Curse

akhil · Jul 22, 2009, 11:07 AM // 11:07

Hi,
My main character in Guild Wars is my ranger. It's because (in my opinion) they're the most underhanded profession. They have the greatest range of attack than anyone else, they can have animals fighting for them, they use traps and lure foes into them, their arrows are tipped with poison and even set people on fire, they daze and interrupt casters, they cripple warriors and throw dirt in their face, they can break up mobs by firing multiple arrows. The computer hardly ever targets rangers until they're the last ones standing, but when they are targeted they have very good armour especially against elementalists AND they have skills that let them block and run away which last a very long time. Also due to their primary attribute, expertise, all of this can be done cheaply and even use skills from their secondary such as touch rangers and bunny thumpers. In my opinion they're the most sneaky and sly characters in the game.

However, in hard mode I find that all these tricks that rangers use against the high level mobs are little more that a nuisance. The AI can shrug off interrupts because their normal attacks do huge amounts of damage. The degen from poison, fire and bleeding is ignored because of the huge health. Shooting multiple arrows does hardly anything because of the huge armour they have. Cripple just bring the enemy to the speed that they have in normal mode. Even running away is quite difficult because of the extra speed they have. Only the survivability of the ranger really remains intact unless they have stance removing skills. When I play hard mode I feel I am nothing more than just a walking resurrection shrine. I was wondering if there are any of the ranger tricks that are still valid in hard mode because at the moment I am at a total loss.

I usually run a standard burning arrow build but I like to chop and change depending on where I am.

Expertise - 12+1+1
Marksmanship - 12+3
Wilderness Survival - 8+1

Burning Arrow (e)
Savage Shot
Distracting Shot
Throw Dirt
Lightening Reflexes
Rebirth
Trolls Unguent
Apply Poison

Just Stand · Jul 22, 2009, 11:23 AM // 11:23

Ranger is my main too. Tbh i never use Burning arrow especially in PvE and HM. Burning arrow as your only non-rupt dmg isnt great. i recommend running BHA + epidemic, Glass Arrows, or Barrage. Using a condition spear with eotn PvE skills works well too. I would also remove throw dirt, find it not very helpful in PvE, mobs that get to you shouldnt be doing any big dmg to you with LR stance + H/H heals/prots.
i don't really know any "tricks" I just use the ranger skills i said.
As far as i know degen cap is -10 pips, burning = -7, poison = -4. = -11. so that combo itself isnt being used to the max

Daisuko · Jul 22, 2009, 11:47 AM // 11:47

Expertise - 12 + 1
Marksmanship - 12+ 1 + 2

Broad Head Arrow (e)
Volley

makes up the basics of any "basic" PvE ranger bar, which is essentially what I used to vanquish 2/3rds of all of GW... just bring epidemic on a hero.

However, since then, I've grown a liking to prep shot. gogo 100+ damage each shot. finish him + body shot is a nice combo as well.

Ugh · Jul 22, 2009, 02:00 PM // 14:00

AoE damage- Splinter Barrage

Caster Shutdown- BHA

Pew pew- Prep. Shot, Glass Arrows, or Expert's Dexterity. Throw in Asuran Scan if energy isn't an issue.

Also, wouldn't assassins be the sneakiest proffesion?

gw_poster · Jul 22, 2009, 02:40 PM // 14:40

I'm wondering what heros you are using...maybe it might be that they are allowing you to get so punished...your build should synergize with a good hero/hench setup, or with a pug/guild group find out others' bars and try to synergize with them. If you're team is lacking a dom mesmer for instance, bring some interrupts (d-shot, savage, etc.), if you've already got an aoe on the team (i.e. fire ele) then go BHA instead of barrage. I took the path of least resistance for when I vanq'ed all 4 chapters, skill-capped, mapped, etc., etc.. which was to load up a standard sabway (with very few substitutions for certain areas), a 3-pve skill bar (PI, EVAS, Finish Him! - and mixed it up with GDW and EVSS depending on certain situations), with the rest being BHA, D-Shot, Savage, LR, Needling (sometimes a res - FoMF, instead of needling). Mindless HM PVE for the most part with some really challenging areas mixed in.

Radiant/attunements, exp 12+2+1, marks 12+1, zealous flatbow of fortitude, pop candy for +e, buffed health partywide through MB (honeycombs), increased IMS/IAS if you feel you need it (and work on your sweets title while playing), play drunk to increase IMS/IAS through drunken master or dwarven stability + LR (just turn of post-processing effects) and work on drunk while playing, too! I liked to play as an elf or candy-corn too for the party points while playing lol. Stay mid-range, time your skills right and against appropriate targets, prioritize targets and watch their skill bars, know when to back up or run, pulling method - these all make huge differences in making an easy pve-hm experience or one where your constantly getting punished and rezzing. For the extra help to speed things up when vanq'ing ferndale for faction, for instance, I like to use mysterious summoning stones - it's nice to have a temporary additional party member for 3/4 of the vanq.

TheodenKing · Jul 22, 2009, 03:00 PM // 15:00

Sniper. Look into it.

Start with Asuran Scan and By Ural's Hammer, then add to your build from there. If you do it right, there is not a single profession that can do more single target damage in HM in as short a time.

Carnivorous Cupcake · Jul 22, 2009, 10:44 PM // 22:44

I always liked Rangers in PvE even though I dont have one myself.

Some of their tricks become less effective on Hard Mode but their versatility makes up for it. For example a Ranger could carry on playing as an effective caster using Broad Head Arrow+Epidemic or Archer's Signet+Technobable as well as taking a Scythe to lawn through mobs or a Spear or even spam spirits to great effect.

However, I woudnt recomend to run Burning Arrow build because it doesnt seem to have as much crazy damage output as the alternatives and doesnt provide much utility either.

gw poster has summed things up very well actually those tips will help you find ideal setup for your party and area youre facing.

akhil · Jul 23, 2009, 11:22 AM // 11:22

Thank you all very much. The gist I'm getting is that the burning arrow build isn't as effective as I thought it was. The party I use most frequently (though I change it depending on area) is:

ele - mind blast nuke build
para - song of resto build
optional hero slot depending on area, used to be mm in normal mode but in hard I try to use warrior
heal henchie
prot henchie
fighter henchie
guardian henchie

As you can obviously see my party doesn't really synergise well with any ranger build, so I guess that's where I'm going wrong. I'll create an epidemic mesmer hero and use a broad head arrow build or a mark of pain/barbs necro and use a pew pew pew build and see where that takes me.

If there are any more idea please please let me know.

zwei2stein · Jul 23, 2009, 11:34 AM // 11:34

Anyhow, as far as tricks are concerned, I have one for sharing:

There is awesome way to make guaranteed BHA hit: Shaddowstep to target foe, preferably with unspeced Dark Prison, which also gets you to position to Throw Dirt and neutralize physicals aswell.

Accursed · Jul 23, 2009, 12:43 PM // 12:43

A ranger in hard mode would find use mostly in BHA since it covers so much in the game it's not even funny.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zwei2stein

Anyhow, as far as tricks are concerned, I have one for sharing:

There is awesome way to make guaranteed BHA hit: Shaddowstep to target foe, preferably with unspeced Dark Prison, which also gets you to position to Throw Dirt and neutralize physicals aswell.

You would be willing to shadowstep a ranger just to use Throw Dirt?

Yeah, um.. That's not going to work considering your probably going to die just five seconds after the shadowstep.

Tenebrae · Jul 23, 2009, 01:16 PM // 13:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fallen

A ranger in hard mode would find use mostly in BHA since it covers so much in the game it's not even funny.

You would be willing to shadowstep a ranger just to use Throw Dirt?

Yeah, um.. That's not going to work considering your probably going to die just five seconds after the shadowstep.

Yeah because we all know that you are gonna be there 5 secs ( without PS ) after the shadowstep and all monsters will target you to spike you for 2000 dmg

.... erm , my main is Ranger and with H/H i barely use BHA , is just that i dont have problems with casters. Real need to go on BHA are places with so many casters and so many nukers that if you dont do it youll get screwed. For me , those places are like 10% of the game. Otherwise , just technobble the hell out of them and if its a boss , wise use of PS , good positioning and fast kills do the trick.

Defqon2003 · Jul 23, 2009, 09:00 PM // 21:00

epic bha+volley, pb or tipple+dual glass spike(best dps ranger can aquire), axe rangers with SY! are fine for hm but actually I prefer escape daggers with lr and dwarven stability which I use with er protter roj monk and roj necro as mm
If you are lacking creativity to think of fun way to play you might just go to wiki and find ur self and ur heroes builds to run.

btw. I hate barrage, just sick of it ^^

Fay Vert · Jul 23, 2009, 09:10 PM // 21:10

BHA is a useless big sucky skill for a ranger, doubley useless in HM, only bring it against the very few big party wipe bosses in the game, otherwise, if you brign BHA you are a gimped useless liability, freeloading off your party on the off chance of getting a "meh" hit in on the odd mediocre boss.

BHA sucks, its just so bad, don't use it.

Cathode_Reborn · Jul 23, 2009, 10:10 PM // 22:10

You might wanna look into running a full beastmastery bar if you want damage.

Enraged Lunge does pretty high damage, and it'd be even better with Asuran Scan. What you could also do is put GDW on the pet and use some e-management. Scavenger Strike is definitely a good one.

Ugh · Jul 23, 2009, 10:43 PM // 22:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cathode_Reborn

You might wanna look into running a full beastmastery bar if you want damage.

Enraged Lunge does pretty high damage, and it'd be even better with Asuran Scan. What you could also do is put GDW on the pet and use some e-management. Scavenger Strike is definitely a good one.

Asuran Scan doesn't affect pet attacks, does it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fay Vert

BHA sucks, its just so bad, don't use it.

Ever actually played HM? Eles hit for shittons of AoE damage. Monks heal for shittons of health. And, their skills activate faster so gl with rupting. Any area with 2+ monks in a group or lots of eles is much easier with BHA.

Fay Vert · Jul 23, 2009, 11:07 PM // 23:07

HM is exactly the reason why BHA sucks. If you want to carry on deludign yourself that BHA does anything go ahead, but you aren't convincing this veteran ranger that it's any thing more than noob bling.

Notorious Bob · Jul 23, 2009, 11:07 PM // 23:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fay Vert

BHA is a useless big sucky skill for a ranger, doubley useless in HM, only bring it against the very few big party wipe bosses in the game, otherwise, if you brign BHA you are a gimped useless liability, freeloading off your party on the off chance of getting a "meh" hit in on the odd mediocre boss.

BHA sucks, its just so bad, don't use it.

Oh Fay

LOL!

@OP while your build may cut it in NM you're going to have to be way more imaginative (or not) for HM.

You're gonna focus on two sequences...

Target Squishy -> Daze -> Call -> Spike

or

Condition -> Condition -> AoE -> Condition

Use your heroes to provide healing, if you've got time for Rebirth & Trolls then you've really messed up.

invest a little time on Sabway or Discordway heroes and then the rest comes easy.

Effective use of BHA relies on one skill - freezing a target in place... once you cracked that, the rest is cake.

Rangers FtW

Fay Vert · Jul 23, 2009, 11:13 PM // 23:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notorious Bob

Oh Fay

LOL!

What!

Someone has to tell the truth about this dreadful skill

Except for a very few bosses, daze is useless in HM (works well enough on rotty)

Notorious Bob · Jul 23, 2009, 11:28 PM // 23:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fay Vert

What!

Someone has to tell the truth about this dreadful skill

Except for a very few bosses, daze is useless in HM (works well enough on rotty)

I know we've been grinding for so long now that we're going stir crazy but it's a little harsh to diss BHA quite so unreservedly. Like I said, for PvE HM you simply have to freeze the target. Thankfully EotN gave us the perfect skill for that (possibly excluding the OP) EVAS.

Target Squishy -> EVAS -> BHA -> Spike = Dead squishy!

taking out monks, rits & eles is the 1st order of the day.

Of course PI is uber-anti boss tech

but BHA is still incredibly useful. I see other classes moaning that, for example, they cant do Temples or the Antiquities boss, but BHA makes that total cake.

EotN certainly changed the PvE dynamic - PI, EVAS and Finish Him practically never leave me skill bar and almost all my Vansquishying was done with BHA

But as always, we all find our own way

Ugh · Jul 23, 2009, 11:50 PM // 23:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fay Vert

HM is exactly the reason why BHA sucks.

Where/when else is it good? o.o

Quote:

If you want to carry on deludign yourself that BHA does anything go ahead, but you aren't convincing this veteran ranger that it's any thing more than noob bling.

Hitting a caster with BHA is a ranger's way of looking that fella in the eyes and telling him he's not allowed to do anything for the next ~20 seconds. Then, the desperate caster proceeds to get raped while impotently flailing his wand in an attempt to cast.

BHA is a good skill. Being able to completely shut down a caster (especially an ele or monk) in HM is very valuable. And, if you have an MM, the minions do a fantastic job of making sure that the caster's skill are constantly rupted.