Guild Wars 2

At the very least when you hide UI Aegis should also be hidden. That way it won’t effect game play and everyone is happy.

Darksyze, as my main is a meditation guardian I could give you plenty of advice on how to counter longbow rangers. If you would post your build (using gw2skills.net) I could give you some pointers. In fact, your best bet would of been to go to the guardian forums and open up a topic asking for advice on how to deal with longbow rangers, instead of requesting nerfs that will never happen.

The range is very easily negated through a Judge’s Intervention and Flashing Blade (sword teleport) or Leap of Faith (greatsword leap). Also, Flashing Blade/Leap of Faith blinds the target so there’s a chance the ranger will try to use Poing Blank Shot or Hunter’s Shot and miss.

If you can’t beat a longbow ranger after closing the gap either the issue lies with the build you’re using or simply the skill you have. In either case, I really doubt that 200 less range would help you in any way win the fight. Ask for advice, listen to the advice and apply it to your skill set. Asking for nerfs of a profession that beat you will in no way make you a better player.

Kreed.2768:

DarkSyze.8627:

Directly from Arena net wiki: Not! public wiki. What diferent between Arena net wiki vs Public wkiki?
Arena net wiki can not be edit or change by anyone vs Public wiki where public anyone can edit and change to what they want. In conclusion: Arena net wiki is concreate 100% evidence: that is where i do my research and investigation because what Arena net put there is correct vs Public wiki who can lie.

“Channeled skills are a skill type that activate over a period of time. These skills can be spotted by a yellow activation bar that fills when the skill is activated. The thin portion of the activation indicates the charging portion while the wide bar indicates the active portion. Channeled skills can vary greatly on what happens during the charging phase, active phase, and end effect. For the active portion, the skill pulses periodically for the number of times indicated in the tooltip. Canceling a skill during the charging phase will cause the skill to go on a 4 second recharge while canceling during the active phase will put the skill on full cooldown. Some skills such as Meteor Shower, Churning Earth, and Empower do not display the charging and active phases, but simply display the thin bar” .

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Channeling

Here it is again in case you missed it — or, more likely, purposely ignored it: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Stealth-vs-Single-Target-Ranged-Skills/first#post3067923

A direct response from a member of the PvP and Balance QA team, made a year ago, stating channeled ranged targetted skills (such as RF) track through stealth if cast before the target goes into stealth. He doesn’t state that this is a bug or something of that nature, clearly showing us that this mechanic is working as intended.

Let’s face it: it’s not going to be changed. There’s simply not enough valid reason to — not then and not now. You’ll just have to live with it, like the rest of us.

Thanks for posting that, I knew this subject has already been touched upon by the devs (and over a year ago at that!). If it wasn’t working as intended you think it’d be changed by now. We’re at 6+ months since Rapid Fire buff too and still no change, so it’s still a no issue.

Thieves need to watch their surroundings when entering stealth. This isn’t anything new, if you’re playing against a LB ranger you should expect the possibility of a RF coming through. Maybe manage the fight better and stealth while RF is on cooldown, or go behind LoS to stealth up. You can even take Smoke Screen (7 seconds projectile block/smoke field on a 24s traited cooldown) to counter the LB and help stealth.

Wondrouswall.7169:

A nerf Rangers could tolerate is to remove sharing Vigor with Pets in the Fortifying Bond minor trait. kitten pet dodges are OP.

:-"

Anything but that. I’d have to rework my whole build.

The third hit on the auto chain should be scratched and remade. It’s just a poorly designed skill. Sword Wave is a cone attack, so it misses often unless lined up straight on where as most melee attacks have a wider attack width. And the kicker is that you can eat half of your melee damage from reflect.

Remaking it would solve both issues with the difficultly in landing (which you do get use to as you play it) and eating half your damage on an AA rotation. The simple solution would be to make the third chain skill either unblockable or at the least not able to be reflected.

And then there’s the fact that it’s the only sword with no access to cripple. My vote would go to replacing the third strike with a 2s crippling strike.

I wasn’t going to post in this thread, because she’s a ranger. But after looking through the pages and not seeing my mix and match I thought I’d show off.

Zavik.9751:

Also, what about Sharpening Stone? Do I just use it as an opener? OR wait for their initial condi cleanse and then pop it?

What I try to do is preload it ~20 seconds before a fight. You’ve got 30 seconds to use it on a 36 second cooldown, so it’s basically a free 5 bleeds to start the fight. By the time it comes off cooldown you’ll be ready for your main burst after you’ve baited out their first round of cleanses. Just use a Stalker’s Strike > Split Blade > Throw Torch to load up some conditions first and wait to use Entangle on the second round with Bonfire.

I’ve got my condi survival build in my signature if you want to compare to others you’re looking at.

Lewis Burnell.2493:

Skullface.7293:

Lewis Burnell.2493:

It’s actually surprisingly easy if you don’t use the garbage Meta build. Try this instead:

http://de.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEq0waHLusQ1ag+ga9CEAjdrfw9VEEp9AqA-TpBFwACuAAIOCA12fYxhAoaZAAPAAA

This build does not feel manly enough to me :/ but hey if it works for you then that’s what counts!

It’s actually not that hard to survive using 6/6/2/0/0 once you get used to kiting and know what to dodge.

6/2/6/0/0 or 6/4/4/0/0 are also other variations some can run if they feel they die too easily.

This variant build isn’t about feeling manly, it’s about being clever with build design. By not taking Traits in the Skirmishing line, you lose some Precision but gain the following:

Additional power from Strength of Spirit
Condition removal from dodging (Poison and Blindness)
x2 Condition removal for EACH Survival skill you use
Fury on EACH Survival skill you use
Fury and condition removal on Keen Edge (Trait)
30% extra Boon duration (applies to said Fury)
Lots more health

Taking the traditional Read The Wind Meta Build (as you describe) makes absolutely no sense. It has almost no condition removal, you have less health and don’t deal much more damage.

It can deal the difference in damage between “dead” and “not dead”. There’s +23% crit damage, +25% damage in multipliers and on top of that SotW can add another 25% damage. I’d consider that “much more damage”.

Take sword/warhorn and fury will never become an issue. A full condition cleanse with SoR > a couple small cleanses, plus it’s a stun break.

In my experience, I’ve found that not going deep into both marksmanship and skirmishing takes a lot of damage away from the longbow. I’d rather get the job done from range (mind you my job is to assist other fights, not 1v1) quickly and move on. The whole point is to not need to enter melee combat and rely on the crutch of Signet of Stone.

The most I’m willing to invest into sustain is 3 points into wilderness survival for Companion’s Defense, Lightning Reflexes and Signet of Renewal. Works great too.

From what I heard, they were trying to make it so the fraction of a second left over on conditions would tick for some damage instead of just losing it all together. It would of been a good buff, or fix rather, for conditions if coded and implemented well. With this though conditions are a mess.

Condition classes that normally don’t trait into the duration line are at an advantage. Like a d/d ele will benefit from this but a guardian using Amplified Wrath is screwed. Sadly I use both Keen Edge and traveler runes (10% duration each). I’ll probably toss on speed runes and maybe Commanding Voice.

Ouroboros.5076:

My opinion : rangers can bring something in this objective-based PvP even if they don’t stand on a node. Being able to stand on a node is not a must, otherwise thieves and mesmers would have disappeared from the games long ago. Other things come into play, like mobility, spike damage, utility, … For example, while the Mesmer’s burst is higher, the Ranger damage is higher than a Mesmer over a longer period. But this is really map dependant.

On Foefire, we can safely DPS mid from a distance very effectively, forcing the ennemy team to react to us. In addition, our decent mobility allows us to cover the close and to intercept someone trying to backcap.

On Niflhel though, it doesn’t work like that. There is almost no spot for a ranger to use the range advantage effectively. Protecting the close while fighting at mid is impossible. The Cromlech point offers almost no possibility to engage from a distance. It makes our lives much more difficult.

Khylo and Temple are in-between. While there are some good spots to range from, the verticality of those maps give instant-teleport classes an advantage.

This is exactly how I feel about where the longbow ranger stands. On some maps, with the right team, it can be extremely effective. It’s really strong between mid and home on Foefire. You can influence both points if there are point holding bruisers on them. Especially if they can help coordinate a burst with a timely immobilize. A Rapid Fire with SotW on a 6/5/3/0/0 build is going to hurt a lot and can push a fight quickly, allowing you to move back to the other.

Like you said, on Forest it becomes a bit more difficult. The points are more spread out and takes a bit more to travel between them. There isn’t a spot where you can take advantage of the range to influence multiple fights. I almost always run condi survival on this map and work either home or far depending on enemy rotations.

And as you put so well again, Khylo and Temple are in the middle.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Step 1: face toward the Ranger. Congrats, you just cut his bleed application by ~60%

I could go with more steps, but honestly, simplicity is best. Dodge Entangle and you’re pretty much set as he is relying on his bleed on crit trait to do any damage if you keep facing him. Which, with the build you linked, is a mere 20% chance to actually proc if he has Fury at that moment. Otherwise, only ~13% chance.

And that’s why I don’t use the shortbow on my condi survival ranger.

tom.7468:

Inb4 guardians tell you to l2p and OP META

You missed “guardians are in a good place”.

Durzlla.6295:

Shanks.2907:

I think the duration will stay the same as it falls in line with other classes’ elite transformations, even if the skill in itself is different. I’d like to see a reduced cooldown though for compensation to the change. I think a 75s cooldown would be fair if it only lasts 14-15s now. That would be a 60s downtime.

I don’t think there would be much QQ with less Entangles on ranger toolbars.

Rampage as One only lasts 15s now? Good god, they better reduce the CD if they’re gonna reduce the duration by 10s…

EDIT: Got on and checked myself, the effects of the skill end at ~97 left on the CD, so if anything it actually got buffed to last an additional 3s with no boon duration.

Ah. I was just going off of what was posted in the OP. I hadn’t gotten a chance to get on and test it myself, thanks for clearing that up. Still, it would be nice to see RaO down to a 90s cooldown. I’ve always thought cooldown was too high for what it was, though the resistance to boon stripping does make it a hell of a lot more viable.

Narkodx.1472:

Settler Ammy in PvP is where it’s at IMO for condi ranger just bring oakheart salve

I use to run a regen build with Oakheart Salve, but Offhand Training is too good not to take with dagger/torch. The 240 Bonfire and increased distance on Stalker’s Strike are great.

That and Nature’s Protection seems to mitigate as much damage as Oakheart Salve and Nature’s Bounty would heal, so it evens out.

It really depends on the build you have. Builds that have on crit sigils/traits will benefit from rabid, while regen builds benefit from apothecary. I’ve been liking the torment sigils on my build lately for the extra cover stack and ~100 damage/s, so I’ve been using rabid.

You’ll want rabid if you’re using shortbow with Sharpened Edges. Likewise, if you’re using Oakheart Salve and Nature’s Bounty for 100% regen durations go with apothecary.

Vitality isn’t as important, in my opinion. Between Empathetic Bond and Survival of the Fittest, you’ve got a ton of cleanses. It’s really a choice between precision and healing power.

Ezrael.6859:

You made a statement and presented it as a fact about the patch even when you didn’t have access to the client so didn’t know for sure.

You then insulted the poster about his reading skills.

Perhaps you’re so constantly aggressive and insulting over the Internet you don’t even realise your own behaviour and messages?
Maybe you could try being less insulting and stop acting like you’re the only person online that is correct.

The guy apologized on his own. On the internet that in itself is something rare and a stand up thing to do. Completely unnecessary for you to say anything 20 hours after the fact.

Not sure who came up with the idea for 1 stack of stability every 3 seconds on Elite Focus. So not only do we have to trait 4 points to get the stability every other transformation gets, we get a third of what they get with no trait investment? How in the world does that make a bit of sense?

I think the duration will stay the same as it falls in line with other classes’ elite transformations, even if the skill in itself is different. I’d like to see a reduced cooldown though for compensation to the change. I think a 75s cooldown would be fair if it only lasts 14-15s now. That would be a 60s downtime.

I don’t think there would be much QQ with less Entangles on ranger toolbars.

Keksmuffin.1450:

Did you guys get a different patch than I did? There are like 3 times as many portsports in PvP now and JI and FB still port you to stuff that is out of your range. :T

Yeah, from all the talk had not a whole lot changed. I thought anet was supposed to fix vertical ports and from the looks buffed them instead. Maybe it was just a bunch of misinformation hyping everyone up.

I use wolf for the knockdown/AoE fear and drakehound for the knockdown/AoE immobilize. They both have some pretty decent damage on their cripple/knockdown. Great for pvp when you want to set up either a condi bomb or a Rapid Fire. Works fine in PvE for all purpose.

The changes will certainly hit thieves and mesmers the most, but it will hit guardians too on general map mobility and engaging. We don’t rely on ports to survive though, so it’s easier to work around.

People have mentioned that Flashing Blade could work like a reverse Phase Retreat. That would help quite a bit. Without a target it moves 600 in the direction you’re facing, and with a target it won’t port unless in range.

Maybe they could take this opportunity to gives us a 25% movement speed trait.

MithranArkanere.8957:

Engineers can’t heal their turrets nowhere nearly as fast as a guardian can heal spirit weapons. Engineers can’t also stack tons of boons on them. Spirit weapons also hit harder than minions. The only downsides spirit weapons have are duration and lower health.

I’m not against changing them, but if you solve any of their downsides, you’ll have to compensate with some other downsides.

Give and take.

Engineer can trait for 5% repair every 3 seconds and tool kit can be traited for 10% a hit on AA. Not sure what the range on it is or how it works as I don’t use turrets on Engineer, but it’s there. Sounds a lot better than whatever the guardian can do to heal it’s spirit weapons.
—————————

As for me, I’d rather a complete rework. Drop the AI function of spirit weapons and turn them into a weapon set like conjure weapons on ele. I think that would be a heck of a lot more interesting. This game needs less AI anyways.

Harbinger.8637:

Guardian is in a good spot. Yes, there are small tweaks and QoL changes I feel that are needed

Agreed. Guardian isn’t in such a bad position where it would take a barrage of buffs to get the wheels moving. However, like you said, there are quite a few changes that I think would go a long way.

• soft CC (cripple on sword/greatsword and maybe a chill on blind trait)
• fix the projectiles on sword AA #3 (melee reflects)
• faster projectiles on scepter AA/change Smite to a symbol
• speed up hammer AA #3 by at least .25s maybe even .5s
• 25% movement speed trait (would open up runes instead of being pigeonholed into traveler/pack runes and create more diversity)

You know guardian is in a pretty good place when smaller changes can make the difference. Of course I’d like to see signets and spirit weapons be reworked to be viable. I also really liked oobs’ idea to make Flashing Blade similar to a reverse Phase Retreat. Especially with the new teleport changes coming and (from what I heard) you’ll have to be in range to even teleport.

Cufufalating.8479:

Also Offhand Training makes D4 10x better, so if you aren’t using that already maybe give it a try.

This. I’ve noticed my hit % go up after I swapped to that. Also, you can use Stalker’s Strike twice on a rotation with the 8s cooldown (once at the beginning and another at the end) for even more poison uptime. Then I’ll use Serpent’s Strike on sword for an on demand dodge or poison if they’ve cleansed.

There’s nothing wrong with roaming PvE with a condition build while leveling. You may not be going as fast as you can, but you will certainly become more comfortable in your rotations and how to play it. What you learn will translate to PvP or roaming WvW, but in no way will it be a good idea to bring it into dungeons or fractals.

I’ve got my condi survival build in my signature that I use for PvP. I’d suggest looking through the build editor to figure out how you want to play, and build from there as you level. I myself play with axe/dagger and sword/torch.

Roaming PvE though, like on resource runs, I usually just go zerk and grab a longbow mowing down all the raptors I see.

solrik.6028:

Sword: The second basic attack should be changed to allow free movement. The short kick-leap is too short and doesn’t have much benefit to it. Or, add an evade to it. Otherwise this weapon is one of the best escape weapons and good for getting “OMG COOLDOWN HACKER” whispers in wvw.

My thoughts exactly on sword AA #2. The short kick doesn’t really help close the gap and it only hits one target. You can literally move the same distance of the kick in the time of the attack. Pounce is the real deal of the sword AA and should remain as is, but two slashes leading up to it would be much more fluid. Maybe move the cripple to Pounce to assist in getting the two slashes in.

Aomine.5012:

To make the matter worse, when I try to fight a thief and start using my wolf’s F2 when the thief enters stealth, what pet does is he’ll rush to the nearest none stealth target and try to use F2 on that random target, so thief can just easily approach me and land a backstab. Many times Ik thief is coming, and switch to wolf and press F2, my pet will just rush forward to thief’s previous stealth location and try to F2 there. This type of AI clearly affects my performance and greatly hinders ranger.
!

Sounds like you have auto target on.

One half of me that plays classes without teleports is pumped for this! The other half that has teleports integrated is not! * head explodes *

I like my lootstick build more. Maybe I should make my own website.

Ignoring cripple/chill would certainly be better than nothing. The concept of the skill itself is broken by cripple and chill (to open up a gap under direst). It would fix the core of the issue but I still think ranger would greatly benefit from an active soft cc clear.

Overall, cleanses in this game that are mobility specific (cripple/chill/immobilize) are treated differently than cleanses that clear damaging conditions. There’s a variety of traits that reduce them or clear them, even a weapon skill on warrior warhorn that cleanses them.

Clearing movement impairing conditions plus two with the investment of a grantmaster trait would not make LR too powerful. It’s not like LR would clear two extra conditions if there were no cripple or chill. Rarely when you use LR would you clear cripple, chill, immobilize, two conditions, break a stun and evade all at once. It’s more of a skill that can be used in a variety of situations.

Animosity, with all your crit chance you could get away with 2/5/6/1/0 like the build in my signature. You get to keep your damage multipliers (Fiery Wrath, Radiant Power and Powerful Blades) but gain the sustain of Vigorous Precision. That 10% damage of Fiery Wrath plus the 100 power from the Zeal line goes a long way in the build because you lose some damage already taking traveler runes.

Going upwards of 90% crit chance is overkill anyways, you might have better luck spreading it out to at least get some more power.

borya.2964:

This change would be too powerful in a SOTF build or even a S/D evade ranger.

Not all builds that use LR also use SotF. Namely the power builds and even a lot of condition builds. Rangers in general have little to no ways to actively deal with soft cc and LR fits perfect. A grandmaster skill shouldn’t limit it, and I really don’t think it would OP even with it. Cripple and chill seriously hamper the skill’s practical use in both combat and escapes.

The best comparison would be to Roll for Initiative. Even with a 16s longer cooldown (traited) I think they are quite similar. The differences are being that LR grants vigor while RfI gains 6 initiative. Obviously the initiative deserves a longer cooldown, but I don’t think 16s less deserves to not clear cripple and chill.

I couldn’t do it, but I respect the hell out of you guys. I don’t have that type of patience to hold the hands of plebs who refuse to listen to any logic and keep to the same rhetoric. I do understand the benefits of it though and will defer unless something really irks me.

Aomine.5012:

But in truth, it just reveals the incompetent of this “general public”, that have no awareness of how to fight

I’ve often said that it reveals quite a bit of your own skill with what you complain about being OP on the forums. The exact word I used was incompetent to describe thieves who get caught by RF when stealthing up.

Roll for Initiative removes immobilize, cripple and chill while being a stun breaker. On a 60s cooldown but also gives thief 6 initiative.

It would go a long way though. And even with SotF removing two extra conditions I don’t see it being OP.

I’d like to see a true Valkyrie amulet added with power, vitality and ferocity. I’m not sure why the pvp version has toughness and healing power when it’s not like that in PvE/WvW. My medi guardian has a build just dying to get a hold of it (2/6/6/0/0).

SyZ.7920:

Let’s just re-examine where I’m coming from:

There are only FIVE races in this game, and I can’t name all 5. I don’t know how many classes there are, and the ones I do know, I don’t know what they do. (What the heck does an Engineer do?)

There’s no desire to learn about them, because there’s no reason to. All grouping via a dungeon ends up with somebody tanking while I sit in the back hitting 2 and 5. People say that WoW conditioned players to just heal, dps, or tank, how is this any different?

I was a Gladiator in that game. I had to know stats, how to enchant, how to gem, how to itemize, what skills every class did, how to properly time abilities – none of that is required here.

I had actual goals laid out – you log in, you do your dailies that actually lead to gear, and that helps you in a larger raid with a large number of people, with a clear goal and progression. Dailies in this game are: log in, do 3 things, get some karma and gold.

My guild has about 100 people, and nobody is ever on. And the only reason I’m in it was I had nobody to actually talk to at 80 because there is no grouping in this game so where exactly would I find people? A guild, in my mind, is a group of players who have the same goals in mind (endgame content) and want to work together. Here, it’s just people with a tag. There’s no 10, 15, 25, 40 man content, and everything I can do with my guild I can just do in LFG or solo. What’s the point?

For an mmo, there seems to be very little structure. It’s like, instead of having 10 or 25 maximum players for content, and having lots of it, there’s just random world bosses that any number of people can do, and then 5 man dungeons. So I’m supposed to go to a timer website, then every 15 minutes go to the next world boss with 300 people and get a chest of yellow items that I sell for 20-25s on the trading post and just gather more ascended materials I don’t need and can’t sell?

And that’s it? Just do that?

You’re limiting yourself here, it’s not the game’s fault. If you think all a ranger has is a longbow, you are sadly mistaken. Sword is one of my favorite weapons in the game (and it’s great across all 5 professions that use it) so that’s the reason I chose to make bolt (legendary sword). You should really try different classes out and expand your knowledge base.

You can start any profession and go straight to spvp. There are no levels (everyone set to 80) and everyone has the same access to gear (both amulets and runes/sigils). You can create characters and go try each of them out and maybe you’ll find something you find fun. Try using the “condi survival” build for ranger in my signature in pvp, it’s really strong and a lot of fun.

Again, don’t limit yourself.

I myself prefer sw/f & sc/t but to each their own and how they set up combos. Like blackbox said, torch throw on immobilize after you lay down a Smite does pretty good. The only time I ever use a Cleansing Flame is if a thief is in a SR and I need the cleave. Also, having a teleport to work with SoW is necessary, just stay out of range so they don’t dodge and time it right. And you’ll want the blinds from focus when you’re in melee.

For sigils I go with air/fire on sw/f and energy/blood on sc/t.

Sankofa Jimiyu.1567:

While we are on the subject of keybindings, is there a way to bind to the right number pad on a keyboard? I have tried it and it still will only use the top number keys.

Could just be your software, I don’t have any issues with it. All of my UI interactions are bound on it from black lion to guild menu.

However, if you’re considering to play with the left hand for movements and right hand on number pad for skills I’ll have to warn you. There is a skill cap on playing like that limits you hard in PvP. The mouse is necessary for good gameplay.

sinject.4607:

another interesting concept i’d like to propose is making fire and air sigils not proc on attacks over a certain distance like 1000 units, this would allow rangers to still hit decently hard at extreme ranges but not let them mow people down with auto attacks proc’ing these sigils. this would also give rangers some incentive to actually fight within distances that other professions can compete with, more risk but more reward.

Yeah, let’s bar one single build for one profession of sigils that every zerker build abuses.

sinject.4607:

Sube Dai.8496:

Is there any map where you can’t move out of LOS when they’re at 2000 range?

No there isn’t.

The range doesn’t make the ranger more deadly, it makes them easier to avoid.

dunno how to respond to this seriously so im just gonna guess you play ranger or something and are just trying to defend it :/

edit: i was right

Like you have any credibility yourself. You are the creator and crusader of the “profession balance” Rapid Fire QQ.

I never personally liked the default bindings. What I did was build mine from the ground up to something that had a better flow. It took a week or so to be comfortable executing rotations but once I got use to it I haven’t looked back.

This is what mine are. I wouldn’t suggest to copy and paste them, but it gives you an idea how far you can customize it.

S left strafe, D right strafe, Mouse 4 and 5 are forward and backwards
F E R G V for attack skills (respectively)
B N and M for utilities (thumb)
Profession skills Shift + (F R G V)
W heal, Q elite, T swap, A dodge, Z jump, C interact, ~ stow and space auto loot. (space is set to auto loot so it won’t interrupt my utility skills if accidentally pressed by my thumb)

I’ve also added a few rubber and raised keys to my keyboard to give it some structure.

The Gates Assassin.9827:

A bit, I apologize. I really just want to get a feeling for what players are annoyed by with Power Rangers. Range definitely seems like a major issue, but if the damage wasn’t so high, would they still be annoyed by it? That’s all I was trying to get at.

I’m kind of disappointed that in a thread that should be focused on the range bug across the board that you’ve fed the ranger rage. As you mentioned yourself, anyone competent has far less problems with it. Clearly a l2p issue here beyond the range bug. Are you suggesting to nerf the damage to compensate for a bug, and what happens when that bug is eventually fixed? SOL?

Please be more aware of your position and the fact that power range is not competitive in the meta.

I run something similar in PvP (in my signature). Works well compared to burst but you’ve got to have mobility to keep the pressure on or you’ll just get kited on sword. Traveler runes hit your dps a bit but get the job done for the most part. You can also take pack runes and time your sword pressure with the swiftness and swap to scepter when it’s on cooldown. If you use pack runes, I’d use staff out of combat to get around and build up some extra swiftness.

Treeoflife.4031:

Crapgame.6519:

Tragic Positive.9356:

@Treeoflife
The rune as such rarely matters. It’s mostly the (6) Rune bonus, and occasionally the (4) bonus. Not the stats the rune offers. The stat difference is close to none.

Thought they nerfed it so one couldn’t mix and match runes for 4/6 bonus?

I think Tragic is only saying that sometimes the no. 4 slotted bonus from a rune set can sometimes be good enough that it could sway your decision when choosing a rune. you are correct that you have to use an entire set while in PvP. I personally don’t think of it was a nerf tho bc a lot of runes were reworked for the better.

Yeah, that’s the line of thinking that makes me take traveler runes over krait runes. I find being able to consistently move quickly in and out of combat is worth more than a couple extra seconds on my bleed stacks. Besides, the 10% condition duration from traveler runes and the 10% from marksmanship line (from moving to Keen Edge over Sharpened Edges) offsets 20% of the 45% bleed duration boost on krait runes. And that 20% effects a wide range of conditions that are at my disposal instead of just bleeding.

That’s in a sw/t a/d build though. It’s tough not to take krait runes and Sharpened Edges with shortbow even if you move like a turtle. I don’t have enough experience though with shortbow to say one way or another though.

DarkSyze.8627:

I was in keep while enemy zerg attacking it: i was only ranger attacking in range while my server party was attacking with close range. That is how i experience the long range 1500 easy kill: i keep spamming #1 until it kill enemy. The class i kill are- ranger, mesmer and warrior. I do not know what level they are because wvw is automatically level 80. I do not know if they are veteran player: just enemy player.

I do want to point out that this is the guy’s experience of the longbow. From what I’ve read I’m certain that he had not actually “killed” these players but “tagged” them and the melee zerg killed them. I could of ran through with the lootstick on my guardian and gotten credit for kills on each player in that zerg but not do any significant damage.

DarkSyze, just because you get experience points and loot does not mean that you yourself killed them or had any significant impact on the fight. Try removing yourself from the zerg and getting kills with your “easy mode, no risk” ranger while roaming 1v1s.

There’s a reason why rangers aren’t part of the meta in zerg/GvG play, regardless of 1500 range. In fact, it has a negative effect as you’re out of range of zerg buffs and not contributing to the support of the back lines. Though, this is stuff you’re supposed to learn as you play and get better.

I think build #2 is all around the best. Intelligence sigils will get the burst on Eviscerate in for less investment. A couple things I could offer to help improve it though.

• Swap out Stronger Bowstrings for Leg Specialist. You’ll be able to use Axe Throw (cripple will proc immobilize) to set up your Eviscerate for little investment. Will let you hold onto warhorn instead of needing Shield Bash or Bull’s Charge to set it up. I don’t see many people using that combination either so it’s less predictable.

• Hoelbrak Runes. Your power is quite low with toughness primary so the more might you can hold onto the better. Plus the -20% duration will work well with Dogged March. Also, maybe swap out smoldering sigil for energy. The extra dodges are always appreciated. And since you’re running Fast Hands one sigil should be ice and the other hydromancy as they’re on 10s cooldowns.

• Swap out Bull’s Charge for anything. With Throw Axe to set up your Eviscerates you won’t really need it. Perhaps Berserker’s Stance or Signets of Stamina/Dolyak as needed.

Looks like a solid build though. A little light on the power so maybe a sigil of battle on axe (with hoelbrak runes) would help bump you up a bit more. Remember to blast your fire fields with longbow and warhorn.

Well, at least I can compliment your choice of music!

And you can use Splitblade/Crippling Talon as projectile finishers in your Bonfire for extra burning up time.

Also, the trait “Offhand Training” is a must when using both torch and dagger. It makes your Bonfire huge, projectiles go further and your Stalker’s Strike has a longer reach. For highest up time on poison you can use Stalker’s Strike twice on a weapon rotation (8s cooldown).

ronpierce.2760:

Coulter.2315:

I’m really surprised people are trying to argue against this (one on semantics of all things)… It clearly does 1900+ and should only do 1500, needs fixed (yes we’re all aware that other projectiles benefit from it too but none of them get an extra 400+ hence why its the most commonly noticed and felt).

Note no one else has requested other projectiles be exempt from whatever change is required tooo.

Bran is an avid Ranger, or so his post history would suggest. Not that surprising.

Doesn’t make his point wrong that a fix across all professions is more appropriate than simply calling out rangers though.

Less ad hominem more discussion please.

Hope you enjoy trench coats or the other two armor sets everyone uses.

Norn t3 is nice, human t3 is overused. Try creating a character with each race and go to the bank to play with the wardrobe.

I suppose I could just direct you to the longbow specialization speculation thread?

/thread

I myself prefer to run sw/t & a/d over shortbow. The biggest issue I’ve found with Metabattle’s condi survival build is out of combat mobility. All it has is Tail Wind which is 6.5s of swiftness on weapon swap in combat. It gets you through a fight but beyond that you move like a turtle and pretty much have to stay on point. Sword is a great way to move around with Hornet Sting/Monarch’s Leap once you get use to flipping directions. Chaining it with Lightning Reflexes is a great way to get out of a fight quickly.

You can see my variation of the condi survival build in my signature. What I like about condi survival is that you can tweak it to your preference and still be very effective. I myself take traveler runes over krait runes for the movement speed, plus the boon duration/condition duration is appreciated. Between Marksmanship Line (10%) and traveler rune (10%) I’m only missing 25% bleed duration, and my 20% effects all conditions and not just bleeds. Also, Keen Edge will proc Survival of the Fittest, which is why I take it over Sharpened Edges that generally works better with shortbow.

As for layering conditions and baiting out cleanses, I’ll repost what I said in another thread about the same thing.

Try preloading Sharpening Stone before a fight so it’s off timer early. You’ve got 30 seconds to use it on a 36 second cooldown. Helps you set up a quick burst for dropping their hp a bit and baiting out some early cleanses. Muddy Terrain > Stalker’s Strike > Splitblade/Sharpening Stone > Throw Torch is the rotation I use. With torment and geomancy sigils that will put on around 13 stacks of bleed, a stack of torment, burning, poison, cripple and vulnerability from Opening Strike. 6 conditions is enough to make some panic and blow some larger cleanses or take out a chunk of HP.

With Sharpening Stone off cooldown quickly, you’re set up for your main burst with Entangle (set it up with pet CC for guarantee hit) and Bonfire on your second rotation.

I don’t think metabattle has updated since the last patch but torment sigils offer a great way to cover more conditions with a perma stack ticking for ~100 damage/s. Well, take a peek and see if anything in it is something you can use. Sorry I don’t have any gameplay footage but my rotations should give you an idea of how I play it.