Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone.
I was wondering if you guys could show me your thoughts about both types of gear Apothecary’s and Cleric’s. Wich one do you think its better for a Ranger when you want to PvE or sPvP or make solo/small groups WvW.
All that considering a BM build for the Ranger.
Thanks a lot for the help and opnion.
Sorry about my bad english xD

Cya all have a good one

For spvp specifically, I think that at the moment apothecary (it would be the shamans amulet in spvp) would be the better choice than clerics. You have a higher damage potential in shamans gear through conditions, while your pet hits hard and brings the damage from a power perspective. You will also have that much more toughness.

From a WvW perspective, I’m actually curious about this myself lol. Though I’m told there is much more cleansing in WvW, so that already makes me wary.

Condi is higher damage potential but if they have cleansing its not that great, if you face a group with grp cleansing then its also pretty bad. ATM im sticking with Cleric and its working fine.

I think it’s going to come down to which weapons you like using the most. If you enjoy the sword, torch, axe and dagger (or shortbow – although flanking is unreliable in PvP) you can make good use of Apothecary. If you like the greatsword, the longbow, shortbow, sword and to some extent, the axe, you will make good use of Cleric’s stats. Most BM builds put 30 points into Wilderness Survival so that’s 300 condition damage you will benefit from if you choose to bring condition damage weapons.

Apothecary gear is much more expensive than Clerics.

I’ve only run a BM build once in PvE. Everything works for open world but in dungeons, even with 30 points in BM you might see the pet die more than you’d like (which will really hurt if you sacrifice personal stats to boost your pet). There are some parts in dungeons where pets can’t hit targets etc so investing more in an occasionally poorly performing mechanic might not be optimal. Condition damage also tends to be inferior to direct damage (although a BM build usually has 300 condition damage from traits and 0 power so it might be better to run conditions in that case).

In sPvP or WvW I suspect either will do you fine. There are a lot of people who run both Shaman’s jewels and Cleric’s jewels in BM builds and have success with them at a competitive level.

Ultimately I think it comes down to your weapons of choice and if you are willing to dish out for Apothecary.

Cleric is terrible against bunker specs. Ranger has no boon hate or boon steal mechanics, so his only counter to engineers and guardians and eles in particular are conditions.

Power builds only really work with some investment in crit damage. Otherwise, conditions outperform them in pvp because once the condition is applied you can’t dodge out of said condition.

Ranger has enough sustained condition application where cleanse is not really an issue. Your only barrier to apothecary is the prohibitive cost of the trinkets (about 50g a piece), so you’re better off getting the ascended trinkets instead.

You’d be foolish to spend laurels on amulets whose stats you can get by other means in PvE. The difference in stats between and ascended and exotic amulet is negligible, and apothecary is the only stat combo in the game you cannot get from anywhere except expensive crafting components.

Listen to Zenith and Shiren. Actually, great advice all around. My question is: what utilities do you guys bring? I’m kind of liking muddy terrain.

Thanks all those who helped
I got one more question.
Im in love with Sword/Dagger its just to much fun but it doesnt seen like a good set of weapon to roll when you focus on Condition because dagger 4n5 are not nearly as strong as torch 4n5 skills
So if i want to keep using S/D should i go Cleric or S/D does more damage with Apothecary? wich other weapon set would be good with it ? shortbow? Axe/-?
I dont really like axe cause i think its auto is weak and its bleed skill isnt reliable if u are a little far from target.
Thanks again for the help!

I don’t have much experience with playing a bunker, but i run a cleric’s setup similar to Puandros (melee bunker) in WvW and can confirm what Shiren and Zenith said. When it’s bunker vs bunker, they have the upper hand against me, since their toughness is “extreme”, especially with protection, and condition removal doesn’t differ that much between players. Either i lose and run away, or nobody wins and one of us runs away – so far at least, haven’t mastered the build yet.

A few points to show cleric’s not all bad compared to apothecary’s – with this setup: http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/ranger/?6.4|c.1k.h19.g.1k.h2|1.1k.h19|1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d|1k.67.31l.d15.21l.d13.1k.67.1k.67.2s.e13|0.f1.0.p35.u57c|16.2|4i.4o.4r.4x.55|e

- More synergy with GS, S and WH -> great mobility in every aspect
- “Nature’s Wrath – 10% of healing is given as a bonus to power” becomes a great trait
- Team-oriented; mightier Retaliation, fury and swiftness for the party, also more reason for healing spring (leaps through it give 2k+ heal, blasts at least 1,32k)
- Interrupt and Block (GS)
- Stability (Rampage As One)
- Condition removal and – condition duration food and runes are no concern
- You’re more of a unit with melee pets
- Everything fits, no skill, stat or trait is useless

I’m just listing a few possible pros for cleric’s and no cons for either build, since its clear apothecary’s is perfectly viable.

For me it’s cleric’s (0/15/0/25/30) for WvW because of the mobility and the condition approach to the bunker (0/0/30/10/30) for sPvP.

@Chopps: I’m using muddy terrain (and SoR, SoW) : )

@Zenith: Why do you think crit dmg is necessary in a power build? Its power>crit(until 50%)>crit dmg afaik. Or is your point more like: “power only makes sense if you have lots of all of those three stats”?

Yes, power is only good when you put those together — in pvp. In PvP power is much more mitigated than in PvE, so often classes that are not warriors (who have stupidly OP traits to increase their offensive stats) need to use berserker in power builds or be deficient.

On a necro with rabid I will eventually overwhelm a bunker ele’s healing with conditions, as can an apothecary ranger. Same goes for guardian. Try however a power build against any sort of bunker build, and you will get nowhere.

Boons hardcounter power setups by quite a bit unless you can get it to scale to ridiculous levels like thief or warrior berserker numbers.

apothecaries are expensive. a passiflora trinket costs 50g.

cleric’s ensures that you survive and can be useful in a group/zerg on a frontline by assuming an effective role of movement stalling by equipping frost trap and muddy terrain on 0/20/20/10/20

Apothecary trinkets are a non issue if you get the ascended versions. In a single month I have the amulet and one trinket, and in 2 weeks I’ll have the other trinket.

1-What about the Sword/Dagger weapon set? is it only good on power builds?
If i run Apothecarys is it useful? or should i just stick with sword/torch?

2-Another thing… why people use A/D so much? i just think hat axe is really bad. Its auto attack is weak, the bleed only stacks 5 if u are real close to target otherwise will stack like 1-3 only, the only thing i really think its useful is the chill.

What are your toughts about it guys?

Cleric vs Apothecary is simply “Direct Damage vs Condition Damage”.

Direct Damage

• Reduced by protection
• Reduced by toughness/armor
• Requires constant application to maintain pressure
• Can spike (though harder with Cleric)
• Benefits from Power, Crit Chance, and Crit Damage

Condition Damage

• Not affected by protection
• Not affected by toughness/armor
• Can be countered by condition removal
• Can be countered by negative condition duration (Runes of Melandru and/or Lemongrass)
• Benefits from condition damage and condition duration.

I like pairing clerics with knights, berserker, or magi trinkets depending on how I feel that day. I have no idea if that helps. :p