Guild Wars 2

4 ranger is better condition damage or power/critical? Any weapon

Short answer: power/crit.

But let’s see what Anet brings to the party on 28th :-)

Power/Crit, unless you like traps.

It depends, I always walk solo through WvW and most times I’m running a condition build.

You don’t necessarily need Traps to play an effective condition build (but it helps).

I’m currently playing with a condition/toughness build with a high crit chance to proc Sharpened Edges and stack Might with Sigil of Strength. I used to have Sigil of the Earth, but found a greater damage increase from Might stacking. With a high critical strike chance, I’m able to keep 5-7 stacks of Might from the sigil and apply regular bleeding from the trait. Bleeds tick between 110-120 solo and 130-140 in a group – and that’s all coming from my Short Bow, no traps.

I prefer Power/Crit builds, however, because who doesn’t love seeing big numbers? I’ve played a Guardian, Warrior and even a Thief, and while all those classes get 4-9k easy, I’m giddy when I get a chain of rapid 1000 or 1100 crits on my Ranger.

But in wvw if u use all berserker they can kill u easy but if u have vitality toughness power condition isn’t better? And can evade toughness and ‘take no damage’

sheng.2890:

But in wvw if u use all berserker they can kill u easy but if u have vitality toughness power condition isn’t better? And can evade toughness and ‘take no damage’

They can only “kill u easy” if your build isn’t balanced around both damage and survivability and your reaction times are poor. Personally, as a ranger, direct damage is better since our conditions have very short lengths and our application methods are rather poor. Then again, direct damage becomes an even better option in groups because of the condition cap on things like bleed.

The problem with Condition damage is that it can be wiped so easily, and rarely can you get many flanking shots off on other players with your shortbow. Unless they’re in a big group, in which case you’ll do a lot more damage with a longbow anyway.

PS: With a GS + Rampage as One they will never “kill u easy”. Do as much berserker damage as you can from range, then switch to GS, throw on RaO, and Swoop off into the sunset

Yeah I’m pretty much regretting buying exotic toughness/healing/con dam gear for my ranger, she hit harder in tough/healing/pow rares.. there goes 15 gold down the drain >.>

renmei.3102:

Yeah I’m pretty much regretting buying exotic toughness/healing/con dam gear for my ranger, she hit harder in tough/healing/pow rares.. there goes 15 gold down the drain >.>

I don’t know what weapon set you were running, but off-hand torch does quite an impressive amount of damage. I’d wager it’s the biggest damage-dealing off-hand we have.

sheng.2890:

But in wvw if u use all berserker they can kill u easy but if u have vitality toughness power condition isn’t better? And can evade toughness and ‘take no damage’

Unlike other MMOs I’ve played, I learned in GW2 that its wise to balance defense and offense stats. Toughness/Condition builds are great for this because they have a lot of synergy: Undead runes, Bleed on Crit sigils and traits (and you’ll have high crit with Toughness/Condition/Precision armor and gems) and weapons that allow avoidance and condition application.

Consider a 0/30/30/0/10 build. You have a high crit chance (55%) with Dungeon armor and Emerald jewelery which works off your Sharpened Edges trait and combines well with Sigil of the Earth (60% chance to bleed on crit). You’ll also have 300 toughness and 300 condition damage in the Wilderness Survival tree; and within that tree, you get all sorts of defensive traits – such as pet’s removing conditions every 10 seconds and camo on CCs.

You don’t need to be behind your target to be considered Flanking, either. From 2 o’clock all the way around to 10 o’clock on your target is considered the “Flanking Zone” in GW2 – that’s a huge window for Short Bow’s Crossfire! (Feel free to test that in the Mists)

Toughness is King in WvW, and burst damage is its Queen. In reality, this is counter intuitive as Toughness is the hard counter to burst damage (as Vitality is to Condition Damage). Most people will be geared with Knights armor – which stacks toughness, precision and power – and Ruby gems – precision, power and critical damage. Others will run with Toughness, Vitality and Power in an effort to protect themselves from burst and condition damage. The latter are your typical bunkers, who either kill you through attrition or have their friends do it.

Mostly you’ll see the former and conditions cut through them quickly. With a 0/30/30/0/10 build, you’ll have both a high crit chance and high condition damage to bring them down.

I roll 20/30/10/10 with condition and a shortbow/longbow and traps.

Honestly though, find out what WORKS for you. Find out your playstyle and build character around that and you’ll be fantastic.