Guild Wars 2

I think the ranger is a wonderful class for the player who has been playing the game a while and wants to take the time to master the nuances of the class. For people saying a Condi Gen build cant kill in wvw I say horse pucky to you sir or madam!

Now for a new player I would say to stay far away from ranger because its easy to fall into the ranger suck barrel…

Just my opinion.
Woahjaxx the ranger

Heya heya folks…now that Im back after my break I threw my old build back on for some baseline numbers and I noticed that some numbers are quite a bit lower then the last time I played (roughly 11 months ago) my re-port build buffed had 2k Condi damage,now with the same build and buffs its down by roughly 200. Was there a toughness tocondi damage minor trait or something similar that was removed? Ive searched quite a bit and can’t seem to figure it out.

Thanks in advance!
Jaxx

Good to know! I want to keep the one for power builds and one for condi. Since my return to the game I have been doing a ton of theory crafting so I’m looking forward to getting this second ranger to cap!

Salutations folks just something I wanted to ask. I have my ranger main that i play and love to theory craft but sometimes you want to try something off the wall,even though youre pleased with where your build is at.

The question is, does anyone have a second ranger to do other builds with ECT? Just curious if I’m crazy for doing it haha.

Thoughts? Ideas?

Jaxx.

Yeah ive been gone just shy of a year and from what I’ve seen quite a bit has changed. Matter of fact I left the day the purchasable traits became available if thats any indicator

Yeah, I’m doing some variations on my re-port build, I’m wanting to get rid of the shout based portion of the build. But keeping the mobility up is paramount for small man skirmish.

I’m not wanting to switch out my weapons,so the change will have to be trait\skill based..or maybe some rune changes

I understand where you’re coming from,but I think its important to understand that buffs from other players aren’t meant to be had on a constant basis . Yes by being far out with a bow you are away from most buffs other then what you provide but that is the cost of being able to be effective from a fairly safe area of the battle field.

Just my opinion

Well. With some of the changes since I’ve been gone id like to get rid of the shout trait and quit running guard. I just want to make sure I can keep swiftness up a majority of the time.

Salutations folks . Working on some theory crafting and I’m curious how melee based rangers are applying swiftness without the shout trait or trappers runes.

any insight to this would be most helpful.

Jaxx

Heya heya folks. I’m back after a long hiatus and I’ve been doing a ton of theory crafting and min maxing to get back on track and was curious if any rangers have compiled the patch note changes that are relevant to rangers or do I need to scroll through each of the patch notes ?

I agree that rangers need a little love..but at the end of the day they have a low barrier of entry but a steep learning curve…which will keep most rangers as poor players and great rangers few and far in between.

I’d also add that you cant just stand in one spot and shoot with your pet doing the work…and I see so many rangers trying to do that. In order to be effective with the class you have to move like a ferret on meth.

During my time playing exclusively as a ranger I would intentionally seek out other rangers in wvw to see how others played the class. During that time I killed 86 rangers and didn’t die once. What I did notice is alot of newer players pick rangers because in alot of games the ranged pet class tends to be the easy mode class for people to hop on and get some easy kills. Here in gw though I find that in order to play a ranger to its capabilities there is quite a bit of skill involved. So id imagine that the ranger class will always see large influxes of new inexperienced players then as time goes on,the true ranger players will weed themselves out and shine.

Obviously this is IMHO.

JAXX

This type of thread has been made several times. But I think a new pet could be the answer tons of rangers who want to go without a pet could be looking for…check this out!

A ferret pet that does not leave your body,but rather sits on your shoulder and grants damage buffs or the such. This would give the people who want to play the ranger without a pet to control the ability to do so. You could even make the pets f2 ability a blind or reflect….i think an option like this would give the community what they have been asking for without the devs having to make all new mechanics ECT for no pet….the best of both worlds.

Jaxx.

Point taken. But by focused target I meant the “called target” and I don’t disagree that other classes can do the same,maybe even more efficiently. The discussion was just about the viability of the Condi gen style builds. Also ive been gone for quite a while so I cant speak on bow based builds as when I was playing they were are more or less terrible.

One thing I can say,is these style builds on the ranger can be extremely rewarding to play when mastered.

Again I think play style holds key with the build. And guard serves more purpose then the buffs it allows you to control the drakes blast finisher. And the debuffs you can place on others can seal their fates in no time. Allowing you to heal and support.while at the same time placing cc and debuffs on focused target.

There are a plethora of threads with viable ranger builds. Also tons of changes over the past year. Ive also been gone a while and found tons of info on the boards and patch notes. Also gamebreaker.tv has a really awesome gw2 show you should check out.

Hope this helped.

Jaxx

I found that settlers works better for the build over apoth. I hear alot of people talking about using bow with this build. Ive been gone for a while so I’m not super familiar with the changes. But my particular build was based around s/d a/t . also the rune of the grove is great with the ranged root ,protection ECT…

Yeah, there is a variation of my re-port that is very similar. With stacks and buffs it has 2700 condi damage 1350 healing and close to 2k toughness. And with the perms regen up and gap openers its mighty deadly while serving the group in a great way. One thing in surprised peole dont use more is the sword/lightning evade pop twist. Use monarch to leap back,while in the air turn 180degrees and finish the monarch then use the lightning reflex ….you get close to 1700 gap opener while evading during most of it. It can
Also be used to close the gap on a bow using ranger almost immediately . Once you close the gap on them, its CC and condi and they go down like cheap date.

Well,in small group skirmish I use lightning drake for burst and on command blast finishers using guard. For smaller fights I use wolf and spider. The wolf fears away the stomps if I go down and the spider applies poison and ranged immobs. I tend not to worry about the damage too much as the utility is paramount imho

Yeah,ive noticed tons of changes since I last played. Ive spent about 10 hours reading changes and patch notes. The min maxer in me is going crazy haha.

One thing to remember is my re-port build is for small group skirmish.it shines in a group of 5 or 6 being able to heal and support group mates while debuffing large groups of people all while being completely safe with tons of evades,gap openers and the such.

In 1v1 fights the build can drag on quite a bit if your opponent can strip conditions. But as I said above ,with all the changes coming I look forward to changing the build into something new while still holding onto its small skirmish roots.

So after doing some research last night and trying to get caught back up with everything in going to focus my energy on a re-port style build but incorporate some of the trapper nuances. The goal being a front line healing\support with an emphasis on debuff and escape. A build like this would be wonderful for small team skirmish.

I’m going to sit down and throw it together on the calculator today. If anyone has thoughts or ideas let me know,id love to hear them!

Jaxx

I’d imagine with a build like that and your play style you’d be better served with a spider and a wolf. The spider would poison and root and the wolf would fear. Unless you’re using the drake to blast finish some of your traps.

Yeah when I left bow rangers couldn’t pull a greasy string out of a cats kitten . So its nice to see some changes have made them a bit more viable.

I’m super interested in seeing what all the new customizations and druid stuff does for the class.

Hmm…that could show some promise.before I took my break I could fight two thieves forever,but could never kill them due to them stealthing ,healing up and popping back in
I’d like to tweak my build to be able to finish them off.

Haha I’m super excited now!

Well isn’t that fancy….i guess I need to bury my face in the wiki for a few nights..it sucks being the new guy again lol.

Is there an internal cd on that rune? This makes me super excited for the expansion,plus all these things I haven’t seen. I’m looking forward to focusing on some new builds!

Ahhh thanks. I’m reinstalling the game right now…so I should be able to log on…in about 3 weeks….jesus its taking forever lol.

Also,in another thread someone mentioned a stealth trap build. Does one of the traps cast a smoke field? Or are people using that bow ability that gives 3 sec stealth?

Been gone a while,someone mentioned a stealth trapper..does one of the ranger traps create a smoke field now?

Refresh my memory,signet of the beastmaster is that the one that allows buffs on the pet to be also put on the ranger?

Its been quite a while lol…and thanks for the warm welcome. I haven’t logged back in yet so I’m sure ill have to find myself a new wvw guild to call home. And get some practice in so I can get back to frustrating thieves…lol

By the way…with massively shutting down where do folks go to get their mmo info and news?

Thanks again
Jaxx.

Lol sorry i was in the car so I cut my thread short. I was speaking in reference to wvw. And when I was extremely active from launch to about a year ago. My re-port331 build thread was the most looked at ranger build on the boards. I didn’t think folks would want me to necro a year old thread haha.

Besides the new trait system that came out about a year ago I’m not certain of any other changes to rangers so id be interested in hearing if anything huge has come down the pipe.

In short the build was a s/d a/t condi regen build. That had 100%uptime on regen in combat and was amazing at keeping conditions applied. In addition with the drake and skills chosen you could create water fields and blast them at your leisure.

Just curious if these kinds of builds are still used frequently as when I left bow rangers were fairly poor regardless of traits.

Thanks again

Heya heya folks,ive been gone quite a while but with the expansion coming in planning on jumping back in with both feet. My question is,are the regen\support condi builds that people like charr cat and myself made still viable or has enough changed with rangers that there is something new and fancy to think about?

For people not familiar with the build on speaking of you can check my prev posts or the sticky at the top of the ranger boards.

Anyhow,I’m excited to come back and play with all the new rangers!

Jaxx.

Prysin.8542:

Invigorating Bond (1:40:35-1:41:15 in the stream)
Quoting comments “Invigorating Bond heals you when you use pet command, F2, which now breaks pets out of their current action. (side comment; much more reliable). Which is great.”

Thats it… sorry, like i first suspected, no further info has been given (yet) that i am aware of.

as i said above it, i dont believe that it was with the description for the trait itself. it was a statement that was tied in with the poison master/ pet poison being based off of player condi. Im in the office right now so I will give the stream another listen when i get home.

If it is indeed based off player healing I will be rolling a second ranger to make a dedicated healer with. and if it isnt based off of our healing, its a waste of a 30 point trait (assuming anet gives the heal a super low base as is par for the course)

Im just really excited to take my existing build and mix it up with some new ideas.

if anyone has a chance to listen to the stream right now. let me know. thanks!

Jaxx.

In regards to the source for the healing being based off of the rangers plus healing if im not mistaken its in the twitch stream ring about the same place where they are talking about the poison trait and how the poison attacks are based off player condi, not pet. During that part I believe they said " It works the same way for the Healing trait as well"

When i get home from the office ill watch the video again to clarify.

thanks!
Jaxx

EDIT- I find this build stuff based on clerics interesting. I did a variation with 10-0-30-30-0 and it just diddnt put out the pressure i was looking for. I think ill try it again to give it a whirl.

Lévis.5489:

If only the pet’s stats was scaling with the stats of your ranger.

The Heal is based off of the rangers +healing. so im hoping that it will be fairly decent. not that id run a bm build all the time but it would be great to have a healing/support option.

yeah thats what i was thinking. but i sure hope that they dont make it super long. with it being a 30 point trait it should be able to be used frequently as a basis for a build.

what do you think of the fen hound?

jaxx.

Salutations folks. From what i gather the heal done by the BM 30 point trait will be based off of the rangers plus healing ect. Ill skip the build thoughts just to get to my idea though.

for a support ranger running the Fen Hound seems to be something to look at. Its f2 ability gives a huge heal plus a huge Regen. then you add the new AoE heal and you have a Huge heal and regen that youre able to place right where you want. as a secondary support pet The Red Moa would be great as it has a secondary aoe heal that could be worked in conjunction with your new f2/heal and the Protection is always nice.

I think with some deep thought a fully group based ranger could be quite viable in a wvw skirmish group. ( The Reason i diddnt mention the Birds right now is im assuming that anet will do something to change the 6 second f2 abiity.)

anyone have some thoughts on this?

Jaxx.

I just came back to the game and i had a ton of questions from people about the build and play style questions. I refer people to it because alot of new rangers have a hard time playing and the regen and evades make it easy for people to get the hang of things.

I have no reason to push my build other then i really like the feed back it gives, especially when there are a ton of changes coming. when i replied to this thread it was because i really enjoyed the video and thought it was great that the basic idea of my build is still viable despite it being months old.

and in finishing , the reason I brought my old build thread back is because people asked where they could find it. I also would like to add my new after patch findings to it aswell so i dont have several build threads.

Sorry if i upset anyone as it wasnt my intention.

Jaxx

“edited to reword”

also something i think i caught on the stream. the Heal /pet poisons ect are going to be based off your +healing/ +condi damage. if so a base 800 heal could be 1500-1750 with a regen/ Re-port ranger. Ive already started putting together some builds with the new stuff in mind. Im really looking forward to the changes..although the bugfixes are where we usually get screwed so we will have to wait and see.

Remember you can also control your pets secondary special with guard. when the pet comes out of stealth it opens with that ability.

Also with the pet AI being a silly as it is. the use of the attack and return buttons is especially important for placement on the battlefield. fiddle around with it and get it down…with things like drake breath ect i always call the pet back for a split second before i send it in for the f2..just to line it up so it doesnt miss.

jaxx

EDIT- after 10 years wow has planned to allow you to store you pet and get a flat damage increase/boosts for those who want to play more of a skirmisher/scout style without some fuzzy poop box following them. maybe Anet will catch on..in …8 more years hehe.

heya there great video! the build seems to be a close variation to my Re-port331/ Re-PortV. Its always been a blast to play and really surprises people when you lay it on them.

Im interested to see what you do with the patch . some of the changes i have planed are really going to improve my existing build paths. so Rangers have some exciting times ahead!

Jaxx.

Well after watching the 2 hour stream on the changes I have some Amazing ideas for new builds Giving the Re-port a much higher damage ceiling while allowing it to support the group even more. ( with a targeted heal to boot!)

as a side note. I got an email from anet this morning saying that part of this thread was deleted for being mean to anet staff or something like that. which is strange because its been up for 8 months and placed with the guides on the top of the ranger boards. So lets make sure the thread stays friendly and stuff. thanks again!

jaxx

Faux! I see you moved servers eh? yeah i moved to Henge last night and ran some wvw and the rangers are still really bad lol. there was one quite a ways out from me plinkin me with some kittened bow shot..so i pop twisted my way in and took care of business.

anyhow faux. what have you changed on builds lately? it seems that our new traits arent going to change too much.

Jaxx

Ben thats great to hear…I always make it a goal to engage rangers i see first to weed out the turds. last night i came across one that lasted a bit longer then usual..but i havent played in several months so i shall have to get my magic fingers back then head out again!

well ive made the move to HoD to give it a while. So any Hengies looking for a dedicated wvwer let me know and we can make the magic happen..or some such…

Jaxx

Well Slingblade, thanks for the kind words! I try hard to play to the best of my ability and help the community the best I can. In regards to SBI its one of the servers i was looking at. so far ive been thinking Gates,HoD,Ebay,SBI but im not sure yet.

im going to make my mind up before reset today so i dont get hammered on the wait time when i xfer.

also anyone else with ideas let me know! im excited to make some new friends and some new wet spots on the borderlands grass.hehe

Thanks Again folks.

Jaxx

(EDIT TO HMS) you are correct , what i said was an assumption. Also im curious if the servers are in the same location as the NA servers, or do they have an over seas cluster for you folks? if they do latency might be an issue for me. anyhow thanks for the information!

in wvw i tried out sword/dagger Axe/Axe with my re-port line of builds. and it made me a smidge too stationary for my liking. Im a huge fan of S/D A/T

heya heya. Ive recently come back to the game and had a bunch of mails ect asking questions about the build. ive started testing some more options for it and have some great ideas. ill get to posting once i have some stuff together.

aside from that, how has the Ranger population been doing?

Jaxx

I probably wouldnt be interested in moving to a t1 server. it just feels like “faking the funk” to me. In regards to ranger hate, that kinda stuff doesnt bother me. Im pretty good at my class and ive yet to have a complaint. so Ill take it as it comes hehe.

Gates..might be a possibility. when i started playing it was DH/GoM/HoD so that might be fun.

again. Im looking for a server that has a wvw mindset and a nice core of wvw guilds. keep the ideas coming!

Jaxx

Check out my Re-Port series of Builds Hundreds of people have fallen in love with them and the beauty of it is you never have to worry about thieves again hehe.

jaxx

mmm no EU servers for me. Im PST so i would end up on their grave shift. Ill stick with the NA’s and to be honest price isnt an issue. but i dont have an urge to jump onto a bandwagon server. I just want a nice mid range server with a strong wvw base.

jaxx