The Cult Of Barrage

Happens to me nearly every time my ranger joins a group. It's hard for me to believe that you are that fortunate.

But then again, it's possible everyone just assumes you are a Barrage ranger. What other elite is there to use? lol -_- I'll be honest, I bet I can count on ONE HAND how many times I've seen a party even ask if anyone is using Barrage. I don't think it has anything to do with people assuming Rangers are using Barrage. I think most people want other skills from a Ranger such as poison or interrupts. I just don't see the big deal about Barrage, most people could care less one way or the other if you use it. I use it above all other Ranger Elite's but I wouldn't say it's my most valuable skill. My two interrupts are my most valuable skills and they aren't elites at all.

I think some people just like to see people using other skills rather than the popular and effective skills. People may call them cookie cutter builds, but they became popular because they work., Plain and simple.

People like Barrage because they figure the "total damage" they're inflicting is through the roof. Except with the new AI, it's generally more important to be able to hammer strays going after your squishies than be able to shoot the garbage lining up around the tank. If things are actually cooperating and lined up around the tank, you don't need barrage, you need a paragon with Blazing Finale. :P I love my Paragon, but I certainly wouldn't say Blazing Finale is better than Barrage.

i totally agree with you barrage... i was so excited when i first got to cap it from that dude after that mission. Everyone was telling me how great it was and all that saying it was the skill to have and nothing else but i found out... That i rarely ever use that skill the only time i use it was when i farm trolls oh so long ago... but yea i too use Burning Arrow and it helps so much more than barrage.. I just dont really see why people always want B/P cause to me its like a meh NO... but yea here is a screenie and tell me if im still a noob ranger...

take in mind i rarely ever solo cause i only farmed trolls for like 5 skill points... so i could cap elites for title

*snip out pic*

But but but you don't have mending from your monk secondary!

jk there... but ya, I have to agree with some of the above posters. I found barrage rather underwhelming after I first got it. I've tried B/P, got immensely bored of it very fast... I really love Poison Arrow though, and Concussion Shot tends to stay on my bar as well if I know there's going to be a lot of monks in the area (it slaughters the Dolyak Masters in THK...hit their Life Attunement with it and down they go).

I think the main problem is all the misinformation about barrage being such a good skill. It really isn't very good when you notice that you can't use a prep with it (meaning that you usually have to bring Favorable Winds, which makes your faster arrow boost easy to end with a stray fireball). If you could use a preparation with it, then it would be overpowered...without a prep, it's boring. I've had Read the Wind since pre-sear, and frankly it's my favorite prep (I hate missing...and I like fast arrow hits). Stop using Flatbows and Longbows and your arrows won't miss. You don't need a skill to make your arrows hit their target, you need a different type of bow. A Recurve bow rarely misses and is THE bow to have for interrupts as well.

I find Burning arrow + apply poison+ epidemic to work better than barrage in many parts of PvE. Of course then you lose the hard res you get with /mo, but whatever.


Theres more to being a ranger than pressing 1. Of course there is, but carrying Barrage doesn't mean you only get to use one skill. My skill bar includes Barrage but it also has 7 other skills that I use regularly as well.

Not really sure what you meant by that statement. I've never seen a Barrage ranger only carrying one skill.

When using Broad Head, you have to think (dazing a warrior or ranger is a wasted shot).

Omg, use broadhead arrow on warriors to stop them from casting mending. Duh. You can't kill a warrior if he is able to cast his mending!







I find Poison Arrow to be more attractive than barrage, regardless of my situation. I mean, now that barbed arrows can be added with it, 7 degeneration across a team is too sexy to pass up, imo!

I think one of the largest cause of people blindly choosing skills and not knowing if they will work in a mission or not is because they simply don't ask or search around to find out what they will encounter. Part of this may be the fear of being called a noob or being kicked from a group just because they found that it's your first time, but part of it is likely just laziness (since Gwiki has info and advice on almost every mission in GW). I agreed with most of your post, but on this section I must comment.

The first time I went through the game, I didn't read anything ahead of time. (Well, that's not true, I did look up where to find the dervish Acolytes for capping...) I had NO idea where I was going or what I was going to see or who I was going to fight. It was most certainly not laziness, it was... a sense of adventure?

Barrage is a great skill overall. It can work in almost any situation, and if it turns out not to be the most efficient skill to take for a particular mission? Well, I'll remember that for next time; meantime, I still have 7 other slots to contribute to the group with. In this game, having/not having one single skill on your bar does not make or break you.