Guild Wars 2

Hi Bast, i’m conflicted regarding entangle vs RAO, if u have stability support in your party, entangle is greater value. Somtimes i feel like RAO is a -“one trick pony”, you get your 20 sec stability and its tons of fun and now you need to wait 100 sec for another. Thtas why i try to mange myself between SOTW and enlargment, and build my roations around it(in and out). Also entangle with sotf helps alot for condi removal and fury uptime(it triggers sotf twice).
The Sigils change are tests are making, wanted extra power so i changed to bloodlust and to compensate for the missing crit change, i added accuracy on axe/axe, you can stay with the original setup, not a big deal.
I’ll try carrion as well, never thought of it as an option(it realy survives firstline zreging?).

Looking forward to trying this with the new traits. The build I’ve been running lately, http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBHhFakRlGW7XxiFuWDQIULDg3tdLUsHrzkYHS5IZhtIA-T1CEwAQOEAtU/xpyjf7PsVJohTAQTlYt1EU5BA0RPAgjAApASZoF-w

3 possible trait set ups
http://dulfy.net/2015/05/02/gw2-specialization-calculator-that_shaman/#profession=ranger&traits=W1siTWFya3NtYW5zaGlwIiwzLDQsOF0sWyJTa2lybWlzaGluZyIsMiw1LDddLFsiQmVhc3RtYXN0ZXJ5IiwzLDUsN11d

http://dulfy.net/2015/05/02/gw2-specialization-calculator-that_shaman/#profession=ranger&traits=W1siTWFya3NtYW5zaGlwIiwzLDQsOF0sWyJTa2lybWlzaGluZyIsMiw1LDddLFsiV2lsZGVybmVzcyBTdXJ2aXZhbCIsMyw0LDddXQ==

http://dulfy.net/2015/05/02/gw2-specialization-calculator-that_shaman/#profession=ranger&traits=W1siTWFya3NtYW5zaGlwIiwzLDQsOF0sWyJTa2lybWlzaGluZyIsMiw1LDddLFsiTmF0dXJlIE1hZ2ljIiwxLDYsOF1d

Going to be nice to finally be able to pop multiple blast finishers with beastmasters bond, quickdraw and warhorn. Remorseless should really help out our great sword dps. Only thing really bothering me is that enlargement was moved to the marksmanship line.

Anyone have any thoughts or changes you would make?

When it comes to fighting in the front line I’d rather take the new Striders Defense (which apperently is a Sword trait but the projectile destruction should work with all melee attacks) with GS plus Primal Reflexes.

GS AA means evading quite a huge amount of melee and area effects. Striders Defense will take care of 50% of all projectiles. And the evade on the AA will ensure at least 50% Vigor. There is no point of more frequent blast finishers if you die because you can’t keep up with the survivability of the rest of the melee train.

@Xaylin:
Taking Strider’s Defense for being frontline with a Greatsword feels like a waste of a Grandmaster trait to me. Additionally, it is going to do nothing for the several non-projectile attacks that are hitting the frontline (namely AOEs).

Additionally, you already have Greatsword’s block for projectiles, same as a Warrior’s blocks.

You also have Guardians for providing some protection against projectiles … and the Revanant is bringing an anti-projectile that moves with them … so they’ll likely be loved at the head of a frontline.

That Greatsword AA isn’t going to come into play until you’re actually in melee range

I think a Frontline Ranger would be better off investing in something other than Strider’s Defense. Just doesn’t feel like enough bang for your buck.

Xaylin.1860:

There is no point of more frequent blast finishers if you die because you can’t keep up with the survivability of the rest of the melee train.

Rangers can as of now already keep up with the melee train perfectly well without a projectile block, so I don’t see the new Strider’s Defense being a necessety.

Nobody said it was a necessity. I still find it way more appealing than a slightly more frequent blast finisher or some Vulnerability which might easily be wasted on a single target, really. And as for non-projectiles – I’m aware of that. That’s why I mentioned the evade and Vigor. But I guess that’s just my personal preference.

Why not drop skirmishing and take up a different Specialization in its place?

Sebrent.3625:

Why not drop skirmishing and take up a different Specialization in its place?

Furious grip synergy with remorseless, spotter for a unique party buff, damage buffs from most dangerous game and hunter’s tactics, and quick draw for the double maul/war horn blast.
If quick draw ends up being as good as I expect it to be I’ll likely end up using it in multiple builds. Think about the burst heal you will be able to get off with HS. If you use swoop when you swap to GS you will be able to proc 4 leap finishers and then you can pet swap for a blast finisher. If you swap to a drake that will be another blast finisher.
If you need to run you can have much higher mobility with sword or GS. More burst you have lower cooldowns on maul, rapid fire. Double stuns, stealth, etc.

Xaylin.1860:

When it comes to fighting in the front line I’d rather take the new Striders Defense (which apperently is a Sword trait but the projectile destruction should work with all melee attacks) with GS plus Primal Reflexes.

GS AA means evading quite a huge amount of melee and area effects. Striders Defense will take care of 50% of all projectiles. And the evade on the AA will ensure at least 50% Vigor. There is no point of more frequent blast finishers if you die because you can’t keep up with the survivability of the rest of the melee train.

Part of running in the front line is building for group synergy. Warriors will be providing plenty of vigor with their warhorn, it doesn’t make sense to drop one of our unique party buffs for a selfish buff.

Aye, that is nice on weapon swap and pet swap … but:

• Front-line is currently often a bad place for pets (could change in HoT) … you’ll likely be eating a 60s pet swap cooldown in the large fights.
• As a front-line Ranger, what are you going to weapon swap to from Greatsword? You mention Rapid Fire and Stealth … so Longbow on the frontline?
• Yes, you can get all those blast finishers, but that requires staying in the field. Melee frontline trains don’t sit still that long … unless there is some new meta I’m unaware of.

Quick Draw is undoubtedly nice as are Quick Hands and Furious Grip … I just don’t personally feel like constantly swapping weapons in order to keep benefiting from them. I prefer to park in a weapon and swap as needed. Maybe I’m more reactionary than you guys.

Sebrent.3625:

Aye, that is nice on weapon swap and pet swap … but:

• Front-line is currently often a bad place for pets (could change in HoT) … you’ll likely be eating a 60s pet swap cooldown in the large fights.
• As a front-line Ranger, what are you going to weapon swap to from Greatsword? You mention Rapid Fire and Stealth … so Longbow on the frontline?
• Yes, you can get all those blast finishers, but that requires staying in the field. Melee frontline trains don’t sit still that long … unless there is some new meta I’m unaware of.

Quick Draw is undoubtedly nice as are Quick Hands and Furious Grip … I just don’t personally feel like constantly swapping weapons in order to keep benefiting from them. I prefer to park in a weapon and swap as needed. Maybe I’m more reactionary than you guys.

When I was talking about rapid fire and stealth I was referring to how I plan to use quick draw in multiple builds. When I go front line I run axe/warhorn, GS and I run murrelow/marshdrake because they are tanky enough to survive and I can use them to spam poison on downed players. Only time I really had a problem keeping them alive was when they broke the pet passive mode so they aggroed anything I attacked.

Sounds solid enough to me … though your power-based damage will suffer with Axe … till those Might Stacks kick in … which will make swapping back 10+s to the Greatsword and double-Mauling pretty nice.

Good pet choices there. You don’t often see the Murrelow, but that’s one of the most solid reasons I’ve seen for taking it. I’m a big fan of the drakes, but usually end up running dogs as I prefer to roam/havoc instead of zerg and all that CC is just so good :-)

Sebrent.3625:

Sounds solid enough to me … though your power-based damage will suffer with Axe … till those Might Stacks kick in … which will make swapping back 10+s to the Greatsword and double-Mauling pretty nice.

Good pet choices there. You don’t often see the Murrelow, but that’s one of the most solid reasons I’ve seen for taking it. I’m a big fan of the drakes, but usually end up running dogs as I prefer to roam/havoc instead of zerg and all that CC is just so good :-)

That’s why I’m having such a hard time deciding between beastly warden and protective ward without being able to test them. That taunt trait is going to open up a lot of pet choices.

Aye, I was looking at the pet taunt. If it keeps its 15s ICD then with the given 20% reduction to pet F2 skills we’re looking at a 15 / 0.8 = 18.75s F2 cooldown for it to be exactly 15s with the 20% reduction.

The closest to that is the 18s on Raven’s blind which has an 18s cooldown and 0.5s cast so as long as you can wait that 0.25s before your Raven starts to cast, it is perfect … ignoring that bird and feline pets are made of paper … though they should be getting some beastmastery points by default with the new Specialization System.

After that is the several pets with 20s cooldowns such as the Owl and Drakehound. I prefer these over the really low cooldowns, but my mind could change.

I think the Drakehound’s combination of Immobilize + Taunt could be a very effective CC depending on how it lands and the opponent’s weapon as a melee opponent not in melee range of the Drakehound will be stuck trying to AA it while immobilized out of range … at least that is how I see it happening.

I’m curious if we’ll be able to use the taunt to reposition an opponent … pet F2 taunt, recall pet to you, taunted opponent is forced to chase after your pet for X seconds.

Ultimately though … frontlines that could be amazing depending on its range and duration. One of the best things Rangers have imo is safely delivered AOE CCs in the form of pets. You don’t have to overextend in order to deliver it and most people aren’t going to explicitly target Ranger pets.

The pet taunt isn’t something I’ll be spamming when it comes off cooldown. I’ll be using it when it’s needed. The biggest concern will be keeping track of the internal cooldown so I don’t swap pets and use it too soon.

Of course. Spam it and you’re likely going to hit nothing with it as your pet could be out of position. Example: We don’t spam the Drakehound immobilize.

Having an F2 that is close to it allows you to have the greater up-time on its availability.

Having an F2 that is >= 18.75s cooldown will make sure you don’t use the F2 too soon and it not work due to the ICD.

With pet swap, you’ll have to likely make use of the pet swap counter to aid you in knowing how much time is left. If the swap counter is completely gone you’re definitely in the clear with the ICD given that is a 16cd. Anything before then you’ll obviously have to track yourself.