Thy Shall Fear The Reaper (FxRe)
how to use gs
GS is all about using your CC to set up maul. Like literally that is the purpose of the weapon.
You have a lot of CC in your build. Once you land the wolf KD, entangle, MT, PBS, counterattack, or hiltbash, go for the maul. Honestly I wouldn’t even care if the guy uses a stun breaker or immob cleanse because maul is on a really short cool down. So you don’t need to worry too much about “wasting” it.
The more advanced, and less reliable method is to watch their dodges and try to maul them when they can’t dodge. That can get a bit confusing like if they have things like a sigil of energy, which they probably do.
GS is your defensive weapon of choice on power builds. You have a great array of tools to keep stuff out of your face. GS #3 is a good skill to either create or close distance, while also doing decent damage. Keep the evade frame in mind because it’s an instant 1/2 sec evade when used point blank. GS #4 is amazing for deterring thieves. If you see a thief stealth, use it, and when you randomly kick something away use Maul in a direction you kicked. Guaranteed thief tears. Also remember that auto evades on third hit, though you shouldn’t be caught spamming it.
When it comes to offense, learn to love Maul. If you couple it with a sigil of intelligence and Signet of the Hunt active, you get a 220 range, 5 target backstab in a large cone. Common combos are either using it with Hunter’s Shot, fast switch, Hilt Bash, pop SoTH, Maul. You can also easily drop mauls on people knocked back by Counterattack. Using it in open combat without any CC like wolf fear/dog immobilize or afforementioned Hilt Bash is a bad idea unless the enemy is out of dodges or senile.
Hope that helped.
I like dodge rolling through my targeted opponent and using hiltbash/maul. Your character instantly pivots on using hiltbash giving you a stun. I use MoC trait so it can get a pretty nasty maul.
Oh and counter attack will also block non melee attacks for full 3sec…lol naughty word… until it blocks a melee attack or ends.
Swoop is a double leap skill. If used at the edge of healing spring and leaping through it you will heal twice. Or just point blank your target with healing spring and swoop ;-)
Ranger gs is slow and clunky. When you dodge you want to be in a position to attack after. Don’t panic and dodge in random directions. My favorite is mentioned above.
(edited by Justine.6351)
Close in the gap to any target with gs block , if there hp is low and you swoop is on cooldown, using skill 4 for block to gap close is just as good as Swoop (if they are close enough) .
when the target hp is low or dangerously low something like 30% hp , they will ether start to kite or use Defensive skills that can be stopped by going into a hilt bash.
if they run don’t forget to use the throw on the gs 4 block to cripple them untill swoop is off cooldown.
Timing Gs autos for the Evade can be done but it requires you to learn its timing Without Auto attack turned on , it’ll take a lot of Practice vs dummies and golems but it is Possible.
They GS fills a couple key roles pretty well in PvP:
Escape/Travel
Swoop is great for travel, but it’s also good for disengaging from a fight. I suggest keybidinding the ability to drop a target since this allows you to drop target -> swoop out of a fight very quickly. Just make sure that you’re not pointed at any terrain that stops your movement.
Survival/Defense Mode
This is possibly what the GS does best. Counterattack is an excellent block, particularly against ranged attacks. When being attacked by melee and ranged attacks, run to kite the melee and keep up the block for the ranged attacks. Then, when the block is about to expire, move back and allow a melee attack to hit you (if someone’s still trying to melee you) so that you get the knockdown effect.
When fighting a thief, pop this when you know a stealth attack is coming.
Swapping to GS and immediately going into counterattack is a great way to ensure that you block a key attack and land the knockdown since many enemies will just stop attacking when they see you start to block.
Swoop is also an evade, so it can be used as an additional evade when you can’t or don’t want to disengage from a fight, but need to avoid attacks.
Don’t forget that you get an evade on your third attack of your autoattack. Because of this, you can pop quickening zephyr and spam autoattacks when focused.
Finally, you can always stun your target if you’re really in a pinch. The stun is generally better used for preventing a stomp/rez or for lining up some burst. Speaking of…
Burst
The GS isn’t the best burst weapon, but it can work well with the longbow for some strong combo. You can pull this off by moving into your target while using Rapid Fire, then immediately going into Hunter’s Shot to stealth. This allows you to then hilt bash your target without giving them a chance to notice it and dodge. From the hilt bash, you then can maul while your pet’s next attack hits harder. Just try to make sure that this will down your target if you go for it since you will be stuck with your GS out if your target survives, which can significantly reduce your DPS in PvP.
If you run with something like a Raven, the hilt bash can also be a big boost to the burst of the F2 attack.
Something I can add is use gs #4 cautiously vs good d/p thieves due to shadow shot. BTW when I was playing ranger, I found s/d much better than gs, but then again that was before the gs buffs.
one more thing: swap to drake → hilt bash → tail swip → do the damages
(edited by law.9410)
ive been using owl and eagle for dmg
Thy Shall Fear The Reaper (FxRe)
Burst
You can pull this off by moving into your target while using Rapid Fire, then immediately going into Hunter’s Shot to stealth. This allows you to then hilt bash your target without giving them a chance to notice it and dodge. From the hilt bash, you then can maul while your pet’s next attack hits harder.
.
I actually like to use Remorseless instead of read the wind. (gain opening strike when gaining stealth)
After Rapid Fire, I use Hunter’s Shot and then proceed to maul the enemy with opening strike’s 100% crit rate (sometimes I also use Signet of the hunt, allowing maul to crit for 6-12k. Then Save Hilt bash for Right before I Maul for a second time before switching back to Longbow. (works great with Moment of Clarity too, but that’s a bit too much glass canon)
From my experience, remorseless allows GS rangers to make maul a giant burst skills, since signets work on you too.
Also a bit off topic, but I like to use Healing spring, since GS 3 counts as a double leap finsher if used against something (the run portion, and the leap portion). Can get some decent healing and condition removal.