Guild Wars 2

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or

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRjEqQLLWyCOsAVLGWEq9yDgjuL3PfE4xNcHgC2UB-TVCFABIcIAA4BAUo6PXpEEJlfCcBAqZ/h00FswRAgUARM0C-w

I’m nearing 80 with what will potentially be one of the most fun classes for me and I’m torn between 2 strong builds (taken from Heim’s) page. With the slight buffs to condi damage (I’ve not yet tested myself), what are your opinions on condi vs power, roaming vs zerg, and utility/survivability of each. The condi build is exotic, while the power build is ascended so forgive the stat differences, it’s a pain trying to change it on my phone while at work!

Edit for clarity: The above builds are simply a template/example for each playstyle, condi vs raw power. While suggestions/changes to the builds are welcome, I’m mainly looking on opinions and experience in condi roaming/zerging vs power roaming/zerging as I’m looking to participate in both!

Let’s hear your point of view!

Run both. No reason why you can’t. Depending on how you leveled or if you spent any time on the mist map, you might have enough badges for both anyway. If not, hot lap edge of mists and freight train your gear.

I have 3 sets of armor and weapons for my Ranger and 4 for my Guardian Exotic of course with the exception of accessories. Those are easy enough to obtain. Ascended armor is another story but WvW you only need exotic. Anything beyond that and you are gearing for duels (my opinion).

I actually use two builds that are actually very similar to the ones you posted!

For the condi trap one, I usually play that when I have ridiculous lag spikes since I find that the toughness basically allows me tank a lot of hits when flipping camps. Camps flip way faster with the condi build than the power one, just drag all the guards into a corner and spam traps and bonfire. I took quickdraw over LOTF so i could get double bonfires. I’d also recommend bringing at least one stunbreak, otherwise if you end up getting CCed or knocked down, it’s a bit harder to recover from.

I don’t really fight other players with the trap build, it’s basically the build I use to flip camps, tap keeps, scout, etc. I’ve have done a few small skirmishes with it, and it works pretty well. Destroys players that don’t bother to bring condi cleanses. It’s great for escaping too. If I know I’ll be on a server with a strong defense team, I bring the jaguar so that way I can stealth myself and my pet and gtfo. I’ve escaped many a zergs that way too.

I did use the full zerk power build for a while, but I’ve been adding pieces of valk and soldiers to give myself better survivability. This build depends a lot more on your skill level to survive when roaming. Since it’s so glassy, you’re really going to have to be good about dodging the big hits. Also I’ve gotten completely kitten on by condi PU mesmers with that build, but I think that’s just the problems everyone’s been having with mesmers lately.

It’s good for havocs and picking off other squishy backlines in a zerg. Also great for defending from towers/keeps. Since the arrow pierces, just select the target in the back and watch numbers explode all over your screen. Flips camps fine, but not as easily as the condi build.

I can’t say as much about the pure glass power build since I haven’t ran that in a while. I only use it when I know I’ll be playing with other people who can help watch my back and peel for me. These days I use a variation of Mistisim’s valk remorsesless build for solo roaming and looking for fights.

Sorry if this is a bit rambly, but I think both builds are good and it really depends what you’re looking for. Trap ranger for me is more solo play, with a focus on getting PPTs for my server. Power ranger is when I want to play with a group of people and do bigger things like defending and blobbing.

Both great points, I do agree condi in general seems more solo/roamer oriented with all the condi clear a zerg(even an unorganized one) brings. I plan on dabbling in roaming as well as zerging, do you think power would be a better option then since it can fill both roles fairly efficiently?

Sure, power is probably a good choice if you want to do a bit of everything. Condi trap is pretty niche I feel, and it’s a pretty heavy investment to get all medium dire gear just to outfit a condi trap ranger that only performs a few specialized tasks. Dire is also harder to get than zerkers, the only dungeon vendor that gives out is CoE. Otherwise you’ll be crafting/buying it.

The only hesitations I have about your build is the fact that it’s pure glass. I know many players play with a mixture of soldiers and cavaliers just to up their survivability, and unless you are really, really good about positioning in a zerg, you might just end up as the hated rally bot. As for roaming, just give it a shot and see. I know a few people who roam in full zerk and seem successful, I’m just not one of them.

As an add in, you might want to consider bringing in sigil of bloodlust over fire or air on one of the weapons. You can kill 25 mobs easily and build up bloodlust fast. Just put one on your underwater weapon so you don’t lose your stacks when you go into water. It’s a cheaper alternative to fire/air, and with the recent nerfts, it might be stronger choice.

Thank for the quick responses, the above builds are purely a template for each type of build and I have am ascended soldiers neck/ring that I almost always take on my power/berserker built characters so that should add enough survivability to the longbow power build. I agree the trapper build looks insanely fun and has a lot of possibilities to be successful but mainly for roaming, it has the survivability to run in with the melee train in a zerg and drop some traps to gtfo into shortbow range but again like you said, still seems a bit gimmicky. I’ve heard that condis are in a good spot right now, especially fire, so I’m in quite a bind deciding between variations of these builds. I have enough gold to buy either set so that’s not a huge issue, but I want some longevity and usefulness out of my purchase!

Well if nothing else, power ranger is great for farming world bosses, alright in dungeons/fractals and any other money making activities. WvW is gets pretty expneisve when you’re buying food, siege, upgrading camps/keeps, etc.

And like other people have said, no reason why you can’t have both. I made my trap ranger after a few months of power ranger. I like both and the playstyle is very different and very fun on both.

I acually run cele in wvw and it works great I wont claim to be the best player ever but that along with my beloved trapper runes and LB/S/D makes it a lot of fun

maybe not the best setup ever but it work great for roaming