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Ranger vs. Primeval
Ranger: Archery/Vitalism/Shadowplay
Primeval: Archery/Auramancy/Shadowplay
Looking into these two builds for PVP. Archery is a must it's what I've played in every MMO I could since back in the days of 1999 with EQ, actually I take that back. I liked the little fast elf archer in the 1980's Arcade and NES game Gauntlet but I guess that wasn't a MMO but you COULD have 4 players and that was screaming back in the day 
Anyways, looks like Shadowplay is a must too because it has the stealth ability along with your other Rouge skills. Now its a toss up for Vitalism or Auramancy or maybe something else?. Was anyone here able to test these 2 classes that could share some feedback and their viability in PVP? Do the Vitalism heals lock you in place when being cast? I didn't get to much time to try them out in closed beta wish I could have. Thanks in advance
Comments
I dont see how any build would work with vita anymore now.. since vita has its own stat now that is "Healing Power" so the heals wont be as great anymore..
I cant really speak on that build
Primevil now I have done..
Auramancy has a blink skill which is nice to have when someone gets close to you.. its diff a skill you dont want to burn use it wisely..
The character def moves fast and can shoot from a massive range and also can slow to bleed.. has a 4 second charge silence skill which is better for group pvp b/c it does aoe..
I would check some videos about it but most to all rangers with go Primevil b/c thats really all I seen in ALPHA, a couple Stone Arrow builds but other then that mostly Primevils
You can swap in a scepter and shield as a ranger to get spirit bonuses for heals.
Assuming you grab most of your skills from archery and shadowplay, I doubt there's much power difference among your third pool choices. Primeval caught on a while back so it's much better understood, but much of it's alleged superiority is probably groupthink.
Primeval is one of the biggest FOTM builds, so expect people to build to counter it.
Whether Ranger works depends on what you're building it for.
Failing would be trying to make Ranged, Melee and Heals all work.
Success would come through ignoring Shadowplay's melee stuff and using it just for stealth and mobility enhancers. Then go lightly into Vitalism - be sure to pick up the 20 second +12% damage bonus debuff with 18 second cooldown + 3 second snare. Combine that with Shadowplay's +12% damage bonus debuff. +24% single-target damage does some nice things for DPS.
Go heavily into Archery as your damage tree. Get the 8 (extra range), 9 (more and bigger crits), and 10 (+15% bow damage) point passives for sure.
Use Spirit gear as your melee weapon to boost the heals when you do need them. Since you don't plan on actually hitting anyone with that weapon, it doesn't matter than healer weapons have poor damage. And the weapon is the biggest factor in the magnitude of heals.
Doesn't have fantastic CC, but you do have a pair of snares. You still have the longest range in the game, stealth, and several fantastic mobility enhancements that makes Primeval such a FOTM hit. And of course, you have some heals and the additional +12% damage from the Vitalism tree.
Thanks Sarg, this is exactly what I was thinking. Going super heavy into Archery, taking a few from Shadow, and taking a few from Vitality.
That's also a super great point about everyone going the Primeval route, I'm sure people are trying to figure the best way to counter them as well.
So I think I'm going to try the ranger build first then, just gotta play with the heals and see if they root you in place or can I cast on the fly while dancing around my opponent. I'll try and find some time to get into open beta to give it a test.
And who knows maybe that 3rd skill set will be something else in the end, so many combinations to try
archery and shadowplay have a lot of skills which work together (some of them directly with combos), so those two are a given.
Auramancy does look like a great set of skills for pvp. I'm thinking anything with CC or CC-breaks/resists would be good for a 3rd class.