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I like SoH for the extra burst on big GS attacks. If running wh u don’t need anything else. Personally I find runes of speed a waste
Sorry let me rephrase…Rtw increases applied dps on FLEEING targets. Correct. Arrows don’t drop off out of range as the target moves away.
I know MT is a great skill on paper but its cast time makes it extremely unreliable from my experience. In fast paced fights I just never seem to get it off in time. I generally don’t have the luxury of using point blank to combo into MT.
Can’t say I agree. A lot of people are enjoying the new runes sigils and GM’s. Condis are formidable but can easily be countered by glass. If we were all able to cleanse everything condi builds would be irrelevant like they were a year ago.
You absolutely can sit at max range and spam 1 most of the time. That’s the point of the build and its strength. Otherwise reset the fight and dictate range. I find your trait allocation wasteful and not really on topic because I’m mostly just discussing the synergy between rtw and sotf. The build you propose is something entirely different, and I’m not sure what tbh. Anyway I just wanted to give my impressions of the 30/0/10/30/0; feedback and your experiences with it are appreciated.
So the other reason you want rtw is the extra “reach” you get probably an extra 300 units or so. It really makes the arrows hit with laser precision and people can’t run from you.
Just wondering what everyone’s opinion on MT is. I find it’s very situational due to its long cast time….I’m finding myself slotting SoH instead to improve my roaming and burst. Any suggestions on runes?
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Thing with your build is you don’t need quick draw pet prowess or furious grip. To me it’s a waste of traits. If you’re gonna go with lb, might as well go long range all out!
U don’t need shorter cd on LB because if you’re not spamming #1 from max range ure not doing it right
I dont see the point of your build, no offense. Lb is weak without rtw because your dps becomes unreliable. I cant imagibe doing lb without it. U can hit from 1500 (ish) without eagle eye. With rtw and eagle eye it becomes about 1800. Try it out on the golems.
Reliable long range dps is the only factor that allows you to go zerker and kite people around. Rtw gives you the ability to keep dps on fleeing targets making the ranger the best long range assassin in the game.
The community has been asking for Legolas and you’ve been given it. At least take the time to test it out properly.
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Poison master rangers will be very strong. But you will also be seeing a lot of LB power rangers. The damage output from 1500 and ability to kite make them a viable addition as roamer.
If you like to pointlessly unlock things you will be upset by this. If you play to have fun or to pursue a certain build, you will be fine.
I hope we move more toward DM. Been having a blast on the new map. Bunkers will only play a utility role (buffs, cc)
Pets work well in spvp now but over half are useless. I don’t think they will ever address ranger problems in wvw
More damage is good. Some runes and sigils will need to be tweaked but I like a lot of the new GM’s
Random screenshot is random.
Wait ill show you a random screenshot aswell. This screenshot proofs that hambows/warriors are weak and glass power rangers are the new meta. Top 250 hambow vs my full glass hyrbid BM /power ranger. As you can see i didnt have my elite ready for the fight (so no stab) but nps didnt need it. Didnt warriors counter rangers? Oo
god your build is horrid.
rtw and sotf synergize. sotf allows you to kite, while rtw gives you significantly more range (~300) and greatly increases applied dps. this is the sniping build everyone has been asking for. adding an instant cripple ability to LB would be outright excessive. i prefer to hit harder and micromanage my distance with GS. oh, GS has a 900 range cripple, look at that. and dogs have cripple and are more responsive now. interesting. it takes more skill and it’s more rewarding when you pull it off. if we had an on-demand cripple, they would have to nerf the damage. no thanks, i dont want another SB.
your burst comes from air and fire sigils, and qz. if your pet is on the target, even more.
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while i dont like 1v1’ing with this build unless i absolutely have to, ive been holding my own. like i mentioned, against condi engies and necros, i just keep my distance at 1200-1500 and whittle them down. if they get an opener on me, i reset the fight. with SOTF, yes we can actually reset fights now! against thieves it’s like playing Russian Roulette, but i win more often than not. other glass, especially GS mesmers, i totally annihilate due to range advantage.
that being said, i roamed with a thief backcapping, killing npcs, and spiking stragglers while we had 2 mid and 1 home and it was hilarious fun. nothing could live through our burst. so with an organized team, you really see the potential of this build while 1v1’s arent too bad at all.
LR and survival of the fittest in general allow you to easily disengage now, as long as u have sword or GS. this opens up some possibilities for power rangers. SOTF was a fantastic move by ANet to buff power builds.
rangers can burst about 9k out of stealth with quickness. just throwing that out there.
but whats the point of running dual spiders? they dont give ON DEMAND poison.
if youre on a good coordinated team, having a poison bot can never be a bad thing. i believe condi thieves can do something similar now as well. want someone dead? perma poison as your team focuses them. 2-3 applications of poison is nothing on a bunker or d/d ele, they’ll cleanse it, dodge it. try perma with the pet swaps.
i see tanky utility rangers becoming really good. im calling it right now… x/x/30/x/30 with BM heals, or enhanced petting zoo with x/x/30/30/x which i actually dread.
edit: yep just tested a rudimentary 0/0/30/10/30 settlers build without any minmaxing, and specs that depend on stealth + heal like thieves and mesmers are crushed. bunkers with perma poison on them have half the survivability. have fun guys.
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after about 8 hours of testing tonight, i have concluded that RTW makes LB extremely powerful. i will also say, hands down, when properly built LB rangers can now (post patch) snipe better than GS/shatter mesmers, and way outclass rifle zerker warriors. it’s a trait truly deserving of its grandmaster category.
reason it makes LB so deadly has nothing to do with DPS. it has to do with APPLIED dps. LB always had very good dps, it just whiffed all the time. RTW arrows now travel the same velocity as warrior rifle bullets, meaning they dont miss unless target is dodging. in addition, even without eagle eye, arrows easily hit at 1500 range (roughly) because they track the retreating target better due to their high velocity. you cant AA though, you have to spam #1 for that effect. this is not a bug, just the result of velocity buff and game physics. meaning things cant really get away. you have to send someone after the ranger, otherwise your team WILL get sniped gradually. this is why it’s a GM trait. if it was just a default value, people could pull off ridiculous things such as 0/30/10/30/0 and make up the power with runes, sigils and gear in wvw.
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either way, there is a ton of potential with this trait layout. tons of stuff to play with. for once i feel like i have options.
btw, if u LR>swoop, most of the time youre going to eat a bunch of stuff during the swoop animation. what makes a big difference for me is LR > #4 block > dodge > swoop > dodge, or turn around and LB #4 or #3.
i only use GS for getting out, and guaranteed kills with burst. stealth > qz > swoop > bash > maul + pet f2 > get out.
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yes with survival of fittest, you can cleanse an immobilize basically any time, swoop out and reset the fight. with two stun breakers i never have a need for things like SoS and Protect Me.
ah yes sigil of intelligence on the GS looks very good. missed that one.
i ran with keen edge but it essentially just gives you a little bit extra condi cleanse, which is not on demand. the damage from it is unnoticeable. at least with steady focus, if you do a good job dictating range, youre doing some extra dps.
If you’re able to stay out of range from condition dmg then might as well take more quickness?
conditions will always clip you. even when fighting a condi engie or necro, they will land some burns and bleeds from 900 occasionally. you want to be able to cleanse those and reset the fight. many specs can apply immobilize from a long distance, so it’s nice when QZ can cleanse that if LR is on CD.
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perma 25 might stacks with strength and battle on d/d is pretty stupid imo
Tested for 6 hours straight:
Read of the Wind is totaly useless!
+ it makes your ROF even more noticeably low.
you are very bad.
honestly i think everyone should go X + energy, no matter the build. dodge spamming in this game is dumb as it mitigates so much damage.
also, thanks god for no more Skyhammer.
cast time is still too long on the drakes, making them nearly worthless to me. but pets are more responsive now and life is easier in spvp/dueling.
After a long hiatus, I’m happy to be back playing this build. It is a monstrous mutation of its former self after the recent buffs to RTW and signets. RTW rangers are everywhere, which is a nice change. Bad ones will be crushed, good ones can easily be counterplayed by other skilled glass. It looks like LB play is here to stay!
Here is the updated build for ranked pvp:
It actually has a ton of survivability. It’s not total glass but still hits like a truck. Not sure what the community has figured out about RTW over the last 8 months, maybe there is something new I can learn. But I wouldn’t play this build without SotF and the extra vitality. I feel that any 6/6/2 MoC build would leave you completely vulnerable to good thieves, engies and mesmers.
My favourite runes are Traveller and Speed for the extra stats and mobility. Ogre, Scholar, Ranger and Pack runes are very tempting for the extra offensive stats, but I’m generally finding my damage is excessive even without them after the recent LB buffs. I guess you can have too much deeps. With high vitality, on-demand condi cleanse and SoS, you can actually challenge many other builds on point by being more offensive with your GS.
Cheers
OLD DISCUSSION:
after about 5 days of testing in spvp only, im still really enjoying this build. ive gone up against some amazing (and well known) players, and learned a ton. some epic and some embarrassing moments as my skill with this build is pretty mediocre >.< and maybe i can only push it so far.
i more or less finalized the build above. below i will explain my choices:
- pets: wolf for the fear, river drake for the lightning breath aoe that synergizes with barrage for point aoe pressure. try with quickness =)
- i went with Pack Runes to remedy the weaknesses of low-ish base crit and lack of on-demand swiftness due to no points in Skirmishing. In this package you also get some more fury and a ton of power. i think most of the precision runes are also a nice choice. Speed and Traveler runes are wasteful imo.
- qz and LR are a must, but MT is not. MT CAN make a huge difference for a skilled coordinated team, which i dont have. i’ll take SoH instead to keep my roaming legit. my ranger feels sluggish without it.
- Entangle always over RaO because it’s a game-changer. i very rarely need stability and fury is almost perma.
- Keen Edge is your best choice in Marks mostly because of the extra fury
- RTW and piercing arrows are a must to maximize your applied dps. i wouldnt play LB without.
- Nature Magic Master tier choice depends. for me, there are only two choices: Evasive Purity and Strength of Spirit. I like the extra power as EP is situational, mostly for thieves (necros shouldnt be close enough to hit you).
- sigils: air + fire on the Lb for the deeps, and intelligence on the GS for the guaranteed burst.
Positioning is everything against skilled players. The biggest threat is a well played thief, which should be manageable if dealt with aggressively in return. sometimes they will embarrass you, other times you will 2-shot them. Also, good players wont allow you to stay at 1500, unless theyre bunking (in which case you will get them to pop their defensive cd’s for your team). You’ll have to learn which specs you can take 1v1, and when you have to “choose to leave” to do something else. swooping into your target is a huge commitment. it can either lead to an epic finisher, or your death if you dont time it well or miss.
From what I’ve experienced so far, this build does well against staff eles, some bunkers, power mesmers, rangers, necros (unless they get a jump on you), and any spec that may be glass. they cant tank your dps for long. good medi guards and scepter eles are always a gamble i find.
Other than that, roam. support your team with CC, massive aoe dps, peels, and decaps. sniping other squishies like nade spammers and staff eles will turn the tide for your team.
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entangle is broken with this. only removes 1 condi.
LR and MT are looking really kitten good now. even qz to be honest.
without other trait reworks and further weapon tweaks, these new traits will do very little to make us more viable
Comments like this show how sad of a joke the community is when it comes to kiting….
rangers cant kite, everyone knows that. this is why no one plays them or takes them seriously. engineers and warriors, for example, can kite incredibly well. as a ranger, the only profs you can kite are guards, necros and other rangers. everyone else has the ability to get on top and smash you into the ground.
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The one standing by your side out of harms way that can provide you with buffs..
wrong. fury, few seconds of protection, few stacks of might contribute minimally to your success against zergs.
just make spirits into invulnerable wisps that orbit the ranger and enchant arrows passively. actives should give us ranged combo fields. banners with style. i suggested this in CDI, id praise anet forever if it was implemented.
wolves only, if you time them well so they dont melt. aoe fear and immobilize are pretty much the only way to go.
Skirmishing: Strider’s Defense – You have a 15% chance to block ranged attacks while in melee.
this is exactly why im so frustrated with these devs. WHAT RANGED ATTACKS? most of the damage in this game comes from aoe, either pbaoe or ground targeted skills. who in their right minds would use this in any pvp environment? whoever is coming up with these “ideas” is not on the right page.
the only positive thing i see with all these changes is a huge buff to LR and QZ, which was very much needed. some of these traits might work if there are massive overhauls to a few weapons.
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snip.
Please do not presume to speak for all players. As a PvP player, I disagree with you, and I know others that do as well.
well he’s speaking for me as well. gw2 doesnt exactly have a large enough pvp following for you to consider feedback beyond of what’s on the forums. this is basically all you’ve got left, a few more people who care. but not for long.
regardless, all this “unlock” business and “easing people into the game” is basically a way of stringing us along. it makes sense when the game is released but gw2 has been out for a year and a half. unlocking features does not make for a fun game. the gameplay (in addition to variety/customization) is what keeps people addicted to the most popular pvp games.
because you’ve failed to deliver balance and build variety, why cant we get this for free and instantly when the new features are released?
it basically comes down to build variety. for a year and a half, i havent had the tools to customize any prof to my playstyle while remaining viable.
if this is a preview of new ranger features to come, then there is truly no hope for us. theyre fixing a broken weapon with a GM trait…great. also, why cant these high velocity arrows pierce? do i seriously have to trait for that as well?
did you see what the other professions are getting? massive, game-changing utility or huge survivability boosts. we get NEITHER.
im at most intrigued by this announcement, but i honestly dont think we’ll see any significant changes until the suggested CDI revamps are implemented. i’ll give the ranger another year.
sadly, WvW is dead and not growing/improving in any way. I honestly see a lot of people leaving for ESO. not me personally, but a lot of others.
tier 2 is unplayable with ~80-100 people in one area. garbage. this is unacceptable after a year and a half.
unless something is done quickly, i honestly see a lot of people leaving this mess for ESO. WvW is dead and EOTM was an epic fail, we all know that. but at the very least people want optimized gameplay.
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excellent post. what’s missing from gw2 is a “skill sandbox” through which i can explore multiple fun ways to play ONE profession. D3 does this well, GW1 did it well. currently, i play none of my 3 professions the way i want to. this is because one or two specs are vastly better than others. there are STILL dozens of useless utilities, elites and traits.
where is the build variety ANet? where are the new utilities and weapons?
build variety in this game is total garbage and has been since release. the only thing keeping me here is my guild.
i documented some fun fights and one-pushes during my journey from trial to core in Arkham on Maguuma. not all plays are perfect but footage may help some aspiring powermancers. enjoy =)
Proposal Overview
By now everyone is familiar with the word ‘Zoo’ and how it relates to the Ranger class. While the screen clutter is still there, the strategic value of all the minions has lessened because of the changes to tab targeting. Body blocking is still a large issue though and I am proposing we remove the spirits from the game.snip
Removing Spirits would be a pretty big change to the class. Additionally, they are part of the “spirit” (sorry, had to) of the Ranger. I do think the idea to add it to the pet is interesting, though I’m not sure how it really makes sense (the pets aren’t the ones drawing from nature, it’s the Ranger).
Do you have any thoughts or ideas that wouldn’t necessarily remove them, but maybe help to lessen the body blocking as you said?
Allie, you may have missed my original post. I have the perfect solution.
“- rework current spirits to wisps. Wisps are untargetable orbs that orbit the ranger while in their passive state. Wisps imbue ranger’s arrows with elemental damage.
- When activated, wisp shoots out to 900-1200 creating an aoe field depending on wisp type, and the ranger gains a personal effect and loses the passive weapon buff. aoe fields do no damage.
- according to seasons: spring – rain, bloom (water field, removes 3 condis from ranger), summer – energy (fire, ranger gets might or stunbreaker), autumn – electricity (electrical field that pulses to drain endurance in aoe; activation recharges ranger’s endurance), winter – frost field”
This would make sense conceptually, it would add an additional layer of depth to the ranger, fix a whole bunch of utilities, remove clutter from the game, and improve viability in WvW.
the ranger is a wrong class for just about anyone, with the exception of a few fanatics and a drove of new players. this profession is banned by all top WvW guilds. sooner or later you will realize that everything the ranger can do, others can do much better and much easier.
if you want to wvw, yes you have rolled the wrong profession because no matter how much skill you gain, no matter what build you play, you will be outplayed by players dedicated to other professions.
Oh god, I fear for our class just glancing over these “complete overhauls” people are suggesting without having a thorough understand of a ranger. Must have faith in devs, must have faith in devs, must have faith in devs.
A lot of them do seem really, really bad. Hopefully Durzlla/jcbroe/Chrispy/whoever else will pitch in.
People are making suggestions on what they think is a cool class instead of how to improve a lovable already created class. Like “I think GW2 should have a wicked awesome ninja sniper so lets turn SB 1 in to a 5 second stealth channel insta-kill shot.” When what we need are intelligent tweaks, like the fact that warbanners are patently better than spirits.
ANet has failed to deliver a cohesive, fun and viable profession. see this for what it is: at worst, a PR stunt; at best, we’re doing their job for them.
the ranger is only played by players who are new to the game, or those who stubbornly cling to the “idea” of the ranger. a recent poll taken on reddit revealed that the ranger had the lowest satisfaction rate among players compared to all other profs. and the vote initiated by Allie revealed that most people wanted more DEV TIME for the ranger, in comparison to all other profs. more dev time, not more bug fixes or balancing!
we are beyond “intelligent tweaks”. we have received those for a year and a half, which has amounted to nothing but breaking BM builds and reviving the brainless petting zoo in spvp only.
some of the prof needs to be overhauled because it is so far behind other professions in every aspect of the game. for example, the pet mechanic needs to be completely overhauled or taken out. other profs’ mechanics (DS, adrenaline, attunement swapping, etc.) make them viable. the pet, in addition to a number of useless utilities and a few bad weapons, make the ranger non-viable. think on that.
those who dont mind the ranger as it currently is have not played other professions at a high enough level (if at all). these individuals play the game with a veil over their eyes and write nonsense on the forums. ranger lacks utility, damage, survivability in comparison. everything the ranger does other profs can do much, much better and easier.
you need to send a message to the devs that we can no longer just dance around the big issues, like pet AI, a dozen useless utilities, bad weapons, no viable power builds and the such. little tweaks here and there have gotten us absolutely nowhere since the game’s release. the ranger remains in a rough shape. the devs need to take larger strides to fix what’s broken.
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the only two things id like implemented in the real WvW game are:
- level design
- landscape variety
variety, verticality, different climates and landscapes. WvW is actually a fun game. it just needs spice. if you guys dared, you could incorporate GvG’s to be more included in WvW, but thats a different topic.
What I never ever want to see from EOTM:
- the harder NPC’s
- the crazy automated siege
let US create the content.
Removing the pet was something that was discussed in initial design of the class, but it is such an integral part of the Ranger’s design and philosophy.
There might be some ways that we can redesign the pet and it’s AI, but those are big projects. For the time being, we are happy to take any suggestions regarding the pet.
Hi Allie, please have a look in my original post for the proposal (allow pet spirit to linger after death to buff the ranger). I want to add that pets absolutely must be revamped if you want to keep this profession mechanic! you guys chose to go this route, so either follow through or scrap it. my proposal (with some tweaks) allows you guys to keep the pet central to the ranger experience, without making the prof too weak as is currently.
and it’s not just AI. overall utility and survivability must be beefed up, at the expense of a great damage reduction. or at least, give us the option to choose dps vs. utility/survivability. pets MELT in WvW, and when they don’t, they bring very little to the table!
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I implore you to take large design strides to revamp the prof to a respectable level, instead of small balance steps, which we’ve been getting since release and which have made no difference.
<Game Mode>Inspired by WvW problems. Changes can be modified for PVE and spvp.
<Overview>Rework of pet mechanic and some utilities to improve prof’s utility and survivability in organized WvW settings (GvG, GvZ/raids). Other prof mechanics (DS, adrenaline, virtues, attunements) make their respective profs viable. Ranger pet mechanic makes the ranger non-viable. In addition, rangers bring the lowest survivability, lowest aoe dps and the least utility (boons, heals, CC) to the raid, of any profession.
<Functionality>- remove swap mechanic; allow ranger to specialize playstyle by using a specific family
- decrease pet damage across the board; pets become a “toolkit” and bring boons for the entire party, and on-demand aoe CC or damage in form of F2
- increase pet utility upon death: pet’s spirit remains with the ranger, increasing ranger’s innate damage by 10-20% depending on the family; the pet spirit imbues the ranger with an attack specific to family (i.e. spiders – aoe immob, bear – a charge that kb’s opponents, feline – stealth (?), bird – call down flock for aoe blinds + party vigor, etc.)
- to revive pet, ranger draws energy from battle. a meter is filled up as ranger attacks, reviving pet when full
- while alive, pet gives a boon to all party members when they attack (like spirits do currently), depending on family. i.e. bear – protection, feline – might, bird – vigor, etc.
- in WvW, give pets significant aoe resistance, or some sort of on-demand evasion ability
- rework current spirits to wisps. Wisps are untargetable orbs that orbit the ranger while in their passive state. Wisps imbue ranger’s arrows with elemental damage. When activated, wisp shoots out to 900-1200 creating an aoe field depending on wisp type, and ranger gives up the passive elemental damage. aoe fields do no damage
- according to seasons: spring – rain, bloom (water field), summer – energy (fire), autumn – change, electricity (electrical field that drains endurance), winter – frost
- other necessary tweaks: LR removes chill, immobilize, cripple; signets affect ranger and pet without traiting, SoW gives on-demand stability by being insta cast; decrease CD of some signets. GS swoop has evade, remove evade from #1 chain; Whirling Defense needs to either have more utility if stationary, or it must be usable while moving. SB – if used for skirmishing, it must give more survivability and do more damage (non-condition). LB – #1 has additional charge up function: becomes a ground arrow skillshot that hits harder and pierces the longer #1 is held…using the charge function puts the AA on CD (10-20s). More on-demand condi wipes, as has been suggested.
<Risks>- like with any revamp, these changes will require more resources and more tweaking. but the ranger will literally be reborn. currently, an entire profession is missing from organized WvW settings.
ive learned more running with Ark for 1 month than I have in an entire year prior. it’s a great environment if you want to up your game to the next level. here are some highlights from our February raids, necro POV…thanks Ark and all the awesome guilds who have engaged us for the good fights!
I am so glad those are fake!! My god… I can take a breath now. xD Though, who knows, might that the real changes aren’t that long from what’s been posted, or might be even worse. Though I’d would like to have the changes to Eagle Eye trait.
they are not fake. learn to read what i write. they are lying, like they always do when stuff leaks.