Guild Wars 2

Before the HoT expansion, I pretty much did everything on my Ranger. In Verdant Brink/Auric – I found myself barely able to survive. I decided to level a Gaurdian. She’s 80 now. My question is PvE based, as I solo 99.9% of my time on her, and in 2 parts. Not concerned with PvP as of yet.

Should my armour runes be vit/tough, or pure damage? I want to survive first, even if that means slower kills. I figure I can work on damage after I get survival down. LOL

Well DH if I’m right has the lowest HP of the heavy classes, there is a trait which gives vitality boosting full zerk base from 11k to 14k. What I would be thinking about really is being geared ready for fractals/raids, so ideally I would use full zerk armour and just use trinkets and food to boost vitality if I wanted the HP, which I don’t personally

I’m a little confused as to why you are doing solo content in HoT, it’s pretty difficult to solo the bigger mobs and bosses on any class to be honest you are much better just joining an LFG.

If I am ever doing solo content I will just take my necro or preferably warrior because she has 18k base health with full zerk gear equipped. Then I take adrenal health trait and the short CD heal/percentage damage which resets and refills my F1 so I can kill super fast while healing, on bigger mobs I will just keep one enemy at low health incase I do go down I can AA to rally xD

The good thing about warrior is the mobility, you have GS skills and the charge skill and a leap skill so you can fly past mobs you don’t need to fight. Not to mention you have infinite kiting potential. Necro is good for solo too but has terrible mobility. DH has some nice traps and good single target damage but IMO the cooldown of your multi target damage is quite high and the mobility isn’t great if you want to be survivable.

HoT zones are a big step up in difficulty. I think everyone faces these same issues at first. I think just getting used to the new areas and monsters will make the biggest difference in survivability and enjoyment. Figuring out which monsters do what, and what to really avoid will make things much easier. Having said that -

Adding some Marauder gear (Power, precision, vitality and ferocity) can make a big difference in survival without giving up too much damage potential. A defensive rune set would certainly help too.

As for Guardian, they have quite a bit of access to blocks and defensive boons and can be surprisingly survivable despite their low health pool.

Here is a Dragon Hunter build I used and had alot of success with. You can obviously make changes to suit your playstyle, but this should give a good starting point on how to add some survivablilty and still maintain good offense.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vVIQNAR7fnsABlChNCBekittendil4BzKE8CeUVBgGQ9Se/FAPgA-TBCBQB6T3wZUCWk9HAwFBoSq/gFlYaU5RAeCAECQ2YA-e

Use Greatsword for up close and personal combat and switch to Scepter / Torch when you need a little space.

Hope this helps!

HoT is very different than core. No idea on guard, but HoT taught me to love condi ranger/druid. I usually run short bow/AT. Drop the fire field from torch, add a stun, pet’s F2, short bow to finish off a mob. AOEs are your friend. Bosses are tougher, so build in CC for break bars and learn the mechanics.

Use condi armor with a bit of defense. Condi ranger is very high DPS, but unlocking druid will help you survive. I usually run solo for open world, but always look for other players to tag along with. Ressing and popping druid CA for heals in a boss fight will gain you friends quickly.

I died so much when I first entered the jungle, but if I pay attention, I can cruise through it. Good luck.

Good to know. Noted, and thanks for the input. Well I’m no longer solo to be honest, my wife now plays, but dislikes the area. I always seem to find groups killing bosses, so that’s always a plus. *How is the Warrior profession?

Most interesting. I’m keeping the bow for ranged/space, but up close, I do prefer speedy kills with sword/torch combo. Thanks, this was a HUGE help.