Curse

KillerGuitar666 · May 22, 2006, 07:37 PM // 19:37

OK, some ranger skills are awesome, but some....down right suck

My list:
Famine
The Pet Hea elite One, forgot the name
equinox

i cant think of any more right now, feel free to add on

BaconSoda · May 22, 2006, 08:27 PM // 20:27

Famine can be used with Edrainers for extra damage and can be awesome in HoH. Equinox can be used to make The mesmer skill which adds exaust to every skill actually useful. Heal as One can be used with monks or mesmers in the arenas to stay alive. I tested this actually and it works very well for a self heal if you can sacrifice a skill slot for a pet. Every skill has it's uses, just because you can't think of one doesn't automatically mean there is none.

lightblade · May 22, 2006, 08:34 PM // 20:34

Famine is useless, yes...because there are no skill that do massive energy drain.

Heal as One is not useless because pets are used very often

Equinox is not useless because there are manual way to force exhaustion onto your enemy. i.e. Exhausting Failure, Acane Languor

Gusnana1412 · May 22, 2006, 08:35 PM // 20:35

@KillerGuitar666 i dont really agree with you~

For me less usefull Ranger skills are Point Blank Shot and Zojun's Shot
Well if i'm wrong, please tell me how to better use of these skills >.<

Ecklipze · May 22, 2006, 08:37 PM // 20:37

Useless ranger skill = Otyugh's Cry

capblueberry · May 22, 2006, 08:37 PM // 20:37

power shot- i think is useless, because you can use precision shot which cant b blocked or evaded that gives the same exact damage bonus and has the same recharge and energy cost

Lasher Dragon · May 22, 2006, 08:41 PM // 20:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ecklipze

Useless ranger skill = Otyugh's Cry

I agree.

Quote:

Originally Posted by capblueberry

power shot- i think is useless, because you can use precision shot which cant b blocked or evaded that gives the same exact damage bonus and has the same recharge and energy cost

Precision is easily interrupted, Power Shot is not.

I capped Archer's Signet the other night, and I must say I am not very impressed. Doesn't seem elite-worthy to me. I'm sure there are some limited uses, like the odd Concussion Shot, but still...

SnipiousMax · May 22, 2006, 09:01 PM // 21:01

Practiced Stance
Otyugh's Cry
Broad Head Arrow

Marksman's Wager (<---IMO)

Lasher Dragon · May 22, 2006, 09:03 PM // 21:03

Practiced Stance used to suck, but now it's pretty nice. You can keep Choking Gas up 24/7 pretty easily now. Although, admittedly, that's about the best use of it, so I guess I can see how it's very specialized.

vv LMAO vv

Beat_Go_Stick · May 22, 2006, 09:09 PM // 21:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ecklipze

Useless ranger skill = Otyugh's Cry

QFT

If they haven't fixed this skill, there is no doubt it is the worst in the game. The last time iI used it, all the animals in the area became hostile and attacked me instead of my enemy. Not that it really mattered that 2 level 5 animals started attacking me, mind you, but it still just made me shake my head and laugh.

Why did Otyugh cry? Because he realized his name would go down in history as the indesputable master of silly skill creation to ever exist in Tyria.

SnipiousMax · May 22, 2006, 09:14 PM // 21:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lasher Dragon

Practiced Stance used to suck, but now it's pretty nice. You can keep Choking Gas up 24/7 pretty easily now. Although, admittedly, that's about the best use of it, so I guess I can see how it's very specialized.

Yea there's really only two preps you'd need to use it with...and of those two only choking gas is really worth it. IMO an elite needs to be useful in many situations.

Lasher Dragon · May 22, 2006, 09:19 PM // 21:19

True, my same feelings about Archer's Signet. I mean, it's not like there are a lot of high-energy bow attacks anyway. Also, I think it's too limited.. I think at 13 expertise it was like the next 4 bow attacks cost no energy. Maybe if they made it recharge the skills you used for free faster or something.

Evilsod · May 22, 2006, 10:18 PM // 22:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightblade

Equinox is not useless because there are manual way to force exhaustion onto your enemy. i.e. Exhausting Failure, Acane Languor

I beg to differ, if you've seen the mesmer section, you'll find almost everyone in it thinks Arcane Languor absolutely sucks. I really doubt you'd see this skill enter into PvP because you'd need to bring a Ranger wasting his elite just to hope it works well. If anything Equinox is purely a skill that mobs will use in PvE along with AC. Really not a good skill.

Practiced Stance is useless, so what if you can keep Choking Gas up 24/7, it costs alot of energy to do so and then makes the rest of your skillbar useless. Plus 1 interrupt on Choking Gas and your useless for a bit till it recharges.

I can understand why Archers Signet is linked to Expertise, but at the same time i don't see the point. You spend all those points on Expertise to lower your energy costs, then get a few free shots? At least improve recharge too and possibly boost the no. of shots.

I've always thought Greater Conflagration was pretty useless. All it does is help a ranger by giving him a bonus to the now elemental physical damage, the warriors still suffer. Winter is more useful purely for things like Spinal Shivers. Unless your thinking of using Mark of Rodgort and saving buying yourself a Fiery string...

Mercury Angel · May 22, 2006, 10:38 PM // 22:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evilsod

Practiced Stance is useless, so what if you can keep Choking Gas up 24/7, it costs alot of energy to do so and then makes the rest of your skillbar useless. Plus 1 interrupt on Choking Gas and your useless for a bit till it recharges.

Choking Gas is an adjacent AoE interrupt that adds a minimal amount of non-defense ignoring damage that hits regardless of defensive stances or blind, interrupting spells on impact. In that sense, it's not awful at all.
As to the cost, meh, without spamming energy attacks, you don't really have a lot to spend it on.
As to being interrupted while using it, that is an unfortunate problem in general with many. Practiced Stance would remedy it by shortening the recharge time so that you don't have to wait long, but it doesn't, because the shorter recharge only applies to spells and skills that have been successfully completed.

It's a one-trick pony, for the most part, but for the most part, it's not an awful one. It's not superb either, but that's what you get for using a skill-less build, I suppose.

This is the kind of build that really does well in the arena, at least. Anyone with even half a functioning brain can run it and perform fairly well. Simple, gets the job done, and leaves you with the slots that random arena builds often need to stuff with self-defense skills. (Death by mediocre degeneration is an awful way to go in the arena <_<)
It's a bit fragile, as you indicated in terms of what happens when you don't get Choking Gas up, but as I said, it's really best as an Arena build, where you don't normally have to worry about it.

But, I suppose not everyone validates skills by their arena usage due to just how much you can get away with in the arena anyway that wouldn't work in any kind of organized PvP.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evilsod

I can understand why Archers Signet is linked to Expertise, but at the same time i don't see the point. You spend all those points on Expertise to lower your energy costs, then get a few free shots? At least improve recharge too and possibly boost the no. of shots.

What's funny is that I was very hesistant about using it before. Then, when Factions was released, it got nerfed. I'd rather run Oath Shot + Ether Signet or something x_X At least that'd be a lot more flexible.
Why anyone would run it is really anyone's guess <_< The only builds I could imagine where it would help much are ones that run under Quickening Zephyr, where skills like Concussion Shot are still pretty expensive, regardless of how much expertise you have. And that way, you could use both the Signet and Concussion Shot twice as often. But meh, I don't really see anyone using it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evilsod

I've always thought Greater Conflagration was pretty useless. All it does is help a ranger by giving him a bonus to the now elemental physical damage, the warriors still suffer. Winter is more useful purely for things like Spinal Shivers. Unless your thinking of using Mark of Rodgort and saving buying yourself a Fiery string...

They threw in Conflagration, a non-elite version. Don't even need it for that now for Mark.
Greater Conflagration is actually a very powerful skill, in my opinion, worthy of its elite status, in a vacuum. In practice, it's a poor skill though, because spirits are just so fragile. Interrupts set you back for a minute, 2-3 hits from a hammer war removes your spirits from the battlefield in no time flat, and to make good use of it, you really have to build around it, making it all the worse on you when it's unavailable.

lagrand1 · May 22, 2006, 10:45 PM // 22:45

Broad head arrow. OMGosh, same cost as concussion 25, and it takes the elite slot.

Huntmaster · May 22, 2006, 10:59 PM // 22:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Otyugh's Cry
Broad Head Arrow

Pretty much all that needs to be said.

Pitha · May 22, 2006, 11:02 PM // 23:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Practiced Stance
Otyugh's Cry
Broad Head Arrow

Marksman's Wager (<---IMO)

Broadhead Arrow is great... I like to annoy casters with that

Lasher Dragon · May 22, 2006, 11:14 PM // 23:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evilsod

Practiced Stance is useless, so what if you can keep Choking Gas up 24/7, it costs alot of energy to do so and then makes the rest of your skillbar useless. Plus 1 interrupt on Choking Gas and your useless for a bit till it recharges.

Practiced Stance + Choking Gas + Needling Shot completely owns casters... I don't see how it "makes the rest of your skillbar useless", either.

I do agree, as I said, that Practiced Stance is very limited, but it used to be a lot worse. At least now there IS a viable use for it.

Gusnana1412 · May 23, 2006, 12:00 AM // 00:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pitha

Broadhead Arrow is great... I like to annoy casters with that

Agreed, Broad Head Arrow is a powerfull skill for ranger, shoot it with Silencing Recurve Bow with 16 Mark and RTW or AP will give 100% daze condition (if it landed) for 26secs, long enough to annoy caster especially monk.

Francis Demeules · May 23, 2006, 12:10 AM // 00:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Practiced Stance
Otyugh's Cry
Broad Head Arrow

Marksman's Wager (<---IMO)

Practiced stance has few function but a little potential to use it. I can do PS+ Incendiary Arrow ( as a R/Me) with Aidan.

Otyugh's cry.......Next!

Broad Head Arrow... cost 25, fly slower, interrupt if foe casts a spell and instant daze is it hits. I love this skill. A well shot of this skill and the casters cry like crazy, even monk. Try to remove Daze while daze and get spammed by needling shot.

Marksman Wager has is build. good to recovery a miss concussion shot thought.

My vote goes to Trapper Focus and Otyugh's Cry