Guild Wars 2

To really understand Rangers as a viable zerg superstar contenders one must first understand the basics of zerg combat. Gone are the days of simply doing the “stack, veil push, bomb, restack” (although it still works), since today we can see a myriad of other tactics that win fights. And the Ranger plays a big part in all of this.
I will break things down into 3 groups: support, damage, survivability.

1. Support:
Rangers can be a great support class even when running completely glass builds thanks to their pets.
- 2 blasts on short cooldowns (Call of the wild from horn & trait)
- AoE fury, might, regen, swiftness (horn, shouts, F2 skills)
- AoE spike healing (traited pet F2, water field blasting, fern hound)
- AoE CC: knockback (line), muddy terrain immo, entangle immo, pet F2 immo & fear, AoE chill with Winter’s bite when traited

2. Damage:
Sure rangers are not the most prolific of AoE damage dealers compared to Elementalists or Necromancers, but they can hold their own in most situations when positioned correctly.
- Massive AoE spike (line) from Rapid fire, Barrage on chokes, auto attack on #1 axe etc.
- Good for focused damage, pushing flanks, covering backline
- Very good sustained range AoE (line) damage in any situation when positioned correctly

3. Survivability:
Most of the people will simply say Rangers are easy pickings, but that seriously is not the case. Again, positioning is key as a good Ranger must know and predict what to do in all situations.
- Signet of stone, we all know this gem with 6s damage invul 64s CD traited.
- Lightning reflexes, one of the best skills a ranger has
- Traited with condition removal on survival skills a Ranger can remove a lot of conditions while still being useful with the skills used to do this
-

A good Ranger can turn the tide of battle by either focused damage on target (preventing pushes by focusing commander), hard CCing 10 enemy players in chokes (yes, 10) and overall being supportive to the zerg with useful boons.
One can argue that certain other professions can do all of this by being better at it, but I simply can’t agree. A Ranger played right is one of the most important elements of the zerg and one of those professions that is always forgotten and taken for granted.

This is my build that works perfectly in WvW zerg fights:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBjODbkQFaZxOWwhFoaxAhQ5vet31bpHAVdPvrQMcxKnMB-TFCBABQt/Qlq/cmSQsU+JxkittennAQe6GY4gAEAABYn7MdWnBIFATCjA-w

hobotnicax.7918:

Rangers can be a great support class even when running completely glass builds thanks to their pets.
- 2 blasts on short cooldowns (Call of the wild from horn & trait)
- AoE fury, might, regen, swiftness (horn, shouts, F2 skills)

Hahaha… i can’t read more… sorry.
After you write, that 24sec and 30 sec are 2 blasts on low cooldown… it so silly.

Rune of ranger? Are you serious? in zerg??? Cat pet will die in 1st few seconds of fight.
Mine hand Axe with full Berserk?
IB trait? xD

Better delete these threat before other read these.
Really.

I like mainhand axe for tagging but that’s all. If you play glassy LB you need a sword or GS for repositioning, otherwise you’re pretty much dead when the frontline hits.

I can’t say I didn’t expect at least a few replies from people who have no clue how to effectively play a ranger in zerg fights, or think their build is superior to any other.

Oh and Rizo, I’ve checked some of your posts, including:
“Played Ranger for 3 years…
But only few months ago, i have understood, WHY i lay ranger!
Because i love to reed forum, where some rangers CRY, how hard their life and other topics, where mesmers, warriors, Guardians, d/d Eles and thiefs cry about how OP rangers are.
I love it really much!
That’s why i play ranger!”

Your plan B if Druid sucks?
in Ranger
Posted by: Rizo.9534

Yeah… ^^

For mindless zerg you can bring anything, because it’s just servers and players mindlessly throwing themselves into each other. GS/LB is perfect for this.

If you’re talking organised, then you’d find yourself in a difficult spot to find anyone who’d want a Ranger in their team over any other class. For a reason. Just look at the GvG scene over the last year or so.

I really enjoy LB/GS with a zerg, but it is pretty bad, I mean, you contribute nearly nothing. It’s just fun to run full glass cannon and pick people on the periphery off by bursting them down. But you contribute 50x more with GWEN and get the loot to boot.

hobotnicax.7918:

I can’t say I didn’t expect at least a few replies from people who have no clue how to effectively play a ranger in zerg fights, or think their build is superior to any other.

Oh and Rizo, I’ve checked some of your posts, including:
“Played Ranger for 3 years…
But only few months ago, i have understood, WHY i lay ranger!
Because i love to reed forum, where some rangers CRY, how hard their life and other topics, where mesmers, warriors, Guardians, d/d Eles and thiefs cry about how OP rangers are.
I love it really much!
That’s why i play ranger!”

Your plan B if Druid sucks?
in Ranger
Posted by: Rizo.9534

Yeah… ^^

Yes, i have wrote that, and what?
You have cut it from context, because it was sarcastic topic if you don’t know.

You have made most useless build for WvW and you’r proud of it?
1100 toughness with 16k hp against organized Guild?
Axe as offensive weapon? Next you have to make Staff/Staff berserker revenant or Scepter berserker Necromancer.

With such gear, you’ll be just a rallybot, not more.
Make video when Focus group sit on you in GvG and you survive all damage and keep supporting your teammates, or how you rush under arrowCarts and MetiorShower t3 keep against organised guild.

You need more swiftness in these build, because you’ll have to run allot from respawn in these build

And No stability build for big fights is victory xD GJ.

hobotnicax.7918:

To really understand Rangers as a viable zerg superstar contenders one must first understand the basics of zerg combat. Gone are the days of simply doing the “stack, veil push, bomb, restack” (although it still works), since today we can see a myriad of other tactics that win fights. And the Ranger plays a big part in all of this.

Yes, there are other tactics like reflection, focus parties and retaliation all of which counter your build pretty hard.
A. Reflection as the hardest counter to rojectile damage from axe or longbow makes you hit your allies. Because of piercing arrows you do not hit one but several allies with your bow.
B. Focus parties made up fo mesmers, thieves and sometimes ingis take out enemy backline. After signet of stone ran out a ranger has no escape and lacks mobility. Longbow-rangers are easy targets for focus groups because they stay outside the zerg to avoid damage.
C. Retaliation is a problem to every berserker build. Stacking retaliation helps alot against rangers and eles on enemy backline.

hobotnicax.7918:

1. Support:
Rangers can be a great support class even when running completely glass builds thanks to their pets.
- 2 blasts on short cooldowns (Call of the wild from horn & trait)
- AoE fury, might, regen, swiftness (horn, shouts, F2 skills)
- AoE spike healing (traited pet F2, water field blasting, fern hound)
- AoE CC: knockback (line), muddy terrain immo, entangle immo, pet F2 immo & fear, AoE chill with Winter’s bite when traited

Yes. And you forgot the 24s cooldown 10s lasting condition removing water field. Problem with your build is: Using close range support on a long range class is not worthwile. Either you go tanky with the greatsword and make use of your support or you stay glassy in the back and don’t give any. There is a reason why rangers staying on longbow are not wanted in dungeos.

Your glassy pet will die in no time anyway. So no support there.

hobotnicax.7918:

2. Damage:
Sure rangers are not the most prolific of AoE damage dealers compared to Elementalists or Necromancers, but they can hold their own in most situations when positioned correctly.
- Massive AoE spike (line) from Rapid fire, Barrage on chokes, auto attack on #1 axe etc.
- Good for focused damage, pushing flanks, covering backline
- Very good sustained range AoE (line) damage in any situation when positioned correctly

One reflection wall in the choke and all your damage is negated. The best you can do is stop fire so you do not hit your allies. Wow. Tere is a reason why AOE damage is far superior to projectiles.

hobotnicax.7918:

3. Survivability:
Most of the people will simply say Rangers are easy pickings, but that seriously is not the case. Again, positioning is key as a good Ranger must know and predict what to do in all situations.
- Signet of stone, we all know this gem with 6s damage invul 64s CD traited.
- Lightning reflexes, one of the best skills a ranger has
- Traited with condition removal on survival skills a Ranger can remove a lot of conditions while still being useful with the skills used to do this

Two escapes on a very high cooldown. Zero Stability. If you get focused for more than 8s you are dead.

Sorry for my destructive critisism. I am playing WvW for over two years now and I didn’t like your onesided description of the build. This is little critisizm compare to what you would get if you posted this in the wvw section of the forum

Yes it can work against other unskilled pug groups. No, it won’t work against well organized enemy zergs of the same size or skilled guild groups. Therefore I would declare the build as medicore at best (unfortunately there are players playing far worse builds).

A good range damage build needs more stability, survivability and mobility.

A good support build needs frontline focus and much more survivability and support.

Even though there are some good ranger WvW builds, unfortunately all of them are inferior to guards, eles and necros in the current meta. At best they can compete with warriors, but most players would even disagree about that point because warrior has battle standard.

Oak da Vite.9054:

Even though there are some good ranger WvW builds, unfortunately all of them are inferior to guards, eles and necros in the current meta. At best they can compete with warriors, but most players would even disagree about that point because warrior has battle standard.

Yes, but not only because standard, but Allot of CC from hammer, blast on 7sec cooldown from hammer, passive retaliation, minimum 2 stun brakes, Immobilize on low cooldown(3sec every 7 sec) Leap on low cooldown, healing+cleaning shouts and condition convert from horn + blast + self cleans from f1.
and pretty good damage spikes with descent mobility.

hobotnicax.7918:

- Massive AoE spike (line) from Rapid fire, Barrage on chokes, auto attack on #1 axe etc.

LOL what?

hobotnicax.7918:

- Lightning reflexes, one of the best skills a ranger has

Most of your claims are too ridiculous to take seriously, but I rarely see people complain about Lightning Reflexes, which I think is one of the least useful utilities you can take for mid- to front-line zerging. For starters, LR often does almost nothing at all. When you find yourself suddenly surrounded by red circles, stunned, you can pop LR, see it start the backwards roll animation, but suddenly find yourself stunned again before the evade ever triggers. This happens frequently when attempting to play front- or mid-line, since you’ll often find yourself surrounded by red circles – overlapping CC.

And of course another major issue with LR is that, even if you get the evade to trigger without being instantly CC’d again, it rolls you backwards, which is often quite lethal. You’re likely to find yourself separated from the bulk of the herd, however momentary, which makes you an easy target.

LR can be exceptionally useful for a backline LB build, where you’re not likely to roll back into an enemy zerg, but for mid- to front-line… no. LR would need to be a forward evade that triggers without fail to be useful in such situations, but base ranger would need a host of other changes to make anything like a front-line build viable. As of now, though, if you’re not at 1500 range, you’re just a liability in large scale encounters.

xev.9476:

hobotnicax.7918:

- Lightning reflexes, one of the best skills a ranger has

Most of your claims are too ridiculous to take seriously, but I rarely see people complain about Lightning Reflexes, which I think is one of the least useful utilities you can take for mid- to front-line zerging. For starters, LR often does almost nothing at all. When you find yourself suddenly surrounded by red circles, stunned, you can pop LR, see it start the backwards roll animation, but suddenly find yourself stunned again before the evade ever triggers. This happens frequently when attempting to play front- or mid-line, since you’ll often find yourself surrounded by red circles – overlapping CC.

And of course another major issue with LR is that, even if you get the evade to trigger without being instantly CC’d again, it rolls you backwards, which is often quite lethal. You’re likely to find yourself separated from the bulk of the herd, however momentary, which makes you an easy target.

LR can be exceptionally useful for a backline LB build, where you’re not likely to roll back into an enemy zerg, but for mid- to front-line… no. LR would need to be a forward evade that triggers without fail to be useful in such situations, but base ranger would need a host of other changes to make anything like a front-line build viable. As of now, though, if you’re not at 1500 range, you’re just a liability in large scale encounters.

Well you could run backwards while playing front line ;-)
Couple that with hornet sting and you got forward evading while berserking front line!

hobotnicax.7918:

To really understand Rangers as a viable zerg superstar contenders one must first understand the basics of zerg combat. Gone are the days of simply doing the “stack, veil push, bomb, restack”

You just invalidated your entire argument before you even got started…

Rangers are bad in zerg fights the worst IMO. Even thief can run venom share and traps so they come second last. Rangers are only good for pin sniping.

Running glass with axe mainhand is a recipe to transform yourself into a loot bag. You can’t reposition yourself with GS.

Even a signet killshot rifle/axes zerker warrior is better than a ranger in a zerg.

rangers are nothing more than tag bots in zergs.

Currently Druids in zergs will not be that great and ca form will get torn apart by AoE damage because we have to be on the frontline with groups that are stacked.

Unfortunately, the side with the most numbers and aoe attacks will still win and ranger/Druid will not be a zerg game changer in its current state. I have faith in Irenio, though, because I’m sure he will make this profession as awesome as he described at twitchcon!

I uploaded a video of last nights WvW action. A little bit of everything: open field, chokes, being focused, pushing towards zerg, mid zerg fights… Hope this will shut some of you up with your “rallybot” & “lootbag” BS. Play it smart and you do well.
Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnxzw5VNr0o

Your pets will be dead in a real zerg. if a drake with SotW, Beastmastery and Natural Healing gets chewed up in a single zerg push without blowing SoS, then your cats/dogs without any of those defensive options are going to be dead 3x’s as fast.

Sure, you can cc “10” people. **If you are lucky enough to catch 5 people in a single PBS and another 5 people in a wolf howl. Compare that to any hammer warrior or ele that are hard cc machines, each with way more than 2 skills that hard cc entire areas.

24-30sec cd on blast finishers (one of which isnt going to be up because you burned it trying to save a puny pet in a zerg) can certainly blast water fields. but not as often as say, the guardian hammer whose blast is up every 5 seconds (4 traited) or the ele eruption every 6 (5 traited). even the non-gwen misfits like engies and thieves can spam blasts all day. 24sec cd is pitiful.

Main hand axe as power is bad at anything other than getting tags for bags.

full zerk is called “full kitten” for a reason. rally bait.

ranger runes on pets that are easily killed is poor planning. no stability is awful for zerging. protective ward damage mitagation is greater than 2.5k health from invigorating bond. allies aid might be better for group play like this, zerging is not the area of “every little bit of damage counts”.

hobotnicax.7918:

I uploaded a video of last nights WvW action. A little bit of everything: open field, chokes, being focused, pushing towards zerg, mid zerg fights… Hope this will shut some of you up with your “rallybot” & “lootbag” BS. Play it smart and you do well.
Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnxzw5VNr0o

If running in 40+ ppl zerg raid are smart play….
Random dodgeroll are smart play xD
80% of video enemies just run away.
And if even 1 enemy start to attack you, then you pop all cooldowns…

I didn’t see organized grous against you with god focus group. do you know what does it mean?
2man focuse grou can unload 24-29k damage in 1 cc.
I want to see how you will counter it.

As all say: “if you have 40+ ppl in raid, then every build are cool.”

hobotnicax.7918:

I uploaded a video of last nights WvW action. A little bit of everything: open field, chokes, being focused, pushing towards zerg, mid zerg fights… Hope this will shut some of you up with your “rallybot” & “lootbag” BS. Play it smart and you do well.
Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnxzw5VNr0o

It’s not that you are playing pewpew ranger wrong, its the “superstar” claim. Play a “GWEN” class, front line zerg build, and stay on pin. You will realize just how much of a leecher a pewpew ranger is. Yeah, a leecher.

@Rizo: Are you serious? We were heavily outnumbered in all of those fights and we won all of them. You didn’t see organized groups? How about those two 35+ guild raids that kept fighting us AT THE SAME TIME..?
And ofc I didn’t get focused much, cause I positioned myself in such a way that it would be suicide for them to do it.
@Justine: I used to main a semi-glass guardian for zerging, I know how it is, trust me.
Rangers being a leecher? Did you even watch the video?

There’s no pleasing everyone, I know that, but some of you seem to be really kitten about a Ranger doing good, as if you can’t fathom that it actually can do good. Sad.
And about the pets dying; sure they die sometimes, but 90% of the time they are alive.
Again, positioning is key, and not pushing towards the enemy like Johnny Rambo all the time (as you can see at 10:40 in the video I posted). But even then, it seems like 3 people can’t take a glass Ranger down with heavy focus.

Ranger is a WvW superstar, an unsung hero and one of the professions people can still play with pride.

What did you do there better than any other class?

Playing a back line longbow bot does not make ranger a superstar. Rangers are much more useful manning the arrow carts…

hobotnicax.7918:

Ranger is a WvW superstar, an unsung hero and one of the professions people can still play with pride.

Rofl, it hurts. Stahp.

You basically camped longbow; your pet was always on passive; your utilities were seldom used; and your damage and effectiveness was in no way comparable to a GWEN class. You played a slightly modified backline LB build (like every other ranger) and you think that warrants claims of “zerg superstar”? You’re either new to WvW, clueless, or just trolling.

Post this in the WvW forums and ask to see some GWEN vids.

I was going to make a big tl;dr, but I tl;dr’d it:

Ranger can’t get enough combination of aoe damage and mobility to replace any meta WvW class. You can go GS/STaff and then do nothing if you want.

Ranger doesn’t have anywhere NEAR enough stab to hang around warrior/guardians. They would need to be grouped with guardians and be babysay stability. Why should ranger be leeching the stab over revenants and warriors? I can’t think of a reason.

xev.9476:

hobotnicax.7918:

Ranger is a WvW superstar, an unsung hero and one of the professions people can still play with pride.

Rofl, it hurts. Stahp.

You basically camped longbow; your pet was always on passive; your utilities were seldom used; and your damage and effectiveness was in no way comparable to a GWEN class. You played a slightly modified backline LB build (like every other ranger) and you think that warrants claims of “zerg superstar”? You’re either new to WvW, clueless, or just trolling.

Post this in the WvW forums and ask to see some GWEN vids.

Just wait until we get “Druid so good” videos showing them standing at 1200 while zapping one enemy with staff auto and strafing to heal teammates

Rangers can fill an important role in zerg fights, there’s no debating it. However, you need good situational awareness and you need to position well. A complete muppet running on Ranger can be as ineffective as a chocolate fire guard.

My two main objectives during zerg fights are:
1. Pressuring the enemy back line.
2. Protecting my back line.

We offer good, long range, single target DPS on a short CD. Ideally you should be keeping an eye out for those back liners who push too far forward on the flanks. You should be keeping an eye out for downed players, and you should be keeping a close eye out for thieves who decide they want to try ganking some of your back liners.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes all you can do is find a mass of bodies and spam Barrage & RF, because there’s no targets of opportunity in range. However… if that’s all you do constantly during zerg fights, then you are doing nothing but reinforce peoples opinion that Rangers are mindless 2 spammers.

i think judging wvw builds by looking at gvg fighting is erroneous.
90% of wvw does not resemble gvg stackstack blast stack blaststack at all, even in zerg fights. siege weapons and walls disrupt the normal course of buffblasting gameplay.

I find LB power ranger to be good at picking out targets in a big fight and downing them at long range, and the barrage’s ability to cripple a lot of targets at long range is pretty useful.

Ranger doesn’t have anywhere NEAR enough stab to hang around warrior/guardians. They would need to be grouped with guardians and be babysay stability. Why should ranger be leeching the stab over revenants and warriors?

why would a power ranger with 1500 range be sticking with the blast stack when it charges :/

Seems like Hitsuke and Shoe are the only ones that see the full picture about the Ranger in WvW in this thread.

“Sicarius.4639 What did you do there better than any other class?”
A lot of things actually. I didn’t die, I dropped a lot of people, I finished downed players for us to rally, I gave out a considerable amount of fury to tanky classes who generally don’t have high crit chance, I blasted water fields, I covered our flank, I hard CC’d portal bombs and prevented them to push us from behind.
Look how many times their zerg simply HAD TO stop their push cause I unloaded my RF into the front of them hitting their main melee train with high burst damage, or how many times I prevented them from restacking with muddy terrain and entangle… Stability isn’t worth much when you’re immobilized without condi clear.
You can hate Rangers as much as you like and try to put them down with every chance you get. But it won’t change the fact that they are WvW superstars if you look closely without being biased.

Hitsuke.5304:

Rangers can fill an important role in zerg fights, there’s no debating it. However, you need good situational awareness and you need to position well. A complete muppet running on Ranger can be as ineffective as a chocolate fire guard.

My two main objectives during zerg fights are:
1. Pressuring the enemy back line.
2. Protecting my back line.

We offer good, long range, single target DPS on a short CD. Ideally you should be keeping an eye out for those back liners who push too far forward on the flanks. You should be keeping an eye out for downed players, and you should be keeping a close eye out for thieves who decide they want to try ganking some of your back liners.

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes all you can do is find a mass of bodies and spam Barrage & RF, because there’s no targets of opportunity in range. However… if that’s all you do constantly during zerg fights, then you are doing nothing but reinforce peoples opinion that Rangers are mindless 2 spammers.

Meanwhile a staff elementalist is dropping tons on aoe damage from back lines while rangers are plucking away at that single target…

hobotnicax.7918:

Seems like Hitsuke and Shoe are the only ones that see the full picture about the Ranger in WvW in this thread.

“Sicarius.4639 What did you do there better than any other class?”
A lot of things actually. I didn’t die, I dropped a lot of people, I finished downed players for us to rally, I gave out a considerable amount of fury to tanky classes who generally don’t have high crit chance, I blasted water fields, I covered our flank, I hard CC’d portal bombs and prevented them to push us from behind.
Look how many times their zerg simply HAD TO stop their push cause I unloaded my RF into the front of them hitting their main melee train with high burst damage, or how many times I prevented them from restacking with muddy terrain and entangle… Stability isn’t worth much when you’re immobilized without condi clear.
You can hate Rangers as much as you like and try to put them down with every chance you get. But it won’t change the fact that they are WvW superstars if you look closely without being biased.

You’re embellishing things and your video showed nothing but a longbow ranger snooze fest. You are not going to convince any veteran here that ranger is really good in any game mode. There are far superior professions to bring for zergs and in every other area of the game.

You have longbow delusions of grandeur, and your video is proof of that.

Edit- Also, you didn’t die because you are at 1500 range while most others are stuck at max 1200 range. Basically you get hit a couple times then move out of range… Any veteran here could do the same, but that doesn’t make the rangers some “superstar”… Sorry, but your performance was not any type of meaningful Zerg game changer like you are making it out to be.

Meanwhile a staff elementalist acts as a rallybot more than any other profession. Dead people don’t do damage.
Also, I’ve yet to hear a commander say on TS: “kitten , I’m getting focused by a guardian..”

And any decent WvW veteran who didn’t farm their ranks in EOTM will tell you that Rangers are a force not to be ignored.

Yeah, you’re right, because every veteran loves a free loot bag.

I’ve mained Ranger from the beginning, I run LB/GS, Ranger does what it does it’s not a “superstar” and GWEN is there for a reason, if it was as amazing as you’re trying to make it out to be then it would be GWERN. It’s not.

Like I said, you can run practically anything in a zerg, I know what the Ranger kit is, I’ve lived it, but let’s be realistic, we’re not game changing here. Whether or not a Ranger turns up is completely irrelevant in this game. Try having your Guardians not turn up.

hobotnicax.7918:

Meanwhile a staff elementalist acts as a rallybot more than any other profession. Dead people don’t do damage.
Also, I’ve yet to hear a commander say on TS: “kitten , I’m getting focused by a guardian..”

And any decent WvW veteran who didn’t farm their ranks in EOTM will tell you that Rangers are a force not to be ignored.

Yet your video showed nothing but you at 1500 range with a passive pet while you were barely making a contribution… All it shows is that you can range from safety because that’s how the longbow was designed and that you were afforded that opportunity because you were carried by your zerg…

hobotnicax.7918:

@Justine: I used to main a semi-glass guardian for zerging, I know how it is, trust me.
Rangers being a leecher? Did you even watch the video?

I watched ALL of it before posting. This is typical pewpew ranger play. Its not bad, you stayed alive and contributed in killing stuff. But it is not superstar because there are heavies, water&fire fields + blasts, cc wards, boons, boon strips, condi strips on and on and on that are carrying you. They are the superstars.

Before I post this, let me mention that I’m making no comment on the state of ranger as a whole in WvW zergs(everything that has needed to be said about it has been said), just your build

Firstly, why would you take troll unguent over healing spring? an on demand water field on a decent cooldown is almost always the better choice if you’re communicating with your team.

secondly, assuuuming you’re not being focused, why would you take brutish seals over steady focus? if you aren’t be focused, you won’t need to dodge, and 10% damage is a much better option than might on a defensive utility.

and speaking of being focused, what will you do when a couple thieves decide to say hi? you have very little long-term survivability with that build. if you used a mix of soldiers and used a greatsword, you could easily hop into the frontline to get heals from your team and evade the thieves (or kill the thieves in some cases). full zerk ranger is just asking to be killed.

and speaking of which, why are you using axe/wh? assuming you aren’t going frontline, sword/warhorn is a much better option for multiple reasons, and if you’re going frontline, greatsword is a much better option. (and enlargement is probably a better trait to take if you plan to frontline, because rip your pet if you do that)

also, this is just an IMO, but I like protective ward a lot more than invigorating bond.

Again, no comment on the state of rangers as a whole, I just think your build needs some work.

Shoe.5821:

i think judging wvw builds by looking at gvg fighting is erroneous.
90% of wvw does not resemble gvg stackstack blast stack blaststack at all, even in zerg fights. siege weapons and walls disrupt the normal course of buffblasting gameplay.

I find LB power ranger to be good at picking out targets in a big fight and downing them at long range, and the barrage’s ability to cripple a lot of targets at long range is pretty useful.

Ranger doesn’t have anywhere NEAR enough stab to hang around warrior/guardians. They would need to be grouped with guardians and be babysay stability. Why should ranger be leeching the stab over revenants and warriors?

why would a power ranger with 1500 range be sticking with the blast stack when it charges :/

Pretty much what Shoe’s said. Let the warriors and guardians man the front line, Rangers should be at range and assisting the primary target for instant take down. You should also be after the thieves roaming the back lines trying to take you and your ranger brothers and sisters out. You have 1500 range for a reason – it wasn’t for the ignoring and passing out golden bombs of light and love.

Play right, play smart, and Rangers are just as good as any other class provided you are playing to your strength. This isn’t about the build posted or any other belly aching in the thread. Regardless of the tier you roll, WvW is a numbers game 90% of the time.

There are builds with gear that let Rangers and even Thieves run with the zerg pack or even lead them. We have a very good Thief commander on Ebay but again, players, skill, build, team, etc.

Anyway – me personally when in a zerg I am 100% staying at max range AND assisting to insta-gib targets.

Is Ranger a great addition to an organised WvW zerg/guild? Absolutely, yes. Is it a superstar, or close to it? Not really.

There’s one big reason that more and more guilds (including ‘top’ tier ones) have started to use at least 1 ranger and that is their superior ranged pressure, which excels in the current pirate-ship meta.

When you run with a skilled ranger in a GvG setting, you effectively remove any ‘safe-zones’ for enemy casters; there is nowhere for them to hide inside the fight outside of stealth (and even that won’t save them if the ranger starts a rapid fire before they are concealed). A skilled ranger will use clever positioning to protect themselves from enemy gankers, using friendly casters and stealth to drop enemy targeting and make them an unappealing choice to jump. They have the mobility to re-position effectively and the range to pick off, pressure or straight up murder targets from unreachable range.

Builds will vary, but it is very effective to run full zerk LB/GS if you have the awareness and skill to pull it off.

Is it currently an attractive choice to pick over a GWEN profession in PuG zerging? Nope. Does it fill a very specific role well, when played properly? Definitely. When played smart, a ranger is a very valuable asset; when played badly or ineffectively it is dead weight.

TL;DR – Git gud or go GWEN.

To OP: Wake up mate, you dream too much.
I once like you, thought that the ranger is perfectly fine, just some l2p issue. Then i made a warrior and ele, things suddenly changed. If i say ranger is bad etc, you properly wont believe it, then you should experience yourself:
- As you play a blackliner, i suggest you to try ele or necro staff backline, same playstyle with your ranger: Deal dam in the back, reposition, CC, buff heal etc and then tell me how the ranger is better than ele or necro in backline ? Let’s drop something like: easier to manage, simplier playstyle, less button to press.
- I see you have a guardian toon, then how about play frontline for a while then ask yourself: What class would you prefer to have in your back: ranger, ele or necro ?

I bet every wvw commander will glady trade 10 rangers to 5 necros or eles for backline job.
Anyway, nice vids but your build need some change, check suggestion of ppl post above and enjoy the ranger class. Cheer.

I’m surprised that this got so much cancer. The OP has a bit of hyperbole, and I indeed question some of his assertions, but the ranger in the back of the zerg can take on some important roles, even if they aren’t glamorous. I also don’t think that comparing the PUG zerg with GvG is particularly useful. Some things I think ranger does fairly well:

1. Killing downed players. Yeah someone else probably downed them, but this lets those guys keep moving rather than being a static target, and they can down more guys. Sexy kitten? No, but still valuable.

2. Sniping important targets. Not every player is going to be able to do this, but if you can pick out the enemy pin or other important targets like backliners or the frontline mesmer dropping veil, this is pretty useful.

3. Buffs. Yeah I know some people LOL’ed at that, but honestly every person in the zerg throwing out buffs helps, cause they gets stripped, corrupted, timed out, or not spread well. Rangers can throw out some decent buffs just by randomly doing things. Can other classes do it better? Yeah of course, but its still useful.

4. Healing spring. Honestly as a frontline guardian that alts a ranger, I love this move – and I cry every time I see a ranger in a zerg not using it. Super good skill.

That said, OP the superstar thing is probably what people re-acted to. Though I definitely challenge the assertion that rifle warrior is better than ranger in a zerg, or for that matter thief, or mesmer… hell mesmer’s only value in the zerg is the utilities they bring imo. Granted, those are a game changer, but not like you want mesmers like you want eles.

TL;DR: Ranger may not be GWEN, but it carries its weight – even if the stuff it does well may not be as glamorous.

GWEN this GWEN that, while Rangers are dropping each one of them in zerg fights one by one. You can deal out 100k damage to 10 people and drop none as an Ele or Necro, or you can deal 50k damage to 3 and drop 3 as a Ranger. Dead people don’t do damage.

Hey man, look. I also main ranger, and I play organised WvW almost exclusively. The reason you’re getting so much backlash is because you attempted to assert your opinion as fact. You’re going about this wrong, man.

Rangers do NOT offer the same AOE damage and utility as eles, and they do NOT do as much AOE spike damage as necros. This is a fact. That is why they are more desirable in bulk, and are in demand. You’re not looking at the big picture here.

^This does NOT mean that rangers are useless. Rangers fulfill a niche role, and are fantastic to include in zergs, but they are not as useful in large quantities because they are primarily single target assassins with sprinklings of CC.

Don’t fight people on the wrong front. Accept what your class excels at and promote that instead if you want to lift the ignorance of commoners, and want the ranger to gain more widespread love.

So what you’re saying now is they’re the superstar last hitter?

They arent superstars, but they can fill some rolsEs that others cant. Whether those roles are critical or not is the question. i enjoy my lb ranger in wvw, as i do in ppvp. I play it well in both modes, and im not a rallybot cuz im good. That doesnt make ranger good though.

It is fun to burst an ele in fire or necro in 3 seconds though, and watch as their party flocks to rez.

full zerk ranger is just asking to be killed.

while it does make you super squishy, LB ranger basically has one job- long range deeps- and it might as well do it well instead of halfassing it.

I often dont even run signet of stone for most fights – I need Sic Em to properly shut down squishies that rely on stealth.

Sorry for pulling out that one point and ignoring everything else; I thought this was a point worth mentioning.

I think some of you are not valuing the rangers execute ability enough tbh. When the ele that is dropping water fields for the enemy dies, or the necro corrupting your teams boons dies, or the mesmer dropping veil for the enemy push dies, or the enemy commander dies… the value of any of those is hard to over state, especially if they die in a position that makes it hard to res them. Granted the bigger the enemy zerg the hard to do, and a single death has a diffused penalty, but in some engagements that can change a battle.

Also, Sicarius while I agree that is somewhat of a position reversal for the OP, its not like that is an bad thing. On my Guardian in a pvp match, i’m usually the stomper because i got aegis/stability, and I’m a bunker – does that make my stomp less valuable? In WvW finishing that downed player is even more important, cause otherwise any DPS used to down him was wasted effort.

Shoe: I couldn’t agree more, I run my guard in wvw as a soldier’s AH frontliner, my ranger is full zerk lead the wind LB – his only job is to kill things from far away. Side note, easier to stay upright on the ranger than the guard purely because of positioning.

hobotnicax.7918:

GWEN this GWEN that, while Rangers are dropping each one of them in zerg fights one by one. You can deal out 100k damage to 10 people and drop none as an Ele or Necro, or you can deal 50k damage to 3 and drop 3 as a Ranger. Dead people don’t do damage.

- Necro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCZCfxE-_Hs
- Ele: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDCc-Q3bQuo
Youtube for more vids.
Your argument just like a kid tbh. Why Ele or Necro cant drop ppl ? LB arrow is the easiest thing to be disabled in this game. Seriously, killing some careless Ele or Necro doesnt mean they are weaker than your Ranger. They have more aoe, more boon/heal, more defensive/escape utility with less cd than you and their mechanic always work whenever they want. That mean if play right, they completely outperform your ranger.

Yes i agree with you, our Ranger do well in wvw, but the word “superstar” is not belong to us at this moment, we are so far from it. Maybe the Druid will make us come closer but the anwser is in future.

LoL this is too much of a troll thread, I cant believe you guys actually got baited so hard.

BlusterWolf.2103:

LoL this is too much of a troll thread, I cant believe you guys actually got baited so hard.

It does have a troll quality to it (100k barrages to 10people?) and yet trolls don’t usually post vids and then follow up vids trying to defend themselves. It really is an embarrassing thread I kinda wish would die. But here I am bringing it back up to the top.

I belive that Druid will be meta in wvw zergs

Wish I was still this ignorant about rangers.