Curse

Mad Lord of Milk · Dec 06, 2009, 01:09 AM // 01:09

Hey if you wanna stay Ele Earth try this

Ebon Hawk
Stoning
Ash Blast
Earthquake
Dragon's Stomp
Earth Attunement
Elemental Attunement
Res sig

it actually might work if you 40/40, just make sure to watch out for rangers

some guy · Dec 07, 2009, 02:53 AM // 02:53

I'm starting to replace guardian with SoA. There is no way of describing how godly SoA is in RA.

Also I favor RoF a bit more over than patient.

deluxe · Dec 07, 2009, 06:12 AM // 06:12

You're better off dropping bonetti's than Guardian.
Protecting that bad ele who doesn't bother with shieldsets is crucial. And SoA isn't really spammable.
Rof is awesome against ele's, but if your word is dshot, what will you do?

Here's what I usually run: WoH, Patient, Dismiss, Guardian (11 spec), Vig Spirit, Cure Hex, Veil, Dolyak Sig.

aldariz · Dec 08, 2009, 05:51 PM // 17:51

hey guys, im new to guild wars. got it off steam just recently. anyways, i looove pvp so i decided to make a pvp char few days ago, and holy cow was i surprised. the pvp in this game rox! so i spent some time studying game mechanics, some time in aspenwood and came up with my own burning arrow build (nothing special, but i improved it when i found out its the most used build :P ). anyway, i managed this in RA:

this boosted my ego quite a bit since i dont really know how, but we kept winning. however, we were called "lucky noobs", and we were told that we should "learn to play, not to spam" and stuff like that. so im wondering, was our setup so ridiculously overpowered? we just wore everyone down, and even if they ressed we just killed them again and got one flawless victory after another...

Sankt Hallvard · Dec 08, 2009, 07:21 PM // 19:21

Hmm. I'm torn between "cool story bro" and a more carebear-like reply.

Anyway, your build looks fine. If you can manage natural stride in there it would be even more awesome.

aldariz · Dec 08, 2009, 07:56 PM // 19:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sankt Hallvard

Hmm. I'm torn between "cool story bro" and a more carebear-like reply.

hmm, try "riveting tale chap".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sankt Hallvard

Anyway, your build looks fine. If you can manage natural stride in there it would be even more awesome.

thx, will take into consideration. but i was asking about our team setup. i dont know, it just felt really easymode with those guys. considering im still a newb...

Sankt Hallvard · Dec 08, 2009, 08:07 PM // 20:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by aldariz

thx, will take into consideration. but i was asking about our team setup. i dont know, it just felt really easymode with those guys. considering im still a newb...

*Carebear mode engaged*

What I was trying to say but in not so many words was that it's rather hard to comment on your "team setup" when I can't see their builds. I notice a monk, a mesmer and an ele? Given your other piece of information that people complained about your team "spamming" I will assume the ele pumps mind blast and the mesmer is probably a hexfag with VoR, empathy etc. And all rangers get called "noob spammer", you might as well get used to that already.

If my assumptions are right I would say your team setup was very strong and requires little effort to be effective. Mesmer spreads hexes, ranger spreads poison, ele spams dmg, monk lets you wear down the other teams at your own speed. This is of course just my best guess.

Good luck with your gaming!

aldariz · Dec 08, 2009, 08:31 PM // 20:31

oh, right. you dont know what builds they are using. it just hit me. anyways, thx for the carebear reply. :P i used to play wow arenas, so it just felt really weird winning constantly.
also, wow pvp sux compared to gw.

some guy · Dec 08, 2009, 11:47 PM // 23:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by aldariz

hey guys, im new to guild wars. got it off steam just recently. anyways, i looove pvp so i decided to make a pvp char few days ago, and holy cow was i surprised. the pvp in this game rox! so i spent some time studying game mechanics, some time in aspenwood and came up with my own burning arrow build (nothing special, but i improved it when i found out its the most used build :P ). anyway, i managed this in RA:

this boosted my ego quite a bit since i dont really know how, but we kept winning. however, we were called "lucky noobs", and we were told that we should "learn to play, not to spam" and stuff like that. so im wondering, was our setup so ridiculously overpowered? we just wore everyone down, and even if they ressed we just killed them again and got one flawless victory after another...

You should invest in learning how different weapon sets work instead of just using one weapon.

Eg. You should have pretty much a vamp, crippling, zealous, poisonous, etc pretty much everything. Also you should have a shield set with +10 armor vs X and all the reduce condition shields. Switch to those when you are under fire.

About your build, you should put natural stride isntead of throw dirt.

Chocobo1 · Dec 08, 2009, 11:56 PM // 23:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by aldariz

hey guys, im new to guild wars. got it off steam just recently. anyways, i looove pvp so i decided to make a pvp char few days ago, and holy cow was i surprised. the pvp in this game rox! so i spent some time studying game mechanics, some time in aspenwood and came up with my own burning arrow build (nothing special, but i improved it when i found out its the most used build :P ). anyway, i managed this in RA:

this boosted my ego quite a bit since i dont really know how, but we kept winning. however, we were called "lucky noobs", and we were told that we should "learn to play, not to spam" and stuff like that. so im wondering, was our setup so ridiculously overpowered? we just wore everyone down, and even if they ressed we just killed them again and got one flawless victory after another...

For someone that has only just started playing recently I'm fairly impressed that you came up with that build on your own. Just get some more bow sets and maybe a shield set and you'll be set, not that it's really important in RA anyway.

I Jonas I · Dec 09, 2009, 01:26 AM // 01:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by some guy

You should invest in learning how different weapon sets work instead of just using one weapon.

Eg. You should have pretty much a vamp, crippling, zealous, poisonous, etc pretty much everything. Also you should have a shield set with +10 armor vs X and all the reduce condition shields. Switch to those when you are under fire.

About your build, you should put natural stride isntead of throw dirt.

yeah, natural stride is better than throw dirt.

As a ranger you don't need vampiric or zealous weapons for general usage. If you have pin down, crippling shot or melandru's shot you should have a crippling recurve bow that you switch to from your usual poisonous recurve bow. When I run burning arrow I have these weapon sets

1) Sheild and Spear set for when I'm taking a lot of damage
2) Vampiric Flatbow of Marksmanship (For killing spirits and doylak signet warriors)
3) Poisonous Shortbow of Fortitude with +5e mod for switching to when the other team has a life sheath monk or foul feast necro or some kind of similar character that is exceedingly good at preventing me from spreading poison. Also, if I have no energy left on my weapon slot #4 and need to put up apply poison, I switch to this bow to get apply back up
4) Poisonous Recurve Bow of Fortitude with damage +15% while HP is more than 50% for basically everything else (most of the time I am using this bow)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chocobo1

For someone that has only just started playing recently I'm fairly impressed that you came up with that build on your own. Just get some more bow sets and maybe a shield set and you'll be set, not that it's really important in RA anyway.

Yeah, what this guy said.

One more thing to note: All rangers with apply poison run this attribute split (or an attribute split very close to this)
12+1+1 expertise
9+1 marksmanship
9+1 wilderness survival
3 protection prayers
This maximizes the amount of skills that you can use per minute without running out of energy (As each rank in expertise reduces the energy cost of your skills by 4%). Hope this helps.

aldariz · Dec 09, 2009, 10:42 AM // 10:42

thanks for the heads up everyone!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonas The Keen

4) Poisonous Recurve Bow of Fortitude with damage +15% while HP is more than 50% for basically everything else (most of the time I am using this bow)

yea, this is what i use atm. ill defo learn to use multiple weapon sets thou.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonas The Keen

One more thing to note: All rangers with apply poison run this attribute split (or an attribute split very close to this)
12+1+1 expertise
9+1 marksmanship
9+1 wilderness survival
3 protection prayers
This maximizes the amount of skills that you can use per minute without running out of energy (As each rank in expertise reduces the energy cost of your skills by 4%). Hope this helps.

yea i know, first thing i researched after creating my ranger were the expertise breaking points. i tried both 9 and 14, and 9 gave me energy problems, so 14 all the way. but my build uses 14 marksmanship (which gives me 7 seconds of burning. id say thats optimum considering you cant reapply it instantly it comes off cd). i dont really need wilderness survival since i dont use any survival skills atm. but ill try the natural stride today

btw my original build had bleeding too, until i found out you cant have more than 10 "pips" (funny name) of degen...

regarding weapons, the different types of bows give me a headache. i still dont really know how exactly it works, i just know arrow travelling time affects my chance to hit so i use the recurve bow...

Chocobo1 · Dec 09, 2009, 11:04 AM // 11:04

It would be worth your while to check out the different types of bows. It's good that you are using a recurve, but in some situations you would want other bows.

Also having 14 in both Expertise and Marksmanship means you must be using a major rune of some kind somewhere, or possibly even Superior. You really want to avoid this, as the health loss from these runes are crippling. 1 second of 7 pips of degen is 14 health. You are giving up 35 (or 75 if you are using a superior rune) of your own health for 14 more damage. It's probably not worth it. Also, you can take out points from marksmanship and put them elsewhere and still hit the 6 seconds of burning with 11 marksmanship with a minor rune of marksmanship.

Overall, try keep your health as high as possible is a good rule of thumb for the lower arenas.

aldariz · Dec 09, 2009, 11:55 AM // 11:55

indeed i am using one major rune, which costs me 35 health. but in a fight, i usually manage to appy burning arrow many times over, plus theres the inherent damage bonus from marksmanship. since lots of my damage is trough hp degen, i prefer longer fights, so i kinda need a healer. having a healer around degrades the value of my maxhp, and longer fight increase the value of those few additional points in marksmanship. its not like i have low hp or anything.

ive not been using any self-defense skill (natural stride) since such skill is very passive in nature. my defense is based on removing conditions and hexes, blinding the melee and interrupting the casters. its not an "OH SHI-" button, but it does help our team survive trough preventing our enemies from dealing damage. note it helps our team, not just me, which removes the possibility of having a useless self defense skill should i not be focused. as you can see, it works really well in certain setups

but thats just me being a newb. i need a lot more experience before i can formulate anything profound... :P

Chocobo1 · Dec 09, 2009, 01:26 PM // 13:26

In longer fights every bit of health counts. That 35 health could mean the difference between your Monk getting that Word of Healing of on you or you dying to a sudden axe hit. I know it seems minor, but it is rather important. Every little bit helps.

Higher points in Marksmanship does not increase the actual damage of the weapon. If the weapon is req 9, then you will maximize the damage when you have 9 points in it. Further points only increase the chance that the weapon will critical, and influence skills in the Marksmanship line. So at the moment all your marksmanship is doing is increasing Savage Shot damage on spell interuptions from 25 (at 12 marksmanship), to 27 (at 14 marksmanship) and giving you 1 second longer degeneration from burning. Although either way isn't really a huge deal, I'd still consider losing the major.

Natural Stride is not only a block, but a move speed skill. You can use it to kite damage (moving away from a target to avoid being hit), or actually run foward and get an early dshot or savage shot on a critical skill. Rangers like to use apply poision right before they go into battle and many classes like to precast enchanments before they head in.

Throw Dirt only has its merits as well, but its long recharge kind of holds it back. Although this may sound like a noob comment, Throw Dirt isn't a bad choice in my opinion. Many people run melee characters in RA, which makes Blind amazingly effective. The only problem is that against a balanced team (One with a monk with half a brain), your blind will be useless as it will be removed fairly quickly and the 30 second recharge prevents it being used again. Still, consider Natural Stride as it has multiple uses, and in general skills with multiple uses are more effective than a straightfoward black and white skill.

aldariz · Dec 09, 2009, 02:37 PM // 14:37

oh i see. marksmanship is not so great then, i thought it gradually increased your damage. seems my build was based on faulty assumptions (it apparently wasnt entirely bad thou). ok, ill take your advice and get rid of the major rune.
regarding natural stride - i didnt know where to get points for w. survival to make it worthwhile, now i know

this changes things quite a bit. it definitely makes your build more compelling. ill try it out, but i wont stop making my own builds, thats the most fun one can have in an mmorpg. i like experimenting.

EDIT: gotta agree on throw dirt. it has kinda long cd and can be removed fairly easily. but i noticed very few skills that can cause blindness, which is imo a pretty powerful condition. my reasoning is that in RA the enemy monk wont notice that his teammate is blinded, since there will be conditions flying everywhere (unless there is a special indicator for blindness).

Sankt Hallvard · Dec 09, 2009, 04:20 PM // 16:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by aldariz

oh i see. marksmanship is not so great then, i thought it gradually increased your damage.

It does. He is wrong, you are right.

I would keep the major rune as well. If that extra point will make you hit certain breakpoints I would use it, like an extra second of burning on BA. A ranger can get away with stuff like that, I can't recommend using a major rune on many other classes.

Krill · Dec 09, 2009, 07:13 PM // 19:13

You can easily get away with with major or superior runes in RA, especially on a ranger. For a burning arrow or glass arrows ranger I would take the major every time with survivor insignias, for a mel shot or magebane that is less damage oriented I would probably run a minor with stalwart or radiant insignias. They are right about lightning reflexes / natty stride > throw dirt though, while throw dirt can be mildly amusing it's not nearly as a good as stances.

Lux Aeterna · Dec 09, 2009, 09:35 PM // 21:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by aldariz

marksmanship is not so great then, i thought it gradually increased your damage.

This is true, but most pvp rangers forego a high marksmanship score in favor of dealing damage to multiple targets over time via apply.

Even with 10 marks, a burning arrow + full duration poison will take off half someone's hp if the conditions aren't removed.
You might find that 10 wild 10 marks does more damage than say, 6 wild 13 marks including the increased apply duration.

What were your teammates' builds?
I'm curious because I can't even seem to get a decent RA team since the districts were mixed.
Haven't been past 17 yet even with like, a bronze cape whirling axe assisting my dmg.

lord of all tyria · Dec 09, 2009, 10:41 PM // 22:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lux Aeterna

This is true, but most pvp rangers forego a high marksmanship score in favor of dealing damage to multiple targets over time via apply.

Even with 10 marks, a burning arrow + full duration poison will take off half someone's hp if the conditions aren't removed.
You might find that 10 wild 10 marks does more damage than say, 6 wild 13 marks including the increased apply duration.

What were your teammates' builds?
I'm curious because I can't even seem to get a decent RA team since the districts were mixed.
Haven't been past 17 yet even with like, a bronze cape whirling axe assisting my dmg.

Wow, bronze. He must be amazing.