Guild Wars 2

I bought GW2 at launch and the first class I made was the ranger. In GW1 it was my favorite class and I wanted it again. In my GW1 career I ran several builds on my ranger. I started with the much hated R/N Touch Ranger, why ? Because that was fun, but I got bored of it quickly, I moved onto the R/E Fire Barrage and then R/A Quick Shot ranger. However towards the end I found myself playing the old R/P Ranger, brandishing a destroyer’s spear and shield with a black Moa by my side. And that was my main till the end of my GW1 career. My W/E Fire Hammer warrior, my D/A Dervish, my Me/Mo Signet User and my Minion Master Necro. None could live up to my Ranger.

When I started GW2 I immediatelly made myself a Ranger, a Mesmer, a Thief, an Elementalist and a Guardian.

I started with the Ranger, I was all meh, next was the Thief, I enjoyed the perma stealth. Moved onto Elementalist. The sheer number of people using D/D everywhere put me off and I deleted it. Replaced it with an Engineer, that I still love. Guardian and Mesmer I quit and deleted. (I lost patience with the Mesmer it being so trait reliant but now I’m levelling one again). I deleted my Ranger too, however life got more demanding on my time so I quit the game. After a recent break up and an injury causing me to stop fighting, I decided to spend my hours of writer’s block on GW2. I started on my Engineer but the old elixir/pistol build bored me. I didn’t want to even look at my thief and deleted it(made a new one however haven’t levelled it much). I felt the old call of the ranger. Made a new one, got it to 80. And I couldn’t love it more.

The ranger isn’t the class for you if your favorite play style is the in your face DPS like the thief or the warrior. It isn’t the class for you if you enjoy lazy button mashing combat. It is a class of skill, intellect and reacting to the situation. There is not a more versatile, adaptable or flexible a class.

What makes it so? The Pet.

The pet system is imperfect, frustrating, complex at times and vast. But once you get a hang of it, once you master it. You wouldn’t trade it for anything. I don’t even want to level my Mesmer, Thief, Warrior anymore. They’re sitting at levels 37, 18 and 3 respectively. My Engineer is maxed with a fun build but still is no match for my Ranger.

A ranger isn’t a glass cannon, with massive burst. We are survivors, in my opinion a ranger excels with a lot of toughness, mobility or self healing. Or it all, and manages his pet well to do the damage. Or empowers himself and takes a pet that will help him even more with an extra heal, a buff or a control effect.

Things you need to learn:
-When to use your cat, when to send him in, when to call him back. When to put him on Avoid setting and when on Guard. You need to know which bosses he’ll be fine against, which bosses he is a complete no no for. What upcoming mob group he can handle, which he could but its risky.

-How to use your Drake, we all like Drakes, lets admit but hate their F2 skills for being slow and hard to hit with. Well all our Drakes, except the marsh are best served in PvE. Reef if you are into Zerging but you need to time and manage it right. For all our other Drakes, specially my River Drake, it is best used in areas where mobs are close together and abundant. You want him to target the mob that is not going to move much, either ranged, crippled or immobilized. If you’re in melee and use a torch or Healing Spring often, Drakes should be among your favorites. Jump into melee combat, pop Healing Spring/Bonfire, attack with your passive Drake, first attack will be a Blast Finisher. Switch pet and attack, another Blast Finisher.

-Dogs, well dogs are awesome and the easiest of our melee pets to use, can dish out good damage and take some too. First attack always knocksdown, F2 skills are amazing control. Fern hound looks ugly, but hey you got some extra Regen.

-Devourers, I say they’re the training pet. Take aggro at times, amazing toughness and are ranged so you can use them to attack from outside the Boss AoE range. If you use Healing Spring, their F2 skills are amazing. Poor direct damage, but amazing for boss fights if you’re still trying to master the pets. (Which I still am, though I have graduated from them in most fights, but the ones where being melee is not even an option- several fractal bosses)

-Bears, I do not even need to discuss them.

Birds, Moas, Pigs and Spiders I have never used, but I say that’s a good thing. There is still more for me to learn, experience and use. We are ridiculously flexible, no matter what we do, because of our pets. Sure they can be expanded, they can be improved, but hey, do the best with what we have and kick kitten while we do it.

Tips

- Runes of Dwayna are a god send.

-Marksmanship makes me go meh, but I hear Piercing Arrows makes you bad kitten Opening Strikes however I find unappealing and puts me off the trait line.

-Skirmishing this line is great whether you are pet reliant or not, always consider it.

- Study EVERY trait in the WS survival line, it can help you and your beastly companion survive almost anything.

-Nature’s Magic, just 10-15 points can make you and your pet, super duper heal machines.

-BM the whole trait line is pure gold, if you want to use a damaging pet. Get it all, otherwise I feel 15 is compulsory(unless you are a trapper or non pet condition damage build)

-Always carry a GS and a LB even if it isn’t a part of your build, GS block and LB control can make you a big help to your party. Stand in front of your weaker party member during an unavoidable attack and block, or mass cripple and control with the LB. Harpy/Collosus Fractal anyone?

-For party play your go to heal should be Healing Spring. Heal for you and your pet on cast, each pulse clears conditions, provides Regen and can be traited to give Vigor on each pulse too. Parties love Vigor.

-In spite of what our skills look like, in melee range we are skirmishers. All our melee weapon skills(except GS throw) can be cast while moving. Get into the practice of fighting without auto-attack, moving in circles around your target and moving in and out towards them. We shouldn’t stand and unload like other classes.

Rangers are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’ll get.
However you can adapt to it in a flash and kick kitten anyway.
That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

-Esh Crowe

Well said. 2 thumbs up

Love it. U missed out pigs. Hahahha. Personally I’ve never used them too. But I’ve read that they are pretty hard to master. Should be good fun. =)

• I’m with you 100% on the pet being what makes the class. I thoroughly enjoy it for so many reasons … except when it’s not working :-)
• Runes of Dwayne are nice … so are Runes of Melandru and Lemongrass when you’re in WvW since Ranger can be quite mobile and can be lacking in condition removal with some builds … this makes you very hard to hold down, especially if using greatsword and/or sword with reduced cooldowns.
• I agree about opening strikes since Ranger isn’t a burst class
• Skirmishing I half agree. It has its uses in several builds but I think we are only slightly differing in our opinions of how “good” it is.
• Nature’s Magic 15 is a bit lackluster because it doesn’t give your pet the same duration on the boon as you got … it gives 3s instead for most boons … which is garbage when you receive a much longer duration (like 10s).
• I agree 100% to always have a greatsword and longbow. I’m still not a big fan of the longbow, but it does have its uses. I think people should make sure they have at least 1 (exotic) of each weapon their class can use.

Actually, having got both a thief and ranger I’d say the thief has a lot more to offer and there’s a lot more in reserve. It’s not just about backstabbing daggers. In a PvE group a ranger struggles to take control of a fight and dictate the terms, unless a crowd of melee types decide to conveniently walk through a barrage or trap. I’d certainly like to see the ranger get more skills bringing utility to a melee group even when the ranger is at range.

Sebrent.3625:

• Nature’s Magic 15 is a bit lackluster because it doesn’t give your pet the same duration on the boon as you got … it gives 3s instead for most boons … which is garbage when you receive a much longer duration (like 10s).
• I agree 100% to always have a greatsword and longbow. I’m still not a big fan of the longbow, but it does have its uses. I think people should make sure they have at least 1 (exotic) of each weapon their class can use.

Skirmishing IMO should always be considered for the buffs on swap, weapon boosts, pet buffs etc. Not compulsory however.

I do feel that every weapon is a bit of over kill, our axes aren’t that great, never really got into using them, Whirling Defense is fun, but the cooldown or the self root needs to be dealt with. Sword is a taste issue, I hate it for dungeons and fractals since you can often go over the edge. Horn however is great since we do not have many sources of swiftness.

Stooperdale.3560:

Actually, having got both a thief and ranger I’d say the thief has a lot more to offer and there’s a lot more in reserve. It’s not just about backstabbing daggers. In a PvE group a ranger struggles to take control of a fight and dictate the terms, unless a crowd of melee types decide to conveniently walk through a barrage or trap. I’d certainly like to see the ranger get more skills bringing utility to a melee group even when the ranger is at range.

Agreed, I personally play a GS/SB ranger, at range we can’t support the team much, unless we get piercing arrows, which involves investment into the MS tree which not everyone enjoys. We aren’t the perfect class but I believe we can out perform several with practice and skill. Ranger takes time and polish to shine, unlike most others.

I agree with you on Sword for dungeons and OH Axe in general. I have played around with OH Axe here and there. With dog KD + quickness + OH Axe #5 you can inflict some good damage. It can also be used to help handle enemies with projectile weapons … but with its cooldown and being our only such skill, I’m not too happy with it.

Whirling Defense was one of my favorite moves in GW1, I was excited to see how it worked in GW2, the long cooldown and root killed it. I really wanted to run a dual axe ranger, but couldn’t find a set up that pleased me, hence I skipped on the idea and went SB for my ranged option. I had big dreams for axe 5 and fire/water fields.

Yeah, my current (most common) setups for weapons at the moment are:

Direct damage build

• Shortbow
• Greatsword

Condition build

• Axe + Dagger
• Sword + Torch

Sebrent.3625:

Yeah, my current (most common) setups for weapons at the moment are:

Direct damage build

• Shortbow
• Greatsword

Condition build

• Axe + Dagger
• Sword + Torch

I’ve never really got into ranger Condition Damage, I feel we do not have enough traits for it like the other classes do. And the 25 bleed limit is a bummer, still viable for WvW I suppose. However I do enjoy poison outside PvE/Dungeons for the heal debuff.

I enjoy LB for thief dealing in sPvP from time to time. Personally I believe in sPvP our LB can be a beast if used right, with the knockback, pet swiftness and cripple. Often I just let Barrage tick once and cancel it to cripple my target, pairing 4 and 2 together is hilarious at times if you time it right and even more if you have your pet switch ready.

Oh, I agree with you on conditions for PvE, you won’t see me run the condition build outside of PvP.

PvE, roaming open world, I don’t care what I use because it’s stupid easy.
Dungeons, I’ll be direct damage, piercing arrows and either take traps or muddy terrain and other utilities depending on the content.

Muddy Terrain, with reduced cooldown, lasts 20 seconds and has a 24 seconds cooldown. It’s excellent.

I don’t use Muddy Terrain unless I’m rushing some dungeon exp for the quick escape.

My favored utilities:

Lightning Reflexes- Evade, Vigor, Stun Break, what’s not to love.
Signet of the Wild- Goes great with Natural Regeneration.
Signet of the Hunt- Makes me feel better about my lack of swiftness and also can be used to add to my Jag’s Burst or Drake’s F2 skill.
Quickening Zephyr- The QZ rezzing in fractals is kitten.
Search and Rescue- Often I help out random people in LA with their first fractals. This comes in handy. (I’m not a good Samaritan just farming Relics)

Calling the pet system “vast” is a bit of a stretch don’t you think? It’s a very inferior pet system even to the likes of the WoW Hunter class.

I think the pet system is vast in comparison to the other classes’ mechanics.

I’m with Sebrent there and also the amount of versatility and flexibility it can add to any build. Even a tank or healing build can hit high with the right pets.

Exactly! This is one of the things I love about my Ranger.

I can focus on being extremely tanky and my pet can still hit like a mac truck (when it hits, lol). My Mesmer can not do this as its illusions’ damage are based of its stats.

It’s a double-edged sword though as when I wear high-toughness, I my Mesmer has much tougher clones and phantasms (clones that actually take multiple hits, lol) while my Ranger can only devote trait points to improving pet stats.

Pros and Cons. It seems fairly balanced to me except with the inclusion of Ascended gear, foods, and oils as well as any future gear creep that enters into the game

The most important thing about ranger that everyone needs to understand is that they are easily the most complex class to master. However, they are indeed a box full of chocolates, I keep on being surprised how their versatility shines through so many difficult situations. The difficult part is realizing that you need to be flexible with your build and second is to find gear that works everywhere. Try to find the build that works for you in most situations, but keep a second build handy to switch to on the go by simply changing your utilities and your gear.

A note on pigs, they are probably the most versatile pet to keep in dungeons, especially when your party is hurting.

Until someone can show me a video of using pigs in a high level fractal, I’m still unconvinced :-/

I do like that their knockdown is a cleave (the dog’s is not).

awge.3852:

The most important thing about ranger that everyone needs to understand is that they are easily the most complex class to master.

I only PvP.
And in PvP… no.
HgH engies, mesmer, a thief spec or 2, a necro spec or 2, elementalist*

*-so much potential in the class, it is a joke to be a good elementalist, it is an art to be a great one.

Indeed the ranger is a random in some regards because of the pet, but don’t confuse trying to master randomness (which is impossible, giving the illusion of more of a skill cap to reach) with mastering things you can actually control.
(I live and die by my pet, just so you know, I try to work every ounce I can out of those CC’ing machines of canines I run, I’m in the top 50~ atm and pug half the time)

Well I recently started PvP and got into a tournament with my guild leader. Her as a bunker ele, me with my Jag/Wolf and a fairly tanky build. First one I was just unprepared., because I went in on LB/GS instead of my SB/GS accidentally and was a bit throw off. But then when I got a hang of LB, I was guarding points solo against Mesmers, Guardians, Necros. Won 4 out of 5 games with top stats.

I was shocked how well I was doing just had trouble with one thief, he kept stealthing, I kept getting a Regen proc from somewhere or the other. Match finished before we could kill each other, Rapid Fire did down him once though and he downed me once with Back Stab. But we both got out of it.

Roaming in WvW has been awesome too. I run a high toughness/power build with about 40% crit and I do fine as a roamer. I generally bow to my stomped opponent if it was a good/fun match.

EDIT: Also, it is the illusion of randomness. Once you learn the tricks and attack patterns of your pets its not random at all.

EDIT: I do have trouble with bunker eles and glass cannon, sniping rifle warriors, I don’t see them coming and suddenly 25k hit and I’m downed.

Thief has a 10 point trait that gives regen to allies they stealth (their self included). They have a 30 point trait in that same trait line (Shadow Arts) that rejuvenates their hp while they are stealthed.

Sebrent.3625:

Thief has a 10 point trait that gives regen to allies they stealth (their self included). They have a 30 point trait in that same trait line (Shadow Arts) that rejuvenates their hp while they are stealthed.

The latter is a worthy investment since it requires 30 points to get and the first only works with Shadow Refuge or Smoke Field/Blast finishers. It’s balanced, what isn’t is the frequency of stealths. I can imagine a P/D build based on a Power set up doing devastating damage with the Stealth attack which also bleeds.

Frequency of stealths against my Mesmer (illusions make for easy C&D) and my Ranger (pet makes for easy C&D) … ugh.

Add to that that despite having full knight’s gear on, I got dropped in 2 sec by one thief (surprised the heck out of me … that was a first time).

There should be a greater global cooldown on stealth. But that again is my opinion, I dunno if this will destroy class balances. and haven’t considered it..

I agree that rangers are adaptable and survivable, with over a thousand hours on the class, I’ve learned to switch weapons and utilities often (I always carry gs, lb, sb, and axe/horn).

The only problem is, we have little to offer in terms of supportive utilities, since spirits (practically our only party support) are useless at the moment, which is why many people prefer guardians for support, or elementalists for healing.

Rangers have way too few build options, especially when it comes to skills. Spirits are completely useless. 60 second CD, long cast time actives, practically non-existent HP wastes of space. Until spirits are viable(and the only way to make them viable is to make them unable to receive damage), Rangers will NEVER bring any utility to a group, thus making them undesirable in virtually every non-solo setting. Signets are OK, but just OK. Several of them have active abilities that don’t even work with beastmaster signet talent, which makes them a waste if you go deep into marksmanship. That leaves us with survival and traps, and traps seems to be the weapon of choice. Sadly, traps aren’t exactly a group friendly build. Neither is survival, for that matter. Why bring a Ranger when an Ele can provide healing, a Guardian can provide boons, or a Warrior can provide Banners? Mesmer’s bring tons of group utility as well. That leaves us competing with thieves, and even they bring venom. What does a ranger bring? Entangle? A few AoEs make that worthless, and in zerg settings AoEs are a dime a dozen. Muddy terrain? You’ve already stated we don’t’ want to be in people’s faces, so that’s out. Nothing else is particularly group oriented.

While the pet does make us somewhat flexible, it’s shortcomings more than diminish that. You can’t possibly argue that pets aren’t straight up bugged. I don’t want to be a kittenailing-at-all-trades-equally. I’d rather fill a niche that makes my class wanted for grouping. Rangers aren’t even the best soloers given that other classes have much better escapes. The ranger doesn’t have any. So where does that leave us? DEFINITELY not master class. Not even close.

I’m sorry, but I have to disagree with you, pets aren’t bugged, the system is just clunky and not easy to manage until you get a hang of it. It does need to be improved. Rangers aren’t for Zerging, if you want to be a part of it, stand right at the back and rain arrows or Rapid Fire from as far as you can.

Dungeons and Fractals-
-Ranger can survive most things besides Agony, lets me keep the rest of my party from wiping. Jump over to my downed Team Mate, pop Healing Spring and revive them with QZ and quickness bursts from my pet switch.
-Traps bring brilliant control to the group, Cripple and Chill are invaluable controls and so is Muddy Terrain. We can perma chill/cripple mobs and bosses combining pets.
-We have Search and Rescue and Guard which are highly under rated skills in group game play.
-We can provide a Water Field, Fire Fields and an Ice Field.
-Healing Spring is probably the best heal skill available for party play, Regen, field and condition removal. It can also be traited to provide Vigor on each pulse.

The reason a ranger is not wanted- they are hard to master unlike the other classes primarily because of us being very trait and pet reliant. Which means not many can bring much to the table and have made a bad reputation for the class. Hence, threads like these are made. Which gives ideas to help players get a hang of the class, learn what’s what. Serbant has made a brilliant thread to compare rangers to other classes.

Rangers are the hardest class to master but have potential to be the master class.

No, the reason the ranger isn’t wanted is because the ranger is a memememe kind of character. They offer nothing to the rest of the group outside of raw DPS, and anyone and their dog can do that. The ranger doesn’t excel at DPS. Other classes hit much harder and put on the hurt much faster. Sure, the ranger is hard to master, but even mastering it doesn’t make you a king. It makes you barely on par with mediocre players at every other class, save maybe thieves. Oh boy, all that extra work just to pull my own weight, where the same amount of mastery could make me more effective playing something else. And pets are way bugged, and that which is not bugged is very poorly implemented. F2 skills that miss more than half the time, other skills you can’t control, which also miss, extremely low hit point tables, inability to evade, terrible pathing, non-existent AI, I’m sorry, why do these make us good? The ranger pet is regarded more as a handicap than it is a tool. A reason to not allow us to put out the raw weapon DPS of classes like warriors while simultaneously dragging us further down with its unreliability. Still not master class. Not an ounce of potential there until Anet gets off their lazy keisters and makes some adjustments.

I’m sorry, you clearly didn’t read my last post nor all of the first two posts and I do not see the point of continuing this discussion with you.

Update: Added more tips to the second post!!

jpnova.4572:

I’m sorry, but I have to disagree with you, pets aren’t bugged, the system is just clunky and not easy to manage until you get a hang of it. It does need to be improved. Rangers aren’t for Zerging, if you want to be a part of it, stand right at the back and rain arrows or Rapid Fire from as far as you can.

Dungeons and Fractals-
-Ranger can survive most things besides Agony, lets me keep the rest of my party from wiping. Jump over to my downed Team Mate, pop Healing Spring and revive them with QZ and quickness bursts from my pet switch.
-Traps bring brilliant control to the group, Cripple and Chill are invaluable controls and so is Muddy Terrain. We can perma chill/cripple mobs and bosses combining pets.
-We have Search and Rescue and Guard which are highly under rated skills in group game play.
-We can provide a Water Field, Fire Fields and an Ice Field.
-Healing Spring is probably the best heal skill available for party play, Regen, field and condition removal. It can also be traited to provide Vigor on each pulse.

The reason a ranger is not wanted- they are hard to master unlike the other classes primarily because of us being very trait and pet reliant. Which means not many can bring much to the table and have made a bad reputation for the class. Hence, threads like these are made. Which gives ideas to help players get a hang of the class, learn what’s what. Serbant has made a brilliant thread to compare rangers to other classes.

Rangers are the hardest class to master but have potential to be the master class.

Yes, we can quickness res, but mesmers can quickness res better. Yes, we can chill mobs, but elementalists can chill better. Yes we can create water, fire, and ice fields, but again, elementalists can do all these things better. Yes we can apply aoe regeneration and condition removal, but yet again elementalists can do these better.

The only thing that rangers do better than other classes is evade and survive, even if played well, rangers do not offer many of the extremely powerful team-based utilities such as reflection, deflection, aoe blinds, etc…

Basically, we don’t tank better than any other class, we don’t support the group better than any class, we don’t glass cannon than any other class.

Kiran.2705:

No, the reason the ranger isn’t wanted is because the ranger is a memememe kind of character. They offer nothing to the rest of the group outside of raw DPS, and anyone and their dog can do that. The ranger doesn’t excel at DPS. Other classes hit much harder and put on the hurt much faster. Sure, the ranger is hard to master, but even mastering it doesn’t make you a king. It makes you barely on par with mediocre players at every other class, save maybe thieves. Oh boy, all that extra work just to pull my own weight, where the same amount of mastery could make me more effective playing something else. And pets are way bugged, and that which is not bugged is very poorly implemented. F2 skills that miss more than half the time, other skills you can’t control, which also miss, extremely low hit point tables, inability to evade, terrible pathing, non-existent AI, I’m sorry, why do these make us good? The ranger pet is regarded more as a handicap than it is a tool. A reason to not allow us to put out the raw weapon DPS of classes like warriors while simultaneously dragging us further down with its unreliability. Still not master class. Not an ounce of potential there until Anet gets off their lazy keisters and makes some adjustments.

Well you must not have invested much time in tweaking traits/abilities/skills with ranger.

My ranger provides permanent party regen + great healing and condition removal w/ healing spring. I also provide permanent party fury.

On top of that I have the ability to have my pet tank instead of other players, or have it draw attention away if we are running past trash mobs. I also have the ability to provide might and swiftness 50% of the time.

All of this while doing great damage with GS or SS / warhorn and my pet HARDLY ever dies and i have 0 points in beastmastery. Pet never dies because he gets every boon I Get and my build is full of boons (protection, swiftness, might, fury, stability, etc.).

I might post my build so some people realize how useful the ranger is in PvE (and PvP).

The problem that most people are having (myself included) is taht ranger takes WAY longer to create a viable / good build whereas other classes take no time at all.

BackToSchool.7318:

Kiran.2705:

No, the reason the ranger isn’t wanted is because the ranger is a memememe kind of character. They offer nothing to the rest of the group outside of raw DPS, and anyone and their dog can do that. The ranger doesn’t excel at DPS. Other classes hit much harder and put on the hurt much faster. Sure, the ranger is hard to master, but even mastering it doesn’t make you a king. It makes you barely on par with mediocre players at every other class, save maybe thieves. Oh boy, all that extra work just to pull my own weight, where the same amount of mastery could make me more effective playing something else. And pets are way bugged, and that which is not bugged is very poorly implemented. F2 skills that miss more than half the time, other skills you can’t control, which also miss, extremely low hit point tables, inability to evade, terrible pathing, non-existent AI, I’m sorry, why do these make us good? The ranger pet is regarded more as a handicap than it is a tool. A reason to not allow us to put out the raw weapon DPS of classes like warriors while simultaneously dragging us further down with its unreliability. Still not master class. Not an ounce of potential there until Anet gets off their lazy keisters and makes some adjustments.

Well you must not have invested much time in tweaking traits/abilities/skills with ranger.

My ranger provides permanent party regen + great healing and condition removal w/ healing spring. I also provide permanent party fury.

On top of that I have the ability to have my pet tank instead of other players, or have it draw attention away if we are running past trash mobs. I also have the ability to provide might and swiftness 50% of the time.

All of this while doing great damage with GS or SS / warhorn and my pet HARDLY ever dies and i have 0 points in beastmastery. Pet never dies because he gets every boon I Get and my build is full of boons (protection, swiftness, might, fury, stability, etc.).

I might post my build so some people realize how useful the ranger is in PvE (and PvP).

The problem that most people are having (myself included) is taht ranger takes WAY longer to create a viable / good build whereas other classes take no time at all.

Post your build. It sounds interesting

jwaz.1908:

Yes, we can quickness res, but mesmers can quickness res better. Yes, we can chill mobs, but elementalists can chill better. Yes we can create water, fire, and ice fields, but again, elementalists can do all these things better. Yes we can apply aoe regeneration and condition removal, but yet again elementalists can do these better.

The only thing that rangers do better than other classes is evade and survive, even if played well, rangers do not offer many of the extremely powerful team-based utilities such as reflection, deflection, aoe blinds, etc…

Basically, we don’t tank better than any other class, we don’t support the group better than any class, we don’t glass cannon than any other class.

We can get quickness without using an elite. One every 48s-60s and another 15s-20s depending on traiting.

Without any traiting we can get chill from- Axe mainhand, pets, traps and give AoE frost aura.

We can dish out perma(even AoE) cripple with pets, elite, trap, weapon skills.

We can do almost every elementalist field, and make them last as long/longer. 5s/8s Fire Field, 5s Frost Field, 15s Water Field.

Also one condition removed per 3 seconds, plus insta for yourself on cast. Healing Spring is a beast, and if someone has put an AoE on it, just roll or run through it. =D

KensaiZen.3740:

BackToSchool.7318:

Kiran.2705:

No, the reason the ranger isn’t wanted is because the ranger is a memememe kind of character. They offer nothing to the rest of the group outside of raw DPS, and anyone and their dog can do that. The ranger doesn’t excel at DPS. Other classes hit much harder and put on the hurt much faster. Sure, the ranger is hard to master, but even mastering it doesn’t make you a king. It makes you barely on par with mediocre players at every other class, save maybe thieves. Oh boy, all that extra work just to pull my own weight, where the same amount of mastery could make me more effective playing something else. And pets are way bugged, and that which is not bugged is very poorly implemented. F2 skills that miss more than half the time, other skills you can’t control, which also miss, extremely low hit point tables, inability to evade, terrible pathing, non-existent AI, I’m sorry, why do these make us good? The ranger pet is regarded more as a handicap than it is a tool. A reason to not allow us to put out the raw weapon DPS of classes like warriors while simultaneously dragging us further down with its unreliability. Still not master class. Not an ounce of potential there until Anet gets off their lazy keisters and makes some adjustments.

Well you must not have invested much time in tweaking traits/abilities/skills with ranger.

My ranger provides permanent party regen + great healing and condition removal w/ healing spring. I also provide permanent party fury.

On top of that I have the ability to have my pet tank instead of other players, or have it draw attention away if we are running past trash mobs. I also have the ability to provide might and swiftness 50% of the time.

All of this while doing great damage with GS or SS / warhorn and my pet HARDLY ever dies and i have 0 points in beastmastery. Pet never dies because he gets every boon I Get and my build is full of boons (protection, swiftness, might, fury, stability, etc.).

I might post my build so some people realize how useful the ranger is in PvE (and PvP).

The problem that most people are having (myself included) is taht ranger takes WAY longer to create a viable / good build whereas other classes take no time at all.

Post your build. It sounds interesting

Just posted a thread

If you want to skirmish, currently our signets and survival skills are your best bet. Traps are nice, but good players will minimize their effect in a fight and then you’re in trouble.

If you want to zerg, our long range is very useful, especially with piercing arrows, and our traps and muddy terrain are top notch as:

• Enemies can’t see trap AOEs until they’ve been triggered
• Muddy Terrain w/ traited cooldown is a 20s duration with a 24s cooldown (only 4 seconds of down-time!)

I’m annoyed with my Ranger in zerg fights for sieges, primarily attacking. However, I’m happier in sieges when I’m manning siege because, unlike others, while I’m manning siege, my pet can still be commanded by me. I’ve been trying to like the longbow and it is nice on defense if you have 20+ points in Marks for the range on it. Since I’ve found power to often be the better way to go (at least for myself) when fighting zergs, I have those 20 points in Marks for piercing arrows which I just swap out when on a wall since they are much less useful then. 1,500 range from a wall is nice, there’s no two ways around that.

Also I’ve noticed something funny when using Traps, arranging them in specific orders can make a big difference. When someone triggers a spike trap while heading towards a zerg, automatic reaction is to roll forward or to the side. And most right handed people tend to roll left, or forward. Hence place your spike trap and place another trap to its right or behind it, slightly overlapping. And boom, they are crippled and have exhausted a fair amount of endurance with DoTs on them, which means they can’t dodge anymore and you have a fire or ice field to exploit.

jwaz.1908:

I agree that rangers are adaptable and survivable, with over a thousand hours on the class, I’ve learned to switch weapons and utilities often (I always carry gs, lb, sb, and axe/horn).

The only problem is, we have little to offer in terms of supportive utilities, since spirits (practically our only party support) are useless at the moment, which is why many people prefer guardians for support, or elementalists for healing.

Actually I recently found out they can be amazingly supportive, however that is if you trait for full BM and for full healing gear/traits/utilities. I recently did some pvp and fought a ranger + elementalist duo, where the ranger sent their pet in for damage (luckly they sucked at micromanaging it) however their supportive skills for the elementalist + the elementalist healing support made them immortal, 3 vs 2 couldn’t get it done because they kept on healing each other so much. I think I saw this build somewhere… apothecary gear + runes of dwanya? Anyways just putting it out there.

Apothecary + Runes of Dwayna is a deadly combination. It’s possible to do it with Cleric too but issue is Conditions just work better. Traited right you can have perma regen and give it to your pet too.

jpnova.4572:

We can get quickness without using an elite. One every 48s-60s and another 15s-20s depending on traiting.

Without any traiting we can get chill from- Axe mainhand, pets, traps and give AoE frost aura.

We can dish out perma(even AoE) cripple with pets, elite, trap, weapon skills.

We can do almost every elementalist field, and make them last as long/longer. 5s/8s Fire Field, 5s Frost Field, 15s Water Field.

Also one condition removed per 3 seconds, plus insta for yourself on cast. Healing Spring is a beast, and if someone has put an AoE on it, just roll or run through it. =D

Sure, we have the best cripples and chills, but those are only important in certain PvE situations, unlike many of the very powerful utilities (feedback, wall of reflection, etc…) that are extremely powerful in a variety of situations.

What I’m trying to get at, is that rangers are worse for any dungeon role, whether it be tank, support, glass cannon, or a mixture of two. If not purely worse, then it is at least a lot, lot harder for rangers to successfully fill one of those roles.

awge.3852:

Actually I recently found out they can be amazingly supportive, however that is if you trait for full BM and for full healing gear/traits/utilities. I recently did some pvp and fought a ranger + elementalist duo, where the ranger sent their pet in for damage (luckly they sucked at micromanaging it) however their supportive skills for the elementalist + the elementalist healing support made them immortal, 3 vs 2 couldn’t get it done because they kept on healing each other so much. I think I saw this build somewhere… apothecary gear + runes of dwanya? Anyways just putting it out there.

The situation you’ve described is purely sPvP, and I’m strictly referring to organized PvE circumstances.

Who knows, maybe I’ve just been playing the class entirely wrong for quite awhile, this is just what I’ve discovered and experienced.

I’ve never really had that issue with dungeons. My only annoyance at the beginning was keeping my pet alive but I didn’t get the pet system properly then.

AC exp – Spider the constant poisons ranger can pretty much take care of that with Healing Spring, with our range we can take out gargoyle heads and I have tanked and killed the spider solo when the whole party has wiped before.

SE exp- Path 1, I can dominate Nokk and the Mesmer boss on my ranger and have tanked them before. My GS block does great job with them. Path 3 is ridiculously easy.

CM exp- This is difficult for most.

CoF exp- Grinding parties I do just great bug CoF rushes are too easy.

Those are my most frequented dungeons. Guardians and Mesmers fill a special role, their moves are unique and no one else has it. And chill is an under rated condition in PvE, Dredge fractal its invaluable, AC exp too.

jpnova,
TY for a great post. Too much “bandwagoning” about rangers fail at X, Y and Z gets tiring. As a class we are not perfect, and no one is advocating that, but we are also not a leper colony. Rangers do bring a good amount to the proverbial table as you have described, just in a different way.

I also tried every class, the ranger was the last one. Zonian became my main and I just can’t get over how much I enjoy playing a ranger. I use to hate short bow, then learned to use it. I use to hate melee, then I watched Xsorus’s PI videos and learned to use a sword and axe. I’m still getting use to the GS (like only use #3 to escape when you DON’T have an enemy targeted).

Rangers just do things differently, more indirectly than other classes. Maybe that’s what throws people.

Again good read.

CM with a Ranger will help you appreciate spirits a lot more. Mobs generally have ranged and never move or within confined spaces allowing you to place them in safety but still get the buffs.

CM with a Ranger is really easy. Also healing spring is the most valuable skill in the entire dungeon. No need to worry about bleed stacks.

Expiatus could you perhaps link me to said video? Maybe I’ll learn something I like/do not know. ^^

EDIT: And thanks Kensai I’ll have a look, still need to do more 5 more CM for my Legs skin.

jpnova.4572:

Expiatus could you perhaps link me to said video? Maybe I’ll learn something I like/do not know. ^^

Below is one of his videos he posted on the forums. It’s main point was showing off Pain Inverter, an asuran racial skill, in melee fights. I have an asuran ranger so I was interested in it’s effectivness. Fortunatley, it was eye opening how he used axe, sword, torch and dagger to chill, bleed, cripple, poison, and manuever around oponents. I then realized I was trying to see ranger melee through the eyes of a guardian or warrrior, so I adjusted and learned (still learning) to take advantage of a rangers style of melee.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Pain-Inverter-Volume-10-Melee-Ranger-Movie

Here is the link to his youtube channel, plenty to enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Xsorus/videos?view=0

Thank you! Let’s learn something. =P