Guide to playing as a ranger

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Contents

[edit] Overview

Rangers are an extremely versatile class. Their roles vary as they can set traps to ambush unsuspecting foes, spam a variety of interrupts to neutralize casters, bring in a pet to add melee damage to their own, spread conditions with numerous bow attacks and preparations, or simply focus on ranged DPS with either their bow or reduced cost attack and touch-based skills. They have great survivability, as in addition to most roles keeping a distance, they have decent armor versus physical damage and great armor versus elemental damage as well as numerous stances to block incoming attacks and increase both run and attack speed. Rangers also have a number of spirits they can create which influence both friend and foe alike.

[edit] Attributes

[edit] Beast Mastery

Rangers are the only class that may bring along a dedicated pet. Most of the skills found in this attribute are solely for increasing the power and survivability of the ranger's pet, though a couple abilities benefit both you and the pet. In addition, simply increasing the rank raises the base damage and critical hit chance of the pet. However, should the ranger choose not to bring a pet, there are only a few skills in this attribute that can be used. Beast Mastery is a limited attribute in terms of flexibility, even when utilizing the pet, but more than makes up for it by excelling in its two main functions - Beast Mastery mostly offers the ability to have your pet soak up enormous amounts of damage, or deal more damage than most warriors. One (in)famous example of utilizing abilities that affect both you and your pet is the Bunny Thumper, which uses the elite skill Rampage as One to maximize hammer attacks, and utilizes the pet to inflict the dazed condition to knocked down foes (which comes easily due to the design of the Bunny Thumper build.)

[edit] Expertise

The ranger's primary attribute is extremely useful. Many bow attacks cost a significant amount of energy, and with a ranger's (typically) small energy pool and mere three pips of energy regeneration, the pool can quickly dry. This attribute lowers the cost of all ranger skills as well as all touch-range and attack skills. Also, many of the defensive and energy-renewing skills are found in this attribute.

[edit] Marksmanship

This attribute influences all bow-based skills along with bow damage and critical hit chance.

While most rangers use a bow, there are a few roles in which a bow is not needed, whether it be using a different weapon such as a hammer or daggers or using a staff for energy on a Trapper or Touch Ranger.

[edit] Wilderness Survival

This attribute contains a variety of skills. Most traps, preparations, nature rituals, and condition-causing bow attacks are found here as well as the ranger's primary self-heal, Troll Unguent.

[edit] Equipment

[edit] Weapons

As stated, the ranger's typical weapon of choice is the bow. Unlike most weapons in the game, different bows behave differently. The rate of fire, range, and flight time of each bow is determined by what kind of bow it is. Some bows have a shorter range but have a fast rate of fire, while others are longer range but with a slower rate of fire. Look up the charts under the bow article to determine what kind of bow suits the role you wish to play. Regardless of type, all bows have the same max damage range which is fairly large. In addition, bow range is affected by the elevation to your target. Thus an elevated ranger can fire further than on even terrain and a shorter distance if the target is elevated.

  • The recurve bow is the best option for interrupting, keeping a medium range and medium attack speed, while having the greatest accuracy of bows.
  • Shortbows have a shorter range, so some may find them more to their liking, as they naturally reduce the flight-time of arrows by having a shortened range, making interrupts cast faster, with the added bonus of having the highest attack speed, increasing damage when not interrupting, but with the reduced range of the bow-type you have the possibility to take more damage.
  • Flatbows are better for attacking fast as a Short Bow, but keeping the longest range possible, but are not the bows one wishes to look for in interruption roles, as they have the poorest accuracy of the bow types.
  • Longbows serve as a compromise to the various types of bows, as while they and Flat Bows share the longest range, the Longbow has a slower attack speed, their accuracy is better than a Flat Bow's, but not as good as a Short Bow or Recurve Bow, and while the attack speed is not as high as a Flat Bow, it is not as slow as a Horn Bow.
  • Hornbows have range equal to a recurve bow's, but accuracy equal to a longbow's, and have the slowest attack speed of all bow types, so would at first seem to be the inferior bow type, but does have the added perk of naturally having a 10% armor penetration, so if one is willing to bring an attack speed increasing skill, they have feasible range and accuracy, while dealing more damage than the other bow types.

The following table show the different inherent properties of the bow classes:

Bow class Attack interval Range2 Flight Time3 Arc Size Other Properties
Flatbow 2.0 seconds 1.35 0.88 seconds High  
Hornbow 2.7 seconds 1.2 0.59 seconds Medium 10% armor penetration
Longbow 2.4 seconds 1.35 0.59 seconds Medium  
Recurve Bow 2.4 seconds 1.2 0.40 seconds Low  
Shortbow 2.0 seconds 1.0 0.59 seconds Medium  
  1. Projectile weapons inflict more damage when fired at lower foes and less damage when fired at higher foes.
  2. Range is approximate, and is measured in aggro circle / danger zone radii.
  3. Flight time is at shortbow range.

Although most bows in Guild Wars are named "(skin) (type)", as in "Jade Longbow" or "Ancient Recurve Bow", many Core and Prophecies bows have names which do not specify their type.

[edit] Armor

Ranger armor is fairly good. Their physical defense is moderate, having more armor than casters but less than warriors or paragons. However, their elemental defense is the best, and the ranger-specific insignias can increase protection against a specific element even further. Other insignias revolve around preparations or pets.

[edit] Understanding the Profession

[edit] PvE

  • Rangers can play almost anywhere in PvE.
  • When farming, Rangers often work in groups of "B/Ps" Barrage or "Barrage/Pet." This team uses the Elite skill Barrage to deal AoE damage, pets to act as tanks, and supporting classes to augment the Rangers' damage output and keep everyone alive. This can be used to farm the Fissure of Woe, the Realms of the Gods, and the Tomb of the Primeval Kings, to name a few spots.

[edit] PvP

  • With the right skill set, Rangers can be the toughest class in the game. High elemental defense is augmented by blocking and running stances, the most common and probably best of which is Natural Stride. Rangers are also flexible enough within their own class that they often have free reign to choose their secondary class. The most popular secondary class by far is Monk to gain the use of Mending Touch.
  • Despite the flexibility available, bow-based Rangers have a very rigid optimal build:
The optional slot is for an elite bow attack. This skill set offers unparalleled survivability in PvP along with the ability to spread poison rapidly and the potentially game-altering power of Distracting Shot. It is important to note that while this build looks fairly homogeneous, the chosen elite skill will alter the play-style required by a large degree.
  • Rangers can also use traps to their advantages. Traps can cause foes to be blinded, crippled, set on fire, or dazed, and if used strategically they can be of great use.

[edit] Playing in a Party

[edit] PvE

  • Rangers are normally the interrupter characters in the group.
  • Rangers serve mainly as a long-distance shooter and/or puller to help the party pull in small group of foes rather than a large group to increase their chances of survival.
  • When playing as a Ranger puller, try to avoid pulling large mobs of enemies.

[edit] PvP

  • Your role will vary greatly depending on your chosen elite, but interrupting key skills such as Aegis and wards and pressuring enemy monks through rapid poison spreading will nearly always be a major part of it.

[edit] Play Styles

[edit] Interrupter

Rangers have a large number of bow-based interrupts. With foresight and proper timing, a ranger can render a target impotent. In addition, some bow attacks such as Concussion Shot and Broad Head Arrow are sources for the rare Dazed condition, making interrupting casters much easier. Interrupters are popular in PvP, as they are capable of disrupting a large portion of a team's activities, but they do not have the same kind of damage potential as other roles. Still, the trade-off is worth it. In PvE, Broad Head Arrow interrupters are particularly effective against nuker bosses, and Choking Gas interrupters are particularly effective against groups of casters.

Notable interruption skills:

[edit] Condition Spreading

Utilizing preparations and bow attacks, rangers can easily spread poison and can also apply burning, crippled, daze, and bleeding. By swapping targets after every shot, a ranger can put these conditions on a number of foes in a short amount of time. In PvP, monks (or monk secondaries with Mending Touch) can often keep up with curing the conditions, but doing so will rapidly drain their energy while costing you next to nothing.

A more advanced technique to speed poison spreading is to intersperse your normal attacks with Savage Shot.

[edit] Trapper

Traps are unique to rangers. They all have similar characteristics in they take two seconds to activate, are easily interrupted, and remain hidden until triggered (or expire after 90 seconds). Most traps will cause damage and/or a condition and can be stacked on top of each other. A dedicated trapper (or two or three) with something to decrease the skill recharge (such as Trapper's Focus or Serpent's Quickness) can create a death zone that will destroy the first hapless soul to walk into range. This is useful for creating ambushes, but due to their easily interruptable nature, trappers need some method to cope with laying traps mid battle. Skills to prevent interruption, such as Trapper's Focus or Mantra of Resolve or stances to block attacks are required to prevent being neutralized while under pressure. Note that many trappers will bring a staff or wand/offhand instead of a bow for the energy bonuses.

Traps are occasionally used in PvP in a defensive manner, to protect a spirit nest (a stack of spirits) or the Guild Lord, or in an offensive manner to snare a flag runner. In less-organized forms of PvP such as AB, a dedicated and knowledgeable trapper can do quite a bit of damage by trapping various "mobbed" places such as the bridges in Ancestral Lands and Kaanai Canyon.

[edit] Barrage Ranger

Barrage is a very useful elite for attacking clumps of enemies in PvE, and there are a number of builds focused around this skill. A B/P ranger, short for Barrage/Pet, relies on their pet to keep the enemy busy and clumped while assaulting them with Barrage. While preparations are useless with Barrage, Spells such as Conjure Flame and weapon spells such as Splinter Weapon combined with Barrage can do extraordinary things to a clump of foes. With the channeling attribute at 12 each foe arrow deals 41 damage to 3 different foes in the adjacent area. Necromantic orders such as Order of Pain and nature rituals that increase the damage per arrow, such as Favorable Winds or Winnowing, are popular as well, especially when using multiple rangers. Related builds use Incendiary Arrows or Volley in place of Barrage.

Note that this skill is ineffective in PvP due to the fewer number of enemies and the moderately better AI.

[edit] Bow Spike

By combining methods to increase the damage of each arrow, rangers can pile on a large amount of damage in a short amount of time. Spells such as Conjure Flame, preparations such as Glass Arrows, and spirits such as Favorable Winds combined with a high-damage bow attack such as Sloth Hunter's Shot or multiple-shot attacks such as Dual Shot can quickly add up. Often, multiple rangers will sync their attacks, causing a damage spike that can quickly kill an undefended target.

[edit] Touch Ranger

When reading what skills Expertise affects, one will notice touch-based skills listed. In the necromancer's blood magic two touch skills, notably Vampiric Touch and Vampiric Bite, have given rise to one of the most beloved and hated builds still active in PvP. Touch rangers attempt to move into melee range upon which they spam one or both of these skills, causing a large amount of armor-ignoring damage to the target while simultaneously healing the toucher. Even with high expertise, the energy drain is significant, so most touchers bring a staff instead of a bow and use skills such as Offering of Blood to keep the energy pool filled. Speed-increasing stances such as Dodge and Zojun's Haste are useful to maintain touch range, and since the touch skills are not attacks, the stances do not end until they time out. Touch rangers can be difficult to counter, as typical methods to counter attacks and spells do not work. The best defense against a touch ranger is distance, so snares are the most useful tactic against them. Due to the high energy requirements, touch rangers are not as popular in PvE as they are in PvP.

Touch Rangers are no longer common due to a rash of them in the past forcing everyone who plays PvP to learn and use the best available counter - kiting away until their team can afford to bring superior numbers to bear.

[edit] Assassin

Thanks again to Expertise, rangers enjoy a reduced cost for the assassin's numerous dagger attack chains. However, with a lack of runes and one less pip of energy regeneration, energy management can still be a chore. Still, if for whatever reason your party needs someone to play the role of assassin without actually having a primary one, a ranger can fill in better than most other classes.

[edit] Beast Master

While previously less popular, utilizing almost strictly pet-related skills is slowly gaining popularity within the community, partly because of the pet controls recently released, allowing rangers to have more control of their pet than they did for a long time. Another reason is because the damage dealt by pet-attack skills rose dramatically, and already were very able to soak up damage with Call of Protection alone, being improved further with Symbiotic Bond and Otyugh's Cry. Yet another reason is because of what many beast-masters consider the 'bread and butter' skills of beast-mastery: Enraged Lunge (elite), Call of Protection, and Symbiotic Bond, though some will feel confined by the harsh restrictions of Enraged Lunge and Symbiotic Bond at times, making them very slightly less common than Call of Protection.

[edit] Dervish

The scythe is one of the most deadly weapons and with the rangers expertise rangers can deal a lot of damage in a short period of time while keeping their energy pool from sinking too quickly. This kind of ranger is also known as a escape scythe or R/D. R/D are commonly used in a powerful team called sway; while mastering this build is extremely easy, it is not popular nor accepted in high-level PvP because it requires very little skill.

[edit] Choice of Secondary Professions

Guides for all Professions
Core: Warrior Warrior • Ranger Ranger • Monk Monk • Necromancer Necromancer • Mesmer Mesmer • Elementalist Elementalist
Factions: Assassin Assassin • Ritualist Ritualist        Nightfall: Paragon Paragon • Dervish Dervish
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