Guild Wars 2

I ask this because It was a huge thing back in 2013(got back to the game about a week ago, still learning whats good and whats bad now) I’ve been playing my engi a lot recently, but the issue I have with the class is constant swapping between 4 things. However I just completed ascended viper set. Is longbow or condi better in terms of dps? I liked longbow back then, but shortbow seemed like the go to for a ranger. Thanks guys!

Just so you know, everything is capable of working. The answer to any question on here regarding a class/build asking whether or not something is viable… the answer to it is always going to be yes. The very definition of the word viable is “capable of working.”

If you reword your question to clarify whether or not you’re asking if it’s better comparatvely to a ranger focusing on direct damage, specify what type of content we’re talking here along with any other specifics that we’d need to determine how effective it is including the build you’d be using… then we’d be able to help you.

So, I suggest you elaborate a bit more on what you want for more helpful responses. First of all I can tell you now that longbow camping is terrible DPS regardless of what you’re doing, and that condi ranger has the potential to be very powerful in PvE as it can maintain a high amount of burning stacks. At the same time, direct damage rangers can be strong too but they aren’t camping longbow at all and make use of sword mainhand as their primary weapon.

Here is the class guide on dulfy written for rangers: http://dulfy.net/2014/07/05/gw2-ranger-pve-class-guide-by-lorek-and-cell/

Just keep in mind it hasn’t been updated yet for HoT, but much of the information on there has not yet been rendered obsolete and can still be helpful for understanding the intricacies of the class. You can also message the author(s) ingame and they would be happy to answer questions.

Until then, there’s not a whole lot we can say other than “yes” or “no.”

Purple Miku.7032:

Just so you know, everything is capable of working. The answer to any question on here regarding a class/build asking whether or not something is viable… the answer to it is always going to be yes. The very definition of the word viable is “capable of working.”

If you reword your question to clarify whether or not you’re asking if it’s better comparatvely to a ranger focusing on direct damage, specify what type of content we’re talking here along with any other specifics that we’d need to determine how effective it is including the build you’d be using… then we’d be able to help you.

So, I suggest you elaborate a bit more on what you want for more helpful responses. First of all I can tell you now that longbow camping is terrible DPS regardless of what you’re doing, and that condi ranger has the potential to be very powerful in PvE as it can maintain a high amount of burning stacks. At the same time, direct damage rangers can be strong too but they aren’t camping longbow at all and make use of sword mainhand as their primary weapon.

Here is the class guide on dulfy written for rangers: http://dulfy.net/2014/07/05/gw2-ranger-pve-class-guide-by-lorek-and-cell/

Just keep in mind it hasn’t been updated yet for HoT, but much of the information on there has not yet been rendered obsolete and can still be helpful for understanding the intricacies of the class. You can also message the author(s) ingame and they would be happy to answer questions.

Until then, there’s not a whole lot we can say other than “yes” or “no.”

Sorry for the lack of info, I wrote half of this and came back to it, I guess I thought I completed it. I’m focusing on PvE. More specifically raids. By better dps, I suppose you already answered that with the fact short bow is good burning if used right. For shortbow, is there a certain amount of condition duration I should go for? And should stat priority be in this order? . . . Power-Precision-Condition Damage. And would Yassith’s Viper set be good enough? With a mix of sinister?

Purple Miku.7032:

Just so you know, everything is capable of working.

Raids say no.

As to the OP, yes condi ranger is really good. I think it is still the second highest condi damage set… given your target is willing to stand still in all of your traps. Axe / Torch, use quickdraw to spam bonfire on a 9 second cooldown. Don’t have axe and torch on the same weapon set, so you can swap between them with just two weapons.

HakunaMataBaby.2734:

Sorry for the lack of info, I wrote half of this and came back to it, I guess I thought I completed it. I’m focusing on PvE. More specifically raids. By better dps, I suppose you already answered that with the fact short bow is good burning if used right. For shortbow, is there a certain amount of condition duration I should go for? And should stat priority be in this order? . . . Power-Precision-Condition Damage. And would Yassith’s Viper set be good enough? With a mix of sinister?

I can’t give you class-specific advice when it comes to ranger because it’s out of the scope of my proficiency, but I can link you to examples of my friend who fooled around on condi ranger a while ago for soloing in Arah. You could try asking her in the youtube comments and she’d probably be a better source of info when it comes to rangers than me, but as you can definitely see they are very much capable of being powerful.

condi ranger vs Lupicus: https://youtu.be/ajIvFhrJQRs
condi ranger vs abom: https://youtu.be/tx7yoZEIhNY

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Purple Miku.7032:

Just so you know, everything is capable of working.

Raids say no.

Maybe to the groups you’ve been in they say no, but it’s possible to beat all the bosses with varied comps and setups. It is possible to use whatever build you want to win and especially considering there’s only been a week for people to play them, people’s perceptions of the difficulty of these bosses will be be a completely different as time goes on. Dungeons were considered “impossible” back in 2012 by many people too, yet they’re considered faceroll 1111111 now.

I don’t buy it. There’s no reason why raids would suddenly become faceroll just because dungeons were considered non-faceroll content. Likewise, with enrage timers, it is very much in their design to not let everything work. That’s why full GC groups have to slam their heads against the boss dozens of times just to squeeze out a single kill.

Yeah… because it’s the period when everybody’s first learning how to do them, as it’s something that they haven’t experienced yet on this game and had to figure out how to do. The difficulty of merely completing the content is obviously on a completely different level but that’s not the point I’m making— the point I’m making is that things become easier after repetition and practice.

These raids aren’t changing unless anet decides to frequently alter them and their mechanics, which I really doubt they’ll be doing much of unless it involves tiny changes such as the enrage timers and the attribute values of the enemies, the loot, etc.

Do you really think that some of the guilds that have beaten the current bosses already are going to be saying 6 months or even a year down the line “these raids are really hard!” or do you think they’re gonna consider them just routine at that point?

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

I don’t buy it. There’s no reason why raids would suddenly become faceroll just because dungeons were considered non-faceroll content. Likewise, with enrage timers, it is very much in their design to not let everything work. That’s why full GC groups have to slam their heads against the boss dozens of times just to squeeze out a single kill.

Well until the next power spike comes along in what ever form.

Back when the game launched and dungeons were considered hard the power level of the playerbase was no where near it is now. I’m not talking about ascended versus exotic, though that is a significant factor or exprience of players.

I’m talking about average gear level (which currently is not full ascended), way more power via talents and specs, new sigils, etc.

Raids will stay endgame content and challenging exactly as long as arenanet wants them to even without directly nerfing them.

On topic, condi ranger is working at the moment. Be aware though that support druid is the most desired ranger spec at the moment though.

After being broken for a long time, Conditions finally work (more or less) as advertised- making Condi builds in general “viable” for the first time.

I have a PvE Ranger who uses a hybrid build with Longbow and Sword+Warhorn. She’s in Exotic Sinister gear with Balthazar Runes and Geomancy + Agony Sigils, plus Ascended Condi+Power+Precision trinkets and a Guild Assassin back piece.

Her specializations are Marksmanship, Skirmishing and Wilderness Survival (I told you it was a Hybrid build). She has ~70% crit chance unbuffed except for her own passive Spotter buff, inflicts Bleeding, Burning and Poison on every hit, is able to stack might by Warhorn-5 Blast-Finishing fire fields laid down by her Wyvern pet, and is more fun to play than my Zerker Ranger.

On several occasions in the new zones, she was able to laugh after being downed as she rallied when her DoTs kept ticking and finished off the mob who had just killed her. Yes, I’m easily amused.

Is she as damaging as my Berserker Ranger? Probably not quite, although in fights where mobs use reflects and both of my Rangers have to stop shooting, my Condiger’s DoTs continue to relentlessly tick away even though she can’t shoot while the reflect is up. This may even out the damage between the two of them a bit.

I am going to try a set of the new Viper armor, which some say is higher damage than Sinister in most cases. I may even try a full-on Condi Ranger build using traps and axes and torch. But for now I’m having fun, and melting face, with my hybrid build.

I’ve been running around Magus Falls with a Condi Shortbow/Axe+Dagger Druid, and it’s about the most fun I’ve had in game since HoT went live. Survivability is awesome, and it positively melts fase.

I can’t comment on how that setup would do in other game modes, but for open world PVE, it’s awesome.