Guild Wars 2

I was running around in WvW last night on my Ranger with the following build:
Greatsword, Shortbow, Knight’s: 20/30/20/0/0.

With this build I was able to contribute to zerg v zerg fights a bit more due to traps and piercing arrows (swapped pet to spider for ranged, immob, and AOE poison).

I was also able to win a couple 1v1, including against a good confusion mesmer.

Lastly, I was able to lead a large zerg around on a merry chase thanks to Greatsword #3 being on a 9.75 second cooldown, Greatsword #4 on a 12 second cooldown, spike trap, and my dogs. Eventually someone would overextend as most of the zerg got tired of chasing me and I’d turn around and get a kill. The shortbow was great at providing incentive for them to not ignore me as it hurts to get continuously plinked in the rear by a shortbow.

Thoughts:
The classes chasing me were guardians, thieves, and rangers. Had anyone with perma swiftness and movespeed skills (Warrior, Ele, etc.) chased me, I would have been run down since my mobility was only a 25% movespeed signet and greatsword’s swoop.

It may be possible to do this using Muddy Terrain instead of spike traps. The AOE lasts 20 seconds and the cooldown is 30 seconds (24 w/ trait) which gives you a high up-time on it.

If replacing Traps w Muddy Terrain, how, if at all, could we move traits around.

Greatsword’s Maul is very nice now. I could cast it every 4.75 seconds and it was hitting for 2.5k on top of adding a few bleeds. That’s good for a full knight’s set.

Being able to hang on the outside of the enemy’s range is wonderful because the pet can land a few hits. I still prefer dogs for this as they provide CC and cope well with moving targets (compared to other pet families).

The greatsword’s reduced cooldowns, especially when you trait them to be even lower, is very nice. No other class can get a 1,100+ range leap on a less than 10 second cooldown (Warrior’ Rush and Elementalist’s Ride the Lightning can only get to 16s if traited [20 untraited])

thats almost the same as my old build.

i tweaked it by adding an apothecary helm, Solider backpiece and zerker trinkets.

I would also suggest you get more healing. Back when i had that armor, i used 2xRunes of Water and 4x Runes of Alturism.

It should give you ALOT of healing, and in addition to that, 30% boon duration boost (really helps on RAO) + 3x Might each time you heal.

Muddy Terrain is a good choice since you lack stopping power in those traps.

I would also suggest you use Signet of the Wild, instead of the Hunt. Simply because that passive regeneration will benefit you more in WvW Zerg battles. In which, most of the time, you are given plenty of swiftness buffs from your team. (which will last a long time due to +30% Boon duration).

As for the weapons, use Superior Signet of Accuracy or Impact (really good in zergs when using GS. Helps you melee downed people almost as fast as using the finisher)

just my 2 cents….

Yeah, runes of the pack was an experiment to see if several of us running rangers could make good use of it. It’s nice but you have to be too close and procs are random (duh).

I’ve definitely had my eye on Runes of Altruism, though getting the full set of 6 runes might be nice for the fury on top of the might.

Yeah, the toss-up if focusing on stopping power is:

• Traps w/ spike and frost
• Survival w/ muddy terrain

Traps gives you two different abilities on shorter cooldowns but they don’t last as long and takes 2 utility slots.
Survival gives you only one ability on the longest cooldown of the three but it lasts the longest.

I was using Signet of the Hunt because I wasn’t staying with the zerg all the time. I happened to roam to where a zerg fight was taking place and took part in it. When I did swap out Signet of the Hunt, it was to replace it with frost trap.

I’m a big fan of the Superior Sigil of Accuracy, the blood are from when I was trying to be a bit tankier in an old build. I’m slow to change out WvW gear on my Ranger since he is not my main.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/ranger/?6.4|3.1n.a1|1.1n.a1|1n.7o.1n.7o.1n.7o.1n.7o.1n.7o.1n.7o|4s.d1g.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.2v.d1a|a1.p2a.p4a.0.a3|2e.7|4i.4x.4r.4m.55|e

this would be my current build… as you may notice, it is quite similar to your own, but the damage is way way higher.

My big bugbear with the new GS is that, while the damage on 2 is nice, and CD helps, it goes from being a GREAT weapon against people who have no clue to a useless one VS those who look at the animations and dodge accordigly. 5 and 2 are VERY hard to hit against competent players, quickness helps but it helped ALOT more before the last nerf.

Endurance regenerates at 5% per sec. You need 50% endurance for one dodge roll. That means you need 10 seconds for 1 dodge roll (assuming no trait/vigor/etc.). The cooldown is much less than that. With traits, the cooldown is less than 5 seconds (endurance regen with vigor is 5 seconds for 1 dodge).

Btw, I’m looking for more suggestions on how to make this build more evasive. As I said before, I think anyone with constant swiftness and weapon skills w/ movement would be able to “tackle” me for their group to catch me. I’m curious if it is possible to make a Ranger that even an Elementalist/Warrior could not catch (or would at least have a heck of a time trying)

Sebrent.3625:

Btw, I’m looking for more suggestions on how to make this build more evasive. As I said before, I think anyone with constant swiftness and weapon skills w/ movement would be able to “tackle” me for their group to catch me. I’m curious if it is possible to make a Ranger that even an Elementalist/Warrior could not catch (or would at least have a heck of a time trying)

more evasive?

use LR

Not just more dodges, but being able to “get the **** out of dodge”.

Lightning Reflexes isn’t going to do that unless you chain it with other things.

Example:
Ranger uses Swoop traited for 9.75 sec cd.
Warrior catches up using Rush traited for 16 sec cd.
Warrior throws Greatsword to cripple Ranger … Ranger dodges or is now “tackled” unless they can remove cripple before caught.

It could go on much more than that with the Ranger using as many escapes, etc. as they can, but I think you get the idea.

It is seeming like the only way for a Ranger to be able to truly escape from a mobile Warrior/Elementalist is to use [Greatsword / Sword + X] … but I’d like to retain some range. Greatsword / Shortbow seems like the next best.

NOTE: you can escape from mobile players by speeding yourself up (signet or swiftness), weapon skill movements, and slowing your opponent down (traps, muddy terrain, pet, etc.). I’m trying to think in all three departments. It also helps to have condition removal and stun breakers.