Guild Wars 2

This is mostly for WvW.
Let’s say my Ranger has around ~1000 condition damage and around ~1800 power (that would be ~2900 attack btw.), 40% crit. chance and 20% crit. power. Would that make my greatsword viable damage-wise? We all know this particular weapon has realtively weak direct damage and low condi. damage as well. Maul could make up for the lack or direct damage in this build, but I’ve yet to see that as my Ranger is not fully equipped just yet. Maybe the greatsword is more dependant on pet damage than other weapons? It can have nice burst with Raven+Hlit Bash and again with SotH that 90% of Rangers use now a days. I plan to use greatsword alongside a shortbow, I know sword is viable with this setup as I can have a torch and take advantage of the condition damage, but greatsword provides more reliable mobility and scapability (which is key in WvW), but I want it as a viable damage weapon as well. Maybe I should just forget about condition damage altogether and go full power? I’m afraid this way shortbow bleeds would be kind of wasted and, torch and dagger (and maybe MH axe) would lose viability all of a sudden.

As a side note: I’ve got all the stats theory crafted already, sadly, no ascended gear included as there are no Carrion nor Rampager rings. I could work around a Pow+Condi damage only ring, but there’s not even that (no healing power rings either, hello Anet! wtf!?). I’ll make a formal warning or complaint thread regarding this issue if we don’t get Pow+Condi damage amulets on the 28th.

The build would be something like this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMMQJARVjAVV29VCWoWCgVBCbP40SMZKMkxXhYLZCPB I consider Lightning Reflexes+Signet of Renewal a must together as LF (sadly) doesn’t remove immobilizes, the deadliest condition by far. I’m a fan of shorter recharges as you can see.

No.

Go with P/V/T if you want GS. Come to think of it, P is not needed. You could use Traps and take Malice over it(that’s better). GS has really narf Power coefficients.

And Btw, attack means NOTHING. If you really want to calculate your damage use the following formula:

Dmg=WPS/A

W-Weapon Damage(use Median value)
P-Power used
S-Power coefficient(usually between 0.5-1.2)
A-Armour(for standardised damage calculations, use 2600{Heavy Armour value}).

Thanks Gorwe. Although I’m not giving importance to Power itself but the stat distribution in general, I know what you mean. I may try some numbers on the heavy golem and see how I feel about them.
Traps is not what I consider reliable damage and if I want to fully focus on them I lose flexibility and survivability which I’m not too kind off, but I’ll give them a try. I’m mostly a free kill for backstab thieves (that have any kind of inmob) and shatter mesmers without LF+SoR though.

For WvW, I am not to sure what is considered “viable” for damage. What is certain is that if you just use GS by itself, it will likely deal less damage by itself compared to short bow, sword, axe, and possible the longbow – because of its slow attack speed.

What GS does have are 3 of the highest single-hit damage skills that the Rangers have. One method that has been suggested is to time these hits along with your pets to maximize burst. For example, a critical swoop can easily do a few thousand damage. If you really want to do damage with GS, this might be a method.

One build that has been floating out there forever is the one involving the trait moment of clarity, which boost your and your pet’s next attack by 50% when you interrupt the enemy. To be completely honest with you, I am still not sure if this trait is working 100% correctly at the moment, but theoretically with this, assuming that both you and your pet crits on the next hit, you can burst 5-6k in one second. with swoop + your pet’s attack. Since GS attacks have a small AOE, you can hit several people hard at the same time. I still haven’t tried this build yet, but if anybody has tried it, they might be able to give you some more useful input.

You can also use signets with that build(Signet of Hunt+Signet of Wild+Moment of clarity=VERY nice dmg!).

Come to think of it-why exactly are Signets in Marksmanship? What are we? Some kind of tattoed Imperial Archer lol? It makes more Sense to be either in Wilderness Survival or Nature Magic. Just lol at signets in MM.

^Ok, I’ve tried it and it works, the burst can be pretty scary with a Raven, even more so if you spec into Precise Strike in MM. It’s not as reliable as I’d like though and I’m not a fan of slightly gimmick burst builds where you align many cds just to burst someone down, I prefer atrittion. But I think it’s viable and accomplishes its porpouse quite well actually, I’m surprised we don’t see more builds like these.

Concerning my build, I think I’ll just stick to Sword/Torch or Dagger for my build or see if I can make a work around with it and the greatsword. I just can’t give up my Wolf’s knowckdown+AoE fear and my Forest Spider’s potential 5 secs immobilize+poison field, so Raven is a no go for the moment.

Thanks for the help! To Agadar below me as well.

Never use Greatsword as a main weapon. Never. Its damage is way too little, and the Sword is much more viable for a defensive build considering it has two evades on demand, as opposed to the Greatsword which requires you to be hitting your opponent with your auto-attack in order to get some uncontrollable evades.

I have neded up with GS/SB by the process of elimination. For my playstyle I need GS. I roam solo or duo in WvW. Hopefully cutting off people trying to get where the action is. I also take supply camps and points.

So I really like Swoop to help get around. I also like Swoop to chase runners…plus it’s a great combination with Lightning Reflex to get away from bad situations. Also, when actually fighting, I am a little slow with chaos of movement during a fight. I really really need Swoop as a range finder to actually hit an enemy that is hopping around. Another skill that is highly underated is #4 Counter Attack. Especially against Thiefs. That skill alone has won me fights I would normally lose.

I would like to go GS+S/W but the problem is I face a lot of runners. more than half my fights I need to chase someone to kill them. I need SB range to be able to hit them in the back to slow or stun them.

So as much as sword likely does more damage than GS, I don’t think it would work for me.

I only know of one GS build that is amazing in PvE but not sure about PvP:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-Fg-7-0;0FFx-r2ZEV-0;9V2E;3TOE;459A48-5;04-F0b;17V-17V-16gF

0/0/30/25/15

Damage will come only when you can land Flame Trap then use a finisher like Swoop / Crippling Throw or from Axe Split Blade while having Quickness up.