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Greatsword fanatic here. How is Ranger?


Arklite.4013

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(Sorry if you’ve already seen this kind of thing on the other forums.)

GS is my favorite weapon of anything ever. I’ve mained warrior and guardian in the past and was curious how rangers felt about GS. I’ve looked at a couple videos and the skills and they seem nice, I’m mostly worried about being offput by the animal graphics (and pet, and honestly the thematics behind ranger in general.) I’m also concerned about how often I’d actually be using GS, because I’m assuming there are more situations when just shooting someone is a better idea.

Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts.

Thanks

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It is used very often on power builds and has the best utility of all GS IMO.But it is definetly different than guardian and warrior. It's slower and more hard hitting and less AoE or fast paced.The mobility is still very good and the defense is better than other GS.I can definetly recommend it. It's my favorite two handed weapon on ranger atm.

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It's one of the highest DPS weapons on the profession, so it's used in power-based meta builds in PvE. For PvP, it's solid, but mostly used with longbow for mobility, defense, and burst.

It's best use is also with Soulbeast, so that solves the pet issue for the most part.

Camping just one weapon is almost never ideal since the game is designed with relatively long cooldowns on weapon attack skills in order to encourage players to swap weapons (or kits or switch elements or go into another form, etc. for other professions). However, like Warrior, camping greatsword on Soulbeast isn't that much of a decrease in effectiveness than most other professions.

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@Cyric.7813 said:

@Tukaram.8256 said:My ranger has a greatsword but never uses it. I send in my pet and hang back with my longbow. No reason to go get myself beat up ha ha.

I rarely switch weapons on any of my avatars. I find one I like and use it. My ranger likes the longbow.

How boring to be you

Shooting your opponent from over there until they decide to do something about it is a viable strategy. Heck, its part of what a lot of people have been whining about since Sic 'Em Soulbeast became a thing. The real game is being able to deal with a decent player negating your longbow and closing the gap. Enter greatsword.

That said, it sounds like the above player is a pve'er and camping longbow for open world pve is perfectly viable. No need to call them boring because they enjoy a particular playstyle. =p

~ Kovu

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@Kovu.7560 said:

@Tukaram.8256 said:My ranger has a greatsword but never uses it. I send in my pet and hang back with my longbow. No reason to go get myself beat up ha ha.

I rarely switch weapons on any of my avatars. I find one I like and use it. My ranger likes the longbow.

How boring to be you

Shooting your opponent from over there until they decide to do something about it is a viable strategy. Heck, its part of what a lot of people have been whining about since Sic 'Em Soulbeast became a thing. The real game is being able to deal with a decent player negating your longbow and closing the gap. Enter greatsword.

That said, it sounds like the above player is a pve'er and camping longbow for open world pve is perfectly viable. No need to call them boring because they enjoy a particular playstyle. =p

~ Kovu

you too

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GS on power ranger is very very strong for all game modes, especially on soulbeast. AA 3 is a dodging animation that is underestimated. Doing a Maul-Hilt Bash-Maul combo can devastate enemies even in competitive modes. I've killed many a backstabbing thief with Counterattack (although I don't understand why an opponent that triggers it can dodge your hit). Swoop is a fantastic movement and cleave skill although slightly buggy if the terrain doesn't like you.

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Agreed.

If you like the Greatsword, then Ranger is for you, as it is amazing in every game mode if you play Power DPS.

It has really good damage, mobility, build in evade frames, cc and a long duration block on a low cooldown, that also acts as a second CC skill, if you get hit while blocking in Melee range.

That makes it a fantastic weapon for both PVE and competitive Player vs Player game modes.

Wether I roam in WvW, Dps in Fractals, or simply run around in open world, the GS is always my mainhand go to weapon, because its just that versatile and good.

In fact, while your secondary weapons will change depending on the game mode, the GS is BiS in all of those modes.

So that sounds perfect for you.

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Its a little difficult to explain, since the weapon is simultaneously the best and worst skill kit, dependent entirely on how well you understand its specifics. It has one of the highest opening burst damage, but peters off quickly if you don't know the right skill rotation. Unlike most other weapons, Ranger GS is specifically made with a particular combo sequence "at a design level". And its infamous damage potential comes directly from a series of single use damage bonuses from Traits. Its auto attack damage is pretty mediocre, but it acts as semi-passive defense since it has evade every 3 seconds.

However, its main popularity comes from its extremely high utility that is utterly lacking in all of its other weapons. Maul can deliver a solid shot to trash mobs, Swoop is a gap closer and evade (if you time it well), Counter attack is basically a Shield Block as long as you're too far to trigger the kick, and Hilt Bash is a hard CC with multiple trait tie ins.

You'll see people mention the Maul/Hilt-bash combo a lot. That combo sequence works to take advantage of several damage bonus traits and effects to quadrupedal its crit damage. If pulled off, it can deliver 24k damage (across 3 hits) on its own with no extra setup. If pulled off with all the bonuses, you can land a Maul running anywhere between 20-35k (in a single attack).
https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/comment/519696/#Comment_519696

Now imagine a pair of 25k Mauls, stun lock, and a 30k worldly Impact, all in a row. That was the favorite cheese build in PvP and WvW for several weeks after POF came out.

Anyway.... all that aside. The GS is a basically the go-to for Power builds, unless you're doing Raid DPS rotations (which uses sword/axe). It irritates me to no end that only the GS has any real kind of flexibility out of all the Ranger weapons. In fact, the other melee weapons are borderline suicidal at times.

Now in comparison to the other classes that use it.....

Guardian GS is a multi-faceted weapon, because each skill does multiple things that are useful both offensively and defensively. GS2 is a decent damage Whirl, which plays off your light and fire fields. GS3 is leap that blinds, and also combos off your light and fire fields. GS4 is a symbol that does damage, retal, works with all your symbol traits, and is a light field. GS5 is an AOE pull.

Warrior GS is their mobility/tackle weapon. Hundred blades is solid damage, but highly situational outside of PvE. Most everything else about it is aimed at get them around the battlefield, and making anything in your way regretting it. Has minimal defense applications, but Warrior gets their sustain from elsewhere.

Reaper GS is actually a solid brawling option to compliment its Shroud in PvE, but its too slow to be a serious threat in PvP.

I'm not even gonna talk about Mesmers, since we all know what it is at this point.......

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