Guild Wars 2

The weapons will stay like they’re, because it’s the playstyle i like the most. (Also my Frostfang is almost finsihed – kitten skillpoints)
I want my ranger to be as good as possible with this set in PvE and Dungeons. I don’t do sPvP and WvW often so i don’t mind about being ineffective there.

Currently my Setup is:
Armor
Full Valkyrie …… of the Knight Set (Valkyrie = 325 Power, 224 Vitality, 16% crit dmg; Knight = 120 Precision, 84 Toughness, 84 Power)

Jewellery
Rings: The 2 Toughness&Vitality +50 ones from Fractals
Earrings: Emerald … of the Knight (Emerald = 112 Toughness, 80 Power, 80 Precision; Knight = 50 Precision, 30 Toughness, 30 Power)
Amulet: Emerald … of the Knight (Emerald = 90 Toughness, 64 Power, 64 Precision; Knight = 25 Precision, 15 Toughness, 15 Power)
Backpiece: Soldier’s of the Knight (soldier = 20 Power, 14 Toughness, 14 Vitality; Knight = 25 Precision, 15 Toughness, 15 Power)

Weapons
Axe = Tooth of Frostfang soon to be Frostfang
Torch = Rodgorts Flame
Sword and Dagger = Some rare i got while leveling

What i want
- I want to have a good mix between ‘can take hits’ and deal decent damage
- I don’t want to relay on crits or condition damage. Since i only use things i crafted on my own, i
choosed to have a bit precision/crit dmg (Soldier’s Armor can’t be crafted, sadly..)
- I want to take full advantage of my pets (-> deal a good amount of damage and can stay alive
long enough to get switched so i don’t have downtimes)

If you have an advice to change something, please only craftable things, i got more than enough mats. (Only exception: if there’s some item that would make a extreme difference)

My questions
- What do you think about my gear? is there anything that needs to be changed or would help me to be more effective (obvisiously the sword/dagger, but what else)?
- Sword/Dagger, what would you recommend, what sigils?
- Should I/can I change sigils when i got my Frostfang?
- What traits should I consider?
- What pets? I used felines because they did great crit damage, but they die often when it comes to fractals
- Utilities, i guess Sick’Em and QZ are standard, what else?
- Any cool tricks for my weapons? Or any generell things i should know? (e.g. how to better avoid damage in melee)

PS: I posted this on reddit too, but i want to get as many different views as possible and not everybody visits reddit, so i decided to post it here as well

Also: Thanks in advance

You’ve laid out a lot of strange requirements for your build…

You are apparently dead set on using axe/torch and sword/dagger. Sword/dagger is a very versatile combination since it can be used for condition damage, crit damage, or tanking. But axe/torch is really only useful for a condition damage build, so that’s what you should be building. I don’t understand why you “don’t want to rely on condition damage” when you’ve chosen a weapon set that does exactly that. Also, since you want to run sword/dagger in dungeons, you better be somewhat tanky in order to survive.

I would run one of two armor sets:
carrion (cond dmg, power, vit)
apothecary (healing, cond dmg, toughness)

Apothecary gear lends itself very well to 0 0 30 10 30 build. Take the regen traits and healing spring for 100% uptime on regeneration. Make sure to use the signet of the wild for added passive regen. Grab the pet regen for the BM 30 trait. Run lightning reflexes for addition dodging.

You could also consider a signet build like 30 0 30 x x. Get defensive utilities from wilderness survival. Take the marks 30 trait so signets affect you. Slot protect me and signet of stone for 12 seconds of near invincibility. There’s a lot of small variations on a signet build. You can still run regen traits for constant regeneration. You can still slot signet of the wild if you have significant healing power. This is probably the better build if you’re running FoTM because agony will destroy your pet no matter what you do.

yes, i’m pretty dead set, i really like the axe/torch.
single enemy: throw torch, then axe (4, 3), maybe lay a burning field, change to sword, qz and sick’em and down he is
more enemies: pure axe

and yeah, you’re right, i should really consider changing to more condition damage.
i wanted to use the axe to deal a good amount of damage if there are more enemies, but i didn’t thought of cond dmg.

I think i’ll change to a full carion and, runes of the undead for even more cond dmg and toughness.
Saphire Jewellery for more power and some toughness + vitality

For the utilities i’d really like to hold on to sick’em and QZ since they are a really big boost.
The last one should be adapted to the situation.
For the Elite there is not very much besides Rampage as One

For the traits i’d like to have something that helps me to take more advantage of my pets, sadly felines do the most crits and they could get so many good things from it, but in fractals they’re often dead anyways

i think the new amor/jewellery combination should be pretty good, right?
what about the pets? maybe wolf’s since they deal a good amount of damage and crits but have better survivability then felines?
But they don’t really do apply much conditions.
Better questions might is, how are my pets affected by my cond damage?

edit:
after reading through this: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/My-thoughts-on-Ranger-Trait-Problems/first#post1231850
and this wiki page (or better the individual skill pages): http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_ranger_traits
i think i’ll settle with a 0/20/20/0/30 Trait spec and stay with felines.

0 → I don’t want to use signets and opening strike just isn’t worth it atm
20 → Pets do 30% more damage on crits and gain health for them + swiftness&fury on weapon swap.
20 → Pets deal extra condition damage, survival skills recharge faster + the usual
0 → almost only things for spirits, isn’t worth the points
30 → 2 seconds of quickness when you swap pets, 20% faster shouts (sick’em), 20% faster recharge times, Bleed on crit (felines do crit a lot), more power + pet regeneration

so my felines will:
- do more crit damage
- gain health on crits
- gain passively health in combat
- gain protection on dodge
- quickness on swap
- more often quickness from QZ
- apply bleed on crit

and i’ll get
- swiftness + fury on weapon swap which will be good because i’m swapping all the time
- more quickness uptime from QZ, more evade from LR
- more endurance = more dogdes + protection
- quickness on pet swap, faster shouts = more damage,
- faster recharge time = pet’s stay better alive
- more power