Guild Wars 2

Sorry this website’s layout for posting isn’t all that great and I tried to replicate my post on my guild forums as best I could, check it out there for better viewing pleasure!

My main strategy when running with a group in WvW:

Offensively: When my group rushes into a group of enemy players I stand back and fire a Barrage into the enemy group, then pop Rapid Fire on a solo target. What this does is use cripple from your Barrage to slow your targets down so they cannot get away quick enough, what Rapid Fire does is allow you to crit in order to set off your weapon sigils burning foes and applying a lot of damage on multiple targets. Once this is done I usually swap to my Axe/Torch and toss the axe around to clean up anything else standing by that time as well as throw my torch to burn foes in an AoE radius. The most important part to not diei in these situations is positioning and knowing when to dodge. I cannot stress this enough because since you are a ranged class positioning is everything, while you might be somewhat tanky you cannot take hits like a guardian so running with your team threw a group of enemy players in melee range will result in you going down rather quickly. Pets here I like to use the same as my defensive strategy jungle stalker/red moa and a fern hound, the jungle stalker provides might stacks for you and your allies while they charge in and the fern hound gives a great AoE heal for people who are retreating.

Defensively: Pretty much the same, if they are attacking your castle/keep you basically sit on walls and spam Barrages, Rapid Fires, and swap weapons to throw your torch which does a lot of damage very quickly and gives you that suppressing fear only a few classes can. What I will mention here is that swapping out Signet of the Hunt for Frost Spirit is a great idea here, if you have a bigger zerg coming to your castle and you are trying to hold the castle when they are ramming gates/outside of your keep, Frost Spirit gives any players within a 1,000 foot radius a 35% chance to do 10% more damage, just buffing you and your party members to provide even more suppression fire. Best pets for this situation are a jungle stalker/red moa and a fern hound, the jungle stalker provides might stacks for you and your allies while defending and the fern hound gives a great AoE heal for when people are trying to AoE you off the wall.

Solo: When I am trying to catch up to a zerg or what not, I always try to run entangle with a raven and spider pet, it works great with your sword and war horn as you apply cripples and hold your target down while you rain fire on them with your longbow, when they get too close you swap to Sword/Warhorn and evade their attacks while doing a good amount of damage and buff yourself some. Then you can go stealth with your longbow, knock them back and rinse/repeat. It is important to note that I swap Quickening Zephyr for Signet of Renewal/Muddy Terrain when solo and swap Rampage as One for Entangle.

Summary: I just wanted to give a good update to rangers as they are usually denied as a good class in general, usually because most new people play them and haven’t learned to use them right. This is to give you an overview of my play style and what I’ve found to suit me best in a WvW situation and to give you all an insight on what to strive for as this is the best setup I have come across if you want to be a true ranger in WvW, thank you for reading and feel free to ask me any questions!

Hey guys I wanted to make a ranger guide for all of our Rangers since many guides online seem outdated and don’t explain their purpose very much. This guide is for rangers interested in mostly group play whether it be defensive or offensive, as with any build skills and weapons will change based on what you are doing and I will explain it in depth. If you guys have any questions just feel free to ask either in game or here and ill try to explain as much as I can!

The build in itself:
Amarith’s WvW Ranger Build
On my guild website (better layout then here):
http://borlissavers.enjin.com/forum/m/14445395/viewthread/12701337-amariths-wvw-ranger-build-support-suppress

Breakdown of Build:

Traits: 4/0/6/4/0

Marksmanship: [ I, X ] Provides you with vulnerability stacks, +10% damage when you aren’t dodging, +5% damage all the time when using your longbow as well as +20% more range which I think explains itself. Gives +Power and Condition Duration.
Wilderness Survival: [ I, VII, XII ] Provides you with quicker endurance regeneration (basically more dodges), helps you with falling damage, gives you protection stacks on dodging, a quicker recharge for your war horn/torch skills as well as a range increase for them, another +10% damage increase when you are above 90% health and a great trait called Bark Skin which makes you and your pet take 50% less damage when you drop below 25% health, works great in WvW situations when you get focused by a warrior/thief. Gives +Toughness and Condition Damage.
Nature Magic: [ III, VI Gives you a passive heal regeneration when you drop below 75% health, increases your regenerations by 33%, shares boons you get with your pet, and gives you more protection stacks when you take more then 10% damage. Gives +Vitality and Boon Duration.

Basically these traits are for you to provide the most damage while being at a great range and if you so happen as to take damage provides you with many buffs to keep you alive and take less damage overall. I don’t go down very often with this setup when I am positioned right and not overwhelmed.

Armor: Soldiers Medium Armor, fitting you with six slots of Power/Toughness/Vitality gear. (Your main survival gear)
Runes for Armor: I prefer Ranger runes as while you are in WvW there aren’t many times unless solo that you will be sending your pet in and when you do you want to swap as soon as they get low health for as much consistent +damage as possible. Alternatives could be runes of the Scholar/Ogre both are good choices and comes down to personal preference and are all around the best runes to use.
Weapons: Berserker Longbow & Berserker Axe & Torch, swap to Sword/Warhorn if trying to catch up to a zerg/running across the map as this provides you with better solo ability if people try to take the tail end out.
Runes for Weapons: Sigil of Fire/Sigil of Torment/Sigil of Air, the reason I picked these is when you are defending/playing offensive you want to lay down as much AoE as possible to suppress targets for your group. Sigil of Fire/Torment do just that and also provide you with more tags on players to get extra loot, works perfectly with Rapid Fire & Barrage. Sigil of Air works great for single target burst damage, so its upto you at that point to mix and match.
Trinkets: Full Berserker Rings/Earrings/Amulet/Back
Gems for Trinkets: Exquisite Ruby Jewel