Guild Wars 2

I haven’t been playing much the last couple months, but I came back to check out what kind of changes had been made to my beloved Ranger profession.

The nerf to Empathic Bond is ridiculous. Guess I’ll go back to playing M&B Warband for a couple more months.

Cries Of Sorrow.5864:

when the ranger’s shortbow attack “crossfire” was nerfed by adding 40 milliseconds cast time everyone was surprised because no one had ever realised any animation bug, a couple weeks later i made a thief and noticed that quickness and the thieves shortbow attack “trickshot” completly breaks the animation, was the wrong Proffesion nerfed?

Only the developers know and they’re not likely to answer. Is it possible? Yes. Doctors sometimes amputate the wrong limb when operating on a patient, so it’s entirely feasible. No one is infallible. It’s not very likely though.

40 milliseconds is 0.04 seconds. That’s about 10 times faster than a blink. It’s incredibly unlikely that anyone would even notice it if they were looking for it.

[Edit: Too many zeroes.]

Troll Unguent does not count as regeneration.

Healing Spring and Rejuvenation apply regeneration.

Someone needs to let the Army Rangers know they’re doing it all wrong. Those guys are always running around with guns.

Seriously though, one of the most famous “rangers” in history is Daniel Boone and that dude was killer with a Kentucky long rifle. Literally!

Dante.1508:

nldixon.8514:

Sleepy.2647:

jubskie.3152:

Picking the appropriate pet for the situation is something a lot of players lack_, thus they cry that "pets are useless

This is what makes the difference for me. When I do dungeons and get rangers on my group, all i have to do to know if the ranger is good or not is to pay attention at what pets they use and how they manage their pets.

This is a game where you can switch pets anytime as long as you are out of combat, there is no excuse to being stuck at using the same pets for everything.

I hope Anet allows us to switch the non used pet even when being in combat, this would really help to adapt your pets to the situation even if you can’t get out of combat

Amen! I’ve seen Rangers standing back plinking away with a bow while their bird eats AoE after AoE until it’s dead.

Nice write up, jubskie.

I’m yet to see any pet not eat up AoE and die in seconds even Ranged pets like devourers and Spiders die in seconds because they are too stupid to move out of the ways and their HP is just silly low on all pets…

It’s not about the HP, it’s about pet management. If the pet gets killed by the AoE the player isn’t doing it right.

It’s possible to let the pet eat AoEs, but then it needs to be swapped before it’s dead. Alternately, the pet can be called back to the Ranger to avoid AoEs if the Ranger in question uses ranged weapons.

Pets shouldn’t die if the Ranger is paying attention and managing their pet.

[Edit: Despite that, I still think AoE damage reduction for pets would be nice.]

Sleepy.2647:

jubskie.3152:

Picking the appropriate pet for the situation is something a lot of players lack_, thus they cry that "pets are useless

This is what makes the difference for me. When I do dungeons and get rangers on my group, all i have to do to know if the ranger is good or not is to pay attention at what pets they use and how they manage their pets.

This is a game where you can switch pets anytime as long as you are out of combat, there is no excuse to being stuck at using the same pets for everything.

I hope Anet allows us to switch the non used pet even when being in combat, this would really help to adapt your pets to the situation even if you can’t get out of combat

Amen! I’ve seen Rangers standing back plinking away with a bow while their bird eats AoE after AoE until it’s dead.

Nice write up, jubskie.

silva.5938:

neverborne.4736:

• For PvE leveling rangers complaining that these changes won’t help you, that’s because the ranger is already very balanced for PvE, if not overpowered.

I don’t feel so overpowered when my 3 spirits die instantly at each boss’s aoe in a dungeon. I wouldn’t mind if I could switch with a button between two traits builds between bosses, but as it is now the people I play with barge in and I must keep my not so overpowered spirits, loosing in fact 3 skills.

Sorry, didn’t want to ‘rage’. I’m sure one day spirits survivability will be reviewed, and I know that the devs have ton of work to do (thanks guys), it’s just that the topic touched a sensible topic

Well, you probably don’t feel overpowered because you’re using what are probably some of the most useless utility skills in the game.

When I was leveling up, I saw spirits and thought, “Wow. Those are going to be really helpful in a dungeon!” So I spent the points, got all the spirits and then loaded them up, ready to rock in AC. After about five minutes, they were off my hotbar and haven’t been back on since, except in a few very rare occasions (mostly when I’m checking to see if they still suck, which they do).

Rangers are incredibly awesome in PvE. Probably one of (if not the) best profession for PvE leveling. Put points in Beastmastery, pick up a shortbow, and then go take a nap.

Shortbow is the most boring weapon we have too, which is a real shame, since it’s got a lot of damage output.

It is interesting to note that the highest DPS achievable in a short duration (i.e., burst) comes from a longbow in Berserker gear. That would be compounded even more with Hunter’s Shot added into the mix.

ChillyChinaman.6057:

nldixon.8514:

ChillyChinaman.6057:

I don’t understand how the skill/trait would be overpowered.
As most of us know, or pets can bath barely keep up with crippled foes. Even then, they fall over in a stiff breeze. I may be exaggerating, but the sad truth is not by much especially compared to stronger Mesmer phantasms and invulnerable Guardian spirits.

Two wolves chaining fears and knockdowns. Four hyenas chaining knockdowns. Two drakehounds chaining knockdowns and immobilizes.

You could drop almost anyone dead in a couple seconds with a double drake special. “Double Drake Special” sounds like an awesome band name or a gnarly shot.

You can’t take duplicate pets anyway. That alone would solve a chunk of the “OPness” of this trait/Elite. At worst, if someone took Hyenas and another canine, they’d get triple knockdowns.

Back to the Mesmer/Guardian comparison. I will admit that clones and phantasms are much more fragile than our pets. However, they hit for so much more damage and can be traited for all sorts of effects. Not to mention that you can shatter them near death for a hefty amount of damage.

For spirit weapons, in particular the hammer and sword, they’re both invulnerable. You’d think that they’d be less effective than a Ranger’s mandatory pet right? Nope.
Not only does the sword hit for ~700 damage every 2.5s, the hammer has a chain attack that ends with a knock down every 5s.

Totally had a brain fart on that one. You’re right, you can’t take two of the same pet.

I still think it’d be a little over powered. Being able to have three canines out at once would be incredibly awesome, but I don’t know that anybody on the receiving end would feel the same way. Hehe.

Electro.4173:

How would a bunch of snakes create a poison field? Because thats what Viper’s Nest is, a bunch of snakes being released and attacking enemies.

Probably the same way a staff makes meteors rain from the sky. MAGIC!

Daemon.4295:

Piercing arrows is extremely effective once you get used to lining up mobs, and the trap traits are nice too. They’d be a lot better if they were in wilderness survival though. Strangely, rangers’ best offensive trait (quickness on pet swap) is in a defensive trait line, while best defensive trait imo (active effects of signets also benefit you, particularly in conjunction with signet of stone for 6 secs invulnerability) is in an offensive trait line.

The layout of traits is pretty strange, I will definitely agree with that. Beastmastery is the absolute worst for traits and synergy, but Marksmanship is a close second.

I’ve never really liked Signet of Stone. It does provide six seconds of immunity, but doesn’t wipe conditions, so it practically requires you to either have 30 points in Wilderness Survival or run with Signet of Renewal. Even with the lowered cool downs you’re still looking at six seconds of invulnerability every minute and a half.

It’s not bad, but again, it requires you to put points into an offensive line to get defensive traits. What?

Lelouch.8452:

1) I can’t say is not a good build, however, u r become totally useless in tournaments in my opinion. it looses the best utilities from a ranger (traps) and the support factor in team fights of range support. A trap ranger can easily outclass any warrior, thief glass cannon ele and guardian out there hands down, no need for this melee nonsense with s/d-a/a. Any good player will counter melee ranger, is not hard.

2) And u might want to consider the traits in beast mastery, U r going to be swaping pet every 15 seconds, pet rarely will die on die on 15 seconds no matter what, unless u r standing right below burst, and either way, they have passive regen with the last trait i bet u can be more than effective in 15 seconds.
Swap Compassion Training (IV) for Mighty Swap (VI) and u will see your pet actually kill things, plus, sword gives might to your pet, making it a super silly burst with pet along (and they do freaking kd as well) 3 might on swap and who knows how many more with sword autoattack and quickness

3)U r going to be swaping pet every 15 seconds, no need for the cripple upon F2 use, by the time the pet is done using the skill, u r going to swap it out, plus, wolfs cripple anyhow, and sword does cripple as well. Your are better of with swaping Intimidation Training (IX) for Commanding Voice (V) or Speed Training (I) , u want to use those F2 as a way to keep people on the edge and the KD alone on ur pet with the quickness on swap is just op.

4)I have seen something like this in youtube, a ranger roaming with s/d-a/t beating the kitten of people in WvW. Cool with scaleting and all of that, try in a tournament, u won’t keep up.

5)If u want to slow down the enemy, good for u, but i can bet u won’t keep that node defended for long, since u rely in dodges and evasion from sword to avoid burst, specially against any shatter mesmer, condition necro, even condition thief (quite popular at the moment) and a trap ranger like me, u won’t out heal the amount of conditions and burst.

nldixon.8514:

Same here. I’ve never lost to a bunker Guardian one on one either. It can sometimes take a while to kill a good one, but I am in (literally) zero danger of dying unless my mouse dies (wireless mouse is bad) or I lose consciousness.

of course u won’t loose to a bunker guardian, they don’t freaking do any damage, they stale people and keep a node secure, u will out damage him, eventually, even if it takes 5 mins.

1. I’m not even sure what to say to this, because it’s wrong. If trap Rangers were as good as you seem to think they are, they’d be everywhere in tourneys. I rarely see Rangers in tourneys at all.

2. Don’t completely understand what you’re saying here. Are you saying that you don’t need Natural Healing in the build because your pet isn’t going to die in 15 seconds? Natural Healing adds healing to the pet and the Ranger. The self healing is incredibly valuable.

Compassion Training actually affects Lick Your Wounds (when it works) and I assume Search and Rescue too, but since it’s awful I’ve never bothered to test it. Mighty Swap is a close second, but since pets have issues hitting moving targets it’s still second in my opinion.

3. There is absolutely no reason to take Commanding Voice. F2 resets every time you swap pets, so it’s absolutely the most pointless trait ever. The Beastmastery line is full of traits with absolutely zero synergy. Same thing with Speed Training. No point in having your pets attacks recharge faster when all of their attacks have more than 15 second cool downs.

Finally, cripple stacks in duration, so you can never have enough cripple.

4. It works just fine in tourneys.

5. You’d be surprised how much healing this build has, most of which can’t be stripped or stolen. Every single class you mentioned either dies or runs away unless they come with friends. If they’re glass cannons they’ll usually die within the first pet swap.

Thanks for the feedback, but you should really try the build before you comment on it. It may not look like much on paper, but it’s pretty killer.

smug.3895:

3. I would not call it a bunker. Other than not dying quickly 1v1, the point gets neutralized very quickly (I don’t know if this is because of the “evade bug” mentioned before in spvp boards), the ranger goes down fairly quickly under focus fire, and is extremely weak to CC (esp immobilize) and bursts (Durzlla’s build).

That’s why I put bunker in quotes. It’s not really a bunker the way most people think of a bunker, but I wasn’t really sure how else to describe it and people kept asking me about my “bunker build” so… Yeah. Heh.

bri.2359:

nldixon.8514:

bri.2359:

My reasons are due to poor trait options in the defense trait lines and the role I want to play as a ranged damage dealer, at least as much as I can. I can maintain a 50% crit chance without being too squishy.

Rangers have some of the best defensive traits in the game. You crazy!

Not the first time I have been told that!

When I look at the options in the Nature Magic and Beastmaster trait-lines, yes, there are a couple of possibilities, but I see nothing that makes me want to shift 30 or more points of offensive options to access them. The all seem a bit meh too me …

You should try it. The Ranger offensive traits are actually pretty terrible for the most part. You really don’t lose much damage output by choosing a more defensive build.

It actually speaks volumes about just how terrible our damage traits are when they make no noticeable (or barely noticeable) difference in damage output versus a defensive build.

ChillyChinaman.6057:

I don’t understand how the skill/trait would be overpowered.
As most of us know, or pets can bath barely keep up with crippled foes. Even then, they fall over in a stiff breeze. I may be exaggerating, but the sad truth is not by much especially compared to stronger Mesmer phantasms and invulnerable Guardian spirits.

Two wolves chaining fears and knockdowns. Four hyenas chaining knockdowns. Two drakehounds chaining knockdowns and immobilizes.

You could drop almost anyone dead in a couple seconds with a double drake special. “Double Drake Special” sounds like an awesome band name or a gnarly shot.

Ravaha.3702:

None of these changes are going to do anything for the ranger. We will still be useless against anyone melleing us and we will still miss more than 50% of the time at long range, except now the enemy will have to do a little more than sneeze to avoid the arrow, it will take an entire side step.
1. Our pet will still be useless
2. Our dmg will still be subpar
3. we still cannot do anything to attack siege besides longbow 5
4. Longbow’s dmg is still going to be the worst dmg in the game
5. We still dont have any utility or any good traits.
6. If we want signets to be good, we still have to put 2-3 trait points into power so that signets don’t only affect our pets…….

I am re-rolling to another class. I am tired of being the squishiest and lowest dmg class in the game with a pet that doesnt do anything and so many utility skills that i cannot use because they are absolutely worthless.

Hyperbole? I’m not going to bother to refute each of your points separately, but I will say that all of them are wrong on some level and a couple are completely wrong.

Assuming that any of what Jon Peters has said regarding the 12/14 patch is true, it should be a good patch for Rangers if they do nothing else but make the changes to Hunt and longbow arrows.

Predator.7321:

nldixon.8514:

Rhaps.8540:

Does Fortifying Bond in the NM tree work?

“Any boon you get is shared with your pet. " in case you forgot.

Which boon provides agony resistance?

No boons provide agony resistence infusions in ascended armor does

Yeah, but the trait only affects boons. So unless I’m missing an agony resistance boon that got added in the last couple days, I’m not sure what the trait has to do with anything.

Ranger stats have zero effect on your pet, so even if you had 10,000 agony resistance, your pet would still have none.

It does sound awesome, but I have a feeling it would be pretty OP.

Rhaps.8540:

Does Fortifying Bond in the NM tree work?

“Any boon you get is shared with your pet. " in case you forgot.

Which boon provides agony resistance?

I was excited about the last patch.

This time I’m skeptical.

I would personally love to see rifles for Rangers. I think it’s fair to say that “Daniel Boone” can considered a Ranger and he was a crack shot with the Kentucky long rifle.

bri.2359:

My reasons are due to poor trait options in the defense trait lines and the role I want to play as a ranged damage dealer, at least as much as I can. I can maintain a 50% crit chance without being too squishy.

Rangers have some of the best defensive traits in the game. You crazy!

Eurantien.4632:

RyuDragnier.9476:

Agadar.4931:

It’s frustrating. Just comparing rangers with elementalists, you see that they can outdamage us, outlive us, and outheal us. And don’t even make me start about guardians.

And yet in a 1v1 situation against a ranger they get taken down fast. I’ve yet to be killed by a elementalist in a 1v1 fight…

I second this.

Same here. I’ve never lost to a bunker Guardian one on one either. It can sometimes take a while to kill a good one, but I am in (literally) zero danger of dying unless my mouse dies (wireless mouse is bad) or I lose consciousness.

I can do an entire dungeon without my pet dying once. All it requires is a little micro management and attentiveness to your pet’s health bar.

Durzlla.6295:

nldixon.8514:

Durzlla.6295:

nldixon.8514:

Durzlla.6295:

nldixon.8514:

Durzlla.6295:

EDIT: Spirits aren’t horrible, they’re quite amazing when you know how to use them, i highly suggest learning them (assuming you want to support your allies, if you don’t care about your allies it doesn’t really matter)

I agree that spirits have the potential to be awesome. They require way too much micromanaging to make them effective right now. The ROI is way off.

ROI? Not gonna lie, if they buff spirits survivability back up (oh god how i long to become a god once more…) i’m going to have a hayday with that because of how brokenly stupid i could make a build if it had survivable spirits… the change they’d likely -have- to make to prevent kitten holes like me from taking advantage of it would be to buff what the spirits themselves actually -do- and leave them super squishy, that or they’re going to nerf spirits but buff their survivability and people would -still- not use them, hell even less people -would- use them if that were the case.

Sorry, ROI is return on investment.

I know some people are using spirits pretty effectively, but that doesn’t mean they’re good. Michael Phelps could probably beat most people in a race wearing a chicken suit, but that doesn’t mean everybody should start wearing a chicken suit to the pool.

lol that would be REALLY funny to see tbh…

that being said, i never said i don’t think spirits need some spicing up, currently their fairly dull with their set em and forget em play style in PvE, and there’s only so many places you can set em in PvP at each capture point to put them, well unless you’re baiting someone into killing them/using them as a shield but that’s a different story…

They’re definently not bad though, they’re just kinda meh (you know like all of our utilities) hopefully the patch in 9 days will fix some of that.

I’m not gonna hold my breath. I got excited for the last update where we were promised a lot of changes. Even though I already felt like Rangers were in a pretty decent place, I was still excited for the promised improvements.

This time I’m not gonna take any chances. As long as they don’t nerf anything, I’ll be happy. Haha!

Also, I would totally use a hammer on my Ranger. Especially if it was in the same vein as Warrior and Guardian hammers. Love the control you get with those babies.

Personally im not a huge fan of hammer warriors (never played them, but from the ones i’ve fought against ALL they do is CC absolutely 0 damage it’s just like, yes yes, go away you’re just a minor inconvenience, are you done? Yes? ok, and then they die), however hammer guardian OMG is that fun, i love the combo field generated off of Auto attack + the leap for aoe retal, not to mention my favorite guardian move is the line of immobilizing awesome lol

I was running a hammer and axe/mace build for a while that was on the Warrior forums and it was TONS of fun. Knockdowns for days.

You know what’s REALLY fun on Guardian? Pre-casting Banish then teleporting to an enemy with Judge’s Intervention and launching them off of cliffs or other high objects. So much fun in W3.

AlexRD.7914:

Ah i thought this was a PvP Build.
Nevermind then :P

It works in PvP pretty well. It’s just not specifically for PvP.

Ursan.7846:

Can others confirm this? I’ve been in combat/taking dmg and my pet is staying stowed. This is amazing!

Mine still comes out when I take or do damage.

AlexRD.7914:

Why would you not choose empathic bond? that’s like a no brainer

It’s mainly for PvE. Condition removal isn’t nearly as crucial in PvE as it is in PvP. I don’t really run this in PvP, but if I did, I would definitely swap Bark Skin for Empathic Bond.

Durzlla.6295:

nldixon.8514:

Durzlla.6295:

nldixon.8514:

Durzlla.6295:

EDIT: Spirits aren’t horrible, they’re quite amazing when you know how to use them, i highly suggest learning them (assuming you want to support your allies, if you don’t care about your allies it doesn’t really matter)

I agree that spirits have the potential to be awesome. They require way too much micromanaging to make them effective right now. The ROI is way off.

ROI? Not gonna lie, if they buff spirits survivability back up (oh god how i long to become a god once more…) i’m going to have a hayday with that because of how brokenly stupid i could make a build if it had survivable spirits… the change they’d likely -have- to make to prevent kitten holes like me from taking advantage of it would be to buff what the spirits themselves actually -do- and leave them super squishy, that or they’re going to nerf spirits but buff their survivability and people would -still- not use them, hell even less people -would- use them if that were the case.

Sorry, ROI is return on investment.

I know some people are using spirits pretty effectively, but that doesn’t mean they’re good. Michael Phelps could probably beat most people in a race wearing a chicken suit, but that doesn’t mean everybody should start wearing a chicken suit to the pool.

lol that would be REALLY funny to see tbh…

that being said, i never said i don’t think spirits need some spicing up, currently their fairly dull with their set em and forget em play style in PvE, and there’s only so many places you can set em in PvP at each capture point to put them, well unless you’re baiting someone into killing them/using them as a shield but that’s a different story…

They’re definently not bad though, they’re just kinda meh (you know like all of our utilities) hopefully the patch in 9 days will fix some of that.

I’m not gonna hold my breath. I got excited for the last update where we were promised a lot of changes. Even though I already felt like Rangers were in a pretty decent place, I was still excited for the promised improvements.

This time I’m not gonna take any chances. As long as they don’t nerf anything, I’ll be happy. Haha!

Also, I would totally use a hammer on my Ranger. Especially if it was in the same vein as Warrior and Guardian hammers. Love the control you get with those babies.

I absolutely agree 100% with Sleepy. Most of the whining is complete nonsense. Buried in all the forum boohooing are some legitimate complaints, but nothing that makes the Ranger profession unplayable.

Durzlla.6295:

nldixon.8514:

Durzlla.6295:

EDIT: Spirits aren’t horrible, they’re quite amazing when you know how to use them, i highly suggest learning them (assuming you want to support your allies, if you don’t care about your allies it doesn’t really matter)

I agree that spirits have the potential to be awesome. They require way too much micromanaging to make them effective right now. The ROI is way off.

ROI? Not gonna lie, if they buff spirits survivability back up (oh god how i long to become a god once more…) i’m going to have a hayday with that because of how brokenly stupid i could make a build if it had survivable spirits… the change they’d likely -have- to make to prevent kitten holes like me from taking advantage of it would be to buff what the spirits themselves actually -do- and leave them super squishy, that or they’re going to nerf spirits but buff their survivability and people would -still- not use them, hell even less people -would- use them if that were the case.

Sorry, ROI is return on investment.

I know some people are using spirits pretty effectively, but that doesn’t mean they’re good. Michael Phelps could probably beat most people in a race wearing a chicken suit, but that doesn’t mean everybody should start wearing a chicken suit to the pool.

asimo.6354:

Ooh! Thanks for the in depth response! For the first one I’d probably drop the rest into Wilderness Survival to buff Sword and Offhand. However, it’s the 2nd build that I like a lot.

Though I disliked GW1 pets they are far cooler this time around, and I like that this build takes advantage of the Ranger’s unique mechanic. As it stands none of my characters have a pet/sidekick type of playstyle so that sounds fun. I don’t mind getting a GS for this build but it seems my current weapons would work just as well. I think I might just use this one

Just one last question if I could bother you, but what sort of gear should I take for this build?

For a pet build you can gear a couple of ways, but if your pet is going to be taking most of the heat (hopefully), your best bet would be to gear out in Berserker gear to maximize you personal damage. Your pet’s stats are completely independent of your own, so it doesn’t matter what type of gear you throw on.

I’d start out with Berserker gear and see how that works for you. If you find you’re too squishy you could go with something like Valkyrie or even Soldier to improve survivability.

Durzlla.6295:

nldixon.8514:

Uh, I’m gonna go on record here and say that I would GLADLY accept a change to spirits so they worked similarly to Guardian spirit weapons.

Give them a 20 second duration with a 60 second cool down. Make them invulnerable and they follow the Ranger without having to trait. Option to destroy the spirit to provide an AoE debuff to opponents, when traited they wouldn’t die when they used their AoE debuff.

Look at this, guys! We’re making improvements to spirits!

Look guys lets just make every prof play the same!! Next we’ll give guardians scepters the same skills as rangers axe so guardians can have a viable ranged option! Look we’re making improvements to guardian!!

Making Spirit Weapons and ranger spirits the same is not the way to handle things, that’d just be bad.

Ranger spirits and Guardian spirit weapons are drastically different and sharing the mechanics wouldn’t make them “the same” any more than a dagger is the same as a poleaxe because they both have a handle and a blade.

If Ranger spirits had similar mechanics to spirit weapons (i.e., follow by default, provide a constant benefit while summoned, could be destroyed for further benefits that could be improved via traits) they’d be in an infinitely better place.

There is a reason most people don’t use spirits right now, and it’s not because they need to learn how to use them. It’s because they’re downright awful. The investment required to make spirits even remotely useful is way more than the return.

Seetoo.9316:

Here’s another funny situation. A spirit build could have 3 spirits out. When that happens your worth in bodies is 5 (which happens to be the cap for spirit buffs). So guess how many other people you are buffing in that situation … ZERO!! People say spirit builds are buffer. WRONG!! Guess how many people your war horn is gonna buff … ZERO!! Your party is running with some other person as a buffer? Guess what, you and your spirits just ate up all his buffs.

Actually, you can have four spirits out with a spirit build with the elite. Throw the pet into the mix and that’s five pets that are eating up boons.

Which is another major downside to spirits (and pets in general, as Necros face similar issues).

Durzlla.6295:

EDIT: Spirits aren’t horrible, they’re quite amazing when you know how to use them, i highly suggest learning them (assuming you want to support your allies, if you don’t care about your allies it doesn’t really matter)

I agree that spirits have the potential to be awesome. They require way too much micromanaging to make them effective right now. The ROI is way off.

Uh, I’m gonna go on record here and say that I would GLADLY accept a change to spirits so they worked similarly to Guardian spirit weapons.

Give them a 20 second duration with a 60 second cool down. Make them invulnerable and they follow the Ranger without having to trait. Option to destroy the spirit to provide an AoE debuff to opponents, when traited they wouldn’t die when they used their AoE debuff.

Look at this, guys! We’re making improvements to spirits!

nerva.7940:

youre stealing a fear that doesnt exist. there is no 4 second fear on the necro. this could be a misnomer of the ability. should be called “steal and buff”. or we could just reduce the fear’s length. thieves just dont need it.

So? Thieves can steal other abilities too that don’t have a direct counterpart for the profession the ability was stolen from.

Ice Shard Stab gives a 10 second chill. No other ability that I know of can do that. Consume Ectoplasm provides all boons for 10 seconds. Mace Head Crack gives a four second daze. As far as I know Guardians can’t daze at all outside of their elite skill. Engineers would probably love to be able to throw down an ethereal field a la Throw Gunk.

This whole thread reeks of “a Thief killed me and I’m mad!”

[Edit: For the record, I play a Ranger. I don’t even like the Thief profession.]

asimo.6354:

Hmm for some reason I tend to forget pets even exist. I think it has to do with Ranger being my GW1 main and despising pets, so that bias has carried over a bit.

While I really appreciate the advice my only caveat to all this is keeping the weapon sets (I hope that’s not too stubborn). My biggest flaw or concern when playing video games is I always place a bigger emphasis on style rather than stats, and I just happen to really dig the look of the longbow (going for Eir’s Longbow). Not to mention I already have spent a fair amout of money on skins across all my characters.

Perhaps in order to wean me off conditions and therefore the shortbow would a more direct damage build be better? Or perhaps somehting pet centric? Truth be told so far I haven’t had too many problems with PvE but no harm in a little optimization.

Yeah, you could always go for a build that focuses more on direct damage than condition damage. Longbow, sword, and warhorn all get virtually no benefit from condition damage. Alternatively, you could go for a build that focuses solely on survivability and doesn’t depend on any particular weapon or damage type OR you could go with a pet focused build. Any of them will work for PvE.

Here are just some ideas for builds that might work a little better for you without forcing you to switch weapon types to get you started in the right direction.

Longbow direct damage. Remaining points can go into WS to buff either sword or off-hand or you can put them into NM and pick up V and IX and go with a greatsword. BM is an option if you want to pet swap every 15 seconds for quickness or if your want your pet to do more damage.

Pet damage build. Something like this would work if you just wanted your pet to eat stuff alive. Greatsword would work better here too, because you could setup some serious burst damage with Hilt Bash for your pet. Swap out one of the signets for QZ and you can give your pet even more burst. Swap out Rending Attacks for whichever pet type you prefer. Compassion Training can be swapped for Master’s Bond if you don’t like swapping your pet frequently. Master’s Bond turns your pet into a killing machine at 25 stacks.

The Ranger PvP build in my signature can be easily modified to use in PvE for good survivability and would work with just about any weapon setup.

[Edit: You’re going to hear people say pets are terrible. That’s hogwash. In PvE pets can be turned into absolute killing machines. They even work well in PvP with the right pet selection. They could definitely use some TLC, but they can be used effectively at the moment.]

Arrys.7145:

OK at 30 I have to ask is removing poison blind on dodge that helpful;). Suicide mobile spirits shouldn’t be a trait but a penalty generally speaking.

Not particularly. Poison and blind are both relatively weak conditions. If it removed more or different conditions, it might be a different story. It’s a pretty terrible trait.

You may want to consider switching to a shortbow, since your build and gear seems to be pretty heavily stacked with condition damage. I would swap Eagle Eye for Piercing Arrows and go with a shortbow.

Going 30 deep in Wilderness Survival and not taking Empathic Bond or Bark Skin seems like insanity. Those are two of the best traits Rangers have available. Bark Skin is especially good for PvE.

I would do one of two things:
1) Get rid of Lightning Reflexes (not as useful in PvE as it is in PvP) and take Signet of Renewal. Swap Off-Hand Training for Martial Mastery and put Bark Skin in your grandmaster spot.
2) Get rid of Lightning Reflexes and take Signer of the Wild. Swap Off-Hand Training for Martial Master and put Empathic Bond in your grandmaster spot.

I would also suggest swapping Entangle for Rampage as one. If you need the immobilize, get rid of QZ or Sharpening Stone and take Muddy Terrain.

Seems pretty solid for PvE otherwise.

QZ with a greatsword can provide some of the best burst Rangers are capable of, providing your crit is high enough. Would be even better if Swoop was doing the damage that it’s supposed to do.

QZ isn’t really a very good defensive tool as it nullifies all healing for four seconds. While it can provide some pretty solid evasion with a greatsword during that four seconds, if you get CCed, you’re boned since none of your passive or active (TU) healing will be working.

I’m kind of on the fence with QZ. The on demand quickness is nice, but I find that I get more than enough quickness (for the most part) through Zephyr’s Speed. The only reason I haven’t unslotted yet is that it gives you some huge burst potential in PvP when you know someone isn’t going to be able to avoid your burst.

smug.3895:

I tried it out on 8v8 spvp today. I don’t know why but nobody seemed to focus on me. I’ll try it out on 5v5 some more before tournaments. It was a lot of fun though.

I used s/d a/w. When you’re in s/d, how do you pump out consistent damage? Is it through conditions or sword 1?

Yes, the majority of the damage comes from the sword auto attack. Quickness from pet swap and QZ turns you into a blender of doom.

I hope they add a two-handed axe and it can be a ranged option for Rangers like the one handed axe. Hehe.

I might see something like that being a rare drop from boss mobs, but champs are a little too common and can be soloed by plenty of builds.

I can’t believe there’s only one other person who thinks a test server is a good idea. Especially after that last patch that broke so much stuff.

Axe MH and mace OH is pretty darn fun.

KICKER.3874:

Yay for bandits thougher than Dragons!

If you think knockbacks are bad try fighting bandit champs with perma blind on you and them being perma stealthed Happened in Brisban Area

Yeah, a veteran bandit with a rifle made REALLY short work of me earlier today.

Esrever.8613:

nldixon.8514:

Esrever.8613:

if you miss with the muddy terrain you are screwed is what I saw.

He missed a couple times with Muddy Terrain and still won the fights. Not sure what video you were watching.

attacking glass cannons from behind doesn’t really count for anything.

Well, since I haven’t watched any of your PvP videos, I can’t really comment on the difference in skill levels. However, I feel like making a glass cannon run away from you instead of waiting for the res timer to hit zero definitely counts for something.

You can’t fit both into your build? What would you be giving up in order to have both? I’m assuming Eagle Eye?

How to play this build?
Part of how this build is played is based on weapon selection. That part comes with time, practice, and patience. Instead I’ll cover the basics of combat with this build.

Combat with this build is fairly fluid, but there are certain things that must be kept in mind. It’s always preferable to start combat at range, as it presents an opportunity to inflict some extra damage before closing to melee range. It also allows the triggering of Hydromancy when swapping in melee range. Troll Unguent should be used within the first few seconds of combat. Chances are that most players will be attempting to burst (it’s a Ranger! lol!) quickly and the passive healing coupled with Troll Unguent will negate a lot of damage. Starting the CD on TU early also allows for it to be used more frequently.

Rampage as One should be saved for opponents with lots of CC abilities. Avoid using it for stomping, as on demand quickness is available from pet swaps for stomping.

Stay near the pet! I can’t stress this enough. The pet is a major part of the build survivability. Without the pet nearby, nearly all condition removal is lost. In addition, the pet provides a considerable amount of control and damage.

Feel free to ask questions, express concerns, or provide (constructive) criticism.

Pet Selection:
Canines. No other pet performs as well in PvP due to the high amount of control they provide. Cripples and knockdowns not only prevent opponents from escaping, but it allows the pet opportunity to do more damage. Canines also have a fast attack speed, meaning that they are better at hitting on the run than other pets.

The AoE immobilize on the drakehound is arguably the best offensive special ability of the canines. Wolves have an AoE fear that is excellent for clearing opponents off of points in sPvP and for fearing away opponents attempting to stomp or res. Fern hounds can provide an extra bit of healing if needed. Hyenas are interesting in that they can provide even more control potential with the addition of a second “pet”. The alpine wolf has a decent AoE chill. All of the canine special abilities also do damage, with the exception of the fern hound and hyena.

Gear:
Gear selection is dependent on which weapons you intend on using. Stat distribution for armor should be focused on Soldier (power, toughness, vitality) or Cleric (healing power, power, toughness) for direct damage weapons. Weapons which benefit from condition damage should focus on Shaman (vitality, condition damage, healing power) and Apothecary (healing power, toughness, condition damage).

Accessories should be focused on damage attributes. Berserker (power, precision, critical damage) is ideal for direct damage weapons. Carrion (condition damage, power, vitality) or Rabid (condition damage, precision, toughness) for condition weapons.

Runes:
Runes should focus on survivability, but personal preference may vary. Damage runes can be substituted if survivability is already at a desirable level.

Defensive runes of note are Dolyak, Dwayna, Monk, and Water.

Experiment with different combinations.

Traits and Utilities:
There is quite a bit of room for variation in this build. The build, as listed, provides excellent passive condition removal at the expensive of some survivability when health is low. This can be changed by removing Empathic Bond and taking Bark Skin to provide 30% extra damage reduction while at low health and swapping Quickening Zephyr to Signet of Renewal. This provides decent passive condition removal and excellent on demand condition removal.

A case can be made for taking Hide in Plain Sight over Oakheart Salve, but against savvy players Oakheart Salve will save your skin more often than HiPS.

Nature’s Protection can be taken over Nature’s Bounty, which can be helpful in sPvP where there are Thieves coming out of the woodwork. Intimidation Training can be swapped to whichever variety of pet is preferred.

Quickening Zephyr can be swapped out for any number of utilities depending on personal preference. The best options are “Protect Me”, Muddy Terrain, or Signet of Renewal.