entangle. Immobilizing 5 people is more important to a zerg fight than having fury, because you can get that from a warhorn or red moa or teammates anyways. Using an elite just for 2 boons (fury, swift) is not a good use of such a long cooldown (and you wont get the might stacks from your pet since pets die if sent to attack a zerg.)

It is definitely viable to run low toughness on a ranger in zerg vs zerg as long as you have a frontline to cover you and some “oh kitten” buttons for when you need them. Personally i have to run full toughness since im in the front line as a commander. If your in the backline you can definitely run a bit squishier though (not full glass in my opinion)

hey stawker It’s Rhbyn Yew from Eternal battle grounds. I always play that map and use my build pretty effectively in Zerg vs Zerg and Skirmish battles.

Main Points of Build and How to play it
+First off 1500 range with piercing arrows, you will hit multiple people from the farthest range with about (60-80 crit dmg and 30-40 crit chance, leaving room for you to tweak your build but you should aim for that).
+Barrage 5 and muddy terrain= zerg cripple and lockdown, i even throw in a entangle if they start running or i see enough glass.
+I have traited for both longbow cooldown and greatsword cooldown, yes a greatsword off hand because even though you are behind a zerg that doesnt mean thief wont try to kill you, with this build/weapon set if you encounter a thief there will be 3 options that can happen from best to worst
1. You kill the thief for entering within your 1500 range using both longbow greatsword and any other tactics – Muddy terrain switch to greatsword and wait inside. Longbow 2 also tracks any stealth if you press before they stealth.
2.The Fight gets drawn out, no one dies, they leave.
3.The fight gets drawn out, takes a while for you to die but it happens.
+ I myself roam alot alone so i use Pet Jaguar and Pet wolf. Good options for z v z would be red moa/brown bear
Your pet is useless in a large group, id stick to using your pet in 1v1 and 10v10 styles. Keep you pet passive in zerg vs zerg.

Sumarry for Lazy
-30/20/20/0/0
-Longbow- Berserker’s(superior sigil of Fire)
-GreatSword- Soldiers(Superior Sigil of Energy)
-Berserker’s Armor – Superior rune of Earth
-Trinkets- Berserker’s Amulet/Valkyrie Ringx2 with emerald upgrade
Cavalier Accessoryx2 with emerald upgrade, Berserker back item with ruby upgrade.
-Troll Unguent,Muddy terrain, Signet of Stone, Signet of the hunt, Entangle.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/ranger/?6.0|3.1g.h17|1.1c.h1j|1g.7o.1g.7o.1g.7o.1g.7o.1g.7o.1g.7o|1g.61.1p.64.1p.64.1i.64.1i.64.1g.67|u18a.k1a.k6a.0.0|0.0|4j.4x.4p.4q.0|e

You can use all exotics and it works JUST AS WELL, I have been getting some ascended gear lately to try and max out my guy.

Post april 30 patch pre july patch but uses about the same build. Mistakes are made by both of us, people are saying thief is not that good but as me but i disagree. You can still fight “good” thieves using this and win, i have done many times but just cant be bothered to record.

Pictures were taken today july 13, 2013.

I myself have been a ranger from the 1st day aswell.

I’ve been running a pet damage tank build for quite a while, and it worked prety good. I’ve Been able to solo bosses in dungeons that most people only could dream of. (Molten Facility zerk & firestorm also survived a lvl 20+ fractal troughout without AR for example). I run 0/0/20/20/30 traits & signets applied to pet and full soldier as armor. (power, toughness, vitality). This build gives great survivabilty and also grants some decent damage as the pet does 2-3k crits. Meanwhile I stay in the back buffing the pet and applieng conditions to enemy’s. This also grants the possibilty to rescue teammates easily.

Recently i’ve started to try the zerk build and planning for condition build aswell. In WvW the zerk build is more than usefull since skill 5 of LB brings chaos into zerg. But for PvE I’m still struggling since a ranger gets extremely vurnable while the damage isn’t good at all. this may be because an important part of your power is still within your pet who dies inmediatly when not running a pet build.

I’m still quite curious for the condition build since rangers do have alot of AoE condition skills and weapons skills that apply lots of condition.

at all, I do think rangers are a bit underpowered indeed, especially when it comes to dungeon running. Besides rangers have a few horrible designs that should be changed like: not be able to store your pet permanently. Sometimes you just don’t want to have your pet arround! Also I like the idea that you share a bond with your pet, and once you store the pet that it’ll grant you a bonus on your attributes, this could solve the problem for rangers that don’t want to run a pet build. What do you guys think about this?

Rofl, at anyone who thinks Rangers are walking loot bags..

While Rangers aren’t super great at a lot of things (Dungeons for example) and Zerg Fights for utility, We absolutely are one of the best solo classes in the game..

If you have guildies claiming they’re walking loot bags, They’ve never fought anyone running my BM Bunker Build..

Xsorus.2507:

Rofl, at anyone who thinks Rangers are walking loot bags..

While Rangers aren’t super great at a lot of things (Dungeons for example) and Zerg Fights for utility, We absolutely are one of the best solo classes in the game..

If you have guildies claiming they’re walking loot bags, They’ve never fought anyone running my BM Bunker Build..

Can’t kill what you can’t catch!

Xsorus.2507:

Rofl, at anyone who thinks Rangers are walking loot bags..

While Rangers aren’t super great at a lot of things (Dungeons for example) and Zerg Fights for utility, We absolutely are one of the best solo classes in the game..

If you have guildies claiming they’re walking loot bags, They’ve never fought anyone running my BM Bunker Build..

I’ve been wanting to buy/make a bm bunker set, whats your build and how many people can it handle.

Xsorus.2507:

Rofl, at anyone who thinks Rangers are walking loot bags..

While Rangers aren’t super great at a lot of things (Dungeons for example) and Zerg Fights for utility, We absolutely are one of the best solo classes in the game..

If you have guildies claiming they’re walking loot bags, They’ve never fought anyone running my BM Bunker Build..

or anyone with a minute bit of skill.
only classes that superceed rangers in 1v1 is a well played thief and engis. All others will eventually fall.

The only tips I can offer are.. that there seems to be only 2 real builds for the class. One built for sPvP, and one built for WvW.

BM bunker – sPvP / roaming
Full Berserker – WvW

In my experience, deviating away from either one of those in those scenarios.. your basically crippling yourself or your group’s effectiveness (group for WvW).

The thing is, as ninjamo mentioned, we have a fairly hard hitting AoE with longbow, despite it’s damage nerf (which I think should be returned). Under full glass, you can pretty much down whichever 5 enemies it hits on the front lines within 2-3 seconds. They can’t run through the front line because.. we’ll they’ll get killed by the front line themselves. I’ve gone days without dying and made up to 350 badges an hour doing it.

@xsorus, im talking about Zerg vs Zerg and Guild vs Guild. Not roaming :p I enjoy both but im currently working on maximizing our effectiveness in an organized open field zerg/guild.

@Deadly. Barrage hits way more than 5 people :p cuz it comes down in multiple “waves” and each wave hits 5 people so it can hit potentially over 40 people

ninjambo.3784:

Greetings Rangers!

My name is Stawker. I am not actually an elementalist like my sig suggests :p I have been playing nothing but Ranger since day 1. I am the leader of [RET] an organized WvW guild (30 or so per night) that has been around since October 2012. For all those months, everyone in my guild, my server, and the GW2 community in general has pretty much ignored rangers as a class. They claim we are useless, that we are walking loot bags.

My challenge to the Ranger community is to prove them wrong. I am currently working on a build that emphasizes the few things that rangers do offer. What I have come up with has worked pretty well so far. I wont be releasing that build to the public right now cuz its not complete yet.

So, Rangers, post a build, post tips, videos, ideas, anything. How can rangers maximize our effectiveness in organized GuildvsGuilds or WorldvsWorld? Maybe you guys will teach me something I dont know yet that will help with my build completion.

Ill start with a few things we offer to get this going.

1. Fire Field
2. Best Water Field in game
3. We can immobilize 20 people at once
4. We can cripple entire zergs
5. We have an ability that (when traited) removes all condition from 10 allies within 1200 range
6. We have Blast Finishers on drakes, and a whirl finisher on axe 5
7. We have a very hard hitting AoE on longbow
8. We have access to tons of projectile finishers
9. 1500 Range

Now. Enough QQ to Anet. They dont read these forums anyways. Lets become useful in WvW by working together to emphasize our strengths

Hey there Stawker, I can ease your search and give you the most affective build a Ranger can offer in a ZvZ situation. A full Valk setup with Longbow and Shortbow. 30/30/0/10/0 with at least piercing arrows. Healing Spring, Frost Spirit, Search and Rescue, signet of Renewal and Entangle. Stay in the middle of the Zerg. That’s it.

@Arrow.
Full valk means no toughness. Toughness>Vit in organized wvw. If your eles and guardians know what they are doing you only need toughness.

Search and Rescue is not that effective. Only works half the time, and is really buggy.

I run a Zerg that is constantly moving and pushing into enemies. Making frost spirit useless.

Shortbow also has very little AoE. poison volley can tag a lot of people with PA but overall it’s mostly single target damage and therefore useless against any Zerg better than TC lol

Also. Most good zergs have retal. If you barrage on retal call it game over without signet of stone in hand ;P

Hmm, I’m sorry if you have issues retal, or lack of toughness or keeping yourself alive in ZvZ situations. I certainly don’t. Being a Ranger since day 1 as well has made me sorta like a ninja. Especially in the middle of a group of guardians and eles. You are looking for aoe? Good luck on a ranger unless you roll traps. L

You asked what’s the best possible way a ranger can help in a ZvZ or GvG situation. Well, I’d like to see you come up with a better build. My suggestion allows major DPS distribution from a distance, best healing field, 10% damage increase for you and everyone else, MASSIVE condition removal for you and everyone around you, revive capabilities while you are dealing massive damage and the ability to root a group of enemy’s.

ranger builds are really limited for z v z, im pretty sure the BEST POSSIBLE build has already been mentioned before on the forums. There’s nothing i see that can make us any better but I could be wrong.

I would like to see a kamikaze hit squad with 3 rangers 30/10/0/0/30, knight/zerker LB/GS Riverdrake/Wolf, with healing spring, muddy terrain, QZ, LR, Entangle, and 2 thieves 30/x/30/x/x with poison sharing with Shadow refuge, Skale venom, Devourer venom, Basilisk venom hit the back side of a zerg with lightning breath, barrage and dancing daggers, or SB aa in case of thieves. That would be awesome. Its hard to get ranger tactics in a zerg though, when projectiles are so easily reflected, most zergs will have plenty of guardians/mesmers. And other classes are better close range, except maybe for engies and necros.

@ninja.

your’re right yea, i tend to forget to equip entangle most of the times out of habit. even though i got a trait to reduce its cool down by 20%.

the 80/20 armor attributes are not only for WvW, otherwise i would go full 100%. but i need some toughness to survive in Dungeons and PvE since my guild is good, but not on a pro level that i want to make myself squishy.

I will give this a shot.

I play a Ranger in Zerg vs Zerg all the time. Creating a spec for a Ranger for zerg combat is very situational at times. I tend to run builds that cater to the situations I am in.

Ranger zerg builds should be more power base because of all of the condition removal, if the Ranger focuses on condition damage its going to get removed quickly because of all of the minus condition duration foods and Superior Runes of Melandru’s most front line are stacking.

Rangers need health. 20k should be a minimum.

Toughness depending if you want to be more mid-line or back line.
Back line is more for glassier range builds that don’t want to be near the front line
Mid-line is more for tanker builds that are going to move back and forth from front-line to back line. If you choose to be more mid-line: 2.8k-3.k Armor is a good number to be around.

I tend to play more of a mid-line ranger. I like having the ability to fight up close and switch to range at the drop of a hat.

Healing Spring and Bonfire are our only reliable source of combo fields. Traps are to situational to rely on as combo fields.

We need a weapon base blast finisher. I use drakes a lot in zerg combat but the blast is to RNG and we all know that pet survival in zerg engagements is very minimal.

Know your tools
Skills like: Muddy Terrain, Spike Trap, Frost Trap, Entangle, Whirling Defense, Power Stab on Greatsword 1, Barrage, canines skills, porcine skills, drake skills and even the Frost and Stone Spirits can all be useful when fighting the zergs.

Armor is up to the Ranger. I use P/V/T armor with Melandru’s. I switch my trinkets around if I need more damage I tend us a mix of caviler, valkyrie, and berserker or I use full P/V/T trinkets with exquisite ruby orbs if I need the defense will minimal lost of damage.

Builds is up to your play style. I like to CCing zergs a much as possible so I look at the tools I am offered and by trail and error see which ones are working for me or not.

I don’t GvG because of the elitism of other players telling other what works or not when basically the two groups GvGing are all the same professions and builds.

I can defeat enemies regularly with the following builds in wvw:

• Bleed/condi
• trap
• valkyrie / precise strike 12k + mauls or 9k first longbow auto
• Berserker with signet of beastmaster
• regen / bunker in wilderness survival / nature magic
• regen / bunker in wilderness survival / marks
• regen / bunker in nature magic / beastmastery
• regen / binker in wilderness surival / beastmastery
• magi / companion’s might build
• Longbow / sun spirit / sharpening stone long distance condi
• celestial (coming soon)

Ranger is awesome in GvG as Ward will be showing you all soon (is there a schedule for matches)? I have at least half a dozen ‘plays’ involving ranger and I’ve been working closely with some of their team mates.

Ranger is synonymous with harassment. To ranger is to throw nature’s wrath upon the enemy, laughing at their futile resistance to Nature’s Erosion.

Oh, also, I’m a monster in PvE FOTM 48 using 20/30/5/15/0 with sigil of strength, full zerk, companion’s might, and fortifying bond for permanent 25 might stacks on pet, vigorous spirits means spirits proc at twice the chance AND don’t die. I am blowing stuff up with ranger in dungeon — especially with ele (25k fiery greatsword whirl subject alpha into corner). So, ya, rangers are in a good place.

Chopps.5047:

I can defeat enemies regularly with the following builds in wvw:

• Bleed/condi
• trap
• valkyrie / precise strike 12k + mauls or 9k first longbow auto
• Berserker with signet of beastmaster
• regen / bunker in wilderness survival / nature magic
• regen / bunker in wilderness survival / marks
• regen / bunker in nature magic / beastmastery
• regen / binker in wilderness surival / beastmastery
• magi / companion’s might build
• Longbow / sun spirit / sharpening stone long distance condi
• celestial (coming soon)

Ranger is awesome in GvG as Ward will be showing you all soon (is there a schedule for matches)? I have at least half a dozen ‘plays’ involving ranger and I’ve been working closely with some of their team mates.

Ranger is synonymous with harassment. To ranger is to throw nature’s wrath upon the enemy, laughing at their futile resistance to Nature’s Erosion.

Ranger’s are a soft counter to current GvG meta. Just to many egos and Betty Crocker cutter cookies builds ATM.

I don’t understand 1 thing. Ppl keep saying “full zerk in WvW”. Are we talking about pugging, blobbing and karma trains, or organized raiding grops and GvG?
If 1st one, then ok.
If 2nd one, then I don’t agree In organized fights (mostly using voip) 1500 vit and tough is minimum imo. Otherwise you are free rally and waste your friends work. There is no “backline”. It’s all just melee trains running through eachother, and everyone who hoped to stay safe in back is dead because he was left away from heavy core. At least that’s GvG meta I experienced.

Some ranger tips that aren’t posted yet:

• When hitting garri WG, traited LB can hit inner cannon (and this cannon can hit your guys too!)
• LB 4. can be used to throw enemies from walls. With some luck to enemy positioning, you can actually throw him from corner, so he falls to you zerg.
• Enemies often forgot about our range (and bonus from being on higher ground), so traited LB can be used to take down siege (ACs, catas).
• GS evade in 1. chain is amazing in melee trains.
• RaO is not for some funny 20 sec of fury… it’s 20 sec of stability!
• Hitting running enemies with Entagle is guaranteed death for them. For some reason many players still didn’t learn to break vines, so if they used their teleports and condi removal while running, they will just stand there waiting to get killed.

I just run around, Terkov. A little bit of everything with zerk. We can argue what’s more or less efficient in different situations and you’d find we probably agree. My whole point was that it’s on the “viable” plane. That’s all I meant…dunno if your question was directed at me in the first place, but, ya, you can make many builds work for ranger.

AydenStar.4216:

I will give this a shot.

I play a Ranger in Zerg vs Zerg all the time. Creating a spec for a Ranger for zerg combat is very situational at times. I tend to run builds that cater to the situations I am in.

Ranger zerg builds should be more power base because of all of the condition removal, if the Ranger focuses on condition damage its going to get removed quickly because of all of the minus condition duration foods and Superior Runes of Melandru’s most front line are stacking.

Rangers need health. 20k should be a minimum.

Toughness depending if you want to be more mid-line or back line.
Back line is more for glassier range builds that don’t want to be near the front line
Mid-line is more for tanker builds that are going to move back and forth from front-line to back line. If you choose to be more mid-line: 2.8k-3.k Armor is a good number to be around.

I tend to play more of a mid-line ranger. I like having the ability to fight up close and switch to range at the drop of a hat.

Healing Spring and Bonfire are our only reliable source of combo fields. Traps are to situational to rely on as combo fields.

We need a weapon base blast finisher. I use drakes a lot in zerg combat but the blast is to RNG and we all know that pet survival in zerg engagements is very minimal.

Know your tools
Skills like: Muddy Terrain, Spike Trap, Frost Trap, Entangle, Whirling Defense, Power Stab on Greatsword 1, Barrage, canines skills, porcine skills, drake skills and even the Frost and Stone Spirits can all be useful when fighting the zergs.

Armor is up to the Ranger. I use P/V/T armor with Melandru’s. I switch my trinkets around if I need more damage I tend us a mix of caviler, valkyrie, and berserker or I use full P/V/T trinkets with exquisite ruby orbs if I need the defense will minimal lost of damage.

Builds is up to your play style. I like to CCing zergs a much as possible so I look at the tools I am offered and by trail and error see which ones are working for me or not.

I don’t GvG because of the elitism of other players telling other what works or not when basically the two groups GvGing are all the same professions and builds.

A lot of good points raised about ranger in WvWvW in the above post.

I agree:

- Direct Damage
- 20k health target
- focus on soft CC – Anti zerg control (I prefer muddy terrain)
- traps have limited success in open field battles
- pets are limited in zerg vs zerg (set on passive and use them for buffs/support)

I also try to focus on:

- at least one on demand source for stability (Ie RaO or SotW with signet of beatmaster in MM line)
- LB(Sigil of Fire)/GS(Sigil of Hydromancy) – The best combo of ranged damage and defensive weapons for open field combat
- 50% crit chance
- at least 50% crit damage
- traits and skills that work a majority of the time instead of sometimes (IE spotter instead of piercing arrows, signet mastery instead of steady focus)
- multiple layered protection for both spike damage and conditions (IE. SoS/Runes of the Forge, Empathic Bond/Lemongrass Food)

My Advice:

If you want to run with a large organized group in WvWvW please do not bring a FBB (Free Bag Build). I do not know a single commander who wants a ranger to come rolling in with full zerk gear. It’s ok to run glass in PVE or if you are doing your own thing in WvWvW. It’s fun to try off the wall builds and focus on roaming but when you are with the main group, think differently.

You only hurt everyone around you by being a free rally and nothing is more frustrating to a commander then a fight being very close then seeing one rally turn the tide for the enemy. That is part of the reason (not the only reason) some commanders have such a negative view of rangers in WvWvW most are glass and it usually ends up badly for them. It’s much better to plan for worst case scenario and survive.

However Ayden, I do disagree about having a blast finisher. It would make our healing with healing spring way to powerful especially with healing power/regen builds (depending on how they implement it). Can you imagine a RRR build with GS/Sword (3 leap water field combo finishers), Crazy healing power, Crazy Regen, AND on demand blast finisher coupled with two drakes?

Are there any WvW builds for shortbow? I worked hard for my Dreamer and I love using it – how may I set myself up to be of most value for the team?

GUFF.5692:

- traits and skills that work a majority of the time instead of sometimes (IE spotter instead of piercing arrows, signet mastery instead of steady focus)

You consider 150 precision better than piercing arrows? Man piercing arrows is like our single best zerg ability?! The aoe damage from piercing arrows is insane against large groups. Throw in the potential aoe cripples/daze/knockback as well.

One of the best traits we have imo. And a lot more reliable than barrage.

DeadlySynz.3471:

The only tips I can offer are.. that there seems to be only 2 real builds for the class. One built for sPvP, and one built for WvW.

BM bunker – sPvP / roaming
Full Berserker – WvW

In my experience, deviating away from either one of those in those scenarios.. your basically crippling yourself or your group’s effectiveness (group for WvW).

The thing is, as ninjamo mentioned, we have a fairly hard hitting AoE with longbow, despite it’s damage nerf (which I think should be returned). Under full glass, you can pretty much down whichever 5 enemies it hits on the front lines within 2-3 seconds. They can’t run through the front line because.. we’ll they’ll get killed by the front line themselves. I’ve gone days without dying and made up to 350 badges an hour doing it.

if you go zerker in WvW you are a moron.

Zerker ranger is PvE/Dungeons.

for WvW you want BM Bunker, Crit-Tank, boon support or condition build
PvP = BM Bunker/Trapper

Sube Dai.8496:

GUFF.5692:

- traits and skills that work a majority of the time instead of sometimes (IE spotter instead of piercing arrows, signet mastery instead of steady focus)

You consider 150 precision better than piercing arrows? Man piercing arrows is like our single best zerg ability?! The aoe damage from piercing arrows is insane against large groups. Throw in the potential aoe cripples/daze/knockback as well.

One of the best traits we have imo. And a lot more reliable than barrage.

piercing arrows are good, but it has a “max target” limit JUST like barrage, not to mention it is also limited by the arc of the arrow.

Spotter coupled with 30% chance to create a fire blast on crit can do the same kind of damage, but it would benefit everyone else, and not just yourself. Making your entire zerg more likely to come out on top.

Prysin.8542:

DeadlySynz.3471:

The only tips I can offer are.. that there seems to be only 2 real builds for the class. One built for sPvP, and one built for WvW.

BM bunker – sPvP / roaming
Full Berserker – WvW

In my experience, deviating away from either one of those in those scenarios.. your basically crippling yourself or your group’s effectiveness (group for WvW).

The thing is, as ninjamo mentioned, we have a fairly hard hitting AoE with longbow, despite it’s damage nerf (which I think should be returned). Under full glass, you can pretty much down whichever 5 enemies it hits on the front lines within 2-3 seconds. They can’t run through the front line because.. we’ll they’ll get killed by the front line themselves. I’ve gone days without dying and made up to 350 badges an hour doing it.

if you go zerker in WvW you are a moron.

Zerker ranger is PvE/Dungeons.

for WvW you want BM Bunker, Crit-Tank, boon support or condition build
PvP = BM Bunker/Trapper

I agree with what you said but you really didn’t have to call him a moron.
I run a crit tank myself. Btw i think enemy only rallies if they HIT you for a certain amount? And if you are in the back, I’ve only ever experienced 2-5 people hitting me as i play to the side/back. I don’t run in zerg melee, condition trains as rangers are poor in both. I also play with greatsword as second option which is our best survivability weapon and rarely die, now if i really tried not to die, I wouldnt.

Prysin.8542:

Sube Dai.8496:

GUFF.5692:

- traits and skills that work a majority of the time instead of sometimes (IE spotter instead of piercing arrows, signet mastery instead of steady focus)

You consider 150 precision better than piercing arrows? Man piercing arrows is like our single best zerg ability?! The aoe damage from piercing arrows is insane against large groups. Throw in the potential aoe cripples/daze/knockback as well.

One of the best traits we have imo. And a lot more reliable than barrage.

piercing arrows are good, but it has a “max target” limit JUST like barrage, not to mention it is also limited by the arc of the arrow.

Spotter coupled with 30% chance to create a fire blast on crit can do the same kind of damage, but it would benefit everyone else, and not just yourself. Making your entire zerg more likely to come out on top.

I prefer piercing arrows but I do my own thing alot in wvw so maybe a ranger in a guild would use that instead, I would still prefer peircing arrows, as i play 1500 range and when i pick an important target to take down, I want him to go down and not be able to hide behind teamates/animals/mobs.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMQQJAVTjAV91JWCWs2Bili9Eo2DN1fMxUwfGVwjE-jUyAotARfCU2LqJwhMW3KiGreBTXuoalKgLpIa1yAYOGA-w

Try to bring this bad boy down, I dare ya!

Cempa.5619:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMQQJAVTjAV91JWCWs2Bili9Eo2DN1fMxUwfGVwjE-jUyAotARfCU2LqJwhMW3KiGreBTXuoalKgLpIa1yAYOGA-w

Try to bring this bad boy down, I dare ya!

Looks like a very solid build, I can’t give up either my piercing arrows or 1500 range though =(.

Prysin.8542:

Spotter coupled with 30% chance to create a fire blast on crit can do the same kind of damage, but it would benefit everyone else, and not just yourself. Making your entire zerg more likely to come out on top.

Well that 30% is wasted if you already have 50% crit (should go into crit dmg instead) – all it does is buff allies. But if you want to buff allies you wouldn’t be running a power build trying to do aoe. You would be focusing on spirits and combo fields (someone correct me if i am wrong).

I also run fire sigil on shortbow with 50% crit but I don’t think its as effective as piercing arrows.

Sube Dai.8496:

Prysin.8542:

Spotter coupled with 30% chance to create a fire blast on crit can do the same kind of damage, but it would benefit everyone else, and not just yourself. Making your entire zerg more likely to come out on top.

Well that 30% is wasted if you already have 50% crit (should go into crit dmg instead) – all it does is buff allies. But if you want to buff allies you wouldn’t be running a power build trying to do aoe. You would be focusing on spirits and combo fields (someone correct me if i am wrong).

I also run fire sigil on shortbow with 50% crit but I don’t think its as effective as piercing arrows.

I Lub my piercing arrows. And with that statement you are correct.

Durzlla.6295:

Something else you forgot, rangers have access to THE MOST fields and field variety in a single build

Are you sure? Eles can do water, frost, fire and air in a staff build.

Rangers can do fire (Flame Trap, Torch), water (Healing Spring), frost (Frost Trap) and poison if they have a spider or devourer. If you want to count the ethereal field from the found items from pigs, I guess that counts but it’s RNG and very clunky. Unfortunately, unlike ele fields, trap fields are not on demand, they are situational. The same can be said of spider fields (the devourer has a poison field as an F2 so I guess that counts). Technically you can get a second Healing Spring if you trait to create one when you go down. Technically I guess you might be right, but it’s not very practical. Ele fields also have more favourable cooldowns (especially their fire field) and greater range.

Viper’s Nest and Muddy Terrain are not combo fields at all.

If I had to guess at the best way for a ranger to contribute in WvW in a zerg, I would probably say immobilise? I dunno. The melee weapon options don’t really do much in the way of control or support, so it’s not like having blast finishers, warding rings or knockbacks/downs/ups that warriors and guardians bring to melee. Traps might not be too bad but I personally prefer staff ele if I want to drop AoE effects (dropping Frozen Ground in front of or under an enemy zerg following by Static Field and Unsteady ground makes a huge difference). Immobilise in the form of Muddy Terrain and to a lesser extent Entangle are probably the most obvious things rangers do that other classes don’t. Maybe combine that with Barrage (but you will have trouble with sacrificing mobility). Spike Trap is also an immobilise but it’s either point blank range or needs to be traited.

Aside from that, the longbow is on par with grenades in terms of range (I’m not sure about explosion radius though) but it’s single target if you don’t count barrage. Spotter is nice for 150 precision, but it is capped at five random nearby allies.

I think rangers might be the fastest profession (if, not it’s close) when spamming Swoop so traversing the map with one can be very easy.

If the zerg is having problems with swiftness (which it shouldn’t considering you have static field and blast finishers combined with IMS signets and personal swiftness skills) traited shouts are probably the most powerful spammable swiftness skills, but it does lock you down to shouts.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been a part of an organised zerg meta, but