Guild Wars 2 Ranger

Jackal, one of the Guild Wars 2 Blog Krewe, is happier than a dog with two bones after the third character class in GW2 was confirmed as being the Ranger. Touted as... "a keen-eyed master of archery who can harness the power of nature or fight alongside his loyal animal companion"... the Guild Wars 2 ranger has a range of special skill types allowing him to lay traps, summon nature spirits, command 12 different types of pets or barrage his foes from afar.


Pets

As in the original GW, the Guild Wars 2 ranger charms his pets into joining him as a faithful companion. Old faithfuls such as Moa birds, Wolves, Spiders, Lizards and Bears are available to charm but there are also some new additions including a Devourer, a Snow Leopard and the first water-based pet, the Shark!

A GW2 ranger has three active pet slots and can switch the pets whenever outside of combat, or by using utility skills, but only one pet can be active at any time. A pets' base health, armor, and damage are based on the level of their owner.

In Guild Wars 2 the ranger must charm juvenile versions of whichever pet they want and they evolve as they adventure with their owner. Each pet has 20 levels of evolution. At certain evolution levels, pets will unlock up to four ability slots which can be filled from a list of active pet abilities based on pet type.

Pets can be ordered to "heel", "stay" and "attack" which is a great feature to avoid unintentional aggros and pet-induced pulls.

Here's a look at Guild Wars 2 Rangers dishing out some Barrage Pet mayhem!

The latest information and videos featuring the Ranger are here The Ranger
For all the latest info about the various Ranger pets ... Ranger Pets

Weapons

While the ranger is primarily a ranged weapons master, utilising two-handed Longbows and Shortbows he can also engage in melee combat using a two-handed Greatsword or a one-handed Sword or Axe in his main hand, with a Dagger, Warhorn or Torch in his offhand.

Traps

As in previous campaigns, the Guild Wars 2 Ranger will be able to place traps at their current location which will stay active as long as the ranger chooses to remain close to it. Spike Trap is back and will cripple and bleed enemies that pass through it. In a change to previous campaigns the GW2 ranger can only have one of each trap type out at any given time.

Spirits

The ranger's spirit skills summon a nature spirit that affects the area around it. The "Sun Spirit", for example adds fire damage to allied attacks inside its area of influence. A spirit stays out for a short period of time and goes away if the ranger wanders too far away from it. As with traps, a ranger can only have one of each type of spirit out at any given time.

It's enough to make you "quiver" with excitement... Guild Wars 2 hits another bullseye!