Guild Wars 2

Posted a Topic earlier trying to get some advice on different builds and what to look for. I’m running Greatsword/Long Bow. I’m going to be doing mostly WvW roaming with an engineer and probably a little zerging, till I get competent enough to try rolling solo. If you could look at my build and provide me with any insight or changes you might make to better it.

Forgot to mention that I’m new to WvW, so I’m just trying to obtain as much information as possible.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJATRjEVN2FWKWo2Bg1j9CsvmCOtkp4QGvYpqkA-jkCBYLBioAisAI5ZYsZPJqMsIasqFYqSCpqTR2nQZFA-w

I like it, very similar to what I run now except I go full berserker. Its good to start with a mix of soldiers and knights like you have though as it helps you stay on your feet a little longer till you get the hang of wvw and can then swap stuff out as you see fit.

Only suggestion is that you have another weapon set you use to stack either precision or power to give you more oomph. Would probably go with precision as your crit chance is a little low. With 25 stacks and fury you should have ~80% crit with that build which is strong.

Mcrocha.3891:

I like it, very similar to what I run now except I go full berserker. Its good to start with a mix of soldiers and knights like you have though as it helps you stay on your feet a little longer till you get the hang of wvw and can then swap stuff out as you see fit.

Only suggestion is that you have another weapon set you use to stack either precision or power to give you more oomph. Would probably go with precision as your crit chance is a little low. With 25 stacks and fury you should have ~80% crit with that build which is strong.

Would you be able to link your build? I’d like to check it out, just to see what you have. The thing that’s getting me a little bit is the runes. So many choices.

Here’s the build I am currently running:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJATBnEVEZZWQsWGIWP2Tg6D7B/Z0icF8fBbqA-jECBYLBiEJQJPFRjtMsIasqFYqSJV5SQ2bQZVIABTAA-w

I actually use Runes of the Traveler as well. The 25% movement speed is invaluable for roaming as well as zerg play because it frees a utility slot that you don’t have to fill with Signet of the Hunt. However, the set is very expensive at the moment, not knowing your financial capabilities, I wouldn’t necessarily suggest you run that set. Runes of the Ranger are cheaper and very viable (what I used prior to Traveler), you can also consider just filling your gear with Ruby Orbs which are fairly cheap as well.

For weapon sigils I use Sigils of Battle while roaming to get a few free might stacks. Sigil of Air is also good for more single target damage spiking. I use Sigil of Fire as you have for zerg play for the extra AoE damage.

Also after looking at your build again I seriously suggest you change your utilities. As it stands you have no stun breaks and no access to stability. I am unaware if any engineer specs can grant you stability as your friend could help you there? or you could swap Entangle for Rampage as One. The immobilize from Entangle is great, but the fury and stability you get from RaO is just too good imo. Engis are pretty good at CC and locking people down so it would probably be better to let your friend handle that while you make sure you don’t get stun locked as that = death.

Protect Me is a strong utility to replace Signet of Stone, as it gives you potentially 6s of no damage depending on how much burst you take, but more importantly it is a stun break. Much better than the toughness you gain from SoS, and as you’re not running Signet of the Beastmaster the active on SoS is pretty useless. I would highly recommend you also change Signet of the Wild to Signet of Renewal for two reasons. The first is that it is a stun break and the second is for the condition cleanse which is extremely useful right now with the heavy condition meta. Muddy Terrain is good though no problems there, sometimes I swap it for Quickening Zephyr depending on the class I’m about to face.

Some general advice as well for the play style:
-Be aggressive, no point in being able to hit like a truck if you’re not gonna be aggressive
-Manage your LB #3 and 4 well. Positioning with this build is very important since you are squishy. The better you get at utilizing the stealth and knock back, the more you’ll survive
-Use the GS to either escape or create distance with #3 and 4 or to land a big Hilt Bash + Maul combo

Almost forgot in my other post to mention food buffs. Berserker food is kind of expensive right now which is why I use the much cheaper orrian frittes to still get some decent power and vitality. Same goes for the oil, but Quality level oil is only ~1.5s or so, pretty cheap so I recommend using that. For zerg play however, I generally use omnomberry ghosts to help offset some retaliation damage.

Appreciate the information. You have been very helpful and I will check out the changes you suggested.

With a zerg or a partner this build should work fine, as long as you know when and how to swap to GS, though for solo roaming you might run into trouble, this is similar to the zerker build I used to run.

I now use http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBlYDbkoqxuwSxC1OAsUIYedGZKJnxhGexSVJB-jkBBYhCykfQUFBOFtIasqFYqSER1CB8YNA-w for my WvW/PvE/PvP build (Don’t like to switch around builds too much)

It’s an interesting mix from my experiance having Rabid armour/weapons with Zerker amulets. The reason for this initally is because I have all Ascended Trinkets Zerker, and didn’t want to invest so much time doing it all over again to get Rabid ones. But I found the split of Physical damage and Bleed damage is really nice, having my build focus on bleed I deal 500-600 physical damage with my Shortbow and depending how many stacks I can keep on a target around 2000 damage per second bleed. (If I can keep 15+ which I normally can maintain.

I’ve found this build to work better for me in WvW personally as I’m less squishy and a lot more damaging but everyone has their own preference and it’s mostly down to what you feel keeps you alive.

Well I want to keep the GS/LB spec, since that is the type of ranger I like. I know I’m not going to be a world beater but I want to at least be able to hold my own a little. I might check out a secondary build into what you play and try it, once I get some more gold.

The build is good to start with, but I’m wondering why you have Signet of the Wild equipped with such low healing power and no beast mastery traits? I would swap out Signet of the Wild for a stun break or for Signet or Renewal to help you with clearing some conditions. You’ll run into a lot of conditions in WvW and having adequate condition clearing is crucial for roaming. I ran something similar to this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJATRjEVN2RW+Vs2BiVB90eoJLde2DFxoFdxSVJB-j0CBYfBC/DjgAjoAisAI7pIaslhFRjVxATdSQWfKp+EFRrWKgIWGB-w

Nice vitality, good damage, you’ll be tanky with good condition clearing, and you have a swiftness buff which also acts as a stun break. I used to run something similar to it, but used different weapon sets. If you haven’t used food buffs yet, you should start using them.

Have fun!

Dravic.5241:

Well I want to keep the GS/LB spec, since that is the type of ranger I like. I know I’m not going to be a world beater but I want to at least be able to hold my own a little. I might check out a secondary build into what you play and try it, once I get some more gold.

If you want to stick with the GS/LB, which I understand cause for me giving up my LB was tough, I would personally go all glass cannon as it can pack a mean punch that will take everyone by surprise. no one expects a Ranger to down them in a few blows.

My first build was a LB/GS Zerker as I said before, and with all Ascended Zerker trinkets and Exotic armour/weapons my LB dealt around 2500 damage on auto attack (Crit) and 12-14k Rapid fire, and GS Hilt Bash + Maul combo would deal a mean 9-10k crit.

Also as Noobie said I would go with a stun break over regen with little healing power, in WvW you’ll find yourself being stunned and immobilized all the time. And if you do go glass cannon that will get you killed.

This is great information. I haven’t actually started running around in WvW yet. My buddy mentioned buying food. I’m was worried about being to squishy going straight berserker. That’s why I threw some toughness in there. I will factor in what Dancin & Noobie have said when considering the build.

So went through some of the information I’ve gathered from the forums and updated my build. I found that I cannot afford the traveler runes. They are way to much money running at 10g a pop. I revamped some of the armor selection and through in Ranger runes. Any thoughts on his build?

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJATRjEVN2FWKWo2Bg1j9CsvmCOtkp4QGvYpqkA-jkCBYLBioAisAI5ZYsZPJqMsIasqFYqSCpqTR2nQZFA-w

Go like this.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJATRjEVN2VWGWs2Bili9Eo2DOZpzzUcIGdxSVJB-jkyAYrARWAIQQJvhxm9SUxsIasqFM1Zk1nCp+kioVLFwoKjA-w

Good damage, good/decent HP, good toughness. This will keep you on your feet in WvW. Use superior sigil of hydromancy for GS cause you’ll most likely swap to it when in range. This sigil will help make them slow for your hilt bash + maul combo. Superior rune of speed is significantly cheaper than traveler runes. Superior runes of Speed do not provide a DPS boost but you’ll get swiftness and speed boost that frees up 1 utility slot so you don’t have to run Signet of the Hunt for 25% movement speed. Use Cavalier trinkets mixed with knights instead of berserker for a good precision/crit damage balance plus you get the added bonus of toughness. Use extra slot for a stun break (it’s get out of jail free card) because you’ll need it.

Noobie.1073:

Go like this.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJATRjEVN2VWGWs2Bili9Eo2DOZpzzUcIGdxSVJB-jkyAYrARWAIQQJvhxm9SUxsIasqFM1Zk1nCp+kioVLFwoKjA-w

Good damage, good/decent HP, good toughness. This will keep you on your feet in WvW. Use superior sigil of hydromancy for GS cause you’ll most likely swap to it when in range. This sigil will help make them slow for your hilt bash + maul combo. Superior rune of speed is significantly cheaper than traveler runes. Superior runes of Speed do not provide a DPS boost but you’ll get swiftness and speed boost that frees up 1 utility slot so you don’t have to run Signet of the Hunt for 25% movement speed. Use Cavalier trinkets mixed with knights instead of berserker for a good precision/crit damage balance plus you get the added bonus of toughness. Use extra slot for a stun break (it’s get out of jail free card) because you’ll need it.

I made a change to your build and went 30/20/20. I also switched out lighting reflexes for protect me. With signet of stone and signet of the beastmaster, that gives me 12 seconds of taking no damage. Any thoughts?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJATRnEV0YZWQGWwaZAY9YvAHspgTLZKOkxLWqKJ-jkyAYrARWAIQQJvhxm9SUxsIasqFM1Zk1nCp+kioVLFwoKjA-w