Curse

Young_Ranger · Mar 08, 2010, 06:19 PM // 18:19

I have been playing GW about 6 months primarily as a Ranger. About a month ago, I starting using a Spirit Farmer for farming. This was the first time I effectively solo'd anything useful. A few weeks ago, I got the idea I wanted a Pre-Searing character for farming and event drops. I created a Pre Ranger. In the last two weeks I have been forced to learn underlying game mechanics that I never new existed.

I am trying understand the fundamental basics of solo ranger play (pimarily focused on Pre). In pre searing, there are no henchman or heroes to help keep my ranger alive.

I will admit that I often play my ranger as a melee. I tend to get a little to up close and personal with monsters. I suspect that I probably need to be running (kiteing?) away more often than I do.

Let's assume completely flat open terrain. No elevation effect, no terrain to use to your advantage. It is just you and a mob of monsters.

What tactics do you use to take down a mob of monsters?

Thanks.

Motoko · Mar 08, 2010, 07:00 PM // 19:00

Get optimal equipment to start off with. If you have the game of the year upgrade or EotN pre-order it will give you a nice bow you can use in pre searing.

With the game of the year upgrade you should get a flatbow, which has the best range and firing rate combined IF you use read the wind in conjunction.

Make sure your armor has insignias to give you +armor and that you have the correct runes. Both of these will make sure you hit for decent damage and take minimal damage. You are best off with scouts insignias so you have about 52 armor against fire damage(the kindle arrows charr). Also with the game of the year pack youll get a +30 hp shield which you should be learning to weapon swap when taking hits and not attacking.

Clicking to move when running to avoid damage to dodge the arrows and ranged attacks is the best thing you can do. There are somethings that cant be helped as far as range because point blank shot requires such a close up distance, but its the best available attack.

Go for shamans first obviously, then I would suggest hitting the ashen claw to not have to worry about the faintheartedness... its rather annoying on a ranger to deal with. Over all just get your kill asap (usually get a long ranged shot at a charr so your pet will run in and tank the damage due to its superior armor with each level) and then judge if you need to get space to heal yourself. You'll find once you learn the best distance and clicking to move + heal sig in between the penetrating shots you can get your HP back up fairly easily.

But yeah, the game of the year upgrade helps this A TON. (not to mention the free fire imp ally that comes with it)

Divine Ashes · Mar 08, 2010, 07:44 PM // 19:44

Yeah the fire imp summoner helps a ton, as does support from a pet. With the two combined, you usually won't come into harm's way too often. IF you're fighting charr, obviously go for the shamans first then the ashen claws as Motoko suggested. If you're not fighting charr, the enemies you'll encounter are fairly simple and should go down in an attack or two regardless of what they are. Also, as you level up you'll notice the enemies get extremely easy, posing little to no threat at all (the exception to this being the Charr bosses possibly). Careful pulling is critical if you're taking on the charr. Get yourself a longbow or flatbow, set your pet to Heel, and pull groups one at a time, unless you know you can take on more than one.

Have fun!

Rugar · Mar 08, 2010, 07:52 PM // 19:52

Troll Unguent will keep you alive. Go elementalist secondary and fire storm will help take care of your groups.

vBeryl · Mar 08, 2010, 08:10 PM // 20:10

It's pre, not a damn elite area.

Except for The Northlands, you're unlikely to die.

cognophile · Mar 08, 2010, 08:14 PM // 20:14

As Motoko points out, once you reach the 9 marksmanship requirement, the nevermore flatbow works very well for a ranger in presearing Ascalon.

I'd suggest using stalwart insignias for charr hunting. Much of their damage is physical, and the ranger already has relatively good protection against elemental damage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young_Ranger

Let's assume completely flat open terrain. No elevation effect, no terrain to use to your advantage. It is just you and a mob of monsters.

For classes that rely on ranged damage, terrain can be a big factor if you're charr hunting. It helps a lot if you can hide behind some kind of cover and heal between kills.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young_Ranger

What tactics do you use to take down a mob of monsters?

For low level monsters, just walk in and start shooting. Use troll unguent as needed. Rangers are great for farming low level item drops in pre.

For charr, pre-cast Read the Wind and Troll Unguent, kill something, and run away or hide if needed. In some cases, it's useful to kill the sword and/or axe charr first (they take double damage while under frenzy) instead of aiming for the shaman right away. Ether feast is a good combat heal.

I'm not a big fan of using fire storm with a ranger. Rangers can dish out plenty of damage simply attacking with a bow, without needing to worry about a skill that has 30 second recharge time.

FlexBuffchest45 · Mar 08, 2010, 08:27 PM // 20:27

I know that your question revolves around completely flat terrain, but this is most definitely one of the largest things NOT to over look while playing a ranger. When in the North lands, the best tactics you can use as a ranger are the following:

1) After entering, head towards the altar with the bosses.
2) Run past the first two groups of charr by the burnt building (no elevation to take advantage of here)
3) Keep going straight then go right up the hill that the grawl patrol stops by (at the top of the hill mentioned is an oak heart).
4) At the top of that hill, turn left towards the altar
5) You'll notice that right near the altar is a little cliff area. This cliff is your best friend. It allows you to have excellent range while also forcing blade storms to run quite a distance before they can damage you.
5) kill two of the charr patrols in this order: the four man patrol in the right hand corner of the altar, then the three man patrol that moves on the road from altar towards north lands entrance.
-NOTE: The four man patrol has a longer overall patrol distance, so killing them first while they're in range will drastically increase the speed of your boss runs.
6) After the patrols are dead, move off the cliff closer to the right hand corner of the altar and kill the lone blade storm that sits where the first four man patrol was.
7) Begin your boss killing. each of the four bosses can be pulled and killed without aggroing any other charr group, it just takes practice.
8) Troll unguent, run in, grab your drops, die and rezone (or buy another gm in town)

While this may seem silly because you are not killing many of the charr, it is the most profitable and beneficial xp-wise. Charr bosses have the best chance of dropping "rare" items and they also give you the most xp.

As for killing creatures outside of the north lands, you shouldn't have any trouble after about level 9ish. If you want to farm event items, I suggest taking an ele or monk secondary for fire storm or symbol of wrath respectively. Ball up the skales outside Fort Ranik and aoe them, rinse and repeat.

If you're having trouble leveling up in pre, feel free to shoot me a pm and I'll do some charr runs with you. I love them

IGN Soldier Flex

Bob Slydell · Mar 08, 2010, 09:48 PM // 21:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by vBeryl

It's pre, not a damn elite area.

Except for The Northlands, you're unlikely to die.

This.

There is absoultely no thought process or science when it comes to Pre-Searing. Get to level 6-7 and you'll be fine anywhere south of the wall.

The Northlands aren't that hard either. Get high enough and you can kick their asses.

Mortal Amongst Mere Gods · Mar 09, 2010, 12:29 AM // 00:29

One tactic I often use while charr hunting is to get just out of aggro range of a mob and lock my pet onto which ever one is higher priority (shaman, hunter, warrior, anything else).

The pet, when close enough, will just run right in and take all the intial aggro and strong hits from Bane Signet, Banish, etc. This gives me room to take out whoever with little to no trouble at first.

If your pet dies, don't worry. Assuming you and your pet are high enough level, everything important should be dead by that time. And the aforementioned fire imp will help lots.

Oh, and cast Troll Unguent before aggroing, just in case you need it.

Young_Ranger · Mar 29, 2010, 05:09 PM // 17:09

I wanted to thank everyone for their advice. I managed to reach level 16 this weekend and began the long process of death leveling.

I got to admit I missed the entire value of elevation. I always knew you wanted to be higher than your intended target, but I have never farmed one area as much as the Northlands to learn the value it plays.