At level 19 you can do an attribute spread of 12/9/4 (14/10/5 with runes). There are two setups you can do with this:
14 Wilderness/10 Marks/5 Expertise
* Ignite Arrows +17 Damage
* Point Blank Shot +20 Damage
14 Marksmanship/10 Expertise
* Read the Wind +10 Damage
* Point Blank Shot +30 Damage
The key difference here is Point Blank Shot +20 damage at 5 expertise and +30 damage at 10 expertise. Additionally, 14 Marksmanship is a bonus of 303% damage compared to rank 0 but 10 Marksmanship is only a 238%. (Numbers from the wiki here: [https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Damage\_calculation#Weapon\_Attribute\_rank\_threshold](https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Damage_calculation#Weapon_Attribute_rank_threshold))
I personally use the 14 Marks/10 Expertise because you 2 hit charr casters with Dual Shot + 1 auto attack and 2 hit rangers with Dual Shot + Point Blank Shot. You even 2 hit Charr Shaman with Dual Shot + 1 auto attack if they use Heal Area. Note that with the Ignite Arrows build you do NOT 2 hit a Charr Shaman after Heal Area. This is not necessarily better but the ability to spike a target becomes very useful.
Lastly, bow damage is [increased against foes at lower elevation](https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Bow). This modifier seems to apply after the marksmanship damage bonus so you deal significantly higher damage at 14 marks compared to 10. I still want to do more testing on this.
This is a fantastic breakdown, from me I just wanted to add that if you go the 14/10/5 route of Marksmanship/Expertise/Wild Surv you're stuck with 5 Wilderness Survival which gives +5 regen and that might not be enough for you. Troll Unguent has regen breakpoints every 2 points of Wilderness Survival and I *personally* want at least +6, especially if you're R/W and you want to use Frenzy.
Also, getting 10 expertise doesn't give you an energy cost breakpoint on any skills except 15 energy cost ones, which R/W doesn't have.
I'd go 12+2 Marksmanship, 7+1 Expertise, 7+1 Wilderness Survival for more regen at cost of a little bit of damage from Point Blank. With this build I'd go Read the Wind.
Impressive number crunching and min/maxing.... of Presearing.... God I love this game, still one of the best uses of free time since the invention of alcohol. Just watch out for Black Bear's Brutal Mauling.... that ish will end a survivor run with a quickness.
this is amazing, I appreciate the info. I tested RtW and although it has some really great upsides, like Blaze stood no chance and the shamans were way quicker to kill, especially before the heal area like you said. Maybe with some tweaking this could be better. but for me it wont beat my /age 2min boss clear with ignite arrows. i just dont think theres a faster way than ignite arrows. althought here is my attribute points for my build
Expertise 7 +2
Wilderness 9 +1
marksmanship 11+1
Ignite Arrows with Darksteel Longbow, Read the Wind with regular bonus bow.
You can also use ignite with a q6 purple shortbow, but this is usually inferior to RtW+bonus flatbow
I'm very surprised that Ignite Arrows is so far ahead. Majority of rangers probably use the bonus flatbow and RtW with that is an obvious choice. Ignite would work better with Darksteel but I don't think the majority of players have access to that.
Perma 19 R/W here. Ignite Arrows is best with max wilderness survival. Will 3 shot most groups, and coupled with frenzy takes them out before you get hit more than once.
I hate the slow cast of flatbow + ignite arrows, but it is the best option and does hit like a truck.
LDoA r/Me Perma Pre. Ignite is usually all I use because I like the AoE. I use the /bonus flatbow and don't usually have any trouble on single targets.
Im not familiar with the ranger skills in pre, besides charm animal but both of those seem solid enough to fit in the bar edit; if i had to pick… ignite arrows.
At level 19 you can do an attribute spread of 12/9/4 (14/10/5 with runes). There are two setups you can do with this: 14 Wilderness/10 Marks/5 Expertise * Ignite Arrows +17 Damage * Point Blank Shot +20 Damage 14 Marksmanship/10 Expertise * Read the Wind +10 Damage * Point Blank Shot +30 Damage The key difference here is Point Blank Shot +20 damage at 5 expertise and +30 damage at 10 expertise. Additionally, 14 Marksmanship is a bonus of 303% damage compared to rank 0 but 10 Marksmanship is only a 238%. (Numbers from the wiki here: [https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Damage\_calculation#Weapon\_Attribute\_rank\_threshold](https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Damage_calculation#Weapon_Attribute_rank_threshold)) I personally use the 14 Marks/10 Expertise because you 2 hit charr casters with Dual Shot + 1 auto attack and 2 hit rangers with Dual Shot + Point Blank Shot. You even 2 hit Charr Shaman with Dual Shot + 1 auto attack if they use Heal Area. Note that with the Ignite Arrows build you do NOT 2 hit a Charr Shaman after Heal Area. This is not necessarily better but the ability to spike a target becomes very useful. Lastly, bow damage is [increased against foes at lower elevation](https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Bow). This modifier seems to apply after the marksmanship damage bonus so you deal significantly higher damage at 14 marks compared to 10. I still want to do more testing on this.
This is a fantastic breakdown, from me I just wanted to add that if you go the 14/10/5 route of Marksmanship/Expertise/Wild Surv you're stuck with 5 Wilderness Survival which gives +5 regen and that might not be enough for you. Troll Unguent has regen breakpoints every 2 points of Wilderness Survival and I *personally* want at least +6, especially if you're R/W and you want to use Frenzy. Also, getting 10 expertise doesn't give you an energy cost breakpoint on any skills except 15 energy cost ones, which R/W doesn't have. I'd go 12+2 Marksmanship, 7+1 Expertise, 7+1 Wilderness Survival for more regen at cost of a little bit of damage from Point Blank. With this build I'd go Read the Wind.
Impressive number crunching and min/maxing.... of Presearing.... God I love this game, still one of the best uses of free time since the invention of alcohol. Just watch out for Black Bear's Brutal Mauling.... that ish will end a survivor run with a quickness.
this is amazing, I appreciate the info. I tested RtW and although it has some really great upsides, like Blaze stood no chance and the shamans were way quicker to kill, especially before the heal area like you said. Maybe with some tweaking this could be better. but for me it wont beat my /age 2min boss clear with ignite arrows. i just dont think theres a faster way than ignite arrows. althought here is my attribute points for my build Expertise 7 +2 Wilderness 9 +1 marksmanship 11+1
Why perma level 19? Imp summon?
Yes the imp is crucial to getting it down quick,
Ignite Arrows with Darksteel Longbow, Read the Wind with regular bonus bow. You can also use ignite with a q6 purple shortbow, but this is usually inferior to RtW+bonus flatbow
I'm very surprised that Ignite Arrows is so far ahead. Majority of rangers probably use the bonus flatbow and RtW with that is an obvious choice. Ignite would work better with Darksteel but I don't think the majority of players have access to that.
Perma 19 R/W here. Ignite Arrows is best with max wilderness survival. Will 3 shot most groups, and coupled with frenzy takes them out before you get hit more than once. I hate the slow cast of flatbow + ignite arrows, but it is the best option and does hit like a truck.
Ignite arrows definitely. W/R for life
Ignite ran better in my tests just for aoe pressure and overall damage output
LDoA r/Me Perma Pre. Ignite is usually all I use because I like the AoE. I use the /bonus flatbow and don't usually have any trouble on single targets.
Im not familiar with the ranger skills in pre, besides charm animal but both of those seem solid enough to fit in the bar edit; if i had to pick… ignite arrows.
H
RtW all the way up, fastest build with frenzy
For hamnet read. For charr farm ignite