Guild Wars 2

I play the game for 3 weeks and i’m currently level 62. Today i had the chance to try for the first time the Ascalonian Catacombs dungeon. Never before have i ever hated the ranger class or ever felt useless until today.

> Pets can’t tank for kitten. 1 hit and they disappear like paper… therefore 50% of your damage gone in a second. (using brown bear and fernhound)

> We were in a room were we had to kill some gravelling burrows….. Shortbow / Longbow ??? Totally useless. Even if i was standing at litterally 0 distance from the burrow i was getting " Obstructed obstructed" message all time., therefore zero damage output from bows. i had to run around like an idiot until i found the magic angle for my hits to land.

> Bosses. Same problem as above. half the time “obstructed” therefore damage loss from bow, pet down in 1 hit therefore pathetic damage output from the hits not getting obstructed, switching to melee weapon would just caused me to get 2 shoted from bosses, and in generally feeling a burden and zero damage contribution to the team.

My build is 10 marksmanship, 25 precision , 17 Wilderness Survival and 5 Beastmastery and skills quickening zephyr – signet of stone – signet of wild and rampage as one. I play with shortbow / greatsword but i have longbow and Sword / dagger as well in inventory. I don’t think i have “bad” gear for my level since appart from the rings the rest of my gear is of rare value.

Is it really like that for endgame rangers too or i’m just doing something wrong ? I’m literally thinking to just ditch the ranger and roll a warrior instead…

sorry for the rant -,-

No it’s not the same as the endgame Ranger.

Endgame ranger is even worse.

^ seriously ? …… lol

december update is supposed to fix ranger, if it doesnt…
hands u a torch

And by fix you mean ? Are there any official patch notes ?

One thing to remember about dungeons (this apply to all classes) but you have to be flexible, and willing to adapt.

Don’t rely on pets for damage. I recommend bringing ranged pets (spiders and devourers) because they are decently tanky and ranged, and often die less. I have 15 points in beastmastery and use my pets mainly as a source of quickness.

Carry a greatsword or a sword! This applies specifically to AC, when you want to kill burrows. I’m assuming you are doing path 3 (Tzark). In the Lover’s room, I swap my bow out for a Greatsword and kill the burrows using that. In the second room whree you have to kill burrows with Warmaster Grast, I swap back to the bow.

As for bosses, stay with your bow. I personally use a shortbow as my main weapon. And your damage output, as long as you are constantly attacking, should be fine. Certainly, you won’t do as much damage as a melee, but I’ll take doing a bit less damage and being a lot more safer. Your pet will die, yes, but again, I don’t rely on pets for damage as much. (You don’t seem to be too, since you only have 5 points in beastmastery.)

As for obstructed problems…I honestly have never really felt like it was a huge problem. Sure I’ll see it once in a while, but people here talk like half your shots are being obstructed which just isn’t true.

Hope my advise is helpful. I’ve done practically every dungeon with my ranger, and I love it. If you have any specifics about dungeons, feel free to ask!

angan.6572:

And by fix you mean ? Are there any official patch notes ?

Yes there are patch notes for Ranger, its the November patch notes. caused an outrage in the ranger community.

Thanks for the positive feedback, i play with shortbow / greatsword too but getting obstructed 90% of the times is really frustrating. And since pets are a huge factor in ranger damage i don’t understand why they are so fragile :S

Drago.1634:

Yes there are patch notes for Ranger, its the November patch notes. caused an outrage in the ranger community.

i mean for future “fixes” or changes

For dungeons I feel like you need to have a ranged and a melee weapon. I use sword/warhorn and longbow because those are the weapons I find the most fun. (Even when the swords root gets me into a pickle)

Rangers are good at doing a mix of support and damage. With my sword/horn I can buff with the horn and do very nice damage with the sword. Using a flame trap and healing spring I set up nice combo fields. (Use monarchs leap to get a flame shield or bust some extra AoE healing)

Then the bow gives vulnerability and AoE damage. Albeit short ow is probably better, but I like the the way the longbow looks and the support that it offers.

And pets…. Well…. Yeah they kinda suck in dungeons. Roll with bears or spiders I suppose my poor wolves have to get stowed.

btw…OP… why aren’t you also carrying an axe, warhorn, and sword in your inventory? if one style of play doesn’t work out, you could at least provide everyone fury. burrows aren’t bad

burrows is much easier to fight if your using a melee or axe. your AoE is key here. keep a bow as a main weapon and switch out for utility/versatility. hell even using a GS is better.

Luriyu.6873:

btw…OP… why aren’t you also carrying an axe, warhorn, and sword in your inventory? if one style of play doesn’t work out, you could at least provide everyone fury. burrows aren’t bad

burrows is much easier to fight if your using a melee or axe. your AoE is key here. keep a bow as a main weapon and switch out for utility/versatility. hell even using a GS is better.

oh i do. I usually run with Shortbow / Greatsword. Axes i don’t like them so much but i do have a sword / warhorn in invtentory for some occasions

Well, pets aren’t really tanks for dungeons, but that’s pretty much the case for most MMOs in my experience. If you take a tanky pet, they can soak up damage for a bit, which can be useful in some scenarios, but I would suggest taking either a ranged pet or something that’s semi-durable and using it as a source of dps rather than tanking.

Some bosses will smash pets and it sucks, but it’s nothing crippling. Most of the time you can alleviate your pet problems with bringing the right pet into the right boss fight, but that’s something you’ll learn over time, so don’t get discouraged just because of your first dungeon.

As for the obstruction on graveling stuff, this is mostly an issue with the dungeon itself and isn’t something to worry about. A similar thing happened for eles with the blossoms in Twilight Arbor where they couldn’t kill the things at all with most of their spells even though a ranger could plow through them with an axe easily.

In the end, don’t give up. Pay close attention to boss movements. They have a lot of subtle animations which can tell you when you how you need to manage your pet or how to react as melee, but it’s not nearly as obvious as some games (such as WoW where you get alarms, bells, whistles, and giant text all over telling you any time a boss does anything).

Despite what others have said, the ranger /does/ get better. I struggled so much with my first run on AC with my level 30 ranger. But as others have said, it’s about adaptability. Be prepared to switch to the sword or greatsword for the burrows, be willing to adapt your pets (ranged pets are generally better), and freely adapt your utility and elite skills for each fight.

In AC path 3 in the lover’s room, for example, I’ll swap to my sword/torch, with Signet of Renewal, two traps of choice, and my brown bear pet. I’ll melee the burrows down, use the AOE fields from my torch and traps to weaken all the gravelings while I do so, and use the Signet of Renewal and my brown bear’s F2 to frequently cure me of the bleeding that those graveling’s stack, which helps survivability a lot.

A nice DPS pet that I would suggest as well that’s outside of the ranged pets (spiders and devourers) would be the jaguar. Felines are a great DPS pet, but the jaguar’s F2 skill is a 6 second stealth, which isn’t interrupted by it dealing damage like normal stealth. It’s great for keeping it alive when it starts to get focused, and your enemy is forced to target something else, and that 6 second stealth helps stall out the cooldown on your heal ability, to keep the jaguar fully healed.

I like Axe+Horn for the burrows. The killer doves are wonderful DPS on the burrows and the bounce doesn’t suffer from obstructed. The fury & swiftness from the horn are really nice for both DPS and kiting the small army of critters that build up.

I’d recommend devourers for almost everything. They don’t miss. They don’t run up and agro (they’re ranged). They’re really good DPS (only cats are better). They have very high toughness — decent tanks in open world (not in dungeons). They KB & burrow/evade.

My GF adapted by bringing an Axe+Warhorn (although Axe+Axe can also work really well), and a Spider pet.

Ranged pets stay alive most of the time, and Axes with their AE nearly always hit everything.

yes pets are pretty much usless in dungeons and pvp
i run with GS/LB so i swap when needed usualy i don’t have problems in dungeons

You need to adapt to each situation/dungeon/fight, and bring every possible weapon you can think of, and plan your pets accordingly.

Ranged pets live longer, keep them close to you and micro manage their attack/return, spec specifically for dungeons/support/traps (in tought fights I’m usually the last guy alive, reviving everyone, keeping the fight going on).

I know we do suck right now and have to work twice as hard as every other class out there to pull our weight, I just hope it pays off eventually (Put your best game on Anet).

Dont have any expectations for ranger from the next patch.Going by what crap the the class has been fed from the devs suggest ya reroll to the favored classes ie thief or warr.

Check out the ranger forum at Guru. There are a few threads about greatsword ranger which might be helpful.

And if rangers can’t be the DPS in a group, at least focus on survivability and support. Warhorn (Call of the Wild) and some pet F2 skills can be supportive.

(But you might wanna try other professions if DPS is what you ultimately want. I’ve basically given up the thought of rangers being DPS after the Nov update.)

Truly, don’t feel bad about Ranger DPS in dungeons or out of them. One HUGE advantage to ranged attacks are that they usually never let up. They don’t have to chase the target as it moves around. I also play (at times) guardian and thief — both heavy melee classes. You spend a LOT of time dodging and trying to apply your melee in many fights. If you’re not actually hitting it — even if it’s just for a second now and then — the classes that are hitting constantly are out-dps’ing you.

GW2’s damage reporting is extremely deceptive. It only shows you numbers without any time component factored in. It even adds up consecutive channeled hits, presumably just to put more big numbers on the screen. It’s basically designed to lull you into a feeling of accomplishment any time a big number pops up and conversely, make you feel week if the numbers are small.

bob.3269:

Dont have any expectations for ranger from the next patch.Going by what crap the the class has been fed from the devs suggest ya reroll to the favored classes ie thief or warr.

Warrior is obviously their golden child. I would not put Thief in that category at all. They’ve gotten so hammered with nerfs that there’s only one viable weapon set for DPS now. The biggest “problem” with Thief is really that Thief players have more collective creativity and energy for finding ways to legitimately exploit their class’ potential than the devs do for balancing it.

Yeah, I’ve been hit in WvW by a Steal/Mug/CnD/etc.. Yeah, it wasn’t fun. But, I had warning and should have been ready for it. It’s easy to survive one when you’ve got a plan in mind and ready to execute when the Thief starts it.

I do think 1v1 spiking should not be possible, though, and my main is a mesmer — another class with a big spike. I’d fix it by doubling the HP of everything in game, players, mobs, everything. You could then do an Nv1 spike (N>1), but 1v1? Not anymore. You should get bloody before dying in a 1v1, just just explode into a pile of giblets.

I cannot say that Rangers have their flaws. The main issue in instances is that the pet is pretty much an arsepuller if you don’t watch out and that it dies quick. A way to fix this was to go 15 points into the Beastmastery tree to get the quicker swap and quickness on swap. If you aren’t tanking or anything I prefer ranged pets since they tend to be hit allot less. I personally play with devourer and bear/wolf. Use the F2 ability and swap to get a quickness boost. Some bosses you’ll have to play into his attack combination. For example in AC you have the Luitenant Kholer when you see him go into whirlwind mode switch pets as you dodge to avoid your pet from dying.

The burrows the best way is probably to start using a greatsword or any other melee weapon you have at your disposable since they have a sweet spot now where you can stand without missing which was the other bane.

Skill Build is a choice of preference I think. I use Quickening Zephyr – Lightning Reflexes – Frost/Fire/Spike Trap(situational) and Rampage as One. My main weapon is the Greatsword.

Endgame Ranger isn’t so bad.

Sure, EVERYTHING ELSE is better, but it as a jack-of-all-trades can be useful.

I go from glass cannon(The only way I can damage at all) to medic instantly as I pop quickening zephyr to revive a downed ally in fractions of seconds. I throw down barrage to keep the enemy crippled and use my Asura racial to give them weakness and poisoned, + poison combo field. My Krytan Drakehound(Pets need a buff BAD, so does longbow, I won’t pretend they’re okay) Tackles a spellcaster and my healing spring cleanses all my buddies. I then yank out my warhorn, call down freakishly large bleed-birds on the boss and give us all swiftness.

I play a weird build but it isn’t so bad.

Besides, Ascalonian catacombs is a ridiculously hard dungeon. A school of hard knocks for newcomers. It teaches you to dodge or die and how to focus down targets.

I have zero issues in dungeons… pet, really depends on group make up and target, like folks mention adapt. Go ranged with pet, if that won’t work then I put the pet on passive and use it to take dmg (Bear) for me when I get into trouble. If you’re finding a lot of obstructions, which occur from time to time, use AoE. Usually, I will see a few “obstructed” hits then a string of non obstructed, why???? No clue, would love this game fix, but part of me feels especially with the long bow its so that we don’t do
TOO much damage with some of our skills, that’s just a feeling though, I have no proof.

Anyway, I’m having zero issues in dungeons… In fact, guild usually asks for me to run them for dps and I’m decidedly NOT glass cannon spec’d.

Edit: Usually I stay up longer than anyone else (lots of HP 22k ish with a lot of + to heal), am usually rezzing folks when they fall, stay in the perimeters if you’re using ranged obviously. Learn to strafe so you can kite and shoot things, not just run around without doing damage.

Hi, you aren’t using piercing arrows which is a must for a dungeon build. Also, use range pets and try swapping the greatsword for a longbow (good aoe, decent cohesion with shortbow). That’s all I can offer. We aren’t a high value dungeon class, but if you minimize our weaknesses, you can make do.

What’re you trying to ultimately accomplish?
I ask that because you’ve got defensive signets, investment into wilderness survival, and mention tanking. But you also have alot in skirmishing, and bemoan the loss of pet as a loss of damage.

Are you trying to survive long enough to make it easier to put the hurt on things?
Or are you trying to survive the longest and want something productive to do between bouts of pulling teammates off the floor?

hi, fellow ranger(s). our profession is not that bad in AC dungeon. My ranger pretty much leveled up in AC dungeon. i got my exotic armor full set and weapons from this dungeon and still have more unspent tears…

the ‘obstructed’ thing happens when using bow on burrows. with regard to the pets – personally, I dont engage my pet in battle but instead I use it for extra hp when i’m having probs (skill: Protect Me). usually using a bear and arctodus for vitality.

weapon usage varies depending on the enemy. i.e. for my ranger I use Sword/Warhorn on burrows/spider queen, Axe on gravelings, Shortbow on kohler/troll, Longbow on howler king/colussus. But this is how I play my ranger – i like jumping in and out of melee.

Try to experiment. It’s okay to get frustrated at first try, the more experience you get (in playing a Ranger character) the better you become.

hopefully we can have a few AC dungeon run if you don’t mind.