Best Secondary to go with Ranger primary?

[GrayFellow]

Or is there a best secondary class? What are the considerations? Please understand, I've played Lineage II for the past 2 years, and that's my only MMO experience (though I have played Morrowind and Oblivion, and several FPS games).

[the savage nornbear]

monk [rebirth] -controversial [mending touch]-only if you have nightfall

ritualist-factions [splinter weapon]

ele [conjure lightning] or other element

warrior/dervish/paragon/assasin-expertise can be used for melee weapons-subpar

mesmer [epidemic]

[MagmaRed]

Any and all have options that can be fun and effective to play. Finding the best FOR YOU is a matter of what you enjoy. Most common ones are Ritualist for weapon spells, Monk for a rez, and Elementalist for Conjure spells. But as I said, all classes can benefit all classes in some way. Decide how you want to play, then pick a secondary that offers skills that would aid you in that.

[Stormlord Alex]

For PvP, /Mo on a general ranger - [mending touch] is just too damn sexy.
For specific builds (thumper/packhunter/gay scyther), /W, /P and /D are used respectively for the weapon mastery. Then there's sometimes /N touchers, which are just... baed.
But other than that, it's /Mo all the way.

As for PvE, you'll see a lot of rangers that are /Mo - likely because they're bad and use [mending]/[vigorous spirit]/[orison of healing]/[rebirth]

IMO, the strongest proffessions in a PvE setting are...
/Rt - for [splinter weapon] (and maybe [death pact signet]/[flesh of my flesh])
/Me - for [epidemic]
/W - for [save yourselves (luxon)] or [save yourselves (kurzick)]

I know I've been pretty specific about secondary skills but... well... a lot of them are really quite bad, and of no use to a ranger.

[GrayFellow]

To tell the truth, in L2 I played mostly melees, and I thought it would be fun to try something else. I will be soloing quite bit - say maybe 90% of the time. I know in L2, an archer didn't need heals too often, and was best off duoed with Prophet to get buffs. And buffs are all-important in L2. But when soloing, I don't know the relative importance of heals and buffs in Guild Wars. And if buffs are important, I don't know which secondary class is best for a Ranger. Oh, and I'm starting off with Prophecy.

[the savage nornbear]

You won't be soloing. Guild Wars is built to be played with teammates. And Rangers are not really built for damage, especially with Prophecies skills. They are best at degen, interupting, and staying alive. Also self-heals are generally frowned on. Thats part of the team mentality, i.e. monks heal everyone.

[GrayFellow]

Hmmmm, well, what are the damage-dealing classes in Prophecy?

[Sir Tidus]

Hmmmm, well, what are the damage-dealing classes in Prophecy?

Warrior and elementalist for direct damage.

[Maccarelly]

There is no definitive 'best' 2ndary for a ranger, it depends on what you want to achieve by playing as one. On my ranger I have nearly every skill (missing out the most useless skills known to gw) so I can play a variety of builds and thus not get as bored.

Old school - used to go monks for some extra healage and rebirth/ hard res. (still seeing people with Resurrect)

Atm - seeing a lot of R/rt for the self splinter barragers.

As said above there is no best build, but what tends to work best is the build you enjoy playing the most, whether it be MAX damage, condition spreader, or the last man standing type.

You only really need to concentrate on what build you have when you move to PVP and they get pedantic about every last skill. Any average ranger build is going to get you quite easily through all of the campaigns.

Look at what you aiming to do with your ranger...but to start off just enjoy playing as one first!

[the savage nornbear]

Warrior and elementalist for direct damage.

Rangers can deal damage, its just damage over time. Burning/bleeding/poison. Conditions are a rangers major form of damage. Daze will ruin and spellcasters day; [[concusion shot]. Bleeding; [[meldandru's arrows], and poison; [[apply poison]. Unfortuanatly, you wonn't have access to [[broad head arrow] and [[burning arrow]. For battle field control use [[savage shot], [[distracting shot] <-best skill in the game, and [[crippling shot]. Conditions are king.

[the savage nornbear]

Warrior and elementalist for direct damage.

Rangers can deal damage, its just damage over time. Burning/bleeding/poison. Conditions are a rangers major form of damage. Daze will ruin and spellcasters day; [[concussion shot]. Bleeding; [[melandru's arrows], and poison; [[apply poison]. Unfortuanatly, you wonn't have access to [[broad head arrow] and [[burning arrow]. For battle field control use [[savage shot], [[distracting shot] <-best skill in the game, and [[crippling shot]. Conditions are king.

[GrayFellow]

Well, maybe I'd be best off with skills that complement damage-over-time and ranged attacks. So, maybe either powerful casts to help finish off foes who get close, or skills to immobilize a foe while the DOTs do their work? I'm looking mostly for PvE, FYI.

[Stormlord Alex]

So, maybe either powerful casts to help finish off foes who get close, Liiiike... [point blank shot]?
or skills to immobilize a foe while the DOTs do their work? How about [pin down]? Generally speaking, the options available already within the ranger class are superior to anything else you'd want to draw upon, especially given the extra punch from runes and the effect of Expertise (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Expertise)
(bolded for emphasis - Expertise is the lifeblood of a good ranger)

[Captain Bulldozer]

Wow... it seems quite surprising to me that every poster so far has ignored paragon as a secondary. Some of the best ranger builds I have seen/used in PvE are R/P. Even though I like R/Rt (for splinter barrage mostly) and occasionally R/Mo (for rebirthing in difficult situations like HM dungeons) R/P can be great because of the party support skills like "Go for the eyes!" and "Stand your ground!" (and plenty more). But in fairness, as a ranger you'll want to use almost entirely ranger skills anyway, so it probably doesn't matter that much.

[Age]

I wouldn't concern youself with a secondary as you won't use the skills from it.I started out as R/N but only used wells like well of blood or suffering.This was to aid the henchie warriors.I now play mostly /Mo with rebirth only on my bar don't forget a res of some kind.

[Rhamia Darigaz]

if you wanna play a good ranger build go /mo, the generic ranger build is generic for a reason, it rocks, and it uses /mo for [mending touch]
if you wanna play splinter barrage or something go /rt, toucher go /n ect, but /mo will give you the most/best options.

[the savage nornbear]

Wow... it seems quite surprising to me that every poster so far has ignored paragon as a secondary. Some of the best ranger builds I have seen/used in PvE are R/P. Even though I like R/Rt (for splinter barrage mostly) and occasionally R/Mo (for rebirthing in difficult situations like HM dungeons) R/P can be great because of the party support skills like "Go for the eyes!" and "Stand your ground!" (and plenty more). But in fairness, as a ranger you'll want to use almost entirely ranger skills anyway, so it probably doesn't matter that much.

That is true, I had my Jin set up as a R/P and it worked really well. She would get adrenaline all day from volley. So... good point.

[GrayFellow]

Um, can I get Paragon in Prophecy? FYI, I bought Guild Wars Game Of The Year Edition. Also, do I need to take a seconday profesion right away, or can I wait a while?

[Rhamia Darigaz]

no paragons in prophecies, and yes, you have to take a secondary in pre, but you can change it once you ascend, and after that you can pay 500g once to learn each secondary profession and then youre free to switch between any secondaries you've learned for free. if you knew that already, nvm, i dont know how new you are to gw.

[GrayFellow]

Very new, just trying it out.

[the savage nornbear]

For prophecies only, you best bet is /monk. There is nothing to use [[epidemic] on, the extra damage from the conjures is not worth losing a rez. The /warriors are really not that great at all. /necro is nothing worth using. Basically go /monk for a reusable res. And use mostly/all ranger skills.