Guild Wars 2

I have to disagree that Aurashare is weak in PvE. It’s a good jack of all trades build for the jack of all trades class. It’s good for starting out as an Ele and I wish that the radius for the share was larger…and hopefully that will change.

Fresh Air (S/?) has a higher skill floor but lower skill ceiling than a D/D build, imo, in PvE anyway. I would recommend it once you get some practice with Ele in a D/D Aurashare build then switch to a FA one with 0/30/0/10/30 set up.

Armor of Earth, Arcane Shield, Glyph of Lesser Elementals, and Glyph of Elementals

Basically summon 2 fire ele’s right off the bat, and try to burst her with a DT+Phoenix. As long as you get a crit with an FA build, you can hit her while down with F2, 2, 3

Edit: This is the HARDEST boss for Eles in T1 and T2. Do expect to die once or twice on the others. This boss is the only real BS one..and that’s just due to being in such an enclosed space. The rest, for me anyway, were usually one wipe or two to understand the mechanics then execute. Though fight 3 in T2 was a pain too…

I run a variation of the build Wooden Potatoes does. Just look it up on youtube.

I mainly focus on S/D and using a Focus as a utility more than a constant weapon since I still like the offhand dagger when there aren’t projectiles everywhere.

Traits are 20(VI,VIII)/30(VI, X, XII)/0/10(III/VI)/10(V), and I might fiddle around with it some, but it works for now. Gearwise I’m using Valk armor, rubies, zerk weps (Perception in mainhand and battle in offhand) and Cavalier exotics with Beryl gems. (And a Celestial Amulet, but I’ll change that once I get two earrings).

Utilities are usually Signet of Fire, Arcane Wave, and Arcane Shield…though I do switch them out depending on the content. (Grawl boss usually run Cleansing Fire, Mistform and Shield).

That said I am still debating on what earrings to buy. I’m thinking of going all zerker besides armor until I can afford otherwise (since Scholar runes are expensive). Luckily, I have enough Badges to buy full zerker armor and not even spend 6g

Hope that helps

Didn’t work correctly.

Some of us do like the 30 point investment into Arcana for the 30% boon duration, the nice boons you get by swapping attunements, permavigor, and Evasive Arcana. Even on my Fresh Air build…I still like to run it. I also don’t run full Zerker because I find it dull and boring.

Take your own advice, Byron. Someone asking you not to start your post with "eles suck’ is not a fanboy. If you want changes for Ele, then be constructive, not destructive.

Fun is also SUBJECTIVE…not OBJECTIVE. I’ve had a lot of fun with my elementalist since getting him to 80…and plan on making him my main. And that’s over a Warrior, Guardian, Mesmer, Ranger, and Necromancer.

But yes…on to the REAL subject at hand.

The two builds I play S/D (0/30/0/10/30) and D/D (0/10/0/30/30) have a large toolbelt of support while having enough damage to help really push those DPS race bosses. I am working on a full Celestial set right now and can pretty much do enough healing with my skills to not even need to use my heal skill most of the time. And all that healing is AE.

While Mesmer does have a lot more tools for specific situations, most of its utilities are built around being synergized for 1 situation. Yes, there are some utilities that see more use than others…but it’s because that situation is very prevalent. (Reflecting projectiles, removing conditions, time warp, etc.)

Overall, I would say comparing a support Mesmer to an Elementalist is a very difficult task. Ele’s support can fit into any situation with no to little change in traits, weapons and utilities, while Mesmer has to tailor things to specific situations. But, that’s the point of those classes. Mesmer is supposed to control the ebb and flow of battle with their magic…and part of that is knowing the battle ahead and planning accordingly. Elementalist…like an Engineer…is more bring a bit of everything and make it up as they go along.

Arcane mage….good? 111121111211112…Sounds more like a GS warrior….

Anyway, I’d have to say yes and no on the typical caster thing as an Ele. Ele is much more like an Elemental Shaman (using Scepter), Enhancement Shaman (using Dagger MH), or…yeah…typical mage (using Staff). Its damage isn’t the major focus. We have pretty low stats and eh damage on our own…but we cover that up by stacking the boon called Might.

If you want a more…typical caster experience, I would suggest running a Deathshroud based Necromancer. It does a lot of direct damage and feels more like a caster…but is much more…annoying to level than Elementalist.

One last thing I’ll say is that levelling in GW2 is nowhere near as tedious as other games. Sure you don’t have traits early on, but they’re not as necessary to the game as talent points are in other MMOs. And you also fight a big boss at… I’m just going to let you find that one out.

Locking down != taking out.
A team != entire team.

The point I was making is referring to another thread made in this forum about a strong staff build. Yes, a player can lock down a team by only keeping a few members chasing them. (Again, play the objective not the kill counter…but that’s obvious…so I’ll hope people get that.)

If one person is causing trouble for a team, then change your strategy to either exploit the fact that one person on the opposing team is more focused on kills than objectives. Or, play to that person’s weaknesses. EVERY build has a weakness. And every class has tools to take advantage of that. Some have more tools than others…but if recent patches have anything to say is that Anet realizes this and is starting to spread those tools out more. (More forms of stability for Necromancer, as an example).

Well for one, don’t expect major changes until after the PAX tourney is over. Anet said they aren’t releasing major ones since people in that tournament won’t have time to adjust strategies.

They have said that major trait changes are coming after that for some classes. The latest major change patches haven’t revamped Ele yet, but we’ll probably have our turn either in August or September.

What really confuses me is that when talking about PvP most people seem to talk about players just killing others without any or with very little regard to the objectives. If a certain player is consistently locking down a team, then the whole team should focus on that player.

But, if you’re talking about where players are killing each other and ignoring objectives, then that’s never going to be fixed…because it doesn’t matter. sPvP is objective based, not kill based. Sure…there are matches where one team has all the kills…but loses because the other team was doing better at objectives.

I have a gaming keyboard with 12 extra buttons that I can reprogram so I end up using the ones under the spacebar. I am also someone who generally plays builds that boost the class mechanics so by the time I started my ele I was used to hitting F1-4.

Some advice I’ve seen is to add another binding with Ctrl+A, S, D, F for F1-4.

Other advice. Head to the Heart of the Mists, make your build, go to the golem dummies and practice. While you’re not in a combat situation where you have to worry about positioning and other things, it’s good to start working on muscle memory. That’s one of the biggest drawbacks and greatest reward of playing an Elementalist. You have a lot of combos. None are really difficult to pull off, but it’s very good to be able to pull them off without having to stop and think what buttons you need to hit.

Last piece: If you want to craft to speed up levelling, wait until 40-50 to do so. The first 40-50 levels will be the most…difficult. You won’t have the crutch of traits to help you out. You’ll quickly get a feel for when you should be using OH CRAP combos and when to use high burst combos.

And also…ignore all the whiners on the forum complaining about our lack of damage. We have low base stats since we’re meant to build ridiculous amounts of might on our own. And damage is only 1/3 of this game.

Umm…what?

You can stack might in fire with an S/D build with 0 points in fire. Here’s how you do it: Dragon tooth→Ring of Fire→Phoenix→Earth Attunement→Earthquake→DODGE

You could also add an Arcane Wave in there too.

Why does Ele need stealth? Ranger got a stealth on a weapon that needed a much needed buff. Just because one class has things elementalist doesn’t that doesn’t mean elementalists need it.

Balance in a good RPG is based on what your class/build lacks that other classes/builds have and what you have that others don’t. If every class has the same thing, what’s the point in having classes? Ele’s don’t need stealth. They need to have other things besides that.

But there are people who are willing to sacrifice damage for some passive defense. Not everyone wants or even needs to play as damage optimal as possible. I think I’ve only done the “optimal” group for CoF1 once…and it was just not fun.

At the end of the day we can min/max all we want, but the most important part of any game is to have fun. Some people have fun running zerker builds in max damage specs. Others will run viable alternatives. If someone doesn’t want to run a zerker build, then they shouldn’t. From my experience with raid leading, if people run the builds they like, they will perform better than builds they don’t. Practical DPS >>>>> Theoretical DPS.

Magichemist (Mage + Alchemist) Zeke….though he’s technically an alchemical engineer…but one word titles are best. (Asura too…obviously, bookah). I changed his title when I remade him into an Elementalist from a Guardian.

I’d go with full Celestial if you want a mix. Daphoenix has a post where he shows that it’s the best stats if you want to have a mix of offense and defense.

I found Necromancer to be a big pain to level (outside of crafting and zerg running in EB). That lack of melee cleave just makes everything so much more difficult.

I stick with D/D and have very few problems levelling. I actually am using the Aurashare build since it’s what I want to run for the most part once I hit 80. I don’t care if it’s not an optimal build. It’s a viable one and fun for me.

Oh, oh, I know this one!

Because these forums are all about how poor Elementalists are in this game and there is very little content here relevant to new players (like myself, to the class anyway). This in turns makes the game more frustrating to people who are either not great with making builds or like to discuss them…and they get turned away from the class. Therefore, harming the playerbase and increasing the ratio of forum whiners to forum helpers.

The drink is supposed to shave off 10% when it shaves off 20%.
The water is supposed to heal 20% when it heals 10%.

While I get the percentages are a rough estimate, 1999 is nowhere near 10% (for a drink) and 1028 is nowhere near 20% (for the water).

I hope the numbers were mixed up and this is not how it’s intended to be.

Use a Devourer in dungeons with Companion’s Might. If you’re running RaO, it’s the best pet. For one it has the highest toughness. Two it’s ranged. Three the poison cloud ticks also give you might. Four, its autoattack counts as 2 hits.

Then I just use River Drake for the rest of the time.

Quick Draw is better for Longbow than Short-bow. You’re right on a Short-bow build. You’re mainly using the autoattack for damage and the other abilities are utility. You’re dead wrong on a Longbow build though. The autoattack is just filler between the 2 and 3 abilities. The more you can use those two the more damage you do. And with the buff that 2 just got…yes channelling it DOES more damage than autoattack.

Cheetos Puffs or Flamin’ Hot I assume.

I would actually like to try a mechanic like this out in an MMO one day TBH.

I am also scared to see that in person. The banner outDPS’ing the GS.

It’s not so much the damage (well..it is but I’ll explain) that’s different. It’s the gearing system. There are no orbs to put into PvP gear so you do lose the ability to test them out.(And yes there are some cases where orbs are ahead of runes, except scholar…but I would never run that since it’s not my preferred playstyle). Also you can’t mix and match item sets. And even the item sets there do not match with the ones in PvE (points to berserker). And Crit damage has a much lower cap in sPvP.

In terms of mathematics, yes, it is lacking and the data isn’t…well..I wouldn’t say useless…but shouldn’t be the cold hard fact since there are many more limitations. It does, however, give you a feel for performance. Kinda like using zequals in a calculation. You get a heavily rounded answer, but you get a better feel for where the numbers are.

Why would anyone play the meta if they didn’t enjoy it? This is a game. You should have fun. If you’re not having fun, then kitten the meta.

But yes, I do understand that sentiment. As much as I like Ranger, for my preferred spec (the longbow zerker) I don’t feel like I have a lot of group utility outside being able to kite like a baws and hold Gaheron out of the room in P2. I do think Anet knows this (hence the buff to Spotter last patch) and could be planning something more. (Maybe explaining the pet nerf?)

But also, I do have to agree that Golems make poor dummies in this game. sPvP and PvE have different rule sets. Therefore…data from them for pure PvE purposes is useless. Anet should look into giving us some actual in-game testing dummies that are in a PvE environment.

The current “meta” for CoF is just plain terrible. I’ve run it with a Rabid Engie, a Hybrid BM Bunker ranger in Knight armor and a Longbow Zerker Ranger. Most of those runs don’t take more than 15-20 mins. I don’t have to ping gear or deal with wipes…and I can play whatever class I feel like.

So I can’t run it in 7 minutes. Big whoop de la freakin’ do. It’s a dungeon…those should be runs that take an hour. I don’t mind speedrunning it…but the best meta for that should be the exception not the norm.

Also…there is a difference between viable and optimal. There will always be ONE and ONLY ONE optimal build. Rangers are VERY viable (outside of AR bosses). Do I hit as hard as a warrior with one ability? No. Can I stand at 1200+ range with my channel ability that allows me to move around without losing DPS and avoiding damage? Yes

I also had no idea that the channel number at the end was the summation. Good to know!

sorrow.2364:

- Guardian: huge heal with passive effect – heal with block – huge heal with AoE heal. Where is the niche here?
- Elementalist: huge heal and condition cleanse with long casting time – good heal and extra boon – low heal and healing over time. Not seeing any niche there too.
- Warrior: huge heal – good heal and condition removal – low heal, low recharge and regeneration. No niche there too.
-Thief: huge heal, high recharge, condition removal and stealth – good heal, low recharge, evade and condition removal – meh heal, healing over time, low recharge. Probably the signet can be considered niche, but, still, not as niche as WoB or BF.
Do I have to go on?

Let’s see…here. I’m just going with classes I know (so…not Thief or Ele)

Guardian: Healing Signet..this is their go to heal just like CC. The heal with a block is very niche because to get its full effect you’ll need Might on Block and AH (30 points in a tree) and really shines in the Dredge Fractal and WvW…but is outshined by the signet in most other places. Healing breeze is a group support heal…like Well of Blood.

Warrior: Healing Signet..hahahahahahaha…No. Just no. Regen is kinda meh..and the full heal is waaaay too small. Healing Surge…again the average heal and gives full adrenaline if you’re not at it. I’ve…never even slotted the other one, but my warrior is mostly PvE and dungeons.

Ranger: Healing Spring is the go to heal…and the strongest if you can sit in it. Also a water field. Troll Unget is good for taking constant damage..but terrible at burst healing. Heal as One…good for burst…but HS is still waaaay better.

Engineer: Probably the only class whose heals aren’t as niche. Elixir H is great for a HGH build…because that gives condition cleanse…and 3 stacks of might…and another boon. (Seriously….on a full elixir HGH build…you get 8 forms of condition removal. On a HGH Grenadier there are 6.) Healing Turret is great if you aren’t HGH but…suffers from AE. Med Kit is good for group healing…sorta…though I personally would use Healing Turret over it.

Mesmer: Ethereal Feast…is basically the only heal you’ll ever need. The Mantra heal is mostly used in a 30/30/0/0/10 build and just to increase damage…not to heal. The other…maybe in the Dredge Fractal for the reflect.

It looks to me that…Necromancer has some of the better balanced heals. I mean…even at my kitten range in WvW…I do have to think about which heal to bring with me (at least between Well and Consume).

Dude…seriously. Read all the posts. People give you times where you would take Well of Blood over Consume Conditions. EVERY class has a go to heal that covers most situations and the other two are niche. That doesn’t mean CC is too strong…it’s just an average heal that can cover a wider range of situations. WoB is a better heal if you’re in a group and don’t have any or very few conditions on you (like in CoF P1, Jade Maw) or if you have people in the group to use whirl and projectile finishers to do mass cleansing.

I use Drake….and Devourer with a Longbow…

And am pretty kitten ed good at it.

Since you’re using one well, would Focused Rituals be a good alternative over Reaper’s Precision if you’re going with the 30/10/0/0/30 build?

I’m actually trying a Necromancer right now. Not a Minion Master…because…I have enough pet problems.

I mean..I still prefer to do dungeons on my Ranger over my Guardian, Warrior, Mesmer and Engineer…but something just feels off this patch. Or someone said in a 16 fractal today that monsters seemed to have had a damage buff lately. I didn’t think so…then the Ascalonian Captain hit me for 10,001 damage on that meteor spell.

I know I’m running a glass cannon build now but…that’s ridiculous for a random attack in an AoE that doesn’t have any kind of indication besides “It’s raining pain. Oh dear god it’s raining pain.” Sorry…got carried away there.

But yeah…I mean…I just really got into ranger a couple weeks before the patch. I went from level 1 to 100% world explored in under three weeks. I still like it enough to do a P1 CoF run, a 6/8 Fractal run and a 16/18 Fractal run per day…but just kinda bleh feeling

Jubs….I hit a 14k rapid fire today! Wasn’t even a crit!

(Gotta love perma-flanking Jade Maw tentacles)

What I don’t get is why people are complaining that melee>ranged. In EVERY MMO that I raided and did PvE in, ranged>>melee in terms of DPS. Besides bringing one or two for specific buffs that were needed, there was rarely any need for melee.

This is a better system. Melee is SLIGHTLY ahead. Yes, SLIGHTLY…not the dam lightyears people make it out to be. In my Longbow build, there are a lot of fights where my ranged does more damage (but I have to have full endurance, be at 1000+ range, flanking and have Frost spirit out). I did finally get to see a lovely 13.5k crit today on a Jade Maw tentacle without the Frost Spirit…mmm

It ticks twice instead of doubling damage

I don’t get where people are saying this complete and total BS. A masterwork GS does not do more damage than an exotic LB. If you use Chopp’s build with a LB/GS their damage is VERY close.

Damage (on crits) for the autoattacks on a Longbow is consistently over 3k. Just for a frame of reference, I don’t even have full exotic trinkets yet (still working on it). For the GS chain, the hits are 1.5k-1.7k. Factoring in the time, LB AA is 3k DPS and GS is 3k-3.4k DPS (chain is right about 1.5 seconds).

Looking at the other abilities with my build, the 2 on the Longbow (if I properly set it up) can easily spike up past 10k. I haven’t seen it get to 12k yet, but I’m not fully geared. I don’t really pay attention to the 3 since I use it for debuffing bosses and buffing my pet with swiftness. Using the GS in a fight, you’ll mainly focus on 1 and 2 for damage. 2 I’ve seen crit up to…maybe 4k.

I HIGHLY doubt that a Masterwork even a rare GS can beat a LB. Using a build based around a LB, their damage ratio with exotics is very close with the GS pulling MAYBE slightly ahead. But anything less than exotic wouldn’t stand up. They just don’t have enough weapon strength to even compete.

In open world PvE solo?

Yeah, why wouldn’t you use a Greatsword on a ranger for that? Sure you can use sword/warhorn and kill things more quickly, but it is a very high skill set that I don’t see as having a point in open world PvE.

Anyway, Longbow is better for group settings where you can sit comfortably at 1000 range. While you CAN do that in the open world, it’s very unwise. Mostly because that is probably in the aggro radius of another mob you can’t see patrolling or respawning.

I would recommend short-bow for this situation if you want to go bow. It’s much better at closer ranges than longer ones.

So, Chopps, what would you recommend for sigils?

I currently run Bloodlust on my Greatsword and Air on my bows.

I’m actually going to try this build with a Longbow instead of a short-bow. (Though I do have one on me when I need it)

I have a few questions for you:
1. Would you be able to recommend Greatsword with this build over sword? Yes I know it’s less damage, but I’ll take less DPS over dead DPS.

2. Would using Celestial Trinkets be a hindrance or just a minor loss for this? I prefer to use those on my Ranger over full zerker because I never like full zerker.

3. Why “Protect Me”? This might be just because I’m new to Ranger in Fractals, but why this shout. I mean I get what it does as a defensive CD and a stunbreaker, but we can just pop Signet of Stone with the Beastmaster’s Signet trait for a better defensive CD.

I’m used to playing a Hybrid BM build (0/20/20/0/30) and I haven’t played anything else since hitting 80 (which actually has been less than 2 weeks >_<). I’ve been looking to ditch the training wheels of Knight’s armor and use Berserker’s armor but I’d like a nice build to go with it.

Meeting the Guild

July 5th at 7 PM server in the Raven Lodge of Hoelbrak (on Tarnished Coast), we will be hosting a Meet and Greet RP event. There will be food, drinks, and a good time. (Yes, actual in-game food and drink is being brought.) This will occur on a bi-weekly status. Come join us!

WANTED!

Third Watch Advocates is looking for that special breed of people who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. Who are willing to do a variety of tasks and take any number of jobs. We aren’t the type who operate outside of the law but the lines may get blurry sometimes.

We protect those that need protecting, find what is lost, enter places few dare to trod. We do not call ourselves mercenaries though some would lay that title on us. We do not call ourselves heroes even though we might be. Titles are not needed. We get the job done and that’s what is important. That and the coin our “employers” give us for those jobs.

Though we are not from the same backgrounds, we do have each others’ backs. Trust and respect is earned by new members. We do expect you to show a bit of respect for the position our leaders hold. If you become a full fledged member of Third Watch Advocates you’ll find the most loyal group of people you could ever hope for.

If you wish to become an initiate send word to Daniel Moonshield and a time, place and date for a meeting will be arranged.

OOC information:

Third Watch is a guild based on Western RPG ideas. By this we mean that the guild is not only a place to socialize and meet new people, but also a place to find work. We are looking for all non-evil characters to join our guild regardless of race, profession and amount of skill. We expect our members to both IC’ly and OOC’ly be able to look over their differences and work together, even if there is some bickering between the characters (IC’ly).

At this point, we are a small guild and we are looking to grow. In terms of content we will do as a guild both IC’ly and OOC’ly, there is no limit. We would like to play every aspect of the game and (if needed) we will aid the players with the means to get things done. While we are a Tarnished Coast based guild, we welcome any and all roleplayers to join our ranks.

Application

To apply as an initiate, simply head to this site and fill out the application. While full character profiles are great, you don’t have to have one. Just some basic information is needed.
You may also send mail to Daniel Moonshield in-game to set up a meeting. Regardless of how you apply, a meeting is guaranteed.

Restrictions:
No evil characters.
No drugs (outside of alcohol and tobacco)

Community Interaction:

In the future, we plan on implementing a mission board system. While the GM and officers will be creating content for the members as well as encouraging members to create there own, we do not wish for our guild to exist in a vacuum where we seldom interact with the community outside of just small talk at bars. We are working to create a system that allows other guilds and organizations to “hire” members for jobs.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below or PM me in-game.

I play a ranger using a Hybrid BM build.

I have fun.

This is a video game.

I am having fun in a video game.

With my ranger, not my Guardian, Mesmer, or Warrior. Engineer is still fun in WvW because I hand out conditions like Oprah handing gifts. But I don’t want Ranger to do that. Because my Engineer does. I want Ranger to be a Ranger…for all its faults.

For levelling:
Healing Spring, Quickening Zephyr, Signet of the Wild, Signet of the Hunt, and Rampage as One are usually good for any non-trapper set up.

Hell, I still use that for solo’ing and dungeons (though I do switch out Signet of the Hunt).

Pre-40 traits, I suggest: 5 in Wilderness Survival, 10 Skirmishing (chance to bleed on crit), 5 more Wilderness Survival (lower CD of Survival abilities), then the rest into MM until 40.

40-60: 20 Wilderness survival (lower CD of survival and lower CD of Sword, Greatsword and spear), 20 skirmishing (chance to bleed on crit, lower CD of short bow), then 10 points in MM

60-80: I run the hybrid BM build (0/20/20/0/30). I enjoy it…but by the time you’re 60. I’d suggest looking for other builds in the guide Jubskie linked. A LOT of very useful info

A good pet combo is to have drake for tanking and either a canine or feline for DPS.

They’ve implemented rare pets in the past before…Anet probably wants to get pets balanced before they added new ones.

Besides, you could work on the Black Moa, White Raven, Black Widow and Rainbow Jellyfish in HoM.

There are 3 other bows in the Guild Wars universe that filled that role in GW1 and could be used by other classes. The Horn-bow, Recurve Bow and Flat-bow. Usually Rangers would use Flat-bows since they had the medium of all stats for the bows (arc height, distance and projectile speed). But that’s expansion content.

Longbow on a Ranger does have the longest range. I don’t consider Grenadier Engineer to be on par since there are a lot more restrictions. (And that setup is my main in WvW so I’ve had lots of practice with it) It does need things to be tweaked, but our focus as a community should NOT be on something new but fixing what we have.

As someone who’s spammed AoE against mass retaliation, it rarely should kill anyone. If it can, treat retaliation like confusion. It’s usually a short term duration that’s based on being hit. Or…just run a signet build and pop Signet of Stone during the attack.

Again, longbow isn’t terrible. It’s just that people think it should be our go-to ranged weapon, when it’s not. It’s a situational weapon. Shortbow and Axe should be considered our go-to weapons.

We don’t really need any more range than what we have. Longbow does its job well. Yes, it could be better, but it’s not as terrible as people make it out to be. It’s not supposed to be (for Rangers) the omni-situational ranged weapon. It’s a very situational weapon designed for turreting not moving.

Honestly, what we really need is either a trait or utility like “Read the Wind” from GW1. This skill made all the shots you fire for X amount of seconds do more damage and fly twice as fast. Really, I would have put this in place of Sharpening Stones, but that’s just me. This is different from QZ because it doesn’t increase your attack speed, just the speed of your projectiles.

Roxx’s Quiver used to be on the TP during the Flame and Frost stuff. Sadly that’s over.

However, you can make one in the Mystic Forge with:
1 Vial of Condensed Mists Essence
50 Globs of Ectoplasm
240 Philosopher’s Stones
250 Vials of Powerful Blood ((Berserker stats))/Vicious Claws ((Soldier stats))/Ancient Bones ((Rabid stats))

Warrior’s don’t have double the armor of ranger (using base armor) and only 3k more base HP (with is 20%). Longbow has a knockback. Shortbow has an evade jump-back shot that applies swiftness if it hits…oh and you don’t have to be facing the target. You can be running away from someone and shoot this. Your character will turn around, jump away then turn back. Shortbow also has a cripple. Dagger has a cripple and an evade. Sword has a jump back. Axe has chill.

We have plenty of weapons that give us distance as well as let us cover it. This isn’t even taking into account utilities and pets. Thieves and warriors have burst so they have a lot of upfront damage with mediocre sustain. Rangers have better sustain but poorer burst. And that’s the design of the class. You won’t see the numbers of the burst classes…but you also won’t have those periods of someone surviving your burst and your damage is now bleh.