Weak Ranger or normal?

no need to rebuild, just use your refund points...

The problem is you ARE spreading your points too thin.

The ONLY time I've ever did a 5 point spread was on my mes/nec a while back and that's when I realized it's NOT going to do crap...

9/9/9/7/7
with runes:
11/10/10/7/7

Just not worth it

Just go 4 stat spread

10+2 weapon/9+1 primary stat/7+1 backup stat/10 from secondary profession

I am also close to where you are. I am also finding that henchies are ones best freinds at times. I ran Serpent's yesterday with a group and none had done the mission before. I was the only one and I told them to take it slow as it wasn't as easy as others before it. We lasted a whole 2 minutes max. They all just ran straight at the first tower and went down in flames!! I left that group and am wondering if henchies wouldn't be better. Anyways getting back to your question. On the Home page here there is a "Builds Directory", located in the Left Column, that has allot of information on different classes and subclassses and the skills they recomend. I have change my W/Mo to one of the settings in this "Build Directory" and so far I am being somewhat successful.

I'd get rid of the beast mastery.. i hate pets.

Playing with henchies takes practice and the right selection - I frequently don't even bother taking the tanks along (Stefan and Thom) as they aggro too much for my taste, so my ranger is backed up by all missle users - the advantage is that they stay in a nice clump, so Healing Spring works wonders on them. (yes, even in the fire islands I sometimes go out with a party of 7, as I refuse to have Tweedledum and Tweedledee along for the ride - I do better without a tank for the most part)

I don't use any secondary profession skills, which you'll find is actually pretty common for rangers. I also have been using a superior rune in my armour to milk a bit more out of my stats - I'm fine losing a bit of health so long as I have the +3 to an ability. Rangers are not just about dealing damage in my book - if all you want is damage there are probably better classes to play; my current normal adventuring buiild is typically an 11/11/8/3 or 12/9/9/3 though I sometimes play around with it - I like having the really high expertise (13 or 14, depending on the build) and the 3 is for a 3+1 beastmastery so I can get a 7 second tiger's fury - not necessary but bumps your attack rate up nicely, and getting it up to a 6+1 beastmastery seems a bit much.

I find I reskill a lot, depending on what I am facing. I'll frequently bring choking gas, as it is effective agaisnt caster groups, particualry for taking on hydras for example. I often have a trap of some sort along, barbed is a nice one, allowing me to trap and then pull enemies into a trap or tow (or in bad sitaution, more) as well as allowing me the option of using it in combat - if I am in an area with more melee enemies I'll pack Throw Dirt or a Dirt trap, and I'll generally have a defensive stance of some sort. It really depends, but playing with it helps a lot.

Rangers are great fun, and their power is in their flexibility - Wilderness survival is a great skill line - what other class has defense, offense, healing (self and group), interrupts, conditions, energy management and skill recharge modifiers all in one attribute? The thing with the ranger is that it doesn't really hit its stride in game until you are high level - the breakpoints at 12 and 14 expertise for a 10 cost skill and the breakpoint at 13 for a 5 cost skill are so important to be able to truly use your attacks. Message me in game if you wish, I set up a Ranger party the other day for Ring of Fire and we beat it handily, it might be instructive to see how other rangers are playing their characters - I won't say that a secondary isn't a good thing - it can work well for you, but you will need a high score in marksmanship and expertise to be using a bow with any amount of effectiveness, so you pretty much get one more nice attribute and wilderness survival has a lot going for it, so you should have a good reason to not use it

As a R/Ele unless using a pet (which can be an utter waste of skill slots) I would get rid of Beast Mastery....And go with Marks or Widerness... You have to take into account what it is you actually want to accomplish...and use refund points for that.. Are you wanting to be a ranger or a mesmer with a bow?

13/9/7/7/5 is definitely spread way too thin. Ranger is a jack-of-all-trades profession, but they need to be at least somewhat focused. What skills do you use Ooma? Maybe we can make suggestions as to what line to cut out and a possible replacement skills?

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Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I agree I will have to be more focussed.

I've been trying the Crystal Desert without a pet for the last 3 hours and this seems to take some of the strain off the healers (my 54 heal pet is inadequate). So I can see he'll have to go. Damn, I miss him already...perhaps I should get a cat...a real one.

The skills I use most frequently at the moment are Hunter's Shot, Conjure Phantasm with Apply Poison for 'quick' health degeneration (I think they stack), Favourable Winds, Ignite Arrows (for fleshless types), either epidemic/arcane theivery or backfire, Healing Spring and the last slot is taken up with Signet of Capture.

I very much like the idea of a Wilderness Ranger but felt that (when I am ready to group) few people will have the patience to group with a Ranger of that type. Maybe I should start a second Ranger for this.

I haven't found any of the elite? skills yet (Choking Gas, Incendiary Arrows) I thought they came after Ascension. (and I don't really want to read a 'where to find everything' guide)

A lot to think about...thanks...I shall go ponder it over a beer or two and rearrange my stats!

Choking gas is available at the Temple of Ages on the quest "The False Gods", and by purchase at Droknar's Forge, which you get to after the desert missions (it's the next big city) so you can acquire it soon. Incendiary Arrows is an elite and isn't available until later, from a boss capture in the Ring of Fire.

Traps are great fun to play with, and while most groups need instruction on how to use traps with you, you will find that they are incredibly effective - a single trap on your skillbar can make a big difference (and of course you can have 3 (and later 4) offensive traps on your bar, serpent's quickness as a stance and lay a whole pile of traps to drag your foes into if you end up likeing trapping)- A dust trap laid before pulling a melee mob will render them fairly harmless for the first bit of the fight, and when the blindness is going to wear off you simply run up and set another one at their feet - blinding them again for another 13+ seconds, as an example. Play with the builds, try the various skills - the 4 non-elite traps are available by the desert and each one has a nice effect, and the high wilderness can bump up your damage through ignite or knidle arrows, makes poison last longer and so on. if you are going with henchmen you may find it impossible to trap with Thom and Stefan in the party however :P

A Ranger without 4-9 Beast Mastery, is a Ranger without effective Tiger's Fury, and is therefore not nearly as effective at dealing out damage as he/she could be.

People recommend getting rid of Beast Mastery because pets are useless are missing the point. Yes, pets are most of the time quite useless, but Beast Mastery isn't for pets. It's for one and one skill only (well, two if you're in a spirit team build).

Sorry, not trying to bump this but I'm amazed and I thought this might be of use to other part-time beastmasters having a tough time soloing. When John wrote:

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