Curse

Silk Weaver · Nov 25, 2006, 03:14 AM // 03:14

MoP is better without orders, personally, or you can have both, but that's redundant. It's hard to find a orders necro in PvE, so in that sense, I think you might as well be R/N and MoP + Spear/Dagger spam or something. I'm not much for barrage personally, though I guess it's easy. It's good mainly because it doesn't really take many skill slots, as in you can have a pet and/or interrupts as well.

Llednar · Nov 25, 2006, 03:54 AM // 03:54

Barrage is an effective, simple way to deal out damage in PvE and has some rare uses in PvP.

The most fun use I had for it in PvP was running Barrageway in HA when it was still an 8 man thing.It wasn't what you would think it would be, it spiked about as fast as Ranger Spike did witht he skill bars our leader had us run. ( IWAY and such...) Won't see it much anymore now its all Searing Flames and Holding Builds.

Has anyone used Flail and Barrage in PvE? I find it works quite well.

XvArchonvX · Nov 25, 2006, 04:29 AM // 04:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Llednar

Has anyone used Flail and Barrage in PvE? I find it works quite well.

Yup, Flail + Barrage + Vamp String + Horn Bow + 16 att in Marks= maximized dps with barrage. I got myself a Vah's Hornbow for 5k and have been havin fun with the Flail/Barrage combo.

fenix · Nov 25, 2006, 12:27 PM // 12:27

The thing I HATE about Barrage Rangers, and what causes me to rage-kick them from my parties is that 99% of them don't know how to utilise the skill. Most of them use Barrage on single (non-grouped) targets, bring crappy backup skills, or simply don't know how to play a ranger well. Sure it's a decent Area skill, but they may as well bring Cyclone Axe.

There has been 1-2 good Barragers that I've been in parties with. One of them was R/A with Sharpen Daggers or whatever the Bleeding skill is, and the other was a Barrager with HEAPS of utilities to make his Barrage deal more damage. Barrage + Res Sig DOESN'T qualify for a Barrage Ranger.

Fury Incarnate · Nov 25, 2006, 04:32 PM // 16:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by talon

Barrage + Res Sig DOESN'T qualify for a Barrage Ranger.

Lol, true, but to suggest that a skill or skill set is bad because people can't use it well is absurd. Playing a monk and a mesmer, I try to avoid jumping on people for not playing well because I know from experience that everyone has off days, but don't even get me started on the number of horrible (horrible) monks, warriors, eles, sins, and pretty much every other class as well that I've seen. What I'm trying to say is, even a crappy skill can be deadly in the hands of a good player, and an amazing skill like Barrage can be worthless on a bad player. It seems to me that most people who hate Barrage actually hate bad rangers and assume that the skill set is to blame. Even without any buffing/support skills, Barrage is amazing - a +dmg , 5 energy skill (minus expertise) with a 1 second recharge. The trick to it is knowing how to choose targets intelligently.

Quote:

Originally Posted by talon

There has been 1-2 good Barragers that I've been in parties with. One of them was R/A with Sharpen Daggers or whatever the Bleeding skill is, and the other was a Barrager with HEAPS of utilities to make his Barrage deal more damage.

There are some amazing barrage off-shoots. Bleeding + barrage is one, B/P of course is one of the infamous for being used poorly by bad rangers... My personal preference is support/interrupt. Barrage provides a solid damage base, then throw in Savage/Distracting shot, Throw Dirt, and Healing Spring and you have a heavy-hitting character that can mess up enemies big time and help out the monks with AoE healing.

And to whoever said that Savage/Dist Shot are poor interrupts, evidently you've never played a ranger. The point isn't to interrupt every skill, but to interrupt the inportant ones. With the 5-second recharge on Savage shot, it's really not hard for a good player to Distract a monk's RoF and continually Savage his Blessed Light or to Distract a warrior's healing sig, taking down his only self-healing. One important thing to remember about these skills is that they are incredibly useful not only against casters, but against anyone, as they interrupt actions. Even if it hits someone who's attacking, not using a skill, it still deals damage and prevents damage to the team, as well as providing a second in which the person can't act. Pressure, not lock-down, is the goal in any secondary-interrupt ranger.

ubermancer · Nov 25, 2006, 06:11 PM // 18:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fury Incarnate

it's really not hard for a good player to Distract a monk's RoF

Uh-huh.

Skuld · Nov 25, 2006, 06:37 PM // 18:37

I distracted Dark Escape once.

Richo · Nov 25, 2006, 08:05 PM // 20:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by XvArchonvX

Yup, Flail + Barrage + Vamp String + Horn Bow + 16 att in Marks= maximized dps with barrage. I got myself a Vah's Hornbow for 5k and have been havin fun with the Flail/Barrage combo.

shortbow is best if youre already in combat...
shortbow is best overal dmg bow ingame although most pple think other wise.

Fury Incarnate · Nov 25, 2006, 11:47 PM // 23:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by ubermancer

Uh-huh.

When you're playing against an NPC monk, there's a pattern to their casting. If you pay attention it's fairly easy to pick up on, then you distract just before they begin the cast. (It helps if you're right next to them or have a shortbow, but anyway...) It's not a sure thing, but 7 or 8 times out of 10, you'll get it. Like I said, it's all about playing intelligently.

XvArchonvX · Nov 26, 2006, 12:35 AM // 00:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richo

shortbow is best if youre already in combat...
shortbow is best overal dmg bow ingame although most pple think other wise.

I would suggest you read the debate on the following threads along with the conclusions drawn from such:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...d.php?t=136832
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...3010423&page=2
(The post by Jenosavel on the second link sums up why a Hornbow with an IAS does the most dps)

Basically it was shown that while a flatbow/shortbow will provide the most dps with barrage via the increased attack speed under normal conditions, a hornbow will give the most dps with an IAS being used. The IAS in the discussion was Tiger's Fury and was a 33% boost back at the time of it's discussion, so the comparison of it to Flail is a legitamate one (assuming you are upkeeping Barrage by attacking multiple targets rather than plucking away at single targets as a good barrager should). If there was no IAS involved, a shortbow would maximize DPS, but if that was the case, a flatbow with fav winds would be a better choice since a flatbow with FW allows maximum distance and maximum refire rate with minimal arc.