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 October 8, 2024 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.

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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

• Rune of Superior Rune of Durability - more tanky option.

Sigils

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

Consumables

Food

• - strong mix of sustain and damage.

• - more evasion uptime and Companion's Defense synergy.
  • Budget version:

Utility

• or .

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 Sigil of 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.