Guild Wars 2

Hammurabi.5942:

This is a really fun build, helped make ranger interesting for me to play again.

I am a lazy kitten , so I’m not going to update this with other variants.

This is a generalized build! Take it as a kind of blueprint that some of the variants in the next post will work from. Specific details for particular builds are posted immediately below the OP.

Traits: 0/0/30/30/10

Wilderness Survival:

• Wilderness Knowledge (Adept)
• Off-Hand Training (Master)
• Empathic Bond (Grandmaster)

Nature Magic:

• Nature’s Bounty (Adept) or Nature’s Protection (Adept)
• Evasive Purity (Master)
• Nature’s Voice (Grandmaster)

Beastmastery:

• Shout Mastery (Adept)

Utilities:

• Troll Unguent (roaming) or Healing Spring (group)
• “Guard”
• Lightning Reflexes or Signet of Renewal
• Signet of the Wild
• Entangle (Elite)

Pros!

• More HP
• More speed
• Higher boon duration
• Lots of applied protection, regeneration, and swiftness
• High poison/blind removal
• “Guard” (12s cooldown) applies 16s regeneration and 13s swiftness with 360 AoE radius
• Pet gets lots of stealth and protection uptime (potentially perma protection due to boon sharing)
• Tankier pet (via shared boons)
• Constant boons give pets 5% more damage
• Less reliant on Signet of Renewal and Signet of the Wild
• Huge group utility

Mehs!

• BTR actively applies boons, RRR passively applies them
• You will need to use F3 a lot more
• More emphasis on boons and less on pets

Not pros!

• Less healing power than a BM build
• No more 133 hp/3s (or 180hp/3s if traited) passive regen from Natural Healing
• Pet does about 5.1% less damage on average and has 2000 less health
• Recharge for swapping pets is 20s instead of 15s
• Runes of the Forge can only be gained from dungeon
• Spamming a placement AoE (“Guard”) is annoying

“Beastmastery” without the Beastmastery

Since pets took a pretty big hit – and it’s safe to say most people will no longer spec towards Beastmastery – this is the best I could come up with to “artificially” buff them via boon applications while not having to waste a bunch of points in the watered-down BM traitline. This relies on spamming “Guard”, which will apply invisibility, 13s protection, as well as perma regen/swiftness if the patch works as it’s supposedly going to. If you decide not to use guard, then the pet is just less tanky in the calculations.

So how do boons stack compared to beastmaster perks? Take Sebrent’s thread (I miss that guy) as a good basis for the beastmastery math: http://www.ehmry.com/topic/2170-ranger-beastmastery-math/

With x/x/x/10/30:

• +14.1% dmg (6 × 2.35%)
• +14.28% crit chance (6 × 2.38%)
• +3000 hp (300 vitality)
• +14.1% dmg mitigation (6 × 2.35%)

With x/x/x/30/10:

• +9.9% dmg ((1.05 × 2 × 2.35%) + 5%) —> 5% bonus via trait
• +4.76% crit chance (2 × 2.38%)
• +1000 hp (100 vitality)
• +39.3% dmg mitigation ((1.33 × 2 × 2.38%) + 33%) —> 33% bonus via protection

NOTE THE 1.05 and 1.33 multipliers for the x/x/x/30/10 setup since the trait and boon bonuses apply after the BM stats.

Looking at damage on average specifically, we can use the added crit chance as a multiplier as well. Crit chance multipliers are italicized:

With x/x/x/10/30:

• +16.1% dmg (1.1428 x 6 × 2.35%)

With x/x/x/30/10:

• +10.2% dmg ((1.05 x 1.0476 x 2 × 2.35%) + 5%)

Ratio:

• 1+0.161 : 1+0.102 —> 1.161 : 1.102 --> 1 : 0.949

Overall, your pet is much tankier, is almost always stealthed, the damage it does is only about 5.1% less on average, and the health pool is mostly the same (only 2000 hp difference). I feel this is a very fair trade.

Roaming Condition Variation (cBTR)

Gear: Apothecary and/or Settler
Rune: Forge
Weapons: Axe/Dagger and Sword/Torch
Sigils: Agony/Corruption (on each set)

Heal: Troll Unguent

Nature Magic: Nature’s Protection (Adept)

Pros

• Protection is focused (see my bolded response in 7th post)
• More toughness
• Greater fire damage and shorter offhand cooldowns

Notes

Specific weapon combo based on spaced out evades, more numerous conditions stacked at one time (tougher to purge everything at once), plenty of positioning ability, and built-in combo finishers.

Roaming Power Variation (pBTR)

Gear: Cleric
Rune: Forge
Weapons: Greatsword and Sword/Axe (or Dagger)
Sigils: Battle on Greatsword, Bloodlust on Sword, Leeching or Energy on Offhand

Heal: Troll Unguent or Healing Spring

Nature Magic: Nature’s Protection (Adept)

Pros

• Protection is focused (see my bolded response in 7th post)
• Short offhand cooldowns
• A pull that can be combined with a stealthed pet (canines for a pull then knockdown)
• Multiple healing opportunities via leap finishers depending on heal utility chosen
• Direct damage can’t be condition purged
• Pets get your might on weaponswap
• Heals on weaponswap

Notes

Sigils can be used however, all of them work really nicely with this build. Leeching is a great way for extra heals while Energy makes you even tougher to hit on an already difficult combo.

Axe got a really nice pull buff that you can combine with a stealthed pet on your location via the shouts you will be spamming. It actually already does decent damage, and sword itself can give you some great mobility (you can autoattack your way away from a fight in a similar manner a thief uses heartseeker if you have autotargetting turned of). With this in mind, you don’t really need a dagger, but I left it as an option for aesthetic reasons.

The cool thing about this particular weapon setup is that you have two leap finishers, and you can use three during the duration of your healing spring. This means you can heal more using the finishers than using troll unguent. However, it is easy to miss your water field with a moving opponent, so this is left to the player.

Reserved for whatever

Interesting variation, you’re still keeping the RRR feel alive and different at the same time. I have 2 questions though:

1. What are your thoughts on soldier runes?
2. How are you going to cope with the loss of damage from pets?

1) Soldier runes seem like a pretty good alternative. I personally feel the condition removal from Empathic Bond is fine. I rarely have issues except with engineers and necros, and removing one condition every 12 seconds will do little against any opponent who apply them enough to really challenge you. Again, personal preference, but I’d still choose the Forge, and if I get an opponent who will pressure me, I’d just swap the utility skill.

2) It’s only 5% loss of damage from pets, and as I put in another post, the autoattacks are generally left alone so the nerfed pet damage only applies to very sporadic attacks that (in reality) still hit pretty dang hard.

Looks like a good build on paper. It’s basically taking the standard beastmaster regen tank and using Guard plus the new Nature Magic grandmaster trait to replace both Signet of the Hunt and the defensive pet stats from Beastmastery.

Being able to offer 100% swiftness uptime to anyone traveling with you will be a great perk for small group roaming in WvW.

The main concern, of course, is that even if you’re using boons to replace a lot of the lost pet stats from not putting points in Beastmastery, you can’t replace the lost damage on the pets.

If only Anet had given us some effective way to stack Might too, we could channel it to the pet via the 15-point Nature Magic trait.

Hmm…Brainstorming here: You’ve already got 30% boon duration from Nature Magic. Throw on some boon duration food and/or runes and you could get very substantial boon durations. Then wear full rabid or knight’s gear and use Superior Sigils of Strength. Your high crit chance and boon duration could probably keep a significant might stack on your pet (and yourself, for that matter.) Basically the way HGH roaming engineer builds work. The downside of that, of course, is you’d lose the healing power from the gear you were proposing to wear.

Edit: If you shuffled 15 points out of Wilderness Survival and into Skirmishing and had a lot of boon duration you could get sizable fury uptime by weapon switching, which would mean you’d need less precision to get good returns from the Sigils of Strength. This fury would also transfer to the pet via the 15-point Nature Magic trait.

Tinkering with it a bit, I’d propose this as a might-stacking power variant: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQRAnf3YnAV0FcfFKWwaZgo9QTm/8vCzy9YUoqTp8jv82D-jwCBoMRExJwkHBiEJ05dFRjtyqIas6ZER1qbYWdAWxa1GyJCA-e (Replace Evasive Purity with the new grandmaster Nature Magic trait.)

100% uptime on swiftness and regeneration from Guard, high uptime on protection (more than 3 seconds per dodge) and Fury (8 seconds per weapon swap and heal) and every crit has a 30% chance to give you 16.5 seconds of might. With the Sigil of Perception fully charged and fury up, the max crit chance you can reach is 79%, so the maximum chance to gain might per attack reaches just short of 24%.

All of these boons are shared with your pet via the 15-point Nature Magic trait, which also has near permanent protection and stealth from Guard.

You’ll have a lot less healing power than you would in apothecary’s or cleric’s gear, but you’ll have just as much toughness and almost 20k HP.

Edit: Could also replace all the knight’s gear with rabid for a condition variant.

I chose the traits and everything as they are because I feel they allow the most survivability that way lol.

The healing power is a big deal in the way I build my ranger. I’d rather have it than fury and might. That’s where the strength behind the rangers people are calling nerfs for comes from. The ability to do good damage while outlasting the other player(s) because, inevitably, anyone with half decent dodging skills will win a massive majority of their fights, even when outnumbered.

Granted, your version will have better damage, but at a pretty big cost. It has no condition removal, no stun breakers, mediocre healing, unfocused protection, and focuses too much on buffing the unreliable pet rather than keeping yourself alive and well. You’ll probably win most 1v1s, but if you run into anything else, you’re going to have a way tougher time than if you were running a more defensive variant.

I especially want to specify the importance of “focused protection”. I don’t know what else to call it since it’s not really something a lot of people think about, but protect on a dodge roll isn’t going to do you a lot of good if you’re timing your dodges correctly. It puts you out of range of a burst, and you have plenty of active evade/block opportunities on popular weapons to keep you from immediately getting hammered. No, the protection you need is when you’re in a tough spot, and this is the protect offered by the runes. In fact, you get 15s of it with a 60s cooldown. That’s some amazing uptime on a boon that makes a huge difference that activates exactly when you need it, not on dodge rolls where you’re safe from bursts of damage for the next couple seconds a majority of the time. You still get those dodge roll protections, but you don’t need to be reliant on them. This is what makes Runes of the Forge such an amazing rune for bunkers with high boon duration. You are a kittening tank when it matters most.

When it all comes down to it, you do plenty of damage already. I did more than enough damage with RRR to spike players relatively quickly, and this one should do even more. I just don’t see the point in focusing so much more in something that will already do the job for you if the trade off is dying so much easier.

People get into the mindset “I need moar DPS!” and miss out on some of the other very conductive mechanics in the game. The ranger can be a master of defense, and luckily we aren’t stuck with a boring and static bunker like the guardian.

[edit] In fact, I want to emphasize focused protection so much, I’m putting it on the top of my list.

Theoretically, I guess you could go with Dolyak Runes if you wanted to make up for the loss of Natural Healing, though they don’t span anywhere near the nice span of options that forge runes cover for rangers.
Still, variants are variants.

Overall, I think that even if the damage output for BM builds got reduced, the bunkering/survival potential has been increased by quite a bit more. So, good build.

Thanks jc. Even if the patch goes through, I really want to stress that there have been far larger nerfs actually quite often to other classes than the pet nerfs we are about to experience. It’s not the end of the world for BM builds, and running x/x/x/30/10 will almost completely make up for the damage reduction in a fully BM setup. I made a post called “BM not dead” with the general gist of the tail end of my OP along with some personal commentary on what the nerfs actually entail for those who still think pets are going to be killed tomorrow.

Pets will be fine. The biggest nerf to BM is the one people haven’t even mentioned, and that’s having to choose between quickness on pet swaps and the passive regeneration you and your pet can get.

Try switching the Runes for Runes of Altruism . You already have perma regeneration, so adding those would give 15% boon duration across the board, healing power and fury and might on heal . This is a MASSIVE pet buff through fortified bonds

Could drop 10 in Wilderness (since I don’t think you want to give up shout mastery) for 10 in Skirmishing for Companions Might (I’m assuming Clerics gear with this)

Do Sword Warhorn/Great Sword Build

Guard/SoR/SoW would be your abilities with Rampage as one

Though if you used Warhorn i think you could get rid of Shout Mastery in Favor of keeping the 10 in Wilderness

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Thanks jc. Even if the patch goes through, I really want to stress that there have been far larger nerfs actually quite often to other classes than the pet nerfs we are about to experience. It’s not the end of the world for BM builds, and running x/x/x/30/10 will almost completely make up for the damage reduction in a fully BM setup. I made a post called “BM not dead” with the general gist of the tail end of my OP along with some personal commentary on what the nerfs actually entail for those who still think pets are going to be killed tomorrow.

Pets will be fine. The biggest nerf to BM is the one people haven’t even mentioned, and that’s having to choose between quickness on pet swaps and the passive regeneration you and your pet can get.

That might be a viable choice at 3 seconds, I’ll probably test it out….My problem is usually not how fast the stomp is but being interrupted

just use rao. entagle is nearly useless. i use take root in pve and rao in pvp (too easy to get out from it)

Seems an obvious choice to me to pick nature’s protection over nature’s bounty since the 30 points is already enough to give perma regen, especially if using forge runes.

Xsorus.2507:

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Thanks jc. Even if the patch goes through, I really want to stress that there have been far larger nerfs actually quite often to other classes than the pet nerfs we are about to experience. It’s not the end of the world for BM builds, and running x/x/x/30/10 will almost completely make up for the damage reduction in a fully BM setup. I made a post called “BM not dead” with the general gist of the tail end of my OP along with some personal commentary on what the nerfs actually entail for those who still think pets are going to be killed tomorrow.

Pets will be fine. The biggest nerf to BM is the one people haven’t even mentioned, and that’s having to choose between quickness on pet swaps and the passive regeneration you and your pet can get.

That might be a viable choice at 3 seconds, I’ll probably test it out….My problem is usually not how fast the stomp is but being interrupted

I wonder how many times we’ll be swapping pets for quickness before realizing it doesn’t work anymore? (for those without the 30point trait that is) I estimate 527million and 2 times.

Xsorus.2507:

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Thanks jc. Even if the patch goes through, I really want to stress that there have been far larger nerfs actually quite often to other classes than the pet nerfs we are about to experience. It’s not the end of the world for BM builds, and running x/x/x/30/10 will almost completely make up for the damage reduction in a fully BM setup. I made a post called “BM not dead” with the general gist of the tail end of my OP along with some personal commentary on what the nerfs actually entail for those who still think pets are going to be killed tomorrow.

Pets will be fine. The biggest nerf to BM is the one people haven’t even mentioned, and that’s having to choose between quickness on pet swaps and the passive regeneration you and your pet can get.

That might be a viable choice at 3 seconds, I’ll probably test it out….My problem is usually not how fast the stomp is but being interrupted

I wonder how many times we’ll be swapping pets for quickness before realizing it doesn’t work anymore? (for those without the 30point trait that is) I estimate 527million and 2 times.

heya Fo Sho! im liking this idea..but i have a question.

ditching the dwaynas…what does that do for healing and regen app? your depending totally on the traited “guard” to put your regen on?

also..what exactly does guard do? just stealth your pet and give it prot right?

Yeah it’s highly dependent on keeping “Guard” active. It’s kind of annoying, but it gives pet perma protection and stealths it for the most part. I’ve been practicing running around with it hotkeyed, so I just double click a button and immediately press F3. This puts the pet at your side, stealthed with protection, and if the patch notes stay true to the leaked info, it should also provide perma regen/swiftness.

Also nature’s protection seems like a good alternative to nature’s bounty. I’ll add it to the OP.

I think Water or Altruism runes would be far better then Forge . Far more group utility and you get 15% on all boon durations instead of simply on the one specific boon type

Change it how you like. I’m just posting the backbones so it’ll be easier for people to custom tailor it how they see fit.

I’ll definitely add that as a build option in the 2nd post though now that the changes have been confirmed.

Yea lets make another tank build, because thats what Rangers were made for…

Thanks Anet.

Working with what I’m given :P Believe me, I’d rather be playing bows as well. I didn’t make a ranger to sit on someone’s face, but if that’s the best way I can find to do things, then that’s how I’ll play.

Faux Sheaux is right here and it’s really silly because we get penalized FOR being pushed into such a bunker direction to even be competitive but we have to work with what we got regardless of being nerfed FOR using the only builds we got.

I was thinking of the same build last night. Different utility skills for WvW but same build. It going to be interesting how this new build plays out.

NEw to Game, new to ranger, only profession – level 80 in 2 weeks. I am currently doing SB/LB (ya i know, who would of guessed a “range” r would have to go melee) anways, where do i start…i just bought all the power, vitaltiy, toughness gear with karma, badges etc…I really want to just stick with my ranger isntead of rerolling mesmer, theif, ele…can you assist me with this transformation?
My goals are to be able to freely roam, engage when i want to, and disengage safely when i feel the heat on.
Thanks in advance!

I am not entirely sure that you can anymore . Roaming ranger got its head ripped off and a lot of other classes , roaming builds , got buffed . We are royally ….. turned in a clockwise dirrection

i very much like the roaming power variant, namely cuz of the use of greatsword/swordMH

if anyone can expand on that specific one id be grateful

I’m a monster with my 0/0/30/30/10 in tpvp with runes of forge, shamans, shortbow and sword and torch.

Observations:Day1
So I gave this build a try. (0/0/30/30/10) first I noticed a bug(shhh you can stack regen and swiftness to 2m 30s
next i noticed that not everyone in a 10 man grp gets buff(bug? maybe i dunno)
next my survivability does not change. I already had permaspeed using hunt in place of guard and permaregen
So if willing to give up something(damage or survivability)you the ranger really do not gain anything.
I would also like to mention that Path of scars does not travel on Y axis so no pulling off walls(I bet arenat had that one prefigured out)

But I suggest give it your own try. spend the coin and see if you like it or not

whitespirit.9734:

Observations:Day1
So I gave this build a try. (0/0/30/30/10) first I noticed a bug(shhh you can stack regen and swiftness to 2m 30s

Nerf plz

whitespirit.9734:

next i noticed that not everyone in a 10 man grp gets buff(bug? maybe i dunno)

5 man limit per shout

whitespirit.9734:

next my survivability does not change. I already had permaspeed using hunt in place of guard and permaregen

The change in survivability comes in the form of protections from Rune of the Forge. Still uneffected by condition damage.

whitespirit.9734:

I would also like to mention that Path of scars does not travel on Y axis so no pulling off walls(I bet arenat had that one prefigured out)

Report anyways dood. Still, good catch.

Quick question then. For 5 person limit do you and your pet count? So only 3+ yourself?

whitespirit.9734:

Quick question then. For 5 person limit do you and your pet count? So only 3+ yourself?

Pretty sure players will be priorotized ( I have no idea how that silly word is spelled) ahead of pets if there are any avalible.

I’ve got to admit. It’s kittening annoying spamming the shout since it doesn’t autocast.

It’s kind of fun to see your pet moving much much faster now if you spam shouts xD And perma regens are great! Actually it makes me think that we can ditch other things that trigger regen and get something else.

first shout of the professions i have seen that have a 1sec cast time. Of course its to put the aoe down ,but in middle of combat 1 sec is forever and easily innteruptable. Also I have noticed a delay with the new minor adept beastmastery trait. so instead of attacking with their quickness they just wander about while I get poked. Anyone else noticing this?

whitespirit.9734:

first shout of the professions i have seen that have a 1sec cast time. Of course its to put the aoe down ,but in middle of combat 1 sec is forever and easily innteruptable. Also I have noticed a delay with the new minor adept beastmastery trait. so instead of attacking with their quickness they just wander about while I get poked. Anyone else noticing this?

That’s why nobody ever took it to begin with, it was literally never good for anything. Its actually the only thing I’m upset about with the patch, that they flip-flopped Instinctual Bond around and didn’t rework it.

Kolisch.4691:

Actually it makes me think that we can ditch other things that trigger regen and get something else.

Yeah, if you’re going to use this build you’ll have near 100% regeneration uptime from Guard spamming, so there’s no reason to have any other sources of regeneration. If you’re still using Dwayna runes, consider replacing them with something else useful, like Forge, Altruism, Soldier or Water.

Faux Sheaux.6179:

I’ve got to admit. It’s kittening annoying spamming the shout since it doesn’t autocast.

That was my first thought when I saw this idea but I didn’t want to sound more pessimistic than I already had since I’ve done nothing but complain since the leak came out, :P

Double click and F3 is what you do right? must be a way to macro that although you have to ask someone else I’ve only used macros that are ingame before, but there are programs for mouses that’ll do it I’m sure.

Manekk.6981:

Faux Sheaux.6179:

I’ve got to admit. It’s kittening annoying spamming the shout since it doesn’t autocast.

That was my first thought when I saw this idea but I didn’t want to sound more pessimistic than I already had since I’ve done nothing but complain since the leak came out, :P

Double click and F3 is what you do right? must be a way to macro that although you have to ask someone else I’ve only used macros that are ingame before, but there are programs for mouses that’ll do it I’m sure.

I just use fast-cast ground targeting. Point mouse, press skill key, then press f3. I find it much easier than regular ground targeting, but it is a playstyle preference and does take some getting used to.

So I’ve been theory crafting/beating up on golems trying to use this as a basis for zerging in wvw. I currently use knight’s w/ undead runes and celestial trinkets as a trap ranger. I use condition stacking weapons/wrench and then omnomberry compote along w/ sigil of restoration. I’d use sb and axe/horn(or torch). I do fairly well in T1 flipping camps/solo roaming or zerging.

Yet no matter what tweaks I make….I just can’t see how the hell to use this build effectively in wvw while zerging. Then without my traps…..I don’t see me running into the middle of a camp and flipping it as fast as I do now. Any advice?

tested in spvp and with only 30% boon duration I can’t stack endless swiftness and the regeneration stack works only with natures bounty.

whitespirit.9734:

Quick question then. For 5 person limit do you and your pet count? So only 3+ yourself?

Your pet will count but there was a change a while back which made pets and minions lower priorities than players. If five players are in range of the shout (which will always be the case in a zerg) the pet will not receive any boons. If you select your pet and watch the UI in a zerg, you will notice that it never receives a boon unless you have the nature magic trait, Fortifying Bond which shares all boons the ranger receives with the pet (using the ranger’s boon duration modifier).

I have a quick question. For the weapons and accessories, rings, and amulets for the Roaming Power version, would the prefix stats all be Cleric’s?

Rawthorne.8675:

So I’ve been theory crafting/beating up on golems trying to use this as a basis for zerging in wvw. I currently use knight’s w/ undead runes and celestial trinkets as a trap ranger. I use condition stacking weapons/wrench and then omnomberry compote along w/ sigil of restoration. I’d use sb and axe/horn(or torch). I do fairly well in T1 flipping camps/solo roaming or zerging.

Yet no matter what tweaks I make….I just can’t see how the hell to use this build effectively in wvw while zerging. Then without my traps…..I don’t see me running into the middle of a camp and flipping it as fast as I do now. Any advice?

Honestly, I’d suggest sticking to traps. Different builds are better for different things, and while I still have no issue flipping camps with this, I don’t do it as quickly as I would with traps.

I like to survive, and this keeps you alive. There are better builds that already exist relatively unchanged for those looking for more damage oriented playstyles.

whitespirit.9734:

Quick question then. For 5 person limit do you and your pet count? So only 3+ yourself?

player + 4dude +1your pet(Alway got buff)

I test try on www and quarrgan mob in WWW 4quarrgan+me+my pet got buff but vet guard next to me not get.

BUT

Player+Pet+4dude+4dude pet.
Dude pet couth ame as 1player dam…stupid focus buff.

I use this traits but use RRR-gear.
Stand in support in group small group use 1Hsword/WarHorn + Axe/Axe(This combo is very anoyying at skill4axe.)

Here I am tryin to break my 2m 30 sec regen stackin record

This build works quite well.

Faux Sheaux.6179:

I chose the traits and everything as they are because I feel they allow the most survivability that way lol.

The healing power is a big deal in the way I build my ranger. I’d rather have it than fury and might. That’s where the strength behind the rangers people are calling nerfs for comes from. The ability to do good damage while outlasting the other player(s) because, inevitably, anyone with half decent dodging skills will win a massive majority of their fights, even when outnumbered.

Granted, your version will have better damage, but at a pretty big cost. It has no condition removal, no stun breakers, mediocre healing, unfocused protection, and focuses too much on buffing the unreliable pet rather than keeping yourself alive and well. You’ll probably win most 1v1s, but if you run into anything else, you’re going to have a way tougher time than if you were running a more defensive variant.

I especially want to specify the importance of “focused protection”. I don’t know what else to call it since it’s not really something a lot of people think about, but protect on a dodge roll isn’t going to do you a lot of good if you’re timing your dodges correctly. It puts you out of range of a burst, and you have plenty of active evade/block opportunities on popular weapons to keep you from immediately getting hammered. No, the protection you need is when you’re in a tough spot, and this is the protect offered by the runes. In fact, you get 15s of it with a 30s cooldown. That’s some amazing uptime on a boon that makes a huge difference that activates exactly when you need it, not on dodge rolls where you’re safe from bursts of damage for the next couple seconds a majority of the time. You still get those dodge roll protections, but you don’t need to be reliant on them. This is what makes Runes of the Forge such an amazing rune for bunkers with high boon duration. You are a kittening tank when it matters most.

When it all comes down to it, you do plenty of damage already. I did more than enough damage with RRR to spike players relatively quickly, and this one should do even more. I just don’t see the point in focusing so much more in something that will already do the job for you if the trade off is dying so much easier.

People get into the mindset “I need moar DPS!” and miss out on some of the other very conductive mechanics in the game. The ranger can be a master of defense, and luckily we aren’t stuck with a boring and static bunker like the guardian.

[edit] In fact, I want to emphasize focused protection so much, I’m putting it on the top of my list.

I believe it’s every 60 seconds, not 30. And the condition for this occurring is that you have to cross the 50% health barrier? I would say that’s not something that’s reliable.

Paprikaspice.8462:

I believe it’s every 60 seconds, not 30. And the condition for this occurring is that you have to cross the 50% health barrier? I would say that’s not something that’s reliable.

Not reliable? That’s when you need it the most.

You’re right though. I goofed with the timing. Thanks for pointing that out.