Guild Wars 2

Hell, is the sword a good weapon at all?

I’m a new ranger, and I wanted to get a feel for the class with a little training in the mists but I’ll be honest.. I’ve no idea what I’m doing. I know for a fact I LOVE the 1h Sword moves for the acrobatic attacks, and was wondering what offhand would best compliment it.

Also, I was wondering how good the ranger is comparatively in general. PvP, PvE, Dungeons? My first class was a Mesmer, so I’d assume I’m a bit spoiled since the class tends to be in high demand. How does Ranger usefulness stack up against other classes?

Some love it others hate it so expect a wide range of answers, but ultimately if you master it, it becomes a blender of red crit numbers and death for your foe.

I like it in spvp/tpvp for a couple reasons, evades and mobility of getting out of a situation with #2 (also has evades onthe leap back) that you need to in order to get to another point, or whatever but its simply good dmg. I believe the 3rd attack on #1 also gives a might stack to your pet so you can coordinate loading base dmg onto your pet for higher dmg output.

I think the sword dmg , is second to none, youre not gonna get a better 1hander that does more burst (even 1h sword does more dmg on auto than greatsword) for ranger.

But if you’re condi spec ive seen axe be more viable. It’s really up to you and your play style though.

You’ll be doing one of two things when you’re using the sword:

• Being defensive: you are not even touching your #1 auto-attack skill chain. Instead, you are dancing around your opponent/terrain to avoid damage and using the dodge rolls on #2 and #3 as well as your normal dodge rolls to avoid damage. Used to buy time for cooldowns, reinforcements, pet to do damage to your foe, etc.

• Being offensive: you are spamming your auto-attack on your opponent, likely with quickness from pet swap and/or QZ. You will still on any non-stealth/-teleporting opponent and do very good damage while crippling them and granting might to your pet. Best used against non-melee opponents since a warrior can trade blows with you with axe, etc. and win in many circumstances … though obviously if you currently have the advantage in the fight this is not an issue.

Nice, its good to know that the sword is indeed a viable weapon.

• What are recommended offhands? I like the evade attack from the dagger, but more aesthetically and for the sake of another dodge. I considered the torch for the combo field.

• Is it better to go direct damage for Sword – Longbow? Could it work either way.

• Are there any recommended pets that’d benefit from me being in melee range so often? Are Melee Rangers viable? Sounds a bit like an oxymoron..

I’d go with horn against melee, for ranged, can try horn or you may wanna try offhand axe for #5 which reflect projectiles (thinking mostly p/d thieves, engis , rifle warriors , even ranged mesmers) , but do it strategically and the whirl provides good combo finish if in a field like ice / fire.

But usually horn is a good offhand as you can get off some speed, might and fury before battle which complements the dodgy / quick nature of what you would have with sword and +20% crit chance is nice.

Torch is good for condi dmg builds in general, as well as dagger for evades / snare and poison chaining on regen classes.

For pets man, to be honest with you i tried using high dmg pets and kitten like that, they just don’t work as the ai just simply isn’t up to par and inconsistent in setting up. Now im talking in the context of not running anything but 5 in BM. They may be alot better in BM (i know birds are) in 30 BM. But I just run with canines, the fear and immobilize as well as the knockdown just have saved me so much in both 1on1s and team based play (pet swap to wolf to fear everyone while reviving someone on 2 seconds of quickness in tpvp is priceless, etc).

For pve it may be entirely different, im not sure as I don’t pve at all.

All are viable, even off hand axe which most consider the least useful. Torch has huge damage for a condition build, horn is good for power builds and dagger is useful for the extra evade and cripple.

Most of the time I’ll run horn and swap to a dagger for 1v1s (although even then I’ll sometimes stick to the horn)