Guild Wars 2

What would you say are the major strengths and weaknesses of the ranger for WvW solo roaming? As someone without an 80 ranger, my guesses are:

Strengths:
Able to build for high damage or high survivability (but not both)
Good weapon based mobility
Access to high swiftness uptime or 25% run speed signet
Able to run away from zergs well

Weaknesses:
Builds tend to be highly specialized
Not high burst damage (but good sustained damage)
Damage reliant on pets staying on target
Most (all?) condition cleanse is passive

Uh… here you go. Strenghts:

• Can shoot with same ranges as any other class
• Pets with funny names

Weaknesses:

• You’ll be targeted and killed first, even when in back
• You have no survivality at all
• Your damage is very small but won’t even applied due bugs
• Low stats
• Bad Traits

/ Piken Square – Ranger Commander w/ Balanced full Ascended Gear

RoyalPredator.9163:

Uh… here you go. Strenghts:

• Can shoot with same ranges as any other class
• Pets with funny names

Weaknesses:

• You’ll be targeted and killed first, even when in back
• You have no survivality at all
• Your damage is very small but won’t even applied due bugs
• Low stats
• Bad Traits

/ Piken Square – Ranger Commander w/ Balanced full Ascended Gear

omg, you nailed it. +1

BondageBill.4021:

What would you say are the major strengths and weaknesses of the ranger for WvW solo roaming? As someone without an 80 ranger, my guesses are:

Strengths:
Able to build for high medium damage or high-ish survivability (but not both)
Good weapon based mobility on exactly one weapon
Access to high swiftness uptime or 25% run speed signet like almost all classes, except engineer
Not Able to run away from zergs well

Weaknesses:
Builds tend to be highly specialized
Not high burst damage (but good-ish sustained damage)
Damage reliant on pets staying on target and being alive in the first place
Most (all?) condition cleanse is passive and reliant on a pet that is alive

There, fixed that for you. The only strength you have in WvW is your own skill and a good water field that you won’t be using since you are “solo roaming”.

If you can’t survive with a Ranger you’re doing it wrong.
If you think they have the same range as other professions you’re wrong.
If you think they can’t tick 16k with Rapid Fire you’re also wrong.

L2P.

haha for real, these posts are hilarious. Rangers can bunker insanely well. Perma regen, good protection uptime, multiple evades, and to top it off, a pet that won’t scale with your defensive stats. If you really want the cons of ranger roaming, its the lack of active condi removal. EP is nice but is not strong enough to be a lvl 30 trait. Sig of renewal just has an insane cd and also kills your pet. healing spring is cool but the healing itself is inferior to troll unguent. That and your pet skills occasionally bugging out are the major cons.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQJATRjAVx1tV2Vs2Bi1j90n9zeYIG9IXBUlxChALC-j0DBYLDRjiAgKIaZPDZNRKiFVRs4aIr6FYqSJV5KyqXAWzAmzR2jDzbIpSBMqwI-w

Plant yourself on a nice hill and tag anyone who wanders by with this build. Watch how fast their health melts. Although yes if they come at you fast enough things can get a bit hairy that’s why you also have your greatsword. If you have those 25 stacks of Accuracy handy a quick chain of Swoop-Hilt Bash-Maul should put your opponent in panic mode.

pro:
perma fury, perma might(7-10), perma regen, perma vigour, perma swiftness, ( speed is king in wvw ) nearly perma protection, 30 sec stability on demand, perma poison, perma bleed, perma chill, perma burning, perma weakness, lots and lots of evades, high mobility, lots of cc, water field, fire field, poison field

con:

weak condition remove, weak to immobilize, no real AOE options

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

If you can’t survive with a Ranger you’re doing it wrong.
If you think they have the same range as other professions you’re wrong.
If you think they can’t tick 16k with Rapid Fire you’re also wrong.

L2P.

16k with rapid fire? you must have zero defense dude, or perhaps you hit a upleveled player, ofc, you can kill Upleveled player with a ranger.

It is a fact that , when both players have same skill, ranger class is the worst.

urdriel.8496:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

If you can’t survive with a Ranger you’re doing it wrong.
If you think they have the same range as other professions you’re wrong.
If you think they can’t tick 16k with Rapid Fire you’re also wrong.

L2P.

16k with rapid fire? you must have zero defense dude, or perhaps you hit a upleveled player, ofc, you can kill Upleveled player with a ranger.

It is a fact that , when both players have same skill, ranger class is the worst.

you have no idea

Coarr.3286:

urdriel.8496:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

If you can’t survive with a Ranger you’re doing it wrong.
If you think they have the same range as other professions you’re wrong.
If you think they can’t tick 16k with Rapid Fire you’re also wrong.

L2P.

16k with rapid fire? you must have zero defense dude, or perhaps you hit a upleveled player, ofc, you can kill Upleveled player with a ranger.

It is a fact that , when both players have same skill, ranger class is the worst.

you have no idea

Im sure have more idea with rangers than you, ranger need a rebalance skill patch, all of their skills have less coef. due to the pet, the pet is a “random” damage ,if another class hit you, he will hit you with a 100% of his/her damage, if you hit him/her you will with 70% of your damage, when your enemy is skilled it is really easy to kite the pet.

Ascended gear? oh yes, our pets dont scale with our stats so each time Anet give to the players a new set of weapon/armors with better damage , we lost damage.

name a class / build and i will give you a ranger build to beat it ( no PU mesmer, that is impossible with ranger )

your server and guild tag would be nice to know urdiel

Coarr.3286:

name a class / build and i will give you a ranger build to beat it ( no PU mesmer, that is impossible with ranger )

your server and guild tag would be nice to know urdiel

You cant change your build to each enemy in WvW ……..

Baruchs Bay , [BORN]

urdriel.8496:

You cant change your build to each enemy in WvW ……..

i know. that is the only problem the ranger currently has ( + missing aoe dmg ). only thing i do is to change 1-2 utilities and maybe a weapon and bufffood, depending on the enemy i spot on the horizon

makes a lot of things easier

Coarr.3286:

urdriel.8496:

You cant change your build to each enemy in WvW ……..

i know. that is the only problem the ranger currently has ( + missing aoe dmg ). only thing i do is to change 1-2 utilities and maybe a weapon and bufffood, depending on the enemy i spot on the horizon

makes a lot of things easier

yes, you can change 1 or 2 utilities but you cant change your traits, so….

This sort of general thread is somewhat pointless.. There are so many builds within a class, each with different weaknesses. The only over-arching weakness that many builds suffer from is lack on condition removal, but even that can be solved with EB, HS and SoR (and even EP if you really want).

Rangers in general also do lack the burst power of other classes, but I am not sure thats a weakness, just a different fighting style.

Coarr.3286:

name a class / build and i will give you a ranger build to beat it ( no PU mesmer, that is impossible with ranger )

your server and guild tag would be nice to know urdiel

PU mesmer should be relatively easy to take down with a conditon build tho?

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQJATRjAVx1tV2Vs2Bi1j90n9zeYIG9IXBUlxChALC-j0DBYLDRjiAgKIaZPDZNRKiFVRs4aIr6FYqSJV5KyqXAWzAmzR2jDzbIpSBMqwI-w

Plant yourself on a nice hill and tag anyone who wanders by with this build. Watch how fast their health melts. Although yes if they come at you fast enough things can get a bit hairy that’s why you also have your greatsword. If you have those 25 stacks of Accuracy handy a quick chain of Swoop-Hilt Bash-Maul should put your opponent in panic mode.

…..As a fellow ranger, I will honestly say, 9/10 times I will poop on this build. Sorry, but you’ve got next to no toughness and 18K health will melt away in a backstab/heartseeker. Not to mention you have no condi clear. Who solo roams with no condi-clear or stun break?

I’m glad to see a few more serious posters joined the conversation. I was a bit disheartened after the first couple of responses.

I’ll reply to some specific posts in a moment, but first I have a couple of general roaming questions to throw in the mix:

How has ranger worked out so far on EotM? I just played it a bit with my PU Mesmer, but I really wanted a class where I could lead the charge in the 5v5-ish situations that seem to develop frequently on that map. I get so tired of just standing around in the back and stealthing / running away when I get targeted.

Also, how well does celestial gear work on a roaming ranger? I’ve seen several builds / videos that rely on hybrid direct & condition damage with the ranger. Even a build like the bunker shout ranger could benefit from power and precision, since you use MH sword. Do SB or MH Axe scale decently with power at all?

Also, for builds that do not take Guard-spam swiftness or GS (e.g. a trapper build), does mobility become an issue? Is the 25% speed signet sufficient for escaping the wrath of zergs?

Coarr.3286:

pro:
perma fury, perma might(7-10), perma regen, perma vigour, perma swiftness, ( speed is king in wvw ) nearly perma protection, 30 sec stability on demand, perma poison, perma bleed, perma chill, perma burning, perma weakness, lots and lots of evades, high mobility, lots of cc, water field, fire field, poison field

con:

weak condition remove, weak to immobilize, no real AOE options

How are you getting things like perma-fury or 7-10 stacks of might? I honestly haven’t looked into this much, as most roaming build I see are condition based. Also, perma-swiftness seems to come at the fairly steep cost of a GM trait, an adept trait, and a utility skill (Guard spamming). Is there a better way to achieve 100% swiftness?

If not, I imagine the 25% speed signet works as a fairly good replacement.

RoyalPredator.9163:

Uh… here you go. Strenghts:

• Can shoot with same ranges as any other class
• Pets with funny names

Weaknesses:

• You’ll be targeted and killed first, even when in back
• You have no survivality at all
• Your damage is very small but won’t even applied due bugs
• Low stats
• Bad Traits

/ Piken Square – Ranger Commander w/ Balanced full Ascended Gear

Now that you’ve said that AND exhibited your TAG – please share your build and hints on how to stay alive AND command as a Ranger.
.
Thank you for your honest post.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

If you can’t survive with a Ranger you’re doing it wrong.
If you think they have the same range as other professions you’re wrong.
If you think they can’t tick 16k with Rapid Fire you’re also wrong.

L2P.

L2P is a child’s way of saying “I have a decent build and know which buttons to push against ____ character but I don’t’ want to share.”
.
Give your build and some advice so your fellow Rangers CAN get better or don’t post things that are, at best, trollish.

Noobie.1073:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQJATRjAVx1tV2Vs2Bi1j90n9zeYIG9IXBUlxChALC-j0DBYLDRjiAgKIaZPDZNRKiFVRs4aIr6FYqSJV5KyqXAWzAmzR2jDzbIpSBMqwI-w

Plant yourself on a nice hill and tag anyone who wanders by with this build. Watch how fast their health melts. Although yes if they come at you fast enough things can get a bit hairy that’s why you also have your greatsword. If you have those 25 stacks of Accuracy handy a quick chain of Swoop-Hilt Bash-Maul should put your opponent in panic mode.

…..As a fellow ranger, I will honestly say, 9/10 times I will poop on this build. Sorry, but you’ve got next to no toughness and 18K health will melt away in a backstab/heartseeker. Not to mention you have no condi clear. Who solo roams with no condi-clear or stun break?

I still see others critiquing and not posting their own builds… Gah!

I’m… just going to pretend like I didn’t read the other posts on this thread implying that roamers use a Power-based longbow build when roaming.

Strengths:

- High Sustain w/ Prot on Dodge and strong regen upkeep
- Plenty of Weapon-Based Evades
- Decent Passive Condi-Cleansing
- DPS Pets are actually useful in Small-Scale
- Good disengage via Sword 2 and Dagger 4 with appropriate positioning/ experience

Weaknesses:

- No easy access to “cheese” utility (i.e. no stability/ invulnerability on demand without demanding heavy trait investment)
- If the enemy is smart in waiting for Empathic Bond to proc and knows you chewed your Healing Spring, immobilize is your worst nightmare
- Not a whole lot of swiftness unless you’re rolling Warhorn (which doesn’t contribute to a regen-condi roamer) or Signet of the Hunt (which forces you to pigeonhole your utility choices)
- Encountering thieves is a wholly different story in WvW versus the sPvP environment. Stealth is a little out of hand, so predicting that Backstab from the traditional D/P can take a little bit of time and luck. Also considering the power creep with consumables, Applied Strength and Ascended Gear, damage is a little out of hand as well

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

If you can’t survive with a Ranger you’re doing it wrong.
If you think they have the same range as other professions you’re wrong.
If you think they can’t tick 16k with Rapid Fire you’re also wrong.

L2P.

16k rapid fire? LOL, congrats on mowing down that upleveled theif/ele. +5 bonus points if they were still in their starter armor.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

If you can’t survive with a Ranger you’re doing it wrong.
If you think they have the same range as other professions you’re wrong.
If you think they can’t tick 16k with Rapid Fire you’re also wrong.

L2P.

I can survive with my Ranger, because I have logic & gamer skills that can save me. Nothing else. In WvW with my TP-Mule warrior I can share half hands to drink coffee in middle of a zerg fight. Then pick up the loots.
I have 1200 range on LB & 900 on SB. I’m not traited for LB rg1500. Warriors have rg1000 rg1200 when traited, but outdamaging oponents before hitting that rg200. Thieves have same rg900 @ SB.
This is why I’m suggesting it to be 1500 as base (with fixed aiming & ROF based on distance, logical).
16k… +1 on posts above me

Weaknesses:
-Running Bows
Strenghts:
-Running anything which isn’t a bow or power build. Preferably conditank

RoyalPredator.9163:

Uh… here you go. Strenghts:

• Can shoot with same ranges as any other class
• Pets with funny names

Weaknesses:

• You’ll be targeted and killed first, even when in back
• You have no survivality at all
• Your damage is very small but won’t even applied due bugs
• Low stats
• Bad Traits

/ Piken Square – Ranger Commander w/ Balanced full Ascended Gear

Pve commander i guess…lol.

Noobie.1073:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQJATRjAVx1tV2Vs2Bi1j90n9zeYIG9IXBUlxChALC-j0DBYLDRjiAgKIaZPDZNRKiFVRs4aIr6FYqSJV5KyqXAWzAmzR2jDzbIpSBMqwI-w

Plant yourself on a nice hill and tag anyone who wanders by with this build. Watch how fast their health melts. Although yes if they come at you fast enough things can get a bit hairy that’s why you also have your greatsword. If you have those 25 stacks of Accuracy handy a quick chain of Swoop-Hilt Bash-Maul should put your opponent in panic mode.

…..As a fellow ranger, I will honestly say, 9/10 times I will poop on this build. Sorry, but you’ve got next to no toughness and 18K health will melt away in a backstab/heartseeker. Not to mention you have no condi clear. Who solo roams with no condi-clear or stun break?

That and using traps with no condition damage.
smh

Strengths:
Very strong at 1v1
Might be the Top1 anti thief class.

Weaknesses:
Bad at 1vx
Not good at escaping espcially when 1vx, (need very good timing + skills, much harder than some other well-known roaming classes)

CRrabbit.1284:

Strengths:
Very strong at 1v1
Might be the Top1 anti thief class.

Weaknesses:
Bad at 1vx
Not good at escaping espcially when 1vx, (need very good timing + skills, much harder than some other well-known roaming classes)

You pretty much need Swoop and be clear of cripple or chill or you will never get away.

Even though, warrior/thief can still catch you and cripple you 2nd, then you doomed when the rest of others catch up.

Substance E.4852:

CRrabbit.1284:

Strengths:
Very strong at 1v1
Might be the Top1 anti thief class.

Weaknesses:
Bad at 1vx
Not good at escaping espcially when 1vx, (need very good timing + skills, much harder than some other well-known roaming classes)

You pretty much need Swoop and be clear of cripple or chill or you will never get away.

Substance E.4852:

CRrabbit.1284:

Strengths:
Very strong at 1v1
Might be the Top1 anti thief class.

Weaknesses:
Bad at 1vx
Not good at escaping espcially when 1vx, (need very good timing + skills, much harder than some other well-known roaming classes)

You pretty much need Swoop and be clear of cripple or chill or you will never get away.

I run 2 builds in pve and wvw and I only ever use great sword when I’m 30 30 10 0 0. When I’m condi I run 0 0 30 30 10 and I am I’m impossible to pin down. Sword will get you away from baddies quite well, and then pop lightning reflexes... And you’re gone.

I run apothecary for my bunker setup and I assure you that I kill every class. Rangers are usually played like they’re an ez class, they’re deadly if you play them like an advanced class, which they are.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

If you can’t survive with a Ranger you’re doing it wrong.
If you think they have the same range as other professions you’re wrong.
If you think they can’t tick 16k with Rapid Fire you’re also wrong.

L2P.

You are aware that 16k damage on a 10 second channel skill is actually kitten dps?
You are aware that if you want to do 16k with Rapid Fire, anything looking at you in the wrong way might kill you in 3 seconds in WvW?

Weakness: Not enough of the surface of tyria is water.

Strengths:

*Consistent mobility when the right weapons are used.

*Bunker specs are very, very durable when played skillfully and not subject to excessive stun and immobilize.

*Decent escape abilities (Probably next below thief and mobility warrior, unfortunately significantly below them.)

*Condition builds allow for some very annoying fire-and-forget tactics that involve focusing completely on your evasive movement and dodging while you cheese your opponents to death. These builds are very, powerful and very easy to play.

*Very good physical damage output if built the right way.

*Very effective at kiting

Weaknesses:

*Power builds super weak against moving targets: Pet plays too critical a roll in them and will simply not be able to hit these targets as often as it needs to. Even if you pet swap and use F2 with perfect timing, the missed out auto attacks that your pet throws due to having to stop moving to attack will hurt your overall damage output in critical ways making dealing with any mobile build an uphill battle if you’re not packing dual spiders. (Which have damage output too low to justify with non-berserker power builds to begin with.)

*Ranger Active Defense(Weapon evades) is predictable meaning this class hits a lower damage to survivability ratio than other classes if it doesn’t build itself around kiting. These evades are easily countered by timing your stuns and immobilize, and skilled players have an easy time dealing with them after enough practice. You may have a lot between rolls and weapon evades combined, but good luck taking advantage of those rolls when you are immobilized. Then again, speaking as a melee ranger here, who has to be in proximity to deal damage. So again, kiting builds won’t have as big an issue with this. Ideally there’d be more in the way of pulsing blind AoEs and such to vary up survivability.

*Immobilize. This probably goes for any class, but when you are getting ganged up on by 3+ players, you’ll quickly realize how often it is the immobilize that ends you. This is probably the case for most classes, but classes that are built to be more dependent on evasion to survive with very few periods where your position is hidden due to stealth, you get mauled down like trash to a good immobilize and burst combo. And unfortunately, a lot of the stun-train builds out there alternate stun with at least one immobilize.

*Slow pet F2 responsiveness and occasional misfires from conflicting command scripts.

*Class is easily traceable in escape attempts. Little stealth and less mobility than warriors means you are easily hunted down when trying to get away from the 5+ people or more that WILL come after you when you are successful in solo roaming. You will have to know the terrain and how to work it better than your foes to escape.

*Many good survival skills and utilities harm the pet. The pet is a crucial part of the ranger, and for us to simply pass our conditions and damage to the pet that contributes approximately 30% of our damage output is bad design. Unfortunately these skills and traits are pretty much necessary for proper survival, so pets with low hp dying (namely cats) becomes a reality far too quickly for the ranger class.

*Heal is shared with pet means if your pet is low hp but you are not, you’re risking yourself by putting yourself on heal cooldown just to keep it alive.

someone know a good 1v1 longbow build? more a build to roam around?

you will never get a single 1v1 kill with a long bow, just a telling you now

Many of us on these forums roam very successfully with a longbow, just telling you now.

Take one (or two of them: s/d) of the melee weapons as your swap and take Lightning Reflexes. Those are basically required.

Take Troll Unguent. If you take the 100 vitality + health per second food and combine it with regen and SotW, you actually get very good sustain despite being a berserker.

Take CC pets, namely wolf, drakehound and jungle spider.

I like muddy terrain, and a signet based on what you need.

Traits are normal power traits, but be sure you go for things like Primal Reflexes, Nature’s Protection etc., and not things like Strength of Spirit. Take boons that will keep you alive and not more damage usually. You’ll have WAY more damage than anyone you come across since they’re all running tank builds. The exception are thieves and mesmers of course, but they’re usually so glassy you can already kill them in a single Rapid Fire.

Make extensive use of longbow skills 3 and 4, and basically never use 5. Use 2 to track their stealth and don’t get hung up on landing the whole thing if you use it as an “autoattack”. Better to be elusive.

Also, don’t take a berserker in to PvP, but do play some PvP with a 1h sword (edit, or GS I guess if that’s your preferred weapon.) so you get used to not getting hit. It’s good practice. You’ll wind up being better than most WvW roamers and will surprise the hell out of them when you kill them with a power build. You’ll have a good 10 seconds or so before they actually start playing well because they expect you to be kitten, and hopefully by then they’re dead.

Edit: Also expect to disengage if you mess up. If you miss the evade you needed against a necro and he’s in your face, stealth or sword 2>LR out of there and reset. He can’t really follow you so you can “reroll” until you beat him despite necros being a hard counter to berserker rangers.