Guild Wars 2

Slavi.9137:

So im sick and tired of seeing these little kittens running around WvW basically invincible, with all their evades, blinds, stealth, and just general disengage. It seems that 90% of the solo roamers i see are thieves. Fighting them solo is like bashing your head into a wall, either they kill you by blind/stealth spamming or you get them low enough for them to just pop stealth and run away. Only to come back 10 seconds later with full health and ready for another blind/stealth spam for another 5 minutes.

So this is my attempt at a thief killer build, as Rangers we have access to 2 things that can track them down. Sic Em and Rapid Fire.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRnUqQBL2KIusAXLGQQoWGAzb7YIEaBm1bFcxGVJB-TlCFwAA3fAxhAgl6PKV+hVJ4GNBAeAACuAAZ0Bs4IAQKgiEGB-w

That is the best I can do, if anyone has any improvements or ideas for killing those vile cretins they would be greatly appreciated.

Try this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8YjEqUua7K+rw1aADhqdKkBlA7AICmAXx7F/UlE-TFSFABrpbAgHAQc7PQp6P/pEUhLCwTK/S+IAQKAYGGB-w

The chances of a Thief killing you with this build is highly unlikely.

If you come across a boonsteal Thief, obviously use your evades, swap weapons and receive more energy to evade, use your sword for two more evades, dagger for another evade and SB #3 for your 8th evade. You won’t need that many though.

Terrorsquad.2349:

Here’s my new video regarding ranger build!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWbOlYom0a8

You can give feedback concerning video, build and other stuff so I can improve in the future!

Cheers guys!

PS: BELGIUM WON WOOOOOT

This build is great for 1vs1’s. I’ve been using something very close to this in the gambling server with great success.

One thing you can try is dropping Evasive Purity, Natures Protection, Entangle and SoS and pick up Vigorous Spirits, Spirits Unbound, Sun Spirit and Spirit of Nature. This will give you the same condi application pressure along with Burning. It will also give you more survivability via the passive regen, blinds from the spirit and an extra 5 condi removal from Spirit of Natures active. It is actually one of the best 1vs1 Ranger builds available.

shadowpass.4236:

+1 brahhh =D

I wonder if I should type my playstyle up, u should too, strategies, things like that.

Might help the ranger community out a bit with power.

Was this the build you were running last night during our duels?

I wish wish wish that the Ranger and their pet naturally worked as One. In other words, any AoE boon distribution is distributed by the Ranger and pet. Also, when the pet receives boons it is transferred to the Ranger. That way in dungeons Rangers can stand back and pew pew and everything is as if they were within melee range, sharing and receiving buffs.

Edit: They should change Strider Defense to Strider’s Companionship.

Going by the build you posted above and strictly in a 1v1 situation, switch out Spotter for Piercing Arrows. Also, using direct melee pets help against MM’s. Birds, cats, drakes are your best choice. Just by making those two choices, the MM should be cake. Also, only use your LB for 90% of your damage. Only use your sword for the evades and creating space for LB.

If they do make any changes, it’s logical to add whatever the current PBAoE circumference is around the pet to the Ranger when traited.

I run a build very similar to this in tPvP. It’s extremely effective at 1vs1’s, bunking on points, and harassing far point.

I would take Manekk’s suggestion and swap out SotH to SotW. Then swap your runes out for something else. Personally, I run Rune of the Water for the extra Healing Power, condi clear, and boon duration. The boon duration allows me to drop Shout Master and pickup Mighty Swap. Add Sigil of Battle on both weapon sets and you can easily maintain 12-15 stacks of Might (by yourself). The boon duration is also nice for all the other boons you get from your team.

shadowpass.4236:

Hey guys,

Would anyone happen to have any videos of your rangers using longbow in WvW? I’m looking for roaming/dueling videos, but I also love watching full zerk ranger hit 5k from afar with the auto attack. If you do, post here please!

Your friendly neighborhood ranger,
S H A D O W F A L L

I’ll make a double bow roaming video in the next couple of days for you. I’ll even throw in a bear or two…

Like others have suggested, try out different setups on your own and see what works best for you.

I personally prefer LB and Axe/X along with Zerker weapons/jewels and Valk armor. I’m able to hit almost as hard as a pure zerker build, but have about 500 more toughness, and 4K more HP…basically a little more survivability.

Take Honed Axes, Piercing Arrows and Eagle Eye. The rest is up to you.

The reason I take Longbow is simply because I’m a Ranger…not a Warrior or a Guardian. Warrior’s and Guardians shine when the train runs into another train in open fields. But, when the train gets to a Keep, Fort, Castle etc, that’s where Ranger can shine with LB. Knocking people off ledges, being able to stealth when things get heated, Barrage for the AOE damage and cripple, Piercing Arrows through 15+ people for 2k each at a choke point is priceless.

Axe main hand is simply for the AOE damage. With Honed Axes traited you can get 1K-2.5K per bounce, totaling 3K-7.5K AOE damage every half a second. Throw on Sigil of Battle and Sigil of Strength and you are hitting 20+ stacks of constant Might.

TurtleDragon.3108:

Fluffball.8307:

TurtleDragon.3108:

The only fight I use axe MH on is grawl shaman and I still haven’t figured out the ideal build for that fight yet.

That’s one of the very few places in PvE a longbow shines, IMO. I liked barrage and entangle on the lava eles, and the longer range and harder hitting of the LB is good for when the boss is up. Longer range means whatever random position you find yourself in (i.e. getting away from someone with the AoE blasting on them) you can still hit. I did often have axe/WH on swap for that one though. The eles are very fragile so barrage does a number on them, but axe is not bad for finishing off stragglers.

The highest fractal I’d done back in the day was like 78 or something though, but that was obviously a very long time ago and I don’t know what tactics people use anymore, and I’m not sure how the fractal update changed anything. So…

Yep, Longbows are quite decent on this fight. I don’t bring it anymore because I try to melee the fight. GS + Axe/Axe 4/5/5/0/0 Honxed Axes + offhand training (aka the Lupi solo build) is what i’ve been running lately. Strat for the fight is pretty much the same as before. In uncoordinated groups and PUGs, you just blindly zerg the boss’s 40 stacks down. In coordinated groups, you CC the boss for as long as possible and kill as many elementals as you can before removing the 40th stack. Traited whirling defense is nice (although, you’ll stack a ton of burning on yourself and will probably get targetted by a fire storm), Path of scars does high damage and does a crappy job of grouping up elementals and Winter’s bite helps stack chill.

Coordinated or not, you want to remove all 40 stacks as soon as possible.

hunterkiller.5419:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBjODbkRl6VbZxkFqWD0HUrXgAYsbvD/wZzaCA-T1iFAB+s/ANK/SR9n1OIAdoJQDNCjZ+DgHAoE8CdAJcEAQ+CAAA-w

i was thinking about how could get condition damage and damage at the same time utilizing on crit sigils to make a well rounded class for wvw. What do you think? it seems good with a ~50% crit chance, ~2k damage and 750 condi damage.

Oh yeah, it can be done and it’s a lot of fun. Here’s the build post. I came up with a nice build that utilizes raw damage and condi damage in one package. But you’ll need Celestial trinkets to get that right mix.

Definitely tweak it to your liking.

If we had complete control over each pet skill(like engis F1-F4 etc), then the cast times are appropriate according to the skill being cast. But, since we don’t have control, the cast times are too long for most of them.

Gercoa.7490:

Been a while since I played. Still come back from time to time just to see if the game has gotten better yet for rangers. But, looking at threads, still seems we suck. So no point in playing.

Am I wrong?

Oh well….

Rangers have always been a class that requires more skill to master than other classes. You have one group of players that stand on a node and hit 111111111111111 without dodging or even moving sometimes. Those are the rangers that will tell you the class sucks, needs help etc. Those are the Rangers that will come to the forums and complain about being rolled by a Thief.

Then there are players who have more experience playing and mastering all the weapons and trait setups. They have taken there skills to the next level. They can 1v1 and 1vs2 most players in most situations with ease – and 0 in healing power.

With that being said, the Ranger class is still behind the other meta classes for most aspects of the game. We have a ways to go before we are considered to be on the level of Warriors/Mesmers etc.

Omnitek.3876:

There has never been an impressive LB video posted by anyone yet. There was one player (can’t remember the name) that did a decent LB/SB video, but 70% of the fights were done with SB out.

You mention that there hasn’t been an impressive LB video posted. What constitutes “impressive”? Fighting 3 other players at once using LB only? Or maybe a 1vs1 using LB only but with no armor?

There’s been countless LB videos posted on the Ranger forum.

This is what I use in WvW/ZvZ: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBjODbkQlCWrYxfFuWDsHIrD0oA3LV8tNlHkg3cA-TVCEABJcBAWU9nS2fQPNCCqEUinAgWK/aTXAAHEASBY1wI-w

You hit like a pure glass cannon, except you have about 300 more toughness and 5K more health. You also get 86hp per second passive healing along with Regen from yourself and other players.

LB AA’kitten for 2-5k depending on distance and might stacks. Axe AA’kitten for 1k-3K PER BOUNCE depending on might stacks.

In the end, pure zerker is the way to go for WvW. This build just adds a little bit of survivability to it while keeping the damage almost the same.

I just posted a new build on my repertoire. It is extremely effective in 1vs1 situations. If you are an experienced Ranger, and know how to utilize dual bows(knockbacks, criples, dazes and stealth), this build works wonders.

DBB Build

Reganov.3569:

I bet he was Poison Master BM. It makes 1v1’s pretty easy.

Hehe, using PM when dueling warriors is quite embarrassing for them.

ceejay.2517:

ItIsFinished.9462:

If you want something that is far from the meta, but yet, extremely effective at 1vs1’s and holding points, try this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8fnEqQvgWxC+rAXLGoQo6tCcHgAw98GD5cBTOA-TpxCwAOOBAAOCAHOIAXeAAS3fIbZAA

Interesting, going to give this a try later on. Guessing its sort of a condi/regenbunker hybrid playstyle?

Yeah, it’s essentially a crit damage and condi damage spec. Along with 100% uptime of regen and swiftness. The weapon choices allow the evades of BM, but very nice damage as well

Narkodx.1472:

Actually nevermind. I saw you dueling that P/D thief in your video. He was horrible. You got no chance.

That video is over 10 months old…many patches ago. That was an old celestial build I would run every now and then. What I run now vs what I ran then is nothing alike. But as you say, I should be easy pickings then. I look forward to tonight.

Narkodx.1472:

LOVE the delusional rangers in this thread. META builds are the easiest to counter ha! Who actually goes to sanctum in this thread? Or you guys stick to EOTM destroy a thief in full zerk who key turned and assumed your build was the bomb diggity. Please whisper me in game if you think you can defeat a dhuum terror necro or nade spam engi. Will duel anyone.

I on the other hand am realistic. I have spent countless hours dueling top tier players with my ranger and similar builds as this video. I also tried the new power build. You guys simply arent facing top tier players if you think a ranger can defeat all builds. I can get my perplexity thief if you want as well. That will be a laugher.

Obsidian Sanctum, eh? Big boys club. But, before Sanctum, there was Champion’s Demense. And before Champion’s Demense, there was fight clubs behind the Windmill.

I really hope you are on tonight when I get home from work…

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Narkodx.1472:

LOL what a bunch of scrublord manbabies. Who actually goes to spanktum in this thread? Orr you guys stick to farming them nodes and thinking your undead killing bears are the bomb digiggidy? Please send me sexy whispers in game if you want my dumb terror necro or nade SPAM™ engi to bend over for you. Will luv u long tiem.

I on the other foot am realistic. I have spent countless hours dueling top tear QQers with my ranger and similar builds as this video. Seriously, I probably have a couple thousand hours, but I can’t actually count that high. I used to be a power ranger but I got all misty-eyed thinking of Blue and Pink spending all that time together without me. You guys simply aren’t facing the same issues of abandonment I am if you think a ranger can be a danger to every stranger. I can get my [insert more 2s here] if you want as well. That will be a LOL.

Ranger needs adjusting. Bad at parties. Bad in bed. Decent at being a small man but when you’re roaming that ill equipped, you’re not fit to duel. Once you reach a skill plateau you’re better off realizing that things will never get any better and just offing yourself. Bottom line. Game over man. I still love my ranger though!

^^Lol

Meta builds of equal skill are the easiest to beat in 1vs1’s…

@OP, are you sure you aren’t thinking of the whole Deadeye and farming issues? All classes were able to farm him except Rangers(efficiently). Lots of threads were popping up about that. Here is a link to my post which includes information regarding Deadeye farming for Ranger: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Gauntlet-farming/2635615

As for Liadri, it was hardly a challenge. But, there was an achievement that required not getting hit by her AOE’s, and the Rangers pet made it near impossible even on passive.

If you want something that is far from the meta, but yet, extremely effective at 1vs1’s and holding points, try this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8fnEqQvgWxC+rAXLGoQo6tCcHgAw98GD5cBTOA-TpxCwAOOBAAOCAHOIAXeAAS3fIbZAA

Okay, so, lets take the end of the videos example, replace lich form with Guardian’s Elite ‘Tome of Courage’. Cast ‘Light of Deliverance’, which is a 4.25 second channel, right before cloning takes place. Healbot blobs everywhere. Profit?

I’m all for a range increase. Although, I believe one of their intentions of reducing Shortbow range was to try and push users to LB.

If it were up to me I would make these changes:

• Axe (900) Range
  • Increase damage, but instead of it bouncing twice, I would make it a skill chain and hit once for X amount of damage, second hit does 30% more damage and third hit does the same damage but your axe shatters/explodes hitting up to 3 player while applying torment.

• Shortbow (1200) Range
  • Change Poison Volley to a 2 skill chain that leaps forward smacking your enemy applying poison, then the second chain skill you leap backwards. Opposite of how sword #2 works.

• Longbow (1500) Range
  • Merge RtW and Eagle Eye. New Trait would could be Axe Mastery (Increase the range of your thrown axes to 1200)

All hacked accounts have one thing in common….

You have a great build going for you. You will easily achieve a 15+ might stack at all times. Your description is spot on on how this build will play out. As for the condition removal, you’ll learn when to disengage and reengage during battles. My WvW roaming and tPvP is based on might stacking along with conditions and lots of healing. I only use SoR and have no problems dealing with conditions. It’s just a matter of practice, and learning other classes telegraphed skills etc. With Swoop, Hornet’s Sting and Monarchs Leap you should be able to dictate any fight you come across except for the sneak up behind you catching you off guard kind of fights.

Now, if you ever get ganked by two people and you lose, chances are it wasn’t due to lack of condi removal.

You could even take 2 points out of the Skirmishing line and add them to the Wilderness Survival line to pick up EB. That would help tremendously with conditions.

AEFA.9035:

With season 2 coming up, potential new maps, what are the chances that we might be getting additions to the family

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hirsute_Ice_Spider

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Jungle_Tapir

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Basilisk

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Plated_Behemoth

Speculate some skills

This pet: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Plated_Behemoth
with this as his F2, but in a radius instead of a line: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unsteady_Ground

It would be nice to be able to trap an enemy/enemies inside and drop traps/aoe etc. Also, you could use it to protect someone from a stomp or allow some healing while inside.

With the recent influx of Bleeder builds popping up on the forums, I was curious to see if I could come up with a build that focuses on creating a high up time of Burning on my enemies. I was able to accomplish this with the following build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8fjEq0ya7KOrQ0aADhqZLEssDgIYCc+DDRKjKEL5A-TZhAwAw2fYyTAgcZg/XAAAHEAA

I played around with this build last night in sPvP for an hour. On average, the burning duration up time was 15-20 seconds at all times. Longer than the cooldown duration of my skills. Essentially keeping burning at a 90% up time along with 10 stacks of bleeds on average.

Theirs obviously some issues with condition removal when your elite is on cooldown, but other than that it’s pretty fun build to burst players with.

I hope you guys play around with it and let me know what you think.

DiamondMeteor.8345:

This thread reminded me of this: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stronger_Bowstrings

I like how Warrior bugs actually help them. Wish that were true for Rangers.

But yeah, nerding aside… It does make sense to give Rangers a more definitive role in being the sole proprietors of being the masters of ranged combat. This would be a step in the right direction, though barrage acting as a projectile is just weird and doesn’t seem to make any mechanical sense.

Wow, those bugs on Stronger Bowstrings…….that’s crazy.

Narkodx.1472:

Finished that makes complete sense and made me suspect 12 was correct; However, I just tested it in the mists and it ticked 14 times with balth runes and 10% condi duration from traits. With no balth runes and 10% condi duration it ticked 10 times… will continue testing but I do not have smoldering sigil or anything else increasing my duration.

Hmm. Well, the Wiki must be correct in that it technically ticks 9 times. Once on the initial drop, then an additional 8 times. So with 9 ticks at 1.5 that’s still only 13.5 seconds. So you should see 13 ticks…..unless, the first tick starts the moment bonfire is set. Which means the tick starts at 0.0, then 1.0, 2.0 etc.

He’s still around. I saw him last night in a 5v5 hotjoin. He was running LB/GS with zerker jewels.

Jae.5138:

Disclaimer : I do not play a ranger…. yet.

But from what I see in tPVP + sPVP, rangers aren’t doing so good. Their damage seems very lackluster and doesn’t seem to make up for their survivability. This is a concern for me (ele/warrior player) because I really want to make a ranger for the sake of getting into PVP.

Could anyone else comment on this and tell me if I’m wrong/right?

What you are seeing is a mass of PvE Players migrating to sPvP, and a lot of them are trying to play ranger, and 90%+ are doing it wrong. In hot join, any build will suffice really, just run with the zerg blah blah. But in solo Q and tPvP, Spirit, Shout and Bunker rangers dominate.

It seems that the Ranger class should have a trait that increases the % chance of Ranged projectiles. Maybe to 40% or even 50%? Since they excel at Ranged combat(supposed too), this would open up the traps utilities for more uses.

Also Longbow skill#5 should be a 100%. I would love to set a fire field down and rain fire arrows, poison arrows or frost arrows.

Bonfire ticks 8 times(it’s actually 9 times according to the Wiki). But we’ll go with 8 ticks for the example. So 8 ticks…each tick is adding 1 second of Burning to your target. 1 second of burning = 1 tick. When you add Balth Runes, it increases your total burning duration along with condition duration from trait line to 1.5 seconds per Burning tick. So, that 1.5 seconds of Burning will still only tick one time, but since it’s duration based, the second tick will total 3 seconds which would be 3 ticks.

So 8 × 1.5 = 12 seconds of Burning if they stay in the AoE for the whole duration.

Chrispy.5641:

The damage does not increase because Burning only damages on a full second. The tooltip will not calculate damage inbetween seconds.

If you increase your condition/burn duration to 100%, then each pulse of bonfire will be 2 seconds long, and the damage in the tooltip will increase.

The tooltip damage doesn’t increase on a 1.5 second duration tip, but, you will deal more damage, because you end up applying 12 seconds of total burning, which results in 12 ticks.

So even though the tooltip doesn’t say you do more damage, your burning duration does increase which increases overall damage.

Ryan.9387:

That 2s poison field is too short to combo sword 2 through. It really is a huge joke change.

Not only that, finishers trigger on the oldest initiator. So if you want to utilize the poison field, you have to throw it down first/it needs to trigger first. Which makes combat a bit more clunky in the sense of having to think about which trap to throw first :/

Schmir Noff.7953:

Sons, can you say something about your pets choices. Why for example owl instead of wolf?

I use Owl exclusively. The reason I would take it over Wolf is for the extra 60%+ damage or so along with the 3.25 second chill every 20 seconds and the 14.5 seconds of AOE swiftness to allies in a 1200 range. That, and it compliments my tourny build perfectly.

Is it better than Wolf? That’s up to you to decide. It comes down to whats needed. CC and decent damage? Or, little CC and lots of damage.

Troll.4237:

Anybody have both of these legendarys on thier ranger? If you do could you please post of screenshot of your ranger with bolt in your main hand and frostfang offhand? =D

Link to Album

Or see below:

Haha magikfox. The “EB” crew has arrived to reign on your parade. Unfortunately, they either don’t have the 3g’s to unlock the trait or they are too stubborn to test it, or they aren’t good enough to manage conditions being thrown at them.

SoR is one of the best condi cleanses out there. It acts the same as EB in the sense of it transferring 1 condi every 10 seconds(EB transfer 3), but the active has the ability to transfer ALL conditions off of you and AND your team, instantly and on demand.

Is it better? That’s for you to decide. Everybody has different opinions. As for EB > PM. That depends on the build and the person, but I see no where magikfox state that EB is better than PM. Nor does he suggest it.

Zicarous.2134:

been playing round with this trait seeing if anyone else has what theyve come up with!

This build is slightly different than the one I run in tPvP, but I wanted to share it since you asked about the PM trait.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAsX3YjEq0xaLL+rw1aAOhqdAUpp8rN1dxOArcKPIBs1C-TJBHABAcSAM4JAo2+DKXGAA

I was using this in tPvP last night with great success. I was able to bunker on a point and survive 1vs2’s no problem until the rest of my team arrived or I until I kept them busy while my team capped the other points. It is also a decent 1vs1 build. Most people I went up against I was able to beat them especially if it was 1vs1.

I’m sure there will be a few people asking why I was using these weapon sets with very little condition damage, but any experienced player will recognize the trick to this setup.

Have you verified if it is a tooltip only error? I was experimenting with Commanding Voice and noticed that the tooltips CD time never changed. But in actual use, it does in fact reduce the CD time.

AEFA.9035:

Fluffball.8307:

I’ma go on record as saying SotF never becomes PvP meta without further buffs. It’s in too weird of a line.

Ranger needs to evolve. All of you are stuck 6 deep into WS for EB? Random 10 seconds condi clear > On the go 2 condi clear. Outdated.

+1. Very outdated.

Filterkat.2143:

snip

Your examples are embarrassing….

Hans G***** on CD. I’ve ran into him many times. Talked with him for a bit as well. He’s a nice guy and mostly plays WvW.

I don’t want to say his full name for obvious reasons.

Dueling

• Raven
• Owl
• Wolf
• Alpine Wolf
• Krytan Drakehound

tPvP

• Raven
• Owl
• Snow Leopard
• Lynx
• Fern Hound

Bunking on home point

• Fern Hound
• Drakes
• Brown Bear

First, I would switch to Rabids Amulet for 700 more toughness and 250 more condition damage.

I played around with a bleeder build + SotF and found that the added condition removal on some of the Survival Utilities are wasted often. Like QZ and Sharpening Stone. Example, I want to bomb someone with conditions, so I would pop Sharpening Stone, then QZ simply wasting the condi removals. But at the same time, if you can hold off on using those two ‘burst skills’ then the condi removal on them becomes imperative.

SotF synergizes well with MT and Lightning Reflexes. the other two survival utilities tend to get used before the conditions start flying.

Vandiros.8375:

this my new ranger video after last patch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uwd_FxLYq4

Enjoy

Video has been removed

Evan Lesh.3295:

Popping in to say we’re still looking into summon damage.

While you are at it can you please look at Rangers pet toughness?. After the patch Rangers pets were hitting for 8-12k auto attacks. they were also very squishy)died in 1-2 hits). Well the next day you guys hotfixed the pet damage….but never addressed there toughness/squishyness. My pets die right away in an aoe storm…before April 15th, I could at least call them back and save them.

Thread in Bug Forum with lots of complaints: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Ranger-pet-take-too-much-damage-after-patch