Guild Wars 2

When commenting on the the current build I play, please critique it in the realm of “Ranger Trapper” and not the be all end all build of competitive spvp. Ya feel me?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRAsf3YjMqQ7KWuCerAVLGcEqP1P9SvbgYto5AYyr8S2VBA-TpRBABoVGo5TAQGHBANOIA5s/AAPAAA

Tweaks I have made I am a little unsure of.

Sigils
Double energy seemed like overkill.
Instead of double energy, I put +dmg modifiers on my first weapon set.
My thinking is, I would help front load the trap dmg.

No double geomancy to make space for the dmg modifiers.
What I don’t know, is it that much of a burst difference with the damage modifiers?

Would double geomancy be better damage for burst AND sustain? ie-In situations where they took some condi burst, cleanse—I weapon swap and then reapply condi pressure.

Amulets
Everyone tells me to take Rabid= Condi Toughness Precision
But precision doesn’t do anything for me. None of my traits rely on precision. I’m not a PU mesmer. Am I wrong?

What I currently use
Settler Toughness Healing Condition
This has me setting at 15,992 hitpoints(2200 toughness). My healing spring is 5820 Initial heal and 8730 Regen over 6secs. For damage reference, my spike trap full duration dmg is 9627, bonfire 8974.

What I am considering
Carrion Power, Vitality, Condition
This has me up to 24,992 hitpoints(1000 toughness). My healing spring is 4920, 4680regen over 6 secs. ( 5k less healing than settler). For damage reference, my spike trap full duration damage is 11,998 and bonfire 10,305.

Ultimately it comes down to whats better?
toughness/healing vs more physical dmg, more hitpoints and more condi damage

Definitely go settler or carrion, with settler being the safer choice. However, the build you have now is pretty yolo to be honest. Any necro will easily transfer your trap condis and insta kill you. Drop poison master and use EB, and swap to tankier pets: either drakes or dogs. Pickup quick draw as well, the potential of a double bonfire or double split blade is extremely strong. You can also use quick draw defensively to spam evades when under pressure.

Consider dropping a trap and pickup a stun break instead. I recommend dropping spike trap, it’s very easy to counter by pets, minions, clones or a single dodge, and pickup signet of renewal instead. For sigils, I like double geomancy / leeching but it’s more of a preference here. The damage modifier sigils are only useful in PvE and geomancy is too good to pass by. Energy and leeching can be interchangeable though.

In summary, you have a lot of damage here but you will die very very fast with only healing spring and no stun breaks.

Hard countered by singet necro, and your setup doesn’t have much condi cleanse or stun breaks at all.

I say ditch Viper’s Nest for Quickening Zephyr or Sharpening Stone at the very least, and get WK instead of Poison Master.

Spike Trap is fine, you’re gonna need it vs. thieves.

Drop the sword, get sigil of smoldering (force is a pve sigil), undead rune, and you’re pretty much set.

In a few days you will be able to use trapper runes which will really help you out. If you want to go full burst, sinister will also be available.

Now that they are fixing WHaO you might also consider running that over healing spring to take advantage of the might from sword and axe auto attacks. If you do that you’ll want to think about adding a bit of condi removal somewhere.

I’m considering trying this with sinister and trapper http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRAsf3YjUqQ7KWuCmsAVLGYEq/JW9WujgaNE4C4yDgS2VBA-TJRHwAQLDQ+kAA4JAEa/BA

Edit: I’ll probably try it out with smoke skale in place of one of the birds as well. If it’s not great I might run dog for the immob.

Also if you play smart you really aren’t hard countered by signet necro’s. Run in, hit them with a cc/condi bomb and then run out of their LoS. Most signet necro’s don’t have any way to cleanse other than to transfer the condi’s, bomb them, run away and come back to stomp them. This will be even easier with super speed from trapper runes.

You make some good points.

Currently, medium to short fights are in my favor.
This is by no means a sustained cele Ele Ranger :P

The upside, if I get onto a point, the traps hit like a truck and catch people off guard. Heal trap makes me more survivable than many give it credit for. But, I am kitten when I get stunned (can’t dodge or evade when stunned)

I do notice that my pets die quickly. I kept my wolf (fear is too good) and picked up Murrelow that emits a lovely poison gas.

I definitely can’t give up spike trap. The dmg is too good, The CC is what gives me guaranteed dmg and it’s too much fun to drop it in a group.

Alright—so here is the revised version. Looks solid.
-More damage potential from weapon swaps through sigils (geomancy + doom)
-More survivability via traits (Empathic Bond)
-More damage via traits (Quickdraw)
-An escape, stun break and quick stomp (quickening zephyr)
-A tougher pet that also has aoe poison (Murrelow)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRAsf3YjMqQ3KWuCmsAVLGYEqv1X9UvjgaND4C4yDgTWRWWA-TZRHwAQLDE4MAI4gAA4BAEa/BA

I responded to the first post. Thanks Photinous.
But now I see there are some other options I might want to consider.

Undead Rune vs Rune of the Krait
Rune of the krait is making my bleeds last longer but that generally doesn’t help since most classes remove the condi (and I only get partial dmg from it anyways). How much damage am I actually getting out of Entangle+Rune of Krait 6 Bonus?

Would the toughness outweigh the benefits of that bonus?

In a typical fight, I drop all my traps and entangle on a target and let them melt like the Witch from Wizard of Oz. That works often but not always and in those times it doesn’t work, it would be nice to be running with more toughness.

I keep flip flopping… ugh.

The biggest thing that concerns me, I make too many changes to be all tough and survivable and I lose out on what this build does best—better than any class in my most humble of opinions = Condi BURSST!

What do you guys think?

I think it’s free to test them all lol. The more I think about the WHaO fix and the addition of trapper runes the more I want to try the build I posted above with cele amulet.

I like to get the consensus of my fellow rangers because perception isn’t the whole truth. It’s hard to be reflective of my build choices in the heat of spvp.

you are already running 2 survival skills (but i would go for LR insted of QZ for stunbreak). Troll is the best heal, take troll and take wilderness knowledge. In the current meta quick condi clears are a must (burning), EB is way too unreliable. This way you get good condi clears + better heal + lower cd on your stunbreak + dps from fury + lower cd on entangle. You can also run birds since you arent running EB. Drop the bear in any case, bears are terrible. Run a bird (eagle or owl) and wolf. Take Oakheart salve in wildernes adept instead of expertise – much better choice, especially with settlers.

Lynx is great for condi damage and low cd taunt, birds are clunky but provide swiftness which your build is lacking so there’s that benefit.

Wolf is a must, no matter what build you run lol.

Stilgar.6437:

you are already running 2 survival skills (but i would go for LR insted of QZ for stunbreak). Troll is the best heal, take troll and take wilderness knowledge. In the current meta quick condi clears are a must (burning), EB is way too unreliable. This way you get good condi clears + better heal + lower cd on your stunbreak + dps from fury + lower cd on entangle. You can also run birds since you arent running EB. Drop the bear in any case, bears are terrible. Run a bird (eagle or owl) and wolf. Take Oakheart salve in wildernes adept instead of expertise – much better choice, especially with settlers.

Thank you for the advice. I like all the different opinions I get on these forums.

Best heal?
I don’t like Troll Ungent because it doesn’t help the group, it’s not an immediate heal, I can’t precast it and it’s basically just a really strong regen.

Not to mention it’s not anywhere near the best heal.
Troll Unguent is 958 per tick for 10 secs =9580.
Healing spring is precastable, heals everyone, removes ALL condis on my team, removes 1 from me. For healing purposes alone with my setup, Healing spring gives me an initial heal of 5820 plus a 6 sec regen of 8730 =that is almost the same TOTAL amount as Troll Unguent and it’s better per tick at 1455 per second.

Pets
I went back to wolf/bird. Wolf is just too strong on the point. And I like the bleeds from the bird. I don’t care that they are soft or that they die easily. I should be more careful with how I use them

Utilities
Lightning reflexes is great. What I don’t like about it, is actually getting me out of harms way. Sure it gives me that great jump back but I can do that with my sword. Removing condis at the cost of an incredible heal? Meh. Maybe later if I find it’s an issue. I like quickening zephyr because it has so many uses. Getting stomps on this build is a pain in the kittten, with quick zeph=so much easier.

Traits Oakheart salve. Sure, why not. A little more regen never hurt anyone and while I like the bleeds from my bird, I don’t think I am going to notice.