Guild Wars 2

Hello,

so I’m looking for a solid choice for my thief and ranger. I dont like vampirism runes, beacuse 95% of the time I’m all alone, and unless some1 comes along to peel, heal, cleanse or something; I die anyways.

Pack? Not really. Works much better in spvp, where you have to cover short distances. But giving me 3 extra seconds on my thief? The traited 20.75 sec CD steal gives 13 sec of swiftness, but then I move around the map with my steal almost constantly on CD… which got me killed quite a few times. So no pack runes, thx.

So I was thinking about Strength, Scholar or Ranger for my ranger obviously. :P

For my thief scholar is the most tempting as with SA I can quite often fill up my HP, and then re-engage with the 10% bonus again. I dont have enough might uptime to use strength I guess (14sec every 20.75 sec with traited steal).

For my ranger, much better uptime with Clarion Bond (21.75 sec every 30sec). But if your pet dies and the switching goes on that extra long CD, no might for quite a while. Ranger runes are more reliable, but are also effected by your pet’s death. Scholar seems fine as long as I can keep up a decent uptime for that extra 10% dmg.

So what are your thoughts?

ty

I thought the new thing for rangers and thieves was trapper runes?

Take a look at rage runes for extra crit damage and a flat 5% damage boost since perma fury is so easy to maintain.
A lot of rangers have also been running defender runes lately for a little more defense. I’ve personally been running trooper with we heal as one, guard, and strength of the pack. The short cooldown condi removal comes in very handy against enemies that rely on 1 condi like burn guards, plus it lets me drop the WS trait line for more damage.

Jayne.9251:

I thought the new thing for rangers and thieves was trapper runes?

Pretty mediocre now since you can’t throw traps. It used to be when you had a zerg chasing you you could throw a trap out of the way to keep from being revealed, now they just mow you down since the stealth is too short to lose them. Still works okay for trolling small groups.

Pack Runes arent used for Swiftness boost.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Rune_of_the_Pack

They are used because they give 175 power, 6% critical hit change and also they give relevant boons in combat when hit.

On ranger they also give extra remorseless trigger.

Puck.9612:

Jayne.9251:

I thought the new thing for rangers and thieves was trapper runes?

Pretty mediocre now since you can’t throw traps. It used to be when you had a zerg chasing you you could throw a trap out of the way to keep from being revealed, now they just mow you down since the stealth is too short to lose them. Still works okay for trolling small groups.

Hello, I recently brought traps to the thief forums as a new build that could perform with other meta builds. In short it’s a trapper thief that Is power/backstab based. Received a lot of positive feedback on the two video posts. Here’s a link to the second one https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Trapper-Backstab-Thief-part-2/first#post5409058

Coinhead.7591:

Pack Runes arent used for Swiftness boost.

+1 one of the best runes for dmg boost, swift is just a little added bonus

Strength runes are not good for thieves since they removed the might in stealth gm minor.

I’d personally go with pack or scholar (I use both), rune of the rage are a decent cheap alternative. Pack gives you nice consistent dmg and if you have another player with pack runes in party, it’s perma swift & fury all the time during combat.

Scholar rune can give you some nice dmg boost but hard to keep the 10% bonus even with SA heals. I usually pair it up with IP gm and that’s a really nice combo for flipping camps/towers as you have almost always over 90% HP and do nice dmg. In fights with people however you’ll have under 90% most the time. This is the rune for kamikaze thief builds that rely on 1 shotting people. Also nice if you play lb ranger a lot for the opening burst.

Pack – overall awesome, perfect for skirmishes and when roaming with others.

Scholar – hit and run builds.

reinforever.8902:

Puck.9612:

Jayne.9251:

I thought the new thing for rangers and thieves was trapper runes?

Pretty mediocre now since you can’t throw traps. It used to be when you had a zerg chasing you you could throw a trap out of the way to keep from being revealed, now they just mow you down since the stealth is too short to lose them. Still works okay for trolling small groups.

Hello, I recently brought traps to the thief forums as a new build that could perform with other meta builds. In short it’s a trapper thief that Is power/backstab based. Received a lot of positive feedback on the two video posts. Here’s a link to the second one https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Trapper-Backstab-Thief-part-2/first#post5409058

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Backstab-Trapper-Roaming/first original post for credibility reasons.

When I use my Ranger in PVP its only Rage runes and the Valkyrie amulet. I use Force sigils on my LB and GS and maybe Intelligence, Battle or Energy on the secondary but that changes depending on the makeup of who I’m fighting. I have no issues with thieves and can mele most warriors and guards. Only real issues I have are with rangers that never get near or necros and eles that have aoes for ever. I have to play back for them.

In Wvw I have Scholar on my Berserker gear, Ranger on my Valkyrie, and Trapper on my Celestial, and Melandru on my Soldiers. I like to have choices and I think these all give me all I need. I’m not set on Ranger but it seems to work for me. And I can’t afford Strength runes. I don’t use Pack because of the signet of the Hunt gives me 25% speed boost already and the GS #3 if I want to fly away fast. It’s tough to roam in T1 or T2 so I have geard choices depending on if I’m in a zerg or scouting/defending from on high.