Untamed - Power Longbow Roamer

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

Focused on: Direct damage and Mobility

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on August 23, 2022 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 a long range teleport. The more complex pet management makes it somewhat harder to play than other similar power builds.

Skill Bar

Longbow

Greatsword

Utility

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

Rune

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Pack - if you either want to trade sustain for damage, or can't afford Durability runes just yet.

Sigils

Sigil of Severance and Bloodlust can be replaced by:

• Sigil of Cleansing - more cleansing in case you're having trouble dealing with conditions.

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Vision - 100% crit chance on your entire burst.

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, 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

Greatsword burst combo example (extended):

1. Swap to River Drake to trigger Zephyr's Speed which grants Fury and Quickness. Fury gives you Opening Strike for increased damage.
2. Make sure you're on Unleash Ranger
3. Cast Maul
4. Precast the pet's Tail Swipe, this should land right after Maul lands
5. Optional - teleport in with Unnatural Traversal if you were out of range before Mauls lands
6. Your pet should now have Attack of Opportunity as well as Opening Strike for maximum Tail Swipe damage. Tail Swipe should connect after Maul.
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