Guild Wars 2

This is the build I’d like to play:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAT8YjEqQDL2yC+rAVLGyEK/wTgG/n8Ifi7kNAOAA-T1AFwAp1Bs4CAA4BAAA-w

I’m thinking WvW primarily. I don’t know what a good level of defence is for ranger, having mostly played it in PvP. What armor/health values would you consider ‘safe’? Many thanks

Your build seems all over the place, I think first you need to determine what is more important do you want to do raw damage or condi damage. Condi means you have to be up close raw damage means you can sit behind your zerg and fire your bow. Either way the armor you will want will be zerkers or sinisters. A properly played ranger in WvW doesn’t need to worry about defense with proper strategy and use of abilities to escape pick.

Here is the build I use:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRjEqQLLWwCOsAVLGyDqNAKh1+n+o/57EOIOiCWVA-TFCFABAt/ACHBAAeEAFq+zVKBRS5nAXAg00FAA-w

Depends what you are trying to do, roam, skirmish or run with a zerg.

This is my go to roaming set up http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRnUqA9CilsAusActgBGh6fiSol5w9bDgec3gQ4gVJeA-TFDEABLqOie6AuUlACeAAbpE0gLBATKzmUFjmUa0mmgk2fAgjAAhAENGA-w

For solo or small group stuff the extra vitality will come in a lot handier than toughness. You might also want to consider working some more mobility into your build, rangers generate a lot of hate and you will have large groups trying to chase you down.

I disagree with kitty, I think that build looks good, and is pretty close to what I would run myself. You definitely want berserker gear for it, or if you’re fairly new perhaps mix in some soldiers (power toughness vitality.) I would get zerk armor and then tinker around with the trinkets until you find the right amount of defense for your playstyle.

Puck.9612:

You might also want to consider working some more mobility into your build, rangers generate a lot of hate and you will have large groups trying to chase you down.

Ya only thing I would change is maybe take resounding timbre and take we heal as one for some swiftness.

Puck.9612:

Depends what you are trying to do, roam, skirmish or run with a zerg.

This is my go to roaming set up http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRnUqA9CilsAusActgBGh6fiSol5w9bDgec3gQ4gVJeA-TFDEABLqOie6AuUlACeAAbpE0gLBATKzmUFjmUa0mmgk2fAgjAAhAENGA-w

For solo or small group stuff the extra vitality will come in a lot handier than toughness. You might also want to consider working some more mobility into your build, rangers generate a lot of hate and you will have large groups trying to chase you down.

I honestly find vit and other defensive stats as a waste in WvW zerg mainly because proper positioning and you will never have a need for them.

Kitty.1502:

I honestly find vit and other defensive stats as a waste in WvW zerg mainly because proper positioning and you will never have a need for them.

Not to mention adding just a small amount of them will do nothing to save you if you get run over.

That’s not a bad build at all, I run something similar while I roam. I tend to play it on the safe side tho, I usually try to stick with 2,7-2,9k armor depending on the matchup (Some servers run more condi groups, other zerkers). You can gradually go lower till you find a spot you are most comfortable with. HP-wise I have relied on the extra vitaly you get from guard stacks, now that they will be removed with the expansion I’m not quite sure how I will be able to deal with that!

FrouFrou.4958:

HP-wise I have relied on the extra vitaly you get from guard stacks, now that they will be removed with the expansion I’m not quite sure how I will be able to deal with that!

That’s going to murder half of my builds. If I take defensive gear I rely on stacks for offense, if I take offensive gear I rely on stacks for health.

Kitty.1502:

Puck.9612:

Depends what you are trying to do, roam, skirmish or run with a zerg.

This is my go to roaming set up http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRnUqA9CilsAusActgBGh6fiSol5w9bDgec3gQ4gVJeA-TFDEABLqOie6AuUlACeAAbpE0gLBATKzmUFjmUa0mmgk2fAgjAAhAENGA-w

For solo or small group stuff the extra vitality will come in a lot handier than toughness. You might also want to consider working some more mobility into your build, rangers generate a lot of hate and you will have large groups trying to chase you down.

I honestly find vit and other defensive stats as a waste in WvW zerg mainly because proper positioning and you will never have a need for them.

I absolutely agree. That’s why I said that’s my go to roaming set. With all the condi roamers you will run into the extra vitality helps a lot, not to mention how fast I can clear condi’s with my build.

Compare the stats on my build vs. the full zerk one you posted. The damage loss is negligible (actually quickdraw might give me the better dps) but the survivability is much higher for small scale fighting.

Yours is better for zerging where you will have help with condi clears, can avoid direct damage with SoS /positioning, and you can light people up with those piercing arrows.
Not sure why you would use predator’ instinct over the other options though.

Puck.9612:

Kitty.1502:

Puck.9612:

Depends what you are trying to do, roam, skirmish or run with a zerg.

This is my go to roaming set up http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRnUqA9CilsAusActgBGh6fiSol5w9bDgec3gQ4gVJeA-TFDEABLqOie6AuUlACeAAbpE0gLBATKzmUFjmUa0mmgk2fAgjAAhAENGA-w

For solo or small group stuff the extra vitality will come in a lot handier than toughness. You might also want to consider working some more mobility into your build, rangers generate a lot of hate and you will have large groups trying to chase you down.

I honestly find vit and other defensive stats as a waste in WvW zerg mainly because proper positioning and you will never have a need for them.

I absolutely agree. That’s why I said that’s my go to roaming set. With all the condi roamers you will run into the extra vitality helps a lot, not to mention how fast I can clear condi’s with my build.

Compare the stats on my build vs. the full zerk one you posted. The damage loss is negligible (actually quickdraw might give me the better dps) but the survivability is much higher for small scale fighting.

Yours is better for zerging where you will have help with condi clears, can avoid direct damage with SoS /positioning, and you can light people up with those piercing arrows.
Not sure why you would use predator’ instinct over the other options though.

I tend to play as pick. So isolating stragglers is a boon to picking people off.

Sorry, I missed some information there didn’t I. I mostly roam, so some survival stats seem sensible, and I’d play power builds by preference. I’m not new to the game but fairly new to ranger, I’ve rolled a few but it’s not as straightforward a class as it first appears so I haven’t stuck with it until recently.

As for mobility, I really like S/D as a secondary set, and chill based rangers have been messing me up something chronic recently so for small scale I was thinking frost trap, for large groups signet of stone. Not sure how effective it will be: if it’s bad I’ll just get pack runes.

Given your feedback [thank you all btw ] I’d probably look at something like this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAT8YjEqQ9K2yC+rAVLGYEqv1X9WmLgvNA6xdDChCWdA-TFjDwA8U6J5IA8StCoKDM8AAAY6DhSQXqqMSzwbdA02fIyFBgUACqzC-w

Thanks again for your comments, it’s much appreciated ^^

Frost trap is kind of garbage. If you want the chill a better choice would be the sigil that chills on crit. You could lose the energy sigil on the LB since that’s your offensive set, not defensive.

I tried a pure chill build some weeks ago, sadly it wasn’t as epic as I expected it to be. Most of the time I was hugging the ice cold ground.

FrouFrou.4958:

I tried a pure chill build some weeks ago, sadly it wasn’t as epic as I expected it to be. Most of the time I was hugging the ice cold ground.

Yeah I’ve given it a try. I also added in food that chills on crit, but it didn’t end up being very effective.

Ah, that’s a shame about the chill, it might be that shadow’s embrace no longer cleans non-damaging conditions that means I struggle with chill heavy rangers then :/ I’ll just get pack for the extra crit, save bothering with ice. Thanks again ^^