Sword/Warhorn instead of SB

Sword/Warhorn instead of SB

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Posted by: GR Profilimous GR.5327

GR Profilimous GR.5327

Q:

My weapon of choice has always been LB and I’ve been going full zerker since I’ve been 80 lvl.I noticed that the LB has perfect skills for a zerker ranger but the SB i am currently using is heavily relied on Condition Dmg.As i am going full zerker i don’t think i can reach my full DMG potential with a SB.I asked a couple of good rangers in my guild,they all said they loved the LB and are mainly using Sword+Warhorn as there backup weapon.So it it ideal for a full DPS ranger?Do rangers need Melee weapons for when the enemy comes at you close?I know the LB has excellent attack speed and some certain skills such as cripple or daze.I don’t kno if I would be willing to let that go for a Sword+Warhorn.That’s all!Plz reply quickly

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Posted by: redkat.1892

redkat.1892

Get a cheap sword and warhorn from the trading post and try them out against multiple mobs (not the Lions Arch dummies which would give you a false impression).
You would quickly hate that whole messy combo.

I think you should stick to LB/SB as it appears to be your loved playstyle. Switching to melee with sword is a mess, and you end up losing the DPS anyways trying to get into melee range and out again and the extra dodging you will need to do. Plus you will start dying for the first time ever.

Use SB for close range and defense with #3-5, then mainly keep firing that LB. The SB dmg still gets good bonuses form your zerker gear, think of the bleeds and poisons as extras (some say SB outdamages LB anyways). Also the LB is getting a big damage bump today.

I hope you use piercing arrows too. You are good and have fun

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Posted by: Jarek.1052

Jarek.1052

Actually i would suggest you to use sword/wh as main set and sb as backup, sb outdamages lb if you can flank and is suggested anyway since you’ll be in range of party buffs, and sword gas the highest dps and is not difficult to use once you get used to it.

Desolation
Andúnë Faroth, level 80 sylvari ranger.

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Posted by: Kilger.5490

Kilger.5490

Ranger melee weapons dont benefit much compared to missile. Choosing a ranger melee weapon is like deciding to use a halibut or a trout to fight someone with a gun. You might do a bit more damage but its no where near what other classes get for melee dps, in my experience. That said I like great sword for the utility, defence, and a nice spike with #2. Even though 1h sword technically does more damage its never impressed me.

Kilger – Human Ranger
alts: Fangyre (Necro), Hardrawk (Ele);
Jade Quarry

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Posted by: stale.9785

stale.9785

If they would simply fix the 1H sword rooting issue (remove the leap factor on part 2 of the chain) it would be, hands down, the best ranger weapon for damage.

Until they do that, broken weapon is stupidly broken. Unfortunately, it’s our best DPS weapon.

For the OP – I’d suggest trying the S/WH combo, and if you can live with the constant unable-to-move that results from the broken chain, stick with it – otherwise, LB/SB is probably the best way to rock. With SB, circle strafing is your friend.

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Posted by: Taverius.8645

Taverius.8645

If you’re talking roaming pve, do whatever.

If you’re talking wvw … well if you were you wouldn’t be running full zerk.

… keep in mind, mainlining a bow, or any ranged weapon, is a bad idea on high end pve.

terrible dps, you don’t share your spotter/spirit with the team, you don’t get the boons they’re sharing, the mobs follow you sometimes making life harder for the guys and gals in melee … In other words, you’re dead weight that contributes nothing of use to the team. I main a range and gleefully kick bearbow rangers of the team if I’m pugging – they’re a waste of a player slot.

If you don’t plan to do dungeons or fractals, bearbow is fine – so long as you don’t mind being poor.

Bottom line: if you want to make gold in pve, bring a sword and horn. sbow is fine as the backup weapon for when you need to disengage – it’s better to be healing outside melee range with shortbow than it is to be downed – but the longbow is a waste; bar a few fractal fights you should never be more than few hundred units from your target. oh and the knockback will make everyone hate you.

These days my lbow has 2 uses, the thaumanova fractal final boss and tequatl.

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Posted by: thefantasticg.3984

thefantasticg.3984

If I see someone join my dungeon group with a ranger and they have a LB equipped I immediately put the AB to kick ’em… especially if they got a brown bear out.

These days my lbow has 2 uses, the thaumanova fractal final boss and tequatl.

I also use it on Claw of Jormag and Golem II with Eagle Eye for that distance bonus.

RNG is a bell curve. Better hope you’re on the right side.

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Posted by: Taverius.8645

Taverius.8645

Oh yeah that too, heh. Golem mk2 stair squad reporting

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Posted by: Kilger.5490

Kilger.5490

… but melee dps is something other classes do better (much much better). Rangers strength is range dps. If youre not using a bow you’re better off with another class.

Although I dont do dungeons.

Kilger – Human Ranger
alts: Fangyre (Necro), Hardrawk (Ele);
Jade Quarry

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Posted by: Tumult.2578

Tumult.2578

If you look at how so many opponents have a distance or gap closing mechanic and really want to include playing at range in your game,

The Sword has a nice opportunity to regain range with it’s Hornet’s Sting number two skill. It’s not a lot of distance, but with a Shortbow and Quickening Zepher you can throw a whole lot of bleeds, and/or cripple or poison at your opponent and,
regain the opportunity to see the fight/battle from the ranged perspective.

Of course the Sword has other severe issues but they can be reduced and tolerated by many players, if DPS is what you really want. (Ok, you might beat that Champion with a sword, but your just as likely to jump over the cliff when it dies and never get your loot!)

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Posted by: thefantasticg.3984

thefantasticg.3984

Also, not sure why you guys have such a problem with the AA on the sword. I don’t have issues at all with it. I also find it fun to try to time my dodges on the sword against what the AI is doing.

… but melee dps is something other classes do better (much much better). Rangers strength is range dps. If youre not using a bow you’re better off with another class.

Although I dont do dungeons.

No. Not true. With my ranger sword/horn + roa + cat I can out dps my warrior gs/axe+axe + banner + shouts. I know this because the standard COF p1 gate I knock out faster on my Ranger than I can on my Warrior. I can also knock it out faster than my Mesmer or thief.

RNG is a bell curve. Better hope you’re on the right side.

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Posted by: Taverius.8645

Taverius.8645

… but melee dps is something other classes do better (much much better). Rangers strength is range dps. If youre not using a bow you’re better off with another class.

Although I dont do dungeons.

Range dps is terrible everywhere. Only places you range, essentially, are some very high level fractal bosses that simply cannot be melee’d no matter how godly you and your team are.

And for ranged damage supremacy, I’m afraid other classes do it better. Lbow is awful, sbow is ok, axe has a small (tiny) niche in places, but none are best of class damage by any stretch of the imagination.

MH Sword is fine. The auto chain rooting you is frankly worth it for the fact that once you start out you never end up out of melee range of some mob that likes to move. The perma-cripple will also make your teammates love you in grawl fractal.

It’s just a question of getting used to evading with #2/#3/dagger, at the start you’ll try to dodge normally, nothing happens and you raaage.

You can’t use it for everything, in some fights the tells are too short and by the time your skills get to the evade frames you’re already dead, but anywhere you can you should, and if you’re not you’re doing it wrong.

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(edited by Taverius.8645)

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Posted by: Veron.8645

Veron.8645

These days my lbow has 2 uses, the thaumanova fractal final boss and tequatl.

Funny, I actually find the Anomaly in Thaumanova to be much easier using Shortbow than Longbow. I usually kite close to the center because everyone else likes to kite on the outside, so there is a lot more room close to the middle. And since shortbow autoattacks more quickly, you’re don’t disrupt your autoattacking as much when you have to turn away from the boss to dodge a hole.

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Posted by: Taverius.8645

Taverius.8645

When we run it we tend to stack and run together on the outside. It limits me to the lb but it also makes it real hard for anyone to fall down except during the mass disappearance phase. outside of that part nobody even needs to dodge.

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Posted by: Kilger.5490

Kilger.5490

Range dps is terrible everywhere. Only places you range, essentially, are some very high level fractal bosses that simply cannot be melee’d no matter how godly you and your team are.

And for ranged damage supremacy, I’m afraid other classes do it better. Lbow is awful, sbow is ok, axe has a small (tiny) niche in places, but none are best of class damage by any stretch of the imagination.

I dont know where any class does single target range dps like we do. I’ve played necro, mesmer, elementalist quite a bit, and engineer for a month. Its not our best damage but range is the equalizer. Its the only niche I’ve found with ranger where we outperform. If you think Long bow is terrible, youre just not doing it right.

Main hand sword, while our best damage, is laughable compared to other classes melee damage.

Kilger – Human Ranger
alts: Fangyre (Necro), Hardrawk (Ele);
Jade Quarry

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Posted by: Kilger.5490

Kilger.5490

No. Not true. With my ranger sword/horn + roa + cat I can out dps my warrior gs/axe+axe + banner + shouts. I know this because the standard COF p1 gate I knock out faster on my Ranger than I can on my Warrior. I can also knock it out faster than my Mesmer or thief.

Warriors axe I calc 1.38 coeff/sec compared to rangers sword 1.05 coeff/sec., so I dont know what mitigating factors you use but thats the math. (autoattack). I just know from using other classes too, what melting health bars is like.

Kilger – Human Ranger
alts: Fangyre (Necro), Hardrawk (Ele);
Jade Quarry

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Posted by: Bambula.3649

Bambula.3649

Warriors axe I calc 1.38 coeff/sec compared to rangers sword 1.05 coeff/sec., so I dont know what mitigating factors you use but thats the math. (autoattack). I just know from using other classes too, what melting health bars is like.

you forgot the pet dmg ><

Orga for [WUMS]

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Posted by: Kilger.5490

Kilger.5490

you forgot the pet dmg ><

You are absolutely right, I left it out on purpose, to compare weapons.

Part of the point being weapon selection is a lot less important to a ranger based on dps, since pet is a large component, the weapon contribution is watered down. So choose what you want (except axe ).

Also because any detriment to our pet is a large detriment to our dps. Not a problem in 2v2 but the higher number of people the better chance your pet will not be on target with you and our dps suffers unlike other classes. But this is pretty much known to most rangers.

Kilger – Human Ranger
alts: Fangyre (Necro), Hardrawk (Ele);
Jade Quarry

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Posted by: Solandri.9640

Solandri.9640

You are absolutely right, I left it out on purpose, to compare weapons.

RaO + warhorn#4 gives your pet 17 might stacks, and sword’s attacks will quickly put that over 20 stacks. The cat’s base power is 1374. 20 might stacks adds 700 power, so that’s a 50% increase to its damage. The cat will also give you about 8 might stacks, which for a power build should be about a 12% increase in damage. It’s a pretty potent combo.

The combo depends on the rapid 17 attacks from warhorn giving your pet might. So it is relevant to a weapon selection discussion. (And if you have horn equipped, your only choices for main hand are axe and sword.)

The problem is the ranger can do it for 20 sec every 2 minutes, or 17% of the time, less if the pet dies. The axe warrior can put out his DPS 100% of the time. Even if he dies one of his downed skills lets him get back up and do full DPS for 15 more sec.

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Posted by: Kilger.5490

Kilger.5490

RaO + warhorn#4 gives your pet 17 might stacks, and sword’s attacks will quickly put that over 20 stacks. The cat’s base power is 1374. 20 might stacks adds 700 power, so that’s a 50% increase to its damage. The cat will also give you about 8 might stacks, which for a power build should be about a 12% increase in damage. It’s a pretty potent combo.

I get what you are saying, keeping in mind other classes have means to might stack too, my eng didnt even have to use an elite to have a full 25. I’m not digging down to that level, there are too many iterations. I dont doubt it works well.

Kilger – Human Ranger
alts: Fangyre (Necro), Hardrawk (Ele);
Jade Quarry

(edited by Kilger.5490)