Curse

Snow Bunny · Jul 25, 2008, 05:13 PM // 17:13

After realizing last night that my collection of bows isn't too shabby and that I can also fairly consistently interrupt guardian, I realized I should make a ranger to plow through PvE, get myself some good e-peen armor, and stuff like that so I can have a flashy ranger for PvP.

However - I've never actually seriously played a ranger in PvE, and with the addition of pve skills, I don't really know how to play one.

Is SplinterBarrage still useful, and if so, what pve skills do you use with it, etc?

C'mon guys, fill me in on what all the cool kids are doing!

Tyla · Jul 25, 2008, 05:16 PM // 17:16

I never use PvE skills on my Ranger to be honest, maybe the odd EBSoH but yeah...

Anyway, enemies in PvE are extremely predictable in terms of casts. e.g Enchanted Bow runs up to you, he will use Throw Dirt on you once he gets in range, fire off a Savage Shot and you've interrupted it.

Oh, and Splinter Volley > Splinter Barrage. I wub BHA. :>

scythefromunder · Jul 25, 2008, 05:18 PM // 17:18

[splinter weapon][barrage][i am the strongest][distracting shot][savage shot][troll unguent][antidote signet][optional] is what i see most rangers run if they go splinter barrage

Tyla · Jul 25, 2008, 05:19 PM // 17:19

^
Troll Unguent?

Abedeus · Jul 25, 2008, 05:25 PM // 17:25

Scythe is a bad troll (unguent).

Splinter + Volley + Broad Head wins pve, the end ;d

kostolomac · Jul 25, 2008, 05:29 PM // 17:29

My brother runs regular barrage build with only ["I Am The Strongest!"] as a pve skill. No need to put splinter on your bar when the heros can do that

Orange Milk · Jul 25, 2008, 05:37 PM // 17:37

Depends on where your at Bunny.

In 4-6 man areas I run R/W Stance Axe with Sabway, for holding agrro till the minions catch up.

8 man areas with lots of casters im BHA

8 man areas with less casters in Barbed + Posion Arrow (Tab Tab Tab FTW)and Dshot/Savage shot

Solo, either R/W Stance Axe or Sword, or R/E Earth.

[skill]Dwarven Stability[/skill] is my BFF in most casses.

Ya'll in [TAM] are REALLY getting into RSpikeing aren't ya?

Age · Jul 26, 2008, 05:40 AM // 05:40

Splinter Barrage works fine as well as most other interrupts build with some degen.

around · Jul 26, 2008, 06:30 AM // 06:30

I just used a bunch of ZKeys to get leet pewpew bows for my ranger. Standard Cripshot/Burning Arrow ranger kthnx, none of that r/d gay stuff.

I think I won PvE on my ranger by spamming the hell out of vamp barrage, but that was way back before Nightfall even. Alternatively, trapping is fun for a break.

Chthon · Jul 26, 2008, 08:01 PM // 20:01

Depending on how useful dazed is in a certain area, ranger bars are almost always going to look like

[barrage][splinter weapon][distracting shot] + maybe [concussion shot] + maybe [savage shot]
OR
[BHA][volley][splinter weapon][distracting shot] + maybe [savage shot]

(Obviously, splinter weapon drops out if your team has a "buff bitch" character.)

As a ranger, you're only got 2 things you can bring to the table that another class can't do better: interruption (dazed in particular), and leveraging physical buffs through multi-hit attacks (mostly splinter and GDW).

Div · Jul 27, 2008, 12:53 AM // 00:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Age

Splinter Barrage works fine as well as most other interrupts build with some degen.

Just to clarify for the OP, since Snow Bunny isn't exactly the brightest player around, something like.

Power shot - big damage!
Disrupting shot - interrupt!
Disrupting accuracy - interrupt!
Barbed trap - damage + degen!
Conjure nightmare - insane degen!
Whirling defense - defense!
Lightning reflexes - more defense!
Ether feast - self heal!

Something like 10+4 marks, 9+2 exp, 9+1 wild, 7 illusion, 5 inspiration

The way to make builds is to put damage, utility, degen, defense, and heals. This build clearly has all 5.

Numa Pompilius · Jul 27, 2008, 01:29 AM // 01:29

Is that a joke build masamune?

Conjure Nightmare is a 15e skill, and since it's not a touch skill you don't get any benefit from Expertise, Ether Feast is crap even on a Mesmer, you've got only one reliable interrupt, and no AoE damage. And you've spread your attribute points over five different attributes.

Splinter is godly, but I prefer to put it on two heroes (usually my minionmaster and one other).

Da Rk Bl Ad E · Jul 27, 2008, 01:52 AM // 01:52

[broad head arrow][distracting shot][savage shot][volley][troll unguent][epidemic][natural stride][sunspear rebirth signet]

works pretty decent for caster heavy areas.

[barrage][distracting shot][savage shot][save yourselve's!][troll unguent]
[natural stride][I am the strongest!][sunspear rebirth signet]

Have a hero / other player run [splinter weapon] and / or [great dwarf weapon]

I'm not really exp with rangers in PvE , but It worked pretty well for me when I used to play ranger

Marverick · Jul 27, 2008, 03:48 AM // 03:48

Troll Unguent and Natural Stride are not needed in PvE...

["You Move Like a Dwarf!"] is usually glued to my BHA bar since I can KD moving enemies to ensure a successful hit with BHA. It also functions as an interrupt, knockdown, and snare.

[Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support] is a great thing to put on a dazed caster to keep it interrupted.

[Ebon Battle Standard of Honor] is usually on my Barrage or EDA builds; BHA bars usually use up too much energy to be able to keep it up.

Markus Soother · Jul 27, 2008, 04:20 AM // 04:20

For any areas you're in where you know that there won't be any grouping, Glass Arrows with a conjure plus triple shot and needling is pretty incredible. If you're in the party with another human who you can beg to put Great Dwarf Weapon onto their bar for you, then all the smexier with this setup.

So is nightmare weapon + triple shot on a standard splinter barrage bar, particularly if any of the enemies you're running up against are heavy prot (works especially well with the balanced stome summit groups in EotN.) The best part about nightmare weapon is getting to attack through SS/empathy without remorse.

Joe Fierce · Jul 27, 2008, 04:36 AM // 04:36

Like others have said, BHA, Volley, Epi, "YMLAD", Castvaelupintheyass, and pretty much anything else you want keeps a group relatively shut down, barrage = BAED!, seriously, why take it when volley does just as well?

thats the pve lowdown m8 (for general BS of course, there's lots of other builds to run as well)

Snow Bunny · Jul 27, 2008, 07:16 AM // 07:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by holymasamune

Just to clarify for the OP, since Snow Bunny isn't exactly the brightest player around, something like.

Power shot - big damage!
Disrupting shot - interrupt!
Disrupting accuracy - interrupt!
Barbed trap - damage + degen!
Conjure nightmare - insane degen!
Whirling defense - defense!
Lightning reflexes - more defense!
Ether feast - self heal!

Something like 10+4 marks, 9+2 exp, 9+1 wild, 7 illusion, 5 inspiration

The way to make builds is to put damage, utility, degen, defense, and heals. This build clearly has all 5.

I'm currently running around with this in pve. It's a unique build and it works too!!!!!!

Numa Pompilius · Jul 27, 2008, 02:14 PM // 14:14

Let's name it "Masamuneway".

eggs0wn · Jul 27, 2008, 02:21 PM // 14:21

BHA
D-Shot
Epidemic
Volley
Throw Dirt

Congratz, you win

Div · Jul 27, 2008, 07:12 PM // 19:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

you've got only one reliable interrupt

Actually if you look carefully, I chose disrupting shot and not distracting shot, which is a total crap 15s recharge interrupt :P