[Rylkan]

Been out of the loop for awhile, so I haven't posted any builds in awhile. I have made a few non Ranger, builds, but most are waiting on my getting around to really testing them out. So aside from the two ranger builds, you might find some holes in the plans. Please let me know if you do.


The first one is the Illusionary Ranger.


Originally I made a build similar to this for Dragonman, since he needed a Prophecies only build, and the old near and dear IW came from it. I am not saying a tank wouldn't work better with this build *seeing as we are talking about Proph only, I know Sins and Dervy's wield this skill well too) but it's something people don't expect everyday. A dagger wielding R/Me. At the very least people will say you are clueless and be in shock when you take down the enemy.

Usage:
Before Battle, use Illusion of Weakness. There are two reasons for this skill. The first and probably most important is Rangers have only middle weight armor, meaning we cannot damage mitigate like Warriors or Paragons would. We can, and in this build, avoid damage, but it is still important to be ready for skills that cannot be blocked. As such, this provides a quick heal.

The Second reason is very important as well, this build is based off a single enchantment spell to work well. If they remove IW, well, you may want to see if you can go bribe Grenth somehow before battle, because you will be seeing him soon if you have it removed. Illusion of Weakness is a enchantment spell that has no time limit and acts as a cover enchantment, giving you better chances of not losing your IW, and if you do lose it, a means of survival.

As for the way you fight, it's simple. Take a melee weapon, preferably daggers since you have a 1 in 100 (I Believe this is the correct power of ten) to double strike. It has the same time between attacks as the other fast melee weapons, so it is that little edge that helps. And then use attack speed boosts to wail on the enemy for massive damage. I reccomend if you feel you need to block, to use LR then WD then at the end of the LR will be recharged, maximizing your time to block.

The pet was in there for earlier build reasons. You can remove it if you wish, or add in, which the earlier build used, disrupting lunge, to have a distract so as to keep them from healing or using big moves and such. I personally find that as a front line fighter I would rather have some damage avoidance skills. As such, I tend to bring Lightning Reflexes and Throw Dirt. I have also used Signet of Clumsiness to give me some sort of attack should I lose my enchants or I wish to interrupt their attacks in a different manner.

Dangers:
Wild Attacks (don't want to lose your stances)
Unblockable Damage
Heavy Enchant Removals


Possible Weapon Modifications:
Additional Energy is always nice. While you can fight just fine if you do not go skill happy and continuously use your energy, nothing wrong with a bit of extra energy.

Enchantments +20%. It is your friend, love it, embrace it. It means you can keep up IW indefinitely.

Armor. You're tanking, you can figure out why.

~~
Wounding Ranger



On those cold desert nights in Elona, don't you wonder how well Expertise could be applied to the Scythe attacks, Bringing back those memories of living on a farm cutting the grass by hand?

Me Neither.

But I do think they work well together. The concept behind this build is simple, and while it isn't a solo build, it is quite a fun way to tank again. My current project proving that 'Yes, Rangers can tank.' (Here's looking at you Cspace.) As such, we have to look at the difference between a Warrior and a Ranger. A warrior has quite a good deal more armor than your Ranger, especially against physical damage, where as a Ranger relies much more on blocking attacks usually (Not to say that Warriors do not possess some very good blocking skills, which they do.) As well as the fact that ounce for ounce, in a battle of pure damage output from a single attack skill with the same weapon can do more damage due to strength.

That being said, a Ranger tank needs to overcome the inevitable two problems, getting hit too hard and not hitting hard enough up close. While some skills like Physical Resistance work great, skills like Armor of Sanctity reduce damage, making the damage we do take much more manageable. With a blockng move on, 75 percent of the time we will avoid being hit, meaning you have a 1/4 chance of being injured, and then take that out of how often they are actually using skills that do an increased amount of damage. As well, we are causing conditions that make the battle much easier to win with a party.

Usage:
Apply Poison before battle, then run in to meet and greet the enemy head on. Here you can start using Wounding Strike, causing bleeding on top of the poison. This means they now have -7 degen to begin with. Then apply your enchants. if you have time, use Vital Boon, but if not, go for Armor of Sanctity. it is quick and easy. In fact, switch the two around and it might work to give you a moment to apply Vital Boon with a bit more Safety. Then use wounding strike again to cause Deep Wound. From here, Lyssa's Assault and Reap Impurities. With Expertise, these become cheap energy and health gaining tactics that cause spike damage. Then use Whirling Defense as needed.

The final slot can be a rez, or even Lightning Reflexes, for a nice long avoidance in Battle. Apply Poison can also be pulled out fairly easily as well, giving you another open slot to work with.

Good Weapons:
Enchants +20% could be useful here.

[Rylkan]

Updated a bit.

[Goto]

Interesting concept builds. Just a quick question though, how can you use IoW as a cover enchant for something that you're going to need to have to reapply? I mean using Illusion of Weakness mid-battle is pretty much out of the question, and as soon as you have to use IW again then IW will be the first enchantment to be removed. Not that IoW isn't a pretty useful skill anyway on a class that is a little lacking in armour, of course.

I quite like the second one, might have to give that a try. Have you playtested it yet? Looks pretty good on paper but it can be hard to know how builds will hold up in real situations.

[Rylkan]

The first one is odd for cover enchantments. Only because I have had times where the one I cast last was not the one stripped. But I see your point.

As for the second one, I have playtested it a bit. It stood up to five hard mode tanks pretty well. It may need more testing, but it seems to have enough to make it for now.

I plan to upload the last two, as well as a dervish build I made, when I have had the chance to playtest those more too. I just havent gotten my poor mesmer to the needed elite skill yet. She is only a wee bit away though.

[Goto]

Tell me if you need a hand getting her further.

That's weird about the enchant stripping thing. The whole basis of cover enchantments is that the most recently applied is the first to go, same with hexes. Not really sure I can explain that one, unless it was just a fluke and a deeper enchantment was just ending at the same time, or something like that. I mean there are skills that will strip 'all' enchantments at once, but I can't think of anything that'll ignore the top-layer one.

[Rylkan]

It may just be that I got confused. Usually the most cover enchantments I have to worry about is when I am running people. Since I usually have multiple enchantments on, and then something like Fleeting stability, I can see why it is cast last, but I seem to remember sometimes when I had a lower one stripped, but it may just be that I am being forgetful. I should re think that build since what you say makes alot of sense, and I think I was probably wrong on the enchantment thing.

As for help, that is always welcome. Currently I want to further test that R/D build, but I also have two mesmer builds in mind. One is actually really simple, but my Mesmer as I said isn't there yet. It seemed to work on a PvP character testing the mechanics. It's a Mantra of Recovery build that uses vengeful weapon and an item spell so I can always spam the weapon spell. It's stronger than Vengeful was Whatshisface, and also doesnt have the 10 second recharge, and with the item I have lots of energy in my pool and extra armor. I still need to work out energy management and how to make up the difference in health. I do steal for 51 damage or so everytime I am hit, but if I get hit too hard, that still may not be enough. As well as interupts, who knows. The other mesmer build I am working on is a Signet of Illusions build. So far I find it synnergizes well with Healers Boon in terms of speed. After borrowing it from a team mate, I can effectively cast the healing spells with no cast time. But that is more a fun thing to do rather than effective use of that signet.

Also my Ritualist build is pretty much a spirit lord who uses shadow stepping to bring spirits to the front lines continuously. So spirits like shadowsong and other such ones can be used to most effect.

Either killing the builds or ideas are appreciated.

[Rylkan]

Oh, and I have been throwing around a build that spams Bone Minions and then Spoil Victor. Cause with their low health, that means the SV will be quite effective.

[Rylkan]

Random thought while I am at work, a N/R who uses a pet, hopefully low level, to trigger SV too and then when it dies, minions.