Guild Wars 2

dance sometime works, but not always.

Many ppl complain sword 1 rooting. the problem is actually the 2nd of the chain — kick.
On wiki and tool lip: Kick your foe, crippling them for a short time.
Damage: 202
Crippled: 2 s
Range: 400

The real problem is the range 400, I tested whole night tonight, it will never give you 400 range (its real range is about 130-150)

However the 3rd — Pounce will give you something longer than 430 sometime(but not reliable), so these 2 actions are not balanced (in range), maybe that’s the real problem which make ppl feel like being rooted.

Anet please look into this. Appreciate.

Yes, leap will free you out, that’s why you can’t go staff/specter since you have no leap in case your JI not on the bar or on CD (pretty long). This perma-immobilization happened too often to me but I just can’t get rid of the habit of high frequency of dodge roll.

I’m not sure if this is the permanent immobilize I hit on my other classes or not, but I have found when stuck on them any skill that moves the char will break it. A leap/ teleport, heck manning a siege breaks it. But if the guardian version is different sorry

Also in combat none of that may matter since you may already be dead.

I found staff is good VS mesmers, but remember DON’T use specter for the other set, otherwise you will kill yourself more often than opponent in pvp or wvw.

NEVER EVER go Staff / specter + X
YES, this combination might be the best for siege or zerg fight, but you will get yourself killed much oftener than use any other weapon.
WHY? the perma-immobilization bug. When I use staff/specter+ X , 90% of my death is becoz I am perma immobilized by myself, guardian has too many stationary cast skills, once you dodge roll before casting ends = you died.
Anet Please fix this, I got perma-immobilized at least 5+ time every day while playing my guardian.

Last night I used my ranger soloed a 5-men team in wvw (yes 1v5, I am surprised too), in whole process I was like killing all of them for free, it seems that they can never even touch me.
Today I use guardian and met twice VS ranger 1v1, and I was killed both time, surprisingly, in both of time, I can’t see the ranger in whole process (1v1 so not culling issue and more than 2 mins), but I was able to see the arrow coming , so at last I have to use staff to hit the direction where arrow come from.
I have not found what trick to trigger this bug, but all 3 times, me + the other 2 rangers use cat as pet (that’s the only same thing I can recall) , I guess there must be some trick for cat pet to gain ranger perma stealth in WvW.
Hope someone who know how to do that can give us some hint.

If this is a recuit thread, better post this way:
If you want T3+plus WvW fight with 0 que 24/7, and if you don’t mind fighting with outman buff, DB is your only choice (oh, sry SBI, forget you guys).

Ranger is never weak in 1v1. The problem is ranger maybe the hardest class to master since it need quite a bit skills. The more I play ranger the more I realized that we rangers has the best melee weapon among all classes —- if you are not using sword, you won’t be a good ranger (at least in 1v1). Many ppl complain about sword, but in fact it’s pretty OP when you know how to use it (need quite a bit skills, but once you know how to do it, you will feel lucky that you play ranger), you just melt any melee classes. I will post a tutorial about how to use sword after 1/28 patch(I don’t want to do it now coz I don’t want it to be nerfed since it’s our last stand weapon, then most of us can enjoy for a while until the next patch).
However, lack of AOE is really a pain especially in wvw (don’t arguee with me with LB5 or traps, they are just jokes when compared with other classes no matter damage or the risk to use them)

I am from DB too so I am pretty sure OP is not from DB but a DB hater.
Last night 7pm-12am, DB has outman buff in 3 maps except DB BL. The only possible place you might meet 20+ men zerg is at DB BL but you will see 2x numbers from both FA and CD. I wish we could have 1x 20+ men zerg then we won’t lose EB overlook to FA’s 40 men zerg plus CD’s 30 men ninja army.

Sry this post is not for ppl who just kept guessing/judging my play style + laughing at my elite skill but simply ignoring the fact of damage VS armor. In fact this is the highest damage record which I get from my guardian, it needs quite a bit luck +some situation , maybe as Amins mentioned, I had had xx Stacks of Vulnerability atm, but I can’t really recall the details coz it’s during zerg fight (smart ppl should have already noticed that from either my play style or combat log or even my elite skill).
My point is actually very simple: I never say thief is uncounterable for guardian, but when armor becomes the only factor which can mitigate damage(which is usually what you have to face during zerg fight), it’s just useless. (I think I said clearly in topic title, didn’t I?)

ya, that’s what I want to do after a normal human kind reflection. But that 21k maybe take 0.5 sec?

Saintly.8062:

Protection/dodge roll?

A good thief can kill your ranger in 1 sec if he is lucky enough.
Check my guardian’s experience:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/This-is-why-Armor-is-useless/first#post1245852

what he need to finish you is just 1 more HS, all these shouldn’t take more than 1 sec(of coz before you can see him in wvw).

Vecuu.2018:

Durzlla.6295:

You’re one of -those- thieves… I see how it is…

I’m also a Ranger Main, but usually opt out of WvWing on my Ranger due to my inability to disengage from a large-scale conflict. She’s strong, but a fair bit unconventional as far as Rangers go. Most Rangers usually opt for either a glass-cannony approach, or a Healing Beast Master build.

-My Ranger has 22k Health, 3k Attack, and 3.2k Armor.
-My Pet would win a 1v1 against most Thieves.
-I use Troll Unguent rather than Healing Spring.

I deal with Thieves quite simply: I auto attack them a few times, let my pet knock them down, at which point I pop Greatsword #5 and swap Pets for Quickness (pet swap before the skill lands so that the new pet with quickness has the 50% attack buff). After eating the quickness burst, they usually get knocked down again by the fresh canine, panic, stun-break, and run away. If they don’t stun-break, I use Quickening Zepher and they die.

Smart Thieves only fight targets they think they can defeat, which leaves you the option of either opening with tons of burst so they run, or auto-attacking until they think they have an edge, then go in for the kill.

On my so-called bunker guardian with 3200 armor.
Have to say 21k instant damage is so-well-balanced.

As a player from DB, I can’t wait for this new coming round coz it sounds like 3.5-4 servers wvw insead of 3 servers. Objectively speaking, the new round is still between CD vs FA2.0( with IOJ). I played at DB since day1 and has lots of exp while fighting CD and FA in old days. Even with our old school NA crews (which is very strong), we can hardly have a good time vs CD or FA. Our new crews are still in the process of growing, DB2.0 has not reach the same level which DB1.0 has reached yet. I personally would define the current DB2.0 a T3.5 level server(we will win T4 but still little bit weaker for T3). However, for either CD or FA, who gonna lead T3 mainly depends on the strategy vs DB. We r probably the weakest in force but the most important for result.

Agree or not, the only way to beat thief is —-— Overplay him. When equally skilled, you have 0 chance no matter what builds/gears you use.

You will be targeted by 1xxxxxx rangers although I have to agree with what you said is truth.

Exarthious.5792:

A lot of bad advice here from people on how to deal with thieves. As a Thief there is no possible way a Ranger could kill me, ever. I still havn’t upgraded from my level 78 Exotic Beserker gear because there is no need to.

Quite honestly I’ve played a lot of overpowered classes in many MMOs, the Ranger in EQ2 during its worst, the Saboteur in Rift during its worse, among many, many others.

There has never been a class as powerful as the GW2 Thief that I’ve played, ever. It surprises me they allowed this to go through BETA honestly, but alas they have. My deepest concerns though is I can not get my brother to quit the Ranger, and like you guys, and him, you should.

They can’t fix the class for WvW, unless they do some major changes, and if Anet is anything like other companies, those changes could take years. Look at how long it took Sony to fix the Conjuror in EQ2, probably one of the worst PvP classes of all PvP games created.

Honestly the only way I bet they fix the Ranger is if everyone who has one just stops playing it, and plays something else, or doesn’t play for a month or two at all.

I just hope my brother decides to dump the Ranger, because the lack of feedback from developers on this broken, and worthless class is both daunting, and comical. We’ve had more developer participation on the Thief forum, asking us what they can do to make our stuff better. <amazed>

To be honest, Mag is one of the most impressive 2 servers which I have fight against in WvW. They are best organized server in general. (they know how to use their limited number in most efficient way, if mass xfer happens it may destroy their custom.) I’m so eager to see Mag VS Kain in the near future. (the other one I have full respect is BG becoz of their never retreat fighting spirit)

I understand your feeling and never want to stop you to play your favorate class, but I just want to tell you a miserable truth. That’s the difference between dev and player.

Nautika.5376:

And here comes the biggest one —- If you want ranger (or any other class) to be buffed IN GENERAL —— best way is —— stop playing it.

---

So I have to stop playing the class I want to play to play a class I don’t really want to play in the HOPES that one day the devs will fix my class? No thanks

Stop complaining — QQ doesn’t help at all. If I were dev, I won’t nerf / buff a class based on whether/how many ppl QQing about it.
Report bug (with evidence, better video) --- that’s the way to go since if it’s a bug it should be fixed anyway (sooner or later), and if it can draw big attention(like the “rangers are OP” post), it’s proved that it will be fixed very quickly.
And here comes the biggest one —- If you want ranger (or any other class) to be buffed IN GENERAL —-- best way is —-- stop playing it.
Maybe my theory is wrong, but it make perfect sense to me. Key is —Think as a dev but not a player. I am sure dev has the data about classes distribution of playing time. If a certain class is over-played it means that class is overpowered which applies in a large number of population in Statistics meaning. It’s natural balanced. Vise versa.
If you review ranger’s patch history you will find out that ranger get nerfed when ranger’s population become huge (unfortunately the real reason is bot). Then after tons of QQ, it remains same. (So I say QQ doesn’t work at all. Simply becoz dev won’t listen to QQ but look at data. ) Then, ppl just get disappointed and quit this class (even bot), thereafter, ranger get buffed. You will find the same pattern in other classes too.

Ranger is a easy-to-start but hard-to-master class in my opinion. You have to have deep understanding about the class to open the door of glory, and even after you master it, you can be a tough guy but still not the best one coz ranger don’t have the easy GOD mode like some other classes. By spending same efforts on other classes you might get quicker/better result. Investment VS benefit unbalance is the real reason why many ppl complain.

My sixth sense told me that we ranger won’t get any life-changing improvement in next patch.
My guess next balanced patch:
Mesmer: huge buff
Guardian: small nerf
Thief: small nerf
Ele: small buff
Ranger: nothing significant
Engi: huge buff
Necro: huge buff
Warrior: constant buff as usual

My guess is assuming that Anet’s mechanism to balance classes is based on number of playing each class(they should have that statistics data easily) but not the true skill balance. Simply becoz if everyone think certain class is OP, most of them will just reroll it which lead that class overcrowded. vise versa. In fact this is sorta naturally balanced and easy to be tracked. But well, this rule does not apply to warriors coz everyone know that they will be buffed by default anyway.

This game only came out for less than half yr, and we have already seen thief get nerfs. A good balance need time, I can clearly remember when I play thief in AION, after monthes of dominating, 1 single patch made my thief become dying to anything from killing everything. For right now, you just have to overplay a thief or just simply reroll a thief if you don’t have the patience to wait.

Ranger is easiest PVE king no doubtly, bunker ranger is a good 1v1 duelist in sPVP, ranger play irreplaceable role in wvw. But it’s ture that we are not that useful in dungeons and tPVP. Overall we are not the best, but not the underdog either.

Of coz it’s not that. In fact, I am so surprised that this OP part hasn’t been on surface yet since I have used it for a long time and it’s pure legit but really game changing. If you don’t know, ask your ranger freinds, I am sure someone know this, but the time it comes out the surface the time Anet might nerf it, so please stop ask in public.(use your imagination, it’s not hard to find out)

Pedra.4381:

CRrabbit.1284:

I play ranger, “Guard” onto walls is not exploit, many rangers use it.
But, I have to agree that “Guard” is OP especially in WvW.
All posts above has not mentioned the real OP part of this skill. It’s not the ninja pet atk but the…… (don’t want to post here since not many ppl use it yet , but it can be really game changing especially in wvw, use your imagination)

Well, if done right, with the correct skills, the Active on Signet of Stone can be used by the Ranger to gain that full invulnerability (plus some). Not sure if that’s OP though. Also, not sure if I’m going down the right track with what you’re talking about.

ROL~swoop,
Teleport~LR
Our sword 2 has very short CD , it’s much better than ele’s BS
You know you can bind hotkey/macro for the instant 180 degree turn around which never delay your trip. (of coz it need practice and take time to get use to it)
Never underestimate the sword 1, it is a no CD 800 range closer if u plan your trial perfectly (but in fact you can never achieve that, that’s why it take me ~10 mins to catch-recatch and finally take a D/D ele down, of coz the biggest reason is he don’t think I can catch him and kill him since he is a D/D ele, he has plenty of chance to go back to his base but he just want to play with me.)
It’s very hard, but not impossible.
Also as you can see, we as ranger need hit much more keys to reach the same level which D/D ele might hit with only 1/3 number of buttons. In this meaning, we do need a better quality of life.

Xsorus.2507:

CRrabbit.1284:

But indeed I can catch warrior+ele w/o any problem(thief sry coz the stealth). Ranger by far has the most gap closers:
1, GS 3 — 1100 range
2, Sword 2 – 600, lightning reflex-600 (these are reverse gap closers so u need little bit more skills to use it)
3, Sword 1(2nd+3rd) = 800, this requires more skills coz you need to activate 1st atk (1st you need an object, but for long run you will always find something to hit, make sure you disable auto atk and hit direction key when u activate 1st atk of sword 1, then your 2+3 = 800 range gap closer)
Base run speed (with buffs) about same for all these classes.

Gap closer is what make ranger catch them.

Xsorus.2507:

CRrabbit.1284:

Ranger’s mobility is as good as ele/thief/warriors although it requires you to go melee and more skills than these 3 other classes to catch them.
Last night I use my ranger to chase a D/D ele overall BL map for ~10 mins and finally I got him down. It’s fun and exciting but I don’t want to do it anymore coz it’s really waste of time.

Xsorus.2507:

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

You will never catch a Warrior/Thief/Ele who doesn’t want to be caught

If you caught an ele at all, He screwed up by quite a bit

The time it takes for you to turn around and use Lightning and Sword Number 2, the Ele will clear any distance you would of gained.

Ride the Lightning Is comparable to Swoop (just 100 range more)
They have Mist/and the Teleport which basically counter Lightning reflex
and the Blazing Speed, oh while having perma Swiftness.

Now I can see you catching him if he was something like maybe Staff..

D/D ele though, you’re not catching him.

Ranger is the easiest class to begin with but also the hardest class to master. It may require more skills to reach the same level which other classes can gain much easier especially in pvp. So the population of rangers are very polarized unlike other classes’ Gaussian distribution(that’s my feeling in pvp/wvw, rangers I met was either super good or bad but I can hardly find someone fairly good or bad, but for other classes there are all kinds of levels). Same phenomenon happened to Ele before more and more ppl get use to D/D bunker build.

But indeed I can catch warrior+ele w/o any problem(thief sry coz the stealth). Ranger by far has the most gap closers:
1, GS 3 — 1100 range
2, Sword 2 – 600, lightning reflex-600 (these are reverse gap closers so u need little bit more skills to use it)
3, Sword 1(2nd+3rd) = 800, this requires more skills coz you need to activate 1st atk (1st you need an object, but for long run you will always find something to hit, make sure you disable auto atk and hit direction key when u activate 1st atk of sword 1, then your 2+3 = 800 range gap closer)
Base run speed (with buffs) about same for all these classes.

Gap closer is what make ranger catch them.

Xsorus.2507:

CRrabbit.1284:

Ranger’s mobility is as good as ele/thief/warriors although it requires you to go melee and more skills than these 3 other classes to catch them.
Last night I use my ranger to chase a D/D ele overall BL map for ~10 mins and finally I got him down. It’s fun and exciting but I don’t want to do it anymore coz it’s really waste of time.

Xsorus.2507:

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

You will never catch a Warrior/Thief/Ele who doesn’t want to be caught

If you caught an ele at all, He screwed up by quite a bit

There are several ways to achieve that, but the real problem is whether it worth.

Staff is a very situational weapon, it can be very useful in certain circumstances. E.g. keep defense/front line zerg fights in WvW, Dynamic events in PVE, and in PVP staff 1 is very useful against mesmers.
But I do agree that it needs more buff, Staff 2 is still bad even after speed buffs, Staff 5 sounds amazing but practically its long cast time kill this skill.

The whole process only proved one fact —- he is a bad thief player coz what he was doing is to fight you fairly. A good thief never engage into a fair fight since he always has the ability to choose. I play thief too, the main difference between a good one VS bad one is not skills but the way how you fight. To be a good thief, 1st thing to remember is to fight as cheap as you can.

awge.3852:

jkctmc.8754:

I beat Thieves on a regular basis, but there is always this one who does far more damage than any other Thief out there.

Case in point, just now;

I have 2632 Armor

2636 Steal
- This triggered Natures Protection 5 sec Protection
*4,361 Cloak and Dagger
- Wait, I have a 33% damage reduction on.
6,662 Backstab Note: This happened in less than a second. Keybind or Mouse Macro.
- Wait, I still have a 33% damage reduction on.
- This was a frontal backstab, which I think should be removed, and require back only.
- Hit the Thief with Winter’s Bite.
- Try to trigger Lightning Reflexes, yet it goes on cooldown, nothing happens. WTF?!??!?
- I dodge, escaping the damage of auto attack, and one heartseeker, which triggers 2 seconds more Protection.
4,025 Heartseeker
- Funny that, I still have 33% damage reduction on.
- This also triggers Barkskin.
4,025 Heartseeker
- I still have 33% damage reduction from Protection.
- Barkskin is either bugged, or does not stack with Protection.
- I dodge escaping Cloak and Dagger, which reapplies my Protection for another 2 seconds.
4,025 Heartseeker
Dead
Send my pet into a camp solo, and watch him die for being worthless to me.

The entire fight was roughly 5 seconds, 6 at most. My pet barely even touched the glass canon Thief, and my damage wasn’t much help either.

That usually happens when they catch you by surprise. I think it is ok that we get caught off guard like this, after a while you learn to react to those type of thiefs. I was fighting one myself yesterday, killed me the first time. He felt confident so he found me again and tried to come in for the kill. Well I am a BM 0/0/30/10/30 build, lots of toughness.

Steal+backstab+ oh wait I used shortbow dodge, heartseeker? failed in mid air due to shortbow stun, pet was on him (wolf) and stunned him again meanwhile I was doing damage with auto attack from shortbow. As he was stunned I activated sick-em + QZ for a very quick and massive burst, his health dropped to about 35% + applied bleeds from superior sigil of earth (60% chance to bleed on criticals). At that point the stun was over, he used a cloaking skill, I used troll unguent. I used ‘guard’ on my feet, switched to sword/horn, started to run around in patterns which would make him get closer to my pet in order to do backstab again.

At this point he came back, managed to backstab me+land a heartseeker and a poison(ouch), I used skill 2 of sword, skill 4 or warhorn, skill 3 of sword and dodged a burst he had in mind. My pet landed a few hits which surprised him since he immediately cloaked. I figured he wanted to BS me again so I used root and started to swing my sword everywhere. Dead thief = happy ranger.

He tried 3 more times, did massive burst damage everytime, failed to do enough to kill me. Lesson learned: glass cannon build thief can only do so much, learn to react to their bursts, try to always keep your eyes open around wvw for them, good luck that you don’t get surprised again.

I play ranger, “Guard” onto walls is not exploit, many rangers use it.
But, I have to agree that “Guard” is OP especially in WvW.
All posts above has not mentioned the real OP part of this skill. It’s not the ninja pet atk but the…… (don’t want to post here since not many ppl use it yet , but it can be really game changing especially in wvw, use your imagination)

I have just 1 request —- make pet F2 skill instant and with accurate response(no need to hit 5x times to activate it)

Ranger’s mobility is as good as ele/thief/warriors although it requires you to go melee and more skills than these 3 other classes to catch them.
Last night I use my ranger to chase a D/D ele overall BL map for ~10 mins and finally I got him down. It’s fun and exciting but I don’t want to do it anymore coz it’s really waste of time.

Xsorus.2507:

The problem isn’t so much damage on our Power Builds, we can do damage..though it has been reduced (Shortbow+QZ anyone, which was a huge damage nerf) but the problem is we just lack any escape abilities worth a kitten

Ele’s can run, Mesmer’s can Run (Plus have stealth/invul), Thieves can run, Warriors can run (Great Sword Warrior you won’t catch half the time, 2 charges that remove CC)

Those classes will haul kitten in WvW away from you quite quickly and there is nothing you can do…

I have zero problem catching a Necro/Ranger/Engineer once I’m on them (Though Guardians can be a pain to catch if they’re heal based with staff, every other spec you’ll catch)

Should make pet F2 skill has the priority no matter what pet is doing atm since the moment we cast F2 is just the right moment we need it.
Normally I hit F2 for 5x times to make sure it is casted since I notice the success rate of single button-push is only ~20%.

Agree with 1st part about in need of quality of life adjustments, but for 2nd free kill part ,it depends. Ranger can be as tough as D/D ele, if not even tougher, although it requires more skills than D/D ele.

Ray.2640:

Yea rangers need some quality of life adjustments, they do alot of damage if left alone but are usually just a free kill.

Rangers wanna say “Hi, where is our 3rd stun breaker skill?”

Ray.2640:

EVERY profession has 3 -4 stunbreakers, just the fact that YOU are not FORCED to equip all 3 of them doesn’t mean that you can’t.

Not really.
A GC ranger is as lethal as either BS thief or HB warriors, if not stronger. However, you have to do the same as BS thief or HB warriors —- go melee.

Build like this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAR8YnEVEZZVQWWwahgopgSWiV4QfGxS9+Do6ipKRC;T8Ag0ynEOJdS9kyJqaM1IqxWjrGZNLCGfspA

ROA—>Swoop—>Hilt Bash—>Swap Weapon—>Sword 1/Swap Pet—>Sick Em—>QZ to death.(meanwhile dagger 5 when needed)

A guaranteed “Holy Shxx” if you do as I said. But well, as the compensation, your survival won’t be good, but since you go for GC build, why care about survival, right?

Agadar.4931:

Glass cannon ranger is not worth it. It’s all glass and little cannon.

1, GS is ur friend , GS4 = same CD as mesmer’s mind wrack (their main burst) when traited;
2, patience, patience, patience. I don’t even bother to destroy mesmer’s illusions(the opposite way is also efficient by destroying them ASAP by using AOE such as a good trap build, it’s all up to ur play style) . If you atk illusions, you might be crippled , you might be confused while illusions do little damage to you themselves, anyway he gonna do it himself (to damage you), but this will also trigger your pet get the real one on target automatically and stick on him unless he stealth.

awge.3852:

CRrabbit.1284:

First of all, what build/weapon you are using vs mesmer? If you are running GC build, I won’t be surprised you lose to mesmer coz you simply suppose not to win them 1v1 when equally skilled. If you running some other builds (toughness related), some tips to fight mesmers:
1, never expect to finish the fight soon, the longer it last the better chance you have.
2, Try to fight in a wide open field (you get much better chance in WvW open field than inside a small room in sPVP;
3, Keep moving all the time, their atk has delay(altough not too much), but if you keep moving + dodge/ev wisely, they can hardly do damage to you.
4, learn to recognize the real one all the time, it depends on your pvp experience but there is a very easy way —- mark them (you need to be in a team).
5, use your pet wisely, this is hard to explain coz everyone prefer different pets but the key is keep u and ur pet separated. My way to fight mesmer is I just run around and draw attention from mesmer during fight and let my pet do the job in most of time, I only burst mesmer when his HP going low.

In fact I found that shatter build mesmer is the easiest to beat among all types. What you need to do is avoid his 1st burst(most shatter mesmers like to do it at very begining, but once you avoid that round, your pet will make him busy enough so he has no time to do 2nd round then it’s your turn to counter).
The real threaten is the Moa elite. A good mesmer will save his burst for ur Moa time, so you better make them to use moa as a survival skill but not the epic of burst.

A while ago I was doing what 90% of new rangers do, which is GC build. I learned from it and moved into an efficient toughness build. I often use greatsword OR sword/axe and a shortbow as other weapon. Wolf/Jaguar have been my main pets lately but I am constantly exploring the different possibilities between pet. I have become pretty adept at using my pet and I feel proud of my progress, however mesmer battles are rarely 1v1 in WvW in my experience. I have however experienced the moa elite/shatter mesmer and perhaps other builds.

Somehow my greatest problem comes from keeping my pet and myself focused on the real mesmer. I mean, you have to realize that there are a ton of things you are doing to both stay alive and deal damage, to throw all the tricks of the mesmer into the equation simply creates strategy chaos. At this point I manage to have a semi-fair battle against them, but in the end they always end up on top of the situation. I think part of that is because I choose to be mid-ranged to close ranged against them.

When I was GC build and used longbow more often, my arrow shower skill would pretty much get rid of the first wave of illusions, but even after you have damaged them critically, they have a good many ways to recover if given the chance. It’s not hard to give them the chance, they can go invisible, confuse you, etc.

I would like to know what has given you the most success and what you can consider general no-no’s vs mesmers. Thanks for the advice

First of all, what build/weapon you are using vs mesmer? If you are running GC build, I won’t be surprised you lose to mesmer coz you simply suppose not to win them 1v1 when equally skilled. If you running some other builds (toughness related), some tips to fight mesmers:
1, never expect to finish the fight soon, the longer it last the better chance you have.
2, Try to fight in a wide open field (you get much better chance in WvW open field than inside a small room in sPVP;
3, Keep moving all the time, their atk has delay(altough not too much), but if you keep moving + dodge/ev wisely, they can hardly do damage to you.
4, learn to recognize the real one all the time, it depends on your pvp experience but there is a very easy way —- mark them (you need to be in a team).
5, use your pet wisely, this is hard to explain coz everyone prefer different pets but the key is keep u and ur pet separated. My way to fight mesmer is I just run around and draw attention from mesmer during fight and let my pet do the job in most of time, I only burst mesmer when his HP going low.

In fact I found that shatter build mesmer is the easiest to beat among all types. What you need to do is avoid his 1st burst(most shatter mesmers like to do it at very begining, but once you avoid that round, your pet will make him busy enough so he has no time to do 2nd round then it’s your turn to counter).
The real threaten is the Moa elite. A good mesmer will save his burst for ur Moa time, so you better make them to use moa as a survival skill but not the epic of burst.

I think at least 50% of rangers will disagree with you that rangers are weak in sPVP, especially in 1v1. Yes there are some hard classes to beat in pvp but ranger can definitely give any other classes a hard time too.
For WvW, it really doesn’t matter which class you are and what you do if you just simply follow zerg. However in strategy level, ranger’s role in WvW is as godly as mesmer since our pet can do the dirty job which no one else can do, in this meaning I would even say rangers are extremely OP in WvW. I am even afraid that Dev gonna nerf some ranger skills in next patch.

PS: in fact I would like to see more QQing posts like this coz it may mislead Dev to give us better support. But if you understand what I mean, keep low profile please, we don’t want to be Thief II or Mesmer III.

Nice to hear more ppl is getting used to this combo. I posted it weeks ago and called it ranger’s version of back-stab+heartseeker combo but not many ppl liked it.
1 more suggestion: use ROA before this combo(if you traited NM 15+ for fortify bond), it makes u+ur pet hit harder and unstoppable !

Beardmonger.4692:

In WvW, if solo roaming, I have a GS and Sword/Dagger loadout. A great combo that I’ve started getting used to using effectively is Swoop-ing to a target, Hilt Bash, weapon swap + pet swap (preferably pet swapping to your DPS pet) and melting the target via Zephyr’s Speed. This is versus 1 or maybe 2 enemies.

Why use spike trap when you already have entangle? These 2 skills basically same idea but entangle = much more powerful. If I were you, I will use ROA when having spike trap or replace spike trap when having entangle.

Gorath.5076:

PS: I replaced muddy ground with Spike trap. CD is 5 secs higher but has lower casttime and no ground target, meaning less to worry about in stressfull melee struggles.

Let me go a little bit deeper to explain why healing power is important and why healing spring is important (it’s definitely not overrated , that’s the best ranger skill especially in wvw) :
1st, What is healing power really for? Before answer this question, look around and you will found ppl complaining about thief + D/D ele to be OP. Why they seem OP? It’s coz their ability to RESET THE FIGHT. Everyone makes mistakes(sometime also related to luck) especially in tough fight, but if you have the ability to reset fight, you can always have a fresh start to try again, and if ur opponent don’t have this ability, he will lose sooner or later. We rangers don’t have the powerful tools such as stealth or super mobility as D/D ele(in fact our mobility is pretty good), our best tool to reset fight is —- healing power.
2nd, Healing Spring is the best healing skill of all classes. It can instant heal u for a pretty decent amount(base heal+1st pulse) and also provide the longest lasting water field plus the condition removal. Why + regen duration trait(Nature bounty) or gears is important here: for healing spring, it heals u per pulse but not the real per second as regen boon, so anything + regen duration to xfer to healing amount increase. Not to mention that Water field + 2 leap finisher (GS + sword) will give you 2x extra instant healing as well.
3rd, what the sweet point of healing power VS HP. This is based on your play style, I am here just give some numbers:
Option 1: If you have 1000 healing power+Nature bounty+rune of flock: the moment you pop up healing spring, you get 6000(base heal)1200(1st pulse)1200 (flock)=8400, if you use one of leap finishers (GS or sword), you get another 1800, so totally that’s 10.2k instant heal. Then if you stay longer enough inside it, you get another 6k(another 5x pulses) and another at least 2x leaps heal (3600), so that’s totally 20k heal. — Practically you might not stay full 15 sec inside the circle but you also never pop spring when HP drop near 0(usually speaking the botom line is 20-25%), so it bring your HP back to full in most of time(assuming that you stay in circle for 1/2 of time). This is the reason why I say 20k HP+1000 healing power is a good balance.
Option 2: If you have 300 healing power and w/o nature bounty and either flock or dwayna: the instant healing number will drop to 5200+900+1500=7600 with leap. And even you stay full 15 sec with another 2 leaps, the total is only 14k heal. And same reason as above, practically you might get only ~10k healing since you might not stay in circle all the time, which is only equal to the instant healing amount of option 1.
So for 20k HP+1000 healing, you can pop spring every 15k damage taken, but 24k+300 healing, you have to pop it every 10k damage taken. So can you do 50% more damage by not using 1000 healing power? That’s why in a long fight, healing power is always the key to win.

Gorath.5076:

Vecuu.2018:

I still feel that 0/0/30/25/15 is hard to beat.

I agree for this is what I have been using before changing to the more CC oriented approach in order to be more valuable in group play.
Yet I believe Healing Spring is a bit overrated in WvW. You simply move to much. I find it hard to put a spring at a strategic position where I can either stand in it or shoot through it comfortably … But maybe thats just me.

What Rabbit said concerning pets I totally agree. A good deal of Damage comes from the pet and the Weapon skills which further enhance their offence (sword 1) are grossly underrated. I will definitely try to turn of auto targeting and also started weaving in a bit of healing power.
Your point that an ‘effective health’ pool is worth much more than just pushing health is very right and is what I did with my guardian, too. High Health only helps with countering high burst damage. After that it is much more important to be able to reduce the steady incoming damage through toughness and provide some decent healing.

PS: I replaced muddy ground with Spike trap. CD is 5 secs higher but has lower casttime and no ground target, meaning less to worry about in stressfull melee struggles.

In my experience (I used to run something close to your build), HP is just like a buffer pool for taking burst damage. A survival build ranger already have enough method to minimize the burst (high toughness+ evasion+ protection). It’s the healing power that makes the difference especially when you fall into a protracted war which is just what we want. So I would say sacrifice some HP for more healing power can give better result.
I always want to max BM trait coz I realized that our pet is the real weapon of ranger. Even if you go full defense gears, your burst damage is still incredible if you use it right.
For anyone who might argue with it, please try this combo:
30 in BM and 20 in NM to maxmize your pet status and get fortifying bound.
Use a cat as ur swap. Rampage as ONE. Spam sword 1 to your target, swap to cat (2s) and QZ 4s. Everytime u hit, ur pet get 1 might, everytime it hit, u get 1 might and xfer back to it again plus ur sword will give extra might every chain. With ROA, your pet will get 25 stacks of might in a few seconds. Can you imagine a 2500 power + almost 100% critical chance cat atk you under quickness(use sick em that’s another 40% damage since you might need not stun breaker if you only focus on roaming or 1v1 spvp) ? I have taken down countless warriors by that way under his hundred blades.

Vecuu.2018:

I’m ecstatic at the recent surge of survival Rangers, since I’ve played one for ages.

I still feel that 0/0/30/25/15 is hard to beat. 25% boon duration is massive and should not be underestimated. Bountiful Hunter and Two-Handed Training also yield a flat 10% damage increase, rather than the ~120 Power (assuming you’re in Healing Power Gear).

I run PTV Armor/Weapons with Dolyak Runes and Knight’s Accessories, along with a Greatsword primary weapon supplemented by an Axe/Horn combo.

3k attack
22k hp
3.2k armor

Most Survival builds rely heavily on Healing Spring for their durability, I prefer raw Toughness.

I’m beefier and do more damage. The difference is I don’t have Healing Spring supplemented by 1200 Healing Power, which is the main reason why Survival Rangers have become popular as of late.

1, you want something toughness+healing involved, you will find the balance at last. Don’t be mad on losing some crit chance since at least 50% of your damage comes from your pet, so your DPS lose VS significant survivability increase is a good deal.
3, My opinion about Muddy Terrian is — its risk/effect ratio is not worthy to use. Entangle is good in my opinion, yes it put u into a more dangerous situation but it’s lethal if used correctly, the risk is high, but the benefit is also high.
4, for sword use, did you turn off the melee atk assistance/auto targeting? In fact I love sword coz it will root you on the target as good as heartseeker. Plus the super evasion Sword gives, make it the best weapon we rangers have.

Gorath.5076:

Hey, thanks for the Quick reply.
1, what kind of item would you recommend? I chose Power/Vit/Thoughness as my Gear set and Berserkers for jewellery, since the Build really lacks Crit …
3, concerning the range Muddy Terrain you are abselutely right. Thats actually why I figured that the only way a CC build could be played properly was with a tanky melee setup. Entangle is even worse, since its centred around you.
4, my second weapon choice was a bit trial and error:
I used Sword + horn before but the root of the auto attack really got to my nerves. LB I chose over SB since for me it had the most synergies with the rest of my build: Rapid Fire and Barrage both greatly benefit from Quickness. Plus Barrage is also a nice CC ability.

My 2 cents:
1, you have too much HP but not enough healing power, which makes you just a fatter meat but not a solid rock. my suggestion is sacrifice some HP and get more healing power, I would say at least 1000 healing power + 20k HP will be a good balance.
2, a very important reason to use canine is their instant KD while swaping, that save kitten
3, I am not a fun of Muddy terrain since its range + cast time already put u in danger plus it’s easy to avoid, and you already have a much more lethal elite skill—entangle. I would suggest change it to some other skills.
4, from the play style you mentioned I didn’t see the reason to use LB, I would say SB or sword+x give you more options while combined with GS.

Gorath.5076:

Evening Guys,
I was just about to make a new Threat with a Survival build I plan to be using in WvW. Maybe this is the right spot to ask your opinions, though.

Here is the build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJARTjEVR2VWOWo2Bi2DOZpz/eEr03eXhRdyKaUL;T4AA1ynEOJdS9kyJKqMUJoySljKJVLCGEA

What I plan to be doing with it:
I run in a 20 man Guild Zerg most of the time. So Damage is not a primary goal of this build. It is much more about: Jumping into the thick of battle, drop the Muddy Terrain and my pets F2 abilities for CC and stay alive long enough to pick up the downstaters with quickness.
I use the drake hound for its shackle and the Wolf for its 2 sec Fear (alternatively the Wolf can be replaced with the Alpine Wolf for the Chill). Some people argue, that the F2 Abilities of especially the canine pets have a way too long cast time to be used effectively in WvW. In combination with the 2 sec Quickness from the first Minor Beastmastery trait and the low swap cooldown from the 15 point Minor Beastmastery trait I found them to be quite effective, though.

As a Ranger to be able to Jump right into a melee Battle and cast what ever CC I explained above I put a lot of emphasise on survivability. So my first weapon choice is GS with Longbow as second.
They both profit most from the 2 sources of quickness you gain in this build, being Quickening Zephyr and Pet-swapping.
Further I went for Barkskin and the Beastmastery trait granting your pet regeneration which also applies to you, even though it doesn’t say so in the tool-tip (I think its about 320 hp/3 sec).
Concerning the other choices I made:
I chose Healing Spring over Troll Unguent for the Combofield ‘Water’ which is quite nice to have on a battlefield even though I’d personally prefer the Troll Unguent for its synergy with Barkskin in any other situation.
Quickeing Zephyr I already mentioned briefly: Quickness. Very good with the third step of the GS auto-attack which grants evade and off course with the Longbow #2 and #5 abilities.
Second utility had to be Muddy Terrain for the CC.
Third was tricky now. Since this is mainly a melee build I had no trouble taking Spike Traps in even though its not traited. A cripple+bleed on my location at a 25 sec cool down seemed to go well with the general set up. The Build however lacks a stun breaker and generally abilities to deal with CC. Hence I chose Lightning reflexes instead.
The Ultimate is really up to you: I chose Rampage as one for the extra pet Buff + Stability, you could just as well pick Entangle though for extra CC. Cooldowns are the same and each one has its benefits.

I’d be glad to get some feedback from you guys, since most people consider me and my love for tanky Rangers in WvW a lost cause

Best,

Gorath.

I only noticed that you have to activate quickness (swap pet or QZ) 1st then rez or finish, if you do it in the opposite way, you are just wasting your quickness coz it won’t apply.

This build is very close to my current WvW build(30 in BM instead of 30 in WS and signet of wild instead of hunt, elite use entangle and ROA based on situation). By far that’s the most solid build I have ever tried as ranger in WvW.
You will be a super 1v1 duelist while roaming(only 2 classes you may have trouble is D/D ele and P/D thief, but none of them can stop you running away); you gonna be extremely annoying to your enemy during small fights (3-5 ppl) (your main job is to take down their most annoying class, in most case – mesmer); but the main role during zerg fight for you maybe is just healing + buffing + rezzing + finishing while sending your pet to annoy enemies.
It’s a fun build, but I am already getting tired of it.

Have tried Dwayna w/o bounty VS Flock+bounty, FLock+bounty wins by provide almost perma regen and extra spike group healing. That’s why I don’t choose oakheart since I already have enough regen when using bounty.
The biggest problem of WS tree is that all 4 skills in master level are so useful but all 6 adept level skills are mediocre. Maybe Anet should think about change it a little bit?
Enlarge + Bark skin maybe a good idea but it’s extremely focusing on 1v1 situation. While multiple players fight, I never want my HP down below 25%.

dottek.3461:

Use Runes of dwayna on armor (you keep regeneration) and leave natures bounty. Instead of it I get oakheart salve from wildernes survival to counter dmg conditions on me while not using healing spring with heal as one.

I use 0/0/30(V,VIII,XII)/20(VI,X)/20(I,VII); Enlargement + bark skin is pretty awesome combo since it boost your pet dmg and increase your and YOUR PETS Effective Hit Points by solid 7.5%

Here is some experience about several popular survival builds recently, 0/10/30/0/30, 0/0/30/10/30, 0/10/20/10/30, and 0/0/20/20/30. Tried with a ranger friend by using same gears (cleric or shaman), and surprisingly, no matter him or I who use 0/0/20/20/30 can always win other builds by a small bargain.
Some one may argue that 20 in NM trait is a waste, but in fact that’s the most important trait for ranger survival build coz it has 2 core skills of survival: Nature’s protection is used by most survival build by default so I don’t have to explain here. The reason you have to put 20 into NM trait is the real core — Nature’s bounty. You will significantly notice the healing result with VS without it. Especially in a tough fight, healing is the key to win.
If you never tried 20 in NM tree, go try it, you may have surprise.. That’s my 2 cents.