A Question from one Ranger to another

Well I'm a Ranger as is (pre searing) but I have yet to choose a secondary profession. I know there are pros and cons to all combinations but I'm curious as to what you guys think would go well with a Ranger primary. I am just looking for your personal opinion, not necessarily direct advice.

Although if you take into account if the player would be good at PvE, PvP, or both I would appreciate it.

My primary character is a Ranger and his second profession is monk. I chose this profession because I heard it was good for soloing. The monk profession is good for soloing.

I chose as a secondary character to my Ranger, a Mesmer: you can actually mez you mob while your pet is attacking it thus lowering even more it's defences, then resume by finishing it of with your bow. Also many mobs tend to heal themselves, so it can be tedious to keep shooting it with arrows only to have it continuously re-heal itself over and over again. By mezzing it with certain spells, you can actually lower it's energy making it impossible to re-heal itself. Then with your pet and your volley of arrows, you can finish him off. Now I am sure there are many other ways to do this. But thats how I have been able to at least kill that level 28 mob somewhere out near Yak's bend. Without mezzing him, he just continued to heal itself and we went absolutely nowhere only to have to go back to town and reload mez spells and start all over.

Anyhow, to each their own, thats what's good about this game: it's the fact that you can be whatever you want!!!

I chose Warrior because it lets u have some variation on weapons to use. Im only upping swordsmanship, so i have a good sword to use. I use the bow to get a single enemy's attention, and when they come over, pull my sword out and use addrenaline attacks, it makes fast work of enemies. U have healing signet already, so just up that skill and u can regenerate more life.

I took Monk so that I can equip a constant Rez.

I won't be putting a single point into it (going pure Ranger) but I figure if I have to take a second class, I might as well at least replace that boring old res signet with something a little more... reliable.

I've got two rangers, one is a Ranger/monk and the other is Ranger/Warrior.
I find that the Ra/Wa is far more effective in combat thusfar (keep in mind they are both around level ten now). Like DurhamPendragon said, you can single out enemies with the bow, and then use your adrenaline skills. Mine will be fairly balanced though as i'm boosting his Beast mastery to a moderate level, and his swordsmanship and bow to equal levels. You can use up your energy bar by igniting arrows and power shot, or dual shot and power shot, then when the enemies get close, you can bust out your adrenaline skills, and make short work of them. Ran/War is a highly effective character.

.d

Agreed with Ranger/ Warrior.

From a PVE prospective:
*Ranger/ Mesmer has little PVE benefit from my experience, PvP may be a different story I don't play PvP.
*Ranger/ Monk is a good choice all around in my opinion.
*Ranger/ Elementalist also in my opinion is a great choice as you are deadly from a distance.
*Ranger/ Necro Is great for PvE but has limits PvP
*Ranger/ Warrior was the one I settled on after testing the 2 BWE's that I did, it made the most sense for me.
If I get in big trouble, there is little I can do for myself as a Ranger/ monk as it is a their damage vs my healing stalemate. With the low amount of energy you get, DPS (Damage per second) seems to be the best balance.

Most mobs I fight solo or in small groups either group gank the healer or spread out. Bow DPS is good but getting the attention of the mob seems to work better for me as Monk/ Warrior. If they get in close I am equally as deadly and I can pull aggro away or simply kill the beastie that won't turn on me.

Keeping in mind of course this is my take on it, your milage may vary...

My ranger/mesmer pwns all. Couple of points in conjure phantasm and up to 2/3 of that life bar is history. Couple that with a 13-28 damage bow, and you're golden.

But on the other hand, a R/N can hit Mark of Pain + Ignite Arrows and take out an whole group of people in a very short period. (Oooo! Add Double shot to that. Booyah!)

So many different options... so little time.

To your point about the Double shot and ignite, i don't have mark of pain yet, but I do love getting a cluster forked group of charr and wailing on em with that combo. When you see yellow numbers filling the screen...it's a good thing.

.d

There isn't really a "ownage" or a better type to second prof. with. Depending on the skills you use and how you distribute your points makes you decent. But on the other hand, some classes are easier to kill things than others...

I'm currently a R/Monk at level 8.

Ranger for damage and monk for healing is the idea. I agree it a nice balance although plays better in a group IMO than pure solo. Solo I think there are combos that likely would do more damage but in a group I like to sit back fire arrows and do very reasonable damage and then have the ability to jump in and heal others.

It is powerful enough to play solo and deals good damage but the strength IMO is the ability for me to tell people to slow down and use strategy if they expect me to heal them. So the true strength is balance for that class combo IMO.