What is it that you want to do ?
If you are going sword and torch you need condition damage . There are three ways to do this : rampager , rabid or apothecary .
Rampager and rabid are usually associated with trapper builds . Apothecary is the bunker build .
If you decide trapper , go 0 30 30 0 0 , and distribute the remaining 10 however you want .
If you want a bunker , 20 in wilderness and 30 in beasmastery is a must . The remaining 20 u can experiment with , but it is usual to play with cats or birds , hence u would want 10 in skirmishing to get the 30% pet critical bonus .
I wish pets were invulnerable . Always . Then you just tweak the traits associated with pet stats or health or whatever . A proper racial mechanic if you will
This started off as a shout question topic , but i have changed my mind . I want to suggest a radical solution to the PET FIX group of topics .
Every class has a special set of skills that is makes it unique , but this skill set only builds on the class and it never takes away from the effectiveness of it . Ranger Pets do , when you lose a pet it like you have lost a leg … or both .
Now i fully understand that the developers want the pet do be a significant part of the profession , and i agree with that . But pets dying sure does not help .
So my suggestion would be this :
1)All pets are invulnerable to damage
2)pets can be affected by non damage status effects : chill , cripple , stun, knockdown ..etc
3)Beastmastery trait line would give incremental bonuses to pet damage and critical chance
4)pets would benefit from any and all boons naturally .
5)fix creep agro so that pets cannot be abused
So what would this accomplish ??
Pets would serve as a consistent addition to the ranger , it would offer no downsides in dungeons . In WvW and sPvP it would still be avoidable either by kiting or by using status effects on it .
Thoughts ??
(edited by Chokolata.1870)
pure damage rangers do not work .
Yes, ranger has access to regeneration and vigor in abundance . Solid access to protection as well .
Ah i see , no wonder why I am getting such mixed results vs thieves . Bleh , here is hoping for a thief nerf then
i dont think rangers are meant to be made as a glasscannon . But i can suggest a build that will do as much damage over time as a warrior would without being totally useless .
There are many dungeons where 5 zergker warrior will just die
Funny enough , the best fights i ever had in WvW are in the Battle grounds jumping puzzle . So many walls , platforms and dodge areas . I win so many fights there even with dual bows , because i can use the terrain . Doesnt work against solid charget 1 click spammer classes like thiefs though .Or i may just have a mental block against thiefs . It is possible
How i understand this game is that it works on build counters . I fully agree that the thief is OP because it has huge burst potential , and can choose fights and has many escape mechanisms , even solid sustain .
However, shouldn’t the apothecary beastmaster build hard counter thiefs ? I mean , you would have 3000 armor , heavy protection procs , lots of evades and healing .
From what i understood is that once the thief is given boon punishment its basic damage will be toned down . Although the reason thief does so much damage is supposedly so it can burst down tanks . But isnt the point of tanks to not get burst down ?? Im a bit baffled
Heh , i do however understand that the ranger is harder to play in high level content then the 222222 mashing thief or random button mashing elementalist . There is no doubt in my mind that both of those classes need significant nerfs in some areas , with buffs in others .
At least when the warrior builds an assasin type build (called GC in this game ) u actually see him coming and if he messes up, he cant run away . Thiefs can mess up any number of times and still just run away . There is absolutely no downside to playing a GC thief , unless you are stupid enough to stand in a double condition field lol
I have been using the Dual Bow beastmaster build with great effect in dungeons , even if my pet dies , because on constant weapon swapping i can maintain a permanent 6 might alone . Add to that the Roar from the Jungle stalker and it goes over 10 permanent might
Considering that the build is not a glass cannon , i maintain one of the highest constant damage in the group . And i can buff with healspring for regeneration and vigor , or revive allies with Nature spirit .
I would say i have found an exelent PvE build .
I would like to give a suggestion about spirits :
1)Make spirits a wisp type orb that follows you around , much like the buff u get from the svanir or chieftain in sPvP . That way it will take far less space on the screen.
2)The spirits would be invulnerable to damage
3)Keep their passive abilities procs , but reduce the downtime from 10 seconds to 5
4)Make their active abilities ground targetable
5)Tweak the trait upgrades so that the Health Buff is translated into a cooldown reduction , and the grandmaster movement buff is translated into Range and AOE radius buff .
Can i get in on the duel ?? I wanna test some builds out too
It is a 7 month old game . Its live course will probably be 4 or 5 . Things will change , hopefully .
I use Celestial amulet and rings . I will probably get trinkets as well , but just not now .
I feel as if it goes best with a bunker or a trapper build thought , because no stat is wasted then .
In my mind , having 950 or 1050 condition damage difference is irrelevant , similar with 1000 or 1100 healing .
But i do agree that extreme builds could use a bit of a tone down .
And that would be absolutely no problem if you could actually see him approaching you . But you cant . Hence its a design problem . But it has been said that it is working as intended .
Condition trapper build , or any variant of the beastmaster build . It depends on what content you are gearing up for .
The main ranger problem is two fold :
-damage gear does not give the same amount of benefits it gives to other professions thus forcing rangers to go condition or bunker
-pets are very unreliable in hitting and die instantly in high level PvE content
So honestly , pets should either have significant damage reduction taken or be plain invulnerable , if they are gonna be 40% of a rangers damage output
Honestly , ranger never were good in big fights anyway , maybe use of barrage + entangle + muddy terrain… but even then its just pointless .
However , rangers excel in 1-5 player skirmishes , and there is where most ranger builds shine , the mainstream builds , be it trapper or any version of the beastmaster .
Another thing to consider is the fact that rangers have quite poor chasing burst power . U cant really finish off a thief or an elemental , the two main dueling classes , if they choose to run .
So to put it plainly , you can take on warriors , engineers , mesmers who suffer to either AOE or considerable condition pressure , condition removal or not , but you cant really win against an equally skilled thief or elemental so the best result you can hope for is a draw .
By playing pure damage builds you will simply lose to the elemental or the thief , and have a hard fight against classes that a condition build would just walk all over . Beastmaster builds allow for attrition hence enabling you to at least fight to a draw in most cases .
This is why pure damage berserker ranger builds are not good .
It depends entirely on your strategy . Berserker builds , at least for rangers , are really niche , as in made for PvE mostly , as berserker rangers are food in WvW .
Rampager builds , however , work really well with the best ranger weapon , namely the short bow . Rampager gear , also , gives you choice to freely swap trait distribution ranging from full trapper , even if a bit on the glass cannon side , and full on DPS . You can even do some crazy kitten hybrid beast master build with it and make it work… and then some .
So , my stance is that Rampager gear is better simply because it offers more flexibility when it comes to builds .
Ye , but you are a bunker , this is a GC… i just want to find a good build for mah bolt legendary… when i make it in 100 years
The ranger does quite fine in fractals up to level 26 , i have not done higher fractals yet
Actually it sticks you to your opponent like glue , furthermore it buffs your pet and cripples the opponent . Attack 2 is great for leap finishers or escaping , press 2 press 180 degree turn press 2 again . No 3 is a free evade and flanking tool .
But if you insist on not turning off auto-cast u can always stop the chain by using hornet sting , the no 2 attack .
The sword is quite amazing
turn off the autocast and press 1 manually . It takes a bit more effort , but the reward is great
You mean they hit every 3 attacks … lol
It is by design , supposedly because rangers have pets .
I wanted a build that maximizes my outgoing DPS with the short bow while giving me sufficient dodge and sustain .
I want to craft the bolt legendary so I am searching for alternative builds to the dual bow beastmaster I am running now, unless i stick with it and craft kudzu , if they buff longbows
Meh birds are there to provide some DPS and vigor on swap , and to spam their f2 . Most of the dps comes from short bow auto attack with a lot of critical chance causing sigil of fire procs.
In essence is a glass cannon-ish simple build
The lyssa runes are there for buff on heal , and mass condition cleanse and buff when you use your ultimate
How about the ability being called "Thunder Clap " . The ranger leaps and slams the hammer with such force that it dazes opponents for XX seconds . Blast finisher
Hey guys , i have been goofing off a bit with the character editor a bit after reading some interesting builds posted in the last few days . It might seem kind of silly at first , but bear with me for a while .
The idea behind the build is sustained composite damage while maintaining some defense and dodge ability .
Traits : 0 10 30 0 30 *
Armor and weapons : Rampager (precision, power, condition damage)
Trinkets : Celestial
Weapons : Short bow with superior Sigil of Fire , Sword and torch/dagger with superior Sigil of Hydromancy and Flaming uration/Poison duration *
Runes : Superior runes of Lyssa *
Pets : Hawk and Eagle *
So the logic behind this build is fairly simple , a semi beastmaster raw force build , but the ranger way . As it stands the best approach to build ranger would be beastmaster or conditioner , so why not both but take the offense route instead of defense ?? It is fairy simple honestly and plenty versatile . Power + precision + condition + Sigil of fire gives good sustained damage with AOE procs , which would be helpful vs those nasty mesmers .
You got your healthy dose of condition removal : shared anguish , emphatic bond , healing spring and lyssa bonus no. 6 .
You got solid power : 1500+ , solid condition damage : 900+ , excelent precision : 1900+ , and moderate survivability with 2500 armor , health regeneration and lots of evades and dodges given by your weapon choice , Lightning reflexes and vigorous pet training .
Expect some footage in the next few days when i learn how to actually edit videos . ty
the build:
I urge you to try my bowman beastmaster build for dungeons . U will have perma 10+ might and obscene sustained damage by constantly swapping weapons . Quite good i think
I would actually love the hammer. My ranger looked so cool using the cursed fractal one .. tee hee hee , good times
Maybe runes of lyssa would be good too ? gives precision and condition removal when you use an elite skill , all boons too
I love my ranger . What can i do , i get all warm and fuzzy inside when i play her
I do use Muddy terrain , I said that it would be nice if the pet landed some hits WITHOUT me burning crowd control skills non-stop
Does the Adept Skirmishing trait AGILITY TRAINING stack with the speed bonus from signet of the hunt ??
I have zero problems with rangers not being able to do high end berserker GC builds . However , pets dying in one hit vs some bosses and them having a hard time hitting strafing players is something that absolutely has to be tweaked .
If my pet could land every second hit without me burning every single CC ability i have , i would be more then happy .
I always thought it would be better if spirits were Wisp like with them govering like little balls around you , and not being killable .
If you use two weapons and use 2 sigils , say Energy and Hydromancy , do you get the iceblast and 50% endurance on swap, or just one or the other ?
I would advise trying the Catssassin build . It is really fun and quite strong
I would totally equip steam pets . My ranger looks like she came out of the MadMax movie anyway ahaha
I use both at once, even in PvP and i am happy
Ranger should beat a Necromancer, Warrior , Engineer in WvW dueling . You can probably 1v1 vs guardians too . Mesmers and Thiefs are a kitten but it depends . Elementalits you can only dream about beating lol
rangers are good at dueling if you spec for dueling . They just do not bring much to the team if you are not a trapper
WhideAndMilky, that is always a bad argument to make and has no value in debates.