Curse

Hanego Ategeh · May 12, 2006, 11:03 PM // 23:03

Just on the topic of touch rangers, I recently have been messing around with the R/Me ranger listed in

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/content...ide-id1575.php

For those who can't be bothered to click, it's
Ranger/Mesmer
Domination 11
Illusion 10
Expertise 7+2
Beastmastery 7+3

Charm Animal
Maiming Strike
Blackout
Illusionary Weaponry
Lightning Reflexes / Diversion
Wastrel's Worry
Throw Dirt
Resurrection Signet

I can't take much (or any) credit for the build, except for throwing diversion in there. It's been a really fun build, because mostly people don't choose R/Mes to focus on right away, which lets me get to the team's monk and lock him/her down pretty thoroughly. I find that IW followed by Maim Strike followed by Blackout followed by Diversion really puts some serious hurt on most monks, because I usually Divert something good when the skills are used in that order.

It's pretty fun, but you are definitely the lightest of light tanks and if the enemy group starts focusing on you seriously, you are all kinds of dead. If they don't, though, its their monk who is dead, usually in not very long.

Probably not a build that would survive TA too well, but it works amusingly in RA. I know there are a ton of things wrong with it - no condition removal, no heals, no way to run - but it's been fun.

What if... · May 30, 2006, 03:56 AM // 03:56

I've played this build once or twice and quickly grew tired of the monotony of it. However I will admit that left unmitigated, it can become a problem for experienced and in experienced players alike, but then again what experienced player doesn't look at the Necormancer sceondary and instantly brand the target a touch ranger? The build is fairly solid, but loses outright to long range wearing down by people who pre-kite effectively, the current favorite 4 hit assassin combo (If a AOD is dropped immediately after the combo, the ranger may transfer one condition to the assassin before dying from the bleeding degen), any kind of sustained KD (no moving=no touch=no heals), and (my favorite option) diversion, which if the caster is a GoR mesmer, stands a good chance of dieverting both touch skills within 6 seconds (maximum time one will spend casting two diversions if they are chained one after another). Touch rangers are certainly good at dealing unconditional damage to targets, but like most builds, share common weaknesses.

Ole Man Bourbon · Jun 02, 2006, 05:20 PM // 17:20

Just faced a team in TAs yesterday running 3 Touchers and 1 Monk. Once we got our shit together, we started kiting, using Pin Down and Temple Strike, and it was gg for them.

Diversion really hurts these guys, but you'd have to land it 8 times to take away all the touches from a 4-man touch team. I think bringing Diversion/Pin Down are fairly key with all these guys running around the arenas now--it just sucks so much to lose to these noobs. :P

fb2000 · Jun 02, 2006, 05:42 PM // 17:42

why does everyone say touchers "pwn" warriors? true, ive only played pvp in random arenas yet (2nd day doing that), but ive pretty much killed any toucher ive come to.. true, most of them are probably not used to the build or somthing, but ive found an axe warrior with gale or a hammer with plague touch to take close to 8 secs to kill those.. provided im axe, just gale the sucker down and hit our fave evisc, rake, exec's, furious axe (only tried furious several times, seems funny if u can fit it in the whole thing) and gg ranger

a backbreaker seems to work wonders too

just the thoughts of a noob w/e/n ^^

JoDiamonds · Jun 02, 2006, 07:53 PM // 19:53

Vampires tend to beat Warriors who don't know what they are doing, and Vampires are still fairly new to some players.

Warriors often expect their armor to keep them alive, but it's irrelevant against Vampires. The fragile casters do just as well as warriors against them.

Gale is certainly a powerful counter to someone trying to spam life-gaining skills. Backbreaker as well, if you can power it up fast enough. It's similar to Blackout in that respect. Vampires count on being able to spam skills very quickly, so even just taking them offline for 3-4 seconds is a big deal.

Sacho · Jun 03, 2006, 08:55 AM // 08:55

It's just another gimmick build. I confess I've died to 4 touch rangers when I've been playing for too long(like yesterday, after the 10th AB I was getting tired and didn't bother to kite). Otherwise, as a boon prot, yes, I have *no* problem with them at all. 3 touch rangers? kite while your team kills their monk. 4 touch rangers? Kill one, retreat while you regain energy, kill second, etc.
2 touch rangers? Tankable by any decent monk. CoP and sig of devotion are your money skills here, as when you rof on yourself, that rof will still stay yo power you CoP. One touch ranger is more of a nuisance than anything.

Gimmick builds have and will beat unorganized teams, but will lose repeatedly to organized ones.

Running escape means your already low sustained dps will drop even further, if you use shadow damage you're just fueling my rof heals. Not once has a serious problem stemmed from just a touch ranger, when a touch ranger is involved in my death it was usually the warrior pressure or a caster spike that got me.

Running just Vamp touch/bite, you are doing 10dps after your initial energy runs out, 15-20 with offering of blood. Running shadow damage is more efficient but you are saccing health and shadow damage can be negated. Even spamming vamp touch + touch of whatever the shadow one was, your dps is still lower than a warriors. Yes, you may have less counters for your damage, but it doesn't *need* counters, as it's below the monk healing treshold, unlike that of a warrior, which is way way above.

Godmeye · Jun 03, 2006, 09:29 PM // 21:29

Without Factions Expansion, is this a solid build for RA/TA?

Zui · Jun 03, 2006, 10:16 PM // 22:16

I wouldn't consider this a "solid" build even with factions. It is a gimmick, it beats subpar players, then looses to the first good team you face.

NatalieD · Jun 03, 2006, 11:37 PM // 23:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Godmeye

Without Factions Expansion, is this a solid build for RA/TA?

I used to goof around with a touch ranger in RA before Factions. You have to alternate between Vampiric Touch and Touch of Agony instead of two Vampirics, which gives you less durability, but you don't run out of energy as fast. I don't know if it would still fly in today's RA, but it's worth a try if you're bored of real builds and don't have anything better to do.

galkraft · Jun 04, 2006, 04:31 AM // 04:31

Before Factions I used to run a beastmaster touch ranger. The pet was my battery (instead of Offering of Blood, which I didn't think of), and added to my DPS, which helped the lack of Vampiric Bite. My pet was somewhat vampiric too, using Predator's Pounce instead of the cliche Comfort Animal. My fingers just kept mashing down 4 skills constantly (2 from me, 2 from pet), with the occasional Plague Touch in between. Very brainless, and it worked.

And wouldn't you know it, snares from afar, were about the only shutdown against me.

Egg Shen · Jun 06, 2006, 09:43 PM // 21:43

Before factions I used to run a toucher w/ serpents quickness. While it's up you can spam pretty much as fast as you can w/ factions, and it allows twice as many dirt throws (if you're using it).

I even experimented w/ barbed trap and had decent results. Just keep in mind that you can't have two stances up at once, and pick your skills accordingly.

Whirling Defense is still worth bringing, as Serpents Quickness stops being effective at less than 50% health, which is generally a good time to hit Whirling Defense anyway (assuming your being damaged by attacks).

As others have noted, it's a fun and durable build to abuse newer players with, but watch out for diversion

PS - Offering of Blood is a necessity. The synergy w/ vamp touch is too crazy to pass up IMO.

Quantum Nirvana · Jun 06, 2006, 10:08 PM // 22:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoDiamonds

Gale is certainly a powerful counter to someone trying to spam life-gaining skills. Backbreaker as well, if you can power it up fast enough. It's similar to Blackout in that respect. Vampires count on being able to spam skills very quickly, so even just taking them offline for 3-4 seconds is a big deal.

IMO a hammer war's only "killer" skill against a touch ranger is shock. If I see a hammer wielding maniac running for me i'll make sure to have whirling defense up if it's ready. This kills their adrenaline, forcing them to rely on shock. Haven't had enough experience to run into someone bright enough to bring blackout yet, but I have ran into an e-denial mesmer, which also brought along diversion. Very, VERY nasty.

On a side note, have you ever noticed that warriors will kite when alone, but stand their ground when in larger numbers? I guess it's good to pick your target wisely.

Egg Shen · Jun 06, 2006, 11:43 PM // 23:43

Gotta disagree w/ regard to the hammer warrior. A knockdown chain can be devastating on any class, and I've been on the receiving end of a couple (as a vampire) from warriors who got lucky and caught me while whirling defense was recharging.

Certainly if you see them coming and have the skills avail, they're not a threat, but good warriors will build up adrenaline on a different target before unleashing their combo on the real target, which might just be a touch ranger laughing maniacally and chasing everybody around with his fangs out.

Dred Nawt · Jun 09, 2006, 05:02 PM // 17:02

Deep Freeze and Feast combo, cause damage and heal, this is a good counter with E/N due to +energy, when 2+ are close, Unholy Feast to Spike up your health. VampTouch could also be used to cancel out VT and Vamps Gaze can heal and damage from a distance. Just some thoughts I'm putting out.

I still prefer massive L-degen Nec though.

P.S.- Dark Aura is a very powerful spell against touch anything's, you just need to know how to use the spell.

Zui · Jun 09, 2006, 08:22 PM // 20:22

Dark Aura only works on allies... Last time I checked foes were not allies... Plus Dark Aura makes you loose health... Not the rangers...

whobitz · Jun 24, 2006, 06:02 AM // 06:02

I think Dred is suggesting if you have one (or more) touch rangers around you then you can use Dark Aura in combination with life saccing skills to deal buttloads of damage to the touchers...although you will probably kill yourself extremely fast doing so, with the touch damage+17 (assuming 12 death magic) damage from Dark Aura+the sac from the skill used to activate Dark Aura. And of course your buttloads of damage are easily countered with their life stealing. There might be some way to make this work although it would probably be suicidal.

Former Ruling · Jun 24, 2006, 02:38 PM // 14:38

Quote:

Temple Strike

*Touch Ranger Laughs
Blind: We dont attack
Dazed: We don't cast spells

GG

This just goes further to validate my point that Touch Rangers are awesome right now because noone is countering them.

Only team that beat my organized 3 Touch build in TA the other day when we were seriously playing, was a team with no warriors on it and a cripshot ranger. Since we depend on the warriors to run up to us to get the crippling off.

Phantoma · Jun 25, 2006, 02:22 PM // 14:22

You know guys, I have a friend that wants me to try this build, and I am leary of doing it. It only takes one really good mesmer out there to suck all your energy up in 2 seconds. I have had it happen and when it does... you are done for. touch rangers are only gonna work for so long then ppl will have the devises to put them down. GL with this build. I have heard alot of good things about it, but that mesmer that sucked my energy up in 2 seconds flat in random arena months ago...well...all I can say is good job! Mesmers are so underrated.