Build:Untamed - LB/GS Untamed Marksman

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

Focused on: Direct damage and Control

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on January 30, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A high damage Untamed burst build for PvP. Generally seen as one of the harder Ranger builds to play, Power Untamed is a formidable dueliest that can even pull its weight in larger fights when played right.

Skill Bar

Longbow

Greatsword

Utility

Skill Variants

Utility

• Nature's Binding over "Protect Me!" - with this you gain an extremely powerful CC that can easily guarantee kills on a rather short CD, but give up a valuable source of sustain for it. Makes the build less forgiving to play, but also to play against.

Template Code

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Equipment

Longbow

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

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

• "We Heal As One!" should be used just before leaving spawn to grant AoE Swiftness to the team through Resounding Timbre. In combat, to get the most out of the fact that it can grant you extra boons, try to use it if your pet has Protection and Quickness. Swapping pets in the middle of channeling your healing skill is something you should consider doing regularly.

• 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.
  • Stealth fields are always valuable on any team! Consider dropping this for allies before arriving to a fight so they can make use of the field too.

Sustain

• Forest's Fortification is one of your best 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, 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.

Doing damage

• Most of the build revolves around burst combos and just surviving / using fillers inbetween.

• Unnatural Traversal is a combo piece best used with Maul and Hilt Bash. It's an instant teleport that allows you to do burst from range using a melee weapon.

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 (and Smokescale's Smoke Assault if it's available)

Greatsword burst combo example (extended):

1. Make sure you're on Unleash Ranger
2. Precast Maul - the rest of the combo happens between this and Maul landing.
3. Optional - teleport in with Unnatural Traversal if you were out of range before Mauls lands
4. Swap to Wolf to trigger Zephyr's Speed which grants Fury and Quickness. Fury gives you Opening Strike for increased damage.
5. Cast the pet's F1 (Crippling Leap) right as Maul's about to connect, the pet attack should go off after Maul (as Maul buffs the pet).
6. Your pet should now have Attack of Opportunity as well as Opening Strike for maximum damage.
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

Top Streamers

• Twitch: Boyce

• Twitch: ROM

• Twitch: Thelshin

Related Builds

• Power Longbow Roamer - WvW Roaming version.