I am a halfling ranger, and while grouped in Lasanth the other day with a Warrior and Rogue being the two other melees, I seemed to get more aggro than either of them, so I decided to do an experiment. I let them get the mob down to 80% hp without me engaging, and upon engaging at 80% I immediatly recieved aggro. Next they got another mob down to 69% hp, and upon engaging I did not recieve aggro. Is there a trick to not getting aggro, or am I just doomed as a healer mana leech?
Ranger aggro
- Thread starter Kisua
- Start date
What level was the warrior and yourself? Is this the first time you noticed this? I mean, you're in Lasanth so how is this an issue now? I don't really think rangers have an aggro problem from my experience, but if you do, maybe just use a bow until you figure it out or get a decent tank.
The responses so far in the thread have been great. In addition to them, here are some general tips on ranger aggro:
If you dont want aggro
- Use your jolt spells (they decrease your aggro significantly and are fast/cheap to cast) on engage and then if you need to
- Watch out for weapon procs (especially debuffs and stuns) and jolt accordingly
- You get a weapon proc spell (jolting blades), use this if necessary
- Have the tank call assist when he thinks he has enough aggro, if necessary
- Use your bow if you get too much aggro still with melee
- Dont do / limit the things you do that are listed below
If you want aggro
- Cast tangling weeds + flame lick/immolate and refresh whenever they fade
- Cast a weapon proc on yourself (Call of the Mound is the best, its huge aggro), most of them have stun components
- If you're bowing/kiting, use Quiver of the Sun (it has a -150 atk debuff + blind that is good aggro)
- Be really low on health :roll:
Hope this helps
Good luck!
If you dont want aggro
- Use your jolt spells (they decrease your aggro significantly and are fast/cheap to cast) on engage and then if you need to
- Watch out for weapon procs (especially debuffs and stuns) and jolt accordingly
- You get a weapon proc spell (jolting blades), use this if necessary
- Have the tank call assist when he thinks he has enough aggro, if necessary
- Use your bow if you get too much aggro still with melee
- Dont do / limit the things you do that are listed below
If you want aggro
- Cast tangling weeds + flame lick/immolate and refresh whenever they fade
- Cast a weapon proc on yourself (Call of the Mound is the best, its huge aggro), most of them have stun components
- If you're bowing/kiting, use Quiver of the Sun (it has a -150 atk debuff + blind that is good aggro)
- Be really low on health :roll:
Hope this helps
Good luck!Zhak Morris
Dalayan Beginner
Maybe ranger aggro should just be looked at in general. They have the best aggro out of the "non tank class tanks" (monk ranger bard) and with the new defensive AA they got ( or are getting, not sure on the aa updates ) they're becoming pretty excellent tanks. With call of the mound I'd honestly be impressed if a SK could keep aggro off Aeran ( just an example, because he's quite good with maintaining aggro ) over the duration of a few minutes. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for rangers to have insane ammounts of aggro.
Would have to say I have noticed some strange aggro trends in Warrior vs Monk vs Ranger vs Bard.
As a max AA/Wailfury warrior I still split tanking time in 6 man zones like Catacombs with the Monk and Ranger and occasionally Bard because mobs will still turn on them even using agro debuff spells like jolt.
Whether this is because warrior dps has been reduced, or proc rate of items reduced, or monk and ranger melee buffed a bit I can't say.
The only things that really make sure I keep agro directed at me are Sk agro buffs or if I am lucky enough to get a wailfury proc a couple times right off the start of an encounter which is a dice roll as sometimes it procs half a dozen times and other fights not once.
As a max AA/Wailfury warrior I still split tanking time in 6 man zones like Catacombs with the Monk and Ranger and occasionally Bard because mobs will still turn on them even using agro debuff spells like jolt.
Whether this is because warrior dps has been reduced, or proc rate of items reduced, or monk and ranger melee buffed a bit I can't say.
The only things that really make sure I keep agro directed at me are Sk agro buffs or if I am lucky enough to get a wailfury proc a couple times right off the start of an encounter which is a dice roll as sometimes it procs half a dozen times and other fights not once.
Insane ranger aggro is a long standing tradition. Where do you think all the ranger down jokes came from? When we finally got the jolt line of spells that pretty much remedied the situation but the stigma remains to this day. Our reduced ability to absorb dmg vs plate tanks is the tradeoff for the aggro. Makes us good for pulling mobs off casters but not generally suited for long-term tanking. Also, Kisua, the recent change to triple attack may require some adjustments in your play style until you get used to it. Just ask Aeran how the first raid after his return went Engage mob... 10 secs...Cleric01 says "I rezzed him last time, someone else click the ranger". <3
Engage mob... 10 secs...Cleric01 says "I rezzed him last time, someone else click the ranger". <3Im the actual warrior in question and I was 58 at the time. We have noticed this problem on several occasions, so this is not a single occurence.
One example: Eariler when while we were logging back on from a server reboot, me and a cleric engaged the single roamer by the zoneline. I had meleed (while continuosly taunting) the mob down to around 40-50% when kisua finally logged back in. Upon Kisua engaging the mob almost immediately aggros him and will not change back, even tried with different stances. Of course, he can backup and aggro returns to me, but whenever he gets back into melee range aggro is right back to him, usually without him even swinging the first hit.
I believe that Kisua had some numbers on the dps of each melee on one of the fights, I dont have any. But I seem to remember him saying that between kisua, me, and the rogue, the only person that he had out dps'ed was me by a small margin. Its seems like the rogue should be pulling aggro moreso than the ranger, but I have never really had a problem with that.
So not real sure if it is just a ranger thing, or a weird aggro effect. But, it seems to occur on a much more frustrating level when dealing with rangers than anyother class.
One example: Eariler when while we were logging back on from a server reboot, me and a cleric engaged the single roamer by the zoneline. I had meleed (while continuosly taunting) the mob down to around 40-50% when kisua finally logged back in. Upon Kisua engaging the mob almost immediately aggros him and will not change back, even tried with different stances. Of course, he can backup and aggro returns to me, but whenever he gets back into melee range aggro is right back to him, usually without him even swinging the first hit.
I believe that Kisua had some numbers on the dps of each melee on one of the fights, I dont have any. But I seem to remember him saying that between kisua, me, and the rogue, the only person that he had out dps'ed was me by a small margin. Its seems like the rogue should be pulling aggro moreso than the ranger, but I have never really had a problem with that.
So not real sure if it is just a ranger thing, or a weird aggro effect. But, it seems to occur on a much more frustrating level when dealing with rangers than anyother class.
I am an aggro magnet as a ranger as well. Remember that the "Call of ..." line is aggro-producing. So don't use them in an xp group where the MT can't hold it off you. Number 1 thing to do as pointed out is Jolt immediately. Make sure your on the mob's hatelist, either swing once, hit it with the bow, whatever. Then immediately jolt. If the fight is going to last more than 1.5-2mins, jolt every 30-40 seconds to be sure. Just like a rogue has to evade constantly, its best if we jolt as much as possible.
GuiardoTuneweaver
Staff Emeritus
choco said:
As a side note, the way taunt works on this server is it puts you at max-aggro+1. So if you have aggro, it's only giving you 1 more aggro. I find it's much better to not taunt until the mob turns away, so it'll be ready. If it was a burst of aggro that caused the mob to turn (e.g. caster nuked it, mele proc'd on it, etc.), then most of the time you can snap it right back to you. With sustained DPS (ranger, rogue, monk etc..) it will switch back to the higher-dps individual, and they should jolt/evade/fd to lower themselves on the aggro list.
choco said:
Are you sure the mob wasn't rooted? This sounds like the classic root scenario.
Another point that hasn't been brought up is proximity. I can't swear it works the same way here, but on live aggro somewhat scales inversely to distance from the mob. 2 players generating the same amount of hate, the one that is closer to the mob will be higher on the hate list. Whenever possible the tank should be right up in the mobs grill and the dps melees should be close to maximum melee distance to minimize their aggro.