Guild Wars 2

Have a leveled 13 Ranger.

Really like the GS playstyle. Really dislike the Lowbow, Shortbow is cool. Axe I don’t like.

Is viable? GS?

i geuss for just lvling is good.In dungeons you may have some probs.And dont expect the dmg of a greatsword warrior.Its mostly and evasive and control weapon.But i have to advise you.Roll a Warrior

For PvE it is totally viable. For WvW, it is viable. Just don’t use it in sPvP. You hit too low and don’t have enough cc to even 1v1 somebody.

I have managed to wreak havoc with it in WvW simply because in the mass chaos of a fight, I can pop my utility skills, leap in and hit 2-3k (currently have 96% crit damage) crits 77% of the time of every swing (and with QZ+SoS you will swing a lot and not have to worry about your health) dealing pretty devastating aoe damage to usually 2-4 targets before I back off and work on finishing them with my group. As for solo fighting, I find that GS glass cannon build actually does well against thieves because of the aoe swings, block, daze(& possible stun), and evasion on third auto attack. The main issues being able to lockdown your opponent long enough to apply your burst damage, correct usage of SoS, and which elite to choose. For these questions, I would recommend using entangle about halfway through the fight (after the enemy uses a bit of endurance and stun breaker) to get maximum effectiveness. People saying GS is terrible need to work on proper usage of the skills. Simply spamming your abilities yields poor results. Proper timing of the block (or GS throw) can deal devastating damage) and a wolf or jungle spider will give you additional cc.

The damage on a Greatsword for the Ranger is laughable. I personally like the look of the swords themselves so I keep trying to push it for myself, but it really is not fun when you whack an enemy with that slow, giant sword and see only a sliver of health drop away.
You’ll be best off focusing on defensive stats with some Power, and just getting a high-damage pet to do the real killing for you. I also advise going deep into the Beastmastery trait line for that.
You’ll probably need a defensive pet for dungeons though just to keep them from getting instantly wiped out, so I just would not expect to do anything resembling damage in those…

I agree with Dard… if you want to use GS roll a warrior (or mesmer… but diff)

I use greatsword on normal mobs its fun but against vets and champs not enough damage sadly. i also have sigil of bloodlust on my greatsword which gives + 10 power per kill max at 25 stacks kill mobs in seconds very fun. anything bigger then normal mob switch to longbow

Why roll a ranger if you like greatswords that much? That doesn’t make any sense at all. Like some people here already advised if you want to use a gs roll a warrior. And destroy everything that’s in your way with Hundred Blades. Warriors are made for that, unlike rangers. Plus their rifle is quite awesome for range damages.

OP – in PvE apart from dungeons I have GS slotted all of the time. I’ve completed the Orr zones and my personal story up the the final dungeon. So IMO yes it’s a perfectly viable weapon through to 80 and I enjoy it, preferably if I can get 3-4 mobs in range of the attack arcs. ST DPS is a little below-par as a trade off for the evade and tanky abilities, it’s best to pair it with a glass cannon pet, as with the GS you can do the tanking.

Melee damage in dungeons is something like 10x that of landscape, a GS (same for sword/dagger) would be suicide.