Guild Wars 2

Hello, I’ve just started playing after a long break, and this time I’ve rolled for ranger, but I’m little confused about what I’ve read at this forum.
So far I know is to go to full BM (must have)
but I like to be sharpshooter… is this even possible at this point ? I’ve read that power attributes builds sucks for ranger, so longbow/GreatSword don’t proffit anymore. Condition damage seems good for shortbow, but how this works in dungeons, and mass of mobs? Please guys can you guide me? can you lighten my confusion ?
I don’t know what tratis to choose and what stats to focus on items.
Hope someone will help me
and sorry for my english

Well I run lb/sb with 30/30/0/10/0 in my traits, I do great, full exotic beserker gear

You don’t have to put 30 points into beastmastery. For more pet durability without Natural Healing, try pets gain health on crit in the skirmishing traitline. If you run healing power and/or 10 to 20 in beastmastery, then you can still run signet of the wild (since it scales really nicely with the pet and gives the pet a huge boost when activated) and in marksmanship, make sure you slot reduced CD on signets. Also, trait 1500 yard longbow distance. Make sure you have a way to cripple or chill a fleeing foe.

*I should note that I prefer to actively use the pet in all battles so I’m partial to points in beastmastery. Paz said he had success…I’m sure he can down invaders quickly. I’ve ran that build before—I guarantee you that his 10 passive in nature magic is “Nature’s Protection”.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Nature%27s_Protection

Anyhow, I think those are the most important points; besides that, you will have to slot in removal and/or defense as you need it. Runes and trinkets are a matter of preference, mostly, and it’s usually pretty clear what to pick so I won’t go into that stuff. But how does it play?

In my experience, longbow/greatsword play, like most ranger play, is all about ambushing the enemy. Press F11 and, in the settings, turn off “autotargeting”, which will allow you to [Swoop] leap many yards away from the enemy to keep your distance.

Often times, this kind of game play results in a ranger who focuses in on a single target. This makes the ranger vulnerable to thief back stabs. This pushes many rangers to play Nature Magic or spirits. After all, presumably you’re in a siege while using these weapons, right? So you’re not moving a whole lot. If you’re out in the open, you can spot another roamer in the distance and drop a spirit, if you want.

I would say keep tweaking it until you find something that works. There’s a thread around here of a guy who used a longbow to great success. If anyone can find that, please link, thanks.

LB GS can work, you’ve just got to get used to the playstyle and obviously have the right build. Most powerful ranger is probably condition-based though because traps and binding roots are so good. I’d advise you to experiment until you find something that works for you – if you get beaten, think why and adjust to compensate – this could have you going round in circles though because the game is somewhat rock-paper-scissors, there’s no one build to rule them all, so just stick with what works most of the time. As for BM, some investment is definitely necessary, my builds tend to have at least 25 – if i put any less i start to see what people on the forums are talking about when they say “squishy pets” i’d say it’s almost required but i’m sure there are some viable builds which don’t invest in it (maybe). There really is no substitute for experience; theorycraft, playtest, read tips and tricks on forums and watch on youtube 4. profit?

Chopps.5047:

I would say keep tweaking it until you find something that works. There’s a thread around here of a guy who used a longbow to great success. If anyone can find that, please link, thanks.

Wasn’t that you Chopps?

But yea starting out with Ranger in pve, I think greatsword is nice to use. But the bows are very nice to use as well.

Longbow in particular takes a while to make it work for you. I don’t think it’s something you can just jump into as a Ranger, on a competitive level.

But Wanderer provided good info in his post above

Expansive.3716:

Chopps.5047:

I would say keep tweaking it until you find something that works. There’s a thread around here of a guy who used a longbow to great success. If anyone can find that, please link, thanks.

Wasn’t that you Chopps?

But yea starting out with Ranger in pve, I think greatsword is nice to use. But the bows are very nice to use as well.

Longbow in particular takes a while to make it work for you. I don’t think it’s something you can just jump into as a Ranger, on a competitive level.

But Wanderer provided good info in his post above

I thought someone made a longbow/greatsword wvw video and posted it on youtube. I mean, I’ve advocated for the weapons but I’ve never posted a wvw video.

After a couple weeks of playing my ranger, I can definitely say that Shortbow and Longbow have become a fast favorite. I’m mostly a WvW player, so LB brings the ranged pain that most fights call for. Eagle Eye trait is almost necessary – that extra 300 feet is amazing.

Obviously, Longbow lacks in its 1 skill, but coupled with quickness, Rapid Fire and the Vulnerability are deadly in PvP. I can do 10K damage in short periods of time, and switch to my SB for sustained damage.

I suggest you make a power crit build and use Shortbow. Shortbow is much better at power crit builds than Longbow.

Thanks for answers guys, specially Chopps for great comprehensive post.
But again I would like to know how this builds works in PvE like dungeons or big events, can ranger do well without though pet ? on sPvP i can change traits as many times I wish, but sPvP is a different game for WvWvW I’m not ready yet, because just started to play as ranger. All I want is to have really high dps, how to achieve that guys?
and yes I will try build with pet, but I really like bows and GS, but power isn’t good for SB (because 3 of 5 skills are conditions), and skirmish isn’t good for GS xD because GS uses only flat damage from power

Well, one thing you may want to consider is joining a Ranger guild as found in this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Ranger-Guild/first#post1407773

Also if you’re not going to really go down the skirmish traitline, then i’m not certain of various ways to get good dps from the GS. I’m not saying that in a way as if there isn’t a way, but our GS isn’t a weapon that provides that much dps in general.

Wilendar.1450:

—but power isn’t good for SB (because 3 of 5 skills are conditions), and skirmish isn’t good for GS xD because GS uses only flat damage from power

This is actually wrong. SB is good at power build. You are just getting fooled by the condition skills.
1.If you compare SB and LB auto attack, SB will out dmg LB. SB hits faster, and has bleeds as a bonus. LB does bigger hits, but they are not actually big enough.
2.If you use Barrage, then auto attack with LB, then LB will out dmg SB (people tend to say this in defense of LB). True, but what if (and when) your foe runs out of Barrage? Now, SB out damages LB.
3.To get everything out of LB, you need to stand at max range. This will be a problem in PvE and PvP, because you can’t keep the range 100% of time.
4.With SB, you will get Poison, Bleed, Cripple and Daze/Stun to do some bonus dmg on top of your auto attack.

I use a SB power crit build, 30/30/5/0/5. My auto attack crits all the time and deals 1,3k dmg to normal foes and 1,1k in Fractals lvl20-30+. Believe me, it works. I hope you will never say again that SB isn’t good for power builds.

Oh and what is this, Skirmishing isn’t good for GS? It seems to me that you want to use your GS offensively, not defensively, so Skirmishing is one of the only ones you can take. For dmg, you need Power. For even more dmg, you need Precision and Crit dmg.
And if you want your pet to.be of any use, you need atleast 2 traits from Skirmishing, 30% more crit dmg for pet and pets crits heal the pet.