I’n currently running an iteration of the old shoutbow build but find the staff to be lackluster when fighting melee. I’m looking to add a better melee alternative and I’m leaning away from GS due to its telegraphed strikes. Would Sword/Warhorn, Sword/Axe, or Axe/Axe be effective in this or a similar setup? It’s a power based build FYI.
Sword axe. Good damage, pull, and projectile block.
Mainhand axe isn’t a melee weapon.
Warhorn is still pretty meh unless you are running something like crit bleeds.
I really like GS as a weapon compliment for LB. Aside from passive evades on its AA, Swoop lets you chase or disengage/general mobility (with more evade frames, too) and has a guard against ranged pressure and a knockback that can throw someone off point. the extra pet damage+CC on Hilt Bash is a plus. Even if its not all too damaging, its still a very comfy weapon with decent utilities.
That said, my next choice would likely be Sword/Dagger or Sword/Axe.
I would recommend you GS too. Stun, disengage/engage, block and maul are too good for me to pass. Maybe it is because I am very familiar with it but I can not use any other weapon with that speed and ease.
Although if you do not wish to use GS, then I can also advice you to use Sword + Warhorn. Warhorn 4 is a very beautiful skill to use procs, and WH 5 is always welcome. Although no sane person would be hit by WH 4.
If you don’t want to go greatsword go sw/d. Offhand axe 4 skill is too difficult to land esp vs fast moving targets like thief or mesmer. Keep in mind sw/d is mostly going to be an evade/disengage until you can get back into your other weapon.
If you don’t want to go greatsword go sw/d. Offhand axe 4 skill is too difficult to land esp vs fast moving targets like thief or mesmer. Keep in mind sw/d is mostly going to be an evade/disengage until you can get back into your other weapon.
It’s really not as bad as you’d expect since a lot of the time they are running directly away from you, straight at you, or towards a choke like a tower door. I ran it today and completely blew up a few people by taunting them with “protect me” and hitting them with smoke assault and whirling defense.
I use SW/D because it simply offers more kiting and evasive capabilities than GS does if used well, but GS is still a legit choice. SW/D also gives you pressure with the poisons and cripple it can inflict (-33% healing effectiveness for the poisons.) I wouldn’t use Axe off-hand because no decent person is going to be hit by a good portion of Whirlwind Defense, it has a long cooldown and overall I feel it’d work better on a pure melee build that uses skirmishing for the Quickdraw trait. You also don’t want a pull in a build with longbow in it as your main damage weapon because you should try to maintain your distance as much as possible anyway, you don’t want to pull a Warrior, Reaper, DH or Scrapper to you, you are not going to beat these classes in melee range and Thief, Mesmer etc will just blink away and/or stealth the moment you pull them.
you don’t want to pull a Warrior, Reaper, DH or Scrapper to you, you are not going to beat these classes in melee range and Thief, Mesmer etc will just blink away and stealth the moment you pull them.
I disagree with this premise. It’s basically the same thinking as saying “well thieves can stealth, there is no point fighting because I can’t kill him.”
Picture this: You wolf KD into pet taunt into wolf fear into LB 4 into axe 4 into GoE into GoT into CA3 into CA5 into quick draw whatever, etc. Obviously a hypothetical situation, but this is how you beat thieves and mesmers and necros.
People have this misconception that necros are pure death in melee range, and that thieves and mesmers can’t be locked down. Thieves and mesmer can actually be locked down quite easily, you just have to intend to do it. You can’t randomly hit them with a lucky axe 4 and lock down a mesmer.
you don’t want to pull a Warrior, Reaper, DH or Scrapper to you, you are not going to beat these classes in melee range and Thief, Mesmer etc will just blink away and stealth the moment you pull them.
I disagree with this premise. It’s basically the same thinking as saying “well thieves can stealth, there is no point fighting because I can’t kill him.”
Picture this: You wolf KD into pet taunt into wolf fear into LB 4 into axe 4 into GoE into GoT into CA3 into CA5 into quick draw whatever, etc. Obviously a hypothetical situation, but this is how you beat thieves and mesmers and necros.
People have this misconception that necros are pure death in melee range, and that thieves and mesmers can’t be locked down. Thieves and mesmer can actually be locked down quite easily, you just have to intend to do it. You can’t randomly hit them with a lucky axe 4 and lock down a mesmer.
Is not the same as saying “well thieves can stealth, there is no point fighting because I can’t kill him.” at all, it’s about recognizing your weaknesses and not putting yourself in them, melee combat is a ranger’s weakness because every other melee oriented class is better than them at it whether you like it or not. I also mentioned that in a pure melee build with skirmishing for quickdraw it could work well enough. Also, Reaper is my second most played class after ranger and the moment a ranger lets me get to them in melee range, they simply flop over, that is as a power necro too. The only rangers that give me a hard time as a reaper are the ones that will maintain their distance very well.
every other melee oriented class is better than them at it whether you like it or not.
I don’t “like it or not”. It sounds like you are arguing because I disagree with you.
Ranger is not worse than other melee builds, in fact I would present we have potentially the best melee build in the game after a the clearly OP herald. Although even herald is not out of our league. (I’m talking WvW/Dueling here, because there isn’t a good reason to run double melee ranger in PvP. If there were, we could do well.)
every other melee oriented class is better than them at it whether you like it or not.
I don’t “like it or not”. It sounds like you are arguing because I disagree with you.
Ranger is not worse than other melee builds, in fact I would present we have potentially the best melee build in the game after a the clearly OP herald. Although even herald is not out of our league. (I’m talking WvW/Dueling here, because there isn’t a good reason to run double melee ranger in PvP. If there were, we could do well.)
So you are saying that a pure melee ranger can stand toe to toe against an M/S & GS warrior or a DH with all their blocks, aegis, interrupts, high stab and protection upkeep? I dunno man, if you can do that against similarly skilled players to you, then good job. Yeah, I shouldn’t have said “whether you like it or not.” didn’t really mean for it to sound like I don’t like you are disagreeing with me. I’m not a master of this game or anything, but Ranger is my most played class and I have done all sorts of builds with it and I found it’s better to just keep your distance.
DH, ya, I’ll kick a DH’s booty all day every day. I’ve been saying for months, guardians REALLY got shafted with that elite spec. Been total garbage since day 1 and it got even worse with the update.
I can’t comment on warrior, I haven’t played PvP since the update. Unless something has drastically changed, we are competitive, ya. Would be weird to see a pure melee ranger vs pure melee warrior.
melee rangers are one of the toughest things to fight in a 1v1, especially now that druid increased their sustain. The only reason a warrior is a tough fight at the moment is because of the axe bug that let’s decapitate hit through evade frames.
This is in WvW where gear and food allow for more build variety.
melee rangers are one of the toughest things to fight in a 1v1, especially now that druid increased their sustain. The only reason a warrior is a tough fight at the moment is because of the axe bug that let’s decapitate hit through evade frames.
This is in WvW where gear and food allow for more build variety.
I’m almost certain that Eviscerate/Decapitate don’t do that anymore.
Also, they’re tougher now because of the new Adrenal Health healing them for every Burst skill they manage to land over the course of 12ish seconds. It gives them a lot more staying power than before, and with SoM, the only option to reliably prevent that sustain is to evade.
