Guild Wars 2

So I recently started playing Ranger, and while I’m leveling figured I should start working on my final build (hopefully ding 80 over the weekend). I mainly play PvE, but I do so enjoy roaming/camp flipping in WvW. So far, this is what I’ve come up with:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-K;4wEFy-x2cDF-0;9F89;1Z_b;0256137036;4S-H6V;1NX8aNX8aPSGN7K96;2Vz91f3A6f8ABA9eWPk4RWAisXAi;9;9;9;9;9-F;2V6-7g

The idea: At its core this is a condition damage build; it relies heavily on burning/poison/bleeds, adding in chill/cripple/daze/weakness/immobilize/blind for covers and control. My main is a condition thief, which works well but has too little sustained damage for my tastes. With this build, standing in melee and unleashing condition after condition should give better uptime, and thus be a little more fun for me.

I use axe for the chill and bleeds, but I’d also consider sword for heightened mobility. Torch gives me nearly 100% uptime on Bonfire with Quickdraw, which also works with shortbow’s concussion shot/poison volley. The constant swapping led me to pick on swap runes, giving me additional might and bleeds.

For the gear, I’m torn on choices. I’ve got enough Karma saved up to get the Rabid Gear completely equipped on the day I hit 80, though if there’s a better gear set I’m willing to take the time to go for it. My Rune choice is primarily because I wanted something that boosted condition damage, but also wasn’t dead on certain fights. I REALLY like Balthazar’s, but am concerned the burn-immune enemies would leave me extremely kitten in certain fights, while Undead gives me always-useful stats.

Lastly, I don’t consider this a ‘trapper’ build in the truest since of the word. Rather I’m going for a front-line condition spammer, and my utilities provide solid AoE conditions/controls/and fields with the added benefit of being able to be precast!

Please, any suggestions or help for a new ranger is much appreciated!

If you don’t mind, I may try this when I get close to 80. I currently run http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VK;5Fky-t2cDkv2;9-6M;1_b;1247156;7VNX6V;1jxqQjxqQdWl8TbnP;38999A9B9C9DeGB1YF8J1Bk-2Bkl And I like it so far, but never considered burn immunities…. I’m only level 55 now, but I have had some experience with swords. I’ve main handed it with other weapons, but always found it lacking for my condition build, and some of the skills that had me jumping around has gotten me in a lot of trouble with other mobs near by and cliffs. I’ve spend a lot of gold from level 10-55 and just feel A+T/SB is the better of the choices.

If using entangle with wilderness knowledge, also consider krait runes, they’ll boost condis and add to entangles effect.

Quick draw is good for reducing torch 5’s recharge, but not so good when swapping to sb, consider Light on your feet for the piercing effect on shortbow, hitting multiple targets, especially wvw camp guards when camp capturing can not be undervalued

Before the balance patch I ran a trap build which was dire armor and rabid accessories, and found the loss in precision for crit chance wasn’t actually that much, but the boost to vitality was worth it (Vitality aids in absorbing condis, which ignore toughness)

How much extra damage does Light on your Feet’s pierce do?

Oh wait…pierce just means it goes through mobs, doesn’kitten That would actually be useful over the 66% reduced skill reload after weapon switch…

Also, doesn’t and it causes for a swear filter? Seriously?

Kyosji.8961:

If you don’t mind, I may try this when I get close to 80.

Please, by all means! Just make sure you let me know how it goes, so I can make adjustments as necessary

Safari.3021:

If using entangle with wilderness knowledge, also consider krait runes, they’ll boost condis and add to entangles effect.

Quick draw is good for reducing torch 5’s recharge, but not so good when swapping to sb, consider Light on your feet for the piercing effect on shortbow, hitting multiple targets, especially wvw camp guards when camp capturing can not be undervalued

Before the balance patch I ran a trap build which was dire armor and rabid accessories, and found the loss in precision for crit chance wasn’t actually that much, but the boost to vitality was worth it (Vitality aids in absorbing condis, which ignore toughness)

Swapping Quickdraw for LOYF in WvW camp flipping is an excellent idea; one I’ll definitely consider. I’ve been contemplating on grabbing a set of Dire Gear; since I’m not using precision for all that much (and have plenty of access to Fury) it might be a solid swap. Doesn’t look that expensive to get, either.

As for Krait… I used them on my thief, and found myself underwhelmed; largely because I would pop my elite (guild) from a distance and never got to see the ability proc. It’s left me unfairly biased against the runes; might just need to give them a second look!

stick a sigil of earth on the shortbow, you’re less reliant on hitting from behind then to get bleed stacks up, and also make use of your precision (60% chance on crit to give bleeding for 5 sec)

You’ll see the effect of krait runes more with entangle, as you’ll be in amongst the enemies to use your elite

Safari.3021:

stick a sigil of earth on the shortbow, you’re less reliant on hitting from behind then to get bleed stacks up, and also make use of your precision (60% chance on crit to give bleeding for 5 sec)

You’ll see the effect of krait runes more with entangle, as you’ll be in amongst the enemies to use your elite

Using the bear, getting to the side or behind mobs is an easy task. Mobs never want anything to do with me with my pet constantly grabbing the aggro.

That won’t happen at later levels, the bear stops being a decent tank around level 60ish if I recall correctly, its also not the best pet for wvw/pvp should you venture into those game modes, enemy players know to ignore it

Dogs or wolves are better for a cc/damage mix (fear or immobalize) spiders for some cc and aoe poison, cats and birds are great for dps (birds also blind, which is invaluable imo vs some mobs that hit hard)

Safari, how do the Drake fair? I know they come prebuilt with a blast finisher and have decent AoE condition damage; worth keeping with? I’m using a dog as my secondary pet for on-command CC; but am tempted to pack 2 drakes for on command blast

I can’t comment to be fair, never really used them, but if they are reliably blasting inside your combo fields, then stick with them.

I’m by no means experienced, but the drake’s tail attack is used the moment they initiate combat/comes off cooldown, and is a blast finisher. So, if I put 2 drakes, and swap them on swap cooldown that should but some consistent blast finishers in my oh-so many fields.

Fingers crossed!

Thanks again for all the help!