Best Secondary Profession for Ranger

[arihalfangel]

I really like rangers, but I can never figure out what second profession works best with them? What would you guys reccommend?

[Kumu Honua]

There is no such thing as "Best". It also depends on what you are doing.

PvE? Might want to go with /Mo for mending touch or ressurect skills. /Rt gives rez and splinter weapon.

Jade Quarry/Fort Aspenwood? I like R/N to bring Rend enchantments.

Pvp? Take a look at pvxwiki and find a build you like.

Again, there really is no wrong choice. Each secondary can bring benefits to the ranger profession.

[MagmaRed]

As said above, there is no 'best'. It depends on what you want to do. All classes offer SOMETHING, but is that something you would enjoy using?

[DeFFik]

good option is /Me for [Epidemic] when using [Broad Head Arrow] (PvE)

I usually use /Mo for [rebirth].

[TheodenKing]

good option is /Me for [Epidemic] when using [Broad Head Arrow] (PvE)

... and see [burning arrow]

[Rhamia Darigaz]

PvE? Might want to go with /Mo for mending touch mending touch is used far more commonly in pvp than in pve.

[HawkofStorms]

Also, you can change your secondary profession later in the game, so don't worry about it too much. It's not a perminant choice.

[Hanging Man]

yeah there is deff no wrong answer here
you could do [keep in mind I have no ranger, just going with what i have heard]

/warrior for flail and be a turret ranger
/mesmer epidemic coupled with broad head arrow and spread Daze around which works wonders
/necro lightning reflexes and vampiric touch to do the hated touch ranger, more Pvp than pve, but I heard touch rangers can solo last mission in Proph, theres a thread for it but I am too lazy to look :)
/monk vigorous spirit and mending touch are sorta fun to use
/ele conjure lightning used with a bow that has lightning mod and barrage hurt
/assassin you could run around and use daggers? I got no idea for this prof
/ritualist very common splinter weapon and barrage kill a ton of shit

/paragon no idea for this one either

/dervish ebon dust aura couple with an earth bow string to spread blindness and hurt the melees.

those are just a few ideas, crappy ones, but ideas nonetheless.
well take your pick.
don't be afraid to experiment.

[Rhiana Reborn]

R/A is hilarious :) Mostly for the reduced cost of attack skills. Apply Poison + two attack chains and rez. Fun :)

R/P used to be fun in Tombs, with a Barrage ranger carrying [go for the eyes!]. It's been a while since then, though. You could probably use some party buff shouts. Not that familiar with Para skills.

I also used [Heart of Holy Flame] on my Ranger to make my way through the Kryta missions. It hurt the undeads something awful. Of course, they changed RoJ since then, so it's a better alternative.

[imnotyourmother]

Blah blah blah.....

MESMER for the Degen. PERIOD leave it alone and do not confuse the guy.

Mesmer has interrupts and DEGEN the higher lvl foes like lvl 30's have super high health and very high armor so doing damage to them to kill them with a sword strike is pointless. You will be dead before you know it.

Use the health degenerate of the MESMER and the interrupts of the ranger. Get the insignia that give you higher armor rating than the war and just mash away with your bow. Poison is nice with -5 health degen for 8 seconds that is -7 health degen. This equals 98 damage and is armor ignoring. You can spread the damage around by tabbing to the next fow.


Nuff said. proff?? you can hero henchie the whole game with a very simple build.

[MisterB]

I think the OP would do well to ignore everything in the above post. Rangers can apply plenty of degen and interrupt with their primary skills; putting points into Mesmer attributes to use skills that won't be affected by Expertise to do nearly the same thing is silly. Ranger options for interrupts and degen:

[Burning Arrow][Incendiary Arrows][Poison Arrow][Melandru's Arrows][Melandru's Shot][Apply Poison][Barbed Arrows][Poison Tip Signet][Hunter's Shot][Screaming Shot][Distracting Shot][Savage Shot][Concussion Shot][Disrupting Shot][Punishing Shot][Magebane Shot][Broad Head Arrow][Choking Gas][Disrupting Accuracy]

That's not even all of them: I left out pet attacks and traps since those can't be directly targeted as easily.

There is no best. Have a look at the Ranger sticky thread in Campfire. As noted, you are free to change after you ascend.

[[Epidemic] doesn't need attribute points to be effective.
[[Epidemic] is great. There's a lot of synergy for Ranger/Mesmer. I was responding to the suggestion to run degen and interrupt spells as a Ranger. Also, this makes no sense:
Poison is nice with -5 health degen for 8 seconds that is -7 health degen. This equals 98 damage and is armor ignoring.

[Sephiroth Istari]

There is no best.

Some popular ones are Dervish, Warrior, and Paragon however.

[Cjad the Nord]

I'm biased because the ranger is my favorite profession. But it's undeniable that they're extremely versatile. There really aren't too many professions that don't pair well with others, though, so really, you'll find a lot of stuff to love.

Rangers can use their secondary profession to run melee weapons very well. R/W Bunny Thumpers, R/P Spear Chuckers, R/A Moebius Death Blossom sins, and R/D Scythe Spammers are all very effective builds.

As far as utility goes, then R/Mo, R/Rt, and R/Me are the ways to go based on the posts above me.

[notskorn]

PVE only skills is the best second profession

[Arduinna]

I think the OP would do well to ignore everything in the above post. Rangers can apply plenty of degen and interrupt with their primary skills; putting points into Mesmer attributes to use skills that won't be affected by Expertise to do nearly the same thing is silly. Ranger options for interrupts and degen:
[[Epidemic] doesn't need attribute points to be effective.

[Rhiana Reborn]

But in the case of Epidemic the conditions come from the Ranger, not from high-cost-long-recharge skills on the Mesmer side.

Epidemic rocks, though. Throw in [Apply Poison] [broad head arrow] [screaming shot] + [epidemic] and with a bit of mob control you've got a whole army of enemies covered in degen and unable to cast xD

[Taurean]

R/ is the best ^^ No secondary. They're powerful enough on their own

[imnotyourmother]

Weighing back in...YOU CAN ONLY USE ONE ELITE SKILL AT A TIME so showing us all of the elites at once is POINTLESS.

here is how is it. HE IS RANGER ALREADY. Are you suggesting war as his secondary cause it is something that I think that you might do MisterB.

Mesmer is the best to start off with cause he can change his secondary when he gets to the place where he can change it. Those skills that you posted are CRAP as well and you know it....he would have to play through a LOT of the game FIRST to get the skills so WAKE UP!!

Your like.. oh here are the skill to use and this guy does not have all the campaigns or stuff. Have you ever stopped to think before you speak (type in this case)?

So Assuming that he has NOT chosen his secondary and has NO SECONDARY SKILLS or even completed ANY of the games and only the first bit of skills are available to him....MESMER is the BEST Secondary for RANGER UNTIL he gets to the place to change his secondary.

PERIOD END OF STORY.

[Rhiana Reborn]

Actually, if the situation is as you described, and he is just a starting player with an under-skilled and under-equipped Ranger, /Monk would be the best. Telling a new Ranger to "go mesmer, fill your bar with hexes and sit there casting" is just as lame as telling him to go /E and use firestorm and Flare as his main attacks.

MisterB was listing options in the Ranger line for causing degen, not a build. Actually read the post before replying.

[imnotyourmother]

let the debate continue.

Lets then say something that no one can argue with and that is MY OWN EXPERIENCE.

I like ranger for its High armor, Interrupts, Health regen (troll ungent NOT REMOVABLE because its not an enchantment - thus not picking monk for secondary) Run Skills and just plain nastiness.

I tried Ele as secondary and it sucked. I did war and was like this is stupid why did I pick war secondary if i did not want to be a war? Monk was boring and people would not heal me cause I was a Monk and could heal myself + I brought the monk henchie (I had no hero's back then)


NECRO was the best secondary for a long time. I would just set my toon up for TOUCH RANGER. VERY VERY EFFECTIVE up to the fire islands in Prophecies. It has condition removal with a signet or plague touch. I would put bleeding on me for 25 seconds and then use plague touch to make the foe bleed and then steal his health. VERY VERY FUN build but HIGH ENERGY and took a LOT of time getting the skills for it.

The BEST was MESMER. I would fire my arrows for degen IF THEY ARE FLESHY!!! Some of these skills do not work on EVERY FOE. Conjure PHANTASM WORKS EVERY TIME. PERIOD.

[Rhiana Reborn]

So instead of adding actual damage skills, you invest points in the secondary for only one skill?

Well, it might work for you, but it's not a very effective way of playing.

[Arduinna]

Weighing back in...YOU CAN ONLY USE ONE ELITE SKILL AT A TIME so showing us all of the elites at once is POINTLESS.Darn you are right. And I was thinking that row of skills was an actual skillbar. With, you know, 20 skills :)

[imnotyourmother]

So there in lies the problem.

As you can see I am being helpful and giving my experience and others are just gibbering away at me instead of helping the thread maker.

Mesmer is best. As we all know there are RUNES that will increase the Attributes so that those other points can be spent in the secondary profession. This is the EXACT reason why REQ8 weapons with max stats are so expensive as it saves attribute points.

Back to reality.

From what I am hearing is that others have no attributes in their secondary professions which means they are either not understanding the dynamics of the game or are just being hostel to my posts.

Here is a build code OgUUEsrizsGWmxPW1Lo1+WAA

As you notice the Conger Phantasm is not even there as it confirms the strength of the ranger as primary.

Here is another one... OgUTI4xc5oyWeHSIGdAACA

Usage

Your primary targets are rangers and energy using warriors, preferably warriors who are ganging up on your monks. The skill usage order is:

1. Mantra of Signets
2. Signet of Weariness (*)
3. Signet of Weariness
4. Debilitating Shot
5. Oath Shot

Try to use Signet of Weariness against clumped opponents. One round of this will leave a warrior completely drained of energy and a ranger almost useless. Use Mind Wrack to reap the benefits of energy denial and to know when the target(s) have been fully drained.

Use Blackout to shut down important targets such as protection monks before a spike.

This is from the PVX by the way.

And If I have to I will point out the OBVIOUS. NO ONE BUILD WILL BEAT EVERY PART OF THE GAME.

Let me say that again so that others might understand this. No one build will beat every foe in the game. There is no such "skills" Build. The best way to beat the game is to figure out what foes you are fighting and the skills that they have. In pve this is static and does not change.

So go to the WIKI and read up on the missions and foes that you are fighting or what you must do to get the Mission Completed. The WIKI will tell you what skills to bring.

In order to change your skills (in prophecies) you will need to do some quests. The problem in prophecies is that the desert is a really long way from presearing to do so and the game is more than half over (mission wise). So you must be flexible enough to do some damage and stay alive until you can change your secondary.

You got questions??? Guru has answers...

[joshuarodger]

Here is a build code [build=OgUUEsrizsGWmxPW1Lo1+WAA]

As you notice the Conger Phantasm is not even there as it confirms the strength of the ranger as primary.

Here is another one... [build=OgUTI4xc5oyWeHSIGdAACA]

i just wanted to actually see what you're advocating. the first build has attack skills that take 10 seconds each to recharge except for savage. that's terrible. if you want to block attacks, why not [[whirling def] or [[lightning ref]. as a ranger, you shouldn't be getting hit by melees often enough to use a skill that blocks anyway. you should only need it for 10-12 seconds if you come under attack, you use it and kite away if it runs out while you're still under pressure and you don't lose any additional energy when you block. and you're using 5 energy every 5 seconds just to activate it for 3 whole seconds.

the second is extremely old from when signet of weariness was an AoE spell and now your following, which came directly from pvx, is outdated and doesn't mention anything about the SoW nerf. the build is bad now. it was also a pvp build and not meant for pve where enemies have a tremendous amount of energy.

And If I have to I will point out the OBVIOUS. NO ONE BUILD WILL BEAT EVERY PART OF THE GAME.

you're right but these builds are bad for every part of the game.

mesmer degen is bad on a ranger or on a mesmer for that matter. epedemic is just about the only mesmer skill worth using on a ranger. and earlier you said something about /warrior being a bad choice. i give you [barrage]+[save yourselves] nothing wrong with that in pve.

also CAPITALIZING random words IN YOUR SENTENCES is ANNOYING.

[Earth]

R/E for [Conjure Flame], [Conjure Frost] or [Conjure Lightning]

R/W for notflail so you can pew pew (or [Frenzy] or another IAS) or [Save Yourselves] (only if you have factions though)

R/Mo for [Mending Touch]

R/Me for [Epidemic]] (conjure phantasm sucks, especially on a ranger)

R/N for toucher if you wan tto

R/A for dagger sin or something.

R/Rt for [Splinter Weapon]

R/P for [Go for the eyes]

R/D for Escape scythe (dunno if this is still viable tbh)


There, suggestions for every secondary profession.



Also the above post is seriously close to going over the line. Calm down a bit.


yet he said conjure plasm was terrible on ranger and they posted generally what everyone else already said.

very nice. (no offense to earth, hes on the same track as most of us =p)

Yah I was trying to get the thread back on course :p

[Hanging Man]

OP dont listen to imnotyourmother, he has bad ideas

like someone said before me [sorry forgot your name :)] epidemic is the only decent mesmer skill rangers should have. Spread the daze around.
Don't use Conjure Phantasm, specially not on a ranger simple cure hex and its gone.

personally my choice would be Warrior.

you can use flail to turrent around and go pew pew combined with "Save Yourselves" combined with barrage and you can charge SY up quickly

[brakner]

Personal favorate, does huge damage when you run Sabs 3x Necro ( 2 with Splinter Weapon )

Marksmanship 12+1+1
Expertise 8+1
Command 10

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

If I go Into a heavy caster Dungeon I change to Broad Head Arrow - Epidemic build

[D A R K S O I F O N]

yeah have to go for paragon or at least for a trapper uw dwo go mesmer

[Defensive Earth]

there are many good 2nd's for a ranger.

R/Mo or R/E is best to start with until you beat one of the campaigns and gain the ability to change your second profession. R/W is good if you want to turn yourself and your pet into a tank but any of the builds I have created for this require all 3 campaigns and is best used after you have a good deal of experience behind your belt as an archer.

R/E is what I began as and it worked good, my R/Mo's never seemed to go far before I deleted them. R/P is also a good choice, use ranger skills with paragon defenses and healers.

[Rhamia Darigaz]

yeah there is deff no wrong answer here
/warrior for flail and be a turret ranger yeah there is deff a wrong answer here and that is to suggest going r/w for [[flail] after it got nerfed to one second at 0 strength.
you can use flail to turrent around and go pew pew same

[Chthon]

Warrior for SY!
Rit for splinter, though it can be offsources to a buff-bitch hero, and should be completely dropped if you've got someone to put GDW on you instead.
Mes for broadhepidemic, though adjacent range is pretty weak, and you should probably use an extend conditions hero if your serious about AoE daze.

Blah blah blah.....

MESMER for the Degen. PERIOD leave it alone and do not confuse the guy.

Is this a troll, or are you really that clueless?

[_Nihilist_]

Warrior for [Save Yourselves! (Kurzick)] and [Frenzy] as a great IAS for unloading damage on a priority target.

Don't be afraid of the "You take double damage" clause while Frenzy is in effect, you're at range, and you probably have a caster near you. Their armor is lower than yours, they'll get targeted first. The eight seconds of whoop-ass is worth the risk.

[Hanging Man]

yeah there is deff a wrong answer here and that is to suggest going r/w for [[flail] after it got nerfed to one second at 0 strength.
same


i posted that suggestion before the nerf to flail

dont use flail it won't work for turrent rangers anymore

[Bowstring Badass]

Warrior for [Save Yourselves! (Kurzick)] and [Frenzy] as a great IAS for unloading damage on a priority target.

Don't be afraid of the "You take double damage" clause while Frenzy is in effect, you're at range, and you probably have a caster near you. Their armor is lower than yours, they'll get targeted first. The eight seconds of whoop-ass is worth the risk.

You sir are my hero. :D

Anyway pve skills+barrage in pve = lame and easy. Just take 3 pve skills to buff your damage and spam barrage imo.

[Rhamia Darigaz]

i posted that suggestion before the nerf to flail

dont use flail it won't work for turrent rangers anymore your first post is dated 10 March
your second post is dated 13 march
the update was 5 March

[enumaelish1]

Any way, getting back to the OP.
This is basically a list of the popular things to do with rangers if you didn't check it yet:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10261054

Otherwise, the most I have to say is: Rangers are a very strong class alone, without skills from other professions if they desire. However, due to expertise, they can do a whole lot of things. Citing some people above, an example is:
Scythe attack rangers: These pump some nice damage, able to use cheap scythe skills for some quick damage, and possibly conviction for extra armor.(I would personally also reccomend Armor of the great dwarf if you have eotn)

For me, in PvE at least, Warrior, Mesmer and Dervish are my most commonly used secondary classes. Have a sift through the info in that guide up there and try some of it out. I tend to play a support class, but if you want to, Rangers can do some awesome damage also.

[MasterSasori]

The best secondary for a ranger is one that you can change to adapt for all different situations.