Guild Wars 2

NOTE THAT THIS BUILD REQUIRES YOU TO DISABLE THE ‘AUTO-TARGETING’ OPTION

—Build—
This build is mainly focused on small competitive WvW fights, but can be adaptable for PvE and larger zerg to zerg confrontations.

COPY/PASTE:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAsYRjEVV2NWKWoWCimCNZJ+hD9Zke27KMqCekA;T8AgzymEMJZS1kiJqbM3Iuxej7G5NrPGfMhA

(last character is ‘A’ for those who are unable to copy the link entirely)

—Build Theory/Introduction—

This specific build plays upon the Ranger’s gameplay style of having a plethora of mobility and evasive skills. By doing so, it forces the player to adopt a melee style that is both satisfying and rewarding. The ability of having many on-demand evasive leaps as well as a mobile 3-second block allows the Ranger to brush away at least 80% of the enemies’ damage input. Ironically to the class, even though this build lacks range effectiveness, its strong front lining capabilities with the ability to apply AOE perma-regen to nearby allies makes up for this fault in general zerg-to-zerg confrontations.

Formerly known as ‘Ryslon’, active NA commander of Jade Quarry’s Emperium [EMP]. As of now, I am currently residing in Dragonbrand taking part in the tight-knit guild Night Shift [NS]—a small, elite tactical squadron that is run similarly to Red Guards style of play. Here in DB we wish to explore new tactics and strategies in all tiers of WvW.

—Pros and Cons—

[+ ] Extremely durable
[+ ] High mobility
[+ ] Moderately high burst damage
[+ ] Consistent cripple and poison
[+ ] Can fight against odds
[+ ] Large team presence with AoE healing
[+ ] Perma-vigor for self and perma-regen for self and allies

[- ] Vulnerable to mutiple chain immobilizations
[- ] Reliant on Pet for 1/2 damage output
[- ] Errors made from evading extremely suffer your survivability

—Itemization—

Power – Toughness – Healing

Stats
http://imgur.com/KeYfPvF

Cleric’s Armorx6
Superior Rune of Dwaynax6
Cleric Trinketsx6
Cleric Weaponsx3 (GS, Sword + Dagger)
Superior Sigil of Bloodlust (250 Power) OR Superior Sigil of Life (250 Healing)
Superior Rune of Energyx2

Why P/T/H over the infamous P/T/V?
- Simple, Ranger survival traits compliments healing more than vitality itself, therefore maximizing the healing base stat is the more logical choice. Also, most people are in the misconception of thinking that having more health is better, when in technical terms; with more health you are forced to use your heal more often, but you’re not actually able to because most heals are constrained by a 15,20,25 second cooldown with also a cast time of 1-1.5 seconds. With more healing power, you’re using your heal less frequently, which is the skills intended purpose of use.

Why Dwayna instead of better ‘higher-tier’ runes?
- Well first off, I feel that Dwayna is really under-appreciative to what it can bring to the Ranger class, when complimented with the Nature’s Bounty trait (Regeneration you apply lasts 33% longer), whether it is multiplicative or additive, regeneration practically becomes permanent and also stacks upon your Signet of the Wild (145 health per 2 sec)

—Skill Explanations—

Set 1: Greatsword
¹ AoE swings, every 3rd swing evades attacks.
² High damage with added bleeding.
³ Highest damaging skill, gap-closer.
⁴ 3 second block, can knock down on counter-attack.
⁵ Short range stun/daze.

Set 2: Sword and Dagger
¹ Chained skill; applies cripple to foes on 2nd attack, and might to pet on 3rd. suggest turning autocast off for increased control
² Extremely mobile skill, evades while in use, reapplies cripple on return strike.
³ AoE evasive positioning skill, applies poison
⁴ Short range evasive strike, applies poison.
⁵ Long range cripple and bleeding projectile.

Utility Set + Elite Skill
¹ Lightning Reflexes: Panic button, evades on use, can break stun (Not immobilization).
² Muddy Terrain: Long range AoE immobilization with cripple, long duration.
³ Signet of the Wild: Passive health regeneration, increased pet damage on active (never activate).
[Elite] Rampage as One: Provides Stability, Fury, and Swiftness, each hit dealt applies might to your pet and vice-versa (Works in conjunction with sword ¹). ALTERNATIVELY— versus high mobility enemies, entangle may offer better results.

Combat:

—Tips and Tricks—

- Gameplay Video, user uses slightly varied utility skills. (Credits to ‘Umie’)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7uWpEfrhKE
- Using your sword ² correctly while also greatsword ³ can give 3 leaps that are excellent for mobility.
- Using muddy terrain before entangle can guarantee a lock-down for pet sustained damage.
- Using feline pets are also a viable alternative with a few adjusted traits (attacks faster, but less vitality).

I cant open the traits or copy and paste either!

I agree with you 100% and predict once people discover that the current itemization (even if you mix in a bit more P/V/T) is the best hands down will get nurfed.

Link is funky, fixed in the mean time.

Xerlyph.3829:

—Itemization—

Power – Toughness – Healing
Power: 2044
Percision: 1066
Toughness: 2060
Vitality: 1016
Healing: 1838

Cleric’s Armorx6
Superior Rune of Dwaynax6
Cleric Trinketsx6
Cleric Weaponsx3 (GS, Sword + Dagger)
Superior Sigil of Bloodlust (250 Power) OR Superior Sigil of Life (250 Healing)
Superior Rune of Energyx2

A classic Power/BM build (< was looking on the video build) but i don’t know how you get this stats.
Without food (with Soldier Back) :

Power: 1807
Percision: 1066
Toughness: 1844
Vitality: 1051
Healing: 1423

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/ranger/?6.0|1.1k.0|0.0.0.0.0.0|1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d.1k.71d|21l.0.21l.0.31l.0.21l.0.31l.0.2u.0|0.f0.k00.a0.p00|0.0|0.0.0.0.0|e

Edited Stats, looks like there are variations from sPvP and actual stats.

With http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/ you have too put only 3 Jewels i think… but it’ll remain a delta with PvE gears.

Nice as always Umie, (you are one of the reason i runned ranger, i even writed to you in another forum recently xD), you think power cleric build can be as effective as condi apothecary? and let me ask you a think, you don’t run with troll unguent for condi removal right?

Yeah I run a BM Bunker power build very similar to this, but change a few things. Now I’m not expert by any means, only rank 22, so I’d like your opinions on the things I changed;

I drop the points in skirmishing, even though I know it hurts the bird’s dps, however I find without 30/10/30’s empathetic bond you are serious kitten against a condition build; hell, even with empathetic bond + healing spring I’ve still been hit hard by conditions in sPvp.

I also take oakhart salve over the -20% gs and sword reduction

The main question I have is Nature’s Bounty Vs Nature’s Protection. Obviously 33% healing duration is awesomesauce, but I feel like I have enough regen already with oakheart salve, and dwaynas, the signet, and natural healing from BM 30 etc, where the extra protection from Natures protection just seems better; but I’m still nooby so I could be completely stupid and wrong on this one. Any opinions?

Also utilities: I choose hunt over muddy terrain, though I love muddy terrain, I can’t switch hunt out for anything since I lack horn with s+dagger. Also all of our elites are good but after perfecting the auto rez (not to mention group rez utility) of the spirit, I chose that over entangle or rampage as one because, as I used to run rampage as one, I find that if I didn’t have the DPS to get a bunker down without that utility, I wasn’t going to get him down with it in time regardless if the enemy knew what he was doing.

I’d love to hear other ranger’s thoughts, because I’m still new so I’m not completely confident in my choices

edit: this is purely from tpvp point of view, I don’t wvw

helmino.4138:

Nice as always Umie, (you are one of the reason i runned ranger, i even writed to you in another forum recently xD), you think power cleric build can be as effective as condi apothecary? and let me ask you a think, you don’t run with troll unguent for condi removal right?

Umie? I think you have the wrong person, I had only used him as a model for his video. :P
But in simplistic terms, apothecary is very much more useful in zerg confrontations while clerics is for more of a solo gank situation.

And right, I run healing spring for the 6.5k burst heal and 5.5k over-time regeneration. On top of that it’s a water field which can be used in conjunction with your 3 leap finishers.

I like the presentation and the detail you put into it, however I have some criticisms.

1. Maul is actually our strongest attack. The tooltips for Maul damage and Swoop damage are incorrect. I suggest looking over this thread.
2. For which environment (sPvP/WvW/PvE) is this build? gw2skills.net is more for sPvP, while http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/ranger/ is good for PvE/WvW
3. You might want to say that the vid you posted is not yours since most people will assume thats you playing (like helmino.4138)

Other than that, it’s good stuff I’ll add it to the compilation thread!

Yes, I believe that is nevra’s video.

Xerlyph.3829:

helmino.4138:

Nice as always Umie, (you are one of the reason i runned ranger, i even writed to you in another forum recently xD), you think power cleric build can be as effective as condi apothecary? and let me ask you a think, you don’t run with troll unguent for condi removal right?

Umie? I think you have the wrong person, I had only used him as a model for his video. :P
But in simplistic terms, apothecary is very much more useful in zerg confrontations while clerics is for more of a solo gank situation.

And right, I run healing spring for the 6.5k burst heal and 5.5k over-time regeneration. On top of that it’s a water field which can be used in conjunction with your 3 leap finishers.

Sorry m8 nice guide anyway, i think i’ll go for cleric power since the gear is more cheap. So troll unguent is not viable with this build?

I am really at a stand still lol. I have been SB/LB user since the beginning. Obviously not because it was the best. But because I like using bows. Now I WvW ALL the time. Its really all I do and frankly I have noticed the limitations of SB/LB. Your video does seem nice but how it is in a zerg setting, that was he only thing I did not get to see in the video. One could argue I could just try it myself. But sadly it has taken me weeks to get 20g and I would rather not spend all my gold to try out a spec I am not at least a little certain of.

Nice build, but to me Ranger is the Bow/Pet class not another melee class. If i wanted to play melee w/ medium armor I’d roll a Thief. They need to fix the longbow and our utilities then we’ll be much better.

Xerlyph.3829:

[- ] Reliant on Pet for 1/2 damage output

While this is a decent build, this one con is what makes just about every Ranger build sub par in wvw. Bunker ranger is solid in smaller fights or 1v1, undeniably. But the larger the battle, the less effective the ranger is specifically due to relying on the pet for DPS.

I’ve run a variation of this build for several months now (LB instead of GS, QZ instead of MT, and 6 Sup. Ruines of the Dolyak. And the evades + the regen + the toughness is amazing to duel with. I’ve conqured 2v1’s and 3v1’s before. It’s all about timing those evades, and the order of skills used.

The Rooster.2615:

Xerlyph.3829:

[- ] Reliant on Pet for 1/2 damage output

While this is a decent build, this one con is what makes just about every Ranger build sub par in wvw. Bunker ranger is solid in smaller fights or 1v1, undeniably. But the larger the battle, the less effective the ranger is specifically due to relying on the pet for DPS.

This is 1/2 true. If the ranger is only tanky, then yes, they aren’t very helpful in group fights. However, a tanky ranger is solid reliable damage (see my Tanky Greatsword build) that takes skills that provide crowd control can be quite powerful. You are that guy who hits the lines and causes general mayhem. Did that all last night and it was a blast. I loved the heck out of it.

I’m actually considering switching off the Cleric’s armor for Soldier’s, while retaining 2 Runes of Dwayna and 4 Sapphire Orbs. It trades off 600 healing for 300 vitality (totalling 19700 hp) and 100 power.

jubskie.3152:

I like the presentation and the detail you put into it, however I have some criticisms.

1. Maul is actually our strongest attack. The tooltips for Maul damage and Swoop damage are incorrect. I suggest looking over this thread.
2. For which environment (sPvP/WvW/PvE) is this build? gw2skills.net is more for sPvP, while http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/ranger/ is good for PvE/WvW
3. You might want to say that the vid you posted is not yours since most people will assume thats you playing (like helmino.4138)

Other than that, it’s good stuff I’ll add it to the compilation thread!

Thanks! I’ll make the needed changes

Xerlyph.3829:

I’m actually considering switching off the Cleric’s armor for Soldier’s, while retaining 2 Runes of Dwayna and 4 Sapphire Orbs. It trades off 600 healing for 300 vitality (totalling 19700 hp) and 100 power.

Interesting idea, Xerlyph.

Have you taken a look at how that will affect your healing?

If you haven’t, take a look here … Data: Ranger Health Per Second

Xerlyph.3829:

NOTE THAT THIS BUILD REQUIRES YOU TO DISABLE THE ‘AUTO-TARGETING’ OPTION

Why?

Because it really messes things up if you want to use GS #3 or Sword #2 for escaping…

/edit: Or any other movement skill on any class that isn’t ground-targeted.

Iavra.8510:

Because it really messes things up if you want to use GS #3 or Sword #2 for escaping…

/edit: Or any other movement skill on any class that isn’t ground-targeted.

Unless you clear your target, yes, something that’s fast and easy to do. I’ve bound my Alt key to clear targets, and i use sword/greatsword all the time to jump away from danger.

A far better option than turning off auto-targeting altogether, don’t you think?