Guild Wars 2

eye floater.7140:

I have an 80 guardian, 80 war, 80 necro, and the rest of my characters are over level 35. My ranger is 75 at the moment, but after playing him a while I started to hate a few things…
kittenTY kitten UTILITY SKILLS.
HORRIBLE-FEELING MELEE [sword/dagger] (It’s so far away from fluid it’s solid)
NO SURVIVABILITY.
Gokitten, I want to play ranger but they really screwed this class over.
I come from playing a GW1 ranger, and the way they MAKE you have a pet 24/7 is ridiculous. Play like you want to?
Nope.
Anyone have some miraculous build that can solve all my woes?

So far I’ve read half the postings in this thread and seen one whole build as a suggestion.

I know there are many and in PvE I am beast – I am a strange mixture of armor – exotics with all but one ascended trinkets.

Don’t forget the importance of food in WvW and PvE – without it even without ascended gear other players will trounce you for your lack – use what they do and come out better than even on most fights IF you can mitigate some damage while pushing your elites and other “larger” damage makers onto the target.

Pets are underrated – the warhorn birds can do some serious to deadly damage – and moving faster while wielding that one handed sword isn’t exactly small potatoes in DPS if you are geared for crit chance/crit damage, eating food, and using tools like Precision boost and crit boosts.

My build for what it’s worth:

10 -IV
30 – II – III – IV
30 – I – VII – VIII
0
0

Signet of Renewal
Signet of the Hunt
Flame Trap
Entangle

My gear is a mix of crit, toughness and precision with some vitality thrown in – probably my lowest stat but I can still rez others while taking some serious damage

I use Troll Unguent for healing so I don’t have to stand in the spring, it takes from players in a zerg but me rezzing them is far more important to me than healing others who are still up.

atheria.2837:

I know there are many and in PvE I am beast – I am a strange mixture of armor – exotics with all but one ascended trinkets.

Pets are underrated – the warhorn birds can do some serious to deadly damage -

My build for what it’s worth:

10 -IV
30 – II – III – IV
30 – I – VII – VIII
0
0

Signet of Renewal
Signet of the Hunt
Flame Trap
Entangle

My gear is a mix of crit, toughness and precision with some vitality thrown in – probably my lowest stat but I can still rez others while taking some serious damage

I use Troll Unguent for healing so I don’t have to stand in the spring, it takes from players in a zerg but me rezzing them is far more important to me than healing others who are still up.

Such builds are the reason why most rangers “suck” in PvE.

WH 4 does less dmg per castime then sword 1, use it only if u can´t attack the opponent in meleerange.
Basic knowlegde…

Why not just try a condi build man, it can’t hurt and they’re somewhat fun. People will call you OP but then again, what isn’t OP anyways. Try running full apothecary w/undead runes. Sword/Dagger or Axe/torch and shortbow. Traits are whatever you feel comfortable with.

What people tend to forget is that the ranger is not just the guys with the pet but an archer, a trapper, a beastmaster and a skirmisher/druid/spirit summoning thing. You could build a class around each one of those. Yet ArenaNet decided to unify them all within the ranger. The archer is is the specification who has suffered the most under this decision.

Man I feel you on this topic! I have been giving my fully geared level 80 ranger another hardy try to be competitive. I really enjoy this class but there are just too many things that the class lacks! Breaking combat when jumping around like an idiot with Sword is super annoying! I’ve been trying to get torch slayer but half the time I sit there tapping Torch 5 but he wont stop sticking them with the pointy end. Longbow barrage has almost got me killed due to retaliation in WvW. I literally sat on a wall, did barrage and almost died…The survivability is lackluster. In WvW last night I was trying to help kill a warrior…I had 2900armor and almost died to whirling attack while he was immobilized. In WvW I try to use the “Protect Me Shout” like warrior’s immune to damage stance but my pet is dead in 3sec to random aoes rendering this utility useless everytime it is needed. The only saving grace is you can fight the endless fight underwater…but who cares. Sorry, I was avoiding complaining but I really enjoy Ranger in open world pve but urgh…cant take him anywhere else.

I would be SO happy if dps/survivability was improved, sword was redone and pets could be stored perma for a boost in personal stats. Pets are good in PvE but are useless if not a total liability everywhere else.

To pve the best DPS is 30/30/0/10/0 LB + Sword/horn

I have personally tried the LB/GS build and the condition traps build. Traps is the only build I have been somewhat successful in competition in PvP. Nothing has been too successful in WvW. PvE is just freaking fun but that is easy mode. Anyway I am a ranger noob though with 8 other lvl 80s probably haven’t spent enough time with it.

urdriel.8496:

To pve the best DPS is 30/30/0/10/0 LB + Sword/horn

My favorite has been GS; Sw/horn as a very aggressive pve build. Swapping out of GS for LB during large boss fights.

Still I guess the reason for the thread is to continue adding attention to the fact Rangers really really need certain aspects improved to become competitive in other aspects of the game.

I don’t feel like the class sucks at all, despite what a lot of people say. I have an 80 of every class and have played them all very thoroughly in tPvP. The one thing I can say about the ranger is that, while other classes have nearly infinite combinations of skills and traits to tweak and perfect depending on your playstyle, the ranger class is extremely one-dimensional and grandmaster traits force us into playstyles rather than what we would do with other classes and build a playstyle around a grandmaster or two. For example: Bark Skin is for added survivability, Empathetic Bond is Condi removal (this is about as in-depth as you can get when combining it with different pets, but in the end it doesn’t make much of a difference), Signet of the Beastmaster is a heavy investment in order to gain stability that isn’t on a 120s CD, and while I’d love to have a shout build for regen and swiftness to support my allies outside of spirits, but unfortunately our shouts are more commands and not instantaneous like every other class, and more often than not you need that condi removed with Soldier’s Runes right then and there, but rather have to anticipate having a condition on you in the first place.

Please though, I feel like there’s much more to the ranger that I’m not seeing. Enlighten me if I’m wrong.

Viking Jorun.5413:

I don’t feel like the class sucks at all, despite what a lot of people say. I have an 80 of every class and have played them all very thoroughly in tPvP. The one thing I can say about the ranger is that, while other classes have nearly infinite combinations of skills and traits to tweak and perfect depending on your playstyle, the ranger class is extremely one-dimensional and grandmaster traits force us into playstyles rather than what we would do with other classes and build a playstyle around a grandmaster or two. For example: Bark Skin is for added survivability, Empathetic Bond is Condi removal (this is about as in-depth as you can get when combining it with different pets, but in the end it doesn’t make much of a difference), Signet of the Beastmaster is a heavy investment in order to gain stability that isn’t on a 120s CD, and while I’d love to have a shout build for regen and swiftness to support my allies outside of spirits, but unfortunately our shouts are more commands and not instantaneous like every other class, and more often than not you need that condi removed with Soldier’s Runes right then and there, but rather have to anticipate having a condition on you in the first place.

Please though, I feel like there’s much more to the ranger that I’m not seeing. Enlighten me if I’m wrong.

Rangers trait lines are probably the worst of all classes, you need to invest 30 always……….

No u don´t need to spend 30 points always.

Prysin.8542:

snip
Please keep the modes APART.
Ranger is in the higher tiers in PvP, High tier in dungeons, viable but not preferred in PvE and useful in smaller WvW encounters.
snip.

Are we talking about the same class?

Ranger is in the higher tiers in PvP
Which high level PvP team is looking for rangers?

High tier in dungeons
And getting kicked from most groups even before saying hi?

viable but not preferred in PvE
hummmm… Solo PvE, maybe… Not gonna do the 6 mins achiev on any server that has half rangers, though you’re pretty sure to win it if there’s half that’s war…

useful in smaller WvW encounters
Though, once again, when partying the question is always “do you have an other character?”

Some people would rather have me bring one of my level 40ish uplevels than my level 80 ranger…
Does that not give an idea of how well is the ranger profession doing?

Norjena.5172:

No u don´t need to spend 30 points always.

I think I spent 25 on Marksmanship, but it’s been a while since I opened my Traits to really study it.

Jocksy.3415:

Some people would rather have me bring one of my level 40ish uplevels than my level 80 ranger…
Does that not give an idea of how well is the ranger profession doing?

Unfortunately, that only says more about your ranger skills vs your skill with alts then the profession itself. That, or the people you hang out with aren’t as nice as you think.
Sorry, but personal experience =/= general performance.

Jocksy.3415:

Some people would rather have me bring one of my level 40ish uplevels than my level 80 ranger…
Does that not give an idea of how well is the ranger profession doing?

May I say again? I’m in four guilds, none of them have ever said “rangers aren’t welcome”. One guild leader said they like playing their ranger, though they main a warrior; they say one is more useful overall, one is more fun though.

I’ve never been told outright to stay out of WvW as a ranger, I’ve been told instead to learn how to counter certain things and to be a team player more.

It’s true, rangers seem to suck, bet they aren’t that bad. At first playing with a ranger is easy. Get a bow + bear and pew pew mobs while pet takes the damage. And then you enter your first dungeon and a party members tells you to use a sword+x / great sword and you realize that you don’t have only bows. You see a axe, sword, dagger, torch, great sword and the long and short bows. You try to improve and see that the gs is better than the longbow, the axe auto bounces and with a torch/war horn offhand is pretty nice. you almost overlooked the sword because when you tried it you found yourself jumping all over the place and decided to ignore it. For some time you remain stuck with gs/axe+x sb or lb, then some friends tell you to use the sword. You give it a go and see that it’s good but the root is annoying, but still manageable. By now you probably are 80 and trying to find a build for yourself. You look over the trait lines and wonder why are your traits so all over the place, but manage to crop up something, only to see that it isn’t working that good. You decide to fine tune it, change a trait here and there, a piece of armor/trinket etc. and then you still continue to fine tune it.

The pets sometimes annoy the hell out of you, but you learn to use them. In short the ranger is easy at the surface but to make it work you have a steep learning curve.

Jocksy.3415:

Prysin.8542:

snip
Please keep the modes APART.
Ranger is in the higher tiers in PvP, High tier in dungeons, viable but not preferred in PvE and useful in smaller WvW encounters.
snip.

Are we talking about the same class?

Ranger is in the higher tiers in PvP
Which high level PvP team is looking for rangers?

High tier in dungeons
And getting kicked from most groups even before saying hi?

viable but not preferred in PvE
hummmm… Solo PvE, maybe… Not gonna do the 6 mins achiev on any server that has half rangers, though you’re pretty sure to win it if there’s half that’s war…

useful in smaller WvW encounters
Though, once again, when partying the question is always “do you have an other character?”

---

Some people would rather have me bring one of my level 40ish uplevels than my level 80 ranger…
Does that not give an idea of how well is the ranger profession doing?

That statement is laughable.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Norjena.5172:

No u don´t need to spend 30 points always.

I think I spent 25 on Marksmanship, but it’s been a while since I opened my Traits to really study it.

but why?
no need Oo

Bambula.3649:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Norjena.5172:

No u don´t need to spend 30 points always.

I think I spent 25 on Marksmanship, but it’s been a while since I opened my Traits to really study it.

but why?
no need Oo

I think it was for “Precise Strike” for “Opening Strike is always a Critical Hit” but it’s been a while. Either that or it was the last five points and it was for the stats.

I understand how some say it feels clunky at times. It took me about a year to get a feel for the skills and unique movement. Warrior and guardian feel great out of the box, however, Ranger is actually much more mobile when mastered. It just takes a ton of practice and Travelers runes

Archon.6480:

I understand how some say it feels clunky at times. It took me about a year to get a feel for the skills and unique movement. Warrior and guardian feel great out of the box, however, Ranger is actually much more mobile when mastered. It just takes a ton of practice and Travelers runes

I beg to differ, warriors are more mobile. And its not “when mastered”, its when you have the right skills and weapons put on.

“Ranger Design Philosophy: Please keep this in mind when posting feedback.
The Ranger is a resilient profession that excels at skirmishing by drawing from nature to support themselves as well as their allies. Alongside their pet, they have some of the best single target and sustained damage that will whittle their opponents down.” – From the developer post in Collaborative Development: Ranger Profession

… I can’t stop laughing…

Prysin.8542:

Jocksy.3415:

Some people would rather have me bring one of my level 40ish uplevels than my level 80 ranger…
Does that not give an idea of how well is the ranger profession doing?

Unfortunately, that only says more about your ranger skills vs your skill with alts then the profession itself. That, or the people you hang out with aren’t as nice as you think.
Sorry, but personal experience =/= general performance.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Jocksy.3415:

Some people would rather have me bring one of my level 40ish uplevels than my level 80 ranger…
Does that not give an idea of how well is the ranger profession doing?

May I say again? I’m in four guilds, none of them have ever said “rangers aren’t welcome”. One guild leader said they like playing their ranger, though they main a warrior; they say one is more useful overall, one is more fun though.

I’ve never been told outright to stay out of WvW as a ranger, I’ve been told instead to learn how to counter certain things and to be a team player more.

Reading skills?
“Some people” is not friends, is not guildies, is not anyone close to me, it’s just randoms…

And everyone points out one line without adressing the rest of the post?
No counter-argument… Just emotions… riiiiiiight…

there is no need to adress the rest as it is but a personal opinion based on personal experience, not actual facts

Sollith.3502:

“Ranger Design Philosophy: Please keep this in mind when posting feedback.
The Ranger is a resilient profession that excels at skirmishing by drawing from nature to support themselves as well as their allies. Alongside their pet, they have some of the best single target and sustained damage that will whittle their opponents down.” – From the developer post in Collaborative Development: Ranger Profession

… I can’t stop laughing…

We have 100Arrows , Explosive arrow and Kill arrow, Oh wait…..

Jocksy.3415:

Reading skills?
“Some people” is not friends, is not guildies, is not anyone close to me, it’s just randoms…

And I’ve had random people tell me to “go back to League” when I drop any reference to the game even though I’m not playing it. (Notably joking about “lanes” when doing Marionette.) So “some people” seem to be confusing GW2 for LoL by that logic, right?

But I find it really . . . strange . . . you would rather I use people I don’t know anything about to counter-argue with than people who I know. It’s almost as if I’m expected to make sweeping generalizations with no support so I can be told I don’t know what I’m talking about . . . nah, that would be rude.

And everyone points out one line without adressing the rest of the post?
No counter-argument… Just emotions… riiiiiiight…

I did. I pointed out there are other people who disagree. That’s kind of less of an emotion and more of a “no, people are not all like that and I don’t have that experience”.

I also have admitted rangers aren’t “totally awesome and have no problems whatsoever”. We have problems, we need some things fixed. But we are not, exactly, the worst thing in the game right now.

The worst thing in the game is still Evon Gnashblade.

Prysin.8542:

there is no need to adress the rest as it is but a personal opinion based on personal experience, not actual facts

No need, really?
you state :
“Ranger is in the higher tiers in PvP, High tier in dungeons, viable but not preferred in PvE and useful in smaller WvW encounters.”
but can’t back it up, so you just jump on my emotional side note on the matter to dismiss the point I made as counter argument to your affirmation…

Still waitong on your answer to the questions…

Jocksy.3415:

Prysin.8542:

snip
Please keep the modes APART.
Ranger is in the higher tiers in PvP, High tier in dungeons, viable but not preferred in PvE and useful in smaller WvW encounters.
snip.

Are we talking about the same class?

Ranger is in the higher tiers in PvP
Which high level PvP team is looking for rangers?

High tier in dungeons
And getting kicked from most groups even before saying hi?

viable but not preferred in PvE
hummmm… Solo PvE, maybe… Not gonna do the 6 mins achiev on any server that has half rangers, though you’re pretty sure to win it if there’s half that’s war…

useful in smaller WvW encounters
Though, once again, when partying the question is always “do you have an other character?”

Forzani.2584:

Prysin.8542:

…………..

1.Please keep the modes APART.

2. If you refuse to play the class as intended by the developers, then you will not be successful. .

Two statements that should be stamped on the forehead of every Ranger new or old

You’re right. But I refuse to play a class as intended that is designed without reason and common sense. ANet’s fault, not the players.

Jocksy.3415:

Prysin.8542:

snip
Please keep the modes APART.
Ranger is in the higher tiers in PvP, High tier in dungeons, viable but not preferred in PvE and useful in smaller WvW encounters.
snip.

Are we talking about the same class?

Ranger is in the higher tiers in PvP
Which high level PvP team is looking for rangers?

High tier in dungeons
And getting kicked from most groups even before saying hi?

viable but not preferred in PvE
hummmm… Solo PvE, maybe… Not gonna do the 6 mins achiev on any server that has half rangers, though you’re pretty sure to win it if there’s half that’s war…

useful in smaller WvW encounters
Though, once again, when partying the question is always “do you have an other character?”

---

Some people would rather have me bring one of my level 40ish uplevels than my level 80 ranger…
Does that not give an idea of how well is the ranger profession doing?

Not sure what makes you think high tier pvp/pve groups are specifically looking for rangers

Are they viable? of course they are lol, every class is.

But NO ONE is going to put on a pug LFG post asking for rangers lol join haha.

They are mid tier in pve and pvp…. high tier for pve is guard/warrior/mesmer/eles…. all bring way better dps and utility than a lowly ranger and his pet…

pvp is a toss up, it depends on the rest of the team comp but spirit ranger IS THE ONLY useful team comp makeup for ranger. They have no diversity here in team arenas because their party support is atrocious outside of healing spring + spirit buffs

Sollith.3502:

“Ranger Design Philosophy: Please keep this in mind when posting feedback.
The Ranger is a resilient profession that excels at skirmishing by drawing from nature to support themselves as well as their allies. Alongside their pet, they have some of the best single target and sustained damage that will whittle their opponents down.” – From the developer post in Collaborative Development: Ranger Profession

… I can’t stop laughing…

Ranger´s do a little bit more dps then warriors.

Max dps group on a wall
3 Ele
1 Warrior (support build with EA)
1 Ranger

without a wall
3 Ele
1 warrior
1 Mesmer (Mesploit with FGS)

If u don´t like FGS and/or a normal team (because max dps is =/= fastest dungeon run) pick up.

1 Guard (probably mesmer, but usually the guard is much better)
1 Warrior
2 Ele
1 Thief or ranger

As u can see, necro/engineer are the bad PvE classes, mesmers are not needed, some portal tricks, but thats it. A guard can do everything else better.

Obsidian.1328:

Forzani.2584:

Prysin.8542:

…………..

1.Please keep the modes APART.

2. If you refuse to play the class as intended by the developers, then you will not be successful. .

Two statements that should be stamped on the forehead of every Ranger new or old

You’re right. But I refuse to play a class as intended that is designed without reason and common sense. ANet’s fault, not the players.

Doesn’t that kind of go without saying?

I wont be playing Wildstar. I can’t stand the look of it. Same thing with Warlords of Draenor. Both games getting hyped, but I can’t stand the cartoon characters.

Why would I ever complain about that? they have a product. The consumer either agrees with the product…or not.

Forzani.2584:

Obsidian.1328:

Forzani.2584:

Prysin.8542:

…………..

1.Please keep the modes APART.

2. If you refuse to play the class as intended by the developers, then you will not be successful. .

Two statements that should be stamped on the forehead of every Ranger new or old

You’re right. But I refuse to play a class as intended that is designed without reason and common sense. ANet’s fault, not the players.

Doesn’t that kind of go without saying?

I wont be playing Wildstar. I can’t stand the look of it. Same thing with Warlords of Draenor. Both games getting hyped, but I can’t stand the cartoon characters.

Why would I ever complain about that? they have a product. The consumer either agrees with the product…or not.

Disagreeing with aesthetic choices is different from disagreeing with mechanics choices that don’t work. It’s unreasonable to expect a game to look/feel such that everyone loves it stylistically. It’s a whole other thing to expect a game to work correctly, and not an unreasonable one at that.

I, and many others, bought the game knowing full well the Ranger had a pet %100 of the time. I actually welcomed this, I thought “hey, maybe they figured out how to make it work in a way that it didn’t in GW1. Maybe I can have a functional pet without having to sacrifice survivability/playerdamage”

Instead, we got a pet that brings virtually no advantage to the class and actually hurts us in many spots because it can die and take both our damage and utility with it. Had I known that, I and many others, probably wouldn’t have bought the game.

Jocksy.3415:

Prysin.8542:

snip
Please keep the modes APART.
Ranger is in the higher tiers in PvP, High tier in dungeons, viable but not preferred in PvE and useful in smaller WvW encounters.
snip.

Are we talking about the same class?

Ranger is in the higher tiers in PvP
Which high level PvP team is looking for rangers?

High tier in dungeons
And getting kicked from most groups even before saying hi?

viable but not preferred in PvE
hummmm… Solo PvE, maybe… Not gonna do the 6 mins achiev on any server that has half rangers, though you’re pretty sure to win it if there’s half that’s war…

useful in smaller WvW encounters
Though, once again, when partying the question is always “do you have an other character?”

---

Some people would rather have me bring one of my level 40ish uplevels than my level 80 ranger…
Does that not give an idea of how well is the ranger profession doing?

Lol he always thinks rangers are superior to other classes. I personally think rangers are only good/decent in roaming/1 v 1 fight, but still subpar compared to the metas (PU mesmer, decap engie, P/D thieves, warriors, etc). Rangers are high tier in dungeon? Oh boy… Eventhough i must say i do quite well in dungeon, but this statement is hilarious. And i have mained rangers since beta

Substance E.4852:

Forzani.2584:

Obsidian.1328:

Forzani.2584:

Prysin.8542:

…………..

1.Please keep the modes APART.

2. If you refuse to play the class as intended by the developers, then you will not be successful. .

Two statements that should be stamped on the forehead of every Ranger new or old

You’re right. But I refuse to play a class as intended that is designed without reason and common sense. ANet’s fault, not the players.

Doesn’t that kind of go without saying?

I wont be playing Wildstar. I can’t stand the look of it. Same thing with Warlords of Draenor. Both games getting hyped, but I can’t stand the cartoon characters.

Why would I ever complain about that? they have a product. The consumer either agrees with the product…or not.

Disagreeing with aesthetic choices is different from disagreeing with mechanics choices that don’t work. It’s unreasonable to expect a game to look/feel such that everyone loves it stylistically. It’s a whole other thing to expect a game to work correctly, and not an unreasonable one at that.

I, and many others, bought the game knowing full well the Ranger had a pet %100 of the time. I actually welcomed this, I thought “hey, maybe they figured out how to make it work in a way that it didn’t in GW1. Maybe I can have a functional pet without having to sacrifice survivability/playerdamage”

Instead, we got a pet that brings virtually no advantage to the class and actually hurts us in many spots because it can die and take both our damage and utility with it. Had I known that, I and many others, probably wouldn’t have bought the game.

ok, we agree on that. I thought you were alluding to something else. If you were happy with the pet idea, then you are completely correct in not being happy with how the pet actually works.

Forzani.2584:

Substance E.4852:

Forzani.2584:

Obsidian.1328:

Forzani.2584:

Prysin.8542:

…………..

1.Please keep the modes APART.

2. If you refuse to play the class as intended by the developers, then you will not be successful. .

Two statements that should be stamped on the forehead of every Ranger new or old

You’re right. But I refuse to play a class as intended that is designed without reason and common sense. ANet’s fault, not the players.

Doesn’t that kind of go without saying?

I wont be playing Wildstar. I can’t stand the look of it. Same thing with Warlords of Draenor. Both games getting hyped, but I can’t stand the cartoon characters.

Why would I ever complain about that? they have a product. The consumer either agrees with the product…or not.

Disagreeing with aesthetic choices is different from disagreeing with mechanics choices that don’t work. It’s unreasonable to expect a game to look/feel such that everyone loves it stylistically. It’s a whole other thing to expect a game to work correctly, and not an unreasonable one at that.

I, and many others, bought the game knowing full well the Ranger had a pet %100 of the time. I actually welcomed this, I thought “hey, maybe they figured out how to make it work in a way that it didn’t in GW1. Maybe I can have a functional pet without having to sacrifice survivability/playerdamage”

Instead, we got a pet that brings virtually no advantage to the class and actually hurts us in many spots because it can die and take both our damage and utility with it. Had I known that, I and many others, probably wouldn’t have bought the game.

ok, we agree on that. I thought you were alluding to something else. If you were happy with the pet idea, then you are completely correct in not being happy with how the pet actually works.

It’s actually part of the reason I even bother staying on. I’ve seen them do amazing things in GW1 and I still feel the pet can work, it’s just going to take more prodding than I ever thought necessary.

It took ~4 years just for them to drop the silly “Charm Pet” requirement and let us use pets without wasting a skill slot. Hopefully we’ll see something like that one day.

This class is awesome. It is my 4th level 80. Necro, Engi, and Guard are all my others. Ranger has more DPS potential than any other class, save Thief. The utility is all sorts of amazing, and both our crit values (Chance and Damage) are in the same tree! This class is just like any other, in that it is only as good as you make it.

@Raiff: welcome to the ranger side of the force!

(first I thought you are a troll, but you made a topic in the ranger forum what makes sense… so you are actually playing this class).

Our problem (rangers) are that you must heavily invest in a given traitline to get ANY useful benefit. ALL of our useful “things” are at 30 points deep in some traitlines. Are you wondering why is the Nature’s voice 30 deep? Me too…

And please believe me: all of our traits are working like this. If you don’t spend 30-40 points to make them useful… Keep them away from your utility bar…

Its extremely difficult to get a working build that doesn’t invest 30 points in something, and by extension uses 3 of the same type utility skills because without traits, our other skills would normally be useless. The closest I’ve come to that is this unconventional PvE build (that definitely doesn’t suck, but you have to know how to use it) I use it just because its different :::

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQNBhYD7kQF6F0KWwXF4axACTxhkIPFo3s4e4flSImxTfIbC-zQCBIiDRmiAhwIwUBQZpFRjtquIasqGYaVER1+EFRrOAwBwwDnwFuwDnnf+5nf+5IFg5CjA-e

Perma Protection saves the pet from 1-shot mechanics, perma regen and swiftness also help alot. Signet of the Wild at 1100 healing power is basically a Warrior’s healing signet for the pet (400 health per second), making it impossible for it to die when stacked with regen and troll unguent. I’ll sometimes switch RaO with Nature Spirit for even more healing. Also, a fully buffed stalker with 25 stacks of masters bond and 25 stacks of might can deal quite a bit of damage. My only job really is to keep critical hits coming so might keeps stacking on the Stalker.

I’ll also use it in WvW zerging sometimes (I’ll use River Drake instead of stalker). I’ll stay in the back, and time the Drake’s Lightning breath attack on a downed enemy, and watch the numbers pop. A fully buffed river drake with 25 stacks of master’s bond and 25 stacks of might can deal an absolutely absurd amount of damage to multiple enemies(if only its F2 tracked moving enemies so it would be more useful).

(((It still sucks, because in Dungeons, if I’m the only Ranger, I normally have to take spotter and frost spirit switching skirmishing for Marksmanship, which drops my pet’s damage by almost 30% and my damage by another 10%, just so people will take me.)))

Not even going to read the replies. Yes ranger is a tad weak in PvE, but I’d still rather see a ranger than a necro. In WvW/sPvP if you keep dying on ranger you probably just cant play or your build is trash because ranger has so many passive dodges in their weapon sets and their ability to condi bomb is pretty awesome. My advice? Practice, practice, practice and play a build centered around forge runes in competitive play.

Substance E.4852:

Sarision.6347:

Well thing with Drizzt is that he’s not balanced around his pet, not to mention he can even permastow it!

Ya, I’m pretty sure he was more about disemboweling folks with his dual scimitars than anything else.

Hahahaha! This and this! ^^

Raiff.6742:

This class is awesome. It is my 4th level 80. Necro, Engi, and Guard are all my others. Ranger has more DPS potential than any other class, save Thief. The utility is all sorts of amazing, and both our crit values (Chance and Damage) are in the same tree! This class is just like any other, in that it is only as good as you make it.

While people say this, thief only has the 3rd highest damage potential. Staff and S/D eles have arguably the highest damage, while GS+S/P Burst Mesmer has the second highest. Only then does Backstab thief have the 3rd highest burst potential (notice I didn’t use DPS, which is much harder to calculate).

Raiff.6742:

This class is awesome. It is my 4th level 80. Necro, Engi, and Guard are all my others. Ranger has more DPS potential than any other class, save Thief. The utility is all sorts of amazing, and both our crit values (Chance and Damage) are in the same tree! This class is just like any other, in that it is only as good as you make it.

Would love to hear how you actually believe rangers have high DPS potential lol

They don’t. DPS and ranger don’t go in the same sentence.
If you are talking about the 1 trick pony of moment of clarity + signets + maul combo. thats about the only burst you have and again, that combo NEVER works on a compotent player. Anyone can stun break out or dodge the highly telegraphed moves this combo has

If you are talking about rapid fire + quickening zephyr, again, lol. that’s so easy to dodge half the arrows or just simply pop a reflect project which every class basically has.
I don’t think anyone has ever lost a duel to a ranger using a LB. you have to be really bad at this game if you get bursted down by a ranger…

SkiTz.4590:

Raiff.6742:

This class is awesome. It is my 4th level 80. Necro, Engi, and Guard are all my others. Ranger has more DPS potential than any other class, save Thief. The utility is all sorts of amazing, and both our crit values (Chance and Damage) are in the same tree! This class is just like any other, in that it is only as good as you make it.

Would love to hear how you actually believe rangers have high DPS potential lol

They don’t. DPS and ranger don’t go in the same sentence.
If you are talking about the 1 trick pony of moment of clarity + signets + maul combo. thats about the only burst you have and again, that combo NEVER works on a compotent player. Anyone can stun break out or dodge the highly telegraphed moves this combo has

If you are talking about rapid fire + quickening zephyr, again, lol. that’s so easy to dodge half the arrows or just simply pop a reflect project which every class basically has.
I don’t think anyone has ever lost a duel to a ranger using a LB. you have to be really bad at this game if you get bursted down by a ranger…

I kill thieves all the time with Longbow. They pop into stealth thinking they are safe, but, Rapid fire tracks the target even into stealth (actually any skill that started activation before the target went into stealth seems to track as long as you aren’t moving around too much).

Chrispy.5641:

SkiTz.4590:

Raiff.6742:

This class is awesome. It is my 4th level 80. Necro, Engi, and Guard are all my others. Ranger has more DPS potential than any other class, save Thief. The utility is all sorts of amazing, and both our crit values (Chance and Damage) are in the same tree! This class is just like any other, in that it is only as good as you make it.

Would love to hear how you actually believe rangers have high DPS potential lol

They don’t. DPS and ranger don’t go in the same sentence.
If you are talking about the 1 trick pony of moment of clarity + signets + maul combo. thats about the only burst you have and again, that combo NEVER works on a compotent player. Anyone can stun break out or dodge the highly telegraphed moves this combo has

If you are talking about rapid fire + quickening zephyr, again, lol. that’s so easy to dodge half the arrows or just simply pop a reflect project which every class basically has.
I don’t think anyone has ever lost a duel to a ranger using a LB. you have to be really bad at this game if you get bursted down by a ranger…

I kill thieves all the time with Longbow. They pop into stealth thinking they are safe, but, Rapid fire tracks the target even into stealth (actually any skill that started activation before the target went into stealth seems to track as long as you aren’t moving around too much).

eh I guess.. just never seems to kill them for me…a good thief usually has some kind of healing going on while in stealth + they can still dodge any of those rapid fires coming at them but ofc i rarely ever use LB as my weapon in spvp..every other weapon just seems better to me.. if you can survive the theives initial bursts and hunt them down in their stealth, they are very easy to beat but they can be a pain to catch…. especially good thieves who know how to reset fights at will

Skitz. If I go 30/30/0/0/0 with the last 10 pts wherever I want, I can then go traps, axe, and shortbow. Im now hitting very hard with even auto attack, and critting for double damage (I gear high perception and crit dmg, so I crit around 70% with 98% crit dmg). Granted, health is kinda low and toughness is almost nonexistent but the things I fight die quick.

McWolfy.5924:

Substance E.4852:

Sarision.6347:

Well thing with Drizzt is that he’s not balanced around his pet, not to mention he can even permastow it!

Ya, I’m pretty sure he was more about disemboweling folks with his dual scimitars than anything else.

Hahahaha! This and this! ^^

Drizzt is most about “I am an outcast of my race of evil kin” than either of those things, and does far more navel-gazing about getting involved than actually doing things.

He’s also one of the most copied characters I’ve heard of. I don’t know why, they should be copying Jarlaxle . . .

Are condition trap rangers viable? I keep coming across them in WvW and they absolutely murdered me. Granted I don’t have a lot of experience playing against that build but the condition pressure they can apply melt’s you very quickly, even when cleansing.

These players have been few and far between and they are definitely very skilled with their profession. After fighting the ones I did, it made me want to roll a ranger to see how much fun it would be BUT, I really don’t like condition builds because they seem…broken

Loco.4561:

Are condition trap rangers viable? I keep coming across them in WvW and they absolutely murdered me. Granted I don’t have a lot of experience playing against that build but the condition pressure they can apply melt’s you very quickly, even when cleansing.

These players have been few and far between and they are definitely very skilled with their profession. After fighting the ones I did, it made me want to roll a ranger to see how much fun it would be BUT, I really don’t like condition builds because they seem…broken

Are condition trap rangers viable? I keep coming across them in WvW and they absolutely murdered me
Answered your own question…
They are viable in roaming, ans long as they stay out of harms way.
Get out of their traps as soon as you pop one, you won’t eat too much condis

As for all condis build, it’s viable for roaming; not much for bigger setting

After fighting the ones I did, it made me want to roll a ranger to see how much fun it would be BUT, I really don’t like condition builds because they seem…broken
Then don’t…
Or get power build.

I personally find ranger is the most fun char to play, because it’s very situational… others find it boring because it’s a lot of “spam 1, with the occasional other skill” (eg : shortbow : 1 = main attack; 2 = poison (to use when the other is healing); 3=escape/kite; 4, I usually use over a field, as soon as is off CD (helps kiting), and 5, for interrupt…
All skills deal same base damage, except #2, which deals slightly more at melee range…
So yep, very situational… if that’s the kind of gameplay you like, you’ll have fun with ranger… If you prefer “real” burst rotation… not a class for you.

There are a few nice one shot builds with norn characters though… more for the trolling than for real gameplay, but funny nevertheless…

Traps, in my opinion, is an awesome spec. Short range AOE Condi Dmg with a short bow and sword+torch or dagger is amazing. So much constant damage, and it works just as well in a group or solo. WvW, PvP, PvE, its amazing all the way around.

i find traps working well in zergs, but you can only carry 2…. so most of the time i use poison and fire due to spammability (lowest CD, both are pulsing). Playing in a zerg without a single stunbreaker, regardless of stability, is suicide.