Guild Wars 2

I’ve been using this for a few weeks now and I’m quite happy with it. I haven’t yet found a build that really counters it well, and it can consistently win 1vX against power builds.

Build points:

• YOU DON’T NEED TO HEAL OR SPAM GUARD.
• Doesn’t rely on random EB condi removal.
• Bird stays alive.
• It’s hard for enemies to escape. Cripple uptime can be 100%, and chasing mobility is the best possible.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAsYRjMqUxa/KOsw1iAChaVAwKefHGP706MJqhSWRXA-TVCEABRcIAwU9HCOCAbpEkJlfkv/Qb6DA4BB8wJAIAACwv5b28mBWuyVuyVuy53+23+23+WMAmB-w

Playing it

• Defender runes regen/block heal + SotW passive + mango pie (cheap) + Natural healing/compassion training = only use HS for condi clear or major emergencies. Use the leaps in HS if you need more, obviously.
• I generally don’t activate the signets, but all 3 of them have a place depending on what you’re fighting.
• Use bird attack on recharge.

That’s pretty much it.

Variants:

• Axe offhand works well, and can get you that final push you need for a kill. I really like the extra poison when I run into non-glass heavies or D/D eles though. The build is also low on CC to set up path of scars.
• Entangle. I love that skill, but it’s probably redundant with the perma-cripple.
• Almost all of the adept traits in Skirmishing are good.
• Nature’s protection for a more defensive build.
• I have ascended cele armor with defender runes on it, which is insanely expensive so I’m not changing it. A mix of cavs, valks, zerk, soldiers, etc. is probably better.

Feel free to leave suggestions.

Edit: Oh, disclosure, I did get my kitten kicked by a trap LB ranger. I just couldn’t find him. He would stealth, move to 2000 range, attack and restealth. I’m not sure if that’s a weakness of this build or of all builds. Also it was a duel, I could have easily just left and he wouldn’t be able to follow.

I’m using a similar build atm, so I know, melee bm builds do work.
But your build seems a little bit weak against condis and CC. Are SoR and HS alone really enough against condi builds? Not only because of their dmg, but more because most condi builds have lots of soft CC and are good at kiting, which is my main problem against them when i play full melee (even with SotF).
I’m not using intimidation training though, maybe i should try it (I don’t like eagle and hawk :/ )
And i can’t belive the good chasing potential. Sure, it has enough mobility to follow a running opponent, but from my experience with meleeranger it lacks enough pressure to finish off a fleeing target (unless it’s a necro or guard ^^). Not sure, if intimidation training helps much, because one leap or teleport, and they are out of range from the pet, and the cripples from dagger and gs are usually not enough to stay close (at least for me). Spamming sword AA works sometimes, but most of the time I can’t do much, if somebody decides to run away.

Just out of curiosity: Did you tried melee bm with SotF? If no, why not? If yes, why do you prefer signets?

UmbraNoctis.1907:

But your build seems a little bit weak against condis and CC. Are SoR and HS alone really enough against condi builds? Not only because of their dmg, but more because most condi builds have lots of soft CC and are good at kiting, which is my main problem against them when i play full melee (even with SotF).

Yes. Bleeding is fairly hard to stack on you even if you’re doing nothing but SoR passive and evade spamming. If they can’t get a big condi burst on you, the HUGE passive healing of the build (something like 400-500 health per second) just outheals the condis and you can ignore them. If they do land a big condi burst, you can use HS, which is practically an invulnerability between the runes, condi clears, and leaps.

For some reason, everytime I take this build out I run into a condi necro and obliterate them. I’ve tested this against condi necros more than any other build.

UmbraNoctis.1907:

I’m not using intimidation training though, maybe i should try it (I don’t like eagle and hawk :/ )

Ya give it a try. The bird has so much passive regen (and SoS) that it basically can’t die, which is one of the weaknesses of birds in small group skirmishes. You only switch to wolf if you want the CC. The sword, fortifying bond, and RaO are constantly stacking might on the pet, and the special attack recharges so quickly. The pet does really good damage, with both bleeding and power. Even though this is a power build, the bird bleeds and cripple from both of you, and the poison actually combine to really strain people’s condi removal.

UmbraNoctis.1907:

Just out of curiosity: Did you tried melee bm with SotF? If no, why not? If yes, why do you prefer signets?

I’ve used a bunch of the lower tree builds with double melee. I have about 5 builds or so I’ve put tons of hours into. I am using the signets because everything just came together perfectly with them. I didn’t want to use EB and SotF just out of boredom with them, so SoR and HS were a given. SotW combined with all the other passive healing to turn into a supercharged healing signet. And then SoS just rounded out my physical defense, especially since the toughness isn’t that high. Overall, I like the crazy regen a lot more than a SotF or a Guard build, although those 2 are good builds that I’ve used a lot. Guard is annoying because you have to use it so frequently and it doesn’t play well with HS, and EB is annoying.

This build also does more damage than a 20660 or something build, because the bird goes completely crazy on people.

UmbraNoctis.1907:

And i can’t belive the good chasing potential

Well as good as can be. The 3-5 sword leaps depending on what weapons you’re in, 2 thrown cripples, and in-combat swiftness makes it awfully hard for people to escape. If someone can clear the cripple, get off about several movement skills in a row and avoid your ranged cripples, they’ve earned their continued existence. I did have one guardian get away from me by tele-ing to an ambient fish. I probably could have caught him, but it was a nice move and I killed his buddy instead. Edit: Actually now that I think about it, he came back after I killed his friend and that time I killed him.

Fluffball.8307:

Yes. Bleeding is fairly hard to stack on you even if you’re doing nothing but SoR passive and evade spamming. If they can’t get a big condi burst on you, the HUGE passive healing of the build just outheals the condis and you can ignore them. If they do land a big condi burst, you can use HS, which is practically an invulnerability between the runes, condi clears, and leaps.

For some reason, everytime I take this build out I run into a condi necro and obliterate them. I’ve tested this against condi necros more than any other build.

I’m not only talking about surviving against condibuilds, more about killing them. Most are ranged, have at least “ok” mobility and lots of soft CC (which does not only affect me, but my pet too) in additon to their damaging condis. They can kite me pretty well and even if I get some decent hits on them, it is not enough to kill them because of their sustain.
Does not mean, i can’t kill any condi player, but at least if I meet a decent one, it is usually a very hard fight for me.
Btw condi necros are one of the easier to kill condi builds, even for me, because they are soo slow ^^

Fluffball.8307:

Overall, I like the crazy regen a lot more than a SotF or a Guard build, although those 2 are good builds that I’ve used a lot. Guard is annoying because you have to use it so frequently and it doesn’t play well with HS, and EB is annoying.

I’m not a fan of EB or guard spamming too, but you can combine the regen and SotF. To make it more clear, what i meant with SotF melee bm build, this is, what i’m currently running in WvW (works in PvP too with valk amulet and dwayna rune).
I’m not using natural healing, because survability is not my main problem with this build. At least in 1vs1 ^^

Fluffball.8307:

This build also does more damage than a 20660 or something build, because the bird goes completely crazy on people.

This is something I can confirm. Despite the mentioned downsides of my build, i really like it. Lots of fun to play and definitely not a bad build.

The overall concept of the two builds is nearly identical, just different flavors. I really like the ability to aggressively charge more than 1 person though. I think mine has a few more “oh kitten” abilities while yours would work better than mine in a 3v3 for example (although HS is pretty nice group support as well…) Anyway, effectively the same build.

If you can get used to the button spam of an eagle, it’s pretty nasty with 25 stacks of might.

Any video of it in action?

No, I just downloaded fraps though. I’ll see if I can get something. Probably have to wait till tomorrow because my server’s primetime is up.

Nice. Thank you. I have been running Defenders Runes as well. Got inspired by the Wizzo post.

Eh, I only had two 1v1s in this session, and I stomped both of them in less than 30 seconds, not worth looking at.

Also is 30 seconds the max fraps video? That’s just a setting right?

At first I was like yay Fluffybuild, will give it a spin fosho! But then I saw the celestial stats and it made me sad.

It’s not really cele though, that’s just the armor I have. I’m actually considering making a third set of ascended just because this build is so much fun.

Or maybe I’ll use zerk armor and take like… a few nomads trinkets or something until the stats are somewhat balanced.

I have to take into account the way traits aren’t affecting stats though, I’ll probably hold off until I see how that plays out.

Edit: Frou your regular armor stats are probably almost exactly what I was aiming for. You use defender runes don’t you? That’s why I have all zerk trinkets. I wanted power with enough sustain to satisfy my suicidal tendencies.

How does compassion training fit in.

I like the build concept, and i have been thinking about putting defender runes on my celestial set (on all of my set rely), i just can bring my self to overwrite the holebrak runes:(

Fluffball.8307:

It’s not really cele though, that’s just the armor I have. I’m actually considering making a third set of ascended just because this build is so much fun.

Or maybe I’ll use zerk armor and take like… a few nomads trinkets or something until the stats are somewhat balanced.

I have to take into account the way traits aren’t affecting stats though, I’ll probably hold off until I see how that plays out.

Edit: Frou your regular armor stats are probably almost exactly what I was aiming for. You use defender runes don’t you? That’s why I have all zerk trinkets. I wanted power with enough sustain to satisfy my suicidal tendencies.

I suppose I could flip the stats around and run with celestial trinkets and serker armor. But I’ll need at least 400 more armor if I’m going to run your build! I can’t believe how glassy you can run, I’d be living in constant fear that I will get killed by a sneeze or a fart! I never bothered with celestial armor since it’s.. Too troublesome to make, I spend 99% of my time in wubwub so I’m just poking around with whatever I can get my hands on through that.

This was my first build attempt with Defenders when I ran it a month ago: cleric gears with serker weapons, mix of serker and few other odd trinkets. Didn’t do many changes apart from the gear and runes to my normal power build since I can’t seem to be able to step out of my comfort zone :x
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR8YjMq0waLLGsQ1agDhq9J8BjArAw97+C5QJj6A-TVTBABapE5KlHAp+TXKh64gA8++DgcBAwT3AKaYmQJ4CHgAEMBBwTCIAACwN3Z6sNDczbO0bO0kBgZMA-w

Bah, ninja edit, fixed zeh link. I shouldn’t be allowed to post after midnight, not apo gear but cleric!

Eggyokeo.9705:

How does compassion training fit in.

I like the build concept, and i have been thinking about putting defender runes on my celestial set (on all of my set rely), i just can bring my self to overwrite the holebrak runes:(

It bumps up the healing from natural healing. When I was grabbing 30 second video clips earlier, I grabbed one of me taking a camp with my bird tanking all the NPCs. I wasn’t taking any damage, so I know the bird ate it all. I guess I could take an eagle and a hawk and a better trait, but I want the wolf available on switch.

I don’t think compassion training affects the heal the player gets from NH, but don’t quote me on that.

FrouFrou.4958:

I can’t believe how glassy you can run, I’d be living in constant fear that I will get killed by a sneeze or a fart!

We play similar builds, but in different environments. I’m almost always on my own, and it seems like you’re almost always in a group. In small scale/solo stuff I don’t have to worry about 8 sources of damage that I can’t see. When I’m playing in a group (PvP) I run builds that are even tankier than yours.

Edit: I have no idea how to use fraps. I have a bunch of 30 second clips of me running dramatically towards an enemy. And then it stops recording.

i just check wiki in it buffs the players a little bit 133 to 177 (every 3s), so you wouldn’t take it just for your self, but there is an advantage to not having to swap pets to keep them alive and not loosing you bird to AOE.

i struggle to give up the wolf as well

I think that its the demo version of fraps that cuts at 30s you might need to buy the full version. i not on my home pc so i cant check to see if its a setting

<- Luddite. I cannot get fraps to record a full fight, and I tried to sign up for youtube and it was all like “sup. gimme yo’ cell number. now” and I’m all “you need a better line than that honey”. So I’ve been recording 30 seconds of crap video at a time, by moving my hand completely across the keyboard and getting my hands in the right position around second 15 of the video.

I present to you my complete failure of a single 30 second video, that does nothing but reassure Frou this is not a complete glass build. I can’t dodge a PBS that all of you will have seen coming about 10 seconds before it lands because I had my hand on F9. This is NOT worth watching.

vimeo.com/127229645

Also apparently you can’t directly link vimeo. This is not going well for me.

Wow that vid makes me look awesome.

bahahahaha

this video was well worth 30 seconds of my life, fluffy killing a bearbow and eating every arrow along the way

bahahahah

ps maybe the bearbow did have any trinkets

You guys… my intention was not for that to be enjoyable. The only other full fight I managed to grab in the 30 seconds or less requirement was a cele staff ele.

Also he had full guard stacks? I honestly can’t even figure out what he was running that was so ineffective.

Also does anyone have any idea how to record more than 30 seconds?

Fluffy so awesome he killed a bearbow who didn’t even know how to dodge! So epic dude!

Maybe next he show us how awesome his build is at flipping sentries!

Justine.6351:

Fluffy so awesome he killed a bearbow who didn’t even know how to dodge! So epic dude!

Maybe next he show us how awesome his build is at flipping sentries!

Not on my watch. You’ll get a video of me approaching the sentry and then the video ends.

Fluffball.8307:

Justine.6351:

Fluffy so awesome he killed a bearbow who didn’t even know how to dodge! So epic dude!

Maybe next he show us how awesome his build is at flipping sentries!

Not on my watch. You’ll get a video of me approaching the sentry and then the video ends.

Hey maybe if someone tries ganking you at sentry? ;-)

Fluffball.8307:

Build points:

• YOU DON’T NEED TO HEAL OR USE YOUR UTILITIES

Fixed it for you (am only half kidding).

You ‘re terribly slow, you can clean one condi busrt but that’s it, you have no armor like Frou said, using a dagger without Off-Hand Training is meh, there’s no point to use celestial stats ect.

There is simply not point to make a build to kill only on type of another build, mostly in WvW. Everybody is looking for the most versatile build wich fit his playstyle, well, it’s my point of vue. The vid reinforced my feeling.

It’s like you knew this ranger was terrible. You engaged at half your HP, it’s crazy, you just dodge one time if i rememer well. Since am a GUARD SPAMMER, i would have come closed much more faster, dodging one time and then using Stalker’s Strike (Off-Hand say hi) , engaging full HP. Why you didn’t use Hornet Sting, Countterattack or Swoop is a total mystery.

Fluffball.8307:

FrouFrou.4958:

I can’t believe how glassy you can run, I’d be living in constant fear that I will get killed by a sneeze or a fart!

We play similar builds, but in different environments. I’m almost always on my own, and it seems like you’re almost always in a group. In small scale/solo stuff I don’t have to worry about 8 sources of damage that I can’t see. When I’m playing in a group (PvP) I run builds that are even tankier than yours.

Edit: I have no idea how to use fraps. I have a bunch of 30 second clips of me running dramatically towards an enemy. And then it stops recording.

I suppose you are right about that, I gave up with solo roaming when there was nothing else but thieves and mesmers to be fought. At least during group fights I might be able to stab a necro or an engineer once in awhile! The free version of Fraps only records the teeny tiny 30 seconds, you need to pay if you want to record more. If you end up paying I’d pick something else than Fraps tho.

…Or be a pirate ;>

borya.2964:

You ‘re terribly slow, you can clean one condi busrt but that’s it, you have no armor like Frou said, using a dagger without Off-Hand Training is meh, there’s no point to use celestial stats ect.

There is simply not point to make a build to kill only on type of another build, mostly in WvW. Everybody is looking for the most versatile build wich fit his playstyle, well, it’s my point of vue. The vid reinforced my feeling.

It’s like you knew this ranger was terrible. You engaged at half your HP, it’s crazy, you just dodge one time if i rememer well. Since am a GUARD SPAMMER, i would have come closed much more faster, dodging one time and then using Stalker’s Strike (Off-Hand say hi) , engaging full HP. Why you didn’t use Hornet Sting, Countterattack or Swoop is a total mystery.

Dude that video was a joke.

My fingers weren’t on the right keys because I was fumbling around with fraps, which I can’t get to work. At the beginning of the video I was moving forward with the arrow keys.

Also please read any of the thread before commenting, what you wrote is annoying.

Hey Fluffball, do you use an Nvidia card? If you do, try out Shadow Play. It’s constantly recording so you never have to worry about hitting any buttons. It also has a very minimal FPS loss while its running (1-3 FPS loss).

Also, Double Melee + Defender Runes + Healing Spring > all.

Fluffball.8307:

Dude that video was a joke.

My fingers weren’t on the right keys because I was fumbling around with fraps, which I can’t get to work. At the beginning of the video I was moving forward with the arrow keys.

Also please read any of the thread before commenting, what you wrote is annoying.

Allrighty.

Still a bad solo roaming build to me.

I’ll take your advice into account and take the time to read more attentively.

I would be glad to please you, bro.

FrouFrou.4958:

I gave up with solo roaming when there was nothing else but thieves and mesmers to be fought. At least during group fights I might be able to stab a necro or an engineer once in awhile!

I find a pretty random assortment of roamers in EB. It’s a little hard to get in to, but because the distances are so short I’m pretty likely to run in to any of the classes. Good fun.

ItIsFinished.9462:

If you do, try out Shadow Play. It’s constantly recording so you never have to worry about hitting any buttons.

Sounds perfect, downloading now.

borya.2964:

I’ll take your advice into account and take the time to read more attentively.

Thanks. All of your “criticisms” I had already directly addressed at least once. In the opening post I said it’s not a cele build. I’m thinking I am going to run full zerk with this, I’m just hesitant to override my PvE runes. I’ll see how the trait/stat changes play out first. It’s so durable already I don’t think that little extra damage can do anything but help, as demonstrated by me face tanking a LB.

Long ago, if you were around, back around the launch of the game when traits where organized a tad differently, there was a full melee player who ran a more clerics version of a full melee build and made youtube dueling videos of himself doing SO well.

Personally, full melee isn’t for me, but I bring it up because his trait split was something you might want to look at trying/altering, which would be: 0/3/4/3/4

Particularly, if you could pick up furious grip on your build, you could potentially see perma-fury and a decent enough damage increase without altering much else on the stat distribution.

Also, with 3 in NM, a tad more pet fury in a full BM invested build is always nice.

That build is probably just flat out better than what I’m running, but intimidation training (with 1 pet) is so friggen cool.

I’ll play around with that at any rate. It won’t be much longer before these types of builds are gone forever.

I was poking around with your build earlier today, tis was good fun but I had to drop Signet of the Wild for Hunt instead. I also bumped up the armor from 2,4 to 2,6k. If I get nuff footage I’ll make a video from my adventures but my fights are group fights, not solo stuff so not sure if you guys are interested to see it :x

Of course we want to see it. Is the perma cripple working well in group settings? I could see that putting a ton of pressure on people, especially if anyone you’re with runs condis.

Probably not as strong as immob spam from MT and pets, but whatever.

Any other way to get defender runes besides getting it from bandit’s chest?

I bought mine. It’s a little expensive, but only about 8 gold or something.

It’s hand’s down the best rune if you’re using GS IMO.

you cant hit anything with a melee ranger, unless they afk or decide to stand still for you. it also wouldn’t work too well as a frontline build as you don’t have enough condi cleanses. and of course, ure very limited to only fighting against other melee specs. even though I feel a good s/d thief would pick this spec apart.

I love birds, but theyre so much more effective on condi builds when ure running axe and stacking might. if you like birds, I don’t think anyone will be able to stand up 1v1 to our 0/0/6/6/6 condi bunker when the patch hits.

mistsim.2748:

you cant hit anything with a melee ranger, unless they afk or decide to stand still for you. it also wouldn’t work too well as a frontline build as you don’t have enough condi cleanses.

Wat. You have 75% swiftness uptime alone. Let’s ignore the bird and RaO. Let’s also ignore the 6 movement skills.

mistsim.2748:

I love birds, but theyre so much more effective on condi builds when ure running axe and stacking might. if you like birds, I don’t think anyone will be able to stand up 1v1 to our 0/0/6/6/6 condi bunker when the patch hits.

Wat. 25 might stacked birds with perma cripple. You have not even tried this build I know that.

25 stacks of might on your bird only in your fantasies. no one is gonna let you whack them with RaO on. people move you know. and swiftness is sort of a given. shouldn’t be the highlight of any build. also, RaO is just bad. it’s situational due to its extremely high CD and entangle is better in every single build.

You reach 25 might stacks on the bird in like 3 seconds.

At least try the build before you comment, jeez.

mistsim.2748:

you cant hit anything with a melee ranger

Please explain the plethora of dual melee Rangers in youtube videos where they make scores of kills, then.

If you think this is good I can’t even imagine what kind of crap builds you’ve been running XD

What would you change about it, vespers? What do you think the weaknesses are?

Fluffball.8307:

What would you change about it, vespers? What do you think the weaknesses are?

The whole BM line is just awful. the increase in pet stats is tiny at best. I also dislike relying on pets, especially the birds. the 6s CD looks good on paper but it fails to activate most of the time. Also you’ve gone way into that line to get some regen and cripple on activated skill.

Imo there are easier ways to get cripple and if you micro pets better you won’t need the regen. Of course they’ll die vs heavy aoe classes like guards and such but until anet decides to give pets the pve boost that will continue to happen.

I think you have sacrificed way too much to invest in the pet with very little benefit.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

mistsim.2748:

you cant hit anything with a melee ranger

Please explain the plethora of dual melee Rangers in youtube videos where they make scores of kills, then.

what are you talking about? are you referring to condi bunkers? cuz those are all short range projectiles and ground targeted aoe’s, not melee.

Thx for sharing the build – I like the creativity.

In case you haven’t found recording software that works, you might try the free download of Bandicam. http://www.bandicam.com/ I used FRAPS for a while, but it’s saved files are really big.

Have fun!

mistsim.2748:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

mistsim.2748:

you cant hit anything with a melee ranger

Please explain the plethora of dual melee Rangers in youtube videos where they make scores of kills, then.

what are you talking about? are you referring to condi bunkers? cuz those are all short range projectiles and ground targeted aoe’s, not melee.

How could you possibly confuse “dual melee” with “condi bunker” using projectiles? I mean, it’s written right there. Dual melee is Sword/X and GS. If it used any projectiles, it would not be dual melee.

vespers.1759:

The whole BM line is just awful. the increase in pet stats is tiny at best. I also dislike relying on pets, especially the birds. the 6s CD looks good on paper but it fails to activate most of the time. Also you’ve gone way into that line to get some regen and cripple on activated skill.

Imo there are easier ways to get cripple and if you micro pets better you won’t need the regen. Of course they’ll die vs heavy aoe classes like guards and such but until anet decides to give pets the pve boost that will continue to happen.

I think you have sacrificed way too much to invest in the pet with very little benefit.

I agree with you in that there are more efficient builds out there. However I’ve played the more typical condi survival, glass LB and various other more traditional melee builds for thousands of hours and thousands of PvP games and I got bored with them. (I think this works better than the more traditional melee builds, like 20660, but it’s a little bit apples and oranges.)

Investing so heavily into the bird is not the optimal route; I’m fighting the basic premise of a ranger, which is to switch your pets extremely often. It does, however, work. The bird does put out some extremely good pressure. There is no other way as a ranger to get this high amount of cripple uptime, and that makes the bird F2 land pretty much every time. In fact the bird is responsible for most of the damage, despite the sword auto hitting for over 2k with RaO up. I’ve actually been considering taking master’s bond to see if that works, since I do so rarely swap away from the bird.

Basically I set out to make a durable build that used both the pet and the ranger. It worked. If I have to swap away from the bird, my damage plummets. With the bird up, I’ve engaged people that lost half their health in a fraction of a second and just plain ran. It’s a very fun build that works.

The second theme of the build, I also love the fact that I don’t have to heal. I don’t know what my opponents are thinking or if they even notice, but I’ve won a lot of 1v1s where I never even looked at my heal skill. That’s one of the main reasons this works in 1v2s. If you hit your important evades and blocks, I’m often at near full health when fighting multiple people.

Mistsim, there are tons of players who have posted S + GS youtube videos on this forum. In fact FrouFrou who posted in this very thread has a link to her videos in her sig.

After running your build through the weekend, I really tried to stick with it through thick and thin but I’m sad to say it does not work in group fights very well, at least not when roaming with 4-5 people. The bird is too squishy so it has no chance to shine with the amazing DPS. I did however few 1vs1s and in 2vs2s it worked really nicely for those. There may have been some brainfarting from my part since I’m used to having LR as a stunbreaker, so I either forgot totally to pop the stunbreaker or I stood in one spot stupidly waiting for the backwards somersault to take me away from trouble :x
Either way, I got some nice footage and I will upload a video later this week.

Honestly your build probably won’t “die” with the expansion. Since you already aren’t running with any traited condition removal, you should be able to run with something like 0/6/0/6/6 (from the AMA notes: http://dulfy.net/2015/04/24/gw2-specializations-ama-livestream-notes/) with:

Most Dangerous Game
Primal Reflexes/Spotter
Quickdraw/Strider’s Defense

Bountiful Hunter/Nature’s Wrath
Evasive Purity/Vigorous Training
Protective Ward/Invigorating Bond

Companions Might
Two-Handed Training
Beastly Warden/Zephyr’s Speed

Actually, you might end up with an even stronger pet and/or build than you have now. Most Dangerous Game helps stack might, and you’ll give might to the pet on critical and on swap (with zephyr’s). You’ll still have everything and more really (built in speed boost and crit damage increase in the minor traits in BM) except for your signet cooldowns.

FrouFrou.4958:

After running your build through the weekend, I really tried to stick with it through thick and thin but I’m sad to say it does not work in group fights very well.

no it doesn’t work and that’s what I basically said to him. but my opinion obviously doesn’t matter and people should try it. and fail with it.

melee power rangers just don’t work. I could write a dissertation on why that’s the case, but all i’ll say is that:

1. you cant apply your damage well with GS; it’s a skirmishing and mostly defensive weapon, maul is a nice but situational skill
2. therefore, your burst is too situational
3. you have no CC and no spammable gap closers with your melee attacks (which is why mesmers, thieves, guards and warriors DO work in melee)

hope that helps.

Mistsim I’ve been playing and succeeding with double melee rangers since launch. There isn’t anything you can say to convince me they don’t work since, well, they’ve worked for 3 years. Since I know more about them than you, and they work, I don’t see how you writing things will invalidate experience. No, you did not help.