In the last Guild Wars State of the Game, the author talked about the importance of having a Mesmer as a defensive stop gap and disabler. This week's article covers a class that works well with the spellcaster-slash-disabler: the ranger.

According to the author, the role of a ranger in a guild versus guild scenario is essentially that of a Mesmer. However, while this class can disrupt opponents, it also acts as a pressure and skirmish unit depending on the circumstances.

Rangers disrupt opponents mainly through two abilities: Distracting Shot and Savage Shot. Distracting Shot is often used on skills which enemies tend to spam such as Word of Healing or or Restore Conditions. Savage Shot on the other hand is used on skills with a long cooldown rate.

When required to pressure the opponent, the Ranger applies party-wide health degeneration. Under optimal conditions, the ranger can maintain a whopping 64 DPS (Damage Per Second) on an entire party. However, since battlefields are often less than ideal, expect the ranger to do much less than this.

Finally, we have Skirmishing. This catch-all term is used for the other tasks often assigned Rangers. This covers everything from pushing on enemy flag runners, defending your base, or ganking the opposing base. While a wide skill set is needed to accomplish these tasks, the Ranger player will probably want to focus on Natural Stride, Mending Touch, Troll Unguent, and Crippling Shot.

In case you want more details on any of the aforementioned roles as well as detailed examples on how these are accomplished, feel free to follow our Source Link. It'll take you to the Guild Wars State of the Game on the Ranger class.