Long story short, I am not happy with my 80 guardian. So I am looking for a solid ranged class.
Ranger is looking promising. I am hoping they have decent+ dmg, and some good group buffage (vulnerabilities on enemies, snares, and such). My biggest concern is the zone of Orr. How well do rangers fare in this zone? Its the same zone the instance Arah is located.
Marksman+skirmish should provide good damage on the ranger himself. Some commitment into beastmastery is good if you want to utilize pet damage output (fairly high by default). For buffs go mainly with Moas. Debuffs are spread all over the place.
Ranger is still one of the best PvE classes so Orr is going to be no exception.
Farming in Orr on an 80 ranger is pretty simple if you spec right. Damage is quite high single target and AoE if you play smart (piercing arrows requires some setup and maneuvering to really shine).
The group utility is… debatable. The best thing a ranger can bring to groups is really control not so much buffs or support. There is some buffs and support but it’s really not great, it’s just what we have. For control well used traps (Frost Trap in particular) can be very beneficial to a group but I wouldn’t go so far as to say rangers are an outstanding control profession.
I like my 80 ranger for soloing around in PvE and WvW but in a dungeon or other 5+ group setting I don’t always feel very useful.
Alternatively, sword/dagger or warhorn and axe/torch damage ranger or spirits ranger are also useful depending on the situation. Ranger is equally as powerful in dungeons as in regular PvE, and all professions can contribute in WvW. It just depends on the situation.
I do ok in Orr and in dungeons but I’m still vaguely dissatisfied with the class, particularly the way the skills are implemented. Traiting helps some but… yeah, it’s pretty lackluster. Powerful, yes. Easy, yes. But not challenging. I think I may try something else. Engineer looks like fun. Maybe mesmer.
well im looking for easy this time around. I want something easy and powerful. My guardian is good, and can do well, but it requires more skill swapping and careful timing on utility skills if I get more than 2 enemies on me in Orr.
It sounds like Ranger is the profession you’re looking for. It is the best PvE Profession in my opinion, simply because of the pet. You can basically be in two places at once. I can send my pet to attack a mob, while I gather a note. And by the time I’m done, my pet has killed the mob and I can pick up the loot. The pet is also a great distraction for mobs. It usually only takes on hit from the pet, and the mob will follow it like a bear on honey, until either the pet or the mob is dead. I haven’t been to Orr, though, so I’m not sure how pets deal with all the CC mobs have there.
Rangers are also excellent supporters. We have the pet, that can tank and support allies with heals, and various other skills. Spirits that can give buffs or even revive. Rangers even have a heal (Healing Spring) that can remove a condition and regenerate health for allies. Search and Rescue is also a really great skill, that allows your pet to help you revive an ally faster, or make you able to revive two allies at one time.
80 Ranger | 80 Mesmer | 80 Thief | 80 Guardian | 40 Engineer
“The learned is happy, nature to explore. The fool is happy, that he knows no more.”
-Alexander Pope
One thing you should know is bears are tanks plane and simple the birds of prey are pure dps. (by birds of prey I mean owls,eagles,and ravens)
Drakes are like meaty damage and Moas are utility damage and spiders are ranged pets and all have aoe.
I have no clue about water only pets sorry.
One thing you should know is bears are tanks plane and simple the birds of prey are pure dps. (by birds of prey I mean owls,eagles,and ravens)
Drakes are like meaty damage and Moas are utility damage and spiders are ranged pets and all have aoe.
I have no clue about water only pets sorry.
Adding to this, for water I’ve been using armour fish for tank and shark for dps. Works really well, even in the higher level areas where enemies tend to ignore your pet and come from you. I think the armour fish is the tankiest pet in the game (with polar bear second) and it has a 2 second stun on F2 which helps a lot considering our lack of hard CC.
I find my damage lacking quite a bit underwater so the shark helps out a lot with that; its dps is huge. Good combo I’ve found is to stun with armour fish, swap out and use the sharks F2 with two signet actives that give it increased damage and invulnerability to damage for 6 seconds.
For dungeons I’ve mainly been running red moa and devourer. Moa gives 15s of fury and devourer is very tanky and ranged. Even the polar bear melts in dungeons because of the aoe so you should generally stick to ranged (spiders, devourers) or pets that can bring utility.
Regarding the support in dungeons, it’s not the best. Spirits are really underwhelming and the buffs they give aren’t that great. They usually die instantly anyway because of aoe. Micro managing pets can be quite difficult because you have to focus on your own positioning and look to revive allies as well. Inevitably your pet will stay right in the middle of an aoe attack and die instantly. However there’s a trait in marksman that gives 70 precision to allies and a shout that gives might and fury in a big range so it’s not all bad.
Personally for me water pet wise I gone with Red Jellyfish (better F2 skill then Blue’s and Jellyfish have an aoe regen field skill) and Armour fish for a good tank class plus F2 skill is a stun.
As for land I gone with Jungle Spider (range attacks, poison, and bind attacks, F2 skill not quite working as attended binds instead of stun) and Murellow (bear tank class with F2 aoe poison since only one type of mob immune to poison).
