Flame Ram
Stats
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Supply cost | 40 |
| Range | 360 (melee) |
| Damage type | Fire — gate-only |
| Effective vs | Gates (extremely fast) |
| Ineffective vs | Walls, players, other siege |
What it does
The Flame Ram is the fastest gate-breaker in WvW. Two coordinated rams can drop a tier-1 gate in well under a minute. The trade-off: it's melee range only (360 units), which means you have to walk it right up to the gate while standing exposed to defenders' arrow carts and burning oil.
Rams are the preferred opening for any quick attack — havoc groups flipping camps and outer towers, or zergs on a fast-flip K-train. For high-tier Keeps with significant defence, catapults are usually preferred to keep distance.
Skills
- Skill 1 — Ram: the standard ramming attack. Heavy gate damage. Spam this.
- Skill 2 — Power Ram: bigger hit but longer recharge. Use to finish off the last bit of the gate.
- Skill 3 — Burning Ram (Superior only): leaves a burning AoE under the ram. Anyone trying to defend by standing on top of the gate takes damage.
- Skill 4 — Anti-Bash (Superior only): self-protection skill. Reduces incoming siege damage briefly so the operator survives a defensive AC volley.
Placement
- Directly against the gate — stand at the gate, face it, place. The ram automatically aligns.
- Build 2–3 in parallel — multiple rams at the same gate dramatically speed up the break and absorb defensive damage between them.
- Bring a healer / Firebrand — the operator standing still on the ram is a perfect target. A bubble or projectile-block keeps the ram alive against an arrow cart.
- NEVER ram solo without scouts — defenders will pour burning oil down on you and your ram dies in 5 seconds.
Counters
- Burning Oil from the gate-top — the single hardest counter. Pours a burn pool that destroys both ram and operator.
- Wall-mounted Cannons — direct-fire damage with knockback, hits straight onto the ram.
- Defensive Arrow Carts — wide AoE volleys shred any group standing still on a ram.
- Push the operators — opening the gate momentarily and zerging the rammers is sometimes the right play if defenders outnumber attackers.
When to build one
- You're attacking a tier-1 or tier-2 tower with low defence.
- The objective has no auto-upgrade burning oil yet.
- You want to make noise and force defenders to commit — even if the ram is pushed off, the attempt rotates defenders away from another front.
Skip the ram when:
- The objective has tier-3 fortified gates with active oil and wall-mounted cannons (catapult instead).
- You have no group support — solo ramming gets you killed.
- Defenders have a Shield Generator covering the gate.