Guild Wars 2

Mr Snotty Pants.3980:

I’ve been playing around with the pigs for fun. I’m liking warthog too: 3 good condition attacks, 2 providing fields. Chaos armored pig is not uncommon.

The problem with Warthog and Boar is that they can forage Skull Fear twice in a row, but you can’t use it twice in a row because the skull has its own cooldown of like 3 minutes. While anything Siamoth forages can always be used and can also have a big influence on the outcome of the fight. I’m not too fond of the Pig, since the stuff he forages don’t seem overly useful.

Although it makes sense, I’d rather keep them on seperate skills. I want to keep the 25% movement speed.

But it would make my build far more powerful, since I wouldn’t have to slot Sic ’Em anymore when encountering thieves. I would always have it available. It would maybe be a bit too powerful.

Also, revealed on Sic ’Em does make sense. It’s basically telling the pet to track the target down. Making it impossible for the thief to hide.

Also, Sic ’Em requires a target, but (currently) Signet of the Hunt doesn’t. You don’t want to waste the revealed because the thief dropped your target a split second before you use it.

On my Longbow Ranger, retal is one of my biggest enemies. It’s so bad that I wouldn’t mind there being something for Rangers through traits that makes them immune to retal or halves its damage.

In fact, change Strider’s Defense to do this:

• immune to retaliation

It also makes little sense that Ranged damage can get retaliated. The nearest enemy is 1500 range away, but somehow the Ranger dies.

yes, if the pet is in combat, the Ranger will be forced into combat as well.

Siamoth is probably one of our best pets. 2 items that give stealth and 1 that gives most boons for 10s. I’d advice everyone to try it for a while.

Burning, Blind and Stealth would all fit the theme of a torch. Smoke Field too for example.

Ranger pets can be so worthless. Especially in parts of WvW.

The 60s cooldown on dead pets is the main reason.

A living pet has a 20s cooldown on switching. 60s is a 3x higher cooldown and it’s often not even within the player’s power to prevent a dead pet.

Also, the next pet has a much higher chance of dying as well, since it has to survive for 60s instead of 20s.

Nothing else in the game gets punished as hard as a Ranger pet dying. Even Ride the Lightning only gets a 2x higher cooldown if it doesn’t hit an enemy.

Red Moa (on passive)
It’s the closest thing to not having a pet and it gives the Ranger on-demand Fury.

Brown Bear
The condition removal is pretty good. (2 every 25s. 1/2s casttime)

If this trait triggers, there is good chance that it was already being evaded anyway, considering there are so many evades on Ranger melee weapons:

• sword 2
• sword 3
• dagger 4
• greatsword 1
• greatsword 3 (after update)
• greatsword 4 (block)

I’d rather have it work differently, like:

• 5s cooldown on weapon swap instead
• trait always works, even when not attacking
• trait always works, even when not using melee weapons
• 30s aegis every 30 seconds while in combat
• 10s aegis on weapon swap

Anything else really… the whole Skirmishing tree could use some serious upgrades.

I used to use Heal as One a lot on my glasscannon Longbow build, since it has the lowest cooldown and the highest burst heal. But, I changed to Troll Unguent, simply because Heal as One gets interrupted with it’s long cast time. Also, Troll Unguent heals more, if you can survive for 10 more seconds. Also, you can use Troll Unguent as soon as you start taking damage, rather than when you’re nearly dead. Also, Troll Unguent can act a bit like a condition removal (at the cost of the heal).

So yeah, I won’t be using Heal as One anymore. Especially once Signet of Stone doesn’t need a trait anymore. I could just be immune while Troll Unguent takes its time to heal me up.

Some suggestions for Heal as One:

Heal as One

• revive pet with 6520 (+1.0*healing power) health

Same as its current form, but can also revive the pet.

Heal as One

• Healing: 3,260 (+0.5*healing power)
• 10s cooldown
• 3/4 cast time

Everything is halved. Cast time longer on average (1/4s longer), but can’t be interupted as easily. Perfect synergy with “on heal” runes, which have a 10s cooldown.

Stider’s Defense on the Ranger should be changed to do this.

My Sylvari Ranger

My Sylvari Ranger

What’s odd is that you can break out of any movement skill (like a leap) by swapping your weapons, but not with a dodge.

It’s the only counter to stealth in the game. So, no, not unless more skills get the revealed debuff (like Sic ’em) or revealed is applied every time someone comes out of stealth.

Thief is the most powerful stomper by far:

• stealth stomp
• blind stomp
• stability stomp
• teleport stomp

Thief is also the hardest to stomp:

• stealth (100% chance of success)
• teleport (100% chance of success)

Elementalist has the best WvW downed skill:

• invulnerability + movement
  (can even move into towers/keeps while downed)

For max damage you could go Sigil of Air and Sigil of Fire. I personally mainly use Longbow, so I have these sigils on there. I use Sigil of Energy and Sigil of Bloodlust on my Greatsword.

The health buff didn’t happen in WvW or sPvP, as far as I’m aware.

There is also:

• Red Moa ( Fury boon )

With the pet on passive and surviving a lot longer in WvW, Protect Me is a whole lot more interesting. Also, Empathic Bond and Signet of Renewal active.

• Pet AoE skills don’t prioritize the Ranger
• Pet AoE skills don’t prioritize the party either
• All pet traits require the pet to be in combat
  ( worthless traits if pet is on “Avoid Combat”-mode )
• Pet skills with a cast time of more than 1s are borderline worthless on the move.
  ( Jungle Stalker might be the worst with 3s. Brown Bear(0.5s) and Red Moa(1s) should be the norm. No pet skill’s cast time should take longer than 1s. )
• Brown Bear tries to get into range of the target before using its condition removal. It shouldn’t do that.

Bryzy.2719:

Holland.9351:

Plated Behemoth (wiki)
AoE Stability (8s) – 40s cooldown – 1/2s cast time (same as Brown Bear)

Green Moa
AoE Swiftness (15s) – 25s cooldown – 1s cast time (same as Red Moa)

They would help the Ranger’s usefulness in zerg movement/warfare, UNLESS they root when they cast like the god kitten jungle stalker -.-

They all root in place when they cast. The cast time is what matters though. Brown Bear is excellent with only 0.5s cast time. Red Moa is pretty good too with only 1s cast time. Jungle Stalker however has 3s cast time. That’s 6 times longer than the Brown Bear. It’s just ridiculous for that pet.

For extra condition removal:

• Empathic Bond
  Drop Signet of the Beastmaster or Two-handed training and put the points into Wilderness Survival line.
• Brown Bear
  The condition removal is pretty good. 2 conditions every 25 seconds for up to 5 people.

Something to consider:
You could drop Signet of Stone and Signet of the Beastmaster and replace it with Protect Me. Less reliable, yes, but it has a shorter cooldown and it’s also a stunbreaker. Then use the trait points to get Empathic Bond.
(replace Protect Me with Signet of Stone at the next balance update in a month or 2)

Plated Behemoth (wiki)
AoE Stability (8s) – 40s cooldown – 1/2s cast time (same as Brown Bear)

Green Moa
AoE Swiftness (15s) – 25s cooldown – 1s cast time (same as Red Moa)

Atherakhia.4086:

oxtred.7658:

Correct me if i’m wrong, but rapid fire dps will be the same as before. Cooldown does not change, so the dps ( damage per second, remember) will be the same since you’ll have to wait more for rapid fire to be off cd. The rapid fire burst and the lb dps as a whole will increase a bit, though.

This is what I thought too but another poster pointed out that the cooldown doesn’t start until after the spell finishes. So they are right, effective damage will increase because the effective cooldown for the skill went down due to the channel time being less.

But even if this wasn’t true, you would be able to fire a Long Range Shot or two in the 2 extra seconds you won’t be stuck casting Rapid Fire.

I think the tooltip shows the pre-cast, but not the after-cast.

• Long Range Shot probably has a 1/4s aftercast
• Rapid Fire either has no aftercast, or an aftercast of 1/2s.

Which would give Rapid Fire a total time of 5s currently, and this total might be what gets reduced to 2.5s.

I often use Rapid Fire + Quickening Zephyr, so the burst is already in the game.
After the patch we’ll be able to use it a whole lot more often though and it doesn’t require a utility slot.

Using Rapid Fire + Quickening Zephyr after the patch will probably be a waste.

The biggest complaints might come from WvW thieves, because the 6s reveal on Sic ’em is a very long time if you depend on stealth to survive.

The range on the longbow in WvW.

Read the Wind + Eagle Eye are required for the build. I also like to go for maximum damage, aka glasscannon, which also makes it pretty exciting to play because the only real advantage I have is my range.

Also consider that Hunter’s Shot has a grandmaster trait dedicated to it: Remorseless
Hunter’s Shot is the only skill that can trigger Remorseless. I believe that is already reason enough to make it 100% reliable.

It would be great to be able to use Hunter’s Shot on the run, so with your back is towards the enemy, or when the target went into stealth.

The Thief, Mesmer and Engineer all have access to on-demand 100% reliable stealth, but not the Ranger. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for it to be reliable.

As for the skill itself, I don’t care about the hit at all. It doesn’t even do half the damage of Long Range Shot at short range (even pre-buff). The shot also provides swiftness to the pet, but that always works with 100% reliability because it doesn’t require a hit. I wouldn’t mind it if the animation changed and it was no longer a “shot”, because it really doesn’t have to be anymore. It used to give 10 stacks of vulnerability to the target, but that was moved to Rapid Fire when the stealth was introduced.

So let me summarize:

• a grandmaster trait (Remorseless) depends on its stealth to work
• of all classes with stealth, only the Ranger can’t stealth reliably on-demand
• the whole skill is basically useless for anything but providing stealth.

I was thinking Protect Me should give 6s of protection(boon) to both the Ranger and the pet.

• The skill would be useful when the pet is dead or on low health.
• The protection will also increase the chances of the pet surviving the duration of the skill.

But even then, I’m not sure it could compete with Signet of Stone, because the signet gives 100% damage reduction and protection only 33%. It’s also not going to get boon stripped. That said, using both Signet of Stone and Protect Me together could be great.

Another option would be that Protect Me:

• Instantly revives the pet
• Heals pet to 100% health
• Puts pet at Ranger’s side

The Ranger’s Hunter’s Shot on the longbow should always stealth. It’s currently one of the most unreliable skills the Ranger has, since it only stealths if it hits an enemy. Which means it won’t stealth if:

• projectile reflected (can stealth the enemy instead)
• projectile block
• aegis
• blind
• block
• evade
• obstructed
• out of range
• miss

So I propose 3 possible solutions:

1. Make Hunter’s Shot stealth the moment the projectile is destroyed. So, both if it hits the enemy and in any of the situations listed above.
2. Remove the damage from Hunter’s Shot and have it stealth-on-use rather than stealth-on-hit. This way the hit won’t break its own stealth. Then, to make sense of the hit, add a short non-damaging condition: blind, weakness, vulnerability, cripple, immobilize, chilled, fear, stun, daze, etc
3. Hunter’s Shot doesn’t have to be a “shot” animation anymore. It doesn’t even do half the damage of Long Range Shot at short range. It also doesn’t cause vulnerability anymore and the swiftness to the pet has never required a hit.

edit: 3rd solution added.

My male Sylvari Ranger has Kudzu together with cultural armor and tier 3 cultural weapon skins (Warden). It all fits well together.

You probably shouldn’t get it unless you play Longbow for the majority of the time though.

Pugsley.9627:

Oh forgot to mention, glass ranger is already viable with a lot of attention to terrain, positioning and good team-mates. I run pure glass in dungeons and all pve content and it is a blast. 6 6 0 2 0

This is what I run too. Longbow in WvW, Sword+warhorn in PvE.

This whole melee Ranger in WvW is so outdated.

Ever since the April balance update it’s been full ascended berserker longbow with sigil of Air, sigil of Fire, Eagle Eye and Read the Wind. Even more so after the next update.

To be fair, you’re a commander, so you get a pass.

Signet of Stone is 100% reliable. It will always give 6s of invulnerability. The passive toughness is just icing on the cake.

Protect Me is unreliable because the pet can die, but it has a shorter cooldown and it’s a stun breaker, which has it’s advantages.

Remember, you can always use both… giving anywhere between 6s to 12s of invulnerability.

Speadyjooce.3278:

I always thought Maul was a little short on burst but you have proved me wrong :O.

On a 100% ascended berserker Ranger traited for full damage, maul crits for 7k and that’s without activating signets.

On a semi-related note, the next balance update will give Hilt Bash a 1.5s daze. With Moment of Clarity this becomes 3s. With Rune of the Mesmer (+33% daze duration) this should give Hilt Bash a 4s daze.

Using Signet of the Hunt allows me to get high damage runes like Scholar or Ranger. So technically Signet of the Hunt increases my damage significantly and is therefore not a dead slot. The signet also increases pet movement speed, if you need it (I don’t).

a Longbow Power Ranger can get 99% of its survivability from the fact that it can safely stand at 1500+range (Eagle Eye + Read the Wind). If you play properly, you won’t get hit 99% of the time. Therefore I think it’s a waste to spend points on armor/ condition removal/stunbreakers, because you could be getting more damage instead.

The only survivability you need (on top of 1500+ range) are skills/traits to run away with. This is my build:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNUQJATRnUqQtgWyCGsAXLGYPoWHAFwZz+CGhQw1Wkyr2RbtA-TVCEABEcBASU9ntUCy0+jyPDeAAtpDoDNBAcEAe4QAEAAB4m3MAM0hO0hO0h2Nv5Qv5QTGg8tA-w
I can’t get any more damage out of it. I have less than 2100 armor. Yet I easily manage to stay at 25 stacks of bloodlust most of the time. I’ve forced myself to learn to run away if an enemy gets close to me. The only condition removal I have is the Brown Bear F2.

I use Protect Me(invulnerability + stun breaker), GS Swoop and GS Block to run away with (also Stability from Rampage as One). That’s enough to save myself most of the time. The other times I die, but it happens such a small amount of time that I’m not willing to trade damage for more survivability.

I do much better in small groups, but if I find myself solo roaming or dying more than usual, I change Strength of Spirit for Nature’s Protection. Which basically gives me 3000 armor for 5 seconds if I get hit.

Power longbow ranger all the way. Unless you always roam solo.

For solo, bunker/regen/condi/BM is probably the most reliable.

Yep this is true, it doesn’t even prioritize the ranger. It’ll just pick 5 random targets in its radius.

What’s also bad is the size of the radius. I’ve had a Red Moa on passive run so far ahead that it was out of range to buff me.

But this is supposed to be posted in the bug forum, not here.

Rhino.3257, you should play a necromancer because this topic is a year old.

(I picked Priory. Seemed more adventurous.)

Survival of the Fittest would have been great in the Skirmishing line. Also Spotter.

To be honest, I find the whole Skirmishing(crit) line lackluster.
- it has many traits “wasted” on pets:
Agility Training, Companion’s Might, Pet’s Prowess and Carnivorous Appetite
- it has many traits “wasted” on condition damage:
Sharpened Edges, Trapper’s Expertise, Trap Potency

Which only leaves these for non-pet / power builds:
Primal Reflexes, Quick Draw, Honed Axes, Strider’s Defense, Moment of Clarity

I find myself using Moment of Clarity a lot, not because it’s good for my WvW longbow build, but because there is nothing else in the whole line that can even remotely benefit me.

I don’t use traps, I don’t use axes, I don’t use pets offensively (need them alive and nearby) and I rarely use melee weapons. So I’m stuck picking Sharpened Edges and Moment of Clarity eventhough I don’t have conditon damage and I don’t have a stun/daze on my longbow. I’m all about damage, so they could both benefit me, but they’re both not much good at doing that.

I wish they would change the line a bit:
Sharpened Edges could be changed to give Fury on crit.
Carniverous Appetite could be removed from the game.
Trapper’s Expertise and Trap Potency could be moved to Wilderness Survival. Give Bark Skin and Hide in Plain Sight to Skirmishing.

I’ve been enjoying Longbow Ranger alot in WvW since the April update which added Read the Wind and dual sigils.

You can already burst with Rapid Fire by using Quickening Zephyr. I consider Quickening Zephyr mandatory, so I’m very happy to see it become baseline. It makes Rapid Fire very good.

After the update I’ll have to reconsider my skillbar choices, since Quickening Zephyr won’t be mandatory and other skills will have been improved: Signet of Stone, Signet of the Wild, Entangle and Sic ’em.

So yes Ranger will be a lot of fun in WvW, but I’m having a lot of fun already. If you can’t have fun in its current state, then I’m not sure the update will be able to change your opinion.

Berserker. Most dps on average.

Also remember that some objects/bosses can’t be crit, so you need raw power for that.

Sarision.6347:

Am I the only one who feels that Heal As One only needs small changes like 1s cast time and Survival Skill status?

Since (traited) Entangle will have a 48s cooldown, it will work great with “on elite”-runes which have a 45 cooldown.

There are also “on heal”-runes which have a 10s cooldown, I think it would be nice if Heal as One could make use of those by halving its cooldown and effectiveness. It would look something like this:

Heal as One
3260 +0.5*healing power
10s cooldown
3/4 cast time

Currently it’s this:
Heal as One
6520 +1.0*healing power
20s cooldown
1 1/4 cast time

Relshdan.6854:

jcbroe.4329:

The other side of the buff is that on top of the recharge speed, traited, we now have a 48 second recharge elite that allows us to interact with the “on elite” runesets, which is a HUGE bonus.

this this this.
outside of might on axe auto (will make hybrid/condi ranger much more interesting w/ strength or aristocracy runes), this is my favorite ranger “buff”

Now we need a heal with a 10s cooldown to be able to use runes with “When you use a heal skill”. Heal as One could be it.

You know what’s funny?

Signet of the Beastmaster used to be an Adept trait in beta.
Then at release (or shortly after) it was moved to Grandmaster.
Now it’s not even going to need a trait anymore.

Now I can finally drop Protect Me and get Signet of Stone. I’m still conflicted though, since Protect Me is also a stun breaker and has a shorter cooldown.

Signet of the Wild will be able to compete with Quickening Zephyr.
stability(8s), + 50% movement(8s) and 25% damage(8s) + passive healing is quite a lot of utility.
50% attack speed(6s) + stunbreaker (+GM traited fury) is still better for burst though.

Entangle is a great improvement, but I worry it’ll force rangers to become entangle bots in WvW, which means I can’t bring Rampage as One. It’ll also make runes which trigger on elite more useful.

I would have loved to see a bigger change to Hilt Bash, so it won’t be so hard to hit with it.

This topic is a year old, please make a new thread instead. Some of the info is simply outdated.

Niith.9274:

Would they have to be longbows for the leaf of kudzu or would any rares work equally well?

If you put 4 weapons of the same type, then you’re going to get a weapon of the same type back. So, 4 longbows could result in a Leaf of Kudzu.

Remember though, the chance of getting a precursor is very very very small. You’ll probably be better off buying Leaf of Kudzu on the market.

It’s still bugged!