=========================== = Guild Wars Ranger Guide = =========================== = Version 0.61 9/21/2006 = =========================== = by Hahnsoo = =========================== Send all constructive comments, corrections, and questions to [email protected] with "Guild Wars - Ranger Guide" in your subject. All other e-mail will be marked as spam or ignored. Do NOT send me sample builds... such things can more easily be discussed and critiqued in the Ranger Strategy forum at http://forums.gwonline.net/forumdisplay.php?f=120 I tend to keep this guide up-to-date weekly, coinciding with the weekly updates to the game. You can expect a new version with more information in this Guide on a weekly basis. The most recent version of this guide will always be at GameFAQs. To easily search this document, use the (gwrgXX) search terms listed in the table of contents (with the parentheses). When I refer to another section using the (gwrgXX) in the document, it will be in Brackets [] instead. Note: With the release of the Chapter 2 Expansion "Factions", the original Guild Wars game has been labeled "Prophecies" in the character selection screen. Thus, I will refer to content pertaining to Chapter 1 as "Prophecies" and content pertaining to Chapter 2 as "Factions". Further chapters will also be referred to their proper campaign name. Note: Chapter 3 is "Nightfall" and will be referred to as such in the appropriate sections. ===================== = Table of Contents = ===================== 1. Introduction.....................(gwrg1) 2. Overview.........................(gwrg2) 3. Attributes.......................(gwrg3) - 3a. Beast Mastery................(gwrg3a) - 3b. Expertise....................(gwrg3b) - 3c. Marksmanship.................(gwrg3c) - 3d. Wilderness Survival..........(gwrg3d) 4. Equipment........................(gwrg4) - 4a. Armor........................(gwrg4a) - 4b. Bows.........................(gwrg4b) 5. Builds...........................(gwrg5) - 5a. Ranger-only Themes...........(gwrg5a) - 5b. Ranger/Elementalist..........(gwrg5b) - 5c. Ranger/Mesmer................(gwrg5c) - 5d. Ranger/Monk..................(gwrg5d) - 5e. Ranger/Necromancer...........(gwrg5e) - 5f. Ranger/Warrior...............(gwrg5f) - 5g. Factions:Ranger/Assassin.....(gwrg5g) - 5h. Factions:Ranger/Ritualist....(gwrg5h) - 5i. Ranger as a secondary........(gwrg5i) - 5j. Things to Avoid..............(gwrg5j) 6. PvE..............................(gwrg6) - 6a. General Ranger Tactics.......(gwrg6a) - 6b. Questing.....................(gwrg6b) - 6c. Farming......................(gwrg6c) 7. PvP..............................(gwrg7) - 7a. General Ranger Tactics.......(gwrg7a) - 7b. Dealing with opponents.......(gwrg7b) - 7c. The Metagame.................(gwrg7c) 8. FAQ..............................(gwrg8) 9. Appendices.......................(gwrg9) - 9a. Skill List...................(gwrg9a) - 9b. Armor List...................(gwrg9b) - 9c. Collectors List..............(gwrg9c) - 9d. Expertise Breakpoints........(gwrg9d) - 9e. Ranger PvE Checklist.........(gwrg9e) 10. End Notes.......................(gwrg10) ======================== = Introduction (gwrg1) = ======================== The Ranger... when most folks think of Rangers, they think of hardy woodland warriors and hunters, a breed of men and women who brave the wilderness to test their skills and instincts in the shadow of Mother Nature. Guild Wars Rangers certainly fit this stereotype (and dispense with the "dual-wielding" scimitar dancers found in certain Pen-and-Paper roleplaying games). Rangers are survivalists, skilled archers, tamers of animals, and nimble folk who are just as likely to dodge attacks as they are to weather a firestorm. Rangers in the game of Guild Wars are jacks-of-all-trades, masters of few. They are the second-best in nearly every combat category imaginable. They have the second best energy regeneration, second best armor, and they possess a wide skill selection that can easily fill any role in both Player vs. Player (PvP) and Player vs. Environment (PvE). They also are the archers in this game, being the only class that is skilled in the use of a bow. I'm writing this guide because of a general lack of good Ranger guides out there (and believe me, I've been searching), and because it helps me out with my own Ranger experience. I hope you can gain as much benefit from this guide as I have from writing it. By no means is this guide the final word on playing a Ranger, so feel free to challenge and critique this document with an open mind. I will always strive to keep this guide up-to-date and accurate, but everyone makes mistakes and hears misinformation. This guide may also change as my understanding of Rangers changes. Why Should I Play a Ranger? =========================== * Rangers are versatile, being able to run disruption, healing, pure damage, defense, speed, and pretty much any single role you can think of. A ranger can find a niche in just about any party. * Rangers are masters at ranged attacks. With their plethora of bow skills and high-damage bows, Rangers can deal death at a distance and are the most effective at "luring" enemies. * Rangers who focus on Beast Mastery get animal companions, which are a welcome addition to many parties. * Rangers are energy-efficient. With many low energy-skills and the Expertise attribute, you will rarely run into energy problems using Ranger skills. * Rangers are the only class with access to both Traps and Nature Rituals. * Rangers have strong armor. Almost as strong as a warrior, and stronger than a warrior against Elemental Attacks, Rangers have excellent armor coverage. * Rangers mesh well with other classes. All class combinations of a Ranger can uniquely complement the Ranger's primary abilities. * Rangers have an excellent /dance emote for both genders. *grin* Why Shouldn't I Play a Ranger? ============================== * Rangers lack effective Energy management. While Expertise lowers costs for Ranger skills, it doesn't help for the Energy costs of spells. With lower Energy Regen than primary casters, Rangers have problems when their Energy reserves bottom out. There are few skills that allow them to reclaim Energy. * Rangers are ONLY masters of the bow. They are second-best in any other role, and thus are not as effective at taking punishment, healing others, etc. If you want to be the BEST Tank or Healer or Spellcaster, this is the wrong class. * Rangers deal less damage than Warriors on average. If you want to max out your combat damage, then play a Warrior. Rangers often require unique combos of skills to be effective damage dealers. The slow rate of fire on Bows also compounds this problem, as well as the ineffectiveness on moving targets. * In the grand scheme of Guild Wars, Rangers are often ignored. Most groups require a Tank (Warrior), a Healer (Monk), and a Spellcaster (Elementalist). Beyond these three roles, the other roles (Disruptor, Trapper, etc.) are often ignored, and thus the Ranger (along with the Mesmer and Necromancer) are also ignored when forming Pick-up groups. ==================== = Overview (gwrg2) = ==================== Rangers have the following characteristics and attributes: * Energy Regen +3 (+2 default, +1 from armor) * High Elemental Resistance (all Ranger armors have +30 Armor vs. Elemental) * Beast Mastery - linked to skills involving animals and animal companions * Expertise - linked to skills involving dodging, reduces Energy costs * Marksmanship - linked to skills involving bow attacks, increases bow damage * Wilderness Survival - linked to a variety of skills, including traps, spirits, and preparations Expertise is the Primary Attribute of a Ranger, and is exclusive to the Ranger as a primary class. All of the rest are given to secondary class Rangers. The majority of primary Rangers use bows as a main weapon, depending on Marksmanship and Marksmanship-based skills for damage. Some Rangers use Beast Mastery to supplement their damage through an animal companion. On the defense side, Rangers use Expertise-based skills to evade attacks. Rounding out the Ranger's abilities is Wilderness Survival, which is a grab-bag of healing, traps, utility skills, long-lasting Spirits, and bow preparations. ====================== = Attributes (gwrg3) = ====================== In this section, I will discuss each attribute, and highlight a few useful skills linked to that attribute. If you want exact stats for the skills, head on over to the Skill List in the Appendix [gwrg9a]. -------------------------- - Beast Mastery (gwrg3a) - -------------------------- Note: The words Pet and Animal Companion are used interchangeably in this guide but the nomenclature used by Guild Wars is "Pet", so I try to adhere to that name as much as possible. Though oddly enough, the skill descriptions say "Animal Companion". This is the main attribute for Rangers who wish to focus on a pet, but it also contains a few non-Pet skills. Just as Marksmanship is the focus of a Ranger who does damage with Bows, Beast Mastery is the focus of a Ranger who does damage through his/her Pet. There are several useful Nature Rituals in the Beast Mastery line, and Tiger's Fury is a popular stance linked to this attribute. Pet Mechanics ============= Note: Much of this information was gleaned from the work by GammaRay and SonOfRah. The research is still going on in this matter, so stay tuned. Note: Further research has been done by by Jenosavel and Epinephrine. They have done some incredible work and debunked a lot of speculation about pets. Increasing Beast Mastery increases the damage done by an Animal Companion, in a similar manner as Marksmanship. In other words, a Beast Mastery of 12 will allow a pet to do full damage to a target with an AL of 60. Each point of Beast Mastery offsets 5 points of AL, and 40 points of AL doubles/halves the damage in each direction. Points above 12 Beast Mastery undergo diminishing returns. For more information on damage mechanics, hop to the Marksmanship section [gwrg3c]. The base damage dealt by a pet (unmodified by its evolution) correlates well with its level. A level 3 pet deals 3-5 damage, while a level 20 pet deals 17-28 damage. However, it seems that in the case of critical hits, pets can deal a varying amount of damage (i.e. it is not always the maximum base damage of the pet). Beast Mastery and evolution adjusts this damage. All pets get 3 Armor Level per level, so at level 20, Pets have a base Armor Level of 60. A level 20 Pet has the same amount of Health as an unmodified character of the same level. In other words, a pet has a base Health of 80, with 20 additional Health per level. Note: As of the 8/25/05 Update, Pets now have an AL of 80 at level 20. This AL increase is global, which means the AL of a pet is equal to 20 + Level times 3. Also, they have an additional 25% running speed. It seems that pet choice is a mostly matter of cosmetic preferance rather than a matter of strategy. The only main difference is that each pet does a different kind of damage, based on its type. Pet Damage Types ---------------- * Black Bear - slashing * Lizard - piercing * Lynx/Stalker - slashing * Moa Bird - slashing * Snow Wolf/Wolf - slashing * Spider - piercing * Strider - slashing * Warthog - slashing Note that previously it was listed that Striders and Warthogs had different damage types. This has been subsquently proven to be slashing instead. (Thanks to Jenosavel and Epinephrine) Canthan Pet damage types are unknown so far, but probably match their Tyrian counterparts. Pets cannot cause Bleeding, Poison, or other conditions without the aid of a Pet attack skill. Thus, the Spider does NOT cause poison, nor do Warthogs cause bleeding. These are just rumors. As of the 9/29/05 you can now see how much damage your pet is doing. Very cool. Pet Evolutions ============== Occasionally when a pet levels up, it "evolves", changing its stats slightly. Evolutions do not change the appearance of a pet, although a pet will change size corresponding to its level. When a pet evolves, it will gain a prefix to its name (if you haven't renamed the pet using /petname or /namepet). Pet Evolution Prefixes ---------------------- * Aggressive - about +5% Damage, -30 Health * Dire - about +15% Damage, -60 Health * Elder - +0 Damage, +0 Health * Hearty - about -15% Damage, +60 Health * Playful -about -5% Damage, +30 Health Exhaustive attempts to prove that an Elder pet is better than other Evolutions have been proven to be false. Elder pets seem to be the equivalent of unevolved pets. The damage bonus (or penalty) from an Evolution isn't an exact number, but rather a percentage multiplier that increases/decreases damage, with the percent changing as a pet levels up. At level 20, with a Hearty/Dire evolution, this percent is close to 15%. Pets typically evolve at around level 10-13 and have a second evolution at around level 15-17. More evolutions can happen, however, depending on unknown parameters. Although the "paths" of evolution aren't fully known, a few have been discovered: * Pet -> Playful -> Hearty -> Elder * Pet -> Playful -> Elder (?) * Pet -> Aggressive -> Dire * Pet -> Aggressive -> Elder (?) It is thought that letting the pet take a lot of hits makes the pet into a Hearty or Playful evolution, while letting the pet deal a lot of damage (compared to the master) in combat gives it an Aggressive or Dire evolution. Once on an evolution "path", you can't go back. Note that there used to be a trick in which folks would charm a pet, cancel the charm before it finishes, and have the hostile animal kill them repeatedly near a shrine. After a couple of hours, the pet will have gained enough XP to level up to 20, complete with Dire status. Unfortunately, this trick was removed in a June 2006 update which removed the ability for creatures to gain XP from killing characters. Miscellany ========== Pets gain XP at the same rate as their master, but it is prorated by their level. This is only important when the Pet's level is different from the Master's level... a 20th level character killing a 13th level creature will get zero XP, but his 13th level pet will get 100 XP from the kill. Apparently, pets can learn through osmosis. Even more disturbing is the fact that pets gain XP while they are dead. So don't worry if your pet dies during a mission and you can't raise him... it is still leveling up along with you. You can rename your pet using the /namepet (Pet Name) or /petname (Pet Name) emote. Pet names are limited to 12 Characters. Good times, but if you rename your pet, you will not know what evolution the pet is in. As of the 9/29/05 update, you can now just type /namepet and it will rename your pet back to the default so you can figure out what Evolution it is in. Pets CANNOT be raised by a normal Resurrection skill or the Resurrection Signet. They can only be raised by Comfort Animal or Revive Animal. Overall, any combat skill possessed by the ranger is duplicated in the Beast Mastery line as a "Pet Attack", a special attack that is executed by the pet. In general, these attacks are extremely cheap in Energy and Cooldown Time, and have effects that equal or exceed existing attacks. The only disadvantage is that they require a pet to execute. A Beast Mastery specialist can easily Bleed, Interrupt, and Tank an opponent using the pet and the combat skills in this line. Pet Attacks were updated on 9/29/05 to "function just like a shout". I'm not sure what this means, other than perhaps that pet attacks can be used concurrently with any other skill being cast. Beast Mastery tends to hog a lot of space on the skillbar. Between Charm Animal, Comfort Animal, and Pet attack skills, it is difficult to squeeze in anything other than Beast Master skills when focusing on this attribute. Given the general ineffectiveness of Pets in the late PvE game (although the June 29th update gives them the equivalent of infused armor, thus keeping them alive when you are up against the Mursaat) and the fact that pets need to be kept alive to make use of them in PvP, many Rangers skimp their points on this attribute by the time they reach Lion's Arch or beyond. Some Skill highlights: Charm Animal ============ This is the main skill in the Beast Mastery line. You only have a Pet if you have this skill equipped in your skillbar. To get a Pet (if you don't already have one), you must use this skill on an appropriate animal. This immediately makes the animal hostile, so be sure you can survive its attack, and that your other party members don't attack the animal, killing it before it is charmed. The 10 second casting time is rather long, which makes charming an animal during combat impractical. If you have a current pet, you CANNOT charm a new one. If you wish to change your animal companion, you need to hand it over to a tamer. The main tamer in Post-Searing Tyria, named Jarrel the Tamer, is just outside the gates of Ascalon City. There's also a Tamer next to Master Ranger Nente (who gives you Charm Animal) in Pre-Searing Ascalon. List of Charmable Animals (Prophecies) -------------------------------------- * Dune Lizard (found in the Crystal Desert) Level 5 * Warthog (found in the Maguuma Jungle, Pre-Searing Northlands) * Lynx (found in Kryta) Level 5 * Stalker (ONLY found in Ascalon, near the Shrine of Melandru in Regent Valley Pre-Searing or near Gate Guard Hollis Post-Searing) Level 5 * Snow Wolf (found in the Shiverpeaks) Level 5 * Strider/Moa Bird (found in Ascalon) Level 2-3 * Black Bear (found in the throughout the Southern Shiverpeaks) Level 5 * Elder Wolf (The pet of "Thul the Bull" in Spearhead Peak) Level 15 * Elder Black Widow Spider (Underworld) Level 20 * Wolf (found in Pre-searing Lakeside County) Level 2 List of Charmable Animals (Factions) ------------------------------------ * Tiger - Throughout Shing Jea island, Pongmei Valley * White Tiger - Between Tanglewood Copse and Arborstone * Crane - Throughout Shing Jea island, Pongmei Valley * Reef Lurker (red) - Around Cavalon * Reef Lurker (blue) - Shenzun Tunnels, Pongmei Valley * Black Moa Bird - Charmable after Beak of Darkness quest in House Zu Heltzer * Phoenix - Charmable after the last mission of the game in Divine Path How (NOT) to Charm a Pre-Searing Bear ------------------------------------- Black Bears in Pre-Searing Ascalon can be targeted with Charm Animal. However, they also possess a skill which allows them to break the charm attempt. In previous versions, one could capture the bear with a combination of Bane Signet, Hammer Bash, and Faintheartedness to keep it busy. However, it has recently been patched, so now it is nearly impossible to capture a pre-Searing Black Bear (research is still being done). Sorry, folks. Update: Apparently, some folks have been able to "trap" a Bear between a partner's pet and themselves, allowing the Ranger to Charm the Bear because the bear would not be able to move into range to use Break Charm. The research continues... Update: Another method is to have the Bear attack a friend, and have that friend run away from you. You activate Charm Animal just as the Bear is leaving your skill range, and the Bear will continue to follow the friend. When it comes time to "Break Charm", the bear will not be able to interrupt you. Finding an Elder Black Widow ---------------------------- Elder Black Widows are a special pet that can only be found in the Underworld. They are made available after you get the chest quest reward for the quest "Wrathful Spirits". This quest is given by the Reaper of the Forgotten Vale, who appears after finishing the quest "Restoring of the Monuments" from the Reaper of the Labyrinth. I've taken the liberty of making a map of the beginning part of the Underworld, which you can find at this link: http://img206.echo.cx/img206/883/underworldmap7uf.jpg I want to charm a Rabbit/Devourer/Swarm of Bees/(insert animal here)! --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry, you can't. The only pets that can be charmed are listed above on the table. Factions: What about the Pandas? -------------------------------- A lot of folks have asked about Pandas in Cantha. The official line that I've read is that it is illegal in a certain populous country (the Panda is indigenous to this country) to portray a Panda being mutilated or killed, even in a video game. Thus, it would have made things difficult for Guild Wars to be sold in this country. The end result is that Pandas can't be captured to be used as pets (and potential meat shields). This makes me wonder about the Panda combatant in the Tekken series of fighting games. Or any other game with cartoon Pandas, for that matter. Comfort Animal ============== There are only two skills that can revive a Pet, Comfort Animal and Revive Animal. Comfort Animal is received at the same time as Charm Animal and thus is usually the pet resurrect of choice, simply because of availability. In general, I would think carefully before adding this to a skillbar. If you are heading into PvP or a Mission, then the skillbar slot is probably better served by a different skill. If you are exploring large regions of land, then take along Comfort Animal to revive your pet on those long treks far from a convenient city. "Casual" beast masters who don't focus on Beast Mastery should never take this skill along. As of April 29, 2006, skills are no longer disabled for casting this, making it a lot more useful than it was before. Call of Protection ================== An underappreciated buff for your pet, Call of Protection gives a straight damage reduction bonus to your pet, allowing it to live much longer and survive in tough combat situations. It lasts for a whole 2 minutes (and has a recharge time almost as long), and gives an incredible amount of damage reduction for a small amount of Energy. The main problem is the opportunity cost of taking up a skillbar slot, especially since Beast Masters already have problems with skillbar space, needed for Pet Attacks and other Ranger skills. Ferocious Strike (Elite) ======================== This Elite skill in the Beast Mastery line is actually rather lackluster, other than the fact that it's the only Elite available in Prophecies. You gain adrenaline (which is only useful for Warrior/Ranger or Ranger/Warrior combinations) and some Energy. This is a good Energy management skill for the Ranger (who lacks good Energy management in general), but overall it may not be worth selecting as your Elite skill. Edge of Extinction ================== It's been a while since I've updated entries in the Prophecies/Core Beast Mastery section, but I feel that Edge of Extinction deserved an entry, especially in the realm of Cantha. Edge of Extinction is a spirit that causes damage to all nearby creatures of the same type whenever any creature dies. The main utility of this skill is to soften up the rest of the monsters in a homogenous group. The area of effect is rather wide, and you can really do some major damage. It is a great skill to use against Mursaat, Afflicted, and Charr. If you do enough area effect damage to multiple opponents, however, sometimes you can cause a chain reaction that will wipe out ALL of the monsters of the same type in the area when one dies. This chain reaction effect is often used in various farming builds, including the "Grawl Bomb" build. Be careful when laying this spirit around human monsters, as when they die, all of your human teammates will be affected. Sometimes, you can even cause the same EoE chain reaction, but instead of killing your enemies, you kill off your whole team! It takes careful thought and consideration when using this spirit in any given area. Also, this spirit is anathema to Minion Masters. When you have a Necromancer using Minions in your party, leave this spirit at home. In PvP, this spirit can cause major havoc, especially in the Hall of Heroes and Alliance Battles (which have a large amount of human opponents). As a spirit, it cuts both ways, but if you have a lot of healing, then it typically hurts the other teams more than you. Alternatively, you can lay one deep in enemy territory while your teammates are safely outside its radius. Note: As of the August 17, 2006 update, this skill has been nerfed. It now only affects creatures with 90% Health or below. This greatly limits the utility of the skill, although it still has some use in PvP and farming. Fertile Season ============== Most people who grab this spirit are awed by the increase in maximum health and armor offered by it. On paper, the stats look good, and it lasts a long time due to the fact that it's a Spirit. However, since it IS a spirit, the bonuses apply to both your party AND to all monsters within its radius, making it significantly harder to kill most monsters. Leave this spirit at home, folks, unless you want to be mauled by stronger, more armored versions of your enemies. On the other hand, a Necromancer might find this spirit useful. Otyugh's Cry ============ At first glance, this appears to be a bad skill. Animals aren't found in many locations, and even then, they tend to be low level. However, the 20 Armor bonus applies to all animals, including your pet. This reduces damage by about 20 to 30 percent to your pet (as well as other pets owned by your allies). It also lasts for 30 seconds (with an equally long cooldown time), fairly lengthy. It requires a target, because of the "main" ability (which in my opinion is secondary to the armor bonus). Also, you need at least a 4 Beast Mastery to make effective use of it without failure. I have not seen a Otyugh anywhere in the lands of Tyria, although I suppose the devourer line of creatures resembles the "classic" Otyugh monster. Tiger's Fury ============ This skill is one of the best "increased attack speed" stances available in Guild Wars. It is less useful for spellcaster classes (as it disables non- attack skills while in use). It is also a bit expensive at 10 Energy, but with a high Expertise, this can be negligable. More points in Beast Mastery extend the overall duration, giving you more seconds of berzerk attacking. Factions Skills =============== A variety of skills have been added to the game with the release of Factions. Along with many new pet attacks and nature spirits, there are some interesting additions that increase the variety of tools at a Beastmaster's disposal. Enraged Lunge (Elite) --------------------- This Factions Pet Attack packs quite a punch. For every recharging Beast Mastery skill, it deals bonus damage, up to a total bonus of 80! Of course, with this sort of power, the skill is an Elite, and makes a nice replacement for Ferocious Strike (the previous "Core" Elite). The cooldown is only 5 seconds, allowing you to quickly attack again with devastating spike damage. You may want to have a line-up of Pet Attack skills that have a longer cooldown time, such as Pounce, Savage Pounce, and Bestial Mauling. Energizing Wind can help slow down the cooldown as well, but it isn't friendly to your casters in the group. Note that this skill counts for every recharging Beast Mastery skill, not just Pet Attacks. Thus, the recharging Call of Protection, Tiger's Fury, or any other support skill that you may have running in your skillbar counts for the Enraged Lunge damage, including Enraged Lunge itself (since there is typically a delay between activating the skill and the pet using the attack). Tiger's Fury/Bestial Fury is especially lethal, because it counts as a recharging Beast Mastery Skill and causes both Charm AND Comfort Animal to recharge, adding 3 recharging skills for the price of one activation, with very little downside. Heal as One (Elite) ------------------- A useful heal in the Beast Master's repetoire, it is one of the few ways Rangers can heal directly. It is an Elite, and thus takes up your Elite slot. The 12 second cooldown makes this skill less useful than Monk heals, but it heals a lot of damage at higher levels of Beast Mastery skill. I'm more inclined to leave this one at home (it IS an Elite), personally, but if you have trouble with healing or you want a substitute for Troll Unguent that also benefits your pet and you don't mind sacrificing your Elite slot, you can give this skill a try. The difficulty, of course, is finding this skill. It has only been seen in Yeti beastmasters and Luxon Rangers, and no boss has been identified for those folks. Stay tuned for more details... Update: Salke Fur Friend in Melandru's Hope, southwest of Jade Quarry has this skill. Apparently, the skill was missing before a patch fixed it. Poisonous Bite -------------- This is another useful skill in the line of Pet Attacks. It's simple, it costs 5 Energy, and has a reasonable cooldown of 7 seconds. All it does is afflict the target with poison through a Pet Attack, making it one of the few direct ways to "zap" an opponent with the Poison condition. This is generally one of the new Factions Beast Mastery skills that I keep in my skillbar. Note: A Poisoner's bowstring won't add to the duration of poison on this skill. Viper's Nest ------------ Here is a novel skill: A trap in the Beastmastery line. It does some piercing damage and adds the poison condition to the victims that trigger it. While a Beastmaster's repetoire doesn't really require trapping, it can be useful in a pinch, especially if you don't have many points invested in Wilderness Survival. One trick that you can use is bringing a Poisoner's bow or melee weapon. The Poisoner's mod increases the poison length on this skill, even though you don't physically attack with your weapon. ---------------------- - Expertise (gwrg3b) - ---------------------- Expertise is the Ranger primary attribute. By itself, it is a useful passive attribute, reducing the costs of Ranger abilities. However, Expertise does NOT affect spells, hexes, or enchantments. Expertise rounds to the nearest integer, making for some very interesting breakpoints. This can be tested by extending your energy bar across the length of the screen and using skills at various levels of Expertise. These breakpoints can be found in Appendix 9d - Expertise Breakpoints [gwrg9d]. Breakpoints should NOT be your only consideration for your level of Expertise, as a higher Expertise level also enhances the quality of its linked skills. Expertise has many skills which improve the defensive capabilities of a Ranger. Skills like Whirling Defense and Throw Dirt prevent melee combatants from touching you. Expertise also has a few bow attack skills, mostly interrupts and disruption. Some Skill highlights: Distracting Shot ================ Distracting Shot is probably the best interrupting attack in the game. Not only can it be used at range, but it has a quick attack time (0.5 seconds), costs only 5 energy (often reduced by Expertise), and disables an interrupted skill for a whole 20 seconds. The main disadvantage is the low damage, along with a slightly slow Cooldown Time. "Buffering" a Distracting Shot is a useful technique to squeeze a little more damage out of your usual bow attacks. Basically, while one bow attack is being used (and is flashing in your skill bar), hit Distracting Shot as well. The first attack will fire off, followed almost immediately (in 3/4th of a second) by a Distracting Shot. The following shot after that is at the normal rate of fire. You can consider the Distracting Shot a "bonus" arrow that was quicker to shoot. This is mostly useful in builds which have added damage to each arrow, using skills like Ignite Arrow or Conjure Lightning. Lightning Reflexes ================== Lightning Reflexes is a short-duration stance that gives both 75% evasion against attacks and a 33% increased attack speed. This is a potent combination that allows a Ranger to both attack quickly (doing more damage) and evade attacks. It has a disadvantage, though, of a long cooldown time, so you can't continually activate it (unlike the Mesmer skill Distortion). It is best used as a supplement to another defensive stance, like Whirling Defense. Between Whirling Defense and Lightning Reflexes, an opponent will be hard-pressed to hit you. Marksman's Wager (Elite) ======================== Marksman's Wager is one of the few good Energy management skills that a Ranger can use. Since the majority of your arrows will hit, you can reasonably expect to gain a significant amount of Energy per hit, allowing you to power your high energy bow attacks (or whatever... spells, perhaps). It is an Elite, and thus you won't have other Elites, but you'll be swimming in Energy with this skill. It is a preparation, so you won't be able to use your other preparations while it is active. Just don't use it when you are blinded or against warriors who can block your shots. Oath Shot (Elite) ================= Oath Shot is a unique ability that recharges all of your skills if it hits. There is a minimum Expertise requirement for consistent hitting, which places this skill out of the hands of low Expertise Rangers or secondary Rangers. Still, instantly recharging the long cooldowns of, say, Whirling Defense or Lightning Reflexes gives you an instant advantage in tempo. Hopefully, you'll have enough energy to use your recharged skills. It is also an Elite skill, and as with other Elites, you forgo the use of other Elites by choosing this skill. Similarly, you can use this Elite is to recharge skills from your secondary with long cooldown times, like Signets, Spirits/Binding Rituals, and Glyphs. Throw Dirt ========== Throw Dirt is a touch range, Area of Effect Blind condition. It has a relatively short duration, but this is lengthened by High Expertise. It is best used on non-spellcasters, mostly frontline warriors (although you can catch the occasional ranged attacker with it). Because it adds Blind, it makes the targets blind to everyone, and thus protects everyone from those creatures' attacks. Throw Dirt is a Condition, and thus can be removed by a number of things. While most monsters don't carry around Mend Ailment, most W/Mo characters in PvP do (mostly BECAUSE of this much-hated skill). Throw Dirt is also touch range, so if you are using this, expect to get up-close and personal. Throw Dirt is best used to either support warriors in the front line or to defend yourself at melee range (similar to other Ranger defensive skills). Throw Dirt affects only the creatures within melee range of your target, thus it can only affect one "side" of you if you are surrounded, making it less than ideal in swarm situations. Whirling Defense ================ Whirling Defense is probably the most balanced of the defensive ranger skills, and it comes with the longest duration to boot. The longest duration alone makes this skill worth taking over its relatives (Lightning Reflexes, Dryder's Defenses, Escape). Whirling Defense is a stance, so be sure you don't cancel it out with another stance before its duration is through. Also, the cooldown time is rather long (which is typical for the Ranger defensive skills), so it works best in concert with another defensive stance to cover the duration from the end of Whirling Defense and the recharge of the skill. The additional damage from deflecting projectiles is cute, but negligable. Factions Skills =============== There aren't many skills added to Expertise with the release of Factions. The non-Elite skills that were added mimic existing skills (Zojun's Haste is similar to Dodge; Zojun's Shot is similar to Point Blank Shot). The only particularly interesting skill is the new Elite preparation: Glass Arrows (Elite) -------------------- This Elite preparation ensures that whether or not your arrows are blocked, you'll still have some sort of effect. It's a preparation in the Expertise line (Which is rather unique), and causes extra damage on striking and Bleeding when they are blocked. The only thing that can stop these arrows are evades, which unfortunately are pretty common outside of the Warrior profession. Still, it's a great way to strike at warriors who are fond of tanking behind blocking stances. It is still an Elite, however, making its use limited. Archer's Signet (Elite) ----------------------- This Elite signet allows you to use Bow Attacks without taking any Energy. However, the casting time is prohibitive (3 seconds) as is the recharge. It might be effective to use this in conjunction with several powerful high Energy bow attacks, but it takes up your Elite slot, which limits your options. There could be some use when being attacked by an Energy denial Mesmer or Ranger. This skill was updated on July 13 2006 to no longer disable pet attacks. Trapper's Focus (Elite) ----------------------- This short-lived preparation prevents your traps from being interrupted by normal attacks. Note that this preparation only prevents the traps from being easily interrupted. Standard interrupts like Distracting Shot will still cancel your trap. It's still probably a good idea to use Whirling Defense or other evasive stances when laying down your traps in the middle of combat. ------------------------- - Marksmanship (gwrg3c) - ------------------------- Marksmanship is considered by many Rangers to be the bread-and-butter skill that defines a Ranger. Increasing Marksmanship increases the damage of a bow. The actual damage equation is a bit complicated, but in general, 12 points in Marksmanship against an AL of 60 will do 100% of the bow's damage range. Also, most bows have a minimum Marksmanship requirement. If you wield a bow with less Marksmanship than what is listed on the bow, then it does as much damage as a bow of the same type dropped by a Level 5 enemy (the actual damage range varies, just like those dropped by Level 5 enemies, and it is hidden). Bow Damage Equations ==================== This is based on the excellent work done by SonOfRah, but it is subject to change. This information is accurate and tested as of July 2005. For a more detailed look at damage, check out SonOfRah's guide at: http://www.gwonline.net/page.php?p=157 The basic equation for Bow Damage is as follows: Actual Damage = (Base Damage) x (Bow Bonuses) x (Skill vs. Armor Level) The Base Damage is picked from the effective damage range of the bow. For a max damage bow, this range is between 15-28. The Skill vs. Armor Level is based on a complex equation, but a couple of general rules apply: * Every point of Marksmanship offsets 5 points of Armor Level, up to an attribute rank equal to the character's Level/2 (round down) + 2. There are diminishing returns if your Marskmanship attribute rank is above Level/2 (round down) + 2 (for Level 20, this is a value of 12). This "baseline" value is compared to the Armor Level of the target to determine the actual damage. * Every point in Marksmanship above your Character's Level/2 + 2 gives 2 points in addition to the baseline value below that threshold. Thus at Level 20, a 13 attribute Rank gives a baseline of 62. * If the baseline is equal to the Armor Level of the target, then you do 100% of your damage. If you have a higher baseline than the Armor Level of the target, then you do more damage. If you have a lower Baseline than the Armor Level of the target, then you do less damage. * Every 40 Armor Level that the target has above your baseline halves the damage, and every 40 Armor Level that the target has below your baseline doubles the damage. For example, since 4 points of attribute offsets 20 points of AL, you can expect a Marksmanship of 4 (baseline of 20) to do half damage against an AL of 60 (which is 40 points above the baseline). An equation that models this behavior is as follows: Damage = Base Damage * 2^{[(Baseline) - Armor Level]/40} * Bow Bonuses Bow bonuses are multiplied with this along with the Armor Level calculation. If you have multiple bonus percentages, then these percentages are multiplied together. I.E. A customized weapon gives a 20% bonus. When you combine it with a 15% damage bonus, you multiply 120% and 115% to give a total of 138% enhanced damage. All damage is rounded to the nearest integer. Hit Locations ------------- Guild Wars uses a Hit Location system. This means that each piece of armor has a chance of being struck individually, rather than an abstract armor level from the pieces summed as a whole. In general, these are the percentages: * Chest is hit 37.5% of the time. * Leggings is hit 25% of the time. * Feet, Gloves, and Head are hit 12.5% of the time. These percentages are augmented by positioning. It is said that hitting the head provides an increased or automatic chance for critical hits, but this has not been confirmed. Critical Hits ------------- Critical Hits always do maximum base damage of the bow. They also give the equivalent of -20 Armor Level reduction, increasing your damage by 41.42%. The chance for a critical hit is not well-known, but the chance for getting a critical hit is approximately 16% at attribute rating 12 (giving a chance of about 1.25% per attribute point), with the chance for a critical hit doubling for every 5 levels you are above the target, and the chance for a critical hit being halved for ever 5 levels you are below the target. This is an approximate equation that models the critical hit chance (but it may not be completely accurate): Chance = (1+[1.25*Attribute Rank])*2^([Character level - Target Level]/5) Situational Damage ------------------ It is not known if attacking from the flanks or from behind gives a measurable damage bonus, although anecdotal reports seem to say that enemies who are running away from you tend to take more damage. Whether it is due to higher chance of critical hits or from a damage bonus remains to be tested. It was thought that opponents did not get the benefit of a shield when attacked from behind or the flanks, but this has been tested to be false as of 5/1/2006. Attacking from an elevated position has a greater likelihood of hitting the head. Being above your target increases your range somewhat and grants a 15% damage bonus. Attacking from a lower position has a greater likelihood of hitting the legs and feet. No damage bonuses are known for this position. Being lower than your target reduces your range somewhat. If your attack is a critical hit, the damage bonus from positioning is ignored. Bonus Damage from Skills ------------------------ The bonus damage from skills is generally applied AFTER all armor and damage percentage bonuses from the bow are calculated into the equation. So if your bow skill lists a bonus damage of +10, then +10 damage gets directly added after calculations. This means that armor generally has no effect on the bonus damage done by Bow Attack skills. The exception to this rule is Power Shot, for some reason, as this skill adds to the Base Damage of the weapon rather than adding bonus damage after the calculations (this fact is not confirmed, but it is in a few forum posts made by SonOfRah). This is important to know, because this means that Power Shot damage changes based on the armor level of the target. A highly armored target will take much less damage from a Power Shot, while a lightly armored target will take much more damage from a Power Shot. Damage Absorb ------------- Absorption provided from Runes of Absorption, certain item properties (Received damage -2, for example), and Ascalon/Knight's armor is directly subtracted from the damage after all armor and damage percentage bonuses are applied, similar to the bonus damage done by skills. When up against non-Warriors, very few things give a Damage Absorption bonus. Damage Absorption is mostly in the realm of primary Warriors, who have Knight's/Ascalon Armor which gives a -3 Damage Absorb, Absorption runes (from -1 to -3 Damage Absorb), and magical Damage Absorb mods on shields. You will usually face between -4 to -9 Damage Absorb on any particular warrior. Damage Absorb used to apply to all damage done to the target, even cutting back on damage that ignores armor. However, the July 13, 2006 Update changed several types of Damage Absorb to only affect physical damage. Call of Protection is a Ranger skill that gives a lot of Damage Absorption to your pet, allowing them to tank better. Armor Penetration ----------------- Armor Penetration is a percentage adjustment of the Armor Level of the target. For example, 10% Armor Penetration means that the base Armor Level of the target is multiplied by 90% to determine the effective Armor Level. Armor Penetration comes in two varieties, Base AP and Bonus AP. Base AP comes from the Strength attribute, Penetrating Attack, Penetrating Blow, and certain Air Magic spells, among other things. Bonus AP comes from Judge's Insight and the Sundering weapon mod. Only the highest value of base AP applies, but all values of bonus AP stack on top of the Base AP. The maximum armor penetration that a Ranger can have with a bow attack is 60%, from a Sundering bowstring (+20% bonus AP) plus Judge's Insight (+20% bonus AP) while using a Penetrating Attack/Sundering Attack (20% base AP). Damage over Time ---------------- The Damage over Time done by Conditions such as Poison and Bleeding are at a rate of -2 Health per second per "pip" of degeneration, up to a maximum of 10 "pips", or -20 Health per second. This is not reduced by armor nor are there any bonuses/penalties that augment this rate. Conditions stack with each other but not themselves. The final Health Degeneration is determined by the sum of all the Health Regeneration bonuses and the sum of all the Health Degeneration Bonuses, so while you cannot go below 10 pips of Health Degen, you can apply more health degen to offset gains from Healing Breeze, Mending, etc. List of Health Degeneration Conditions -------------------------------------- * Bleeding -3 pips or -6 Health per second * Poison/Disease -4 pips or -8 Health per second * Burning -7 pips or -14 Health per second Some Marksmanship-linked skill highlights: Barrage (Elite) =============== Barrage is the spammable low-Energy Area Effect skill that Elementalists can only dream about. At the quick Cooldown Time of 1 second and the low Energy cost of 5 Energy (which can be brought even lower by Expertise), Barrage also adds damage comparable to other Marksmanship skills. This makes Barrage an incredible weapon in the hands of a capable Marksmanship expert. Barrage is an Elite skill and thus cannot be used with other Elites. Also, Barrage is incompatible with preparations, as it removes all preparations when it is used. Keeping this in mind, Barrage works very well with bonus damage enchantments from other classes, such as Judge's Insight and the Elementalist Conjure line. It is a good way to soften up a group ganging up on a tank (possibly your pet?), and often you can take down a whole group in just a handful of Barrages in a row, and not break a sweat with your Energy bar. You can also use Favorable Winds to increase your Barrage damage. Speaking of which... Favorable Winds =============== Favorable Winds is an excellent "enchantment" in the Spirit line of Ranger skills. It lasts a long time, affects a large radius, and adds a significant amount of damage and arrow speed. Remember, this is a spirit, and thus also affects enemy arrows as well as all of your allies' arrows. In a party of multiple rangers, sometimes it's a good idea to negotiate who will cast this spirit, so that only one person has to carry the task of laying down this spirit. Or multiple rangers can carry this spirit and alternate laying down the spirit, speeding up the "recharge" time for spirit coverage. But if you are going up against enemy rangers, leave this spirit at home. Often, the monster groups will have many more archers than you do, and will benefit far more from this spirit. Penetrating Attack ================== At first glance, this Bow Attack skill looks very similar to all of the other Bow Attack skills. It compares quite well to Power Shot, as it does a similar damage profile. However, it has a speedy cooldown of 3 seconds and 20% armor penetration. If you need a 10 Energy bow attack skill, this is the skill that I would recommend, as it will probably deal the most damage out of all the 10 Energy Bow skills simply because it has 20% base armor penetration. The fact that its cooldown is among the fastest of the non-Elite bow skills is definitely a plus. With Factions, you also have access to Sundering Attack, which is a clone of Penetrating Attack. Theoretically, you can carry both of these skills on your bar and continually spam Armor Penetrating attacks for massive damage. Pin Down/Crippling Shot (Elite) =============================== Pin Down is the ubiquitous PvP snare skill. A snare is a skill that slows your enemy's movement. It has a rather long cooldown, and it is quite expensive at 15 Energy. Nevertheless, it should be a staple in most PvP builds and certain PvE missions (such as Aurora Glade). Use Pin Down to cripple the Monk on the opposing team, or to slow down Warriors so that you can run out of their Melee range. Crippling Shot (Elite) takes 15 Energy and a 1 second cooldown, and the Cripple duration is 1-8 seconds. It cannot be blocked or evaded, either. Crippling Shot, while typically having a shorter duration than an equivalent Pin Down, can be spammed multiple times. Use Crippling Shot to disable several people with a guaranteed snare (due to the "cannot be blocked or evaded" property). In short, Crippling Shot is superior to Pin Down but it is still Elite, and thus takes up your Elite slot. On March 2, 2006, Crippling Shot was hit with the nerf bat and significantly reworked. It is still useful as a "spam crippling" attack, but not nearly as powerful as it was before. Read the Wind ============= The only Bow Preparation in the Marksmanship line, Read the Wind provides many of the same benefits of Favorable Winds. The damage bonus from both skills stack, but the arrow speed doesn't appear to change much. Being a preparation, it does not stack with other preps. However, it is a viable alternative to Favorable Winds if one expects to face enemy archers in an area and wishes to retain some sort of arrow speed bonus. Note that as of the 9/29/05 update, Read the Wind got a duration boost to 24, bringing it on par with the other "standard" Wilderness Survival-linked preps. Factions Skills =============== Some of the Marksmanship skills in Factions are close copies of existing skills from the Prophecies campaign. For example, Sundering Attack matches very closely to Penetrating Attack. In effect, with both skills in your skillbar, you can have two of that particular attack. Broad Head Arrow (Elite) ------------------------ This is a skill that carries a lot of baggage: The arrow is slow, it has a long 15 second cooldown, it costs 25 Energy, and it is an Elite. It's also possibly the best Mage-killer in the game. Unlike Concussion Shot, which requires you to interrupt a spell to apply the "Dazed" condition, Broad Head Arrow adds the Dazed condition, simply and easily. If there happens to be a spell being cast it also interrupts that spell, but that's just icing on the cake. It helps to think of this skill as a "20 second spellcaster lockdown" rather than a standard interrupt. From a tactical standpoint, a clever Ranger can lockdown two opponents with this and a standard bag of interrupts. Just use Broad Head Arrow on one target, preferably a target that's already being attacked (perhaps by your pet?) and use your standard interrupts on another opponent. Alternatively, you can just keep flipping between targets, shooting regular arrows to interrupt as needed on the Dazed target and using standard interrupts on the other target. This works especially well against targets that use long-casting devastating spells like Meteor Shower and resurrects. Watch out for "block" and "evade", particularly Distortion, Aegis, and Warding Weapon. Your arrow may be easily pre-empted by a wary spellcaster using arrow dodging/blocking techniques, so it's best used when catching a spellcaster off guard. Also watch out for Condition removal. In other words, this skill probably won't do very well in structured PvP with well-organized teams. I found this skill to be invaluable in the Boreas Seabed mission. You can lock down the big bad bosses in this area (and you know which ones I'm talking about) with a single skill. If you need your Elite spot, and you are comfortable with your ability to interrupt, you may want to bring Concussion Shot instead. If you want a simple way to shutdown spellcasters, though, this arrow will do the trick. Updated on July 13, 2006: Cooldown was reduced from 20 to 15. Focused Shot ------------ It's cheap, it has a fast cooldown, and does decent damage. The only penalty is that it disables all of your other attack skills. Ouch. Still, you can consider bringing this skill as your primary attack skill, spamming it for repeated high damage hits. Good for skillbar economy, if your bar is full of spirits and stances. Updated on July 13, 2006: Now disables pet attack skills. Marauder's Shot --------------- Possibly one of the most damaging Bow Attack skills in the game, this skill gives a huge bang for your 10 Energy buck, dealing more raw damage than even Power Shot or Precision Shot. The main disadvantage, however, is that it shuts down all of your other non-Attack skills for 5 seconds. This can be a problem when you suddenly lose access to skills that you need, like Stances or Troll Unguent. The cooldown is a bit long at 6 seconds as well. Still, if you are looking for a good sniping skill that deals great damage, you can use this. Updated on July 13, 2006: No longer disables pet attack skills. Melandru's Shot (Elite) ----------------------- Who says that Rangers have poor Energy reclamation? Melandru's Shot (Elite) gives a substantial amount of Energy and deals great damage to boot. If you are running an Energy-hungry build of some sort, and find yourself facing Enchanted opponents all the time, perhaps this Elite will suit you. Unlike other Energy Reclamation skills, this one is based on Marksmanship and the Energy returned does not depend on the attribute. It does take up your Elite slot, however. Needling Shot ------------- Another answer to the "Quick Shot" Ranger, Needling Shot does a small amount of damage, but can rapidly fire if your target is below 50% Health. Great to use with preparations (which will probably be your main source of damage), and to finish off a target. If you bring along Quick Shot (Elite) as well, you can really churn out the arrows by alternating Needling Shot and Quick Shot. Because it has damage set by your Marksmanship skill, it can work well even against heavily armored targets. Seeking Arrows -------------- For the Called Shot lovers in all of us, this new preparation is short-lived, but prevents your opponents from blocking or evading your attacks. It is rather expensive for a preparation at 15 Energy, but it is a great way to make sure your interrupts and spike damage hits their mark. Because it is a preparation, though, your damage is likely to suffer, and it cannot be used with Barrage. -------------------------------- - Wilderness Survival (gwrg3d) - -------------------------------- Wilderness Survival is a motley category of skills that contain pretty much a little bit of everything, from healing to bow preparations to traps. Most rangers who sink points into this group do so to take advantage of the preparations (which add significant amounts of damage to bow attacks) and the ever-popular Troll Unguent. Which Bow Preparation is right for me? ====================================== Because one can only use one Preparation at a time, it is important to choose which preparation would be best for any given situation and for one's own personal style. Having multiple preparations, while versatile, certainly isn't efficient, and thus one should carefully consider which preparation is optimal. Kindle Arrows and Ignite Arrows are similar in scope (adds fire damage), but different in effect. Ignite Arrows does less damage, but applies the damage over an area. Kindle Arrows does more damage and cost less. It is difficult to ponder which one is better, as it is entirely situational. If you think that you are going to get swarmed by large groups of enemies, Ignite Arrows is probably better. If you want to do more damage per hit, go with Kindle Arrows. Both have reasonably long durations (24 seconds), both work well in concert with Dual Shot, and both preparations will do damage even though your are Blind or your opponent is blocking/evading. One major difference between the two preparations is that Kindle Arrows actually changes all of your damage to Fire damage while Ignite Arrows does not. Then there are the two Interrupt preparations, Incindiary Arrows (Elite) and Choking Gas. Both of them have the disadvantage of having short durations, and thus having Practiced Stance (Elite) would be beneficial. Choking Gas only interrupts spellcasters, who are 90% of the targets of interrupts anyway. Both of these are quite effective, but may be redundant with existing interrupt bow attacks, and lack the spontaneity of Distracting Shot. You can't just "fire off" a Choking Gas arrow to prevent a W/Mo from resurrecting the Monk if you haven't already used the preparation. Choking Gas is another preparation that will still do its effect when you are Blind or when your opponent is blocking or evading. There are also two Damage over Time preparations, Apply Poison and Melandru's Arrows (Elite). Incindiary Arrows (Elite) also does a brief damage over time, but most people get it more for the interrupt capability. Apply Poison is a staple of many Rangers, simply because it is available much earlier than Poison Arrow, and does a decent amount of damage over time. Melandru's Arrows causes bleeding, but isn't available until much later in the game. Apply Poison has a reasonably long duration, just like the fire line of preparations, but it can also be used to add poison to melee attacks. Combined with the Cyclone Axe warrior skill, you have an early-game potent combination. Finally, you have Read the Wind, the Markmanship cousin of all of these Wilderness Survival preparations. If you don't want to sink points into Wilderness Survival at all, then Read the Wind is a viable alternative. Technically, Marksman's Wager (Elite) is also a preparation, but you will generally use Marksman's Wager only to reclaim Energy in short bursts. Thus, you will probably not use it as your main preparation. It is more of an "emergency Energy" skill. If you have Factions, you may have noticed a handful of new interesting preparations to play with. Glass Arrows (Elite) is a prep that is linked to Expertise, of all things, and deals bleeding when it's blocked, and bonus damage when it is not. This means that the only way you aren't going to deal damage is if your arrows are evaded. It also lasts a long time at higher levels of Expertise. Another Factions preparation is Seeking Arrows, a short duration preparation that prevents your arrows from being blocked or evaded. The odd-man-out in the Factions preparations is Trapper's Focus (Elite). This short duration preparation removes the "easily interrupted" flaw on Traps while it is in effect. Traps can still be interrupted by interrupt skills, but now you can plant them without losing them to normal attacks. It has very little to do with bows, but still is a preparation nonetheless. Practiced Stance (Elite) is a way to get more bang for your preparation buck. It lowers the cooldown time of preparations (meh) and lengthens the duration (yay!). It's a stance, which means it's incompatible with the stances that are the staple of Ranger defense, and it's Elite which means it takes up your Elite slot. In general, most people either choose Kindle/Ignite Arrows or Apply Poison, until they get one of the two late-game Elites, Poison Arrow and Barrage. Speaking of Poison Arrow... Poison Arrow (Elite) ==================== "What? Why is this an Elite? We've had Apply Poison since Lion's Arch!" Poison Arrow has many advantages over Apply Poison, which makes it comparable to other Elite skills. First of all, it has a low Energy cost (5 points) and a low "casting time" (since it is a bow attack). You can't "double poison" a target, making multiple Poisoned arrows in a target redundant at best. Poison arrow is not a preparation, and thus can "stack" with other Preparations. You can gain the benefit of Kindle Arrows or Ignite Arrows while Poisoning at the same time. Finally, because it isn't a preparation and doesn't have a 2 second casting time, it is the best skill to use for "off the cuff" poisoning in the middle of battle. You don't have to wait 2 seconds to poison the next badguy. Simply point and shoot. ARGH! Traps! ============ Traps in Guild Wars are in the exclusive realm of the Ranger. They often inflict status conditions on opponents while dealing a set amount of damage. You can lay down as many traps as you'd like, although Traps automatically set themselves off in 90 seconds. They take 2 seconds to cast, and are easily interrupted (if you get hit, the trap isn't set). Traps have an unusually small radius (approximately 5 to 10 feet), and thus it can be quite difficult to lure enemies to trip them. There are four damaging traps and one healing "trap". Barbed Trap and Spike Trap (Elite) are useful in bleeding and slowing down opponents. Flame Trap is purely for damage, and Dust Trap is one of the few (but useful) skills that can cause an Area-effect Blind. Dust Trap has the highest cost of the group. Healing Spring is technically a "trap", but instead of damaging, it heals party members gradually over 10 seconds. There are three ways of using traps that I'd like to talk about. The first is to plant traps while luring. You run ahead of the group toward the creatures you are trying to lure, but halfway there you plant a trap. Then you attract the creature and run directly back to the group. It is likely that at least one of the enemies will trigger the trap. This works better on melee monsters than ranged/spellcaster monsters. The second way is to use a Nature Ritual spirit as a decoy. Simply plant several traps down, and then cast a Nature Ritual. Then aggro a group of monsters and run back toward the spirit (which marks where your traps are). Not only will you remember where you set the trap because of the spirit, but the monsters sometimes run up to the spirit itself to destroy it, triggering the group of traps you have set there. The third method is to use traps during combat. This is dangerous because a hit will interrupt your trap, but with Ranger defensive skills, you can slide into position, lay down your trap, and affect a whole group of monsters with a status condition. You can also use your party's tanks as a wall to protect you while you are doing this. If you are lucky, you can even chain a couple of traps in this manner. Other Wilderness Survival skills ================================ Dryder's Defenses ----------------- One of the few "defensive avoidance" skills that is not linked to the Expertise line, Dryder's Defenses provides the same benefit against attacks as Whirling Defense, but it also provides Elemental Armor as well. Because secondary class Rangers do not get Expertise, this skill becomes a viable alternative for taking advantage of the Ranger's dodge ability, as well as allowing a Ranger to take even more Elemental damage punishment than any other class. Melandru's Resiliance (Elite) ----------------------------- This interesting stance gives you Health Regeneration and Energy Regeneration for each condition and hex that you are suffering for a short period of time (8-18 seconds). It is one of the few ways that Rangers can deal with Hexes (indirectly), and also one of the few ways to increase your Energy regeneration. It is a great skill to take along when you know you are going to face Mesmer or Necromancer enemies. It costs a small amount of Energy and unlike most Ranger stances it has a reasonable cooldown time of 25 seconds. However, it is a stance, so it can't be stacked with other defensive stances. It is also an Elite, and thus it has a large opportunity cost, as there are other Elites that you could have used in that slot. Still, if you are having trouble surviving because of Hexes and Conditions, give this stance a try. Troll Unguent ------------- This skill is almost ubiquitous among Rangers. It is the main Self-heal that Rangers have (there are other healing skills, but none as cheap or versatile as Troll Unguent). It has a duration of 10 seconds, and an equally long cooldown time, and it has a cheap Energy cost of 5. It is NOT an Enchantment spell, and thus it can't be stripped or countered by most Mesmer interrupts. The main disadvantage of Troll Unguent is the casting time. 3 seconds is a long time in battle, and if you are being attacked, you could take several hits while the Troll Unguent is being cast. Thus, it might be a good idea to blind your enemies or use a defensive stance while using it. Be wary of general interrupts as this skill is sure to be interrupted by a savvy opponent. Still, I would recommend that this skill should always reside in your skillbar as your main self-heal. There are few skills as cheap or as useful with so few points in an attribute. Factions Skills =============== This section is a work-in-progress. There is a nice complement of spirits and one new trap in Factions. Brambles -------- This interesting spirit does minimal damage, but applies Bleeding on folks who are knocked down. There are very few options for a Ranger to knock down their opponents (Spike Trap comes to mind), so typically you'll have to depend on your secondary for the knockdown. Another alternative is having your pet knock down the opponent for the bleeding damage. Brambles is still effective without many points in Wilderness Survival. Still, it seems to be a less than ideal choice to apply bleeding, when Barbed Trap is available. Conflagration ------------- This is the baby brother of Greater Conflagration (Elite). At first, it seems to do very little, changing Arrows to fire damage. However, remember that you, as a ranger, possess greater protection against elemental damage. Suddenly, arrows are doing about 40% less damage against you. This also may similarly benefit your enemies, of course, but you can turn this into an advantage if you target creatures that are weak against fire (Ice Golems, Trees/Plants, Warriors, etc.). It's a conditional skill, to be sure, but it's a good spirit to swap in when you know the opposition will be Warrior-heavy or you are going to face some plants or ice creatures. It's also a good way to do elemental damage without using a Fiery/Elemental bowstring. Famine (Elite) -------------- This spirit is very similar to Mind Wrack, in that it causes damage to creatures when they reach zero Energy. Since it is a spirit, however, this affects your allies and your enemies at the same time... not so good if your allies are Energy-hungry classes that bottom out quite often. Still, the main purpose of this Elite becomes apparently when linked with Debilitating Shot in an Interrupt Ranger build. If you can team up with a Mesmer (or bring Energy-draining Mesmer skills yourself), you can constantly bring your enemy down to zero Energy, forcing them to take damage every time. Quite evil. Snare ----- This trap is pretty simple... all it does cause Crippling. However, it performs the central function of Traps (crowd control) for very little Energy and a relatively quick (for a trap) cooldown. Combine it with other traps for added effect. Tranquility ----------- This is a deceptively nasty spirit. While the effect seems relatively benign, think about all of those beneficial enchantments that the enemy uses, like Healing Breeze and Shadow Refuge. It cuts the effect of those by up to 50%. Remember, though, this will affect you and your party as well, as with all Nature Spirits, so it may interfere with Enchantment-heavy or your Healing Breeze spamming Monks. It synergizes well with Nature's Renewal in terms of keeping those spellcasters down. ===================== = Equipment (gwrg4) = ===================== ------------------ - Armor (gwrg4a) - ------------------ The main attribute that distinguishes Ranger armors is their +30 Armor Level against Elemental damage, which allows Rangers to tank hits from Elemental attacks much easier. Ranger Armor also has a total plus 1 energy regen bonus (which brings Energy regeneration to 3 points). As one progresses through the PvE/questing portion of the game, the armor rises in protective value. The "final" armor has a base armor level of 70, and this is the same base armor level found on PvP end-game characters. Note that the 1.5k Armors available at Droknar's Forge are identical in stats to both the 15k Armors available at Marhan's Grotto and Granite Citadel and the Fissure Armors available from the Fissure of Woe. They only differ in appearance. In Factions, you have several choices of Armor crafters, each with different appearances and raw material requirements. Remember that you can mix and match. If you lack the Steel to make an armor, for example, you can head to another armor merchant that takes Leather Squares or Damask. Since each armor has a unique appearance, you may want to experiment a bit and see which look is right for you. Note that the first available "end-game armor" in Factions is at Kaineng Square. In the Prophecies campaign, this is the first city you will visit in Cantha, while in the Factions campaign, you won't reach this area until you get to the mainland. Head north from the Marketplace after you arrive on the mainland to get to Kaineng. A list of all the armor crafters can be found in the Appendices, under Armor List [gwrg9b]. Leather/Ranger's ================ The standard ranger armor provides no additional bonuses or penalties. The top version of Leather Armor can be gained from the Crystal Desert collectors, thus making it the cheapest top level armor in the game, quite affordable for any Ranger looking to save some gold. Drakescale/Pyrebound ==================== This armor provides an additional 15 points of armor against the Fire element. This is great protection against Hydras and creatures that roam around the Ring of Fire island chain, but other than that, most people simply take this set for the looks. Greater Conflagration (Elite) turns all physical damage to Fire damage, increasing your armor with this suit by 45 points against physical attacks (30 base, plus 15 from the Drakescale bonus). Druid's ======= This armor provides an energy bonus for each piece of armor. This armor is ideal for Rangers who are also secondary spellcasters, and for most rangers in general. The 15 Armor Level bonus of the other armors are negligable for the most part, and the energy bonus of the Druid's set gives a distinct advantage in all situations. If you can afford it or find it (Druid's Armor is not available until after Lion's Arch), go with this set. Fur-lined/Frostbound ==================== This armor provides an additional 15 points of armor against the Cold element. By utilizing the Nature Ritual skill, Winter, one can turn all Elemental Damage into Cold, which favors this particular armor. Studded Leather/Stormbound ========================== This armor provides an additional 15 points of armor against the Lightning element. Very few things deal lightning damage (Shadow Phantoms come to mind), so much of the time this armor is relegated to situational PvP only. Factions: Explorer's ==================== This armor was recently introduced with Factions, and it provides a Health bonus per piece. Very useful in increasing your survivability, especially if you have a Superior rune in your skillset. Factions: Scout's ================= This armor provides an extra 10 armor bonus while using a preparation. Not so great for a Barrager, but great for anyone who uses preparations early and often in a battle. Factions: Sentry's ================== This armor provides an extra 10 armor bonus while using a stance. Since you are on the defensive when using a stance anyway, this armor provides a nice complement to reducing the damage done to you. Headgear ======== Each Ranger headgear offers a bonus to a different Ranger skill. The Archer's Mask, for example, adds +1 to Marksmanship. In general, it is wise to choose a mask that gives a bonus to your highest attribute, or the attribute that is used most frequently in your character. List of Masks: * Archer's Mask +1 Marksmanship * Hunter's Mask +1 Expertise * Simple Mask No Bonus * Tamer's Mask +1 Beast Mastery * Traveler's Mask +1 Wilderness Survival Runes ===== Ranger Runes can be socketed in Ranger Armor (and as a side note, you can ONLY use runes of your primary class/armor). A Minor Rune increases a skill by one, a Major Rune increases a skill by two and subtracts -35 from maximum health, and a Superior Rune increases a skill by three and subtracts -75 from maximum health. In general, it's NOT a good idea to stack multiple Major/Superior runes, as it will make your character too fragile for combat. I wouldn't reduce your maximum health by more than -75, which is either one Superior or two Major runes, but this comes down to personal preference. It used to be that Major Runes reduced health by -50, but this was changed in the June 1, 2006 update to be only -35. Thus, having two Major runes gives a net plus 4 to attributes (plus 2 to two different ones) with only a -70 health loss, which is slightly more favorable than a Superior rune. Runes that modify the same attribute do NOT stack. Only the highest bonus applies. Thus, you won't gain more than a +1 bonus from having two identical Minor runes, nor will you get a plus 3 to an attribute from having a Major and a Minor rune for that attribute. Runes can be used (similar to Masks) to increase your attributes above the in-game limit of 12, and can also be used to offset points from an attribute at the high end. Due to diminishing returns and the exorbitant cost of an attribute above 8, the points saved by using runes can easily shore up the points in other attributes, especially secondary class attributes. There is no reason NOT to use Minor runes for all of the Ranger attributes that you are using, so be sure to seek out and collect the Minor runes that you need. I find that most Minor runes go for 100-300 gold in-game from sellers. Also, be sure to invest in a Vigor rune of some sort (which can be used by all classes). A Minor Rune of vigor gives 30 to maximum health, a Major Rune of Vigor gives 41 to maximum health, and a Superior Rune of Vigor gives 50 to maximum health. Not only can these runes offset your health loss from Major/ Superior runes, but they provide more survivability and staying power for your Ranger. ----------------- - Bows (gwrg4b) - ----------------- Bow Classes =========== There are 5 classes of bows in Guild Wars, which I will name according to the most "common" type: The 5 classes of bows are: * Flatbow - includes some Ascalon Bows, Flatbows, and the Ithas Bow * Longbow - includes some Ascalon Bows, Longbows, and Storm Bows * Horn Bow - includes some Ascalon Bows, Horn Bow, Ivory Bows, and Shadow Bows * Composite Bow - includes some Ascalon Bows, Composite Bows, Dead Bows, Recurve Bow, and Eternal Bows * Short Bow - includes some Ascalon Bows, Half Moon Bows, and Short Bows. In addition, each bow class differs in the following characteristics: * Range * Refire Rate * Arc Size * Appearance * Armor Penetration (special) Ascalon Bows ------------ Ascalon Bows given by the collectors tend to imitate one of the above bow classes. The appearance of the bow remains as a Flatbow/Longbow, but it can be either a Flatbow, a Long bow, a Composite Bow, or a Short bow as far as range, arrow speed, and rate of fire. You'll have to experiment to find out which one it is. UPDATE: As of the July 13 2006 update, you can now see what kind of Ascalon bow type you have in the name of the bow. Very cool! Damage Range ------------ Bows do various ranges of damage based on their quality. Note that a Shortbow and a Longbow can do the exact same amount of damage. The type of bow does not influence the damage rating of the bow. The maximum damage range that a bow can have is 15-28. There are rumors of 16-28 bows out there, but 15-28 is the maximum you can expect. In order to take advantage of the damage range listed on a bow, one needs to meet the prerequisite amount of Marksmanship required by the bow. Otherwise, the bow will behave as a Level 5 bow of the same type, with greatly reduced damage. The actual base damage value varies and it is hidden, but it will be the same as if the bow was dropped by a Level 5 enemy. Bows with lower Marksmanship requirements do NOT do more damage if you exceed the Marksmanship requirement by a greater amount. There are no bows with a requirement of Beast Mastery or Wilderness Survival, and the only bow with an Expertise requirement is the Ithas Bow (which has both an Expertise and Marksmanship requirement). Range ----- Most bows can be lumped into three categories of ranges: * Short range - Just within the "Aggro circle" on the Radar. The only bow class with this range is the Short Bow class. * Medium range - Up to "Casting Range", which is just beyond the "Aggro circle" on the Radar. The Horn Bow and Composite Bow classes dwell in this range, and it is similar in range to all Wand/Staff weapons. * Long range - Up to 1.5 times the distance of the "Aggro Circle" on the Radar. The Longbow and Flatbow classes are in this range. These ranges are based on flat terrain. Being on higher ground than your target will increase the range of your bow, while being on lower ground decreases the range of your bow. Refire Rate ----------- The first shot that you fire from a bow will always be 2.0 seconds in duration. However, after that initial shot, the rate of refire differs between the bow classes. There are 3 rates of refire: * Fast - approximately 2.0 seconds between shots. The Short Bow and Flatbow classes have the Fast refire rate. * Medium - approximately 2.5 seconds between shots. The Longbow and Composite Bow classes have the Medium refire rate. * Slow - approximately 2.7 seconds between shots. The Horn Bow class has the slow refire rate. Arc Size -------- Arc size determines both Arrow Speed (how fast an arrow takes to hit its target) and accuracy (leeway of the target dodging shots): * High arc - Flatbows have the highest arc out of all of the bow classes. Thus, the Flatbow class is the least accurate against moving targets at range. * Normal arc - Horn Bows, Longbows, and Short Bows all have a normal arc. Note that because a Shortbow has such a small range, the Normal Arc doesn't really have much of an appreciable effect on arrow speed. * Low arc - The Composite Bow class has the lowest Arc, and thus has the shortest time to target and fastest arrow speed, making Composite Bows the most accurate bow class. Called Shot, Favorable Winds, and Read the Wind will make the Arc size approximately the same as the Low arc of a Composite Bow. Armor Penetration ----------------- Horn Bows, Ivory Bows, and Shadow Bows have 10% Armor Penetration, according to a couple of sources. This compensates for their slightly slower attack speed. With speed increases, these bows can potentially do the most damage, especially on armored targets. For general purpose use, and for Bow skills, however, a Short bow is probably better. What's the "best bow"? ---------------------- There's no such thing as the "best bow". Each bow class has strengths and weaknesses. Short bows are great for overall damage, but are lacking in Range. Flatbows can also deal a similar amount of damage, but they are inaccurate at long range. Longbows are slow, but have a long range and normal arc. Composite bows are guaranteed to hit, but are merely average in other stats. Horn Bows do the most damage per single shot, but have the slowest refire rate of all the bows. My advice? Use a long range bow for pulling/luring, a short range bow for close combat, and a composite bow for interrupting. Bow Upgrades ============ There are two kinds of upgrades that you can apply to bows: Bowstrings, and Bow Grips. Each upgrade adds something to the name of the bow, and can be applied to any quality of item, from mundane to magical blue to rare purple/gold. You are more likely to find Purple and Gold items that are already upgraded with a bowstring or bow grip. You can only use one Bowstring and one Bow Grip to upgrade your bow. A new Bowstring or Bow Grip will overwrite the old mod, and you will lose the old mod permanently. Upgrades can often be salvaged from a bow using an Expert Salvage Kit. Expert Salvage Kits have a random chance of extracting either the Bowstring or the Bow Grip. Bowstrings ---------- Bowstrings add "prefix" upgrades to a bow and include the following: * Barbed - Lengthens the duration of Bleeding by 33% * Crippling - Lengthens the duration of Cripple by 33% * Ebon - Changes the bow damage from Piercing to Earth * Fiery - Changes the bow damage from Piercing to Fire * Icy - Changes the bow damage from Piercing to Cold * Poisoner's - Lengthens the duration of Poison by 33% * Shocking - Changes the bow damage from Piercing to Lightning * Silencing - Lengthens the duration of Dazed by 33% * Sundering - has a random (10-20%) chance of having 20% armor penetration * Vampiric - -1 Health Degen, Steal life on hit (1-5 points) * Zealous - -1 Energy Regen, +1 Energy per attack Which bowstring is right for me? -------------------------------- The only bowstring that doesn't see much use in my bow rack is the Sundering bowstring, due to the small percent chance of actually applying the effect. While they have been given a boost (having 20% bonus AP up to 20% of the time), it still doesn't drastically affect your damage compared to the other strings. The main value is that there is no downside to using this bowstring, other than the opportunity cost of equipping this bowstring over others. In other words, it's better than nothing, but it's not tremendously helpful. I personally do not use it unless I have no other options for strings. The elemental bowstrings are popular with Ranger/Elementalists who wish to take advantage of the Conjure lines. Elemental damage does more damage against Warrior enemies with bonus physical armor and less damage against Rangers. It gets around some of the anti-piercing damage protective skills, but this is a minor advantage at best. As of the July 13 2006 Update, Warrior damage absorb no longer protects against non-physical damage, thus increasing the utility of elemental damage against Warriors. You can also take advantage of some PvE enemy weaknesses with this string; for example, you can use a Fiery bowstring against Ice Golems. I generally keep at least one Fiery and one Icy bow in my rack. Zealous bowstrings are popular with Barrage spammers, as each arrow reclaims one point of energy. With a fast-firing bow and perhaps certain attack speed stances, zealous bows provide a quick method of Energy regeneration, especially for folks who don't use sustained enchantments. Zealous strings are recommended for Barrage farming builds (each arrow gives back 1 Energy) and Quick Shot builds (shoot longer with greater Energy reclamation), on either a Flatbow or a Shortbow. The various condition-extending strings (Barbed, Crippling, Poisoner's and Silencing) have obvious utility when they are paired with the corresponding condition, which are often side effects of various bow attacks and preparations like Pin Down and Apply Poison. It is said that these strings also extend the duration of conditions applied with Traps. I have personally tested this with a Poisoner's Bow and Viper's Nest, and found this to be true, but I haven't tested this with other skills. Note that these strings will NOT increase the duration of conditions inflicted by Pet Attacks. For sheer damage, the Vampiric bowstring is the best, as it adds a Health stealing effect which directly increases your DPS per arrow. This is great for Barragers, Snipers, and machine-gunners, as it allows you to kill targets quicker, but the -1 Health Degen limits its use. I find it useful as a "bow switch", switching to a different bow when I'm idling to prevent the -1 Health degen from killing me. The Health gain can also be helpful in Barrage-farming builds, which often rely on passive healing from multiple arrow attacks. There is a rumor that the Shocking bowstring gives 25% armor penetration. This is not true, but it is based on the fact that most Air Magic spells have 25% armor penetration. Shocking bowstrings only change your damage to Lightning. Bow Grips --------- Bow Grips add "suffix" upgrades to a bow, and include the following: * Of Defense - adds Armor +4-5 * Of Shelter - adds Armor +4-7 (vs. physical attacks) * Of Warding - adds Armor +4-7 (vs. elemental attacks) * Of Charrslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Charr) * Of Deathbane - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Undead) * Of Dwarfslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Dwarves) * Of Giantslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Giants) * Of Pruning - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Plants) * Of Skeletonslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Skeletons) * Of Tenguslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Tengu) * Of Trollslaying - adds Damage +10-20% (vs. Troll) * Of Enchanting - Enchantments last 10-20% longer * Of Fortitude - adds Health +20-30 * Of Marksmanship - adds +1 Marksmanship (10-20% chance while using skills) Fortitude and Defense/Shelter seem to be the most popular Bow Grips. Some Rangers who are also secondary spellcasters tend to prefer the Bow Grip of Enchanting. Which is the better bowgrip, "Of Defense" or "Of Fortitude"? ------------------------------------------------------------ There's an ongoing debate on which bowgrip is better for a Ranger in the long run. The bowgrip of popular choice seems to be a Bowgrip of Fortitude, as seen by the enormously inflated prices for a perfect Health +30 version. However, if you look at the numbers, Bowgrip of Defense with an Armor +5 reduces incoming damage to 91.7% of normal, which means about a 9% benefit. Even if the Fortitude grip is perfect at +30 HP, the benefit from the Fortitude grip amounts to about 5% to 7%, meaning that based on Armor Level alone, the Bowgrip of Defense looks like a better choice. However, there are several situations in which a Bowgrip of Defense does not give any benefit. For example, Conditions and Hexes that apply Health Degeneration ignore armor, as do most Necromancer and Mesmer damaging spells. Also, Death Penalty applies to your base Health and Energy, while bonuses to Health and Energy remain the same. Thus, while the Bowgrip of Defense Armor bonus remains static, the utility of the Bowgrip of Fortitude actually increases as your Death Penalty goes up, by virtue of the fact that it is not reduced by Death Penalty, giving you a higher overall Health. Still, it is FAR easier to find a cheap Armor +5 Bowgrip of Defense than it is to find a high level or perfect Bowgrip of Fortitude. Mostly, it boils down to personal preference. The Fortitude bonus always applies, regardless of the kind of damage that you take, but the Defense bonus provides a better long-term benefit. There are also bowgrips of Shelter and Warding. Having any bowgrip is better than having no bowgrip, but these only protect against physical damage and elemental damage respectively. Neither protect against non-elemental damage like Light, Chaos, or Dark damage from wands and staves (the Bowgrip of Defense does protect against these types), and have the same caveats as stated for the Bowgrip of Defense above. Inherent Magical Bonuses ======================== Certain bonuses cannot be gained from a Bow Upgrade. Instead, they are inherently part of a magical bow (typically Purple or Gold, although occasional blue bows do have these bonuses). The bonuses stack on top of the bonuses from upgrades. An ideal bow will have three bonuses total: a Bowstring prefix bonus, a Bow Grip suffix bonus, and an inherent bonus. Inherent bonuses include: * Damage +10-15% Armor -10 (while attacking) * Damage +10-15% Energy -5 * Damage +10-15% (while enchanted) * Damage +10-15% (while health is above 50%) * Damage +10-20% (while health is below 50%) * Damage +10-20% (while hexed) * Damage +10-15% (while in a stance) * Damage +10-15% (vs. hexed foes) * Energy +5 While the ranges seem rather wide, I've never seen a bonus below 10% or above 20%, other than some of the damage ranges seen on some of the special Collectors Bows. The +20% damage bows are extremely rare... expect to get +15% damage at the most (from a collector's bow), unless you get a lucky drop from a level 28 enemy. Note that bonuses of +15% or higher are far more common on bows that give a damage bonus with a penalty, like Health below 50% or while Hexed. Alternate Bows ============== While the best option is to get the most damaging bow with the modifier of choice (usually a +15% Damage mod of some kind), there are several other unique options for those looking for variety or a niche. Crafted Bows ------------ There used to be bows that offered bonus 10 Armor at the Henge of Denravi or +5 Energy among the Old Ascalon collectors, but these bonuses were taken out in the 9/7/05 update. In Factions, end-game bows can be crafted with this mod. However, there is a new bow in the 9/7/05 update that can be crafted for 100 Wood Planks, 50 Feathers, and 5 Plat at Sarad, the weapon master at Droknar's Forge. This is a Longbow with Damage +15% (while in a stance), max damage. Pre-Order Weapons ----------------- If you preordered your game from Electronics Boutique, then you have access to a unique bow called the Ithas Bow. It does 13-25 damage and adds armor (much like the Henge of Denravi bow), but has two prerequisites of Marksmanship and Expertise of 10 each. Ouch. It has the range of a longbow with a faster fire rate, similar to the Flatbow. Temple of the Ages dungeons --------------------------- There are several bows that only drop in the Temple of the Ages dungeons. These are the Shadow Bow, Eternal Bow, and Storm Bow. They have very neat-looking effects, cosmetically. The Storm Bow in particular sizzles with lightning. Each of these bows have their own stats. It is confirmed that the Storm Bow acts as a Long Bow, the Shadow Bow acts as a Horn Bow, and the Eternal Bow acts as a Composite/Recurve Bow. Sorrow's Furnace ---------------- There are several unique bows with Green text that drop at Grenth's Footprint and Sorrow's Furnace, that have good (but not overpowering) stats, like Thornbeard's Horned Bow. These bows automatically have a perfect prefix, suffix, inherent mod on them, but they cannot be modified in any way with upgrades. They typically drop from the bosses in that area bearing the same name (i.e. Drago's Flatbow will drop from Drago Stoneherder). All bows listed below have Maximum damage (15-28) and require 9 Marksmanship * Boulderbeard's Short Bow (+15% Health > 50%, Shocking, Fortitude) * Drago's Flatbow (+15% Health > 50%, Sundering, Fortitude) * Drago's Vampiric Flatbow (+15% in stance, Vampiric, Defense) * Elswyth's Long Bow (+15% Health > 50%, Poisoner's, Fortitude) * Elswyth's Recurve Bow (+15% Health > 50%, Vampiric, Fortitude) * Forgerunner (Long Bow, +15% in stance, Fiery, Fortitude) * Gargash's Recurve Bow (+15% while enchanted, Zealous, Fortitude) * Graygore's Shortbow (+15% Health > 50%, Vampiric, Marksmanship) * Graygore's Zealous Shortbow (+15% Health > 50%, Zealous, Defense) * Stinger (Horn Bow, +15% in stance, Poisoner's, Marksmanship) * Tarnok's Longbow (+15% Health > 50%, Icy, Warding) * Tarnok's Recurve Bow (+15% while enchanted, Sundering, Enchanting) * Thornbeard's Horned Bow (+15% while enchanted, Lightning, Shelter) Rotscale -------- A new green bow was added to Tyria on June 15, 2006. Rotscale is a level 30 Bone Dragon boss that resides in Majesty's Rest. He drops a unique bow called Rotwing's Recurve Bow (it is not known if he drops other models) which looks like a pair of leathery wings. It has max damage, the +5 Energy inherent mod, and the Poisoner's Prefix and Fortitude Suffix. Scorpion Bow ------------ If you are a Korean Player taking advantage of the Coke-play deal, you may have in your possession a Scorpion Bow, a bow that's only available to Korea through a special Coca-Cola marketing offer. It has the Poisoner's mod and Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) inherent mod, and is customized to the character. Pre-Order Japanese Guild Wars ----------------------------- The Japanese Guild Wars pre-order special items are named after the seven deadly sins and a random animal. The bow is similar to the Scorpion Bow offered through the Coke Play deal above. It is called the Poisoner's Scorpion Lust Bow (rough translation) and it has the Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) inherent mod and Poisoner's string (not removable). Game of the Year ---------------- If you bought the Game of the Year Prophecies boxed set, you get access to a very special bow called the Nevermore Flatbow. It's a max damage bow with 9 Marksmanship requirement and Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%), and looks like a pair of Raven's wings strapped onto a bone frame. Very spiffy. Pre-Order Taiwan Guild Wars --------------------------- The Taiwan Guild Wars pre-order special items are also named after several of the deadly sins (although there are only 6 items instead of 7), and the bow in the pre-order set resembles the Nevermore Flatbow. It is called Poisoner's Black Hawk/Eagle Lust Bow (rouch translation) and has similar stats to the Game of the Year Edition bow. Factions Bows ------------- The release of Factions has added many new bow appearances. Particularly coveted at this time are Celestial Bows and Zodiac Bows. It is rumored that several new "Green" bows were also released within Factions. Celestial Bows can be found in the Nahpui mission and explorable area. Zodiac Bows can be found in the Elite missions that are only available to dominant Alliances. There is also a bow called the "Platinum Bow" that is getting rave reviews in terms of appearance. Here is a short list of Factions Green bows. Note that the Ironwing bows are available from turning in your Amulet of the Mists, instead of defeating a boss: All bows listed below have Maximum damage (15-28) and require 9 Marksmanship * Brrne's Recurve Bow (+15% Armor -10, Crippling, Fortitude) * Chehbaba's Longbow (+15% Armor -10, Crippling, Shelter) * Chkkr's Flatbow (+15% Armor -10, Zealous, Fortitude) * Inallay's Hornbow (+15% Health > 50%, Zealous, Fortitude) * Ironwing Flatbow (+15% Health > 50%, Zealous, Fortitude) * Ironwing Longbow (+15% Health > 50%, Vampiric, Fortitude) * Lorelle's Longbow (+15% Health > 50%, Poisoner's, Shelter) * Meynsang's Longbow (+15% Armor -10, Barbed, Fortitude) * Nandet's Recurve Bow (+15% Armor -10, Crippling, Fortitude) * Nundak's Recurve Bow (+15% Health > 50%, Poisoner's, Fortitude) * Razorjaw's Hornbow (Energy +5, Sundering, Marksmanship) * Razortongue's Recurve Bow (+15% Energy -5, Vampiric, Marksmanship) * Royen's Hornbow (+15% in stance, Sundering, Marksmanship) * Ryver's Shortbow (+15% Health > 50%, Crippling, Fortitude) * Urgoz's Flatbow (+15% Health > 50%, Sundering, Fortitude) * Urgoz's Longbow (+15% Health > 50%, Sundering, Fortitude) * Ryver's Shortbow (+15% Health > 50%, Sundering, Fortitude) * Swiftscale's Shortbow (+15% in stance, Vampiric, Fortitude) Also, there are many bows that are available among crafters throughout the continent of Cantha. The coveted Energy +5 (Divine Path, after completing the Factions campaign) and Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) mods (Kaineng Center) can be found on some of these crafters. Here's a short list of where some of these crafters are (all are max damage with a requirement of 9 Marksmanship): * Kaineng Center - Manzo crafts Longbows and Short Bows with Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) * Budek Byway - Sheco crafts Longbows and Short Bows with Damage +15% (while in a Stance) * Wajjun Bazaar - Nago crafts Longbows and Short Bows with Damage +15% (while Enchanted) * The Undercity - Ziyi crafts Longbows and Short Bows with Damage +20% (while Hexed) * House Zu Heltzer - Mathilde crafts Longbows and Short Bows with Damage +15%, Armor -10 (while Attacking) * Cavalon - Theodosus crafts Longbows and Short Bows with Damage +15%, Armor -10 (while Attacking) * Vasburg Armory - Gertrud crafts Longbows and Short Bows with Damage +15%, Energy -5 * Leviathan Pits - Telamon crafts Longbows and Short Bows with Damage +15%, Energy -5 * Divine Path - Shichiroji crafts Longbows and Short Bows with Energy +5 Wintersday Candy Cane Bows -------------------------- These bows were available during the special Wintersday events of 2005. Candy Cane bows only do 15-15 damage (making them less than desirable compared to most max damage bows), but they have no requirements, which gives them a use in certain specialized builds that require a bow, but do not have high Marksmanship. They have the range of a Short Bow. Using Multiple Bows =================== The game provides up to 4 weapon sets that can be switched during combat at any time. Because of this, it is fairly trivial to have multiple bows for various tactical situations. For example, I use a Flatbow in F1 and a Half-Moon in F3. The Flatbow allows me to pull targets at a much longer range, while I use the increased fire rate and arrow speed of the Half-Moon bow at close range. Another trick to use with multiple bows is to assign each bow a different elemental bowstring. Thus, if a creature is resistant to the element of the current bow, you can switch to a more appropriate element. Another useful trick is having a Vampiric bow on the switch. When you need life, you can swap to the Vampiric bow, and when you don't need life, you won't suffer from the Health degen if you switch out. Note: When you switch bows, your bow doesn't swap immediately. It takes the place of the next "queued" action, which means if you are in the middle of a bow attack or skill casting, you won't switch your bow until after the current action. If you "buffer" a skill during the current action, the bow switch will be cancelled! Finding a good bow ================== Generally, max damage bows drop when you start killing level 18 or higher enemies. Lightning Drakes at the Gates of Kryta or Sanctum Cay, for example, can drop Max Damage bows on occasion. However, your best bet for finding a bow is to kill high level enemies with a Ranger class. Dune Burrowers and Enchanted Bows in the Crystal Desert are a couple of good examples. Also, several types of unique bows drop in the Temple of the Ages dungeons, typically with maximum damage. Shadow Bows, Storm Bows, and Eternal Bows can be found there. You can also buy a good bow from people selling at Lion's Arch and Ascalon City usually in District 1. Caveat Emptor. One person's "Godly" bow is the next person's "junk". I wouldn't spend more than 5,000 gold acquiring a max damage bow, as you can always add bow parts to improve an existing bow. Beware of scams to sell Customized weapons to you, as they cannot be used by anyone but the original user. If it says +20% Damage (Customized for "Seller's Name"), stay away from it. A recent patch places a warning if a Customized item is being traded to you, so you have plenty of fair warning. There are many collectors that offer Max Damage Ascalon bows in the Crystal Desert and the Southern Shiverpeaks. A full list can be found in the Appendix of collectors [gwrg9c] at the end of this Ranger Guide. Here are the items that they collect: * Dune Burrower Jaws - Dune Burrowers. Two good places: The beginning of Elona Reach mission, and the Scar, just outside of the Thirsty River exit. You can actually outrange the first couple of Dune Burrowers with a Longbow, thus giving you a "free" kill pretty easily. * Minotaur Horns - Minotaurs. The beginning of the Elona Reach mission is full of Minotaurs. Use Spike Mines and defensive skills to kill them quickly. * Topaz Crests - Sand Drakes. Diviner's Ascent, just out of Elona Reach, you can beat up Sand Drakes. Fairly easy to solo. * Dessicated Hydra Claws - Hydras. Go to Skyward Reach...too many Hydras there. * Massive Jawbones - Sand Giants. I usually run around in the Southern part of the Arid Sea. Also, the entrance to Vulture Drifts from the Arid Sea has a huge group of them. Also, there are Giants in the beginning of Thirsty River, but those don't generally drop Jawbones often. * Frozen Shells - Frost Wurms. Yeah. Good luck... Find them in Lornar's Pass. * Mountain Troll Tusks - West of Droknar's Forge in Talus Chute, there's a cave FULL of Trolls. * Alpine Seeds - Both level 13 Juniper Barks and level 24 Pinesouls give Alpine Seeds. Go into Lornar's Pass from Beacon's Perch and kill the Ice Imps and Pinesouls there, or run around the Northern Shiverpeaks for Juniper Barks. * Azure Remains - There are many Azure Shadows in Snake Dance and Witman's Folly * Intricate Grawl Necklaces - There are hordes of Grawl in Witman's Folly, so you should easily get these in one or two passes, even with a full party. ================== = Builds (gwrg5) = ================== Rather than defining builds by certain skillsets, I will attempt to explain the combinations of skills that are effective "Themes" when designing a ranger build. While there will be examples of full skillset builds, these are only used for illustration purposes and should not be considered a definitive build. Hopefully, the sample builds and the themes will give you inspiration to create your own effective Ranger build. ------------------------------- - Ranger-only Themes (gwrg5a) - ------------------------------- Like all class combinations in Guild Wars, using a secondary class is purely optional. The Ranger is no exception, and there are several effective themes that make use of only Ranger skills exclusively. Anti-Caster =========== Rangers are well-known for their ability to shut down casters with their arrows. They also can lay down a Quickening Zephyr to make spellcasters leak Energy like crazy. Sample Build: 1. Incindiary Arrows (Elite) 2. Debilitating Shot 3. Concussion Shot 4. Distracting Shot 5. Dryder's Defenses 6. Quickening Zephyr 7. Troll Unguent 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Choking Gas, Disrupting Lunge, Pin Down, Savage Shot, Spike Trap (Elite), Punishing Shot (Elite) Factions skills: Broad Head Arrow (Elite) Artillery Support ================= AKA "Barrager" Barrage is one of the few Elite skills that warrants an entire theme, as the limitations and strengths of Barrage require careful thought and management. A high Marksmanship is obviously required, and high Expertise is needed so the Barrager can continually spam the Barrage skill against enemies. Sample Build: 1. Barrage (Elite) 2. Favorable Winds 3. Winnowing 4. Distracting Shot 5. Lightning Reflexes 6. Tiger's Fury 7. Troll Unguent 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) The Artful Dodger ================= This theme focuses mostly on the Ranger's excellent ability to avoid damage. It focuses mostly on the Expertise attribute, and relies on dodging skills to prevent damage to the Ranger. Typically, you will want at least two skills to overlap, as the cooldown times on those skills tend to be quite long. Sample Build: 1. Bow Damage Skill of choice 2. Lightning Reflexes - Increased Attack speed and dodging 3. Whirling Defense - Defensive Skill 4. Throw Dirt - Applies Blindness, Defensive Skill 5. Dryder's Defenses - Defensive Skill, resists elemental damage 6. Escape (Elite) - Increases Speed, Defensive Skill 7. Troll Unguent/Healing Spring - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Dodge, Dust Trap, Oath Shot (Elite) Factions skills: Zojun's Haste The Beastmaster =============== One of the definitive themes of the Ranger class, the Beastmaster focuses on his or her Pet. Since Beast Mastery is a skillbar hog, most who choose this theme tend to focus on it, dedicating at least half of their slots to Beast Master skills. Obviously, this theme is heavy on the Beast Mastery attribute. Sample Build: 1. Charm Animal - Needed for pet 2. Comfort Animal - For healing/resurrecting pet 3. Call of Protection - Damage reduction for pet 4. Symbiotic Bond - More protection for pet, and Health regen 5. Disrupting Lunge - For disruption 6. Ferocious Strike (Elite) 7. Troll Unguent - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) The Machine-gunner ================== This theme utilizes Quick Shot and skills that lower cooldown times so that the Ranger can lay down a fast stream of arrows. You'll be firing slightly faster than the attack rate of most swords/axes. Note that in a Quick Shot build, you won't get much benefit from Serpent's Quickness, but you will get a benefit from Tiger's Fury and Quickening Zephyr. Sample Build: This build needs a high Expertise (preferably 13 total from Rune or Mask), and a high wilderness survival tends to help as well for adding damage through the use of preparations. Use a Zealous bowstring to reclaim energy quickly. 1. Quick Shot (Elite) 2. Dual Shot 3. Quickening Zephyr 4. Favorable Winds 5. Tiger's Fury 6. Kindle Arrows 7. Troll Unguent 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Factions skills: Needling Shot The Ritualist ============= AKA The "Spirit Spammer" This theme made a splash in Summer of 2005 PvP metagame. This Ranger uses spirits to change the "rules" of the battlefield, while using Oath Shot (Elite) or Quickening Zephyr/Serpent's Quickness to reduce the long cooldown times. Spirits can be used as a temporary obstacle, and the dedicated Ritualist often plants multiple spirits to increase coverage and provide insurance against Spirit destruction. Sample Build: High levels of Beast Mastery and Wilderness Survival are helpful for this PvP-specific version of the Ritualist. This particular sample build works best in a team with few/no enchantments, and it is designed to make the lives of the opponent's Monks and Aeromancers difficult. 1. Greater Conflagration (Elite) 2. Quickening Zephyr - Reduces cooldowns while increasing Energy costs 3. Nature's Renewal - Delays enchantments/hexes 4. Favorable Winds - Increases bow damage 5. Frozen Soil - Prevents resurrection, for locking in a win 6. Fertile Season - More armor and HP reduces the power of Aeromancer spiking 7. Troll Unguent - Self-heal 8. Free slot (Res Signet) Other useful skills: Some folks use Oath Shot (Elite) to lower the cooldown times of their spirits. The Skirmisher ============== Skirmishers are Rangers who choose to harass and harry their opponents by the application of Conditions (especially Cripple and Poison). A Skirmisher is often the first person to attack and lure a monster, focusing on weakening monsters before the rest of the party uses Focus Fire on it. They also can use bow preparations to apply area effect splash-damage, causing much grief for groups of enemies. Sample Build: 1. Poison Arrow (Elite) - Poison 2. Pin Down - Crippling 3. Hunter's Shot - Bleeding 4. Ignite Arrows - Splash damage 5. Dual Shot - Damage multiplier 6. Whirling Defense - Defensive skill 7. Troll Unguent - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Choking Gas, Incindiary Arrows (Elite), Melandru's Arrows (Elite), Kindle Arrows, Distracting Shot, Concussion Shot, Dust Trap, Flame Trap, Barbed Trap, Spike Trap (Elite), Throw Dirt The Sniper ========== The Sniper is the quintessential archer, focusing on doing the most damage against a single target with each arrow. Using Marksmanship skills in concert, the Sniper picks off opponents one by one, stacking as much damage as possible. Sample Build: This build is particularly light on the Wilderness Survival skills. Most Rangers choose to increase their Wilderness Survival skills and go part Sniper, part Skirmisher. 1. Penetrating Attack - Increases damage per shot 2. Power Shot - Increases damage per shot 3. Read the Wind - Increases damage, based on Marksmanship 4. Favorable Winds - Increases damage 5. Marksman's Wager (Elite) - Energy Management 6. Lightning Reflexes - Defense 7. Troll Unguent - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Hunter's Shot, Distracting Shot, Dual Shot, Kindle Arrows, Concussion Shot, Tiger's Fury, Apply Poison, Poison Arrow (Elite) Factions skills: Marauder's Shot, Sundering Attack The Trapper =========== The Trapper focuses on Traps and the Wilderness Survival attribute. Trappers know when to use traps as passive elements to "soften" up targets as well as using traps actively in combat to add area-effect damage while hiding behind a tank. The conditions added by such traps are invaluable for support, and a high Expertise prevents the Trapper from being hit while laying down traps. One common place that a Trapper is in demand is in the Underworld, where there are many powerful enemies who do not use Ranged attacks (Bladed Aatxes come to mind). Dust Trap and Barbed Trap help to soften them up before the group can focus and kill these creatures. See "All-Trapper Party in the Underworld" below in the PvE section for a look at this. Sample Build: 1. Dust Trap 2. Flame Trap 3. Barbed Trap 4. Healing Spring 5. Whirling Defense 6. Dryder's Defenses 7. Throw Dirt 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Lightning Reflexes, Dodge, Escape (Elite), Spike Trap (Elite), Muddy Terrain, Quickening Zephyr (quickly recharge traps), Energizing Wind (reduce the cost of Dust Trap and Barbed Trap) Factions skills: Snare, Viper's Nest (linked to Beastmastery), Trapper's Focus -------------------------------- - Ranger/Elementalist (gwrg5b) - -------------------------------- Ranger-Elementalists combine the best of the two ranged combat worlds, Bow Attacks and Magic. Rangers, however, lack the key attribute of Elementalists, Energy Storage, and thus often run into energy problems when using Elementalist skills. Also, Expertise only applies to Ranger skills and Rangers lack decent Energy management and regen. When selecting Elementalist skills to complement your Ranger abilities, select ones that do not cause Exhaustion, are not duplicated by Ranger abilities, and ideally have a low Energy cost. Conjure X ========= Conjure Flame, Conjure Lightning, and Conjure Frost all can add damage to bow attacks, similar to bow preparations. They cost a reasonable 10 mana and last for a whole minute. One skill that Conjure spells synergize well with is Barrage. Barrage removes bow preparations, but the Conjure spells aren't preparations, so they still take effect and cause additional damage. Another skill that multiplies the damage done by the Conjure spells is Dual Shot (by doubling the arrows). Also, Conjure spells stack quite well with bow preparations... with a skillset of Conjure X plus Ignite Arrows plus Poison Arrow, you can have arrows that do area-effect fire damage, add poison, AND Conjure elemental damage. Some important notes: To utilize an appropriate Conjure X spell, you MUST have a bowstring of the corresponding type. For example, Conjure Flame ONLY works on a Fiery bow (a bow with a Fire bowstring). This limits you to that single element, which can be a disadvantage when facing enemies resistant to that element. Also, sometimes it's hard to track down the appropriate bowstring to match the Conjure spell you want to duplicate. I'm not sure if Conjure Flame works on the splash damage of Ignite Arrows. That is something that I'll have to investigate. Note that with the release of Factions, the Conjure Elements spells no longer remove other Enchantments. A nice little bonus for a nice little spell. Sample Build: This build takes advantage of two low Energy spells, Glimmering Mark and Conjure Lightning. It requires the use of a Lightning damage bow. It is heavy in the attributes of Air Magic and Wilderness Survival. With the low cost of most of the skills, you can skimp a few points out of Expertise. 1. Glimmering Mark (Elite) - Blinds when target is struck by lightning damage 2. Conjure Lightning - Added damage 3. Ignite Arrows - Added damage, splash damage 4. Dual Shot - For doubling the damage from Conjure/Bow Prep 5. Distracting Shot - For disruption and "buffering" 6. Dryder's Defenses - Defensive Skill 7. Troll Unguent - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Factions: Glass/Conjure X Machine Gunner ======================================== With Factions, there are two new skills that create a strong variant of the standard machine-gunner build. Instead of Quick Shot (Elite), you can use Needling Shot. Instead of Kindle Arrows, you can use Glass Arrows (Elite). Combined with an Elemental string and Conjure, you can churn out high damaging arrows without splitting attributes heavily. You can even use a Zealous bow, if you tack on Conflagration. Sample Build: Marksmanship 11 + 2 Major Rune Expertise 10 + 1 Mask + 2 Major Rune Fire Magic 10 1. Dual Shot 2. Needling Shot 3. Distracting Shot 4. Conjure Flame 5. Glass Arrows (Elite) 6. Conflagration 7. Lightning Reflexes 8. Free Slot Glyph of (Lesser) Energy and Energizing Wind ============================================ Most Elementalist skills are too prohibitively expensive for a Ranger to use. However, there are three skills, two in the Elementalist Line, and one in the Ranger line, that can help reduce the energy costs. Glyph of Lesser Energy reduces the cost of the next spell you cast by 15 Energy. This puts some of the most expensive spells in an easily castable range for a Ranger. The main downside to the Glyph is that it has a cooldown time of 30 seconds. However. Ranger Expertise bonuses do apply to Glyphs, thus giving you an even larger saving in Energy. Most of the heavy damage Elementalist spells have a long casting time, anyway, so the additional second to cast the Glyph isn't too much compared to the benefit of using it. The Glyph of Lesser Energy also has an Elite cousin, called the Glyph of Energy. It is Elite (and thus limits you to using only that Elite), saves up to 20 Energy, and has a cooldown time of only 15 seconds. I'm not sure that the increased Energy savings and better cooldown is worth using your Elite slot. You can also run both Glyphs in your skillbar, but then you'd have two Glyphs hogging up space on your skillbar. Rangers have access to a Nature Ritual called Energizing Wind, which reduces Energy costs for all spells by 15 (to a minimum of 10). As with other rituals, the casting time is prohibitive, but it provides the Ranger with a great way to save Energy on the expensive Elementalist spells. It also reduces the cost for Concussion Shot and Dust Trap quite nicely. The penalty is the 25% increase in cooldown time for all skills, but this penalty is negligable if you are prone to using lots of high Energy-cost spells. Note that as a Nature Ritual, it affects friends and foes... it might not be the best thing to use while hunting Hydras, for instance (who will attack with a non-stop stream of spells while this spirit is in effect), and some of your allies may complain about the lengthened cooldown times if you don't inform them of the spirit beforehand. Then again, there may be some Elementalists who will appreciate having a great reduction in their Energy costs. Glyph of Concentration ====================== Although the Glyph of Concentration text states that it prevents interruption for spells, apparently it also prevents traps from being interrupted while casting as well. This may be a bug and may be removed in a future update, but for now, the Glyph of Concentration is a great way to lay down a trap without fear of being interrupted. Best of all, Glyphs also get an Expertise Energy- cost reduction. -------------------------- - Ranger/Mesmer (gwrg5c) - -------------------------- Ranger-Mesmers have a pretty cool deal, as the Fast Casting primary attribute of the Mesmer class is not nearly as useful as Expertise (or other Primary attributes, for that matter) and while a Ranger-Mesmer may run into more Energy problems than a Primary Mesmer, by careful selection of spells a Ranger can often retain all of his/her Ranger skills and still effectively toss out Mesmer Hexes. Mesmer skills in Domination augment the Ranger's already powerful lineup of anti-caster attacks. The staple standards of the Domination line, such as Backfire, Power Leak, and Empathy, work well to shut down casters, allowing the Ranger more options in terms of disruption. The Inspiration line is less useful as it typically deals with ways to manipulate other Mesmer spells, but it provides the Ranger some more methods to reclaim energy. Illusion magic has several interesting spells that benefit a Ranger. For example: Conjure Phantasm ================ The most well-known damaging spell in the Mesmer line is Conjure Phantasm, and thus Mesmers are known for their Damage over Time capabilities. Rangers also can apply Damage over Time through the Bleeding and Poison conditions. You can combine both of these concepts to create an effective Damage over Time Ranger. Sample Build: Main Attributes are Illusion Magic and Wilderness Survival. 1. Conjure Phantasm - For -5 Health Degen 2. Kindle Arrow - For more damage 3. Poison Arrow (Elite) - For Poison 4. Hunter's Shot - For Bleeding 5. Dual Shot - For doubling the Kindle Arrow effect 6. Dryder's Defenses - Defensive Skill 7. Troll Unguent - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Melandru's Arrows (Elite), Barbed Trap, Flame Trap, Maiming Strike, Apply Poison, Incindiary Arrows, Phantom Pain Echo (Elite) ============ Echo is a great Elite from the Mesmer line. It works especially well with skills that have a long cooldown time, as it allows you to use a skill twice in rapid succession. What's better than one Dual Shot? That's right, two Dual Shots. Echo costs only 5 Energy, and is not linked to any attribute, thus it does not need any point investment. It does take up your Elite slot, however. Several skills that work well with Echo are the long cooldown stances, traps, and the following theme: Energy Thief ============ This theme utilizes the Elite skill Echo to copy Debilitating Shot and a high Expertise to reduce the cost of Debilitating Shot. With Echo, you can lay down multiple Debilitating Shots, quickly depriving your enemy of the Energy they need to cast spells. You can pour salt on the wound, so to speak, by adding Mind Wrack and Spirit Shackles, a classic combination used by Mergoyles to damage and nullify spellcasters and warriors alike. Any spells that they DO end up casting can be interrupted by Distracting Shot. Sample Build: 1. Echo (Elite) 2. Debilitating Shot 3. Distracting Shot 4. Mind Wrack 5. Spirit Shackles 6. Whirling Defense 7. Troll Unguent/Illusion of Weakness 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Another skill to try is the low cost Wastrel's Worry. If they can't cast spells, then they probably won't be doing anything for the 3 second duration it takes to damage them with this unusual skill. You can also use Signet of Weariness for a bit of Energy-free Energy stealing. Fragility ========= Fragility is a Mesmer hex that applies damage to a creature if they gain or lose a status condition, like Bleeding, Poison, Cripple, etc. Since one of the strengths of a primary ranger is applying Status conditions, Fragility combined with, say, Pin Down or Apply Poison can potentially cause a world of hurt for a single targeted enemy. Ironically, you may want to actually have a low Wilderness Survival for this build, as it shortens the durations of your conditions and thus shortens the time between taking the initial Fragility damage and the later Fragility damage (when the condition is removed). Some caveats, though: Fragility costs 10 energy, and it isn't reduced by Expertise. Thus, energy management can be a problem. Hex Removal is the bane of this build, as it removes the Fragility Hex and the main damage-dealing part of this build. Finally, you are most effective at taking out a single creature, and a creature that isn't being Focused at that (as typical with playing Mesmers), as Focus Fire tends to kill a creature far too quickly for your Fragility combo to truly take effect. The 9/29/05 update reduced the cooldown time of Fragility to 5 seconds, which allows a Fragility user to effectively Hex more targets. Sample Build: 1. Fragility 2. Pin Down - Causes Crippling 3. Hunter's Shot - Causes Bleeding 4. Incindiary Arrows (Elite) - Causes Burning 5. Throw Dirt - Causes Blindness 6. Whirling Defense - General Ranger defensive skill 7. Troll Unguent/Illusion of Weakness - Healing 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills: Melandru's Arrows (Elite), Barbed Trap, Spike Trap(Elite), Flame Trap, Dust Trap, Maiming Strike, Concussion Shot, Crippling Shot (Elite), Ineptitude (Elite), Phantom Pain Illusionary Weaponry (Elite) ============================ This interesting Elite does Chaos damage instead of your regular damage on every swing of a melee attack. It instantly turns your character into a melee specialist, as Illusionary Weaponry always hits for a set amount of damage (34 points of damage at Illusion Magic of 12), regardless if you are blinded or your target is evading/blocking. Every time you swing, whether or not you hit or miss, it does 34 points damage. You'll never do a critical hit, but you'll never have that damage reduced by armor, either. Because it is an enchantment, and the duration is slightly less than the cooldown time, you might either want to bring Serpent's Quickness/Quickening Zephyr to reduce the cooldown time or have an "of Enchantment" suffixed weapon to increase the duration of the spell. Also, you will want to use the fastest weapon you can get your hands on, which is either a sword or an axe. Damage range doesn't matter, as Illusionary Weaponry substitutes its damage for your weapon's damage. You can combine this with Tiger's Fury or Lightning Reflexes to get even more damage out of your attacks, by striking faster. As with other Elites, this skill precludes your use of any other Elite skill in your skillbar. However, you should keep it in mind if find yourself in melee combat often. Mantra of Concentration/Resolve =============================== Mesmers have two stances that prevent interrruption, Mantra of Concentration and Mantra of Resolve. While Rangers rarely have problems with being interrupted, except for the occasional Troll Unguent, the Trapper Ranger gains a huge benefit from using these stances, as they can prevent their easily interrupted casting animations for laying down traps from being interrupted. Both of these Mantras last a long time. Mantra of Concentration is only good for one hit, but is quite Energy efficient. Mantra of Resolve is good for multiple hits as long as you have Energy, with the Energy costs decreasing with higher levels of Inspiration magic. In general, it's better to go with Mantra of Concentration if you have few points in Inspiration Magic, and Mantra of Resolve if you have many points in Inspiration Magic. Also, since Mantras are stances, Expertise DOES apply to them. "You're a Tank!?" ================= In this theme, the Ranger takes advantage of two skills to greatly reduce the physical damage done to him. Greater Conflagration (Elite) changes all physical damage into fire damage, which the Ranger can defend against quite nicely with Drakescale armor. The Mesmer secondary grants the Ranger a new stance called Mantra of Flame which can reduce the Fire damage taken by as much as 45%. The stance lasts a long time (30-78 seconds), is reduced by Expertise in cost, and also grants the Ranger 1 Energy every time he takes Fire damage. With these pair of skills, the Ranger no longer worries about Energy Management or physical damage from melee/ranged attacks. The main limitation of this theme is that Greater Conflagration is an Elite, but it may be a small price to pay for being able to tank damage easily as a Ranger. Another option for a long-lasting Mesmer stance to reduce Fire damage is Elemental Resistance. Factions:Psychic Instability (Elite) ==================================== This neat little Domination Magic gem is a Hex spell that knocks the targeted opponent down if they are interrupted. It has a low Energy cost of 5, and a cooldown of 20 seconds. Rangers have a few ways to make this skill even more effective. First of all, Rangers have two bow attacks, Distracting Shot and Savage Shot, that allow them to apply an unconditional interrupt. Thus, you can lay down the feather and knockdown the opponent at your leisure. Second, Rangers can use Serpent's Quickness and/or Quickening Zephyr to lower the cooldown time so that they can keep re-applying the hex without interruption. As a result, you can "knock-lock" your target fairly easily. ------------------------ - Ranger/Monk (gwrg5d) - ------------------------ It is said that there is no such thing as a bad Monk combination in Guild Wars. All classes benefit from the healing capabilities of the Monk class as a secondary. The ability to Resurrect your allies more than one time in a mission (the main limitation of the Signet) and adding supplemental healing to the Ranger's already burgeoning arsenal of support skills is almost a no-brainer. A less obvious benefit is the addition of Protection and Smiting magic, along with a few good Energy management enchantments. Balthazar's Spirit ================== Rangers lack good Energy management, but a possible solution can be found in the Monk Smiting line. Balthazar's Spirit provides energy every time you get hit. This can quickly replenish your energy stores in close-combat situations. However, the point of the Ranger defense is often NOT to get hit, with evasion skills and such. Still, this enchantment typically makes your Energy problems vanish, and might be worth a look. The fact that it works well without sinking any points into Smiting Prayers is a plus. Healing Wind vs. Troll Unguent ============================== Healing Wind costs much more energy (10 Energy, not reduced by Expertise), has a shorter casting time, and can help your teammates. Troll Unguent has a slow casting time, has a much lower energy cost, and can only be cast on yourself. To me, the decision is obvious: in solo situations or in situations with adequate healing (2 or more Monks in a group), go with Troll Unguent for self- healing (as this takes some of the pressure of healing off the group). In most party situations however, Healing Wind is a far better choice, as you are providing healing for yourself and helping your team's main healer. Judge's Insight =============== This enchantment spell in the Smiting line has a fairly short duration, but provides a great benefit for your attacks by changing all of your damage to Holy damage and giving you 20% armor penetration. The 20% armor penetration alone allows you to hit for 10 to 20% more damage (depending on the armor of the opponent), but this enchantment really shines against the Undead. Since it isn't a preparation, it also stacks well with Barrage. When combining the two, I tend to see numbers above three digits sail over large groups of undead enemies. On a critical hit, damage can be increased to over 200 points! Against non-undead opponents, this enchantment also performs well as a "pseudo- preparation", although its short duration often precludes its use combining with bow preparations. Take this along on Gates of Kryta or Sanctum Cay farm runs. Sample Build: This build is an Undead hunter, and has several points in Smiting Prayers to lengthen the duration of Judge's Insight. Symbol of Wrath costs only 5 Energy and makes a great complement to the defensive skills when surrounded. The main power comes from Judge's Insight + Barrage, however, with a little help from Favorable Winds. 1. Barrage (Elite) 2. Judge's Insight 3. Symbol of Wrath 4. Favorable Winds 5. Whirling Defense 6. Lightning Reflexes 7. Healing Breeze 8. Resurrect/Signet of Capture/Mending (depends if you are soloing) Live Vicariously/Vigorous Spirit ================================ Both of these enchantments do similar effects, but Live Vicariously is a sustained enchantment while Vigorous Spirit lasts for 30 seconds. These spells grant small amount of healing each time you hit something in combat. This is another skill that stacks well with Barrage and Dual Shot, as every arrow hit counts for the bonus healing. You can be healing a significant amount of health each time your Barrage is let loose, often outpacing the "Healing over Time" line of spells. Vigorous Spirit may be too much micromanagement for some folks, while Live Vicariously hits your precious little Energy regen. Still, both are pretty good self-healing spells. Using both of these skills is central to many PvE farming builds. By facing opponents that lack enchantment removal (a difficult task at times), one can be almost invincible as long as he/she keeps attacking. This is especially effective with Barrage (Elite), where every arrow gives you bonus health. Combine this with Predatory Season for even more outrageous healing. Sample Build: This build is a solo farming build (note the lack of Resurrect or Signet of Capture based around Barrage (Elite), Live Vicariously, and Vigorous Spirit. You basically need to find a large group of Fighter-type monsters (Trolls, Griffons, Minotaurs are all favorites) and Barrage away, using stances for protection and the healing from your attacks to keep yourself alive. A Zealous bow combined with Expertise of 13+ ensure that you will keep rolling in the Energy. Healing Prayers 10+ Expertise 13+ Marksmanship 12+ 1. Barrage (Elite) - Your main damage 2. Throw Dirt - Defensive Skill 3. Whirling Defense - Defensive stance 4. Lightning Reflexes - Defensive stance 5. Live Vicariously - Healing 6. Vigorous Spirit - Healing 7. Favorable Winds - Damage 8. Predatory Season - Healing Watchful Spirit =============== This is an interesting sustained enchantment that provides much of the benefit of Mending (with a +2 Health Regen), along with a small healing bonus when the enchantment is removed. Even without any points in Divine Favor or Healing Prayers, this enchantment gives the +2 Health Regen. If you don't want to sink any points into healing, but want the benefits of the Mending spell, then give this enchantment a try. Zealot's Fire ============= For a Monk with points in Smiting, Zealot's Fire adds a little bit of punch to your skills, as every skill that targets an ally does Fire damage in an area of effect. So you can heal your friends while doing a modest amount of damage at the same time. Strangely enough, this also applies for Comfort Animal, so you Beastmaster/Monks out there can heal your pet while dealing area-effect fire damage at a touch of a button. ------------------------------- - Ranger/Necromancer (gwrg5e) - ------------------------------- At first glance, the Necromancer and Ranger class may seem like an odd combination. The Soul Reaping Primary Attribute of a necromancer would have been useful (natch), but there are still several ways one can combine Ranger and Necromancer skills. "Defensive" Cursing =================== The three curses that come to mind when thinking about the Necromancer are Enfeeble, Faintheartedness, and Price of Failure. All three reduce the attacks from an enemy in some way. Enfeeble induces Weakness, a useful Condition that reduces damage from that opponent. Faintheartedness reduces attack speed (you can substitute Shadow of Fear if you wish). Price of Failure adds a 25% miss chance and does damage if the opponent misses. All three combined with Ranger defensive skills make for a very defensive Ranger indeed. Sample Build: 1. Enfeeble 2. Faintheartedness 3. Price of Failure 4. Bow attack of choice 5. Lightning Reflexes 6. Whirling Defense 7. Throw Dirt 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Cruelty to Animals ================== This theme utilizes a pet as a "corpse factory" to generate minions or simply to reap some damage. Just send the pet off to his doom, use the corpse, then revive it with Comfort Animal. However, when your pet dies, you lose your skills for 8 seconds... to make your pet useful before (and during) death, you cast Tainted Flesh (Elite) and Death Nova. Sample Build: 1. Animate Bone Minion 2. Animate Bone Fiend 3. Death Nova 4. Tainted Flesh (Elite) 5. Well of Suffering 6. Comfort Animal 7. Charm Animal 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune ======================================= Snipers are always trying to find ways to increase their damage. Necromancer Curses provide a useful avenue to increase bow damage against a specific target. Weaken Armor lowers armor, while Mark of Pain turns your damage against a target into area effect damage (like a preparation). Rigor Mortis prevents those pesky warriors from blocking your shots. Sample Build: 1. Weaken Armor 2. Mark of Pain/Rigor Mortis 3. Penetrating Attack 4. Power Shot 5. Favorable Winds 6. Read the Wind 7. Troll Unguent 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Massive Minions =============== Fertile Season isn't normally a good Nature Ritual, because it gives the enemy (who generally outnumber you) more of an advantage. However, what if you outnumber the enemy? Fertile Season can increase the toughness of your small army of minions. The Pet on top of that is just icing on the cake. Virulence (Elite) ================= One option to increase your Damage over Time capabilities comes with the Elite known as Virulence. It has a low cost of 5 Energy and has a reasonably fast cooldown of 10 seconds. It applies Poison, Weakness, and Disease on an Enemy that already has a condition. So all you have to do is cripple or blind an opponent, then whack it with Virulence. The only problem with this skill is that it's an Elite. However, you don't need many points in Death Magic to make it viable. Factions: The Touch Ranger ========================== Expertise reduces the Energy cost of non-spell skills, and the vast majority of Touch attacks are skills (rather than spells). With the release of Factions, the old Vampiric Touch skill is cloned with the Vampiric Bite skill. By combining a very high Expertise with Blood Magic, these "vampiric" rangers can continually spam Vampiric attacks, giving themselves back some life while dealing armor-ignoring damage. Best of all, they have access to Awaken the Blood, which allows them to go above the 12 Attribute limit on secondary classes. The main disadvantage of this build is the reliance on touch-based attacks as its main damage. The high Expertise allows you to take advantage of long-duration defensive skills. Sample Build: 12 + Superior Rune + Mask = 16 Expertise 12 Blood Magic 1. Vampiric Bite - Damage, Steal health 2. Vampiric Touch - Damage, Steal health 3. Strip Enchantment - Enchantment removal 4. Plague Touch - Condition Removal 5. Whirling Defense - Defense 6. Throw Dirt - Defense 7. Awaken the Blood - Increasing Blood Magic damage 8. Free slot A common variant includes a build that has both Dodge and Zojun's Haste (to enhance mobility in certain Alliance Battles and Factions PvP missions). --------------------------- - Ranger/Warrior (gwrg5f) - --------------------------- The Adrenaline-based skills of a Warrior mesh well with the Ranger, and give an alternative method of dealing damage when your Energy stores run dry. Also, Energy management is enhanced with skills like Bonetti's Defense. Primary Warriors are usually in a continual state of Energy deficit, but the Ranger's greater Energy stores and Energy regen alleviates this. In an exception to the general rule of Expertise, it also applies to the Energy costs of Warrior attack skills as well. Thus, you can hack and slash all day using the Warrior abilities at a reduced energy cost. With the addition of Tactics, a Shield becomes a viable option as well, giving the Ranger more armor to defend against attacks. The Whirling Dervish ==================== Although Rangers in this game do not dual-wield, they can still be pretty effective with a sword when they have a Warrior secondary class. Because Expertise lowers the cost of Energy-based attacks and Rangers also have an overall Energy advantage over Warriors (in terms of recharge rate and total Energy), they can more effectively make use of several sword attacks and other key Energy-based Warrior skills. Sample Build: This particular build requires a Sword and Shield combination. Put just enough Tactics to use the shield that you want. Try to get an overall Expertise of 13 (11 + 1 for mask and +1 for Minor Rune is usually sufficient). If you don't feel comfortable without a self-heal, you can replace either Hamstring or Deadly Riposte with Troll Unguent or Healing Signet. 1. Hundred Blades (Elite) 2. Wild Blow 3. Hamstring 4. Deadly Riposte 5. Whirling Defense - Defense 6. Bonetti's Defense - Energy Reclamation and defense 7. Lightning Reflexes - Defense, increased attack speed 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other Useful Skills: Flourish (Elite), Pure Strike, Seeking Blade, Defensive Stance The Woodsman ============ Apply Poison is a preparation that affects melee weapons as well as bows. The Axe line of attacks has a useful attack called Cyclone Axe that hits all foes around you. Using both, a Ranger/Warrior can hit many targets simultaneously with poison. Axes also have a variety of Condition-causing attacks, such as Dismember and Axe Rake, as well as Disrupting Chop. Sample Build: This build is high on the Wilderness Survival and Axe attributes. Expertise is not as important in this particular build, but you can add Throw Dirt and Whirling Defense easily if you wish to retain a high Expertise. 1. Apply Poison 2. Cyclone Axe 3. Dismember 4. Axe Rake 5. Disrupting Chop 6. Troll Unguent 7. Dryder's Defenses 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) The Bunny Thumper ================= This entry is added by popular demand. I do not know who coined this build or refined it, but the basic theme is a Ranger who uses Hammer Mastery, Expertise, and Beastmastery, carefully balanced to deal the maximum amount of damage. It utilizes Tiger's Fury to speed up the slow Hammer attacks and build up Adrenaline, Ferocious Strike (Elite) to reclaim Energy and build up more adrenaline, and hammer attacks to knockdown and damage the opponent. This is primarily a PvP build, and does not typically have much in terms of defense. Sample Build: Expertise 6 + Mask + Minor Rune Beast Mastery 11 + Minor Rune Hammer Mastery 12 1. Hammer Bash - Guaranteed knockdown 2. Irresistible Blow - Spam this as much as possible 3. Crushing Blow - More damage and Deep wound 4. Tiger's Fury - Speeds up your attack 5. Ferocious Strike (Elite) - Damage, Energy gain, Adrenaline gain 6. Charm Animal 7. Comfort Animal 8. Res Signet/Free Slot Alternate versions of this build include Hammer Spike, using Backbreaker (Elite) and Predator's Pounce instead of Ferocious Strike (Elite), and the Factions pet spike variant with Enraged Lunge (Elite) instead of Ferocious Strike (Elite). Ferocious Strike (Elite) is often seen as the crucial skill for this build due to the Hammer Ranger's need for Energy and adrenaline, but these alternate versions of the Bunny Thumper can spike much higher damage. Some variants also sub out the Comfort Animal (under the theory that the pet never gets targeted). "Victory is Mine!" (Elite) ========================== This shout is a Warrior Elite skill that gives you health and energy for every condition that your adjacent foes are suffering. With the above Woodsman build (which is designed to Poison a large group), you can use it as a quick Heal and Energy management skill. Even for a general Skirmisher ranger build, this skill is quite effective for self-healing and regenerating your Energy. For example, imagine using it after hitting an opponent with a quick Barbed Trap or a Throw Dirt. It costs very little Energy itself, and has a reasonably quick recharge time. However, it does take up your Elite skill slot. Greater Conflagration (Elite) ============================= One of the key disadvantages of being a Ranger in melee is the lack of good physical protection. While it is better than all the primary spellcasters, it still leaves much to be desired. Greater Conflagration is a Nature Ritual that turns all physical damage to fire damage. If you are wearing Drakescale armor, your armor suddenly shoots up from 70 points against physical to 115 points! This allows you to tank more effectively in melee. Other rangers will love the added protection against physical damage. However, this also negates the bonus physical armor that warriors get, which is a bad thing for the warriors in your party. It also is an Elite skill, and being a Nature Ritual, the Spirit is vulnerable to being attacked. If you are soloing, or you are in a group without warriors, though, go for it. Stack on Dryder's Defenses for even more elemental tanking ability. See also the Mesmer "You're a tank!?" theme for another idea on how to exploit this Nature Ritual. ------------------------------------- - Factions:Ranger/Assassin (gwrg5g) - ------------------------------------- Assassins are the dual-wielding dagger masters and shadowy teleporters in Factions, and are quite a melee-oriented class. Much of the synergies between Rangers and Warriors can apply here, but the high Energy attacks of the Assassin benefit greatly from a high Expertise. Both the Assassin and Ranger are great at applying conditions to a target, and many of those abilities stack quite nicely. Melee Skirmisher ================ This theme relies on the Assassin's and the Ranger's ability to apply conditions against enemies. By utilizing Expertise, Wilderness Survival, and Dagger Mastery, the R/A can jump in, Strike quickly, and fade away, leaving the opponent bleeding, poisoned, blinded, etc. Sample Build: Dagger Mastery should be maxed out, with a high Expertise and Wilderness Survival to support the backup skills 1. Jagged Strike - Bleeding, fast cooldown 2. Wild Strike - Insert your favorite Off-hand here 3. Twisting Fangs - Deep Wound, more Bleeding 4. Lacerate (Elite) - Even more Bleeding... 5. Throw Dirt - Blind, defense 6. Troll Unguent - Self Heal 7. Apply Poison - Poison prep 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Shadow Striker ============== This Ranger is your standard Sniper, but uses Shadow Arts to fade away when in trouble or when their quarry is running away. Assassins have a variety of methods to both evade pursuers and snare/knock down targets trying to run away. Sample Build: Marksmanship and Expertise, per standard Sniper. A smattering of Shadow/Deadly Arts for support skills, as needed. 1. Punishing Shot (Elite) - Interrupt/Damage 2. Sundering Attack 3. Pin Down - Snare 4. Return - Teleport 5. Heart of Shadow - Teleport 6. Troll Unguent - Self Heal 7. Read the Wind - Preparation 8. Free Slot (Res Signet or Signet of Capture) Other useful skills - Aura of Displacement (Elite), Scorpion Wire Efficient Dagger Expert ======================= Expertise does a great job at lowering the expensive Energy costs of Assassin dagger attacks. This theme basically focuses on a high Expertise and Dagger Mastery skill. Sample Build: At least a 13 in Expertise and 12 Dagger Mastery. 1. Leaping Mantis Sting - Damage, Cripple 2. Temple Strike (Elite) - Blind, Daze, and interrupt 3. Repeating Strike - It keeps going and going and going... 4. Horns of the Ox - Knockdown 5. Falling Spider - Poison 6. Whirling Defense 7. Lightning Reflexes 8. Free Slot Assassin/Ranger: Barrage Sniper =============================== First seen as a post on GWOnline.net forums by shamed I don't have a section for this build (this is a guide about primary Rangers, eh?), but this deserves a special mention in my book. Apparently, arrows are a lot like Daggers, because the Sharpen Daggers enchantment works with bows. Combine this with Barrage and the inherent Energy reclamation of the Assassin's Critical Strike attribute, and you get the following build: Critical Strikes 12 + Mask + Rune Marksmanship 12 1. Critical Eye 2. Sharpen Daggers 3. Barrage 4. The rest up to you... Basically, Critical Eye increases the already-high chance for criticals and increases Energy reclamation. Sharpen Daggers is an Enchantment, so it is NOT canceled by Barrage. Barrage will Crit about 40% of the time on each target, and each target that is critically hit will start to Bleed. Most of the other standard Barrager rules apply. -------------------------------------- - Factions:Ranger/Ritualist (gwrg5h) - -------------------------------------- An alternative to the Monk, Ritualists provide a similar benefit to the Ranger class. While the "Held Item" skills are probably mostly worthless to a Ranger, the Spirits and Weapon Spells are great bonuses. This is combined with a great ressurection skill (Flesh of My Flesh) and access to Restoration magic. Brutal Barrage ============== This theme uses a combination of Communing and Barrage (Elite) for an effective damage combination. Not only can you combined Brutal Weapon with Barrage for more damage, but you can take advantage of the Ritualist ability to summon damaging spirits, for even more spamming. With a high expertise, the Spirits are cheaper to summon, as well. Sample Build: At least 13 in Expertise, with high Marksmanship and Communing 1. Barrage (Elite) - Main damage here 2. Brutal Weapon - More Barrage damage 3. Pain - Damage spirit 4. Bloodsong - Damage spirit 5. Favorable Winds - More Barrage damage 6. Whirling Defense - Defense skill 7. Flesh of My Flesh - Resurrect 8. Free Slot Spirit Spammer 2.0 ================== Another take on the Communing Ranger, this theme utilizes Oath Shot (Elite) to reduce the long cooldown times of Binding Rituals, as well as Expertise to reduce the cost. Sample Build: Minimum of 7 Expertise (recommend higher than 8 points) High Communing skill 1. Oath Shot (Elite) 2. Dissonance 3. Pain 4. Shelter 5. Union 6. Whirling Defense 7. Flesh of My Flesh - Resurrect 8. Free Slot ---------------------------------- - Ranger as a secondary (gwrg5i) - ---------------------------------- Rangers make an excellent secondary class for folks wanting to dabble into Beastmastery or Marksmanship. Wilderness Survival also provides a great variety of skills covering everything from healing to damage, for a few skill points. However, secondary Rangers lose the all-important Expertise attribute. Some primary classes compensate for the attribute benefit by having their own Energy management attributes like Soul Reaping for Necromancers or Energy Storage for Elementalists. Secondary Rangers miss out on most of the benefits of having effective Expertise-based skills like Throw Dirt or Whirling Defense. This can be alleviated by Primary class-specific defensive skills (like Ward against Melee, Distortion, etc.) or by using Dryder's Defenses (which is available to anyone with a high Wilderness Survival attribute). ---------------------------- - Things to Avoid (gwrg5j) - ---------------------------- I originally started this guide with this particular section in mind, as it seems that many new players lack a focus or direction when creating their first Ranger character. I hesitate to call them newbies or the more derisive "n00bs", as we all have to start somewhere. Don't take this as sage advice... simply treat it as advice from a Ranger who has made many mistakes. Don't try to do everything ========================== A common temptation in Guild Wars is to try to do everything available to a particular class. This temptation is especially inherent in the Ranger class, as Rangers are among the most versatile and widely-spread classes. I can't remember how many times I've seen a Ranger who tries to squeeze Bow skills, Traps, Stances, Preparations, Spirits, and a Pet into their skill bar. While it is fun early in the game to experiment with all sorts of skills, later in the game such a character becomes increasingly spread thin. Learn which skills are the most useful to you, and specialize rather than diversify. Find a niche in your group and fill it. Remember, you can always change your build at any time when you are in town, so prepare the most effective combination for any given mission, instead of doing everything. Don't overspecialize ==================== The opposite of the above mistake is the overspecialized ranger, one who carries a full skillbar of Marksmanship skills (and no Res Signet, I might add) while falling under an onslaught of Mountain Trolls because he/she forgot Whirling Defense. Generally this is only a problem with Marksmanship, although I've seen folks who take their Traps way too seriously. In general, most of the Ranger skill lines are effective in 2-3 skill "clumps", which you alternate between in combat... a Ranger does NOT have enough Energy to continually use bow attack skills, and the recharge times are quick enough on their skills to make it unnecessary to bring more than 3. Always leave room for some healing or defense and that 8th slot for your Res Signet or Signet of Capture. Don't drag along a Pet... ========================= ... unless you are willing to be a full-time Beast Master. Pets can be helpful in early PvE game without many points in Beast Mastery, but as the game progresses, you'll find the Pet to be more and more of a liability unless you start to invest heavily in Beast Mastery. It's almost an "all or nothing" affair. In order to have an effective pet, you have to treat it just like a weapon, and an exclusive weapon at that. If you aren't willing to put most of your points into Beast Mastery and devote 4 to 6 slots to your Pet, leave it behind. You can always decide to become a Beast Master at a later date. This is not to say that there are no effective hybrid builds involving a Pet and other themes. But these sort of builds are difficult to tweak, and you are too likely to be spread too thin (see "Don't overspecialize" above) until you have the attribute points and the skills to compensate for it later. You can ask yourself these questions: * Do you have at least two Pet defensive skills (Call of Protection, Otyugh's Cry, and/or Symbiotic Bond)? * Do you have at least one Pet Attack? * Is your Beast Mastery greater than 10? If you said no to any of the above questions, you probably should leave the Pet. You are not a tank ================== While Rangers can be quite effective at preventing damage to themselves, you are still vulnerable to many skills and attacks. If you are in a group with Warriors, let the Warriors do their job and tank the attacks. Pound for pound, the Warriors will take less damage (due to Damage reduction and better armor), thus allowing healers to conserve more energy by casting healing spells less often. This doesn't mean that you couldn't occasionally draw some fire away from the tanks (Throw Dirt is one of the best ways to do this), but unless no one else can do this job, avoid charging in the middle of the fray to take the brunt of the damage. It is far more Energy-efficient for healers to aid the slowly-falling health bars of the warriors than the soon-to-be-dead foolish ranger. Even with your defensive skills, you are going to take hits, and those hits are going to hurt... it's not the frequency of the hits that taxes the average Monk healer, but the magnitude. Don't ignore Expertise ====================== At first glance, Expertise may look like a bum deal to a new Ranger. After all, each point only reduces a small amount of Energy costs, and even then, it only applies to Ranger skills for the most part. Expertise is the linked attribute to some of the most powerful Ranger skills, like Whirling Defense, Lightning Reflexes, and Throw Dirt. With high enough Expertise, a Ranger should never run into Energy problems. A high Expertise greatly increases the staying power of the Ranger, and most rangers should invest some attribute points into Expertise. My personal recommendation is a minimum Expertise of 8, when you reach the level 20 endgame. This is the breakpoint that reduces 5 Energy skills down to 3 Energy, making those skills very easy to manage. Nature Rituals are both friend and foe ====================================== One concept that new players have a hard time grasping is the fact that Nature Rituals affect both allies and enemies in combat. The trick to using Nature Ritual spirits is to find a way to benefit the allies more than the enemies. For example, Favorable Wind is a popular Spirit that increases arrow attack speed and damage. This Spirit is quite beneficial to Rangers (and other Archers) when going up against opponents who lack bows and arrows. However, this Spirit also can mean the death of the party in areas where the enemy has archers, such as the Skeleton Archers in Gates of Kryta or the Avicara Fierces in the Shiverpeaks. Leave the Favorable Winds spirit at home if you are going up against archers. There is nothing wrong with being "just" a Ranger ================================================= As with all classes, there is nothing wrong with sinking all of your attribute points into your primary class. While half of the fun of making builds is figuring out ways to combine the classes, often new players will start to sink their points into too many areas and end up with a sub-par build. Focus on the basics of being a Ranger first, and you'll be a lot more effective. Note that this doesn't mean that you should ALWAYS put points into Ranger attributes. But figure out the strengths and weaknesses of the Ranger first before you start compounding the strengths and weaknesses of your secondary class as well. When being hit by an AoE spell, MOVE! ===================================== There are several AoE spells that target an area over a period of time. Most of these are static area of effects, and can only deal sustained damage on you if you stand still. The simple solution, of course, is to move outside of the AoE and reduce the damage done to yourself. However, I see a lot of people who just stand there and take it, oblivious to the damage numbers piling up. Examples of this include Firestorm (a common Elementalist AoE), Chaos Storm (a common Mesmer AoE), Ice Imps with Maelstrom, Mahgo Hydras with Meteor Shower, and Sand Elementals with Eruption (which will blind you if you don't move out of the area of effect). =============== = PvE (gwrg6) = =============== For a checklist guide to going through the PvE campaign, look in Appendix: Ranger PvE Checklist [gwrg9e]. It lists the most efficient way to unlock all of the ranger skills in the game in order. ----------------------------------- - General Ranger Tactics (gwrg6a) - ----------------------------------- Most of these techniques, unless otherwise specified, are also useful in PvP as well. Focus Fire ========== The most efficient and effective way to deal damage to enemies is to have all of the party members attacking a single target, typically in the order of Healer, then Spellcasters/Archers, then Warriors. The easiest way to have everyone attack the same target is to "Call" a target by holding down CTRL and double-clicking on an enemy. Everyone can target the most recently called target by pressing T, then spacebar or a hotkey to attack. Rangers are in a good position to call targets, as they often don't have to move to attack a target, and they generally don't have to watch health bars or the skill bar. It is important that there is only ONE target caller... having multiple targets is confusing and not a good idea in general. Higher Ground ============= Elevation plays a key role in the effectiveness of a bow. Guild Wars uses a hit location system for armor, with the head, feet, and arms targeted less than the legs and torso. If you are on higher ground, your bow can shoot farther and you are more likely to hit the head of a target (usually doing more damage against the majority of monsters). If you are on lower ground, your bow's effective range is reduced, and you are more likely to hit the feet and legs. In general, always seek the high ground in PvE, but don't go there in exclusion of your own safety... stray too far from the group, and you will be focused and surrounded very quickly. Luring groups ============= While this skill is almost essential for any class, Rangers are uniquely suited to lure enemies, with their combination of defensive skills and ranged attacks. The name of the game is divide and conquer... monsters are easier to kill when they are in smaller, easier to handle groups. The idea of Luring is to draw a small group of enemies to your waiting party. Sometimes the best way to Lure a group is to not attack at all. Instead, simply walk up to the nearest enemy until it is within the "aggro range" on your radar and run back to the group, allowing the enemies to follow you. Other times, walking up within that range alerts more enemies... in this case, use a long-range bow to get the attention of a monster beyond your aggro range, and then have it follow you into the group. In some cases, you are going to get hit with knockdown attacks and the monsters catch up before the party arrives. Sometimes they exclusively target you, even though there are fresh and tasty tanks near your location. In that situation, activate your defensive skill, Throw Dirt or Whirling Defense or whatever, and try to escape. Sometimes you have to stand and fight, and in those situations, rely on your teammates to back you up. Pets are quite annoying when it comes to luring, as they attack anything that you click on, and tend to have a mind of their own. When you are luring, leave your pet back in the city (don't worry, it can take care of itself). Traps are an interesting way to soften up a target while you are luring. If you lay down a trap exactly between your party and the monsters, then when the monsters run to your party, they will trigger the trap. This can be especially effective in adding a pre-combat condition to the monsters like Bleeding or Blind. Skill Buffering =============== Sometimes you want to chain several spells or skills in rapid succession. There is a technique called "buffering" that allows you to use a skill almost immediately after another skill. Basically, while your first skill is being cast and "flashing", hit a second skill. The second skill won't cancel out the first skill, and will fire off immediately after the first skill finishes. Note that you need to have enough Energy in reserve to use the second skill to buffer it, but the Energy isn't taken away until the skill is actually cast. This normally applies to Rangers when they use several Bow attacks in rapid succession. It works remarkably well with the various "interrupt" bow attacks, which aren't limited by your fire rate, in laying down multiple arrows very quickly. Status Reports ============== If you hold down CTRL and click on various places, you can relay important information to your team. For example, holding down CTRL and clicking your Energy bar will announce your current and maximum Energy to the team. While doing this many times in a row can be annoying and detrimental to teamwork, it is a quick and efficient way of telling your teammates that you have low Energy or you are Crippled or you are using a Resurrect on a fallen teammate. Often, you can agree ahead of time that when someone uses CTRL-click to show that he or she has low Energy, the team will then take a breather and let the Energy regenerate. It also avoids the confusion of multiple people Resurrecting a fallen teammate. Using Nature Rituals ==================== Occasionally, you will want to use a Nature Ritual when you are out adventuring. Nature Rituals summon up a spirit which gives some sort of area effect passive benefit. They give the bonus to ALL creatures in the radius, be it friend or foe. This radius is approximately 2.5 times the distance of the "Aggro Circle" on the radar (my testing shows that the Aggro Circle is about 20 pixels on my radar and the nature rituals extend to about 50 pixels). The spirits can be killed, and are often the target of melee monsters when they charge in. This is a tactical consideration you must take into account when summoning spirits. Sometimes you can use a Spirit as bait for traps or simply to draw the attacks of enemies for a short period of time. Monsters now target the weakest/lowest armored creature preferentially, and often this creature is the Spirit. While the cooldown times for the Nature Rituals are rather lengthy, the durations of Nature Rituals are equally long. The effects from multiple spirits of different types stack, but multiple spirits of the same type do NOT stack, as in the case of a hostile and friendly spirit overlapping in area. Think of them as enchantments tied to an area, much like the Elementalist's Wards. Spirits are immune to Enchantments and Hexes. Also, as of the 8/25/05 Update, Nature Rituals no longer affect Spirits (so Fertile Season doesn't buff your other Spirits). Another thing changed in the 8/25/05 update is the fact that when you lay down a second spirit of the same type as one already laid down by an ally, the previous one is killed and the new one takes effect. Thus, while you can layer DIFFERENT Nature Rituals, you can't layer Spirits of the same type. Because Nature Rituals can help/hurt both friend and foe, be sure to give some thought as to how useful any particular ritual will be. Favorable Winds, for example, is useful for your bow attacks, but if the enemy has archers, you are going to be helping them more than you are helping yourself. Fertile Season looks great on paper, but it also makes your opponents harder to kill. --------------------- - Questing (gwrg6b) - --------------------- Pre-Searing Ascalon =================== The beginning of the PvE game starts you off in an easier version of the game often called Pre-Searing Ascalon. Before you leave Pre-Searing and go into Post-Searing, be sure you've gained your secondary class, done the Resurrect Signet quest, and found all of the quests that give Ranger skills: * Ranger Test (outside Ascalon City gates) * The Ranger's Companion (from Master Ranger Nente in Regent Valley) * A Test of Marksmanship (from Ivor Trueshot in Regent Valley) * Unnatural Growths (from Aidan in Wizard's Folly) I would also do as many quests as you can handle, but this is purely for experience points. One of the quests in Pre-Searing Ascalon also gives a skill point, so you should probably complete that one as well. I typically don't leave Pre-Searing Ascalon until I've hit at least level 7, as it will make the going easier on the initial missions. Gaining Skills ============== Remember that gaining skills as a quest reward does not cost skill points. There are many skills that are offered by both a Trainer and a quest. It is almost always better to get it as a quest reward than using up skill points to buy them from a trainer. Be sure to look at your whole quest list before you buy a skill and make sure that skill isn't on any of your rewards. Trainers tend to only offer skills that are rewarded before you meet the trainer (i.e. skills that you "missed"). When in doubt, delay buying the skill until you reach the next big town. The Ranger PvE Checklist [gwrg9e] that I've written in the Appendices can be helpful in this regard. Any time you get a new skill, re-evaluate your build... is your build better with this skill? Can you start a new build entirely? How can you best integrate the skill into your style of play? The Ranger Progression ====================== When you finish Pre-Searing Ascalon, you'll barely have enough skills to cover your skillbar. As you progress through the game, you'll be gaining many skills, and it can be difficult to figure out what to use early on and what to discard (for now... no skill is useless in Guild Wars). Here are my suggestions for what skills you should be using in the Early PvE game, assuming you are gaining skills from quests and Trainers. Note that I will always leave one or two free slots, assuming you are using your secondary class as well, and I will always option the Resurrection Signet in the 8th slot. When you arrive at Ascalon City, your build should probably look something like this: 1) Power Shot 2) Dual Shot 3) Ignite Arrows/Read the Wind 4) Troll Unguent 5) Comfort Animal 6) Charm Animal 7) Free Slot 8) Free Slot/Res Signet As you gain the first few early skills from Post-Searing Ascalon, I'd add to the build several skills: Penetrating Attack (to replace Power Shot), Favorable Winds, and Distracting Shot (although you won't have enough points to heavily invest in Expertise at this point). If you complete Caravan in Trouble, you get Lightning Reflexes as well, but until your Expertise is higher, you should probably wait to slot that in your skillbar: 1) Penetrating Attack/Distracting Shot 2) Dual Shot 3) Ignite Arrows/Read the Wind 4) Troll Unguent 5) Favorable Winds 6) Comfort Animal 7) Charm Animal 8) Free Slot/Res Signet As you approach the Northern Shiverpeaks, you'll have a growing number of skills, but some old staples will still be valuable (like Dual Shot/Ignite Arrows). You can pick up Kindle Arrows at Grendich Courthouse, for slightly more damage. With a higher level and a Marksmanship of at least 9, you can start investing more in Wilderness Survival and Expertise. You should also consider ditching your pet, as they are less useful at this point in the game without a significant investment in Beast Mastery. Your first real big break comes when you complete the Stone Summit Beastmasters in Traveler's Vale, and you get Whirling Defense: 1) Penetrating Attack/Distracting Shot 2) Dual Shot 3) Kindle Arrows/Favorable Winds 4) Troll Unguent 5) Whirling Defense 6) Lightning Reflexes 7) Free Slot 8) Free Slot/Res Signet After proceeding through the Southern Shiverpeaks and arriving at Lion's Arch, your first priority is to complete The Ascalon Settlement quest, and arrive at the Ascalon Settlement. You will get Throw Dirt from the quest, and Captain Greywind sells you the valuable skill, Apply Poison: 1) Penetrating Attack 2) Distracting Shot 3) Apply Poison 4) Troll Unguent 5) Favorable Winds/Throw Dirt 6) Whirling Defense/Lightning Reflexes 7) Free Slot 8) Free Slot/Res Signet After this point in the game, your build is your own, and you should start to experiment with your other skills. The core will always be 1-3 defensive skills, Troll Unguent, a single preparation, and 1-3 bow attacks (preferably including Distracting Shot). Learn to adjust your build for the situation at hand. For example, D'Alessio Seaboard mission has a LOT of undead, so Poison will not be a good choice. Instead, you can bring Kindle Arrows/Dual Shot. The Monsters in Nebo Terrace are heavy on Melee attacks, and the Ettins have a skill that breaks stances, so Throw Dirt (rather than Whirling Defense) would be the best defensive option there. Capturing Elites ================ Starting in the Crystal Desert (the pre-Ascension missions), Rangers can start to capture Elite skills from the Bosses. They have a light green glowing aura around them, and are found throughout the missions and areas after the Amnoon Oasis. All you have to do is kill a boss, then use a Signet of Capture while you are near its dead body. A menu will show up, and you can select a skill from the boss's list. Elite skills are bordered in gold. The Doppelganger battle ======================= Rangers have it incredibly easy when it comes to battling their Doppelganger. Because the Doppelganger believes (foolishly) that Spirits are helpful, it will spend its time casting every Spirit available in the skillbar. If one brings along 7 Spirits and the damaging bow attack of choice, the Doppelganger will waste 35 seconds casting the Spirits, giving you plenty of time to wail away on him with arrows. The only Spirit I wouldn't bring to this battle is Fertile Season, as it will give the Doppelganger a hit point boost and make it harder to kill. My suggested loadout for the Doppelganger: 1) Penetrating Attack <- Your only bow attack 2) Favorable Winds 3) Winter 4) Quickening Zephyr 5) Symbiosis 6) Predatory Season 7) Edge of Extinction 8) Winnowing All of these Nature Rituals are available before fighting the Doppelganger. However, it is my experience that you only need maybe 4 or 5 of them total, as the Doppelganger is fairly easy to kill in 20 to 30 seconds. Alternatively, you can slot some Traps or Preparations (both of which take 2 seconds to cast). Another technique is to bring Troll Unguent and Distracting Shot, and to use Distracting Shot on the Doppelganger if it tries to use Troll Unguent. All-Trapper Party in the Underworld =================================== One effective way to clear out the Underworld is to have a party of 8 Trapper Rangers, all with 4 Traps per person. Often, you'll be able to lure the small monster groups into a large pile of traps and eliminate them without even drawing your bow. The procedure is a bit more methodical and slow than the usual "lure, then kill" groups, but it has the advantage of being almost risk- free, as long as you have time to lay down several layers of traps. In general, each Ranger should lay down each trap at least twice before pulling a group to the traps. You should keep a tight grouping, but spread out enough to cover the chokepoints. You can use spirits as a "wall" or bait to stall the enemies over your traps. It helps to have two or more "layers" of traps, with an outer and inner wall, so that you have enough coverage. Anything that isn't killed by the traps, you can focus fire and kill with bows. -------------------- - Farming (gwrg6c) - -------------------- Farming is a term often used to describe the repeated killing of monsters in order to "harvest" their loot, often in a solo fashion (as soloing gives you every loot drop for yourself). Note that currently, it seems that repeatedly "farming" the same area 5 times or more will drastically reduce the loot drops within a given period of time. The same restriction seems to apply to repeatedly killing the same creature within a span of time. I haven't fully tested this, but the implications of this is quite big for farmers. You'll have to engage in a bit of "crop rotation", and rotate between several farming spots, in order to keep the loot flowing. Here are several good farming areas for a solo ranger: Gates of Kryta ============== To do this, you'll have to survive against the Undead. Ranger/Monks have an advantage here, but anyone can do this run with a Healer Henchman or a Monk friend. After fighting your way to the outpost in the middle of the mission, beating Skeleton Rangers, Mesmers, and the occasional Zombie Warlock, you will exit the outpost and head straight. Just keep heading straight, and you'll end up in the Lightning Drake Beach. Follow the sandy path from Lightning Drake to Lightning Drake. Watch out for the Lightning Orbs, which do a significant amount of damage again as of the June 1, 2005 update. Sanctum Cay =========== The easiest way to get to Lightning Drakes, and it also has Executioners (who drop good armor). If you bring along some running skills like Dodge or Storm Chaser, you can run past the first batch of Fire Imps, then you'll end up on the beach of Lightning Drake heaven. Lightning Drakes are incredibly easy to kill, as they don't do much damage at all and they drop Level 18 loot. There is a barrel at the end of the beach that you can get (next to the restless spirit) After that, if you feel up to it, there are a couple of Executioners in the valley between the two cliffs, followed by a Skeleton Ranger, 2 Hellhounds, and an Executioner. You can keep moving on this mission to kill more and more undead, if you'd like. The Scar ======== Just outside the Thirsty River exit to the Scar, there is a Dune Burrower that you can outrange with a Longbow because you are on high ground. Plant your Favorable Winds spirit and zap him with Poison, making sure to use Distracting Shot to interrupt his Healing Spring. After he dies, you can walk up to get his loot, but you'll face a couple of Jade Scarabs. Do NOT afflict them with poison. Instead, activate your Whirling Defense and Troll Unguent (to offset their Vile Touch attack) and whittle them down with your bow. You should be able to take out two of them with ease. Next, take out the 1-2 Rock Devourer Scarabs. These guys you CAN poison, as they can't get rid of it or reflect it back at you. They also use Frenzy, which means double damage from your bow. After that, hug the South Wall and you should be able to outrange the next Dune Burrower with your longbow again by firing over the small dune. While collecting that loot, you'll face a couple more Jade Scarabs. This is a fast run (just a step away from an exit/entrance) that takes no more than 5 minutes. At the very least, it'll net you a lot of Jade Mandibles and Dune Burrower Jaws Diviner's Ascent ================ This place is full of Sand Drakes. Sand Drakes are level 21, are Elementalists (Geomancers to be exact), and can cast both Aftershock (which does a lot of spike damage) and Ward vs. Melee. Since you are generally using bow attacks, you'll have no problems with the Ward vs. Melee. As long as you keep up your defenses and use Poison to whittle down their HP, you should be able to make short work of 1 or 2 of them. They drop reasonably good loot, and are a very short distance from the Elona Reach entrance. You can also continue into the Diviner's Ascent to kill more Drakes and Rockshot Devourers. There used to be a good wreckage farming run here, but that was taken out in the June 15th update. The last wreckage in the run is still in there, but the other three were removed. Elona Reach =========== You can also enter the Elona Reach mission, and clear out some of the Minotaurs using the Spike Mines for support. As long as you only take on a pair of them at a time and keep your defenses up, you should be able to Poison/Bleed them to death fairly quickly. The Minotaur horns that they drop can be exchanged with the collector Luven Underwood just outside of Elona Reach for the coveted 11-22 Fire Wand with 20% improved skill recharge. Abaddon's Mouth =============== There used to be a good Wreckage run here, but that was taken out in the June 1 2005 update. The entry is left here for posterity. Witman's Folly ============== I'll briefly mention this area, as it is the place where folks use the famed "Grawl Bomb" technique. Since almost all the creatures in this area are Grawl, a powerful enough Edge of Extinction can wipe out a huge number of them in one big chain reaction. By using skills like Mark of Pain or Barrage (Elite), one can whittle down a group of Grawl, and then have the subsequent EoE chain reaction take care of the rest. Sample Build: R/N using Curses 1. Mark of Pain - Main area effect damage 2. Oath Shot (Elite) - Recharge stances 3. Whirling Defenses - Projectile damage against you triggers Mark of Pain! 4. Lightning Reflexes 5. Throw Dirt 6. Dryder's Defenses 7. Troll Unguent - Healing while tanking with stances 8. Edge of Extinction - the Bomb Note: As of the August 17, 2006 update, this build has been nerfed with the proviso that creatures need to be below 90% Health to be killed. It still works (sort of) but not as well as it used to. Stay tuned for a modified version. Factions: Pongmei Valley ======================== This place is rapidly becoming my favorite spot to farm. There are several groups of Undergrowths and Stone Scale Kirin that are easily defeated with a Barrage/Live Vicariously/Vigorous Spirit build (with a liberal dose of dodge stances). The rewards amount to 100 gold piece drops and many high-end (including max damage) items, as well as all the Stone Horns and Dragon Roots you can eat. Be wary of the Rot Wallow groups, and remember you can enlist the help of the NPCs in the area by dragging the groups to them. There are a couple of Island Guardian trees that seem to be stationary, for some reason, as well. =============== = PvP (gwrg7) = =============== ----------------------------------- - General Ranger Tactics (gwrg7a) - ----------------------------------- In general, a Ranger is best at disruption and skirmish tactics, using interrupt bow attacks and traps/conditions to reduce the effectiveness of the opposite team. Throw Dirt and Dust Trap are the bane of warriors, and Pin Down allows your teammates to catch up to a running Monk. Pin Down ======== In PvP, Mobility is key, and when you are selected for a pick-up group, they typically will expect you as the Ranger to have some sort of Crippling skill. Most of the time, this means Pin Down. Pin Down can prevent Monks from running away from their focused attacks and it can prevent other people from closing the distance to attack. You can also use Pin Down to slow down a Warrior so you can run away. Nature Rituals in PvP ===================== Nature Rituals, due to their global effects and their large area of effect, change the nature of PvP arena combat. In effect, you are rewriting the rules of the arena using your Nature Rituals. Most of the general guidelines for using Spirits in PvE apply in PvP. However, your opponents are obviously going to be more intelligent than monsters, and they'll figure out that killing the Spirit will remove the effect. This means you'll have to plan ahead to recast these spirits once they are taken down, or plant them in areas which aren't easily accessible. Some Nature Ritual highlights for PvP: Frozen Soil ----------- Frozen Soil is a Nature Ritual that prevents resurrection. While there are folks who argue "if you have to rez in PvP, the game's already over", there are many situations where a short breather will allow an opponent to resurrect a teammate and indeed, the tide of battles can turn with such efforts. Frozen Soil prevents this from happening, allowing you to maintain your numbers advantage on a team who has already lost members. However, it can also work to your disadvantage as well, if you're the team that is outnumbered, and worse yet, you can't simply attack the spirit to destroy it. Note that Frozen Soil only stops Resurrect spells from being cast within its radius. If a player is outside the Frozen Soil radius, that player can still cast Resurrect or Resurrection Signet on a corpse in the radius. Nature's Renewal ---------------- Nature's Renewal is a Nature Ritual that used to strip enchantments and hexes from everyone within its area effect, which was the bane of any caster that depended on such things. As of the 8/25/05 update, Nature's Renewal no longer does this. The main utility of Nature's Renewal is the fact that it increases the casting times for those spells. While in PvE, this has limited use (as it often hurts your party more often than it hurts your enemies), in PvP, it is a great way to interrupt Enchantments and Hexes being cast. The increased Energy requirement for Maintained Enchantments hurts Protection Monks almost exclusively. A combination of this Ritual and Quickening Zephyr can make most spellcasters leak Energy like cheesecloth. Nature's Renewal has a long casting time, which limits its usefulness, similar to other Nature Rituals. ----------------------------------- - Dealing with opponents (gwrg7b) - ----------------------------------- Monk ==== The monk is often the first target in PvP, and rightly so. Monks are the main "support" characters behind the tanks, and a Monk keeps the team alive. They also lack strong armor, and thus can fall quickly under a direct onslaught, making them an ideal initial target. "Kill the Monk First" is a mantra that is chanted by most PvP players before heading into battle. Rangers are concerned about Monks because the main method of damage that the Ranger can do is through Conditions, such as Blind and Poison. A good Monk heals these conditions, nullifying the effectiveness of the Ranger. Most of the time, Monks will attempt evasive maneuvers when under attack. To protect themselves against Ranged attacks, they tend to run around walls or other obstructions. It is important for the Ranger to use Pin Down as soon as possible to Cripple the Monk. "Cripple the Monk" should be the Ranger's Mantra as it is the best way he can support his team initially. If the Monk is too evasive, it may be wise to activate a sprinting skill like Storm Chaser. Finally, once the Monk is Crippled and weakened, lay down Distracting Shots or other interrupts to prevent the Monk from casting healing spells. An ideal time to interrupt a Monk is when they are resurrecting a teammate. Many of the Resurrect skills take a LONG time to cast, which gives a long window for a Concussion Shot and a game-winning Daze condition. Warriors ======== You won't be dealing much damage to warriors, unfortunately, through the traditional bow skills. They tend to possess anywhere from -2 to -8 points of damage absorption due to equipment, and have a high Armor Level to boot. There are several ways to deal more damage to Warriors. Armor penetration works better on Warriors than other classes, so use Penetrating Attack, Judge's Insight, Weaken Armor, etc. to reduce their armor rating. Elemental Bowstrings negate the bonuses against physical damage that Warriors get on their armor, thus allowing you to deal slightly more damage. Use skills that have a lot of bonus damage to overcome the warrior's armor. Finally, Conditions bypass armor quite well, so Poison and Bleeding may be your best friend against Warriors. Warriors depend highly on their weapon to hit you to actually hurt you. You can use your Ranger defensive skills such as Whirling Defense and Throw Dirt to keep the Warriors busy and prevent them from smacking you down. Standoffs between Rangers and Warriors one-on-one tend to end poorly for the Ranger, so use the opportunity to poison and cripple the warrior before making your escape. Use your mobility to your advantage. Elementalists ============= Rangers already have +30 armor against Elemental damage, giving them a slight edge against Elementalists. A few things can help even further. For example, the Winter/Frostbound Armor combo gives you an additional +15 armor against all elements. Dryder's Defenses can further augment your elemental armor, at least for a short time. Fertile Season, while normally a horrible Nature Ritual, can give an edge in armor and hitpoints that allows you and your team to outlast an Elementalist-heavy group. Rangers also have a large arsenal of interrupting ranged attacks that can shut down an Elementalist before he/she starts casting. Quickening Zephyr can increase the costs of Elementalist spells, while Nature's Renewal can strip them of their enchantments needed to sustain their spellcasting. The standard caveats on using Nature Rituals apply here, though. Elementalists depend on spike damage from spells to take down opponents, and often doing so depletes their stores of energy and leaves them with Exhaustion. If you can outlast the Elementalist, they will be out of ammunition to spend to hurt you, and you can more easily interrupt their spells with Concussion Shot or Distracting Shot. Still, it is tough in the current metagame to beat a group of Elementalists all focusing on a single character. Mesmers ======= Rangers often have very little trouble with Mesmers. Rangers don't cast spells, which is the main target of the anti-caster support that a Mesmer can provide. Mesmers have some of the weakest armor, and easily fall to any sustained damage. However, be warned that Mesmers are also the most deceptive class in the game. With Mantras and Distortion, Mesmers can avoid damage similar to a Ranger, and spells like Illusion of Weakness can allow them to feign weakness. Their spells don't care about armor, and thus your slight armor advantage is not useful against them. The main threat from Mesmers against Rangers is their Damage over Time spells, like Conjure Phantasm. Empathy, Spirit Shackles, and other Hexes can also be used against you. The easiest way to rid yourself of them is to lay down a Nature's Renewal, but this can be interrupted by a Mesmer quite easily with the long casting time. Troll Unguent can also counter the Damage over Time, but again, long casting times make it vulnerable to interruption. Since Rangers lack effective Hex removal, you'll have to rely on your Secondary class or teammates to remove any Hexes on you. A Mesmer can be your easiest target or worst nightmare, depending on whether or not it is focusing on you. Do not ignore the sustained assault of a Mesmer, as they can penetrate armor and they are good at shutting down a player (depending on their skillset). The best thing to do is to simply stick with a sustained attack against the Mesmer, with the occasional interrupt to prevent them from casting. Necromancer =========== Necromancers often have armor on-par with yours (70 AL), and they possess a variety of skills and spells that can do significant damage to a Ranger. Their magic spells often penetrate armor (especially DOT spells like Life Siphon) and they regenerate health just as well as you can with your Troll Unguent, using Health draining spells and Blood magic. In other words, beware the Necromancer. Still, Necromancers are spellcasters, and thus are vulnerable to interruption. They have a long casting time with many of their spells. Be careful, though, of Death Nova and Putrid Explosion, two spells that cause a lot of Area Effect damage around death and corpses. Rangers ======= Inevitably, you are going to face other Rangers on the field. Because Rangers are so versatile, it can be hard to predict what kind of tactics they are going to be using, but a few pointers can be given. First of all, with all of the conditions that Rangers typically apply, an Antidote Signet or other Condition removal may be helpful to counter the main source of damage. Called Shot and Crippling Shot (Elite) will penetrate all of the Ranger stances (although it won't affect anything while you are Blinded). Barrage (Elite) can be handy to take out masses of Spirits in a Spirit spamming build. And above all, DON'T use an elemental bowstring, due to the Ranger's increased armor against the elements. Factions: Assassin ================== This section is a work-in-progress Factions: Ritualist =================== Like you, the Ritualist has a large stable of spirits to summon. Ritualists are as dangerous as Elementalists, and support a team as well as Monk. You should think about taking out his spirits by either killing them (especially defensive ones like Displacement or Union) or interrupting the Ritualist. Remember that binding rituals are NOT spells, so you need to use generic interrupts against them. With the long casting times on their spirits and spells, they are fairly easy to interrupt, and being a squishy spellcaster, they are pretty easy to take down with standard Ranger attacks. ------------------------- - The Metagame (gwrg7c) - ------------------------- The Metagame is a difficult abstract concept to explain, but it is an easy concept to grasp, and it is of utmost importance in a competitive game with such tactical and strategic variety and balance as Guild Wars. Basically, while many combinations of skills can be powerful, all combinations of skills can be countered in some way by some class combination. By following trends in which combinations are popular in PvP, one can figure out which combinations of "counters" to bring to a match. For example, in late May of 2005, Aeromancer Elementalists were (and still are) popular in PvP matches because of their ability to quickly "spike" damage. If an Aeromancer or a group of Aeromancers all focus on one opponent (usually the Monk), then they can quickly take that player out of the action at the beginning of the match, forcing an early game resurrect (which makes the team lose tempo) or even unraveling an entire game plan. Folks are starting to either "Fight fire with fire" by bringing their own or finding ways to counter the Aeromancer horde (a Ranger solution would be to place down a Quickening Zephyr to strain the Energy reserves of the Aeromancers while a Monk solution would be Mark of Protection or Protective Bond to attenuate the damage done). I don't play enough PvP to follow the Metagame, nor is it useful to write down the current state of the Metagame in a Ranger guide, as it relies on both up-to-date information and discussion of techniques to counter as of now unknown strategies. But if you play a lot of PvP, you need to be aware of the changes in the metagame, so you can more effectively counter your opponents even before they enter the arena. The Spirit Spam Ranger ---------------------- One ranger-specific build that has risen in the Metagame of Guild Wars is the so-called "Spirit Spammer", or a dedicated ritualist who constantly lays down spirits. Usually, these spirits are tailored to defeat the Aeromancer Spike Build using a combination of Quickening Zephyr, Nature's Renewal, and Fertile Season. There have been teams using Spirits to block the Ghostly Hero from taking the Altar, or simply "Spirit Roadblocking" the opposing team. With a thick enough layer of spirits, it makes targets hard to call with so many decoy spirits out on the field. Another variant is a team that takes advantage of the Greater Conflagration/Winter combination, with Mesmer secondaries to take advantage of Mantra of Frost and Elemental Resistance. =============== = FAQ (gwrg8) = =============== This section covers any and all questions not covered by the above guide, including a lot of general questions not necessarily pertaining to Rangers. General Questions ================= Q. How can I get Fur Squares? A. There is a collector that trades 4 Charr Hides for a Fur Square in Ascalon City. Also, one can salvage Fur Squares from armor pieces and hides using an Expert Salvage Kit with limited success depending on the value of the armor. More expensive armors are more likely to give Fur Squares. Q. What is the 15k Armor? A. Armor that is bought at Marhan's Grotto and Granite Citadel costs 15,000 gold per piece, along with a huge amount of crafting materials. Generally, they have the same armor level as the 1,500 gold armor bought at Draknor's Forge, but are cosmetically different in some way. Thus, they are more of status symbols than anything. There is also a forge in the Temple of Ages dungeons (Underworld, Fissure of Woe) that crafts even MORE expensive armor, but I have no idea what that armor looks like. As of the July 13th update, the Druid's 15k armor now has an improved graphic, where previously it looked identical to the Druid's 1.5k armor set. With the release of Factions, there are multiple additional sets of 15k armors, including three different non-Sided 15k armors, a 15k Luxon armor, and a 15k Kurzick armor. Q. I'm at Level 20. Why do I only have 170 attribute points? A. The last 30 attribute points are gained from two different quests that give 15 attribute points each: Forgotten Wisdom (in the Crystal Desert after you complete the Forgotten Ones), and Hero's Challenge (in the Southern Shiverpeaks after you complete the Hero's Journey). In the Factions campaign, the 15 point attribute quests are Lost Treasure (from Raitahn Nem in Ran Musu Gardens) and An Unwelcome Guest (from the Zunraa in Seitung Harbor, after you complete Zen Daijun). Q. Why am I not getting +60 health from my two Minor Vigor Runes? A. Runes do not stack with the same type. You can get multiple bonuses from runes of different types, but you can't stack, say, two Minor Vigor Runes or a Minor Vigor Rune plus a Major Vigor Rune. A Ranger typically will have one Marksmanship Rune, one Expertise Rune, one Beast Mastery Rune, one Wilderness Survival Rune, and one Vigor Rune. With the exception of Vigor Runes and Absorption Runes, all Major and Superior Runes subtract health. It's generally a bad idea to use more than one Major/Superior RUne as it brings your health down by a significant amount. Q. What is WPE? What is BWE? A. They stand for World Premiere Event and Beta Weekend Event respectively. Guild Wars was extensively tested during its Beta period by casual gamers to balance and hone the various skills in the game. Much of the information out there right now is based on the BWEs, and thus, may be out of date. One example is the Kindle Arrow and Apply Poison duration listed at several sites, as it was raised from 12 seconds to 24 seconds in the retail release. Q. What is "infusing"? How do I infuse my armor? A. After Ascension, you will face a brand new enemy called the Mursaat. They and their Jade Armor and Jade Bow warriors have an attack called Spectral Agony which does an extreme amount of damage to you very quickly. Infusing your armor protects you against the Spectral Agony attack. To infuse your armor, you need to find a Seer, who will take the Spectral Essence of an Eidolan and infuse it into your armor. The first place that most people find the Seer is the Iron Mines of Moladune mission near the end of the mission. Note that now your armor is infused all at once instead of piecemeal as it was in May 2005. Fully infused armor cuts the damage of Spectral Agony by about 1/10th. Whenever you pick up new pieces of armor, those pieces need to be infused again. Note that as of the June 29th update, your pets have the equivalent of infused armor, thus protecting them in a similar manner against Spectral Agony. Q. What are Faction points? A. In the June 29th update, a brand new method of unlocking PvP options called "Faction" was introduced. It works similar to Frequent Flyer Miles, except that Faction points are earned through any PvP combat in which the player participates. Full details are available at the official Guild Wars website, but basically the more you play PvP, the more Faction that you earn, with more points being earned for Guild vs. Guild combat and higher level arenas. You can exchange Faction points at Priests of Balthazar scattered in all of the "main" cities in Tyria. Faction points are best used to gain a specific upgrade that is difficult to find randomly in-game (like Fortitude bowgrips or Superior Vigor Runes, for example). Items/Skills/Runes unlocked through the use of Faction are NOT given to your PvE character...instead, they are unlocked for your PvP-only characters to choose from at the inventory/skill screens during character creation. Note that with the release of Factions, Faction points are divided into Faction of Balthazar, Kurzick, and Luxon. The Balthazar Faction points facilitate the PvP rewards, while Kurzick and Luxon Faction are used for various Factions-only rewards. Q. How do I change my Secondary class? A. In the Crystal Desert, there are a series of quests in the outpost non-mission towns, one for every class. To access these quests, you must first complete The Hero's Journey quest from Vanyi in Droknar's Forge. If you complete the requirements of the quest, then you can freely change to that secondary class at any time. You do not lose any skills for changing your class, you simply switch over to the new secondary class. Note that if you want to change back to your original Secondary, you'll have to complete that Secondary's quest as well. Also, you won't ever get the quest that corresponds to your Primary class, obviously. The quests are: * The Elementalist's Path - Cembrien in Heroes' Audience * The Mesmer's Path - Eulenias in Destiny's Gorge * The Monk's Path - Nausuan in Seeker's Passage * The Necromancer's Path - Kratha Kor in Heroes' Audience * The Ranger's Path - Telius in Seeker's Passage * The Warrior's Path - Agastos the Brave in Destiny's Gorge In Cantha, you can also visit Senji's Corner, where Senji will change your class for a one-time fee of 500 gold per class. You can freely change your class as many times as you like, after paying the pre-requisite fee for your new class. Senji's Corner is after the 4th mission in Factions, Nahpui Quarter. Q. Why can't I enter the Underworld/Fissure of Woe? A. The Underworld and Fissure of Woe are special locations that until July 13th could be accessed by anyone who went to the Temple of the Ages while their country has the favor of the gods. Now they can only be accessed by ascended characters (those who have completed the Crystal Desert Ascension missions), in a party without henchmen. If you can't enter, either your country does not have the favor of the gods, or you aren't ascended. Elite Skills and Bosses ======================= Q. What is an Elite skill? A. Guild Wars characters can only have ONE Elite skill in their skillbars, making the selection of such skills a careful decision in most builds. In general, Elite skills are Elite because they are either more powerful than other similar skills or they can be combined with other Elite skills in devastating ways (thus Elite skills are balanced, because they can't be used in combos on any single character). You can only capture Elite skills from Boss monsters using the Signet of Capture. Q. Where can I find a Signet of Capture? A. Signets of Capture are first found in Lion's Arch, as the quest reward for the second quest given by Magi Malaquire (the first quest is called Orrian Excavation). After you complete that quest (which is simply to capture a skill), he gives you another one (and some XP). After that, you can purchase Signets of Capture for one skill point and a handful of gold from him. You can also purchase a Signet of Capture at any skill trainer AFTER Lion's Arch. You can purchase as many Signets as you have skill points to spend, so be sure to purchase at least 4 or 5 to capture all of the Elites that you want. Q. Why can't I get (insert Elite skill here) from (insert Boss)? A. There are no Elite skills before the Crystal Desert in the game. All of the Elites that used to be on earlier creatures were removed. Most of the fansites out there have outdated information from the last Beta and the first month of release, back when pre-Crystal Desert bosses had Elite skills. Q. I killed Markis, but the mission ended! How am I supposed to get Barrage? A. The mission ends when you kill Markis AND his Jade Armor bodyguards. Thus, you either have to lure him away from the Jade Armor towers that he is near, or you have to get the rest of your team to kill Markis first, and distract the Jade Armor guards while you capture the skill, being careful not to kill the Jade Armors until you are finished. Q. Where is Maxine Coldstone? I found Harn Coldstone, but he's an Elementalist! A. Maxine and Harn Coldstone (siblings? marriage?) wander around Perdition Rock in a wide circle that covers almost the entire island. However, typically you will only meet either one or the other, but not both. If you see Harn, you'll probably not run into Maxine on Perdition Rock. Q. Where is (insert Boss here)? I can't find him! A. Many of the bosses actually have random spawn locations, and thus do not consistently spawn in the same area every time, and sometimes do not spawn at all. However, there are a few key spots where a Boss of some kind will always spawn, and you can often find your Boss by visiting all of these spots. It's a bit tedious at times, but you'll find the Boss eventually. This mostly applies to Thul Boulderrain, Whuup Buumbuul, and Ulhar Stonehound. Ranger-specific Questions ========================= Q. What is the best secondary for a Ranger? A. In Guild Wars, there is no such thing as a "best" secondary profession for any primary class, especially Rangers. When you balance one of the spellcaster classes against the Ranger, you have to realize that primary Rangers have less Energy regen and less total Energy than Spellcaster combinations. With no good methods of Energy reclamation, you will have to rely on your secondary's Energy-gaining skills. All of the spellcaster classes are worth looking into. I've listed many of the useful spell combinations for a Ranger/Spellcaster mix in this guide. Among all of the possibilities, I'd say the Ranger/Mesmer has the most versatility and combinations, but it is also the most redundant. Necromancers have plenty of low-cost spells that work well with a Ranger, but they lack overall damage per second. There is no such thing as a useless Monk combination, as an extra Resurrect and more healing spells are always welcome, especially for Rangers who don't like to use the slow-casting Troll Unguent. Ranger/Elementalists have probably the highest capacity for straight Damage per Arrow with their Conjure X line of spells, and if you are willing to sacrifice a lot of Energy you can do some good initial bursts before you engage with your arrows. No build is worth anything without experience and training within that class. As for Ranger/Warriors, I definitely prefer them over Warrior/Rangers. Expertise allows you to reduce the costs for your attack skills, which means that with a High Expertise, you can repeatedly spam Cyclone Axe, Hundred Blades, Wild Blow, etc. without running out of Energy. Frenzy allows you to have increased attack speed at a lower cost than Tiger's Fury, and works great to increase your damage output (more so than other skills). Finally, Apply Poison works well with Melee Weapons. Again, there is NO such thing as a "best" class combination in Guild Wars. Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot. The whole point of the game is to experiment and play around with it, finding a combination that is right for you. Q. Do the skills Serpent's Quickness and Quickening Zephyr stack? What about Energizing Wind? A. I tested this with Troll Unguent, Quickening Zephyr, Energizing Wind, and Serpent's Quickness, looking at a watch for timing the cooldowns: * Troll Unguent alone - 10 seconds * Troll Unguent with Quickening Zephyr - 5 seconds * Troll Unguent with Serpent's Quickness - 7 seconds * Troll Unguent with Energizing Wind - 12 seconds * Troll Unguent with Serpent's Quickness and Quickening Zephyr - 3 seconds. * Troll Unguent with Quickening Zephyr and Energizing Wind - 6 seconds * Troll Unguent with Serpent's Quickness and Energizing Wind - 8 seconds * Troll Unguent with all three - 4 seconds So yes, they do stack, and it appears that the percentages are multiplied together. I'd have to time it more precisely at a later date. UPDATE: Mind Wallaby at GWOnline.net has done a video capture test, and the numbers listed above are accurate. Note that effects tend to be applied on a "First in/First out" basis. Thus, the first effect that was applied on you, listed on the leftmost place on the default condition monitor, gets applied before all the rest. This is important when using Energizing Wind in concert with Quickening Zephyr, as you will want to apply the Energizing Wind effect first (to cut down on the Energy cost) before you apply the Quickening Zephyr. Q. I put some points into Expertise, and yet my skill still says "5 Energy". What's going on? A. The game does not change the Energy displayed to the appropriate prorated number based on Expertise. Thus, you'll see "5 Energy" in the skill description but you'll be paying the reduced amount. Q. Why do some Druid's Leggings have a +1 Energy bonus and some have +2 Energy? A. Before the June 15, 2005 update, the PvP Druid's Leggings had a +2 Energy bonus, but the Droknar's Forge Druid's Leggings only had a +1 Energy bonus. Now all Druid's Leggings after June 15, 2005 have a +2 Energy bonus. However, old Druid's Leggings from Droknar's Forge were not updated to the new Energy bonus. Q. I have a Max Damage bow that has a requirement of 8 Marksmanship and another Max Damage bow that has a requirement of 12 Marksmanship. Which one does more damage? A. They both do the same amount of damage at Marksmanship of 12. Requirement only determines the minimum amount of Marksmanship needed to do the full damage range of the bow. Damage is then determined by weapon skill vs. Armor Level of the target, and the location hit. Requirement has no bearing on damage calculation overall. Q. Can the Spider pet cause Poison? Can the Warthog pet cause bleeding? A. There is a rumor going around that spiders can poison on a critical hit, or a warthog pet can cause bleeding on a critical hit. None of the pets can cause conditions without the aid of skills. Q. Do Shocking bowstrings give 25% armor penetration to a bow? A. There is a rumor that the Shocking bowstring gives 25% armor penetration. This is not true, but it is based on the fact that most Air Magic spells have 25% armor penetration. Shocking bowstrings only change your damage to Lightning. Q. What is a B/P Ranger? A. B/P is short for Barrage (Elite)/Pet, which is a style of ranger that uses Barrage as the main attack and a Pet for additional tanking/damage. It used to be a Flavor of the Month build, but the popularity has waned. Q. Do bears attack slower than other pets? Are they tougher? A. Yes, but not by much. The reason is because they have a special attack called Brutal Mauling. It is unknown what this attack does, but it adds a slight delay every so often at random intervals to the Bear's attack speed. In general, though, you are going to lose maybe 1 attack every minute, so the reduction in speed is minimal, but present. It is not known whether or not Bears have more armor or health than other pets. One report showed that wild Bears take less damage than wild Wolves, but it has not been live-tested on a captured Bear. Q. Where is Bow Parry/Conflagration/<insert skill here>? A. There were many skills during the Beta Weekend Events that were subsequently tweaked or taken out completely. Here is a partial list of skills that no longer exist in Guild Wars: * Blizzard - Replaced by Winter * Bow Parry - Replaced by Whirling Defense * Call of Aggression * Call of Brutality * Call of Disruption - Replaced by Disrupting Lunge * Call of Elemental Protection * Call of Feeding - Replaced by Feral Lunge * Call of Ferocity - Replaced by Call of Haste * Call of Healing * Call of Resilience * Call of Vitality * Conflagration - Re-added in Factions * High Winds * Strider's Reflexes - Replaced by Escape * Tongue Biter - Replaced by Concussion Shot Technical Questions =================== Q. How do I display the FPS on my screen? A. You can see the Frames Per Second of your game by adding the parameter -perf to the end of the command line shortcut. In other words, right-click your Guild Wars shortcut icon and choose Properties. Under "Target", add -perf to the end of the line, like so: Target: "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -perf Q. Is there a way to automatically enter my password into the Guild Wars client? A. Yes, there is. The parameter -password "YourPasswordHere" at the end of the command line shortcut will automatically enter your password when you boot up your Guild Wars client. In other words, right-click your Guild Wars shortcut icon and choose Properties. Under "Target", add -password "YourPasswordHere" to the end of the line, like so: Target: "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\gw.exe" -password "YourPasswordHere" Q. I see folks with unusual symbols in their chat text, like stars and hearts. How can I do this? A. The characters that you see are found in the Unicode character set, which is supported internationally by most fonts, including the font used by Guild Wars. You can put these in your chatbar by copying and pasting them from an outside source, like the Character Map program available under Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools directory on Windows computers. You can also go to these websites for a whole list of them: http://unicode.coeurlumiere.com/ http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/search.htm Simply select the character that you want, CTRL+C to copy them to your clipboard and go into your Guild Wars game, click on your chatbar, and CTRL+V to paste the character into your chatbar. Known Bugs ========== * With Predatory Season, regular bow attacks appear to do two +4 Healing instead of a single +4 (+5, modified by 80% for Predatory Season). Rangers are effectively getting twice the benefit from it. * When a Distracting Shot hits a target that is already easily interruptible, from either skills like traps or the Dazed condition, the extra 20 seconds aren't applied to the cooldown. * Pets aren't teleported for cutscenes or total party kills. Obsolete Questions ================== The following questions/answers are obsolete due to the most recent patches, and are left in this section for posterity: Q. (OBSOLETE) Why can't I capture "insert Elite skill"? He never uses it! A. Elite skills can only be captured starting with the Bosses in the pre-Ascension Crystal Desert missions. Also, certain Elite skills are actually Stances, like Escape, Melandru's Resiliance, and Practiced Stance, and thus do not show up in the skillbar under the creature's targeted name. The key to capturing stances is to tap on your Signet of Capture at a rate of about once per second. Eventually, the creature will use it. Be careful not to spam the Signet of Capture too quickly, or you will cancel your capture command. In the June 1, 2005 update, the Signet of Capture system was changed to bring up a menu of skills that a boss has, making it much easier to capture stances. Q. (OBSOLETE) Where is "Crippling Shot" or "Punishing Shot"? A. As of May of 2005, those two Elites have not been found on any boss. The latest June 1, 2005 update, however, have re-enabled these skills on their respective bosses. Crippling Shot (Elite) can be found from Melandru's Cursed on Perdition Rock. Punishing Shot (Elite) can be found from Thul Boulderrain in Snake Dance. He randomly spawns throughout the Shiverpeaks, too, whereever Tundra Giants can be found. Q. (OBSOLETE) Why can't I get Barrage from Markis? A. As of June 8, 2005 update, the Signet of Capture brings up a list of skills from killed bosses, rather than forcing you to capture a skill while the boss is still alive. Thus, because the mission ends when Markis dies, you don't get a chance to capture Barrage from him. The only place known that has Barrage now is Abaddon's Mouth. In June 15, 2005, the update changed the victory condition of the mission to defeat Markis AND his Jade Armor bodyguards, so now you can get Barrage from him again. ====================== = Appendices (gwrg9) = ====================== ----------------------- - Skill List (gwrg9a) - ----------------------- This list is reasonably complete, as far as Elite capturing, Trainers, and Quest rewards. However, you can also gain some of the non-Elite skills from bosses as well. Beast Mastery Skills (Core) =========================== Call of Haste ------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 25 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Shout Trainer Location: Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend Quest Reward: Charr Reinforcements (Ivor Trueshot in Piken Square) For 30 seconds, your animal companions have 25% faster attack speed and move 33% faster than normal. Charm Animal ------------ Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 10 Seconds Cooldown Time: None Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Skill Trainer Location: Ascalon City PvP Unlock Priest Location: Garemm in Ascalon City Quest Reward: The Ranger's Companion, Endangered Species Charm target animal. Once charmed, your animal companion will travel with you whenever you have Charm Animal equipped. Comfort Animal -------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 1 Second Cooldown Time: 1 Second Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Skill Trainer Location: Ascalon City PvP Unlock Priest Location: Garemm in Ascalon City Quest Reward: The Ranger's Companion, Endangered Species You heal your animal companion for 20-87 health. If your companion is dead, it is resurrected with 10%-48% health. Updated on April 29, 2006: Skills are no longer disabled Disrupting Lunge ---------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 5 Seconds Linked Attribute Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Trainer Location: Port Sledge PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Your animal companion attempts a disrupting lunge that deals +1-10 damage. If that attack strikes a foe using a skill that skill is interrupted and is disabled for an additional 20 seconds. Energizing Wind --------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Port Sledge PvP Unlock Priest Location: ? Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, all skills cost 15 less energy (minimum cost 10 energy), and skills recharge 25% slower than normal. This Spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. Ferocious Strike (Elite) ------------------------ Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 8 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Capture Boss: Thul the Bull (Spearhead Peak) Your animal companion attempts a ferocious strike that deals +13-25 damage. If that attack hits, you gain adrenaline and 3-9 energy. This is an Elite skill. Maiming Strike -------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 5 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Trainer Location: Maguuma Stade, Amnoon Oasis PvP Unlock Priest Location: Rocius in Amnoon Oasis Your animal companion attempts a maiming strike that deals +5-17 damage. If that attack hits a moving foe that foe becomes crippled for 3-13 seconds. Updated on March 2, 2006: Decreased recharge time to 5s (from 10s) Primal Echoes ------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Copperhammer Mines PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, signet rings cost 10 energy to use. This Spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. Scavenger Strike ---------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 5 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Trainer Location: Maguuma Stade, Amnoon Oasis PvP Unlock Priest Location: Rocius in Amnoon Oasis Your animal companion attempts a scavenger strike that deals +10-25 damage. If the attack strikes a foe who is suffering a condition, that foe takes an additional +1-12 damage. Updated on March 2, 2006: Increased damage to +10-25 (from +5-17) Beast Mastery Skills (Prophecies) ================================= Bestial Pounce -------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Trainer Location: Quarrel Falls, Henge of Denravi PvP Unlock Priest Location: Narius in Henge of Denravi Quest Reward: The Hot Springs Murders (Nebo Terrace/Bergen Hot Springs) Your animal companion attempts a bestial pounce that deals +5-17 damage. If the attack strikes a foe who is casting a spell, that foe is knocked down. Updated on March 2, 2006: Decreased Cooldown to 10s (from 15s) Brutal Strike ------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 5 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Trainer Location: Fisherman's Haven, Amnoon Oasis PvP Unlock Priest Location: Rocius in Amnoon Oasis Your animal companion attempts a brutal strike that deals +5-35 damage. If that attack strikes a foe whose health is below 50%, that foe takes an additional +5-35 damage. Updated on March 2, 2006: Increased damage to +5-35 (from +5-17) Call of Protection ------------------ Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 90 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Shout Trainer Location: Lion's Arch PvP Unlock Priest Location: Jhoneil in Lion's Arch Quest Reward: Stone Summit Beastmasters (Artemis the Ranger, Traveler's Vale) For 120 seconds, your animal companions have a 1-11 base damage reduction. Updated on April 29, 2006: Decreased recharge time to 90s (was 115s) Edge of Extinction ------------------ Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute Beast Mastery Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Droknar's Forge PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Quest Reward: Lost Princess (Fisherman's Haven) Create a level 1-8 Spirit. If a non-Spirit creature within its range dies, Edge of Extinction deals 14-43 damage to all nearby creatures of the same type who are below 90% Health. This Spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. Updated on April 29, 2006: No longer damages creatures outside its area Updated on August 17, 2006: Now only affects creatures at 90% Health or below Feral Lunge ----------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Trainer Location: Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend Quest Reward: The Charr Patrol (Master Ranger Nente, Old Ascalon) Your animal companion attempts a feral lunge that deals +5-35 damage. If the attack strikes a foe who is attacking, that foe suffers from bleeding for 3-21 seconds. Updated on March 2, 2006: Increased damage to +5-35 (from +5-17) Fertile Season -------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Fisherman's Haven, Amnoon Oasis PvP Unlock Priest Location: Rocius in Amnoon Oasis Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, every creature's maximum health is increased by 50-290 and they gain +15 armor. This Spirit dies after 15-39-45 seconds. Melandru's Assault ------------------ Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Trainer Location: Ice Tooth Cave, Lion's Arch PvP Unlock Priest Location: Jhoneil in Lion's Arch Your animal companion attempts a Melandru's Assault that deals +5-35 damage. If that attack strikes a foe with an enchantment, that foe and all adjacent foes take +5-17 additional damage. Updated on March 2, 2006: Increased damage to +5-35 (from +5-17) Otyugh's Cry ------------ Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Shout Trainer Location: Quarrel Falls, Henge of Denravi PvP Unlock Priest Location: Narius in Henge of Denravi Quest Reward: The Last Hog (Ascalon Settlement, north of Lion's Arch) All animals in the area become hostile to your target and gain +20 armor for 30 seconds. Otyugh's Cry cannot turn charmed animals against their masters or their master's allies. (50% failure chance with Beast Mastery attribute of 4 or less.) Predator's Pounce ----------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 5 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Trainer Location: Grendich Courthouse, Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend Your animal companion attempts a Predator's Pounce that deals +5-35 damage. If that attack hits your animal companion gains 5-41 health. Updated on March 2, 2006: Increased damage to +5-35 (from +5-17) Predatory Season ---------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Amnoon Oasis PvP Unlock Priest Location: Rocius in Amnoon Oasis Quest Reward: Dropping Eaves (from Deep Root, Ettin's Back) Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, all healing is reduced by 20%. If any of your attacks hit, you gain 5 health. This Spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. Revive Animal ------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 6 Seconds Cooldown Time: 20 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Skill Trainer Location: Ice Tooth Cave, Lion's Arch PvP Unlock Priest Location: Jhoneil in Lion's Arch Resurrect all nearby allied animal companions. They come back to life with 50-410 health Symbiosis --------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Marhan's Grotto PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Quest Reward: The Undead Hordes (Beetletun) Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, for each enchantment on a creature, that creature's maximum health is increased by 27-125. This Spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. Symbiotic Bond -------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 55 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Stance Trainer Location: Camp Rankor PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge For 120-264 seconds, your animal companion gains +1-3 health regeneration, and half of any physical damage dealt to your animal companion is redirected to you. Updated on March 2, 2006: Increased health regen to +1-3 (was +1) Tiger's Fury ------------ Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Stance Trainer Location: Droknar's Forge PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Quest Reward: A Belated Betrothal (Tirzah in Seeker's Passage) All your non-attack skills are disabled for 5 seconds. For 5-10 seconds, you attack 25% faster than normal. Updated on September 14, 2006: Decreased attack speed to 25% (from 33%) Beast Mastery Skills (Factions) =============================== Bestial Fury ------------ Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Stance All your non-attack skills are disabled for 5 seconds. For 5-9 seconds, you attack 25% faster. Updated on September 14, 2006: Decreased attack speed to 25% (from 33%) Bestial Mauling --------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 20 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Your animal companion attempts a Bestial Mauling that deals +5-17 damage. If the attack strikes a knocked-down foe, that foe is interrupted and dazed for 5-17 seconds. Enraged Lunge (Elite) --------------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 5 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Capture Boss: Royen Beast Keeper (Nahpui Quarter) Your animal companion attempts an Enraged Lunge that deals +3-19 damage (maximum bonus 80) for each recharging Beast Mastery skill. This is an elite skill. Heal as One (Elite) ------------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 1 Second Cooldown Time: 12 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Skill Capture Boss: Salke Fur Friend (Melandru's Hope, SW of Jade Quarry) If you or your animal companion are below 75% health, you both gain 25-121 health. This is an elite skill. Lacerate (Elite) ---------------- Energy Cost: 15 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Nature Ritual Capture Boss: Ryver Mossplanter (Arborstone) Created a level 1-8 spirit. Bleeding creatures within its range suffer -2 health degeneration. When the spirit dies, all creatures within its range that have less than 90% health begin bleeding for 5-21 seconds. This spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. This is an elite skill. Updated on July 13, 2006: Cooldown reduced to 45 from 60. Updated on September 14, 2006: Decreased cooldown to 30 seconds (from 45) Poisonous Bite -------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 7 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Your animal companion attampts a Poisonous Bite that poisons target foe for 5-17 seconds. Pounce ------ Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 20 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Your animal companion's next attack is a Pounce that deals +5-17 damage. If the attack strikes a moving foe, that foe is knocked down. Predatory Bond -------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Shout For 5-17 seconds, attacks by your animal companion heal you for 1-25 health. Run as One ---------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Stance For 5-13 seconds, you and your pet run 25% faster. Savage Pounce ------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Pet Attack Your animal companion attempts a Savage Pounce that deals +5-17 damage. If the attack strikes a foe who is casting a spell, that foe is knocked down. Updated on September 14, 2006: Decreased cooldown to 10 seconds (from 15) Viper's Nest ------------ Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Beast Mastery Skill Type: Trap Create a Viper's Nest. When it is triggered, all nearby foes are struck for 5-41 piercing damage and become poisoned for 5-17 seconds. Viper's Nest expires after 90 seconds. Expertise Skills (Core) ======================= Distracting Shot ---------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 1/2 of a Second Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend Quest Reward: Charr Reinforcements (Ivor Trueshot in Piken Square) If Distracting Shot hits, it interrupts target foe's action but deals only 1-13 damage. If the interrupted action was a skill, that skill is disabled for an additional 20 seconds. Escape (Elite) -------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Stance PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Tyria Capture Boss: Whupp Buumbuul (Talus Chute/Snake Dance) Cantha Capture Boss: Stsou Swiftscale (Maishang Hills) For 5-15 seconds, you move 25% faster than normal and have a 75% chance to evade attacks. This is an elite skill. Lightning Reflexes ------------------ Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 45 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Stance Trainer Location: Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend Quest Reward: Caravan in Trouble (Cynn in Eastern Frontier, near Pockmark Flats entrance) For 5-10 seconds, you have a 75% chance to evade melee and arrow attacks, and you attack 33% faster. Throw Dirt ---------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 1 Second. Cooldown Time: 45 Seconds. Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Skill Trainer Location: Quarrel Falls, Henge of Denravi PvP Unlock Priest Location: Narius in Henge of Denravi Quest Reward: The Ascalon Settlement (Damaris, just outside Lion's Arch) Target touched foe and foes adjacent to your target become blinded for 3-13 seconds. Whirling Defense ---------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Stance Trainer Location: Lion's Arch PvP Unlock Priest Location: Jhoneil in Lion's Arch Quest Reward: Stone Summit Beastmasters (Artemis the Ranger, Traveler's Vale) For 8-18 seconds, you have 75% chance to block attacks. Whenever you block an arrow this way, adjacent foes take 5-10 piercing damage. Expertise Skills (Prophecies) ============================= Dodge ----- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Stance Trainer Location: Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend Quest Reward: The Charr Staging Area (Master Ranger Nente, Old Ascalon) For 5-11 seconds, you move 33% faster than normal and have a 27-65% chance to evade incoming arrows. Dodge ends if you attack. Marksman's Wager (Elite) ------------------------ Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 24 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Preparation PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Capture Boss: Custodian Jenus (Elona Reach mission) Custodian Phedous (Thirsty River mission) For 12 seconds, you gain 5-9 energy whenever your arrows hit, but lose 10 energy whenever your arrows fail to strike. This is an elite skill. Oath Shot (Elite) ----------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 25 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Bow Attack PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Capture Boss: Hilos the Dutiful (Iron Mines of Moladune) Perfected Cloak (Thunderhead Keep mission) Cairn the Relentless (Abaddon's Mouth mission) Cairn The Troubling (Ring Of Fire mission) Jade Bow (Ice Floe) If Oath Shot hits, all your other skills are recharged. If it misses, all your skills are disabled for 10 seconds. This is an elite skill. (50% miss chance with Expertise attribute of 7 or less) Updated on July 13, 2006: Cooldown increased to 25 from 20. Point Blank Shot ---------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 3 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Ascalon City PvP Unlock Priest Location: Garemm in Ascalon City Quest Reward: A Test of Marksmanship (Ivor Trueshot in Regent Valley) Shoot an arrow that has half the normal range, but strikes for +10-22 damage. Practiced Stance (Elite) ------------------------ Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 15 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Stance PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Capture Boss: Ryk Arrowwing (Mineral Springs) For 20-32 seconds, your preparations are ready 50% faster and last 30-150% longer. This is an elite skill. Updated on March 2, 2006: Increased bonus from 30-150% (was 24-45%) Expertise Skills (Factions) =========================== Archer's Signet (Elite) ----------------------- Energy Cost: None Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 45 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Signet Capture Boss: Nundak the Archer (Melandru's Hope) All your non-attack skills are disabled for 15-9 seconds, your next 1-4 bow attacks cost no energy. This is an elite skill. Updated on July 13, 2006: No longer disables pet skills. Glass Arrow (Elite) ------------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Preparation Capture Boss: Lorelle, Jade Cutter (Rhea's Crater) Nadet, Glass Weaver (Morostov Trail) For 10-30 seconds, your arrows strike for +5-13 damage if they hit and cause bleeding for 10-18 seconds if they are blocked. This is an elite skill. Trapper's Focus (Elite) ----------------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 20 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Preparation Capture Boss: Chehbaba Roottripper (Mount Qinkai) For 3-13 seconds, your trap skills are not easily interruptible. This is an elite skill. Zojun's Haste ------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Stance For 5-10 seconds, you move 33% faster and have 27-65% chance to evade incoming arrows. Zojun's Haste ends if you attack. Zojun's Shot ------------ Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 3 Seconds Linked Attribute: Expertise Skill Type: Bow Attack Shoot an arrow that has half the normal range, but strikes for +10-22 damage. Marksmanship Skills (Core) ========================== Barrage (Elite) --------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 1 Second Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Tyria Capture Boss: Snyk the Hundred Tongue (Abaddon's Mouth mission), Markis (Iron Mines of Moladune mission) Cantha Capture Boss: Aurora (Boreas Seabed mission), Chkkr Thousand Tail (Drazach Thicket) All your preparations are removed. Shoot arrows at up to 5 enemies near your target. These arrows strike for +1-13 damage if they hit. This is an elite skill. Concussion Shot --------------- Energy Cost: 25 Casting Time: 1/2 of a Second Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Droknar's Forge PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Quest Reward: The Royal Papers (Fisherman's Haven) If Concussion Shot hits while target foe is casting a spell, the spell is interrupted and your target is dazed for 5-17 seconds. This attack deals only 1-13 damage. Determined Shot --------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Quarrel Falls, Henge of Denravi PvP Unlock Priest Location: Narius in Henge of Denravi Quest Reward: Graven Images (Archivist Ithimar in North Kryta Province) If Determined Shot hits, you strike for +3-15 damage. If Determined Shot fails to hit, all of your attack skills are recharged. Updated on March 2, 2006: Increased damage to +5-20 (from +3-15) Updated on July 13, 2006: Now recharges pet skills. Favorable Winds --------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend Quest Reward: The Charr Patrol (Master Ranger Nente, Old Ascalon) Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, arrows move twice as fast as normal and strike for +6 damage. This Spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. Hunter's Shot ------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 5 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend Quest Reward: Endangered Species If Hunter's Shot hits, you strike for +3-13 damage. If this attack hits a foe that is moving or knocked down, that foe begins bleeding for 3-21 seconds. Pin Down -------- Energy Cost: 15 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 15 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Lion's Arch PvP Unlock Priest Location: Jhoneil in Lion's Arch Quest Reward: A Test of Marksmanship, The Hungry Devourer If Pin Down hits, your target is crippled for 3-13 seconds. Power Shot ---------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 6 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Ascalon City PvP Unlock Priest Location: Garemm in Ascalon City Quest Reward: Ranger Test (Artemis the Ranger in Lakeside Valley) If Power Shot hits, you strike for +10-25 damage. Updated on March 2, 2006: Increased damage to +10-25 (from +10-18) Precision Shot -------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 6 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Droknar's Forge PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Quest Reward: The Forgotten Ones (Annelle Fips in Destiny's Gorge) If Precision Shot hits, you strike for +10-18 damage. Precision Shot cannot be blocked or evaded. This action is easily interrupted. Updated on March 2, 2006: Increased damage to +10-25 (from +10-18) Marksmanship Skills (Prophecies) ================================ Crippling Shot (Elite) ---------------------- Energy Cost: 15 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 1 Second Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Capture Boss: Melandru's Cursed (Perdition Rock) If Crippling Shot hits, your target becomes Crippled for 1-8 seconds. This attack cannot be blocked or evaded. This is an elite skill. Updated on March 2, 2006: Increased Energy cost to 15 (from 10), duration now scales according to skill (previously 8s) Penetrating Attack ------------------ Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 3 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend Quest Reward: Helping the People of Ascalon (Ambassador Zain, Old Ascalon) If Penetrating Attack hits, you strike for +3-15 damage and this attack has 20% armor penetration. Punishing Shot (Elite) ---------------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 1/2 of a second Cooldown Time: 8 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Capture Boss: Thul Boulderrain (Snake Dance/Southern Shiverpeaks) If Punishing Shot hits, you strike for +10-18 damage and your target is interrupted. This is an elite skill. Read the Wind ------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 12 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Preparation Trainer Location: Ascalon City PvP Unlock Priest Location: Garemm in Ascalon City Quest Reward: A Test of Marksmanship (Ivor Trueshot in Regent Valley) For 24 seconds, your arrows move twice as fast as normal and deal 3-9 extra damage. Savage Shot ----------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 1/2 of a second Cooldown Time: 5 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Amnoon Oasis PvP Unlock Priest Location: Rocius in Amnoon Oasis Quest Reward: Blood and Smoke (Deep Root in Ettin's Back) If Savage Shot hits, your target's action is interrupted. If that action was a spell, you strike for 13-25 damage. Updated on September 7, 2005: Now has a 0.5 second casting time. Marksmanship Skills (Factions) ============================== Broad Head Arrow (Elite) ------------------------ Energy Cost: 15 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 15 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack Capture Boss: The Afflicted Huan (Vizunah Square, Sunjiang District), Daeman (Boreas Seabed), The Afflicted Pana (Unwaking Waters) You shoot a broad head arrow that moves slower than normal. If it hits, target foe is dazed for 5-17 seconds, and if target foe is casting a spell that spell is interrupted. This is an elite skill. Updated on July 13, 2006: Reduced cooldown to 15 from 20. Updated on September 14, 2006: Reduced Energy cost to 15 (from 25) Focused Shot ------------ Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 2 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack If Focused Shot hits, you strike for +10-22 damage, but all your other attack skills are disabled for 5-3 seconds. Updated on July 13, 2006: Now disables pet attack skills. Marauder's Shot --------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 6 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack If Marauder's Shot hits, you strike for +10-30 damage, and all your non-attack skills are disabled for 5 seconds. Updated on July 13, 2006: No longer disables pet attack skills. Melandru's Shot (Elite) ----------------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 7 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack Capture Boss: Razortongue Frothspit (Archipelagos) If Melandru's Shot hits, you deal +10-30 damage. If it hits an enchanted foe, you gain 15 energy. This is an elite skill. Needling Shot ------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 1 Second Cooldown Time: 4 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack Needling Shot strikes for only 5-17 damage and moves faster than normal. If needling Shot strikes a foe below 50% health, Needling shot recharges instantly. Seeking Arrows -------------- Energy Cost: 15 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 20 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Preparation For 3-12 seconds, your arrows cannot be blocked or evaded. Seeking Arrows ends if you fail to hit. Splinter Shot ------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 5 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack If Splinter Shot hits, you deal +3-13 damage. If Splinter Shot is blocked, all foes adjacent to your target take 5-53 damage. Sundering Attack ---------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 3 Seconds Linked Attribute: Marksmanship Skill Type: Bow Attack If Sundering Attack hits, you strike for +3-15 damage and this attack has 20% armor penetration. Wilderness Survival (Core) ========================== Apply Poison ------------ Energy Cost: 15 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 12 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Preparation Trainer Location: Ascalon Settlement north of Lion's Arch, Henge of Denravi PvP Unlock Priest Location: Narius in Henge of Denravi For 24 seconds, foes struck by your physical attacks become Poisoned for 3-13 seconds. Barbed Trap ----------- Energy Cost: 15 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 20 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Trap Trainer Location: Amnoon Oasis PvP Unlock Priest Location: Rocius in Amnoon Oasis Quest Reward: The Price of Steel (Alari Doubleblade, NW corner of Silverwood) When Barbed Trap is triggered, all foes in the area take 20-56 piercing damage, become crippled, and begin bleeding for 3-21 seconds. Barbed Trap ends after 90 seconds. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted. Choking Gas ----------- Energy Cost: 15 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 24 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Preparation Trainer Location: Droknar's Forge PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Quest Reward: The False Gods (Brother Mizar, Temple of the Ages) For 1-10 seconds, your arrows deal 1-7 more damage and spread Choking Gas to all adjacent foes on impact. Choking Gas interrupts foes attempting to cast Spells. Flame Trap ---------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 20 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Trap Trainer Location: Droknar's Forge PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Quest Reward: The Misplaced Sword (Yort the Bronze in Heroes' Audience) When Flame Trap is triggered, every second (for 3 seconds total), all nearby foes are struck for 15-27 fire damage and set on fire for 1-3 seconds. Flame Trap ends after 90 seconds. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted. Kindle Arrows ------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 12 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Preparation Trainer Location: Grendich Courthouse, Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend For 24 seconds, your arrows deal fire damage and hit for an additional 3-20 fire damage. Nature's Renewal ---------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Camp Rankor PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For 30-126 seconds, enchantments and hexes take twice as long to cast and it costs twice as much Energy to maintain Enchantments. This Spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. Quickening Zephyr ----------------- Energy Cost: 25 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend Quest Reward: The Charr Staging Area (Master Ranger Nente, Old Ascalon) Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, all skills recharge twice as fast as normal and cost 30% more energy to cast. This Spirit dies after 15-39-45 seconds. Spike Trap (Elite) ------------------ Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 20 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Trap PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Tyria Capture Boss: Vulg Painbrain (Abaddon's Mouth) Cantha Capture Boss: Meysang The Sadistic (Pongmei Valley) When Spike Trap is triggered, all foes in the area take 10-56 piercing damage, become crippled for 3-13 seconds and are knocked down. Spike Trap ends after 90 seconds. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted. This is an elite skill. Storm Chaser ------------ Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Stance Trainer Location: Amnoon Oasis PvP Unlock Priest Location: Rocius in Amnoon Oasis Quest Reward: Mysterious Message (Envoy Ero in Druid's Overlook) For 8-18 seconds, you move 25% faster, and you gain 1-4 energy whenever you take elemental damage. Troll Unguent ------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 3 Seconds Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Skill Trainer Location: Ascalon City PvP Unlock Priest Location: Garemm in Ascalon City Quest Reward: Ranger Test, The Ranger's Companion, Endangered Species For 10 seconds, you gain health regeneration +3-9. Winnowing --------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Droknar's Forge PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Quest Reward: Into the Unknown (Jorn Kudabeh in Augury Rock) Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, creatures take 4 additional damage whenever they take physical damage. This Spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. Wilderness Survival (Prophecies) ================================ Dryder's Defenses ----------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Stance Trainer Location: Marhan's Grotto PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge For 5-10 seconds, you gain 75% chance to evade attacks and 34-55 armor against elemental damage. Dust Trap --------- Energy Cost: 25 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Trap Trainer Location: Droknar's Forge PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Quest Reward: Ghostly Vengeance (Marchena in Augury Rock) When Dust Trap is triggered, every second (for 5 seconds total), all nearby foes are Blinded for 3-8 seconds and take 10-22 earth damage. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted. Dust Trap ends after 90 seconds. Updated on March 2, 2006: Decreased duration to 3-8 (was 3-9) Frozen Soil ----------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Marhan's Grotto PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, dead creatures cannot be resurrected. This Spirit dies after 30-78 seconds. Greater Conflagration (Elite) ----------------------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Capture Boss: Valetudo Rubor (Hell's Precipice mission) Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, all physical damage is fire damage instead. This Spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. This is an elite skill. Updated on July 13, 2006: Cooldown reduced to 45 from 60. Updated on September 14, 2006: Decreased cooldown to 30 seconds (from 45) Healing Spring -------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 20 Seconds Linked Attribute Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Trap Trainer Location: Ascalon Settlement north of Lion's Arch, Henge of Denravi PvP Unlock Priest Location: Narius in Henge of Denravi For 10 seconds, all allies in the area are healed for 15-51 health every 2 seconds. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted. Ignite Arrows ------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 12 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Preparation Trainer Location: Ascalon City PvP Unlock Priest Location: Garemm in Ascalon City Quest Reward: Unnatural Growths (Aidan in Wizard's Folly) For 24 seconds, your arrows explode on contact, dealing 3-15 fire damage. Incendiary Arrows (Elite) ------------------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 24 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Preparation PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Capture Boss: Casses Flameweb (Ring of Fire) For 8 seconds, targets struck by your arrows are interrupted and set on fire for 1-3 seconds. This is an elite skill. Melandru's Arrows (Elite) ------------------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 12 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Preparation PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Capture Boss: Ulhar Stonehound (Thunderhead Keep mission) Resnar Mountaininsight (Frozen Forest) Gargash Thornbeard (Grenth's Footprint) Drago Stoneherder (Sorrow's Furnace) Graygore Boulderbeard (Sorrow's Furnace) Tarnok Forgerunner (Sorrow's Furnace) For 18 seconds, whenever your arrows hit, they cause bleeding for 3-21 seconds and do +8-24 damage if they hit a target who is under an enchantment. This is an elite skill. Melandru's Resilience (Elite) ----------------------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 25 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Stance PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Capture Boss: Facet of Nature (Dragon's Lair mission) For 8-18 seconds, you gain health regeneration of 3 and energy regeneration of 1 for each condition and hex you are suffering. This is an elite skill. Updated on March 2, 2006: Health regen increased to +3 (was +2) Muddy Terrain ------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Copperhammer Mines PvP Unlock Priest Location: Tyren in Droknar's Forge Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, all creatures move 10% slower than normal and speed boosts have no effect. This Spirit dies after 30-78 seconds. Poison Arrow (Elite) -------------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 1 Second Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Bow Attack PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Capture Boss: Salani Pippip (Witman's Folly) If Poison Arrow hits, your target becomes poisoned for 5-17 seconds. This is an elite skill. Serpent's Quickness ------------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 45 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Stance Trainer Location: Lion's Arch PvP Unlock Priest Location: Jhoneil in Lion's Arch Quest Reward: The Deserters (Master Saberlin in Beacon's Perch) For 15-27 seconds, recharge times for your skills are reduced by 33%. Serpent's Quickness ends if your health drops below 50%. Winter ------ Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual Trainer Location: Lion's Arch PvP Unlock Priest Location: Jhoneil in Lion's Arch Quest Reward: Stone Summit Beastmasters (Artemis the Ranger in Traveler's Vale) Create a level 1-8 Spirit. For creatures within its range, all elemental damage is cold damage instead. This Spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. Wilderness Survival (Factions) ============================== Brambles -------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual Create a level 1-8 spirit. Non-Spirit creatures that are knocked down in its range takes 5 damage and begins bleeding for 5-17 seconds. This spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. Conflagration ------------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual Created a level 1-8 Spirit. For non-Spirit creatures within range, all arrows that hit strike for fire damage. This spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. Equinox (Elite) --------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual Capture Boss: Ranger Construct (Sunjiang District) Create a level 1-8 spirit. Spells cast within its range that causes exhaustion cause double the exhaustion instead. This spirit dies after 30-126 seconds. This is an elite skill. Updated on July 13, 2006: Cooldown reduced to 45 from 60. Updated on September 14, 2006: Decreased cooldown to 30 seconds (from 45) Famine (Elite) -------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 30 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual Capture Boss: Bound Zojun (Thannakai Temple) Famished Ancient Brrne (Raisu Pavillion Mission) Create a level 1-8 spirit. Whenever a non-Spirit creature in its range reaches 0 Energy, that creature takes 10-30 damage. This spirit dies after 30-78 seconds. This is an elite skill. Updated on July 13, 2006: Cooldown reduced to 45 from 60. Updated on September 14, 2006: Decreased cooldown to 30 seconds (from 45) Snare ----- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 20 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Trap When Snare is triggered, all nearby foes become crippled for 3-13 seconds. Snare ends after 90 seconds. While activating this skill, you are easily interrupted. Tranquility ----------- Energy Cost: 15 Casting Time: 5 Seconds Cooldown Time: 60 Seconds Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival Skill Type: Nature Ritual Capture Boss: ? Create a level 1-8 Spirit. Enchantments cast by non-Spirit creatures within its range expire 20-44% faster. This spirit dies after 15-51 seconds. Other Non-Linked Skills ======================= Antidote Signet --------------- Energy Cost: None Casting Time: 2 Seconds Cooldown Time: 8 Seconds Linked Attribute: None Skill Type: Signet Trainer Location: Amnoon Oasis PvP Unlock Priest Location: Rocius in Amnoon Oasis Quest Reward: Eye for Profit (Trader Versai in Druid's Overlook) Cleanse yourself of poison, disease and blindness. Updated on April 29, 2006: No longer removes other conditions than listed Called Shot ----------- Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 3 Seconds Linked Attribute: None Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Yak's Bend PvP Unlock Priest Location: Willem in Yak's Bend Quest Reward: Supplies for the Duke (Gate Guard Hollis in Old Ascalon) Shoot an arrow that moves 3 times faster than normal and cannot be blocked or evaded. Debilitating Shot ----------------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 10 Seconds Linked Attribute: None Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Lion's Arch PvP Unlock Priest Location: Jhoneil in Lion's Arch Quest Reward: Helping the Dwarves (Grand Mason Stonecleaver in Yak's Bend) If Debilitating Shot hits, your target loses 10 energy. Dual Shot --------- Energy Cost: 10 Casting Time: None Cooldown Time: 7 Seconds Linked Attribute: None Skill Type: Bow Attack Trainer Location: Ascalon City PvP Unlock Priest Location: Garemm in Ascalon City Quest Reward: Unnatural Growths (Aidan in Wizard's Folly) Shoot two arrows simultaneously at target foe. These arrows deal 25% less damage than normal. Updated on April 29, 2006: Increased Recharge to 7s (was 5s) Quick Shot (Elite) ------------------ Energy Cost: 5 Casting Time: 1 Second Cooldown Time: 1 Second Linked Attribute: None Skill Type: Bow Attack PvP Unlock Priest Location: Dakk in Droknar's Forge Tyria Capture Boss: Maxine Coldstone (Perdition Rock) Cantha Capture Boss: Razorjaw Longspine (Silent Surf) Shoot an arrow that moves twice as fast. Updated on March 2, 2006: Fixed a bug that caused arrow to move normal speed ----------------------- - Armor List (gwrg9b) - ----------------------- Note: This list is incomplete, but all of the important armor merchants are listed here, along with prices and materials costs. I've yet to hop into the Underworld to check out the merchants there. Starting Armor (Base AL 10) --------------------------- Rawhide Vest Starting Armor Rawhide Gloves Starting Armor Rawhide Leggings Starting Armor Rawhide Boots Starting Armor Tyria: Ascalon City =================== Banoit (Base AL 25) Each piece costs 50 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Fur-Lined Boots 2 Tanned Hide Squares Leather Boots 1 Tanned Hide Square Fur-Lined Vest 6 Tanned Hide Squares Leather Vest 3 Tanned Hide Squares Fur-Lined Gloves 2 Tanned Hide Squares Leather Gloves 1 Tanned Hide Square Simple Mask 1 Bolt of Cloth Fur-Lined Leggings 4 Tanned Hide Squares Leather Leggings 2 Tanned Hide Squares Corwen (Base AL 40) Each piece costs 150 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Fur-Lined Boots 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Fur Square Leather Boots 2 Tanned Hide Squares Fur-Lined Vest 12 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Fur Squares Leather Vest 6 Tanned Hide Squares Fur-Lined Gloves 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Fur Square Leather Gloves 2 Tanned Hide Squares Tamer's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Fur Square Archer's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Linen Hunter's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Silk Simple Mask 2 Bolts of Cloth Traveler's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Scale Fur-Lined Leggings 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Fur Squares Leather Leggings 4 Tanned Hide Squares Tyria: Tyria: Piken Square ========================== Harlan (Base AL 25) Each piece costs 50 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Fur-Lined Boots 2 Tanned Hide Squares Leather Boots 1 Tanned Hide Square Fur-Lined Vest 6 Tanned Hide Squares Leather Vest 3 Tanned Hide Squares Fur-Lined Gloves 2 Tanned Hide Squares Leather Gloves 1 Tanned Hide Square Simple Mask 1 Bolt of Cloth Fur-Lined Leggings 4 Tanned Hide Squares Leather Leggings 2 Tanned Hide Squares Tyria: Yak's Bend ================= Breyshaw (Base AL 40) Each piece costs 150 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Fur-Lined Boots 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Fur Square Drakescale Boots 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Scale Leather Boots 2 Tanned Hide Squares Fur-Lined Vest 12 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Fur Squares Drakescale Vest 12 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Scales Leather Vest 6 Tanned Hide Squares Fur-Lined Gloves 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Fur Square Drakescale Gloves 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Scale Leather Gloves 2 Tanned Hide Squares Tamer's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Fur Square Archer's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Linen Hunter's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Silk Simple Mask 2 Bolts of Cloth Traveler's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Scale Fur-Lined Leggings 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Fur Squares Drakescale Leggings 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Scales Leather Leggings 4 Tanned Hide Squares Tyria: Lion's Arch ================== Samuka (Base AL 40) Each piece costs 150 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Druid's Boots 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Boots 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Fur Square Drakescale Boots 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Scale Leather Boots 2 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Vest 12 Tanned Hide Squares, 12 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Vest 12 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Fur Squares Drakescale Vest 12 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Scales Leather Vest 6 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Gloves 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Gloves 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Fur Square Drakescale Gloves 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Scale Leather Gloves 2 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Leggings 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Leggings 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Fur Squares Drakescale Leggings 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Scales Leather Leggings 4 Tanned Hide Squares Tamer's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Fur Square Archer's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Linen Hunter's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Silk Simple Mask 2 Bolts of Cloth Traveler's Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Scale Tyria: Bergen Hot Springs ========================= Kailan (Base AL 49) Each piece costs 250 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Druid's Boots 6 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Wood Planks Leather Boots 3 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Vest 18 Tanned Hide Squares, 12 Wood Planks Leather Vest 9 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Gloves 6 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Wood Planks Leather Gloves 3 Tanned Hide Squares Tamer's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Fur Square Archer's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Linen Hunter's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Silk Simple Mask 3 Bolts of Cloth Traveler's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Scale Druid's Leggings 12 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks Leather Leggings 6 Tanned Hide Squares Tyria: Beetletun ================ Shanda (Base AL 49) Each piece costs 250 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Leather Boots 3 Tanned Hide Squares Leather Vest 9 Tanned Hide Squares Leather Gloves 3 Tanned Hide Squares Leather Leggings 6 Tanned Hide Squares Fur-Lined Boots 6 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Fur Square Fur-Lined Vest 18 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Fur Squares Fur-Lined Gloves 6 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Fur Square Fur-Lined Leggings 12 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Fur Squares Drakescale Boots 6 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Scale Drakescale Vest 18 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Scales Drakescale Gloves 6 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Scale Drakescale Leggings 12 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Scales Tamer's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Fur Square Archer's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Linen Hunter's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Silk Simple Mask 3 Bolts of Cloth Traveler's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Scale Tyria: Quarrel Falls ==================== Saphir (Base AL 49) Each piece costs 250 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Studded Leather Boots 6 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Steel Ingot Leather Boots 3 Tanned Hide Squares Studded Leather Vest 18 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Steel Ingots Leather Vest 9 Tanned Hide Squares Studded Leather Gloves 6 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Steel Ingot Leather Gloves 3 Tanned Hide Squares Tamer's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Fur Square Archer's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Linen Hunter's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Bolt of Silk Simple Mask 3 Bolts of Cloth Traveler's Mask 6 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Scale Studded Leather Leggings 12 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Steel Ingots Leather Leggings 6 Tanned Hide Squares Tyria: Ventari's Refuge ======================= Hanita (Base AL 55) Each piece costs 400 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Druid's Boots 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Boots 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Fur Squares Studded Leather Boots 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Steel Ingots Drakescale Boots 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Scales Leather Boots 4 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Vest 24 Tanned Hide Squares, 24 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Vest 24 Tanned Hide Squares, 6 Fur Squares Studded Leather Vest 24 Tanned Hide Squares, 6 Steel Ingots Drakescale Vest 24 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Scales Leather Vest 12 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Gloves 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Gloves 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Fur Squares Studded Leather Gloves 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Steel Ingots Drakescale Gloves 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Scales Leather Gloves 4 Tanned Hide Squares Tamer's Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Fur Squares Archer's Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Bolts of Linen Hunter's Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Bolts of Silk Simple Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth Traveler's Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Scales Druid's Leggings 16 Tanned Hide Squares, 16 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Leggings 16 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Fur Squares Studded Leather Leggings 16 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Steel Ingots Drakescale Leggings 16 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Scales Leather Leggings 8 Tanned Hide Squares Tyria: Henge of Denravi ======================= Alemeth (Base AL 55) Each piece costs 400 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Druid's Boots 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Boots 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Fur Squares Studded Leather Boots 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Steel Ingots Drakescale Boots 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Scales Leather Boots 4 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Vest 24 Tanned Hide Squares, 24 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Vest 24 Tanned Hide Squares, 6 Fur Squares Studded Leather Vest 24 Tanned Hide Squares, 6 Steel Ingots Drakescale Vest 24 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Scales Leather Vest 12 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Gloves 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Gloves 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Fur Square Studded Leather Gloves 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Steel Ingots Drakescale Gloves 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Scales Leather Gloves 4 Tanned Hide Squares Tamer's Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Fur Squares Archer's Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Bolts of Linen Hunter's Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Bolts of Silk Simple Mask 4 Bolts of Cloth Traveler's Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Scales Druid's Leggings 16 Tanned Hide Squares, 16 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Leggings 16 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Fur Squares Studded Leather Leggings 16 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Steel Ingots Drakescale Leggings 16 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Scales Leather Leggings 8 Tanned Hide Squares Tyria: Amnoon Oasis =================== Kathir (Base AL 61) Each piece costs 700 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Druid's Boots 9 Tanned Hide Squares, 9 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Boots 9 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Fur Squares Studded Leather Boots 9 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Steel Ingots Drakescale Boots 9 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Scales Leather Boots 8 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Vest 27 Tanned Hide Squares, 27 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Vest 27 Tanned Hide Squares, 9 Fur Squares Studded Leather Vest 27 Tanned Hide Squares, 9 Steel Ingots Drakescale Vest 27 Tanned Hide Squares, 9 Scales Leather Vest 24 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Gloves 9 Tanned Hide Squares, 9 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Gloves 9 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Fur Square Studded Leather Gloves 9 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Steel Ingots Drakescale Gloves 9 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Scales Leather Gloves 8 Tanned Hide Squares Tamer's Mask 9 Bolts of Cloth, 3 Fur Squares Archer's Mask 9 Bolts of Cloth, 3 Bolts of Linen Hunter's Mask 9 Bolts of Cloth, 3 Bolts of Silk Simple Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth Traveler's Mask 9 Bolts of Cloth, 3 Scales Druid's Leggings 18 Tanned Hide Squares, 18 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Leggings 18 Tanned Hide Squares, 6 Fur Squares Studded Leather Leggings 18 Tanned Hide Squares, 6 Steel Ingots Drakescale Leggings 18 Tanned Hide Squares, 6 Scales Leather Leggings 16 Tanned Hide Squares Tyria: Droknar's Forge ====================== Seifred/Mogren (Base AL 70) Each piece costs 1,500 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Druid's Boots 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Boots 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Fur Squares Studded Leather Boots 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Steel Ingots Drakescale Boots 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Scales Leather Boots 11 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Vest 75 Tanned Hide Squares, 75 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Vest 75 Tanned Hide Squares, 12 Fur Squares Studded Leather Vest 75 Tanned Hide Squares, 12 Steel Ingots Drakescale Vest 75 Tanned Hide Squares, 12 Scales Leather Vest 33 Tanned Hide Squares Druid's Gloves 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Gloves 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Fur Square Studded Leather Gloves 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Steel Ingots Drakescale Gloves 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Scales Leather Gloves 11 Tanned Hide Squares Tamer's Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Fur Squares Archer's Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Bolts of Linen Hunter's Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Bolts of Silk Simple Mask 11 Bolts of Cloth Traveler's Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Scales Druid's Leggings 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 50 Wood Planks Fur-Lined Leggings 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Fur Squares Studded Leather Leggings 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Steel Ingots Drakescale Leggings 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Scales Leather Leggings 22 Tanned Hide Squares Tyria: Marhan's Grotto ====================== Karl (Base AL 70) Each piece costs 15,000 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Druid's Boots 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 50 Wood Planks Druid's Vest 150 Tanned Hide Squares, 150 Wood Planks Druid's Gloves 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 50 Wood Planks Druid's Leggings 100 Tanned Hide Squares, 100 Wood Planks Drakescale Boots 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Scales Drakescale Vest 150 Tanned Hide Squares, 15 Scales Drakescale Gloves 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Scales Drakescale Leggings 100 Tanned Hide Squares, 10 Scales Tyria: Granite Citadel ====================== Hagen (Base AL 70) Each piece costs 15,000 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Frostbound Boots 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Fur Squares Frostbound Vest 150 Tanned Hide Squares, 15 Fur Squares Frostbound Gloves 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Fur Squares Frostbound Leggings 100 Tanned Hide Squares, 10 Fur Squares Studded Leather Boots 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Deldrimor Steel Ingots Studded Leather Vest 150 Tanned Hide Squares, 15 Deldrimor Steel Ingots Studded Leather Gloves 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Deldrimor Steel Ingots Studded Leather Leggings 100 Tanned Hide Squares, 10 Deldrimor Steel Ingots Tyria: Fissure of Woe ===================== Each piece costs 15,000 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Drakescale Boots 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Scales, 15 Obsidian Shards, 15 Ectoplasms Druid's Boots 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 50 Wood Planks, 15 Obsidian Shards, 15 Ectoplasms Fur-Lined Boots 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Fur Squares, 15 Obsidian Shards, 15 Ectoplasms Studded Leather Boots 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Deldrimor Steel Ingots, 15 Obsidian Shards, 15 Ectoplasms Drakescale Vest 150 Tanned Hide Squares, 15 Scales, 45 Obsidian Shards, 45 Ectoplasms Druid's Vest 150 Tanned Hide Squares, 150 Wood Planks, 45 Obsidian Shards, 45 Ectoplasms Fur-Lined Vest 150 Tanned Hide Squares, 15 Fur Squares, 45 Obsidian Shards, 45 Ectoplasms Studded Leather Vest 150 Tanned Hide Squares, 15 Deldrimor Steel Ingots, 45 Obsidian Shards, 45 Ectoplasms Drakescale Gloves 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Scales, 15 Obsidian Shards, 15 Ectoplasms Druid's Gloves 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 50 Wood Planks, 15 Obsidian Shards, 15 Ectoplasms Fur-Lined Gloves 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Fur Square, 15 Obsidian Shards, 15 Ectoplasms Studded Leather Gloves 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 5 Deldrimor Steel Ingots, 15 Obsidian Shards, 15 Ectoplasms Drakescale Leggings 100 Tanned Hide Squares, 10 Scales, 30 Obsidian Shards, 30 Ectoplasms Druid's Leggings 100 Tanned Hide Squares, 100 Wood Planks, 30 Obsidian Shards, 30 Ectoplasms Fur-Lined Leggings 100 Tanned Hide Squares, 10 Fur Squares, 30 Obsidian Shards, 30 Ectoplasms Studded Leather Leggings 100 Tanned Hide Squares, 10 Deldrimor Steel Ingots, 30 Obsidian Shards, 30 Ectoplasms Cantha: Shing Jea Monastery =========================== Kambei (Base AL 25) Each piece costs 50 gold, except Ranger's (25 gold) -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Canthan Mask 2 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Tanned Hide Square Archer's Canthan Mask 2 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Tanned Hide Square Hunter's Canthan Mask 2 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Tanned Hide Square Traveler's Canthan Mask 2 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Tanned Hide Square Ranger's Canthan Mask 2 Bolts of Cloth (Prefix) Canthan Vest 6 Bolts of Cloth, 3 Tanned Hide Squares (Prefix) Canthan Gloves 2 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Tanned Hide Square (Prefix) Canthan Leggings 4 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Tanned Hide Squares (Prefix) Canthan Boots 2 Bolts of Cloth, 1 Tanned Hide Square (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, Stormbound, and Ranger's (note: Ranger's does not require Tanned Hide Squares). Moon Ahn (Base AL 25) Each piece costs 50 gold, except Ranger's (25 gold) -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Shing Jea Mask 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Wood Plank Archer's Shing Jea Mask 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Wood Plank Hunter's Shing Jea Mask 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Wood Plank Traveler's Shing Jea Mask 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Wood Plank Ranger's Shing Jea Mask 2 Tanned Hide Squares (Prefix) Shing Jea Vest 6 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Wood Planks (Prefix) Shing Jea Gloves 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Wood Plank (Prefix) Shing Jea Leggings 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Wood Planks (Prefix) Shing Jea Boots 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Wood Plank (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, Stormbound, and Ranger's (note: Ranger's does not require Wood Planks). Nu Leng (Base AL 25) Each piece costs 50 gold, except Ranger's (25 gold) -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Ascalon Mask 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Feather Archer's Ascalon Mask 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Feather Hunter's Ascalon Mask 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Feather Traveler's Ascalon Mask 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Feather Ranger's Ascalon Mask 2 Tanned Hide Squares (Prefix) Ascalon Vest 6 Tanned Hide Squares, 3 Feathers (Prefix) Ascalon Gloves 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Feather (Prefix) Ascalon Leggings 4 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Feathers (Prefix) Ascalon Boots 2 Tanned Hide Squares, 1 Feather (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, Stormbound, and Ranger's (note: Ranger's does not require Feathers). Cantha: Ran Musu Gardens ======================== Work in progress. Cantha: Seitung Harbor ====================== Fugui Ge (Base AL 55) Each piece costs 400 gold, except Ranger's (200 gold) -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Ascalon Mask 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Leather Squares Archer's Ascalon Mask 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Leather Squares Hunter's Ascalon Mask 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Leather Squares Traveler's Ascalon Mask 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Leather Squares Ranger's Ascalon Mask 8 Tanned Hide Squares (Prefix) Ascalon Vest 24 Tanned Hide Squares, 6 Leather Squares (Prefix) Ascalon Gloves 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Leather Squares (Prefix) Ascalon Leggings 16 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Leather Squares (Prefix) Ascalon Boots 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 2 Leather Squares (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, Stormbound, and Ranger's (note: Ranger's does not require Leather Squares). Lain (Base AL 55) Each piece costs 400 gold, except Ranger's (200 gold) -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Shing Jea Mask 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks Archer's Shing Jea Mask 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks Hunter's Shing Jea Mask 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks Traveler's Shing Jea Mask 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks Ranger's Shing Jea Mask 8 Tanned Hide Squares (Prefix) Shing Jea Vest 24 Tanned Hide Squares, 24 Wood Planks (Prefix) Shing Jea Gloves 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks (Prefix) Shing Jea Leggings 16 Tanned Hide Squares, 16 Wood Planks (Prefix) Shing Jea Boots 8 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Wood Planks (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, Stormbound, and Ranger's (note: Ranger's does not require Wood Planks). Tsukare (Base AL 55) Each piece costs 400 gold, except Ranger's (200 gold) -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Canthan Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Fur Squares Archer's Canthan Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Fur Squares Hunter's Canthan Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Fur Squares Traveler's Canthan Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Fur Squares Ranger's Canthan Mask 8 Bolts of Cloth (Prefix) Canthan Vest 24 Bolts of Cloth, 6 Fur Squares (Prefix) Canthan Gloves 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Fur Squares (Prefix) Canthan Leggings 16 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Fur Squares (Prefix) Canthan Boots 8 Bolts of Cloth, 2 Fur Squares (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, Stormbound, and Ranger's (note: Ranger's does not require Fur Squares). Cantha: Kaineng Center ====================== Kakumei (Base AL 70) Each piece costs 1,500 gold, except Ranger's (750 gold) -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Canthan Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Fur Squares Archer's Canthan Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Fur Squares Hunter's Canthan Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Fur Squares Traveler's Canthan Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Fur Squares Ranger's Canthan Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth (Prefix) Canthan Vest 75 Bolts of Cloth, 12 Fur Squares (Prefix) Canthan Gloves 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Fur Squares (Prefix) Canthan Leggings 50 Bolts of Cloth, 8 Fur Squares (Prefix) Canthan Boots 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Fur Squares (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, Stormbound, and Ranger's (note: Ranger's does not require Fur Squares). Ryoko (Base AL 70) Each piece costs 1,500 gold, except Ranger's (750 gold) -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Shing Jea Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Wood Planks Archer's Shing Jea Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Wood Planks Hunter's Shing Jea Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Wood Planks Traveler's Shing Jea Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Wood Planks Ranger's Shing Jea Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares (Prefix) Shing Jea Vest 75 Tanned Hide Squares, 75 Wood Planks (Prefix) Shing Jea Gloves 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Wood Planks (Prefix) Shing Jea Leggings 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 50 Wood Planks (Prefix) Shing Jea Boots 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Wood Planks (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, Stormbound, and Ranger's (note: Ranger's does not require Wood Planks). Suki (Base AL 70) Each piece costs 1,500 gold, except Ranger's (750 gold) -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Ascalon Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Leather Squares Archer's Ascalon Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Leather Squares Hunter's Ascalon Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Leather Squares Traveler's Ascalon Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Leather Squares Ranger's Ascalon Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares (Prefix) Ascalon Vest 75 Tanned Hide Squares, 12 Leather Squares (Prefix) Ascalon Gloves 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Leather Squares (Prefix) Ascalon Leggings 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 8 Leather Squares (Prefix) Ascalon Boots 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 4 Leather Squares (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, Stormbound, and Ranger's (note: Ranger's does not require Leather Squares). Cantha: Budek Byway =================== Note: Krytan Armor looks like pre-Searing Ascalon Collector's armor Oroku (Base AL 70) Each piece costs 1,500 gold, except Ranger's (750 gold) -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Krytan Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Bones Archer's Krytan Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Bones Hunter's Krytan Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Bones Traveler's Krytan Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Bones Ranger's Krytan Mask 25 Tanned Hide Squares (Prefix) Krytan Vest 75 Tanned Hide Squares, 75 Bones (Prefix) Krytan Gloves 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Bones (Prefix) Krytan Leggings 50 Tanned Hide Squares, 50 Bones (Prefix) Krytan Boots 25 Tanned Hide Squares, 25 Bones (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, Stormbound, and Ranger's (note: Ranger's does not require Bone). Cantha: Wajjun Bazaar ===================== Note: Tyrian Armor looks like the armor bought from Post-Searing armor crafters by Prophecies characters. Voldo the Exotic (Base AL 70) 1,500 gold, except Ranger's (750 gold) -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Tyrian Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Bolts of Linen Archer's Tyrian Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Bolts of Linen Hunter's Tyrian Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Bolts of Linen Traveler's Tyrian Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Bolts of Linen Ranger's Tyrian Mask 25 Bolts of Cloth (Prefix) Tyrian Vest 75 Bolts of Cloth, 12 Bolts of Linen (Prefix) Tyrian Gloves 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Bolts of Linen (Prefix) Tyrian Leggings 50 Bolts of Cloth, 8 Bolts of Linen (Prefix) Tyrian Boots 25 Bolts of Cloth, 4 Bolts of Linen (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, Stormbound, and Ranger's (note: Ranger's does not require Bolts of Linen). Cantha: Cavalon =============== Tateos (Base AL 70) Each piece costs 1,500 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Luxon Mask 25 Scales, 25 Chitin Fragments, 3 Jadeite Archer's Luxon Mask 25 Scales, 25 Chitin Fragments, 3 Jadeite Hunter's Luxon Mask 25 Scales, 25 Chitin Fragments, 3 Jadeite Traveler's Luxon Mask 25 Scales, 25 Chitin Fragments, 3 Jadeite (Prefix) Luxon Vest 75 Scales, 75 Chitin Fragments, 9 Jadeite (Prefix) Luxon Gloves 25 Scales, 25 Chitin Fragments, 3 Jadeite (Prefix) Luxon Leggings 50 Scales, 50 Chitin Fragments, 6 Jadeite (Prefix) Luxon Boots 25 Scales, 25 Chitin Fragments, 3 Jadeite (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, and Stormbound. Cantha: House Zu Heltzer ======================== Work in Progress Cantha: Leviathan Pits ====================== Tateos (Base AL 70) Each piece costs 15,000 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Luxon Mask 50 Scales, 50 Chitin Fragments, 10 Jadeite Archer's Luxon Mask 50 Scales, 50 Chitin Fragments, 10 Jadeite Hunter's Luxon Mask 50 Scales, 50 Chitin Fragments, 10 Jadeite Traveler's Luxon Mask 50 Scales, 50 Chitin Fragments, 10 Jadeite (Prefix) Luxon Vest 150 Scales, 150 Chitin Fragments, 30 Jadeite (Prefix) Luxon Gloves 50 Scales, 50 Chitin Fragments, 10 Jadeite (Prefix) Luxon Leggings 100 Scales, 100 Chitin Fragments, 20 Jadeite (Prefix) Luxon Boots 50 Scales, 50 Chitin Fragments, 10 Jadeite (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, and Stormbound. Cantha: Vasburg Armory ====================== Giygas (Base AL 70) Each piece costs 15,000 gold -------------------------------------------------------- Tamer's Kurzick Mask 50 Bolts of Cloth, 5 Bolts of Linen, 10 Amber Archer's Kurzick Mask 50 Bolts of Cloth, 5 Bolts of Linen, 10 Amber Hunter's Kurzick Mask 50 Bolts of Cloth, 5 Bolts of Linen, 10 Amber Traveler's Kurzick Mask 50 Bolts of Cloth, 5 Bolts of Linen, 10 Amber (Prefix) Kurzick Vest 150 Bolts of Cloth, 15 Bolts of Linen, 30 Amber (Prefix) Kurzick Gloves 50 Bolts of Cloth, 5 Bolts of Linen, 10 Amber (Prefix) Kurzick Leggings 100 Bolts of Cloth, 10 Bolts of Linen, 20 Amber (Prefix) Kurzick Boots 50 Bolts of Cloth, 50 Bolts of Linen, 10 Amber (Prefix) available: Druid's, Explorer's, Frostbound, Pyrebound, Scout's, Sentry's, and Stormbound. ---------------------------- - Collectors List (gwrg9c) - ---------------------------- Tyria: Pre-Searing Ascalon ========================== The Catacombs ------------- * Karleen trades 5 Gargoyle Skulls for Leather Boots (AL 12) Lakeside County --------------- * Kaylee trades 3 Grawl Necklaces for Leather Vest (AL 12) * Jacobs trades 3 Baked Husks for Leather Boots (AL 12) * Walden trades 3 Unnatural Seeds for Ascalon Bow 7-10 Fort Ranik ---------- * Hatcher trades 3 Unnatural Seeds for Leather Vest (AL 12) * Varis trades 3 Spider Legs for Leather Leggings (AL 12) Regent Valley ------------- * Hatcher trades 3 Unnatural Seeds for Leather Vest (AL 12) * Rownan trades 3 Dull Carapaces for Ascalon Bow 7-10 * Varis trades 3 Spider Legs for Leather Leggings (AL 12) Wizard's Folly -------------- * Mindle trades 3 Enchanted Lodestones for Ascalon Bow 7-10 * Savich trades 3 Icy Lodestones for Ascalon Bow 7-10 Tyria: Post-Searing Ascalon =========================== The Breach ---------- * Sally Kaugie trades 3 Scorched Seeds for Ascalon Bow 9-13 (req. 3 MarksmanshiP) +10% damage while Hexed, +10% damage while Health is below 40% Diessa Lowlands --------------- * Gil Morridan trades 4 Leathery Claws for Leather Vest (AL 31) * Wayne Hughes trades 3 Charr Carvings for Ascalon Bow 11-18 (req. 3 Marksmanship) * Martel Bastions trades 3 Scorched Lodestones for Ascalon Bow 11-18 (req. 3 Marksmanship) Dragon's Gullet --------------- * Ashram Fenn trades 3 Scar Behemoth Jaws for Ascalon Bow 11-18 (req. 3 Marksmanship), no additional bonuses Grendich Courthouse ------------------- * Graine Hathorn trades 4 Fetid Carapaces for Leather Boots (AL 31) Old Ascalon ----------- * Dreaz Bowem trades 3 Fetid Carapaces for Leather Gloves (AL 31) * Penelope Hoode trades 3 Scorched Seeds for Ascalon Bow 11-18 (req. 3 Marksmanship) * Saba Blackstone trades 3 Scorched Lodestones for Diessa Flatbow 11-18 (req. 3 Marksmanship) Damage +15% while Health is above 50%, Armor penetration +10% (chance 10%) * Palben Tunne trades 4 Ornate Grawl Necklaces for Leather Leggings (AL 31) Piken Square ------------ * Louise Haup trades 3 Charr Carvings for Ascalon Bow 11-18 (req. 3 Marksmanship) Damage +15% while Health is above 50%, +25% damage vs Charr Pockmark Flats -------------- * Ouran Odwin trades 3 Stormy Eyes for Diessa Flatbow 11-18 (req. 3 Marksmanship) +33% damage, -67% attack speed, Health +25 (just outside of Serenity Temple) * Nicanor Gannel trades 3 Lodestones for Ascalon Bow 11-18 (req. 3 Marksmanship) Regent Valley ------------- * Valeria Benes trades 3 Singed Gargoyle Skulls for Longbow 11-18 (req. 3 Marksmanship) +10% damage while in a stance, Armor +7 vs Elemental Attacks (just outside of Fort Ranik) Tyria: Northern Shiverpeaks =========================== Anvil Rock ---------- * Maccus Ironjaw trades 5 Curved Minotaur Horns for Leather Vest (AL 37) (just outside of Ice Tooth Cave) * Sander the Gray trades 5 Frostfire Fangs for Leather Leggings (AL 37) (just outside of Frost Gate) Deldrimor Bowl -------------- * Lenn Giantsbane trades 5 Icy Humps for Archer's Mask (AL 37) * Rothgar Hoffsplitter trades 5 Shiverpeak Manes for Traveler's Mask (AL 37) Iron Horse Mines ---------------- * Norin Stonegrimm trades 5 Frostfire Fangs for Tamer's Mask (AL 37) Traveler's Vale --------------- * Asgrim Brightaxe trades 5 Stone Summit Badges for Leather Gloves (AL 37) * Pyrs Harven trades 5 Shiverpeak Manes for Hunter's Mask (AL 37) Yak's Bend ---------- * Sadira Powell trades 5 Alpine Seeds for Leather Boots (AL 37) Kryta ===== Fisherman's Haven ----------------- * Delves the Dodgy trades 5 Gargantuan Jawbones for Traveler's Mask (AL 49) Majesty's Rest -------------- * Robin Neils trades 5 Shadowy Remnants for Leather Vest (AL 49) North Kryta Providence ---------------------- * Helton Wills trades 4 Hardened Humps for Ascalon Bow 13-25 (req. 6 Marksmanship) (in Ascalon Settlement) Stingray Strand --------------- * Jamora the Wise trades 5 Glowing Hearts for Leather Leggings (AL 49) * Vardis trades 5 Spiked Crests for Hunter's Mask (AL 49) Talmark Wilderness ----------------- * Julianna Furst trades 5 Glowing Hearts for Leather Boots (AL 49) Twin Serpent Lakes ------------------ * Falhurst trades 5 Mergoyle Skulls for Leather Gloves (AL 49) * Gruhn the Fisher trades 5 Bog Scale Fins for Leather Gloves (AL 49) Watchtower Coast ---------------- * Ian Sturmme trades 5 Feathered Caromi Scalps for Archer's Mask (AL 49) * Tenlach Silverhand trades 5 Abnormal Seeds for Tamer's Mask (AL 49) Tyria: Maguuma Jungle ===================== Druid's Overlook ---------------- * Mosreh the Exile trades 5 Ebon Spider Legs for Leather Gloves (AL 61) Ettin's Back ------------ * Hember trades 5 Thorny Carapaces for Leather Vest (AL 61) * Horton Longsnout trades 5 White Mantle Emblems for Leather Vest (AL 61) * Lord Engelram trades 5 Maguuma Manes for Leather Boots (AL 61) The Falls --------- * Agrippa Stonehands trades 5 Behemoth Jaws for Hunter's Mask (AL 61) * Llourdes the Arcane trades 5 Jungle Scale Fins for Leather Leggings (AL 61) * Meghan the Bright trades 5 Jungle Troll Tusks for Leather Leggings (AL 61) * Slayton Redblade trades 5 Tangled Seeds for Traveler's Mask (AL 61) Mamnoon Lagoon -------------- * Vargil the White trades 5 Ancient Eyes for Ascalon Bow 14-26 (req. 8 Marksmanship) Damage +15% while in a stance (Type?) Reed Bog -------- * Elene the Vigilant trades 5 Ebon Spider Legs for Leather Gloves (AL 61) Sage Lands ---------- * Aaron Fletcher trades 5 Ancient Eyes for Tamer's Mask (AL 61) * Elwynn Kirby trades 5 Tangled Seeds for Archer's Mask (AL 61) Tangle Root ----------- * Tully Blackvine trades 5 Tangled Seeds for Ascalon Bow 14-26 (req. 8 Marksmanship) +15% damage while enchanted (just outside of Maguuma Stade) Ventari's Refuge ---------------- * Jaden Fletcher trades 5 Ancient Eyes for Leather Boots (AL 61) Tyria: Crystal Desert ===================== Note: New Max Damage Ascalon Bows are being offered in the Crystal Desert as of the June 29th update. This list may be incomplete. Amnoon Oasis ------------ * Ardenoth Oakenshield trades 5 Bleached Shells for Hunter's Mask (AL 70) * Ekimeel Trueshot trades 5 Forgotten Seals for Archer's Mask (AL 70) Arid Sea -------- * Sir Kaufman trades 5 Massive Jawbones for Leather Boots (AL 70) * Sir Pohl Sandbert trades 5 Dune Burrower Jaws for Ascalon Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), +15% damage while Health is above 50% (Longbow) Destiny's Gorge --------------- * Barton Smallwood trades 5 Shriveled Eyes for Traveler's Mask (AL 70) Diviner's Ascent ---------------- * Luven Underwood trades 5 Minotaur Horns for Ascalon Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), +15% damage while enchanted (Flatbow)(just outside Elona Reach) Prophet's Path -------------- * Fenster the Golden trades 5 Minotaur Horns for Leather Gloves (AL 70) * Gustov the Silent trades 5 Dune Burrower Jaws for Leather Boots (AL 70) * Kyle the Rich trades 5 Losaru Manes for Leather Vest (AL 70) * Winfield Michelson trades 5 Bleached Carapaces for Leather Vest (AL 70) (just outside of Heroes' Audience) Salt Flats ---------- * Kelsay Pradist trades 5 Jade Mandibles for Tamer's Mask (AL 70) * Sir Norrington trades 5 Shriveled Eyes for Leather Gloves (AL 70) The Scar -------- * Cedrick Rogers trades 5 Losaru Manes for Leather Leggings (AL 70) (just outside of Thirsty River) * Jamie the Wanderer trades 5 Dune Burrower Jaws for Leather Leggings (AL 70) Skyward Reach ------------- * John Verado trades 5 Topaz Crests for Ascalon Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), +15% damage while Health is above 50% (Composite bow) (just outside of Augury Rock) * Mourn Drakespur trades 5 Dessicated Hydra Claws for Ascalon Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), +15% damage while Health is above 50% (Short bow) Vulture Drifts -------------- * Karl Jakobs trades 5 Massive Jawbones for Ascalon Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), +15% damage while enchanted (Horn bow) Tyria: Southern Shiverpeaks =========================== Frozen Forest ------------- * Kagan Treesplitter trades 7 Alpine Seeds for Leather Gloves (AL 70) Ice Floe -------- * Turlo Oakenspear trades 7 Frigid Hearts for Leather Leggings (AL 70) (just outside Marhan's Grotto) Lornar's Pass ------------- * Nord Stonegrimm trades 5 Frozen Shells for Ascalon Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), +15% damage while Health is above 50% (Longbow) Mineral Springs --------------- * Trego Stonebreaker trades 5 Mountain Troll Tusks for Ascalon Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), +15% damage while Health is above 50% (Short bow) * Bariel Darkroot trades 5 Alpine Seeds for Ascalon Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), +15% damage while Health is above 50% (Composite bow) Snake Dance ----------- * Hoknil the Lesser trades 5 Azure Remains for Ascalon Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) +15% damage while Enchanted (Horn Bow) Talus Chute ----------- * Hoknil the Greater trades 7 Massive Jawbones for Leather Vest (AL 70) Witman's Folly -------------- * Mag Ironwall trades 5 Intricate Grawl Necklaces for Ascalon Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), +15% damage while enchanted (Flatbow)(just outside Port Sledge) * Vania Sewell trades 7 Azure Remains for Leather Boots (AL 70) Cantha: Shing Jea Island ======================== Haiju Lagoon ------------ * Junsu trades 2 Bonesnap Shell for Shing Jea Boots (AL 45) * Gorobei trades 3 Naga Pelt for Shing Jea Gloves (AL 45) * Guardsman Kikuchiyo trades 2 Gold Crimson Skull Coin for Shing Jea Vest (AL 45) * Mirko trades 3 Enchanted Vine for Shing Jea Mask (AL 45) * Xi Gai trades 3 Elder Kappa Shell for Shing Jea Leggings (AL 45) Jaya Bluffs ----------- * Gruut Snowfoot trades 3 Feathered Crest for Shing Jea Gloves (AL 45) * Morokam trades 3 Stolen Supplies for Shing Jea Vest (AL 45) * Rei Ming trades 3 Silver Crimson Skull Coin for Shing Jea Leggings (AL 45) Kinya Province -------------- * Chen Po Chin trades 3 Mantid Pincers for Shing Jea Boots (AL 25) * Craw Razorbeak trades 3 Naga Hide for Shing Jea Gloves (AL 25) * Guardsman Keiko trades 3 Copper Crimson Skull Coin for Shing Jea Vest (AL 25) * Shenzun trades 3 Augmented Flesh for Sing Jea Leggings (AL 25) Panjiang Peninsula ------------------ * Guardsman Ayoki trades 3 Copper Crimson Skull Coin for Sing Jea Mask (AL 25) * Guardsman Kenji trades 3 Silver Crimson Skull Coin for Short Bow of Fortitude 10-16 (req. 5 Marksmanship), Health +20 * Losai Hapatu trades 4 Kappa Shell for Recurve Bow of Fortitude 10-16 (req. 5 Marksmanship), Health +20 Seitung Harbor -------------- * Chen Po Chin trades 1 Oni Claw for Shing Jea Boots (AL 45) Sunqua Vale ----------- * Debiro Kuri trades 5 Naga Hide for Longbow of Fortitude 7-10 (req. 1 Marksmanship), Health +15 * Seung Kim trades 5 Feathered Scalp for Short Bow of Fortitude 7-10 (req. 1 Marksmanship), Health +15 Tsumei Village -------------- * Teizhan trades 5 Feathered Scalp for Recurve Bow of Fortitude 7-10 (req. 1 Marksmanship), Health +15 Cantha: Kaineng City ==================== Budek Byway ----------- * Kyuzo trades 5 Venerable Mantid Pincers for Canthan Mask (AL 70) * Magistrate Raisung trades 5 Plague Idol for Canthan Leggings (AL 70) Maatu Keep ---------- * Dye Master Franjek trades 5 Pulsating Growth for Recurve Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) The Marketplace --------------- * Attendant Nashu trades 5 Putrid Cyst for Short Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) Pongmei Valley -------------- * Luci trades 2 Guardian Moss for Shortbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), Damage +15% (vs. hexed foes) Senji's Corner -------------- * Sakai trades 5 Celestial Essence for Shortbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +20% (while hexed) Shenzhun Tunnels ---------------- * Jung Zeng trades 5 Jade Bracelet for Recurve Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (vs. Hexed foes) * Kiishen trades 5 Plague Idol for Longbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) * Leijo trades 5 Ancient Kappa Shell for Horn Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while enchanted) Undercity --------- * Ohtah trades 5 Plague Idol for Flatbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) Wajjun Bazaar ------------- * Jiangpo trades 5 Venerable Mantid Pincers for Canthan Boots (AL 70) * Kengai trades 5 Plague Idol for Longbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +20% (while Hexed) * Lintao trades 5 Putrid Cyst for Canthan Gloves (AL 70) * Magistrate Wakai trades 5 Jade Bracelet for Canthan Vest (AL 70) Xaquang Skyway -------------- * Claw Tallfeather trades 5 Jade Bracelet for Hornbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), Damage +20% (while Health is below 50%) * Yu Lae trades 5 Vermin Hide for Longbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while in a Stance) Zin Ku Corridor --------------- * Adept Bishu trades 5 Soul Stone for Recurve Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while in a stance) Cantha: Echovald Forest ======================= Altrumm Ruins ------------- * Artor Bobani Kiroz trades 5 Warden Horn for Flatbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), Damage +15% (vs. hexed foes) * Peltsman Jiri trades 5 Blood Drinker Pelt for Hornbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), Damage +15% (while in a stance) Brauer Academy -------------- * Kristoffir Roi trades 5 Dredge Incisor for Longbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), Damage +20% (while Health is below 50%) Ferndale -------- * Chef Armand trades 5 Truffle for Shortbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while in a Stance) House Zu Heltzer ---------------- * Andru Pitrak trades 3 Keen Oni Claw for Hornbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (vs. hexed foes) * Jaun Stumi trades 4 Vampiric Fang for Recurve Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +20% (while Health is below 50%) * Master Architect Wright trades 5 Stone Carving for Long Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) Morostav Trail -------------- * Dmitri Scharkoff trades 5 Warden Horn for Flatbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while enchanted) * Jonn Tertehl trades 5 Stone Horn for Recurve Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +20% (while hexed) Saint Anjeka's Shrine --------------------- * Guard Captain Mirkoz trades 5 Dredge Incisors for Flatbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) Unwaking Waters --------------- * Elder Ezio trades 5 Kraken Eye for Hornbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while enchanted) Vasburg Armory -------------- * Healer Silja trades 5 Dragon Root for Shortbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) Cantha: Jade Sea ================ Archipelagos ------------ * Axton trades 5 Archaic Kappa Shell for Recurve Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), Damage +15% (vs. hexed foes) Bai Paasu Reach --------------- * Amina trades 5 Naga Skin for Longbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while enchanted) Boreas Seabed ------------- * Catrine Embolom trades 5 Rot Wallow Tusk for Shortbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship), Damage +20% (while Health is below 50%) Breaker Hollow -------------- * Maddison trades 5 Naga Skin for Hornbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while Health is above 50%) Cavalon ------- * Dauv Merishal trades 3 Keen Oni Talon for Flatbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +20% (while hexed) Gyala Hatchery -------------- * Pietro trades 5 Black Pearl for Hornbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +20% (while hexed) Mount Qinkai ------------ * Leon trades 5 Stolen Provision for Longbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (vs. hexed foes) Seafarer's Rest --------------- * Farrer trades 5 Azure Crest for Recurve Bow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while enchanted) Zos Shivros Channel ------------------- * Elder Pomona trades 5 Kraken Eye for Flatbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +20% (while Health is below 50%) * Kristo Trilios trades 5 Moon Shell for Shortbow 15-28 (req. 9 Marksmanship) Damage +15% (while enchanted) ---------------------------------- - Expertise Breakpoints (gwrg9d) - ---------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- | Energy Cost = 5 10 15 25 | |---------------|-----|------|------|------| |Expertise Level| | | | | | 0 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 25 | | 1 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 24 | | 2 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 23 | | 3 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 22 | | 4 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 21 | | 5 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 20 | | 6 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 19 | | 7 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 18 | | 8 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 17 | | 9 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 16 | | 10 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 15 | | 11 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 14 | | 12 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 13 | | 13 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 12 | | 14 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 11 | | 15 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 10 | | 16 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 9 | -------------------------------------------- --------------------------------- - Ranger PvE Checklist (gwrg9e) - --------------------------------- This checklist assumes that you will reach level 20 and complete all of the missions, thus gaining enough skill points. It also assumes that you complete the missions in order without skipping ahead. The checklist is in approximate chronological order through the storyline of the game. If you complete this checklist, not only do you beat the game, but you also will unlock ALL of the Ranger skills. The trainers listed in the checklist obviously have more skills available than the few that are cited. However, those skills are the only ones that you should purchase, as the rest of the skills offered by that trainer can be gained from a quest without using up a skill point. Note that there are many skills that can be earned much earlier than stated in this checklist by capturing from various bosses. These are listed as (Optional) CAPTURE items on the checklist. The skills listed after the CAPTURE entry are those that cannot be earned as a quest reward. I strongly advise that you only capture them if you desperately need that skill or the skill is NOT given as a quest reward, as it will use up a Signet of Capture and a Skill Point. Throughout the checklist, a tally of Skill points earned and Skill points used is kept, for your reference, in case you want to plan ahead when buying skills from your secondary class. EXPLORE: Find the location listed QUEST: Complete the Quest listed MISSION: Complete the Mission listed (Optional): Not necessary to complete the Ranger skillset Lakeside County =============== ___ EXPLORE:Find Ashford Abbey ___ QUEST:Ranger Test, Artemis the Ranger - Power Shot, Troll Unguent ___ QUEST:Adventure with an Ally, Lina the Healer - Resurrection Signet ___ QUEST:Tithe for Ashford Abbey, Devona - 1 Skill Point (Level + 0 Skill points earned) Green Hills Country =================== ___ (Optional) EXPLORE:Find The Barradin Estate Regent Valley ============= ___ QUEST:The Ranger's Companion, Master Ranger Nente - Charm Animal, Comfort Animal ___ QUEST:A Test of Marksmanship, Ivor Trueshot - Read the Wind, Point Blank Shot ___ (Optional) EXPLORE:Find Fort Ranik Wizard's Folly ============== ___ QUEST:Unnatural Growths, Aidan - Ignite Arrows, Dual Shot ___ (Optional) EXPLORE:Find Foible's Fair Academy ======= ___ MISSION:Complete the Academy mission and proceed to Post-Searing Ascalon Old Ascalon =========== ___ EXPLORE:From Ascalon City, find the Great Northern Wall ___ EXPLORE:Find The Breach and Piken Square ___ QUEST:Helping the People of Ascalon, Ambassador Zain - Penetrating Attack ___ QUEST:Supplies for the Duke, Gate Guard Hollis - Called Shot ___ QUEST:Endangered Species, Master Ranger Nente - Hunter's Shot ___ QUEST:The Charr Patrol, Master Ranger Nente - Favorable Winds, Feral Lunge ___ QUEST:The Charr Staging Area, Master Ranger Nente - Dodge, Quickening Zephyr ___ TRAINER: - None (All can be gained from a quest) ___ (Optional) EXPLORE:Find Sardelac Sanitarium Piken Square ============ ___ QUEST:Charr Reinforcements, Ivor Trueshot - Call of Haste, Distracting Shot The Great Northern Wall ======================= ___ MISSION:Complete the Great Northern Wall mission and arrive at Fort Ranik (Level + 1 Skill points earned) Fort Ranik ========== ___ MISSION:Complete the Fort Ranik mission and arrive at Frontier Gate (Level + 2 Skill points earned) Frontier Gate/Eastern Frontier ============================== ___ EXPLORE:Find the Ruins of Surmia ___ QUEST:Caravan in Trouble, Cynn (near Pockmark Flats entrance of the Eastern Frontier) - Lightning Reflexes ___ (Optional) EXPLORE:Find Pockmark Flats and Serenity Temple Ruins of Surmia =============== ___ MISSION:Complete the Ruins of Surmia mission and arrive at Nolani Academy (Level + 3 Skill points earned) Nolani Academy ============== ___ EXPLORE:Find Grendich Courthouse ___ MISSION:Complete the Nolani Academy mission and arrive at Yak's Bend (Level + 4 Skill points earned) Grendich Courthouse =================== ___ TRAINER:Taltosh - Kindle Arrows, Predator's Pounce (2 Skill points used) Yak's Bend ========== ___ EXPLORE:Find Borlis Pass ___ QUEST:Helping the Dwarves, Grand Mason Stonecleaver - Debilitating Shot ___ TRAINER:Captain Osric - None (All can be gained from a quest) ___ (Optional) EXPLORE:Find Iron Horse Mines Iron Horse Mines ================ ___ (Optional) CAPTURE:Garris Nightwatch - Fertile Season Traveler's Vale =============== ___ QUEST:Stone Summit Beastmasters, Artemis the Ranger - Call of Protection, Whirling Defense, Winter ___ (Optional) CAPTURE:Ulhar Stonehound - Fertile Season Borlis Pass =========== ___ MISSION:Complete the Borlis Pass mission and arrive at the Frost Gate (Level + 5 Skill points earned) The Frost Gate ============== ___ EXPLORE:Find the Ice Tooth Cave ___ MISSION:Complete the Frost Gate mission and arrive at Beacon's Perch (Level + 6 Skill points earned) Ice Tooth Cave ============== ___ TRAINER:Marna - Melandru's Assault, Revive Animal (4 Skill points used) Beacon's Perch ============== ___ EXPLORE:Find the Gates of Kryta ___ QUEST:Hungry Devourer, Master Saberlin - Pin Down ___ QUEST:The Deserters, Master Saberlin - Serpent's Quickness The Gates of Kryta ================== ___ MISSION:Complete the Gates of Kryta mission and arrive at Lion's Arch (Level + 7 Skill points earned) Lion's Arch =========== ___ EXPLORE:Find the Ascalon Settlement in North Kryta Province ___ QUEST:Orrian Excavation, Magi Malaquire ___ QUEST:Signet of Capture, Magi Malaquire - Signet of Capture ___ TRAINER:Firstwatch Sergio - None (All can be gained from a quest) North Kryta Province ==================== ___ EXPLORE:Find Nebo Terrace ___ EXPLORE:Find D'Alessio Seaboard ___ QUEST:Graven Images, Archivist Ithimar - Determined Shot ___ QUEST:The Ascalon Settlement, Damaris - Throw Dirt ___ QUEST:The Last Hog, Farmer Dirk - Otyugh's Cry ___ TRAINER:Ascalon Settlement, Captain Greywind - Apply Poison, Healing Spring (6 Skill points used) ___ (Optional) CAPTURE:Cella the Hooded - Energizing Wind Nebo Terrace ============ ___ EXPLORE:Find Nebo Village ___ EXPLORE:Find Bergen Hot Springs ___ EXPLORE:Find Beetletun ___ QUEST:The Hot Springs Murders, Inspector Caleb - Bestial Pounce Bergen Hot Springs ================== ___ EXPLORE:Find the Cursed Lands, then the Black Curtain, then the Temple of the Ages Temple of the Ages ================== ___ QUEST:The False Gods, Brother Mizar - Choking Gas ___ (Optional) EXPLORE:Find the Talmark Wilderness Talmark Wilderness ================== ___ (Optional) CAPTURE:Tree of Autumn - Healing Spring, Nature's Renewal ___ (Optional) EXPLORE:Find Majesty's Rest Beetletun ========= ___ QUEST:The Undead Hordes, Elder Hezron - Symbiosis ___ TRAINER:Ephaz - None (No Ranger skills) D'Alessio Seaboard ================== ___ MISSION:Complete the D'Alessio Seaboard mission and arrive at Divinity Coast (Level + 8 Skill points earned) Divinity Coast ============== ___ MISSION:Complete the Divinity Coast mission and arrive at Druid's Overlook (Level + 9 Skill points earned) ___ (Optional) EXPLORE:Exit to Watchtower Coast Watchtower Coast ================ ___ (Optional) CAPTURE:Melp the Harpooner - Energizing Wind Druid's Overlook ================ ___ EXPLORE:Find the Wilds ___ QUEST:Mysterious Message, Envoy Enro - Storm Chaser ___ QUEST:Eye for Profit, Trader Versai - Antidote Signet The Wilds ========= ___ MISSION:Complete the Wilds mission and arrive at Bloodstone Fen (Level + 10 Skill points earned) Bloodstone Fen ============== ___ EXPLORE:Find Quarrel Falls ___ MISSION:Complete the Bloodstone Fen mission and arrive at Ventari's Refuge (Level + 11 Skill points earned) Silverwood ========== ___ QUEST:The Price of Steel, Alari Doubleblade - Barbed Trap Quarrel Falls ============= ___ TRAINER:Sorim - None (All can be gained from a quest) Ettin's Back ============ ___ EXPLORE:Find Aurora Glade ___ QUEST: Dropping Eaves, Deep Root - Predatory Season ___ QUEST:Blood and Smoke, Deep Root - Savage Shot Aurora Glade ============ ___ MISSION:Complete the Aurora Glade mission and arrive at Henge of Denravi (Level + 12 Skill points earned) Henge of Denravi ================ ___ EXPLORE:Find Maguuma Stade ___ EXPLORE:Find Riverside Province ___ TRAINER:Master Scout Kiera - None (All can be gained from a quest) Maguuma Stade ============= ___ TRAINER:Avena - Maiming Strike, Scavenger Strike (8 Skill points used) Riverside Province ================== ___ MISSION:Complete the Riverside mission and arrive at Sanctum Cay (Level + 13 Skill points earned) ___ (Optional) CAPTURE:Ruinwing - Primal Echoes Sanctum Cay =========== ___ EXPLORE:Find Fisherman's Haven ___ MISSION:Complete the Sanctum Cay mission and arrive at Amnoon Oasis (Level + 14 Skill points earned) ___ (Optional) CAPTURE:Rotscale - Primal Echoes ___ (Optional) CAPTURE:Edgar the Iron Fist - Dryder's Defenses Fisherman's Haven ================= ___ QUEST:The Royal Papers, Watchman Arad - Concussion Shot ___ QUEST:The Lost Princess, Watchman Arad - Edge of Extinction ___ TRAINER:Mazzim - Brutal Strike, Fertile Season (10 Skill points used) Amnoon Oasis ============ ___ EXPLORE:Find Augury Rock ___ TRAINER:Tengsao - None (All can be gained from a quest) Augury Rock =========== ___ EXPLORE:Find Destiny's Gorge ___ EXPLORE:Find Heroes' Audience ___ QUEST:Into the Unknown, Jorn Kudebeh - Winnowing ___ QUEST:Ghostly Vengeance, Marchena - Dust Trap ___ MISSION: Defeat your Doppelganger and Ascend Destiny's Gorge =============== ___ EXPLORE:Find Diviner's Ascent and Elona Reach ___ EXPLORE:Find The Scar and Thirsty River ___ QUEST:The Forgotten Ones, Annelle Fips - Precision Shot Skyward Reach ============= ___ EXPLORE:Complete the Forgotten Ones quest ___ EXPLORE:Find the Arid Sea ___ QUEST:Receive the Forgotten Wisdom quest after Forgotten ones Arid Sea ======== ___ QUEST:Forgotten Wisdom - 15 attribute points Elona Reach =========== ___ EXPLORE:Find Seeker's Passage ___ MISSION:Complete the Elona Reach mission (Level + 15 Skill points earned) Seeker's Passage ================ ___ QUEST:A Belated Betrothal, Tirzah - Tiger's Fury Heroes' Audience ================ ___ EXPLORE:Find the Vulture Drifts and the Dunes of Despair ___ QUEST:The Misplaced Sword, Yort the Bronze - Flame Trap Dunes of Despair ================ ___ MISSION:Complete the Dunes of Despair mission (Level + 16 Skill points earned) Thirsty River ============= ___ CAPTURE: Custodian Phedous - Marksman's Wager (Elite) (11 Skill points used) ___ MISSION:Complete the Thirsty River mission (Level + 17 Skill points earned) The Dragon's Lair ================= ___ CAPTURE:Facet of Nature - Melandru's Resiliance (Elite) (12 Skill points used) ___ MISSION:Complete the Dragon's Lair mission and arrive at Droknar's Forge (Level + 18 Skill points earned) Droknar's Forge =============== ___ EXPLORE:Find Witman's Folly and Port Sledge ___ EXPLORE:Find Talus Chute and Camp Rankor ___ EXPLORE:Find the Ice Caves of Sorrow ___ QUEST:Hero's Journey, Vanyi - Unlocks Hero's Challenge ___ QUEST:Hero's Challenge, Vanyi - 15 Attribute points ___ TRAINER:Bartoch - None (All can be gained from a quest) Witman's Folly ============== ___ CAPTURE:Salani Pippip - Poison Arrow (Elite) (13 Skill points used) Port Sledge =========== ___ TRAINER:Thengen - Disrupting Lunge, Energizing Wind (15 Skill points used) Talus Chute =========== ___ CAPTURE:Whupp Buumbuul - Escape (Elite) (16 Skill points used) ___ (Optional) CAPTURE:Whupp Buumbuul - Frozen Soil Camp Rankor =========== ___ EXPLORE:Find Snake Dance ___ TRAINER:Steig - Nature's Renewal, Symbiotic Bond (18 Skill points used) Snake Dance =========== ___ CAPTURE:Thul Boulderrain - Punishing Shot (Elite) (19 Skill points used) Ice Caves of Sorrow =================== ___ MISSION:Complete the Ice Caves of Sorry and arrive at the Iron Mines of Moladune (Level + 19 Skill points earned) Iron Mines of Moladune ====================== ___ CAPTURE:Markis - Barrage (Elite) (20 Skill points used) ___ EXPLORE:Find Copperhammer Mines ___ MISSION:Complete the Iron Mines of Moladune mission and arrive at Thunderhead Keep (Level + 20 Skill points earned) ___ BONUS:Infuse all of your armor ___ (Optional) CAPTURE:Hilos the Dutiful - Oath Shot (Elite) Copperhammer Mines ================== ___ EXPLORE:Find Spearhead Peak and the Granite Citadel ___ TRAINER:Gammel - Muddy Terrain, Primal Echoes (22 Skill points used) Spearhead Peak ============== ___ CAPTURE:Thul the Bull - Ferocious Strike (Elite) (23 Skill points used) Granite Citadel =============== ___ EXPLORE:Find the Mineral Springs Mineral Springs =============== ___ CAPTURE:Ryk Arrowwing - Practiced Stance (Elite) (24 Skill points used) Thunderhead Keep ================ ___ CAPTURE:Perfected Cloak - Oath Shot (Elite) (25 Skill points used) ___ CAPTURE:Ulhar Stonehound - Melandru's Arrows (Elite) (26 Skill points used) ___ EXPLORE:Find Marhan's Grotto ___ MISSION:Complete the Thunderhead Keep mission and arrive at Ember Light Camp (Level + 21 Skill points earned) Marhan's Grotto =============== ___ TRAINER:Harnil - Dryder's Defenses, Frozen Soil (28 Skill points used) Ember Light Camp ================ ___ QUEST:Final Blow received from Shadow Perdition Rock ============== ___ CAPTURE:Maxine Coldstone - Quick Shot (Elite) (29 Skill points used) ___ CAPTURE:Melandru's Cursed - Crippling Shot (Elite) (30 Skill points used) ___ QUEST:Complete Final Blow and arrive at the Ring of Fire Ring of Fire ============ ___ CAPTURE:Casses Flameweb - Incendiary Arrows (Elite) (31 Skill points used) ___ CAPTURE:Vulg Painbrain - Spike Trap (Elite) (32 Skill points used) ___ MISSION:Complete the Ring of Fire Mission and arrive at Abaddon's Mouth (Level + 22 Skill points earned) Abaddon's Mouth =============== ___ MISSION:Complete the Abaddon's Mouth mission and arrive at Hell's Precipice (Level + 23 Skill points earned) ___ (Optional) CAPTURE:Snyk the Hundred Tongue - Barrage (Elite) Hell's Precipice ================ ___ CAPTURE:Valetudo Rubor - Greater Conflagration (Elite) (33 Skill points used) ___ MISSION:Complete the mission and beat the PvE game (Level + 24 Skill points earned) Note: You will only have used 31 skill points total by the end, because you get two free Signets of Capture from Magi Malaquire in Lion's Arch) Miscellaneous ============= This is a short checklist of things to unlock for your PvP character. ___ UNLOCK:Minor Rune of Beast Mastery ___ UNLOCK:Minor Rune of Expertise ___ UNLOCK:Minor Rune of Marksmanship ___ UNLOCK:Minor Rune of Vigor ___ UNLOCK:Minor Rune of Wilderness Survival ___ UNLOCK:Major Rune of Beast Mastery ___ UNLOCK:Major Rune of Expertise ___ UNLOCK:Major Rune of Marksmanship ___ UNLOCK:Major Rune of Vigor ___ UNLOCK:Major Rune of Wilderness Survival ___ UNLOCK:Superior Rune of Beast Mastery ___ UNLOCK:Superior Rune of Expertise ___ UNLOCK:Superior Rune of Marksmanship ___ UNLOCK:Superior Rune of Vigor ___ UNLOCK:Superior Rune of Wilderness Survival ___ UNLOCK:Ebon Bowstring ___ UNLOCK:Fiery Bowstring ___ UNLOCK:Icy Bowstring ___ UNLOCK:Poisoner's Bowstring ___ UNLOCK:Shocking Bowstring ___ UNLOCK:Sundering Bowstring ___ UNLOCK:Vampiric Bowstring ___ UNLOCK:Zealous Bowstring ___ UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Defense ___ UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Enchanting ___ UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Fortitude ___ UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Marksmanship ___ UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Shelter ___ UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Warding ___ (Optional) UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Charrslaying ___ (Optional) UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Deathbane ___ (Optional) UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Dwarfslaying ___ (Optional) UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Giantslaying ___ (Optional) UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Pruning ___ (Optional) UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Skeletonslaying ___ (Optional) UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Tenguslaying ___ (Optional) UNLOCK:Bow Grip Of Trollslaying ====================== = End Notes (gwrg10) = ====================== ------------------- - Version History - ------------------- 0.1 First version of this Ranger guide is released. 0.11 Fixed a basic Math error in the Expertise section. Whoopsie! Also added "Signet of Capture" in the FAQ. 0.12 Added information about Spirits 0.13 Added Collectors List 0.14 Added information from June 1, 2005 update 0.15 Minor changes on Farming runs 0.16 Some minor formatting changes 0.17 Added some skill quest rewards, Otyugh's Cry entry 0.18 Added Expertise breakpoint table, as well as changed the entry in Expertise due to a big error. Added more Marksmanship information, including Bow Damage. Thanks to Charlie Neo for catching my mistakes. 0.19 Some minor spelling/grammar corrections and formatting changes. Added Energy Thief theme and "Victory is Mine" discussion. 0.20 Completed the Quest Reward skill locations, fixed some typos 0.21 Updated some information from the June 8, 2005 update 0.22 Added 1st version of the Ranger PvE checklist Allowed several more sites to reproduce this guide, with credit 0.23 Added more FAQs, updated the Ranger PvE checklist with Optional entries Fixed typo with Salani Pippip, corrected Quick Shot information 0.24 Added more themes to the spellcaster build section. 0.25 Clarified language on Storm/Eternal/Shadow bow section. Revised guide with changes from latest June 15, 2005 update. 0.26 Added new quest rewards for Barbed Trap, Choking Gas, and Throw Dirt 0.27 Birthday Edition (Happy Birthday to me!) Added trapper in UW info, updated Fertile Season entry 0.28 Added information from the June 29, 2005 update, including PvP Priest of Balthazar locations for all the skills, and new Collector's bows. 0.29 Added more Ascalon Bow 15-28 collectors and a tidbit about PvP Necros 0.30 Added Fissure of Woe armor, revised Pet Mechanics section, fixed typos in PvE checklist 0.31 Fixed Serpent's Quickness text. Minor updates coinciding with the July 13th update 0.32 Minor updates all around 0.33 Added bowgrip discussion 0.34 Some small corrections, FAQ updated 0.35 Pre-Searing collectors updated (thanks to zampani at GWOnline.net) 0.36 Added Skill Buffering, clarified some language in the Bow FAQ, and updated the Lornar's Pass collectors bow as a longbow (confirmed by Xcutioner on GWOnline.net forums). 0.37 Updated the Bow FAQ, added "The Ranger Progression" to PvE section, credit to Mind Wallaby for confirming timing data in FAQ. 0.38 Dryder's Defenses bug is fixed, apparently. Symbiotic Bond bug updated. 0.39 Minor updates all around 0.40 Updated information from the 8/25/05 Update, which changed MANY skills, Nature Rituals, and Pets. 0.41 Updated some information from the 9/7/05 Update 0.42 Updated information from the 9/29/05 update. 0.43 Updated information from the 3/2/05 update. Added Sorrow's Furnace bow list 0.44 Updated information from the 4/29/06 update. 0.45 First Factions writeups. 0.46 More Factions updates. 0.47 Added Cantha collectors. 0.48 Added Kaineng City and Seitung Harbor Armor Crafters 0.49 More Factions writeups on various skills, Spirit Spammer 2.0 theme. 0.50 Enraged Lunge, Touch Ranger writeup. 0.51 Added Shing Jea Monastery Armor Crafters 0.52 Minor additional corrections and writeups. 0.53 Added Oroku, Voldo the Exotic, Kurzick 15k, Luxon 15k Armor Crafters. Added Factions bowstrings. 0.54 Minor correction in Sundering/AP entry 0.55 Added Factions Preparations to the prep discussion, some minor word changes, added Factions greens list 0.56 Corrected the Situational Damage entry and Major rune discussion. 0.57 More build discussion, Edge of Extinction entry, Factions Expertise skills It's also my Birthday, June 20th. 0.58 Edited the Pet Mechanics section with additional research Corrected Practiced Stance discussion (Thanks to Michael Bourgon) 0.59 Split Prophecies skills in appendix to Core and Prophecies categories. 0.60 Added some updates from July 13, 2006. 0.61 Updated to incorporate skill changes on August and September 2006 ----------- - Credits - ----------- Most of the Skill List information was gleaned from the following fansites: gwonline.net guildwarsguru.com gwvault.ign.com Most of the Bow and Armor information was taken from discussions on the gwonline.net forums, as well as personal investigation (and in one case, a perilous journey through the Shiverpeak mountains). Specifically, I'd like to thank Tilmitt for the work on bow stats. I'd like to thank GammaRay for doing the extensive testing with the pets at the gwonline.net forums. The damage equations were tested and theorized by SonOfRah and found here: http://www.gwonline.net/page.php?p=157 SonOfRah also clarified various pet mechanics, including pet evolutions A great reference for pets has been compiled and updated by Jenosavel and Epinephrine, which I will reference here: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89491 I'd like to thank my guildmates in the East Bay Alliance of Yeomen [eBay]. I'd like to thank Nobleman Azure, for reciprocity. He may be a Mesmer, but we Rangers still think you are pretty groovy. I'd also like to thank NCSoft for finally making a 3D Diablo clone that fits my liking and an online RPG that doesn't have a monthly fee, all in the same game. -------------------- - Copyright Notice - -------------------- This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. The following sites have permission to use this FAQ as long as it is credited: http://www.gamefaqs.com http://www.gwonline.net http://www.supercheats.com http://www.1up.com http://www.dlh.net http://www.neoseeker.com http://beacon.wiseelben.com All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. In particular, Guild Wars is a trademark of NCsoft Corporation. Guild Wars is copyrighted by NCsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2005 Hahns Shin Copyright 2006 Hahns Shin ------------- - End Quote - ------------- "Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed." G.K.Chesterton
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