Showing Posts For Aeris.7653:
Variety
I carry one sword, two axes, a war horn and a longbow in my inventory at all times. I have 72-or-so slots in my bag, and trust me, carrying these around is not a problem. The loot you get in dungeons very rarely maxes out your bag, unless you’ve kept a dozen other things in it that you could have ridden yourself of before starting the dungeon. Carrying different weapons is great when you’re in a dungeon situation, and you know you need different weapons for different scenarios. One example is: p1 in the Citadel, I mostly use my ax and my sword-horn for the beginning, and as soon as you have to slice down some Acolytes or defeat the final boss, swap the sword out for the bow and keep the ax and the horn. It also allows you to play around with different things in PvE.
Healing
I see a lot of people promoting Healing Spring, but honestly, every time I equip it I just die, whether I stay within the area or not. When it comes to healing, I’m a bit selfish – that Troll stuff keeps me alive all the time. Unless you’re fighting with a group and you all need to stack behind a wall or something, don’t bother with the healing AoE. And forget about the water spirit too.
Pet problem
I’m having trouble with the pet’s healing capacity (the one that makes it go and heal an ally). Every time I tell my pet to go rez a buddy, it ends up ignoring it completely, or changes its mind to attack my target. Now, I’m not familiar with the ability, and it might just be me poorly managing it, but it’d be great to know if anyone else has this problem.
Be risky
Melee is fine and fun, as long as you can get out quick enough and avoid death. It also shows teammates that you’re not one of those semi-solo rangers that just throws the bear in and uses the longbow. This is exactly the way you will not benefit from extra damage buffs, as mentioned in group war horn and get up close. Unless you need to afk and you’re at a safe distance from a boss with the bow’s auto-attack on, you should really try melee. Of course, bows are great when there’s too much to manage and you just need to get out for a bit to avoid a little aggro, but don’t hesitate to hop back in the middle of the action whenever you feel confident to.
You are a Ranger
Not a warrior, a guardian, a mesmer, a necromancer, a thief, an elementalist, or an engineer (sorry if I’ve left out other classes, my memory is pretty crappy). There are differences between you and the rest, and you’ll have to accept that. “Great damage/crit” is also quite subjective. My brother watched me play my ranger and was amazed at the amount of damage I inflict whenever my crit combo’d with my pet’s crit. I have never been kicked out of a group, whether it be PvE or dungeon, just because I play a Ranger and currently have under 2k Success points (been a little slow on that one, and I’ve been playing for a while… Oops!) Besides, if you don’t like the ranger class, just try out anything else. People aren’t going to throw stones at you if you create another character with a different class. There are also a lot of rangers in the game, and very often in my dungeon runs there’s at least one other ranger in the group.
Yo! Here are my tips, sorry if they’ve already been posted. I’m a dungeon & PvE player, so you will get no advice for PvP and WvW here.
Group war horn
Longbows + war horn = don’t do it unless you want to move and get in closer to your target. Skill 5 with the war horn is great when fighting with a group and using a sword: it gives you buffs, your pet buffs, and your allies will also love you. Why? Because they get buffs too. Buffs for everyone!
Get up close
This can be a continuation of the previous tip I have mentioned. When you are using a bow and are at maximum distance from your enemy, and all the other players are melee-ing the target, YOU won’t get the buffs they are giving out freely (I’d hate to miss out on the Guardian calls, wouldn’t you?) and they will miss out on yours. Teamwork is key, especially during dungeons, boss fights, etc. If you are far away from them, you will both suffer from the lack of extra help. Think of it like a long-distance relationship. Don’t forget that Spotter is widely appreciated by pretty much everyone and can kill enemies in the blink of an eye!
Swords, not Greatswords
I use a sword with my Ranger, and it is just… Amazing. Sword and war horn are great. It’s quick, you can evade pretty much anytime, just make sure auto-attack is OFF on the sword or your evades will be futile and you will die. You can also make the most of the horn ranged attacks, so you can breathe a bit by letting your birds peck your enemy’s eyes out, and then hop back in.
Beware sword + longbow combo
When you use Skill 2 with the sword, you will leap backwards, but not far enough for the “best” range with the longbow. Try using a short-bow instead, or an ax.
Combos
Fiery axes and arrows? How could you say no to that! Just hop in any ally’s fire AoE, or create your own with your torch, and chuck those fiery harbingers right at the enemy’s face. You can also improve this by adding a rune (I play gw2 in french, so I’m not sure this is what it’s actually called) that will create bursts of flame on your enemy every few attacks.
Keeping pets alive
I am aware that this has been mentioned plenty of times, but you can never accentuate this enough. SWAP OUT YOUR PET when its health gets low, or pretty much anytime BEFORE it dies. One minute cool-down sucks. If you are going to complain about having to manage your pet, don’t play a Ranger. It only takes a tiny part of your attention, and to be honest, I just love watching my pet solo monsters at Orr. And if it really is a crisis situation, use your pet to aggro mobs, run away, maybe even activate signet of stone – but as soon as your out of the enemy’s reach, don’t wait for your pet to come to you. Swap it out.
(edited by Aeris.7653)