Guild Wars 2

Hello,

Specifically, I’m struggling against some of the bosses. For example, I keep dying to the Archdiviner. I know most of the tricks behind the ranger’s sword, but some of his attacks happen so quickly and unpredictably such that I cannot break out of the sword auto in time for the dodge.

Does any ranger fractal veteran have any tips? Like are rangers supposed to swap to greatsword for this fight?

Thank you!

I usually go longbow+greatsword, yes. Of course, sword does more damage but like you mentioned he has the capability of one shotting you so don’t bother taking the risk. A dead ranger is 0 dps regardless of your weapon.

Unless you are going with a full meta group you trust and that does what they are supposed to you will be forced to pull back to ranged on some fights, Archdiviner is one of them. You should have a longbow for this reason. Generally in a good group Archdiviner is stunned the whole burn duration allowing you to stack.

As mentioned, greatsword and LB are two options. You can also bring along a dagger for certain fights.

I personally just longbow until he does his AoE phase, so just switch to Sword/Axe and go ham until I have to pull off. The amount of damage he deals is very risky for melee unless you have some form of damage midigation, so you can slot in Signet of the Stone for the invul so you can continue meleeing without having to worry about dying for a bit. Greatsword paired with Sword/X is nice because of all the evades, so you can use that as well as another way to continue meleeing. Although, ranging at some encounters I would say is fine due to how difficult it can prove at these encounters.

Sword is too hard in high level fractals. So far I’ve only met 1 ranger over the past 2 yrs that has been able to sword AA 50 fractals effectively.

kiwituatara.6053:

Sword is too hard in high level fractals. So far I’ve only met 1 ranger over the past 2 yrs that has been able to sword AA 50 fractals effectively.

Fractals are all about changing what weapons and utilities you have equipped. I would never do an entire run in just sword, but you can use it in a lot of places.

kiwituatara.6053:

Sword is too hard in high level fractals. So far I’ve only met 1 ranger over the past 2 yrs that has been able to sword AA 50 fractals effectively.

I wouldn’t say it is too difficult for everything, just some encounters. I honestly like the sword auto for the leaping so I can just stay glued to targets, been using sword/x for the majority of my time up to this point for all tiers of fractals since I’m one of the few people who actually like the sword auto, lol.

I use the sword for encounters that can be stacked relatively safely, ie if its a proper group that is nearly all the encounters. Though greatsword is for the fights where I am moving a lot because bad stack group and what you.

Yea, I’ve seen rangers saying they like sword and all. But really, just from experience, I’ve only seen 1 ranger thats been able to stick with sword throughout an entire 50fotm.

Personally, I’ve mained ranger since launch and I still can’t sword 1 effectively on high fotms.

You’ve only seen that once because no one wants to use sword for all the fractal fights. Who sword 1s the shaman?

Lol that ranger I saw actually sworded grawl shaman the entire fight without dying >_> Wish I was that good.

I haven’t quite reached 50 because I’ve done a LOT of fractals below my current reward level, but I will say I use Sword → Longbow everywhere. That includes level 40.

1. Mistakes will happen and the way the 1H Sword works for Ranger in PvE is something I disagree with entirely. Regardless, I still use it.

2. I can almost safely say I’ve NEVER really used the leaps to intentionally chase foes in Fractals. There’s nothing the leaps can do that just running and swinging normal melee weapons can’t accomplish in this form of PvE. Also any enemy that tries to move away just gets pulled back with the axe offhand.

3. The need to unbind auto-attack leads to a DPS loss if you need to type something in the middle of a melee fight.

NOW, all that said… Here’s how you can still do it and live.

Always think premptively. If you have auto-attack off, you’ll need thinkabout 1 second ahead. If you have auto-attack on, forget trying to dodge and just start typing “Working as intended” in party chat.

So you’ve thought 1 second ahead, what should you do? Use skill 2 to bail out and switch to Longbow. This means you expect something to happen, let one of the 4 guardians on your team die instead.

Now how does this look in the Archdiviner fight?

• Well you usually start with the longbow out, switch and throw your axe…
• Wait until you see him swing his hammer then jump in there REALLY FAST.
• Swing some good hits on him maybe a full AA rotation or two, with quickness if possible, then jam that skill 2 button ONCE…
• Throw another axe…
• Then as you see him take another swing, use skill 2 again to jump right back in there and start slashing away for a short time then MASH skill 3…
• If he’s not channeling wells or stunned by now, bail out with a dodgeroll or another skill 2…
• Camp Longbow with Rapid Fire Barrage Rapid Fire for 10 seconds…
• If the boss isn’t stunned by now, then your group sucks and you can totally blame them when you inevetably die after you rambo in again “just cuz.”

Long story short – Wait for your enemy to do his deadly thing THEN move in. Just be ready to move back out.

Also if you ever accidently switch to Sword at any time just hit skill 5 on your offhand axe and stand there swinging while you pretend like you know something your team doesn’t.

DarkWasp.7291:

Always think premptively. If you have auto-attack off, you’ll need thinkabout 1 second ahead. If you have auto-attack on, forget trying to dodge and just start typing “Working as intended” in party chat.

So you’ve thought 1 second ahead, what should you do?

While that is nice and all after you’ve learnt the encounter, that also explains perfectly well the main issue with sword – it won’t let you react to things like you can with all other weapons in the game. Even sword#2 sucks in that regard because of that delay before jumping back. Evades needs to be instant.

I think the solution, at least to sword#1, will come with the new camera mode, because you will have to press mouse 1 to use your weapons regular auto attack. As soon as you release the button, your character will stop attacking.
While this can be done through macros, having it supported natively in the game will be very nice.

Using serpent’s strike seem more responsive and the evade frame is longer. Looking at the cast time it seem that this is not the case but for me it works better.

OGDeadHead.8326:

I think the solution, at least to sword#1, will come with the new camera mode

Doubt it.

Wondrouswall.7169:

OGDeadHead.8326:

I think the solution, at least to sword#1, will come with the new camera mode

Doubt it.

Depends on what you think is the issue with sword#1; is it the fact that you stick to your target, or that you can’t dodge on demand?

If it is the latter, that should be solved with the camera mode, since you’ll stop attacking the moment you let go of mouse 1, if I have understood things correctly.

Holding down mouse 1 in the new mode is the equivalent of auto-casting. Letting it go makes you stop attacking, yes, but it does not cancel skills mid-channel, which is what sword needs to be able to dodge.

It’s just an alternative to the current workaround of turning off auto-cast on 1 for those that will use that camera mode.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Holding down mouse 1 in the new mode is the equivalent of auto-casting. Letting it go makes you stop attacking, yes, but it does not cancel skills mid-channel, which is what sword needs to be able to dodge.

It’s just an alternative to the current workaround of turning off auto-cast on 1 for those that will use that camera mode.

Hm, ok, so it will still run the whole chain from one single press of mb#1?

I run LB+GS for high level fractals, getting killed by my own weapon stopped being fun a while ago. The only time I ever really run sword is in pvp anymore..

OGDeadHead.8326:

I think the solution, at least to sword#1, will come with the new camera mode

If the kick part of the auto-attack on a norn shows the two-footed fly kick in first person view, i’ll never ever use another weapon.

Sword takes practice def in high level fractals. Lets face it Condi > Power puts on fire protection cloak

Skill #3 is helpful, Signet of Stone is helpful. If you have guardians in your party, the Aegis is helpful. Also you have to be quick on your dodges!

Swap to LB if you have to for a while, no shame. Better that you dps then lay dead on the ground.

I also dps behind the pet, it blocks his aoe purple thing! :P

I always use GS and LB against Arch Diviner…and throughout that whole fractal, actually. Watch for his insta-down attack then go to town with GS 2,3,4-4,2 and throw a 5 in there if you are behind him and his defiance is off… Otherwise, if you want to troll you team, save it for LB 4. Mua ha hah!

kiwituatara.6053:

Sword is too hard in high level fractals. So far I’ve only met 1 ranger over the past 2 yrs that has been able to sword AA 50 fractals effectively.

I’m sorry but this is nonsense.