Guild Wars 2

This class and style plays amazing… I’ve fought several recently, both in my burst specs and balanced specs and I haven’t defeated one yet. They seem to play much like the original Ele Bunker, just with a far more consistent damage output.

Anyone else seen a rise in this build? I know I dueled someone the other day who wanted to show that Rangers aren’t nearly as bad as people try to say, and I must say, this seems to be the hardest hitting bunker class in the game so far, at least in terms of consistent damage output.

I don’t know why it does not receive more team time. I think it is mainly because it does not provide much team utility if its playing the back point. I have seen this used in the mid fight and the traps are devastating on the small points.

Plus I think on clock tower, the traps fall through the point and miss.

Interpret Interrupt.3824:

I don’t know why it does not receive more team time. I think it is mainly because it does not provide much team utility if its playing the back point. I have seen this used in the mid fight and the traps are devastating on the small points.

Plus I think on clock tower, the traps fall through the point and miss.

Yeah, once again, when all the bugs get ironed out, then maybe we’ll actually know which classes are balanced and how. But glad to see I’m not the only one impressed with the potential of the self-heal Ranger, and I haven’t played Ranger since BETA, it was just impressive to see how well it played overall in 1v1.

I play a very defensively oriented Ranger and I rarely lose a one on one fight, especially against Thieves (in fact, I’m not sure I’ve lost a one on one fight to a Thief since I started using this build). I can hold a point long enough for help to arrive, but I feel like it’s more helpful as a roaming build (between RoA and Call of the Wild there’s quite a bit of swiftness available).

The reason you don’t really see a lot of Ranger variety is probably due to the fact that most Rangers (at least the ones on the forums) are more interested in lamenting the fact that Rangers are terrible instead of trying to actually play their Ranger. So they roll around with a shortbow and complain about how awful they do in PvP.

There isn’t a lot of team utility, that’s absolutely true. It’s almost completely focused on individual survival.

got one in my tpvp team, they useful for defending the close point, good dmg over time and good healing, have trouble defeating them with certain classes but my condition thief has a massive advantage. if you enjoy playing ranger theres no reason u cant use a surivivability build as a point defender however most people dont like playing bunker style in 8v8 spvp since its lets be honest quite boring and people only do it in tourneys because it “works”

Sorry to add a noobish question here, but I play ranger as my main character in PvP and I’ve been looking for the best possible build for ranger. So what kind of build is this bunker ranger? How do you put the traits?

It is a 1v1 sort of setup.
The bunker ranger gets progressively worse the larger the fight is.

He also has little to no synergy with anyone.

It makes tournying with one, at least very competitively, a bit of a pain.

Gintoki.6405:

my condition thief has a massive advantage

You shouldn’t.
If your running pistol/dagger… rangers can evade C&D all day every day, even while immobilized. If you land a C&D, the ranger you are fighting is screwing up.
If you mean d/d… empathetic bond and not being a kittening idiot and standing in caltrops, possibly a well played canine on the side, will make the fight a long and strenuous one in the best of times.

Ratsoori.9108:

Sorry to add a noobish question here, but I play ranger as my main character in PvP and I’ve been looking for the best possible build for ranger. So what kind of build is this bunker ranger? How do you put the traits?

I posted the build in another thread, which you can find here. Feel free to change up the runes and sigils to suit your personal tastes. You can switch out Empathic Bond for Barkskin if you prefer, but if you do you might want to swap Signet of the Wild for Signet of Renewal.

I run two canines in PvP. Always a wolf and either a drakehound, hyena, or fern hound.

bunker ranger is the strongest ranger spec, but prepare to be disappointed when comparing yourself to what other profs can do =P

It’s a condition/toughness bunker spec featuring Shortbow, Axe/Torch.

It cannot defeat good Elementalist/Guardian bunker’s they wont be able to kill the Ranger either and eventually you just have to stop fighting.

They do well agianst burst thieves but a solid condition spec thief will tear them to shreds. A dual dagger Bs thief running macro can still drop them but then again a dual dagger macro thief can drop a full bunker guardian in under 4 secs thanks to the 4 sec daze off steal.

They will also get defeated by good wells necro builds.

All and All they deal less condition dmg then most strong condition specs and perform worse then most bunkers. Most certainly the best of the Ranger builds but far inferior to what many other classes can do with condition/toughness spec.

aydenunited.5729:

This class and style plays amazing… I’ve fought several recently, both in my burst specs and balanced specs and I haven’t defeated one yet. They seem to play much like the original Ele Bunker, just with a far more consistent damage output.

Anyone else seen a rise in this build? I know I dueled someone the other day who wanted to show that Rangers aren’t nearly as bad as people try to say, and I must say, this seems to be the hardest hitting bunker class in the game so far, at least in terms of consistent damage output.

Ranger was my first class, and the key to beating any ranger is simple. Dodge the arrows and you can laugh at them while you kill them and they may land 10% of their shots, but that is all.

Dodge you say? You lie you say? Try it. Have a Ranger shoot at you, while you’re standing there simply alternate pressing Q and E really quickly to strafe back and forth on the same spot. The arrows will miss and the Ranger will get an obstructed message.
It may be intended so that people can avoid projectiles but seriously? For pvp when I play a Ranger and want to assault a point all they have to do is strafe and I lose? To hell with that.

garethh.3518:

It is a 1v1 sort of setup.
The bunker ranger gets progressively worse the larger the fight is.

He also has little to no synergy with anyone.

It makes tournying with one, at least very competitively, a bit of a pain.

This basically, I run a tanky bunker type ranger build a lot of the time and it is great for 1v1 and pushing players off point 1v1 because their only aoe cc is the wolfs fear. I can usually do really well with it in free tourny but it is not nearly tanky enough to compete with a guardian though for bunking mid point and although it is great at side point a portal mesmer out shines it. It’s a good build but probably wont get you too far in paids as its not great in group fights (although the quickness stomp and rez helps) can’t bunker more than 1-2 people and cant get around the map as fast as other competitive builds.

Hmm, Don’t use Shortbow, It’s not the greatest weapon.

our Melee/mid range weapons still remain our best setup in my opinion.

My mesmer has no problem with these "bunker " ranger builds. I use alot of boon removal. Once they lose regen and protection, they’ze be squishy to me. Same applies to most bunker Ele and Guardians.

Shady.3142:

My mesmer has no problem with these "bunker " ranger builds. I use alot of boon removal. Once they lose regen and protection, they’ze be squishy to me. Same applies to most bunker Ele and Guardians.

Bout the only boons we get are the Regen (which is nice, but won’t stop the build) and protection on dodge (which lasts 2 seconds, so yea)

Just a hint… wont post a build because we want to win more paid tornis before other people will start to copy it (like we did ;-) was not our invention…)

Its at the momemt one od the strongest 1vs1 builds And one of the best team Fight builds out there… just a hint for teamfights… what is a healing char in competitove gw2 team ? …. yes its the quikness rez . who heals your downed teammate by 50% on 1sec…

Rangers from 0 to hero… in 1 day ;-)

Dexxer.3174:

Just a hint… wont post a build because we want to win more paid tornis before other people will start to copy it (like we did ;-) was not our invention…)

Its at the momemt one od the strongest 1vs1 builds And one of the best team Fight builds out there… just a hint for teamfights… what is a healing char in competitove gw2 team ? …. yes its the quikness rez . who heals your downed teammate by 50% on 1sec…

Rangers from 0 to hero… in 1 day ;-)

Quickness every 15 seconds is nice true

Bunker/conditions ranger build is the most viable atm but i refuse to play it because its almost identical to ele/guard bunker builds, its based on same principles (high toughness, regen,condition damage for kills).Its pretty pathetic that everything comes down to a bunker with regen+condition damage or thief burst.Variety in pvp is truly dead .

It’s pretty well known that rangers have one of the best, if not hands down the best, 1v1 builds in the game.

too the guy who said condition thiefs wouldnt have an advantage vs ranger.. because cloak and dagger can be easily dodged… pets find it very hard to dodge it so yeah a pretty safe infinite source of cloak and dagger. not to mention rangers condition removal is poor at best.

the real offensive classes for ranger to 1vs1 are confusion stacker, e.g condition engi’s and mesmers, condition thiefs have the advantage simply due to the rangers lack of reliable options against a kiting invisible person.. (no need to go into trap distance or stay conally infront when you can get free stealths from the pets.

Gintoki.6405:

too the guy who said condition thiefs wouldnt have an advantage vs ranger.. because cloak and dagger can be easily dodged… pets find it very hard to dodge it so yeah a pretty safe infinite source of cloak and dagger. not to mention rangers condition removal is poor at best.

the real offensive classes for ranger to 1vs1 are confusion stacker, e.g condition engi’s and mesmers, condition thiefs have the advantage simply due to the rangers lack of reliable options against a kiting invisible person.. (no need to go into trap distance or stay conally infront when you can get free stealths from the pets.

Ehh, Rangers can remove all conditions every 10 seconds..

empathic bond yeah.. i know its ok, but 10 seconds is much longer than the lenght of most conditions.. its useful but also incredibly unreliable.

Not nearly as much mobility as ele/mesmer/guard home bunker. You will get neutral’d on fairly easily if you try to support mid.

Jumper.9482:

Not nearly as much mobility as ele/mesmer/guard home bunker. You will get neutral’d on fairly easily if you try to support mid.

So much this!!!! I’ve been side bunkering with my ranger for a couple weeks now and this is one of our biggest problems. check this thread https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Easy-way-to-make-rangers-viable/first#post887760
my idea to make ranger an actual viable bunker or viable in general. other things that would help
-Unlimited range on distance from you and your pet during “guard” this would allow you to use “guard” in the middle of the map or on another point to keep your pet there while you watch the side point.
-Unlimited range on pet distance, this would basically allow you to do the same thing I just posted with “guard” without need it on your skill bar
-a huge buff to signet of the hunt both passive and active
-some other sort of utility skill that would work similar to the teleport skills that several other classes have, but since a teleport doesn’t fit ranger maybe a huge running leap type of thing?

Here comes another animation fix in traps build….

Lots of misinformation and bad advice in this thread.

If built properly, you don’t want to use traps or condition damage for a “bunker” Ranger. You don’t want to use a ranged weapon at all except for the very beginning of the fight when you use Hunter’s Call and Call of the Wild (there may be a couple of axe auto attacks).

Second, even if you strip all the boons off the Ranger (which are probably only going to be fury, might, and swiftness from CotW), you can’t take off the buffs that you REALLY need to take off in order to make the Ranger less effective.

A lot Rangers aren’t going to play this build because it requires lots of micromanaging, a total shift from the PvE playstyle, and lots of melee combat. It’s effective, but it goes against the play style to which the vast majority of Rangers are accustomed.

I have yet to lose a one on one fight in tPvP or sPvP while holding a point. I can hold off two people for quite a while and sometimes even come out on top (if they’re not very good). If there are three people coming to take the point, that’s fine because the rest of my team can be off doing something useful while they’re trying to take my point.

From the sounds of it there are only a few people here that are actually succesfully running a bunker ranger build and they are all running it a little bit differently. I’ve been pretty succesful using a gs/lb bunker in tpvp and can survive 2v1s for some time and can sometimes even down one of them in a 2v1 or 3v1.

I run a Sword/Dagger trap based build and it can bunker fairly well, the one problem I run into is that some of my evades can potentially take me off a point, but at the same time most other players aren’t able to sit on the point when its constantly getting fresh traps. I like pairing it with Axe/Horn for the extra mobility and Axe #2 provides me with some nice additional damage when opening fights.

I will say most of the times I struggle with the character it seems far more to do with me screwing up my timing on something than the build not cutting it, so overall I’m really enjoying this build. I’m not sure I’ll ever achieve some of the performance I’ve witnessed from other bunker classes, but I’ll keep trying :-)

Demon.7832:

From the sounds of it there are only a few people here that are actually succesfully running a bunker ranger build and they are all running it a little bit differently. I’ve been pretty succesful using a gs/lb bunker in tpvp and can survive 2v1s for some time and can sometimes even down one of them in a 2v1 or 3v1.

“successful” is a relative term. anything can be successful in spvp. in tpvp, there are no “successful” ranger specs. at least, not any that dont bring down your team.

Infatum.2481:

I run a Sword/Dagger trap based build and it can bunker fairly well, the one problem I run into is that some of my evades can potentially take me off a point, but at the same time most other players aren’t able to sit on the point when its constantly getting fresh traps. I like pairing it with Axe/Horn for the extra mobility and Axe #2 provides me with some nice additional damage when opening fights.

I will say most of the times I struggle with the character it seems far more to do with me screwing up my timing on something than the build not cutting it, so overall I’m really enjoying this build. I’m not sure I’ll ever achieve some of the performance I’ve witnessed from other bunker classes, but I’ll keep trying :-)

you cant bunker with traps in your utilities. bunker build requires signets, healing spring, 30 in BM for regen. and then you can go 30 in wilderness for empathic bond to give up SoS for more cleansing, or 30 in marks for SoS.

other than SoS, you have no other way of taking burst as a ranger and you cant disappear to reset the fight. so youre right, you’ll never achieve the same performance as, say, engie, ele or guard.

nerva.7940:

Demon.7832:

From the sounds of it there are only a few people here that are actually succesfully running a bunker ranger build and they are all running it a little bit differently. I’ve been pretty succesful using a gs/lb bunker in tpvp and can survive 2v1s for some time and can sometimes even down one of them in a 2v1 or 3v1.

“successful” is a relative term. anything can be successful in spvp. in tpvp, there are no “successful” ranger specs. at least, not any that dont bring down your team.

I guess by “successful” I mean good enough to run in free tpvp matches, but you are right there aren’t any truely great builds for ranger in tpvp currently because they just dont fit into any spot on the team correctly.

nerva.7940:

you cant bunker with traps in your utilities. bunker build requires signets, healing spring, 30 in BM for regen. and then you can go 30 in wilderness for empathic bond to give up SoS for more cleansing, or 30 in marks for SoS.

other than SoS, you have no other way of taking burst as a ranger and you cant disappear to reset the fight. so youre right, you’ll never achieve the same performance as, say, engie, ele or guard.

Sword/Dagger provides enough evasion to avoid more burst more often that SoS, and although I’m not doing as much damage through direct attacks during that time, my traps are usually wrecking people, so it’s a trade off.

When I was talking bunker performance though I wasn’t talking survivability, I have plenty of that, I was talking point control as far as driving people off the point/keeping them off long enough for at least a neutralize, and now that I’m thinking about that, I’m slapping myself for forgetting about pets. I’ve been relying on birds since they seem to provide far more reliable constant damage given their extra autoattack range, but there’s plenty of control pets I could be using instead to get exactly the results I’m looking for.

Wise.8025:

aydenunited.5729:

This class and style plays amazing… I’ve fought several recently, both in my burst specs and balanced specs and I haven’t defeated one yet. They seem to play much like the original Ele Bunker, just with a far more consistent damage output.

Anyone else seen a rise in this build? I know I dueled someone the other day who wanted to show that Rangers aren’t nearly as bad as people try to say, and I must say, this seems to be the hardest hitting bunker class in the game so far, at least in terms of consistent damage output.

Ranger was my first class, and the key to beating any ranger is simple. Dodge the arrows and you can laugh at them while you kill them and they may land 10% of their shots, but that is all.

Dodge you say? You lie you say? Try it. Have a Ranger shoot at you, while you’re standing there simply alternate pressing Q and E really quickly to strafe back and forth on the same spot. The arrows will miss and the Ranger will get an obstructed message.
It may be intended so that people can avoid projectiles but seriously? For pvp when I play a Ranger and want to assault a point all they have to do is strafe and I lose? To hell with that.

lol. right before the 11/15 update, i was toying with my ele while waiting for ranger changes. saw the changes were kitten, but still tried my ranger for a bit anyway. had a bunker guardian dodge like 100% of my damage this way that i got so pissed that i relogged into my ele mid match and havent been back on my ranger since hahaha.

but yeah, some cond/survivible builds are okay, but they still lack adequade condition removal, and you usually have to sacrifice HP for toughness and cond. and the hp trait line for rangers is kitten

nldixon.8514:

Lots of misinformation and bad advice in this thread.

If built properly, you don’t want to use traps or condition damage for a “bunker” Ranger. You don’t want to use a ranged weapon at all except for the very beginning of the fight when you use Hunter’s Call and Call of the Wild (there may be a couple of axe auto attacks).

Second, even if you strip all the boons off the Ranger (which are probably only going to be fury, might, and swiftness from CotW), you can’t take off the buffs that you REALLY need to take off in order to make the Ranger less effective.

A lot Rangers aren’t going to play this build because it requires lots of micromanaging, a total shift from the PvE playstyle, and lots of melee combat. It’s effective, but it goes against the play style to which the vast majority of Rangers are accustomed.

I have yet to lose a one on one fight in tPvP or sPvP while holding a point. I can hold off two people for quite a while and sometimes even come out on top (if they’re not very good). If there are three people coming to take the point, that’s fine because the rest of my team can be off doing something useful while they’re trying to take my point.

Wait…let me get this straight. People aren’t playing it the way that you’re playing it so it makes it bad advice?

Pyrial.2917:

nldixon.8514:

Lots of misinformation and bad advice in this thread.

If built properly, you don’t want to use traps or condition damage for a “bunker” Ranger. You don’t want to use a ranged weapon at all except for the very beginning of the fight when you use Hunter’s Call and Call of the Wild (there may be a couple of axe auto attacks).

Second, even if you strip all the boons off the Ranger (which are probably only going to be fury, might, and swiftness from CotW), you can’t take off the buffs that you REALLY need to take off in order to make the Ranger less effective.

A lot Rangers aren’t going to play this build because it requires lots of micromanaging, a total shift from the PvE playstyle, and lots of melee combat. It’s effective, but it goes against the play style to which the vast majority of Rangers are accustomed.

I have yet to lose a one on one fight in tPvP or sPvP while holding a point. I can hold off two people for quite a while and sometimes even come out on top (if they’re not very good). If there are three people coming to take the point, that’s fine because the rest of my team can be off doing something useful while they’re trying to take my point.

Wait…let me get this straight. People aren’t playing it the way that you’re playing it so it makes it bad advice?

No, but certain things make a bunker build a bunker build. Inherently those things are high survivability and mobility in a relatively small area. If you’re using ranged weapon, you’re automatically at a disadvantage because by their very nature you want to have space between you and the other person. If the other player is on the point and you’re trying to make space, you’re not on the point, which defies the point of a bunker build.

Second, if you’re building your Ranger around traps and condition damage, you’re putting points into trait lines that aren’t going to increase your survivability. You’re also passing up utilities that increase your survivability for traps, which are less about survival and more about control. Without the tools necessary to survive an attack from two or more players for any amount of time, you’re not a bunker build.

So, yes. Advising someone to attempt to bunker with a trap/condition build made for control and damage is bad advice.

Finally, most of the things that make “bunker” Rangers survivable are abilities that can’t be stolen or stripped by Necromancers or Mesmers. That little bit of misinformation is going to get a lot of Mesmers and Necromancers killed.

It’s not a matter of people playing like me or not playing like me. I could honestly care less. I’m just trying to help spread proper and helpful information.

I didn’t know ranged abilities didn’t work at close range. Someone go tell staff elementalists they’re hacking.

Bunkers are also about point control, I didn’t know that punishing people for being in a particular area (which traps do) was against the model of bunkering.

This all boils down to what I said previously. They are different bunker builds and they work differently, just because it isn’t the one that you use and play doesn’t make them less effective.

Pyrial.2917:

I didn’t know ranged abilities didn’t work at close range. Someone go tell staff elementalists they’re hacking.

Bunkers are also about point control, I didn’t know that punishing people for being in a particular area (which traps do) was against the model of bunkering.

This all boils down to what I said previously. They are different bunker builds and they work differently, just because it isn’t the one that you use and play doesn’t make them less effective.

What does an Elementalist have to do with ranged combat on a Ranger?

Traps are next to useless in a “bunker” build for Rangers. The effectiveness of traps is minor unless you trait to improve the traps. If you trait to improve traps, you’re giving up too much survivability. When you give up that survivability it ceases to be a bunker build.

What it boils down to, is that you want to argue on the internet. That’s fine, but I’m not going to play your little game. Condition trap builds ARE less effective. That’s just a fact. Every single point in the Skirmishing line detracts from points in the trait lines that are actually effective in a bunker build.

You’re wrong and that’s okay.

Infatum.2481:

Sword/Dagger provides enough evasion to avoid more burst more often that SoS,

you actually need both. even then your bunker will still be subpar compared to engie/ele/guard specs. a very interesting combo might be sword/dagger/GS/BM/marks or BM/wilderness. but then you’d do zero ranged damage.

Pyrial.2917:

I didn’t know ranged abilities didn’t work at close range. Someone go tell staff elementalists they’re hacking.

Bunkers are also about point control, I didn’t know that punishing people for being in a particular area (which traps do) was against the model of bunkering.

This all boils down to what I said previously. They are different bunker builds and they work differently, just because it isn’t the one that you use and play doesn’t make them less effective.

It’s mainly because to use traps you have to go up Skirmishing line, and you have to waste utility slots, which you need for SOTW and Lightning reflexes, you could probably fit one trap in at most….

Now a trap build might not be a bunker build completely, but it’s still bloody good for dropping on points during a fight…But I wouldn’t call it a bunker build….

I like to play the bunker ranger. I can say that I have never lost a fight 1 on 1. Unless you consider 15 minute fights a loss. I use a build that gives me permanent regeneration. Plus I have my heal skills and worst case scenario a healing elite. Usually run sword/axe and shortbow. I don’t put out much damage but in a tight zone good luck kiting my pet which will do 1k dmg per hit.

Sure ranger can bunker, but a bunker will have team buffs, condition cleanse, and maybe even a legit team res.

Most of the “bunker ranger” builds are trap based. You really think these trap builds can be on par with lets say.. a Bunker Ele or Guard?

we’ll see where the ranger is at on the 14th. hopefully a lot of the buffs JP promised will make it in this time.