Guild Wars 2

What are good ranger builds?

What fits your play style and actualy makes sense in theorycraft

Well first we should start with a weapon, do you prefer any weapon set? I know Greatsword and either of the bows are considered good. Personally I’m a fan of the sword and torch.

Longbow and more longbow …
For melee, I carry axe/dagger and also a greatsword, both melee set-ups are situational. I rely mostly on the longbow.

I mainly solo, so for skills I’m going with traps and signets. For traits I’m following Marksmanship and Skirmishing.

This is my first ranger build, and currently at level 25, so a long way to go yet.

bri.2359:

Longbow and more longbow …
For melee, I carry axe/dagger and also a greatsword, both melee set-ups are situational. I rely mostly on the longbow.

I mainly solo, so for skills I’m going with traps and signets. For traits I’m following Marksmanship and Skirmishing.

This is my first ranger build, and currently at level 25, so a long way to go yet.

well axe is ranged mate, so you should think about getting a 1h sword

You can have thousands of combinations with ranger it makes you a bit confused.
I noticed so far no one plays with sword and torch like I do. I didn’t really care about torch before until I tried in late game. In PvE, mobs rarely dodge you so when you set the floor on fire while you spam your sword, trust me, it’s a huge load of damage right there. Mostly if you play with condition dmg, crit and toughness. Wouldn’t recomend for PvP cause they’d just dodge your flames and would be a waste of time, unless you want to use those flames as a combo for your long range attack.
Here’s just an opinion. You’ll read a lot of combination ideas and probably none of this is the ultimate ranger build because it’s how you like to play and you’re what you’re good at. One of the things that makes Gw2 unique and good.

Draw.7529:

You can have thousands of combinations with ranger it makes you a bit confused.
I noticed so far noone plays with sword and torch like I do. I didn’t really cared about torch before until I tried in late game. In PvE, mobs rarely dodge you so when you set the floor on fire while you spam your sword, trust me, it’s a huge load of damage right there. Mostly if you play with condition dmg, crit and toughness. Wouldn’t recomend for PvP cause they’d just dodge your flames and would be a waste of time, unless you want to use those flames as a combo for your long range attack.
Here’s just an opinion. You’ll read a lot of combination ideas and probably none of this is the ultimate ranger build because it’s had you like to play and you’re what you’re good at. One of the things that makes Gw2 unique and good.

i would play with a torch if i found one worth my time i keep finding green daggers and axes

rav.4982:

well axe is ranged mate, so you should think about getting a 1h sword

Yup, I know and the reason why I mentioned the situational clarification. The axe/dagger is a close-in back-up for when the longbow skills are cooling and something is about to pound on me sharpish ..

For melee, the greatsword seems to do the job, but you are right, I should pick up a 1h sword and give it a go.

I use longbow mainly and either greatsword or sword/dagger (when falling off ledges isn’t a problem.. there’s lots of movement abilities that I fall afoul of ¬¬)
as for utilities, again situational and preference.

Draw.7529:

You can have thousands of combinations with ranger it makes you a bit confused. .

You make a good point here. It is so easy to get lost in all the combinations. Probably best to get used to a couple of things and do those well, then experiment later.

I play only PvE so like your torch thing. I have one in my inventory, but haven’t equipped it yet. I just finished Kessex Hills and was wondering what to do next. I might go to a new lower level area an try out the sword/torch for a bit ..

I’m actually using axe & horn/torch and longbow. My pet does a lot of the tanking for me, so I have a lot of fun with the mid and long range options. Plus it makes it easy to set the floor on fire and switch to your long bow. And the horn makes birds attack someone in a mad flock, that’s just cool.

Oh, I highly recommend the Viper Trap!
Works a right charm when kiting some big nasty …

I was using shortbow/longbow, trying to use Arenajunkies pvp build to pve with. I open with the shortbow and apply all conditions and then swap to longbow to finish it. Though lately, aside from skill 2 and the AoE skill, I’m not that happy with longbow as I tend to kite alot and the slow rate of fire makes things a little more difficult if you are not facing your foe at all times.

Have been running with a Axe/Horn combo to start with then switching to the great sword to finish the target quickly. The spike trap and the great sword combo up close and dirty will usually drop just about anything I have come across. BTW I highly recommend the Lynx or one of the birds (raven,owl) as they have very good precision stats which seems to pay dividends.

at 80 ive mostly used shortbow/longbow combo, i typically use shortbow when solo as pet can hold agro while i flank/bleed and longbow on events/dungeons with lots of trash or i can safely stand at far range. as for build i went 20 power (10% dmg when durance is full and longer longbow range), 10 precision, 5 tough, 5 vitality, 30 beastmastery (masters bond, compassion training,natural healing). paired with the healing signet and use of a drake/dog/devourer pet is capable of offtanking dungeon adds without much threat (over 2k tough/vit). also a sidenote i prefer the river drake over others as instead of its breath being a cone its a chain lightning attack that can bounce a good distance (when used on jormags claws foot it chains to the head and the other foot to for about 1400ish x3).

I am having a total blast with axe/warhorn with longbow on the flipside. I tried torch, but had difficulty seeing ground circles through the glow. I’d like to switch out the longbow for something else as I find I’m not using it much at all. This thread has provided inspiration to that end!

I have used the longbow since level 8 (currently level 48)… and I love it! Very important to remember that both dmg and proximity come into play when generating agro from the mobs so when your pet runs in take advantage of the full range you’ll have with your longbow. Doing this and using my Snow Wolves Frost Snap, my own skills Spike Trap etc it is very rare that any mob makes it to me as they stay on my pet the whole time or are crippled. When I take on Champions I just have to be ready to switch pets for when my active one dies, easy enough & very fun ;D

Longbow//Torch+Sword. I kite them as best I can with the longbow if possible, but if not I fire off as many shots/strategic dodges combined with abilities as possible, and then I switch to my Torch/sword to cripple, poison, stab and burn them with single-target abilities. Then, when my switch-weapon is free, I make a bonfire, jump back, switch weapons and barrage them with horrible flaming arrows of death through the bonfire. I completely discount my pet, who gives me Might, of course.

Build wise, i’m not sure, but i’m currently stacking precision. Lvl25 with 46 percent crit haha. My attack is kind of low though so I guess the crits don’t really matter much at low level ;(

For general PvE lots of AoE is always useful. Cause of that, I go with axe/horn and sword/axe combined with the river and marsh drakes. QZ’d whirling defense and the 2 drakes’ f2 skills make short work of most mobs.

I leveled with the shortbow exclusively, running 1h sword/torch as offhand, figured what the heck another condition to dump on things. Pets vary. I used the brown bear (that I started with) for ages, I found the Arctodus to be a better tank though as it seems to regen/heal for more. For slot skills I’ve run Quickening Zephyr, Signet of the wild and Signet of stone for pve, heal tends to vary by mood or area, between Heal as one and Healing spring. For Elite I find Hounds of Balthazar to be in a good place in case of over agro. Trait set up I have been using is Skirmish 25, wilderness 20, beast 25 as my personal view is the 30 point traits are extremely lackluster.
WvW is a different beast altogether. While I’m to cheap/lazy to change weapons and traits I feel I do alright. I’ve been running Lightening reflexes, Quickening zephyr and signet of stone, and entangle for an elite. Going to try changing that up soon. Also pets for wvw I find the spiders to be the best, I’m currently using I think Jungle and forest spiders for the poison, and entangle.
Sorry for wall of text Just wanted to share what I’ve found works for me, your mileage may vary depending on play style and perhaps other unknown factors. Also appologies for the wall of text, this forum deleted my indents