Hello, just started playing ranger a few days ago – never had the desire to play it seriously before but finally enticed by the flashy melee animations!
Coming from playing mesmer (shatter), so it’s a very steep learning curve with ranger – I’ve just been messing around with different builds in hotjoin to get an idea of different ranger builds.
At the moment have settled on this build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR8YjEq0yaBLmsw1aADBpdrQl4FwbxXF8pB-TJhFwAAuIAw2fIxTAYaZAA
But have tried different variations of traits including full beastmastery or marksmanship, signet builds, moment of clarity focused, all with with different pets… I have tried to read as much as I can from the guides on here and through watching videos.
I have not tried trap builds, spirit builds or condition bunkers, because frankly I find that style of play incredibly boring
One thing I know for sure is I love the greatsword, but it seems that is almost purely a power based weapon. I’m not keen on both bows, although the longbow stealth is nice to have (makes me feel at home) – favouring sword+dagger for the mobility and… well… simply because it looks cool – and also if vs a thief I find using either bow to be extremely risky once they close with you into melee range (almost immediately).
What I am finding difficult, especially coming from shatter mesmer, is how to deal significant damage in a short amount of time. I can kite and evade easily survive/escape most encounters with GS + Sw/D, but downing opponents takes more time than I am used to. Often in an outnumbered situation I find it increasingly difficult to burst a single target down.
I suppose in wvw this doesn’t matter so much as there is no time limit on killing an opponent – but sadly in pvp it matters whether you win a fight in 10 seconds or 2 minutes. Granted once I am levelled up to 80 through tomes of knowledge, I will likely make this character solely for wvw roaming anyway.
I have read that ranger damage comes from a bit of everything – power and condition? However I don’t find this making sense in the traits or skills – especially if using the greatsword as a primary weapon. I have tried with signet of the hunt (traited to effect you) and moment of clarity, although find it too awkward to micromanage – especially if fighting a sword/dagger thief.
Then there is boon removal – I can’t find any. I take it this is just how it is?
And condition removal – not sure which is the best way to go here, either survival of the fittest with full survival utilities, empathic bond, evasive purity (nice to get rid of poison with a not too long ICD) or relying on melandru runes/sigils of generosity/bear pet/signet of renewal. Not sure how much is too much or how much is too little. I don’t really like signet of renewal because the active is pretty much “kill my pet”! :p
I figured with melandru runes + empathic bond it softens the blow for conditions transferred to the pet so they don’t take too much damage either. And I can deal with poison through dodging. Besides, if I do make this solely for wvw at the end of the day, I might just go with melandru + poultry soup.
Regarding Opening Strike – personally I find it extremely lackluster, even if it 100% crits, given there is no access to huge upfront burst (maul isn’t impressive damage unless you do the signet/MoC gimmick).
And another question about stomping – hard to get used to no distortion, diversion or stealth stomp, or even blink stomps (:(). Is it best to just kill the opponent the old fashioned way and not bother with stomping as a ranger, unless you have RaO up?
Finally a question on pets – is it a good idea to put them on passive – then press “attack target” to initiate their key skill (ie knockdown) and have some control over it? Or should I just leave them on automatic attack and just use F2 when I need it? On passive it seems you can reliably call them back out of an AoE to avoid damage so they won’t go charging straight back in to attack, although you have to constantly order them to attack your new target. Having played around with a few of them I do like the immobilise and knockdown on the drakehound for one, although not yet sure which ones best support a melee/power build.
tl;dr – struggling with melee power damage burst, choice of condi removal, choice of pet, killing players quickly in outnumbered fights rather than simply kiting and running away with swoop/hornet sting, etc…
Cheers!