Guild Wars 2

I have a level 15 or so necro and think I want to try another class. I didn’t love the death shroud mechanic and it seems pretty vital to the class. I will be spending most of my time in the 1-80 experience I’d think, with the hope that maybe i’ll have time for end game activities. (I only get an hour or two to play a night, if that) How is the ranger to level? How is it’s power in PvE? Anyone have any videos or links to read up on? How does it transition into the end game content if I do actually get there ? Can anyone describe how the ranger plays through the 1-80 experience?

Sorry if these are all basic, I’m enjoying the game as a first time player and I appreciate the insight, thanks.

Greetings Reav!

The Ranger is a solid class to play if you are new to Guild Wars 2 and I highly recommend trying it. I’ll go over some key points and I apologize for any grammatical errors. Rushing to respond while hiding in the office.

First of all, the Rangers kitten nal of pets allow them to quickly adapt to any situation. Also, like weapons, pets also have a swap feature. They will tank for you, buff your or provide CC on top of the damage they deal.

For leveling, the longbow will be your weapon of choice. Greatsword is a great secondary due to defensive ability and movement provided. Generally speaking, Power is the solid leveling stat to focus on.

Once you reach 80, the ranger takes a completely different stance with Druid. Passively, druids gain 33% movement speed. As you can imagine, this is a really nice feature. Also, druids is one of the better support classes available. Should you want to stay damage, the ranger provides a solid Damage build via conditions.

Give it a go and I’m sure you will enjoy it. The only downside is you will likely be wearing a lot of trench coats…there is little to no advice I can give to help you there….maybe wear an outfit? Or roll human for smexy chest piece

Also…i can’t say kitten -n-a-l? Kitten nal? Come on…:(

Plethora of pets…..thats what I’m sticking with then…unless you kitten that too….

All professions are solid during the leveling process, ranger more so than some. Easy access to a speed buff, a pet to take aggro for you, decent ranged damage…all in all good surviveability and reasonable damage in open world content.

Play changes dramatically in instanced endgame content.

For me, the Ranger was probably the easiest class to level even when running HoT content and beyond. I always kept a bear as a pet and then one I used for high DPS. It was funny using the bear to take down world elite mobs while you sit back and burn them down with a LB.

These days, I still run my Ranger all the time for WvW, PvP and PvE. I play a bit differently (using zealot hybrid build) but overall, it’s a great class.

The two types of pets I’d recommend for a leveling ranger are bears and drakes. Bears are a crapload tankier, but drakes while drakes are less tanky than bears, that’s a hell of a high bar and aside from legendary mobs you have no business fighting, the drake will take hits just as well. They also have much better damage.

reav.1930:

I have a level 15 or so necro and think I want to try another class. I didn’t love the death shroud mechanic and it seems pretty vital to the class. I will be spending most of my time in the 1-80 experience I’d think, with the hope that maybe i’ll have time for end game activities. (I only get an hour or two to play a night, if that) How is the ranger to level? How is it’s power in PvE? Anyone have any videos or links to read up on? How does it transition into the end game content if I do actually get there ? Can anyone describe how the ranger plays through the 1-80 experience?

Sorry if these are all basic, I’m enjoying the game as a first time player and I appreciate the insight, thanks.

Side note: a minion master build for necro doesn’t require shroud at all. It’s a nice tool, but not necessary for that build. Just fyi.

Ranger is perhaps too easy if you just sit back and use the longbow from 1500 feet while you let the pet tank your foe. As far as I remember, it’s relatively fast as well,

It’s no big deal unless you want to do some PvP, harder level 80 content, or some organized WvW.

I recommend that you use your melee weapons to avoid creating bad habits.

Necromancer is a little more complicated since there is no pet, no 1500 range bow and death shroud to handle.

You might not know which class you like at level 80 until you get there, and your role might change depending upon what content you are doing. Leveling is pretty fast, say an hour per level (though for your first character or 2 no need to hurry things, feel free to take your time and “smell the roses”). Also once you have achieved the equivalent of a level after level 80 (or from PvP) you get a book that grants you a free level for any of your characters.

So I have mained a Ranger for a long time now.. as you level look for armor and weapon that are of the power variety… pick up leather worker and huntsman for your 2 professions.. learn all the weapon combo’s.. while leveling focus on Longbow and Greatsword.. once you get to 80 and start working on Exotic gear (Ascended later) you will want to transition over to Sinister gear for condition damage and Axe / Torch for melee and either Longbow or Shortbow… pets are important but you can pick the style of pet you want to use either going with a bear for tank or a cat of some sort for DPS..

If you go condi, Sinister is good, but Viper is even better: expertise increases condi duration.