Curse

FallenAngel_ · Jan 07, 2011, 11:07 PM // 23:07

Hello Guru

I am playing my ranger again but I feel lackluster.
Currently I run expert's focus + prepared shot. I know rangers aren't really the big number class but I am interested in hitting large numbers.
I wish to include a pet.

overall i have
prepared shot, expert's focus, comfort, Never Rampage Alone and Distracted Shot.
Any way to improve damage?

Dre · Jan 08, 2011, 12:39 AM // 00:39

Asuran scan is probably the best way to improve damage on any physical attacker
Try this:
Asuran scan, Glass Arrows [E], Triple Shot, Dual Shot, Sloth Hunter's Shot, Needling Shot, [IAS of choice], Dshot

RedDog91 · Jan 08, 2011, 01:54 AM // 01:54

If you want high damage, you have to choose whether to run a 100% beastmaster build or 100% weapon build. You can't do 50/50, it will be less damage and you'll probably run low on energy because its very hard to e-manage your skills and your pet's skills at the same time.

Note: all of the following information is PvE-based. Using a pet in PvP is greatly more complicated
Since you have expressed an interest in using a pet, I would recommend this build for the highest damage output:
Beastmastery = 12+1+2
Expertise = 9
weapon-of-choice = 9

Heal as One
Feral Aggression
Great Dwarf Weapon
Ferocious Strike
Predator's Pounce
Brutal Strike
-Optional-
-Optional-

Feral Aggression will make your pet attack 33% faster and deal +10 damage per hit. Put GDW on your pet, and get an extra +15 through +20, depending on your deldrimor rank, and also can make your pet knock down enemies. Heal as One allows you to bring your pet without Charm Animal, it can heal you and your pet, it can revive a dead pet, and it makes your pet steal 20 health per hit for 15 seconds, which is healing it and adding more damage output.

All these together is +45 damage per hit (r1 deldrimor) at 33% faster. Pets have an inherent +33% damage in PvE, Meaning your pet's minimum damage per hit will be 60 without attack skills. When conditions are met for Brutal Strike, your pet will deal an attack for a minimum of 130 damage.
Against lvl24 foes, I've hit a max of 184 in one hit.

The use of GDW can be energy taxing, and to make up for energy costs I usually just wield a +15energy staff and point the weapon points into expertise. The pets damage more than makes up for any you are giving up by wielding a staff.
Another good way is to work Poisonous Bite and Scavenger Strike into the build.

FallenAngel_ · Jan 08, 2011, 04:04 AM // 04:04

I was thinking a HaO build but i am not far enough of my ranger for capturing it. So for now, I'll probably save for a tome.

Deadly addiction · Jan 08, 2011, 09:12 AM // 09:12

If you wanted REALLY BIG damage, then I'd suggest dropping the bow and picking up a scythe : http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:R/D_PvE_Pet_Scythe
It can critical up to 200 damage, not to mention that you can hit more than 1 foe at once. Add Splinter Weapon on a hero and maybe Strength of Honor and you can roll through PvE.
I use the version without the pet for Lightning Reflexes (almost perma block) and I can say it made vanquishes and HM missions piece of cake :P (my ranger is my main).

Khomet Si Netjer · Jan 08, 2011, 08:05 PM // 20:05

All these guys have given good advice, the scythe build and beast master build provide excellent damage. I have done a fair amount of testing with different weapons and build types and I think a beast master build with enraged lunge may be the highest damage that you can get on a hero; I have gotten 72dps average with P/R, you could get more with a primary ranger and definitely more than that with PvE skills. You might be able to make your original idea work if you put all your attributes in beast mastery and weapon mastery and the remainder (3) in expertise. That would allow you to get maximum damage but if you do that you'll need to use Scavenger Strike or Scavenger's Focus for energy management.

Don't give up on your prep shot / expert focus build though, I use a similar build on my ranger and it provides high damage as well as ranged deep wound. It can deliver 300+ damage in one hit (200+ from triple shot plus buffs, 100+ damage equivalent from deep wound). The key difference between all of these builds is whether they are optimized for damage vs. many targets or one target. The beast master and glass arrows type builds and the R/P shown below are all single-target damage, splinter barrage is optimized vs. many targets, and scythe is in between.

R/P Prepared Shot
Marksmanship 12+1+1
Expertise 12+1
Command 3

go for the eyes
find their weakness
triple shot
double shot
prepared shot
expert focus
i am the strongest / asuran scan
ebon battle standard of honor

Amy Awien · Jan 09, 2011, 12:53 AM // 00:53

Scythe has another advantage when playing with H&H in that you're the one doing the melee / aggro handling - humans can learn to do that better then AI. Corner blocking can be so much fun with a scythe - you'll love that stampede in Blacktide Den.

For the turret build just given, imo Asuran Scan isn't optional, the damage-boost from this skil is phenomenal. Ebon Battle Standard of Honor works great when delivering many packets, such as with Ignite Arrows, or when you're going melee and bring a MM.

The pet build given has more elites then possible ... more then two pet attacks is rarely neccesary, most of them have a 5 second recharge. Adding a bit of pet-defense makes exploiting the pets 33% by sending it in ahead of the rest more worthwhile

Kunder · Jan 09, 2011, 01:08 AM // 01:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amy Awien

Scythe has another advantage when playing with H&H in that you're the one doing the melee / aggro handling - humans can learn to do that better then AI. Corner blocking can be so much fun with a scythe - you'll love that stampede in Blacktide Den.

But you can corner block with any thing, you don't need a melee weapon. Being a melee with H/H is IMO a huge disadvantage, running from one target to another there is a 50/50 chance casters in the group will decide to run up next to the enemy with you.

FoxBat · Jan 09, 2011, 02:07 AM // 02:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kunder

Being a melee with H/H is IMO a huge disadvantage, running from one target to another there is a 50/50 chance casters in the group will decide to run up next to the enemy with you.

Put all your heroes on guard, not passive, and c-space instead of wasding around.

Kunder · Jan 09, 2011, 02:11 AM // 02:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by FoxBat

Put all your heroes on guard, not passive, and c-space instead of wasding around.

My heroes are always on guard, and I don't even have keys bound for WASD movement. Still happens all the time.

Haggis of Doom · Jan 09, 2011, 02:41 AM // 02:41

@Kunder do you have skills such as Hex Eater Signet on their bar? I did a crapload of h/hing on my warrior and never had that issue.

Kunder · Jan 09, 2011, 03:53 AM // 03:53

No touch skills, heroes running fairly standard (i.e. lol overpowered) rit/necro/mesmer builds. H/H AI just sees you moving around at times and thinks they need to get in that nice formation behind you because you are running. Of course, then there are rare times when you actually are running from battle but H/H decides to stay in battle until you are half a map away (through at least you can flag them out anyway).

Kravick · Jan 09, 2011, 12:40 PM // 12:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haggis of Doom

@Kunder do you have skills such as Hex Eater Signet on their bar? I did a crapload of h/hing on my warrior and never had that issue.

I've nearly completed all the campaigns as a warrior and I'm having the same trouble as Kunder. Its frustratingly difficult to get mobs grouped up so I can AoE them down. Even when flagged to a specific spot my heroes still run around in freaking circles (around the flag spot) when stuff is hitting them, yet they move far enough away from the flag that nothing is able to bunch up. None of my heroes have any touch skills and I'm running a similar set up as Kunder (nec/rit/nec). I've gotten so sick of it I've recently changed my main class to a ranger so I don't have to worry about that crap any more, which is pretty much why I'm on this board. I've never been able to get scythe builds to work on my warrior right for this reason. Even with the proper skills and the corner blocking.

Haggis of Doom · Jan 09, 2011, 05:05 PM // 17:05

Hmm, I think we're talking about different phenomena

Kunder is saying that corner blocking can be done by any class; but, if you play as melee, you risk your heroes to randomly run up to you. Hence, heroes are running up to him when they're not flagged (I presume) and he's not corner blocking.

Kravick is saying that when corner blocking (or balling without corner) with heroes flagged, they move around the flag and aggro the enemies.

I personally do not ball my enemies nor aggro carefully (not very smart, but I'm kinda lazy ^^) unless I'm facing foes who can wipe my party in seconds (Rocktail, burning forest etc), so I guess I'm describing another situation yet, but more similar to Kunder's. I've legendary guardian'ed my warrior using h/h and done a fair bit of vqing - not that it means anything anymore -, so it's not some observation I've hastily drawn after 2 missions

I DID, however, observe Olias to run ahead of everyone, me included, when he was set on Aggressive (after SD, forgot to switch back) with a staff in his hands and no short-range or touch spells. Although I doubt anyone here is setting their casters on Aggressive, maybe that's something to watch out for.

Anyways, it seems a weird occurrence for you guys since a lot of people, me included, have found h/h aggroing to be easier on a frontliner than a midliner. As a temporary solution, have you tried calling each target you're switching to so that they know you're still in a fight?

FoxBat · Jan 09, 2011, 10:11 PM // 22:11

Caveat to add: heroes holding pots without much in the way of offensive skills will still follow you just like an idiot on passive, and even with such skills will still occasionally wander into a bad spot. Wanding is what keeps them safe. So if you're running some discordthing full of PwKs that would explain things.

Also even though I said WASD it's not just about that, clicking on the ground is just as problematic. C+Space gives your heroes a target to wand and helps keep them rooted. If you're trying to tank a corner you might want to spear while waiting for things to run into place. However if you need to run into the back of a group to get at some caster, this same behavior can pull them into the enemy frontline. You can ctrl+click something near and then try to run to your far target, but they will switch eventually if you don't kill it quick enough, plus healers will pull into your range to heal you.

Kunder · Jan 09, 2011, 10:52 PM // 22:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haggis of Doom

Hmm, I think we're talking about different phenomena

Kunder is saying that corner blocking can be done by any class; but, if you play as melee, you risk your heroes to randomly run up to you. Hence, heroes are running up to him when they're not flagged (I presume) and he's not corner blocking.

Kravick is saying that when corner blocking (or balling without corner) with heroes flagged, they move around the flag and aggro the enemies.

Nah, I'm not talking about heroes running up with you while you are corner blocking. Corner blocking doesn't entail you yourself running around.

Quote:

Also even though I said WASD it's not just about that, clicking on the ground is just as problematic. C+Space gives your heroes a target to wand and helps keep them rooted. If you're trying to tank a corner you might want to spear while waiting for things to run into place. However if you need to run into the back of a group to get at some caster, this same behavior can pull them into the enemy frontline. You can ctrl+click something near and then try to run to your far target, but they will switch eventually if you don't kill it quick enough, plus healers will pull into your range to heal you.

That may be why, because I quarterstep at times while PvEing. Presumably that would have the same effect.

PurpleFission · Feb 13, 2011, 12:24 AM // 00:24

stick asuran scan on there definitely, maybe a pet with brutal strike and bring 'IatS!' For even more numbers. Heck, even bring a smiter so you can put SoH on your pet if you like numbers so much

Taurean · Feb 13, 2011, 07:56 AM // 07:56

[Marksman's wager][Sundering shot][Penetrating shot][Ebon vanguard assassin support][You move like a dwarf][Dwarven stability][Lightning reflexes][Troll unguent]

That will keep your damage pretty consistent around 40-60 damage each second. Can kill a caster pretty quickly - Cast EVAS and YMLAD simoultaniously, SS and PS and you've taken off a lot of damage and putting pressure.

If you want to hit for about 200 damage on one arrow, here's a build:

[Favorable winds][Glass arrows][I am the strongest][Asuran scan][By ural's hammer!][Sloth hunter's shot][Penetrating shot][Sundering shot]

Will make you dependant on healing help, and make you useless for a good amount of time, but will also deal loads of damage in a short span of time. Just killed a group of tengu outside bergen hotsprings, almost 300 dmg against the mesmer with sundering attack (i know they're low level).

MasterSasori · Feb 14, 2011, 01:25 AM // 01:25

Beast Mastery 10 +1 + 2
Spear Mastery 12
Expertise 8 + 1

Rampage as One
Asuran Scan
Scavenger Strike
Barbed Spear
Blazing Spear/Merciless Spear
Spear of Fury
Great Dwarf Weapon
Comfort Animal

I run this occasionally as an alternative to Enraged Lunge. Build is pretty good. It would be better to have GDW on another character so you can free up your PvE slot and save your energy, but this will work so long as you are prudent with your energy.

yayowars · Feb 14, 2011, 07:44 AM // 07:44

I use this for my HM VQs:

Expertise 12+2+1
Marksmanship 11+2
Command 6

Sundering Attack
Penetrating Attack
Prepared Shot
Needling Shot
Asuran Scan
Expert Focus
Find their weakness!
I Am The Strongest

I know this isn't saying much, but VS the Master of damage, I do between 170-279 damage per second in 5 seconds (or so that's what he tells me), and death occurs in three seconds (sometimes two). Best damage in a second is 201, and 376 damage in two seconds (plus the deep wound of course).
I don't use needling shot much, since I drop most foes with just the first three skills (with the help of my heroes, who finish them off), if the target survives, I have 5 shots left (with "I am the strongest!") where needling shot does at least 100 damage per shot (+ 5 with vamp bow string)

Normally against high level (and armor) HM foes I do between 114-190 damage. Seems to work fine, and energy management isn't too bad