Guild Wars 2

Hi dear Ranger/Druid community,

after having a lot of fun in lower level Fractals, I am looking for advise for higher level Fractals as I did not find anything up-to-date neither here nor on reddit:

1) Up to which level do you enjoy and play your Fractals as rangers/druids?
2) Do you mostly run Condition or Power builds in higher level fractals?
3) How glassy are your builds in higher level fractals? I have felt that playing with as little as 2 soldier/knight rings aside berserker gear feels much less punishing when I miss a dodge.
4) Do you slot your ascended equipment/trinkets/weapons with a mix of versatile and fine infusions or just invest everything in agony resistance after having attuned and possibly infused backpiece and rings? Or do you maybe have a Berserker set for lower levels (and thus fine infusions in armor/weapons but AR in trinkets) but a Condi set for higher levels (which then would run full AR)?

Thanks a lot for the answers.

Background: I have just finished crafting a full set of ascended weapons/armor with Berserker stats and am 1/3 into a Viper’s set. However, I am a bit confused about where to put my agony resistance and how much of it I actually need for which equipment and Fractal level.

PS: Also some experiences are welcome – I like theory crafting and min-maxing but it’s also nice to hear what ppl actually do ;-)

I’ve already fractaled up to lvl 100.

What build are you searching for? Efficient one? One that can solo fractals (I soloed lvl 72)? A DPS one?

It’s basically as you suggested, I do have 3 different sets of gear and I used all of them (and then sent Viper gear to my engineer and kept Cleric and Berserker on Ranger).
And the most important question for you … Do you intend to play them through LFG?

Tragic Positive.9356:

I’ve already fractaled up to lvl 100.

What build are you searching for? Efficient one? One that can solo fractals (I soloed lvl 72)? A DPS one?

It’s basically as you suggested, I do have 3 different sets of gear and I used all of them (and then sent Viper gear to my engineer and kept Cleric and Berserker on Ranger).
And the most important question for you … Do you intend to play them through LFG?

- I am looking for an efficient build that I set myself as a goal or benchmark, e.g. if it was advisable to run full viper/sinister, I’d first mix in a few rabid trinkets and take them out one by one. Regarding playstyle, currently I enjoy a slight variation of the meta battle power druid build which seems to be a nice blend of damage and support. In addition, currently my largest damage increases will come from improving my gameplay and learning mechanics but as all this ascended stuff is such a long process, I thought I’d start working towards sth proper now.

- I don’t want to solo nor do speed runs

- Currently I use LFG a lot and sometimes play with fellow guild members (very casual guild) but nothing organized. However, I assume your questions implies that pugging higher level fractals is much harder and in that case, I will probably shift towards more organized play.

I guess fractals and rangers will change over time but I would like to have a general direction with regard to what type of build works for which level etc. E.g. you saying you have several sets is very helpful. Do you run your power or cleric set in all fractals then?

Well… Not really. I asked abut LFG mostly because people will hate you for carrying them. It’s sad but that’s how it is.

Well, if you intend to play the casual dailies only – the Berserker would probably still be the way to go. For that I found the Glyph Buffer from metabattle a kind of viable build to play. You don’t really need to invest into Viper. People are less skeptic about builds from metabattle even if they’re weaker.

So, if you intend to do dailies – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAT8XnMqA1siNrAuqAEtil9Aj5EEwGBwx176edpJEAGdn00TOD-TJRBwAkLD84JAA4CAcd/BA
This is the highest DPS boosting build you can get atm. You have access to CAF on cooldown which means you go in, press #4, and go out (use it after you swap weapons and use an ability to avoid triggering Quick Draw). If your party needs healing, well, heal them a little and use that quick draw on #4. Don’t try to heal with #1 #2, though. It takes too long.

If you want to have fun and progress that way to lvl 100 – you really want to carry your team through. I have a spare set of Cleric just for this purpose. The build that can make any fractal a success is this one:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW8XnMqAVsilsCeqAEtgl/Aj5Dkv2ALvuMQAAet+WnrnccTyB-TpRBABWcBAErMg+PAAAOIAZt/wDHBAA
It carried us through to lvl 100

You allow your team to stack, and … well… Did I mention you have unlimited permanent AoE daze potential? Which means that you can perma-daze any stack of mobs and make any fractal a walk in the park?
Well, naturally… You sacrifice all your damage in order to do that. So even if the fractal takes a few minutes longer, in practice you finish it much faster since your party can stack, take no damage which means no dodge roll required etc.

If you play with a bunch of friends – they’ll love you for the perma-daze build. If they are arrogant meta-blockheads from LFG – they’ll probably kick you for ever mentioning it. Because … I don’t know … reasons.

1) Generally up until level 80 is what I still consider fun. After that the instabilities are what keep me from thinking “wow, this is fun” rather than an issue with the class itself.

2) Primarily Power builds. I enjoy running the Druid Elite and trying to mix that with a Condi build would compete for the very valuable Quick Draw. That, and there are 1-2 “mandatory” Utility skills I need to take as a condi build where a Power Druid is a bit more flexible. However, if I feel the need to burn something with fire (literally) Condi builds are very fun to play.

3) Mostly if not completely glass. For lower levels I go with Berserker’s and keep a Zealot’s set with me for high levels where I see that the extra [outgoing] healing would help others especially in 70+ where going down is more so dangerous due to the Fractal Avenger going for the “Finish Him!”

4) Personally, I don’t bother with the +stat infusions. The difference is negligible (not even 2% with 100% filled slots), and I would be spending more gold from the loss of AR in the Offensive/Defensive slots by trying to offset it back into Attuned/Infused slots.

Tragic Positive.9356:

What build are you searching for? Efficient one? One that can solo fractals (I soloed lvl 72)? A DPS one?

What would a solo build look like?

A Dire build will be the most versatile, with Shortbow and Axe/Torch. You’ll have great def/vit and still be able to pump out loads of damage. Best of all, the 41-50 scale Mistlock wont make things difficult because you won’t be doing critical hits.

If you wanted to be able to switch between it and druid, you could use apothecary trinkets, but I would stay away from using staff since it doesn’t do any condition damage. The avatar state provides the healing.

protip: superior runes of the krait are amazing with condi ranger

AlbertoUlkesh.4517:

Tragic Positive.9356:

What build are you searching for? Efficient one? One that can solo fractals (I soloed lvl 72)? A DPS one?

What would a solo build look like?

I made it with Cleric stats, MoC build, swapped skirmishing for Beast Mastery.

Tragic Positive.9356:

AlbertoUlkesh.4517:

Tragic Positive.9356:

What build are you searching for? Efficient one? One that can solo fractals (I soloed lvl 72)? A DPS one?

What would a solo build look like?

I made it with Cleric stats, MoC build, swapped skirmishing for Beast Mastery.

was it a perma-stun build? soloing fractals feels like a real challenge!

Thanks guys, those are some cool suggestions. I’ll definitely try that daze build, start climbing the levels and see how I fare. Looks like there is a lot of room for creativity with regard to ranger/druid builds!

Tragic Positive.9356:

If you want to have fun and progress that way to lvl 100 – you really want to carry your team through. I have a spare set of Cleric just for this purpose. The build that can make any fractal a success is this one:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW8XnMqAVsilsCeqAEtgl/Aj5Dkv2ALvuMQAAet+WnrnccTyB-TpRBABWcBAErMg+PAAAOIAZt/wDHBAA
It carried us through to lvl 100

You allow your team to stack, and … well… Did I mention you have unlimited permanent AoE daze potential? Which means that you can perma-daze any stack of mobs and make any fractal a walk in the park?

What kind of rotation are you doing that pulls a perma-daze?

Shot-in-the-dark guess.

Storm Spirit → Glyph of Equality → F5 → Lunar Impact → Lunar Impact → Dazing Screech → Lunar Impact → Call Lightning → Pet Swap → Lightning Assault → Glyph of Equality

That should be 30 seconds of chained Dazes, assuming Lightning Assault counts as 2s since it’s launch causes a knockdown animation in which mobs have to get up for. Lunar Impact casts back to back since it can proc Quickdraw.

Wondrouswall.7169:

Shot-in-the-dark guess.

Storm Spirit -> Glyph of Equality -> F5 -> Lunar Impact -> Lunar Impact -> Dazing Screech -> Lunar Impact -> Call Lightning -> Pet Swap -> Lightning Assault -> Glyph of Equality

That should be 30 seconds of chained Dazes, assuming Lightning Assault counts as 2s since it’s launch causes a knockdown animation in which mobs have to get up for. Lunar Impact casts back to back since it can proc Quickdraw.

Pretty much this.