Guild Wars 2

I mainly play WvW, and sometimes open world pve for fun and farming.

i started my ranger a few days ago, lvl 51 now, but i can’t seem to find something that the ranger does better than others, actually the main obstacle i face is the absence of proper escapes (i’m used to all the cool mesmer escapes).

so i thought i might be doing something really wrong, and that’s why i’m asking, what is the ranger good at??

Self-challenge. As a ranger, you will feel more proud than other classes while achieving the same goal.

Everything and nothing in the end.

No you can’t tank like a guardian. But a ranger tank (find the common BM build here, typically 30 deep into WS and BM) can still deal damage through conditions or intelligent use of the pet.

You won’t out burst anything really, but rangers can do sustained damage. They can even maintain some good defensiveness while doing it with things like the dodges on Sword/Dagger.

There is lots of support in healing spring, spirits (if used very carefully, these need help), some pets and tying down enemies (entanlge or muddy terrain). But no, you won’t outdo a full support guard or ele.

The thing is, Ranger is not the best at any of these areas but they can mix in some from 2 of them or even all 3 to be more adaptable on the fly.

As for WvW – BM builds and using Guard is great. You can use the ability to sick your pet on enemy siege for example. Healing Spring in also great for supporting. Or trait for 1500 range glass cannon and go keep defending.

Escapes….yeah we don’t have an immobilize breaker. Lightning reflexes is good but limited. Otherwise, Swoop on the greatsword and #2 combo on the sword are good escapes. Chain both and that’s a lot of distance covered quickly.

“As for WvW – BM builds and using Guard is great. You can use the ability to sick your pet on enemy siege for example.” how this works is Guard allows your pets to climb walls; so tell your pet to guard a siege on an enemy wall and the pet can get to it. The pet is also invisible so the enemy won’t see it coming. If you’re a BM build the pet will tear it up.

Thats a great question. From my perspective in PvE nothing at all. He is not superior in ranged damage nor melee.

I used to play a ranger with a greatsword and traps. It worked but I won’t play it any longer. The class just sucks. Its boring from the damage point. And I focused on condi dmg since the physical from the greatsword is rather useless. Fun for me means damage Maybe someone else defines it different.

But here is a thing:
He is good in having a companion Thats were he is outstanding every other class
On the other hand the pet can be frustrating and annoying. Difficult to handle and does not that much damage nor does it really support.

My suggestion is that the developers should really meet and balance the professions so that they are suitable in pve, wvw and pvp. Even if this means to seperate skills pve, wvw and pvp wise. Nobody would care if a profession is a little overpowered in pve.

Rangers are really good at farming open world PVE.
We also have the best Water field in the game (Healing Spring)

That’s all I can think of.

As for escape mechanics…. Thieves, Mesmers and Elementalists have more escape abilities. Ranger’s are good at kiting PVE mobs, but don’t expect to be able to kite many good players in PVP.

The Ranger profession offers 2 things: perma-pet and flexibility.

No other profession has a permanent pet and ours have a lot of functionality (CC, off-tank, kiting, burst, distraction, champion pulling, etc)

Flexibility: no, we can’t tank as well as guardians or dps as well as warriors or burst as well as thieves or escape as well as eles….but we can do all of those things. We have the flexibility to play however we want. Played smart, we can effectively melee and range, use our pet for big damage bursts, support allies w/ spirits & pets & horn, aoe and single target dps. We have a variety of combo fields and finishers.

So, want one profession that may not top dps charts or be the best insane bunker or crush everything 1v1, but can do all of those things quite well? Ranger.

Seras.5702:

… No other profession has a permanent pet …

Necro has.

I do gave to agree with seras. The ranger is pure diversity. It can do every job quite well. Not the best, but quite good.

Challenging to play. Definitely not boring.

The ranger is a fun and strong solo pve profession.
You can also contribute in dungeons but, again if you want to compare numbers, then stay away from the ranger.
When the pets, spirits and traits eventually get the needed fixes, the ranger will be at the same level as the other professions. But as it is now, ranger is really fun for pve solo.

In once sentence; being in two places at once.

Send the pet to attack one foe, while you attack another. Send the pet to revive, while you fight a foe. Make the pet attack a mob, while you gather nodes. Send the pet to distract the boss, while you and your party revive downed/defeated allies. Use the pet to heal melee players, while you heal ranged players. Send the pet to attack on top of a wall, while you beat down the gate. And so on…

Edit: If you want to play a versatile profession, then don’t play a Ranger, play an Elementalist or Engineer. They offer far more options, without having to change utilities or pets.

No one like water combat the the ranger is good at it. He’s actually better in his down state due to the high healing effect of lick wounds (im expecting a nerf.) What does this mean for wvw? Quaggans. The Quaggans storms can destory seige at the bay. Not a very glorious role but important all the same.

things that the ranger does better than others:
-15 sec water field
-resurrect defeated players
-warhorn buff
-underwater godmode ( soon to be fixed )
…

thats pretty much it

What is the ranger good at? Just about everything but high level fractals. What is the ranger great at nothing.

If you look at any given one roll: conditions, buffs, tank, healing, dps (with proper pet play), etc; the ranger can do each fine. But as others have complained others classes can do them better.

Here is the thing, the beautiful thing about the ranger is that it is quite easy to mix and max between builds and go hybrid. The ranger isn’t stuck with any one single build or role (despite what the complainers say). The magic of the ranger is they can do anything they want.

And running with a pet has become a real pleasure and I have become quite attached to each and every pet I employ. Every other class I try to get into just seems so lonely running alone. I may wind up with a necro zoo mancer just to deal with my abandonment issues…

Seriously though, back on topic. The ranger is “good” at just about anything, mix and match it up pending on what the party needs to fill out. And whatever you do, play with the pet, not against it. You will seriously start seeing huge returns from the pet the more you trait into it.

WvW Ranger? Good at many trades, master of none.

I switch utility skills SO often with the ranger, he’s very situational.

At heart I have a beastmaster build, with the trait that the signets work on me as well as the beast. Signet of stone is a lifesaver I don’t want to go without. I typically fulfill 3 different roles in WvW, usually with the greatsword/longbow combo, sometimes with sword/torch or sword/warhorn instead of greatsword. Rampage as One is always the elite. I usually run Jaguar(or Lynx)/River Drake for pets. Traited they both cause bleeding on regular attacks.

Supply runner/roamer: Utility skills are spike or cold trap, the movement signet and signet of stone. The trap is there to deal with the inevitable thieves, together with the signet of stone and the nasty pet I can usually outlast the burst, and then I am too annoying to finish off. Unless the thief is very good, which in case, OW.

Siege: Switch in Heal as One, Sick ‘em, Signet of Stone and Guard. Send the pet up the wall and watch him go. I get kills, or I get chaos. Either way I win. The jaguar is great for single kills, the drake is good for packed walls or siege equipment. One favorite is just finding a good spot on an undefended keep and proceed to eat all the prepared siege equipment while avoiding the guards. A lot of the time the keep won’t even show as attacked. This also works with sending the pet down to annoy from the walls, but they survive less in a zerg. Good for sending to the back ranks and harass casters tho.

Zerg: I am currently experimenting with dual drake bombs. The drake have the drawback of having long f2 animations, but in a zerg nobody notices. And with regen and signet of stone they can survive alright. I roam the outskirts, sending in my river drake, releasing the lightning breath, then switching pet as it reaches half health. Currently doing the reef drake as the second one, confusion can be nasty in a zerg as well. With well timed switches you can get a lot of opportunity kills, this is sort of my homemade meteor storm.

I also experiment with the suicide stopper, basically greatsword swoop into the zerg, muddy terrain, spike and cold traps, then sword leap back and run. Buuuuut…. I die. A lot. Still, I love experimenting.

MeGaZlo.9516:

Seras.5702:

… No other profession has a permanent pet …

Necro has.

Yeah, but is has all the intelligence of a root vegetable.

The combat effectiveness too.

The Ranger is the Green Arrow of the Justice League universe. Let that sink in.

The ranger is good at everything.

Rhaps.8540:

MeGaZlo.9516:

Seras.5702:

… No other profession has a permanent pet …

Necro has.

Yeah, but is has all the intelligence of a root vegetable.

The combat effectiveness too.

Well, the pet does tend to take on the personality of its owner—mine, after all, is healthy, vicious, and deadly. What’s yours again?

Chopps.5047:

Rhaps.8540:

MeGaZlo.9516:

Seras.5702:

… No other profession has a permanent pet …

Necro has.

Yeah, but is has all the intelligence of a root vegetable.

The combat effectiveness too.

Well, the pet does tend to take on the personality of its owner—mine, after all, is healthy, vicious, and deadly. What’s yours again?

Well as I’m not a necro, an awesome pet.

Rhaps.8540:

Chopps.5047:

Rhaps.8540:

MeGaZlo.9516:

Seras.5702:

… No other profession has a permanent pet …

Necro has.

Yeah, but is has all the intelligence of a root vegetable.

The combat effectiveness too.

Well, the pet does tend to take on the personality of its owner—mine, after all, is healthy, vicious, and deadly. What’s yours again?

Well as I’m not a necro, an awesome pet.

I was just kidding. Actually, I’m leveling an alt necro right now and it’s pretty cool. My basic strategy is blood is might + kill stuff with daggers.

Chopps.5047:

Rhaps.8540:

Chopps.5047:

Rhaps.8540:

MeGaZlo.9516:

Seras.5702:

… No other profession has a permanent pet …

Necro has.

Yeah, but is has all the intelligence of a root vegetable.

The combat effectiveness too.

Well, the pet does tend to take on the personality of its owner—mine, after all, is healthy, vicious, and deadly. What’s yours again?

Well as I’m not a necro, an awesome pet.

I was just kidding. Actually, I’m leveling an alt necro right now and it’s pretty cool. My basic strategy is blood is might + kill stuff with daggers.

It’s cool ^ ^ Aye I don’t want to be too harsh on necros, they have some great tools in their arsenal, sadly pets aint one of them. Man I miss the gw1 minionmaster builds.

Ranger is good at attrition, mobility, immobilizing. Power builds on the ranger are pathetic imo. With decent lb buff this could change, and with decent spirit buff support rangers would be sick