Guild Wars 2 Ranger Profession Overview | GW2PC
| Guild Wars 2 Ranger Profession Quick Summary | ||
| Skill Type | Animal Companion |  |
| Specials | Survivals, Traps, Spirit Skills | |
| Traits | Wilderness Survival, Marksmanship, Skirmishing, Nature Magic, Beast Mastery | |
| Armor Type | Medium Armor | |
| Weapons | Two-Handed: Greatsword, Longbow, Shortbow Main-Hand: Sword, Axe Off-hand: Axe, Dagger, Torch, Warhorn Aquatic: Harpoon Gun, Spear |
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| Limitations | - Only one animal companion can be active at a time - Animal companion stats based on ranger level - Only one of each trap type can be active at a time - Only one nature spirit can be active at a time |
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| Benefits | - Only class that can train animal companions - Animal companions keep fighting even when Ranger is downed - Defeated animal companions can be swapped out for another full health animal companion |
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| Creation Options | Choose one of three animal companions based on character race. | |
Background
The Guild Wars 2 Ranger is a true huntsman, wielding bows and melee weapons with equal killing precision. His mastery of the wilds allow him to tame creatures to serve as his permanent allies, and he can manipulate his natural surroundings to create an edge against his foes. When faced with lethal peril, he draws upon his survival instincts and assortment of weakening traps.
Among the Guild Wars 2 classes, the Ranger is the only one that can fight with and command animal companions, which can vary from a ferocious feline to a thick-skinned bear. This makes battling a Ranger quite a formidable challenge, as focusing on the pet will leave you vulnerable to his arrow shots. But chasing him directly also puts you in a difficult position, with the pet dealing constant damage and the Ranger deterring your advance with debuffing Spirit skills and triggered area Traps.
Weapon Skills
There are 11 possible weapon sets for the Ranger from a selection of 2 main hand, 4 off hand and 3 two hand weapons. When fighting underwater, they also have access to 2 additional weapon sets.
| SLOT | WEAPON | DESCRIPTION | # OF SKILLS |
| Main-Hand | Sword | Mobile melee strikes | 3 (+2 chain skills) |
| Axe | Throwing weapon | 3 | |
| Off-Hand | Axe | Throw axe, change stance | 2 |
| Dagger | Crippling ranged attack, poison | 2 | |
| Torch | Throw, area fire damage | 2 | |
| Warhorn | Call in temporary animals, buffs | 2 | |
| Two-Handed | Greatsword | Daze, knockback, AOE | 5 (+2 chain skills) |
| Longbow | Fast, knockback | 5 | |
| Shortbow | Inflict poison, crippling, stun | 5 | |
| Aquatic | Spear | Close range spear stabs | 5 (+2 chain skills) |
| Harpoon Gun | Ranged attacks, multiple targets | 5 |
Animal Companions
The Guild Wars 2 Ranger can tame animal companions roaming in the wild and field them as allies in combat. These are persistent pets which follow player commands, and grows more powerful as a Ranger increases in level.
Animal companions can either be terrestrial, aquatic or amphibious — a classification which affects where an animal companion can be fielded. Terrestrial ones can fight only on land while aquatic ones can fight only on water, while amphibious ones can fight in both environments. Between these three classifications, there are twelve confirmed families:
Amphibious
- Bear
- Devourer
- Drake
- Feline
Aquatic
- Armorfish
- Jellyfish
- Shark
Terrestrial
- Bird
- Boar
- Canine
- Moa
- Spider
The family in which an animal companion belongs to will dictate the majority of skills it possesses. For example, a brown bear will posses three skills from the bear family and one unique skill for its species. That sums up to four skills that each animal companion can use.
Rangers will spend hours tracking down and hunting rare species for their unique skills, as well as experiment in battle which animal companion best complements his fighting tactics.
Survivals
In the great wilderness, no class can beat the Guild Wars 2 Ranger in survival and adaptation. He is quick on his feet and possesses a natural cunning honed over decades of hunting and skirmishing in marshes, mountains, forests and deserts. His survival skills include coating his arrows with debilitating poisons (for disabling and even killing both game and foe) as well as escape maneuvers that help him re-establish distance or chase down wounded targets.
Traps
Rangers can booby-trap their immediate terrain to punish unwitting intruders as well as keep them at an ideal shooting distance. Ranger traps can either burn, chill, bleed, cripple and poison foes — each status condition offering a different advantage depending on the enemy.
Spirit Skills
Nature spirits also heed the call of Rangers, who summon them for their limited-area buffs. A Ranger and his allies receive various boons depending on the spirit called, from bonus damage from the Frost Spirit to a higher chance to inflict burning via the Sun Spirit. So far there are five different spirits at a Ranger’s beck and call.
Traits
The Guild Wars 2 Ranger can choose from between five trait lines. These become available starting level 11 and each new character level grants a Ranger one trait point to spend in any of these trait lines.
Each point spent on a trait line raises either a base or profession-specific attribute, and an offensive or support attribute. Spending five points on each trait line also unlocks a minor trait (at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 trait points invested) and a major trait slot (at 10, 20, 30 trait points invested) which can be equipped with your choice from a pool of major traits.
| Trait Line | Attribute Bonus | |||
| Base | Profession-Specific | Offense | Support | |
| Marksmanship | + 10 Power | + 1 Expertise | ||
| Skirmishing | + 10 Precision | + 1 Prowess | ||
| Wildnerness Survival | + 10 Toughness | + 10 Malice | ||
| Nature Magic | + 10 Vitality | + 1 Concentration | ||
| Beastmastery | + 1 Empathy | + 10 Compassion | ||
How to Fight As a Ranger (GW2PC Discussion/Speculation – Subject To Change)
Based on what we’ve seen so far in the official previews and beta videos, here are some suggested playstyles and team roles for a Guild Wars 2 Ranger:
With their animal companions and well-rounded set of offensive and defensive skills, the Ranger is one of the most self-sufficient classes for solo play. Rangers will field out tough tank pets to act as meat shields while they focus fire mobs at a safe distance. Should a mob pack prove too overwhelming, his survival and traps skills act as effective crowd control.
The Ranger can be equally deadly sniping from the back line or slashing enemies up close, a versatility that should prove useful in party play. Rangers can kite, off-tank (via pets), manage mobs, and even thrown down boosts to quicken fights.
The Ranger has access to both Shortbow and Longbow weapons, making them the closest thing to a traditional archer class archetype. The first weapon is ideal for mobile skirmishing, while the second offers precision shots and mass firepower.
His broad combat toolkit makes the Ranger dynamic and hard to predict in World vs. World PvP. He can launch ambushes, snipe from elevated and covered positions, and swap between multiple pets based on the class of his opponent. He can be found leading a base assault one minute, then setting up a trap perimeter to prevent a recapture the next.
Guild Wars 1 Vs 2 Differences
The Guild Wars 2 Ranger shares similarities with the same-named Guild Wars 1 class, but with a few important deviations.
First, animal companions no longer evolve or gain experience as they did in the original game, and instead base their stats on the level of their Ranger master. Also, the number of pets a Ranger can bring with him at any one time has been expanded; before, it was limited to only one and changing required releasing the trained pet.
The basic of the flavor of the Ranger seems to have remained intact, though, with its versatile attack range and capabilities in inflicting conditions or providing group boons when these are warranted.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, the Guild Wars 2 Ranger Profession offers a balanced, adaptable class with a dedicated pet and a breadth of playstyle options. Rangers come to each fight prepared for any change in battle tempo or priority target. It would be dangerous to pigeonhole the Ranger as trick-based archer, when it can in fact devastate through sword chains, pet skills, traps and spirit summons — all without releasing a single arrow.
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