Guild Wars 2

Little back ground=got a warrior to 80 last year with a friend then quit and now returning by myself and used my boost on a Ranger for solo play.

I mainly interested in world bosses, spvp ,WvW and maybe a every dungeon now and then. Not sure which weapons I gonna stick with yet I like long bow with axe/horn but the short bow is growing on me

So what gear should I aim for? Received soldier gear with the boost and was thinking of replacing the jewelry with zerker. would that pair well?Thanks for your time!

Soldier’s with zerk jewelry is fine for just tooting around being mildly effective. Optimal is everything berserker.

However, axe and shortbow are both condition weapons (or hybrid in some cases against other players.) The ranger power weapons are longbow, greatsword, offhand axe, warhorn, and usually 1-handed sword.

If you decide to use a longbow on a ranger, there is absolutely no reason to not use full berserker. Take a couple damage pets like cats and swap when they’re about to die, you’ll be able to easily solo everything in the entire open world other than world boss type stuff.

how does full zerk work out in pvp?

PvP doesn’t use PvE armor. You get free amulets that give you stats in the PvP build section in the top middle of your screen.

But to answer your question, berserker amulet is ok to gimmicky in PvP. You can ask in the ranger forum if you need druid/ranger PvP help. There are a ton of viable builds.

Edit: WvW does use PvE armor though, and berserker LB there is very strong. If you get good at ranger you can be devastating solo or small group roaming as well. It’s a high risk/high reward build. Berserker is much much stronger in WvW than PvP because of a few game mechanic reasons.

Ok thank you Fluffball!

For what it’s worth going full zerker is definitely NOT the best way to go with Ranger. Here’s a look at my current build that I use for WvW at least. Small tweak for PvE but not much difference really:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBjODbkRFKZxGWwiF4axyegB/Wzr/1lmQA4sxMwCY9uSG2ZA-T1BBABbp8TSlgMcBCie/BAeICZq+zGHBgAAIAG6QH6QH6Qbo78o38m3sUA6pMC-w

This build gives a real good mix of power, toughness, critical chance, crit damage AND health.

I won’t say it’s the best in the world.. but… I’ve tweaked this Ranger for the last couple of years and on the field and 1v1 it’s a super nasty character to come up against for a Ranger. If I’m roaming I expect thiefs so I will switch up one of the skills for the “Sic Em” so I can keep them from stealthing long enough to take them down. Sometimes it works very well.. and of course, sometimes it don’t.

Many people swear by zerk or condi.. I’ve tried both and settled on the third option which is this build. Good survivability for a Ranger along with real good damage. Since it doesn’t focus on condi damage most people running with condi cleanse find they have a useless tool equipped. I can take down a camp fairly quickly.. and I really wonder why it takes people so long to take down a simple sentry. I usually have those little guys dead in 10 seconds or less.

Anyway, that’s my take on the Ranger, (which I main in WvW). Your and others mileage may vary.. it’s all good fun!

Balthazzarr.1349:

For what it’s worth going full zerker is definitely NOT the best way to go with Ranger.

While I’m not suggesting berserker is the best way to go, you saying it’s not is incorrect.

WvW roaming is a sandbox mode, and a lot of different things work for a lot of different people. As a ranger main I feel your build is significantly below par, however I see why it works and you probably win more than you lose. WvW is fun because you do all sorts of weird things and still win, especially if you’re a good player. Many people would look at some of my fun builds and think I was an idiot.

Anyway, this is a better discussion for the ranger forum probably. If OP wants excellent armor for both PvE and WvW, berserker is one of — if not the best — choice.

You will never get agreement from me on that… Lolol. But that’s cause I’m stubborn.

But I WILL agree that definitely different things/builds work for different people and areas in the game

Balthazzarr.1349:

You will never get agreement from me on that… Lolol. But that’s cause I’m stubborn.

But I WILL agree that definitely different things/builds work for different people and areas in the game

Ha, ya I didn’t mean zerk was the best choice for WvW, but for both modes combined. It would be really hard to convince me of another armor set that fits both modes so well. The glass condi is just too glassy for WvW. Zerk is at least top 10 for WvW and obviously top 3 for PvE, competing with viper for fractals and possibly healing raid gear.

Anywho, we seriously digress.

Lol. All good

Why not Viper/Sinister?

For a power build that you also want to use in WvW i’d recommend Marauder’s. You’ll need the extra Vitality to survive.

If you’re part of a small roaming group Zerker makes sense, because your mates will lock the target down. Roaming alone becomes landing your burst or dying. In zergs Rangers tend to lack AoE damage to be really useful. They are sometimes employed to attack siege at +1200 range though.

bearshaman.3421:

Why not Viper/Sinister?

Because you’d be giving up burst damage for Condi damage without the survivability needed for the condi to do its work, in WvW at least.