Guild Wars 2

Hi Rangers,

My lvl 80 ranger is currently rocking all apothecary gear (armor, weps, accessories) using Sw/d and Axe/Torch. I want to switch things up as I am getting bored of this build. I want to try out the GS + Sw/d combo, emphasizing damage. This is going to be used mostly in PVE situations and occasional WvW (probably zerg or small group roaming). With that said, I would like your opinion on which type of exotic armor you think is best for this setup.

I want to avoid zerker since that will leave my ranger very squishy and vulnerable. My second choice atm would be knight’s armor. I would like to have some survivability and decent damage output. If you feel that there is a better option, I would love to hear it. Thanks in advance!

Edit: I am open to mixing of equipment categories! I am not asking for absolute sets.

I mix knight/valkyrie accessories with berserker armour and valkyrie/giver’s weapons. 6/2/0/6/0 LB sniper.

results may vary but I find this is the best sniper build.

gawker.8340:

I mix knight/valkyrie accessories with berserker armour and valkyrie/giver’s weapons. 6/2/0/6/0 LB sniper.

results may vary but I find this is the best sniper build.

thanks for the input! can you tell me the specific makeup of your accessories mix if it isn’t too much trouble?

is it better to get a decent mix of vitality & toughness rather than going for one over the other?

I have valkyrie on all trinket except rings which are knights. It comes up to a little over 2400 armour which is only useful against people who like to dabble in physical attack. Otherwise, you will get hit very hard so better dodge.

I find that you need to maintain crit chance to proc fire and air sigil which add roughly 2.2k dmg. It’s easier to do that now with Survival of the fittest so less reliance on beserker gear is needed, means more defense.

PVT+Zerker trinkets , runes of the pack, ranger even runes of the Centur (reduces cripple by 50% and gives you plenty of aoe swiftness when using a healing skill and when hit too.

somthing with power/Peicision make a build with 30 in nautre magic to make the most out of those weapons.
use 4/0/4/6/0
aim for 39% crit chance + oils = 44% odd spotter ups this to 52% odd should be enough.

off-hand training for more dagger evades and control/poison uptime.
with the S/D set up its better to have more condition damage than the extra 10% duration with a Pizza it’ll make up for that little 10%. you want your poisons to as much damage as they can since you have 2 skills for perm poison its better to apply more poison damage to reduce there effective regen health while applying the 33% heal nurf to them making it even harder for them to regen , this puts their health in limbo and they won’t regen anything , and any damage after that will only lower their hp pool.
this working into a power based build is extremely deadly as it counters all hp regen and skill 6 healing effectiveness .

all you need for a gs/s+d type of build. everything else would be personal preference

Zenos Osgorma.2936:

PVT+Zerker trinkets , runes of the pack, ranger even runes of the Centur (reduces cripple by 50% and gives you plenty of aoe swiftness when using a healing skill and when hit too.

somthing with power/Peicision make a build with 30 in nautre magic to make the most out of those weapons.
use 4/0/4/6/0
aim for 39% crit chance + oils = 44% odd spotter ups this to 52% odd should be enough.

off-hand training for more dagger evades and control/poison uptime.
with the S/D set up its better to have more condition damage than the extra 10% duration with a Pizza it’ll make up for that little 10%. you want your poisons to as much damage as they can since you have 2 skills for perm poison its better to apply more poison damage to reduce there effective regen health while applying the 33% heal nurf to them making it even harder for them to regen , this puts their health in limbo and they won’t regen anything , and any damage after that will only lower their hp pool.
this working into a power based build is extremely deadly as it counters all hp regen and skill 6 healing effectiveness .

all you need for a gs/s+d type of build. everything else would be personal preference

How about martial mastery? I feel that would be pretty useful for this build. Rune of the pack and ranger both look very good. Which one would you prefer?

its a good choice too , thats the personal preferance more , cripple at range and a poison evade or a reduction on the sword 2 escape , thats up to what you’d prefer now.

Nothing wrong with being squishy, as long as you build to escape.

^ if you can escape , i’d rather not take the risk if your planning on zerging. rangers have limited escape skills but the best types of evasive escape skills avoiding damage while they use those skills.
unlike other Medium armour classes that use Stealth and Distortions to make it harder for people to track you / chase you.
so for that purpose running 100% zerker on ranger would be a death trap for your team,
though running a little squishy is great if you can Escape but not likley as i put above you can’t avoid being targeted playing a ranger class we have no means to get people to detarget us out of longbow..

I roam as zerk LB ranger and escape with GS.

In a zerg I just back line barrage and range attacks, it’s fun, and again you have to know when to back off and watch your flank.

Yeah if you use LB, it will be easier since you are attempting to maintain distance throughout the fight. With GS + Sw/D, i think it will be better to invest in some vitality and toughness since everything will be up close and personal

Tip: you’re not going to maintain gap unless you’re on a terrain they can’t walk to. Shoot until you are satisfied, run immediately in the opposite direction when they charge. Fighting melee is like fighting without using your hands and closing your eyes.

I run maximum CC just to make my opponent not want to bother chasing. (Spider/wolf/MuddyTerrain/crippling talon/malicious training) I also stack 80% condition duration and I can permanently cripple and it only deters some people.

Here’s one of the builds I use:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjUq0ya/Kesw1agDhq5K8BMDgFw9Q0CV9FXlWF-T1SDABdquSPKnmRlCT2f4gLAgQKZCwkRCPBQJoL6GG4gAAg5MxAwE-w

- 90% less cripple duration
– pretty good condi clear
– 50% critical chance with fury
– 202% critical damage
– 2k base power (2.25k with stacks)
– 2.8k armor
– 19k health
– very high swiftness uptime out of combat, near to permanent swiftness in combat

You can swap the Longbow out for a Greatsword if you want. I prefer Longbow for damage however. Greatsword’s Maul is hard to land and many of the attack skills are very telegraphed. Also, for escaping, the stealth from Longbow works wonders.

what about warriors with mobile strikes + dogged march + -40% condi food + melandru runes?

Best to worst DPS for a full set of exotic quality gear:

Berserker > Assassin > Zealot > Knight > Soldier > Celestial > everything else.

Take your pick. Survivability scales in pretty much the same way too.

I see so many WvW comments but the OP wants PvE.

Don’t avoid full zerker. You become a better player using full zerks just by learning when to dodge. Toughness/Vitality/Healing power is not needed since evading mitigates 100% incoming damage. Best option for DPS weapon is sword, though it takes a while to get the hang of. In the mean time, use greatsword if you’re having trouble surviving. The autoattack has a 1 second evade every 2 seconds. This means without any defensive stats, you can evade half the attacks in full zerker. Pick up “Protect me” or trait “Signet of stone” if you still need more survivability.

Current top damage PvE ranger build is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=via57Pzvm58

Don’t salvage your apothecary gear though, use that in wvw.

If a D/D thief tries to face tank you and you have GS up you will not even get touched once with your auto attack.

blitzkrieg.2451:

what about warriors with mobile strikes + dogged march + -40% condi food + melandru runes?

Since conditions plus/minus are additive, their 96% condition removal is countered by good condition bonus. With 80% condition bonus, that means they only get 16% removal. They basically still eat the normal condition durations, so stacking it on hard still works.

Mostly used in PvE? Go full zerk and get better, why pick alternatives. I still use full zerk in PvP…you just gotta learn how it works and rely on your team mates.

In pve full zerk or mix in knights/soldiers when you are learning new stuff for training wheels.
In wvw I run a weird set up of knights, zerk, cavalier, and precision knights that results in
58% crit, 78% with fury
2700+ armour
2.1k power
18k HP
205% crit damage.

Also its better to have air sigil instead of bloodlust since our skills have such low coefficients that one air proc is more damage than the 250 power will provide and fire breaks about even but is better if you hit more than one target.

Dont try to avoid berserker gear. It not only makes you more efficient but being squishy will also Force/train you to become a better player

Kibazuka.1390:

Dont try to avoid berserker gear. It not only makes you more efficient but being squishy will also Force/train you to become a better player

^ Exactly, don’t be scared to loose, using zerk gear will force you to learn how to be a better player.

Definitely use 100% berserker for PvE, and have a different set for WvW (if you want, if you’re very experienced you can use berserker for roaming.)

shadowpass.4236:

Here’s one of the builds I use:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjUq0ya/Kesw1agDhq5K8BMDgFw9Q0CV9FXlWF-T1SDABdquSPKnmRlCT2f4gLAgQKZCwkRCPBQJoL6GG4gAAg5MxAwE-w

- 90% less cripple duration
– pretty good condi clear
– 50% critical chance with fury
– 202% critical damage
– 2k base power (2.25k with stacks)
– 2.8k armor
– 19k health
– very high swiftness uptime out of combat, near to permanent swiftness in combat

You can swap the Longbow out for a Greatsword if you want. I prefer Longbow for damage however. Greatsword’s Maul is hard to land and many of the attack skills are very telegraphed. Also, for escaping, the stealth from Longbow works wonders.

This is a good trade off from going full into marksmanship, but I would go for runes of strength + jungle stalker’s might, pretty good option since you’re constantly thinking about properly positioning yourself in battle and that’s what your pet will do for you.

awge.3852:

shadowpass.4236:

Here’s one of the builds I use:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjUq0ya/Kesw1agDhq5K8BMDgFw9Q0CV9FXlWF-T1SDABdquSPKnmRlCT2f4gLAgQKZCwkRCPBQJoL6GG4gAAg5MxAwE-w

- 90% less cripple duration
– pretty good condi clear
– 50% critical chance with fury
– 202% critical damage
– 2k base power (2.25k with stacks)
– 2.8k armor
– 19k health
– very high swiftness uptime out of combat, near to permanent swiftness in combat

You can swap the Longbow out for a Greatsword if you want. I prefer Longbow for damage however. Greatsword’s Maul is hard to land and many of the attack skills are very telegraphed. Also, for escaping, the stealth from Longbow works wonders.

This is a good trade off from going full into marksmanship, but I would go for runes of strength + jungle stalker’s might, pretty good option since you’re constantly thinking about properly positioning yourself in battle and that’s what your pet will do for you.

do the runes effect might generated by pet?

For Pve open world, the usual dungeons and low level fractal, you can go full zerk (low level <30). For 40 and above i tent to throw in a piece or two of knights/sentinel. As for weapons/pets i constantly swap them, but the gs is always there (the evade on auto attack is too good to miss on higher lvl fractals). Just don’t take the path of the almighty bearbow, because in all honesty hey suck

blitzkrieg.2451:

awge.3852:

shadowpass.4236:

Here’s one of the builds I use:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjUq0ya/Kesw1agDhq5K8BMDgFw9Q0CV9FXlWF-T1SDABdquSPKnmRlCT2f4gLAgQKZCwkRCPBQJoL6GG4gAAg5MxAwE-w

- 90% less cripple duration
– pretty good condi clear
– 50% critical chance with fury
– 202% critical damage
– 2k base power (2.25k with stacks)
– 2.8k armor
– 19k health
– very high swiftness uptime out of combat, near to permanent swiftness in combat

You can swap the Longbow out for a Greatsword if you want. I prefer Longbow for damage however. Greatsword’s Maul is hard to land and many of the attack skills are very telegraphed. Also, for escaping, the stealth from Longbow works wonders.

This is a good trade off from going full into marksmanship, but I would go for runes of strength + jungle stalker’s might, pretty good option since you’re constantly thinking about properly positioning yourself in battle and that’s what your pet will do for you.

do the runes effect might generated by pet?

I am afraid they do not. Strength runes isn’t very good on rangers. Maybe okay if you have sigils of battle and strength, but thats already a heavy investment imo. And stacking 25 might on pet is easy enough without strength runes.

Dxnice.8647:

Hi Rangers,

My lvl 80 ranger is currently rocking all apothecary gear (armor, weps, accessories) using Sw/d and Axe/Torch. I want to switch things up as I am getting bored of this build. I want to try out the GS + Sw/d combo, emphasizing damage. This is going to be used mostly in PVE situations and occasional WvW (probably zerg or small group roaming). With that said, I would like your opinion on which type of exotic armor you think is best for this setup.

I want to avoid zerker since that will leave my ranger very squishy and vulnerable. My second choice atm would be knight’s armor. I would like to have some survivability and decent damage output. If you feel that there is a better option, I would love to hear it. Thanks in advance!

Edit: I am open to mixing of equipment categories! I am not asking for absolute sets.

Keep in mind both GS and sword have leap finishers which will give you 5s of fire arua on bonfire. Consider bringing a trap as well if you want to use GS and sword together. Dogs and cats can leap into fields as well. For damage: celestial, zerker, knights, carrion all work well. I particularly enjoy carrion but this is very very non-meta I’ve been told.

Thank you to everyone for your advice and suggestions, I really appreciate them. I will go full zerk for PVE, this seems the right choice.

For WvW, how would you guys distribute your traits for a condition/bunker build (with apothecary gear)? Also, which weapons would you choose? I have Sword/Dagger + Axe/Torch apothecary weapons. The current build I have is still the same from a year ago (took a break from game), so I might not be taking advantage of any potential buffs our class have received, over the year.

kiwituatara.6053:

blitzkrieg.2451:

awge.3852:

shadowpass.4236:

Here’s one of the builds I use:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjUq0ya/Kesw1agDhq5K8BMDgFw9Q0CV9FXlWF-T1SDABdquSPKnmRlCT2f4gLAgQKZCwkRCPBQJoL6GG4gAAg5MxAwE-w

- 90% less cripple duration
– pretty good condi clear
– 50% critical chance with fury
– 202% critical damage
– 2k base power (2.25k with stacks)
– 2.8k armor
– 19k health
– very high swiftness uptime out of combat, near to permanent swiftness in combat

You can swap the Longbow out for a Greatsword if you want. I prefer Longbow for damage however. Greatsword’s Maul is hard to land and many of the attack skills are very telegraphed. Also, for escaping, the stealth from Longbow works wonders.

This is a good trade off from going full into marksmanship, but I would go for runes of strength + jungle stalker’s might, pretty good option since you’re constantly thinking about properly positioning yourself in battle and that’s what your pet will do for you.

do the runes effect might generated by pet?

I am afraid they do not. Strength runes isn’t very good on rangers. Maybe okay if you have sigils of battle and strength, but thats already a heavy investment imo. And stacking 25 might on pet is easy enough without strength runes.

Good to know!

Hey Dxnice,

I haven’t done PvE stuffs for a long time but I’m pretty sure beserker gears still rule the PvE scene. I have completely equipped my 7 other classes for PVE & WvW and it’s so expensive. So when I started to equip my ranger for WvW, I came up w/ these pieces economically.

My LB ranger

My SB ranger

PS: Thanks gawker for his original LB build & Slavi for his SB build. I swapped builds depending on situations. You can get the cavalier trinkets at Balthazar temple. It’s very minimum and you can improve it w/ expensive stuffs if you like.

SkyChef.5432:

Hey Dxnice,

I haven’t done PvE stuffs for a long time but I’m pretty sure beserker gears still rule the PvE scene. I have completely equipped my 7 other classes for PVE & WvW and it’s so expensive. So when I started to equip my ranger for WvW, I came up w/ these pieces economically.

My LB ranger

My SB ranger

PS: Thanks gawker for his original LB build & Slavi for his SB build. I swapped builds depending on situations. You can get the cavalier trinkets at Balthazar temple. It’s very minimum and you can improve it w/ expensive stuffs if you like.

Which build do you use for what?

Which for WvW roaming?

And which for zergs?

atheria.2837:

SkyChef.5432:

Hey Dxnice,

I haven’t done PvE stuffs for a long time but I’m pretty sure beserker gears still rule the PvE scene. I have completely equipped my 7 other classes for PVE & WvW and it’s so expensive. So when I started to equip my ranger for WvW, I came up w/ these pieces economically.

My LB ranger

My SB ranger

PS: Thanks gawker for his original LB build & Slavi for his SB build. I swapped builds depending on situations. You can get the cavalier trinkets at Balthazar temple. It’s very minimum and you can improve it w/ expensive stuffs if you like.

Which build do you use for what?

Which for WvW roaming?

And which for zergs?

I mainly use SB build for solo/roaming & small group. And LB build for zergs.

SkyChef.5432:

Hey Dxnice,

I haven’t done PvE stuffs for a long time but I’m pretty sure beserker gears still rule the PvE scene. I have completely equipped my 7 other classes for PVE & WvW and it’s so expensive. So when I started to equip my ranger for WvW, I came up w/ these pieces economically.

My LB ranger

My SB ranger

PS: Thanks gawker for his original LB build & Slavi for his SB build. I swapped builds depending on situations. You can get the cavalier trinkets at Balthazar temple. It’s very minimum and you can improve it w/ expensive stuffs if you like.

Nice thank you! The SB build looks very interesting