Curse

Grunt · May 27, 2005, 09:30 AM // 09:30

I know this topic keeps coming up, but I'm a noob and had a slightly more specific question. With guild PvP in mind, what's the better compliment to a Ranger, Mo or E? and yeah, I realize that they're probably both equal, but at different things. I get that thinking, but I want you all to think seriously about being able to choose one to go on your team.

For some background: I would rather be the R/E. Id rather be able to sit back and dish out damage from afar.

My reasoning for the R/Mo, then, is to try and be more useful to the team. Lots of ppl think rangers are seriously nerfed, and those same lots of people think that Mo is the most useful in a team. Yeah, it'd be easier to find groups, but would I just be adhering to the naysayer's rules?

SO - a question to the vets. Forget PvE, I want to know which you all would rather have backing you up in PvP (or, if it makes any difference, which would be the bigger pain on the opposing team) - the R/E, or the R/Mo. Be as rudely honest, biased, and blunt as possible, please.

Edit: Nevermind, my ear's fine.

Neo-LD · May 27, 2005, 02:17 PM // 14:17

Id rather have a R/Me.

R/Mo is mainly a pve baragebot. In pvp he changes to be a sort of shock sniper running Judges instead of conjure. If they run heal spells, they are either taking points out of expertise or marks, which is bad.

R/E is your basic shock sniper, but you can throw in other spells to make it interesting.

R/Me is a shutdown, anti-monk/caster build. It has absolutley no ability to directly assist your teammates, but then again, neither do either of the other rangers. Again, R/Mos should not use monk's healing prayers. They suck without Divine Favor, do not get the expertise bonus, and take time away from firing.

Sting · May 27, 2005, 02:38 PM // 14:38

Id say R/Me as well. I switched from R/E because most of the Elementalist skills energy costs were to high and Rangers dont give you enough pool or regen. So as a R/Me I just steal the enemies

.

But out of the 2 you mentioned Id say R/Mo and id say go with Smiting line (but that is pure guess on my part never played R/Mo) because its got armor penetration.

You also mention your aware of the Rangers reputation of being "Nerfed/Bottom rung class" (percieved or legit not being the point here), Witchever you decide grps wont be lining up to recruit you LOL.

Shrapnel_Magnet · May 27, 2005, 05:17 PM // 17:17

OR you could go with the tried and tested Ranger/Necromancer with Curses... Pure Rangers with 2 interrupts and Rend Enchantments are not uncommon and for good reason. In PvE, Enfeeble + Shadow of Fear can make some enemies look stupid.

midnyte13 · May 27, 2005, 05:50 PM // 17:50

thought it was just me.....but I am a Ranger -Necro....so far so good

Grunt · May 27, 2005, 08:04 PM // 20:04

so, so far, for PvP, people think Me is the most useful secondary for a ranger? interesting...

yeah, i guess it was just wishful thinking when i concluded that grps would all of a sudden be interested if i was a R/Mo

i see the futility of that now.

Thanks all for your input, for now R/Me takes the throne.

Flatliner · May 27, 2005, 08:07 PM // 20:07

Yeah, while R/Mo is useful, a ranger's main purpose in PvP is to inturrupt and hinder casters, Me is the perfect addition to a Ranger's disruption skills.

Howling Wind · May 28, 2005, 11:03 PM // 23:03

Basically Rangers aren't supposed to be pure damage dealers, they are a well all-round class that can branch of to doing different things like interrupt, trap, damage and heal but can't be the best at them all (thats why you have all the other classes). A true pain in the ass ranger is a R/Me with shutting down skills (mainly anti-caster) and optional traps, R/N is also annoying and disruptive + an optional trapper. These builds are quite effective in PvP terms will you get the team like you more :P

SideSlideBoy · May 29, 2005, 01:25 AM // 01:25

If you want to be PvP based then being a focused Ranger is a good idea.
R/Mo would be good for PvP because of the resseruction skills the monk has.
You should have one slot for Rebirth and the rest filled with Ranger skills.
Now, for Ranger skills, you should put in mainly DoT skills.
Poison Arrow and Hunter's Shot are the best choice.
You should also, of course, have Penetrating Shot to quicken your opponents death while he/she has massive DoT
Also, Pin Down is a must have to make using Hunter's Shot a lot easier and to get pesky Warriors off your back or stop Rangers/Casters/Healers from running.
Whirling Defense, Lightning Reflexes, and Throwing Dirt to defend yourself from attacks which is ALWAYS useful.
Of course, you can switch one of the defending skills for Troll Unguent(You can't always depend on ally monks).

You can put a lot of people to sleep with this skill. Any caster would run away like a giraffe when they see their health go down as fast as 50 miles per second, but only to see they've been crippled and have their butt shot with Hunter's Shot and have their health go down even faster. A Warrior would think he/she is **** eyed after missing so much and die without even realising it while they were wondering why they are missing. Now, for Rangers it depends, if they are good you will have a very hard time(Of course, any player that is good will give you a hard time), but if they are the type who just shoots out random attacks would be easy peasy.

Basically, it all comes down to practice. You won't be effective at all until you know what you are doing.

Grunt · May 29, 2005, 05:37 AM // 05:37

Alright, it seems that R/Me seems to be the best choice for me, seeing as it'd be pretty effective in shutting down the other team's monk (or casters in general, but, of course, I'd be watching pretty closely for the monk to present an opportunity

)

Another question, since I'm sort of a noob. Is it plausible to have a ranger w/o a pet? Cuz I'm totally uninterested in having a pet, and I think it'd hurt me more than help me to have one. Can a ranger get by w/o having a pet, or would I be taking out something that is pretty necessary for a ranger to have?

Remember, I don't care about PvE or soloing at all. I'll make my way through the PvE as best I can, but I don't care if my character totally blows chunks in PvE. It's PvP I'm interested in.

Howling Wind · May 29, 2005, 12:01 PM // 12:01

In PvP pet...hell no unless you have good beastmastery of around 12.. but that would make you little weaker since you could have used those attributes on something else. A pet in PvP just means your skills will be disabled for 8 seconds because you pet will be taken out really quick.

Some people have experimented and been successful with pets in PvP by getting their beastmastery to 12 and above and your pet does become quite powerful, but it means you relie on your put and pet skills to dish out damage and could leave you vulnerable if your pet dies so its kinda double edged situation.

Zyuu · May 29, 2005, 03:40 PM // 15:40

It sounds like you are just starting... my advice to you is to roll a R/Mo for pve, get through the storyline at least to after ascension, near where you can access tombs on your pve char... before ascension, complete the mesmer's path quest in the desert so you can change between monk and mesmer anytime you want to

though i recommend you finish the storyline and cap the better elites before trying to pvp the majority of the time

when you do finish the quest though.. just swap to mesmer and pick up useful skills to a R/Me, and you can play that anytime you want. there are only a handful of ones you should need anyway

by rolling R/Mo though pve, you will not only have a true res to make your life much easier.. you will unlock basic monk skills as opposed to basic mesmer ones. so you can use a pvp template and swap some skills around and still make a good monk if u feel like it / need one

as for what is better in pvp, I'd have to agree mesmer is nice. arcane conundrum, fragility, echo.. several others all allow several nice builds

with monk you have some choices, although less suited to disruption. it lets you have hex/condition removal which is sweet on a ranger, also u can bring judge's.. but unless you are bringing another smiting skill, people do overexaggerate this skill on a ranger (ill get flamed for this though =P). If you do run smiting though, bal aura+scourge+marksman wager is pretty sweet.. not many people use this. You could also run some protection and use life bond depending on your groups setup, but these builds are uncommon. The main use of monk is the true ressurect, which is nice on any ranger

necro is another one I like.. basically you should use curses, and lets u bring rend.. which is great for many team builds on a ranger, also malaise isnt bad if you have ways to get energy back quickly, shadow of fear and mark of pain are also viable in some builds, and possibly chilblains.. but nature's renewal is also available on ranger

lastly I'm not a fan of /ele or /w, basically ele will let you have conjure. you can also bring wards, but then u need earth, and there is no earth conjure.. so its not that good on a ranger, /w lets you bring frenzy, but you have tiger's fury on ranger anyways which is all you need. You can also melee as R/W but I'm not a fan

hope this helps... if you have no clue wtf I am talking about which u probably dont if u are just starting, go download a character builder and look at the skills i mentioned

Z

Crom the Conqueror · May 29, 2005, 06:28 PM // 18:28

Use Ranger/Elelmentalist. These are especially good if you have more than two of them around. Use pin down to slow down the enemy, than use area attack like fire storm to wipe out their group. A pretty affective strategy.

Moltov joss · May 29, 2005, 07:48 PM // 19:48

I made a R/E hes 20 now and made it through pve well but in pvp mesmers own R/E hence expensive elementalist spells mesmers just tap you out of energy and hp being left to stuff like disrupting shot and the like do help but mesmer primary fast casting hurts