R/W v.s W/R

gordongraydon

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

any suggestions/build ideas for the R/W class vs the W/R

strengths weaknesses of both?

monty123

monty123

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Feb 2006

Michigan

None Currently

W/

W/R Because you can ascend and than change to w/n and solo GrenthsFootprint/SF.

But other than no other reasons

lzlz

lzlz

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

LA, CA

R/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by gordongraydon
any suggestions/build ideas for the R/W class vs the W/R

strengths weaknesses of both? If you use melee weapons --> W/R
If you use bows --> R/W

Think what you need the most --> AL or Energy

Barnoc

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Mar 2006

Pass the Mug {MUG}

I'm not using either for PvP, so I can't offer any advice in that area.

I have a Ranger/Warrior (Hammer/Beast) that is a lot of fun as a caster protector/second tank in PvE. I understand that the combo is often called a "bunny thumper". The lower armor is a small problem when he's moved into the primary tank role, but if the group understand the method of play we can do well. The expertise mojo supply really helps this weapon / skill combo. Don't believe all the "if you don't use bow, don't go ranger" talk. A lot of good ranger combos are not marksmanship based. Ranger/Necro (vampiric touch rangers), for instance, are very-very fun to play.

My Warrior/Ranger is using Axe/Tactics/Wilderness Survival to make him fantastic PvE tank. I really like him in that role, but he's not "flashy" in any way. You have a few really nice defensive options, and the pet helps as well. If you like being a meat-shield, this is a very strong way to do it.

Effigy

Effigy

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Illinois, US

Heroes of Talia [HoT]

Mo/

For axe, the W/R is pretty much going to be better, hands down. Sword is pretty much the same, although it does have a few more energy attacks.

Hammer is the main reason to make a melee R/W, since it allows you to spam Irresistable Blow and Tiger's Fury. TF is also useful on axe and sword warriors, but Frenzy is generally a better substitute.

lzlz

lzlz

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

LA, CA

R/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Barnoc
I'm not using either for PvP, so I can't offer any advice in that area.

I have a Ranger/Warrior (Hammer/Beast) that is a lot of fun as a caster protector/second tank in PvE. I understand that the combo is often called a "bunny thumper". The lower armor is a small problem when he's moved into the primary tank role, but if the group understand the method of play we can do well. The expertise mojo supply really helps this weapon / skill combo. Don't believe all the "if you don't use bow, don't go ranger" talk. A lot of good ranger combos are not marksmanship based. Ranger/Necro (vampiric touch rangers), for instance, are very-very fun to play.

My Warrior/Ranger is using Axe/Tactics/Wilderness Survival to make him fantastic PvE tank. I really like him in that role, but he's not "flashy" in any way. You have a few really nice defensive options, and the pet helps as well. If you like being a meat-shield, this is a very strong way to do it. Indeed, the logic behind is that if you use bow, you should never consider to be a W/R, as you'll have much restricted energy.

For sure R/W can use melee. Many R/W can do well in PVP because they can evade, blind, poison, dodge...etc. Thus making use of both the high damage output of melee weapons from Warrior, and the self-protecting (actually evade or run-away) skills from Ranger. But most R/W may have forgotten that they cannot access to the Melee weapon runes. Therefore, their max attribute on the weapon mastery can only be 12. And as a R/W, you basically do not have any skills to increase your damage (if you use melee) unless Tiger's Fury (to attack faster) and Poison (with constant degen). R/W usually get owned by W/N because of their failure in blinding or poisoning the Warrior + the fact that they have weaker armor + lower damage output than most warriors. This makes a melee R/W not in a favorable situation when comparing to a typical W/R Axe warrior. Unless you can evade most of the time, otherwise R/W will be much less effective in terms of damage output in a group.

However, R/W is fun to play especially when you are fighting some dumb and new warriors in RA who don't know how to deal with your blind/evade/poison skills. But when you meet an experienced player, there isn't much space for a R/W to stand in front of tradiationl melee Warrior.

As I have mentioned a million times in my other posts, don't always trust people in the forum, especially in choosing weapon/skills/professions. You can treat the info as a reference but not just follow the guide blindly. Just follow your own mind and preference. Enjoy the game is the most important.

Many job combinations can be fun to play with. But if gordongraydon is asking strictly between W/R and R/W, I will say go W/R for melee and R/W for bows. You can use melee for R/W. Just it has less damage output. But W/R using a bow is a really bad idea.

sh4ft3d

sh4ft3d

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2005

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...

Frank Ought To Monk [FotM]

W/

^ Exactly as Iziz said. R/W is really fun for RA.

gordongraydon

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

thnx for replying, i have decided to not make a R/W mainly because of lack of access to warrior runes. you have a really good point there

thanx for replying everyone

Kamahl The Great

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Mar 2006

Armageddon Warriorz

W/Me

R/W I'd say, R/W you can do alot with that people dont seem to see alot of the time. ie. Farm Minotaurs, Hydras, Imps(/me is better though), FoW

And R/W In PvP using sword stances/ripostes will destroy a warrior about 90% of the time

lzlz

lzlz

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

LA, CA

R/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamahl The Great
And R/W In PvP using sword stances/ripostes will destroy a warrior about 90% of the time If the warrior is stupid enough to:
- attack another warrior in PVP (unless you are the last one left)
- keep attacking the warrior if he/she knows that you are using riposte(s)

A smart warrior will just go away, dance for a while, and leave the job for the casters. Or, if you have strong equipment + high damage + high health, just keep attacking even they have ripostes. I can't recall how many times I kill warriors with Glad Defense, riposte, plague touch, mending, healing breeze....all those skills that they think they can use to "own" another warriors.

PVP requires tactics and strategy, not just attack a target blindly without studying what skills your foes are using and their weakness. After certain practices, you will be able to tell the build your foes are using and their weakness within seconds, and change your tactics accordingly.

Effigy

Effigy

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Illinois, US

Heroes of Talia [HoT]

Mo/

R/W can blind, poison, use a pet and so on, but the real reason for making a melee R/W is Expertise, which allows you to spam otherwise costly skills. This is why hammer is a good choice: has several energy attacks and is more about utility than outright damage (hence the runes are less of an issue). A R/W may only be able to get 12 Hammer Mastery, but they can chain KDs just as well or better, with some other tricks up their sleeve to boot. Spamming Irresistable Blow for 2e a pop should easily compensate for the extra attribute points a W/* would have. And not taking double damage from Frenzy helps compensate for having weaker armor.

Timmeh

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Mar 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by lzlz
For sure R/W can use melee. Many R/W can do well in PVP because they can evade, blind, poison, dodge...etc. Thus making use of both the high damage output of melee weapons from Warrior, and the self-protecting (actually evade or run-away) skills from Ranger. But most R/W may have forgotten that they cannot access to the Melee weapon runes. Therefore, their max attribute on the weapon mastery can only be 12. And as a R/W, you basically do not have any skills to increase your damage (if you use melee) unless Tiger's Fury (to attack faster) and Poison (with constant degen).
Quote:
Originally Posted by lzlz
PVP requires tactics and strategy, not just attack a target blindly without studying what skills your foes are using and their weakness. After certain practices, you will be able to tell the build your foes are using and their weakness within seconds, and change your tactics accordingly. It certainly does take tactics and strategy, although you don't really get those 2 behind r/w hammer. The ranger part is not at all for the running away/evading etc, the 2 main reason for r/w
1) 24/7 TF (which a warrior can't rly do)
2) Bigger energy pool (handy for hammer attacks)

The 2 advantages will result in an almost constant knocking down, but with way smaller dmg then a warrior can. If the ranger brings a pet 2, with call of haste, he gets in enourmous amounts of small hits (-> prot spirit/rof is useless vs it)

In other words. The "bunny thumper" is not suited for instant high dmg attacks, as would be the case in spike teams for instance, but for a presure dmg team. With a constant degen of some sort, and 2 monks sitting on their ass half the time, well, you do the math.

Cade

Cade

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2006

Knights of The Scorched Earth

W/

I say W/R, because strength skills are pretty good in many ways, and expertise are not.

Effigy

Effigy

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Illinois, US

Heroes of Talia [HoT]

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cade
I say W/R, because strength skills are pretty good in many ways, and expertise are not. In PvP, the only Strength skills you'll probably be using are Sprint and maybe Bull's Strike. Sprint is easily replaced by Storm Chaser and Bull's Strike can be dropped for other hammer KDs.

Expertise gives you Throw Dirt and Whirling Defense in addition to reduced energy costs.

For PvE the warrior armor and absorption are generally more useful, but in PvP the hammer R/W has a definite advantage.

Timmeh

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Mar 2006

It's not so much the expertise skills that help. It's the reduced energy cost because of the expertise, it makes TF / hammer skills etc. spammable.

I also believe ranger has 1 more pip of energy regen (but i'm not sure on this). Anyway, you can even ditch a zealots hammer for a 5/1 vamp or sundering hammer for instance.

Anyway. R/W or W/R - in pvp anyway - is just based on what you want to acomplish with it -> W/R lots of dmg, or R/W lots of knockdowns.

edit: Ranger can also get 16 in beast mastery, making the pet do really decent damage.

PrincessAki

PrincessAki

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

Cantha

Royal Blood [RB]

W/

Regarding Timmeh's posts ---

Hammer is the most effective weapon that a "Bunny Thumper" can use. The only reason that you will want to be a R/W is that you would like to utilize the evade/dodge skills. No ranger can survive on the frontline without any evade skills. That's why they are designed to use range attack (bows). I will say a R/W must evade 24/7 or else it is just like suiciding. 70 base armor without a shield and fighting on the frontline...you can calculate the damage.

Knockdown is becoming a less issue in PVP as more people starting to bring skills which will avoid knockdown, which further makes hammer less effective in PVP.

It will be a very bad idea to put 16 attributes into Beast Mastery just because you want your pet to fight for you. In my opinion, pet is useless in PVP except for the IWAY build. Did you ever see any Pet in GVG?

As for the conditions like blinding and poison, W/N with Plague Touch will give you back everything.

In many cases, a build works in places like Random Arena doesn't mean that build works. It maybe because your opponents are weak, your teammates are strong, or simply you are lucky.

I will say R/W is fun to play in Random Arena. You will be able to kill many warriors who are new to this game. Afterall, IMO Ranger with bows will be much stronger (at least much higher damage) than a Ranger with Melee weapons.

GooD KaRmA

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Mar 2006

HH

W/R

I love when a R/W tries to hit my W/R with a hammer, usually when I'm chasing the monk. Nothing better then killing him in 5 hits while he does his little tigers fury for damage usually under 30. Sure he can blind me or try to evade but he's just buying himself time. It's even better when a somebody uses frenzy in pvp, the other day I hit a warrior with a power shot for 160 damage....

Katari

Katari

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Upstate

Me/

Quote:
Originally Posted by PrincessAki
I will say a R/W must evade 24/7 or else it is just like suiciding. 70 base armor without a shield and fighting on the frontline...you can calculate the damage.
Thumpers don't really need evasion/block stances any more than a bow ranger would in PvP. How many cripshot rangers do you see spaming evade/block stances?
Quote: Originally Posted by PrincessAki Knockdown is becoming a less issue in PVP as more people starting to bring skills which will avoid knockdown, which further makes hammer less effective in PVP. Right, like the hordes of /W casters using balanced stance, and eles with Ward of Stability.
Quote: Originally Posted by PrincessAki It will be a very bad idea to put 16 attributes into Beast Mastery just because you want your pet to fight for you. In my opinion, pet is useless in PVP except for the IWAY build. Did you ever see any Pet in GVG? I've seen some rather highly-ranked guilds run a bunch of Thumpers as their offense, each R/W had a pet.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PrincessAki
I will say R/W is fun to play in Random Arena. You will be able to kill many warriors who are new to this game. Afterall, IMO Ranger with bows will be much stronger (at least much higher damage) than a Ranger with Melee weapons. Warriors are not what Thumpers are designed to target, casters are.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GooD KaRmA

I hit a warrior with a power shot for 160 damage.... Power shot? People use that skill? You must have caught him doing the frenzsig combo. Hurray for RA!

PrincessAki

PrincessAki

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

Cantha

Royal Blood [RB]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Katari
Thumpers don't really need evasion/block stances any more than a bow ranger would in PvP. How many cripshot rangers do you see spaming evade/block stances?
Show me one single R/W Thumpers build that doesn't have any Evade/Block skills or Blinding/Poison skills, and they can actually fight and survive in PVP/GVG. Then we'll talk.

They have nerfed crippling shot and many people have dumped this skill already. Did they tell you?

Quote:
I've seen some rather highly-ranked guilds run a bunch of Thumpers as their offense, each R/W had a pet. Sorry, I watch GVG match everyday and they lost almost every single time in GVG. Name the "high-rank" guilds with R/W (using melee) and pets.

Quote:
Warriors are not what Thumpers are designed to target, casters are. I didn't say Warriors are the target of Thumpers. Aren't we comparing the builds between W/R and R/W only?

Both Warriors and Thumpers are attacking the casters. But W/R will be much more effective than R/W to kill a caster, especially with your argument that R/W doesn't need any evade/block skills

70 base AL with no shield with no evade/block skills and you are planning to kill a caster.....

JR

JR

Re:tired

Join Date: Nov 2005

W/

In terms of melee:

R/W = More pressure.
W/R = More spike.

Asuming R/W is hammer, as that is by far the most effective melee Ranger weapon.

So in a build with a load of pressure (like Rifts Fire Eles/Minions build) it might be a good idea to throw a R/W Thumper in. In a build which focuses more on adren spiking, W/R would be the way forward.

Gimmick builds with multiple thumpers are amusing to watch, but not particularly good.

SparhawkJC

SparhawkJC

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2006

The Amazon Basin

R/Me

PrincessAki do you even pvp? A common thumper build that doesn't use evade/block skill or poison/blind? Hammer Bash, Irresistable Blow, Ferocious Strike, Tiger's Fury, Heal Sig, Comfort Animal, Charm Animal, Res Sig. A couple of the European Guilds use a team full of these to capture HoH so don't even question its viability. Besides what are you going to dodge from a caster? Afraid of being wanded to death?

Crip Shot is still a very good skill. Treacherous Empire and War Machine still have a Crip Shot Blackout ranger in their builds, so um....who are these all these people you're talking about who have dumped Crip Shot? If you're talking about the RA rangers, then that's fine. It's in the full 8v8 where tactics actually count that Crip Shot shines.

Further note, watching PvP doesn't come close to letting you know what PvP is really like. As someone famous once said, "There's a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path."

Destruction Exile

Destruction Exile

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Feb 2006

VA

Heavens Death Knights

W/E

If you talking about a Hammer head on, a W/R would win due to the higher armor. Reflex skills is kinda worth less when you use Despruting blows.

lzlz

lzlz

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

LA, CA

R/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by SparhawkJC
PrincessAki do you even pvp? A common thumper build that doesn't use evade/block skill or poison/blind? Hammer Bash, Irresistable Blow, Ferocious Strike, Tiger's Fury, Heal Sig, Comfort Animal, Charm Animal, Res Sig. A couple of the European Guilds use a team full of these to capture HoH so don't even question its viability. Besides what are you going to dodge from a caster? Afraid of being wanded to death?

Crip Shot is still a very good skill. Treacherous Empire and War Machine still have a Crip Shot Blackout ranger in their builds, so um....who are these all these people you're talking about who have dumped Crip Shot? If you're talking about the RA rangers, then that's fine. It's in the full 8v8 where tactics actually count that Crip Shot shines.

Further note, watching PvP doesn't come close to letting you know what PvP is really like. As someone famous once said, "There's a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path." "Hammer Bash, Irresistable Blow, Ferocious Strike, Tiger's Fury, Heal Sig, Comfort Animal, Charm Animal, Res Sig"

So tell me how you're going to distribute your attributes. You only have two Hammer attack skills (hammer mastery), Healing Signet (tactics), and four skills from Beast Mastery. And what is your pet evolution? I hope your answer is Dire. And your Beast Mastery?

Do you exactly know the tactics and role for a "bunny thumper"? Your build is lack of attack power and interupt skills.

I agree that cripple shot is a good skill but many guilds haven't used it or fully utilized it in their build after it's being nerfed. EvIL used to have two crippling rangers but they didn't even bring a ranger in this new season. I didn't see the R/Me you mentioned in WM. Do you know the player's name and the game he/she played in?

Eaimirth Etaivella

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Seekers of the Apocalypse

E/

I would dump heal sig so one could accomplish a 3 way stat split; and why no brutal strike?

swordfisher

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Sep 2005

I usually run without heal sig, with 9 expertise 14 bm and 12 hammer. In its place goes brutal strike/disrupting strike. The alternate is the tactics thumper, often running charge, possibly shields up (metagame), and gets to bring heal sig. One I can remember is-

Charge!*
Heal Sig
Hammer Bash
Irresistable Blow
Crushing Blow
Distracting Blow
Tigers Fury
rez sig

Hammer at 12, expertise at 7+1+1, BM at 6+3, tactics at 9. That gets 9 seconds out of Charge! and 107 health from Heal Sig. Distracting blow can be subbed out.

By the way, these things do not lack attack power. They can't take down a warrior head to head, but they dish consistent damage to a soft target while offering disruption. Tigers Fury pwns, especially when it's consta-stanced (this build has a 9 second Fury, the one below probably goes for 11).

Point is, don't badmouth the Thumper if you don't want to lose teeth. =)

PrincessAki

PrincessAki

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

Cantha

Royal Blood [RB]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by SparhawkJC
PrincessAki do you even pvp? A common thumper build that doesn't use evade/block skill or poison/blind? Hammer Bash, Irresistable Blow, Ferocious Strike, Tiger's Fury, Heal Sig, Comfort Animal, Charm Animal, Res Sig. A couple of the European Guilds use a team full of these to capture HoH so don't even question its viability. Besides what are you going to dodge from a caster? Afraid of being wanded to death? Did I ever say that a Bunny Thumper needs any evade/block/poison/dodge skills? If you have read my posts properly, what I'm saying is that Bunny Thumper isn't as powerful as W/R in PVP simply because it doesn't have any evade/block/poison/dodge skills.

What are the main advantages/characteristics of ranger? Think about it. A Bunny Thumper only utilizes the pet skills without accessing to any other other much more powerful ranger's skills. Comparing to a W/R with pet, and comparing to the crippling+poison+bleeding Bow Ranger, Bunny Thumper is much weaker and less powerful, especially considering a build like yours.

What is that? Healing Signet? Are you kidding me? So are you going to put 12+ on Beast Mastery, 10+ on Tactics, and then...10+ on Hammer Mastery? What kind of build is that?

People love pretending that they are experienced in PVP when they've read those templates in guildwiki and think they will do good. Use your build to play more and then we'll talk.

Thumper is fun to play in PVP, but when you are comparing to W/R or a Bow Ranger (as asked by the first poster), they will certainly have disadvantages.

PrincessAki

PrincessAki

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

Cantha

Royal Blood [RB]

W/

Comparing the three builds:

W/R (e.g. IWAY Axe Warrior)
- Attack Skill
- Attack Skill
- Elite Attack Skill
- IWAY
- Utility Skill
- Spirit / Sprint (depends)
- Charm Animal
- Rez Signet

Characteristic: High defense (as compared to R/*), High damage/spiking power, High Attack Speed (IWAY), some Self-healing ability (IWAY). Utilize much of the Warrior's advantages with the use of pet.

R/W (e.g. Bunny Thumper)
- Attack Skill
- Attack Skill
- Attack Skill (maybe elite)
- Attack Speed Skill
- Pet Skill
- Pet Skill (maybe elite)
- Charm Animal
- Rez Signet

Characteristic: A lot of interuption (if you use hammer), with pet helping you to attack/interupt, lack of self-healing ability, much lower defense (esp if you use hammer), no self-defending skills (i.e. evade/block), relatively less damage

R/* (Crippling/Interupt/Degen Ranger)
- Degen Skill
- Attack Skill
- Elite Attack Skill
- Interupt Skill
- Attack Skill/Evade/Running Skill
- Evade Skill/Blinding Skill
- Regen/Healing Skill
- Rez Signet

Characteristics: A lot of degen, high damage, a lot of interuption, self-healing ability, self-defending ability, range attack, much more flexible, receive less damage (because of range attack + evade skills)

Sorry, but W/R and Bow Rangers win

Stick with your Healing Signet lol

SparhawkJC

SparhawkJC

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2006

The Amazon Basin

R/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by PrincessAki
Show me one single R/W Thumpers build that doesn't have any Evade/Block skills or Blinding/Poison skills, and they can actually fight and survive in PVP/GVG. Then we'll talk. I'm sorry to say that I can't claim credit for that build. It was a skill list that I remembered off of one of the European Bunny Thumper teams that won Halls over the weekend, so I can't say their att distribution for certain. I was simply quoting it as an example for a Thumper build that didn't use any of your conditions.

WM was using a Cripshot ranger in the first round of the playoffs this weekend. While we're on the topic of the playoffs EvIL was almost knocked out because Te had a good CripShot Blackout ranger who kept the warriors in check and the casters interrupted. If Paladin hadn't been disconnected close to the end of the third match, the win could have easily been in Te's.

One on one, a w/r will rip the face off a thumper. However since PvP is a team sport there are advantages to using a thumper. IWAY requires your whole team to be built around it and has little flexibility concerning party members and skill choices. Thumpers on the other hand can be inserted into a balanced team as a secondary warrior or have a full team build dedicated to utilizing their skills. Another advantage of the thumper is that because of their investment in Beast Mastery their pet is actually a threat. While you can relatively ignore an IWAYer's pet, you have to watch out for the possible pet attacks that the thumper has. Even with pet AI as dumb as it is, having to watch for 2 dangerous attackers on you is a lot harder to avoid that 1 dangerous threat and his sidekick.

This isn't to say that one is inferior to the other, but rather that the two builds have different roles and playstyles. Both are viable but to compare the two would be like comparing apples to oranged.

PrincessAki

PrincessAki

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

Cantha

Royal Blood [RB]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by SparhawkJC
I'm sorry to say that I can't claim credit for that build. It was a skill list that I remembered off of one of the European Bunny Thumper teams that won Halls over the weekend, so I can't say their att distribution for certain. I was simply quoting it as an example for a Thumper build that didn't use any of your conditions.
Have you ever won HA? A Bunny Thumper team won it doesn't mean anything. I can't remember how many times I won with a random and unbalanced team. I know Thumper doesn't use any of those conditions. Did you actually read my posts? I have pointed out why I think Thumper sucks simply because they don't use those more powerful skills like other Rangers.

Quote:
WM was using a Cripshot ranger in the first round of the playoffs this weekend. While we're on the topic of the playoffs EvIL was almost knocked out because Te had a good CripShot Blackout ranger who kept the warriors in check and the casters interrupted. If Paladin hadn't been disconnected close to the end of the third match, the win could have easily been in Te's.
This is one of the most pointless assumptions you can ever made. EvIL has poor teamwork in the matches with Te because they rarely change their playing style and team formation. And most importantly, they have wasted a W/E (Last of Master) to keep capturing the flag tower without really participating in the fight. While on the other hand, Te has an E/Me specifically for capturing flag tower who can also keep using blinding flash and such to assist his team and help shutting down EvIL's warriors. Te has two axe warriors who work very well as a double team in spiking EvIL's monks, mesmers, and elementalists. While EvIL's tactics mainly is to split the warriors into two squads on pressuring from different sides.

It is the most stupid assumptions to say that Te could have won just because they have a ranger with cripple shot. This is a teamwork. Watch the 3 games again. Number the times that the R/Me has used Cripple shot. Can you see that ranger actually uses a lot of poison and blackout to assist his team?

And, thanks for reassuring what I said that W/R and Bow Ranger (uses condition skills) >>> Bunny Thumper

Quote:
One on one, a w/r will rip the face off a thumper. However since PvP is a team sport there are advantages to using a thumper. IWAY requires your whole team to be built around it and has little flexibility concerning party members and skill choices. Thumpers on the other hand can be inserted into a balanced team as a secondary warrior or have a full team build dedicated to utilizing their skills. Another advantage of the thumper is that because of their investment in Beast Mastery their pet is actually a threat. While you can relatively ignore an IWAYer's pet, you have to watch out for the possible pet attacks that the thumper has. Even with pet AI as dumb as it is, having to watch for 2 dangerous attackers on you is a lot harder to avoid that 1 dangerous threat and his sidekick. Who is going to ask W/R to one-on-one with Bunny Thumper? That is pointless. If Bunny Thumper team is as good as you have argued, then why there isn't one single team using them in the seasonal playoff? And their pet is a "threat"? lol So you mean the pets from IWAY team have a "dumber" AI than the pets of Bunny Thumper? What is the logic behind?

Quote:
This isn't to say that one is inferior to the other, but rather that the two builds have different roles and playstyles. Both are viable but to compare the two would be like comparing apples to oranged. For sure they have different playing styles. I have pointed it out in my last two posts already. Please read. And I have analyzed very clearly that Bunny Thumper is generally weaker than W/R and Bow Ranger because of all the points I have pointed out in my last posts.

By the way, the Bunny Thumper team you mentioned in HA usually have at least 6 R/W. There are some other variation like VIM R/W + W/R team. They always won HA too. But it's just another special teams like the IWAY, N/E Life Stealing, Me/Mo, Minion Factory...etc. I see it pointless to say a certain build is good if it works as a team. We are comparing the build individually, not a team formation.

Afterall, if you replace the W/* in Te and EvIL with Bunny Thumpers, I'm sure both teams will suck really bad. Bunny Thumper can be hardly utilized in a balanced team like EvIL and Te.

As you have famously quoted "There's a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path", I hope you did really play a Bunny Thumper before and you know how it works.

Don't tell me that you did, the build you mentioned in your last post is just hilarious. Don't blame those European Thumper Teams. You should certainly "know/walk the path" before you try to talk to somebody who walks the path as a routine everyday.