Guild Wars 2

I love the Raccoon, and it fits perfectly for the Ranger, but I didn’t play Guild Wars 1

The downed state and rally are fine as mechanics. What needs to be looked at are the downed state skills, and the ease of which you can escape after rallying. Basically, all downed skills should be more similar to each other across all professions, and rallying needs to have a short penalty, that prevents you from using all your skills immediately.

Castaliea.3156:

I think, at least for me, my biggest problem is the profession mechanic and our weapons. I love using traps in zergs (although I ignore flame trap and Viper’s Nest) but that’s all.

All of our weapons are just not suited for such an environment. Sword competently inhibits your movement, Axe may bounce but that’s not real cleave, Greatsword cleaves but all you do is spam #1/2, Piercing Arrows? Handy, but again, not cleaving and targeting can be a real pain.

Next is the mechanic, I’m sorry but you will never convince me pets are incredibly useful in these situations. Your entire mechanic comes down to one actual active skill that may/may not complete it’s ridiculous casting time while quite possibly exploding into nothingness despite the fact it already inhibits your personal performance.

Until we get real weapons that cleave and some way to either improve the mechanic or replace it all we really rely on is Frost Trap, Spike Trap, Muddy Terrain, and MAYBE Entangle. That’s it. That’s what every single one of these post about how useful we are comes to. It’s so pathetic. Oh did I not mention Whirling Defense? Silly me. I forgot to mention a great Off-Hand weapon that pretty much requires you to bring a Signet, and therefore 30 into Marks. and 20 into Skirm for 5 seconds of self immobilization and reflect. Again, silly me.

Yet we’re all content to sit here and fight among ourselves about how awesome we are in zergs because of 3, maybe 4 skills. Meanwhile we’re still left out, never asked for, and usually just ignored. Yes these “attack” utility skills can be really handy but are they worth giving up useful weapon skills, possibly a profession mechanic that already inhibits you personally, and not allowing you to bring any actual utility? Not a chance. That is why we’re not popular. Want us to be popular? Stop being content with mediocrity because you feel you have to defend your profession against itself. I just wrote up 5,000 words worth of a suggestion overview and I don’t even really feel like posting it now because I should just learn to be content with 3-4 useful skills. Kitty me, Right?

No one here is content. We are simply trying to make the best with what we have, which isn’t as bad as most want to believe. We already have a lot of complain topics, but negativity never moved anyone forward.

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.

CRrabbit.1284:

Kasama.8941:

Boomstin.3460:

Kasama.8941:

It’s also worth mentioning that the Ranger’s traps have shorter recharge times, then most condition removal has.

How many trap rangers does it take to counter lets say a group with 5 guardians and 5 warriors running with soldier runes?
For example guardian running 3 shouts has cooldowns of 24,28 and 48 seconds on them.

Traited Spike Trap, Frost Trap, Muddy Terrain, and Entangle, will have recharge times of 20, 24, 20, and 120 seconds. Then you have pets like the canines that can also deal up to 3 seconds of either immobilize, chill, or fear, with recharge times of 20, 30, or 45 seconds. You could also go with the black bear and polar bear, to deal AoE weakness and chill. And then there’s Barrage. Now imagine five Rangers running this.

All of these skills are in melee range. To successfully cast them and retreat you need both protect me with either traited SoS or L-reflex(protect me alone not enough, I tried many times even with brown bear+protect me in front of zerg ball, and it last no more than 3 seconds), and to max the trap, you have to at least invent 20 to Skirm trait. Then you are already at 30/20 in trait and already used 2 utilities which leaves you only 1 slot for trap.
Same idea, your canine won’t survive till they cast immo or fear unless 1-you use SoS or 2-you use shout to stealth+protect them then go. And after casting , they are pretty much instant dead then you have to swap another quickly for your own protection.
Well you can use 5 rangers to do the suicide rush to cast some of these, but what’s the point next?

I just threw this together (notice how all the traps are ranged):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQRBMfdG2IQVcdeljFqdgYVAQtHZiTnn9g/O6Rpcrq0GL-jkxAIsBRnDLiGb9rIasaGMVKRUtHvIa1SBAxaA-w

mistsim.2748:

Kasama.8941:

Traited Spike Trap, Frost Trap, Muddy Terrain, and Entangle, will have recharge times of 20, 24, 20, and 120 seconds. Then you have pets like the canines that can also deal up to 3 seconds of either immobilize, chill, or fear, with recharge times of 20, 30, or 45 seconds. You could also go with the black bear and polar bear, to deal AoE weakness and chill. And then there’s Barrage. Now imagine five Rangers running this.

this is all soft CC brother. it does nothing to an organized zerg with -65% condi duration. spamming soft CC only deludes little rangers into believing theyre actually making a difference, when the real difference is made by static fields, rings of warding, Earth Shakers, and the sort.

GvG meta has permeated WvW in most of the higher tier server. this basically means perma stable frontliners, unlimited condi clears, staff eles, power wellmancers and the sort.

you cant “whittle down” a zerg that has a lot of sustain. you have to deal with it through brute force, hard CC, burst, and constant presence inside of them.

what do you think traps and spirits will do against a group of 10 guardians rushing your face? spirits will get popped instantly and when u have to wait an entire minute. traps will get totally shrugged off like theyre nothing.

It doesn’t have to be “soft CC” if you play into condition duration. Even just picking Trap Potency doubles your traps condition duration, making for instance Frost Trap deal 2 seconds of chill on each tick. Add +50% condition duration on top of that, and you won’t be dealing with short duration times anymore.

The only problem with your triangle of love, is you need a high number of these professions to do any real harm, as their skills all have really long recharge times. The Warrior will only use AoE stun on the initial attack, trapping a few unaware players, and the Guardian’s wards have almost no use anymore in WvW, as stacking stability is common procedure these days. Meanwhile, one Ranger can continually stack conditions that needs to be cleansed, several times. And which can all be reapplied after a short time.

I can only speak for my own server, and whenever I use Muddy Terrain or Entangle, I can clearly see it slows down foes. Mostly forcing them to prematurely use condition removal, before the fight has even started. Once the fight has gone on for a while, players will try to reset, and then trapping foes becomes even more vital, as most will have exhausted all their skills.

I can’t imagine a situation where I would stand around and let ten Guardians rush me..

Boomstin.3460:

Kasama.8941:

It’s also worth mentioning that the Ranger’s traps have shorter recharge times, then most condition removal has.

How many trap rangers does it take to counter lets say a group with 5 guardians and 5 warriors running with soldier runes?
For example guardian running 3 shouts has cooldowns of 24,28 and 48 seconds on them.

Traited Spike Trap, Frost Trap, Muddy Terrain, and Entangle, will have recharge times of 20, 24, 20, and 120 seconds. Then you have pets like the canines that can also deal up to 3 seconds of either immobilize, chill, or fear, with recharge times of 20, 30, or 45 seconds. You could also go with the black bear and polar bear, to deal AoE weakness and chill. And then there’s Barrage. Now imagine five Rangers running this.

Boomstin.3460:

No condition will stick to any organized groups much longer than a second or 2, everything will get cleansed way faster than anyone can apply them, or worse yet converted to boons. So you are actually hurting your own chances and buffing your enemy.
Sure traps can be somewhat effective to tag some mindless zerglings on eb and they sure are quite handy in small scale warfare.
I like that you try to find positive sides from the current situation but please stop spreading misinformation. It’s not helping anyone.

Exhausting your opponents condition removal is vital in the current meta. If they spend their condition removal from the start, they’ll have less to remove all the condition damage they’ll get stacked on a few seconds later.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Ranger’s traps have shorter recharge times, then most condition removal has. And that placing just one or two traps can do a lot on their own, leaving you with one or two more traps that you can place after. Or how about the fact that having two or more Rangers doing this, leaves you with almost an endless stream of crowd control.

The stats looks pretty similar to what I’m playing. I just use Troll Urgent for better heal, Signet of Renewal for condition removal, Muddy Terrain and Entangle for control, Sigil of Air on longbow for extra hits, and then my traits are 30/20/20/0/0. I have 20 in Wilderness Survival for the Oakheart Salve regeneration, and protection from Companion’s Defense. I love using Rune of Hoelbrak with Lemongrass Poultry Soup, as well.

Power builds are definitely fun with the Ranger, and they work a lot better ever since they updated the longbow and greatsword. Even though the auto-attack on longbow and greatsword could still both use a buff.

Here’s my build if anyone is curious:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJATRjAVB29VOWo2Bi1j90n/0Ukp+zUcIGlyPiyTVA-j0yAYrARUAIRQZvioxWBLiGr2GT5Codjs+NpG8hoZyTtMAMLA-w

Well I’m glad someone ells got it.

When it comes to pets, it’s also worth mentioning that canines can be a great source of AoE control, dealing either immobilize, chill, or fear. With the trait Malicious Training, the skills can last 3 seconds. Using the Red Moa, Jungle Stalker, and the warhorn, you can also give fury for 30 seconds and 6 stacks of might for 25 seconds. You can even switch out the pets and warhorn after you buff, before going into combat.

Now to wait for everyone ells to catch on…

tempest.1309:

I don’t mind if it direct or dots just want to be able,to hold my own. I love my uh dk in wow with his dots though so that may be an option.

As you probably know, there’s no holy trinity in Guild Wars 2, so each profession can hold their own. Meaning a medium armor profession can be build to have more survivability, then a heavy armored profession. Most professions can do condition damage (DoT) as well, so that’s not a really good guide point either.

What you want to think about, is how you like to play. The Mesmer is deceptive and mischief, the Guardian is protective and supportive, the Necromancer is durable and possessive, the Ranger is controlling and evasive, the Elementalist is versatile and compositely, the Warrior is offensive and sturdy, the Thief is cunning and swiftly, the Engineer is mechanical and elaborating.

Level up each profession to level 2, then go directly in structured PvP, make a quick build that you can get from this forum, and test all the professions out for yourself.

You can go here to get a general idea of what each profession does: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/

killimandros.5087:

Kasama; The point is, the ranger dosnt do ANY of these abilities any better than classes who at the same time bring other and BETTER group abilities, PLUS more dps….You mentioned some decent single abilities, useful in a zerg, where you only rely on yourself. In a good organized grouip, no sane leader would pick a bunker ranger instead of ANY class. Thats the truth. The ranger doesnt bring ANY ability to a top guild group other than healing spring other classes cant do better, WITH dealing more deepeess at the same time. Take a look at the best guilds combos. They run warrior, guardian, mesmer and necro. In that order. In the very beginning some of the better guild groups had some, a few dedicated healers. Not anymore. Guardians do dps OR control. Another point is, if you wanna do ranged dps with your longbow, you arent running in a group efficiently anymore. You cant heal your allies (who will be melee) and at the same time hit enemies from 1200 distance. It wont work.

I’m sorry, but you’re just wrong. As a Ranger you can singlehandedly lock down a group of players repetitively, or for much longer, then any other profession. The Guardian’s wards almost have no effect in ZvZ anymore, as everyone knows to stack stability before attacking. The Thief can have some great movement by using stealth, but the Ranger can have equally as good movement through high amount of vigor and evades, thereby staying alive for longer. Spirit of Nature can do AoE rally and cure conditions, provided that you place it right. The Ranger can have just as good dps as other professions, as long as you can keep the pet alive and hitting. A pet skill such as Lightning Breath can even provide some great AoE burst damage. Going from range to melee is not really a problem at all. And just because you have 1500 range, it doesn’t mean you have to stand at 1500 range from your opponents. Sometimes opponents likes to stand at a distance, or you need to shoot down a trebuchet that’s placed at a high location.

I’m not trying to argue that the Ranger is flawless, it needs a lot of work still, but it is definitely not as handicapped as most want to believe.

CRrabbit.1284:

some of you guys didn’t get what I mean. (Some go it)
I never say ranger is totally useless in WvW, no class is useless.
My point is —- no matter what role I am gonna focus in WvW, I can always find other classes doing much better than ranger. So ……. why play ranger in WvW except fun?

These are the “roles” the Ranger excels at:
- Being able to stack a ton of control skills (cripple, chill, immobilize, knockdowns, knockback, pull), a lot of it being AoE
- Brilliant movement with a ton of vigor, evades, swiftness, and short termed stealth
- Being able to rally multiple allies at the same time, using “Search and Rescue” or Spirit of Nature
- Curing conditions from allies, with Healing Spring, Signet of Renewal, Spirit of Nature, or the Brown Bear
- Healing Spring, which is one of the best healing skills in the game
- Great invulnerability duration with “Protect Me” and traited Signet of Stone
- Great stability duration with Rampage As One and traited Signet of the Wild
- Using the pet to attack a target, without putting yourself at risk
- The best long ranged damage in the game, with traited longbow

Now I’m sure you can pick all these points apart, and say one professions does one of these things better then the Ranger, but the advantage lies in the combination of all these abilities.

jcbroe.4329:

Kasama.8941:

When you consider that the Ranger has cripple on sword auto-attack, and can use a dog with knockdown and immobilize, suddenly Fire Trap looks a lot better.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Big_Ol%27_Bomb
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Glue_Bomb
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Net_Shot
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Glue_Shot
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Freeze_Grenade

Oh, and none of those are controlled by pet AI. Them being player controlled means having a higher potential success rate, depending on the skill level of the player. And also:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Incendiary_Powder

Does flame trap really look that good? Cuz I’m really not seeing it, and I can list positives of the ranger class for days.

The keyword is “auto-attack”, meaning you don’t have to exhaust any of your other skills when you use Fire Trap.

kiwituatara.6053:

My goal isn’t getting bags but to help my zerg gain and hold as many WvW potential points as possible. My traps at choke points tend to go off prematurely from pets/minions/etc~ maybe its L2P, or I’m just unlucky meh~ :/

You really have to get Trapper’s Expertise if you use traps in WvW. It makes a world of difference. I just use Muddy Terrain, Entangle, and Barrage.

When you consider that the Ranger has cripple on sword auto-attack, and can use a dog with knockdown and immobilize, suddenly Fire Trap looks a lot better.

Having “lock target” on its own button, means that you can change targets quicker. If it was as you’re suggesting, you would have to call the pet back, and then send it to attack again, every time you wanted to change targets. Meaning there would be a higher chance of the pet screwing up. Sometimes pets are also slow to respond, meaning you need to press F1 several times.

Maybe if you actually told us what your problems were, we could help you. I’ve never felt useless in any content as a Ranger, and we do have specific roles.

Castaliea.3156:

Kasama.8941:

Castaliea.3156:

Kasama.8941:

…builds that use to be the sPvP meta, which still works great in WvW and PvE, where build efficiency is less of a factor.

Nuff said.

Right, so you agree that the Ranger has just as many efficient builds, as most other professions.

No. I was pointing out how we can dismiss your statements because you assume we’re fine because of sPvP builds and how builds don’t have to actually work as well in WvW.

That’s not what I’m saying at all. More builds work in WvW and PvE, because these game modes doesn’t require as big of an attention to detail, as sPvP does. Or in other words; WvW and PvE aren’t as competitively demanding as sPvP, so therefor more builds become viable. Mobs doesn’t fight as good a players, and small group play aren’t as big of a factor in WvW. Further more, the build structure in WvW and PvE, is very different from sPvP.

The point I was originally trying to make. is that sPvP is more competitive, so the players who plays sPvP will always look for ways to push professions to their most optimal performance, and constantly try to find new efficient builds. Meanwhile, most of the players who play PvE and WvW, will typically be the casual player, who generally has no interest in finding the boundaries of a profession himself, but just wants everything served on a silver platter. So, while the sPvP players keep finding new and interesting Ranger builds, everyone ells keeps repeating that “the Ranger is a bad profession”, even though sPvP players repetitively proofs that it is not the case.

Yes, I’ve used “Search and Rescue” in dungeons a lot. It allows you to revive very quickly, if both the pet and yourself are reviving one player. You can also revive two players at the same time, or send the pet to revive an ally, while you take aggro from a boss. However, it should be made to work with defeated players again. An 85 second recharge time, on a skill that only works on downed players, is a bit underpowered.

Castaliea.3156:

Kasama.8941:

…builds that use to be the sPvP meta, which still works great in WvW and PvE, where build efficiency is less of a factor.

Nuff said.

Right, so you agree that the Ranger has just as many efficient builds, as most other professions.

Fjandi.2516:

Kasama.8941:

So, the Ranger doesn’t work very well, but there are Ranger builds that are really strong? That doesn’t make any sens at all. If the Ranger has effective builds, there is no reason for other “professions” to talk bad about the Ranger. That’s the point. Why would other players care about how the Ranger is designed?

It depends entirely on what you mean by “the ranger works well”. If that means “the class is terribly designed but very strong in tpvp”, ye i agree with you. It’s like a guy who lifts a huge weight with terrible form, he’s strong no doubt, still his form is bad.

This topic is about the point of view from players, playing other professions. All they should care about, is how efficient the Ranger is when playing. How the Ranger is designed, is only an issue for players who plays a Ranger.

Or said in another way; if you were on the team with that guy who could lift huge weights, why would you care if he was in terrible form? If he shows great results, then you have no reason to question how he got those results.

Most players make Guardians with high survivability, so I wanted to see if it was possible to make an effective burst Guardian, without loosing too much of that durability. Turns out it’s very possible, and very powerful. I made my Guardian a male norn because I wanted to look very big and menacing.

Castaliea.3156:

There are effective Ranger build yes. But that is not what he means by “dismantle balls”. There are very legitimate reasons as to why Ranger is seldom left out of things. Trying to imply or even outright stating that one PvP build instantly solves a professions problems across all settings and gametypes is plain ignorant.

The spirit build is just the current meta. There are older Ranger builds that use to be the sPvP meta, which still works great in WvW and PvE, where build efficiency is less of a factor. Condition trap builds, bunker builds, hell even power builds works great in WvW and PvE.

Fjandi.2516:

The ranger doesn’t work very well at all. It’s really strong in spvp (some builds), but this doesn’t mean the class is well designed. Take the spirit build everyone is now playing in tpvp, it’s a strong build, expecially in this stupid meta. But can we say it’s a well designed and fun to play build? No. Used to be the same with the bm bunker.

So, the Ranger doesn’t work very well, but there are Ranger builds that are really strong? That doesn’t make any sens at all. If the Ranger has effective builds, there is no reason for other “professions” to talk bad about the Ranger. That’s the point. Why would other players care about how the Ranger is designed?

Fordel.3208:

There aren’t though.

If there were, we would see dozens of rangers right beside the rest of your standard zerg hive mind class collective.

This isn’t some weird “the man is trying to keep us down!” issue. It’s a math issue, we don’t have the proper numbers to dish out in the large scale settings.

I wish we did, as I mostly just zerg hump myself, but we don’t currently.

Allow me to quote myself:

At this point, it doesn’t matter what ArenaNet does with the Ranger, people will just keep saying it’s a bad profession. And that will, in turn, prevent them from learning the advantages of the Ranger. It’s just ironic really.

Fordel.3208:

Kasama.8941:

At this point, it doesn’t matter what ArenaNet does with the Ranger, people will just keep saying it’s a bad profession. And that will, in turn, prevent them from learning the advantages of the Ranger. It’s just ironic really.

No, I don’t agree with this. People will use whatever actually works.

Gamers have short memories when it comes to ‘meta’ and game balance.

If some combination of skills and traits lets Rangers dismantle enemy balls, then you are going to see a lot more Rangers running around pretty darn quick.

But, there are already Ranger builds like that dismantle enemy balls. It’s just only players who play sPvP who seem to have gotten the memo, while almost everyone ells keeps repeating the same message over and over. The Ranger works very well, most just plain out refuse to believe it.

The new capture points look very interesting. Having to hold 3 out of the 5 capture points, will not be that easy. Especially if they’re going to be on all four maps. I really hope this means the player bases will be split up more, and that we’ll see less 70 player blobs running around. It will defiantly give players a reason to stay on a map after everything is taken, considering a handful of players could prevent your entire server from getting the bloodlust buff. Looking forward to it.

Hey you guys caught all my edits. Great job xD

At this point, it doesn’t matter what ArenaNet does with the Ranger, people will just keep saying it’s a bad profession. And that will, in turn, prevent them from learning the advantages of the Ranger. It’s just ironic really.

“Looking for a profession with good survivability, and clearly readable skill facts.”

Stooperdale.3560:

" It’s because of the pet skills activation times. If you press F2 while the pet is using a skill attack, it needs to finish that attack, before it can start doing the F2 attack. "

It’s not just that. The F2 commands are executed really badly, worse than for open world animals. For example when commanded to use fire breath on a target, a drake pet will walk up to where an enemy used to be, not turn to face them, and breathe into thin air. That’s if you are lucky, since the pet might do nothing, breathe fire without bothering to move, or wander about for a while then give up. Open world drakes do far better than that since they always move up to where you are now, turn to face you now, then attack you (after checking you are in range).

If you use the F2 skills with drakes, right after you switch them in, they will miss. This is a known bug. That’s why you always have to use auto-attack with a drake first, before using the F2 skill. Once you that, the drake will work just like the NPC drakes do. Using the River Drake or Marsh Drake will also help you hit, as their projectiles follows their target, and bounce between other targets.

The secret to using Entangle right, is condition stacking. A simply thing such as using Muddy Terrain, before you use Entangle, makes a world of difference.

The problem has been explain to us before. It’s because of the pet skills activation times. If you press F2 while the pet is using a skill attack, it needs to finish that attack, before it can start doing the F2 attack. That, plus the F2 skills own activation time, makes the F2 skills feel unresponsive. When a target is too far away, the F2 skill can also be canceled.

That’s not an excuse as to why it isn’t fixed yet, but that is the problem.

ArenaNet confirmed that an open world PvP server was not going to be made, even before the game was released, I believe. I don’t see how open world PvP fits into the game structure either. I mean, in a dynamic event, people would constantly be confused as to whether they should help each other, or kill each other. It would just be a very weird mixture. WvW also already feels a lot like playing open world PvP, except with much less griefing.

In WvW I always use a River Drake “off-hand”. Then I change my main pet depending on what I do. When just running in a zerg, I’ll pick the Forest Spider, as it will generally survive for much longer. In 1v1 scenarios, the Snow Leopard is really good, as its F2 skill has a very long reach. I mostly keep pets in passive when running in a zerg, and then send it to attack stranglers. When just roaming, I keep pets in attack mode, as you’ll never know where an attack will come from.

In dungeon speed runs, I always go with River Drake+Marsh Drake. The River Drake has the hardest hitting F2 skill, and the March Drake is great for providing pressure. The fact that they deal AoE damage is also really useful.

In regular dungeon runs, I usually switch pets quite a lot, depending on the situations. I always start with Forest Spider+Cave Spider, though, as they survive for the longest. If there’s a lot of ranged damage, I’ll switch to Black Bear+Brown Bear, as they can handle the damage the best. And if a boss just needs to be killed quickly, I’ll switch to River Drake+Marsh Drake.

For underwater pets, I either use Whiptail Devourer+Lashtail Devourer, or Black Bear+Brown Bear.

In PvE, I use the Snow Owl, simply because it fits the look of my Ranger.

I never use Moas or Porcines. The Moas are just weird middle range pets, that neither deals enough damage or has enough survivability. And the Porcines F2 skill is just too random.

tanshiniza.8629:

Aye you’re running the build that I would define as a proper pure burst guardian that is capable of dropping people in a few seconds. However as I said before hand you’ve given up a lot in the way of survivability but in return you do get some impressive damage.

What is the usual skill rotation you use for this build? and also a lot of what you use is easily counter-able to those who have seen a guardian at work.

No doubt that you have to give up some survivability. But you have to do that in any burst build. The point is, you can have very high damage on a Guardian, yet with more survivability then other professions.

The skill rotations are written under Tactics in the topic. The normal burst I use is Empower>Chains of Light>Smite>Zealot’s Flame (in melee range)>Zealot’s Fire>Cleansing Flame>Smite. Most burst builds are countable, if you’ve played against them enough. That’s why you have to wait for the right target, like a lion waiting for the weak prey, and then strike quickly. If an opponent sees me coming, I usually get right up in their face with Judge’s Intervention, to throw them off balance. I generally try to stay in melee range as much as possible, even though the build is ranged, just to confuse my opponent and force him to make mistakes. If you linger too much and give your opponents room, you will take too much damage, and be forced to use your defensive utilities too early. It’s a lot about timing.

1. Yes, they are still the best utility profession. But I see a lot less Mesmer on my server these days, for some reason. They are still needed just as much as before, though. Portal, Veil, and Time Warp are still priceless in a zerg.

2. All variations work. But the current meta has more condition damage, so vitality is a bit more important.

3. Exotics are just fine, don’t worry about it. ArenaNet have talk about releasing ascended armor, but we still haven’t seen any signs of that yet.

4. It depends on the profession. AoE damage is still what you’ll see most of. Guardians are plentiful on my server, and I think it’s the same for others. More Mesmers is always a good thing.

The Mesmer is one of the best balanced professions, so I wouldn’t worry about viable builds. Personally, I play a bunkerish condition damage Mesmer, focusing on boon sharing with staff and Signet of Inspiration. It’s always good fun.

tanshiniza.8629:

The Guardian rarely is able to down someone with the first 5-10 seconds of a fight like a true Burst style should. We are what you would call sustained DPS as in we can dish it out consistently over an extended period. When I say pure burst I mean those few guardian builds that sacrifice their survivability for that ability to drop someone in a few seconds like might stacking + 10% burn damage etc.

In reality the only classes that can truly ‘burst’ is the thief and warrior as they have the skills that can completely nuke a players health in seconds.

I down foes within a couple of seconds all the time on my Guardian, and I still have over 1700 toughness and 16500 health. Feel free to try out my build, if you don’t want to take my word on it; https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Burn-MF-Burn-Burst-Build/

Atherakhia.4086:

But you don’t need to use cluster bomb at range. You can use it in melee… and it deals a very high amount of damage. Blast for poison fields is also weakness which is insanely good right now. And again… we’re fighting over last place here. If you want the Thief to be last place in the AE department and Rangers to be 7th, so be it. I don’t agree but that’s fine…

Yes, you can use Cluster Bomb at melee range, that’s also how I’m using it. But the chance of you downing multiple players with it, is still small.

Actually, I would put the Ranger at sixth place, with the Mesmer being at seventh and the Thief at eighth. So to answer the topic; no, we do not suck so hard at AoE.

tanshiniza.8629:

I’ve played all professions and I understand where you are coming from however are we talking pure Burst Guardian or a Hybrid? Because if Hybrid then you are absolutely correct I can do good burst damage while taking a pounding from up to 3 people and not breaking too much of a sweat over it.

I don’t know what you mean with “pure”. By burst I simply mean the ability to down a player within two seconds. What makes the Guardian a better survivor is boon generation, virtues, and healing, all wrapped up in heavy armor. Where other professions deal burst damage, and then runs way at low health, the Guardian can deal burst damage and still stay in the fight.

Orion.3812:

Counterattack is not AOE, but I wish it was. You’re entirely missing the point though—it’s not about how many millions okittends of ineffective or unreliable AOE options a class has, but whether or not there are a small few effective, reliable, and low-cooldown AOE options. Ranger has no skills that have a short cooldown that hit more than three targets except for piercing arrows. Thief has shortbow.

Compare either class to elementalist, which can kill five people at once in one or two seconds with a certain dagger/dagger build, and has sustainable short-cooldown AOE on every weapon.

Counterattack does hit multiple players, but it can only be triggered by one player. But when fighting mobs, it’s easy to make them all stand in the same spot.

I’ve downed multiple players with Muddy Terrain>Entangle>Lightning Breath>Barrage, in a few seconds. I’ve never downed multiple players using Choking Gas and Cluster Bomb. The Thief’s AoE skills are great for tagging players, but you aren’t going to down more then one player on your own, with them.

Atherakhia.4086:

Simply listing off every attack that hits multiple targets isn’t going to prove a class has strong or weak AE. Thief AE is infinitely more powerful than Ranger AE despite the Ranger clearly having access to ‘more’. If Thief AE was on a cooldown instead of initiative based you’d have a point… but it is, and you don’t. And we’re still trying to fight over last place here for some reason…

Having more options is always better. The fact that the Thief can spam his AoE skills doesn’t make them better. It’s only worth using Choking Gas once, as it’s a combo field, and then you’ll be able to use around five Cluster Bombs, at a very slow interval if you’re at range. While you’ll be able to deal some good damage doing this, you won’t be able to down multiple players. And that’s what all the Thief’s AoE skills have in common.

tanshiniza.8629:

The concept of ‘I want to blow everyone out of the water with amazing DPS yet still survive" is one that’s been floating around for ages and my reply to such a thing is this:

You will die.

However how much carnage and destruction you cause before you die is what defines a DPS Guardian. Back when I ran full DPS I used to port into groups and unleash AOE that dropped most people to a fraction of their HP and in a lot of cases killed them. It was a Kamikaze build and I died a lot but y’know what I was true DPS and I bloody loved every second of it

I don’t know if you’ve played other professions, but my experience is that it’s a lot easier to survive as a burst Guardian, compared to other professions. The Thief is the only profession that has an easier time surviving.

Orion.3812:

Kasama.8941:

It’s not that bad at all. Playing a Thief is much worse, since all you have is the shortbow. The Ranger has the choice of traps, axes, bows with pierce, and even the greatsword. Drakes are also a great source of AoE damage.

Thief sword is just as painful to a mob as the ranger greatsword. In fact, it’s even more painful because it does full damage instead of a percentage of total damage while the other portion is reserved for the pet. Against PvE targets, a properly traited thief can keep a group of enemies blinded indefinitely while the sword auto-attack kills three at once. In WvW, I’ve been having good luck with dagger/dagger+sword/pistol in soloing camps or running right in the middle of the zerg with glass gear. Daggers may be mostly single-target, but the dual skill Death Blossom hits many targets and evades. If that isn’t good enough for you, use Dagger Storm with Signet of Malice and take your hands off the keyboard while you auto-run straight into a zerg. This leaves your hands free to roll around the floor laughing at your damage and healing output.

Shortbow cluster bomb isn’t nearly as good since the range nerf in WvW, but it still wrecks mid-range groups with damage that is more consistent than ranger’s barrage which has a much, much longer cooldown for not that much more damage.

All this said, I’m not sure either of the two classes is particularly lacking in AOE ability. Used properly, the potential for piercing arrows is amazing—that said, many projectiles for other classes inherently pierce. Having an entire trait dedicated just to piercing seems a bit steep even if the trait is a must-have for a bow ranger, and piercing arrows as AOE also requires specific positioning forcing the class into a specific play-style to AOE effectively.

The Thief is lacking in AoE damage options, even compared to the Ranger. It’s not even very close.

Thief:
Trick Shot, Cluster Bomb, Choking Gas, Slice (sword auto-attack), Flanking Strike, Pistol Whip, Death Blossom, Dancing Dagger, Caltrops, Dagger Storm – Steal: Exploding Venom Sack, Throw Gunk, Whirling Axe

Ranger:
Slash (greatsword auto-attack), Maul, Swoop, Counterattack, Barrage, all arrow attacks with pierce, Slash (sword auto-attack), Ricochet, Splitblade, Path of Scars, Whirling Defense, Bonfire, Call Lightning, Flame Trap, Spike Trap, Viper’s Nest, Entangle – Pets: Poison Cloud, Poisonous Cloud, Frost Breath, Insect Swarm, Sonic Shriek, Lightning Breath, Fire Breath, Poison Gas

Just updated mine; https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Burn-MF-Burn-Burst-Build/

I would really like to see “Search and Rescue” and “Guard” (without stealth) have a permanent spot on the pet skill bar. I really think this would make pets much more valuable, and result in Rangers being more mindful of their pets. “Search and Rescue” would give a use to pets outside of combat, if you’re just using a moa to buff, for instance. And “Guard” would give more survivability to the pet, and more control. All without having to waste any utility slots.

Then add some shout skills that actually gives some benefits to allies, like the Guardian and Warrior has. We all know the Ranger could use some more support options.

It’s not that bad at all. Playing a Thief is much worse, since all you have is the shortbow. The Ranger has the choice of traps, axes, bows with pierce, and even the greatsword. Drakes are also a great source of AoE damage.

The cripple is fine. The problem with Barrage is that the red circle appears too early before the arrows starts hitting, leaving foes with more then enough time to dodge out of it.

cbrooksc.9358:

Kasama.8941:

-1

I don’t understand why you would pick a Ranger in Guild Wars 2, if you don’t like the pet. It’s really not that bad, and ArenaNet will continue to balance it.

People would pick a ranger in GW2 because they want to play a character that is at one with nature and has some cool abilities such as pet and traps. But the problem is the pet is so badly done that a lot of players would rather just not have it. The whole class needs to been looked at and some big changes. Even if arenanet sit down and decide that it’s going to be a Beast Master class, at least then the class will have a role and they can start making the ranger all about it’s pet.
Not what it currently is which is, ‘yeah, it can do a little bit of this and a little bit of that, we’ll make it have a pet while reduces it overall damage. There we go’

Ele’s can spawn in pets. I don’t think they reduce the damage output for the Ele and same with necro. :/

If the pet is meant to be our main mechanic then it shouldn’t punish the ranger, because then we just become a ranger doing 75% damage and a a.i pet doing what should be our 25%. but the pet is lucky to even get hits off now because of how broken it all is!!!!

That is what I don’t understand. You can pick a sylvari Warrior, and be “one with nature” without having a pet. There are also light and heavy armor types that can make you look like a Ranger.

But the Ranger is all about the pet. That’s why it takes a chuck out of your base damage. You’re meant to use the pet, regardless of which skills you decide to use. Even if you play a signet Ranger, you are still a “beastmaster” simply because you’re a Ranger. It’s a pet class.

That’s because their pets are tied to their skills. The Ranger has a permanent pet. And if the pet didn’t do anything significant, there would be no reason to have it. If it only dealt 2% of your damage output, or you could stow it and still have 100% damage, what would be the point of having the pet?

There are different pets for different uses. If you don’t have enough snare skills to make your melee pet hit, then pick a ranged pet. If you want burst damage, then pick a drake. If you want boons, then pick a moa. If you want it to survive for longer, then pick a bear. You need to play into the mechanic, instead of just expecting it to always work for you. No, the pet system isn’t perfect, but the biggest problem is honestly that Ranger players simply don’t care about utilising the mechanic.

-1

I don’t understand why you would pick a Ranger in Guild Wars 2, if you don’t like the pet. It’s really not that bad, and ArenaNet will continue to balance it.

1. Stick to a few commanders for a couple of weeks, and get to know the basics. Like how to communicate using chat, where it’s best to place siege at each tower, learning the flow of picking up supply and attacking, predicting possible outcomes of a battle or where foes will attack next, knowing when to leave an attack to go defend a tower, how to best move and attack with a zerg, and so on…
2. Make sure your build can handle some damage. You’re going to be the first man running into battle in most cases, meaning you’ll get focus fired a lot. Do your best to be the last man standing.
3. When you start out, don’t get frustrated if not everyone around you follows. Do what you can, with what you got, and more players will come to you, once you start doing well.
4. Listen to players around you. You’re a commander, not a commando. It’s about communication, so don’t think you always knows what’s best.
5. Do your best to achieve successful encounters. That might sound obvious, but if you get into a losing streak, people will stop following you. Don’t bite over more then you can chew.

Your problem actually is that you have no swiftness, meaning you’re spending all your possible escape skills on trying to catch up to foes (Leap of Faith, Flashing Blades, Judge’s Intervention).

A solution could be to add Sigil of Speed on both your weapons, instead of Sigil of Hydromancy. It has no recharge time, so you will keep getting 10 seconds of swiftness, whenever you get a confirmed kill. With enough AoE damage, it is quite easy to stack up to 1 minute of swiftness in a big fight.