Guild Wars 2

Just as an additional information; the bird can also give consistent AoE swiftness, as long as you have a target nearby. Just select a target, press F2, and then F3 as soon as the swiftness triggers. This also works on critters.

cbrooksc.9358:

How do you think I should get the extra health? Runes? Different Armor? I don’t really want to change traits too much if they are good like that

Change some of your trinkets to Valkyrie.

Ryan.8367:

Daze.6914:

Ezeriel.9574:

It’s true, I just tested it on the walking golem in mists.

Then it must be reported to ANet as it should not happen.

Actually traps don’t JUST deal condition damage, it actually counts the initial damage a trap does as a mimic of you ‘hitting’ the target. This is why omnomberry was so powerful for high crit chance trap builds back before it was nerfed because omnonberry would heal from the crits generated from the initial trap damage. So in this respect of it breaking stealth, it’s not broken as it is basically an attack. I see what you mean though, since we aren’t physically , ourselves, doing the damage it shouldn’t break stealth and I agree.

From http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stealth
“Abilities that do not deal direct damage (like Choking Gas, Caltrops, or the Traps which do not deal direct damage) will not break stealth, even though they apply damaging conditions.”

I don’t believe Frost Trap, Flame Trap, Viper’s Nest, or Muddy Terrain, deal direct damage.

You need more health if you’re going to run as a commander, unless you plan on having your zerg revive you constantly. A commander is always first man into battle, meaning a lot of damage is on you. I would also get Entangle, or another snare skill, as snare skills are what makes a Ranger good in zergs. Other then that it seems like a fine build, to me.

Zenith.7301:

Whirling Defense is terrible. It does like 6-7k damage for a 5 second channel in berserker gear (in the same time I could have easily done 10k with just sword auto cleaving) that roots you in place. You’re opening yourself up to a melee train for no reason. It’s a poor man’s counterattack.

I run Lightning Reflexes, Signet of the Hunt and Signet of Stone with beastmaster’s signet. You need these to survive in team fights with berserker gear. Maybe you could substitute signet of the hunt for muddy terrain, but I would never take entangle over RaO as I don’t fancy getting nailed by a static field into a 10 second root and then get blown to pieces.

I don’t understand the choice of offhand axe, if you don’t want to do any AoE damage. Seems like a waste of weapon slot, if you’re only using the pull. Especially since you already have increased movement speed from Signet of the Hunt or Rampage As One.

From what I’ve read, it sounds to me like the players complaining, are those who likes to use longbow as a “fire and forget” weapon. Where as the players who likes the new changes, are those who are more into active combat.

Try running into a group of players and cast Muddy Terrain>Entangle>Whirling Defense, and Whirling Defense suddenly doesn’t seem as weak anymore. You have to remember that the axes are AoE weapons.

The Ranger had this skill in beta, but it was removed before release.

It’s actually not a very good skill for the Ranger, as the Ranger (and stealth in general) is all about movement. So a stealth skill that doesn’t allow you to move doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Ezeriel.9574:

Conditions seem to be fine, but the pulses of a trap will break stealth.

Auto attack seems to be fine as well.

Condition traps should not break the stealth, since they are ground base damage, and not damage that you deal directly. Similarly, when you’re in stealth as a Thief, and use Choking Gas from shortbow, the stealth isn’t broken either.

Since we got more into stealth in this patch, do you think there’s a chance we’ll see these two traits (Shared Anquish and Hide in Plain Sight) being combined into one, to further improve the stealth mechanic for the Ranger, and allow for better trait building?

Right now Hide in Plain Sight seems kinda useless, without Shared Anquish, as the trait gives you stealth, but doesn’t remove the stun. So if you want to take advantage of Remorseless, you are forced to take both stun removal traits. And if you just need a stun remover, Shared Anquish will always be the better choice.

The weapon is direct damage, the bleed didn’t make any sense. I would like to see five stacks of vulnerability instead of three, though, or an increased duration time.

For the 1.091.125.738.723th time; stealth is not an effect that’s meant for “hiding in a bush”, it’s a tool that allows you to change positioning. The longbow was the only Ranger weapon that didn’t allow for good movement, but now it plays like all other Ranger weapons. The fact that it’s no longer just a weapon you use at max range, is a great thing. It feels much more intuitive and fluent now. I played with the longbow in Orr yesterday, and the option of being able to stealth and change positioning, saved me from being downed more then once.

The longbow got an overall attack speed increase in the big june patch. Faster attack speed means more damage.

It does open up other options for burst builds, then just using signets. But I feel like it’s too early to say.

I’m not a fan of Opening Strike, so I won’t be using it, though.

Dutch Master.7208:

Kasama.8941:

Faster attack speed equals more damage.

ah I see, I thought you meant in today’s patch.

Even with the damage buff earlier this month I still find the longbow damage lacking.

And today’s changes have reduced the damage output. We lost an instant 10 stacks of vulnerability that we could throw on before bursting and instead gained a defensive survival skill. Horrible trade in my opinion.

I’ve played longbow since beta, and I found the change to make quite an impact. I noticed I was able to kill running foes with the longbow, that would just have outran the damage before the patch. I also noticed that when hitting a foe, while standing on top of a wall, I was actually able to put a lot more pressure on him, or even down him. Where as before, most players would just more or less ignore the longbow damage.

The point is, that the longbow now works a lot better for weapon swapping, instead of just being a weapon that you only use at max range. The stealth allows you to close or increase the gap between you and your opponents, or simply drop his target on you and change positioning. It means the longbow now acts as a much more active weapon.

Dutch Master.7208:

Kasama.8941:

Longbow got more damage in the june patch.

how do you figure?

Long Range Shot: Reduced the aftercast from .5 seconds to .25 seconds. Increased the arrow speed by 15%.
Rapid Fire: Reduced the initial cast time by .4 seconds. Increased the arrow speed by 15%.
Point Blank Shot: Increased the arrow speed by 15%.
Barrage: Increased the cripple duration by 50%.

Faster attack speed equals more damage.

Longbow got more damage in the june patch. The stealth is great for weapon swapping or escaping. Personally, I think it’s a hell of a lot more fun to play longbow with the stealth.

Zenith.7301:

Can we please get the longbow autoattack fixed now? Remove the lower tier value, move the medium value to 0-600, and the high value to 600+ please.

The greatsword autoattack also needs buffing, please. It is quite behind the mainhand sword’s autoattack by quite a bit and it’s part of the reason why it’s not being used in PvE as it’s quite a substantial damage decrease.

Actually, the sword and greatsword are in a great place right now, when it comes to roles. In that sword is sustained melee damage, while greatsword is burst melee damage. Improving the greatswords auto-attack, could make the sword seem useless.

It’s honestly not that big a deal. This stealth will mostly be used for getting in the second attack (Maul) without being interrupted, or for running away with (Swoop). Besides, 3 seconds is not that much at all. What makes the Thief so good at stealth, is its ability to chain stealth skills together, which of curse, the Ranger can not do.

When you read into the patch, what’s more interesting is actually that, getting stealth guarantees a critical hit on your next hit, with the trait Remorseless. This could, potentially, make direct damage Rangers compete with burst Thieves.

BlusterWolf.2103:

I am really really happy about longbow changes, but I still doubt if longbow is viable aside from full zerker.

It is, thanks to the june update, that removed some of the damage from pets, and basically gave it to the longbow.

somsom.5201:

Levetty.1279:

Not to sure about the change to Hunter’s Shot really especially as we have a big ole pet giving away that we are near. Then again I guess that isn’t the point of that particular stealth skill, should be interesting to mess about with at least.

I liked Mauls change but it kind of makes the positions of the traits linked to GS even weirder.

Some good changes too other stuff as well, especially a blast finisher that isn’t tied to a pet. Only down side really is that with buffs to both power builds and a blast finisher to mess about with in traps it doesn’t really make my decision into what build to respec into any easier.

Edit: Wow I didn’t even notice the rapid fire change. Yeah I am def liking the new hunter’s shot then. I think this should be very interesting.

Methinks the stealth is mainly for PvE, where you can fire HS, the mob will then focus solely on the pet and then keep focus once you leave stealth; previously unless you made sure to enter combat with the pet first(and even then it wasn’t always true) the mob would usually aggro you instead.

Once again, stealth in Guild Wars 2 is not meant to make you a ninja. It’s a tool that you use to change positioning, or gain distance with. Which is why it fits the Ranger.

Some examples could be:
Hunter’s Shot>Swoop>run away
Hornet Sting>Crippling Talon>Hunter’s Shot>run away
Hunter’s Shot>change positioning>Point Blank Shot a foe over a cliffside
Hunter’s Shot>run to melee range>Hilt Bash>Maul>Swoop
Hunter’s Shot>run to melee range>place down traps (this should not trigger reveal)

I think it works fine, in fact I think main-hand axe is underrated. It might be that it has lower damage, but the attack speed and AoE makes up for that. It really shines when you use off-hand axe, as it adds some burst damage to main-hand axe, which none of the other off-hand weapons have. But if you attach bleeding to the axe instead, through utilities, traits, and sigils, it can also work great as a ranged condition weapon, using torch as off-hand. This gives you bleeding, poison, and burning, in just one weapon set.

Erasculio.2914:

I honestly don’t see the point of giving stealth to Hunter’s Shot. IMO, it would be perfect for the shortbow after the range nerf, but the longbow is meant to be used at very long range, where it’s easier to avoid ranged attacks, and it already has a counter against melee attacks in Point Blank Shot.

The shortbow already has Quick Shot, Crippling Shot, and Concussion Shot, that can all help you escape if you need to. The longbow only has a knockback. Further more, the longbow is a direct damage weapon, which means that your second hand weapon set will most likely be greatsword or sword. So the longbow defiantly needs the stealth.

Wait a minute…Are they actually making changes that we’ve been asking for, and are further improving direct damage for the Ranger?! I must be dreaming..

Xsorus.2507:

Not sure how Moment of Clarity is without being Asura, however if you’re Asura, i highly recommend it.

Technobabble becomes just nasty with it.

Being able to Chain Daze for a very long time is very very powerful

As for Armor Preference, i’ve tried my Technobabble Ranger Dazer Build (which is sort of similar to this) with multiple gear sets, and Clerics Armor built similar to BM Bunker honestly works the best.

Rangers just don’t support Power/Crit damage builds very well unless you do niche’s like Maul Builds (which does work, esp if you’re Sylvan) however things like Knights and such just kind of blah since our pet makes up a portion of our damage.

Actually, direct damage builds are better since the big june patch, as more damage wen’t from the pet and over to the longbow. I’ve defiantly noticed I’ve been able to get more kills with my longbow, compared to before the change, where a lot of my opponents could just outrun my longbow damage.

Yes, overall people play much more balanced builds now, and have learned their professions better. Bunker builds have also become more popular in WvW, although they are still a bit rare.

This isn’t exactly news, neither is it the problem with stealth. The problem is the Thief’s ability to rapidly reapply stealth, while in combat. The fact that the Thief can stack stealth to last over 5 minutes, is of no real gain, as the only benefit of it is to move unseen. And you can’t even really do that, as the effects you need to gain stealth with, are visible.

Vines are the same as immobilize, except the effect is a ground target that keeps pulsing immobilize, exactly like a trap does. But if an opponent uses any kind of condition removal, the effect of the vines will go away. If, however, that opponent stays on the vines, the immobilize effect will trigger/pulse again. Or if another opponent runs into the same vines, he will be caught by the immobilize instead.

A way to get round your foes escaping the vines, is by stacking control effects. For instance, by casting Muddy Terrain down first, and then Entangle after. This will cast immobilize, cripple, and then vines, on your opponent. Meaning that if he uses condition removal to remove two conditions, only the immobilze and cripple will be removed, while the vines will stick. The condition that was applied first on a target, will always be removed first, as long as it’s still on the target. So this also works by stacking bleeding or any other condition.

Eurantien.4632:

It is more rewarding to win a 1 v 2 or a 1 v 3 as a solo roamer than it is to take a camp or a tower as a zerg.

That depends on what you had to do, to take that tower. If you just run strait in, then it’s not as fun, but if you’ve spend the last 30 min trying to get into a strong defended tower, and finally manage to get in through coordination and teamwork, then I think it’s a lot more rewarding then solo roaming.

This is how I see all the pets:

Felines – Precision and Condition Damage
Canines – Crowd Control
Drakes – Burst and AoE Damage
Birds – Precision Damage and Utility
Moas – Utility and Durability
Bears – Durability
Devourers – Ranged Condition Damage
Porcines – RNG Utility
Shark – Condition Damage
Armor Fish – Durability
Spiders – Ranged Direct Damage
Jellyfish – Durability and Crowd Control

Durzlla.6295:

I figured he was trying to be tanky which would be a very good reason for not taking berserker (only thing i can think of for taking soldiers), but yeah, i just noticed the Runes, i’d drop those and get something else.

And torch was good a while ago when you were power, but that was when bonefire became dangerous from both power and condi damage, i think it’s only condi damage now.

I’m not saying; go full berserker. The build is just a bit unbalanced, as it has a lot of durability, but not very good damage. He could also make up for it by going with bird or feline pets, but he has no traits in beastmastery, so getting a little more critical chance is a better option, I think.

I would also get Storm Spirit instead of Quickening Zephyr, by the way. The active ability can deal some good damage, and the build is already traited for spirits.

I would change your amulet and rings to berserker. It’s never a good idea to go without any additional critical chance. Even if you only have around 15% critical chance, you’re still going to get better damage, then if you have no additional critical chance.

I don’t think your rune choice is good either. The extra burn and chill duration isn’t really needed, as you have two sources of each. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to have burning in a power build, though. The dagger would be much more beneficial to you, as the poison from Stalker’s Strike prevents your opponent from healing too much.

For traits, you should consider getting Oakheart Salve, as your condition removal is on the low side.

I’m still waiting on the active skills. The only thing I find beneficial to upgrade is the supply amount, but I won’t bother with that, as it’s way too expensive for what you get.

GuardianOMS.8067:

“We’re working on it” is the response we get to just about every WvW issue that has been in since launch. I don’t expect results, and I don’t expect to rush them. But what I want to hear is, “Don’t worry, Mike brought in cake for the office and everyone is having a fantastic day, thanks for asking!”

kitten it, now I want cake -.-

There could be other limits. Like a cap on how many golems can damage a gate. Or remove the ability for golems to teleport, thereby giving opponents are better chance of killing them before they reach a gate (although placing portals for golems are fun teamwork).

Actually, once again, stealth is the problem here. When you can see where the Thief is, the high burst is much less of a factor. Partly because the Thief can’t get behind you, and because it’s easier to block and hit with your AoE.

Forzani.2584:

I would like the option to use some soldier pieces now and then. I don’t have access to the vendor though and they aren’t sold on the TP

You can buy soldier pieces with your badges and a bit of coin, from WvW vendors.

Taking camps means your allies won’t have to, which saves some time for zergs. Time that can mean the difference between being interrupted while taking a tower, and actually taking the tower. It also works the other way around, when an enemy zerg needs a camp that you just took, there is a 4 minute timer before they can take it back, forcing them to waste time waiting, or run all the way to the next camp. Camps also gives 5 points, which can quickly add up.

Killing dolyaks means no supply for a tower or keep. If a player can consistently kill dolyaks over a period of time, it can make a big difference. Without supply, foes can’t build siege or upgrade.

Foes that are being whipped during an attack, needs to get back to their zerg. Preventing them from doing that, or making them waste time fighting you, is of beneficial to your allies. It means they have to fight less foes, or that they’ll get some more time to repair the gate, without being interrupted.

Solo roamers create a sense of danger in the world. They have the same role as snipers do in FPS games. Without them, it would be too easy to just run all over the place, since you’d only have to worry about groups of players.

If you change your coat, gloves, boots, back, and earrings to soldier, you’ll get a more balanced build. 16.000 health is on the low side.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMQQJATRjAVB2VW+Vs2Bgli96rzITL5MMkxL24kJ-jkyAYrARggoCAZPp10nQYxtIas6FMdZSVnCy+jioVLEwoxA-w

You can already get several sources of bleeding from; Sharpening Stone, Keen Edge, Sharpened Edges, Rending Attacks, Sigil of Earth, and from plenty of pet skills. I agree that the axe could use a little damage boost, but I still like it as it is.

Go here; https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/

The sexiest Thief armor, is the armor that makes you invisible

Niccolo.1402:

Okay, so if you’re not the ‘assassin’ type, and you like being valued in a zerg or defending/attacking a keep, what is the best thief build to use? Don’t get me wrong, I like badges and bags, but I want the group to know I’m doing my share of the work.

Overall, you want a build that isn’t full berserker, but a nice medium between survivability and damage (leaning more towards damage). Shortbow as your main zerg weapon, and your second weapon set to take out stranglers 1v1. Utilities aren’t that permanent, as you’re going to be switching out skills depending on the situation. But you’ll want good movement, as you’re going to be close to the enemy zerg a lot of the time, with only 900 range. Against an enemy zerg, Caltrops is good for snaring multiple foes down on top of AoE fields, Smoke Screen will keep your allies safe and put blind on foes, and Shadow Refuge can be good for reviving players. When attacking a tower, Scorpion Wire is great for pulling a foe down from a wall, and Venoms are great for snaring that player down. When moving golems or dolyaks, you want all the AoE stealth you can get, meaning Shadow Refuge, Smoke Screen+Cluster Bomb, and Blinding Powder. When it comes to traits, Thrill of the Crime is a must have, and you’ll also want some condition removal. That’s pretty much it.

People like to assume that the Thief is bad in a zerg, based on looking at skills, instead of actually playing in a zerg. The Thief shortbow is one of the best AoE weapons in the game, and the Thief is worth playing in a zerg just for that. The Thief is also the only profession that can stealth dolyaks and golems. If you have two Thieves in a zerg, you can have permanently stealth golems, making them a lot more safe to move. Stealth also makes the Thief one of the best profession at reviving. If you use the trait Thrill of the Crime, you can also give 10 seconds of swiftness to allies when moving, or stack fury and might before an attack.

Bunker, trapper, or berserker are the best roamer builds. Berserker is the one that relies the least on the pet, but it’s very squishy.

In zergs, you need a ranged weapon, meaning either longbow, shortbow, or axe. Greatsword or sword you’ll want for Swoop or Hornet Sting+Monarch’s Leap, which will be your main escape skill.

The Ranger specialises in snare skills, so that should be part of your build in some way. Either get Muddy Terrain, Frost Trap, Spike Trap, or Entangle. If you use traps, you’ll want to get the trait Trapper’s Expertise, so you can use the traps at range. Snare skills are very powerful to use when an enemy zergs comes towards you, as it will keep them in your zergs AoE areas for a longer time.

I wouldn’t go full berserker or bunker build in a zerg, as you want a good medium between damage and defense. You should also use a ranged pet as your main pet, as it will survive for a longer time. Make sure to keep an eye on its health, and hit F3 when it’s standing on top of all the AoE damage.

Balance wise, no. Content wise, yes. The ideal thing would be if the new skills also helped fix the current balance problems. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Adding more skills does help the Ranger, as it adds more pieces to the puzzle, allowing you to have more answers to problems you are facing with your build. I don’t think adding more means ArenaNet are neglecting the current problems. They are simply just giving us more options. Adding new skills might even help highlight the current problems..

New skills should help solve some of the Rangers problems, like pet targeting, AoE damage, more support options, and better burst capabilities. For example:

“Fetch!” – Your pet gains five seconds of swiftness, and deals 1 second of immobilize on its next two attacks.

Signet of Persistence – passive: You, your pet, and your spirits, each take 15% less damage from ground target attacks. / active: Your pets next attack applies 5 seconds of torment.

Mind Over Matter – Instantly revive your pet. It becomes invulnerable for one second.

Blessed by Nature – Each nearby ally gains two random boons.

Rage Over Reason – For three seconds, you deal 50% more damage on each attack, and lose 400 toughness.

ilr.9675:

Kasama.8941:

And in PvP, a Ranger will mostly feel like damage output is too low, because the pet is not consistently hitting (or is dead) like in PvE. So it’s basically like playing two playstyles. One playstyle relies on the pet, the other tries to make up for the lack of damage.

I find snippets like this… a lot more informative for some reason than all the advice and lecturing from the number crunchers for some reason. So upon reading it , I decided to run around WvW looking for some test cases, IoW: ppl who could run forever without being boxed in by the Conquest format. …Yeah I think I see what you mean.

They also told me I’d have to basically apply a cover condition every 2 seconds just to keep cripple on them… (not only so I could keep up with them myself, but so that my pets could even make contact). They divided and conquered by forcing unexpected 1v1’s and simply couldn’t be downed…also told me the only good ranger there was something called RRR build. I’m guessing that’s some gimmick that lets the pet actually deal damage still? Regardless… it felt like their personal positions on skill curves was a game changer in general

Well, like most other professions, the Ranger is kinda forced into specific builds in PvP. The pet can’t hit consistently, the Ranger is bad at burst damage, and you don’t have any good way to support your allies. But the Ranger has good evades and good regeneration capabilities, and is good at stacking control conditions. So this means that the Ranger is forced into playing bunker builds, because of all the evades and regeneration, or builds that relies on stacking conditions, mostly because of traps. This is also because what these two builds do, is make sure that your pet will hit more often. When you play a bunker build, you can keep close to a foe and lock him down (mostly with sword), meaning he won’t be able to run around too much. And when you play a trap build, you get your snares from them.

It is possible to play a burst build though (which is what I play myself), but the problem is the high recharge time of the skills you use. What I do on an attack is; longbow auto-attack (to remove aegis and make sure I’m in range) > Hunter’s Shot > Rapid Fire > Muddy Terrain > Barrage > Lightning Breath > Entangle > Swoop > Hilt Bash > Maul > Crippling Throw. Once I go through that, I can usually go back to longbow and get some shots in, if my opponent isn’t dead already. The problem is then that after I do this, Muddy Terrain will be on a 25 second recharge time, Barrage on 30 second recharge time, Lightning Breath on a 30 second recharge time, and Entangle will be on a 150 second recharge time. So it’s basically one big attack, and then run away and wait 30 seconds for reset. If you go all the way into damage, it is possible to down foes using just your weapon skills, and not worry about what your pet does. But needless to say, you will be very squishy. And unlike a Thief, you won’t be able to just escape should your attack fail.

It’s not one thing, but a several different aspects that makes the Ranger difficult. The biggest one being the unreliable pet. In PvE, the pet works great, because all it has to do is stand still and tank. In PvP, the pet can barely get a hit in, as players are constantly moving around. So in PvE, a Ranger can create bad habits, by relying too much on the pet doing the work. And in PvP, a Ranger will mostly feel like damage output is too low, because the pet is not consistently hitting (or is dead) like in PvE. So it’s basically like playing two playstyles. One playstyle relies on the pet, the other tries to make up for the lack of damage.