Rangers, lend me your ears..

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Wolfaen.9461

Wolfaen.9461

Hey guys, I have a few questions regarding ranger in WvW. First of all, I want to tell you guys what I am going for. I am trying to figure out if the ranger meets the playstyle/qualities that i want in a class for WvW. The qualities are below.

Great DPS on single target
Good Cleaves
Good at range and melee
Good Survivability
Good Mobility
Decent utility (more of a roamer than a grouper)
Decent CC

I have leveled my ranger to 60 and I actually enjoy him a lot, but after coming to these forums and reading about the ranger in WvW and having the negative dmg % for having a pet that will always be dead has got me questioning the ranger as the best option for me. I don’t mind pets, but I wonder/am doubtful about their usefulness in small scale to large scale battles. I also don’t care for spirits(except maybe frost) so please don’t suggest a spirit ranger for me!

The one other class I am considering that I think would be close to what I am looking for is a warrior with Rifle/GS or Rifle/Sword&Shield. The high damage on rifle is appealing to me, but it kind of lacks a second weapon set that I really like. For the ranger I am thinking I will play with either LB/GS or GS/Sword&Dagger. I absolutely love the GS and Sword/Dagger abilities as a ranger which is part of the reason I have gone so far with it, but I am afraid that this won’t be a viable decision at 80 in WvW.

The only reason I have come here to dicuss this is because I do not have the time to level two characters to 80 and if the warrior turns out to be the better choice then I’d rather change now then later.

So what are your thoughts on Ranger vs Warrior when taking into consideration all that I have said as far as my playstyle preference and qualities that I consider important in a class?

I’d like to mostly hear from people that have had experience with both classes in WvW, but will accept all input! Thanks for your responses.

[Wolf] Wolfaen
Elementalist | Ranger | JQ

(edited by Wolfaen.9461)

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Castaliea.3156

Castaliea.3156

Hey guys, I have a few questions regarding ranger in WvW. First of all, I want to tell you guys what I am going for. I am trying to figure out if the ranger meets the playstyle/qualities that i want in a class for WvW. The qualities are below.

Great DPS on single target
Good Cleaves
Good at range and melee
Good Survivability
Good Mobility
Decent utility (more of a roamer than a grouper)
Decent CC

I have leveled my ranger to 60 and I actually enjoy him a lot, but after coming to these forums and reading about the ranger in WvW and having the negative dmg % for having a pet that will always be dead has got me questioning the ranger as the best option for me. I don’t mind pets, but I wonder/am doubtful about their usefulness in small scale to large scale battles.

The one other class I am considering that I think would be close to what I am looking for is a warrior with Rifle/GS or Rifle/Sword&Shield. The high damage on rifle is appealing to me, but it kind of lacks a second weapon set that I really like. For the ranger I am thinking I will play with either LB/GS or GS/Sword&Dagger. I absolutely love the GS and Sword/Dagger abilities as a ranger which is part of the reason I have gone so far with it, but I am afraid that this won’t be a viable decision at 80 in WvW.

The only reason I have come here to dicuss this is because I do not have the time to level two characters to 80 and if the warrior turns out to be the better choice then I’d rather change now then later.

So what are your thoughts on Ranger vs Warrior when taking into consideration all that I have said as far as my playstyle preference and qualities that I consider important in a class?

I’d like to mostly hear from people that have had experience with both classes in WvW, but will accept all input! Thanks for your responses.

Great DPS on single target – Warrior > Ranger, although pretty close. Depends if you’re pet can attack them. If you’re in any position your pet cannot attack from.. Warrior by far.

Good Cleaves- Warrior – We (Rangers) have terrible, and I mean terrible cleaves.

Good at range and melee – Both

Good Survivability – Both

Good Mobility – Both

Decent utility (more of a roamer than a grouper) – Both have some handy Utility for either roaming or groups but as a Warrior specializes in Weapons, with traits and utility accenting that a Ranger specializes in Utility skills, with traits making them even usable.

Decent CC – Warrior has amazing hard CC. Ranger has some soft CC which is all we can really claim to even contribute to large groups but a Warrior set up to CC can, and does do better.

Warrior is overall and undeniably going to be more effective in pretty much every WvW setting. You sound like you really like being ranged DPS and Warrior is a much better choice for that. People will act like piecing arrows at 1,500 range is godly but Warriors can do that too with Killshot for a lot less investment in traits.
(Note: If you try to be ranged on a Ranger, and complain or point out anything about Ranger’s completely lack-luster Ranged skills people will simply call you a Legolas noob and tell you how you should be like Aragorn instead)

That being said, Rangers do have ways to be useful and if you really enjoy the class and the style definitely stick with it. There are still lots of things you can do as a Ranger a Warrior simply can’t;

- Water Field. (Can be traited to pulse vigor along with Regen)
- Off-Hand Axe AoE pull and Reflect (When traited with Off-Hand training the radius becomes massive and can easily cover a group stacking up)
- Pets can be sent in ahead of groups to trigger marks and traps. (Getting some use of them before they poop out)
- Has multiple sources of brief AoE immobilize. (These are on admittedly rather long cool downs however)

Guild Leader
Sempai Said I Was A [QTpi]
Apply @ | http://sempaisaid.enjin.com |

(edited by Castaliea.3156)

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Sube Dai.8496

Sube Dai.8496

Also depends on whether you want to do direct damage or condition, and zerg or roam.

Condition ranger is better for roam where as dd warrior is better for zerg.

Also gs/sword/dagger is not a good combo IMO. GS is a power weapon where as sword/dagger is a condition combo. And if you’re going to go conditions you should run axe/torch or axe/warhorn on your other set.

If you want dd run bow/GS. But warrior would be better in this role. Power rangers have little survivabity.

John Snowman [GLTY]
Space Marine Z [GLTY]

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Castaliea.3156

Castaliea.3156

Also depends on whether you want to do direct damage or condition, and zerg or roam.

Condition ranger is better for roam where as dd warrior is better for zerg.

Also gs/sword/dagger is not a good combo IMO. GS is a power weapon where as sword/dagger is a condition combo. And if you’re going to go conditions you should run axe/torch or axe/warhorn on your other set.

If you want dd run bow/GS. But warrior would be better in this role. Power rangers have little survivabity.

Idk, Longbow + Sword/Sword Warrior has some sick Condi roaming potential and that combined with Warriors newly buffed sustain…. scary effective.

Guild Leader
Sempai Said I Was A [QTpi]
Apply @ | http://sempaisaid.enjin.com |

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Sube Dai.8496

Sube Dai.8496

Also depends on whether you want to do direct damage or condition, and zerg or roam.

Condition ranger is better for roam where as dd warrior is better for zerg.

Also gs/sword/dagger is not a good combo IMO. GS is a power weapon where as sword/dagger is a condition combo. And if you’re going to go conditions you should run axe/torch or axe/warhorn on your other set.

If you want dd run bow/GS. But warrior would be better in this role. Power rangers have little survivabity.

Idk, Longbow + Sword/Sword Warrior has some sick Condi roaming potential and that combined with Warriors newly buffed sustain…. scary effective.

Well that warrior has bleeds and burns but the ranger can have those as well as 2 poisons and a bunch of evades. More damage and survivability on the ranger.

John Snowman [GLTY]
Space Marine Z [GLTY]

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Castaliea.3156

Castaliea.3156

Also depends on whether you want to do direct damage or condition, and zerg or roam.

Condition ranger is better for roam where as dd warrior is better for zerg.

Also gs/sword/dagger is not a good combo IMO. GS is a power weapon where as sword/dagger is a condition combo. And if you’re going to go conditions you should run axe/torch or axe/warhorn on your other set.

If you want dd run bow/GS. But warrior would be better in this role. Power rangers have little survivabity.

Idk, Longbow + Sword/Sword Warrior has some sick Condi roaming potential and that combined with Warriors newly buffed sustain…. scary effective.

Well that warrior has bleeds and burns but the ranger can have those as well as 2 poisons and a bunch of evades. More damage and survivability on the ranger.

He also has Torment. I’m not saying Rangers suck at it I’m saying Warriors can easily be just as effective at it. Also, “More damage and survivability on the ranger.” isn’t necessarily true but I’m not going to get into that huge argument.

Guild Leader
Sempai Said I Was A [QTpi]
Apply @ | http://sempaisaid.enjin.com |

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Scorpio Spork.9568

Scorpio Spork.9568

As much as I hate to say it, I would choose Warrior over Ranger right now. The sad truth is, Ranger is not always effective. A good Warrior is always effective.

Also depends on whether you want to do direct damage or condition, and zerg or roam.

Condition ranger is better for roam where as dd warrior is better for zerg.

Also gs/sword/dagger is not a good combo IMO. GS is a power weapon where as sword/dagger is a condition combo. And if you’re going to go conditions you should run axe/torch or axe/warhorn on your other set.

If you want dd run bow/GS. But warrior would be better in this role. Power rangers have little survivabity.

Idk, Longbow + Sword/Sword Warrior has some sick Condi roaming potential and that combined with Warriors newly buffed sustain…. scary effective.

Well that warrior has bleeds and burns but the ranger can have those as well as 2 poisons and a bunch of evades. More damage and survivability on the ranger.

He also has Torment. I’m not saying Rangers suck at it I’m saying Warriors can easily be just as effective at it. Also, “More damage and survivability on the ranger.” isn’t necessarily true but I’m not going to get into that huge argument.

Ranger has bleed + poison + fire.
Warrior has bleed + torment + fire + confusion (Distracting Strikes).

Throw on some Superior Sigils of Doom on Warrior, and now they can poison (I can’t find confirmation that Doom has a cooldown, so in theory, Doom would provide Warrior with 100% poison uptime if they take Fast Hands). Warrior’s bleeds also last a lot longer. I’ve also heard good things about Perplexity Runes on Warrior, increasing their Confusion to 9 stacks per interrupt.

The only thing condition Rangers can claim over Warriors is slightly better AoE or support… which is sad, because I really love my trap Ranger.

Edit: Okay, Rangers have more dodges, too. But Warrior has hard cc. Different classes, different playstyles. Dodges are stronger than cc in PvE, but you could argue the opposite in PvP. In the end, both are viable. But right now, I’d still choose my Warrior over my Ranger in every area of the game.

(edited by Scorpio Spork.9568)

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: jcbroe.4329

jcbroe.4329

As far as solo roaming and not grouping, I’d go with ranger all the way. Rangers are very independent of the other classes, and imo have better survival than warriors (where are warriors can be more durable), because of all the potential evades and escape mechanisms that rangers have.

The pets ARE NOT always dead when roaming. Actually, if running with 30 in beastmastery and healing power gear, the right pet, like a drake, can basically face tank an entire supply camp for at the very least an entire duration of a pet swap. Certain builds, like the BM condi healing build, are very capable of soloing supply camps, as are trap builds.

Really, rangers are one of the best solo roamers in the game.

Jroh | Former SOAC Ranger Podcaster | Platinum Division Top 100 Player
www.twitch.tv/itsJROH For stream, stream schedule, other streamers, builds, etc
https://www.youtube.com/user/JRoeboat

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Sube Dai.8496

Sube Dai.8496

I demand a duel! Someone’s condition warrior vs my rabid ranger

John Snowman [GLTY]
Space Marine Z [GLTY]

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Kjeldoran.3849

Kjeldoran.3849

aw…. that’s really frustaing… rangers which give a negative feedback of ranger… why guys? I know that our class need still more to get on pair with other but ranger is really strong if well played!! And i’m talking about a power build and not cond build!

Great DPS on single target → of course! rapid fire + power build = 10k+ (slow but really hard to avoid)
Good Cleaves → mmm… it seems you are looking for a 5k+ “maul” (not full zerker of course)
Good at range and melee → obviously, as i said 10k ranged, 5k melee… not bad at all
Good Survivability → really high, invisibility, knock back, 6 sec invulnerability, great toughness, per abilities for escape/heal/block/stun/weak
Good Mobility → woop! that’s all that you need to know… maybe togheter with signet of hunt is the best mobility in the game
Decent utility (more of a roamer than a grouper) → it strongly depends on your build but we have both and good.
Decent CC → immobilize and knock back… what else.

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: TyPin.9860

TyPin.9860

I have leveled my ranger to 60 and I actually enjoy him a lot, but after coming to these forums and reading about the ranger in WvW and having the negative dmg % for having a pet that will always be dead has got me questioning the ranger as the best option for me.

Don’t use the forum to get an impression of anything. Most of the ppl in the forum write here, when they are concerned about smth, don’t like smth and such. Therefore you will get a more negative image of any profession here in the forum. The ones cry, their dps is too low, the others say stealth is too weak and others will say they have no viable mobility skills.

For example first time I visited the necromancer forum, after my necro hit 80, I was shocked, how bad the necromancer community thought of the necro (befor the big balance patch). I but had (also before the big balance patch) awesome experiances with her and up until today my necro is the only of my characters, where I engage up to 5 ppl and see it quite possible to defeat them (and not only troll them).

Ranger is quite fun for me too and almost all concerns about ranger are exadurated imho. Only response time of skills, like Sword evades or Pet skills is a issue I agree on, as well as the pet dying in big Zerg fights. But as a roamer that usually doesn’t concern you.

tl,dr: Try it out urself. The best way to measure how much one will enjoy a profession is to roll that profession and try it out urself. If u had fun so far, don’t stop others from continuing to have fun

[ROSE] – Fissure of Woe
Chronomancy works, I am proof of it. Now stop asking me questions. Time must be preserved!

(edited by TyPin.9860)

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Prysin.8542

Prysin.8542

Lv 80 Guard, Ranger, Ele, Thief, warr, engi
Currently @ some T1 server in EU

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Lord Trejgon.2809

Lord Trejgon.2809

1v1? mine ranger versus typical warrior?
I have no doubts about winner there
he should just run away when only I came up in his line of sight

but mine ranger possibilities are very lowered when zerg-fighting – there is nearly impossible to keep pet alive there….

“-Shield is meant to be broken!”
“-and on this occasion I keep mine plate armors”
discussion about offensive/deffensive playstyles

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Wolfaen.9461

Wolfaen.9461

Thanks for all the positive posts. So I think what I am going to do is level my ranger to 80 and use LB/GS as my main weapons. I want to build a power/crit ranger and am interested to see if anyone has any builds they could suggest for this in WvW. I am thinking something like 30/30/10/0/0 with zerker trinkets and valkyrie/knights armor and zerker weapons. I don’t know what this would come out to but I am trying to find a balance between high power, precision, crit chance, and crit damage. With 16K+ hp and any kind of toughness that I can gather up.. Will use consumables for toughness or vitality probably.

I need help in at least getting a starting build going though so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Wolf] Wolfaen
Elementalist | Ranger | JQ

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Castaliea.3156

Castaliea.3156

Good choice
This is a video of another player’s LB/GS power set-up he used.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkfnMd3yreg&feature=youtu.be

I run with something like for the nice toughness. I’ve adjusted some stuff as well but I’m too lazy to put it together as this is an old templete. If you message me I’ll work on it with you.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJATRjEVN29VCWs2Bg1D9CsvWhMZPOkxFvYpmkA-jEyAocIsFAFBI7VEN2iaR0Y12Y6XAV8iqFCQ0EA-w

Guild Leader
Sempai Said I Was A [QTpi]
Apply @ | http://sempaisaid.enjin.com |

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: Tribio.8531

Tribio.8531

Actually, if running with 30 in beastmastery and healing power gear, the right pet, like a drake, can basically face tank an entire supply camp for at the very least an entire duration of a pet swap.

I don’t think you need 30 BM for that.. I run with a drakehound and a spider and have no points in BM, no healing power, … And they rarely die when I’m capping a camp (of course I switch my pet during the battle when I see its health is getting low and I don’t wanna spend my heal on him..

Really, rangers are one of the best solo roamers in the game.

+10000

The Hatreidis family: Freya / Nina / Demonica / Athena / Faith / Arya / Angie / Sansa
Commander – Jam Death [Jd]
Fissure of Woe

Rangers, lend me your ears..

in Ranger

Posted by: NargofWoV.4267

NargofWoV.4267

Thanks for all the positive posts. So I think what I am going to do is level my ranger to 80 and use LB/GS as my main weapons. I want to build a power/crit ranger and am interested to see if anyone has any builds they could suggest for this in WvW. I am thinking something like 30/30/10/0/0 with zerker trinkets and valkyrie/knights armor and zerker weapons. I don’t know what this would come out to but I am trying to find a balance between high power, precision, crit chance, and crit damage. With 16K+ hp and any kind of toughness that I can gather up.. Will use consumables for toughness or vitality probably.

I need help in at least getting a starting build going though so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

If I was going to go LB/GS I would roll Warrior, at distance (LB) you’re pet will be useless which means damage will be hampered severely. GS play is defensive and you’re pet will give (usually) assistance, unless we are talking WvWvW zerg fair, in which case you’re dead using a GS as a Ranger pretty quickly and as a Warrior you will survive much longer. Just make sure you stick with the LB in WvWvW Zerg with a pet to either Guard you or a ranged pet.

Narg, Ranger JQ
Heavy Halo, Warrior JQ