Guild Wars 2

Hey guys
I decided to give ranger a try in WvW, namely a 26600 GS, S/A build
Build
I got all figured out, food, traits, sklls and so on, but as i never really played ranger before i dont really know which pets to take…

I’ve heard that birds are pretty good because of their blinds (and damage?)
but i’ve also seen wolves (because of their knockdown on pet change [?] and fear?)
as well as the siamoth, which i think is pretty cool with stealth or all boons – even though idk whether that is rather a LB-Pet for RF…

So i’m basically open for any help or tips regarding the pets i should take

Also, anywhere (not enough time to search by myself sorry :$) good infos about all the pets available to ranger so that i can inform myself?
thanks alrdy

Edit: added the build link, changed the trait setup from 44600 to 26600 and asked 3 more questions in a post down below:
1. What do you think about the build?
2. I may wanna switch out Rampage As One for Entangle but I’m not sure, what do you guys think?
3. And also, is the wolf f2 also able to proc Moment of Clarity (GM in 2nd trait line) if it interrupts?

Edit2:
basically as my questions have been answered apart from my two new questions further below:
1. does anyone know whether MoC and the 50% increased dmg of the signet of hunt stack up?
2. also, do you think RaO (if used after corrupt boon) or Entangle is better vs condi necros?

Birds are slow to react and rarely reach the target. I love wolf/alpine wolf and play both together, to slow/fear the melee.

But I mostly play it for mass melee control with LB, so I can’t really give you an opinion about it, except that GS evade is pretty cool.

Ambush.3251:

Birds are slow to react and rarely reach the target.

You got that backwards. Birds give AoE swiftness, which makes them a decent option for a roaming melee ranger. It helps both the ranger and the pet reach their moving target. They also do the 2nd most damage of the pet families, and their F2s are solid.

I might need further testing then.

The situation and your goals will determine pets choice, not build.

You didn’t state what this was for? PvP, WvW or PvE

In pve you want to run with really only 4 pets.
Jungle stalker – damage
drake – Cleave damage
bear – condition removal
spider – long range damage for world bosses like Karka queen

In PvP and Wvw
Wolf – this should never leave your side, you have an on demand knockdown and fear
Dog – default second pet, changed depending on situation
Jungle spider – aoe poison field and poison on f2
Bear – in case you run troll urgent, you’ll need the condition removal
Bird – I am not that big a fan but in a beast master build the damage they put out with 25 stacks of might is just awesome. I’d go for snow owl.

on a side note: while birds give themselves swiftness, I find dog to give the most reliable dps because of the cripple, knockdown and immobilize.

actually i said WvW in the title but yeah i forgot it in the first post :$
is there any gathered info on pets anywhere?

so far i heard spider, wolves, dogs, birds and bears for WvW, so i guess thats about that?

Tarkan.5609:

so far i heard spider, wolves, dogs, birds and bears for WvW, so i guess thats about that?

Wolf > drakehound/jungle spider > river drake/birds > cats, are all good WvW pets.

Moas are unfavorable, and pigs and bears are so terrible they usually aren’t worth considering. There is the rare player who takes a moa, bear, or pig for some legit reason that they’ve made work for themselves, but don’t even think about taking those pets until you understand all the pets extremely thoroughly and can come up with a good reason to take them.

Edit: Oh ya, devourers exist as well. They are beyond useless. Never, ever use them.

The main pets:
Wolves: You get great F2 that is AoE and you get a cripple and a kd (you can skill cancel the kd when you learn to recognize it and save it for when you need it).
Birds: You get some good F2 that can help out whatever your style is (I used to love the raven blind) and you get swiftness which is always helpful.
Cats: You get damage and potential stealthed damage… (not my favorite of the 5 main pet types).
Drakes: You get a great F2 with marsh and river drakes that track targets and bounce (you can kite the enemy in front of the drake) + a meaty blast finisher.
Spider: F2 that can be pre-cast and offers a lot of immobs as well as poison.

Alternative pets:
Bears (black and brown) you get weakness or condi clear and a tanky pet (I would never use a bear in a solo setting).
Moas: The pet with some of the most potential, pink and black of CC on f2 which you can kite your enemy in front of and they have a 3.5k aoe heal around melee range that If you could learn to recognize could be HUGE.

Devourers and pigs are meh. You lose DPS picking up the environmental wep (that you enemy could pick up) and the devourers are just awful.

Fluffball.8307:

Wolf > drakehound/jungle spider > river drake/birds > cats, are all good WvW pets.

+1

i use Wolf/jungle spider in melee roaming builds, but i can see value in using an owl. i really want to give moas a go but i just can bring me self to take one over an immob pet

I tend to use drakes all the time, and I can tell you right off that the two best ones are easily the marsh drake and the river drake. River has a bouncing attack that’s hilarious to hit other rangers with, while marsh has the river drake’s bouncing attack with a slower velocity, but higher damage thanks to the poison it inflicts. It’s great.

I’ll often use them for tanking bosses, since they can do it for you even in high level fractals. In pvp, everbody ignores them because “drakes don’t have good damage”. At least until they tail spin you for 5000 and inflict weakness.

I always have wolf on swap for F2 fear whenever I need it. Always.

For first pet I currently run river drake. It’s tanky, has AoE and, most importantly, super awesome F2 burst (use it with muddy or entagle).

“Wolf > drakehound/jungle spider > river drake/birds > cats, are all good WvW pets.”

That’s all you have to know about GW2 pets:
birds are way to slow in combat, no matter what guys say wolf does way more damage, and has better decision making, while birds get confused and are dead way faster then any other pet.

(i cannot login right now to check full names but u’ll find it)
If u want 1v1, after 1,4k hour on my ranger i find next pets most useful:
- Use wolf with fear as main
- dog with immobalize (better then spider, because dogs bring a lot more impact of annoyingness and damage itself then spiders)
- Cat’s are kind of OK, but they can miss skill 2, if only enemy changes direction ( dont have to dodge) other then that they have decent damage, both Lynx and the other cat are ok.

If you want your pet to pick only conditions for you and use it as “eat my mistakes” pet, then go with bear.

Wolfs > dogs > cats……………………………………….. bear … rest are useless

Picking pets like drake and stuff is just not worth, because your pet is more useful alive then dead, so don’t send it into zerg.. it will only get out as fast as it went in… so don’t even bother to zerg with your pet.

Wolf fear + dog immobalize = best current combo
with Longbow + s/d setup and traits 6/2/6/0/0.
Axe is ok but more useless then dagger, because as ranger you don’t want to go on 2nd weapon set unless you are forced to a) reposition, b) dodge yourself out of close range damage.

Firelysm.4967:

with Longbow + s/d setup and traits 6/2/6/0/0.
Axe is ok but more useless then dagger, because as ranger you don’t want to go on 2nd weapon set unless you are forced to a) reposition, b) dodge yourself out of close range damage.

Irrelevant. He’s asking for useful pets for a full melee build. And in that regard off-hand axe is a potensial deadly combo when using path of scares followed by maul.

As already mentioned wolf, jungle spider, drakehound or snow owl are all are pretty viable for a melee build. The felines are worth checking out aswell.

Drake useless?

Yes, each bolt hit over 1k on crit and hit ranger 2 times thanks to his pet being bounce target. My pet always has fury during burst, because I use survival skill (MT or roots) before it.
Compare drakes dmg to my RF dmg.

(don’t comment how this enemy sucked, it’s not the point of this post)

If we are talking about WvW then the perfect combination is drake/spider
Drake is a tanky pet that against zergs can stand alive enough to drop the f2.
Spiders does have a a longer immobilise and a ranged attack.

Birds are just useless: too weak and the swiftness is mostly useless as well. The bird spend like a couple of seconds doing that when actually would be better attacking.

Cats are good dps but also too glassy. They die too fast, even before 4 each the target.
Bears.. please don’t. The brown bear first run towards the target and then do the F2. So only good when you are in melee and nothing more. Dps is a really really bad.

For 1v1 Jungle Spider/Wolf. For everything else Drake/Wolf. Or Drake/Jungle Spider if you feel you don’t want/need to use Wolf.

@OP: Care to link your build? When I play full melee with GS/Sw+Axe I’ll go 0/4/6/4/0.

Edited to avoid confusion of whose build I was asking for.

this is mine, works well in WvW
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8fjEq0waBL+rQ1ag9gadAUANQze4aduFFxB/q9A-TlCBABQt/wjKB5RVjtUeYoOgpUihjaJA8AAURzwDmYCAgAwRH6ODpAAbZE-w

anduriell.6280:

this is mine, works well in WvW
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8fjEq0waBL+rQ1ag9gadAUANQze4aduFFxB/q9A-TlCBABQt/wjKB5RVjtUeYoOgpUihjaJA8AAURzwDmYCAgAwRH6ODpAAbZE-w

LB/Sw+Torch isn’t exactly melee GS/Sw+Axe.

You are right, it is not pure melee.
But I found the traits for GS and one hand weapon are not compatible. Or you trait one or the other but you can’t have both.
So to get the best of both I developed this build. It get the most of both worlds so you can melee or range, your choice.

After the last patch torch got more usable. You can keep now the foes at bay with torch#5 while hitting hard with your sword.

I find axe main hand too slow, and GS is slow compared to SW. When fighting another player the SW do more pressure.

Also trying to make the ranger pure melee is like trying to make the guardian pure ranged. It will not work

anduriell.6280:

Also trying to make the ranger pure melee is like trying to make the guardian pure ranged. It will not work

That’s shocking news to the many of us on this forum who have logged hundreds or thousands of hours playing melee ranger.

anduriell.6280:

Also trying to make the ranger pure melee is like trying to make the guardian pure ranged. It will not work

L2P.

Lazze.9870:

anduriell.6280:

Also trying to make the ranger pure melee is like trying to make the guardian pure ranged. It will not work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPS21-PMbh0

L2P.

And that’s with Sword #1 on autocast.

i looked at the pets and read through a couple of guides, thought wolf + juvenile spider would do well
Also, i changed my mind about the trait spread, don’t really like the sound of 3 might per signet and as i am running axe OH i will try out the GM in 2nd trait line (Moment of Clarity):
Build

I may wanna switch out Rampage As One for Entangle but I’m not sure, what do you guys think?
And also, is the wolf f2 also able to proc Moment of Clarity (GM in 2nd trait line) if it interrupts?

Builds looks solid. I’d personally take entangle, but either is really good.

Wolves can’t proc MoC.

Which Elite do you think is better against what types of opponents and in what situations?
And ahh thats sad to hear haha hoped for another possible interrupt combo

For roaming, entangle helps you land your melee bursts better. Some opponents will get completely shut down by it if you use it at the right time, usually LB rangers, engies and necros. RaO is just a really good do-everything kind of skill, but you already have plenty of fury and increased movement speed. The stability helps against engies and terrormancers and what not, but that’s more of a PvP thing IMO.

I would switch out RaO and Entangle as needed. General roaming I’d probably go with Entangle for full melee, but River Drake + RaO in a tower/camp is really nice.

Be careful vs necros and s/d thiefs when using RaO, because they can corrupt/steal the stability.

I have to say I am very much of the opinion than Spiders are pretty much always the best pet choice if you are using EB as your only condition removal.

If you run dual cats/bird/dogs with EB as your only removal you are going to have real problems VS engis, necros and condition mesmers because you pets will very likely be killed, leaving you defenceless to their conditions.

Spiders offer decent damage and pretty good CC whilst being tanky enough (and ranged) so that they will never die from EB or random AoE.

In the build you posted you have the wolf and a spider which is a fairly common setup, and it works well. Just don’t forget the value of the spider because it’s not as obviously powerful as birds, cats and canines… It has great value when using EB.

Edit: somehow forgot Drakes. Drakes are also a great choice because they also bring a lot of tankiness and shouldn’t die easily. They have a bit more damage than spiders but no CC. Personally I prefer Spiders but I couldn’t honestly say I think one is better than the other.

UmbraNoctis.1907:

Be careful vs necros and s/d thiefs when using RaO, because they can corrupt/steal the stability.

This is very important. If you are going against a necro, really consider using entangle instead.

Honestly though, thieves never seem to stay in the entangled vines as they always have something to get them out, like stealth or teleports. With RaO you run the risk of having them take you 20s of stability. I’d personally use RaO and wait till they pop their steal until using it.

Tarkan.5609:

i looked at the pets and read through a couple of guides, thought wolf + juvenile spider would do well
Also, i changed my mind about the trait spread, don’t really like the sound of 3 might per signet and as i am running axe OH i will try out the GM in 2nd trait line (Moment of Clarity):
Build

I may wanna switch out Rampage As One for Entangle but I’m not sure, what do you guys think?
And also, is the wolf f2 also able to proc Moment of Clarity (GM in 2nd trait line) if it interrupts?

Your build looks very solid,
I think that you don’t really need “agility training” if you are using “signet of the hunt” as you pet is getting 25% movement buff from the signet. you could use “pets prowess” or “companions might”.

Some thing to think about also is dropping “Signet mastery” for “Natures Protection (NM trait)” i really like “natures protection” in glass builds, both melee and LB simply because its a great anti ganking trait, in case you get jumped by a thief of a LB ranger between “natures protection” and “companions defense” that quite a bit of protection.

As far as RaO Vs Entangle goes i would take Entangle because you already have some stability on SotW and entangle is a good way to set you self up for a GS#3,#5,#2 combo.

Soilder.3607:

Honestly though, thieves never seem to stay in the entangled vines as they always have something to get them out, like stealth or teleports. With RaO you run the risk of having them take you 20s of stability. I’d personally use RaO and wait till they pop their steal until using it.

They do have a lot of ways to get out, but you have a pretty good idea what teles they’ll be running. You have to have restraint using entangle on thieves and mesmers, but when you wait them out, the effect can be devastating since they’re so fragile.

And speaking of counting teles, remember when fighting thieves to move the fight to the point of their initial sword tele to cut off their escape.

Eggyokeo.9705:

Tarkan.5609:

i looked at the pets and read through a couple of guides, thought wolf + juvenile spider would do well
Also, i changed my mind about the trait spread, don’t really like the sound of 3 might per signet and as i am running axe OH i will try out the GM in 2nd trait line (Moment of Clarity):
Build

I may wanna switch out Rampage As One for Entangle but I’m not sure, what do you guys think?
And also, is the wolf f2 also able to proc Moment of Clarity (GM in 2nd trait line) if it interrupts?

Your build looks very solid,
I think that you don’t really need “agility training” if you are using “signet of the hunt” as you pet is getting 25% movement buff from the signet. you could use “pets prowess” or “companions might”.

Some thing to think about also is dropping “Signet mastery” for “Natures Protection (NM trait)” i really like “natures protection” in glass builds, both melee and LB simply because its a great anti ganking trait, in case you get jumped by a thief of a LB ranger between “natures protection” and “companions defense” that quite a bit of protection.

As far as RaO Vs Entangle goes i would take Entangle because you already have some stability on SotW and entangle is a good way to set you self up for a GS#3,#5,#2 combo.

Good feedback right there, thanks!
I’ll have a look at the points you mentioned when i come home today

And as far as thief goes I main a D/P 60206 Thief in WvW and PvP, played every single build on it so I’m prepared for most roaming thieves (which are, tbh, not very great as a lot of the roameds rely a lot on passive stealth… and if you know how to fight them they are rarely good at dodging)

alright updated my build slightly…
Build
basically everything that changed is my elite and i went from pet’s agility to companion’s might (or sth in around these lines).
i feel like especially without RaO (unless i’m going up against warriors with an anti-soft-CC-spec and possibly necros with corrupt boon) i like the reduced CD on my stability signet as well as my 50% dmg increase on maul… especially if i dont interrupt an opponent

1. does anyone know whether MoC and the 50% increased dmg of the signet of hunt stack up?
2. also, do you think RaO (if used after corrupt boon) or Entangle is better vs condi necros?

Sagramor.7395:

Lazze.9870:

anduriell.6280:

Also trying to make the ranger pure melee is like trying to make the guardian pure ranged. It will not work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPS21-PMbh0

L2P.

And that’s with Sword #1 on autocast.

lol please, the other players where really really bad compared to the ranger, and even in that case he had a lot of trouble. Even the youtuber states that in the video.
That is what i always say. If you are very good and the other is a noob indeed you can use whatever you want.
That doesn’t mean is viable or playable.

anduriell.6280:

lol please, the other players where really really bad compared to the ranger, and even in that case he had a lot of trouble. Even the youtuber states that in the video.
That is what i always say. If you are very good and the other is a noob indeed you can use whatever you want.
That doesn’t mean is viable or playable.

Really?

‘’Ranger, that means ranged right? so if you go melee, you must suck!’’

Picture this:
The game is something like this: Rock – Paper – Scissors
Lets pretend that rock is the melee ranger.
Can rock beat scissors? Yes it can.
Does it still lose against paper? Yes it does.
Does that make Rock less viable then either paper or scissors? Not in the slightest.
You say however that rock sucks, great opinion, but do not state as a fact that its not viable or playable.

Its not like being full melee ranger has no counters, and neither does any other build in this game. That does not mean however that it cannot do well against some other specs. How often people make comments about rangers not being able to stand their ground against :insert class here: (warriors or guardians or aything) in melee, while some of us actually win most fights as a full melee ranger against them!

Just because the build does not display your view of the class (in other words, does not have a bow) you still cannot say that playing a full melee ranger is any less viable or playable then any other spec in the game. as long as the player can make it work.

And some of us, can make it work. even in high levels of PvP and WvW.
Does that really mean that everyone we play and win against as melee ranger sucks?

If that’s the case, better pick up that longbow then to pretend like we can actually have skill!
(Because if you win as melee ranger your opponent sucks and if you win as a longbow ranger you played well.)
/sarcasm

anduriell.6280:

lol please, the other players where really really bad compared to the ranger, and even in that case he had a lot of trouble. Even the youtuber states that in the video.
That is what i always say. If you are very good and the other is a noob indeed you can use whatever you want.
That doesn’t mean is viable or playable.

For the love of Quaggans, don’t use words like “viable” and “playable” if you can’t comprehend the meaning of them.

WyrdenCN.8329:

anduriell.6280:

lol please, the other players where really really bad compared to the ranger, and even in that case he had a lot of trouble. Even the youtuber states that in the video.
That is what i always say. If you are very good and the other is a noob indeed you can use whatever you want.
That doesn’t mean is viable or playable.

Really?

‘’Ranger, that means ranged right? so if you go melee, you must suck!’’

Picture this:
The game is something like this: Rock – Paper – Scissors
Lets pretend that rock is the melee ranger.
Can rock beat scissors? Yes it can.
Does it still lose against paper? Yes it does.
Does that make Rock less viable then either paper or scissors? Not in the slightest.
You say however that rock sucks, great opinion, but do not state as a fact that its not viable or playable.

Its not like being full melee ranger has no counters, and neither does any other build in this game. That does not mean however that it cannot do well against some other specs. How often people make comments about rangers not being able to stand their ground against :insert class here: (warriors or guardians or aything) in melee, while some of us actually win most fights as a full melee ranger against them!

Just because the build does not display your view of the class (in other words, does not have a bow) you still cannot say that playing a full melee ranger is any less viable or playable then any other spec in the game. as long as the player can make it work.

And some of us, can make it work. even in high levels of PvP and WvW.
Does that really mean that everyone we play and win against as melee ranger sucks?

If that’s the case, better pick up that longbow then to pretend like we can actually have skill!
(Because if you win as melee ranger your opponent sucks and if you win as a longbow ranger you played well.)
/sarcasm

No, i meant the best asset for the ranger is the bow. If you give that up you’ll loose efficiency. that’s ok if you want to have some fun and change play style but you will loose efficiency.

Lazze.9870:

For the love of Quaggans, don’t use words like “viable” and “playable” if you can’t comprehend the meaning of them.

was it that bad? What did i say?

anduriell.6280:

No, i meant the best asset for the ranger is the bow. If you give that up you’ll loose efficiency. that’s ok if you want to have some fun and change play style but you will loose efficiency.

You are right, at 1800 range, melee weapons for ranger are not efficient in comparison to a longbow. however, if you with your melee weapons can get in the longbow rangers face and smash him to death while he desperately tries to gain some distance only for the melee ranger to close the gap again…

Then the longbow sounds a bit less efficient no? It all depends on the battle you decide to fight.

Imagine a longbow ranger against a melee ranger, 2 scenario’s:

1st one: say you are the ranger with the melee weapons, and you are terrified of the longbow rangers burst, and are not sure if you want to hard engage or not and you just wait, unsure of what to do, you lose. the longbow ranger will poke you down before you decide its a good idea to jump in, and once you reach him you are almost dead.

2nd one: if you decide to jump towards the guy with a longbow with the 3 gap closer skills you have (while having an insane amount of build in evades and stability, and a sword auto attack that follows your target even if they use lightning reflexes) and being able to stay in his face while smashing him to death, then the melee ranger can actually win, because even if the longbow ranger switches to his other weapon set, he is still traited for using a longbow, as opposed to the melee ranger, who just forced the battle to his terms.

Consider all this, how can you still state as a fact that a longbow is the best asset for rangers in the game, or you will lose efficiency?
Sword actually has higher DPS then a longbow and an auto attack that will chase targets as long as you manage to get the chain started. Greatsword has an evade on auto attack and with both of them you have gapclosers. Sure, you cannot stand and stay at 1800 range and and expect to do well with a sword and greatsword in your weapon sets against a ranged class, but does that make them less efficient then a longbow? no, they have gap closing skills that make up for that, and once you get close, it is really hard for ranged specs to defend themselves.

A melee ranger just gets rewarded for playing aggressive, as opposed to a longbow ranger where you get rewarded for staying back, out of trouble, and hope for the love of dear goodness grief, that your opponent is not getting to you fast enough, or that they are dead before they can reach you.

Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Is any of them less efficient?

Lazze.9870:

anduriell.6280:

Also trying to make the ranger pure melee is like trying to make the guardian pure ranged. It will not work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPS21-PMbh0

L2P.

Nice gameplay, but I don’t understand the choice of the axe. The 4 isn’t really useful and he barely use the 5.

Lazze.9870:

anduriell.6280:

Also trying to make the ranger pure melee is like trying to make the guardian pure ranged. It will not work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPS21-PMbh0

L2P.

Fox is one of the best players ive seen on youtube. And soundtrack is awesome
One warrior in the vid just auto attacks with GS though:)

I play alot of GS/ s/a ranger in pvp, its a very nice build, versatile with lots of evades.
Pets are spider to immob and set up for maul/counter+their ranged dps while you stay in the other guys face, and wolf which i never give up.
The sustained damage isnt very high, so you need good bursts…=maximize the burst of your maul (signet might trait+signet of hunt, sigil of intelligence). The axe offhand helps with burst in the other weaponset, and you can combo it with maul. In pvp with valk amulet and full defensive traits i used to take warhorn instead of axe, for the fury.
Another great ranger in youtube uses S/D / GS (potatoveg).

I swear if the weapon swap cooldown was 5sec, this build would be so much greater.

Ambush.3251:

Nice gameplay, but I don’t understand the choice of the axe. The 4 isn’t really useful and he barely use the 5.

Dagger 4 and 5 will win you the fight through attrition. Axe 4 and 5 can be much more decisive. Neither is necessarily better, just different.

WyrdenCN.8329:

anduriell.6280:

No, i meant the best asset for the ranger is the bow. If you give that up you’ll loose efficiency. that’s ok if you want to have some fun and change play style but you will loose efficiency.

Is any of them less efficient?

1500 is the max range of the LB traited. Please keep it real, sometimes it looks like i’m talking to ppl didn’t play with a ranger ever.

You are right, and you have all the bearbows to prove it. LB is not good (i don’t even mean efficient, because actually is more a liability than a helpful weapon) for melee. That’s why i said: use LB (SB right now is too nerfed) and a melee set.

You can have it all with the ranger, that’s the beautiful thing about this class. You can use LB to kitten the foe and you get bored you can close range pretty quick with melee.
Sword does a lot of damage really quick. Combine with a dagger or torch.

Also we are supposed to have some evades to get far from the foe, the greatly discussed LB#4 (PBS) or Sw#2 for example. Shame the SW#1AA is broken rooting you to place, so you can’t call any other skill when executing SW#1-2(the longest of all 3 AA).

So, in your case you want to get into melee, you can hit for a few swings (we don’t have sustain to stay for long time in melee) and get away to swap to LB#4 and LB#2. You can have as many stats as you want, we don’t have enough sustain to keep a melee combat, and when you get away to heal you loose precious dps you could inflict there.

We do cripple with almost all weapons and some pets can immobilize/fear at demand.

To be as good class as the others to play we only need more sustain and fix the broken mechanics in skills, traits and pets. I don’t have this kind of problems with the guardian, really. But as i said, right now negating LB for the ranger is to loose a lot of utility and damage that weapon provide.

anduriell.6280:

1500 is the max range of the LB traited. Please keep it real, sometimes it looks like i’m talking to ppl didn’t play with a ranger ever.

You are right, and you have all the bearbows to prove it. LB is not good (i don’t even mean efficient, because actually is more a liability than a helpful weapon) for melee. That’s why i said: use LB (SB right now is too nerfed) and a melee set.

You can have it all with the ranger, that’s the beautiful thing about this class. You can use LB to kitten the foe and you get bored you can close range pretty quick with melee.
Sword does a lot of damage really quick. Combine with a dagger or torch.

Also we are supposed to have some evades to get far from the foe, the greatly discussed LB#4 (PBS) or Sw#2 for example. Shame the SW#1AA is broken rooting you to place, so you can’t call any other skill when executing SW#1-2(the longest of all 3 AA).

So, in your case you want to get into melee, you can hit for a few swings (we don’t have sustain to stay for long time in melee) and get away to swap to LB#4 and LB#2. You can have as many stats as you want, we don’t have enough sustain to keep a melee combat, and when you get away to heal you loose precious dps you could inflict there.

We do cripple with almost all weapons and some pets can immobilize/fear at demand.

To be as good class as the others to play we only need more sustain and fix the broken mechanics in skills, traits and pets. I don’t have this kind of problems with the guardian, really. But as i said, right now negating LB for the ranger is to loose a lot of utility and damage that weapon provide.

The range of a longbow is 1800 (estimated). Yes the tooltip states 1500, however projectiles fly a bit further. (you can check it yourself, move past 1500 range from your target, there will be a red bar below your skills once they are theoretically out of range. Shoot your arrow when you see the red bar. You will hit your target anyway. ‘’The projectile flies in a small arc and can actually hit targets outside of the maximum range.’’ < from the wiki.)

I would not lie to try and win a discussion, and please do not make it personal by saying that most people rarely play ranger aside from yourself when you are the one ill informed, why thank you. : )

Back on topic!

Notice that I never said using a longbow is a bad thing. My entire argument is just about people saying that the Rangers biggest asset is the longbow. That is not true. It all depends on the battle you are fighting. (if it is one where the fight has to be over in 10 seconds where you either win or lose, okay, longbow wins. in any other situation, it depends.)

Now back to the sustain argument you made; of course we do not have guardian or warrior like sustain when it comes to hp/second. But we have a lot of evades to make up for that.

A while ago I had a duel with a platinum rank guardian from the (IPro) Guild from desolation. It lasted 10-15 minutes, where he was using some kind of Mediation build, and i was running a ’’standard’’ melee ranger build. Neither of us could win in the end, we just gave up. But neither of us lost either. even though >both< of us were close to dying a few times. (can give more examples if needed.)

Yes, the fights will not be over in less then 10 seconds with melee weapons (unless you fight a squishy ranged character, like ironically enough, a longbow ranger). Is that a bad thing? are longer fights not more amusing?

Not having a longbow just is not as bad as you seem to think. With posts, stating that the longbow is the biggest asset and most efficient weapon, stated as a fact, people will quote that. Even though it depends on the situation..

And it is a shame, if people start to view the ranger as a longbow, while being a ranger actually has nothing to do with range, but has more to do with ‘’being one with nature’’.

Being a melee ranger is viable, play-able, efficient, has more CC and utility then having a longbow (not saying it is more or less viable though, depends on the situation). Compare GS + LB skill wise, the two things where the LB wins are damage and range. Using melee weapons is just a higher risk, for the same reward.

WyrdenCN.8329:

The range of a longbow is 1800 (estimated). Yes the tooltip states 1500, however projectiles fly a bit further. (you can check it yourself, move past 1500 range from your target, there will be a red bar below your skills once they are theoretically out of range. Shoot your arrow when you see the red bar. You will hit your target anyway. ‘’The projectile flies in a small arc and can actually hit targets outside of the maximum range.’’ < from the wiki.)

I would not lie to try and win a discussion, and please do not make it personal by saying that most people rarely play ranger aside from yourself when you are the one ill informed, why thank you. : )

Ok, i didn’t realize that. I though it was because another bug that limit in some way the shown limit of the LB to 1200. That’s good to know. Not that actually matters without the trait of Read the Wind.

With the rest of your comment i agree completely. But you shouldn’t be worried about all rangers becoming bearbow now. With the ranger is a natural progression from fully ranged to melee, just takes time and learning to do the change gradually because this class is so difficult to play well.

anduriell.6280:

With the rest of your comment i agree completely. But you shouldn’t be worried about all rangers becoming bearbow now. With the ranger is a natural progression from fully ranged to melee, just takes time and learning to do the change gradually because this class is so difficult to play well.

Well, seeing as you went from ‘’trying to make the ranger pure melee is like trying to make the guardian pure ranged. It will not work’’ to agreeing with my point, let me pass silently into the night again with the idea that my work here is done ^^