Ranger Build With Signet of Spirits/Summon Spirits?

Is this possible? I find that I do so much better in PvE with my Rit than my Ranger, but my Ranger is my main, and I want her to do just as well. I currently have the Splinter Weapon + Barrage build on her, but I think if she used my rit's build she'd be better... but would the mana cost of the skills and her first profession limit her?

Pretty much any PvE character can run an SOS Rit build. See the Any/Rt Spirit Farmer build on PvX. It is one of the only universal builds for completing the Cold As Ice Quest or The Norn Fighting Tournament.

My friend Missy often runs a Rit build on her Ranger... apparently, Expertise helps manage the casting costs. I know that she is very effective as a Ritualist when we're out adventuring.

There are things you can do to help with your energy pool as well... get a +energy set (wand & focus), for example. You do what any caster does... carry appropriate staves/wands/foci for general use and equip a bow in another slot for pulling as needed. It really doesn't cost all that much energy to set up your spirits considering a) the damage they do and b) the length of time they "live." And of course, the Kurzick/Luxon Summon Spirts PvE skill really helps... being able to cast your spirits in a safe area and then drag them into the midst of aggro is handy as hell.

You could also have a second head piece that you equip with a Radiant & Attunement for use when you're using your Rit build. Easy to swap out and adds a couple of more points to your energy pool.

expertise makes it very viable and also run that pve skill vampirism spirit cuz it's pretty tough when you are high enough in sunspear.

Yep Ranger /Rit works really well.

When I started my ranger it was as a ranger rit because both classes used spirits it seemed natural and though I have used other secondary classes since I keep coming back to rit.

I first noticed it working really well in vizunah square I just guarded one position and used spirits as additional ranged attack.
With me blocking one area and the minion master another the rest of the party could concentrate on one mob at a time.

One great thing is if you have to retreat the spirits form a natural blocking point and enemies tend to stop to finish them off.

This can work very well when pulling enemies too put the spirits up then fire your shot.
If the entire mob comes you have time to move away because of your spirits, if your chosen target comes then the spirits keep him coming as you alternately pull the spirits to you then move towards the party again.

you can even space out your spirits in a line leading to the party and your chosen victim keeps coming as he destroys one spirit at a time.

You can work as a full spirit spammer if you choose and add any ranger spirits if you feel they would help.

edge of extinction works fairly well here put down some spirits then further back agony and edge.
Since agony damages all foes quite a few will be below 90% and be affected by edge

I suspect there could be a good team build here with several rangers or a ranger rit duo.
There is cartainly scope for using the spirits of both classes.

Run SoS build on my Ranger. Works fine. With high expertise, energy is no problem because Expertise applies to all spirits, not only Ranger ones. RiT will have sturdier spirits, but Ranger SoS does well enough in most cases.

OgglchYRmAqiMNACNVNdN5DWO9Nt5A and season to taste! All credit to Spun Ducky.

Hat of Expertise, Rune of Superior Expertise.

Expertise 12, 10 Communing, 12 Channeling. With Radiant on Armor and Ssyn's Staff, energy is 43 and health is 515 with Sup Vig.

Also works with Longbow, but need to watch energy a tad closer.

I'm going to out myself as a really lazy player here, but I run spirit-spam on my ranger with discordway heroes. Painful Bond + Spirit Rift and/or Shadowsong sets the heroes up well.

I was in your boat -- my ranger is my main, but I got frustrated with bow builds. There are pros and cons to this playstyle.

The major con is that, with a max of 12 in your ritualist attributes and no spawning power, your spirits will be lower level and flimsier. You can mitigate this with Armor of Unfeeling. I also used to use Spiritleech Aura, but I didn't like how thin it spread my attributes. AoE will be the bane of your weaker spirits' existence, so properly spreading them out in some areas helps a lot.

The pros are that you yourself will have much higher armor than a primary ritualist, and with high enough Expertise, your energy management might even outpace a primary rit. You will have to use the right equipment (caster weapons/radiants/attunements) to get a usable energy pool, though, especially if you'll be using the non-binding ritual skills.

I have no difficulty with this in normal play, and use it to satisfactory effect in solo farming -- Nick stuff, UW Chamber, parts of FoW...

There's absolutely no reason not to give it a shot.

Edit: Err, y'know, what wilebill said.

Thanks so much for the help, guys!

I was afraid that without Spawning Power or a large mana pool, I wouldn't be able to use a Rit build effectively. But I guess Expertise + items makes up for it? :P

I'll try all your builds and see which one I like best.

Kind of sad that I like another profession over my main, though. :P

If you like rit so much, then why is your main a Ranger? (just curious)

Proph's came out before Factions I guess Assume the ranger was made long before rit's existed.

Im in the same position now with ranger main and they are useless, SoS is about the only build they can run effectively in HM other than splinter barrage.

Yep. I have more of personal connection to my Ranger because she's my first. :3

And yeah, its sad how Rangers are so inferior to Rits and other professions in PvE. I'm tired of Splinter Barrage so I'm gonna go with this.

Indeed, I wish there were more builds that I could use with a bow

Turret wasn't bad with asuran scan for single target spiking, but thats gone now aswell as R/D R/A dagger spam isn't bad but I didn't make a ranger to use a scythe, daggers or a staff

Although tbh I rarely play with pugs so I just run whatever makes me a happy ranger and let the heros and hench drag me through

I know. I love playing archer/bow classes in MMOs and I mainly play PvE, so its kind of sad how I have to resort to another method of fighting when I'm playing my Ranger. Then again, right now I'm just getting my HoM ready for GW2, so I can play a cool archer there. xD

I have both a Ranger and a Rit, and I've done SoS type builds for each of them. The only real difference seems to me to be that the Spirits in the Ranger build are slightly less "robust" than the Rits because of the lack of Spawning Power, and the inability to go beyond 12 in any Rit attribute. So, my Ranger's build includes something like Spirit Leech Aura or Armor Of Unfeeling, to make the spirits last a bit longer (which, in most cases, is not a big problem unless the spirits are being directly attacked.)
I'd say that, overall, the Rit primary is more "powerful" than the any/Rit for solo farming.

Yeah I find it really unnoticeable! I love it thanks guys! The Expertise energy reduction makes up for the lower mana regen.

Main problem was running out of energy, because Expertise only helps to a certain extent.

Bring Spirit Siphon if you still encounter energy problems.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Spirit_Siphon

Try pets. They're quite nasty in PvE, especially with Enraged Lunge...

Call of Haste
Call of Protection
Comfort Animal
Enraged Lunge
Otyugh's Cry
Predator's Pounce
Crossfire
Savage Shot ...or whatever pair of bow attacks you want.

With that bar, I took a level 15 pet (my Imperial Phoenix - yay for the Menagerie!) through Vizunah Square without any problems and, despite plenty of sidequests and the Norn section of EotN along the way, it didn't die until Arborstone and dished out craptons of damage, far more than I've ever been able to do since the first time Power Shot was nerfed. :P You just have to get used to keeping an eye on the pet bar so that you don't overwrite its current attack skill order. The only problem, really, is that it starts heading back to you after each kill instead of switching to a new target, losing precious time while you find another target.

my SoS volley:

vampirism
SoS
Bloodsong
volley
splinter weapon

the rest are up to you

i use a zealous bow to keep energy up, 2 attunement runes and 1 radiant rune on headpiece so i start off with 30 energy

C-Space

much faster target aquisition, and as long as you have a target, your pet will keep attacking even when using your preps