Untamed - Power Longbow Roamer

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Strike damage, Mobility and Control

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Hard

This build was last updated on November 11, 2024 and is up to date for the March 11, 2025 patch.

Overview

An Untamed power build for WvW roaming. Sticks to the staple LB/GS setup of Ranger and slaps some modifiers on top of it, along with some shiny new tools such as better pet management and new pet skills. The more complex pet management makes it somewhat harder to play than other similar power builds.

Skill Bar

Longbow

Greatsword

Utility

Skill Variants

Utility

Viable choices for the optional slot:

• Nature's Binding
  - an extremely powerful CC that can easily guarantee kills.

• Signet of the Hunt
  - makes your burst unblockable/ignore projectile hate. Gamechanger against certain specs like Virtuoso and Catalyst but way less useful against those that don't rely on blocking skills. Consider taking
  Brutish Seals
  on Marksmanship.

• Lightning Reflexes
  - good defensive skill with evasion, stun break and some condi removal.

• Unnatural Traversal
  - not that strong after the nerfs which gave it a cast time, preventing us from doing instant melee burst from range with it. Could still have some value as a gapcloser though.

Pets

• Wolf over River Drake - the Drake has higher burst potential and 2 hard hitting abilities that you can control, but the Wolf has more CC and its highest damage skill has a really short cast time which makes it easier to land and utilize in combos.

Template Code

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Equipment

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Longbow
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Rune

• Superior Rune of Durability
  - more tanky option.

Sigils

• Superior Sigil of Cleansing
  - could be added to the Greatsword set as well if you're having trouble dealing with conditions.

Consumables

Food

• Peppercorn-Crusted Sous-Vide Steak
  - strong mix of sustain and damage.

• Bowl of Orrian Truffle and Meat Stew
  - more evasion uptime and
  Companion's Defense
  synergy.
  • Budget version:
    Bowl of Meat and Winter Vegetable Stew

Utility

• Superior Sharpening Stone
  or
  Tin of Fruitcake
  .

Usage

Elite specialization basics

• Untamed Rangers have more control over their pets than regular Rangers, allowing them to manually control their pet's 3 special attacks.

• Unleash is the central mechanic of Untamed. At any given time either you or your pet is in the Unleashed state, and you get to flip back and forth on a 1s CD.

• When you're Unleashed, your first autoattack is empowered. Greatsword's turns into
  Savage Slash
  while Longbow's becomes
  Multishot
  . Unleashing yourself makes you deal more damage.

• Unleashing the pet grants your pet a damage reduction while their pet skills flip over to new ones:
  • F1 becomes
    Venomous Outburst
  • F2 becomes
    Rending Vines
  • F3 becomes
    Enveloping Haze

General

• Use
  Swoop
  for mobility.

• Zephyr's Speed
  has several uses:
  • It can be used offensively for the Quickness, most notably to boost
    Rapid Fire
    ,
    Maul
    , or Greatsword autos for downed cleave.
  • Alternatively the Superspeed can help you escape damage or chase down targets while on Greatsword.

• Pet swapping acts as a Blast finisher thanks to
  Clarion Bond
  . Being instant, you can have Smokescale place a
  Smoke Cloud
  under you (even while you're stunned), and swap pets for AoE stealth.

• Hunter's Shot
  is the easiest way to gain stealth in this build, but if the projectile misses then it won't be applied. To reduce the chance of that happening (and considering how the damage of this skill is insignificant) you should try to fire it at pets, mesmer clones, and other AI whenever possible. Alternatively, use it to quickly get rid of Blind or Aegis because it's the fastest projectile on this weapon.

• Smokescale's F2
  Smoke Cloud
  is a useful combo field:
  • Projectile finishers like
    Point-Blank Shot
    and
    Rapid Fire
    could Blind your target, increasing your sustain.
  • While your pet is unleashed, Smoke Cloud is replaced by
    Rending Vines
    which is a Blast finisher. Dropping the field, unleashing the pet and pressing the skill again could make your pet combo Stealth for you on his own. Such a good boy.
  • Swoop
    or the trait proc from
    Clarion Bond
    could be used to stack Stealth as well.

Sustain

• Forest's Fortification
  is one of your ebst survival tools but also one that has good synergy with your more offensive skills. Try to use
  Barrage
  and
  Multishot
  while this is active to reduce the CD of your elite whenever possible, but anything works as long as you're trying to hit as many targets as often as possible.

• Cleansing Unleash
  makes your unleash ability remove 2 conditions every 10 seconds, which is your first line of defense against conditions.

• Mutate Conditions
  is for emergencies in case condition damage is starting to overwhelm you. Consider disengaging/repositioning right after or following up with Stealth so you have some time to recover. It's also a stun break.

• "Protect Me!"
  is both a stun break and an excellent skill for damage mitigation. Hold onto it in case you get stunned if Mutate Conditions is on CD, otherwise you get to use it a bit more freely.

• Every unleashed pet skill can be used defensively, and
  Unleash Pet
  itself grants you damage reduction.

• Venomous Outburst
  is an instant source of ranged Blind via trait synergy that could also be used if you're CC'd or casting skills.

• Rending Vines
  applies Slow but only if the target is CC'd. It's still useful for preventing them from counterpressuring you after the CC.

• Enveloping Haze
  destroys projectiles while the Chill makes it easy for you to kite enemies caught in it.

Doing damage

• On Longbow your main combo is
  Point-Blank Shot
  into
  Rapid Fire
  . The CC from PBS also procs
  Superior Sigil of Celerity
  for Quickness. If the target doesn't have Stability you should open with this whenever you swap sweapons because that way you could squeeze in a second
  Rapid Fire
  before swapping back to Greatsword.

• Make sure that you're the one who's unleashed during burst combos, not the pet.

• Once evey 15 seconds unleashed autoattacks become available:
  Savage Slash
  on Greatsword and
  Multishot
  on Longbow. You don't suddenly gain access to them whenever they're off cooldown, only when you use
  Unleash Ranger
  .
  • Let Loose
    makes it easier to manage these skills - whenever you swap weapons, the CD is reset so you always get to use unleashed attacks right after weapon swapping. After that the 15s CD still applies but only if you stay on the same weapon long enough.

• Whenever Fury is applied to you your next attack will deal more damage and be a guaranteed critical hit. This only works on the next strike and doesn't cover entire skills that deliver multiple hits like
  Rapid Fire
  . On GS however
  Maul
  benefits a lot from this. Sources of Fury applications in the build:
  • Disabling a foe via
    Two-Handed Training
    . Both weapon sets have access to CC skills but GS gets the most value out of this trait. Always try to use
    Maul
    after
    Hilt Bash
    , but even on Longbow
    Multishot
    could do decent burst damage after
    Point-Blank Shot
    as Multishot is the most damage you can do in a single hit on bow.
  • Swapping pets thanks to
    Clarion Bond
    . This is instant and could even be used in the middle of casting skills to make them crit when they land.
  • Signet of the Hunt
    when playing with
    Brutish Seals
    . This is another instant source.
  • Using
    "We Heal As One!"
    when you already have Fury.

• Maul
  gives your pet a buff that increases their damage on their next attack. This is best used with either Tail Swipe or Chomp on Drake or Crippling Leap on Wolf.

The Longbow burst combo is rather simple:

1. Make sure you have Fury
2. CC people with
   Point-Blank Shot
3. Optional - get Quickness from
   Zephyr's Speed
4. Immediately follow up with
   Rapid Fire

Greatsword burst combo example (extended):

1. Make sure you're on
   Unleash Ranger
2. Optional - CC the target with
   Counterattack
   if you were blocking. This will increase the damage of Maul.
3. Precast
   Maul
   - the rest of the combo happens between this and Maul landing.
4. Swap to River Drake to trigger
   Zephyr's Speed
   which grants Fury and Quickness. Fury gives you
   Opening Strike
   for increased damage.
5. Cast the pet's Chomp or Tail Swipe (Chomp is easier to land but Tail Swipe does more damage), this should land right after Maul lands.
6. Your pet should now have Attack of Opportunity as well as Opening Strike for maximum damage. The pet attack should connect right after
   Maul
   lands.
7. Hilt Bash
   your target for CC, hopefully a
   Moment of Clarity
   proc, and to refresh Maul.
8. Maul
   again.

Greatsword burst combo (short)

1. Maul
2. Hilt Bash
   to refresh Maul
3. Maul

Related Builds

• LB/GS Untamed Marksman - sPvP version of the build.