Self-Sufficient Ranger

I play a healing Monk and an anti-caster Mesmer--VERY group oriented. For a change, I want to try something that can solo with henchies and be rather self sufficient.

I was thinking of something like this (pure ranger) but really have no idea what would work best:

Marksman's Wager*
Penetrating Shot
Healing Spring or Troll Ung
Power Shot
Read the Wind
Favorable Winds
Lightening Reflexes
Concussion Shot

Maybe a Ranger/Necromancer or Ranger/Monk might work better?

Can someone suggest a strong solo Ranger? Since I play group support classes, I have no idea what would work well solo. Thank you.

Ummm... It would help to know what area you are trying to solo.
Ranger soloing can be tough, it requires a very specific build for whatever monsters you are hunting.


But in general suggestions:

-IMHO Power shot is pants and has no place in ANY build. sry

-You will have a hard time getting healing spring off (especially with the reflexes of PVE monsters) without a skill like whirling defense or Mantra of Resolve (Mesmer skill).

-Concussion shot compliments the other ranger interrupts nicely, but don't take it by itself.

-There is a bug which makes Read the wind and favorable winds not stack right. (your theory is good but it won't work in practice).

Hope this wasn't too harsh...

Good luck with your build!

From the OP's post I would assume he wants to solo the game with this build, mostly or entirely with henchies.

If you're going with a full team of henchies, and not trying to farm with this build, I'd suggest something like what I used to lvl up my R before I switched her over to trapping (just FYI, trapping is much more powerfull but very hard to work with henchies):

Barrage* (cap from Markis, he's a mandatory quest anyway)
Charm pet
Comfort
Whatever the pet speed buff is
Troll ungent (pretty efficient heal)
Throw dirt
Whirling Defense (these two are great for getting out of trouble)
Rez or an interupt

The main reason for the pet is that Barrage eats up almost all of your energy, so you should look for skills that are usefull for no energy investment. He'll never be godly, but he can be somewhat usefull.

Speaking of which, an alternative is to go R/E and take a conjure along with Barrage. It doesn't add much damage for the skill pt. investment, but you can dish out a pretty impressive amount of destruction when you get a clump of enemies.

Poison is nice, but too many things are immune to it, and you can't use preps with Barrage. Barrage isn't seen in PvP because a ranger has other duties, and in PvE groups trapping will do more damage and includes great defensive qualities.

Any time you run with henchies, you MUST be able to dish out damage, because lord knows the henchies don't. An ele does this better than anything else, and there are other possibilities such as a MM necro. But the Ranger has run buffs, heals, defensive mods, interupts, and can be skilled for fairly high damage output.

Quote: