Curse

loc87 · Jul 24, 2005, 02:43 AM // 02:43

hmmm i see ... what kind of build do you suggest for a versatile damage dealer, that stills leaves room for some defensive skills? quick shot? barrage? something like the shocking sniper?

Shwitz · Jul 24, 2005, 07:16 AM // 07:16

What I do for "versatile damage" is I have 4 bows on my weapon switch: A shortbow, a longbow, a composite bow, and another one. All of them have different strings on them (one shocking, one fiery, one icey, one poisoner's). Now I have an element or range for any situation. The skills I use depend on my mood... I usually prefer to use Poison Arrow, Penetrating Attack, Hunter's Shot, and Pin Down for PvP random arena. The rest of my bar usually has Kindle Arrow, Lightning Reflexes or Whirling Defense, Throw Dirt, and Ressurect. This way I have throw dirt for sticky situations, lightning reflexes for when I need a little defense and want to boost my damage, and a good variety of bow attacks. Pin Down can protect the casters or myself from that annoying warrior chasing us down. Hunter's and Poison and add some nasty health degen. Penetrating is just strong and has a low recharge. I use those skills, and change my bow according the situation. Pull out the longbow for the intial charge, comp bow for when I'm having trouble hitting that fast moving warrior who keeps running and dodging my arrows, and shortbow when the battle is joined at close range. If I've got a problem with a player that has some high resistance to, say, lightning damage, I avoid using my shocking shortbow when targetting that player. That's what I do, and I have fun with that in the random arena... haven't ever tried that in team or the Tombs...

Enigmatics · Jul 24, 2005, 01:59 PM // 13:59

The most powerful rangers carry 2 bows; a long range a short range one. The short range one will almost always have a zealous upgrade, and the long range one may or may not have a single elemental upgrade. You'll find that conjure element (ice or fire) requires a certain elemental upgrade, however kindle arrows sets off conjure flame, so most rangers use that combination with a zealous upgrade. Any ranger build can be made to last longer with whirling defence, throw dirt, and healing sprint/troll unguent. Those are great skills for the arena, but when it comes to GvG and HoH, most enemies won't target you and you'll be more effective using one defensive skill and concentrating more on the offensive. The best ranger build for taking out casters is a quick shot build (unless you specifically spec yourself to have interrupts and energy denial); most casters who can't think fast enough to heal die in 4 or 5 seconds, but you'll hardly be denting the warriors. The other power build would be a melandru's arrows/enchantment stripping ranger; those demolish almost all people with enchantments on. Some elites to consider for defense are Melandru's Resiliance and Escape, but if you want the damage, you won't be using those.

loc87 · Jul 24, 2005, 06:37 PM // 18:37

cool, thanks for the help!

Right now, I'm deciding b/w a quick shot build and a melandru's arrow build. However, i'm not too sure about the finer points of the skill set of each, and especially need help on the blasted attribute distribution of each build

here's what i'm thinking about atm:
-Quick Shot:
Ranger/Monk vs. Ranger/Elem
1. Quick Shot
2. Tiger's Fury
3. Quickening Zephyr
4. Pin Down
5,6. Judge's Insight, Read the Wind (R/M) OR 5,6,7: Kindle Arrows, Conjure Fire, Favorable Winds (R/E)
7. (R/M) Iono .. Whirling D?
8. Iono .. Rez Signet?
Iono how exactly to distribute the attribute points ... and I'm not sure which bows are best ... which bow has the most inherent armor penetration? Also, how do you calculate DPS for quick shot? I'm still not too clear on how QZ, TF, and QS work together :-\

-Melandru's Arrow:
Ranger/Monk
1. Melandru's Arrow
2. Tiger's Fury
3. Whirling Defense
4. Penetrating Attack
5. Pin Down
6. Dual Shot
7. Judge's Insight
8. Iono .. Rez Signet? Favorable Winds?
Is this even how you make a melandru's arrows build? In any case, I'm not sure how to balance attributes here, even if it is right ... (which i doubt)

Any help is greatly appreciated!

PippinTook · Jul 24, 2005, 06:44 PM // 18:44

Can someone help me w/ a R/W axe-mastery/beastmaster build? Or should i do swords instead of axe-mastery?

opiuman · Jul 25, 2005, 06:42 AM // 06:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enigmatics

The most powerful rangers carry 2 bows; a long range a short range one. The short range one will almost always have a zealous upgrade, and the long range one may or may not have a single elemental upgrade. You'll find that conjure element (ice or fire) requires a certain elemental upgrade, however kindle arrows sets off conjure flame, so most rangers use that combination with a zealous upgrade. Any ranger build can be made to last longer with whirling defence, throw dirt, and healing sprint/troll unguent. Those are great skills for the arena, but when it comes to GvG and HoH, most enemies won't target you and you'll be more effective using one defensive skill and concentrating more on the offensive. The best ranger build for taking out casters is a quick shot build (unless you specifically spec yourself to have interrupts and energy denial); most casters who can't think fast enough to heal die in 4 or 5 seconds, but you'll hardly be denting the warriors. The other power build would be a melandru's arrows/enchantment stripping ranger; those demolish almost all people with enchantments on. Some elites to consider for defense are Melandru's Resiliance and Escape, but if you want the damage, you won't be using those.

What is this monk demolishing build you speak of? I must know!

Sofia Sofia Sofia · Jul 25, 2005, 05:09 PM // 17:09

I was brainstorming the other day and I got this idea for a R/Me build. If the stats for mind wrack are still correct, this is a devastating skill. Any strategy that attempts to make use of it is likely to be equally devastating because it would have to involve putting the enemy at 0 energy, and thus wholly impotent.

The problem with the mesmer using mind wrack is that it for a mesmer to drain energy, it needs to use spells that have casting times long enough to warrant a casting bar. Also these energy drains are not terribly effective at JUST draining energy.

The ranger's debilitating shot is much better, it has no casting time, it is not a spell and it recharges quickly, with 14 expertise, you can fire it continuously.

Really the only way to break out of this is to have someone else do a hex removal on you, even if someone brings out nature's renewal, all you have to do it cast mind wrack again.

The benefits of this strategy is that it is univeral, everyone needs energy. Even though an elementalist might have a lot to burn, they have to use it up to retaliate so in the end, they don't have that much. And since they have low HP they die faster, so it'll take just as long to kill an elementalist as it will to kill a warrior.

Also the build relies on two easily renewable, cheap and fast casting skills. It also leaves you 6 slots for whatever else you want.

Rajamic · Jul 25, 2005, 07:37 PM // 19:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by PippinTook

Can someone help me w/ a R/W axe-mastery/beastmaster build? Or should i do swords instead of axe-mastery?

Neither. Pets are weapons, just like bows, swords, axes, and hammers. To have any success with one type, you have to use only one type. Pets really emphasize this, as just to bring one and have it attack at a good speed, you need 3 skills (Call of Haste, Charm Animal, and Comfort Animal)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sofia Sofia Sofia

I was brainstorming the other day and I got this idea for a R/Me build. If the stats for mind wrack are still correct, this is a devastating skill. Any strategy that attempts to make use of it is likely to be equally devastating because it would have to involve putting the enemy at 0 energy, and thus wholly impotent.

The problem with the mesmer using mind wrack is that it for a mesmer to drain energy, it needs to use spells that have casting times long enough to warrant a casting bar. Also these energy drains are not terribly effective at JUST draining energy.

The ranger's debilitating shot is much better, it has no casting time, it is not a spell and it recharges quickly, with 14 expertise, you can fire it continuously.

Really the only way to break out of this is to have someone else do a hex removal on you, even if someone brings out nature's renewal, all you have to do it cast mind wrack again.

The benefits of this strategy is that it is univeral, everyone needs energy. Even though an elementalist might have a lot to burn, they have to use it up to retaliate so in the end, they don't have that much. And since they have low HP they die faster, so it'll take just as long to kill an elementalist as it will to kill a warrior.

Also the build relies on two easily renewable, cheap and fast casting skills. It also leaves you 6 slots for whatever else you want.

But how much damage will you be doing? At best, you are looking at about 25DPS from MW, and that would depend on the use of QZ or Serpent's to speed up the recharge of MW, since MW ends when it deals damage. That is completely meaningless, particularly compared to the fact that you just completely drained someone of their energy! You'd be better off draining that one person, then moving on to drain another.

Sofia Sofia Sofia · Jul 25, 2005, 07:55 PM // 19:55

Mind wrack does not need to be constantly recast. By the time the enemy has gained back 10 energy, mind wrack will already have been ready for a while. Damage is not the biggest thing here, it's the energy drain.

Seroki Bowman · Jul 26, 2005, 03:40 PM // 15:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by sulos

i tried it out, i am a machine gun haha

The Furry Ranger

Can the Warrios furry be mixed then with Tiger's Fury of the ranger or used at the same time to max out the speed of the ranger and kill all who are in line of sight?

pyth0n · Jul 26, 2005, 05:26 PM // 17:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seroki Bowman

The Furry Ranger

Can the Warrios furry be mixed then with Tiger's Fury of the ranger or used at the same time to max out the speed of the ranger and kill all who are in line of sight?

no, tiger's fury and flurry are both stances and cannot stack.

Pyro Master · Jul 30, 2005, 05:23 PM // 17:23

you posted builds of Ranger/Everything but Mesmer. Why is that? IMO R/Me is one opf the best ranger builds

Longasc · Jul 30, 2005, 09:32 PM // 21:32

Feel free to post one of the supposedly best ranger builds based on a mesmer secondary.

SCOTTYBONES · Jul 31, 2005, 12:13 AM // 00:13

Pyro, there are two great builds that I use for my r/me (see previos posts).
One uses fragility with incindiary arrows and conjure phantasm and the second uses echo, mind wrack and debilataing shot. I use a variation of both of the builds which have been posted in this thread and they are both very effective.

Bones

Sofia Sofia Sofia · Aug 03, 2005, 03:37 PM // 15:37

I've tried the mind wrack build, but it doesn't seem to work all too well. I just can't seem to drain his energy fast enough with debilitating shot. The person always has more energy left to pull off some spell. It's odd really cause I use the skill as often as possible on a guy who's already pinned down! I guess it has trouble against those casters who are huge on energy regen speed.

Enigmatics · Aug 03, 2005, 04:08 PM // 16:08

The most náive R/Me will carry mostly ranger skills and a few pointless mesmer skills like conjure phantasm. The experienced ones will use things like Echo and Fragility with their ranger primary, instead of throwing together a salvo of unrelated skills.

Oh about the Mind Wrack/Debil Shot build, are you using Echo with your Debilitating Shot?

Sofia Sofia Sofia · Aug 03, 2005, 05:43 PM // 17:43

I've always been hesitant about the whole Fragility build idea. I just don't like the idea of having Wilderness Survival at 1. It makes a lot of supporting ranger skills useless. But the Mind Wrack build is giving me problems as well. So... my sketch for a Fragility build:

Fragility
Incendiary Arrows (E)
Distracting Shot
Pin Down
Phantom Pain
Whirling Defense
Conjure Phantoms
Resurrection Signet

One big problem: no healing at all!

Conjure Phantoms is the skill I am the least sure about. Sure it's nice cause combined with Phantom Pain it's like putting the person on fire! But energy-wise it doesn't fit well. If I can replace this with a more energy efficient skill...

I was thinking about dumping points into Beast Mastery so I can get Tiger's Fury for loads of extra damage while I have Incendiary Arrows on. Or is it better to just keep Conjure P. for the extra damage and abandon Beast Mastery?

Distracting Shot is a bit tricky to use if you are not focused on interruption. I put in because Incendiary Arrows have a long recharge time during which your target can heal real well. What's a better skill to deny the target healing?

Sofia Sofia Sofia · Aug 04, 2005, 12:32 PM // 12:32

Wow, I am posting a lot these days...

R/Me builds are just so fun!

Anyway some reflections and questions about the two major R/Me builds.

Mind Wrack does damage but it is not reported! I am a stickler for evidence and I could never get any that Mind Wrack was actually working. Using the Mind Wrack + Echo + Debilitating Shot setup, I trageted a shield carrying warrior and hit him with 3 debilitating Shots in 5 seconds. There is no way that his energy did not hit zero. I noticed on my 2nd shot that his health dropped by about the 70 points of damage that Mind Wrack is supposed to do. I guess that since the spell ends and does damage at the same time, the damage is not reported. You just have to watch their health to know when Mind Wrack needs to be cast again.

With the Fragility build all the damage is reported and you do get off a lot. But since the build is useless during the 16 seconds during which you have no Incendiary Arrows, there is a huge window for healing. Best way to counter this is Phantom Pain and Tiger's Fury. Start by casting Pain and then Fragility and Incendiary + Fury. Done with a halfmoon, you can put out almost 450 points of damage including the degen from pain and your arrow damage.

My question is about the exact rules to Fragility. If I have Apply Poison on, does that mean that the target takes Fragility damage everytime he gets hit with poison again, even if he is already suffering from it? On Wilderness Survival 1, poison lasts 3 seconds. Let's say the target continually suffers from poison, does he still "recover" from the condition with each successive re-poisoning? I just need a skill to fill the gap left by Incendiary Arrows.

AzaToth · Aug 04, 2005, 04:45 PM // 16:45

This is how to do a spammer-ranger:

Have 14 in expertis, and as high as possible in Markmanship.
You need some in beast mastery, but you only need 6-7, just so that tigers fury works.

The Bow: I'm using for this a Zelaous Shortbow of Markmanship, zelaous is most important here.

Skills to use:
Barrage and Tigers Fury.

This build never runs out of energy, unless anyone drains it. At expertis lvl 14 barrage cost approx 2, zelaous gives at least 1 per shot (up to 6), and regen of 2 fills up the rest. tigers fury is for the spamming.

tomm0 · Aug 06, 2005, 03:40 AM // 03:40

do you think an ele/R trapper is viable?

Stack fully onto enrgy storage and wilderness survival.

Energising winds
Barbed Trap
Spike Trap
Flame Trap
Dust Trap
Quickening zephyr
Troll Unguent
Rez signet.

Extra nrg + fast trapping for the win?