Guild Wars 2

First time poster, long time lurker here, and have to say that I’m really enjoying the casual pace to the game !
I love to read the forums almost as much as I love to play the game, and have read some very intresting analysis by the community ( which seems very helpful ) on all types of builds. I would like to post my build and reasons for it, in the hopes to both stir up a discussion and recieve feedback which can be helpful to all those with similar questions and concerns over traits and build synergies.
I have just recently hit 80 and am wearing full Berserkers gear ( non exotic at the moment ) with the exception of my jewlery which focuses on defensive stats.
My build is 15/15/30/0/10. I use an axe/torch main set, with sword/torch offhand. I mainly use these two weapon sets because of the natural ranged AOE of the axe, and bonfire. I also enjoy the mobility and feel which is very important to me..much more then increasing my kill time by 5 secs. Also, please bear in mind that the intention of this build is for casual ROLEPLAYING PVE and exploration. ( no pvp or dungeons)

Breakdown and reasons for my trait selection:

Markmanship: 15 points with Steady Focus -taken mainly for opening strikes for both myself and the pet- is this useless??

Skirmishing: 15 points with Sharpened Edge- synergizes well swapping weapons, with swiftness and fury. Not too sure on this one, is the swiftness, Sharpened Edges and fury worth it, or am I better off with putting the points into Markmanship ??

Wilderness Survival: 30 points with Viguorous Renewal ( helps with maintaing vigor for both dodges for protection or maintaing vigor for Steady Focus), Offhand Training and Empathic Bond.

Beastmastery: 10 points with Master’s Bond: I know the bugginess of this trait ( resets in water etc) however, when fully stacked it make my fern hound much stronger. I also do not really switch pets often, I prefer the roleplaying aspect of keeping my pet out as long as possible !!

My general sequence of attack is to start off with a throw torch to get the mobs attention, followed by a Winter’s Bite to chill and create weakness with my Pets next attack. If the mob heads for me ( with Risen happens about 50% of the time), I’ll lay down a bonfire, and use Splitblade when it is very near before switching to sword for a beatdown !! Dodging and kiting when called for.

Once again I am not very intrested in squeezing out tops dps but still want to maintain a decent amount while not being super squishy. This build seems to work well for me and is alot of fun.

I just thought I’d give my feedback and somewhat limited analysis of the traits I have choosen. Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far !! Any input is appreciated
p.s Have fun in game !!

First question (as a fellow RPer): Are the weapons a key part of your roleplay?

If not, here are my suggestions:

You’re wearing Berserker gear, which means you’re looking for direct damage, not condition. Axe is a heavy condition weapon, and Torch is nothing but condition. Sword is great either way but really shines as a direct damage weapon.

If you want to stay with a direct damage build, drop the Axe and swap to sword as your main weapon and a Short Bow (or even Longbow) as your secondary weapon. Short Bow, like Sword, fits well into both condition and direct damage builds. (I sometimes use Longbow as a secondary for Rapid Fire and Barrage)

For your Sword offhand, consider either a Warhorn or Dagger. Dagger is especially good when paired with Sword as it gives another evade and a ranged Cripple to chase fleeing targets.

Regarding your spec, its a bit all over the place. Again, if you’re sticking with direct damage/defensive armor stats, I recommend focusing down the Wilderness Survival tree and either the Skirmishing or Beastmaster tree. Here’s a build I’d recommend:

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVoVMm9cMvarMMvarM0GxaazaoaqoM

Drop Steady Aim because, in melee, you’ll be dodging a lot. You can pick up Vigor traits, but I find with a Sword, Dagger and Short Bow – on top of improved Endurance regeneration – you’ll have plenty of ways to move around. If you find you’re lacking in Endurance, put a Sigil of Energy on one or both of your weapon sets (just one in each though; they do not stack).

Remember that in the current patch, its difficult to Dodge Roll while using Sword’s 1 ability (unless you have auto-attack off and manually smashing that key), so Vigor and capped Endurance is a mute point – for now.

I would highly recommend that if you want to play a melee Ranger, consider stacking Toughness. That will make you more durable in the danger zone. Toughness is a great stat to counter burst damage bot not effective against conditions (that’s Vitality’s job).

Thanks for the reply !
Weapons are a considerable part of my roleplaying experience. I’m just not a fan of the shortbow..feels to fast ( semi-automatic feel) and its is an immersion breaker for me..plus i really hate the sound ( as dumb as that sounds i know ). I also really love the throw torch animation , and as a fellow RP’er I hope that makes sense.
I take it by your build and answer that you believe opening strikes is not worth it then. If so, I may put those points into BM …

Hi there !

1st post here as well ! And hope this can help. If you want to slightly increase your DPS while sticking with your weapons/pets/gameplay, I would reccommend to do this :
- drop 5 points in Marsmanship and invest them in skirmishing instead. I think that Alpha training is less useful than any other trait you can use in skirmishing (carnivorous appetite = pet survavibility for Rp purposes) ;
- Since your build seems more condition oriented, use rampager’s gear instead of berz. That way you can get more crit which mean more bleeds with 1h sword and more condition damage as well. I’d say that %crit (on gear) is not that useful with your kind of build.
- Use sigil of earth for even more stacks of bleeding.

Just because I’m curious, can I ask you what kind of pet you are using ?

Cya

If Axe is your thing, you’ll definitely want to change your armor set to Rampager (power/precision/condition damage) or Rabid (condition/precision/toughness). I’d recommend the latter and put in six Undead runes. You’ll be going condition build, which is easier and more viable for Rangers to do over “glass cannon” direct damage.

For jewelery, consider Chrysocola (condition damage/power/vitality). There is no Toughness/Condition Damage variety, yet.

A revised build for you might as follows:
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVozcVM9MovarMMvarM0GxaazsoaqcM

Swap out your healing skill for which ever you prefer, though I’d recommend either Healing Spring to combo with your weapons or Troll Unguent for a heal over time.

Hope this helps better!

Great help, thanks guys !
I’m using the fern hound..named Loyalty !! Gonna try out some of these ideas’, namely switching to Rampager gear since it may be more useful for my must have axe/ torch ..
This is why I havent bought any exotic gear..still messing around trying to find out which set will work better with my traits/spec. Although I am not too concerned with overall dps, I still enjoy optimizing my damage with my playstyle…