Ranged class

Hello everyone

I was wondering which professions can be mostly played as a ranged class?

I like the vibe of Staff tempest /weaver but heard it isn't as good?

Ranger seems like an option with longbow (if that's still a thing), axe has médium range and as a druid I at least could use a staff..

Finally condition scourge seems also viable with a scepter and staff for weapon switch.

Basically just want to know which profession has the best build with ranged weapons, since I despise melee too much.

It doesn't matter if it's as a dps or a healer, but I'd still like to be able to solo stuff aswell.

Thanks for your input,

Cheers.

EDIT: Like the concept of mesmer aswell but heard you're mostly stuck in melee aswell. Love the staff skills but seems like there isn't any useful build with staff in it.

All classes can run all ranged. Whether its optimal is another matter.

From a single target damage perspective, the soulbeast has the honor of being most obscene. They can reach longbow autoattack hits of 10-15K in wvw.

Every single profession can use ranged weapons, but that doesn't mean that all of them are viable in game modes like PvP and WvW. In open world, feel free to use any ranged weapon. Try them all out for the profession you're playing can use and see if you like them.

Depends on game mode.PvP/ WvW longbow ranger is strong.In PvE staff support tempest is nice healer and Shortbow condition soulbeast is good dmg dealer.Scourge is good in all game modes.

I can't speak for PvP as i don't play it.

In PvE/Solo x2 staff mirage is one of the most powerful ranged build right now for me, it's fun, absolute survival if you play well. Next is pew pew ranger then either staff tempest or weaver but really not working for me. Lastly scourge it works, a bit too well but i found it boring.

In WvW roaming are staff mirage and ranger/SB, not for zerg fight. For zerg mostly are back-line hammer rev, staff ele, sometimes dragonhunter with LB and scourge or condi reaper.

In raid/fractals i really don't think there is one, most fights happen in melee whether you like it or not.

@Eros.6801 said:In WvW roaming are staff mirageLol no. Staff mirage is absolutely pathetic at ranged combat, its only usable at very close range when backed up by melee shatters or for evasion. Greatsword beat the snot out of it at range. A soulbeast in particular will have hit a staff user for a 20k+ rapid fire before the first ball slowly, so very, very, very slowly finally arrive to hit them for like... 1500 damage or something? Does it even hit for that?

Warrior rifle OP/s

It depends on the game mode you are more interested in. For example pew pew soulbeast ranger is great in open world stuff but nobody wants them in WvW zerg squads. Fractals and raids usually favor melee builds too. The only class/build combo I can think of that performs well in all modes, with a few adjustments, is condi scourge.

On the PVE side, there's a couple of builds worth mentioning.

In raw DPS and single target damage, the winner is the Deadeye. At 1500 range the rifle can murder things before they get to you.

For AoE damage the Weaver is the winner. Though enemies can just walk out of the AoEs, if you're fighting anything at a fixed range the Weaver is an excellent choice.

Just gonna put in another shout for deadeye. If you build a mix of marauder and zerk you'll have plenty of damage, rifle can do great damage at 1500 range, and if you go critical strikes for the invigorating precision grandmaster you heal for 20% of your outgoing damage as long as you have fury, which you get plenty of from Maleficent 7 (deadeye grandmaster) and spotter's shot (kneeling rifle skill 2, this also pierces and immobilises). You have a projectile block on sniper's cover (kneeling rifle skill 4), so between that and the healing you can solo pretty much anything open world as well as keep and tower lords in WvW as long as you play well.

Op, I am guessing you are aiming mainly open world. Ranger surely. Scourge. Staff mirage. GS chrono. Dead Eye, but I find the lack of AOE a problem.

I personally like Mesmer ranged options the most.

@Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:On the PVE side, there's a couple of builds worth mentioning.

In raw DPS and single target damage, the winner is the Deadeye. At 1500 range the rifle can murder things before they get to you.

For AoE damage the Weaver is the winner. Though enemies can just walk out of the AoEs, if you're fighting anything at a fixed range the Weaver is an excellent choice.

Oh yeah I forgot p/p rifle DE.Thats a great Yolo build for oPvE.

@otto.5684 said:Op, I am guessing you are aiming mainly open world. Ranger surely. Scourge. Staff mirage. GS chrono. Dead Eye, but I find the lack of AOE a problem.

I personally like Mesmer ranged options the most.

Well yeah but I also like to do some fractals as far as a very casual person can go.

Rev hammer, most satisfying ranged weapon in the game imo lol

@Acantha.8634 said:

@otto.5684 said:Op, I am guessing you are aiming mainly open world. Ranger surely. Scourge. Staff mirage. GS chrono. Dead Eye, but I find the lack of AOE a problem.

I personally like Mesmer ranged options the most.

For lower fractals, any build does work. But I am not sure if you PUG that every one on the team will accept that. Dead Eye and scourge are your only ranged options in these scenarios.

I guess it depends on what you want it for. Some ranged weapons are great for zerging because they tag multiple enemys for more loot (ele staff air auto, Thief Shortbow, Ranger axe). Some hit hard and fast (Ele staff fire, Ele scepter, Ranger longbow, Thief pistols). The Rev hammer can do both if you position correctly.

That said, ranged weapons in this game are generally used as melee weapons. It's just the way the game was designed, since buffs have limited pbaoe range.

There's this mad lad on my server who is top DPS as rifle berserker