Support WITHOUT spotter/frost spirit
Hi, ranger forums!
I am trying to figure out which class I want to call “home” or play as my main, but I’m having trouble
The issue is that I find the full-zerk-only pve meta to be somewhat boring, so I want a class that can play different, funky builds without totally gimping the group. I like support play like sharing boons (especially fury, protection, regen and aegis, those ones are the ones I find the coolest) so that’s cool with mesmer or guardian, but I’d prefer a medium armor class (I like the skill effects of those 3 classes most, even if their armors mostly look kinda kittenty). I’ve noticed that spotter/frost spirit/guard gets much less hate from groups than the mythical “bearbow 3 signets” build, but are there any OTHER ranger builds that can strongly support a group?
Are you looking to dungeon? Open world exploration? What kind of content do you want to play mostly?
I’ve played around with the spirit petting zoo, which basically has you traiting completely into spirits and then whatever you see fit (although spotter and frost spirit really is the best a ranger can give). It’s fun to give protection or burning on hit while giving other effects upon activity your spirits but for dungeon purposes your spirits will die easily.
You could also play a BM variation, use apothecary gear and spec for healing and play a regen ranger. With one of the shouts (I don’t remember but I think it’s guard) you can give the group permanent regen, swiftness, and some protection too, although these builds won’t be as “useful” as a pure zerk spotter frost spirit ranger.
For general support your pets can also be of use. Fern hound has a regen for example, krytan hound has an aoe immob, brown bear can condi clear, moas can give boons of sorts, and drakes can tank while providing blast finishers and various utilities
Hope this helps a bit
Oh and your healing spring is a water field that lasts 10 seconds and pulses to clear condi. Amazing group utility right there with combos
For BM, why do you recommend apothecary instead of cleric? Is it just personal preference or is there something about BM that synergizes better with condi?
I’ve noticed that spotter/frost spirit/guard gets much less hate from groups than the mythical “bearbow 3 signets” build, but are there any OTHER ranger builds that can strongly support a group?
No, but you can modify the utilities/pets/elites/offhands to be more support oriented while still keeping the core of the build.
Engineer would probably be more your style.
For BM, why do you recommend apothecary instead of cleric? Is it just personal preference or is there something about BM that synergizes better with condi?
Cleric works too, but I think the toughness line already gives condi damage so it just synergizes more. Having power works as well but it wouldn’t be a main or a side stat like condi would
I run a 0/0/20/20/30 build with Mercy Runes, my build is more PvP centric that I pulled into PvE, but it’s got brown bear for condi removal + cheesing fights, Fern Hound for AoE healing (saved my groups several times), healing spring for more condi removal + healing, LB for Vuln, Cripple, and stealth rezzing (bosses don’t throw more AoE when they only see one guy instead of 2), Sword/Warhorn for the blast, fury, might, and swiftness, utilities I run are more my preference, but you can really use anything, they change up a lot but by and large I just use Sic’Em, LR, SotH, Spirit of Nature.
In BM I’ve got quickness on swap, vigor on swap, shorter F2 CD, in NM I’ve got Circle of Life and can’t remember for the life of me (enlargement maybe?) in WS I’ve got Healers Celerity and Soften the Fall/Off Hand Training (varies on activity).
Isn’t it the most optimize for support build? No, it’s designed to be tanky and Healy with some boost to the group as a whole, I can swap my pets and utilities out to be more of one thing than another though should I desire.
IE: swap out bear and fernhound for moas for more boon variety/uptime, swap out S/WH for A/A for more control/vuln/utility etc.
They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family.
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna
I have some good news and some bad news.
Bad news is;
Even putting aside the whole meta business; the support in this game doesn’t feel very fleshed out on a gameplay level.
Arithmetically and visually there’s little feeling of impact. Most support skills are pretty much just ‘press the button off cooldown’. What works on boss 1, works exactly the same on boss 2, works exactly the same on boss 3, etc. It’s hard to feel rewarded, the execution is pretty shallow, and there isn’t much strategy.
The whole thing is alot of buffs and button presses you’d call support by virtue of sheer technicality, but it’s all so superficial it never manages to capture the spirit of it.
Good news;
Ranger has a decent spread of the few things that’re promising.
Offhand Axe’s Reflect and Blue Moa’s Protect:
are a basic timing challenge and fight knowledge check. They’re impactful on their own, but what really makes them standouts on a gameplay level is that Rangers don’t have enough access to either of them to try to use up-time to circumvent the timing challenge. When you apply it is actually meaningful, and that’s great.
Warhorn’s Blast Finisher:
is a pretty basic look at timing and position, but what really makes it work as a gameplay is when you add situational awareness. Instead of walking into combat with a set combo preference in mind or a clockwork devotion to fury uptime; try for fire fields when you’re party is fine, and try for water fields when they’re not. It doesn’t really hurt that you’re capable of simply adding either of these to a group that may be lacking them, so playing with warhorn is always as interesting as you want it to be.
(edited by Vox Hollow.2736)
Good question. The trick is to get a set of traveller’s runes so you can drop signet of the hunt. Use Kitty for Might and red Moa for Fury. Bring Warhorn offhand and healing spring (you can blast finish your water field, or flame trap when survival is not an issue). I run this with a celestial Armour and zerker/celestial trinkets. Great damage, nice support, and decent condition damage in PvE. You can use signet of stone and Protect Me (with bear instead of Moa) to revive in situations others would be downed in. I run this in fractals and WvW. Very fun to play.
Remember that pure damage builds are fun for clowning around but will nerf you when fighting in good PvP or PvE content. A good rule of thumb is that Armour overpowers damage output. So, even if you like high damage builds, you must bring a little Armour.
Jade Quarry – Esparie
Illustrious Exhausted Primordial Legendary Druid, and Mesmer for fun
PvE | PvP (1500)| WvW | Fractals | Dungeons
Illustrious Exhausted Primordial Legendary Druid, and Mesmer for fun
PvE | PvP (1500)| WvW | Fractals | Dungeons
(edited by Archon.6480)
Oh and your healing spring is a water field that lasts 10 seconds and pulses to clear condi. Amazing group utility right there with combos
We can do more than that… we also add swiftness, can add might and fury…
Rangers have a lot of utility currently not used – especially in WvW.
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For BM, why do you recommend apothecary instead of cleric? Is it just personal preference or is there something about BM that synergizes better with condi?
Cleric works too, but I think the toughness line already gives condi damage so it just synergizes more. Having power works as well but it wouldn’t be a main or a side stat like condi would
Further to this answer, building for conditions requires 1 stat on gear, condition damage.
Power based builds benefit from precision and crit damage (or ferocity XD) to up the damage quite significantly.
Its more efficient to build for 3 stats, as thats what you get on armor (except celestial) apoth lets you do this with the damage stat, con, and two defensive stats, healing and toughness.
Cleric gives you the two defensive stats, but only one of 3 offensive stats needed to maximise damage output, missing out on critchance and critdamage.
The issue is that I find the full-zerk-only pve meta to be somewhat boring,
So facetanking everything and ignoring boss mechanics isn´t boring?
Use the stone spirit too (instead of Zephyr for example), and or healing spring (u can pick up + 33% reg duration for permareg).
But, a mesmer with 15 points in inspiration is enough.
Not bringing up spotter and frostspirit is stupid. Even if u don´t like the meta, more dmg doesn´t make fights boring.
U will stack with a maxdef group aswell. That´s not a problem of the dps meta.
(edited by Norjena.5172)
The issue is that I find the full-zerk-only pve meta to be somewhat boring,
So facetanking everything and ignoring boss mechanics isn´t boring?
Use the stone spirit too (instead of Zephyr for example), and or healing spring (u can pick up + 33% reg duration for permareg).
But, a mesmer with 15 points in inspiration is enough.Not bringing up spotter and frostspirit is stupid. Even if u don´t like the meta, more dmg doesn´t make fights boring.
U will stack with a maxdef group aswell. That´s not a problem of the dps meta.
I don’t think there is a single fight in this game where ANYONE can just stand there and face tank, well excluding bears who are absolutely kittenedly OP in PvE. Otherwise you draw fire for a while, but you’re still having to dodge around and move away from the enemies.
They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family.
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna
I don’t think there is a single fight in this game where ANYONE can just stand there and face tank.
It’s viable, you just need to all in (ie. wont work in disorganized groups where you have some ppl zerker, some ppl tanky). But it will take 3 times as long or more.
I also don’t know why theres a ton of space after the youtube link and it’s bothering me.
I don’t think there is a single fight in this game where ANYONE can just stand there and face tank.
It’s viable, you just need to all in (ie. wont work in disorganized groups where you have some ppl zerker, some ppl tanky). But it will take 3 times as long or more.
I also don’t know why theres a ton of space after the youtube link and it’s bothering me.
There’s a giant space because there’s a video there, and the fights are pretty long, I know me and my friends with our mixed bag of gear and builds definitely clear faster than that….
They sing dark, delicious notes about power and family.
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna
As their mother, I have to grant them their wish. – Forever Fyonna