Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,

I’m a long time player of a ranger class in Guild Wars 1, and have finally made the transition over to GW2. After refusing to leave behind my favorite MMO for some time, a few friends of mine finally got me to cave and give it a go so here I am.

I’ve reached level 15 on my ranger so far and decided to go check out what others are doing for leveling purposes and such and most of the ones I have found are from before the start of 2014 so I didn’t know if there were any that were usable after updates and such.

I like to use a beastmaster type role with the range, just make my pet a straight up beast and watch him tear people a new one… BUT, In one of the guides I was told not to use a beastmaster guide until level 60 so that I can have a certain setup in the traits and such (still haven’t completely figured all of that out yet).

Anyway, I guess my main question is… Is there a good, up-to-date leveling guide that kinda gives you pointers on what to do/aim for every 5-10 levels or so? Maybe gives you the best skills/weapon sets to use for leveling purposes and i can worry about getting the “best” later on.

It is preferred that I get a beastmaster build, but if it is in fact useless until 60 then, I’m okay with just about anything that works. I like DPS, but if I should aim for more survivability this early, I don’t mind it.

Also, what pet is best for generic pve leveling? I’ve been using the river drake and it works quite well. It seems pretty tanky and its DPS isn’t bad at all when combined with “sick em!” I’ve had very little to no problems so far.

Thanks to any and all responses, they are all appreciated!

-Terdo The Great

Leveling a ranger is quite easy.

Up until about level 60ish

Any time you have trait points to spend put them in the beast master line if you can. The first trait you want is either “Mighty Swap” if you are swapping (F4) you pets constantly or “Master’s Bond” if you stay on the same pet. When you get to 4 points get “Rending Attacks”.

Any points that you have left over after you put as much as you can in BM, put leftover points in Marksmanship and Skirmishing. In Marks get “Steady Focus” then “Spotter” in Skirmishing get “Pet’s Prowess” then “Companion’s Might”.

For pets use Drakes and Cats most of the time, drakes are good for multiple mobs and cats a good for single targets. River Drake and Jungle Stalker are good choices.

Weapons either Greatsword and Sword-War horn or Greatsword and Longbow. Spend as much time as you can practicing using 1 hand Sword it’s our heights DPS weapon, the Greatsword is a great weapon for moving around the map and multiple Mobs.

Leveling is a time for learning so make sure you try all the weapons and pets.

After you reach around level 60-70ish start using TurtleDragons [Guide] PvE Meta Ranger as the basis for you setup

Tips to Leveling a Ranger
– Greatsword/Sword-Warhorn as your weapons, use Swoop, Hornet Sting, and Monarch’s Leap as well as Call of the Wild for mobility
– Use Brown/Black Bear only while solo-leveling as they have the ability to tank mobs better than other pets
– The first trait you should unlock is Master’s Bond (II in Beastmastery). When you unlock this skill, each kill you get increases your pet’s survivability and damage. However, try to stay on one pet the entire time as stacks you earn will disappear on pet-swap.
– The second trait you should unlock is Steady Focus (I in Marksmanship), granting a solid 10% increase in damage while endurance is full.
– Pet’s Prowess (I in Skirmishing) next as it increases your pet’s damage by a somewhat-significant amount.
– Spotter (VII in Marksmanship) increases DPS.
– Carnivorous Appetite (VII in Skirmishing) helps keep your pet alive in PVE as they regenerate health.
– Compassion Training (IV in Beastmastery) grants pets a larger heal from Carnivorous Appetite.
– From here, you can go to Trap Potency or Natural Healing (XI in Skirmishing and XII in Beastmastery respectively). Trap Potency for damage, Natural Healing for a very, very good amount of survivability.
– Flame Trap is the first utility you should unlock. Followed by Signet of the Hunt (+25% movement speed while passive. Never use the active while in PvE). Then Signet of Stone. When you reach a high enough level, unlock Signet of the Wild and if you chose Natural Healing, swap Signet of Stone out for Signet of the Wild and you will never die in PvE… like ever.

This is just what I did while leveling, its not an official guide or anything but it worked. I prefer Black Bear and River Drake for the AoE Weakness and damage, but some people use Brown Bear instead. It’s up to you. With full stacks and everything, the bear could AoE Weakness to a large group of enemies (like 5-10) and from here I could either swap to River Drake and let him attack and facetank pretty well, or leave it on Black Bear and watch as he stays at full health the entire time.

As your pet is tanking the mobs for you, you shouldn’t need to dodge so that extra 10% increase in damage should be able to stay on you at all times. When you engage in enemies, drop Flame Trap on them and just use the autoattack for Greatsword and Sword for the most damage.

I don’t think there is a current level-by-level guide out there since ranger leveling is quite forgiving, easy and fun to play. Given that your armor stats will be more defined once you get to level 80, I suggest you stick to anything you like. For starters you cannot go wrong with a power build, focusing on longbow play with a melee weapon as support. Then as your secondary trait line it’s really up to you and your play style, you can choose spirits, traps, pet, etc. For the melee only approach do trait into Wilderness Survival as you will need the toughness and pair it with 1 on any backup build you like (pet, spirits, traps, raw power). This is the time for you to move around and learn all there is to know about rangers.

Now all non level 80 builds should start looking like this: x/x/1/x/x due to the great benefit that having faster endurance regen brings to any ranger situation. From there on its your choice.

Starting somewhere between level 30ish and 40ish trapper play will become very doable and it’s a very useful play style, by all means use it as soon as you can trait for it. Once you reach past level 60, builds will become more viable since you will be able to trait into at least 1 grand master trait line. From here on out, spirit play will become viable, beast mastery play will become possible and pure melee combat will become very possible (bark skin for the win!).

Rangers are quite versatile in their options so mastery of your preferred play style will not truly begin until after level 80, when the challenges of WvW, PvP and dungeons become a big threat to the safety net that PvE provides for rangers. Do avoid at all costs spending big money on gear until you have defined at least one or two solid approaches in ranger builds that you like, be patient and enjoy the ride!

Thank you guys so much for taking time to reply and help me out.

I appreciate all the information, tips and guidelines to use as I’m leveling and hopefully I will one day master the ranger as you all have.

I’m one of those “weirdos” that likes to get into their character and act as the character would in my mind, while in the game. So I will probably continue my goal of becoming a beastmaster. But, if along the way minor adjustments need to be made to help make the leveling experience a little easier, then I don’t mind doing it.

Again, thank you all so much and Good hunting!

-Terdo The Great

Viewing your pet as a damage source is actually very meta. Obviously you’ll use a cat. It’s easy to compliment your cat with a sword, and you can buff each other. For solo PvE, you can use Mighty Roar + Flame Trap plus Call of the Wild for a quick 9 might on both you and your pet. Sword autoattack adds 1 might to your pet every auotattack cycle too! You could view yourself as a lion tamer.

There is really no tips or guides needed. This is so faceroll easy. Just play what you want.

When you reach level 80 you’ll probably want to take a look at a condition damage build via celestial poison master + beast master build, it’s very strong and it fits the beast master role quite well.

Any ideas on armor runes to use while leveling? Or should I just wait to start buying armor runes till later on?

Either way, if someone could give recommendations (as I haven’t looked into it at all yet) I would be very grateful!

As usual, thank you all for your input! I appreciate it all!

swiftness duration runes or power/prec runes