Guild Wars 2

Howdy Rangers, I’ve been testing a lot of different builds lately for solo roaming WvW to decide which one I want to invest in Exotics for. I think I’ve settled on a trap build:

gw2skills.net trapper build

I’d really appreciate your input on how I can fine-tune the build linked above for an optimal roaming experience. My main goals are to be able to flip camps rapidly, win most 1v1s and some 1v2s, and escape when the odds become worse.

Feel free to weigh in on any aspects of the build. One note about my armor choice, I selected Celestial stats so I only have to setup one set of armor / weapon skins for multiple builds, so I am likely to keep those 6 pieces stat-wise. Below are some additional questions / points of consideration I have:

1. Traits: 10 points in Marksmanship vs. Nature Magic. I slotted Predator’s Instinct to help me stop people from just running away. However, Nature’s Protection would also be helpful against burst roamers. I’m fairly undecided here, and I really wish I had 10 more trait points…

2. Power: Is it worth trying to add any additional to this build? I could change the weapons from Dire to Carrion without hurting my toughness too much. On one hand, I hate completely neglecting power since it is always helpful, but it seems that only sword 1 really scales well with it.

3. Pets: I slotted Jungle Spider for 1v1s, due to the multiple immobilizations and poison field, and I slotted Wolf for helping tank mobs when soloing camps and the fear interrupt (esp. when downed). Any other suggestions?

4. Sigils: I feel kind of “meh” about Sigil of Earth on this build, but I didn’t like Sigil of Geomancy because I usually use sword 2 to disengage before swapping to SB. Am I missing any strong options here? Also, any good second options for torch if I decide to stack Corruption before actually fighting?

Edit: Oh, and I almost forgot the most important #5: Mistwalker (non-flame version) or Magitech?

1) Since you’re using control pets, I would pick up malicious training. Could be a nice addition in 1v1s.

2) Traps do pretty lame direct damage, so I would avoid adding more power. The crit damage you have should do the trick, but I would avoid investing heavily into gear this way before the zerker changes.

3) For camps take river drake. Its F2 if you can land it is a nice additional damage, and it has cleave. Its also tankier than a wolf, but I would change the spider for camps, not the wolf. AoW fear is too good to pass down. Also, tail swipe is a blast finisher, which works well with Fire trap. If you would run RaO you could also stack a pretty good amount of might with its F2.

4) For camps both would work well. However you should keep in mind, that traps can crit, and apply bleeding that way as well. Not sure if its the sigil or the trait though, didn’t test that in depth.

Traits: I would rather take shared anguish instead of hide in plain sight. Invisibility is no good if your enemy knows where to hit. Shortbow without piercing is also pretty poor for clearing camps, GS due to the evade on auto is great however, has more defensive capabilities as well. Too bad they removed the bleed from it. All in all your build looks good, however for general roaming I would keep RaO due to the awesome stability. Entangle is great for clearing camps, but most players will know how to get out of it quickly 1v1.

Might want to consider using Superior Sigil of Torment to cover your other conditions and make cleansing your condition overload damage and poison more difficult if you don’t want to go with more bleed stack option. And if it isn’t cleansed you still get damage out of it.

I run your build! and with Great success! I loose very little / hardly at all. and do ok in 1v2 and 2v3 situations.

Ive found the toughest fights are Condi Necro’s PU mesmers and Perma stealth thief.
Everything else if FACE ROLL EASY MODE.

Same pets too.

Here is my version.

Will switch on Sigil of earth when patch hits, right now im running on kill sigils and sigils of hydromancy.

Hydromancy works GREAT with trapper build. You will really slow them down and keep them in traps. (for you consider hydromancy smoldering for now)

Put the 10 in NM, you need it in case you come across that dam thief, unless you go for malicious training as poster said above. You need to be able to trap your feet and let him come to you, the Prot will save you and then you can evade around as condi ticks and then re trap your feet.

I use to run SB like you but switch out to A/D cause SB was very pew pew for sigil of earth. Confusion mesmers and PU really were messing me up and going A/D helped me fight them and I didn’t loose much of anything for 1v1 fighting.

Last tough fight is necro, thats why I started bringing signet of Renewal for Necro and Engi, If I see a thief or mes I will try to switch it to sickem so they cant play stealth games with me. LR is good for your stun warriors and other in your face builds like guardian,

But I find I overwhelm them with what I can do with CC and condi and they just tick to death, so I hardly slot it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQRAsf3YjAV911VyVs2Bi2DNZeMxeYIH9IXB/XyoqA-jkCB4iRG1JgUFBiAJ0poFRjtMsIasKZBSZDT/K1aYISBAxaA-w

nagymbear.5280:

1) Since you’re using control pets, I would pick up malicious training. Could be a nice addition in 1v1s.

2) Traps do pretty lame direct damage, so I would avoid adding more power. The crit damage you have should do the trick, but I would avoid investing heavily into gear this way before the zerker changes.

3) For camps take river drake. Its F2 if you can land it is a nice additional damage, and it has cleave. Its also tankier than a wolf, but I would change the spider for camps, not the wolf. AoW fear is too good to pass down. Also, tail swipe is a blast finisher, which works well with Fire trap. If you would run RaO you could also stack a pretty good amount of might with its F2.

4) For camps both would work well. However you should keep in mind, that traps can crit, and apply bleeding that way as well. Not sure if its the sigil or the trait though, didn’t test that in depth.

Traits: I would rather take shared anguish instead of hide in plain sight. Invisibility is no good if your enemy knows where to hit. Shortbow without piercing is also pretty poor for clearing camps, GS due to the evade on auto is great however, has more defensive capabilities as well. Too bad they removed the bleed from it. All in all your build looks good, however for general roaming I would keep RaO due to the awesome stability. Entangle is great for clearing camps, but most players will know how to get out of it quickly 1v1.

I’ll have to give Malicious Training a shot. Not sure if it will help with the issue of people running away, but it’s hard to dislike longer immobilize.

Not a huge fan of GS for this setup, as it does not have any good condition potential (at least you can pair Sword with Torch). I agree that RaO would be better for roaming 1v1s, but as you said, SB has pretty limited AoE potential for clearing camps. I found that SB for 1v1s and Entangle for AoE camps worked better for me than RaO for 1v1s and Axe/x for additional AoE in camps (via splitblade).

Edit: Forgot to mention Hide in Plain Sight. I’m not sure I like it or Shared Anguish very much, but HiPS will break any skills that require a target and has a much shorter CD than Shared Anguish. I agree that it is fairly worthless against melee cleave.

But I’ve been considering dropping both of these traits for any of the following:

• Vigor on heal
• Pet condition damage (for spider)
• Regen on bleed / burn / poison (probably UP)
• Sword CD reduction (slightly faster sword 2 & 3 may be helpful)

Any thoughts?

Arrys.7145:

Might want to consider using Superior Sigil of Torment to cover your other conditions and make cleansing your condition overload damage and poison more difficult if you don’t want to go with more bleed stack option. And if it isn’t cleansed you still get damage out of it.

I’ll give Sigil of Torment a shot. I initially skipped past it due to the higher CD, but the extra cover condition may be worth it.

rpfohr.7048:

I run your build! and with Great success! I loose very little / hardly at all. and do ok in 1v2 and 2v3 situations.

Ive found the toughest fights are Condi Necro’s PU mesmers and Perma stealth thief.
Everything else if FACE ROLL EASY MODE.

Same pets too.

Here is my version.

Will switch on Sigil of earth when patch hits, right now im running on kill sigils and sigils of hydromancy.

Hydromancy works GREAT with trapper build. You will really slow them down and keep them in traps. (for you consider hydromancy smoldering for now)

Put the 10 in NM, you need it in case you come across that dam thief, unless you go for malicious training as poster said above. You need to be able to trap your feet and let him come to you, the Prot will save you and then you can evade around as condi ticks and then re trap your feet.

I use to run SB like you but switch out to A/D cause SB was very pew pew for sigil of earth. Confusion mesmers and PU really were messing me up and going A/D helped me fight them and I didn’t loose much of anything for 1v1 fighting.

Last tough fight is necro, thats why I started bringing signet of Renewal for Necro and Engi, If I see a thief or mes I will try to switch it to sickem so they cant play stealth games with me. LR is good for your stun warriors and other in your face builds like guardian,

But I find I overwhelm them with what I can do with CC and condi and they just tick to death, so I hardly slot it.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQRAsf3YjAV911VyVs2Bi2DNZeMxeYIH9IXB/XyoqA-jkCB4iRG1JgUFBiAJ0poFRjtMsIasKZBSZDT/K1aYISBAxaA-w

I’ll have to try out sigil of hydromancy. AoE chill and an extra cover condition does sound nice, but it would have the same limitations as geomancy, in that it doesn’t work if you disengage before swapping weapons.

I still like SB over Axe/Dagger, but I can see how Axe is good against Mesmers. Frankly, I mostly just run away when I see a PU Mesmer. It’s not that I can’t beat them (I have about 50% success rate), but it’s just no fun to fight.

Good advice on switching out LR. I’ll try to remember in the heat of the moment.

Since you take 10 points in NM for Nature’s Protection, how do you deal with people to decide to just run away? I am having a hard time keeping people in combat if they decide to split and can get out of spike trap range.

BondageBill.4021:

rpfohr.7048:

Since you take 10 points in NM for Nature’s Protection, how do you deal with people to decide to just run away? I am having a hard time keeping people in combat if they decide to split and can get out of spike trap range.

I would imagine the chill on axe and cripple on dagger.

Arrys.7145:

BondageBill.4021:

rpfohr.7048:

Since you take 10 points in NM for Nature’s Protection, how do you deal with people to decide to just run away? I am having a hard time keeping people in combat if they decide to split and can get out of spike trap range.

I would imagine the chill on axe and cripple on dagger.

Fair enough, I forget the dagger cripple has a 1200 range when traited with off-hand training. That extra 300 range would make a big difference in slowing runners.