Guild Wars 2

Hi I’ve been playing a long time but had a few months break, not sure of what has been changed now. I use soldiers stats, and not sure whether to go LB or SB for most damage at range? I have a build of 6/6/0/2/0

Secondary weapons are Sword/Dagger

Are there any must have traits etc for this build? Any suggestions please

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Ranger_-_S/A_LB_Spotter

Thanks for link but I don’t want a cookie cutter zerk build I am using soldiers stats so wondered if there is anything essential im missing.

Paffus Piffus.9430:

Thanks for link but I don’t want a cookie cutter zerk build I am using soldiers stats so wondered if there is anything essential im missing.

Nobody is min-maxing a build for soldier gear, there is not point in doing that, so use whatever you want, it aint gonna be strong anyway, but it will work and if you are happy playing it then good for you.

Paffus Piffus.9430:

I use soldiers stats, and not sure whether to go LB or SB for most damage at range? I have a build of 6/6/0/2/0

Answer here: The longbow does the most damage at range, while the shortbow is more of a condition-applying weapon (with a shorter range)..

Paffus Piffus.9430:

Thanks for link but I don’t want a cookie cutter zerk build I am using soldiers stats so wondered if there is anything essential im missing.

You already have a cookie cutter zerk trait spread according to your opening post, you might aswell take some advice from the link and pick out your strongest trait options within that spread. Keep your armor stats if you (for whatever reason..) want, but remember that:

1) Soldier stats are one of the weaker stat sets for pve. You can’t make a, let me qoute, “strong pve build” using it.
2) You’re limiting yourself. Running soldier doesn’t make you appreciate your dodges and weapon evades.

Paffus Piffus.9430:

Thanks for link but I don’t want a cookie cutter zerk build I am using soldiers stats so wondered if there is anything essential im missing.

Yes, for a strong PvE Build you are missing something essential. Berserker Gear.

Paffus Piffus.9430:

I am using soldiers stats so wondered if there is anything essential im missing.

Yeah. The will to get a spot in half decent pve groups.

Sorry to say it bro, but a ranger using soldier’s stats is kinda pointless. You’ve got pets to tank for you, as well as the sword’s low-cooldown evades, so you shouldn’t really be taking all that many hits. Berserker’s stats really are the most appropriate for PvE ranger, but if you’re really against it, I suppose you could go Assassin’s or Sinister…

Also in PvE, I run my ranger as an offensive support with Longbow/Sword+Warhorn because let’s face it, you’re never gonna do as much damage as a warrior in dungeons, so you might as well buff ‘em. Here’s the details:

- Traits: 6/5/1/2/0 – Steady Focus, Spotter and Predator’s Onslaught in Marksmanship for obvious reasons, Companion’s Might and Carnivorous Appetite in Skirmishing (Don’t bother with a Grandmaster trait here, they’re all trash), and Vigorous Spirits in Nature Magic. The 1 point in Wilderness Survival gives you increased endurance regen, which synergises well with Steady Focus and, combined with the 2 points in Nature Magic, gives you all the survivability you really need.

- Pets: Jungle Stalker/Red Moa/Fern Hound.
The jungle stalker’s my go-to pet – best damage of all pets, good crit chance for the on-crit effects in the traits, and Mighty Roar is an awesome team buffing skill. Since cats don’t take hits well, I choose either a moa or a wolf as my second pet depending on what I need – red moa’s Furious Screech combined with the warhorn’s call of the wild gives 100% fury uptime, but the moa itself doesn’t do much damage. The fern hound has better damage and tankiness, but its F2 skill is kinda lame (tiny heal+regen).

- Skills: Healing Spring, Frost Spirit, Quickening Zephyr, Sic ‘Em, Rampage as One.
Healing Spring is the ranger’s best healing skill, period. AoE regen and a water field that you can proc with the warhorn gives great team-wide heals, and also cures conditions periodically for everyone standing in it. There’s no reason to use anything else.
Frost Spirit is again, almost mandatory, since it gives everyone in your group a 7.5% attack boost – huge for dungeons, and one of the few boosts a ranger has that can’t be replicated by any other class.
Quickening Zephyr has great synergy with Rampage as One and can be used as a stunbreaker in dire situations – a selfish DPS boost most of the time, though.
Sic ’Em is a great damage boost combined with Rampage as One and Quickening Zephyr, but is by far the most interchangeable skill on the set. Lightning Reflexes, Fire Trap, and Search & Rescue are all excellent skills that compete for this slot, and you can use whatever you feel is most appropriate here.
Rampage as One is just flat-out awesome as an elite, and offers loads of damage and utility (20s stability woooo!) Works well with the other skills on the set, and is even great if you choose to go a condition damage build.

Maximum Potato.5923:

you’re never gonna do as much damage as a warrior

Yes, you will. And you will do it while still buffing the party.

Why is warrior dps referred to as a sweet spot anyway? They’re far from the best.

Lazze.9870:

Maximum Potato.5923:

you’re never gonna do as much damage as a warrior

Yes, you will. And you will do it while still buffing the party.

Why is warrior dps referred to as a sweet spot anyway? They’re far from the best.

Don’t quote me on this, but I think warriors have a higher base damage? I’ve not rolled a warrior personally, but looking at the dungeon groups over the last year, there’s a clear favour towards warrior zerkers for dps, and there has to be reason for that.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the ranger’s dps is bad – I’ve had 23k Rapid Fires in Arah before – I’m just saying that there are better DPS classes and use of Warhorn+Frost Spirit+Spotter helps to support those classes to reach their maximum potential.

Thanks for tips guys. I basically screwed myself. I built this around wvw/pve and all my ascended gear has soldiers stats and I can’t face making all that again. I kinda wish they had a bit more flexibility with the gear and changing stats. Oh well, I’ll have to deal with a crap build or make a new class I guess. Thanks for help guys!

Thaddeus.4891:

Nobody is min-maxing a build for soldier gear, there is not point in doing that, so use whatever you want, it aint gonna be strong anyway, but it will work and if you are happy playing it then good for you.

Soldier’s gear (power, toughness, vitality) is actually ideal for PvE encounters against static bosses. e.g. Tequatl.

• Static bosses (and objects) can’t be crit, so precision and ferocity are useless.
• The boss will have max condition stacks on it with these mass encounters, so condition damage is pretty useless too.
• The toughness and vit give you max defense (there’s a weak argument to be made that healing power might be preferable).
• Vit will synergize with the Strength of Spirit trait to give you more power.

So its usefulness is very narrow, but it does have a place in PvE.

Maximum Potato.5923:

there’s a clear favour towards warrior zerkers for dps, and there has to be reason for that.

Banners are pretty much the only reason warriors are even a part of the meta. Banner of strenght and discipline combined is the best flat damage buff any class can offer. FrostSpotter is the second best, which is why people say the ranger fall between two stools. Both classes are required for absolute maximization of group dps (however other utilities can be more important than maximizing group dps which, again, makes the ranger fall between two stools).

Just look at any ordinary speedrun record. They all have one warrior, because one warrior is all you need for both banners.

Warriors personal dps has nothing to do with it, in a fully buffed group the ranger is actually better. Warriors capability of buffing themselves do however make them slightly favorable amongst pugs. That capability is also the reason why there ever was a 3-4 warrior meta in the beginning of the game’s lifespan.

Solandri.9640:

Soldier’s gear (power, toughness, vitality) is actually ideal for PvE encounters against static bosses. e.g. Tequatl.

So its usefulness is very narrow, but it does have a place in PvE.

Thanks sherlock. I never say that it was useless in every aspect. I said that nobody min-max that gear. Yup it better to use Soldier than zerker at Teq if you are in the Zerg, to protect the canon, zerker is better. But most of the other boss are so kitten easy, that nobody change their gear for them. And triple trouble need zerker for the second phases so no soldier there either.

Maximum Potato.5923:

Don’t quote me on this, but I think warriors have a higher base damage? I’ve not rolled a warrior personally, but looking at the dungeon groups over the last year, there’s a clear favour towards warrior zerkers for dps, and there has to be reason for that.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the ranger’s dps is bad – I’ve had 23k Rapid Fires in Arah before – I’m just saying that there are better DPS classes and use of Warhorn+Frost Spirit+Spotter helps to support those classes to reach their maximum potential.

This was last year. Warrior use to be view as the best dps in the game. It was easy to have a good dps with that, unlike the Elementalist. Since then, the warrior had been nerf a good number of time and dropped to the 5th place in term of dps. In september last year, the ranger was buffed to reach the 4th place in term of dps, going over the warrior. But like Lazze wrote, the Ranger fall between two stools (a bit like the engineer). It have good dps, but not good enough to replace a Ele or a Thief. It also have good buff, but not enough to replace a warrior.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s important only for record run. In pugs, guild or speed run, Ranger will do just fine.

Paffus Piffus.9430:

Thanks for tips guys. I basically screwed myself. I built this around wvw/pve and all my ascended gear has soldiers stats and I can’t face making all that again. I kinda wish they had a bit more flexibility with the gear and changing stats. Oh well, I’ll have to deal with a crap build or make a new class I guess. Thanks for help guys!

In low level dungeons the difference between exotic and ascended is completely non-existant.

Jewelry is pretty easy to get without crafting. What I’d do in your shoes is use exotic (dungeon token even) berserker gear and ascended berserker trinkets for PvE, and use your fancy ascended mix-n-match gear for WvW.

Character saved!

Thaddeus.4891:

This was last year. Warrior use to be view as the best dps in the game. It was easy to have a good dps with that, unlike the Elementalist. Since then, the warrior had been nerf a good number of time and dropped to the 5th place in term of dps. In september last year, the ranger was buffed to reach the 4th place in term of dps, going over the warrior. But like Lazze wrote, the Ranger fall between two stools (a bit like the engineer). It have good dps, but not good enough to replace a Ele or a Thief. It also have good buff, but not enough to replace a warrior.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s important only for record run. In pugs, guild or speed run, Ranger will do just fine.

Huh, I was not aware of the warrior nerfs. I stopped playing a few months ago, and have just recently come back. Really surprised to hear that ranger actually beats warrior in DPS now :o

Maximum Potato.5923:

Thaddeus.4891:

This was last year. Warrior use to be view as the best dps in the game. It was easy to have a good dps with that, unlike the Elementalist. Since then, the warrior had been nerf a good number of time and dropped to the 5th place in term of dps. In september last year, the ranger was buffed to reach the 4th place in term of dps, going over the warrior. But like Lazze wrote, the Ranger fall between two stools (a bit like the engineer). It have good dps, but not good enough to replace a Ele or a Thief. It also have good buff, but not enough to replace a warrior.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s important only for record run. In pugs, guild or speed run, Ranger will do just fine.

Huh, I was not aware of the warrior nerfs. I stopped playing a few months ago, and have just recently come back. Really surprised to hear that ranger actually beats warrior in DPS now :o

They have been pretty close to being euqal in personal dps in a buffed group for a LONG time. More than a few months. Since september the ranger has passed the warrior, due to ranger buffs and a couple of warrior nerfs.

Maximum Potato.5923:

Also in PvE, I run my ranger as an offensive support with Longbow/Sword+Warhorn because let’s face it, you’re never gonna do as much damage as a warrior in dungeons, so you might as well buff ‘em. Here’s the details:

- Traits: 6/5/1/2/0 – Steady Focus, Spotter and Predator’s Onslaught in Marksmanship for obvious reasons, Companion’s Might and Carnivorous Appetite in Skirmishing (Don’t bother with a Grandmaster trait here, they’re all trash), and Vigorous Spirits in Nature Magic. The 1 point in Wilderness Survival gives you increased endurance regen, which synergises well with Steady Focus and, combined with the 2 points in Nature Magic, gives you all the survivability you really need.

Please don’t go around try to help players when you yourself don’t know about the class….

First of all, rangers have better damage than warriors.

After the september patch, the dps charts are:
Teef
Ele
Engie
Ranger
Warr
Guard
Mesm
Necro

Your traits and weapons are also wrong… You take axe instead of WH… Plus the traits are 6/5/0/3/0