Killerx here to help guide you on the role of PvP conditioning as a Ranger. A little warning in advance: This is a heavy conditions build. You will do amazing bleed damage but there is little room to no room for anything else in the build besides these condition abilities and pets. In this guide I will explain how to build and play as a Ranger with this setup. As a condition Ranger, you apply conditions by using ranged weapons like Shortbow (1200) and Axe/Dagger (900). Anything else except these weapons and setup will not get you the heavy condition damage you want.

A condition Ranger depends on the Shortbow as a primary weapon. They only use their secondary weapons when in a 1 vs. 1 situation or when they are able to come closer to the battle area for high burst damage. This is generally only when mobility is not an issue.

As part of an ongoing conversation with the Guild Wars 2 dungeon community, Robert Hrouda, ArenaNet Content Designer, mentioned Rangers in quite a few forum posts yesterday. The pet UI in Guild Wars 2 can be a little frustrating (poor Necros have it even worse), and this fact seems amplified when running dungeons and fractals as a Ranger. Pets have to be micromanaged fairly closely in order to even have a chance of staying alive, and due to the lack of overall survivability that pets have, even when micromanaged correctly, some pets don’t stand much of a chance in the more dangerous fractals.

These pet issues make some Rangers feel like they really don’t have a place in dungeons and fractals, especially since trading off stats and abilities to help their own survivability takes off a rather large chunk of their personal DPS.

Robert Hrouda made the argument that Rangers are actually in a decent spot for the most part. He offered a few tips for dungeon-aspiring Rangers as well as talked a bit about what the team plans on doing about the Ranger pet survivability issues. That is indeed an issue. Keep reading to take a look at all of his posts.

If you’re a Ranger and looking for a specific pet, go no further, here is a full list of all the Ranger pets and where you can find them. Continue reading for the full list.

Check out some Ranger sPVP action with a Greatsword & Sword/Dagger pet builds. Trait build focuses on Toughness and Vitality to increase survivability. Using three passive signets. Warning: video is low res.

Video after the break.

Last weekend we finally got a chance to take Guild Wars 2 for a spin and in turn talk about it! We love when near-to-release games drop the NDA because we finally are able to get our hands on the game and then discuss it with the community at large. Guild Wars 2 is not like any MMORPG released on the market. Sure you have fireballs, swords, and dragons, but the way you play the game is entirely different. You are no longer competing against other players for quest objectives. No longer are you strung out going from quest hub to quest hub doing a laundry list of inane things.

In Guild Wars 2, you are no longer playing a meta game of quests, you begin living in the world. Arenanet has created a game that moves. No matter where you are, the game could be doing something entirely different each time you visit the same place. With all that being said, let’s take a dive into what we loved about Guild Wars 2.

Last weekend we finally got a public look at Guild Wars 2 over their first Beta Weekend Event. The game was available to everyone who pre-purchased the game. We took the time to create a series of videos detailing the starting experience of Guild Wars 2 in the first few levels. We’ll be giving you the basics of game as well as a few tips. Our first video shows the tutorial section of the game and we go over combat and the basics of learning weapon skills. Keep your eye out for part two where we details the first portion of Queensdale a long with the first series of Story Quests.

Catch the video after the break!

One of the more unique design elements of Guild Wars 2 is the way skills are set up in the game. There have been countless blogs and articles describing the skill system and how it relates your Hotbar layout, but it also one of the biggest misconceptions about the game. So let’s clear it up now. People who’ve played games like Everquest 2, World of Warcraft, RIFT and Star Wars: The Old Republic are used to looking at multiple hotbars full of skills and abilities that do a large variety of things. In Guild Wars 2 this is greatly reduced and you don’t have to be a master pianist to manipulate your character.

If you want to know all about keybinds, weapon swapping and individual profession skills keep reading!

Check out the latest beta impressions with IGN’s latest article covering Ranger gameplay:

After knocking a target back, it’s a good idea to follow up with Hunter’s Shot, which deals damage and also lowers the target’s defense. A couple of long range shots will then do higher damage, or better yet you could use Rapid Fire, which launches a sustained volley of arrows at the target for a few seconds. The individual shots don’t do as much damage individually as the long range auto-attack, but can be a great way to get in some free, fast damage as the opponent is trying to close back in after getting knocked away.

Make sure you check out the rest of the article as the author discusses other combat mechanics and the different weapons a Ranger can use.

Some time today the first public yet still closed beta test begins. Many people will get their first hands on the game for the first time. Keep in mind that this is still a closed beta test and a very important and possibly heavily enforced rule is that this is still under NDA.

Earlier this month ArenaNet hosted another event for select media sites. Lucky for us many high quality videos were released showing nearly every aspect. Following this event we featured class spotlights with some select videos giving as much detail about the class as possible. In case you missed them or perhaps you were not selected for this beta event and you still need a Guild Wars 2 fix, check them out.

Ranger in Guild Wars 2 is not far from what players have come to expect with the class. They are the masters of damage from afar with the long bow. It is mentioned in the vid that at the time of the press closed beta, ranger with long bow was extremely effective in pvp. Yet they can hold their own if their targets do happen to get into melee range.

In addition to their personal abilities rangers are also the true beast masters. While you do start with only a few options for your companion at character creation, you can tame ‘juvenile’ beast you come across. This actually may give rangers the crown when it comes to customization, as each pet offers unique abilities. Not to mention the role play value of being able to have the pet you want.