Guild Wars 2

this issue was raised before, if you’re not going to spam sword AA, won’t that hurt your overall dps? what makes it better than GS AA with the evade on the chain?

Happyfool.8951:

this issue was raised before, if you’re not going to spam sword AA, won’t that hurt your overall dps? what makes it better than GS AA with the evade on the chain?

Well people say that it´s calculated that sword autoattack does more damage but the rooting is a pain if you can´t manage it properly. I like the GS better too but it does feel like it does less damage but it´s good for cleaving trash thought.

I just finished the guide: As you couldn’t see earlier, i considered the Sword’s AA during encounters, where you need more mobility in the most recent part of the guide.

Happyfool.8951:

this issue was raised before, if you’re not going to spam sword AA, won’t that hurt your overall dps? what makes it better than GS AA with the evade on the chain?

The GS does a whole lot less damage than sword even when not AA with the sword. It’s extremely noticeable to me.

thefantasticg.3984:

Happyfool.8951:

this issue was raised before, if you’re not going to spam sword AA, won’t that hurt your overall dps? what makes it better than GS AA with the evade on the chain?

The GS does a whole lot less damage than sword even when not AA with the sword. It’s extremely noticeable to me.

From my experience, in fights, where you need to stay mobile, the GS is equal or better in terms of DPS and keeps you alive much longer.
You can AA with the GS and dodge, while you often need to stop attacking completely with the Sword, to reliably dodge attacks, if you don’t/can’t use Lightning Reflexes.

Most of our DPS comes from the Sword’s AA, so what’s the point of equipping it, if you can’t effectively use it.
As i’ve mentioned in this guide, knowing when to use what to maximize damage is key to remain useful in dungeons.

When fighting lots of elite-trash/stacking, you heavily rely on your party, to proper blind, CC or buff aegis, or you die pretty fast, that’s why i often use S/A&GS in these scenarios, when i’m PUGing. I open with Axe#5 and camp GS.

Tip:
Swapping weapon’s during the Sword’s AA instantly cancels the animation.

wauwi.9162:

Before combat, place your Frostspirit out of reach of the enemy, but close enough for it’s effect to hit your party.

I see people mention this from time to time, so I’m just gonna say it as it is.

Against most dungeon bosses it’s 100 % OK to simply place the frost spirit at the boss’ feet. The boss will melt down before your spirit will, or at least before the effect is gone. That’s my experience, with both pugs and speedrun teams.

Lazze.9870:

wauwi.9162:

Before combat, place your Frostspirit out of reach of the enemy, but close enough for it’s effect to hit your party.

I see people mention this from time to time, so I’m just gonna say it as it is.

Against most dungeon bosses it’s 100 % OK to simply place the frost spirit at the boss’ feet. The boss will melt down before your spirit will, or at least before the effect is gone. That’s my experience, with both pugs and speedrun teams.

That really depends on the group (PUG or coordinated/dedicated speedrun group) and boss.
But yeah, more often than not, you can place it relatively near to where the action takes place, but it can’t hurt getting into the habit of good spirit placement, for when you fight something like Bloomhunger or Malrona (My average PUG takes at least 1 and a half minute for that one…even, tho all you need is to get her to spray her venom load all over you).

Edited that part, btw, thanks for pointing that out.

wauwi.9162:

Most of our DPS comes from the Sword’s AA, so what’s the point of equipping it, if you can’t effectively use it.

And, judging by the complaints on this subforum, a great many people can’t. In which case they are better off using the GS… I admit to using the GS until learning the content, even then, I’m not on my A game all the time and I still mess up with the sword, but it’s not because the sword messed me up, I did that all by my lonesome.

If you turn off auto attack on S/A, you will do more DPS with LB or GS (LB will do significantly more at Long Range and about the same as GS short range).
S/A damage mostly comes from the 1.8s long auto attack chain. Even adding just a .5 second pause in there will give you a 22% DPS loss on your auto attack.

The LB only excels in terms of DPS on 1k+ range against single targets.
If in a dungeon, you range only very rarely, let alone on 1k+ range. Arah/Melandru and CM/Turmaine are the only ones, that are coming into my mind and some fractal enemies as well, such as the ice thing in snowblind, Subject 6, Thaumanova, Mossman etc.
Maybe that’s why i start to really like fractals lately…i can use the bow alot and not feel useless.

When using S/A, you also have to take Path of Scars and Whirling Defense into account, which are both significant DPS increases over the swords auto-attack.

In a meta group, most bosses melt either fast enough, before things get too dangerous or their heavier attacks channel or are telegraphed enough to dodge without sacrificing much DPS.
For everything else, there’s the GS.

I’ve bound “Swap Weapons” to the “Shift”-key and “Dodge” to the left “Alt”-key, two buttons, i can reach very easely, so if i realize, i can’t chain up a dodge-attack on my sword AA in time, i swap weapons, to insta-break the chain and dodge (shift -> alt) or i simply use “Lightning Reflexes” to dodge, but a rarely have to do that.

It’s like i’ve said, know your encounters (<—- I feel like i can’t stress this out enough) to maximize DPS. I won’t use S/X and prefer the GS, if i know, that A; i can’t mash 1 for at least 90%, of the battle, which doesn’t happen as often as you might think and B; if the boss takes longer than a minute to kill or C; i absolutely need the mobility from a GS throughout the fight.

I’m not saying, i particularly like the Swords AA – it’s annyoing in PvE and by dwayna, did i fell down into my death alot, because i’ve pressed “1” one too many times, when the enemy died, but as a matter of fact, S/A features the best DPS by a good amount, especially if you have some competent party members.

Guide for hardcore dungeoners, with overused commas

It would sometimes be nice to know who’s behind these guides through an introduction, especially when it’s a long one.

The fact that you think Whirling Defense is a DPS increase only proves that you don’t know what you are talking about. Whirling Defense does half the DPS of the Sword autoattack. The only time to use it is to reflect projectiles. Longbow, except for cleaving, will out DPS GS even at close range.

A sharp 180 turn with the mouse with a tap in the strafe left/right roughly at the same time, also breaks the chain for the dodge. I also do this little combo to align my cleave better to make the angle just right.

Hoffburger.8409:

The fact that you think Whirling Defense is a DPS increase only proves that you don’t know what you are talking about. Whirling Defense does half the DPS of the Sword autoattack. The only time to use it is to reflect projectiles. Longbow, except for cleaving, will out DPS GS even at close range.

12 stacks of vul (if no one else in the party is brining the vul) is a 12% DPS increase.

thefantasticg.3984:

Hoffburger.8409:

The fact that you think Whirling Defense is a DPS increase only proves that you don’t know what you are talking about. Whirling Defense does half the DPS of the Sword autoattack. The only time to use it is to reflect projectiles. Longbow, except for cleaving, will out DPS GS even at close range.

12 stacks of vul (if no one else in the party is brining the vul) is a 12% DPS increase.

Yeah, because Rapid Fire and Maul don’t stack vulnerability either…

Right, but instead of gimping myself or yourself with the GS… I should or you should rather get 22 stacks of vul from RF and whilring defenses than 15 stacks with RF and maul.

@S/A vs GS discussion, that started here:
Sword AA = pet might&perma cripple (ensures Predator’s Onslaught)

Don’t get me wrong here, i love the GS of the ranger and it’s usually my to-go weapon for hurr-durr-PUGs, but the difference in damage IS very noticeable to me and many others.

Just take a stop-watch with ’ya and kill some risen giants on orr or ettin-champs and compare yourself.

But what makes the Sword the optimal choice for me, are the off-hand flexibilities.

• Dagger for mobility
• Axe for damage and reflect
• Horn for fury and blast finishing
• Torch for firefield

solrik.6028:

Guide for hardcore dungeoners, with overused commas

It would sometimes be nice to know who’s behind these guides through an introduction, especially when it’s a long one.

You’re almost as cynical as “those” hardcore dungeoners. :P

Also, hello, i’m wauwi and i like playing some GW2 once in a while.
I play for sooooooo long, that i still sometimes open fights with LB#3, because i just can’t completely get rid of that pesky habit.
K, bye.

wauwi.9162:

@S/A vs GS discussion, that started here:
Sword AA = pet might&perma cripple (ensures Predator’s Onslaught)

Don’t get me wrong here, i love the GS of the ranger and it’s usually my to-go weapon for hurr-durr-PUGs, but the difference in damage IS very noticeable to me and many others.

Just take a stop-watch with ’ya and kill some risen giants on orr or ettin-champs and compare yourself.

But what makes the Sword the optimal choice for me, are the off-hand flexibilities.

• Dagger for mobility
• Axe for damage and reflect
• Horn for fury and blast finishing
• Torch for firefield

solrik.6028:

Guide for hardcore dungeoners, with overused commas

It would sometimes be nice to know who’s behind these guides through an introduction, especially when it’s a long one.

You’re almost as cynical as “those” hardcore dungeoners. :P

Also, hello, i’m wauwi and i like playing some GW2 once in a while.
I play for sooooooo long, that i still sometimes open fights with LB#3, because i just can’t completely get rid of that pesky habit.
K, bye.

Haha lol…

I think you meant LB#4, no? I usually open fights with LR!

No, i meant LB#3.

Ranger vets will remember, like when we had to manually revive our pets

LB#3 used to apply 10 stacks of Vuln. One of the balance patches moved the vuln stacks to Rapid Fire.

That was ages ago.

TurtleDragon.3108:

LB#3 used to apply 10 stacks of Vuln. One of the balance patches moved the vuln stacks to Rapid Fire.

That was ages ago.

How much longbow used to suck lol. I miss the days when I was shooting ponies in fractals ..

Sina.9208:

TurtleDragon.3108:

LB#3 used to apply 10 stacks of Vuln. One of the balance patches moved the vuln stacks to Rapid Fire.

That was ages ago.

How much longbow used to suck lol. I miss the days when I was shooting ponies in fractals ..

The sad part is, the LB is still rather weak and limited, compared to the melee choices, a ranger has.

It really is all about that one little burst right now.

The fix could be pretty simple:
Make LB#1 do the same damage on any range (or doing more damage the closer you are, because that makes way more sense) and make LB#1 only pierce through 2 targets at 0-600 range, through 1 target at 600-1000 range and not piercing at all at 1000+ range and swap the piercing arrow trait for something else, maybe something like “Split Arrow” – LB arrows “pop” on impact, causing shrapnel fragments to damage up to 2 nearby enemies around the target, within a range of like 180 for 50% of the damage.

But that will never happen and i just wasted everbody’s time derailing this thread.
-_-’

Do you find it helps this build a bit on surviving a pack of elite mobs if your pet has more toughness/vitality than a Cat so that the AI is more likely to target your pet in melee than you?

I run with more casual crowds in dungeons so I’m usually the only one in melee unless we have a Guardian (then it’s just the Guardian and I), and with most/all of the group in Berzerker gear (roughly same toughness/vitality as me) that leaves the AI with looking at the closest person usually … which ends up being my big Norn butt.

Was curious. Thanks

You should still always use a “Jungle Stalker” as primary pet for might and extra vulnerability and either a “Salamander Drake” (cleave, can take a few hits) or “Fern Hound” (very balanced stats in both attack and defense and a heal/regen).

Don’t think, that pets are great tanks. Mob AI still aggroes somewhat random at times.

One reason, you’re dying is, because some mobs and bosses (especially in dungeons) behave a bit differently, depending on the range, the group is fighting.
Some enemies don’t do certain attacks, if everyone is meleeing and if only 1 player is starting to range, that enemy might use an attack, which is not harmful for the one at range, but absolute buttsmacking for the one’s, who are meleeing.

The whole group should either stick to melee or range, not a mix of both.

The other reason may be, that you don’t get the benefits of some of their boons/utility and vice-versa. Another reason, why you all should be fighting at the same range.

Another reason might very well be simply, that you don’t dodge. :P