Guild Wars 2

I’m currently rerolled from my warrior to a level 27 ranger, and having fun. But whenever I talk to someone about ranger and look at posts, they all complain about the later levels of rangers. Should I reconsider a class, or am I just being mislead by a bunch of whiners who want a perfect class?

Whiners. I can solo my story quests at lvl 80 while my thief friend (also lvl 80 doing same story quests) dies within 1 minute. He always ends up asking me for assistance. Not only that, but generally rangers last longer in fights that take a turn for the worst. Plus, the pet makes a GREAT distraction for mobs in higher level zones if you just want to run past everything.

WatchTheShow.7203:

Whiners. I can solo my story quests at lvl 80 while my thief friend (also lvl 80 doing same story quests) dies within 1 minute. He always ends up asking me for assistance. Not only that, but generally rangers last longer in fights that take a turn for the worst. Plus, the pet makes a GREAT distraction for mobs in higher level zones if you just want to run past everything.

Thanks for the reply!

May I ask what weapons/pets/armor/traits you are using for future reference?

If you’re interested in survivability and soloing, then you’ll want to keep in mind Wilderness Survival and Beastmastery. Toughness, healing power, and a sturdier pet will keep you kicking longer. At the same time, the condition damage increase will help you wear down enemies.

It can be fun to make a pure DPS ranger with Marksman and Skirmishing, but unless you’re prepared to be very mobile and practice perfect dodges, then that type of ranger is going to be frustrating and see you face planting a lot in high level PvE.

To each their own, of course! Ranger certainly has options and I’m sure you can find a playstyle that will work for you in the later game.

I like shortbow and longbow as my 2 weps of choice. My traits (starting with power) are 30/20/15/5. I like to switch around my first pet (usually wolf or fern hound) and I always have the brown bear as my backup in case my first pet goes down. As far as armor goes, I usually just slap on whatever gives me better stats than my previous armor did. I don’t have a particular set in mind, but generally items that increase power/precision/crit I favor. I’m very good at dodging and kiting, so this works well for me. This build can survive some hits, but do not stop moving if you are being chased by two or more mobs, or you will go down rather quickly.

Thanks for the tips

So I just started to get into my ranger, about level 29 at the moment. Had been using mostly the Long Bow and Axe / War Horn. Decided to mess around with the Sword and Dagger and am really liking the movement it provides.

Does anyone have experience at higher levels with Sword / Dagger, and can give any tips on traits / utilities that benefits surviving in higher level melee range?

Higher level, as in 70? I’m not at 80 yet… But I run this: My suggestion, hit, evade, hit. Sword lacks the damage of a bow, because a bow will always hit… you cannot step out of range with a bow. And unlike GW1, enemies cannot strafe out of your shot. Most enemies do not dodge. So, although I feel like Bow has more potential for fast kills, Sword feels the most fun, even if you don’t get rewarded for having to actually having to pay attention to combat. >.>

My build focuses more on mobility and damage over time, that straight up power. Don’t expect to be the first to get a kill, but expect to be the one more constantly getting kills and not going down. It’s much faster gameplay using a sword, far more fun…

Oh and. Make sure to not roll off of cliffs. xD

LanceHavenbay.2067:

And unlike GW1, enemies cannot strafe out of your shot.

They absolutely can! Though obviously only players are going to be smart enough to try; it’s not an issue in PvE. The nice thing about forcing them to spam alternating strafes, though, is that while doing that they’re going to have a hard time doing other things. You’ve essentially locked down their focus.

I love playing shortbow as well. When in few-target situations I prefer sword-warhorn as my second set and when in large multi-target situations I prefer axe-torch. There can be a lot of debate about which sets are best, but it seems the majority right now agree that shortbow is indispensable.