To mutch useless skills, PvE skill change suggestions

First of read this:
I've been playing ranger over 4 years now and I think we have a lot of useless skills. So I took my time to look at almost all ranger skills there are and tried to make the ones I thought were useless into something useful.

The ideas are purely meant for PvE because in PvP they would became way to powerful.

Also I don't know how OP some combinations will become so don't go WTFTHISWOULDBEWAYTOPOWERFULL!!!! on me but make suggestions on how to change the skills.


Ranger and his pet
Pets are one of the main reasons I made a ranger. To bad they have a really lousy AI. So the player has to make up for this. These changes mostly involve the movement and damage of a pet.

Bestial Mauling
10e - 10r
Pet Attack. Your animal companion attempts a Bestial Mauling that deals +5…35 damage. If the attack strikes a knocked-down foe, that foe is Dazed for 4...9 seconds.
(increased the base damage and reduced the recharge. Bestial Maulings Daze was powerful in PvP. But in PvE less powerful)

Bestial Pounce
5e - 10r
Pet Attack. Your animal companion instantly attacks target foe. If the attack hits deal +5...20 damage and causes knock-down if target foe is casting a spell.
(attack was unreliable because most of the time your pet would wait to long)

Call of Haste
5e - 5r
Shout. For 30 seconds the next time you hit a foe with an attack your Animal Companion shadow steps to that foe.
(The times it takes for your pet to reach its target is long, and often he will get stuck.)

Companionship
10e - 8r
Pet Attack. Your animal companion attempts a Companionship Strike that deals +5…25 damage. Both you and your Animal Companion are healed for 30…60 health.
(because healing with a long cast time and changing targets isn't that good.)

Disrupting Lunge
5e - 10r
Pet Attack. Your animal companion instantly attacks target foe. If the attack hits, it interrupts target foe's action. If the interrupted action was a skill, that skill is disabled for an additional 20 seconds.

Ferocious Strike [E]
5e - 6r
Elite Pet Attack. Your animal companion attempts a Ferocious Strike that deals +15…40 damage. If that attack hits you gain 1…5 strikes of adrenaline and 3…8 energy.
(increased the damage and adrenaline gain, reduced the energy gain. This way this skill becomes a good option for /W, /P and /D secondary’s.)

Fertile Season
10e - 5sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-spirit creatures within range have +2…6 health regeneration and +4…10 armor. This spirit dies after 15…80 seconds
(the additional health an armor was fun but not really useful.)

Heket's Rampage
10e - 10r
Shout. For 3…9 seconds your Animal Companion deals an additional +5…15 damage with attacks but takes double damage.
(Frenzy like shout for pets)

Rampage as One [E]
15e - 30r
Elite Stance. (3...18 seconds.) You and your pet deal an additional 1…10 damage with each attack and attack 25% faster. When this Stance ends you and your pet are Knocked Down.
(Good skill in PvP not so in PvE since we have NRA and kiting isn't really a problem.)

Revive Animal
15e - 3sec - 20r
Skill. Your Animal Companion touches target party member and resurrects it with your current Health and 10…50% energy.
(Unique res for beast masters. Can make your pet go and res your ally while you keep attacking)

Savage Pounce
5e - 10r
Pet Attack. Your animal companion instantly attacks target foe. If the attack hits deal +5...20 damage and causes knock-down if target foe is casting a spell.

Symbiosis
15e - 5sec - 90r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-spirit creatures within range take 0…10 less damage for each enchantment on them. The attacks from non-Spirit creatures that are not under the effect of an enchantment can not be blocked. This spirits dies after 30...150 seconds.
(Reduces damage on most casters and makes some physical profs unblockable.)

Symbiotic Bond
10e - 60r
Shout. For 120...264 seconds, your animal companion gains 1...3 health regeneration, and half of all damage dealt to your animal companion is redirected to you. Redirected damage is reduced by 3…30



Ranger and conditions
If I’m reading a post about different uses for rangers a almost always come across a post that says conditions are weak. And that’s true, in HM a conditions like bleeding or poison won't make much difference. So I thought up some ideas how to use conditions to get off more powerful attacks.

Applying conditions
This is something most rangers are perfectly able to do. And if you need conditions to use powerful attacks you first need to apply them.

Maiming Strike
5e - 5r
Pet Attack. Your animal companion attempts a Maiming Strike that deals +5…20 damage and inflicts Bleeding for 5…15 seconds.

Poisonous Bite
5e - 6r
Pet Attack. Your animal companion attempts a Poisonous Bite that deals +5…20 damage and inflicts Poison for 5…15 seconds.

Strike as One [E]
5e - 8r
Elite Shout. Next time your Animal Companion hit with an attack the attack deals an additional +5...15 damage and target suffers from Deep Wound for 5...15 seconds. The next time you hit with an attack the attack deals an additional +5...10 damage and target suffers from Cracked Armor for 5...15 seconds
(with the change of Call of Haste this attack becomes less powerful. And this way rangers have a way to inflict cracked armor.)

Run as One
5e - 15r
Stance. For 5…15 seconds you and your pet move 25% faster. If you hit a moving foe inflict Cripple for 0…10 seconds and Run as One ends.

Broad Head Arrow [E]
10e - 7r
Elite Bow Attack. You shoot a broad head arrow, if it hits, target foe is Dazed for 5…12 seconds, and if target foe is casting a spell that spell is interrupted.
(Daze is a powerful condition, being able to shut down almost any caster. But in PvE where the kills are fast there little need for Daze to be long lasting. That’s why I reduced the recharge and duration of Daze. Also I removed the annoying slow arrow.)

Crippling Shot [E]
10e - 4r
Elite Bow Attack. If Crippling Shot hits, target foe is Crippled for 5…15 seconds and deals +5…25 damage. Deal an additional +5…25 damage if target is not moving.
(In PvP Cripple is powerful, in PvE not so. That’s why I added damage it the target acts Crippled.)

Crossfire
5e - 4r
Bow Attack. If this attack hits target foe, it deals +5...17 damage. Inflict Bleeding for 5…17 seconds if target foe is near any of your allies.

Marauder's Shot
10e - 10r
Bow Attack. If Marauder's Shot hits your target suffers from 0…2 of the following conditions: Poisoned (for 20 seconds), Bleeding (for 20 seconds), Blind (for 10 seconds) or Burning (for 5 seconds).

Pin Down
5e - 4r
Bow Attack. If Pin Down hits, your target is Crippled for 3...13 seconds.

Screaming Shot
10e - 8r
Bow Attack. If this attack hits, you deal +10...22 damage. If your target is within earshot, that foe and all adjacent foes begins Bleeding for 5...17 seconds.

Expert's Dexterity [E]
5e - 20r
Elite Stance. For 1…20 seconds, you attack 33% faster and conditions you apply while wielding a bow last 100% longer.
(The 33% IAS was pretty good, but the +2 marksmanship didn't do really mutch extra damage. That why I think that if the ranger is about using conditions doubling the duration would be nice.)

Throw Dirt
5e - 1sec - 15r
Ranged Attack. Send out one ball of dirt at target foe striking for 5…15 damage your target and all foes nearby your target become Blinded for 3...10 seconds. This Attack has half the normal range
(Throw Dirt is a effective skill, but you should throw the dirt...)

Barbed Arrows
10e - 2sec - 12r
Preparation. For 24 seconds, your arrows cause Bleeding for 3...15 seconds.

Greater Conflagration [E]
10e - 2sec - 12r
Preparation. For 15…30 seconds your arrows strike for +5…15 fire damage and and cause Burning for 0…3 seconds whenever they hit.

Pestilence
10e - 5sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. When any creature within its range suffers from a new condition, that creature suffers from Disease for 2…10 seconds. This spirit dies after 30…90 seconds.

Using the conditions
There are several different ways to use conditions you can use them to deal additional damage, or you can use them to support your party members.

Damage

Feral Lunge
5e - 6r
Pet Attack. Your animal companion attempts a Feral Lunge that deals +5…25 damage. If that attack strikes a foe whose suffering from a condition that foe takes an additional +5…15 damage.

Toxicity
15e - 5sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-Spirit creatures in range suffering from Poison or Disease take 5…15 damage each second. This spirits dies after 30…60 seconds.
(The damage from Poison or Disease itself isn't much but with this spirit it becomes a bit more.)

Forked Arrow
10e - 7r
Bow Attack. Shoot two arrows simultaneously at target foe. If target foe is suffering from a condition these arrows strike for +10…20 damage.

Hunter's Shot
5e - 5r
Bow Attack. If Hunter's Shot hits deal +5…12 damage for each condition that foe is suffering. (maximum +30...60 damage)

Kindle Arrows -> Move to Marksmanship
5e - 7r
Bow Attack. Shoot two arrows simultaneously at target foe. If target foe is suffering from a condition they cause Burning for 1…4 seconds.

Melandru's Shot [E]
10e - 8r
Elite Bow Attack. If Melandru's Shot hits, steal 5…25 health. If target foe is suffering from 2 or more conditions steal an additional 15…75 health

Punishing Shot [E]
10e - 1/2sec - 5r
Elite Bow Attack. If Punishing Shot hits, you strike for +10…20 damage and your target is interrupted. If target was suffering from a condition it deals an aditional +10…20 damage.

Savage Shot
10e - 1/2sec - 5r
Bow Attack. If Savage Shot hits, your target's action is interrupted. If target was suffering from a condition deal +10…20 damage.

Archer's Signet [E]
2sec - 15r
Elite Signet. For 0…20 seconds, your bow attacks can not be blocked. Your arrows strike for +0…5 damage for each condition on target foe.

Brambles
15e - 5sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-Spirit creatures in range suffering from Bleeding or Cripple take 5…15 damage each second. This spirits dies after 30…60 seconds.

Melandru's Arrows [E]
10e - 2sec - 15r
Elite Preparation. For 10…30 seconds, whenever your arrows hit a foe suffering from a condition, they deal +5…15 damage and 0…2 random party members within earshot lose one condition.
(Deal extra damage to foes suffering from conditions and support party members at the same time.)

Scavenger's Focus [E]
5e - 12r
Elite Skill. Your next 3…5 attack deal an additional +10…30 damage against foes suffering from a condition. When Scavenger's Focus ends gain 30…70 health and 3…7 Energy.

Support

Lacerate [E]
10e - 3sec - 30r
Elite Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-spirit creatures suffering from a condition have -10…40 armor (minimum 60). This spirit dies after 10…60 seconds
(A lot of PvE enemies especially in HM have high amounts or armor. This skill will help non-armor ignoring spells and attacks to do a bit more damage. Almost a must have for every Elementalist in HM.)

Pounce
5e - 10r
Pet Attack. Your animal companion attempts a Pounce that deals +5…20 damage. If target foe is suffering from a condition it is knocked down.

Body Shot
5e - 8r
Bow Attack. If this attack hits, you deal +5…20 damage. If it hits a foe with 2 or more conditions gain 5..9 Energy

Melandru's Resilience [E]
10e - 10r
Elite Shout. All party members within earshot gain 30…50 health for each condition they are suffering. Hexed party members lose 0…1 hex instead.
(And for all those wise guys. No, you won't shout "Melandru's Resilience!")

Support
Ofcourse not all ranger support skills should be tied to conditions so here are some other support skills.

Bestial Fury
10e - 10r
Shout. For 1…6 seconds all allies within earshot attack 25% faster. (pet needs to be alive for activation)
(Beast Mastery has a lot off overlapping skills that won't work together so just change them all together.)

Edge of Extinction
10e - 5sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1...10 spirit. If a non-spirit creature within range dies, Edge of Extinction deals 14…40 damage to all creatures of the same type. This spirit dies after 30…150 seconds.
(removed 90% health condition and reduced damage.)

Energizing Wind
15e - 5sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…6 spirit. If a non-spirit creature within range uses a skill they gain 0…2 energy. This spirit dies after 5…50 seconds
(little bit of energy gain each time a skill is used. +2 energy comes only with +14 beast mastery rank.)

Predatory Season
10e - 5sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-spirit creatures within range gain 30…50 health whenever a non-spirit creature near them dies. This spirit dies after 30…60 seconds
(Why hunt I you can't eat the hunted.)

Primal Echoes
15e - 5sec - 90r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. The Attack Skills from all non-spirit creatures within range recharge 0…25% faster. This spirit dies after 30…60 seconds. (50% fail chance with Expertise 7 or less.)
(Letting signets use energy in PvE is pretty useless. A faster recharge from attack skills can be useful. And the 7 Expertise requirement makes it better useful for ranger primaries)

Symbiosis
15e - 5sec - 90r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-spirit creatures within range take 0…10 less damage for each enchantment on them. The attacks from non-Spirit creatures that are not under the effect of an enchantment can not be blocked. This spirits dies after 30...150 seconds.

Tiger's Fury
10e - 10r
Shout. For 1…6 seconds all allies within earshot attack 25% faster. (pet needs to be alive for activation)

Favorable Winds
5e - 3sec - 45r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1...8 spirit. For non-spirit creatures within its range, arrows move twice as fast as normal and strike for +6…10 damage. This spirit dies after 30…150 seconds.

Infuriating Heat [E]
5e - 3sec - 15r
Elite Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-spirit creatures within its range gain adrenaline twice as fast. And have +0…1 energy regeneration. This spirit dies after 15…60 seconds

Practiced Stance [E]
5e - 20r
Elite Stance. For 5…15 seconds, you and your allies within earshot have a 50% change to block while you are under the effect of a Preparation.
(This way the skills has an actual use.)

Quicksand
5e - 3sec - 30r
Elite Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. All non-spirit creatures within earshot of this spirit lose 20..50 health each 5 seconds they are not moving. This spirit dies after 30…90 seconds.
(Maybe a little bit hard to use probably but it could be fun.)

Roaring Winds
10e - 5sec - 45r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Increase all lightning damage by 10…50%. This spirit dies after 30…60 seconds.
(Couldn't really think of anything else, suggestions are welcome.)

Tranquility
15e - 5sec - 45r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Hexes cast by non-spirit creatures within its range expire 10…40% faster. This spirit dies after 15…45 seconds

Troll Unguent
5e - 1sec - 8r
Skill. Gain 30…100 health and lose 1 condition.
(An instant heal if you need one.)

Winnowing
10e - 3sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-spirit creatures within range take 4…10 additional damage whenever they take physical damage. This spirit dies after 30...150 seconds.

Winter
10e - 3sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. When a non-spirit creatures within range takes damage they take an additional 5…10 cold damage. This spirit dies after 30...150 seconds.
(Some additional damage and helps to trigger skills that work with elemental damage.)

Choking Gas
10e - 2sec - 15r
Skill. Your next 1…3 Bow Attacks deal 1…8 more damage and spread Choking Gas to all nearby foes on impact. Choking Gas interrupts foes attempting to cast spells.
(Time able now you need bow attacks.)

Conflagration
5e - 5sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. For non-spirit creatures within its range, all arrows that hit strike for and additional 5…15 fire damage. This spirit dies after 30…150 seconds.

Dryder's Defenses
10e - 20r
Stance. For 5...11 seconds, you gain +10…80 armor against elemental damage.

Equinox [E]
10e - 3sec - 45r
Elite Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. All non-spirit creatures within its range have 25…50 maximum energy. When this spirit dies all non-spirit creatures within its range gain 10…20 energy. This spirit dies after 30…90 seconds.
(Nice battery and you can finally deplete HM monsters their energy pool.)

Famine [E]
10e - 3sec - 45r
Elite Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-spirit creatures within range gain 40…70 health and 2…8 whenever a non-spirit creature near them dies. This spirit dies after 30…90 seconds

Muddy Terrain
10e - 5sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-spirit creatures within its range move 10…25% slower. Every second they are moving they you lose 10…20 Health. This spirit dies after 30…90 seconds.

Nature's Renewal
10e - 5sec - 60r
Nature Ritual. Create a level 1…10 spirit. Non-spirit creatures within earshot gain 5…25 health every 5…3 seconds if they are not enchanted or hexed. This spirit dies after 30...150 seconds.

Traps
Traps have been an issue for a long time. You couldn't make them to powerful otherwise the would be used for farming. And yet by making them weak they became pretty mutch useless. So I thought up an idea. Just as with Minions you should limiet the maximum amount of traps you can bring out at a time. In response you can make the traps more powerful.

Wilderness survival now becomes:
For every three ranks of Wilderness Survival, you can have one additional Trap out at a time.
So the maximum amount of traps now becomes 6 at a time.

Barbed Trap
15e - 2sec - 15r
Trap. When Barbed Trap is triggered, all nearby foes become Crippled, and begin Bleeding for 3...21 seconds. After 5 seconds all nearby foes take 20…80 piercing damage. Barbed Trap ends after 90 seconds. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted.

Dust Trap
15e - 2sec - 15r
Trap. When Dust Trap is triggered, all nearby foes become Blinded for 3…8 seconds. After 5 seconds all nearby foes take 20…80 Earth damage. Dust Trap ends after 90 seconds. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted.

Flame Trap
15e - 2sec - 15r
Trap. When Flame Trap is triggered, all nearby foes begin Burning for 3…8 seconds. After 5 seconds all nearby foes take 20…80 Fire damage. Flame Trap ends after 90 seconds. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted.

Piercing Trap
15e - 2sec - 15r
Trap. When Piecing Trap is triggered, all nearby foes take 20…50 piercing damage. After 5 seconds all nearby foes take 20…80 piercing damage. Piercing Trap ends after 90 seconds. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted.

Snare
10e - 2sec - 10r
Trap. When Snare is triggered, all nearby foes become Crippled for 5…15 seconds. After 5 seconds all nearby foes suffer from one of the following conditions: Deep Wound (for 10 seconds), Poison (for 15 seconds), Bleeding (for 20 seconds). While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted.

Spike Trap [E]
10e - 2sec - 10r
Elite Trap. When Spike Trap is triggered all nearby foes suffer from Bleeding and Deep Wound for 5…15 seconds. After 5 seconds all nearby foes take 5…20 damage for each condition they are suffering.

Tripwire
15e - 2sec - 15r
Trap. When Tripwire is triggered, all nearby foes become Crippled for 5…15 seconds. After 5 secconds all nearby foes suffering from a condition are knocked-down for 2…3 seconds. Tripwire ends after 90 seconds. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted.

Viper's Nest Moved from Beast Mastery
10e - 2sec - 10r
Trap. When Viper's Nest is triggered, all nearby foes become Poisoned for 5…15 seconds. After 5 seconds all nearby foes suffer from 2…6 health degeneration. Viper's Nest ends after 90 seconds. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted

Healing Spring
10e - 2sec - 20r
Trap. For 3…15 seconds, party members in the area are healed for 15...51 every 3 seconds. While activating this skill you are easily interrupted.

Smoke Trap [E]
10e - 2sec - 15r
Elite Trap. For 3…10 seconds, nearby party members have a 25…75% change to block. While activating this skill you are easily interrupted.
(Made Smoke Trap a support skill rather than a spreader of Blindness and Daze. Just stand in the some and je enemy won't easily hit you.)

Trapper's Focus [E]
5e - 2sec - 12r
Elite Preparation. For 12...25 seconds, your Traps deal 50…150% more damage and conditions you apply with Traps last 50...100% longer.
(What doesn't stop your traps from becoming easily interruptible? You'll see.)

Trapper's Speed
5e - 15r
Stance. For 5…15 seconds, your Traps recharge instancely if they are interrupted and activate 25…50% faster.
(There you go.)

Other skills
Still the ranger had some useless skills remaining so reworked those too.

Arcing Shot
10e - 8r
Bow Attack. Deals +10...25 damage. This attack can not mis.

Concussion Shot
10e - 10r
Bow Attack. If Concussion Shot hits a foe using a skill, that skill is interrupted and your target is Knocked Down for 2…3 seconds.

Debilitating Shot
10e - 8r
Bow Attack. If Debilitating Shot hits, target foe loses 1...10 Energy. For each point of Energy remaining, target takes 1…2 damage (maximum 30…60 damage).
(For PvE e-denial sucks.)

Determined Shot
5e - 5r
Bow Attack. If Determined Shot hits, you strike for +5…20 damage. If Determined Shot fails to hit, it recharges instancely.

Disrupting Accuracy
5e - 12r
Preparation. For 24 seconds your arrows strike for +5…20 damage whenever you interrupt a skill.
(Good play should be rewarded.)

Disrupting Shot
5e - 10r
Bow Attack. If this attack hits, target foe's action is interrupted. This skill recharges 25…75% faster if you interrupt a spell.

Focused Shot
10e - 5r
Bow Attack. If Focused Shot hits, you strike for +10…20 damage. Your next attack has an additional 20…75% change to be critical.

Needling Shot
5e - 3/4sec - 4r
Bow Attack. Needling Shot strikes for only 10...26 damage and moves faster than normal. If Needling Shot strikes a foe below 50% Health, Needling Shot recharges instantly.

Power Shot
10e - 3/4sec - 3r
Bow Attack. If Power Shot hits, target foe takes 25...45 damage.

Precision Shot
10e - 5r
Bow Attack. If Precision Shot hits, you strike for +5…25 damage. This attack has an additional 20…75% change to be critical.

Rapid Fire
5e - 2sec - 12r
Preparation. For 5...21 seconds, you attack 33% faster and your arrows deal 3…10 extra damage while wielding a bow.

Seeking Arrows
15e - 2sec - 20r
Preparation. For 6…24 seconds, your arrows cannot be blocked.

Splinter Shot
10e - 7r
Bow Attack. If Splinter Shot hits all foes adjacent to your target take 5…40 damage.

Glass Arrows [E]
5e - 2sec - 12r
Elite Preparation. For 10...34 seconds, your arrows strike for +5…20 damage if they hit and all foes adjacent to your target take 5...53 damage. if they are Blocked.
(I already liked this skill, but it could be better.)

Oath Shot [E]
10e - 3/4sec - 20r
Elite Bow Attack. If Oath Shot hits, all of your Ranger skills are recharged. If it misses, all of your skills are disabled for 10…5 seconds. (50% miss chance with Expertise 7 or less.)

I guess that’s it, have fun. And if you have any ideas feel free to post them.

The pet line needs some major overhauling as is, I like your changes to the pet line. Sometimes I run a pet/warrior build on my W/R for fun in PvE, the energy is a bitch without attunement runes and vamp weapon.

Well thought out! ANet should use this as a jumping off point for revising the Ranger.

As with the Dervish, have to re-balance all the mobs with Rangers. Otherwise the npc mob Rangers blow everyone to pieces. Turns into huge job.

Depends on how much staff ANet can put on the job, assuming they decide to do it at some point.

Very nice indeed, especially like the part about squeezing the most out of conditions.

And call of haste would be good, you shouldn't sacrifice an elite to make up for a poorly implemented pathing.

I REALLY like your suggestion about traps. Make them more powerful and limit how many can be active. That way they see use in team play, but not for gimmicky farming. Brilliant!

This actually makes traps worse, especially in a team. I'll explain my reasoning rather than leaving an unspecified negative response.

The recharges and some of the energy costs have been lowered, but their activation and easily interrupted condition remain. Also, the increase to damage is negligible on a skill with a 15 second recharge (17, if you count activation), and they all have that "after 5 seconds" condition, which also make them easily avoidable. It's also too long. Things should be dead or dying after 5 seconds anyway. Limiting trap stacking works if the traps are worth bringing, but these traps are not, excepting Smoke Trap.

I just got an idea regarding the unreliable pet-attacks (especially for rupts):


* pet attack skills activate instantly or with 0.25/0.5 sec delay (or the delay is depending on your beast mastery attribute), but there's no need to wait for the next pet auto attack to execute the pet attack, nor does the pet lose an auto attack when activating a skill.
* to prevent spikes by activating multiple pet attack skills at once, your pet attack skills are deactivated for 1 second after you activated one (like the flash enchantments)
* pets get a lower auto-attack rate (if needed for balancing issues)

so, to illustrate the idea on a timeline (a=auto attack, s=pet attack skill, -=pause)

a-----a-----a-----a----a---- (pet is only auto attacking)
a-s---a----sa-----a----a--s- (auto attacks + skills)

Traps are too OP. It covers almost the entire bar. Now you make them more powerful. Wouldn't that defeat the whole purpose of the nerf?

I suggest lowering the max trap to 3 or below. No Ranger should have the need to bring more than one trap for utility purpose in battle, especially with a long cast time.

Ferocious Strike, Cause you know Rangers Have Adrenal based skills and need Adren like ATT!!

i only have one thing to ad.....

barrage/volley should NOT negate preparations

That would make it from an okay skill to a great skill and it really would make sense considering the global powercreep of a lot of professions (loldwg).

Magebane-> Godbane:10e 1/2c 5r: disable all other skills for 10s. Shot a ring of arrows that interrupt all foes within earshot. Interrupted spells are disabled for 10s and make the Godbane recharge instantly.

I don't have ranger for PvE, but i know when a prof need a rework(ele here).
Nice work, indeed.
I like ideas for pets and some party effects on some skills.
Traps, even if buffed like hell, will always be a very niche way of play imo...
And even if i agree on the need of a change for it, Barrage with preps would be insane...if it have preps applied to 6 arrows, it should have some other downside imo(idk, disables some skills or itself, lose preps after used barrage, things like this). Just my opinions.

i could agree with that... maybe a higher recharge time, more energy to cast, disables non attack skills. but the whole lose preps after the barrage... kinda still dont agree with that, most preps dont last more than 30 secs anyway

Well, it was just random tought.

Honestly though, which preps would you use with Barrage/Volley? RtW? Ignite?

You might have a valit point there. I think however that with an maximum of 6 traps, a skill that makes them cast up to 100% faster and makes them recharge as soon as they are interupted they have becoume more powerfull. The reason I made the damage activate after 5 secconds is because I hate it when it (used to) takes a lot of time to put down your traps, and you see it all going to waste because 1 little foe was just a bit faster than the rest.

Also most NPC's aren't smart enough to evate the damage after 5 secconds.


I respect your opinions, however I do not agree with it.



And for al those people to thinks Barrage shouldn't remove preperations. I think Barrage itself is a great skill, never had many problems with it removing preperations. I really like the spamability of the skill. But I guess you could make it activate first and after that remove the preperation.

But I would rather have that they change the range of the arrows from adjecent to nearby.

PVE Builds and skills have generally become more powerfull in every single campaign while mobs stayed somewhat the same. TBH i thought the game was a lot more fun before the PVE skills skewered every single balance in game. Leaving NPC's to become a bit hellish is just a good thing

And after the dervish update, most mobs just feel weaker then ever before. I remember fearing the Titans a bit because you got triple\quadruple sand shards and KD on top of eachother. Enough to allmost wipe the team at times

Foward seeing Anet using some toughts and ideas of this thread. Not saying they need to add updates all the time. We had great Dervish update but along that they changed couple other skills too. Maybe they could change skills little by little by every update. Even 1-5 everytime they release "Updated the Automated Tournament map rotation.".

Nice ideas tho!

Would be cool if they actually incorporated barrage/volley into part of expertise. Make every 3rd or 4th rank fire an additional arrow to adjacent foes. You could then bring preps and another elite but the elites effect would only apply to the arrow hitting the original target.

There was a reason EoE was nerfed with the 90% health. It was used in HA to nuke the opposing team once they came in range. Even if they split it I dont think it would be a good idea bc it would become a gimmick in PvE.

Call of haste needs to stay the way it is.
If you want pets to shadowstep change something else, or just take Strike as One. CoH with it's boost is already helpful.

Your Symbiosis is going to create God mode. Some abuses are "Save Yourselves" with "There's nothing to fear" and then Symbiosis to reduce the damage further. Assassins with shadowform can also get someone to bring Symbiosis for them which will basically end any threat they could possibly have as with shadowform already reducing damage symbiosis will reduce it further, Sins will just sit nice and pretty. One example was making the party near unkillable, the other was for the assassin. Even in area's with enchantment removal the enemies have to take your enchantments down before they're really going to do any damage to you, and with any smart play you'll have relatively easy to place enchantments with you.
Your Symbiotic bond also reduces damage too much at later levels. The pet already takes less damage inherently and then also Symbiotic bonds mechanics make it take armor into account already. Tune the numbers.

Mostly for nature rituals their issues weren't really adressed they were just changed.
Long recharge skills with effects that apply both-ways meaning your party needs to be able to capitalize on this benefit, they are not necessarily general skills.

I also do not think you carried out Traps correctly. Even if improved traps are not something you use in the middle of a battle and outside of a battle you need to lure the enemies into a trap which is tedious and mostly ineffective for what the rest of the party brings. In addition why not just say "you can't have more then 6 traps" at once from the beginning instead of having this requirement to have the 6 traps? With low wilderness survival the traps still won't compare to high level WS traps if the fear was someone having 12 expertise, 12 marksmanship and 8 WS for example, that's still not a big enough deal to justify the progressive limit in my opinion. If traps had static damage or something it would make more sense from my perspective to have a limit like you explain but since the damage already scales with WS, the limit seems pointless.

For roaring winds. Keep it like it currently is in game, but drop that recharge to 30. Then put "Ranged attacks have an additional 30% chance to miss"

Nature rituals in general take far too long to recharge so we correct that first, since you want this thing to be somewhat mobile. We keep it as it is, so shouts and chants cost more energy, that's fine. Then we put "Ranged attacks have an additional 30% chance to miss" and the additional part means it stacks with winds, but the key thing is that Ranger characters have Asuran Scan to ignore the drawback. This means you can reduce damage from enemy projectile users while using Asuran scan to keep your own damage up. Also why increase lightning damage of all things? Is it not already making enough damage with DwG and Invoke intensity?

I would like to see every BM elite except Lacerate bring your Pet along with you.
As well I would like the current iteration of Revive Animal to bring your pet along with you.
Finally I would just change the Pet attack mechanics to cancel the pets current attack so that they can use the pet attack immediately instead of after their current attack.
Pet's already do some pretty good damage, considering you can buff them.

Melandru's assault could hit twice for that +20 damage imo.

Also don't change kindle arrows.
I want to use Greater conflageration with Winter, with Kindle arrows, kthx.

I think for PvE, just make trapper's Speed make traps recharge 50% faster (from it's current 25%) instead of mechanic changes and we can call it a day. For general play they'll take too long to set for average parties for h/h you can move at your own tempo and micro everbody successfully to get what you want.
Sure we could make them mechanicly different, but why bother? They'll be fine if you can get them to recharge 50% faster. It's also less messy and pretty fluid, just create Trapper's Speed (PvE) where it goes 50% faster.
Trappers focus could make your traps cost 3 less energy.
Snare should be an in the area affect instead of nearby.


Pets really just need an Ai improvement everything else for them is pretty much fine. If that pause between the initial attack is removed for one, greatly improved. Pets don't really need more +damage skills, they just need to work.

unlike most people, i still like to use conditions, so a barrage of bleeding/poison looks interesting to me
ignite and kindle would be a nice addon to a fire barrage

there might be a few preparations that should be stripped during a barrage for "balance" purposes, RtW and expert focus jump to mind, but over all the ranger class does need some tweaking and changes to the BM line just aren't enough

another possibility would be to allow 2 preparations to stack.

Some changes are interesting , but they would also need to change pet's IA , which is almost as crap as heroes. And i know what i'm talking about( I will quote again hero battles , but well since many played 3 r/ps there , they know about pet stucked and not moving for 5mn , pet not attacking , pet not using skill when clicked , etc....)

Pet AI definitely needs tweaking but that's it.

As far as the skills go they are fine as is. A r/p puts massive amounts of pressure on a target. 9/10 monks cant handle it and either they die or their team starts dying bc they have to heal themselves constantly. Only times they survive is when pet AI fails or they are a pro high ranked monk.

Hoping that it could be done with the meele heores AI fix, that should came with 7 heroes update....