Ranger is the best solo pve class change my mind.

[Grimlineman.6759]

Let me start off by saying this is coming from someone still trying to finish the icebrood story and mainly doing open world events and pvp very little but I do enjoy it. So very casual.

 

I have a blast playing condition soulbeast (core ranger not so much).I love in events I can stand back where I can still see my character and not be in the melee blob but when I’m solo I can blow stuff up in melee as well. I also love when things get rough I have a tank in my pocket.  Nothing I really don’t like about the class other than the pet pathing issues which soulbeast mostly takes care of.  But Sometimes I get the itch  to try something else but nothing never lives up especially at lower levels when it’s hard to get the feel for the class and all the specializations will be like so they always get deleted. I do have a level 80 warrior also (my only other character and he has become storage mule) and although he is fun I fell like you have to be in melee  all the time to get the most out of him.  
 

Thief interest me seems like they have strong melee and some range fighting but I’m not sure what they bring to the table I already can’t do with soul beast besides a little more stealth? Seems like they serve much of the same role in pvp and pve without the back up tank pet or option to heal like Druid. I know necro is strong popular  choice they just a little to dark for my personal taste. Maybe dragon hunter would be good at both melee and ranged I really don’t know much about them. Elementlist  seems fun but a more complicated profession than ranger from the few levels I have played it and very squishy. 
 

Just looking for ideas from  ranger mains what else they like to play that’s similar. Maybe I just found my class and I need to be content  😀 

 

Hope your day is well thanks for the replies. 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Grimlineman.6759

[Moradorin.6217]

59 minutes ago, Grimlineman.6759 said:

Let me start off by saying this is coming from someone still trying to finish the icebrood story and mainly doing open world events and pvp very little but I do enjoy it. So very casual.

 

I have a blast playing condition soulbeast (core ranger not so much).I love in events I can stand back where I can still see my character and not be in the melee blob but when I’m solo I can blow stuff up in melee as well. I also love when things get rough I have a tank in my pocket.  Nothing I really don’t like about the class other than the pet pathing issues which soulbeast mostly takes care of.  But Sometimes I get the itch  to try something else but nothing never lives up especially at lower levels when it’s hard to get the feel for the class and all the specializations will be like so they always get deleted. I do have a level 80 warrior also (my only other character and he has become storage mule) and although he is fun I fell like you have to be in melee  all the time to get the most out of him.  
 

Thief interest me seems like they have strong melee and some range fighting but I’m not sure what they bring to the table I already can’t do with soul beast besides a little more stealth? Seems like they serve much of the same role in pvp and pve without the back up tank pet or option to heal like Druid. I know necro is strong popular  choice they just a little to dark for my personal taste. Maybe dragon hunter would be good at both melee and ranged I really don’t know much about them. Elementlist  seems fun but a more complicated profession than ranger from the few levels I have played it and very squishy. 
 

Just looking for ideas from  ranger mains what else they like to play that’s similar. Maybe I just found my class and I need to be content  😀 

 

Hope your day is well thanks for the replies. 

Engineer is pretty fun. Core isnt that great in pve I guess, but holo and scrapper can both be allot of fun. Its more up close tho. Still holo can you can use rifle rather effectively and scrapper can be almost indestructible and has good support potencial in groups. Condi renegade you can stand back w a shortbow too and probably average higher damage than a condi soulbeast with a side benefit self 25 might, fury, etc and pretty decent party support potencial to boot. It also has high sustainability.  Lots of fun classes and especs to run around and do metas with. Glad ur having fun.

[Grimlineman.6759]

Thanks for the suggestion I’ll definitely look more into those two. I also like they are both on the less played side. 

[Obtena.7952]

Depends what you mean by best. I range Ranger to be fairly good for OW farming and questing activities. Soloing champs and bounties not so much. Necro or Eng would be good paths if you like the Ranger playstyle. Probably a bit more on the active side of play but bringing more focused features to the table. 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Obtena.7952

[Grimlineman.6759]

So what’s your suggestion for the latter. By best I meant equally as good at range as they are in melee I guess. I just don’t want to be stuck in one or the other.  Especially melee I hate when there is 100 people fighting a big bad and you can’t see if your even attacking through all the people on the bosses feet. 

post Is meant for silly discussion  😃  everyone knows there is no best at everything and mostly down to taste especially at the level I’m speaking of  just really like condition ranger and wanted to see what else is similar play style 

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by Grimlineman.6759

[AliamRationem.5172]

33 minutes ago, Grimlineman.6759 said:

So what’s your suggestion for the latter. By best I meant equally as good at range as they are in melee I guess. I just don’t want to be stuck in one or the other.  Especially melee I hate when there is 100 people fighting a big bad and you can’t see if your even attacking through all the people on the bosses feet. 

post Is meant for silly discussion  😃  everyone knows there is no best at everything and mostly down to taste especially at the level I’m speaking of  just really like condition ranger and wanted to see what else is similar play style 

 

 

Mirage with axe and staff is an excellent open world build that is effective up close or from range.

 

Here's a video clip of mirage soloing a tough champion with axe/torch and staff.  The video is a bit out of date, but it should be stronger now than it was then.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by AliamRationem.5172

[Obtena.7952]

9 hours ago, Grimlineman.6759 said:

So what’s your suggestion for the latter. By best I meant equally as good at range as they are in melee I guess. I just don’t want to be stuck in one or the other.  Especially melee I hate when there is 100 people fighting a big bad and you can’t see if your even attacking through all the people on the bosses feet. 

post Is meant for silly discussion  😃  everyone knows there is no best at everything and mostly down to taste especially at the level I’m speaking of  just really like condition ranger and wanted to see what else is similar play style 

 

Well, considering most ranged weapons don't suffer from melee ranged debuffs (but some do, like Ranger Lbow or Mesmer GS), then it seems the world is your oyster really. Personally, for 'fun', I like Engineer because they have some ranged weapons AND kits that do relatively reasonable DPS and it's a class that will keep you busy without overwhelming you with skills (like Ele for instance).

[Dawdler.8521]

19 hours ago, Grimlineman.6759 said:

Just looking for ideas from  ranger mains what else they like to play that’s similar. Maybe I just found my class and I need to be content  😀 

Alts are there for a reason. 

If the soulbeast pet is still immortal (ie reset to 100% hp from dead on a quick merge/unmerge) then at least the ranger got that going for him. Core and druid is meh.

If I want true pew-pew, I usually go deadeye p/p but it's very singletarget.

[NotTooFoolish.7412]

I moved from Ranger (Power Soulbeast) main to Guardian (cqFB variant) main recently. Pretty happy with the choice.

Some AoE dmg, quite a few boons. I think many people appreciate ppl running Quickness, Stab and Aegis during some events. Overall, it's been a pretty pleasant experience in Open World.

It's good to have some alt characters just to rotate them a bit. It's refreshing just to hop to Chrono or Power Zerk from time to time.
I've heard good things about Scrapper and Reaper. The later one is pretty nice for soloing some of the content.

Edited September 5, 2021 by NotTooFoolish.7412

[Jack Swiftclaw.9076]

On 9/4/2021 at 10:21 AM, Grimlineman.6759 said:

Let me start off by saying this is coming from someone still trying to finish the icebrood story and mainly doing open world events and pvp very little but I do enjoy it. So very casual.

 

I have a blast playing condition soulbeast (core ranger not so much).I love in events I can stand back where I can still see my character and not be in the melee blob but when I’m solo I can blow stuff up in melee as well. I also love when things get rough I have a tank in my pocket.  Nothing I really don’t like about the class other than the pet pathing issues which soulbeast mostly takes care of.  But Sometimes I get the itch  to try something else but nothing never lives up especially at lower levels when it’s hard to get the feel for the class and all the specializations will be like so they always get deleted. I do have a level 80 warrior also (my only other character and he has become storage mule) and although he is fun I fell like you have to be in melee  all the time to get the most out of him.  
 

Thief interest me seems like they have strong melee and some range fighting but I’m not sure what they bring to the table I already can’t do with soul beast besides a little more stealth? Seems like they serve much of the same role in pvp and pve without the back up tank pet or option to heal like Druid. I know necro is strong popular  choice they just a little to dark for my personal taste. Maybe dragon hunter would be good at both melee and ranged I really don’t know much about them. Elementlist  seems fun but a more complicated profession than ranger from the few levels I have played it and very squishy. 
 

Just looking for ideas from  ranger mains what else they like to play that’s similar. Maybe I just found my class and I need to be content  😀 

 

Hope your day is well thanks for the replies. 

Won't try.  I agree.  I've been main ranger since launch. Able to do all forms of gameplay and see great results except fractals and raids.  But I solo ran core Tyria and all stories solo, HoT did solo except hp trains.  Pof solo. Ls solo.  It's an amazing profession 

[JekthAvid.1408]

Condi Herald. Full viper's. Can carry many fractal parties (highest tier I carried with this build was the t3 siren's reef, although I bet I could get higher with runes of tormenting but I'm poor xD)

 

Also it's fun.

[Grimlineman.6759]

How does condi renegade compare to your condi Herald? I’m liking the sound of the renegade that might be something I try soon. 

[LuRkEr.9462]

Scourge, king of all.

 

No explanation needed. If you don't believe it go to class forums and see what class they want nerfed 😉 

[ASP.8093]

Ranger gives you a lot of tools and pretty decent self-buffs, but it doesn't have a big pull that piles all the baddies into one spot so you can cleave them down super fast (or hyper-stack them with conditions), which is one thing I always miss when I'm not playing something like Firebrand or Mallyx Rev.

 

If you found your fav, by all means, keep playing it — especially since it's a pretty flexible class with a lot of depth in some of the options.

 

Also, I gotta say, Ranger is a great map-completion character since you get to play a bonus minigame (collect all the pets!) while you're doing it.

[taara.3217]

1 hour ago, Grimlineman.6759 said:

How does condi renegade compare to your condi Herald? I’m liking the sound of the renegade that might be something I try soon. 

CR - more Damage. CH - more Defence.

[ASP.8093]

Of course, the nice thing about Condi Herald vs. Condi Renegade is that it's relatively easy to build *both* and swap as needed.

[LSD.4673]

Guardian is the best. Lots of profs are good all rounders in PvE, but what Guardian has is Aegis. The amount of times i've been able to mount because Aegis has kept me out of combat...it's such a pain-in-the-bum saver. No limping away from combat, waiting for mobs to reset. 

[JekthAvid.1408]

10 hours ago, Grimlineman.6759 said:

How does condi renegade compare to your condi Herald? I’m liking the sound of the renegade that might be something I try soon. 

I play condi renegade as dps for when I do t4s, but from what I understand it's just as good as herald with the right sustain.

 

Some say better, but I think condi herald is more fun. So there. xD

[Teratus.2859]

Ranger is a good one for solo PvE for sure but I wouldn't say it is the "best" at it.. that title I would give to the Necromancer lol

My main is actually a Core Ranger.
Never actually felt the need to elite spec it since I like it as it is, specially now with Soulbeast having the 1 pet restriction.
Build I use is a glass canon Archer, heavily built around the Longbow's AoE potential via piercing arrows with a Sword/Axe combo for some situational melee burst damage.

I do have a another Ranger that is a mostly condi focused Hybrid Soulbeast that focuses on poison application for sustained healing.
I've not played too much of this build though but I did enjoy what I did play.

I have one solo PvE thief build which is a high sustain, Zealot stat Daredevil build that focuses on staying alive via constant combat healing and evasion.
Every crit heals me, every successful dodge/evade heals me and every point of initiative spent heals me.
It is great fun to play but can be extremely punishing if you screw up or lag out since it is a glass canon.

I also have a solo PvE Warrior build which is very similar to the build Wooden Potatoes made a video on.
It's a Spellbreaker that focuses on might healing.

And lastly my personal favourite for solo PvE.
My Soldier stat Minion Master Necro/Reaper build which is so absurdly tanky and has so much sustain from lifesteal and Dagger healing that it is practically invincible in PvE and only threatened by the most powerful PvE creatures.
This is my go to for soloing legendary creatures in PvE like the Bandit executioner, legendary bounties and my personal favourites the Halloween event's Labyrinth Horror and Grand Viscount of Candy Corn.
Such fights are a slogfest though, a battle of endurance and stamina more than anything so this kind of build/playstyle doesn't suit those who prefer high DPS to kill things as quickly as possible.

[Keet.3142]

Strong Open World PvE Options Include

For Open World PvE, I need viable AOE, at least one ranged weapon option, condition cleansing and a stunbreak. 

1. Minion Power Reaper. Probably the single most powerful spec for open world. Minions heal and fight for you, all you need to do is focus on building up life force, going into Reaper mode and press Reaper 4 AKA Spin to Win.

2. Condi Trapper Core Ranger: This is my main and an extremely versatile build where you can PvE AND PvP. I find this really fun to play but switch to Power Soulbeast Longbow, Axe/Axe when I jump into WvW or certain content which is better suited for ranged attacks.

3. Power Renegade: I find power renegade hits fairly hard and run it with Shortbow and Sword/Sword. I use Kalla and Jallis and use traveler runes for mobility, this improves survivability without having to rely on Shiro for mobility.  There's less of a spool-up when dealing damage with Power Renegade. I dislike Herald because I don't like the Hammer for the ranged option. Renegade Shortbow 5, 4, 3 is probably the simplest combo in the game. 

4. Minion Condi Scourge is really strong like Reaper but I think a nerf is incoming and I personal find it boring. I also take it upon myself to hunt down Scourges in sPvP.  

5. Power and Condi Mirage: I love the idea of Mesmer but find the reliance on clones and illusions annoying on certain fights and mechanics. Hoping that the new Virtuoso Elite Spec will address some of these issues. In the meantime, I run Power Mirage with Greatsword, Scepter/Pistol. I use deceptive evasion, to generate clones and shatter away. GS 4 and 2 followed by F1 is another easy but hard hitting combo. 

6. Guardian: Power DH or Condi Firebrand or Power and Condi Core Guardian are all viable. 

7. Holosmith and Scrapper: Just can't get excited about Engineer and find the DPS too low. Personally think you're better off in almost every regard with Power Reaper or Condi Scourge.  

8. Condi Berserker Warrior: I really dislike playing GW2 without at least one of my weapon sets as a ranged weapon. This spec works with Longbow and Sword/Torch. I find the Dolyak Signet a must have. That said, Condi Trapper Ranger is better in almost every regard requiring less effort. I just can't get Power Warrior to work for me and ironically, find it to be the hardest to survive with (and also boring). Warrior Rifle is probably my most disliked weapon in the entire game. 

9. Power Daredevil: Staff and Pistol/Pistol is actually great for soloing content. However, if you ever want to maximize thief, you're pretty much forced to go with a Dagger/Pistol and Shortbow build at somepoint. Deadeye also decent but clunky and lacks an AOE.    

Edited September 6, 2021 by Keet.3142
Added more detail.

[Cuks.8241]

My go to easy mode pve build is trailbraizer condi herald. There are not many pve situations where I can just rush in, pull everything in sight and facetank. On top it has aoe pull, spamable stun break and is actually an excelent group support.

And it still does enough dps to solo DRMs with all CMs. 

And if youre tired of the easy mode or want to play fractals or raids, the profession can be turned into a thief like hyper mobile burst build, viable healer, key boon support. Meta also in pvp and wvw.

[ReaverKane.7598]

On 9/4/2021 at 5:03 PM, Obtena.7952 said:

Depends what you mean by best. I range Ranger to be fairly good for OW farming and questing activities. Soloing champs and bounties not so much. Necro or Eng would be good paths if you like the Ranger playstyle. Probably a bit more on the active side of play but bringing more focused features to the table. 

Actually bearbow can solo anything. The pets can tank, while you do the damage. I've soloed every core open world champ in the game before open world champs even had special drops. Bounties can be trickier because of the bounty mechanics sometimes preventing ranged play.

[Obtena.7952]

3 hours ago, ReaverKane.7598 said:

Actually bearbow can solo anything. The pets can tank, while you do the damage. I've soloed every core open world champ in the game before open world champs even had special drops. Bounties can be trickier because of the bounty mechanics sometimes preventing ranged play.

Right ... I didn't say it couldn't solo, it's just not as good as other classes to do it. In fact, IIRC, EVERY class has a build that can do "Open World Domination" like solo Bounties, etc ...  The question is how they do that thing and if how it does it aligns to how people want to play. 

Edited September 6, 2021 by Obtena.7952

[ReaverKane.7598]

33 minutes ago, Obtena.7952 said:

Right ... I didn't say it couldn't solo, it's just not as good as other classes to do it. In fact, IIRC, EVERY class has a build that can do "Open World Domination" like solo Bounties, etc ...  The question is how they do that thing and if how it does it aligns to how people want to play. 

I'd say its the easiest of all classes for that. Unlike most other classes that have to provide some survivability, you can bearbow with only damage in mind.

[AliamRationem.5172]

42 minutes ago, Obtena.7952 said:

Right ... I didn't say it couldn't solo, it's just not as good as other classes to do it. In fact, IIRC, EVERY class has a build that can do "Open World Domination" like solo Bounties, etc ...  The question is how they do that thing and if how it does it aligns to how people want to play. 

 

That's right! Even poor, disadvantaged ele!