Guild Wars 2

Though I loved some of the other class changes in the recent update, I was sorely disappointed with ranger. The new traitlines have several “gimmicky” burst builds (such as fury spamming and weapon/pet swap spamming) but very few overall solid builds. I have typed up a list of the general changes I would like to see in the ranger class and an in-depth analysis of the traitlines. Please let me know what you think! (And if any ArenaNet developers pop in to give their thoughts, I would be pretty thrilled.)

Purpose: To encourage build diversity and skillful play in rangers, while keeping the damage and survivability of the ranger class in line with other classes.

General thoughts and fixes:

• Given that control of a pet is considered the primary unique ability of the Ranger class, more focus should be on a) improving pet AI, especially attack AI, so that pets are more useful in combat (in general, pet rooting and poor pathing decrease the damage output of pets); b) improving pet swapping, so that synergy between a ranger and his/her pet is not lost upon pet swap (boons on a pet are lost in a swap, but trait lines encourage swapping frequently); and c) pet selection and/or customization. Many pets have the same or similar f2 skills, some of which are almost useless and rarely see play (example: pigs). Allowing rangers to choose between multiple f2 skills and/or buffing f2 skills would encourage diverse play and customization. Allowing rangers to choose alternate attack skills and/or stat templates for their pets (ex: berserker bear, rampager spider, soldier bird) would enable further customization and improve the viability of some pets.
• Enable dodges and evade skills to override the Sword 1 chain. There is no other weapon in the game that overrides defensive skills (and occasionally flings the player off tall ledges). I realize that this is “working as intended”, but it is working poorly in its current state. This is not an issue with the level of skill required to play onhand sword with ranger—it is a mechanics issue. The Sword 2 skill would be more useful if the leap backward and forward were reversed (i.e. the first activation leaps forward, and the second leaps backward). The poison on Sword 3 is an odd choice for a generally power-based weapon. Consider switching the poison to weakness, vulnerability, or blind—all of which would fit the viper theme.
• Work the radius and distance increases granted by the previous trait “Offhand Training” into the baseline of offhand weapons. Offhand dagger, torch, and axe skills become more viable. This may have been an oversight, given that other classes and weapons had similar distance and radius increases.
• Ranger has access to relatively few conditions compared to other classes, many of which can be classified as non-damaging. While damaging conditions have their own DPS reward in PVP and now PVE, non-damaging conditions in most PVE combat often feel lackluster, especially in group fights. Rangers, given their hunter-type theme, should have multiple traits that exploit non-damaging conditions on enemies. Ideally, rangers should be able to “prey on the weak”, moreso than most other classes. A trait like thief’s “Exposed Weakness”, which gives +10% damage against enemies affected by conditions, or “Executioner”, which deals extra damage against low-health targets, would fit easily in the ranger’s theme. “Predator’s Onslaught” in the Marksmanship line is an excellent example of this, but only applies to movement-impeding skills. More traits should give extra damage, critical hit chance, and/or critical hit damage on enemies affected by cripple, chill, vulnerability, immobilize, weakness, blindness, daze, stun, reveal, slow, and other non-damaging conditions/effects. Adding a “Apply vulnerability to crippled enemies” trait would synergize well with ranger’s access to crippling skills.

Trait Line Changes

Marksmanship

Minor
o Opening Strike traits take up the entire minor trait line of Marksmanship, whereas other lines have individual bonuses per minor trait. Rangers are also required to trait Remorseless if they wish to make Opening Strike viable in longer fights. Suggestion: combine Opening Strike and Alpha Training minor traits, move Precise Strike down to the 2nd minor position, and make the third minor trait similar to Remorseless.
o Example for the third minor trait: Remorseless: Regain Opening Strike after you evade an attack. Opening Strike does 25% more damage. ICD: 5s. This encourages more skilled play than “fury spamming”, which the current Remorseless encourages, and also opens up a space for an additional Grandmaster trait so that rangers are not forced to choose between two of their best (and only) damage traits, Predator’s Onslaught and Remorseless.

Adept
o Enlargement is highly situational, but has the potential to be a strong “comeback” skill.
o The long ICD on Predator’s Instinct makes it less useful in both PVE and PVP, especially given that ranger already has good access to cripple with both weapons and utility skills.
o Clarion Bond is the strongest trait in this tier, given that it grants significant uptime of fury, might, and swiftness uptime, but fits awkwardly in this trait line. Clarion Bond should probably be moved to the Beast Mastery line to take advantage of pet swapping traits, or Nature Magic, where it would synergize well with the warhorn weapon trait.

Master
o Brutish Seals is lackluster compared with signet traits from other classes, such as thief and warrior, ESPECIALLY when considering the long cooldowns on ranger signets. It should either be moved down to the Adept tier or buffed to match other classes’ signet traits and compensate for the ranger’s unusually long cooldowns.
o Steady Focus is an excellent trait that synergizes well with the ranger’s many non-dodge evasive skills.
o Moment of Clarity is situationally very strong.

Grandmaster
o Predator’s Onslaught fits the ranger’s theme very well and is generally strong.
o Remorseless should be reworked into the Marksmanship minor traits and should encourage skillful play instead of fury spamming (see Minor above).
o Lead the Wind is a strong trait for rangers who prefer longbow.

Skirmishing

Minor
o Tail Wind: Interesting but generally not useful in PVE combat, where enemies are stationary. May be preferable reworked to something similar to the warrior’s “Versatile Power”, which grants might on weapon swap.
o Furious Grip: Does not need reworking.
o Hunter’s Tactics is redundant given ranger’s precision-oriented weapons and plentiful access to fury. Suggestion: increase critical hit damage by 10%.

Adept
o Sharpened Edges: Good for condition builds, but why force condition rangers to choose between bleed on critical hits and traps? This is counterintuitive to condition builds. It could easily be worked in with Hidden Barbs in the Master line.
o Primal Reflexes is not condition or precision oriented and does not fit into the Skirmishing line as well as other traits. The nerf to vigor also makes it weaker than other adept traits. Consider working it into one of the Wilderness Survival minor or adept traits.
o Trapper’s Expertise is strong for trap-oriented rangers and needs no adjustments.

Master
o Spotter is a classic ranger skill and needs no adjustments.
o Strider’s Defense should not be in competition with Spotter, forcing rangers to choose between onhand sword (which benefits from Spotter’s precision boost) OR Spotter’s group support. Consider adding a damage bonus to Strider’s Defense (such as the +10% that was previewed earlier this year, or +5% like greatsword) and moving it into the Grandmaster tier.
o Hidden Barbs is not incredibly strong but could be combined with Sharpened Edges (see Adept).

Grandmaster
o Quick Draw is interesting situationally for burst skills (Maul, Rapid Fire), but probably not strong enough for the Grandmaster line. Consider moving it down to Master.
o Light on your Feet is another interesting skill, but is weak considering a) it does not synergize with Steady Focus and only triggers on dodges, not evasion skills; b) other classes have a 10% damage bonus when endurance is not full (which lasts longer than 4s—this is a minor trait on the Warrior Strength line, for example).
o Most Dangerous Game is incredibly underwhelming. A maximum of 8 stacks of might (not traited for boon duration) in exchange for maintaining less than 50% health is not worth it in PVP or PVE, even as a “turnaround” skill (especially since you have to stay at under 50% health for 8 seconds to get the maximum might bonus). It does has anti-synergy with Bark Skin in the Wilderness line and Rejuvenation in the Nature Magic line. This trait needs to be reworked or removed.

Wilderness Survival

Minor
o Natural Vigor: Does not need reworking.
o Companion’s Defense: Does not need reworking.
o Bark Skin: Does not need reworking.

Adept
o Soften the Fall: Situational. Does not need reworking.
o Oakheart Salve: Does not need reworking. Could be moved to the Nature Magic line for improved synergy.
o Expertise Training: Strong, but dependent on pet AI.

Master
o Ambidexterity is strong but would benefit from distance/radius increases on offhand weapons.
o Refined Toxins: Essentially useless, even for condition builds. Condition builds will prefer the condition damage bonus granted by Ambidexterity. 2 stacks of poison for 6 seconds (maximum without any condition duration buffs) while you and your pet are above 90% health is incredibly weak and situational.
o Shared Anguish: Very weak. Not a master-level trait, given that so much of the ranger’s damage is dependent on their pet (who is disabled when this trait triggers). Long ICD. Compare this to a Thief Master trait in the Acrobatics line, “Hard to Catch”: Break stun and refill endurance when you are disabled (stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, fear, taunt, or launch). Remove or rework Shared Anguish.

Grandmaster
o Empathic Bond: Acceptable, but like many other traits, Empathic Bond sacrifices the ranger’s pet. Other classes do not have to worry about their class mechanic and a significant portion of their damage being removed from a fight completely—please consider this when making traits that sacrifice the ranger’s pet.
o Wilderness Knowledge is a good all-around and condition removal trait, but it’s placement in the Wilderness Survival line is a little shaky given that only two Survival skills actually deal with damaging conditions. Suggestion: move Wilderness Knowledge to another line, such as Nature Magic, where it will synergize with boon buffs.
o Poison Master is not very strong, given poison’s low damage and ranger’s limited access to spammable poison, and it should not be in competition with what are essentially the ranger’s only two condition removal traits. Consider moving it down to the Master line (see Master).

Nature Magic

Minor
o Rejuvenation: Consider applying regeneration when health hits 90% to synergize with other traits, such as Bark Skin.
o Fortifying Bond: Strong, but possibly could be worked into ranger baseline.
o Lingering Magic: Does not need reworking.

Adept
o Bountiful Hunter: Does not need reworking.
o Instinctive Reaction is interesting as a turnaround skill, but few rangers put any points in healing power. An interesting change (though not necessarily better) would be 7% of power as healing power, and would fit the turnaround theme better. Quickness should also be applied on the ranger’s pet.
o Allies’ Aid: A strong revival skill that fits ranger well. Pet AI needs reworking so pets will not ignore “Search and Rescue!”.

Master
o Evasive Purity is not a terribly strong trait for the Master line. Considering that poison spamming is more dangerous than before, due to condition changes, it would make sense for this trait to be strengthened slightly by the removal of the ICD. This would be offset by vigor’s reduced endurance regeneration.
o Vigorous Training is not strong enough for the Master line now that vigor has been nerfed. This trait should be reworked or replaced.
o Windborne Nodes: Strong and synergizes well with Clarion Bond (See Marksmanship Adept).

Grandmaster
o Nature’s Vengeance is interesting, but boon duration should be dependent on the type of boon pulsed. 1.25 seconds of, say, protection is far more powerful than 1.25 seconds of might. Pulsing 9 seconds of might on Frost Spirit is reasonable and allows the spirit to maintain 3 stacks of might (which is pretty insignificant, but still more useful than 1.25 seconds of might. This is especially important because Frost Spirit got a +50% cooldown increase in the last patch.). Protection (Stone Spirit) should have a 1 second duration, rather than a 1.25s duration. Swiftness (Storm Spirit, which would be more helpful granting 1s quickness every 10s on a player rather than swiftness) is generally useless in PVE combat and could be replaced by 1s fury. NOTE: this would only work if Remorseless is changed (see Marksmanship Minor and Grandmaster). Vigor is an odd choice for Sun Spirit, but 1.5 seconds would be fair. 1.5 seconds of regeneration (Water Spirit) would also be fair. On the elite Spirit of Nature, given its long cooldown, 10s of stability with a 10s pulse (giving 1 stack of stability with 100% uptime that refreshes slower than other spirit boons) would be more useful, but not overpowered.
o Protective Ward is a good all-around defensive skill. Does not need to be reworked.
o Invigorating Bond: Should be moved to Beastmastery. Reduce ICD to 16 sec.

Beastmastery

Minor
o Pack Alpha is a strong beastmastery trait and does not need to be reworked.
o Loud Whistle: Does not need to be reworked.
o Pet’s Prowess: Does not need to be reworked.

Adept
o Go for the Eyes: Does not need to be reworked.
o Companion’s Might is a strong trait, but the bleeds are redundant and not useful for power-based builds (which generally use power-based pets). Consider making this a different condition, such as vulnerability, which would be useful for both condition and power builds.
o Resounding Timbre is a strong trait for ranger shouts, which unfortunately are extremely lackluster (with long cooldowns) by themselves. The recent addition of “We Heal as One” and “Strength of the Pack” makes this more viable.

Master
o Wilting Strike: Does not need to be reworked.
o Two-Handed Training: Does not need to be reworked. However, its placement in the Beastmastery line does not make sense. Two-Handed Training should be moved to the Nature Magic line.
o Natural Healing: Does not need to be reworked. However, it does not synergize with pet swapping traits, which encourage swapping pets on cooldown rather than waiting until their health is low.

Grandmaster
o Beastly Warden: Does not need to be reworked. Consider increasing ICD to 16 seconds to match pet swap cooldown.
o Zephyr’s Speed: Does not need to be reworked.
o Honed Axes is not strong enough for a Grandmaster trait, nor does it belong in the Beastmastery line. This trait would be better off reworked and placed in the Skirmishing line for synergy.

There was a suggestion to make Companion’s Might apply vulnerability instead of bleeding.

The argument was that it would increase both Conditions and Direct damage.
Do you know that Vulnerability does not affect condition damage?

As of the most recent patch, Vulnerability does affect bleeding damage. From the notes:

Vulnerability: This condition was changed so that it not only increases direct damage, it also increases condition damage. Each stack will increase direct damage by 1% and condition damage by 1%.

Sorry, meant that to say condition damage, not bleeding. It’s been a long day :P But yeah, vulnerability now works with condition damage.