Ranger Leveling Builds

Ranger Leveling Builds

It is important to keep in mind that level 80 builds, or end game builds, SHOULD be different than your leveling builds if you want to level up in the fastest way possible.  Leveling (strictly through PvE) is achieved through zone completion, dynamic events, dungeons and your personal storyline.  Although dungeons may require different builds, the rest of those can be run using the same build with an emphasis on burst damage and mobility.  Burst damage is a no brainer, but why mobility?  There are no mounts in this game and when doing map completion you won't have access to all the waypoints initially so being able to get from place to place quickly will help you level more efficiently.  That being said, here are the builds that I would recommend for leveling a ranger.

Leveling Build 0 - 39

The first question I would ask when I saw this build would be: why Signets, I thought we needed burst damage?  Well, although that's true, look at the alternatives.  Ranger's utilities are broken down into 5 categories: shouts, signets, spirits, survival and traps.  The first choice for burst damage I would say would be traps, but until they're ground targeting at the next tier of traits, they're pretty useless unless you want to get up in the fight.. which you don't want to do.  You want to fight at a distance and burn things down before they reach you, minimizing your need to move from a given path.  After traps you could say survival is the next choice, however the cooldowns prevent it from being a good choice.  This leaves shouts and spirits, which neither are good for this situation.  Signets are better because they give you something useful all the time, which is something you'll come to appreciate as you'll be quickly going from fight to fight.

To use while fighting (otherwise just have axe/warhorn out and use skill 5 whenever it's off cooldown):

Setup: N/A
Pull: N/A
Rotation:

1. If fighting against a single target switch to longbow and alternate between skills 0, F2, 3, 2, and 1 (in that priority order).
2. If fighting against multiple targets switch to axe/warhorn and alternate between skills 0, F2, 5, 2 and 1 (in that priority order).

Situational:

1. If your pet dies, press F4 to switch him out (if your alternate pet is not dead).
2. If a target gets up in your face:
1. If you are using a longbow, use skill 4 (don't use it otherwise).
2. If you are using axe/warhorn, use skill 3 and dodge twice in a safe direction.
3. If you get below half health use your heal skill.

Leveling Build 40 - 59

This one should require less explanation.  We're of course keeping Signet of the Hunt, but we switch out the other two signets for the lowest cooldown traps to help maximize our burst damage.  As far as trait allocation goes, if you JUST hit 30, just drop all the traits into skirmishing so you can get ground targeting traps.

To use while fighting (otherwise just have axe/warhorn out and use skill 5 whenever it's off cooldown):

Setup: N/A
Pull: N/A
Rotation:

1. If fighting against a single target switch to longbow and alternate between skills 0, F2, 8, 7, 3, 2, and 1 (in that priority order).
2. If fighting against multiple targets switch to axe/warhorn and alternate between skills 0, F2, 8, 7, 5, 2 and 1 (in that priority order).

Situational:

1. If your pet dies, press F4 to switch him out (if your alternate pet is not dead).
2. If a target gets up in your face:
1. If you are using a longbow, use skill 4 (don't use it otherwise).
2. If you are using axe/warhorn, use skill 3 and dodge twice in a safe direction.
3. If you get below half health use your heal skill.

Once you've reached level 60 it's time to start looking at some big boy builds.  Try each one out, they all have their place.