Guild Wars 2

Berserker Gear
+X% Damage Traits
“Save Yourselves!” + Bane Signet + Signet of Wrath
Staff-Empower + Scepter-Smite
???
Profit!

Power Build:
Power – 2,000
Precision – 33%

Condition Build:
Condition Damage – 1,100
Condition Duration – 20%

Power+Condition Build:
Power – 1500
Condition Damage – 600

Survivability:
Toughness – 1,400
Health – 17,000
1 condition removal
1 stun removal

I always try to aim for these numbers as a minimum. Needless to say; more is better. Critical damage, healing power, and boon duration, should be viewed as bonuses, because even if you have 0 of these stats, you can still have a viable build.

VIVorcha.7853:

If you expect your class to give something exceptional, like Mesmers do with their portal, you’re going to be disappointed. Engineers have nothing special to offer to team play.

I’m always puzzled as to why people on the forum keeps striving for this. The majority of professions have nothing special to offer a group, based on skills alone. And the players who plays the professions that do, rarely take advantage of these singular skills anyway. What you do as a player has far more value, then the skills your professions has.

They don’t matter in any significant way. WXP was just put into the game to give WvW players a long term goal. If you don’t like to use siege weapons, there’s not really a lot for you there. But Supply Master is a good choice to start out with, as the improved movement speed is nice to have.

It’s a solo queue, obviously you don’t get to decide that..

Kalan.9705:

I know you’re trying to be helpful, but I think you might need to be more familiar with what happens when two sets of grenades finish limping through the sky and fall on a group that now has retaliation.
More familiar with the range , damage and retaliation hits from using FT.

I use Barrage and piercing arrows on zergs, with my Ranger, all the time, and often see over ten different retaliation numbers pop up. Still, I only ever lose around 25% of my health, at the most. I also read Ranger players complain about retaliation all the time, but I just don’t recognise this problem when playing. I’ve never come close to being downed because of it.

Tyaen.5148:

I have a big problem with the way people think zerg play works. You’re right in that you shouldn’t be crashing into the melee ball. however the nature of almost every zerg ball is to crash the melee trains into each other and the ranged to line out behind those melee trains. Engi’s and thieves are most effective flanking and getting behind the melee train to the back line and taking down as many back line enemy as possible. The great thing about engi’s is the mobility you can trait for which allows you to flank, harass and get back to safety when you need to reset.

Either you will kill the back line ranged support, or you take their attention off you melee train to allow the train to do more work. It’s especially helpful if you focus any Elementalist’s first. If you are really lucky, the enemy runs an organized melee train, but the ranged group is less organized.

Yeah, exactly. Many don’t see it, but there is a meta when it comes to armor. The light armor professions excels at casting down AoE fields, and those are what the medium armor professions are basically made to take out, in WvW, while the heavy armor professions run rampage in the middle. That’s not to say it’s how the game always works, as it is possible to make both medium and light armored bunker builds, or heavy armored burst builds. But there definitely is a playstyle that falls more natural to each armor type. And playing to that, makes it easier to get good results.

You’re a man after my own heart Jonathan. Really well written post/s.

It sounds to me like the problem is how you approach gameplay with your Engineer. If you don’t have any stability, then you shouldn’t be running in the middle of the zerg. Retaliation is really not that big of a problem. I have never been dealt more then maybe 25% of my health, by retaliation. On any profession. If retaliation is hitting you, stop dealing damage, and change targets.

Generally, medium armor professions aren’t made for big zerg support. They are a small group classes by default. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t belong in a zerg, it simply just means their role is different. Medium armor professions work best on the outer area of a fight, meaning you shouldn’t be running around in the middle, next to the Warrior and Guardian, spamming AoE skills all over. Your advantage as a medium armor profession, lies in your ability to move very quickly, and take out small groups of players in 3v1 fights. So once you see a zerg running towards you, run to the side, fire in on the zerg with your AoE, and then focus on taking out foes deviating from the zerg. If you get focus fired by two or three players, then try to lure them away, and keep their attention on you. Playing this way should give you a lot more success, as you’re then playing to the strength of the Engineer.

Dardamaniac.1295:

Kasama.8941:

Why not add more support to the build:
Jungle Stalker and Red Moa for boons
Warhorn for Call of the Wild
Signet of Renewal for AoE condition removal
“Guard” for shorter shout recharge time
Spirit of Nature for revives
Spotter trait for AoE precision
Concentration Training trait for longer pet boon duration

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBHhF6koiqg7rwLIQLDILF7x+9UMLsn7hoMKh4F3dyE-TsAgzCqIqRVjrGTNyas1MIYRwUEA

I added Rampager Jewel instead of Berserker’s, as well, so the build gains the same critical chance (when Spotter is activated).

Guard is bad,i refuse to use a skill that makes my pet do nothing just for the short CD,i allready do a lot of aoe Swiftness(dont forget Birds skill) and regen(dont forget HS regen).Maybe in some other build where its vital to place the pet in some way will it be usefull.
Ive tried a full support build,with most of the things you said in it…I found out that even tho i didnt die and i support my team more,i didnt kill anything..I was totally 0 dmg..Guardians can live with this in a teamfight,WE,Rangers cant join the teamfight without dmg..

You can never have too much swiftness or regeneration. These are boons that are only better, the longer duration they have. Even more so when talking about AoE. Having close to constant swiftness and regeneration to your team, is incredibly powerful. For this reason alone, “Guard” is worth taking over other shout skills.

I don’t know if you noticed, but the build I suggested has the same critical chance, 120 more power, 75 more condition damage, and 20% more condition duration, then your variation. And on top of that, you have 39 seconds of AoE fury between warhorn and Red Moa, plus five stacks of might for 13 seconds from Jungle Stalker. So I’m not sure why you think more support options equals less damage, when it comes to the Ranger?

Why not add more support to the build:
Jungle Stalker and Red Moa for boons
Warhorn for Call of the Wild
Signet of Renewal for AoE condition removal
“Guard” for shorter shout recharge time
Spirit of Nature for revives
Spotter trait for AoE precision
Concentration Training trait for longer pet boon duration

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBHhF6koiqg7rwLIQLDILF7x+9UMLsn7hoMKh4F3dyE-TsAgzCqIqRVjrGTNyas1MIYRwUEA

I added Rampager Jewel instead of Berserker’s, as well, so the build gains the same critical chance (when Spotter is activated).

Quarktastic.1027:

Kasama.8941:

thrice.9184:

Kasama.8941:

I’m always amazed at the amount of outcry on this forum, based on changes that aren’t even tested yet. A couple of weeks later, someone finds an entire new and effective Ranger build, and this will all be forgotten.

Until it gets nerfed.

Im all out of optimism.

How is this different then any other multiplayer game? You either adapt, or stop playing.

There’s a problem with this way of thinking. If the trend of nerfs continues without providing buffs in other areas, you inevitably reach a point where every viable build has been nerfed so much, it becomes more effective to simply play another class.

But they did add buffs to the spirits, as many have been trying to explain already. If the spirit dies within 35 seconds, you are better off then you were before the patch. And Spirit of Nature also got its recharge time reduced by 60 seconds.

Sarision.6347:

Would people be open to the idea of pets rallying from a Ranger kill and maybe add death penalty to prevent the abuse? Or would this lead to other problems?

Like for example, your pet goes down, and after 3 seconds you kill something, then the pet rallies. The next time the pet goes down and you make another kill, it rallies with lower HP due to the death penalty.

I guess it kinda makes sense because we can rally off our pet’s kill.

If this was to be added, the pet should just rally off any kill, at any time. But it’s easier for ArenaNet to simply just change the revive time, so the pet will automatically revive itself in combat, after 20 seconds. Then just call it “pet rally”.

thrice.9184:

Kasama.8941:

I’m always amazed at the amount of outcry on this forum, based on changes that aren’t even tested yet. A couple of weeks later, someone finds an entire new and effective Ranger build, and this will all be forgotten.

Until it gets nerfed.

Im all out of optimism.

How is this different then any other multiplayer game? You either adapt, or stop playing.

I’m always amazed at the amount of outcry on this forum, based on changes that aren’t even tested yet. A couple of weeks later, someone finds an entire new and effective Ranger build, and this will all be forgotten.

Tribio.8531:

Kasama.8941:

Pets can only revive themselves out of combat, and take around 9 seconds to revive.

The moment you can stow your pet, stow it.. It’s insta-rezzed when getting in combat again

Just wanted to add..

Oh, I forgot to add stow option to the list. Will do that later. Thanks.

XelNigma.6315:

I dont think the cooldown is the problem, its how quickly it dies.
The timer is a penalty for letting your pet die, but sadly most content, say WvW, dungeons or fractles your pet can very easly be instantly killed.

The point is; if your pet is revived faster, its death is going to mean less. The fact that the pet dies is not really the problem, the problem is that you can’t use it, i.e. the pets downtime. Also, it’s much easier for ArenaNet to balance recharge times, then risk making the pet too powerful by buffing stats.

I’ve just been wondering about this, these last couple of days. It’s not secret that the Ranger relies on the pet, for maximizing damage and utility options. So I thought I would bring up a discussion on the pet downtime. Mostly because this is something that ArenaNet could easily change, and balance.

• We have to wait until we are out of combat, before our pet automatically revives itself. Should there be an internal recharge time instead, that also allows the pet to be revived when in combat? Would this be unfair for opponents?
• When a defeated pet is switched out, pet swapping goes on a 60 second recharge time. Is this a fair setback, considering the pet swapping recharge time, in combat, is only 20 seconds?
• What recharge times do you feel would be fair, for both yourself as a Ranger, and to your opponent?

Please be constructive, optimistic, and fair in your replies. We already have enough complaining topics, and we aren’t going to get a pet that’s immortal.

Just to be clear:
Out of combat, pet swapping has a 1 second recharge time.
In combat, pet swapping has a 20 second recharge time, regardless of the pets health.
A defeated pet that’s swapped out, has a 60 second recharge time, before it can be swapped back in. This remains even if you go out of combat.
Pets can only revive themselves out of combat, and take around 9 seconds to revive, but can be instantly revived by the stow option.
The stow option follows the same recharge times, as pet swapping. 1 second recharge time outside of combat, and a 60 second recharge time, when a defeated pet is swapped out.

I dont think the cooldown is the problem, its how quickly it dies.
The timer is a penalty for letting your pet die, but sadly most content, say WvW, dungeons or fractles your pet can very easly be instantly killed.

The point is; if your pet is revived faster, its death is going to mean less. The fact that the pet dies is not really the problem, the problem is that you can’t use it, i.e. the pets downtime. Also, it’s much easier for ArenaNet to balance recharge times, then risk making the pet too powerful by buffing stats.

Don’t read too much into the forum. Everybody has an opinion on the Ranger these days. The best thing you can do is play the Ranger for yourself, and make your own judgement. Personally, I have never had an issue finding a group for dungeons. Neither have I been kicked from a group because I was playing a Ranger. Of curse, there will always be the jerks who think they got the whole game figured out, but if you come across them, you should be the one leaving that group.

The most important tip is to be mindful of your pet, and don’t let it wander off and lure unnecessary mobs to your group. You’ll hate yourself for doing that, and so will your group. Use the active/passive option often, and stow the pet when you and your group want to sneak past mobs. Also, get to know all the pet’s strength and weaknesses, so you know which pet to use for a given situation.

Troll Urgent for self healing, Healing Spring for AoE healing.

Heal As One is only good for healing your pet, which was nice when we didn’t have pet swapping, but now it’s just an unnecessary and useless healing skill. Just compare it to the Warrior healing skill Mending, the Mesmer healing skill Ether Feast, or the Elementalist healing skill Ether Renewal.

It’s a sign of new things to come! o.o

But really, it’s probably just a webpage error of some sort.

Point Blank Shot is already an amazing “immobilize” skill, especially after it got an increased range to 900. Using it before Rapid Fire, allows you to get the majority of your hits in.

jcbroe.4329:

That may just be a bad example, because there are thieves out there (particularly jumper I think, maybe) who dedicate their entire build at times to solo contesting and holding far point all game (d/p s/d build), and are fairly good at forcing the teamfight off of mid and back to their home node in order to deal with the thief.

Durzlla.6295:

But my friend is a point holding thief and he’s very good at holding it….

I wish more people would have this kind of confidence in the Ranger..

Chopps.5047:

Kasama.8941:

I don’t mean to be harsh, so sorry if I come off as that.

Lol I was being kind of sarcastic; ayden’s a big boy, I’m sure he can handle it. Those are things we can all learn from, really, Kasama. Thanks for all the wisdom. Honestly, if you filmed me, I’m sure I would make the same mistakes.

You’re not the first to think I’m harsh, when it comes to writing. So I wasn’t sure that you were being sarcastic =)

Well no one is perfect, I make mistakes when playing as well. But when you put up a video, and suggests someone to see it, you should be sure that what you show, is your best play possible.

But mostly, I just don’t understand why anyone would run into the middle of a zerg, as a Ranger. It seems like you have missed the point of the professions then. Kinda like taking a Thief, and using him as point defender in sPvP. It wouldn’t really work. You have to play to the professions strengths, or ells you’re going to have a tough time, and miss the advantage of the profession.

I don’t mean to be harsh, so sorry if I come off as that.

AydenStar.4216:

Kasama.8941:

The problem is not so much the Ranger, as it is the community. And ArenaNet can’t change peoples state of mind, only we as Ranger players can, by making the best of what we got. When guild leaders analyze the current meta, they judge it based on how professions are played, not how their skills work. If something is great, no one cares why it is great, only that it works. And the Ranger does work on some level. But like most other professions, it can’t do everything.

Kas,

Look at the videos in my sign. I play WvW everyday in a hardcore WvW guild. I know the limitations of the Ranger vs professions like Guardians, Elementalists, Warriors and Necromancers and honestly we bring nothing. Why? because our AoE skills only hit 3 targets where the other professions hit 5. I wouldn’t mind this if our pets were useful but they are not. Our pet mechanics are balanced around 5v5 play and not tailored for massive group combat. F-functions, the bread and butter of our profession is useless vs massive groups because of so many factors. Plus 40% of our damage potential is lost the second you roll through massive AoE from the enemy. I respect your attitude toward trying to prove ourselves and quite honestly a lot of us already have but its not enough to break the mind sets of leaders that are looking for results and optimization.

The Ranger profession needs some necessary love and it has for some time now.

I’m pretty sure the three player limit on some AoE skills are a bug.

In your WvW Ranger gameplay video, I only think I saw you use an F2 skill once, despite the fact that it was obvious to use in plenty of situations. And you didn’t reapply targets for your pet, or even seem to be aware of where your pet were. So it’s not really strange that you think your pet is useless. You don’t seem to take advantage of it.

I’m wondering why you are running around, waving your greatsword, like you’re a hammer Warrior? Is that your idea of “massive group combat”? You don’t have any greatsword skills as Ranger that makes you useful playing like that. You’d be better off using axe/axe, as you would hit more targets. But if you know the Ranger is better in small group play, and the pet dies easily to AoE, then why are you running straight into the middle of the opponents zerg, dragging your pet across all the AoE? That just seems self-destructive. Just because the Ranger fits better in small group play, it doesn’t mean that the Ranger doesn’t work in large group combat. These two playstyles aren’t opposite to each other. It’s all about how you play. Instead of running directly into all the players, you should be running around the zerg, and take out stranglers in 3v1 situations. Or shoot into the zerg with piercing arrows or axe/axe, while dropping those snare skills to make sure opponents stay on AoE areas. Playing this way also allows you to use your pet to much greater effect, as you avoid AoE damage, and can keep it focused on single targets.

Also, talking about playing as an effective Ranger, I noticed two obvious situations in the video, where you neither used the right weapon, or used your pets F2 skill to help yourself. At 2.15, when chasing the Guardian at mill, you use all your greatsword melee skills before finally using Crippling Throw, and you never switch back to longbow, despite the fact that it would have been a lot more useful to you when chasing the Guardian. You didn’t take advantage of the drakehound’s F2 immobilize either, which could have helped you catch up to the Guardian, or have helped you hit with your greatsword. At 5.05, when falling down the cliffside, you switch out your greatsword for your longbow, even though you’re in a confined area, where the greatsword would have been ideal to use. You also didn’t see the obvious option there, which was to use your wolf’s F2 fear, to run your opponent off the cliffside.

I don’t mean any disrespect here, but to me, it doesn’t seem like you know the limitations of the Ranger. Because you simply aren’t playing the Ranger to its strengths.

I want to see the pet have a broader role in the Rangers gameplay.

Place “Search and Rescue” and “Guard” (without stealth) on the pet bar, as permanent pet skills. To give the pet more usage when on passive, and to allow for better pet control in combat.

Make three pet “save slots” so we can save pets in a pairs, and quickly swap pets outside of combat. So you would open the pet window, select Save Slot 1/2/3, and then close the window again. As an example, you could have two pets with chill skills in the first save slot, two pets with support skills in the second save slot, and two pets for dps in the third save slot. This would allow the Ranger to quickly change “roles”, before going into different combat situations.

Substance E.4852:

Kasama.8941:

AydenStar.4216:

Kas, I know the Ranger profession in and out. I have cheerleadered how good this profession has been for months. When this game came out 1 year ago I spent the first month as a Mesmer and switched to the Ranger and never looked back. I know Rangers are ok in PvE but for me the PvE content is a joke and sometimes the player quality as well. In spvp/tpvp, the whole condition meta and lack of different maps styles just turns me off.

In WvW, the last place of fun in this game now the current hardcore meta is only Guardians, Elementalists, Warriors, Necromancers and Mesmers. There is no place for this profession in the eyes of the community because of lackluster and redundancy the Ranger skills have compared to the other professions above and yes our pet mechanic are worthless in that environment. What happens when Anet start to adding larger group oriented PvE content? Guild leaders will start analyzing each professions contributions to the group, and they will come to the same conclusions the WvW community has.

You’re really just emphasizing what I said, when you say; “there is no place for this profession in the eyes of the community” and “guild leaders will start analyzing each professions contributions to the group”. The problem is not so much the Ranger, as it is the community. And ArenaNet can’t change peoples state of mind, only we as Ranger players can, by making the best of what we got. When guild leaders analyze the current meta, they judge it based on how professions are played, not how their skills work. If something is great, no one cares why it is great, only that it works. And the Ranger does work on some level. But like most other professions, it can’t do everything.

The things is, most guild leaders will try out builds themselves to make decisions. A good leader isn’t going to go on some forum to see if the ranger is any good they are going to crunch numbers themselves, try out a few builds or even just look at our skills to decide.

This is even more true now that BL’s are almost devoid of anyone on a ranger who isn’t devoted to the class and knows how to play it well. I see far more kitten poor players on necros, warriors and guardians than Rangers now by far and it has done nothing to curb their popularity.

That might be the case for some guild leaders, but even then, I’ll bet you that their decision is still going to be largely based on community popularity and conversations. If everyone says “the Ranger sucks and doesn’t offer anything to a group”, then why would a guild leader make an effort to try and change that? Only the Ranger community can really change it.

Actually, I see a lot of Ranger players in my borderlands. The problem is, most Rangers aren’t very confident players, meaning I very rarely see a Ranger that stands out in the crowd. For instance, by running first into battle, standing their ground when facing opponents, or fighting 2v1. It’s very easy to play “lazy” when playing a Ranger, because that’s how you play in PvE. And the problem is, the Ranger is one of the hardest professions to play in WvW, because you can’t just swing a hammer around like a Warrior does, or throw up a bunch of boons like the Guardian does, or go into stealth like a Thief does, or go into Death Shroud like the Necromancer does. As a Ranger, you have to be constantly moving, and use your snare skills to keep distance to your foes, which is completely opposite to how you play a Ranger in PvE.

It sounds about as exciting as WXP…

Kjeldoran.3849:

Chopps.5047:

There’s definately a problem. Hopefully ANET still has some creativity left on their teams. We need something.

yeah we need something but what? … surely we don’t need to become OP because we still are really powerfull… the problems with those ppl who say “ranger need rework/updates/everything” are only people who play ranger and after a general overview of what they can do in hearth of the mists and pve can’t play like a mindless warrior and start to scream about how weak we are weak… no we aren’t! it’s just you who need skill… we need something but not the something you are asking for… not the best of the game… not the invincible pet… not the unlimited power nor the infinite skill ranger… cmon stop with those posts! if there is something of important to do and Anet can do it we have only to wait for the next release… if don’t is useless to waste your and our time here; 1 post about the ranger situation is enough.

PS: the whole post isn’t refered to you (Chopps but to the OP starting from your “something” statement XD)

They need to make the pet a bigger part of the Ranger gameplay, instead of just being a damage sponge or an extra skill source. Something like placing “Search and Rescue” and “Guard” (without stealth) on the pet bar, as permanent pet skills, so the pet becomes more significant for everyone around the Ranger, and gives the Ranger himself more control over the pet. There’s a reason why shouts are the least used, out of all our utility skills. It’s very hard to justify picking a skill that only affects the pet. Because we shouldn’t have to. That’s what I think needs to change.

Edit:
They also need to make pet swapping more accessible, so we can easily use all the pets at our disposal, instead of having to press K and then use the mouse to pick a pet. Maybe give us three “save slots”, that allow us to save pets in pairs, so we quickly can change when we are out of combat. So all you needed to do was to press K, press “Pet Save Slot 3”, and then close the window again.

It sounds great. Soldiers gear is already a perfect match for the Ranger, when it comes to power builds, so this should work out very well. I might change my magic find gear to this, and go for a CC build.

I play a shortbow-pistol/pistol build, with mostly rampager gear, and it is very possible to use 1v1. All you really need to do, is use the shortbow in melee range. You start by firing Choking Gas, use steal to get close, and then use Cluster Bomb (detonate) while running circles around your opponent, to avoid getting hit. Then you gain distance again, and use pistol auto-attack to stack more bleeds, while using the occasional Unload, Head Shot, or Black Powder, depending on the situation. So basically, using shortbow is all about quickly stacking bleed and poison, and then keep pressure on your opponent with direct damage.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAV6alYmKOHfS6E9JFy2jeqC5JuCOl/Byq/QUB-jkyAYMBZiCAhBiIAn/KiGblsIasaGMtpgs6Mp+jioVLDg5GA-w

The only real problem with the build, is that it lacks health, so you are a bit forced to use Mango Pie nourishment all the time.

What difference does it make? All they can tell you is “we’re working on it”. Just because they don’t write, it doesn’t mean they aren’t reading.

Cuchullain.3104:

I just leveled a mesmer to level 80 using the boost that starts you at level 20. At level 22, with 2 levels of actual play experience and no clue, I went into WvW and killed a level 80 ranger 1 v 1 even though he had me caught in entangle for a bit and attacked me from behind. It was truly a wtf moment that showed me once and for all how badly this class sucks.

Funny I did get knocked down by a wolf in a 1 v 1, as I usually dodge the knockdown automatically without even thinking about it just like most of us do with red circles. The wolf was up on top of the wall at Stonemist and knocked me down straight with no windup or warning. His owner was outside the castle.

The guy was hacking. Says it all.

The up-level system in WvW is completely screwed, so just because you played as a level 22 character, it doesn’t mean you had less stats then a level 80 opponent. You might even end up having better stats then your opponent.

But it’s a bit hollow to judge the Ranger based on one fight. I play a power Ranger (no pun intended), and beat a Mesmer and Thief 2v1 yesterday. Then I killed two players in a 3v1 shortly after (the last player ran away). But before these two fights, I lost to an Engineer when I was trying to take down a veteran guard. The game isn’t static, but is based on many different variables. The most significant one being experience.

Noobie.1073:

On the contrary, Rangers are the second most popular profession in the game next to “warriors” according to:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/guild-wars-2-the-first-year/

So your popularity argument is invalid. Where do us Rangers have a place? in WvW? Dungeons? tPvP?

I know “my” ranger is a WvW solo roamer, “my” ranger can play dungeons with my guildies and friends, “my” ranger can compete in PvP, but that is only “my” ranger. Everyone plays differently and while I feel that every profession has their ups and downs, strengths, and weaknesses. I do feel an overwhelming need to punch my pet in the face sometimes

I get what you are saying (hence why i placed the word “my” in quotations) but not every ranger in the game is going to have the same support as I do from my guild or my friends. Some/most rangers may not want to solo roam WvW, Some rangers are completely against melee combat so will never touch a sword/dagger. Some rangers are profound and extremists to expect that Anet either make the changes to the ranger class that supports Anet’s description of the ranger profession:

“Rangers rely on a keen eye, a steady hand, and the power of nature itself. Unparalleled archers, rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows. With traps, nature spirits, and a stable of loyal pets at their command, rangers can adapt to any situation. "

or to change the ranger description to match what the ranger currently is. Ranger’s can not adapt to every situation as we are not as effective when our pets are on CD. Pets are not loyal as current F2 skill do not override any current skills, Warriors have better LB skills that rangers. Thief has better SB skills than rangers. Therefore, rangers are not unparallelled, but sub-par archers. Keen eye means that stealth duration should automatically be reduced when fighting a ranger because rangers use the power of nature itself to know where a stealthed opponent is or rangers should be invulnerable to backstabs if traited because of being attuned to nature (meaning they should never be hit by a “surprise” attack).

I continue to play my ranger regardless, but it does not mean I don’t want to see some nice changes for the ranger class. if we can’t have the changes to the class, at least change the class description to say:

“Rangers rely on a steady hand and the power of nature itself. Efficient archers; rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows. With traps, nature spirits, and a stable of pets at their command, rangers excel in small scale combat”

I meant popular in group play, not in sheer number.

Yes, the pet sucks on multiple points, but when another player sees the Ranger, they don’t care that the pet sucks, they only care about what the player does. Because that’s what matters. It’s what you get out of something, that directly affects how others perceive it. People will always have their pre-assumptions, but our state of mind about something, is only determined directly by our experiences with it. So if you make the best out of it, people will see more good then bad, as long as there is potential. And the Ranger does have potential, even as it is right now.

“If you think you can do a thing, or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right." -Henry Ford

AydenStar.4216:

Kas, I know the Ranger profession in and out. I have cheerleadered how good this profession has been for months. When this game came out 1 year ago I spent the first month as a Mesmer and switched to the Ranger and never looked back. I know Rangers are ok in PvE but for me the PvE content is a joke and sometimes the player quality as well. In spvp/tpvp, the whole condition meta and lack of different maps styles just turns me off.

In WvW, the last place of fun in this game now the current hardcore meta is only Guardians, Elementalists, Warriors, Necromancers and Mesmers. There is no place for this profession in the eyes of the community because of lackluster and redundancy the Ranger skills have compared to the other professions above and yes our pet mechanic are worthless in that environment. What happens when Anet start to adding larger group oriented PvE content? Guild leaders will start analyzing each professions contributions to the group, and they will come to the same conclusions the WvW community has.

You’re really just emphasizing what I said, when you say; “there is no place for this profession in the eyes of the community” and “guild leaders will start analyzing each professions contributions to the group”. The problem is not so much the Ranger, as it is the community. And ArenaNet can’t change peoples state of mind, only we as Ranger players can, by making the best of what we got. When guild leaders analyze the current meta, they judge it based on how professions are played, not how their skills work. If something is great, no one cares why it is great, only that it works. And the Ranger does work on some level. But like most other professions, it can’t do everything.

I play Inspiration/Support.

I just love the feeling of having high durability with rabid gear and boons, yet still have clones, stealth, and a lot of utility on top. It feels very powerful to play.

AydenStar.4216:

The current state of the Ranger is sad. It has no place in this game IMHO. You don’t need them for dungeons, you don’t need them in WvW. In Spvp you have only Spirits, a laughing stock because of how easy it is to play with all of the passive abilities and RNG abilities the spirits do once they die. Soon players will learn how do deal with them and we ll have nothing again. It is time for Anet to have a serious discussion about this profession before GW2 player base completely shun the profession as useless.

Just a reminder that; no profession is needed anywhere. You can play a dungeon with five Rangers, without any problems at all.

The only thing preventing you is profession popularity, and group pressure. For instance, berserker Warriors are only popular in dungeons, because they are popular. And because everyone writes “looking for berserker Warrior”, others feel pressured to make and play that. The Ranger’s lack of popularity is exactly the same problem; everyone believes that the Ranger has nothing to offer, and will continue to feel that way, regardless of what ArenaNet does to the Ranger. Only us Ranger players can prove that the Ranger has a place.

Honestly, I think ArenaNet are satisfied with the way the pet currently works. They have said they are aware of the fact that F2 skills are slow, yet haven’t done anything to improve the overall channel times. They have said they are aware that the pet is slow to react against targets, but don’t want to improve it because of how powerful pets already are in PvE.

Next to that, the Ranger is a high tier profession in sPvP, and is far from broken in PvE and WvW (although many likes to think differently), so changes aren’t going to be big.

I’ll throw mine in the mix as well. It’s a burst build that takes advantage of the Guardian’s burn, and damage multipliers.

WvW/PvE Stats (with nourishments):
2,487 power
50% critical chance (using sword/torch)
661 condition damage
1,746 toughness (in combat)
16,505 health

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAW7flYg672GSOEf4Ei1DCCh8nqHxj+4hXFSIA-jUyAIMBZaCAdBmIAl9KiGbxrIas6FMdJRUt7oIa1CBobMA-w

sPvP Stats:
2,304 power
42% critical chance (using sword/torch)
530 condition damage
1,735 toughness (in combat)
16,945 health

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAW7flYg672GSOEf4Ei1DCCh8nqHxj+4hXFSIA-TsAA1CnI4RxjjHDPSes8MKYRw+CA

I also made a topic explaining the build, but judging by replies, it doesn’t seem like a lot of Guardians are interested in burst builds.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Burn-MF-Burn-Burst-Build/

Sutcliffe.5491:

Kasama.8941:

Sutcliffe.5491:

Firstly, the auto attack damage of sword is definitely higher than scepter.
2nd, smite damage is dependent on the size of your opponent. The bigger the size, the more hits will connect and vice versa.

Yes, sword auto-attack deals more damage, but you need to constantly catch up to your opponent with the sword, and the Guardian has pretty horrible movement speed.

Hit boxes are the same on all races and characters, so size makes no difference.

Oh u are looking at it from a pvp point of view but I’m looking at it from a pve point of view where sword is definitely better and the monster size matters. Anyway do u know that even if there is only one enemy in the aoe of smite, not all the hits will connect so it might not be as good as you think.

As for ur 2nd question, u definitely can do it but u have to give up other traits to do it and the question is whether its worth it or not

Oh, well then we are speaking about two different things, yes.

Yeah, Smite can be a little off sometimes, but I tested scepter vs. sword on golem dummies, and during the 2 second immobilize from Chains of Light, Smite would deal around the same damage as Flashing Blade+Zealot’s Defense. I also very clearly noticed that I would get a lot more, and faster, kills in WvW using scepter, compared to using the sword.

Well I play a burst build, so it’s worth it for me. But if you want to lean more towards durability, then it might not be the way to go.

Sutcliffe.5491:

Firstly, the auto attack damage of sword is definitely higher than scepter.
2nd, smite damage is dependent on the size of your opponent. The bigger the size, the more hits will connect and vice versa.
Lastly it also depends on your built, the powerful blades trait is conveniently locAted in radiance tree which u will pick if u are running one handed weapon but scepter 10% trait is located in the zeal tree

Yes, sword auto-attack deals more damage, but you need to constantly catch up to your opponent with the sword, and the Guardian has pretty horrible movement speed. Meanwhile, the Scepter auto-attack will always hit, thanks to its 1200 range.

Hit boxes are the same on all races and characters, so size makes no difference.

Are you trying to imply that you can’t put trait points in radiance and zeal at the same time? Because that’s what I do, and it works great.

Besides the fact that sword looks good, I don’t know why anyone would pick it over the scepter. Chains of Light>Smite will deal the same damage as Flashing Blade>Zealot’s Defense, but have the benefit of being ranged, and thereby have a higher chance of hitting. In fact, Smite can deal even higher damage then Zealot’s Defense, if your opponent stays in Smite for its full duration. Smite also has a much shorter recharge time then Zealot’s Defense, making the total dps potential much better.

It looks great. I would change ‘Signet of Stone’ to ‘Signet of the Hunt’, as 1500 toughness is enough. Change Wilderness Knowledge to Shared Anguish, as it will help you more. And change your runes to Rune of the Citadel, since you already have enough power, but low critical change. Also, you can’t use Sigil of Battle and Sigil of Energy on the same weapon set, as they don’t stack.

1. I’ve always loved sylvari. But they also have the advantage of looking like two races, sylvari and human. If you put a hat and fabric looking clothes on, it’s only your face that reveals you as a sylvari. And then you can do something as simple as take your hat off, and suddenly you look more like a sylvari again. See pics below for examples.
2. I love norn Guardians, because you can make them look so huge, which fits really well with the “guard” archetype.
3. Norn has the Snow Leopard racial elite, which can give you stealth for 5 seconds and a 1600 range dash. This is very good for escaping bad situations, and the snow leopard transformation looks great.
4. I also have a sylvari Thief, which I really like, because of the whole “green forest camouflage” theme the sylvari has. Necromancers and Engineers are also fun for sylvari, because it can be such a colorful race.

I don’t know why players here have begun to think you need around 1800 toughness to survive as a Ranger. Once you go over 1700, you’re heading into bunker territory. As a Ranger, having around 1500 toughness is plenty. I never had anyone one shot me with 1500 toughness. And the Ranger has a lot of mobility, and plenty of access to regeneration. Besides, we are in a condition damage meta right now, so health is actually more important.

I play a Bunker/Boon Support, condition build. It’s good fun:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7dl4zCoHVzoGb9IiZGDHydSB05clZMbXIA-jUyAoMBZaCMlBgCBlDLiGbVsIasaGMVKRUtHpIa1CBsYNA-w

Vaxx.3178:

Kasama.8941:

I think a more interesting question is; with ascended weapons being put into the game, will the higher damage output from foes in PvP, cause the pet to have an even harder time surviving AoE damage?

Isn’t that pretty much a given?

It completely depends on how much more damage the ascended weapons will deal.

The pet just needs some AoE damage reduction, as the Ranger community have been suggesting for months now.

Either go with Krytan Drakehound+Alpine Wolf for control, or River Drake+Marsh Drake for burst damage. Keep the pets on passive, so they don’t run around all over the place, and focus on using their F2 skills when the Thief gets close. The Thief will mostly move too quickly for spiders to hit him.

I think a more interesting question is; with ascended weapons being put into the game, will the higher damage output from foes in PvP, cause the pet to have an even harder time surviving AoE damage?

The problem can be two things. Either you don’t put enough damage on the Thief, to make him stay away from you, or you don’t play aggressively enough and put your back to the Thief too much.

When a Thief attacks you from stealth, you will be at a disadvantage, and so your first priority is to get some distance to the Thief. Don’t run away at first (Thieves can deal a lot more damage to your back), but face him, dodge, and gain distance. You can do this with skills like Point Blank Shot, Muddy Terrain, or just a trap. Then use your healing skill if your health is under 50%, and start applying pressure to the Thief. The main goal here is to scare him away. Getting a kill is a bonus. You need to get a ranged weapon to really do this (longbow or main-hand axe), as the Thief will continually go from melee to range, and you want to keep damage on him the whole time. Chasing a Thief around with melee weapons, will put you at a disadvantage, as you’re keeping yourself close to him, while he can just dance around you in stealth. You want to damage him with greatsword when he tries to burst you down in melee (Counterattack>Maul>Hilt Bash>Swoop or alternately Frost Trap>Whirling Defense), and then switch to your ranged weapon when he tries to gain range and reset (Point Blank Shot>Rapid Fire / Winter’s Bite>Path of Scars>Splitblade). Use your pets or utilities to lock him down, so he doesn’t run too far away, or so he can’t keep pressure on you. Save your AoE for when he goes into stealth, and take notice of his attack pattern. Never stop attacking, and keep moving even when the Thief is in stealth. Other then that it’s just practice.

My build only has 1526 toughness and 18382 health, yet I can still beat a Thief. It’s all about being confident, by running towards them instead of away from them, and knowing how they move.

CRrabbit.1284:

Kasama.8941:

CRrabbit.1284:

lol, no stun breaker. you can at most cast 1 skill in front of zerg then be stun locked to death.

mistsim.2748:

if youre casting from 600 range, by the time youre done, the melee train is upon you. so youre still at melee range.

How the hell do you guys play? Stand still and take all the incoming damage to your face? The Ranger has more then enough evasion to move out of the way. You’re talking like the only reasonable scenario is a hundred foes, with +100% movement speed, vs. one imbecile Ranger. Let’s get back to reality shall we..

If you want more stun removal, then changing Muddy Terrain to Signet of Renewal, or Lightning Reflexes, wouldn’t make the build that much worse. And the build also has Shared Anguish.

You have neither LB stealth nor GS3 gap closer. How can you reach opponents into melee range w/o being noticed?
Your shared anguish is the reason why I said you can cast 1 skill before you die.
Yes you can use sword2 to get closer but then you just used the only last hope of escaping after cast that 1 skill when you are lucky enough to be not seen when you try to approach.

I literally threw that build together in 2 minutes, so I didn’t think of everything. But throwing traps down without being “noticed” isn’t very hard in the chaos of everything that goes on in a fight. Large groups of players tend to stick together closely, and therefor have a hard time doing sharp turns, meaning something as simple as dodge rolling and running to the side, means you can avoid most of a group completely. Large groups of players are also very predicable when moving, so it’s easy to see where to place you traps, as long as you see them coming of curse.