Help with my barrage build

[jerrylovell03]

ok heres the deal. i made this great PVE r/e barrage pet build and i'm having some problems with energy management and was hoping for advice. This is my build as of right now:

[Barrage][Conjure Flame][Distracting Shot][Antidote Signet][Favorable Winds][Charm Animal][Comfort Animal][Resurrection Signet]

Sorry but i can remember what my attributes are but i do know i have a few radiant insignias on my armor for mana which i thought would be enough to keep spaming barrage. if this helps this is the bow i choose:

Feiry Storm Bow of Fortitude
Fire Dmg: 15-28(Reg 10 Marksmanship)
Inscription: "Strength and Honor"
Damage +15% (while health is above 50%)
Health +30

I know what your thinking why not use a Flatbow, to tell you the truth i just like the way a storm bow looks im sorry. But back to my prob. As you can tell i run out of mana after about 10 or more times casting barrage. I've thought about puting a Zealous Bow String in my bow to gain mana after each hit but then i wouldnt be able to use conjure. I just like the damage conjure does along with barrage.

So if anyone could help me here plz do cause im stuck. I'm willing to do just about anything there is to do to make this build work. Even if i have to lose conjure. Oh by the way if it helps i have all expansions for guild wars (Prophecies / Factions / Nightfall / Eye of the North )

[zling]

first of all this build is by no means unique, it's a slight variation of the used to be popular b/p(barrage/pet) build that everyone used to run to do the ToPK(tomb of primeval kings)
the original build didnt use conjure but an order necro(which requires physical damage) hence it could easily use a zealous bow when needed.

second of all it seems like you're doing this build for H&H(hero and hench)ing or just regular PvEing not as part of a B/P group so, if you really want to keep the conjure than you can either remove favourable winds for conflagation(makes your bow damage fire) or put these 2 spirits together which will slow you down.

[timebandit]

...
Sorry but i can remember what my attributes are but i do know i have a few radiant insignias on my armor for mana which i thought would be enough to keep spaming barrage....

... As you can tell i run out of mana after about 10 or more times casting barrage.

You are running probably not enough in expertise (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Expertise)...
- How much expertise you got?

And I am curious but, 10 barrage should be more than enough to kill a mob.
- Why does it take you so long?
- You are using Henchmen/ Hero? -> Which ones?

Have fun gaming!

[Giga_Gaia]

If you're willing to change your build a bit you can put in Mark of Rodgort (fire hex that causes burning) and Scavenger Strike (Beast Mastery skill that gives you energy when you hit a foe suffering from a condition). In this case I would take out Resurection Signet and Distracting Shot.

Also yeah if you have points in Marksmanship, Fire Magic, Beast Mastery AND Expertise, your attributes are being spread a bit too thin here, which could account for your energy problems like the above poster said. In all honesty, I would either drop the pet or drop the conjour skill. If you really need a buff you can always bring a Ritualist hero with their weapon spells to help you make things go boom...

[pingu666]

9 in expertise should be the minimum, and you could drop antidote sig for [Poison Tip Signet] and [scavenger strike] which should net you a nice return :), just spend leftover points in wilderness

if your running around with heros, then u can chuck [weaken armor] and [enfeebling blood] on a necro :) you could use [body shot] then too, but its not 100% reliable

[ac1inferno]

http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:R/any_Barrage_Ranger

[gw_poster]

if you've all expansions, I highly recommend a PvE skill or two in place of your pet. Without pet skills to do damage your pet is nothing more than an extra arrow and wasting two skill slots - not to mention you'll be doing a lot of comforting of that (useless) pet which will cost you both time and energy. Slap [Pain Inverter] in one slot for the bosses you'll encounter in PvE, and maybe [Asuran Scan] or other damage buff to help your bow deal the damage. I know a pet is fun to have running around, but when not used to your advantage, it's more of a hindrance and will make your PvE experience at that time needlessly more time-consuming (same with using a longbow instead of recurve/flatbow, but not as much)...

[Triaz]

Yeah sounds like you need more expertise. The option of dropping fav winds for conflag and switching to zealous bow string is a good option too. I always run with a hero ranger 2 rangers just work well with each other. So I put my spirits on hero ranger and manually cast them from hero bar, that way I can flag the hero and have her set up spirits while I go pull(just a time saver). Be careful with conflag though, if you are in a ranger heavy mob area your tank might get grouchy:D


Edit: As much as I hate it I have to agree with the above poster. Drop the pet unless you are going to build around it. the reason I rolled my ranger 44 months ago was for a pet (and he quickly became my main and still is). But the sad truth is with taking 2 skill slots min. he just doesn't fit on my bar most of the time. I do have a r/p spear and pet build I love but haven't tried him in HM yet, hella fun in NM though. Def wouldn't recommend it for PVP.

[talisk3]

Expertise?
Maybe you're spamming to much too.
But pets are no good. If you spec into Beast Mastery without skills to do damage from it your pet does very minimal damage. (5-10)

[Luminarus]

I would probably run a +1+1 exp headgear and run 11 in that, then split marks, beast and fire about evenly. Maybe 10, 10, 8 (8 being beast or conjure). I think that att split works, but I could be wrong. The other thing I would suggest is drop antidote signet (bring condition removal on monks and ull be right) for either savage shot, or scavengers strike. Just make sure to use that on a foe with a condition.

[_Nihilist_]

It's the pet that's the problem. Too many Rangers don't understand Beast Mastery is like a Weapon Mastery. If you are running a Beast Ranger, you should have as many points in BM as possible because your Pet/Animal Companion is your Weapon.

With your Attributes split between Marks/Expert/BM/Fire, you are running some really low numbers overall, and while Rangers are great for their ability to be a Jack of All Trades, in this case, you are gimping yourself by spreading your points too thin and getting mediocre use rather than great use out of your skillbar.

I'd keep Fire Magic over the Beast Mastery if you want to stick as close to this build as possible. It's been said by many of the other posters before because it makes the most sense. Here's the best I could come up with for you with that in mind:

Expertise: 10+1 (11)
Marksmanship: 11+1+1 (13)
Fire Magic: 10

[Favorable Winds@13][Conjure Flame@10][Barrage@13][Distracting Shot@11][Ebon Battle Standard of Honor][By Ural's Hammer!][Resurrection Signet]

If this doesn't blow mobs up, don't know what will. Expertise is set @ 11 to get as much cost reduction for your skills as possible, Marks is set @ 13 because that is where most of your damage should be coming from, and regardless of the requirement on your Bow, you want as many points as possible invested, Fire Magic is set @ 10 because the extra damage is absolutely stupid and should be abused. The 3 PvE only skills are each attack buffs, buffing a finite number of attacks (IatS) or attacks for a definite duration (EBSoH, BUH!). You can either load them all at once, or use them in a rotation to spread damage evenly over a prolonged time.

Personally, if I were running the build, I'd drop Fire Magic as well. While the extra damage is nice (and an Enchantment, therefore not removed by Barrage as a Preparation would be), I'd much rather go 12+1+1/12+1 in Marks/Expertise and have an Orders Necro with me. I'm an oddball, and go for the Elite [[Order of the Vampire@16] for the added lifesteal, though others might opt for [[Order of Pain@16], it's all personal preference, really. With higher Expertise, the cost of [[Barrage@14] is reduced from 3e (with 11 Expertise) to 2e (with 13 Expertise), which means and extra 33% usage of Barrage vs. your Conjure Barrage build, and since I don't have to use a Fiery Bow, or spec into Wilderness Survival to use [[Conflagration] and lose some of my damage and energy cost reduction, I can use a Zealous Bow to create net energy [I]gain rather than loss. Sure, if I want to bring the Orders Necro that takes up a team member spot, but that Necro is going to be very, very helpful, and to be honest, would be more of a possibility rather than a have to take.

[Coney]

Like said elsewhere in this post, forget about the extra pet minion, unless you're willing to drop marks for it. Just use a minion master (bomber or [aura of the lich]) to provide a meat buffer (I simply love a hero with [arcane echo] to give me two lvl 18/19 minions prior to battle, with the +1 death magic to boot).

Use two bows, and ALWAYS swap to the zealous when firing barrage (or [triple shot]). I roll with the following for barrage build (hard mode):
[build=OgETcN8mZ644xIGcxo4w3QuMXEA]
exp+1+1, wild+1, marks+1 (never run out of E even spamming barrage - see zealous)

I believe you did say PvE right? Stop splitting attributes into fire elemental and beast mastery, and bring a hero with [splinter weapon] to buff your [barrage]. This build could also be improved by simply dropping the wilderness attributes and freeing up two slots for other utility... Bring healing and [order of pain][mark of pain] and maybe [blood is power][blood ritual] E-mgmt on heros/henchs.

[Bobby2]

I'm an oddball, and go for the Elite [[Order of the Vampire@16] for the added lifesteal, though others might opt for [[Order of Pain@16], it's all personal preference, really. Off-topic: you no liek [dark fury]?

[_Nihilist_]

and [Blood Ritual] are absolutely horrendous e-mgmt skills. BiP provides up to +2e/sec (+6 pips e-regen), while BRit provides +1e/sec for up to 14 sec. Top it off with having to invest in Blood Magic on someone's skillbar to get either one to perform even halfway decently...

If you carry an Orders Necro, sure, you could bring BiP and BRit, but why? I'd rather spend my Elite on the Orders as [Order of the Vampire@16] and be done with it - lifesteal wins in my book - maybe have them bring BRit if you absolutely [B]have to, but that should be just about never.

I agree with bringing a Rt/x or x/Rt Hero or buddy to cast a rank 16 [Splinter Weapon@16] on you. Splinter/Barrage is just plain sick.

Marksmanship: 12+1+1
Expertise: 12+1

[Favorable Winds@14][Flail@0][Needling Shot@14][Distracting Shot@13][Sloth Hunter's Shot@14][Ebon Battle Standard of Honor][empty]

The above build could be fun. With a high enough Vanguard Title you can almost keep EBSoH up indefinitely, D-Shot for interrupting key skills, Sloth Hunter's for massive damage on a single target that isn't using a skill, and Needling Shot for instant-recharging goodness on a target under 50%.

[EDIT] so as not to double-post:

It's not that I don't like [[Dark Fury@16], [B]Bobby2, more that I don't see the point in bringing 2 sac skills with a Barrager. If there are other physicals, especially Warriors or Paras, then yes, by all means use [Order of Pain@16] + [Dark Fury@16], but for a single, or even a group of Barragers, I would rather take [Order of the Vampire@16] for a single sac, and lifesteal dmg (7 [target and adjacent] x 17 [lifesteal on hit] = 119 [vampiric heal per max hit Barrage]) which definitely helps with team healing and removes the need for me to use a Vamp Bow so I can keep spamming Barrage with my Zealous Bow. See my point?

[pingu666]

i quite like blood ritual on a hero
i just tried it out, at rank 4 in blood, it gives 10 energy, im not sure what other options there are for giving someone else energy, theres some conditional paragon ones...

[livia ranger buffer;OAhkQsG5BJqDloTYH+EbMMWVN5C]

maybe something like that?

[ac1inferno]

[Blood is Power][Order of Pain][Blood Renewal][Masochism][Protective Spirit][Aegis (PvE)][Extinguish][Rebirth]

or

[Order of the Vampire][Blood Renewal][Blood Ritual][Awaken the Blood][Heal Party][Heal Other][Masochism][Rebirth]

[brakner]

Mine, also gets a healthy dose of Splinter Weapon from my 3 x Sabway nec heroes

Expertise 8 +1
Marks 12 + 1 +1
Command 10


[Barrage ]["I Am The Strongest!"]["Go for the Eyes!"][ Anthem of Weariness ][ "Never Surrender!"][ Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support][Ebon Battle Standard of Courage][Throw Dirt]



With Barrage + I am the strongest + Splinter weapon you do really impressive damage

[_Nihilist_]

brakner, why not swap out [Ebon Battle Standard of Courage] for [Ebon Battle Standard of Honor]? Moar domage, yaes?

[brakner]

brakner, why not swap out [Ebon Battle Standard of Courage] for [Ebon Battle Standard of Honor]? Moar domage, yaes?

At my Ebon level its only 9 damage. I find the +24 armor is huge for all the squishies that hang around me ( my 3 necros ). I noticed it really helped a lot with damage mitigation. Damage to them goes from 1.00 at armor 60 to .65 at armor 84, so a 35% decrease in damage for my caster crew is a good thing :).

Also, the honor standard only ever really affects me because the hoarde of minions alway run forward and out of its range. Where as the Courage one is always working since the casters with me stick close. Personal preference I guess.

[Lourens]

Here we go again Zzzz another barrage build.. I would drop the pet and go for [mark of rodgort] and [glyph of lesser energy] attributes? 7+1 Expertise 11+1-1-3 Marks and rest in fire magic :ninja:

[elk]

[Order of the Vampire][Blood Renewal][Blood Ritual][Awaken the Blood][Heal Party][Heal Other][Masochism][Rebirth]

Just curious why you've added [Awaken the Blood] in this particular build? With the 50% more scarfice, I'd see this bot spamming heal party too often even with the regen from [Blood Renewal] or requiring a lot of up keep by other bots/party members. That and is the gain of the +2 worth the it overall versus another skill (enchant removal? corpse control? etc.) I would assume that this toon is normally flagged off in the distance but with [Blood Ritual] being touch range, I'd imagine it's gonna be close enough to be involved somewhat.

elk

[ac1inferno]

True that [[awaken the blood] equals high sacrifices, but it's out of aggro so it can pretty much sac as much as it wants. For [[blood ritual], go to it and not have it come to you.

There's a lot of variants to it if you don't like the current bar.
- [[Order of Pain] with or instead of [[Order of the Vampire].
- Take [[Blood Bond] for health regen.
- Remove conditions with [[Mend Condition] or [[Dismiss Condition].
- Take [[Protective Spirit] and/or [[Spirit Bond] for a direct prot.
- [[Succor], [[Holy Veil], [[Extinguish] or another essentially unlinked monk skill.
- [[Gift of Health]
- [[Dwayna's Kiss]
- Hex and/or Condition removal
- [[Extinguish].
- [[Reversal of Damage]
- [[Strength of Honor]
- [[Balthazar's Aura] is good but can give you energy problems
- [[Smite Condition]/[[Smite Hex]
- [[Castigation Signet]
- [[Aegis (PvE)]
- Take [[Karei's Healing Circle] for a self-heal as well as an area heal.

Alternate Profession Variants
Ritualist:
- [[Spirit Light]
- [[Vengeful Weapon]
- [[Flesh of My Flesh (PvE)]
- Use [[Splinter Weapon (PvE)] on your frontliners
- Use [[Ancestors' Rage (PvE)] on anyone near a clump of foes
- [[Spirit Rift]
- [[Warmonger's Weapon]
Dervish:
- [[Mystic Healing] for a party heal.
- [[Vow of Piety] for additional "in the area" healing
- For a direct heal, take [[Signet of Pious Light]
- Counter degen with [[Mystic Regeneration (PvE)]

But overall, heroes are horrible with orders. I just posted the build because the OP wanted an orders build that can support damage and heal.

[_Nihilist_]

[Order of Pain] and [Order of the Vampire] will not stack. OoV does not affect allies who are already under the effects of a Necromancer enchantment.

Saying that the Orders Necro will be out of range is no justification for the +50% sac cost while using [[Awaken the Blood]. It's not worth it, period.

[Blood Bond] won't help your Orders Necro, it will drain their hp.

If you bring an Orders Necro, it needs to be a person, not a Hero. They need to have low max HP (I run mine with 105hp), and they need to know their limitations. Personally, I run mine with 12+1+3 Blood / 10+1 Soul Reaping / 8 Healing, and use [[Vigorous Spirit@8] to help mitigate HP loss from sac skills.

[ac1inferno]

I know [[Order of the Vampire] and [[Order of Pain] does not stack. I was thinking to alternate them since Order of the Vampire can't be kept up permanent (2 second downtime).

I'm not even going to argue that it's good. I also agree that heroes are horrible on orders and should be on a person.

[_Nihilist_]

Enchantments last 20% longer mod reduces your downtime to 1sec, though alternating would work as well. I would prefer the downtime and less sac, tbh.

Necromancer/Monk:

Staff (x req Blood Magic) 20% HSR, 20% HCT (inscription or fixed bonus), 20% HCT (Adept Staff Head), Enchantments last 20% longer (Wrapping of Enchanting)

The lower your HP the better, stay well out of enemy aggro range, but close enough for you to use your Condi/Hex removal on your allies. And watch your ass for patrols and such, just in case you forget that they happen, or are too busy being emo support by /slashwrists to grant party-wide lifesteal.

Blood Magic: 12+1+3
Soul Reaping: 10+1
Healing Prayers: 8

[Vigorous Spirit@8][Masochism@11][Blood Renewal@16][Order of the Vampire@16][Foul Feast@11][Mending Touch@0][Cure Hex@8][empty]
Just a quick thought at a decent OoV Orders... should keep you healed up nicely, might not even need the Healing Prayers, but it's good for Cure Hex, I suppose. Empty slot for whatever Rez you want, or anything else for that matter.