Guild Wars 2

Raids in GW2 seems like a really interesting idea, but can it really function in a game that so heavily de-emphasizes preset class roles? GW2 Has already challenged the so called holy trinity of tank/healer/dps, but this breaking of the mold has come at a heavy cost: the homogenization of class roles.

‘Optimal’ dungeon set ups nothing but damage focused gear and high powered offensive buffs for YEARS and no one class has a defined role in any fights. Bosses, even fractal bosses, are all about simpily executing the damage routines and specific mechanics of the fight with whatever skills your class/build has to offer. Because this style of play is so core to GW2, there is little to no room for a-net to include class specific challenges. If there was a boss that REQUIRED a stealth effect, for example, a thief/mesmerizing would be mandatory. in a 5 man, that might be too restricting. In a 10 man, however, it would be easier to fill a requirement such as “have someone capable of stealth” or “have someone capable of inflicting heavy bleeds”. This would pose a potentially interesting challenge for one player in the group, but flies in the face of the ‘pick up and play’ style GW has cultivated.

So what about raids? I can say that, from past raid experiences, a lot of the interesting moments in large scale raids come from players all attempting to accomplish their own mini-objectives simultaneously. The main/off tanks have specific jobs which are different than the challanges faced by the healers and the dps. Because you’re no longer as tightly restrained by the typical 1 tank, one healer, 3 dps format, interesting party compositions and strategies based around these unique comps begin to emerge.

Take this cross class interplay away, and I fear GW2 raids will be nothing special; merely 5 man bosses with twice the HP. This problem can already be seen in world bosses. Yes, there are multiple things happening in a fight like tequatil’s battle, but ultimately it boils down to "everyone hit teq while 6 people out of the ~100 there opperate turrets.

This is unfortunately the natural way fights scale up in gw2. With no roles to compartmentalize players into different aspects of the fight a 10 man raid boss either becomes not meaningly different from a 5 man dungeon boss or just a smaller version of a world boss where everyone is using bundles/environmental weapons and their class doesn’t matter anyhow.

How could this be avoided in GW2? What does everyone else think?

We’ve been asking to not be tired to the fuzzy little kitten monsters since day 1. It’s not going to happen unless a net does a pretty big 180. You’ve either got to learn to control them as best you can (keep them on passive and treat them as extra utility skills) or play another class. Warrior rifle/lb/great sword simulates the ranger Longbow/great sword reasonably well and thief is somewhat similar to ranger sword/dagger/shortbow

SkiTz.4590:

Switch classes honestly.

You are doing yourself and others around you a disservice by being a ranger.
While it WAS a fun class for me, its completely ineffecient compared to other classes.

Rangers are mediocre at everything, great at nothing, terrible at nothing. Just flat out mediocre.

If thats what you want, go for it.

I’ll enjoy my ele as my new main for now =)

I started playing a mesmer and was floored by how easy everything felt. Damage was just as good, if not better, with lower quality gear, I’m more survivable, and holy melandru I can get 22 unbroken seconds of stealth…why?

It hurts me to have to virtually abandon my main ranger that I’ve been loving since the original beta but daaaammmnnnn…

The number one thing anet can do do help pve is make it more dangerous, specifically by drastically increasing npc attack speed.

It’s not only possibly, but expected that capable players are able to dodge EVERY major attack that is thrown at them. If creatures didn’t have ~3 seconds of recovery time between every hit, not only would squishy glass cannons be in greater danger, blocks/blinds would be much more balanced. Right now, a few well timed blocks can create a huge window of complete safety that facilitates the stack and spam style everyone uses.

Skilful players would still be able to protect themselves and others from big, infrequent, exceptional dangerous attacks but smaller strikes would still take their toll on players.

The end result would be much more value on survival over raw power. That survival could take the form of possission (give player a reason to go ranged/flank/not stack/move in and out of combat), tank stats, or healing from themselves or others.

Once defence becomes a requirement rather than simply a sub optional crutch for players who don’t have fights and dodge timings memorized, pve well be WORLDS healthier, probably more challenging and satisfying too

Fikfain.5849:

@JonPeters…we’re closing in on a month since this was posted and no sign of an update that rebalances the game on its way. Can we get a timeline?

They’re aware of the problems and are actively tracking a fix. Here, have some cash shop skins!!!!!

I don’t expect any balance changes, but what about fixing sine of the crippling bugs we get to deal with? Like pets straight up not getting their attribute increase that was supposed to happen last patch?

Is it safe to come back to gw yet out should I keep playing games with devs that give a kitten ?

This would take to much dev time away from a net’s real priority: cash shop cosmetics!!!!!!!!!

He’s the perfect representation of everything wrong with gw’s “story”. What starts off as a really cool personal narrative based around your character, your background, Nd your choices quickly devolves into Trahere’s story that he so graciously lets you follow around and watch.

He leads the pact and you answer to him.
He gets the legendary sword and you watch.
He purified Orr and you watch.
You kill Zhaitan yet vegetable marry sue is in charge of the mordrem assault…never mind neither he nor his precious pact play hardly any role in season 2.or most of season one.

It’s lazy writing and a failure to deliver on what was promised. Guild Wars 2 asked us, “what is your story?” Then promptly informed us that we could sit on a cactus an rotate because its salad in shining armor was here to take center stage

I’ve played this game since day 1 (broken trading post and all) and twice in the past I’ve taken extended absences due to a lack of compelling reasons to keep playing. Sure, it’s nice to have 6-12 months of content to work through when I get back, but I very quickly feel like I’ve run out of things to do. Silverwastes was great for a while and fractals held my interest for a while but I can only do the same content so many times.

PvP doesn’t do it for me either. WvW feels like a disorganized mess and sPvP, while better, doesn’t offer a significantly better PvP experience than something like league of legends.

In a world where balance changes are slow, (condition builds made viable YEARS after the game’s release) poorly tested, (massively overpowered burn stacks, gamebreaking guardian sigil bug/exploit) or outright broken (non-functional traits everywhere, incorrect tooltips are common, and…rangers…) What keeps you motivated to play?

I like the core experience of GW2, but I don’t feel like Anet is really dedicated to making sure their game continues to improve…except as far as new cash shop cosmetics are concerned. As more and more content starts to vanish behind pay walls (living world season 2, the heart of thorns “expansion”) I find myself wondering if GW2 has a future as a game worth playing.

This change breaks the trait. While it’s fine for “business as usual” pet swaps (16 second CD, 15 second ICD) the change now makes it VERY easy for your Zephyr’s Speed to be wasted when you didn’t want it to be used. Anything that forces a state change on you will automatically stow your pet and force the trait into an ICD whether you wanted to use it or not.

The VERY lengthy list of things that will do this include ANY transformation (moa signet, tonics, any event based transform, etc), entering/leaving water (will activate your aquatic/terrestrial pet), boss mechanics like the Legendary Archdiviner’s stun (cliffside fractal) or the Mordrem Mangler’s captivate ability (Vinewrath Assault 2nd boss.)

It’s a terrible change and completely misses the point of including an ICD. a mere 5 second ICD would have fixed the issue of people quickness stacking with no CD transform tonics without messing with the functionality of the trait.

Once again, Anet proves they need to probably triple the size of their balance team so stupid mistakes like this don’t continue to happen.

I thought thieves were irritating. Mimic double blinks, decoy, trait decoy, stealth for days, and ALL THE STUNBREAKS! Maybe I should just ask the mesmers. How does anything actually catch you guys? I swear it’s easier to catch water with a net some times.

I’m doing a power/ferocity focused shroud necrosis build and I’m unsure which weapon to use. My initial instinct was axe/focus because it seems to build LF very quickly and I’m spending a majority of my time in shroud anyhow. Any other ideas?

I feel much stronger, but I’ve been a SB bleeder since the beginning. Suppose I’m the wrong ranger to ask.

The only time that trait is useful is if you’re a dedicated short bow user who isn’t getting great value out of quick draw. That isn’t many people. The condition duration isn’t really meaningful, but the +dmg is nice for the somewhat hybrid nature of the sb. Mostly, I just run it for pve scenarios for the piercing arrows and lower 2&4 CD. Keeps me from falling behind the LB 5 and melee cleave abilities.

The moment I go PvP or WvW, quick draw gets swapped in.

It absolutely should proc on evades though. And 6 seconds over the current 4. Then we’ve got a worthy GM trait.

The helmets are the killer part. So many just…ignore our horns. They’re just gone. How?!? Finding a good non-racial head piece is hard!

Though I suppose some of the medium armor coat textures being weirdly stretched is annoying too.

Do fractals. Dungeons are a complete joke in gw2 and only exist to be loot buttons. If you want somewhat challenging PvE, fractals are infinitely better. Plus good fractal groups don’t kick you because you’re not glass cannon zerk-kitten meta fodder. A vamp necro, venom thief, etc is always welcome because most fractals aren’t won by skipping trash and mindless stacking bosses

It works a lot better in fights where survival matters more than stack-and-burn dps checks. If you’re doing dungeons, don’t bother. Fights are about 8 seconds long and you dying have time to really do what the shortbow is designed for anyhow. If you’re doing actual endgame content (fractals), however, go ahead and bring it. You’ve got to be moving and dodging all day past about scale 10 and the SB is great for that once you get some practice with it

I know quick draw is the new hotness and everyone loves it, but what about light feet? A hybrid makes very good use of the on-dodge bonuses and pierce comes in handy surprisingly often.

Also, no QZ? That ability is terror for a SB bleeder and you’ve already got a ton of Condi cleanse. Probably can ditch renewal for hunt (not much swiftness in this builds) or QZ.

As for the op’s question, my (untested) gut feeling is sinister is good if you’re actually making use of the power. The typical axe/torch is very light on direct damage and gets most of its mileage out of bleed/burn Condi bursts. If youre going with trap utilities, power matters even less AND you’ve got to be really close to do your damage. It’s better, I feel, to go with a rabid or dire set then. Also, Quick Draw is Splitblade/bonfire’s new best friend.

That said, sinister seems to work really well with a high mobility short bow build that survives by keeping some distance and dodging like mad. That’s what I’m running now and it’s doing very well even in high scale fractals.

Bovan.9481:

Clearly the thousands of people who played a Ranger over the past 2 years were all wrong, and you’ve got it all figured out.

Ok A) condition damage was actually quite useful pre patch provided you were the only one doing it. This made a Condi meta impossible.
B) you’re a jerk and just because you lack the ability to think creativity and innovate doesn’t mean you should attack others. Try working on your obvious deficiencies rather than covering them up with baseless sarcasm.

ProtoMarcus.7649:

Shortbow does need a rework, or at least tweaks (there’s already a bunch of threads about it) but is alright for its utility more than for its damage output.

The short bow is an odd one for sure, but it’s not bad at all. I’m slinging one in a Sinister bleed focused survival build and having fantastic results, especially after the condition changes.

To play a SB ranger you have to play very different than every other weapon. The vast majority of your damage comes from crossfire so you have to play accordingly. ALWAYS try to flank a target so you can stack bleeds, even if it means you’re no longer hugging your PS warrior.

Quickness is amazing with a SB (3 shots per second!) But usually great traits like steady focus and quick draw are less valuable due to a lack of big sexy nukes. Your 2 is most effective at close range (instant 5 poison stack) and your 3 and 5 are very situational, don’t just use then because they’re up.

Mostly it’s a hybrid/condition favored weapon that REQUIRES a high degree of mobility and situational awareness to make work. It rewards skilled use with very consistent damage but sucks out loud if you plant your feet and just shoot.

I’m concerned with the assertion that conditions are to strong. As a bleed ranger I can briefly spike my ticks into the 4k range ONLY when I’ve gotten a large amount of might from other players and I’m making use of multiple steroids. Direct damage builds are easily spiking in the 8-10k range in a variety of scenerios. Burn stacking might be out of hand a bit, but poison/bleed feel fine imo.

Someone help me understand this. Berserkers/direct damage builds are spiking down players very quickly in PvP, trivializing dungeon bosses, and are 95%+ of damage on world bosses for literally years and it’s ok. Condition damage pulls level(ish) for one day and Anet promises a nerf to Condis. Someone help me understand why it’s not ok for condition builds to matter?

Cecilia.5179:

AI builds are generally cheesy and don’t always require any amount of skill to usem making them somewhat unfun in comparison to our non minion builds. I imagine nobody is really talking about minion builds because people would rather the class be good without relying on AI.

I feel like minion builds could be very high skill if you could control them to some degree. Micromanaging a pet’s health, skills, target, and position is a big part of playing ranger well, why not give MM necros the same opportunity rather than 6 of the class’s most unique skills go totally unused.

I feel like an actually competent dev team would have taken the opportunity here to make minions a valid choice rather than a casual PvE trap choice on the level of racial skills.

Anet hasn’t said anything about minions getting functional AI any time soon so I can assume they’ll continue to be totally worthless and stand around ignoring your target rather than actually fighting.

Why is nobody upset about this? I understand the CC change left the necro with no good heals (maybe vampire signet?) And the class still has terrible elites (Lich form nerf…lol) but had everyone just 100% given up on minions being a thing? They were supposed to be an iconic part of the class.

Right now it seems like you could pick a variety of pets based on what role you need them to fill. Bears/drakes for tanking, cats/birds for damage, pigs/dogs for control, moas for support, and of course spiders/devourers for ranged attacking.

I will say that, because pets don’t appear to inherit your condition damage or any condition boosting traits (hidden barbs/poison master) and because 300 condition damage from expertise training isn’t enough to make a difference, it looks like direct damage pets will trump condition pets regardless of your build.

Currently I’m mostly running a Lynx for a PvE damage pet and loving it. With the upcoming condition changes, it looks like bleed/poison pets are going to be a little bit sub par. My other go-to, the jaguar, isn’t great in non PvP settings as hitting its f2 usually dumps a whole bunch of aggro right on my face.

What’s everyone planning on running with post spec patch day?

Do we know if it has one? Do we get the immob on every refreshed cast via Renewed Justice or is it still tied to the skill’s normal 30 second CD? Kinda makes a huge difference whether or not I’d ever consider picking up the trait.

Presently, when traited with expertise training, pets can output 57 damage on a bleed with each tick.

After the cond change, with pets only having a MAXIMUM of 300 condition damage (without might) the best we can see is a measly 48.5 per tick.

Am I missing something here? A lot of pets are very reliant on their dots for damage and now there’s nothing we can do to bring them up to par.

Venom aura and leaching venom seems like it could make an insane support build, especially post spec when the 4 key traits are packed into 2+baseline. With everyone trying to strut their kitten and go for pure glass dps, how would having this kind of healer/support go over?

Isn’t that the ‘distinction in applied jumping’ title?

It happened one day in Dry Top, I had a vision of the future. Our future. The future of Guild Wars 2…

Listen…

I saw a future where greatswords are autokicked from dungeon groups
I saw an LFG board full of “P2|80s|Sin only|”
I saw WvW fights full of Carrion and Dire and not a Soldier or Berserker to be found
I saw shoutbow warriors rise to greater heights…then fall like a phoenix
I saw a world where ferocity nerfs were undone…and still no one used them

Brace yourselves, friends.
Conditions are coming.

No really, I have no idea what the condition changes are going to do to GW2. I just like to chime in on forum hysteria.

Coarr.3286:

ranger only has 1 weak weapon and that is the shortbow. all others are viable and usefull ( wvw point of view )

I would disagree that the short bow doesn’t work in wvw. While it’s lack of good aoe hurts it a lot in zergs (unless you have piercing arrows…and even then still not great) it’s ability to assassinate something with a quick burst of bleeds is great. It is NOT a weapon you can just stand and shoot with due to the flanking requirement. If you use it right, however, as a mobile skrimishing weapon it’s amazing. Lock someone down with a 5, a dog pounce/howl, spider immobile, etc and unload (preferably with quickness for 3 attacks per second!). If you’ve got trapper runes the speed and stealth let you keep advantageous position as well as the target in front of you.

Looks very similar to what I run. I’d change up your sigils, however. If you’ve got reliable crit (50%+) which you will with sinister gear, you’re better off getting extra damage up front via the bleed/poison on crit sigils. Extending the duration of bleeds does increase overall damage, but it takes so long to see that damage that it’s rarely worth it.

Another good option is just extra stats via a sigil of corruption or, if you have the cash, bursting. Finally, it looks like you have trap traits but no trap skills on your bar. If there’s nothing you’re enamored with in the skirmiahing GM level, consider moving 2 points over to survival to pick up poison master.

Of course all of this is subject to change in the next couple weeks, but it will still be a useful start.

How much damage do you get (roughly) out of your basic auto attacks against normal level 80 mobs with a shortbow wearing berserker or other high power gear? I’m wearing condition heavy gear atm and I’m curious exactly how much less direct damage my shots do.

Thanks

Tragic Positive.9356:

Valder – He’ll end up with Zero Condi Cleanse.
… And you probably know what that means on a class without reliable escapes/utility.

I run into that issue a lot and I’ve found several ways around it. Healing spring can be good cleanse in any build and if you really feel like you’re getting burned by it you can always run condition clearing/transfer sigils. There’s also the signet of renewal which you can run and still have 2 traps.

I’ve found that you’ve usually got to make the choice of ferocity or condition damage, not both. I currently run a bleed focused SB build with all sinister gear that does quite well with 2/6/6/0/0 traits. If you wanted to adapt that to the lobgbow, you could change the talents to 6/6/2/0/0 and potentially find some more direct damage by splitting half of your stats into carrion, rampager or even berserker if you’re willing to give up condition damage.

I still love the stealth jauguar kittenin. With Sic ‘em revealing your target and providing that insane damage boost (get the pet ferocity trait too), it’s not uncommon to watch a jag down dps builds/zerkers in only a couple shots.

Quarktastic.1027:

It’s not as bad as people make it out to be. I play a longbow ranger, and I’ve never once been kicked from a group because of my build.

In 40+ fractals, you’re pretty much required to keep a ranged weapon on swap anyway, as Stack ’n spank tactics will get you instakilled in some situations.

Dungeons need to be more like fractals. Spam 1 in melee range with 0 defense shouldn’t be an effective tactic.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Boaz.1694:

If Ranger is ineffectively as pure ranged dps, or isn’t made for ranged dps, what class should I play then? Elementalist?

Even elementalist stays melee.

The issue does not come from such a horrible ranged DPS (even though the DPS is obviously weaker) – because that one could be bearable with the right build.

The problem is the damage is, Jeezus, SO HORRIBLE because you are missing AoE fury, 25 might and banners. Also, your spirit and spotter wouldn’t affect a single soul.

Only the Longbow is limited for the Range restriction.
By the way, playing a staff Ele on 1200 range makes you almost as useless as a Longbow ranger. You are going to sit in melee range with that one anyways.

How do you not just die instantly when you do that? As a ranger, ALL of my survivability is based around evasion (SB 3, sword 3, dagger 4, vigor, etc.) Position, and mobility. If I stand melee on something and just attack, I get smashed into the ground with my baseline toughness/vitality (I’m in all sinister gear).

I don’t know where this hyper obsession with a single play style comes from. I’m a shortbow condition ranger and have absolutely no problem in ANY dungeon or high scale fractal. In fact, as the warriors all pile in to their deaths, I’m usually the one left alive kiting the everloving crap out of the boss and finishing the fight alone.

Range and mobility may not increase dps, but it does allow you to do it SAFELY. When you’re hugging the floor, all that number crunching isn’t worth crap and your dps is 0.

Here’s the back, couldn’t work out how to do two attachments on the same post.

Here’s what I’ve put together, dyed for the Ash Legion with black and ash dyes.

Helmet: Stalker’s Visage
Shoulders: Rascal Shoulders
Chest: Rascal Coat
Gloves: Drover Gloves
Legs: Verata’s Leggings
Boots: Verata’s Striders
Back: Rox’s Quiver
Weapon: Legionnaire Shortbow

Didn’t transmute the legs/boots because you can hardly see them through the coat and I got lazy after I did my ascended set.

Under water my favorite tanky pets are drakes, hands down. Their aquatic f2 attacks don’t have nearly the same wind up the terrestrial versions do.. Plus they actually do some nice damage.

Bears are mostly a waste of time IMO. The only use I find for them is when you just need a big furry distraction without any points in the BM line. If you actually want a pet that does things, drakes are MUCH better tank options and even pigs have a nice knockdown.

Moas are pretty much pure support pets. Their combat abilities are OK, but the pink/black ones have a neat aoe stun and the red ones can give 100% up time on fury…with a heal to boot. Not great fighters though.

Pve dogs are a nice middle ground between damage and tankiness. If you’re doing a high BM build and want a self reliant melee they’re a good pick.

Gear:
Rabid armor is the way to go here. It gives your 2 favorite stats (precision and condition damage) as well as some nice bonus toughness so you don’t go splat on the first hit you take. The Undead runes help turn this toughness as well as the 200 from your wilderness survival trait line into a bit more bonus condition damage. The accessories I listed are exotic tier (as ascended can be a pain to obtain) but if you are moving to ascended tier, you can make the choice between rabid and rampager. If you do go full rabid you’ll certainly benefit from the higher condition damage but your crit rate will be ~50% rather than ~60%. Still good enough for purpose.

The shortbow is your bread and butter weapon for obvious reasons. I’m a big fan of S/D for the 2nd set. It’s a TON of evasion for when someone gets too close for comfort, good damage output (2 sources of poison and a healthy bleed), 2 cripples, and even more might for your pet. The weird auto-attack takes some getting used to, but once you’re played with it for a while it’s actually very manageable. If you’re not somewhere where a melee attack is absolutely vital (I’m looking at you, Solid Ocean Fractal…grrr) or are running big WvW zergs where going melee is somewhat suicidal feel free to swap the sword out for an Axe to cover AoE situations and just stay a healthy distance from your enemies. Both torch and warhorn work nicely as offhand alternatives to the dagger, I just really love the evasion/condition damage the dagger provides.

Pets:
Double cat is my default choice for this build as they do a ton of damage and their high precision means they make excellent use of both rending attacks and carnivorous appetite which helps offset their mediocre durability. If you find you need something tanker, drakes are a surprisingly good choice, particularly the fire and poison varieties to work with your expertise training. For fights where melee is either impossible or just a bad idea (a lot of the dungeon bosses fall into this category as well as the really nasty zerg fights in WvW) any of the devourers work very well.

Utility Skills:
You’ve got a lot more options than what’s shown in the build. QZ works wonders as both a stun break and a massive DPS steroid and muddy terrain can give you some AoE control without having to trait into traps. I find signet of the hunt to be pretty much non-negotiable for this build. Not only does it help you position yourself better for crossfire but it gives your pet a MUCH easier time catching up to and hitting your target, especially in PvP. There’s really no reason to ever activate it. Just leave it passive for the speed boost unless you’ve got an extremely reliable source of swiftness in your group…in which case you’re probably better just taking it off your bar entirely.

You can also go with Rampage as One for your elite if you decide you’d rather have the big damage boost rather than the AoE control in that slot. Both are good and I find myself switching back and forth a lot.

There is certainly a place for Sic ‘Em (as well as shout mastery for your BM adept trait) in this build but I personally don’t like it because I find myself accidentally canceling the buff by giving my pet a new command. I’m very active with my pet commands so it doesn’t work well for me. Personal preference.

Traits:
Sharpened edges is pretty much core to the build and, because you’re critting nearly 60% of your shots with great attack speed, companion’s might adds a lot of extra power to your pet. If you’re running with fragile cats as your pet you’re going to need to be swapping them out frequently and will get a lot of mileage out of Mighty Swap. They’re also the reason for carnivorous appetite. Without SOME sort of HP regen, your pets are going to get squashed pretty quickly.

Trap Variant:
Trading out companion’s might for ground-targeted traps and using your choice of either flame (for damage), frost (for control), or spike (for a mix of the two) traps gives you some nice AoE and utility options that the basic build lacks. You do lose out on the often crucial stun-break as well as quite a bit of pet damage, but the trade off is worth it in some situations. If you’re liking this style and think the AoE is your thing, you can try ditching Carnivorous Appetite for Trap Potency and getting your pet regen by either using Signet of the Wild or putting 30 in the BM line (-10 survival) for Natural Healing…or both. Also, axes are very much your friend in the AoE category. Ricochet and Splitblade both rack up the conditions very quickly on multiple targets.

This is the current evolution of the ranger build I’ve been using pretty much since beta. I, for one, actually like the idea of having a strong pet to work with rather than treating your companion like a furry little liability. This is a very damage focused build with some control elements but not a whole lot of actual defense. You’re dodging to survive with this one, but fortunately you’ve got a whole lot of evasion at your disposal. The build works equally well for PvE and PvP once you know how to play it. Stay on the flanks of the battle for maximum crossfire DPS and if someone comes for you, start kiting and dodging.

Remember, a lot of your damage comes from your pets with this build so keep them in mind and CONTROL YOUR PET. Pets lose a lot of attack time when they have to switch targets, so it’s often beneficial to lock them onto one enemy with f1 while you run around and do whatever you have to in the meanwhile. Also, try your best to use your control abilities to set up your pets’ attacks. You’ve got an extremely reliable cripple on 4 and stun on 5 as well as several utility options to hold enemies in place. Try to time them so your pet can really unload on your target. No one expects to be absolutely gutted by a ranger pet thanks to their dubious reputation in PvP. When your 6x might lynx lands his rending pounce onto a stunned enemy or your jaguar cat-sassinates some mesmer who thought he was all alone, they’re in for a whole world of hurt that they NEVER saw coming.

Basic build:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-F;4wE-y-p2gDF-0;9-9a;2TJ-J;114645;256-K-F41K0-NX8aNX8aJwkm0-VWU-a;0aVdWjXn2v3-a0DV2c-9;0TsW6Tc

Trapper Variant:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-F;4wEFy-v2gDF-0;9-9a;2TJ-J;117647;256-K-F41K0-NX8aNX8aJwkm0-qYU-a;0aVdWjXn2v3-a0DV2c-9;0TsW6TP

Noobie.1073:

I and many rangers out there will abuse the living hell out of this. I remember using http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Throw_Dirt like crazy on my touch ranger. Sweet memories……

Yeah, no class should have access to that kind of permablind…

Except for the thief pistol 5 which does exactly that in an aoe.

In all seriousness, i dont think hunter’s call is overly weak. It is a little boring, but the fact that it hits so many times means its great for an on-hit style build.

Good stuff, I run a more pet focused variant if that build (0/30/20/0/20) so here’s my thoughts.

1) I can’t play without signet of the hunt. It makes kiting people SO much easier and it makes your pet much more threatening as he can actually catch your target.

2) Thought about rabid gear? It gives cond and crit so you’ll get even more sharpened edges/sigil bleeds. You are a little more glassy but it still gives toughness and synergises well with undead runes.

3) Sharpening stone, while annoyingly CD gated, gives you monster burst potential. Stacking 4 bleeds with one shot is frightening.

Other than that, i like.

Most of the time if I’m using the f3 command it’s because I see some big hit coming that I would rather my pet didn’t attempt to face-tank. Problem is very often he doesn’t get out of the way nearly fast enough and gets smacked anyhow. GW2 isn’t a game about straight up soaking hits, its about active evasion…which pets fail at. Adding a .5-.75 second non-removable evasion buff (with a reasonable cool down of course) would really help.

It would help in PvP too. Quickly press f3-f1 and the pet will ‘dodge’ toward an enemy like a player can. No more getting crushed by every stray aoe or getting gunned down long before they reach that bunkered up engi.

Best part is it requires virtually 0 work so even anet’s devs can handle it! Maybe…

Then what if you want to swap pets out of combat?