Guild Wars 2

Good day fellow rangers,

I came back after a big break and I wanted to know what are the meta builds for BeastMaster and power ranger. I’m focused on PVE and Dungeons and if possible utilizing a LB.

Thank you all!

Don’t know if you’ll be attracted to this, but here’s a guide that’s up to date with the new trait system and all for ya:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Guide-PvE-Meta-Ranger

I don’t understand the fascination with power builds for Rangers. The ranger weapons that interest me are all blatantly hybrid damage weapons. Trying to force a power build is just swimming against the riptide on a class that already has very little slack in it’s performance curve.

Nike.2631:

I don’t understand the fascination with power builds for Rangers. The ranger weapons that interest *me *

Bolded the answer to your question.

Nike.2631:

I don’t understand the fascination with power builds for Rangers.

Condition and hybrid builds are lackluster in PvE.

I have one but its actually for WvW and I haven’t tested it on PvE.

its somekind of beastmaster power bunker and probably need some adjustements to work in PvE

traits: 2 in wilderness survi 6 in natural magic 6 in beastmastery
key traits are new grandmasters for those lines (the one that makes your wild survi skills taking of conditions and the one that makes your pet AoE heals on F2)winderness knowledgeshorter cd on F2 + dual drakes + that trait that makes drakes bleed on crit – just because of no idea what to fit there better.

weapons are longbow+whatever close ranherd you like – sword, gs axes – choice is yours
skills: quickening zephyr and lightning reflexes for sure third is “according-to-need”
elite and heal: “according -to-need”

gl and hf with experimenting around that sceleton

Nike.2631:

I don’t understand the fascination with power builds for Rangers. The ranger weapons that interest me are all blatantly hybrid damage weapons. Trying to force a power build is just swimming against the riptide on a class that already has very little slack in it’s performance curve.

The only ranger weapons that interest me are power dominant. Funny how that works.

Although is it even worth going for hybrids in general? You’d have to spec for 4 stats (if condition duration isn’t counted) which leaves little space for defense. And of course condition damage is bad in pve, so not referring to that.

I enjoy a power build as well. I have zero interest in seeing dot’s work their magic…I want to see big crits as much as possible with might stacks jumping up and sigil of fire proccing as soon as it’s able again and again…weeeeeeee! Big white numbers on a splashy red backdrop happening back to back to back until death puts a stop to all the fun.

ArchonWing.9480:

The only ranger weapons that interest me are power dominant. Funny how that works.

Which would be what, exactly?

Flintbrow.7985:

I enjoy a power build as well. I have zero interest in seeing dot’s work their magic…I want to see big crits as much as possible with might stacks jumping up and sigil of fire proccing as soon as it’s able again and again…weeeeeeee! Big white numbers on a splashy red backdrop happening back to back to back until death puts a stop to all the fun.

And the dev’s have flat-out said that their vision for the class is sustained attrition – meaning they quite deliberately kick you in the teeth for trying to get those things on a Ranger.

TurtleDragon.3108:

Nike.2631:

I don’t understand the fascination with power builds for Rangers.

Condition and hybrid builds are lackluster in PvE.

Hmm. In my experience, against world bosses there are so many players nobody is really doing anything special (other than bludgeoning it with raw damage). In dungeons condi-damage works fine as long as there isn’t another player working the exact same condition. And hybrids don’t necessarily stack all the way to cap by themselves anyway so they’re more forgiving a little splash by teammates in groups of 5.

So, how are pure-power build folks spending their trait points? it seems like if you go marksman, you’d want some condition to leverage the +30% condition duration.

Or are your power builds mostly invested in the skirmish line?

Nike.2631:

TurtleDragon.3108:

Nike.2631:

I don’t understand the fascination with power builds for Rangers.

Condition and hybrid builds are lackluster in PvE.

Hmm. In my experience, against world bosses there are so many players nobody is really doing anything special (other than bludgeoning it with raw damage). In dungeons condi-damage works fine as long as there isn’t another player working the exact same condition. And hybrids don’t necessarily stack all the way to cap by themselves anyway so they’re more forgiving a little splash by teammates in groups of 5.

There’s a pretty distinct difference between “works fine” for completing content, and being optimal/effecient at completing content. You can complete any content in any gear or build you choose as long as you can find 4 other people to carry you.

Condition damage suffers from both bad game mechanics, and lower theoretical damage. It also has much higher ramp up time than power builds to the point where a power focused team/player would kill things before you stack up a lot of conditions.

TurtleDragon.3108:

There’s a pretty distinct difference between “works fine” for completing content, and being optimal/effecient at completing content.

Usually that’s an argument leveled against rangers as a whole . In this case I meant works fine as in “It doesn’t suffer from deliberate sabotage by the Dev’s vision for the class.”

Condition damage suffers from both bad game mechanics, and lower theoretical damage.

What bad mechanics? If you’re the only condition class present in the dungeon team you’re not fighting to fill the cap and condition damage per-cast is substantially HIGHER than power-based damage in many cases. NPCs don’t cleanse.

It also has much higher ramp up time than power builds to the point where a power focused team/player would kill things before you stack up a lot of conditions.

Now that I’ll agree is a problem if you’re downing the boss in 20 seconds or less. You just described why crit damage got nerfed in the features patch while condition damage didn’t.

25 stack limit, bleeds being overwritten by party members unintentionally, not scaling off buffs or more than 1 stat. etc

Edit: Here’s a few more: Not working on structures, bosses clearing conditions, single target focused (bad at cleaving trash)

Bleeds scale off buffs, they just don’t scale off of Might or Fury (actually, they do scale off fury since crits give you more bleeds…). And food buffs tend to be way more potent in the hands of condition damage dealers than power-based folk.

Condition damage dealers aren’t that common in dungeon groups which means you generally don’t step on each other’s toes and hybrid damage dealers don’t generally take up the full stack limit by themselves so you have some room for the occasional condition that falls off of power-damage dealers.

Basically I’m constantly seeing Rangers asking the Devs for some love for power-based ranger builds… which sort of suggests that while people like the play-style, the performance just ain’t top-tier.

Not cleaving is a ranged/melee issue, not a power/condi issue.

What bosses clear conditions?

Might gives condition damage, so it does actually help condition builds. Precision just helps you stack more conditions, it doesn’t make each tick hit harder, so you’re just doing more of the same damage faster. Unlike Quickness the power equivalent, this is a problem because you have a limit on how much condition damage you can do to a boss.

Power has access to more offensive stats, buffs and modifiers so it scales better.

I don’t see how condition damage gets better food than power users, they have the same stat or effect allocation,

Bosses like Subject Alpha clear conditions, i think the golem has a cleansing turret as well.

Condition damage is also weak against bosses with invulnerability phases or bosses that have short windows of time to DPS them.

Now, ignoring any gameplay mechanics and if you got off your full condition damage applied to a boss, It still does far less damage than a berserker build.

Nike.2631:

So, how are pure-power build folks spending their trait points? it seems like if you go marksman, you’d want some condition to leverage the +30% condition duration.

Or are your power builds mostly invested in the skirmish line?

Speaking for myself of course, the + condition duration is great with immob/cripple on muddy terrain, cripple on GS throw (GS#4#4), all the vulns we get (first strike, LB#2, GS#2), which have nothing to do with condition damage…!

Incidently i also use sigil of doom for the poison but its more about denying good heals than damage.

Nothing in skirmish…

Nike.2631:

Condition damage dealers aren’t that common in dungeon groups which means you generally don’t step on each other’s toes.

Condition build in dungeon isn’t common but condition damage is, many warriors and mesmer builds end causing bleeding, guardian causing burning and with virtue the whole party causing burning, thief causing bleeding and poison and all that in power builds (have in mind I’m talking about pugs) so all that will interfere in your damage, all that wouldn’t be any problem with a power build.

OP, I was after a similar build. Unfortunately, I do not believe it exists as its not meta. For that reason, I decided to make my own.

This build is not about min/maxing. It’s a general PVE build that maximises a ranger’s effectiveness as much as possible while meeting my vision of what a ranger is, an effective marksman with a deadly companion.

The main aim is to stack power/precision stats plus fast attacks for personal dps (so the ranger is not completely useless) but mainly to proc Companions Might (CM) as often as possible. Combined with a pet inherently, skilled, and traited for high crit chance and crit damage, makes a killing machine.

Equipment
Zerker Longbow with Sigil of Rage, and Sigil of Accuracy or Perception.
Zerker Sword with Sigil of Rage, and Zerker Warhorn with Sigil of Accuracy.
Zerker Armour with Runes of the Ranger.
Zerker trinkets

Pet
Jaguar: F2 Skill – According to the wiki, Stalk provides extra crit chance and crit damage, as well as the defensive utility of stealth.

Traits
4 (I, VII) / 4 (I, V) / 0 / 0 / 6 (V, VII, XII)

Skills
Troll’s Unguent, Quickening Zephyr, Signet of Stone , Sick ’Em, Rampage as One

Rotation
Start with Sword/Warhorn
Pet Attack (F1) – Call of the Wild – RaO – Sick Em – Quickening Zephyr – Hunter’s Call – Switch to LB – Rapid Fire – Barrage – Stalk (F2) – Hunter’s Shot

At this point, your pet should have a big stack of might and critting often and critting hard. Whenever anything comes off cooldown, cast it, but try to time Quickening Zephyr with RaO and Rapid Shot. If you draw aggro, cast either Point Blank Shot or Hunter’s Shot.

Pet survivability is through Stalk, passive Signet of Stone (and active effect for those ‘oh crap’ moments), BM pet attribute bonus, Troll’s Unguent (which you should cast often to keep hp topped up) and Natural Healing. If still struggling for survivability or for difficult encounters, swap out Sick Em for Signet of the Wild and/or Pet Prowess for Carnivorous Appetite.

I am keen for feedback.