Guild Wars 2

What’s the best ranger build for getting in with PUGs?

I’m prepared to learn and gear up, but I don’t want to waste time with a build that even PUGs won’t accept.

when I still raided regularly it was magi’s

Not what metabattle says lol?

Months ago when I was interested in raids, I had thought the same.

Sigh*… Really feel like Anet needs to rework raids so it’s not so restrictive. By that I mean personal skill and capability. Build diversity isn’t welcome and that, to me, ruins the fun. That and this mentality of trying so hard to optimize/perfection versus just getting a win. Although that just leads to the ‘loot’ mentality, where everyone just wants to get the most loot within the least amount of time… again ruining the fun.

I digress. Ranger meta, please? =P

No 1 build sry

http://qtfy.enjin.com/ranger have all of them, and what a pug group will want/prefer will depend on how good they are (or think they are) and what wing/boss you want to kill.

Generally

Wing 1: 1 full heal (magi) and 1 condi (viper) or if the group is really good/bad 2 of either.

Wing 2: 1 full heal (magi and 1 power (berserker) or if the group is really good/bad 2 of either.

Wing 3: 1 full heal (magi and 1 power (berserker) or if the group is really good/bad 2 of either.

Some will pref. zealot over magi, though I have never seen a reason or any good arguments for this.

I don’t know what metabattle says, but in a pug, the main reason for failing dps checks is people going down. so as a healer, the best thing you can do is be as good at keeping people on their feet as possible. which means magi’s

edit: this is specific to raids though. I don’t know the dungeon/fractal meta as I always do those much more casually. and I don;t think anyone cares what your build is

Gear
Magi (Full Healer druid)
Zealot (Healer/DPS mix)
Zerker (Direct Damage DPS)
Viper (Condition Damage)
Cleric (Always have options to Cleric available, but if you have a Minstrel or Commander-specced Tank then you can generally run a few Cleric Pieces without worry.)

Specializations
Skirmishing (Must-have for Spotter and Quick Draw)
Druid (Must-have for Healing and Grace of the Land)
Marksmanship offers higher personal DPS.
Nature Magic offers slightly lower personal DPS in favor of better Party Support.

Utility Skills
Frost Spirit (Must-have) or Sun Spirit (In case of more Condi Damage on your subgroup)
Glyph of Empowerment (Must-have)
Stone Spirit (Party-wide Protection, good for PuGs)
Glyph of Alignment (Good heal in CA)
Glyph of the Tides (Knockback for seekers against VG)
Healing Spring (Regeneration, Water Field, quick CAF generation)
Water Spirit (W/ Nature’s Vengeance places a lot of Regeneration around, quicker CAF generation available then)
Glyph of Rejuvenation (Good default Heal, powerful and quick)
Glyph of Unity (Only to spread GotL, but can be cast before leaving CA to regenerate CAF faster)
Spirit of Nature (AoE Rez, good for clutch saves when Pugging)

Weapons
Longbow + Sword/Axe (Meta, Direct Damage Druid)
Shortbow + Axe/Torch (Meta, Condition Druid)
Staff + Sword/Axe (Hybrid Direct Damage/Healer Druid, such as Zealot)
Staff + Staff (Full Healer Druid, such as Full Magi)
Staff + Longbow (More DPS for Full Heal Druid, or for Hybrid Druids when you need to stay at Range)

TheSwede.9512:

Gear
Magi (Full Healer druid)
Zealot (Healer/DPS mix)
Zerker (Direct Damage DPS)
Viper (Condition Damage)
Cleric (Always have options to Cleric available, but if you have a Minstrel or Commander-specced Tank then you can generally run a few Cleric Pieces without worry.)

Specializations
Skirmishing (Must-have for Spotter and Quick Draw)
Druid (Must-have for Healing and Grace of the Land)
Marksmanship offers higher personal DPS.
Nature Magic offers slightly lower personal DPS in favor of better Party Support.

Utility Skills
Frost Spirit (Must-have) or Sun Spirit (In case of more Condi Damage on your subgroup)
Glyph of Empowerment (Must-have)
Stone Spirit (Party-wide Protection, good for PuGs)
Glyph of Alignment (Good heal in CA)
Glyph of the Tides (Knockback for seekers against VG)
Healing Spring (Regeneration, Water Field, quick CAF generation)
Water Spirit (W/ Nature’s Vengeance places a lot of Regeneration around, quicker CAF generation available then)
Glyph of Rejuvenation (Good default Heal, powerful and quick)
Glyph of Unity (Only to spread GotL, but can be cast before leaving CA to regenerate CAF faster)
Spirit of Nature (AoE Rez, good for clutch saves when Pugging)

Weapons
Longbow + Sword/Axe (Meta, Direct Damage Druid)
Shortbow + Axe/Torch (Meta, Condition Druid)
Staff + Sword/Axe (Hybrid Direct Damage/Healer Druid, such as Zealot)
Staff + Staff (Full Healer Druid, such as Full Magi)
Staff + Longbow (More DPS for Full Heal Druid, or for Hybrid Druids when you need to stay at Range)

^ This is pretty much exactly right. Although, I’m a weird one and go with Staff + Sword/Warhorn (using Windborne Notes in NM and a superior sigil of concentration for regen-application).

If healing isn’t your thing, Condi ranger can arguably be one the best DPS options for raids and even fractals. Rotation isn’t very difficult or demanding either.

Hornet.6357:

If healing isn’t your thing, Condi ranger can arguably be one the best DPS options for raids and even fractals. Rotation isn’t very difficult or demanding either.

^ This
Yes, you should consider running viper’s ranger instead. I still remember when I run the build for the first time its feels really unbelievable. Skills are super easy to land and most probably the easiest condition stacking rotation among all the classes.

Cansire.5079:

Hornet.6357:

If healing isn’t your thing, Condi ranger can arguably be one the best DPS options for raids and even fractals. Rotation isn’t very difficult or demanding either.

^ This
Yes, you should consider running viper’s ranger instead. I still remember when I run the build for the first time its feels really unbelievable. Skills are super easy to land and most probably the easiest condition stacking rotation among all the classes.

The fact that it’s the current top Condi DPS (if I’m looking at the most up-to-date DPS benchmark) and doesn’t lag too far behind Condi Engi in terms of realistic DPS just makes it even more useful.

For fractals, anything goes. But I’d suggest magi’s for raids.

In a PUG, chances are your team comp isn’t ideal and skill level uncertain; the safer option is to keep everyone up and running. You’re looking for a consistent kill, not a record breaking time. When the meta says condi druid is better, it assumes your team can survive with lesser heals… which is fair enough for a regular team but far from the truth in a PUG.

TheSwede.9512:

Cansire.5079:

Hornet.6357:

If healing isn’t your thing, Condi ranger can arguably be one the best DPS options for raids and even fractals. Rotation isn’t very difficult or demanding either.

^ This
Yes, you should consider running viper’s ranger instead. I still remember when I run the build for the first time its feels really unbelievable. Skills are super easy to land and most probably the easiest condition stacking rotation among all the classes.

The fact that it’s the current top Condi DPS (if I’m looking at the most up-to-date DPS benchmark) and doesn’t lag too far behind Condi Engi in terms of realistic DPS just makes it even more useful.

if you’re gonna play a ranger in fracs you might as well just go the whole hog and play druid since many, if not most, pugs will pretty much expect you to play a druid of some kind

and plus condi ranger does not have the utility like engi does