Guild Wars 2

I decided to test out a front line build last night and have tweaked this with changes I plan to make. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBHhFakRlOWbYxlFuWDQIULDg3tdLUslgzkIHOZFjgF-TVCEwAJOBAtU/xpyptKBZqkxwjAI3+Dd0HA4IAQKglEaB-w

Certain things are still up in the air, like SoR in place of lightning reflexes, 2 hand training in place of circle of life, and shared anguish in place of vigerous renewal. In heavier fights I would swap the marsh drake for the murrelow.

I ran with Bark skin last night but since it kicks in around 6k health it loses its effectiveness in larger fights.

I’d love to hear peoples thoughts on the build and what they might change.

Pretty much similar to the front line build I’ve been running.

What is different in yours? I plan to post this on my server website but I’ve only had 1 night to test it (although it was one very successful night)

It’s decent, but with the condi cleanses and such in a zerg, muddy terrain doesn’t seem extremely useful? just me though. Also, bark skin is really useful in zergs, imo. otherwise the build looks decent.

this is the build i used when i used to wvw with my guild http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNUQJATRjMq0yaJLGsw1aA9gaZA8AtDicYbd2FJRBbqA-T1SBABCt/Qh6AwRdH+0EcwhAghHAAlqEYmSwrU+pxRAAgLAApAYSYE-w

it’s sort of a hybrid front line/back line build. anytime you get low on health you can lightning reflex to your back line and either take care of thieves and such, or use piercing arrows to continue dealing damage to the frontline.

EDIT: and also the lack of a sigil of energy or sigil of stamina saddens me. you can’t BELIEVE how powerful that can be in zergs. if your group is effectively killing the other group you’re practically invincible.

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

It’s decent, but with the condi cleanses and such in a zerg, muddy terrain doesn’t seem extremely useful? just me though. Also, bark skin is really useful in zergs, imo. otherwise the build looks decent.

this is the build i used when i used to wvw with my guild http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNUQJATRjMq0yaJLGsw1aA9gaZA8AtDicYbd2FJRBbqA-T1SBABCt/Qh6AwRdH+0EcwhAghHAAlqEYmSwrU+pxRAAgLAApAYSYE-w

it’s sort of a hybrid front line/back line build. anytime you get low on health you can lightning reflex to your back line and either take care of thieves and such, or use piercing arrows to continue dealing damage to the frontline.

EDIT: and also the lack of a sigil of energy or sigil of stamina saddens me. you can’t BELIEVE how powerful that can be in zergs. if your group is effectively killing the other group you’re practically invincible.

I see your point but between the warrior’s warhorns, natural vigor and lighting reflexes I didn’t have any problem maintaining endurance. I’ll keep it in mind though.

I tried a hybrid build like yours in the past, it’s fun to point blank shot 5 people but I am really liking being able to blast my own water field and then double leap through it. I know ele’s can pump out more water fields but there is always a little delay with them trying to target the tag’s location, having water attunement on cooldown, by the time they drop it someone else drops another field over it, etc. I must have saved our kitten about a dozen times last night by being able to drop the water field on tag as soon as it was needed, not to mention the duration helped when we needed to stay still to focus downed players.

As far as muddy terrain goes, that is something I will swap in and out as needed. I managed to snag the backline a ton of times with it but if needed I swap it out for SoR or SotW.

Jim Hunter.6821:

I ran with Bark skin last night but since it kicks in around 6k health it loses its effectiveness in larger fights.

Huh?
You will never get hits > 3000 with this build and with bark skin those hits will never be >1500 so there is no problem it triggers this late.

I would change the wulf for a more tanky pet (bear/drake) and use entangle for the immobilize. It’s the most effective immobilze there is. : )

Drake is superior to bear because of the blast finisher, but sometimes it is neccessary to have a bear ready to keep both of your pets alive.

I am going for signets only:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBHhFakRlKWbYxfFqWDQIULDg3tdMUCHrzkYHS5VfgtVA-TFCEABJcCAKUJoN7P0i6PRp8zgHBQH6DA4IAEAABgbezbezbezSBskQL-w

Main weapon is the greatsword for the 50% damage reduce because of evades and the higher damage output with maul. Axe/horn is for regroup and might stacking.

I can do Frontline commander with this build and have higher damage output than warriors and guards in raid build. And the frontline waterfield is amazing for your team. Ranger: Most underestimated frontline class.

Btw: no need to reduce the cooldown of the horn: It has the same cd as your waterfield so it will always be ready to blast

cant be done, just wait till hots for druid and hope for best. I mean you can do it, but it’s wasteful. play glassbow in wvw.

Oak da Vite.9054:

Jim Hunter.6821:

I ran with Bark skin last night but since it kicks in around 6k health it loses its effectiveness in larger fights.

Huh?
You will never get hits > 3000 with this build and with bark skin those hits will never be >1500 so there is no problem it triggers this late.

Yeah that means you can take 2 or 3 more hits before going down, that’s why it’s not really worth it in a zerg fight. In small scale that is great but in a zerg that will pretty much be instantaneous.

My problem with entangle is unlike muddy terrain it isn’t ground targeted. I can throw out muddy terrain to snag the back line, with entangle I need to be on them already. If I use it on the front line the condi’s will instantly be cleared. Rampage on the other hand us extremely useful the entire time.

I’ve been playing front line ranger for a few years now prior to sept 9 i used 6/2/6/0/0 but from then on ive been using variations of this build i adjust it depending on the size of the fights and whether we are pushing a choke or open field (RaO vs Entangle and SoS vs MT) and i still cant decided between “honed axes or natures protection”

@Jim Hunter I ran with Bark skin last night but since it kicks in around 6k health it loses its effectiveness in larger fights.
bark skin is awesome, use this build to maximise the value.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR3XjMq0yaHLOsw1aAChaVA0OG6gj1dSsDbdKz6DPBB-TVCBABccQAie/BOV/phjAgEPAAAuAAZp8jRlgIqbgUAspzC-

With this build you have like 31k life pool(with the gurds buff), so almost 8k with bark skin+enlargment for stability, damage and movement(you can save SoS for the last -5%-10% hp, re-position, range with axe, heal to max and go back in).

Axe 5 is a great way to split zerg, one of our best firstliner tools. you can swap muddy terrain/LR with SOTW and RAO with entangle for a more “controlled rotation cycle”.

LughLongArm.5460:

@Jim Hunter I ran with Bark skin last night but since it kicks in around 6k health it loses its effectiveness in larger fights.
bark skin is awesome, use this build to maximise the value.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR3XjMq0yaHLOsw1aAChaVA0OG6gj1dSsDbdKz6DPBB-TVCBABccQAie/BOV/phjAgEPAAAuAAZp8jRlgIqbgUAspzC-

With this build you have like 31k life pool(with the gurds buff), so almost 8k with bark skin+enlargment for stability, damage and movement(you can save SoS for the last -5%-10% hp, re-position, range with axe, heal to max and go back in).

Axe 5 is a great way to split zerg, one of our best firstliner tools. you can swap muddy terrain/LR with SOTW and RAO with entangle for a more “controlled rotation cycle”.

That is a pretty interesting build. I wish there were ways to test out the different runes and armor without having to invest money in it. From what I remember those exuberance runes aren’t cheap.

Jim Hunter.6821:

LughLongArm.5460:

@Jim Hunter I ran with Bark skin last night but since it kicks in around 6k health it loses its effectiveness in larger fights.
bark skin is awesome, use this build to maximise the value.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR3XjMq0yaHLOsw1aAChaVA0OG6gj1dSsDbdKz6DPBB-TVCBABccQAie/BOV/phjAgEPAAAuAAZp8jRlgIqbgUAspzC-

With this build you have like 31k life pool(with the gurds buff), so almost 8k with bark skin+enlargment for stability, damage and movement(you can save SoS for the last -5%-10% hp, re-position, range with axe, heal to max and go back in).

Axe 5 is a great way to split zerg, one of our best firstliner tools. you can swap muddy terrain/LR with SOTW and RAO with entangle for a more “controlled rotation cycle”.

That is a pretty interesting build. I wish there were ways to test out the different runes and armor without having to invest money in it. From what I remember those exuberance runes aren’t cheap.

Ya:( same for the sentinel armor…

Seriously odd question since I usually don’t run front line in any zerg, what is the point being on the front line as a ranger? I see GS/Axe/Axe so trying to understand the play style since there is no bow involved.

Is it more support or is there offensive play here?

Thanks. Just looking to be enlightened.

Crapgame.6519:

Seriously odd question since I usually don’t run front line in any zerg, what is the point being on the front line as a ranger? I see GS/Axe/Axe so trying to understand the play style since there is no bow involved.

Is it more support or is there offensive play here?

Thanks. Just looking to be enlightened.

Hi, its important to note that Rangers are not optimised for frontline compared to gurdains or warriors but we do it cus there are some prons for a ranger and we love the class.
The basic rotation is, muddy terrain on zerg+stability activation→dive into midle of zerg→HS→axe 5(it will split the enmey zerg)→swap to GS cleave as much as you can until you very low on HP→swoop to distance→ swap axe and spam AA→ heal to max and repeat.

It’s really fun that’y why

Like Lugh says it’s clearly not optimal every one knows that, but it’s still very satisfying when 2-3 people who are lagging behind their main train get caught and killed thanks to your muddy terrain.

LughLongArm.5460:

Crapgame.6519:

Seriously odd question since I usually don’t run front line in any zerg, what is the point being on the front line as a ranger? I see GS/Axe/Axe so trying to understand the play style since there is no bow involved.

Is it more support or is there offensive play here?

Thanks. Just looking to be enlightened.

Hi, its important to note that Rangers are not optimised for frontline compared to gurdains or warriors but we do it cus there are some prons for a ranger and we love the class.
The basic rotation is, muddy terrain on zerg+stability activation->dive into midle of zerg->HS->axe 5(it will split the enmey zerg)->swap to GS cleave as much as you can until you very low on HP->swoop to distance-> swap axe and spam AA-> heal to max and repeat.

I actually like the class too but haven’t played it this way which is why I asked. My trouble is that when I swap to melee weapons I end up playing it like I’m on my Guardian and that never works out well for me – lol.

Thanks for the information. Seems interesting.

Crapgame.6519:

Seriously odd question since I usually don’t run front line in any zerg, what is the point being on the front line as a ranger? I see GS/Axe/Axe so trying to understand the play style since there is no bow involved.

Is it more support or is there offensive play here?

Thanks. Just looking to be enlightened.

I honestly decided to come up with one because I had a bunch of guildies showing up for raid nights on their rangers and dying way too often.

What I found is I’m easily hitting 5-6k mauls on heavy targets, I was bumping my parties precision by 7% (not counting warhorn fury) and most importantly there was a number of times we lost our entire back line and went on fighting for another 5 minutes to pull out a win because of my water field.

There are also little perks like locking down the enemy back line with muddy terrain, using pets to aoe poison spam downed players, and laughing off the damage when a thief tries to gank you.
A lot of people were targeting me pretty heavily but between the blocks, evades, invulnerability, natural tankiness, and blast + double leap through my water field I was pretty darn tough to kill.

Jim Hunter.6821:

What is different in yours? I plan to post this on my server website but I’ve only had 1 night to test it (although it was one very successful night)

Always got Bark Skin. Nature’s Protection or Enlargement sometimes replace Strength of Spirit. Other than that the traits are the same.

Utilities change depending on party comp and how the fights turn out. Same goes for my sigils.

Crapgame.6519:

Seriously odd question since I usually don’t run front line in any zerg, what is the point being on the front line as a ranger?

there is absolutely no point to it. you can do it just to show that it can be done. you have decent sustain, but generally bring nothing to zerg fights. 2-3 aoe immobs can get you a few downs, but you do no damage compared to a cele guard or ptv/dps warrior who can live in the frontline while twiddling thumbs. and dropping 4-7k aoe spikes every few seconds.

I put out a guide on sentinel frontlining as a ranger about a year and a half ago. some major problems:

- your main low cd stun breaker takes you backwards away from your train; the other stun breakers don’t do kitten in addition to stunbreaking and are on very high cd

- stability skills aren’t instacast, which can get you spiked down hard. stab up, jump in! “ok guys im stabbing up” (1s cast) (random line of warding appears) “oh shi—” (uses LR, goes backwards) (gets spiked by oncoming train) (np, pops SoR, pops SoS) (gets immob stacked for 5s and spiked) gg

- our major contributions are aoe immobs which aren’t instacast and usually don’t do
that much, and the water field which is your actual heal. sure u can cast it on your train, but then if you need a heal 10 seconds later, youre dead.

- maul is okay since the most recent buff, it hits 5 people now; it’s a good nuke, but not as good as guard gs 2 or hammer 2, or any of the warrior cleaves.

- that being said, since the maul and GS buffs, and constant fury uptime, our damage isn’t too bad in comparison…the major problem really lies in the horrible utilities (they might be decent for roaming and conquest, not for organized large scale combat)

if u want to try low level gvg’s and zerg busting, just put on some valk/zerker gear and get periphery kills. for proper frontlining, we’ll need to wait for the druid.

mistsim.2748:

Crapgame.6519:

Seriously odd question since I usually don’t run front line in any zerg, what is the point being on the front line as a ranger?

there is absolutely no point to it. you can do it just to show that it can be done. you have decent sustain, but generally bring nothing to zerg fights. 2-3 aoe immobs can get you a few downs, but you do no damage compared to a cele guard or ptv/dps warrior who can live in the frontline while twiddling thumbs. and dropping 4-7k aoe spikes every few seconds.

I put out a guide on sentinel frontlining as a ranger about a year and a half ago. some major problems:

- your main low cd stun breaker takes you backwards away from your train; the other stun breakers don’t do kitten in addition to stunbreaking and are on very high cd

- stability skills aren’t instacast, which can get you spiked down hard. stab up, jump in! “ok guys im stabbing up” (1s cast) (random line of warding appears) “oh shi—” (uses LR, goes backwards) (gets spiked by oncoming train) (np, pops SoR, pops SoS) (gets immob stacked for 5s and spiked) gg

- our major contributions are aoe immobs which aren’t instacast and usually don’t do
that much, and the water field which is your actual heal. sure u can cast it on your train, but then if you need a heal 10 seconds later, youre dead.

- maul is okay since the most recent buff, it hits 5 people now; it’s a good nuke, but not as good as guard gs 2 or hammer 2, or any of the warrior cleaves.

- that being said, since the maul and GS buffs, and constant fury uptime, our damage isn’t too bad in comparison…the major problem really lies in the horrible utilities (they might be decent for roaming and conquest, not for organized large scale combat)

if u want to try low level gvg’s and zerg busting, just put on some valk/zerker gear and get periphery kills. for proper frontlining, we’ll need to wait for the druid.

Our damage is fine, but you are right we could definitely use some better group utilities (looking at you shouts).However, SoR isn’t a bad stun break to bring to a zerg. Nice full condi cleanse for your group.

LughLongArm.5460:

@Jim Hunter I ran with Bark skin last night but since it kicks in around 6k health it loses its effectiveness in larger fights.
bark skin is awesome, use this build to maximise the value.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR3XjMq0yaHLOsw1aAChaVA0OG6gj1dSsDbdKz6DPBB-TVCBABccQAie/BOV/phjAgEPAAAuAAZp8jRlgIqbgUAspzC-

With this build you have like 31k life pool(with the gurds buff), so almost 8k with bark skin+enlargment for stability, damage and movement(you can save SoS for the last -5%-10% hp, re-position, range with axe, heal to max and go back in).

Axe 5 is a great way to split zerg, one of our best firstliner tools. you can swap muddy terrain/LR with SOTW and RAO with entangle for a more “controlled rotation cycle”.

Very interesting build.

I was not aware of those new foods that give you ferocity based on HP, that opens up a lot of opportunities!

This is one of the highest damage ‘tank’ builds I have seen.

@Sube Dai.8496
Ya, the synegie is real and doest stop here. Just think about all the vitalety bonuses you get from WvW buffs, warrior banner, guild buff etc… Its also one of the hardest “tank” builds out there, the functionality of sentinel and the value of vitality over toughness in zerg fights, the extra value from bark skin the bigh hp poo left at 25%+enlargment effect its jsut so hard to spike you down.

Thanks everyone for explaining the build and the play style. Sounds interesting.

However, taking a quick look at it sentinel’s armor is pretty darn expensive to create. As much as I’d love to try it out, I just don’t see this one happening today – lol. Side question. Has anyone tried this build out outside frontlines? I’m curious how it would do in a 2 – 5 man HAVOC squad?

I see that my Ranger will be just as bad at armor/weapons sets as my Guardian I already have 3 sets on this fella, investing in a 4th may just wait. Unless I can dual purpose it that is.

Crapgame.6519:

Thanks everyone for explaining the build and the play style. Sounds interesting.

However, taking a quick look at it sentinel’s armor is pretty darn expensive to create. As much as I’d love to try it out, I just don’t see this one happening today – lol. Side question. Has anyone tried this build out outside frontlines? I’m curious how it would do in a 2 – 5 man HAVOC squad?

I see that my Ranger will be just as bad at armor/weapons sets as my Guardian I already have 3 sets on this fella, investing in a 4th may just wait. Unless I can dual purpose it that is.

I tried my version out and it worked well. I put Bark skin back on for that. killed a few folk 1v1 as well, I don’t think they could figure out what I was running or the best way to attack me.

Best part of it while running havoc is everyone wastes time trying to target you expecting you to be squishy.

My frontline condi/trapper build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8YjEq0ua5KGsQ1iAHhaT7LIWrA2dbAMAeKZDPB-TVSAABGcEAyR3AAPAAkU/pjLAwkKB54gAMmyve2fgUAQM2C-w

Been working fairly well for me.

NewSentiment.1645:

My frontline condi/trapper build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8YjEq0ua5KGsQ1iAHhaT7LIWrA2dbAMAeKZDPB-TVSAABGcEAyR3AAPAAkU/pjLAwkKB54gAMmyve2fgUAQM2C-w

Been working fairly well for me.

Traps are a fun roaming build but I’m struggling to see how that would work as a frontline zerg build. Shortbow has no cleave, you can’t push with the tag using sword because the leaps will send you flying through the zerg, you can’t stack condi’s because there is too many people clearing them in zerg fights, and you have no stun breaks.

I get that you are tanky but when your doing almost no damage (thanks to high amount of condi clear) and you have no team support skills or traits, what exactly does this build bring to the table?

O/o Nice build Lugh , I did run this type of set up before SotF came out though it didn’t last long at all plus was forced to use EB and Evasive Purity .
when all the newer changes came before Sotf release so i ended up switching builds for a Ranged version though that slowly chipped away at the hp and well you know.

I may have to work on a set for this again.

@Zenos Osgorma
Hi man, it was a different world before SotF. Bark skin was only 33% reduction, we had no active sigetns(no active SoS/SotW), enlargment was useless(worked for pets only), axe AA didnt have might on hit, murrelow F2 wasnt a field, there was no utility buff that gave 100 vitality+ 15% crititcal damage(almost 350 worth of stats), and so on, and so on… Its a brave new world^^

@mistsim – Man, enlargment is the answer for your problems, instant stability for 10sec(with my build) when you get down to 25% hp(and you have bark skin on) you cant be stunne chained to death. I think axe 5 is one of the best front liner skills out there, real value to the team. On every 5 men team of front liners, one ranger can be an awesome eddition.

I made small modifications to the build – i think this is the better setup -

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR3XjMq0xaFLOsQ1aAChaVA0OGK2j1dSsDbdKz6DPBB-TFCBABRv/Anq/IxDAAgLCQWK/YUJIDHBAE1NQKA20ZB-w

Jim Hunter.6821:

NewSentiment.1645:

My frontline condi/trapper build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8YjEq0ua5KGsQ1iAHhaT7LIWrA2dbAMAeKZDPB-TVSAABGcEAyR3AAPAAkU/pjLAwkKB54gAMmyve2fgUAQM2C-w

Been working fairly well for me.

Traps are a fun roaming build but I’m struggling to see how that would work as a frontline zerg build. Shortbow has no cleave, you can’t push with the tag using sword because the leaps will send you flying through the zerg, you can’t stack condi’s because there is too many people clearing them in zerg fights, and you have no stun breaks.

I get that you are tanky but when your doing almost no damage (thanks to high amount of condi clear) and you have no team support skills or traits, what exactly does this build bring to the table?

Oh. Not a roaming build thread? Oops.
My bad.

Disregard my post plz… >.<

LughLongArm.5460:

I made small modifications to the build – i think this is the better setup -

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR3XjMq0xaFLOsQ1aAChaVA0OGK2j1dSsDbdKz6DPBB-TFCBABRv/Anq/IxDAAgLCQWK/YUJIDHBAE1NQKA20ZB-w

That is pretty much the exact build I use, except I take double drakes and Spotter instead of SotF.

LughLongArm.5460:

@mistsim – Man, enlargment is the answer for your problems, instant stability for 10sec(with my build) when you get down to 25% hp(and you have bark skin on) you cant be stunne chained to death. I think axe 5 is one of the best front liner skills out there, real value to the team. On every 5 men team of front liners, one ranger can be an awesome eddition.

it’s been a while since I used barkskin, I believe last year when I was testing my sentinel build for a few hundred hours before deciding it was useless. but im still pretty sure that in a semi-competitive situation, once u get down to 25% health it’s very likely youre also immobed and therefore dead. an immobed ranger is a dead ranger because we cant pop protection at will. barkskin isn’t enough. at the time though, enlargement was bad so I may need to play around with it again. generally, it’s a BAD idea to wait until youre brought down to 25% health before being useful >.<

channeling axe 5 was “ok” right after they made it do retal, and when it had a 5 target limit. it’s a cleave now, so it sucks. and even before the cleave change, standing there channeling while people cast ground-targeted spells on you was basically suicide. WD needs to be completely reworked. at the very least, channel while moving. both OH axe and GS need further utility buffs for group play, damage is fine imo. they really tried but it hasn’t been enough! just look at what other frontliners can do.

this was my guide btw, not sure if any of my research back then would be beneficial. I ran this before sotf and enlargement >.<

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Sentinel-Frontliner-Next-Level-WvW-Ranger/first

(took my channel down a year ago due to google+ annoying me).

im waiting to see what the druid will bring to the table before revisiting the frontline ranger. it’s a tall order, because revs are going to be amazeballs.

@mistsim.2748 hi man,
Hi remember your guide, you were so much more optimistic back then

_once u get down to 25% health it’s very likely youre also immobed _ – with HS and SOTF you have 3 removals on demand exacly for that.

generally, it’s a BAD idea to wait until youre brought down to 25% health before being useful >.< You are useful from 100hp% but 25% is not a panic situation for this build, you can push the fight to the limlt knowing you have stability on you, SoS if needed and barkskin. You cant be stun chanied to death, its nice to know that.

it’s a cleave now, so it sucks. I’ll agree its not as good as it was but if i remember correctly, off-hand trainig didnt increase attack and reflect radius of the skill back then. so prons and cons.

I think we came along way since last year, perheps the most buffed class in game, the signets buff alone is huge. If you have your old gear, just give it a try, i would love for a new video guide^^

shadowpass.4236
Hi, i would love to change for 2 drakes, dont you feel you need the bear for the upkeep 20 secCD while drake is injured? I use SOTF for the fury uptime and condi removal on demand, like @mistsim saied, you realy dont want to get cought in immob while low on health+ i want the extra vitality and the 5% bonus the damage, its selfish but lots of value to be gained.

LughLongArm.5460:

@mistsim.2748 hi man,
Hi remember your guide, you were so much more optimistic back then

well I think I was always a realist. I pushed the prof to the max imo, but results were always mixed or underwhelming. this didn’t stop me from playing the ranger though. I wanted to do a vid on glassbow after RTW and SotF were released, but decided to leave the game for a while due to RL.

I pretty much only play the glassbow now, and run around with a few goofy bunker builds to annoy people. but im really, really looking forward to see what they did based on our CDI feedback, and I hope the druid will fill our frontline/bunker/support holes.

@LughLongArm, @JimHunter
Swirching out Ascended Sentinel armor for Exotic Soldier armor drops Health pool by about 1100, other stats seem about the same (or slightly better).
I don’t see a way to make up the Health shortfall.

A cheap alternative? Thoughts?

Of course, that’s better before infusions

Slalom.3174:

@LughLongArm, @JimHunter
Swirching out Ascended Sentinel armor for Exotic Soldier armor drops Health pool by about 1100, other stats seem about the same (or slightly better).
I don’t see a way to make up the Health shortfall.

A cheap alternative? Thoughts?

Of course, that’s better before infusions

Well there is exotic sets of sentinel although the price difference between that and soldiers is insane. You could mix in a few soldiers accessories while still maintaining a decent crit chance. Swap rune of exuberance for Wurm to bump up the ferocity, wurm is also a good deal cheaper.

Remember if you decide to drop SotF for spotter you will have a 27% bump to your crit chance while fury is up, that means you can sacrifice a little precision and still be in a good place.

I’m posting from my phone so I can’t test it in the build editor right now but those are things you might want to consider tweeking.

Slalom.3174:

@LughLongArm, @JimHunter
Swirching out Ascended Sentinel armor for Exotic Soldier armor drops Health pool by about 1100, other stats seem about the same (or slightly better).
I don’t see a way to make up the Health shortfall.

A cheap alternative? Thoughts?

Of course, that’s better before infusions

If this is for WvW just put the points in vitality after guard kill. 5 stacks and you made up for the loss. That is what I do with my Guardian in DPS mode. Nothing sucks more than going b@lls out with 14k health

Thanks, Crapgame.
I was figuring all other sources being equal.

@JimHunter
Those Wurm runes are only 30 silver on TP. Nice
Your plan uses exotic Soldier gear

You guys are making me think about this pretty hard. LOL

Slalom.3174:

Thanks, Crapgame.
I was figuring all other sources being equal.

@JimHunter
Those Wurm runes are only 30 silver on TP. Nice
Your plan uses exotic Soldier gear

You guys are making me think about this pretty hard. LOL

It’s a lot more fun than I expected it to be. We only had about 7 people havocking last night and I always drew the enemy focus and simply out sustained their damage. I’ve also killed a good dozen or so people 1v1 with it as well.

Lol, I seem to draw a lot of attention too.
But a strong breeze will down me.

I like the horn more than offhand axe (need for speed).

Slalom.3174:

Lol, I seem to draw a lot of attention too.
But a strong breeze will down me.

I like the horn more than offhand axe (need for speed).

Same, also for the blast finisher in HS, and the fury uptime. Plus if you have raven out you can get off a decent burst with hunter’s call, blinding slash and swoop to maul.

Hi @Slalom,
hi made a simulation of exotic soldair gear with wurm rune instad of exuberance rune and the normal maintenece oil instad of the furious one. The stats are the +- the same except for the HP almost 3k difference(not 1,100), still nice and on the budget, but 3k health is alot. Another value of the original build is that it keeps scaling with vitality bonuses of WvW.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR3XjMq0xaFLOsQ1aAChaVA0OGK2j1dSsDbdKz6DPBB-TlBBABAcRAyS5nK6GyR9HGVCu0+DkCgNRWA-w

Its also important to keep in mind that sentinel Insignia can be purchased for Guild commendation tokens, if you have meny of thouse.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sentinel%27s_Intricate_Gossamer_Insignia

Regarding the horn vs axe thing, i agree that small to medium groups, horn is better. the off hand axe prevails in huge zerg fights, where you stack on yourself tons of swiftness and some fury anyway and there are lots of hammer gurdains with healing power that blast your HS.

LOL, big decision here….
What skin for the backpiece. Maybe will keep Rox’s quiver as a target.

@LughLongArm,
That is almost exactly the build I put together. Kind of merging yours and Jim’s
Sitting at 25k Health and 2950 armor and 2500 power.
Still tweaking.

I will probably carry both horn and spare axe.

Rox’s for the win! Let them know that it’s a ranger tearing their kitten up.

So, almost done with the interim set.
I ran out of laurels so can’t buy the Sentinel weapon recipes.
Otherwise those are crafted.

Here’s what it looks like:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBhODbkRlOWrYxhFqWDQIULDg3tdMUsHrzkYHSZWf4JIA-TVCBABtfEAyR9HtUSs0+DS8AAA4iAklyNGVCiouhAAIA38mZz2MwRP6NH6NvZZAYXAA-w
For roaming/small groups, Traits are 4,0,6,4,0 with Spotter and Warhorn offhand
Power 2300, Armor 2900, Health 26000, Crit% 38, Crit Dmg 186%

For zergs, Traits are 2,0,6,6,0 with Survival of the Fittest and Axe offhand
Power 2200, Armor 2900, Health 27000, Crit% 31, Crit Dmg 186%

Those numbers do not include guild buffs, guardian and other buffs.
Still tweaking and will be working toward ascended armor.

I rotate pets based on activity. So Marsh Drake and Murello are the poison appliers, but I like birds and canines too.

Hoping to get a really nice gear design to go with those cool Cobalt/Bronze weapons.

LughLongArm.5460:

@Jim Hunter I ran with Bark skin last night but since it kicks in around 6k health it loses its effectiveness in larger fights.
bark skin is awesome, use this build to maximise the value.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR3XjMq0yaHLOsw1aAChaVA0OG6gj1dSsDbdKz6DPBB-TVCBABccQAie/BOV/phjAgEPAAAuAAZp8jRlgIqbgUAspzC-

With this build you have like 31k life pool(with the gurds buff), so almost 8k with bark skin+enlargment for stability, damage and movement(you can save SoS for the last -5%-10% hp, re-position, range with axe, heal to max and go back in).

Axe 5 is a great way to split zerg, one of our best firstliner tools. you can swap muddy terrain/LR with SOTW and RAO with entangle for a more “controlled rotation cycle”.

Finally got the gold to get this going, since it really looked nice. And it is! Fellow wvw (zerg)rangers should really check this out. Finally a very competent frontline ranger zerg build. I’ve been trying to put something together for ages. Played for an hour tonight, really works well. Healthpool (with guard buffs) is amazing, as is toughness, and with these runes and this food you still get more then enough damage output. I only find myself having not enough stability at times when I’m running without party members giving me stability, even though you have RaO and the trait.

WoW, great job on getting all the pieces This build will preform best in lage scale organised battles(like guilds), it was designed for that. Remember that stability uptime is a strugle for all professions now after the stability nef. I posted a litle variation of the utility set up
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR3XjMq0xaFLOsQ1aAChaVA0OGK2j1dSsDbdKz6DPBB-TFCBABRv/Anq/IxDAAgLCQWK/YUJIDHBAE1NQKA20ZB-w

Change LR for SOTW and RAO for entangle(or keep both RAO and SOTW) for more contolled, rotation based stability uptime.
Cya on the front lines ^^

Yeah I’ve switched to triple signet and the Enlargement trait since the stability change. For condi removal I rely on HS, SoR, -condi duration food, and my teammates shouts.

Thanks LughLongArm. Yes I realise that stability is a new struggle now.
Thanks for the alternative build setup.

I see other sigils. I don’t understand why use entangle instead of RaO though? We just talked about the stability struggle :P.

I like to use carrion devourer instead of murrelow, also has poison field, but also a knockback and it seems to get more out of harms way since it’s ranged attack.

@ Jim Hunter too: I use signet of the wild and signet of stone, I don’t use renewal. I’m trying to get away with cleansing with only healing spring and -40% food buff. Which probably isn’t enough, but with this health pool I’m fairing pretty well.

It’s my preference when running Solider’s stats (see: gear with vitality) to take Barkskin if I’m investing 6 points in Wilderness Survival. The reason for this can be see from your health in the build you linked.

You have 22,152 health. When you at 25% of that (5,538) all direct damage done to you is halved. So, as far as direct damage is concerned, that 5,538 just became 11,076.

Back in the day, whenever I was zerg busting, I’d put on Soldier’s stats with Melandru Runes and eat Lemongrass Poultry so I had reduced condition duration as well. I was very good at being wherever our Havoc group needed me … and being on my feet … even when pressured :-)

I’d drop Offhand Training since it’s not that great (in my opinion) when you only have 1 off-hand weapon; even more so when that off-hand weapon is the horn.