Guild Wars 2

The NM line is amazing for PvP or WvW. For PvE not so much.

I mean, protective ward goes so well with bark skin. Evasive purity is an extra condition clear on a 10s CD. Oakheart and and the NM adept minor are for all intents and purposes enough for a permanent regeneration boost. Allies aid is good for side node skirmishes, instinctive reaction is good on the quickness part but the healing power into power is bad.. it should have been power into healing power….
Invigorating bond and Natures vengeance are just worthless however.

Clearly, for PvP and WvW purposes WS line is definitely the top line. Everything else builds around that.

I have noticed a few patches out already, but did they fix HS not healing the pet yet?

The rangers are in a worse spot, not because of them becoming bad, but because the top 3 classes for PvE just got much much better.

Warrior got a 35% damage boost compared to the base damage values when using PS (base values are without % damage modifiers)

Thieves damage got boosted, I cannot bother calculating by how much, because they can take many % modifiers, get 200 power on revealed training and 250 ferocity with no quarter.

Eles got better a tad.

So the optimal composition is: PS war, 2x staff ele, 1 thief and 1 guardian. There is no reason to bring any other classes in dungeon runs.

Ok guys. It has been a few days now… So, in all 3 modes, how would you rate the ranger? But be realistic now..

PvE

WvW

PvP

The issue at hand is weather the warhorn 5 CD is worth the 30s or not. Windbourne notes is a bad trait. We do not need more regeneration, we got it so much already be it on actives or traits.

Did they nerf the scaling? In PvE i am seeing constant 15-20k rapid fires on bosses with might stack as it was before the patch. The only modifiers that is missing is 5% from eagle eye, but that is like a whatever for me.

I am using LB with sword/axe or GS with full on defensive traits.

LB sigils of fire and air, sword/axe or GS with battle and energy

Oakheart, shared anguish, wilderness knowledge, instinctual reaction, evasive purity, protective ward, GftE, wilting strike or GS mastery, zephyr speed. Wolf and spider. Works great. Marauder amulet, runes of the traveler

A 1v1 burst of 100-0 should never happen.

It was bugged. It is supposed to use WH 5 on swap which has a 30s base CD.

Its a knockbac and a 6 bleed up from 3.

There are a couple if things that I would like to talk about, which have been most likely overlooked by not taking into account the power creep that has happened in the latest patch. Traits that have been borderline useful before the patch but are now fairly bad, albeit sometimes necessary to take.

EMPHATIC BOND

-Rangers condition removal has been pretty bad before the feature pack that has introduced Survival of the Fittest. After that, as far as PvP and to some extent WvW was concerned, the ranger could keep up against pure condition specs.

In the lastest patch, SotF (now wilderness knowledge/mastery) and EB share the same spot in the Wilderness tier. Which is ok to some extent because overcoming the ranger condition removal on utilities and weapon skill problem by traiting was indeed silly.

However, with the massive power creep that is the current condition situation, the pet just melts when emphatic bond activates. Thus I would like to suggest that it either be changed to:

-Converts 3 conditions from ranger into boons for the pet

or

-Every time EB pulses, the pet gains 3-4 seconds of resistance

SIGNET OF RENEWAL

-This patch has made serious progress into making a positive interaction between the ranger and the pet. Having said that, having a signet that for all intents and purposes kills the pet on activation, IF it decides to work due to a range restriction, is simply not good design and does not promote a positive attitude towards the pet. The pet should never be a dump of sorts. Thus I would suggest

-Signet of renewal no longer transfers conditions to the pet, it just clears them
I would either go as far as to suggest a CD reduction to the level of some other similar anti conditon abilities but that would probably imply removing the group effect.

WHIRLING DEFENSE

-This skill has been the laughing stalk of the community for ages. The concept of the skill is solid, but the problem is that it roots you in place. The engineer had a similar skill on the shield that got changed into being usable while moving. I know that the animation already exists and that it would be a pity of removing it, but I feel that this is a huge game play issue first and foremost. Thus I would suggest:

-After a brief channel the ranger creates an AOE dome, similar to feedback that pulses vulnerability to enemies and retaliation to allies for 4-5 seconds. Reflects projectiles.

SHARED ANGUISH

I have to say this, compared to other classes similar traits this one is utter crap. Without further ado, I suggest:

-Reduce the ICD to 45 seconds and add the Hide in Plain Sight functionality to the ranger

PROTECT ME

This should be used. It should compete with other utilities that let you sustain yourself. But it does not. It is the only defensive ability in the game that has a massive drawback. Not only does it come with a DPS penalty, but it also destroys your class mechanic. Thus I suggest:

-The pet no longer dies
-For the duration of the shout both you and the pet pulse 1 second of protection and resistance
-The pet, as it does right now, comes back to you and cannot attack
-Remains a stun breaker

PET VITALITY SCALING

I have noticed a long time ago that 300 points of vitality are not worth 3000 hit points for the pet. The pet gains 1500. This should be rectified as it is not intuitive. If by chance I am wrong on this one, please correct me.

Guys, thank you for reading. I hope you understand that this is talking about things that are either conceptually bad, or are simply never or rarely used. Please do not view this as an OMG BUFF RANGER LOLS.

Steady focus is a PvE trait.

Seriously. Something like:

Settlers armor, Earth runes, WS,NM, BM, Runes of energy and geomancy on sword/torch and axe/dagger.
Oakheart, ambidexterity, EB, allies aid, evasive purity, protective ward, timbre, wilting strike, beastly warden.

Troll mania hahaha.

Has anyone thought of making an immortal bear troll ranger?

The power version I am using in PvP is:

-WS: Oakheart salve, shared anguish/refined toxins, wilderness knowledge
-NM: XXX adept, evasive purity, protective ward
-BM: GftE, wilting strike, zephyr speed

Marauders amulet, LB with fire and air, sword/axe with energy and bloodlust. Runes are still a mater of preference but i have found Travelers to work really well because of the move speed and 15% boon duration.

This works really well because you have near permanent protection and weakness up time so you can do well vs power builds. With a good up time of regeneration and trolls unguent and solid condition removal you can sustain yourself properly. Pets are up to choice but i go with the standard spider/wolf combo.

EDIT: I forgot the skills, ty Heim.

TU, QZ, LR, SoS and Entangle. Pets Wolf and spider/hawk

I think its a deliberate decision to make builds more extreme. If you go DPS then you are all out dps. If you are a bunker then you are an all out bunker. If you want to be a bruiser, cool, but then your damage takes a significant hit.

Did you try the old knights amulet? Toughness, precision and power?

HS will activate right away, just stay in it…

I wonder though. I have been using sword/axe and longbow with predators onslaught instead of remorseless. Quickdraw allows 2 consecutive rapid fires with maybe 2 auto attacks in between and then you swap back to axe sword. Hitting 2 consecutive 20k RFs and applying 20 vulnerability is good imo.

I am not sold on remorseless and GS yet.

I am talking about PvE here.

The build is: Strength, arms and tactics.

221, 212, 333.

It is fairly simple. You open up with SoR active and adrenal heal to pump up that might and adrenaline. mace 4 axe 2 eviscerate, swap to GS and camp it for the rest of the fight.

No, when playing PS you camp the GS. If you are not playing PS then sure, you go disc.

Ele can stack 25 vulnerability with a single click on a boss. And for all practical purposes its perma because the boss dies in 5 seconds. Furthermore, the 3 main classes have gotten major dps buffs.

Warrior which got for its basic PS build:
-10% GS damage
-10% up from 3% extra damage when endurance not full
-20% extra damage when hitting a burst skill
-baseline vulnerability on crit

The only nerf was 5% down from 10% damage on bleeding foes. But overall its a net extra 35% damage on the base values, values without any modifiers, which makes PS the stuff of dreams.

Thief…. O M G. And else is just overall much better too.

Open world is kind of irrelevant. In dungeons i fear that Rangers will never get invited anymore.

The ideal composition of 1 guardian, 1 PS war, 1 thief and 2 elementalists just got a lot more stronger, while our damage got a bit stronger due to pet doing a bit more damage.
But it is no where near the 40% DPS buff the PS warrior got, or the insane free damage the thief got for PvE. The meta is still stack, freeze and burst so bark skin does not mater.

I would rather go with a rabid amulet and take sharpened edges. Dual geomancy and energy sigils.

Also if you are using WS, then i would suggest going into the NM line instead of BM. Evasive purity is a godsend

HS is much better for conditions quite honestly-

The problem with traps at the moment is that HS does not heal your pet. However, HS on a 24 second CD is a very very good heal skill, especially in this condition heavy meta.

PBS basic range used to be 900. Now its 1200. So up by 300.

I know all of that… hahaha i have played over 1500 PvP games as the ranger. It really does not help against condi specs

Healing Spring does not heal the pet

Natural healing regeneration does not seem to be working (BM healing trait)

I was wondering why my pet was dying so much in PvP and then it hit me. EB is now transfering stacks upon stacks of burning and poison on the pet. I am seeing the pet hp go from 100 to 0 in a couple of seconds.

Oh, and HS does not heal the pet. wtf?

And what are the dangerous traits? xD

Two builds I am currently playing with are..

Power

-Marauder amulet(power, precision, ferocity, vitality) with either runes of lyssa or the pack.
-LB+fire+air, sword/Axe+energy+bloodlust
-WS: oakheart salve, refined toxins, WS knowledge
-NM: allies aid or quickness, evasive purity, protective ward
-BM: GFTE or companions might, natural healing and zephyr swap

Now, before you laugh at natural healing, I am using the fern hound and jungle stalker combo. The stalker is a great dps pet now because it can hit reliably and when i activate it, i will have 8 might and the pet 13 might. For the Fern hound, its perma regen and a quite solid boost to survivability because it has 450 healing power.

Condition

-Skirmishing: trap trait, barbs, quickdraw
-WS: oakheart salve, ambidexterity, EB
-BM: GftE, wilting strike, beastly warden/zephyr

Settlers ammulet, batlhazar runes, Sword/torch and Axe/dagger both with energy and geomancy sigils.
HS, Firetrap, Poison trap, XXX, Spirit of nature. Hawk and wolf pet

People are experimenting right now, but WS line is the one that is really set in stone for PvP or WvW.

I think that eventually we will settle for WS, NM and BM lines.

Oakheart salve, Deadly Toxins, Wilderness Mastery, quickness on 50% hp, evasive purity, protection trait, GftE, Wilting strike and Quickening zephyr.

You get it, you just have the tooltips updated.

Please check again, because it is not working for me.

Has anyone considered power trapper?

Yes, the skills are much worse without the range. This is… just wow

As the title says. I mean its not much but a nice feature got removed… sigh And it doesnt seem to be per second anymore but per 3 seconds

Hey guys, I am gonna make a list of my top 5 changes for the ranger and reasons behind each point on the list.

5) Making all of the AOE and range upgrades baseline. There is not much to say about this other then it makes sense, that it has been done for every profession and that it makes many weapons viable in situations that were never really possible before. For example not having to go into MM if you want to use the LB. You can, but you do not have to

4) Allies aid trait. This has to be one of the things that I have been wanting for ages, for a way to positively interact with the pet. This makes it possible to do various things, even go full tank with a stupid tank pet and make an impact in the middle of a team fight.

3) Bark skin. Yes, having an innate ability to survive the first burst from a thief without losing more then half of your HP is a god send for that annoying LB zerker.

2) Zephyr superspeed. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

1) Whole of BM tree. I think that the Ranger has benefited the most with the changes to the way stats are distributed. To top it off Resounding Timbre, GFTE, companions might, wilting strike, GS trait, Natural healing, Beastly warden and Zephyr swap are all amazing. Honed axes is bleh, but who cares. There are real choices to be made here.
Furthermore, 10% damage increase while your health is above 90%, pet ability CD reduction, 20% extra critical damage and 30% more speed for your pets is a crazy good buff. If anyone ever used the 30% buff, then they know how it actually makes your pets connect on moving enemies. O M G!!

My 2c. Thoughts?

I feel as if the Ranger got a major buff in regard to pets in this patch. The BM line is just so good now that it is hard to justify passing it over in both power and condition builds. The only unknown are the spirits.

But that BM line, so good…

They could just buff it somewhat. Do the same thing they did with rapid fire, place the vuln stacks on volley. Then change the vulnerability placing skill into a daze or something

The idea for traps is for them to provide an area denial, and i suppose the new HS be one such effect, an area where you have an advantage. I feel as if some interesting plays can be made with it.

I am talking about PvP or WvW ofc. Not about PvE

Um, with the new changes the pet can keep up much better with a strafing enemy. Remember, it will get a 30% speed increase, 20% CD reduction on its abilities and if you are going for a power build you can get zephyr for super speed on pet and for kiting.

Not to mention that you do not have to spec into MM anymore if you want a functioning Longbow. Playing a power build and going into WS,NM and BM is viable, is it not? Clarion bond is cool and all but what will you use it to blast on? You do not need pet swiftness either due to the 30% speed boost. Opening strikes is bad and quite honestly you will get nothing out of predators and steady aim. Lead the Wind is not needed. The whole line is worth it for either LtW or Remorseless but I would argue that you will get far more value out of the other lines.

I am aching to try this build in PvP:

WS:
-Oakheart salve, Refined toxins (only for the negative healing effect), Wilderness mastery
NM:
-Instinctual reaction, Evasive purity and Nature ward
BM:
-GftE, Natural healing and Zephyr swap

Pets: Fern hound and Jungle stalker

utilities: TU, Zephyr, LR, XXX, Entangle

For 3 years we have had issues with non traited condition removal. And this balance pack just serves to highlight this problem further by placing EB and SotF in the same line.

We have no condition cures or transfers on our weapon sets and we have only 3,5 skills that actually remove conditions: Healing Spring, Signet of Renewal, Lightning Reflexes(the 0.5 one)

Proposed changes:

Signet of renewal
-Remove the condition transfer component
-Change the effect to- remove all conditions from ranger and pet
-Reduce CD to kitten

Warhorn
-Warhorn 4 skills transfers 2 conditions to the targeted enemy

Protect me
-Removes 3 conditions from the ranger and transfers them as boons to the pet

I feel that these 3 changes will open up the build spectrum much much more and allow far more options in combining different specialization lines.

Predators is a PvE trait, I don’t think it will ever be useful in any PvP game mode.

Poison master is worthless now that it competes with wilderness survival as you would have very bad condition removal if you take it.

Invigorating bond is crap as it was before this patch. So sad, missed opportunity here.

I agree that the Ranger will be better then on currently when the patch ships. But so will everyone else, especially PS warrior who will not have a major DPS loss compared to the standard GS-axe/mace build when going PS.

Having said that, we will have a 10% + 10% damage modifier, 10% extra critical chance, and a 7% party critical chance and 7,5% party dps buff with the next patch.

Also if we are going into BM we will get 10% extra pet damage if the ranger is above 90% HP, ofc companions might which would be needed if there is no fortifying bond. So the pet gains extra 15% damage but will lose 10% extra critical damage (300 down from 450 ferocity means 20% down from 30%).

Depending on the content, i feel as if the BM line will compete with NM, but it all depends on how good the spirits are actually post patch.

The build seems like this: MM, Skirm, BM

-clarion bond, steady aim, predators
-XXXX (possibly trapper trait for HS CD), spotter, quick draw
-companions might, wilting strike, quickening zephyr

The reason i probably won’t be buying the expansion as a pre purchase:

-it is expensive for an expansion, i bought the core game for 35 euro a few months after release as a physical copy
-I do not know the amount of content available
-There is no release date yet

Actually, up until now there was no reason to swap pets that often, but now that you get quickness+ 3 might on swap + Call of the wild every second swap there is. I suppose its more for glass builds to compact your burst spike. It is also very useful with quickstomps and quick f2 casts. The jungle stalkers 3s cast time becomes a much faster 2s cast time, wolf howl is near instant, etc…

And if you want a different play style, you can do that too now as well.

Zephyr superspeed on pet