Guild Wars 2

So first of all, i’m playing GW2 from launch, but i never every really interested in Fractals, but somehow now i’m addicted. My main is a ranger, and i planning to carry him to high level fractals, what do you guys suggest? weapon choices, trait, gear and everything. And i know, probably gonna have “reroll main” posts, but still i’m hoping to get decent answers, some availability.

I got in mind that we got 3 topics about this the last week..

reroll for a warrior.

its not impossible to use rangers in fotm, but its just soooooo much easier with heavies.

even if you are really good with the ranger, most people will kick you coz they dont trust rangers.

In future higher lvl fractals they´re will be not more then 2 warriors. Even now 40+ 2 warrios are enough. Sword ranger + thief and a guard or mes, ist often better.

Waterfield on demand or buffs. The biggest opponent in getting high lvl fractal slots will be the Elementalist, not the warrior.

A ranger with the current PvE high lvl Meta 20/25/0/25/0 has got nearly the same effectiv health then a DPS warr. And more Evadeskills on weapons. So don´t tell crap about everything is so much easier with heavies…

But, it´s better to pick up a warr then a axe/bow ranger. True. Ranged if range is needed but not always.

Pet will make our teammates angry at last boss.

I can’t speak for ignorant Pugs but at least in my guild we’re happy if there’s 1-2 rangers in the group, so long as a) only one brings spotter b) you know how to handle your pets.

Rangers are pretty good in fractals to be honest. Many people refuse to play the class properly though (the infamous bearbow rangers), which ruins our reputation in the eyes of everyone else.

For weapons, the basic kit includes: 1h sword, greatsword, axe, warhorn, longbow. Switch according to need in this order of preference: melee does better damage, especially 1h sword (our only true dps weapon). If you are having trouble surviving certain bosses/encounters with 1h sword, swap to greatsword and learn to use 3rd attack in AA chain properly, your survivability will be greatly improved. Warhorn offhand is default, axe only for bosses that require reflect skills. Longbow is for extreme situations where melee is not viable.

Gear and traits: check out Brazil’s guide on youtube. Even though we do bring some level of support with frost spirit/spotter/search and rescue, it’s nowhere near guardian level support, therefore it’s absolutely necessary to pull our own weight and deal enough damage. Assassin/zerker gear is the way to go (survivability is a matter of weapon choice, not a one of gear)

The thing with rangers is, that we can actually offer something unique and very valuable to all groups, but it’s significantly more difficult to do so compared to other classes and great amounts of people simply fail (spirits vs banners, ease of dealing damage while surviving compared to warriors ect.). If you want to play your ranger in high lvl fractals though, it is completely viable.

^ THIS

Both of brazils builds are very viable in high level FOTM. Basically, eventually youll want full zerker/scholar runes, but if you dont feel comfortable or you feel a little squishy, try knights armor/scholar runes with zerk trinkets and weapons, and slowly swap to zerker armor when you feel more comfortable with the playstyle. The knights armor will let you take a few more hits, while still maintaining descent DPS.

Pets- Jaguar and Jungle stalker.

Basically the builds are 30/25/0/15/0, or 20/25/0/25/0 Just search Brazil DPS Ranger builds in youtube and you should find both. He explains them pretty well.

Youll want to bring spotter and frost spirit. These are the best things a ranger can bring to a group, in dungeons or in fractals.

As for weapons, it really depends on the fractal. Eventually, your bread and butter should be Sword/warhorn for pure DPS, but i also bring an offhand dagger if i need more evades, or an offhand axe if i need pulls or reflects. However! the sword/x has a bit of a learning curve and may take a little while to get used to, so practice with sword/x in dungeons until you get a feel for it, and possibly substitute sword/x with GS in fractals until you get used to how sword/x plays.

Regardless, for certain fights, you might want to switch to GS anyway, just because the Sword root/leap can be a disadvantage in certain situations, (eg, the platforms on the harpy fractal) plus the evade on the 1chain of the GS can help with survivability. You can do descent damage with Maul on the GS and the vuln stacks you apply with it helps the whole group.

Theres also a few fights where its dificult to melee or just better to range, so bring a longbow. (youll figure these out pretty quickly :P)

The biggest thing is to learn the fights, take it slow, and listen to your teammates or guildies. It also helps to be in voice comms with the people you fractal with.

Like i said, maybe start with knights armour/scholar, zerk trinkets and weapons, and maybe start out with GS/LB unless your confident you can handle sword/warhorn (in most situations), and slowly switch out to full zerker gear when you become confident with the playstyle and learn the fights well in fractals.

I’ll add that there’s a couple of fights where the mid-range utility of the shortbow – namely, a daze that doesn’t knock back, and occasionally the retreat with swiftness – can be useful, so I bring that too.

Haven’t found a use for double axes, so one axe is fine.

You also might want to bring fire trap for might stacking with warhorn/drakes, depending on the party composition.

Full zerker, melee ranger works in fractals and dungeons (though Brazil’s build isn’t the only one to go), that much is true. Sadly, the vast majority of rangers use a long or shortbow and stay at range all the time (not giving boons or getting boons), forget how to dodge (overrealiance on built in evades?) and use Barrage as a main source of dps (which is sad).

Sword mainhand, warhorn off + the second is personal preference depending on the fight at hand (I favour the greatsword, but swap that regularly) and some level of pet management is all you need.

Taverius.8645:

Haven’t found a use for double axes, so one axe is fine.

nice on the grawl lvl when the elements pop up and you destroyed the shild

Bambula.3649:

Taverius.8645:

Haven’t found a use for double axes, so one axe is fine.

nice on the grawl lvl when the elements pop up and you destroyed the shild

Oh? Need to try that next time I get that

Hey :P Saw the bost and thought i should respond. Right now rangers are in a good place in fractals. Specialy BM (condi,crit or power build doesn’t matter).
Hell bearbow is AWESOME for the twin boss fight. I cant tell you how many times my group dies but my arctodus/fernhound combo tanks the zerker while i run away from the fire and shoot from long range until phase change. For me this usually happens 3/5 runs.
The trick though is not to think in just the normal dps thought pattern but as an offtank/control specialist as well (seeing as how we have the only thing truly capable of long term tanking in the game atm).
Rangers excell in control/wide area/high movement fights. But if your too worried bout cooldowns and might/fury stacks your not gonna be able to really excell in the ranger niche unless you go into one of the full melee builds (much more reactive. Its faster paced with less longterm planning involved)
My ranger in fractals (atm personal lvl 37) can survive almost any fight even when the rest of the group has died to various causes. Its just the whole fight smarter not harder thing.

Ran a fractal with 5/5 Rangers earlier, level 30
1 Wipe (thermanova) too busy killing each other

1 was a Spirit Ranger LB/ Sword/Horn
2 LB/SB Ranger
1 Sword/dagger/gs
1 sword/axe/LB

none were in the same guild

When you need to use a ranged weapon, but you want to maintain spotter on your teammates shortbow is the best option, I don’t know any fight in fractals where I need to be in range & the 900 range is limiting in any serious way. I surely won’t use LB in 600’ish or closer range.
About sword/horn, that is my main weapon set, but there is more to it then a learning curve, in some situations GS is just better. If you are doing a fight where near instant reaction time is required using sword is playing with fire. (mid animation you will have a delay on dodge even with auto off)

(My current fractal lvl is 47 & got it almost exclusively on the ranger. /did the dredge map on guard once because we had problems/)