Guild Wars 2

Since the last round of patching when rangers got taunt, how the hell do you even beat them in a duel? I’m talking about the stereotypical power ranger LB/GS with nature’s magic while you run standard d/p.

1) It’s absolutely effing stupid how taunt works since the taunt goes off before the pets even show any animation. And if they take the wolf pet, as soon as you use a stun break (that is not shadowstep), you instantly get feared right after. Oh did I mention the CD for taunt is literally 20 secs.

2) Not to mention the stupid amount of damage that the pet outputs (while taking very little damage). Just duelled a friend who has about 40 hours of ranger and the only rounds I could take were when he messed up his rotation.

3) The fact that you have weakness up about 50% of the time and him having protection 25% of the time leaves you having to try to perma stealth to get a good burst out. Which unfortunately lets him have most of his CDs come up.

If you die to it the pain stops hurting. Your fight is over, young Thief, it’s time to sleep.

Pressure the unholy kitten out of the ranger. Always get the first hit. Remain aware of the situation. When a team fight is going on and I see a mesmer or ranger hiding at the sidelines, I jump the ranger with such quickness. If you get hit by the taunt regardless, I burn shadowstep a decent distance away, watch for the wolf running to you for the fear and steal into the ranger. Start cutting him and return to your original spot. Wolf tries following again, shadow shot into ranger and continue pressure. Look out for the rangers knockback, since they’ll try to pin you down for the fear to land and then its basically GG. Just gotta see into their attacks before they actually land. Unfortunately, thief doesn’t have many get out of jail free cards, so your eyes have to be sharp and your movements even sharper.

I’ve stopped running Basilisk Venom for Dagger Storm as it will kitten up A LOT of ranged classes. A lot of players run ranged stuff/builds, so I get so much more out of using it. The Stability it grants will stop you from being taunted – how ever you’ll still get interrupted.

So I suggest you use Infiltrator Signet and activate Dagger storm immediately after being taunted. You’ll no longer get Feared from the wolf and the ranger is instantly forced to stop DPSing with Longbow and Switch to GS or whatever melee they’re running. Considering Dagger Storm cripples, you can kite pretty decently. Dagger Storm also crits for about 2500 every seconds so it’s very good damage too. Remember you can still cast Steal to teleport into their face if they use Swoop or other abilities to run away, it won’t break the Dagger Storm channel.

You can end the channel prematurely by stowing your weapons. You’ll need to bind this to a key if you haven’t already. It’s not bound by default.

Hope this helps buddy, good luck with Rangers.

I can say the visual effect is certainly excessive. LB Rangers are a problem when played well. Their channeling skill tracking through stealth, channels for a long time and has a relatively short cooldown. If I don’t burst one down fast, probably going to lose that fight.

That said I look at it as penance for the YEARS of abuse dished out on that class. I could die to every ranger I fight in the game for the next year and still have a 100:1 K/D ratio against that class.

Key Abilities:
- Scorpion Wire – Interrupt + condition removal
- Smoke Screen – block projectile, blind, stealth (leap)
- Uncatchable – pet kiting tool
- Trickster – self-explanatoty

How to use Scorpion Wire?
- When the ranger is channeling, dodge forward then Scorp Wire. The dodge will leave caltrops on the floor to cripple the pet. You have approximately 2s to burst the Ranger.

How to use Smoke Screen?
- This skill has three uses; 1) it blocks projectiles, 2) you can leap thru it for stealth, and 3) it’s a blind field
- I typically pre-cast SmSc then Steal. This will drop the smoke field on top of the ranger. They can either stay and be continuously blinded or move away — in this case, you can HS thru it for stealth. The best part of this execution is often times I can bait their point blank shots.

I hope these gives you some ideas.

^its things like this that give me hope in players. Get creative and find aloooooot more solutions.

I usually tell them that I’m rubber and they’re glue.

Then I cast daggerstorm.

Don’t forget the /dance after you win.

it’s funny, i thought power rangers were one of the few builds that a typical thief should always have an easy time with, because they’re so succeptible to pressure and squishy. i always go for the ranger first in a team fight, ‘cause i know i can take him out fast, even if he’s after me.

BrunoBRS.5178:

it’s funny, i thought power rangers were one of the few builds that a typical thief should always have an easy time with, because they’re so succeptible to pressure and squishy. i always go for the ranger first in a team fight, ‘cause i know i can take him out fast, even if he’s after me.

power ranger is one of the strongest power builds in the game in both 1v1s and teamfights. against thief, power ranger has an answer to everything and often has superior sustain and that almost always means an advantage over offensive pressure (because offense in this game is weighted to sustain/defense at a 1.5:1 ratio). at best the matchup is something like kitten to 45 fight in ranger’s favor.

I usually save my shadowstep for the taunt and if not, I try to Steal at the ranger to interrupt him from kitten me while I’m taunted. But yeah, if you have nothing to cleanse that taunt and the ranger takes advantage of it, it’s pretty much game over for you.

Power ranger? Dagger storm!

Condi ranger? Find a new target.

Rain.9213:

I usually save my shadowstep for the taunt and if not, I try to Steal at the ranger to interrupt him from kitten me while I’m taunted. But yeah, if you have nothing to cleanse that taunt and the ranger takes advantage of it, it’s pretty much game over for you.

you can’t select ranger during taunt lol

you’re target is fixed on the pet

You use reaper shroud 4, and every thing in a 5 mile raidus just dies next to you.

Oh wait, you’re still playing thief. Well, you deal with it by not play thief of course !