Arhurt's All around support Ranger

WIP

(pls, if you have the time to correct any grammar or spelling mistakes, fell free to do so)

Intro

Hi all! This guide is supposed to give some insight into my own discoveries about the support ranger class. I have been using this build trough the mid part of the game, finally getting ascended and ready to make the Elite Runs.

This build is made for that. It does not require Storm Bows, does not require heavy armors neither any Elite Skills. It is simply a collection of strategies/skills I used it trough most of the mid-part of the game, with great sucsess.

Ok, lets get to the basics then:

Being the support

Support in GW is what makes a group viable against a number of different situations. So, as a support ranger, you must be ready to make decisions on the fly, or else find that your character feels kind of "useless". That is becouse any group could go by without support troops, they just need to be tougher, play better or have good luck. The presence of a support ranger will make the life of the party a little easier, as it helps everyone, be it keeping them from harm, helping the monks heal or disrupting the enemy key skills.

Thus, you must keep in mind that while you are not the engine of the group, you are a key piece that will make everyone's life a little bit easier.

Skills

Instead of listing eight skills that will make you "teh besto ranger" (tm) I rather comment on the few skills I have been using regularly, and then comment on a few sucssesfull builds.

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Expertise

Distracting Shot - The must-have skill for the support Ranger. This skill will interrupt ANY action the target was taking when the arrow hits. If that action was a skill, that skill is interrupted and is disabled for 20 seconds. Ok, the damage is a little low, but who cares for damage? Save this skill for the nastiest skill the enemy can use (eg.: Hydra's Meteor). Sometimes it is a little tricky to use this skill. Refer to the Using Distracting Shot guide for this particular skill.

Whirling Defense - Stance - Use this stance for casting traps near the enemies, or when your group really needs the trap placed at that time. This skill takes a while to recharge, so be sure it is the right time to trigger it. I usually prefer to save this skill to use in conjunction with Healing Spring when facing Area of Effect heavy attacks, or when facing mass party-poison, bleed or disease.

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Marksmanship

Determined Shot - Cheap extra damage, and is useful even when the enemy can avoid your attacks. Use it as one of your attack skills for the extra cheap damage.

Favorable Winds - If you have one or two extra rangers in your party, be sure to be you carrying this skills, unless the other rangers are support as well. A Marksman ranger will benefit more carrying more attack skills than you, and you can have the time to recast the spirit if it happens to die. If it's only you, then there is no point in taking this skill, as it will eventually benefit enemy rangers more than it benefits you.

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Wilderness Survival

Apply poison - A very good skill to use, especially against numerous weak enemies. It is better to cast it and then star firing one arrow at each of the enemies for mass poison on the opposing party. Tough as a support ranger you might not have the time to shoot at every enemy before you need to cast a trap. Use this as personal taste (I prefer Dual Shot + Ignite Arrows)

Barbed Trap - The poor man's love trap. Barbed trap will deal a small amount of piercing damage, cripple and bleed those caught on it. With good team work it is easy to set traps so that the opposing party runs right trough it. You can either combat cast or set it to protect monks and elementalists after engadgement. Check my Trap setting guide for details.

Choking Gas - Great for facing spellcasters, especially since they tend to stay close to each other. The duration is limited tough, so be sure to use it on crucial moments. Know the trend of the opposing party casting system, so that you can Choke them after they have used their utility spells (such as Elemental Attunement's) and interrupt the spells they where preparing to cast. Works great to shut down mesmers and necros, not to mention elementalists.

Healing Spring - The surprize box of the support Ranger, the healing spring is a must-have ability. You can use it to make the life of your monks better, you can help Minnion Necromancers keep their minnions alive, but the great use of this skill comes when the opposing party manages to shut down one or two of your monks. Be sure tought to use Whirling defense when the casting of Healing Spring can decide the fate of your warriors. Also, as you usually are behind the lines, you can cast it near your monks before they are engaged by the opponents, so when they are, they have the extra healing to sustain the attacks that would be going towards your Meatshields.

Ignite Arrows The bread and butter of the support ranger in terms of damage, since your main support skills (traps) are based on Wilderness Survival. Combine this skill with dual-shot to increase your damage massively. Always target to the middle of the enemy group, instead than towards the edges, so that you can emulate AoE spells by affecting the most targets possible.

Serpent's Quickness - Very useful stance for when you need to reuse your skills regularly, such as when you face 2-3 hydras and need to shut down many Meteors. Using this skill can both boost your damage (especially with ignite+dual shot), can make traps easily combat-cast ready during a fight, but will also drain your mana reserves.

Troll Unguent - With high wilderness survival this skill can negate many of the damage over time effects. Use it if you are facing enemies that attack you constantly, as rangers are mainly seen as an aanoiance rather than a treath, and thus are many times ignored until the other party members are dead (in PvP).

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General Skills

Dual-Shot - An awesome skill if used in conjunction with Ignite Arrows, as the explosions will be doubled as well. Fire with your explosive arrows with Dual Shot in a tight enemy formation and be amazed at the number of damage counters that will rise from them.

Skill Sets

The all around Support Ranger

Determined Shot | Distracting Shot | Dual Shot | Ignite Arrows

Healing Spring | Barbed Trap | Serpent's Quickness | Whirling Defense

This build will do it's job well in any circumstances, and is the one I find myself using the most of the time. Mostly I will beforehand cast Barbed trap. I will then pull the monsters towards the group, having them wait and let the mobs go over the trap. This will ensure that the most of them are crippled and will have a hard time getting to the fragile members of the party. While the mobs fight I cast Ignite arrows, target one of them and Dual-shot followed by Determined Shot, rinse and repeat. If I see that we are taking the advantage, I cast Serpent's Quickness to increase the damage output. If we are facing skill-famous monsters (Hydras) I concentrate on using Distracting Shot on them, if not, I just target their healer and try to disable the main healing engine. Now, here comes the support part. If the enemies are outdamaging the healers (and that happens a lot, otherwise we would not die at all) I proceed towards the assailed party members and cast Healing Well near them. It is important to let everyone know what are you doing before the battle, as the Spring is stationary and people that are recieving damage tend to run from their assailant. The extra healing usually gives time for the healers to cast their more powerfull healing skills or wait those few seconds for it to recharge, saving your party member life, and possibly avoiding an entire party wipe.

This build helps a lot the party: a) It can punch a lot of damage sometimes. b) It helps the healers out in tough situations. c) It keeps the opposition away from fragile party members (barb trap)

The Caster's bane

Determined Shot | Distracting Shot | Dual Shot | Ignite Arrows

Healing Spring | Choking Gas | Serpent's Quickness | Whirling Defense This build is used when facing caster heavy missions or areas. It was thanks to it that I could clear the desert area with hundreds of Storm Chasers. Basically you act as the all around ranger, but when facing caster heavy groups you focus on kepping all of them Choked. Serpent's Quickness is especially useful here to allow you to use many instances of Choking Gas. You will cast Choking Gas just as the opposition casters are getting the interrupted spells back, thus you can keep them from casting indefinetly if you do a good job in targetting them (if they keep a tight group the job is even easier)

This build is weak against melee opponents, as they won't be caught in the Barbed Trap. You can swap one of your attacks and keep the Barb Trap on, but the mana cost of Choking Gas and it's short Duration will eat your mana pool rather quickly.