Guild Wars 2

So, last night, i rolled a ranger to do some spvp as I never have done before. I tried Shaolins bunker build

I was totally surprised how well that build did. Not only that, but man, it was fun. Had my spider out there, locking people down, lighting them on fire, stabbing and rolling…it was fun.

I then decided, I need to roll a Ranger.
But I need help with choosing a race.

I wanted to ask here and get suggestions and of course, why?

Thanks for the feedback.

Cheers

Sylvari, of course! They’re so cute, and they glow in the dark! Don’t forget to set that up during character creation… ;-)

In pvp it won’t matter (except for size) but in wvw, you can use technobabble (Asura skill) + moment of clarity (+100% stun duration) and omg.

I personally think Humans, despite some people considering them to be boring, to be the best race for a Ranger. People are hunters, it makes sense to me for a Ranger to be a human. Sylvari makes sense to me as well to a degree, but I always see Sylvari as more of an Elementalist or Necromancer race, one having to do with nature itself the other having to do with the circle of life.
Also, Rangers lack a lot of condition cleanse as you may or may not find out the hard way. Human cultural utility, Prayer To Kormir, cleanses 3 conditions so it can be pretty useful.
So yeah, my pick would have to be human. Really anything but a Charr Ranger is okay though… Charr being large talking cats, with a Jaguar pet just… Weird me out.

Asura have a very significant advantage in PvP. For a general character, anything but charr really, as charr have really horrific armor and clipping problems.

Asura master race

Norn is the only way to go. Bear charge in zerker is just too much fun.

Asura and Norn. Make both.

Asura => technobabble
Norn => bearcharge

I keep going back to asura when I make my alts…they are far cuter and so tiny, its amusing to watch this little creature amble around with a huge kitty or bear by her side.

kiwituatara.6053:

Asura and Norn. Make both.

Asura => technobabble
Norn => bearcharge

Yep,
Asura (Technobabble + Moment of Clarity(Skirmishing trait)) = 6 second daze
Norn (Bearform – Charge) = highest damage attack

It’s really sad how much race matters to Rangers.

Meanwhile, Graping Vines(Sylvari) got nerfed into the ground during beta. It went from a 1200 range root with 5 targets to 900 range with 1 target that goes on cooldown if the target is out of range.
That said, I still like the idea of running Runes of the Grove + Entangle + Grasping Vines in WvW. I just never did.

Erro.2784:

Norn is the only way to go. Bear charge in zerker is just too much fun.

^ This, also you can pop SotW, if you have SoB, and cause tons of damage, maybe more than FGS #5.

Also in WvW Snow Leopard stealth can be fun sometimes to escape from a bad situation.

But asura would be my second recommendation, some racial skills synergize very well with ranger skills/traits

Honestly it doesn’t matter which race you go. You will want to use your ranger specific utility skills over the racial ones anyway. Go with whatever one looks the best to you.

Atherakhia.4086:

Honestly it doesn’t matter which race you go. You will want to use your ranger specific utility skills over the racial ones anyway. Go with whatever one looks the best to you.

No, he’ll regret not taking racials seriously. A lot of racial skills are worth picking up over ranger skills depending on builds.

On a side note, I hit a lvl 80 thief for 32k dmg in bear form \o/ Bear form is surprisingly consistent at 1-shotting ppl xD. Credits goes to Erro

I hate to say that, because I truly hate that race, but Asura. They have the best racial utility skill for Ranger by far – TB. With MoC it’s free 6 second daze, not counting sigil of paralyzation.

But if you’re not into WvW roaming, pick anything.

Asura also have the same advantages in WvW they get in PvP. Asura hands down for any competitive play.

Belzebu.3912:

Also in WvW Snow Leopard stealth can be fun sometimes to escape from a bad situation.

Also handy for getting into keeps/towers with a lot of attackers at the gate. (Stealth + 1600 unit Dash)

Carpboy.7145:

Asura master race

See above

Does your race really make that much difference on a ranger? I was under the impression that pretty much all racial skills were out classed by class specific skills. Are there other classes where your race makes a difference?

In PvE, there are a few specific and niche scenario where racials do shine, but they do not make a big enough difference to warrant running that race for its specific racial.

You can’t use racials in sPvP/tPvP, unless you count “height” as a racial.

Idk about WvWvW, some of the above posters think they do.

You guys are making me unhappy with my human ranger..

Hmmm, now that they made ascended items account bound doesnt that mean I can reroll and toss my existing equipment on the new guy?

Kilger.5490:

You guys are making me unhappy with my human ranger..

Hmmm, now that they made ascended items account bound doesnt that mean I can reroll and toss my existing equipment on the new guy?

Yes you can.

But, while I like Bear and Snow Leopard Form for some WvW moments, those skills are only available for 30 seconds every 240, most of the time I still prefer RaO.

Sword #2, #3 + dagger #4 + lightning reflexes + hidden pistol +protect me on my charr ranger. Contest lord circles for days until help arrives.

Though as pointed out, good looking armor choices on charr are just abysmal.

Why no Charr love? They got Hidden Pistol, a 3/4s evade every 15 seconds with 100% projectile finisher at 900 range, and a kick back equal to the sword#2 rollback? I love firing that gun, it’s like shooting off a Noisy Cricket.

Cool thing with hidden pistol on charr; the tool belt skill on engi for it is essentially unload

Kilger.5490:

You guys are making me unhappy with my human ranger..

Hmmm, now that they made ascended items account bound doesnt that mean I can reroll and toss my existing equipment on the new guy?

My first ranger was human too Got two extra character slots just so I can get asura and norn ranger xD. I think I’m gonna end up rolling every race \o/

Hey that’s my build ! do u really like it ? It’s the funniest ranger I’ve never ran

Asura, if you take the GM trait to double stun durations technobabble yields a 6 second stun (On a 45 second cooldown I think), either way played right it can be a death sentence in WvW.

(Personally I’m a charr for aesthetic and character reasons, but if I had to choose for stats, asura is the way to go)

asura, the small size gives quite an advantage in messy pvp situations, its also easier to hide yourself in some corner to heal up when you are taking too much damage.

People always focus the big fat norn warrior 1st : )

Female Norn because of Bearform and the beautiful Tier3 Cultural Armor!

@OP

Seriously choose whichever one you like. To choose a race based on one specific skill is, well, quite strange. Most skills can and will be countred in a non pve environment (except unblockable skills). Technobable can be easily countered by stability or even stun breakers, so the 6 second of stun duration is moot at best. I have no idea what bearcharge is, if it is some sort of charging attack, just simply dodge away, no charging attack can target your every movement. Personally i would highly recommend that you re-roll for another char since rangers are crippled by kitten pets. The ranger himself has some amazing skills but, his dmg output is the total of his attack plus the pets, and these pets are nothing more than dumb meat shield that melt away against bosses and in big zergs and sieges. So basically, if you pet dies (and it will quite frequently) you only do half the dmg. Anyway as i said, choose a race that you would enjoy playing with everyday and don’t listen to people that say choose x because it has y skill that will roflstomp everyone.