Guild Wars 2

Hi ive been playing ranger now for a couple of months as my main character and now my guild is roaming more it came to me, where do i fit into this? i asked my self this as roaming generally is close combat and i use a long bow, i also do zerg so the long bow is useful for that. if you have any advice concerning roaming with a guild of around 10-15 as a ranger please let me know

good 1v1 , 1v2 , 1vX . You can roam and hunt Yaks and stuff

BM Bunker is good for 1v1 and small scale battles.

Dont go full zerker in ZvZ you gona kill yourself when you use Barrage.

Mahedros.9103:

BM Bunker is good for 1v1 and small scale battles.

Dont go full zerker in ZvZ you gona kill yourself when you use Barrage.

Definitely this ^

I thought it would get better when they toned down retaliation but I still take about 370 damage per tick from it and it really adds up given how many people run guardian in large scale zerg fights.

Substance E.4852:

Mahedros.9103:

BM Bunker is good for 1v1 and small scale battles.

Dont go full zerker in ZvZ you gona kill yourself when you use Barrage.

Definitely this ^

I thought it would get better when they toned down retaliation but I still take about 370 damage per tick from it and it really adds up given how many people run guardian in large scale zerg fights.

Agreed with above. I generally roam by myself or with a few other people and take camps and occasionally join up with a zerg to take a keep or tower. With keeps I usually split off and pick off the people that tend to stream in to help defend, and take out yaks on longer sieges.

When zerging or keep attacks I use a condition/power build with SB and Axe+Torch (or Horn).
All other times (which is most of the time) Puandro’s cleric power build is terrific.

I am saving up for a apothecary set (6th for this toon) which will also allow roaming melee ( or maybe with Shortbow – I love it so. ).

So…my point is… Rangers can do it all… Adequately.

Mahedros.9103:

BM Bunker is good for 1v1 and small scale battles.

Dont go full zerker in ZvZ you gona kill yourself when you use Barrage.

I dont know how you guys are dying but do I just this. I actually have far more survivability in full zerker gear (that is unless I come across a thief or mesmer while I’m trying to reach the zerg and im by myself).

I go completely zerker, and the retaliation is barely noticeable. I can usually pull out 20K + damage to a group if I line them up right (between barrage and rapid fire) and retaliation has never been a problem.

I’ve tried every other build and armor combo imaginable and I actually tend to die far because I don’t put out enough damage in battles before the enemies overrun the party.

The class is only really good for roaming.

An ele or engineer will do the job of GC aoe much better than you will, while bringing better group utility.

At least you get to laugh at people when you roam. They nerfed ele escape for no reason, but your godly Swoop and Monarch’s Leap still have the same really low cooldowns so you can run from anybody.

Berserker longbow/shortbow is not too bad for zergs— it’s just that other classes do better, and even then a huge portion of your damage is dead in any zerg environment, and when in tower defense not even your ranged pets are smart enough to hit players below.

The Thief is a far better roamer then the Ranger. Rangers are excellent at crowd control and defending walls with longbow. That’s about it. It really comes down to how much you love the profession.

Thief isn’t as efficient at solo’ing camps. Ranger also players better in 1vX situations against people who are really good and know what they are doing. There are builds in almost any profession that can kill a great thief when used by a good player. There are very few great builds that can kill a good ranger unless used by great players.

I feel there’s a huge skill gap though between being an awesome thief roamer and being an awesome ranger roamer. For a vast majority of players, thief would definitely be a better roamer which is why so many people say so.

Btw, I play thief/ranger/warrior/mesmer, so it’s not like I’m just saying “hurr ranger” because I’m biased. Out of all the roaming classes (it should be obvious that I like roaming), ranger is still my favorite to take out there when not in a trolling mood.

Kasama.8941:

The Thief is a far better roamer then the Ranger. Rangers are excellent at crowd control and defending walls with longbow. That’s about it. It really comes down to how much you love the profession.

Anytime anyone says anything like this, I just assume they have never equipped another weapon but a bow and sat behind a wall spamming LB5, To which my assumptions based off comments like this normally ring true.

I zerg just fine on my ranger. I find I use my GS 99% of the time. Helps me stay on the front as we push. With the cleave I tag enough people to fill my inventory with loot.

Healing spring is the best water field in the game and zergs <3 water fields.

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Thief isn’t as efficient at solo’ing camps. Ranger also players better in 1vX situations against people who are really good and know what they are doing. There are builds in almost any profession that can kill a great thief when used by a good player. There are very few great builds that can kill a good ranger unless used by great players.

I feel there’s a huge skill gap though between being an awesome thief roamer and being an awesome ranger roamer. For a vast majority of players, thief would definitely be a better roamer which is why so many people say so.

Btw, I play thief/ranger/warrior/mesmer, so it’s not like I’m just saying “hurr ranger” because I’m biased. Out of all the roaming classes (it should be obvious that I like roaming), ranger is still my favorite to take out there when not in a trolling mood.

Oh yeah, the Ranger is actually very good at taking camps solo, thanks to all the crowd control, and partly the pet also. But when it comes to pure roaming, nothing beats the Thief, in my opinion. I’m talking about things like scouting, checking on towers and keeps, killing dolyaks, or just basically flaking foes. The Thief just has superior movement, and also stealth, to get past areas unharmed.

Furajir.3815:

Kasama.8941:

The Thief is a far better roamer then the Ranger. Rangers are excellent at crowd control and defending walls with longbow. That’s about it. It really comes down to how much you love the profession.

Anytime anyone says anything like this, I just assume they have never equipped another weapon but a bow and sat behind a wall spamming LB5, To which my assumptions based off comments like this normally ring true.

I’m just being honest.

I play an axe/axe-greatsword Ranger, and I love to play aggressively. So in this case you were wrong.

It really depends on your build/your group, but for the most part they fit into a roaming/scouting role BEST. They can provide great blocking, heals/regen, and defense, but it requires a certain playstyle that most find boring and that most groups simply have better ways of obtaining.

That said, I’ve been running my cleric GS+SB/LB build for the past few weeks in a more zerg based style and it has worked out very well. The amount of stuns/locks, heals/regen, etc that you can drop can be VERY beneficial to keep assaults. As well, the cleric build works INCREDIBLY well when skill lag is a factor(EB), as you have regen out the whazzoo.

Ranger has seen a LOT of improvements, but I think we still have a long long ways to go before we are truly a “must” for group comp. Buffs to spirits, traps, and utilities in general are needed to really give us something powerful to offer to the group.

Kasama.8941:

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Thief isn’t as efficient at solo’ing camps. Ranger also players better in 1vX situations against people who are really good and know what they are doing. There are builds in almost any profession that can kill a great thief when used by a good player. There are very few great builds that can kill a good ranger unless used by great players.

I feel there’s a huge skill gap though between being an awesome thief roamer and being an awesome ranger roamer. For a vast majority of players, thief would definitely be a better roamer which is why so many people say so.

Btw, I play thief/ranger/warrior/mesmer, so it’s not like I’m just saying “hurr ranger” because I’m biased. Out of all the roaming classes (it should be obvious that I like roaming), ranger is still my favorite to take out there when not in a trolling mood.

Oh yeah, the Ranger is actually very good at taking camps solo, thanks to all the crowd control, and partly the pet also. But when it comes to pure roaming, nothing beats the Thief, in my opinion. I’m talking about things like scouting, checking on towers and keeps, killing dolyaks, or just basically flaking foes. The Thief just has superior movement, and also stealth, to get past areas unharmed.

Furajir.3815:

Kasama.8941:

The Thief is a far better roamer then the Ranger. Rangers are excellent at crowd control and defending walls with longbow. That’s about it. It really comes down to how much you love the profession.

Anytime anyone says anything like this, I just assume they have never equipped another weapon but a bow and sat behind a wall spamming LB5, To which my assumptions based off comments like this normally ring true.

I’m just being honest.

I play an axe/axe-greatsword Ranger, and I love to play aggressively. So in this case you were wrong.

We have different definitions of roaming :P I generally don’t lump in scouting with roaming since I view it more as a solo activity rather than working in coordination with a larger group (unless, of course, working in coordination means facerolling solos/duos and taking camps).

For scouting, yes thief is definitely better. But I’ll just say that we’ll have to agree to disagree with the roaming portion.

Faux Sheaux.6179:

We have different definitions of roaming :P I generally don’t lump in scouting with roaming since I view it more as a solo activity rather than working in coordination with a larger group (unless, of course, working in coordination means facerolling solos/duos and taking camps).

For scouting, yes thief is definitely better. But I’ll just say that we’ll have to agree to disagree with the roaming portion.

Scouting doesn’t have to be connected to a group. Scouting simply means relaying information in the chat, about enemy zerg locations and the state of camps/towers/keeps you run past. It’s as simple as that.

Now we’re nitpicking…

Ranger is only a good roamer when there aren’t blobs about. The difference between a roamer ranger and a roamer thief is that the roamer thief can kill targets faster before anyone intervenes. The ranger is usually the better 1v1 spec with a few exceptions (good p/d, d/p with condi removal trait thieves are just as good).

But lately I’ve found that there are too many 40+ man blobs all over the map for slower killing builds to be effective (and so this also affects p/d thieves and duel specced guardians).

So I suggest people run 3-5 mans, where BM bunker is still surprisingly effective and a good rezzer if you bring spirit elite alongside petswap rezzing and wolf aoe fear. As soon as an encounter starts going beyond 10 people, pets start becoming ineffective and by extension so does the ranger.

Had a good bunch of fun today where 2 other people and I wiped out over 12 people in a camp as they came coming back again. BM bunkers do best in skirmishes, although you could pull off a trapper ranger just as well.

Really, the limiting factor is that the class revolves around the pet to do the killing. So just participate in activities where the pet gets to shine.

Even with all its flaws and frustrating design decisions the class can be a lot of fun.

This was yesterday in EBJP but same situations happen while flipping camps/roaming solo/small group. Rangers can leap out of the fight quite often if needed, turn off auto targeting.

I only do WvW on my Ranger and from my experience, the Ranger is a well round profession in WvW. I do a lot of zerging as a CC Power Bunker Ranger and I put the hurt on enemy zergs with smart playing. The Ranger is not an easy class to bring into WvW zergs and be successful such as Necros, Ele’s, Warriors and Guardians. Rangers have many useful tools that contribute a zerg.

The thing is finding your nitch as a Ranger. I like Power Bunker Builds and do well in zergs. Sometimes I switch to Traps and get more loot bags in the zerg. With roaming, I just like my Power bunker build because that is my nitch.