So....What is a ranger? What's it do?

Alright so so far I have my Ranger at level 12, Iv been trying to play it decently but realize that it does not have any AoE damage yet. I don't know if the AoE skills come later on or something, I have no clue. What I do notice is that the damage my ranger puts out even though all my points are in Marksmenship and Expertise is less than a Fraction of what my Dervish put out at that same level, not to mention my Dervish put out more damage to multiple mobs at a time. So...I come to ask What is a ranger in this game?

In every other online rpg out there a Ranger/Hunter/Huntard (For those who know what i mean " Is and has always been a type of Damage dealing Range class. I can't see the high impact Damage of a ranger in this game, Like in FFXI or WoW. I see a lot of other stuff I do not recognize though. Maybe I am not playing it how it is ment to be played? I dont really know. So if some one could tell me Just what a ranger's specific role in a group/PvP would be and how it is different from the typical Damage dealer, That would be great, And yes I am doing my own search on Wiki as well looking at all its skills trying to figure it out myself...so far I see it can be a good interrupter..great for PvP I dont see the point in PvE lol. This is why I am asking you guys you guys would know.-


And for the Administrator the only reason I did not put this on the Ranger Builds talk is because I am not really asking for a Ranger build,Im asking generally what is a ranger, What does it do.

IMO, Rangers are less damage more condition spreading and interrupting.

Ranger's do massive dmg to many foes as Splinter weapon + barrage check that & its awesome for interrupting etc

Ok, ive played my ranger "Jo Po" for almost the whole time ive had the game. they are great interruptors, but there is also potential for damage. you can do somewhat AoE with the elite skill barrage (synergizes great with splinter wep) or standard AoE with traps. you can also apply almost any condition in the game with combos like Burning Arrow (elite), apply poison, and screaming shot. My favorite general build is this, which deals alot of dmg.

Sundering Shot
Penetrating Shot
Prepaired Shot [Elite]
Expert Focus
Natural Stride
Mending Touch
Troll Unguent
Rebirth

feel freee to mess with attributes to get what you like

that is a really fun build to mess around with. you can change things around like the preperation to something like read the wind or add a weapons spell and go R/Rt with flesh of my flesh and antidote sig. you can also change bow attacks, but those work great.

I have loved playing ranger , and i hope that this helped you about what a ranger can do, they are very versitile. If this didnt help, i wasted 10 mins typing it

Rangers are a utility class that can do many things eg interrupt,trap,degen,beast mastery and the list goes on.I find the class fun.Ranger can play other role such as R/W with hammer known as a bunny thumber as well as R/D with a scythe.

Rangers do not do as much damage as dervish, no. but the dervish has the potential to output increadible amounts of melee DPS with low effort (very imba). the ranger however is more of an offensive utility class than a straight Damage dealer. they can output decent, steady DPS while providing the best interrupt skills in the game ([Broad Head Arrow], [Distracting Shot], [Savage shot]). they are also probably the hardest class to kill with blocking stances, naturally high armor, and the rediculousness that is troll unguent. Rangers can play multiple roles quite well without even changing skills.


and as far as AoE goes, there isnt a ton. plenty of people use [Barrage], but honestly you're better off with [Volley] and a more useful elite like BHA.

good luck

Rangers do have several area effect skills and are quite powerful if used correctly.

Area effect skills
In Marksmanship Barrage an elite skill will hit multiple targets, while Wilderness survival has Choking gas and Ignite arrows both have area effect.

Your armour is second only to the Warrior and indeed you have an added resistance to elemental damage which is useful.
Combine that with the many running and dodging skills and you find its quite hard to kill a ranger.

primary uses for rangers are spreading conditions such as poison and interrupting enemy skills.

You have many Interrupt skills and this is a very popular build for a ranger rather than taking down foes with lots of damage you weaken and interrupt them, a crippled poisoned enemy that cannot use any skills is very vulnerable.

For maximum damage try having elementalist or Ritualist as a secondary class.
Elemental has conjure flame lightning or frost which do added damage if you bowstring matches the element.
So fire damage bow + conjure flame + whatever attack skill you like this can do a fair bit of damage.

Max damage bow does 28 + the 20% bonus for it being customised to you.
Conjure element can add 5 to 17 points
Read the wind can add 3 to 9
Favourable winds can add another 6
It all adds up

Consider playing ranger Ritualist then you have splintershot a very powerfull skill combined with say barrage.

You have access to spirits which have a large area of effect and last a long time, with these you can change damage type, alter how skills work in the area and so on check them out there are quite a few.

Not so useful in a general party is the use of traps, this is because they take time to set.
Trapping is very effective for solo or teams who set out to plant a large number of traps in one place then lure a mob onto them.
Good for farming areas of the game for item or gold drops.

Less common ranger sub types

Beastmaster using a pet for attacking, the bow is just for calling target and luring rather than damage.

Touch ranger use a melee weapon and necro secondary here you run in use necro damaging skills.

Assassin Ranger here the assassin skills to maximise critical damage

That is interesting. I will consider playing ranger a bit different. Now I just have to get far enough into prophecies to do this. Because as you all know. If your not high enough level like 20 and done with all 3 or at least 2 of the 3 games with that character...most builds are unusable by you >< And this my ranger is PvE I just cant simply pick them out of the list So It will be a long time before I get to see what ranger really has. Won't be easy considering prophecies gives u 500 exp per quest which takes 15-20 min vs Factions which gives u 3000 exp for the same quest and Nightfall which would be 1000 ~.~

A Ranger with barrage can create enough carnage - enough to keep a MM supplied with fresh corpses - a pair of Rangers can decimate a mob!

Find a decent Longbow or Flatbow - they work better with barrage and if you want to get close to then a nice shortbow as well. If you have access to bonus items then the Nevermore is actually quite a nice bow whereas the darksteel isnt so good.

You cant get Barrage until you get to Droknars Forge in Prophecies - but you might want to consider buying an Elite Ranger Tome at Kamadan and use that to unlock Barrage.

Otherwise - get yourself to Droknars (with a run) and then PM me in game sometime after the weekend and we'll get you to Barrage - make sure you can use a Cap Signet though!!

Midliner that interrupts and causes degeneration pressure.

It can also snare, spike and split aswell as shut things down via BHA in PvE.

Rangers are quite flexible, while they shouldn't be concidered a Primary Damage dealer they can dish out some nice pressure damage.

Depending on your party set up a Rangers primary role will change, most use one of the following gerneral build "types"

1) Interupter
2) Traper
3) Beast Master
4) Condition spreader
5) Barrage/Splinter Weapon Damage dealer


There are other builds that do not fit those generic molds, such as [Needling Shot]+[Expert Focus] to quickly kill any foe under 50% hp.

Ranger is best for setting traps and then pulling. It is a great secondary class to have. My war in pre is a ranger secondary so that my pet can deal some damage but mostly my pet draws the attention of the charr so that I can smash on them without taking all of the damage.

Also in Post my hero's all have ranger as secondary so that I can run around with 4 pets. Pretty sweet.

[ignite arrows]

AoE damage with no elite required, and available early. AoE damage isn't always the best though, so don't feel there is a NEED for it. I often use my Elementalist with a build that focuses on 1 target, and that is the class with the most AoE in the game.

a ranger is a multi-functional ranged character that specializes in shutdown+disruption.

a terrific ranger is an asset in any team, since they can fulfill the roles of 3 characters at once.

an average/bad ranger is a liability in any team, because the team will be effectively playing one man short.

You can unlock the skills in pvp with balthazar faction then use ranger tomes to get the skills.

Also, if you're starting in Nightfall, you can capture Barrage from Commander Kubeh during The Great Escape quest. It's very convenient because Burning Arrow is just two zones over.

If I had the money I would but I have 4 platinum to my name and still need to buy Max weapon and armor.

Rangers are for people who like to use bows & arrows - does it really need to have another purpose.

Or, in other words, if it really matters to you to do "the max" damage all the time, play some other class. Otherwise, just have fun.

My favorite part of playing a ranger is the longer ranged weapons....usually you are far enough out of range that spell casters cant hit you, yet you can poison, bleed, interupt....them. And if you have a pet you have a mini 'tank' that can help you out (in pre-sear I LOVED having a pet....it was great to have 2 instead of 1 at lots of times then---)....and trapping, you can do lots with that (a whole nother thread--ney, forum, for that one).
at level 12 you are still just figuring out the class....as you play you will find your niche for your ranger..Good LUCK!

Interesting that pets do not come up much. If you are playing PvP then Pets are a MAJOR advantage as they can deal extra damage especially if it is dire.

In presearing my war is ranger second so that I can have a pet.

The extra running is nice to

If your thinking of going R/Rt something better than Splinter weapon + Barrage would be something along the lines of this: [skill]broad head arrow[/skill] with [skill]volley[/skill] + [skill]splinter weapon[/skill] and [skill]triple shot[/skill] + [skill]nightmare weapon[/skill] and [skill]I am the strongest[/skill], use [skill]ancestors rage[/skill] on the party tank for even more aoe ownage, and maybe think of adding in [skill]spirit rift[/skill] (if you time it well you can basically let Ancestors, Spirit Rift and Splinter Volley hit simultaneously for a huge aoe spike), or block stance/heal if you aren't confident in party monk/hero monk.

Only thing is rits run this build better but then use [skill]spirit's strength[/skill] as elite.

You have incredible shutdown + heavy aoe + spike damage that heals you

Barrage + splinter = big damage

well imo take a ranger with BHA and volly take /Mes as ur 2ndary

find a group of casters and go....

BHA ---> epidemic ----> volly ---> volly ---> volly.

and if u have a rit hero put splinter on him and force cast it onto you.

pew pew pew

Rangers make you angry in AB.

Rangers keep a sustained interrupt on any mob without condition removal nearby.

Rangers run SWAY and win shit.

So far Iv enjoyed it quite a bit, Does more Damage than my rit by the end of a fight, But not by much, Both are without elite skills. I guess Im going to have to force myself to play prophecies to the end to be able to unlock some decent skills. Im trying to come up with a good build for Damage, That does not require pets,(Or beating all 4 games to get the skills for it like so many builds on wiki I dont like how pets work here, If you cant control a pet like a hero then I don't really want to use one. Not for it to have the power, Just the control. Ill do more wiki searches for stuff about ranger, Builds, and a good Marksmen damage dealer, See what i can dig up.

It will take you a while to feel how to play a Ranger in this game, well past when you first hit lvl20 with one. One day things will click and you will understand.

You can do good damage once you figure out to apply it. Expertise works wonders, you'll realize when you have enough attribute points to get at least 9 points in it. You'll be able to fire off Bow Attacks on nearly every attack and not see your energy drop too quickly.

For ages I played a ranger totally out of step with the advice going around.
Never put any points into expertise or beastmastery and so formed my build around Max points in Wilderness survival and Marksmanship.
This let me have a great heal in troll unguent and max effect for all the preperations.

I totally ignored barrage and the like because you were getting one attack for 5 energy which is common to most of the ranger skills based in Marksmanship.
Barrage cost 5 one attack does +5 to 17 damage hits target up to +6 targets adjacent to that target.

Ignite arrows cost 10 arrows explode on contact doing +3 to 15 damage to target and all adjacent foes.
Double the energy but it runs for 24 seconds and with apply poison I could shift target and poison a lot of targets.
never worried about interrupting heck my first character was a mesmer mesmers are interrupters rangers are burners and poisoners.

even though I love the rangers I run I do get annoyed about the way the skills work.
Marksmanship is needed to use the weapon and get decent criticals so you need a lot of points there.
Expertise is energy management so you need a fair number of points there.
Wilderness survival is your healing so you need points there.
I suppose its because your the class midway between spellcasters and warriors.

Warriors can choose a weapon type and build around that they only use the attack skills of that class plus some strength and tactics.

Spellcasters can choose one sphere of their skills ie fire death domination etc and have a weapon based in that sphere.

Rangers must by necessity spread their points accross 3 or more areas, but its probably that challenge which both annoys and interests me about the class.

As do Mesmers, Paragons, Assassins and Dervishes, as well as most Elementalists with decent utility on their bar or any decent Hybrid Monk.
The only ones that usually are fine with two attribute line skill bars are Warriors, Necromancers and Ritualists. There are exceptions of course but some of the strongest most persitent builds in Guild Wars spread over three attribute lines. For me an indicator for balance.

If you just go for damage output on the Ranger you are usually fine with Expertise and Marksmanship. No need to spec in Wilderness just for [[Troll Unguent], let the Monks do their job and an Ritualist support you with [[splinter weapon].

In general I find it hard to put the Ranger in one category as they are very versatile and can be masters in many domains ...

Interrupting
([[Broad head Arrow], [[Magebane Shot], [[Practiced Stance] + [[choking gas], and of course [[Distracting shot] & [[savage shot]);
Trapping
([[spike trap], [[Smoke trap], [[Trapper's Focus])
Pressure
([[Burning Arrow], [[Poison Arrow], [[Prepared shot], [[Barrage])
Spiking
([[Glass Arrows] & [[Punishing shot])
Gimmicks
([[Escape] + Scythe or Dagger, [[Rampage as One] + Hammer, [[Heal as one] + Spear, [[Offering of Blood] + Touch skills)

And these are just a few examples of what your Ranger can do, once he or she is out of puberty.

You can find more basic information on the wiki's:
Unofficial Wiki and Official Wiki
Or here on Guru:
Ranger Subforum and Celestial Beavers Guide to Playing Ranger

Have fun.

I'm a ranger primarily,

and love it.
It was my first toon and is my most played of all toons I have.
The variety of options, the flexibility in the damage is what makes me like the ranger so much.
A lot has been said about what the ranger can do and how, I won't go that way.

What I would like to address is the fact that the ranger is fun to play when you create him and level him a bit.
Then comes a very boring part around lvl8-10 and up to 18-20 because you get the impression that you just grind for level and really get nothing out of it.

And that is partly true. The only thing you do gain is experience with the class. And that is valuable, very much indeed. But still, very boring.

I have always said after lvl20 with all attribute points, you really learn the ranger because then you can really play around with skills, get the elites and see, what is a ranger really capable of.

And that list is long ...

/Santa

I can sympathize with you. My very first char was a ranger because I came from D&D CRPG games where I usually played dual-wielding melee weapon rangers, only using a bow to smash exploding chests. Imagine my surpirse when I found I was limited to a bow in GW.

I stuck with it but I just couldn't get hang of it I guess. I had a lot of trouble trying to get through missions and quests. I eventually put him aside (using him as a mule) and made a warrior. I was amazed how much easier the game became when playing him. Then I made a curses necro and that made the game even easier. I eventually deleted that ranger.

When I needed another mule, I made another ranger, on the theory that I wouldn't be tempted to play him. One day, however, when I was moving a lot of bows I'd collected on to him, I was struck by the fact that I had a lot of really nice bows and they were just going to waste, so, ya, I started playing him.

I was surprised how much fun it was and how much easier it seemed compared with the first one. That might be the difference between starting in Factions and starting in Proph (the new one was Factions). Maybe, I'd just become a better player overall or had a better understanding of the mechanics involved. It was so much fun, in fact, that, after dying 40k XP short of rank 2 Survivor, I eventually made another one, who did make it to Legendary Survivor.

Just be patient. You'll eventually get better skills that will do more damage. There's been a lot of good advice posted on that already.

My own preference is for Barrage and interrupts, so I only put points into Marks and Expert, although a nice combo I have used (and keep on a hero) is Ignite Arrows + Poison Arrow - that works especially well if you have a fire ele using Mark of Rodgort.