Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, I am deleting my 80 ele and transferring servers so I can be with my friends in WvWvW. The only class I haven’t played extensively in sPvP is Ranger. I was picking the Ranger because it would be the only class that is brand new to me, but reading some forum posts has disheartened me a bit. Specifically the buggy ai of pets and the LFG hate on rangers. Is this a real thing (in which case I will just roll a guardian), or are rangers actually a blast to play and I should get started right away?

I would love anyone who has a ranger to toss me their opinion, would be very much appreciated!

It depends what you mean by worth it. Personally, I believe if you are equally skilled with an opponent, ranger will lose most of the time. However, I still play a ranger because I just have more fun with it.

It is, after all, a video game. Just play whichever class you enjoy the most

If you want to WvWvW with friends, take any other class. Rangers are officially classified as useless there.

We’re okay in dungeons and spvp, easy for world pve.

Okay THANK YOU! I just needed some confirmation, I will most likely be rolling the guard then. Hopefully its not as much of a snooze fest as some people complain about.

Rym.1469:

If you want to WvWvW with friends, take any other class. Rangers are officially classified as useless there.

We’re okay in dungeons and spvp, easy for world pve.

You can still WvW, but you’re basically forced to roam if you want to be useful. SPVP and open world is the best thing for Rangers.

ranger is very fun to play. We cop a lot of hate because perception and bad players. and the hate is contagious

in open world pve and leveling we proberly top of the food chain (hence the large volume of bad player)
In dungeon content, we a quite good but suffer a lot of hate and may get auto kicked (i have never experienced this)
In sPvP we have a couple of very competitive builds.

In WvW we are strong 1v1 and a complement to any team up to about 15v15 and from there we deteriorate as the fights get bigger.

The only place where our worthless label is remotely justified is large scale WvW fights.

I play all classes, but ranger the most because its what i enjoy. if you want to pay the endgame content on easy mode play a heavy else play something more enjoyable.

Eggyokeo.9705:

ranger is very fun to play. We cop a lot of hate because perception and bad players. and the hate is contagious

in open world pve and leveling we proberly top of the food chain (hence the large volume of bad player)
In dungeon content, we a quite good but suffer a lot of hate and may get auto kicked (i have never experienced this)
In sPvP we have a couple of very competitive builds.

In WvW we are strong 1v1 and a complement to any team up to about 15v15 and from there we deteriorate as the fights get bigger.

The only place where our worthless label is remotely justified is large scale WvW fights.

I play all classes, but ranger the most because its what i enjoy. if you want to pay the endgame content on easy mode play a heavy else play something more enjoyable.

This is easily one of the most spot on posts i’ve seen. The hate comes from the fact that WvW is the most “elitist” and most frequented part of GW2. Rangers are actually good at most things.

Also, when people ask what to play, it’s a hard question to answer. I enjoy Ranger more than any other class. That is why I play it. If you are playing a class that’s strong in the area you’re looking for, but you don’t enjoy it, why play it?

Don’t ranger if you want to wvw. It just is inferior in every role to other classes.

I found out I have enough glory saved from before I left to get any class instant 80 through tomes, so I might just instant 80 whatever class my friends want and then have fun leveling a ranger ^ ^

Ryan.9387:

Don’t ranger if you want to wvw. It just is inferior in every role to other classes.

What makes you say that?

Wreck.2634:

I found out I have enough glory saved from before I left to get any class instant 80 through tomes, so I might just instant 80 whatever class my friends want and then have fun leveling a ranger ^ ^

This is a good idea, you will enjoy leveling a ranger. make sure you test all the wepones on the way to 80 don’t just use a longbow (but do try it) because it’s easy. For alts i favor both the heavies as there easy to play (epically the warrior) and change between the depending on my mood.

Ryoki Hokishami.2756:

Eggyokeo.9705:

ranger is very fun to play. We cop a lot of hate because perception and bad players. and the hate is contagious

in open world pve and leveling we proberly top of the food chain (hence the large volume of bad player)
In dungeon content, we a quite good but suffer a lot of hate and may get auto kicked (i have never experienced this)
In sPvP we have a couple of very competitive builds.

In WvW we are strong 1v1 and a complement to any team up to about 15v15 and from there we deteriorate as the fights get bigger.

The only place where our worthless label is remotely justified is large scale WvW fights.

I play all classes, but ranger the most because its what i enjoy. if you want to pay the endgame content on easy mode play a heavy else play something more enjoyable.

This is easily one of the most spot on posts i’ve seen. The hate comes from the fact that WvW is the most “elitist” and most frequented part of GW2. Rangers are actually good at most things.

Also, when people ask what to play, it’s a hard question to answer. I enjoy Ranger more than any other class. That is why I play it. If you are playing a class that’s strong in the area you’re looking for, but you don’t enjoy it, why play it?

Except only certain builds are effective in those areas. Different builds and playstyles are vastly differently. If you enjoy open world PvE ranger, you can never take that build to wvw and expect it to perform. If you like open world rangers, it doesn’t mean you would like wvw rangers either. People who like pve doesn’t necessarily enjoy pvp, it is the same concept.

In PvP ranger is solid, in roaming there are a select few builds that involve perma regen and sharpening stone bursting(I’m sworn to secrecy). Anywhere else in the game ranger is kinda meh, and in dungeons(even for elite ranger players) they are kinda just there to frost spirit bot and keep a constant fire field for might. But anywho, they are a solid class just the skill cap is rather high, and there are many people who spam one on shortbow so expect some kitten/kinda easy mode but as long as you don’t become a 11111111 ranger (and only bad players will die to 11111 ranger really) why the hell not have one to roam in WvW and play in PvP. Not going to lie though, they are horrible for wvw groups (very selfish class, no real group utility due to spirits dying quick and other classes being able to cover perma regen unfortunately, usually don’t take mine out into anything larger than a small roaming group).

Saylu.8271:

Except only certain builds are effective in those areas. Different builds and playstyles are vastly differently. If you enjoy open world PvE ranger, you can never take that build to wvw and expect it to perform. If you like open world rangers, it doesn’t mean you would like wvw rangers either. People who like pve doesn’t necessarily enjoy pvp, it is the same concept.

while your comment is very true, this is the same for every class you play.

even to the extent, that
A WvW zerging build is not very good for WvW roaming havoc (vice versa);
A PvE open world build is not the best Dungeon build.
A PvP home Point defense is build is not the best roamer or far point attacker.

I play all content, though primarily WvW and i will re-trait a few times a night. The free on the fly trait reset is going to be great.

All classes suffer form this to some to a lesser extent.

but this is kinda off topic.

Eggyokeo.9705:

Saylu.8271:

Except only certain builds are effective in those areas. Different builds and playstyles are vastly differently. If you enjoy open world PvE ranger, you can never take that build to wvw and expect it to perform. If you like open world rangers, it doesn’t mean you would like wvw rangers either. People who like pve doesn’t necessarily enjoy pvp, it is the same concept.

while your comment is very true, this is the same for every class you play.

even to the extent, that
A WvW zerging build is not very good for WvW roaming havoc (vice versa);
A PvE open world build is not the best Dungeon build.
A PvP home Point defense is build is not the best roamer or far point attacker.

I play all content, though primarily WvW and i will re-trait a few times a night. The free on the fly trait reset is going to be great.

All classes suffer form this to some to a lesser extent.

but this is kinda off topic.

This is very true. you’ll never hear an experienced wvwer ask for a pure zerker, however that is one of the few (if only (i don’t pve, sorry)) builds that’s asked for in experienced dungeon runs and such

and I sorta agree on the rangers being good solo. If you use certain builds they can be pretty great, however most of those builds are usually sw/x and involve sustain/traps/condi/etc. which isn’t really the way i enjoy playing :P (I personally played a ranger because i enjoy ranged classes, and i’ve always been a fan of the simplicity of pure damage)

I reiterate, try every class and just play whatever you enjoy the most. I could go so far as to say you will become more skilled at a class if you enjoy yourself with it, and therefore the class you enjoy enough is the “best class” for you

Vylor.3276:

(very selfish class, no real group utility due to spirits dying quick and other classes being able to cover perma regen unfortunately, usually don’t take mine out into anything larger than a small roaming group).

I get tired of hearing this comment this is due to a selfish player not a selfish class. Why wound you take another class for perma regen (swiftness as well) when a ranger can do it?

so no group utility, I’m calling bull kitten on that. We can do but are not limited to;
- AoE regen (permanent)
- AoE swiftness (permanent)
- AoE fury (permanent)
- AoE Vigor
- AoE Might (5 stacks permanent)
- AoE Protection
- AoE condi removal
- AoE insta Rez
- Water Field
- Fire Field
- Ice Field
- Poison Field
- quick stacking of 25 stacks of vulnerability on a single target
- AoE immobilize
- AoE Chill
- AoE cripple
- AoE bleed
- AoE cone poison
- AoE confusion
- AoE Fear
- AoE cone knock back
- AoE cone Daze
- we can speed rez/stomp
- and then there is the stuff our spirits do

Obviously we can not do all of this in the one build (but we can do a lot of it) but neither can any other class.

Eggyokeo.9705:

I get tired of hearing this comment this is due to a selfish player not a selfish class. Why wound you take another class for perma regen (swiftness as well) when a ranger can do it?

so no group utility, I’m calling bull kitten on that. We can do but are not limited to;
- AoE regen (permanent)
- AoE swiftness (permanent)
- AoE fury (permanent)
- AoE Vigor
- AoE Might (5 stacks permanent)
- AoE Protection
- AoE condi removal
- AoE insta Rez
- Water Field
- Fire Field
- Ice Field
- Poison Field
- quick stacking of 25 stacks of vulnerability on a single target
- AoE immobilize
- AoE Chill
- AoE cripple
- AoE bleed
- AoE cone poison
- AoE confusion
- AoE Fear
- AoE cone knock back
- AoE cone Daze
- we can speed rez/stomp
- and then there is the stuff our spirits do

Obviously we can not do all of this in the one build (but we can do a lot of it) but neither can any other class.

1. Aoes buffs are capped at 5 targets and besides ele/guardians can do it better and without loosing too much attack potential.
2. Pet buffs/conditions are not reliables.

Everything we can do it can be done better by someone else, a ranger shines in small group fights (less than 5vs5), with its ability to ress/stomp + group support and single target dps.

sminkiottone.6972:

1. Aoes buffs are capped at 5 targets and besides ele/guardians can do it better and without loosing too much attack potential.
2. Pet buffs/conditions are not reliables.

Everything we can do it can be done better by someone else, a ranger shines in small group fights (less than 5vs5), with its ability to ress/stomp + group support and single target dps.

1. what are guards/eles doing it better? cripples? fury? vigor? are we just talking about regen they do it differently and are subject to there own difficulty and they are subject to the 5 cap as well.

2. there are currently ways to to make it more reliable (pet swap, hit F3) but fair enough they are also not that flash when they are dead. Well see what the pet enhancement bring

I will conseed that rangers usefulness reduces as party sizes get bigger but in the order of 15v15 and bigger not less then 5v5. This is largely due to pet getting harder to keep alive

Eggyokeo.9705:

sminkiottone.6972:

1. Aoes buffs are capped at 5 targets and besides ele/guardians can do it better and without loosing too much attack potential.
2. Pet buffs/conditions are not reliables.

Everything we can do it can be done better by someone else, a ranger shines in small group fights (less than 5vs5), with its ability to ress/stomp + group support and single target dps.

1. what are guards/eles doing it better? cripples? fury? vigor? are we just talking about regen they do it differently and are subject to there own difficulty and they are subject to the 5 cap as well.

2. there are currently ways to to make it more reliable (pet swap, hit F3) but fair enough they are also not that flash when they are dead. Well see what the pet enhancement bring

I will conseed that rangers usefulness reduces as party sizes get bigger but in the order of 15v15 and bigger not less then 5v5. This is largely due to pet getting harder to keep alive

PvE—>Good
sPvP->Good
WvW->Roaming(Look at top tier Guilds videos , and count their rangers…….)

Best ranger builds are bunkers/regen so it is really boring to play with them in WvW.

Zerker Longbow Ranger? A build that is bad at 1v1 but excels at dropping bombs from a distance…

Staff Ele does it better.

Condi/Bunker Ranger? A build that takes loads of damage and deals consistent high condi pressure…

Engineer does it better.

Spirit Ranger? Unique Aoe buffs that help the entire team…

Banner Warrior does it better.

_Valkyrie Maul Ranger? A moderately tanky build that uses sigils/traits to crit instead of precision so it can stat vit instead?

Valkyrie Evis Warrior/ DS Necro does it Better.

Eggyokeo.9705:

1. what are guards/eles doing it better? cripples? fury? vigor? are we just talking about regen they do it differently and are subject to there own difficulty and they are subject to the 5 cap as well.

2. there are currently ways to to make it more reliable (pet swap, hit F3) but fair enough they are also not that flash when they are dead. Well see what the pet enhancement bring

I will conseed that rangers usefulness reduces as party sizes get bigger but in the order of 15v15 and bigger not less then 5v5. This is largely due to pet getting harder to keep alive

1. They can spam buffs like empower and have many blasts, ranger can’t. They also have better buffs like stability and retaliation.

2. It is not possibile to control the pet like you can control your pg, the pet will always move around and you cannot fear/daze an enemy stomping your ally in time or heal him if the pet is not nearby, and sometimes F2 fails.

Take the ele as an example, he can port to an ally to heal and buff him very fast just by switching attunements and casting few spells, it’s way easier and reliable than ranger.

I disagree with rangers being useless in wvw. At the moment I run my ranger as a wvw solo roamer, specializing in taking camps solo or in duet.

With some micromanagement and good reflexes, the build I’m running can buff up to around 15 might + fury (best I noticed was spike of 21 might), at the cost of survival, or resigning from might to gain survival ability in fight against 2 or more players. Easily able to cap a camp alone in under a minute with just npc defense, or around 2 minutes with up to 2 players stacking camp defense.

Rangers mobility and ability to engage effectively multiple enemies at a time make it the class to roam in my opinion.

On the downside, thieves or mesmers usually manage to run away on last legs and before I have a chance to finish them off.

Also in zergs it’s a useful profession, easily tagging multiple opponents while staying relatively safe, but lack elementalist’s ability to meteor shower.

Of course that is just my opinion with ranger gametime since beta 1.

Wreck.2634:

I found out I have enough glory saved from before I left to get any class instant 80 through tomes, so I might just instant 80 whatever class my friends want and then have fun leveling a ranger ^ ^

Just a few tips, DO NOT use a bear pet in PvE until lv 80, or later, the bear pet is brokenly strong in PvE (it can face tank just about everything in the game and win given an infinite amount of time and you using your heal skill or Signet of stone + Signet of the Wild), so if you want to get a good grasp how to actually play ranger instead of turreting at long range like most rangers do, you’ll wanna use a different pet.

As someone else said, use all the weapons too, get a feel for them and use a combo you really like. I PERSOBALLY like Axe/Axe + Longbow for the utility and control it provides.

Also, idk what these guys are smoking, rangers are great in WvW, as long as you manage your pet and don’t send it in when your Melee isn’t going in you’ll be fine. Your damage won’t be at its peak with your pet at your side, but it’s not as low as most people think, not to mention most professions don’t have our range, not do they have many options.

If you ever need any help feel free to message me either in game or on the forums, and if you’re interested you could also check out the ranger podcast on SOACgaming.com

a lot of the ranger hate comes from older days where rangers, indeed, were more or less useless in zergs, but brokenly strong in 1v1 (back around march/april 2013 when BM was so OP it would lay waste to anything 1v1).
However, since they nerfed pets, then nerfed quickness, then nerfed some other stuff, and some more stuff, and even more stuff. The buffs we got (important ones at that) kinda drowned in a sea of negativity fueled by the Q_Q from this forum. Rangers started to show signs of not being brokenly OP in 1v1 roaming, infact, for a long while, we were mid tier at roaming, because we lacked damage, but most importantly, we lacked some functional utility.
However, times change, and those who say “anything a ranger can do, profession X can do better” are partially right, yet they are also full of fecal matter.
You see, many professions ALONE can do one or two things the ranger can do, better, except when the ranger actually traits and builds for something, in which case it more often then not, far surpasses the other professions even if both professions spec for the same function (go figure how we are worse then them). A ranger does not do ONE thing, or TWO things or THREE things, it does MANY things all at once.

Take a warrior, your typical zerg warrior provides;
AOE condi cleanse (if using warhorn)
AOE heal (if using traited shouts)
AOE CC (stun/daze/knockdown/knockback. All of which is negated by stability)
AOE Fury
AOE Vigor
AOE Revive (can be used once every 240 seconds)
Multiple Blast Finishers

your typical guardian provides:
AOE Protection
AOE Stability
AOE Might
AOE Retaliation
AOE Aegis
AOE Healing
Piercing Immobilize
Mass condi cleanse

Your typical Ele provides:
AOE damage (From staff/scepter/conjures)
AOE Stability (if traited to apply on earth swap)
AOE Fury
Fire fields
Ice field
Water fields
AOE Condition cleanse (on water swap/when applying regeneration, if traited)
AOE regeneration (passive, when in water attune)
Multiple Blast finishers (however, they are on long cooldowns/channeling times)

Your typical necro gives:
AOE Protection (spectral wall)
AOE Fear (Spectral wall, marks/wells)
AOE Chill
AOE Bleed
Mass condition cleanse
Mass boon strip

So, what does the ranger do in ONE build?
AOE Protection
AOE Might
AOE Fury
AOE Swiftness
AOE Vigor
AOE Immob
AOE Revive (twice every 180 seconds)
AOE Regeneration (passive, spirit)
Mass condition cleanse
Water Field
Fire Field (if using torch)

Pet utilities (depending on choice):
AOE Immob
AOE Chill
AOE Cripple
AOE Fury
AOE Protection
AOE Might
AOE Condition Cleanse
AOE Healing + regeneration
AOE Fear

The whole “anyone can do it better then rangers” are so kitten outdated that it is not even funny anymore, and i dare say that those who preach that rangers are useless falls into the category of people who believe the holocaust never happened either.

Yes rangers are not the go-to for every function in game, but we can do the majority of what you want/need, in ONE build. However, it takes skill, a word that seems totally foreign for anyone who frequent these forums. Because the lack of skill, or rather the large “L2P” issue displayed here, are just astounding.

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

I reiterate, try every class and just play whatever you enjoy the most. I could go so far as to say you will become more skilled at a class if you enjoy yourself with it, and therefore the class you enjoy enough is the “best class” for you

I have tried every class except Ranger, that’s why I posted here. I always leaned towards enjoying the more complicated elementalist/engi classes for leveling, and couldn’t stand warrior/guard for leveling. But then again warrior was my favorite Spvp class, so go figure…

Thanks everyone for your awesome replies! I will definitely be leveling a ranger up, but I don’t think I will be instant 80ing him.

Wreck.2634:

I have tried every class except Ranger,

Go play it then

Prysin.8542:

Wreck.2634:

I have tried every class except Ranger,

Go play it then

I actually don’t want to, whenever I make a class in Spvp I spend weeks diving in and exploring everything about them. When it comes to PvE I am a complete wimp, so I am hoping the brand new experiences of leveling a ranger will keep me going until I hit 80 ^ ^

Rangers have a ton of “soft” CC and enough “hard” CC, so they compliment other classes in small group fights really well. Muddy Terrain plus drakehound plus wolf plus entangle, plus lots of cripples and possibly some chill (apline wolf, axe 3, frost trap are sometimes used) will be quite effective, regardless of what the rest of your build is.

Rangers are excellent at annoying people to death.

@ Fluffball Would you recommend I level or instant 80 the ranger?

level it up quickly to 40, then play it “slow” from there. Spec fully into Beastmastery and use a Canine or Feline pet.

Concentrate on using Sword mainhand and X offhand. The sword is your clunkiest weapon, but is also has the best DPS of the lot. For secondary weapon, i suggest going with shortbow. It has more control/movement options then the longbow, and offers more relative safety.
From level 60 and out, you should level exclusively in WvW. At that point, it will be an uphill battle. and if you cannot bother to level the last 20 levels in there, you will face a brick wall if you try to enter it at level 80. 20 levels in WvW, depending on tier and world, can take anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks. But it is crucial that you learn how to play WvW, the hard way. Or else you will never really get good at it.

Also, do not play your ranger as you play a warrior or guard, it is squishy, but it is less squishy then say an elementalist or thief. Engineer is similar in terms of basic tankyness, but not quite so due to their weaponsets and control/escape options.

Pets you NEED to get ASAP:
Fern Hound
Alpine Wolf
Wolf (EBG, near umberglade mill)
Krytan Drakehound
Jungle Spider
Forest Spider
Owl
Marsh Drake
Lightning Drake
Brown Bear

Wreck.2634:

@ Fluffball Would you recommend I level or instant 80 the ranger?

Eh, probably level. Ranger have some mechanics to get used to, like controlling your pets while simultaneously doing something yourself (I put the pet controls on keys I can reach instantly and not the F1-4 keys.)

If you level, take it upon yourself to play against the AI as though they were humans. Like get good at using weapon skill evades and CCing them rather than just hiding behind your pet. Throwing muddy terrain over your shoulder or hitting things with the drakehound howl is almost an art unto itself. :P

Edit: I agree with what Prysin said. Getting good at the sword is crucial. Although I personally wouldn’t take an uplevel in to WvW, especially during the season.

And +15 to what Rym said about the longbow.

If you wish to getyourself a Ranger, level it by yourself.
Classes like Warrior, Guardian or Thief should be raised with tomes since they’re so boring to level and tedious, but surprisingly many find Ranger as most fun class to level, not only with Bear pet and using Longbow in melee range

If you want to use Longbow in future, look at this weapon as utility. It has good range for World Bosses, poor damage, Knockback and Stealth That would be it. Treat as utility, not weapon.

Yep I am leveling my ranger (not using tomes), thanks for all the great feed back. I think this thread showed how the ranger is quite so hated as some think ^ ^

Fluffball.8307:

with the amount of PvE heroes running around my beloved borderlands, i wouldn’t notice yet another uplevel rallybot. It is bad enough as is. But do run into the BL’s before the PvE heroes are done with their AP hunting, or else you will stand out too much and gather a lot of negative attention.

That or join the blobs in EBG during prime. noone bothers to Q_Q there as there is only one thing that matters, fielding numbers.

Prysin.8542:

a lot of the ranger hate comes from older days where rangers, indeed, were more or less useless in zergs, but brokenly strong in 1v1 (back around march/april 2013 when BM was so OP it would lay waste to anything 1v1).
However, since they nerfed pets, then nerfed quickness, then nerfed some other stuff, and some more stuff, and even more stuff. The buffs we got (important ones at that) kinda drowned in a sea of negativity fueled by the Q_Q from this forum. Rangers started to show signs of not being brokenly OP in 1v1 roaming, infact, for a long while, we were mid tier at roaming, because we lacked damage, but most importantly, we lacked some functional utility.
However, times change, and those who say “anything a ranger can do, profession X can do better” are partially right, yet they are also full of fecal matter.
You see, many professions ALONE can do one or two things the ranger can do, better, except when the ranger actually traits and builds for something, in which case it more often then not, far surpasses the other professions even if both professions spec for the same function (go figure how we are worse then them). A ranger does not do ONE thing, or TWO things or THREE things, it does MANY things all at once.

Take a warrior, your typical zerg warrior provides;
AOE condi cleanse (if using warhorn)
AOE heal (if using traited shouts)
AOE CC (stun/daze/knockdown/knockback. All of which is negated by stability)
AOE Fury
AOE Vigor
AOE Revive (can be used once every 240 seconds)
Multiple Blast Finishers

your typical guardian provides:
AOE Protection
AOE Stability
AOE Might
AOE Retaliation
AOE Aegis
AOE Healing
Piercing Immobilize
Mass condi cleanse

Your typical Ele provides:
AOE damage (From staff/scepter/conjures)
AOE Stability (if traited to apply on earth swap)
AOE Fury
Fire fields
Ice field
Water fields
AOE Condition cleanse (on water swap/when applying regeneration, if traited)
AOE regeneration (passive, when in water attune)
Multiple Blast finishers (however, they are on long cooldowns/channeling times)

Your typical necro gives:
AOE Protection (spectral wall)
AOE Fear (Spectral wall, marks/wells)
AOE Chill
AOE Bleed
Mass condition cleanse
Mass boon strip

So, what does the ranger do in ONE build?
AOE Protection
AOE Might
AOE Fury
AOE Swiftness
AOE Vigor
AOE Immob
AOE Revive (twice every 180 seconds)
AOE Regeneration (passive, spirit)
Mass condition cleanse
Water Field
Fire Field (if using torch)

Pet utilities (depending on choice):
AOE Immob
AOE Chill
AOE Cripple
AOE Fury
AOE Protection
AOE Might
AOE Condition Cleanse
AOE Healing + regeneration
AOE Fear

The whole “anyone can do it better then rangers” are so kitten outdated that it is not even funny anymore, and i dare say that those who preach that rangers are useless falls into the category of people who believe the holocaust never happened either.

Yes rangers are not the go-to for every function in game, but we can do the majority of what you want/need, in ONE build. However, it takes skill, a word that seems totally foreign for anyone who frequent these forums. Because the lack of skill, or rather the large “L2P” issue displayed here, are just astounding.

As a ranger main since the first BWE and a player with every other class at 80 (for some reason I have two 80 rangers) it is my personal opinion that this comment is misleading. You are accurate in listing what classes have access to but I believe you weigh the ranger’s contributions higher than they functionally are. For starters, a good chunk of your list comes from pet F2 skills which can be unreliable (the AI, positioning, the inability to build for it, the risk of losing the pet to activate them mid zerg compared to a guardian simply shouting) and is limited to two F2 skills at any point in time. The most impressive ranger boons I can think of in WvW are traite shouts (swiftness and regen) and fury from warhorn and moa. Spirits are a joke in WvW. We do have the best water field in the game but it’s also our personal heal, if you pimp it out like a ele pimps out their water fields you’re going to end up taking a dirt nap pretty quick.

I have moderate success on my ranger in sPvP, I have run most dungeons on my ranger (I retired it because of how poorly designed and balanced the PvE ranger is in group play compared to more diverse classes) and I spend hours in WvW several days a week. Rangers have earned their status as worst profession in WvW when it comes to large scale combat. There are ways to build around it and contribute meaningfully, but most competitive groups will take any other class over a ranger any day. We are the lost kid to be picked for dodge ball and it’s not a misguided notion, it’s a real problem.

i agree on the pet part (for now). the 15th will bring an improvement to F2 functionality, it should be more reliable. For that reason alone, i listed pet functions in their own section.

Spirits – they are completely usable depending on your skill. They rely on positioning. If you do not position yourself well, they will not work, at all. Spirits in WvW, is one hell of a L2P issue.

since you already level a lot of class, just level ranger in pve 1-30, then dungeons from there. You level fast + loots. From 50+ start doing main story quest, then at 60+ start doing Wvw or Edge of the Mist to 80.

Learning more about playing and using skills appropriately by soloing pack of mobs (Elite and vets, champs that spawn mobs, packs of undeads, trying to solo dungeons) than by karma-training, so unless the point is to bring it up as fast as possible, I’d advise soloing content (not with a bearbow build, though… with both mainstreams and home made builds).

Rangers are a poor zerg choice due to poor handling of condi spikes, lousy stability/stunbreaks, and abysmally poor aoe damage. , and fine in small groups because they are decent at providing long ranged sustained damage. Also, the pet matters more. On the other hand, zerging is largely about numbers anyways, and tbh it doesn’t really matter what you bring as long it’s level 80 and halfway decently geared. The exception would be organized guild fights, but that doesn’t really apply to most situations.

Don’t die though.

ArchonWing.9480:

Rangers are a poor zerg choice due to poor handling of condi spikes, lousy stability/stunbreaks, and abysmally poor aoe damage. , and fine in small groups because they are decent at providing long ranged sustained damage. Also, the pet matters more. On the other hand, zerging is largely about numbers anyways, and tbh it doesn’t really matter what you bring as long it’s level 80 and halfway decently geared. The exception would be organized guild fights, but you don’t need to take part in those.

Don’t die though.

there is so many blatant lies in this post i do not even know where to start….

Prysin.8542:

ArchonWing.9480:

Rangers are a poor zerg choice due to poor handling of condi spikes, lousy stability/stunbreaks, and abysmally poor aoe damage. , and fine in small groups because they are decent at providing long ranged sustained damage. Also, the pet matters more. On the other hand, zerging is largely about numbers anyways, and tbh it doesn’t really matter what you bring as long it’s level 80 and halfway decently geared. The exception would be organized guild fights, but you don’t need to take part in those.

Don’t die though.

there is so many blatant lies in this post i do not even know where to start….

My life is a lie then. :/

But really, in most situations of blob, does it really matter what you bring as long as you don’t rallybot ten people?

Anyhow, feel free to post any build that gives me the cornerstones of zerg combat (stability, condition removal, cc) which doesn’t completely destroy your ability to support nor simply relies on guardians or something for critical things. It’s possible that the masses are wrong (and they frequently are) but it certainly feels like an uphill struggle compared to everything else I’ve ever played. (necro, guardian, and even my uplevel engie) in that I have to work harder to get less effect.

I will seriously retrait to it and create the new ranger meta.

ArchonWing.9480:

Anyhow, feel free to post any build that gives me the cornerstones of zerg combat (stability, condition removal, cc) which doesn’t completely destroy your ability to support nor simply relies on guardians or something for critical things.

This has stability, condition removal, cc and support.

Fluffball.8307:

ArchonWing.9480:

Anyhow, feel free to post any build that gives me the cornerstones of zerg combat (stability, condition removal, cc) which doesn’t completely destroy your ability to support nor simply relies on guardians or something for critical things.

This has stability, condition removal, cc and support.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lej85Rb3fMU

Well, thanks for posting that.

Blargh, I should have explicitly said AOE ranged damage, since I suppose cleave isn’t a problem, except the close range part.

Looking at the video, muddy terrain + entangle is something to look at, though I’m not too appreciative of entangle’s long cooldown when it’s going against rampage as one but that may be worth a shot.

I wouldn’t really say the build has good condition removal. It has healing spring which is good in and of itself, but that’s it. The stability is strong from Signet of the Wild but the cooldown is looong, and there’s also 0 stunbreaks if I’m correct here.

As for AOE damage, we have barrage…. and entangle again. I’m not the hugest fan of barrage but we’ll give it that for now.

The hounds are something to worth considering… if they’d stay alive.

The survivability is decent, as expected from a 30 marksmanship signet build, but those things are just so selfish.

This is still a good build of all the things I can conceive and am sure it works I have a similar build that I think is even more durable (well, my computer sucks and nearly explodes in combat much less be able to record and skills are limited, so you don’t have to take my word on it) but am running 3 signets. If I try to fit muddy terrain here, I’d be sacrificing either stability or condition removal/stunbreak.

I suppose the other catch here is piercing arrows. I currently use spotter in its place because I think the group dps increase is more important (also, as you’d expect, nobody else provides it either, lol) though I wonder how well the effect on that is. Which of course really brings up the issue of why so many traits are loaded in that three.

ArchonWing.9480:

Fluffball.8307:

ArchonWing.9480:

Anyhow, feel free to post any build that gives me the cornerstones of zerg combat (stability, condition removal, cc) which doesn’t completely destroy your ability to support nor simply relies on guardians or something for critical things.

This has stability, condition removal, cc and support.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lej85Rb3fMU

Well, thanks for posting that.

Blargh, I should have explicitly said AOE ranged damage, since I suppose cleave isn’t a problem, except the close range part.

Looking at the video, muddy terrain + entangle is something to look at, though I’m not too appreciative of entangle’s long cooldown when it’s going against rampage as one but that may be worth a shot.

I wouldn’t really say the build has good condition removal. It has healing spring which is good in and of itself, but that’s it. The stability is strong from Signet of the Wild but the cooldown is looong, and there’s also 0 stunbreaks if I’m correct here.

As for AOE damage, we have barrage…. and entangle again. I’m not the hugest fan of barrage but we’ll give it that for now.

The hounds are something to worth considering… if they’d stay alive.

The survivability is decent, as expected from a 30 marksmanship signet build, but those things are just so selfish.

This is still a good build of all the things I can conceive and am sure it works I have a similar build that I think is even more durable (well, my computer sucks and nearly explodes in combat much less be able to record and skills are limited, so you don’t have to take my word on it) but am running 3 signets. If I try to fit muddy terrain here, I’d be sacrificing either stability or condition removal/stunbreak.

I suppose the other catch here is piercing arrows. I currently use spotter in its place because I think the group dps increase is more important (also, as you’d expect, nobody else provides it either, lol) though I wonder how well the effect on that is. Which of course really brings up the issue of why so many traits are loaded in that three.

Let me tell you something;
Your average warrior or necro zergling build is equally selfish, or even more selfish then that build. However there is no warriors or necromancers in zergs right, so thats not a problem.

Truest statement is Archon’s “be level 80 and don’t die.”

Most zerg builds fufill that pretty well. Rangers bring a few interesting things to zergs like healing spring, traps, entangle, MT, barrage, pets… whatever you can do and still not die..

One thing to note is that the video is outdated, and most rangers, including the creator of that vid, now run the usual Melandru Runes + Lemongrass combo.

That being said, I would argue that that build is the Ranger meta for WvW zerg combat, at least until maybe the Feature Patch.

I have always thought that if you are in the middle of a zerg with a Ranger, you are doing it wrong….imho. I think Rangers have some deficiencies playing that style. Don’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole.

I think you bring more to the table playing as a predator hanging around the edges of a zerg picking people off …..especially thieves.

Prysin.8542:

ArchonWing.9480:

Fluffball.8307:

ArchonWing.9480:

Anyhow, feel free to post any build that gives me the cornerstones of zerg combat (stability, condition removal, cc) which doesn’t completely destroy your ability to support nor simply relies on guardians or something for critical things.

This has stability, condition removal, cc and support.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lej85Rb3fMU

Well, thanks for posting that.

Blargh, I should have explicitly said AOE ranged damage, since I suppose cleave isn’t a problem, except the close range part.

Looking at the video, muddy terrain + entangle is something to look at, though I’m not too appreciative of entangle’s long cooldown when it’s going against rampage as one but that may be worth a shot.

I wouldn’t really say the build has good condition removal. It has healing spring which is good in and of itself, but that’s it. The stability is strong from Signet of the Wild but the cooldown is looong, and there’s also 0 stunbreaks if I’m correct here.

As for AOE damage, we have barrage…. and entangle again. I’m not the hugest fan of barrage but we’ll give it that for now.

The hounds are something to worth considering… if they’d stay alive.

The survivability is decent, as expected from a 30 marksmanship signet build, but those things are just so selfish.

This is still a good build of all the things I can conceive and am sure it works I have a similar build that I think is even more durable (well, my computer sucks and nearly explodes in combat much less be able to record and skills are limited, so you don’t have to take my word on it) but am running 3 signets. If I try to fit muddy terrain here, I’d be sacrificing either stability or condition removal/stunbreak.

I suppose the other catch here is piercing arrows. I currently use spotter in its place because I think the group dps increase is more important (also, as you’d expect, nobody else provides it either, lol) though I wonder how well the effect on that is. Which of course really brings up the issue of why so many traits are loaded in that three.

Let me tell you something;
Your average warrior or necro zergling build is equally selfish, or even more selfish then that build. However there is no warriors or necromancers in zergs right, so thats not a problem.

Yes, but I don’t really see the point of this comment nor do I get the point of the sarcastic commentary on pug warriors/necros.

They can be selfish, but they also can make minor concessions to huge effect. I can’t speak on warriors, though it seems their high defenses and long duration god mode skills with powerful heals allows that kind of stuff. They can afford to get punted with conditions because they have a higher health pool while CC’ing like nobody’s business. Hanging out with frontline warriors with a ranger is NOT a problem, but what are you sacrificing to do this, and what are they? And so wvw groups have their hammer trains and whatnot. And I can’t imagine a warrior evaporating if they want to show some banners, though I guess I should stop talking about this otherwise it’ll end up like 96% of warrior rants.

So no, I’m not saying that build is bad at all (in fact, quite the opposite) , but I look at all the concessions that had to be made to achieve it.

And what do you think a zerg necro build is? AOE boon removal (including that delicious stability). 20 trait points nets you AOE chills and blinds, not to mention it turns the plague form elite into an absurd, game changing ability. And necro staves— AOE regen/chill, fear (also a blast finisher), all on relatively low cooldowns for an even lower cooldown when you spent a mere 10 trait points. 10 more? It’s unblockable now.

The scary part are all these traits are potentially universal— meaning either a condi necro or a power necro is capable of all this kind of manipulation with small 10-20 point investments. In actuality, the tankiest/bunker zerg ready necro builds also give the most support too. You of course could be selfish with some 30/10/0/0/30 stuff, but that’s just a choice.

I understand that’s not really a fair comparison, since necros by design are top tier in zergs, but I do like to look at what works. Instead of nerfing stuff, stuff should be balanced towards what works. It doesn’t mean “turn every class into a warrior” but such things need to be factored in when designing things for the synergy.

Forzani.2584:

I have always thought that if you are in the middle of a zerg with a Ranger, you are doing it wrong….imho. I think Rangers have some deficiencies playing that style. Don’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole.

I think you bring more to the table playing as a predator hanging around the edges of a zerg picking people off …..especially thieves.

depends on your builds. A melee build is not going to work for “picking people off”. A signet build with longbow however will.

this is Build Wars 2, not “This is what i think i cannot do wars 2”

@Archon
You can do the same as a ranger.
In zergs you CAN run condi, or power. All you really need is to switch gear (that goes for necros too, so it shouldn’t be necessary to say).
30/20/0/20/0 for power, 10/30/20/20/0 for condi. Both very potent in zergs. One for cleave, one for traps w/torch…