=========================== = Guild Wars Ranger Guide = =========================== = Version 0.35 7/27/2005 = =========================== = by Hahnsoo = =========================== Send all constructive comments, corrections, and questions to hahnsoo@gmail.com with "Guild Wars - Ranger Guide" in your subject. All other e-mail will be marked as spam or ignored. Do NOT send me sample builds... such things can more easily be discussed and critiqued in the Ranger Strategy forum at http://forums.gwonline.net/forumdisplay.php?f=120 I tend to keep this guide up-to-date weekly, coinciding with the weekly updates to the game. You can expect a new version with more information in this Guide on a weekly basis. The most recent version of this guide will always be at GameFAQs. To easily search this document, use the (gwrgXX) search terms listed in the table of contents (with the parentheses). When I refer to another section using the (gwrgXX) in the document, it will be in Brackets [] instead. ===================== = Table of Contents = ===================== 1. Introduction.....................(gwrg1) 2. Overview.........................(gwrg2) 3. Attributes.......................(gwrg3) - 3a. Beast Mastery................(gwrg3a) - 3b. Expertise....................(gwrg3b) - 3c. Marksmanship.................(gwrg3c) - 3d. Wilderness Survival..........(gwrg3d) 4. Equipment........................(gwrg4) - 4a. Armor........................(gwrg4a) - 4b. Bows.........................(gwrg4b) 5. Builds...........................(gwrg5) - 5a. Ranger-only Themes...........(gwrg5a) - 5b. Ranger-Elementalist..........(gwrg5b) - 5c. Ranger-Mesmer................(gwrg5c) - 5d. Ranger-Monk..................(gwrg5d) - 5e. Ranger-Necromancer...........(gwrg5e) - 5f. Ranger-Warrior...............(gwrg5f) - 5g. Ranger as a secondary........(gwrg5g) - 5h. Things to Avoid..............(gwrg5h) 6. PvE..............................(gwrg6) - 6a. General Ranger Tactics.......(gwrg6a) - 6b. Questing.....................(gwrg6b) - 6c. Farming......................(gwrg6c) 7. PvP..............................(gwrg7) - 7a. General Ranger Tactics.......(gwrg7a) - 7b. Dealing with opponents.......(gwrg7b) - 7c. The Metagame.................(gwrg7c) 8. FAQ..............................(gwrg8) 9. Appendices.......................(gwrg9) - 9a. Skill List...................(gwrg9a) - 9b. Armor List...................(gwrg9b) - 9c. Collectors List..............(gwrg9c) - 9d. Expertise Breakpoints........(gwrg9d) - 9e. Ranger PvE Checklist.........(gwrg9e) 10. End Notes.......................(gwrg10) ======================== = Introduction (gwrg1) = ======================== The Ranger... when most folks think of Rangers, they think of hardy woodland warriors and hunters, a breed of men and women who brave the wilderness to test their skills and instincts in the shadow of Mother Nature. Rangers in Tyria certainly fit this stereotype (and dispense with the "dual-wielding" scimitar dancers found in certain Pen-and-Paper roleplaying games). Rangers are survivalists, skilled archers, tamers of animals, and nimble folk who are just as likely to dodge attacks as they are to weather a firestorm. Rangers in the game of Guild Wars are jacks-of-all-trades, masters of few. They are the second-best in nearly every combat category imaginable. They have the second best energy regeneration, second best armor, and they possess a wide skill selection that can easily fill any role in both Player vs. Player (PvP) and Player vs. Environment (PvE). They also are the archers in this game, being the only class that is skilled in the use of a bow. I'm writing this guide because of a general lack of good Ranger guides out there (and believe me, I've been searching), and because it helps me out with my own Ranger experience. I hope you can gain as much benefit from this guide as I have from writing it. By no means is this guide the final word on playing a Ranger, so feel free to challenge and critique this document with an open mind. I will always strive to keep this guide up-to-date and accurate, but everyone makes mistakes and hears misinformation. This guide may also change as my understanding of Rangers changes. Why Should I Play a Ranger? =========================== * Rangers are versatile, being able to run disruption, healing, pure damage, defense, speed, and pretty much any single role you can think of. A ranger can find a niche in just about any party. * Rangers are masters at ranged attacks. With their plethora of bow skills and high-damage bows, Rangers can deal death at a distance, and are the most effective at "luring" enemies. * Rangers who focus on Beast Mastery get animal companions, which are a welcome addition to many parties. * Rangers are energy-efficient. With many low energy-skills and the Expertise attribute, you will rarely run into energy problems using Ranger skills. * Rangers are the only class with access to both Traps and Nature Rituals. * Rangers have strong armor. Almost as strong as a warrior, and stronger than a warrior against Elemental Attacks, Rangers have excellent armor coverage. * Rangers mesh well with other classes. All class combinations of a Ranger can uniquely complement the Ranger's primary abilities. * Rangers have an excellent /dance emote for both genders. *grin* Why Shouldn't I Play a Ranger? ============================== * Rangers lack effective Energy management. While Expertise lowers costs for Ranger skills, it doesn't help for the Energy costs of spells. With lower Energy Regen than primary casters, Rangers have problems when their Energy reserves bottom out. There are few skills that allow them to reclaim Energy. * Rangers are ONLY masters of the bow. They are second-best in any other role, and thus are not as effective at taking punishment, healing others, etc. If you want to be the BEST Tank or Healer or Spellcaster, this is the wrong class. * Rangers deal less damage than Warriors on average. If you want to max out your combat damage, then play a Warrior. Rangers often require unique combos of skills to be effective damage dealers. The slow rate of fire on Bows also compounds this problem, as well as the ineffectiveness on moving targets. * In the grand scheme of Guild Wars, Rangers are often ignored. Most groups require a Tank (Warrior), a Healer (Monk), and a Spellcaster (Elementalist). Beyond these three roles, the other roles (Disruptor, Trapper, etc.) are often ignored, and thus the Ranger (along with the Mesmer and Necromancer) are also ignored when forming Pick-up groups. ==================== = Overview (gwrg2) = ==================== Rangers have the following characteristics and attributes: * Energy Regen +3 (+2 default, +1 from armor) * High Elemental Resistance (all Ranger armors have +30 Armor vs. Elemental) * Beast Mastery - linked to skills involving animals and animal companions * Expertise - linked to skills involving dodging, reduces Energy costs * Marksmanship - linked to skills involving bow attacks, increases bow damage * Wilderness Survival - linked to a variety of skills, including traps, spirits, and preparations Expertise is the Primary Attribute of a Ranger, and is exclusive to the Ranger as a primary class. All of the rest are given to secondary class Rangers. The majority of primary Rangers use bows as a main weapon, depending on Marksmanship and Marksmanship-based skills for damage. Some Rangers use Beast Mastery to supplement their damage through an animal companion. On the defense side, Rangers use Expertise-based skills to evade attacks. Rounding out the Ranger's abilities is Wilderness Survival, which is a grab-bag of healing, traps, utility skills, long-lasting Spirits, and bow preparations. ====================== = Attributes (gwrg3) = ====================== In this section, I will discuss each attribute, and highlight a few useful skills linked to that attribute. -------------------------- - Beast Mastery (gwrg3a) - -------------------------- Note: The words Pet and Animal Companion are used interchangeably in this guide but the nomenclature used by Guild Wars is "Pet", so I try to adhere to that name as much as possible. Though oddly enough, the skill descriptions say "Animal Companion". This is the main attribute for Rangers who wish to focus on a pet, but it also contains a few non-Pet skills. Just as Marksmanship is the focus of a Ranger who does damage with Bows, Beast Mastery is the focus of a Ranger who does damage through his/her Pet. There are several useful Nature Rituals in the Beast Mastery line, and Tiger's Fury is a popular stance linked to this attribute. Pet Mechanics ============= Note: Much of this information was gleaned from the work by GammaRay and SonOfRah. The research is still going on in this matter, so stay tuned. Increasing Beast Mastery increases the damage done by an Animal Companion, in a similar manner as Marksmanship. In other words, a Beast Mastery of 12 will allow a pet to do full damage to a target with an AL of 60. Each point of Beast Mastery offsets 5 points of AL, and 40 points of AL doubles/halves the damage in each direction. Points above 12 Beast Mastery undergo diminishing returns. For more information on damage mechanics, hop to the Marksmanship section [gwrg3c]. Currently, the damage charts for animal companions are not well-known, and are under investigation by the Guild Wars Ranger community. It looks like, however, that the BASE damage of a pet is determined by its level, and that the damage done is analogous to the damage range of Hammers. A level 1 pet has a 3-5 damage range while a level 20 pet has a 14-26 damage range. This is regardless of the pet being used (i.e. All pet types do the same amount of damage based on its level). All pets get 3 Armor Level per level, so at level 20, Pets have a base Armor Level of 60. A level 20 Pet has the same amount of Health as an unmodified character of the same level. It seems that pet choice is a mostly matter of cosmetic preferance rather than a matter of strategy. The only main difference is that each pet does a different kind of damage, based on its type. Pet Damage Types ---------------- * Black Bear - slashing * Lizard - piercing * Lynx/Stalker - slashing * Moa Bird - slashing * Snow Wolf/Wolf - slashing * Spider - piercing * Strider - piercing * Warthog - blunt Pets cannot cause Bleeding, Poison, or other conditions without the aid of a Pet attack skill. Thus, the Spider does NOT cause poison, nor do Warthogs cause bleeding. These are just rumors. Pet Evolutions ============== Occasionally when a pet levels up, it "evolves", changing its stats slightly. Evolutions do not change the appearance of a pet, although a pet will change size corresponding to its level. When a pet evolves, it will gain a prefix to its name (if you haven't renamed the pet using /petname or /namepet). Pet Evolution Prefixes ---------------------- * Aggressive = +1 Damage, -30 Health * Dire - +2 Damage, -60 Health * Elder - +3? Damage, ?? Health (Unknown) * Hearty = -2 Damage, +60 Health * Playful = -1 Damage, +30 Health Pets typically evolve at around level 10-13 and have a second evolution at around level 15-17. More evolutions can happen, however, depending on unknown parameters. Although the "paths" of evolution aren't fully known, a few have been discovered: * Pet -> Playful -> Hearty -> Elder * Pet -> Playful -> Elder (?) * Pet -> Aggressive -> Dire * Pet -> Aggressive -> Elder (?) It is thought that letting the pet take a lot of hits without healing it much makes the pet into a Hearty or Playful evolution, while letting the pet deal a lot of damage in combat gives it an Aggressive or Dire evolution. Once on an evolution "path", you can't go back. Miscellany ========== Pets gain XP at the same rate as their master, but it is prorated by their level. This is only important when the Pet's level is different from the Master's level... a 20th level character killing a 13th level creature will get zero XP, but his 13th level pet will get 100 XP from the kill. Apparently, pets can learn through osmosis. Even more disturbing is the fact that pets gain XP while they are dead. So don't worry if your pet dies during a mission and you can't raise him... it is still leveling up along with you. You can rename your pet using the /namepet (Pet Name) or /petname (Pet Name) emote. Good times, but if you rename your pet, you will not know what evolution the pet is in. Pets CANNOT be raised by a normal Resurrection skill or the Resurrection Signet. They can only be raised by Comfort Animal or Revive Animal. Overall, any combat skill possessed by the ranger is duplicated in the Beast Mastery line as a "Pet Attack", a special attack that is executed by the pet. In general, these attacks are extremely cheap in Energy and Cooldown Time, and have effects that equal or exceed existing attacks. The only disadvantage is that they require a pet to execute. A Beast Mastery specialist can easily Bleed, Interrupt, and Tank an opponent using the pet and the combat skills in this line. Beast Mastery tends to hog a lot of space on the skillbar. Between Charm Animal, Comfort Animal, and Pet attack skills, it is difficult to squeeze in anything other than Beast Master skills when focusing on this attribute. Given the general ineffectiveness of Pets in the late PvE game (although the June 29th update gives them the equivalent of infused armor, thus keeping them alive when you are up against the Mursaat) and the fact that pets need to be kept alive to make use of them in PvP, many Rangers skimp their points on this attribute by the time they reach Lion's Arch or beyond. Some Skill highlights: Charm Animal ============ This is the main skill in the Beast Mastery line. You only have a Pet if you have this skill equipped in your skillbar. To get a Pet (if you don't already have one), you must use this skill on an appropriate animal. This immediately makes the animal hostile, so be sure you can survive its attack, and that your other party members don't attack the animal, killing it before it is charmed. The 10 second casting time is rather long, which makes charming an animal during combat impractical. If you have a current pet, you CANNOT charm a new one. If you wish to change your animal companion, you need to hand it over to a tamer. The main tamer in Post-Searing Tyria, named Jarrel the Tamer, is just outside the gates of Ascalon City. There's also a Tamer next to Master Ranger Nente (who gives you Charm Animal) in Pre-Searing Ascalon. List of Charmable Animals ------------------------- * Dune Lizard (found in the Crystal Desert) Level 5 * Warthog (found in the Maguuma Jungle, Pre-Searing Northlands) * Lynx (found in Kryta) Level 5 * Stalker (ONLY found in Ascalon, near the Shrine of Melandru in Regent Valley Pre-Searing or near Gate Guard Hollis Post-Searing) Level 5 * Snow Wolf (found in the Shiverpeaks) Level 5 * Strider/Moa Bird (found in Ascalon) Level 2-3 * Black Bear (found in the throughout the Shiverpeaks south of Beacon's Perch) Level 5 * Elder Wolf (The pet of "Thul the Bull" in Spearhead Peak, not sure if this is any different from a regular Wolf) Level 15 * Elder Black Widow Spider (Underworld) Level 20 * Wolf (found in Pre-searing Lakeside County) Level 2 How (NOT) to Charm a Pre-Searing Bear ------------------------------------- Black Bears in Pre-Searing Ascalon can be targeted with Charm Animal. However, they also possess a skill which allows them to break the charm attempt. In previous versions, one could capture the bear with a combination of Bane Signet, Hammer Bash, and Faintheartedness to keep it busy. However, it has recently been patched, so now it is nearly impossible to capture a pre-Searing Black Bear (research is still being done). Sorry, folks. Update: Apparently, some folks have been able to "trap" a Bear between a partner's pet and themselves, allowing the Ranger to Charm the Bear because the bear would not be able to move into range to use Break Charm. The Research continues... Finding an Elder Black Widow ---------------------------- Elder Black Widows are a special pet that can only be found in the Underworld. They are made available after you get the chest quest reward for the quest "Wrathful Spirits". This quest is given by the Reaper of the Forgotten Vale, who appears after finishing the quest "Restoring of the Monuments" from the Reaper of the Labyrinth. I've taken the liberty of making a map of the beginning part of the Underworld, which you can find at this link: http://img206.echo.cx/img206/883/underworldmap7uf.jpg Comfort Animal ============== There are only two skills that can revive a Pet, Comfort Animal and Revive Animal. Comfort Animal is received at the same time as Charm Animal and thus is usually the pet resurrect of choice, simply because of availability. In general, I would think carefully before adding this to a skillbar. If you are heading into PvP or a Mission, then the skillbar slot is probably better served by a different skill. If you are exploring large regions of Tyria, then take along Comfort Animal to revive your pet on those long treks far from a convenient city. "Casual" beast masters who don't focus on Beast Mastery should never take this skill along. Call of Protection ================== An underappreciated buff for your pet, Call of Protection gives a straight damage reduction bonus to your pet, allowing it to live much longer and survive in tough combat situations. It lasts for a whole 2 minutes (and has a recharge time almost as long), and gives an incredible amount of damage reduction for a small amount of Energy. The main problem is the opportunity cost of taking up a skillbar slot, especially since Beast Masters already have problems with skillbar space, needed for Pet Attacks and other Ranger skills. Ferocious Strike (Elite) ======================== The ONLY Elite skill in the Beast Mastery line, this skill is actually rather lackluster. You gain adrenaline (which is only useful for Warrior/Ranger or Ranger/Warrior combinations) and some Energy. This is a good Energy management skill for the Ranger (who lacks good Energy management in general), but overall it may not be worth selecting as your Elite skill. Fertile Season ============== Most people who grab this spirit are awed by the increase in maximum health and armor offered by it. On paper, the stats look good, and it lasts a long time due to the fact that it's a Spirit. However, since it IS a spirit, the bonuses apply to both your party AND to all monsters within its radius, making it significantly harder to kill most monsters. Leave this spirit at home, folks, unless you want to be mauled by stronger, more armored versions of your enemies. On the other hand, a Necromancer might find this spirit useful. Otyugh's Cry ============ At first glance, this appears to be a bad skill. Animals aren't found in many locations, and even then, they tend to be low level. However, the +20 Armor bonus applies to all animals, including your pet. This reduces damage by about 20 to 30 percent to your pet (as well as other pets owned by your allies). It also lasts for 30 seconds (with an equally long cooldown time), fairly lengthy. It requires a target, because of the "main" ability (which in my opinion is secondary to the armor bonus). Also, you need at least a 4 Beast Mastery to make effective use of it without failure. I have not seen a Otyugh anywhere in the lands of Tyria, although I suppose the devourer line of creatures resembles the "classic" Otyugh monster. Tiger's Fury ============ This skill is one of the best "increased attack speed" stances available in Guild Wars. It is less useful for spellcaster classes (as it disables non- attack skills while in use). It is also a bit expensive at 10 Energy, but with a high Expertise, this can be negligable. More points in Beast Mastery extend the overall duration, giving you more seconds of berzerk attacking. ---------------------- - Expertise (gwrg3b) - ---------------------- Expertise is the Ranger primary attribute. By itself, it is a useful passive attribute, reducing the costs of Ranger abilities. However, Expertise does NOT affect spells, hexes, or enchantments. Expertise rounds to the nearest integer, making for some very interesting breakpoints. This can be tested by extending your energy bar across the length of the screen and using skills at various levels of Expertise. These breakpoints can be found in Appendix 9d - Expertise Breakpoints [gwrg9d]. Breakpoints should NOT be your only consideration for your level of Expertise, as a higher Expertise level also enhances the quality of its linked skills. Expertise has many skills which improve the defensive capabilities of a Ranger. Skills like Whirling Defense and Throw Dirt prevent melee combatants from touching you. Expertise also has a few bow attack skills, mostly interrupts and disruption. Some Skill highlights: Distracting Shot ================ Distracting Shot is probably the best interrupting attack in the game. Not only can it be used at range, but it has a quick attack time (3/4ths of a second), costs only 5 energy (often reduced by Expertise), and disables an interrupted skill for a whole 20 seconds. The main disadvantage is the low damage, along with a slightly slow Cooldown Time. "Buffering" a Distracting Shot is a useful technique to squeeze a little more damage out of your usual bow attacks. Basically, while one bow attack is being used (and is flashing in your skill bar), hit Distracting Shot as well. The first attack will fire off, followed almost immediately (in 3/4th of a second) by a Distracting Shot. The following shot after that is at the normal rate of fire. You can consider the Distracting Shot a "bonus" arrow that was quicker to shoot. This is mostly useful in builds which have added damage to each arrow, using skills like Ignite Arrow or Conjure Lightning. Lightning Reflexes ================== Lightning Reflexes is a short-duration stance that gives both 75% evasion against attacks and a 33% increased attack speed. This is a potent combination that allows a Ranger to both attack quickly (doing more damage) and evade attacks. It has a disadvantage, though, of a long cooldown time, so you can't continually activate it (unlike the Mesmer skill Distortion). It is best used as a supplement to another defensive stance, like Whirling Defense. Between Whirling Defense and Lightning Reflexes, an opponent will be hard-pressed to hit you. Marksman's Wager (Elite) ======================== Marksman's Wager is one of the few good Energy management skills that a Ranger can use. Since the majority of your arrows will hit, you can reasonably expect to gain a significant amount of Energy per hit, allowing you to power your high energy bow attacks (or whatever... spells, perhaps). It is an Elite, and thus you won't have other Elites, but you'll be swimming in Energy with this skill. It is a preparation, so you won't be able to use your other preparations while it is active. Just don't use it when you are blinded or against warriors who can block your shots. Oath Shot (Elite) ================= Oath Shot is a unique ability that recharges all of your skills if it hits. There is a minimum Expertise requirement for consistent hitting, which places this skill out of the hands of low Expertise Rangers or secondary Rangers. Still, instantly recharging the long cooldowns of, say, Whirling Defense or Lightning Reflexes gives you an instant advantage in tempo. Hopefully, you'll have enough energy to use your recharged skills. It is also an Elite skill, and as with other Elites, you forgo the use of other Elites by choosing this skill. Throw Dirt ========== Throw Dirt is a touch range, Area of Effect Blind condition. It has a relatively short duration, but this is lengthened by High Expertise. It is best used on non-spellcasters, mostly frontline warriors (although you can catch the occasional ranged attacker with it). Because it adds Blind, it makes the targets blind to everyone, and thus protects everyone from those creatures' attacks. Throw Dirt is a Condition, and thus can be removed by a number of things. While most monsters don't carry around Mend Ailment, most W/Mo characters in PvP do (mostly BECAUSE of this much-hated skill). Throw Dirt is also touch range, so if you are using this, expect to get up-close and personal. Throw Dirt is best used to either support warriors in the front line or to defend yourself at melee range (similar to other Ranger defensive skills). Throw Dirt affects only the creatures within melee range of your target, thus it can only affect one "side" of you if you are surrounded, making it less than ideal in swarm situations. Whirling Defense ================ Whirling Defense is probably the most balanced of the defensive ranger skills, and it comes with the longest duration to boot. The longest duration alone makes this skill worth taking over its relatives (Lightning Reflexes, Dryder's Defenses, Escape). Whirling Defense is a stance, so be sure you don't cancel it out with another stance before its duration is through. Also, the cooldown time is rather long (which is typical for the Ranger defensive skills), so it works best in concert with another defensive stance to cover the duration from the end of Whirling Defense and the recharge of the skill. The additional damage from deflecting projectiles is cute, but negligable. ------------------------- - Marksmanship (gwrg3c) - ------------------------- Marksmanship is considered by many Rangers to be the bread-and-butter skill that defines a Ranger. Increasing Marksmanship increases the damage of a bow. The actual damage equation is a bit complicated, but in general, 12 points in Marksmanship against an AL of 60 will do 100% of the bow's damage range. Also, most bows have a minimum Marksmanship requirement. If you wield a bow with less Marksmanship than what is listed on the bow, then it does as much damage as a "starter bow" of the same time. Bow Damage Equations ==================== This is based on the excellent work done by SonOfRah, but it is subject to change. This information is accurate and tested as of June 2005. For a more detailed look at damage, check out SonOfRah's guide at: http://www.rpgstars.com/articles/guildwars-damage.php The basic equation for Bow Damage is as follows: Actual Damage = (Base Damage) x (Bow Bonuses) x (Skill vs. Armor Level) The Base Damage is picked from the effective damage range of the bow. For a max damage bow, this range is between 15-28. The Skill vs. Armor Level is based on a complex equation, but a couple of general rules apply: * Armor Level of 60 is the "base" armor level. An attack against an AL 60 does 100% of its usual damage, at a Marksmanship skill of 12. * Every 40 points above the "base" armor level halves the damage. Every 40 points below the "base" armor level doubles the damage. For example, Healing Signet causes one to take double damage because it reduces armor level by 40. * Every point of Marksmanship above/below 12 offsets 5 points of Armor Level in both directions. If you have an 11 Marksmanship and you are hitting a target with 60 AL, then it is the equivalent of attacking a person with a 65 AL at 12 Marksmanship. Since 8 points of attribute offsets 40 points of AL, you can expect a Marksmanship of 4 (8 points below 12) to do half damage against an AL of 60. Bow bonuses are multiplied with this along with the Armor Level calculation. All damage is rounded to the nearest integer. Hit Locations ------------- Guild Wars uses a Hit Location system. This means that each piece of armor has a chance of being struck individually, rather than an abstract armor level from the pieces summed as a whole. In general, these are the percentages: * Chest is hit 37.5% of the time. * Leggings is hit 25% of the time. * Feet, Gloves, and Head are hit 12.5% of the time. These percentages are augmented by positioning. It is said that hitting the head provides an increased or automatic chance for critical hits, but this has not been confirmed. Critical Hits ------------- Critical Hits always do maximum base damage of the bow. They also give the equivalent of -20 Armor Level reduction, increasing your damage by 41.42%. It is rumored that increasing Marksmanship increases your likelihood of Critical Hits, and that head hits produce more (or always produce) critical hits, but these are not confirmed. Situational Damage ------------------ Attacking from the flanks of a target gives a small (perhaps 5%) damage bonus, while attacking directly behind a target gives about 10% damage bonus, and greatly increases the likelihood of a critical hit. Also, the opponent will not get the benefit of a shield when attacked from behind or the flanks. Attacking from an elevated position has a greater likelihood of hitting the head. It also has a greater likelihood of garnering a critical hit and gives a small damage bonus, although it is not known whether or not this is due to hitting the head or a bonus inherent to superior position. Being above your target increases your range somewhat. Attacking from a lower position has a greater likelihood of hitting the legs and feet. No damage bonuses are known for this position. Being lower than your target reduces your range somewhat. Bonus Damage from Skills ------------------------ The bonus damage from skills is generally applied AFTER all armor and damage percentage bonuses from the bow are calculated into the equation. So if your bow skill lists a bonus damage of +10, then +10 damage gets directly added after calculations. This means that armor generally has no effect on the bonus damage done by Bow Attack skills. The exceptions to this rule are Power Shot and Power Attack, for some reason, as those skills add to the Base Damage of the weapon rather than adding bonus damage after the calculations (this fact is not confirmed, but it is in a few forum posts made by SonOfRah). This is important to know, because this means that Power Shot damage changes based on the armor level of the target. A highly armored target will take much less damage from a Power Shot, while a lightly armored target will take much more damage from a Power Shot. Damage Absorb ------------- Absorption provided from Runes of Absorption, certain item properties (Received damage -2, for example), and Ascalon/Knight's armor is directly subtracted from the damage after all armor and damage percentage bonuses are applied, similar to the bonus damage done by skills. When up against non-Warriors, very few things give a Damage Absorption bonus. Damage Absorption is mostly in the realm of primary Warriors, who have Knight's/Ascalon Armor which gives a -2 Damage Absorb, Absorption runes (from -1 to -3 Damage Absorb), and magical Damage Absorb mods on shields. You will usually face between -3 to -8 Damage Absorb on any particular warrior. Damage Absorb applies to all damage done to the target, even cutting back on damage that ignores armor. For Rangers, this means that you can expect the preps Ignite Arrows and Kindle Arrows to do significantly less damage against warriors than against other targets. Call of Protection is a Ranger skill that gives a lot of Damage Absorption to your pet, allowing them to tank better. Armor Penetration ----------------- Armor Penetration is a percentage adjustment of the Armor Level of the target. For example, 10% Armor Penetration means that the base Armor Level of the target is multiplied by 90% to determine the effective Armor Level. Armor Penetration comes in two varieties, Base AP and Bonus AP. Base AP comes from the Strength attribute, Penetrating Attack, Penetrating Blow, and certain Air Magic spells, among other things. Bonus AP comes from Judge's Insight and the Sundering weapon mod. Only the highest value of base AP applies, but all values of bonus AP stack on top of the Base AP. The maximum armor penetration that a Ranger can have with a bow attack is 50%, from a Sundering bowstring (10% bonus AP) plus Judge's Insight (20% bonus AP) while using a Penetrating Attack (20% base AP). Damage over Time ---------------- The Damage over Time done by Conditions such as Poison and Bleeding are at a rate of -2 Health per second per "pip" of degeneration, up to a maximum of 10 "pips", or -20 Health per second. This is not reduced by armor nor are there any bonuses/penalties that augment this rate. Conditions stack with each other but not themselves. The final Health Degeneration is determined by the sum of all the Health Regeneration bonuses and the sum of all the Health Degeneration Bonuses, so while you cannot go below 10 pips of Health Degen, you can apply more health degen to offset gains from Healing Breeze, Mending, etc. List of Health Degeneration Conditions -------------------------------------- * Bleeding -3 pips or -6 Health per second * Poison/Disease -4 pips or -8 Health per second * Burning -7 pips or -14 Health per second Some Marksmanship-linked skill highlights: Barrage ======= Barrage is the spammable low-Energy Area Effect skill that Elementalists can only dream about. At the quick Cooldown Time of 1 second and the low Energy cost of 5 Energy (which can be brought even lower by Expertise), Barrage also adds damage comparable to other Marksmanship skills. This makes Barrage an incredible weapon in the hands of a capable Marksmanship expert. Barrage is an Elite skill and thus cannot be used with other Elites. Also, Barrage is incompatible with preparations, as it removes all preparations when it is used. Keeping this in mind, Barrage works very well with bonus damage enchantments from other classes, such as Judge's Insight and the Elementalist Conjure line. It is a good way to soften up a group ganging up on a tank (possibly your pet?), and often you can take down a whole group in just a handful of Barrages in a row, and not break a sweat with your Energy bar. You can also use Favorable Winds to increase your Barrage damage. Speaking of which... Favorable Winds =============== Favorable Winds is an excellent "enchantment" in the Spirit line of Ranger skills. It lasts a long time, affects a large radius, and adds a significant amount of damage and arrow speed. Remember, this is a spirit, and thus also affects enemy arrows as well as all of your allies' arrows. In a party of multiple rangers, sometimes it's a good idea to negotiate who will cast this spirit, so that only one person has to carry the task of laying down this spirit. Or multiple rangers can carry this spirit and alternate laying down the spirit, speeding up the "recharge" time for spirit coverage. But if you are going up against enemy rangers, leave this spirit at home. Often, the monster groups will have many more archers than you do, and will benefit far more from this spirit. Read the Wind ============= The only Bow Preparation in the Marksmanship line, Read the Wind provides many of the same benefits of Favorable Winds. The damage bonus from both skills stack, but the arrow speed doesn't appear to change much. Being a preparation, it does not play well with other preparations, and it suffers from a very short overall duration. However, it is a viable alternative to Favorable Winds if one expects to face enemy archers in an area and wishes to retain some sort of arrow speed bonus. -------------------------------- - Wilderness Survival (gwrg3d) - -------------------------------- Wilderness Survival is a motley category of skills that contain pretty much a little bit of everything, from healing to bow preparations to traps. Most rangers who sink points into this group do so to take advantage of the preparations (which add significant amounts of damage to bow attacks) and the ever-popular Troll Unguent. Which Bow Preparation is right for me? ====================================== Because one can only use one Preparation at a time, it is important to choose which preparation would be best for any given situation and for one's own personal style. Having multiple preparations, while versatile, certainly isn't efficient, and thus one should carefully consider which preparation is optimal. Kindle Arrows and Ignite Arrows are similar in scope (adds fire damage), but different in effect. Ignite Arrows does less damage, but applies the damage over an area. Kindle Arrows does more damage and cost less. It is difficult to ponder which one is better, as it is entirely situational. If you think that you are going to get swarmed by large groups of enemies, Ignite Arrows is probably better. If you want to do more damage per hit, go with Kindle Arrows. Both have reasonably long durations (24 seconds). Both work well in concert with Dual Shot, as doubling the arrows means doubling the Fire damage. Then there are the two Interrupt preparations, Incindiary Arrows (Elite) and Choking Gas. Both of them have the disadvantage of having short durations, and thus having Practiced Stance (Elite) would be beneficial. Choking Gas only interrupts spellcasters, who are 90% of the targets of interrupts anyway. Both of these are quite effective, but may be redundant with existing interrupt bow attacks, and lack the spontaneity of Distracting Shot. You can't just "fire off" a Choking Gas arrow to prevent a W/Mo from resurrecting the Monk. There are also two Damage over Time preparations, Apply Poison and Melandru's Arrows (Elite). Incindiary Arrows (Elite) also does a brief damage over time, but most people get it more for the interrupt capability. Apply Poison is a staple of many Rangers, simply because it is available much earlier than Poison Arrow, and does a decent amount of damage over time. Melandru's Arrows causes bleeding, but isn't available until much later in the game. Apply Poison has a reasonably long duration, just like the fire line of preparations, but it can also be used to add poison to melee attacks. Combined with the Cyclone Axe warrior skill, you have an early-game potent combination. Finally, you have Read the Wind, the Markmanship cousin of all of these Wilderness Survival preparations. If you don't want to sink points into Wilderness Survival at all, then Read the Wind is a viable alternative. Technically, Marksman's Wager (Elite) is also a preparation, but you will generally use Marksman's Wager only to reclaim Energy in short bursts. Thus, you will probably not use it as your main preparation. It is more of an "emergency Energy" skill. Practiced Stance (Elite) is a way to get more bang for your preparation buck. It lowers the casting time of preparations (meh) and lengthens the duration (yay!). It's a stance, which means it's incompatible with the stances that are the staple of Ranger defense, and it's Elite which means it takes up your Elite slot. In general, most people either choose Kindle/Ignite Arrows or Apply Poison, until they get one of the two late-game Elites, Poison Arrow and Barrage. Speaking of Poison Arrow... Poison Arrow ============ "What? Why is this an Elite? We've had Apply Poison since Lion's Arch!" Poison Arrow has many advantages over Apply Poison, which makes it comparable to other Elite skills. First of all, it has a low Energy cost (5 points) and a low "casting time" (since it is a bow attack). You can't "double poison" a target, making multiple Poisoned arrows in a target redundant at best. Poison arrow is not a preparation, and thus can "stack" with other Preparations. You can gain the benefit of Kindle Arrows or Ignite Arrows while Poisoning at the same time. Finally, because it isn't a preparation and doesn't have a 2 second casting time, it is the best skill to use for "off the cuff" poisoning in the middle of battle. You don't have to wait 2 seconds to poison the next badguy. Simply point and shoot. ARGH! Traps! ============ Traps in Guild Wars are in the exclusive realm of the Ranger. They often inflict status conditions on opponents while dealing a set amount of damage. You can lay down as many traps as you'd like, although Traps automatically set themselves off in 90 seconds. They take 2 seconds to cast, and are easily interrupted (if you get hit, the trap isn't set). Traps have an unusually small radius (approximately 5 to 10 feet), and thus it can be quite difficult to lure enemies to trip them. There are four damaging traps and one healing "trap". Barbed Trap and Spike Trap (Elite) are useful in bleeding and slowing down opponents. Flame Trap is purely for damage, and Dust Trap is one of the few (but useful) skills that can cause an Area-effect Blind. Dust Trap has the highest cost of the group. Healing Spring is technically a "trap", but instead of damaging, it heals party members gradually over 10 seconds. There are three ways of using traps that I'd like to talk about. The first is to plant traps while luring. You run ahead of the group toward the creatures you are trying to lure, but halfway there you plant a trap. Then you attract the creature and run directly back to the group. It is likely that at least one of the enemies will trigger the trap. This works better on melee monsters than ranged/spellcaster monsters. The second way is to use a Nature Ritual spirit as a decoy. Simply plant several traps down, and then cast a Nature Ritual. Then aggro a group of monsters and run back toward the spirit (which marks where your traps are). Not only will you remember where you set the trap because of the spirit, but the monsters sometimes run up to the spirit itself to destroy it, triggering the group of traps you have set there. The third method is to use traps during combat. This is dangerous because a hit will interrupt your trap, but with Ranger defensive skills, you can slide into position, lay down your trap, and affect a whole group of monsters with a status condition. You can also use your party's tanks as a wall to protect you while you are doing this. If you are lucky, you can even chain a couple of traps in this manner. Dryder's Defenses ================= One of the few "defensive avoidance" skills that is not linked to the Expertise line, Dryder's Defenses provides the same benefit against attacks as Whirling Defense, but it also provides Elemental Armor as well. Because secondary class Rangers do not get Expertise, this skill becomes a viable alternative for taking advantage of the Ranger's dodge ability, as well as allowing a Ranger to take even more Elemental damage punishment than any other class. BUG: At the moment, the Elemental armor from Dryder's Defenses doesn't seem to work consistently, if at all. ===================== = Equipment (gwrg4) = ===================== ------------------ - Armor (gwrg4a) - ------------------ Ranger armors have +30 armor level against Elemental damage, something which allows them to tank hits from Elemental attacks much easier. Ranger Armor also all have a total +1 energy regen bonus (which brings Energy regeneration to 3 points). As one progresses through the PvE/questing portion of the game, the armor rises in protective value. The "final" armor has a base armor level of 70, and this is the same base armor level found on PvP end-game characters. Note that the 1.5k Armors available at Droknar's Forge are identical in stats to both the 15k Armors available at Marhan's Grotto and Granite Citadel and the Fissure Armors available from the Fissure of Woe. They only differ in appearance. A list of all the armor crafters can be found in the Appendices, under Armor List [gwrg9b]. Leather ======= The standard ranger armor provides no additional bonuses or penalties. The top version of Leather Armor can be gained from the Crystal Desert collectors, thus making it the cheapest top level armor in the game, quite affordable for any Ranger looking to save some gold. Drakescale ========== This armor provides an additional +15 points of armor against the Fire element. This is great protection against Hydras and creatures that roam around the Ring of Fire island chain, but other than that, most people simply take this set for the looks. Greater Conflagration (Elite) turns all physical damage to Fire damage, increasing your armor with this suit by 45 points against physical attacks (30 base, plus 15 from the Drakescale bonus). Druid's Set =========== This armor provides an energy bonus for each piece of armor. This armor is ideal for Rangers who are also secondary spellcasters, and for most rangers in general. The +15 Armor Level bonus of the other armors are negligable for the most part, and the energy bonus of the Druid's set gives a distinct advantage in all situations. If you can afford it or find it (Druid's Armor is not available until after Lion's Arch), go with this set. Fur-lined/Frostbound ==================== This armor provides an additional +15 points of armor against the Cold element. By utilizing the Winter Nature Ritual skill, one can turn all Elemental Damage into one that favors this particular armor. Studded Leather =============== This armor provides an additional +15 points of armor against the Lightning element. Very few things deal lightning damage (Shadow Phantoms come to mind), so much of the time this armor is relegated to situational PvP only. Headgear ======== Each Ranger headgear offers a bonus to a different Ranger skill. The Archer's Mask, for example, adds +1 to Marksmanship. In general, it is wise to choose a mask that gives a bonus to your highest attribute, or the attribute that is used most frequently in your character. List of Masks: Archer's Mask +1 Marksmanship Hunter's Mask +1 Expertise Simple Mask No Bonus Tamer's Mask +1 Beast Mastery Traveler's Mask +1 Wilderness Survival Runes ===== Ranger Runes can be socketed in Ranger Armor (and as a side note, you can ONLY use runes of your primary class/armor). A Minor Rune increases a skill by one, a Major Rune increases a skill by two and subtracts -50 from maximum health, and a Superior Rune increases a skill by three and subtracts -75 from maximum health. In general, it's NOT a good idea to stack multiple Major/Superior runes, as it will make your character too fragile for combat. Stick with a single Major/Superior rune for your character, if at all. Runes that modify the same attribute do NOT stack. Only the highest bonus applies. Thus, you won't gain more than a +1 bonus from having two identical Minor runes, nor will you get a +3 to an attribute from having a Major and a Minor rune for that attribute. Runes can be used (similar to Masks) to increase your attributes above the in-game limit of 12, and can also be used to offset points from an attribute at the high end. Due to diminishing returns and the exorbitant cost of an attribute above 8, the points saved by using runes can easily shore up the points in other attributes, especially secondary class attributes. There is no reason NOT to use Minor runes for all of the Ranger attributes that you are using, so be sure to seek out and collect the Minor runes that you need. I find that most Minor runes go for 100-300 gold in-game from sellers. Also, be sure to invest in a Vigor rune of some sort (which can be used by all classes). A Minor Rune of vigor gives +30 to maximum health, a Major Rune of Vigor gives +41 to maximum health, and a Superior Rune of Vigor gives +50 to maximum health. Not only can these runes offset your health loss from Major/ Superior runes, but they provide more survivability and staying power for your Ranger. ----------------- - Bows (gwrg4b) - ----------------- This section is a work in progress as I get more information about bows. Damage Range ============ Bows do various ranges of damage based on their quality. Note that a Shortbow and a Longbow can do the exact same amount of damage. The type of bow does not influence the damage rating of the bow. The maximum damage range that a bow can have is 15-28. There are rumors of 16-28 bows out there, but 15-28 is the maximum you can expect. In order to take advantage of the damage range listed on a bow, one needs to meet the prerequisite amount of Marksmanship required by the bow. Otherwise, the bow will behave as a "starter" bow of the same type, with greatly reduced damage. Range ===== Most bows can be lumped into three categories of ranges: Short range (Within the "Aggro circle" on the Radar) - Short Bow, Half Moon Medium range (Up to the "Aggro circle" on the Radar) - Horn Bow, Composite Bow, Dead Bow, Recurve Bow, Ivory Bow, Shadow Bow, Eternal Bow Long range (Up to 1.5 times the distance of the "Aggro Circle" on the Radar) - Longbow, Storm bow, Flatbow. Rate of Fire ============ There are generally 3 rates of fire when it comes to bows: Fast - Short bow, Half Moon bow, Flatbow Medium - Longbow, Storm bow, Composite Bow, Dead Bow, Recurve Bow, Eternal Bow Slowest - Horn Bow, Ivory Bow, Shadow Bow Note: It appears that the initial or "first" shot that you fire is a flat 2.0 seconds, but subsequent arrows fired at a target have a 2.0 second delay for the Fast ROF and a longer delay for the rest of the bows. Arrow Speed =========== Again, there are generally 3 arrow speeds. These are directly related to the arc of fire of the bow. Bows with a high arc of fire have slower arrow speeds. You want a faster arrow speed when you are trying to interrupt an enemy. The higher the arc and slower the arrow speed, the more likely you will miss a moving target. Fast/Low arc - Composite Bow, Horn Bow, Dead Bow, Recurve Bow, Ivory Bow, Shadow Bow, Eternal Bow Medium/Low arc - Short bow, Half Moon bow Medium/Medium arc - Longbow, Storm bow Slow/High arc - Flatbow Armor Penetration ================= Horn Bows, Ivory Bows, and Shadow Bows have 10% Armor Penetration, according to a couple of sources. This compensates for their slightly slower attack speed. With speed increases, these bows can potentially do the most damage, especially on armored targets. For general purpose use, and for Bow skills, however, a Short bow is probably better. Ascalon Bows ============ Ascalon Bows given by the collectors tend to imitate one of the above bow classes. The appearance of the bow remains as a Flatbow/Longbow, but it can be either a Flatbow, a Long bow, a Composite Bow, or a Short bow as far as range, arrow speed, and rate of fire. You'll have to experiment to find out which one it is. Bow Upgrades ============ There are two kinds of upgrades that you can apply to bows: Bowstrings, and Bow Grips. Each upgrade adds something to the name of the bow, and can be applied to any quality of item, from mundane to magical blue to rare purple/gold. You are more likely to find Purple and Gold items that are already upgraded with a bowstring or bow grip. You can only use one Bowstring and one Bow Grip to upgrade your bow. A new Bowstring or Bow Grip will overwrite the old mod, and you will lose the old mod permanently. Bowstrings add "prefix" upgrades to a bow and include the following: * Ebon - Changes the bow damage from Piercing to Earth * Fiery - Changes the bow damage from Piercing to Fire * Icy - Changes the bow damage from Piercing to Cold * Poisoner's - Lengthens the duration of Poison by 33% * Shocking - Changes the bow damage from Piercing to Lightning * Sundering - has a random (5-10%) chance of having 10% armor penetration * Vampiric - -1 Health Degen, Steal life on hit (1-5 points) * Zealous - -1 Energy Regen, +1 Energy per attack The only bowstring that doesn't see much use is the Sundering bowstring, due to the small percent chance of actually applying the effect. The elemental bowstrings are popular with Ranger/Elementalists who wish to take advantage of the Conjure lines. Zealous bowstrings are popular with Barrage spammers, as each arrow reclaims one point of energy. With a fast-firing bow and perhaps certain attack speed stances, zealous bows provide a quick method of Energy regeneration, especially for folks who don't use sustained enchantments. Poisoner's bowstrings are always popular among Rangers who use Poison Arrow and Apply Poison. The Vampiric bowstring is useful for a "bow switch", as the -1 Health degen can hurt over longterm use. There is a rumor that the Shocking bowstring gives 25% armor penetration. This is not true, but it is based on the fact that most Air Magic spells have 25% armor penetration. Shocking bowstrings only change your damage to Lightning. Bow Grips add "suffix" upgrades to a bow, and include the following: * Of Defense - adds Armor +4-5 * Of Shelter - adds Armor +4-7 (vs. physical attacks) * Of Warding - adds Armor +4-7 (vs. elemental attacks) * Of Charrslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Charr) * Of Deathbane - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Undead) * Of Dwarfslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Dwarves) * Of Giantslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Giants) * Of Pruning - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Plants) * Of Skeletonslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Skeletons) * Of Tenguslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Tengu) * Of Trollslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Troll) * Of Enchanting - Enchantments last 10-20% longer * Of Fortitude - adds Health +20-30 * Of Marksmanship - adds +1 Marksmanship (10-20% chance while using skills) Fortitude and Defense/Shelter seem to be the most popular Bow Grips. Some Rangers who are also secondary spellcasters tend to prefer the Bow Grip of Enchanting. Upgrades can often be salvaged from a bow using an Expert Salvage Kit. Expert Salvage Kits have a random chance of extracting either the Bowstring or the Bow Grip. Which is the better bowgrip, "Of Defense" or "Of Fortitude"? ------------------------------------------------------------ There's an ongoing debate on which bowgrip is better for a Ranger in the long run. The bowgrip of popular choice seems to be a Bowgrip of Fortitude, as seen by the enormously inflated prices for a perfect Health +30 version. However, if you look at the numbers, Bowgrip of Defense with an Armor +5 reduces incoming damage to 91.7% of normal, which means about a 9% benefit. Even if the Fortitude grip is perfect at +30 HP, the benefit from the Fortitude grip amounts to about 5% to 7%, meaning that based on Armor Level alone, the Bowgrip of Defense looks like a better choice. However, there are several situations in which a Bowgrip of Defense does not give any benefit. For example, Conditions and Hexes that apply Health Degeneration ignore armor, as do most Necromancer and Mesmer damaging spells. Also, Death Penalty applies to your base Health and Energy, while bonuses to Health and Energy remain the same. Thus, while the Bowgrip of Defense Armor bonus remains static, the utility of the Bowgrip of Fortitude actually increases as your Death Penalty goes up, by virtue of the fact that it is not reduced by Death Penalty, giving you a higher overall Health. Still, it is FAR easier to find a cheap Armor +5 Bowgrip of Defense than it is to find a high level or perfect Bowgrip of Fortitude. Mostly, it boils down to personal preference. The Fortitude bonus always applies, regardless of the kind of damage that you take, but the Defense bonus provides a better long-term benefit. There are also bowgrips of Shelter and Warding. Having any bowgrip is better than having no bowgrip, but these only protect against physical damage and elemental damage respectively. Neither protect against non-elemental damage like Light, Chaos, or Dark damage from wands and staves (the Bowgrip of Defense does protect against these types), and have the same caveats as stated for the Bowgrip of Defense above. Inherent Magical Bonuses ======================== Certain bonuses cannot be gained from a Bow Upgrade. Instead, they are inherently part of a magical bow (typically Purple or Gold, although occasional blue bows do have these bonuses). The bonuses stack on top of the bonuses from upgrades. An ideal bow will have all three bonuses on it. Inherent bonuses include: * Damage +10-15% Armor -10 (while attacking) * Damage +10-15% Energy -5 * Damage +10-15% (while enchanted) * Damage +10-15% (while health is above 50%) * Damage +10-20% (while health is below 50%) * Damage +10-20% (while hexed) * Damage +10-15% (while in a stance) * Damage +10-15% (vs. hexed foes) While the ranges seem rather wide, I've never seen a bonus below 10% or above 20%, other than some of the damage ranges seen on some of the special Collectors Bows. The +20% damage bows are extremely rare... expect to get +15% damage at the most (from a collector's bow), unless you get a lucky drop from a level 28 enemy. Note that bonuses of +15% or higher are far more common on bows that give a damage bonus with a penalty, like -5 Energy or while Hexed. Alternate Bows ============== While the best option is to get the most damaging bow with the modifier of choice (usually a +15% Damage mod of some kind), there are several other unique options for those looking for variety or a niche. I'm told that a few of the collectors offer bows that give a +5 Energy bonus, which is useful for Rangers that have a spellcaster secondary class. I have not found a max damage version of this bow, though. At the Henge of Denravi, the Weapon crafter makes a bow that gives a +10 Armor Bonus, almost as good as carrying a shield. It has reasonably high damage (13-25), and will allow your Ranger to take less damage overall. If you preordered your game from Electronics Boutique, then you have access to a unique bow called the Ithas Bow. It does 13-25 damage and adds armor (much like the Henge of Denravi bow), but has two prerequisites of Marksmanship and Expertise of 10 each. Ouch. It has the range of a longbow with a faster fire rate, similar to the Flatbow. There are several bows that only drop in the Temple of the Ages dungeons. These are the Shadow Bow, Eternal Bow, and Storm Bow. They have very neat-looking effects, cosmetically. The Storm Bow in particular sizzles with lightning. Each of these bows have their own stats. It is believed that the Storm Bow acts as a Long Bow, the Shadow Bow acts as a Horn Bow, and the Eternal Bow acts as a Composite/Recurve Bow, but this still has to be tested with multiple bows (perhaps they are like Ascalon Bows, but we don't know). Using Multiple Bows =================== The game provides up to 4 weapon sets that can be switched during combat at any time. Because of this, it is fairly trivial to have multiple bows for various tactical situations. For example, I use a Flatbow in F1 and a Half-Moon in F3. The Flatbow allows me to pull targets at a much longer range, while I use the increased fire rate and arrow speed of the Half-Moon bow at close range. Another trick to use with multiple bows is to assign each bow a different elemental bowstring. Thus, if a creature is resistant to the element of the current bow, you can switch to a more appropriate element. Another useful trick is having a Vampiric bow on the switch. When you need life, you can swap to the Vampiric bow, and when you don't need life, you won't suffer from the Health degen if you switch out. Finding a good bow ================== Generally, max damage bows drop when you start killing level 18 or higher enemies. Lightning Drakes at the Gates of Kryta or Sanctum Cay, for example, can drop Max Damage bows on occasion. However, your best bet for finding a bow is to kill high level enemies with a Ranger class. Dune Burrowers and Enchanted Bows in the Crystal Desert are a couple of good examples. Also, several types of unique bows drop in the Temple of the Ages dungeons, typically with maximum damage. Shadow Bows, Storm Bows, and Eternal Bows can be found there. You can also buy a good bow from people selling at Lion's Arch and Ascalon City usually in District 1. Caveat Emptor. One person's "Godly" bow is the next person's "junk". I wouldn't spend more than 5,000 gold acquiring a max damage bow, as you can always add bow parts to improve an existing bow. Beware of scams to sell Customized weapons to you, as they cannot be used by anyone but the original user. If it says +20% Damage (Customized for "Seller's Name"), stay away from it. There are many collectors that offer Max Damage Ascalon bows in the Crystal Desert and the Southern Shiverpeaks. A full list can be found in the Appendix of collectors at the end of this Ranger Guide. Here are the items that they collect: * Dune Burrower Jaws - Dune Burrowers. Two good places: The beginning of Elona Reach mission, and the Scar, just outside of the Thirsty River exit. You can actually outrange the first couple of Dune Burrowers with a Longbow, thus giving you a "free" kill pretty easily. * Minotaur Horns - Minotaurs. The beginning of the Elona Reach mission is full of Minotaurs. Use Spike Mines and defensive skills to kill them quickly. * Topaz Crests - Sand Drakes. Diviner's Ascent, just out of Elona Reach, you can beat up Sand Drakes. Fairly easy to solo. * Dessicated Hydra Claws - Hydras. Go to Skyward Reach...too many Hydras there. * Massive Jawbones - Sand Giants. I usually run around in the Southern part of the Arid Sea. Also, the entrance to Vulture Drifts from the Arid Sea has a huge group of them. Also, there are Giants in the beginning of Thirsty River, but those don't generally drop Jawbones often. * Frozen Shells - Frost Wurms. Yeah. Good luck... Find them in Lornar's Pass. * Mountain Troll Tusks - West of Droknar's Forge in Talus Chute, there's a cave FULL of Trolls. * Alpine Seeds - Both level 13 Juniper Barks and level 24 Pinesouls give Alpine Seeds. Go into Lornar's Pass from Beacon's Perch and kill the Ice Imps and Pinesouls there, or run around the Northern Shiverpeaks for Juniper Barks. * Azure Remains - There are many Azure Shadows in Snake Dance and Witman's Folly * Intricate Grawl Necklaces - There are hordes of Grawl in Witman's Folly, so you should easily get these in one or two passes, even with a full party. ================== = Builds (gwrg5) = ================== Rather than defining builds by certain skillsets, I will attempt to explain the combinations of skills that are effective "Themes" when designing a ranger build. While there will be examples of full skillset builds, these are only used for illustration purposes and should not be considered a definitive build. Hopefully, the sample builds and the themes will give you inspiration to create your own effective Ranger build. ------------------------------- - Ranger-only Themes (gwrg5a) - ------------------------------- Like all class combinations in Guild Wars, using a secondary class is purely optional. The Ranger is no exception, and there are several effective themes that make use of only Ranger skills exclusively. Anti-Caster =========== Rangers are well-known for their ability to shut down casters with their arrows. They also can lay down a Quickening Zephyr to make spellcasters leak Energy like crazy. Sample Build: 1. Incindiary Arrows (Elite) 2. Debilitating Shot 3. Concussion Shot 4. Distracting Shot 5. Dryder's Defenses 6. Quickening Zephyr 7. Troll Unguent 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Choking Gas, Disrupting Lunge, Pin Down, Savage Shot, Spike Trap (Elite) Artillery Support ================= Barrage is one of the few Elite skills that warrants an entire theme, as the limitations and strengths of Barrage require careful thought and management. A high Marksmanship is obviously required, and high Expertise is needed so the Barrager can continually spam the Barrage skill against enemies. Sample Build: 1. Barrage (Elite) 2. Favorable Winds 3. Winnowing 4. Distracting Shot 5. Lightning Reflexes 6. Tiger's Fury 7. Troll Unguent 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) The Artful Dodger ================= This theme focuses mostly on the Ranger's excellent ability to avoid damage. It focuses mostly on the Expertise attribute, and relies on dodging skills to prevent damage to the Ranger. Typically, you will want at least two skills to overlap, as the cooldown times on those skills tend to be quite long. Sample Build: 1. Bow Damage Skill of choice 2. Lightning Reflexes - Increased Attack speed and dodging 3. Whirling Defense - Defensive Skill 4. Throw Dirt - Applies Blindness, Defensive Skill 5. Dryder's Defenses - Defensive Skill, resists elemental damage 6. Escape (Elite) - Increases Speed, Defensive Skill 7. Troll Unguent/Healing Spring - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Dodge, Dust Trap, Oath Shot (Elite) The Beastmaster =============== One of the definitive themes of the Ranger class, the Beastmaster focuses on his or her Pet. Since Beast Mastery is a skillbar hog, most who choose this theme tend to focus on it, dedicating at least half of their slots to Beast Master skills. Obviously, this theme is heavy on the Beast Mastery attribute. Sample Build: 1. Charm Animal - Needed for pet 2. Comfort Animal - For healing/resurrecting pet 3. Call of Protection - Damage reduction for pet 4. Disrupting Lunge - For disruption 5. Tiger's Fury - For increased attack speed 6. Whirling Defense - Defensive skill 7. Troll Unguent - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) The Machine-gunner ================== This theme utilizes Quick Shot and skills that lower cooldown times so that the Ranger can lay down a fast stream of arrows. You'll be firing slightly faster than the attack rate of most swords/axes. Sample Build: This build needs a high Expertise (preferably 12 + 1 from a Rune or Mask), and a high wilderness survival tends to help as well for adding damage through the use of preparations. Use a Zealous bowstring to reclaim energy quickly. 1. Quick Shot (Elite) 2. Quickening Zephyr 3. Favorable Winds 4. Serpent's Quickness 5. Kindle Arrows 6. Whirling Defense 7. Troll Unguent 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) The Ritualist ============= This theme has been showing up in the PvP metagame recently. This Ranger uses spirits to change the "rules" of the battlefield, while using Oath Shot (Elite) or Quickening Zephyr/Serpent's Quickness to reduce the long cooldown times. Spirits can be used as a temporary obstacle, and the dedicated Ritualist often plants multiple spirits to increase coverage and provide insurance against Spirit destruction. Sample Build: High levels of Beast Mastery and Wilderness Survival are helpful for this PvP-specific version of the Ritualist. This particular sample build works best in a team with few/no enchantments, and it is designed to make the lives of the opponent's Monks and Aeromancers difficult. 1. Greater Conflagration (Elite) 2. Quickening Zephyr - Reduces cooldowns while increasing Energy costs 3. Nature's Renewal - Nukes enchantments/hexes 4. Favorable Winds - Increases bow damage 5. Frozen Soil - Prevents resurrection, for locking in a win 6. Fertile Season - More armor and HP reduces the power of Aeromancer spiking 7. Troll Unguent - Self-heal 8. Free slot (Res Signet) The Skirmisher ============== Skirmishers are Rangers who choose to harass and harry their opponents by the application of Conditions (especially Cripple and Poison). A Skirmisher is often the first person to attack and lure a monster, focusing on weakening monsters before the rest of the party uses Focus Fire on it. They also can use bow preparations to apply area effect splash-damage, causing much grief for groups of enemies. Sample Build: 1. Poison Arrow (Elite) - Poison 2. Pin Down - Crippling 3. Hunter's Shot - Bleeding 4. Ignite Arrows - Splash damage 5. Dual Shot - Damage multiplier 6. Whirling Defense - Defensive skill 7. Troll Unguent - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Choking Gas, Incindiary Arrows (Elite), Melandru's Arrows (Elite), Kindle Arrows, Distracting Shot, Concussion Shot, Dust Trap, Flame Trap, Barbed Trap, Spike Trap (Elite), Throw Dirt The Sniper ========== The Sniper is the quintessential archer, focusing on doing the most damage against a single target with each arrow. Using Marksmanship skills in concert, the Sniper picks off opponents one by one, stacking as much damage as possible. Sample Build: This build is particularly light on the Wilderness Survival skills. Most Rangers choose to increase their Wilderness Survival skills and go part Sniper, part Skirmisher. 1. Penetrating Attack - Increase damage per shot 2. Power Shot - Increases damage per shot 3. Read the Wind - Increases damage, based on Marksmanship 4. Favorable Winds - Increases damage 5. Marksman's Wager (Elite) - Energy Management 6. Lightning Reflexes - Defense 7. Troll Unguent - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Hunter's Shot, Distracting Shot, Dual Shot, Kindle Arrows, Concussion Shot, Tiger's Fury, Apply Poison, Poison Arrow (Elite) The Trapper =========== The Trapper focuses on Traps and the Wilderness Survival attribute. Trappers know when to use traps as passive elements to "soften" up targets as well as using traps actively in combat to add area-effect damage while hiding behind a tank. The conditions added by such traps are invaluable for support, and a high Expertise prevents the Trapper from being hit while laying down traps. One common place that a Trapper is in demand is in the Underworld, where there are many powerful enemies who do not use Ranged attacks (Bladed Aatxes come to mind). Dust Trap and Barbed Trap help to soften them up before the group can focus and kill these creatures. See "All-Trapper Party in the Underworld" below in the PvE section for a look at this. Sample Build: 1. Dust Trap 2. Flame Trap 3. Barbed Trap 4. Healing Spring 5. Whirling Defense 6. Dryder's Defenses 7. Throw Dirt 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Lightning Reflexes, Dodge, Escape (Elite), Spike Trap (Elite), Muddy Terrain, Quickening Zephyr (quickly recharge traps), Energizing Wind (reduce the cost of Dust Trap and Barbed Trap) -------------------------------- - Ranger-Elementalist (gwrg5b) - -------------------------------- Ranger-Elementalists combine the best of the two ranged combat worlds, Bow Attacks and Magic. Rangers, however, lack the key attribute of Elementalists, Energy Storage, and thus often run into energy problems when using Elementalist skills. Also, Expertise only applies to Ranger skills and Rangers lack decent Energy management and regen. When selecting Elementalist skills to complement your Ranger abilities, select ones that don't cause Exhaustion, aren't duplicated by Ranger abilities, and ideally have a low Energy cost. Conjure X ========= Conjure Flame, Conjure Lightning, and Conjure Frost all can add damage to bow attacks, similar to bow preparations. They cost a reasonable 10 mana and last for a whole minute. Because they remove enchantments, they tend to be less useful for primary Elementalists. However, Rangers don't have enchantments... One skill that Conjure spells synergize well with is Barrage. Barrage removes bow preparations, but the Conjure spells aren't preparations, so they still take effect and cause additional damage. Another skill that multiplies the damage done by the Conjure spells is Dual Shot (by doubling the arrows). Also, Conjure spells stack quite well with bow preparations... with a skillset of Conjure X plus Ignite Arrows plus Poison Arrow, you can have arrows that do area-effect fire damage, add poison, AND Conjure elemental damage. Some important notes: To utilize an appropriate Conjure X spell, you MUST have a bowstring of the corresponding type. For example, Conjure Flame ONLY works on a Fiery bow (a bow with a Fire bowstring). This limits you to that single element, which can be a disadvantage when facing enemies resistant to that element. Also, sometimes it's hard to track down the appropriate bowstring to match the Conjure spell you want to duplicate. I'm not sure if Conjure Flame works on the splash damage of Ignite Arrows. That is something that I'll have to investigate. Sample Build: This build takes advantage of two low Energy spells, Glimmering Mark and Conjure Lightning. It requires the use of a Lightning damage bow. It is heavy in the attributes of Air Magic and Wilderness Survival. With the low cost of most of the skills, you can skimp a few points out of Expertise. 1. Glimmering Mark (Elite) - Blinds when target is struck by lightning damage 2. Conjure Lightning - Added damage 3. Ignite Arrows - Added damage, splash damage 4. Dual Shot - For doubling the damage from Conjure/Bow Prep 5. Distracting Shot - For disruption and "buffering" 6. Dryder's Defenses - Defensive Skill 7. Troll Unguent - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Glyph of (Lesser) Energy and Energizing Wind ============================================ Most Elementalist skills are too prohibitively expensive for a Ranger to use. However, there are three skills, two in the Elementalist Line, and one in the Ranger line, that can help reduce the energy costs. Glyph of Lesser Energy reduces the cost of the next spell you cast by 15 Energy. This puts some of the most expensive spells in an easily castable range for a Ranger. The main downside to the Glyph is that it has a cooldown time of 30 seconds. However. Ranger Expertise bonuses do apply to Glyphs, thus giving you an even larger saving in Energy. Most of the heavy damage Elementalist spells have a long casting time, anyway, so the additional second to cast the Glyph isn't too much compared to the benefit of using it. The Glyph of Lesser Energy also has an Elite cousin, called the Glyph of Energy. It is Elite (and thus limits you to using only that Elite), saves up to 20 Energy, and has a cooldown time of only 15 seconds. I'm not sure that the increased Energy savings and better cooldown is worth using your Elite slot. You can also run both Glyphs in your skillbar, but then you'd have two Glyphs hogging up space on your skillbar. Rangers have access to a Nature Ritual called Energizing Wind, which reduces Energy costs for all spells by 15 (to a minimum of 10). As with other rituals, the casting time is prohibitive, but it provides the Ranger with a great way to save Energy on the expensive Elementalist spells. It also reduces the cost for Concussion Shot and Dust Trap quite nicely. The penalty is the 25% increase in cooldown time for all skills, but this penalty is negligable if you are prone to using lots of high Energy-cost spells. Note that as a Nature Ritual, it affects friends and foes... it might not be the best thing to use while hunting Hydras, for instance (who will attack with a non-stop stream of spells while this spirit is in effect), and some of your allies may complain about the lengthened cooldown times if you don't inform them of the spirit beforehand. Then again, there may be some Elementalists who will appreciate having a great reduction in their Energy costs. Glyph of Concentration ====================== Although the Glyph of Concentration text states that it prevents interruption for spells, apparently it also prevents traps from being interrupted while casting as well. This may be a bug and may be removed in a future update, but for now, the Glyph of Concentration is a great way to lay down a trap without fear of being interrupted. Best of all, Glyphs also get an Expertise Energy- cost reduction. -------------------------- - Ranger-Mesmer (gwrg5c) - -------------------------- Ranger-Mesmers have a pretty cool deal, as the Fast Casting primary attribute of the Mesmer class is not nearly as useful as Expertise (or other Primary attributes, for that matter) and while a Ranger-Mesmer may run into more Energy problems than a Primary Mesmer, by careful selection of spells a Ranger can often retain all of his/her Ranger skills and still effectively toss out Mesmer Hexes. Mesmer skills in Domination augment the Ranger's already powerful lineup of anti-caster attacks. The staple standards of the Domination line, such as Backfire, Power Leak, and Empathy, work well to shut down casters, allowing the Ranger more options in terms of disruption. The Inspiration line is less useful as it typically deals with ways to manipulate other Mesmer spells, but it provides the Ranger some more methods to reclaim energy. Illusion magic has several interesting spells that benefit a Ranger. For example: Conjure Phantasm ================ The most well-known damaging spell in the Mesmer line is Conjure Phantasm, and thus Mesmers are known for their Damage over Time capabilities. Rangers also can apply Damage over Time through the Bleeding and Poison conditions. You can combine both of these concepts to create an effective Damage over Time Ranger. Sample Build: Main Attributes are Illusion Magic and Wilderness Survival. 1. Conjure Phantasm - For -5 Health Degen 2. Kindle Arrow - For more damage 3. Poison Arrow (Elite) - For Poison 4. Hunter's Shot - For Bleeding 5. Dual Shot - For doubling the Kindle Arrow effect 6. Dryder's Defenses - Defensive Skill 7. Troll Unguent - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Melandru's Arrows (Elite), Barbed Trap, Flame Trap, Maiming Strike, Apply Poison, Incindiary Arrows, Phantom Pain Echo (Elite) ============ Echo is a great Elite from the Mesmer line. It works especially well with skills that have a long cooldown time, as it allows you to use a skill twice in rapid succession. What's better than one Dual Shot? That's right, two Dual Shots. Echo costs only 5 Energy, and is not linked to any attribute, thus it does not need any point investment. It does take up your Elite slot, however. Several skills that work well with Echo are the long cooldown stances, traps, and the following theme: Energy Thief ============ This theme utilizes the Elite skill Echo to copy Debilitating Shot and a high Expertise to reduce the cost of Debilitating Shot. With Echo, you can lay down multiple Debilitating Shots, quickly depriving your enemy of the Energy they need to cast spells. You can pour salt on the wound, so to speak, by adding Mind Wrack and Spirit Shackles, a classic combination used by Mergoyles to damage and nullify spellcasters and warriors alike. Any spells that they DO end up casting can be interrupted by Distracting Shot. Sample Build: 1. Echo (Elite) 2. Debilitating Shot 3. Distracting Shot 4. Mind Wrack 5. Spirit Shackles 6. Whirling Defense 7. Troll Unguent/Illusion of Weakness 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Another skill to try is the low cost Wastrel's Worry. If they can't cast spells, then they probably won't be doing anything for the 3 second duration it takes to damage them with this unusual skill. You can also use Signet of Weariness for a bit of Energy-free Energy stealing. Fragility ========= Fragility is a Mesmer hex that applies damage to a creature if they gain or lose a status condition, like Bleeding, Poison, Cripple, etc. Since one of the strengths of a primary ranger is applying Status conditions, Fragility combined with, say, Pin Down or Apply Poison can potentially cause a world of hurt for a single targeted enemy. Ironically, you may want to actually have a low Wilderness Survival for this build, as it shortens the durations of your conditions and thus shortens the time between taking the initial Fragility damage and the later Fragility damage (when the condition is removed). Some caveats, though: Fragility costs 15 energy, and it isn't reduced by Expertise. Thus, energy management can be a problem. Hex Removal is the bane of this build, as it removes the Fragility Hex and the main damage-dealing part of this build. Fragility has a long cooldown time (15 seconds), which limits you to taking on one creature at a time. Finally, you are most effective at taking out a single creature, and a creature that isn't being Focused at that (as typical with playing Mesmers), as Focus Fire tends to kill a creature far too quickly for your Fragility combo to truly take effect. Sample Build: 1. Fragility 2. Pin Down - Causes Crippling 3. Hunter's Shot - Causes Bleeding 4. Incindiary Arrows (Elite) - Causes Burning 5. Throw Dirt - Causes Blindness 6. Whirling Defense - General Ranger defensive skill 7. Troll Unguent/Illusion of Weakness - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Melandru's Arrows (Elite), Barbed Trap, Spike Trap(Elite), Flame Trap, Dust Trap, Maiming Strike, Concussion Shot, Crippling Shot (Elite), Ineptitude (Elite), Phantom Pain Illusionary Weaponry (Elite) ============================ This interesting Elite does Chaos damage instead of your regular damage on every swing of a melee attack. It instantly turns your character into a melee specialist, as Illusionary Weaponry always hits for a set amount of damage (34 points of damage at Illusion Magic of 12), regardless if you are blinded or your target is evading/blocking. Every time you swing, whether or not you hit or miss, it does 34 points damage. You'll never do a critical hit, but you'll never have that damage reduced by armor, either. Because it is an enchantment, and the duration is slightly less than the cooldown time, you might either want to bring Serpent's Quickness/Quickening Zephyr to reduce the cooldown time or have an "of Enchantment" suffixed weapon to increase the duration of the spell. Also, you will want to use the fastest weapon you can get your hands on, which is either a sword or an axe. Damage range doesn't matter, as Illusionary Weaponry substitutes its damage for your weapon's damage. You can combine this with Tiger's Fury or Lightning Reflexes to get even more damage out of your attacks, by striking faster. As with other Elites, this skill precludes your use of any other Elite skill in your skillbar. However, you should keep it in mind if find yourself in melee combat often. Mantra of Concentration/Resolve =============================== Mesmers have two stances that prevent interrruption, Mantra of Concentration and Mantra of Resolve. While Rangers rarely have problems with being interrupted, except for the occasional Troll Unguent, the Trapper Ranger gains a huge benefit from using these stances, as they can prevent their easily interrupted casting animations for laying down traps from being interrupted. Both of these Mantras last a long time. Mantra of Concentration is only good for one hit, but is quite Energy efficient. Mantra of Resolve is good for multiple hits as long as you have Energy, with the Energy costs decreasing with higher levels of Inspiration magic. In general, it's better to go with Mantra of Concentration if you have few points in Inspiration Magic, and Mantra of Resolve if you have many points in Inspiration Magic. Also, since Mantras are stances, Expertise DOES apply to them. "You're a Tank!?" ================= In this theme, the Ranger takes advantage of two skills to greatly reduce the physical damage done to him. Greater Conflagration (Elite) changes all physical damage into fire damage, which the Ranger can defend against quite nicely with Drakescale armor. The Mesmer secondary grants the Ranger a new stance called Mantra of Flame which can reduce the Fire damage taken by as much as 45%. The stance lasts a long time (30-78 seconds), is reduced by Expertise in cost, and also grants the Ranger 1 Energy every time he takes Fire damage. With these pair of skills, the Ranger no longer worries about Energy Management or physical damage from melee/ranged attacks. The main limitation of this theme is that Greater Conflagration is an Elite, but it may be a small price to pay for being able to tank damage easily as a Ranger. Another option for a long-lasting Mesmer stance to reduce Fire damage is Elemental Resistance. ------------------------ - Ranger-Monk (gwrg5d) - ------------------------ It is said that there is no such thing as a bad Monk combination in Guild Wars. All classes benefit from the healing capabilities of the Monk class as a secondary. The ability to Resurrect your allies more than one time in a mission (the main limitation of the Signet) and adding supplemental healing to the Ranger's already burgeoning arsenal of support skills is almost a no-brainer. A less obvious benefit is the addition of Protection and Smiting magic, along with a few good Energy management enchantments. Balthazar's Spirit ================== Rangers lack good Energy management, but a possible solution can be found in the Monk Smiting line. Balthazar's Spirit provides energy every time you get hit. This can quickly replenish your energy stores in close-combat situations. However, the point of the Ranger defense is often NOT to get hit, with evasion skills and such. Still, this enchantment typically makes your Energy problems vanish, and might be worth a look. The fact that it works well without sinking any points into Smiting Prayers is a plus. Healing Wind vs. Troll Unguent ============================== Healing Wind costs much more energy (10 Energy, not reduced by Expertise), has a shorter casting time, and can help your teammates. Troll Unguent has a slow casting time, has a much lower energy cost, and can only be cast on yourself. To me, the decision is obvious: in solo situations or in situations with adequate healing (2 or more Monks in a group), go with Troll Unguent for self- healing (as this takes some of the pressure of healing off the group). In most party situations however, Healing Wind is a far better choice, as you are providing healing for yourself and helping your team's main healer. Judge's Insight =============== This enchantment spell in the Smiting line has a fairly short duration, but provides a great benefit for your attacks by changing all of your damage to Holy damage and giving you 20% armor penetration. The 20% armor penetration alone allows you to hit for 10 to 20% more damage (depending on the armor of the opponent), but this enchantment really shines against the Undead. Since it isn't a preparation, it also stacks well with Barrage. When combining the two, I tend to see numbers above three digits sail over large groups of undead enemies. On a critical hit, damage can be increased to over 200 points! Against non-undead opponents, this enchantment also performs well as a "pseudo- preparation", although its short duration often precludes its use combining with bow preparations. Take this along on Gates of Kryta or Sanctum Cay farm runs. Sample Build: This build is an Undead hunter, and has several points in Smiting Prayers to lengthen the duration of Judge's Insight. Symbol of Wrath costs only 5 Energy and makes a great complement to the defensive skills when surrounded. The main power comes from Judge's Insight + Barrage, however, with a little help from Favorable Winds. 1. Barrage (Elite) 2. Judge's Insight 3. Symbol of Wrath 4. Favorable Winds 5. Whirling Defense 6. Lightning Reflexes 7. Healing Breeze 8. Resurrect/Signet of Capture/Mending (depends if you are soloing) Live Vicariously/Vigorous Spirit ================================ Both of these enchantments do similar effects, but Live Vicariously is a sustained enchantment while Vigorous Spirit lasts for 30 seconds. These spells grant small amount of healing each time you hit something in combat. This is another skill that stacks well with Barrage and Dual Shot, as every arrow hit counts for the bonus healing. You can be healing a significant amount of health each time your Barrage is let loose, often outpacing the "Healing over Time" line of spells. Vigorous Spirit may be too much micromanagement for some folks, while Live Vicariously hits your precious little Energy regen. Still, both are pretty good self-healing spells. Watchful Spirit =============== This is an interesting sustained enchantment that provides much of the benefit of Mending (with a +2 Health Regen), along with a small healing bonus when the enchantment is removed. Even without any points in Divine Favor or Healing Prayers, this enchantment gives the +2 Health Regen. If you don't want to sink any points into healing, but want the benefits of the Mending spell, then give this enchantment a try. Zealot's Fire ============= For a Monk with points in Smiting, Zealot's Fire adds a little bit of punch to your skills, as every skill that targets an ally does Fire damage in an area of effect. So you can heal your friends while doing a modest amount of damage at the same time. Strangely enough, this also applies for Comfort Animal, so you Beastmaster/Monks out there can heal your pet while dealing area-effect fire damage at a touch of a button. ------------------------------- - Ranger-Necromancer (gwrg5e) - ------------------------------- At first glance, the Necromancer and Ranger class may seem like an odd combination. The Soul Reaping Primary Attribute of a necromancer would have been useful (natch), but there are still several ways one can combine Ranger and Necromancer skills. "Defensive" Cursing =================== The three curses that come to mind when thinking about the Necromancer are Enfeeble, Faintheartedness, and Price of Failure. All three reduce the attacks from an enemy in some way. Enfeeble induces Weakness, a useful Condition that reduces damage from that opponent. Faintheartedness reduces attack speed (you can substitute Shadow of Fear if you wish). Price of Failure adds a 25% miss chance and does damage if the opponent misses. All three combined with Ranger defensive skills make for a very defensive Ranger indeed. Sample Build: 1. Enfeeble 2. Faintheartedness 3. Price of Failure 4. Bow attack of choice 5. Lightning Reflexes 6. Whirling Defense 7. Throw Dirt 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Cruelty to Animals ================== This theme utilizes a pet as a "corpse factory" to generate minions or simply to reap some damage. Just send the pet off to his doom, use the corpse, then revive it with Comfort Animal. However, when your pet dies, you lose your skills for 8 seconds... to make your pet useful before (and during) death, you cast Tainted Flesh (Elite) and Death Nova. Sample Build: 1. Animate Bone Minion 2. Animate Bone Fiend 3. Death Nova 4. Tainted Flesh (Elite) 5. Well of Suffering 6. Comfort Animal 7. Charm Animal 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune ======================================= Snipers are always trying to find ways to increase their damage. Necromancer Curses provide a useful avenue to increase bow damage against a specific target. Weaken Armor lowers armor, while Mark of Pain turns your damage against a target into area effect damage (like a preparation). Rigor Mortis prevents those pesky warriors from blocking your shots. 1. Weaken Armor 2. Mark of Pain/Rigor Mortis 3. Penetrating Attack 4. Power Shot 5. Favorable Winds 6. Read the Wind 7. Troll Unguent 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Massive Minions =============== Fertile Season isn't normally a good Nature Ritual, because it gives the enemy (who generally outnumber you) more of an advantage. However, what if you outnumber the enemy? Fertile Season can increase the toughness of your small army of minions. The Pet on top of that is just icing on the cake. Virulence (Elite) ================= One option to increase your Damage over Time capabilities comes with the Elite known as Virulence. It has a low cost of 5 Energy and has a reasonably fast cooldown of 10 seconds. It applies Weakness and Disease on an Enemy that already has a condition. So all you have to do is poison or blind an opponent, then whack it with Virulence. The only problem with this skill is that it's an Elite. However, you don't need many points in Death Magic to make it viable. --------------------------- - Ranger-Warrior (gwrg5f) - --------------------------- The Adrenaline-based skills of a Warrior mesh well with the Ranger, and give an alternative method of dealing damage when your Energy stores run dry. Also, Energy management is enhanced with skills like Bonetti's Defense. Primary Warriors are usually in a continual state of Energy deficit, but the Ranger's armor alleviates this. In an exception to the general rule of Expertise, it also applies to the Energy costs of Warrior attack skills as well. Thus, you can hack and slash all day using the Warrior abilities at a reduced energy cost. With the addition of Tactics, a Shield becomes a viable option as well, giving the Ranger more armor to defend against attacks. The Whirling Dervish ==================== Although Rangers in this game do not dual-wield, they can still be pretty effective with a sword when they have a Warrior secondary class. Because Expertise lowers the cost of Energy-based attacks and Rangers also have an overall Energy advantage over Warriors (in terms of recharge rate and total Energy), they can more effectively make use of several sword attacks and other key Energy-based Warrior skills. Sample Build: This particular build requires a Sword and Shield combination. Put just enough Tactics to use the shield that you want. Try to get an overall Expertise of 13 (11 + 1 for mask and +1 for Minor Rune is usually sufficient). If you don't feel comfortable without a self-heal, you can replace either Hamstring or Deadly Riposte with Troll Unguent or Healing Signet. 1. Hundred Blades (Elite) 2. Wild Blow 3. Hamstring 4. Deadly Riposte 5. Whirling Defense - Defense 6. Bonetti's Defense - Energy Reclamation and defense 7. Lightning Reflexes - Defense, increased attack speed 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other Useful Skills: Flourish (Elite), Pure Strike, Seeking Blade, Defensive Stance The Woodsman ============ Apply Poison is a preparation that affects melee weapons as well as bows. The Axe line of attacks has a useful attack called Cyclone Axe that hits all foes around you. Using both, a Ranger/Warrior can hit many targets simultaneously with poison. Axes also have a variety of Condition-causing attacks, such as Dismember and Axe Rake, as well as Disrupting Chop. Sample Build: This build is high on the Wilderness Survival and Axe attributes. Expertise is not as important in this particular build, but you can add Throw Dirt and Whirling Defense easily if you wish to retain a high Expertise. 1. Apply Poison 2. Cyclone Axe 3. Dismember 4. Axe Rake 5. Disrupting Chop 6. Troll Unguent 7. Dryder's Defenses 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) "Victory is Mine!" (Elite) ========================== This shout is a Warrior Elite skill that gives you health and energy for every condition that your adjacent foes are suffering. With the above Woodsman build (which is designed to Poison a large group), you can use it as a quick Heal and Energy management skill. Even for a general Skirmisher ranger build, this skill is quite effective for self-healing and regenerating your Energy. For example, imagine using it after hitting an opponent with a quick Barbed Trap or a Throw Dirt. It costs very little Energy itself, and has a reasonably quick recharge time. However, it does take up your Elite skill slot. Greater Conflagration (Elite) ============================= One of the key disadvantages of being a Ranger in melee is the lack of good physical protection. While it is better than all the primary spellcasters, it still leaves much to be desired. Greater Conflagration is a Nature Ritual that turns all physical damage to fire damage. If you are wearing Drakescale armor, your armor suddenly shoots up from 70 points against physical to 115 points! This allows you to tank more effectively in melee. Other rangers will love the added protection against physical damage. However, this also negates the bonus physical armor that warriors get, which is a bad thing for the warriors in your party. It also is an Elite skill, and being a Nature Ritual, the Spirit is vulnerable to being attacked. If you are soloing, or you are in a group without warriors, though, go for it. Stack on Dryder's Defenses for even more elemental tanking ability. See also the Mesmer "You're a tank!?" theme for another idea on how to exploit this Nature Ritual. ---------------------------------- - Ranger as a secondary (gwrg5g) - ---------------------------------- Rangers make an excellent secondary class for folks wanting to dabble into Beastmastery or Marksmanship. Wilderness Survival also provides a great variety of skills covering everything from healing to damage, for a few skill points. However, secondary Rangers lose the all-important Expertise attribute. Some primary classes compensate for the attribute benefit by having their own Energy management attributes like Soul Reaping for Necromancers or Energy Storage for Elementalists. Secondary Rangers miss out on most of the benefits of having effective Expertise-based skills like Throw Dirt or Whirling Defense. This can be alleviated by Primary class-specific defensive skills (like Ward against Melee, Distortion, etc.) or by using Dryder's Defenses (which is available to anyone with a high Wilderness Survival attribute). ---------------------------- - Things to Avoid (gwrg5h) - ---------------------------- I originally started this guide with this particular section in mind, as it seems that many new players lack a focus or direction when creating their first Ranger character. I hesitate to call them newbies or the more derisive "n00bs", as we all have to start somewhere. Don't take this as sage advice... simply treat it as advice from a Ranger who has made many mistakes. Don't try to do everything ========================== A common temptation in Guild Wars is to try to do everything available to a particular class. This temptation is especially inherent in the Ranger class, as Rangers are among the most versatile and widely-spread classes. I can't remember how many times I've seen a Ranger who tries to squeeze Bow skills, Traps, Stances, Preparations, Spirits, and a Pet into their skill bar. While it is fun early in the game to experiment with all sorts of skills, later in the game such a character becomes increasingly spread thin. Learn which skills are the most useful to you, and specialize rather than diversify. Find a niche in your group and fill it. Remember, you can always change your build at any time when you are in town, so prepare the most effective combination for any given mission, instead of doing everything. Don't overspecialize ==================== The opposite of the above mistake is the overspecialized ranger, one who carries a full skillbar of Marksmanship skills (and no Res Signet, I might add) while falling under an onslaught of Mountain Trolls because he/she forgot Whirling Defense. Generally this is only a problem with Marksmanship, although I've seen folks who take their Traps way too seriously. In general, most of the Ranger skill lines are effective in 2-3 skill "clumps", which you alternate between in combat... a Ranger does NOT have enough Energy to continually use bow attack skills, and the recharge times are quick enough on their skills to make it unnecessary to bring more than 3. Always leave room for some healing or defense and that 8th slot for your Res Signet or Signet of Capture. You are not a tank ================== While Rangers can be quite effective at preventing damage to themselves, you are still vulnerable to many skills and attacks. If you are in a group with Warriors, let the Warriors do their job and tank the attacks. Pound for pound, the Warriors will take less damage (due to Damage reduction and better armor), thus allowing healers to conserve more energy by casting healing spells less often. This doesn't mean that you couldn't occasionally draw some fire away from the tanks (Throw Dirt is one of the best ways to do this), but unless no one else can do this job, avoid charging in the middle of the fray to take the brunt of the damage. It is far more Energy-efficient for healers to aid the slowly-falling health bars of the warriors than the soon-to-be-dead foolish ranger. Don't ignore Expertise ====================== At first glance, Expertise may look like a bum deal to a new Ranger. After all, each point only reduces a small amount of Energy costs, and even then, it only applies to Ranger skills for the most part. Expertise is the linked attribute to some of the most powerful Ranger skills, like Whirling Defense, Lightning Reflexes, and Throw Dirt. With high enough Expertise, a Ranger should never run into Energy problems. A high Expertise greatly increases the staying power of the Ranger, and most rangers should invest some attribute points into Expertise. Nature Rituals are both friend and foe ====================================== One concept that new players have a hard time grasping is the fact that Nature Rituals affect both allies and enemies in combat. The trick to using Nature Ritual spirits is to find a way to benefit the allies more than the enemies. For example, Favorable Wind is a popular Spirit that increases arrow attack speed and damage. This Spirit is quite beneficial to Rangers (and other Archers) when going up against opponents who lack bows and arrows. However, this Spirit also can mean the death of the party in areas where the enemy has archers, such as the Skeleton Archers in Gates of Kryta or the Avicara Fierces in the Shiverpeaks. Leave the Favorable Winds spirit at home if you are going up against archers. There is nothing wrong with being "just" a Ranger ================================================= As with all classes, there is nothing wrong with sinking all of your attribute points into your primary class. While half of the fun of making builds is figuring out ways to combine the classes, often new players will start to sink their points into too many areas and end up with a sub-par build. Focus on the basics of being a Ranger first, and you'll be a lot more effective. Note that this doesn't mean that you should ALWAYS put points into Ranger attributes. But figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the Ranger first before you start compounding the strengths and weaknesses of your secondary class as well. When being hit by an AoE spell, MOVE! ===================================== There are several AoE spells that target an area over a period of time. Most of these are static area of effects, and can only deal sustained damage on you if you stand still. The simple solution, of course, is to move outside of the AoE and reduce the damage done to yourself. However, I see a lot of people who just stand there and take it, oblivious to the damage numbers piling up. Examples of this include Firestorm (a common Elementalist AoE), Chaos Storm (a common Mesmer AoE), Ice Imps with Maelstrom, Mahgo Hydras with Meteor Shower, and Sand Elementals with Eruption (which will blind you if you don't move out of the area of effect). =============== = PvE (gwrg6) = =============== For a checklist guide to going through the PvE campaign, look in Appendix: Ranger PvE Checklist [gwrg9e]. It lists the most efficient way to unlock all of the ranger skills in the game in order. ----------------------------------- - General Ranger Tactics (gwrg6a) - ----------------------------------- Higher Ground ============= Elevation plays a key role in the effectiveness of a bow. Guild Wars uses a hit location system for armor, with the head, feet, and arms targeted less than the legs and torso. If you are on higher ground, your bow can shoot farther and you are more likely to hit the head of a target (usually doing more damage against the majority of monsters). If you are on lower ground, your bow's effective range is reduced, and you are more likely to hit the feet and legs. In general, always seek the high ground in PvE, but don't go there in exclusion of your own safety... stray too far from the group, and you will be focused and surrounded very quickly. Focus Fire ========== The most efficient and effective way to deal damage to enemies is to have all of the party members attacking a single target, typically in the order of Healer, then Spellcasters/Archers, then Warriors. The easiest way to have everyone attack the same target is to "Call" a target by holding down CTRL and double-clicking on an enemy. Everyone can target the most recently called target by pressing T, then spacebar or a hotkey to attack. Rangers are in a good position to call targets, as they often don't have to move to attack a target, and they generally don't have to watch health bars or the skill bar. It is important that there is only ONE target caller... having multiple targets is confusing and not a good idea in general. Status Reports ============== If you hold down CTRL and click on various places, you can relay important information to your team. For example, holding down CTRL and clicking your Energy bar will announce your current and maximum Energy to the team. While doing this many times in a row can be annoying and detrimental to teamwork, it is a quick and efficient way of telling your teammates that you have low Energy or you are Crippled or you are using a Resurrect on a fallen teammate. Often, you can agree ahead of time that when someone uses CTRL-click to show that he or she has low Energy, the team will then take a breather and let the Energy regenerate. It also avoids the confusion of multiple people Resurrecting a fallen teammate. Luring groups ============= While this skill is almost essential for any class, Rangers are uniquely suited to lure enemies, with their combination of defensive skills and ranged attacks. The name of the game is divide and conquer... monsters are easier to kill when they are in smaller, easier to handle groups. The idea of Luring is to draw a small group of enemies to your waiting party. Sometimes the best way to Lure a group is to not attack at all. Instead, simply walk up to the nearest enemy until it is within the "aggro range" on your radar and run back to the group, allowing the enemies to follow you. Other times, walking up within that range alerts more enemies... in this case, use a long-range bow to get the attention of a monster beyond your aggro range, and then have it follow you into the group. In some cases, you are going to get hit with knockdown attacks and the monsters catch up before the party arrives. Sometimes they exclusively target you, even though there are fresh and tasty tanks near your location. In that situation, activate your defensive skill, Throw Dirt or Whirling Defense or whatever, and try to escape. Sometimes you have to stand and fight, and in those situations, rely on your teammates to back you up. Pets are quite annoying when it comes to luring, as they attack anything that you click on, and tend to have a mind of their own. When you are luring, leave your pet back in the city (don't worry, it can take care of itself). Traps are an interesting way to soften up a target while you are luring. If you lay down a trap exactly between your party and the monsters, then when the monsters run to your party, they will trigger the trap. This can be especially effective in adding a pre-combat condition to the monsters like Bleeding or Blind. Using Nature Rituals ==================== Occasionally, you will want to use a Nature Ritual when you are out adventuring. Nature Rituals summon up a spirit which gives some sort of area effect passive benefit. They give the bonus to ALL creatures in the radius, be it friend or foe. This radius is approximately 2.5 times the distance of the "Aggro Circle" on the radar (my testing shows that the Aggro Circle is about 20 pixels on my radar and the nature rituals extend to about 50 pixels). The spirits can be killed, and are often the target of melee monsters when they charge in. This is a tactical consideration you must take into account when summoning spirits. Sometimes you can use a Spirit as bait for traps or simply to draw the attacks of enemies for a short period of time. Monsters now target the weakest/lowest armored creature preferentially, and often this creature is the Spirit. While the cooldown times for the Nature Rituals are rather lengthy, the durations of Nature Rituals are equally long. With a sufficiently long duration, you can lay down multiple spirits of the same type, but this would only serve to increase the area of effect... the effects of multiple spirits of the same type don't stack (so no +12 damage for arrows from two Favorable Winds spirits). The effects from multiple spirits of different types, however, do stack. Think of them as enchantments tied to an area, much like the Elementalist's Wards. Because Nature Rituals can help/hurt both friend and foe, be sure to give some thought as to how useful any particular ritual will be. Favorable Winds, for example, is useful for your bow attacks, but if the enemy has archers, you are going to be helping them more than you are helping yourself. Fertile Season looks great on paper, but it also makes your opponents harder to kill. --------------------- - Questing (gwrg6b) - --------------------- Pre-Searing Ascalon =================== The beginning of the PvE game starts you off in an easier version of the game often called Pre-Searing Ascalon. Before you leave Pre-Searing and go into Post-Searing, be sure you've gained your secondary class, done the Resurrect Signet quest, and found all of the quests that give Ranger skills: * Ranger Test (outside Ascalon City gates) * The Ranger's Companion (from Master Ranger Nente in Regent Valley) * A Test of Marksmanship (from Ivor Trueshot in Regent Valley) * Unnatural Growths (from Aidan in Wizard's Folly) I would also do as many quests as you can handle, but this is purely for experience points. One of the quests in Pre-Searing Ascalon also gives a skill point, so you should probably complete that one as well. I typically don't leave Pre-Searing Ascalon until I've hit at least level 7, as it will make the going easier on the initial missions. Gaining Skills ============== Remember that gaining skills as a quest reward does not cost skill points. There are many skills that are offered by both a Trainer and a quest. It is almost always better to get it as a quest reward than using up skill points to buy them from a trainer. Be sure to look at your whole quest list before you buy a skill and make sure that skill isn't on any of your rewards. Trainers tend to only offer skills that are rewarded before you meet the trainer (i.e. skills that you "missed"). When in doubt, delay buying the skill until you reach the next big town. The Ranger PvE Checklist [gwrg9e] that I've written in the Appendices can be helpful in this regard. Any time you get a new skill, re-evaluate your build... is your build better with this skill? Can you start a new build entirely? How can you best integrate the skill into your style of play? Capturing Elites ================ Starting in the Crystal Desert (the pre-Ascension missions), Rangers can start to capture Elite skills from the Bosses. They have a light green glowing aura around them, and are found throughout the missions and areas after the Amnoon Oasis. All you have to do is kill a boss, then use a Signet of Capture while you are near its dead body. A menu will show up, and you can select a skill from the boss's list. Elite skills are bordered in gold. The Doppelganger battle ======================= Rangers have it incredibly easy when it comes to battling their Doppelganger. Because the Doppelganger believes (foolishly) that Spirits are helpful, it will spend its time casting every Spirit available in the skillbar. If one brings along 7 Spirits and the damaging bow attack of choice, the Doppelganger will waste 35 seconds casting the Spirits, giving you plenty of time to wail away on him with arrows. The only Spirit I wouldn't bring to this battle is Fertile Season, as it will give the Doppelganger a hit point boost and make it harder to kill. All-Trapper Party in the Underworld =================================== One effective way to clear out the Underworld is to have a party of 8 Trapper Rangers, all with 4 Traps per person. Often, you'll be able to lure the small monster groups into a large pile of traps and eliminate them without even drawing your bow. The procedure is a bit more methodical and slow than the usual "lure, then kill" groups, but it has the advantage of being almost risk- free, as long as you have time to lay down several layers of traps. In general, each Ranger should lay down each trap at least twice before pulling a group to the traps. You should keep a tight grouping, but spread out enough to cover the chokepoints. You can use spirits as a "wall" or bait to stall the enemies over your traps. It helps to have two or more "layers" of traps, with an outer and inner wall, so that you have enough coverage. Anything that isn't killed by the traps, you can focus fire and kill with bows. -------------------- - Farming (gwrg6c) - -------------------- Farming is a term often used to describe the repeated killing of monsters in order to "harvest" their loot, often in a solo fashion (as soloing gives you every loot drop for yourself). Note that currently, it seems that repeatedly "farming" the same area 5 times or more will drastically reduce the loot drops within a given period of time. The same restriction seems to apply to repeatedly killing the same creature within a span of time. I haven't fully tested this, but the implications of this is quite big for farmers. You'll have to engage in a bit of "crop rotation", and rotate between several farming spots, in order to keep the loot flowing. Here are several good farming areas for a solo ranger: Gates of Kryta ============== To do this, you'll have to survive against the Undead. Ranger/Monks have an advantage here, but anyone can do this run with a Healer Henchman or a Monk friend. After fighting your way to the outpost in the middle of the mission, beating Skeleton Rangers, Mesmers, and the occasional Zombie Warlock, you will exit the outpost and head straight. Just keep heading straight, and you'll end up in the Lightning Drake Beach. Follow the sandy path from Lightning Drake to Lightning Drake. Watch out for the Lightning Orbs, which do a significant amount of damage again as of the June 1, 2005 update. Sanctum Cay =========== The easiest way to get to Lightning Drakes, and it also has Executioners (who drop good armor). If you bring along some running skills like Dodge or Storm Chaser, you can run past the first batch of Fire Imps, then you'll end up on the beach of Lightning Drake heaven. Lightning Drakes are incredibly easy to kill, as they don't do much damage at all and they drop Level 18 loot. There is a barrel at the end of the beach that you can get (next to the restless spirit) After that, if you feel up to it, there are a couple of Executioners in the valley between the two cliffs, followed by a Skeleton Ranger, 2 Hellhounds, and an Executioner. You can keep moving on this mission to kill more and more undead, if you'd like. The Scar ======== Just outside the Thirsty River exit to the Scar, there is a Dune Burrower that you can outrange with a Longbow because you are on high ground. Plant your Favorable Winds spirit and zap him with Poison, making sure to use Distracting Shot to interrupt his Healing Spring. After he dies, you can walk up to get his loot, but you'll face a couple of Jade Scarabs. Do NOT affect them with poison. Instead, activate your Whirling Defense and Troll Unguent (to offset their Vile Touch attack) and whittle them down with your bow. You should be able to take out two of them with ease. Next, take out the 1-2 Rock Devourer Scarabs. These guys you CAN poison, as they can't get rid of it or reflect it back at you. They also use Frenzy, which means double damage from your bow. After that, hug the South Wall and you should be able to outrange the next Dune Burrower with your longbow again by firing over the small dune. While collecting that loot, you'll face a couple more Jade Scarabs. This is a fast run (just a step away from an exit/entrance) that takes no more than 5 minutes. At the very least, it'll net you a lot of Jade Mandibles and Dune Burrower Jaws Diviner's Ascent ================ This place is full of Sand Drakes. Sand Drakes are level 21, are Elementalists (Geomancers to be exact), and can cast both Aftershock (which does a lot of spike damage) and Ward vs. Melee. Since you are generally using bow attacks, you'll have no problems with the Ward vs. Melee. As long as you keep up your defenses and use Poison to whittle down their HP, you should be able to make short work of 1 or 2 of them. They drop reasonably good loot, and are a very short distance from the Elona Reach entrance. You can also continue into the Diviner's Ascent to kill more Drakes and Rockshot Devourers. There used to be a good wreckage farming run here, but that was taken out in the June 15th update. The last wreckage in the run is still in there, but the other three were removed. Elona Reach =========== You can also enter the Elona Reach mission, and clear out some of the Minotaurs using the Spike Mines for support. As long as you only take on a pair of them at a time and keep your defenses up, you should be able to Poison/Bleed them to death fairly quickly. The Minotaur horns that they drop can be exchanged with the collector Luven Underwood just outside of Elona Reach for the coveted 11-22 Fire Wand with 20% improved skill recharge. Abaddon's Mouth =============== There used to be a good Wreckage run here, but that was taken out in the June 1 2005 update. The entry is left here for posterity. =============== = PvP (gwrg7) = =============== ----------------------------------- - General Ranger Tactics (gwrg7a) - ----------------------------------- In general, a Ranger is best at disruption and skirmish tactics, using interrupt bow attacks and traps/conditions to reduce the effectiveness of the opposite team. Throw Dirt and Dust Trap are the bane of warriors, and Pin Down allows your teammates to catch up to a running Monk. Pin Down ======== In PvP, Mobility is key, and when you are selected for a pick-up group, they typically will expect you, as the Ranger to have some sort of Crippling skill. Most of the time, this means Pin Down. Pin Down can prevent Monks from running away from their focused attacks and it can prevent other people from closing the distance to attack. You can also use Pin Down to slow down a Warrior so you can run away. Nature Rituals in PvP ===================== Nature Rituals, due to their global effects and their large area of effect, change the nature of PvP arena combat. In effect, you are rewriting the rules of the arena using your Nature Rituals. Most of the general guidelines for using Spirits in PvE apply in PvP. However, your opponents are obviously going to be more intelligent than monsters, and they'll figure out that killing the Spirit will remove the effect. This means you'll have to plant multiple Spirits not only to increase the range of your effect, but also as an insurance against canny players that kill your spirits. Some Nature Ritual highlights for PvP: Frozen Soil ----------- Frozon Soil is a Nature Ritual that prevents resurrection. While there are folks who argue "if you have to rez in PvP, the game's already over", there are many situations where a short breather will allow an opponent to resurrect a teammate and indeed, the tide of battles can turn with such efforts. Frozen Soil prevents this from happening, allowing you to maintain your numbers advantage on a team who has already lost members. However, it can also work to your disadvantage as well, if you're the team that is outnumbered, and worse yet, you can't simply attack the spirit to destroy it. Nature's Renewal ---------------- Nature's Renewal is a Nature Ritual that strips enchantments and hexes from everyone within its area effect, and also increases the casting times for those spells. While in PvE, this has limited use (as it often hurts your party more often than it hurts your enemies), in PvP, it is a great way to strip your opponent of their enchantments. Since almost all Elementalists and Monks excessively use Enchantments to reclaim Energy, you are effectively removing their Energy management. The great thing about this ritual is that once an Enchantment is removed, it is removed permanently, thus instantly changing the tactics of the battle. Of course, your team will have to know that you are going to use this ritual before you are going in (stripping your team of enchantments is probably a BAD idea). A combination of this Ritual and Quickening Zephyr can make most spellcasters leak Energy like cheesecloth. Nature's Renewal is the only anti-Enchantment, anti-Hex option available for Rangers. It has a long casting time, which limits its usefulness for general Hex/Enchantment removal, but the effect is the largest and most powerful out of all the Hex/Enchantment removal spells combined. ----------------------------------- - Dealing with opponents (gwrg7b) - ----------------------------------- Monk ==== The monk is often the first target in PvP, and rightly so. Monks are the main "support" characters behind the tanks, and a Monk keeps the team alive. They also lack strong armor, and thus can fall quickly under a direct onslaught, making them an ideal initial target. "Kill the Monk First" is a mantra that is chanted by most PvP players before heading into battle. Rangers are concerned about Monks because the main method of damage that the Ranger can do is through Conditions, such as Blind and Poison. A good Monk heals these conditions, nullifying the effectiveness of the Ranger. Most of the time, Monks will attempt evasive maneuvers when under attack. To protect themselves against Ranged attacks, they tend to run around walls or other obstructions. It is important for the Ranger to use Pin Down as soon as possible to Cripple the Monk. "Cripple the Monk" should be the Ranger's Mantra as it is the best way he can support his team initially. If the Monk is too evasive, it may be wise to activate a sprinting skill like Storm Chaser. Finally, once the Monk is Crippled and weakened, lay down Distracting Shots or other interrupts to prevent the Monk from casting healing spells. An ideal time to interrupt a Monk is when they are resurrecting a teammate. Many of the Resurrect skills take a LONG time to cast, which gives a long window for a Concussion Shot and a game-winning Daze condition. Warriors ======== You won't be dealing much damage to warriors, unfortunately, through the traditional bow skills. They tend to possess anywhere from -2 to -8 points of damage reduction due to equipment, and have a high Armor Level to boot. There are several ways to deal more damage to Warriors. Armor penetration works better on Warriors than other classes, so use Penetrating Attack, Judge's Insight, Weaken Armor, etc. to reduce their armor rating. Elemental Bowstrings negate the bonuses against physical damage that Warriors get on their armor, thus allowing you to deal slightly more damage. Use skills that have a lot of bonus damage to overcome the warrior's armor. Finally, Conditions bypass armor quite well, so Poison and Bleeding may be your best friend against Warriors. Warriors depend highly on their weapon to hit you to actually hurt you. You can use your Ranger defensive skills such as Whirling Defense and Throw Dirt to keep the Warriors busy and prevent them from smacking you down. Standoffs between Rangers and Warriors one-on-one tend to end poorly for the Ranger, so use the opportunity to poison and cripple the warrior before making your escape. Use your mobility to your advantage. Elementalists ============= Rangers already have +30 armor against Elemental damage, giving them a slight edge against Elementalists. A few things can help even further. For example, the Winter/Frostbound Armor combo gives you an additional +15 armor against all elements. Dryder's Defenses can further augment your elemental armor, at least for a short time. Fertile Season, while normally a horrible Nature Ritual, can give an edge in armor and hitpoints that allows you and your team to outlast an Elementalist-heavy group. Rangers also have a large arsenal of interrupting ranged attacks that can shut down an Elementalist before he/she starts casting. Quickening Zephyr can increase the costs of Elementalist spells, while Nature's Renewal can strip them of their enchantments needed to sustain their spellcasting. The standard caveats on using Nature Rituals apply here, though. Elementalists depend on spike damage from spells to take down opponents, and often doing so depletes their stores of energy and leaves them with Exhaustion. If you can outlast the Elementalist, they will be out of ammunition to spend to hurt you, and you can more easily interrupt their spells with Concussion Shot or Distracting Shot. Still, it is tough in the current metagame to beat a group of Elementalists all focusing on a single character. Mesmers ======= Rangers often have very little trouble with Mesmers. Rangers don't cast spells, which is the main target of the anti-caster support that a Mesmer can provide. Mesmers have some of the weakest armor, and easily fall to any sustained damage. However, be warned that Mesmers are also the most deceptive class in the game. With Mantras and Distortion, Mesmers can avoid damage similar to a Ranger, and spells like Illusion of Weakness can allow them to feign weakness. Their spells don't care about armor, and thus your slight armor advantage is not useful against them. The main threat from Mesmers against Rangers is their Damage over Time spells, like Conjure Phantasm. Empathy, Spirit Shackles, and other Hexes can also be used against you. The easiest way to rid yourself of them is to lay down a Nature's Renewal, but this can be interrupted by a Mesmer quite easily with the long casting time. Troll Unguent can also counter the Damage over Time, but again, long casting times make it vulnerable to interruption. Since Rangers lack effective Hex removal, you'll have to rely on your Secondary class or teammates to remove any Hexes on you. A Mesmer can be your easiest target or worst nightmare, depending on whether or not it is focusing on you. Do not ignore the sustained assault of a Mesmer, as they can penetrate armor and they are good at shutting down a player (depending on their skillset). The best thing to do is to simply stick with a sustained attack against the Mesmer, with the occasional interrupt to prevent them from casting. Necromancer =========== Necromancers often have armor on-par with yours (70 AL), and they possess a variety of skills and spells that can do significant damage to a Ranger. Their magic spells often penetrate armor (especially DOT spells like Life Siphon) and they regenerate health just as well as you can with your Troll Unguent, using Health draining spells and Blood magic. In other words, beware the Necromancer. Still, Necromancers are spellcasters, and thus are vulnerable to interruption. They have a long casting time with many of their spells. Be careful, though, of Death Nova and Putrid Explosion, two spells that cause a lot of Area Effect damage around death and corpses. Rangers ======= Inevitably, you are going to face other Rangers on the field. Because Rangers are so versatile, it can be hard to predict what kind of tactics they are going to be using, but a few pointers can be given. First of all, with all of the conditions that Rangers typically apply, an Antidote Signet or other Condition removal may be helpful to counter the main source of damage. Called Shot and Crippling Shot (Elite) will penetrate all of the Ranger stances (although it won't affect anything while you are Blinded). Barrage (Elite) can be handy to take out masses of Spirits in a Spirit spamming build. And above all, DON'T use an elemental bowstring, due to the Ranger's increased armor against the elements. ------------------------- - The Metagame (gwrg7c) - ------------------------- The Metagame is a difficult abstract concept to explain, but it is an easy concept to grasp, and it is of utmost importance in a competitive game with such tactical and strategic variety and balance as Guild Wars. Basically, while many combinations of skills can be powerful, all combinations of skills can be countered in some way by some class combination. By following trends in which combinations are popular in PvP, one can figure out which combinations of "counters" to bring to a match. For example, currently in late May of 2005, Aeromancer Elementalists are popular in PvP matches because of their ability to quickly "spike" damage. If an Aeromancer or a group of Aeromancers all focus on one opponent (usually the Monk), then they can quickly take that player out of the action at the beginning of the match, forcing an early game resurrect (which makes the team lose tempo) or even unraveling an entire game plan. Folks are starting to either "Fight fire with fire" by bringing their own or finding ways to counter the Aeromancer horde (a Ranger solution would be to place down a Quickening Zephyr to strain the Energy reserves of the Aeromancers while a Monk solution would be Mark of Protection or Protective Bond to attenuate the damage done). I don't play enough PvP to follow the Metagame, nor is it useful to write down the current state of the Metagame in a Ranger guide, as it relies on both up-to-date information and discussion of techniques to counter as of now unknown strategies. But if you play a lot of PvP, you need to