Guild Wars 2

I don’t want this to be a non constructive thread about how OP condi are. Instead I’d like to post a few way’s I’ve been dealing with condi’s and the mass amount of them going around. I wanted to post this and see if there is anything missing as well as add other peoples builds and thoughts. If this goes well I hope to do this in other class sections, then eventually make what will basically be a giant guide for every class on the pvp section on how to stand up to conditions.

So what options do we have as a ranger/druid against conditions?:

Shouts, trooper runes & resounding timber:

This is a great combo. It makes all your shout skills sustain you and condi clear on top of their base function. Skills like protect me become really overloaded, being a condi clear, sunbreak, cc & regen. The issue with this it’s only one condi clear per skill and can lead you into the trap of wasting skills or getting overloaded with minor conditions and not being able to cleanse the ones you need to. This is one of the better options, because it allows you build up astral force really fast, as well as build up might, and provide a lot of support for your team.

Survival skills, wilderness knowledge, & oakheart salve:

Wilderness knowledge is one of the most effective yet selfish routes for condi clear allowing for 2 clears per cast. The set of skills also has two stunbreaks both of which are very good skills, on reasonable cooldowns. Oakheart salve is nothing huge, or a reason to pick up the wilderness survival line, but it does provide damage reduction while under regen, and it does apply regen while under the effects of many conditions making the reduction pretty much always on you.

Glyphs, druidic clarity, & verdant etching:

Drudic clarity is basically a get out of jail free card it allows you to reset your condi bar, and now being in avatar allows you to basically reset the fight. Verdant etching provides seeds of life on glyph use, allowing for high impactful low cooldown skills that can clear condi for team mates.

Unique Special Mentions:

Healing Spring: A good heal, allows for some double trap play if you can get it down ahead of time. It provides condi clear on pulse for the whole team, a total of 5 per person if you can stay on it, as well as regen for the group on top of the heal. The issue with this skill at the moment is it get’s overlapped by many large condition fields or marks.

Signet of Renewal: Condi clear per 10 second and a sacrifice pet button via giving your pet all your allies conditions. Its pretty useful, just have to be mindful of the long cool down. Also doubles as a stunbreak. Works well with tankier pets, as they can sometimes survive.

Brown Bear: Ok we all know the jokes about bear bow, but seriously, bear is a great candidate for a pet slot. It brings brings shake it off, defy pain and some regen.

Signet of the Wild: While this does not directly clear condi, it does allow for two very attractive things: 1) gives you constant regen which will build up astral force, allowing you to use druidic clarity more often.2) It does also give a nice damage boost and some stability. Just be careful using it before or during celestial avatar form as it will kick you out of it. It also has a really long cool down.

Evasive Purity: A trait that removes poison, cripple and blind on dodge.

Smoke Scale: this could be wrong, as I need to go and test it, but the skills text flavor says it makes the pet immune to conditions while in the smoke field. If this is true there is almost never a reason to not slot this pet with signet of renewal.

Here are some keystone skills that you should be looking to add to your build, as they provide condi clear and other useful functions:

*Heal Spring
*Lighting Reflexes
*Quickining Zepyher
*Glyph of Equality
*Protect Me

If there is anything I have missed or is not in the post below please post it!

Part 2: Rune & Sigil Options:

Here is a quick overview of runes & Sigils that provide some counterplay to condition damage:

Rune of Trooper: Clear one condition when using a shout, Vitality & toughness mix.

Rune of Leadership: Converts 2 conditions to boons on elite use, All stats & boon duration

Rune of Lyssa: Converts 5 conditions to boons on elite use. Gives protection and retaliation on heal skill use. Precision and condition duration stats.

Rune of Hoelbrak: Reduces the duration on conditions on you, might duration & power main stat.

Rune of Antitoxin: Not in pvp. See rune of the Sunless

Rune of the Sunless: Reduces the duration of conditions on you. Fear opponets on elite skill and apply poison. Condition main stat.

Rune of Melandru: Reduces the duration of conditions & stuns. Toughness, vitality mix

Basically, Leadership and Trooper are the two main contenders for runes. They provide good stats, excellent sustain and good condi clear. Hoelbrak and sunless are better for damage oriented builds. Melandru and Lyssa are your bunker down options.

Sigil of Generosity : 60% on critical to transfer conditions to your opponent.

Sigil of Purity: 60% on hit to remove a condition on hit.

Sigil of Cleansing: on weapon swap remove a condition.

Again quick thoughts here, obviously Generosity is the best sigil here. It takes the pressure off of you and applies it to them, where as the other two just remove a condition.

Part 3: Example builds

Disclaimer: I do not claim that these build are better than others, or the most viable(meta), just examples of the above knowledge. I will also add builds that others suggest here.

Power:

Condition:

Tank:

Generosity sigils, my favorite.

Fluffball.8307:

Generosity sigils, my favorite.

aye, added had totally forgotten about sigils.

It’s probably worth listing evasive purity as well.

And it’s pretty random, but if someone were theory crafting, the elite spirit does cure conditions, for whatever that’s worth.

Has anyone found success running something off-meta so far this season?

I experimented with an A/T Sw/D with Sages similar to above, and while I liked it to a certain extent I found it…lacking I guess?

The condi clear was great, but I really felt my damage wasn’t up to par. That could have been since I was more condi based and that has more drawn out damage.

In the end I’m back to the standard meta build even if our condi clear was hurt a bit.

I use skirmishing instead of NM, but that’s not really “off meta” just because no one uses it. QD is one of — if not our best trait since it can double up on either offense or defense, depending on what you need.

I’m surprised you found condi damage lacking, since it’s easier to crank out than power (p/p/f). I would think you’d be doing more damage, especially since sage also has power? I was tempted to try condi perhaps with SB, but I’m too lazy since it’s hot.

Fluffball.8307:

I use skirmishing instead of NM, but that’s not really “off meta” just because no one uses it. QD is one of — if not our best trait since it can double up on either offense or defense, depending on what you need.

I’m surprised you found condi damage lacking, since it’s easier to crank out than power (p/p/f). I would think you’d be doing more damage, especially since sage also has power? I was tempted to try condi perhaps with SB, but I’m too lazy since it’s hot.

It may very well be either the build I put together or the way I was playing it.

I’m not a master in either, but I do love theory-crafting and coming up with things.

For reference, this was the initial build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRAnf8YnEqAVsitsAOsAUtgFDBDOrGWTrMBg1VDo5dFsaBlMtzA-TpRAQB1Y/hJWGIDPAAAcCAAxBB4DHBAA

Should we continue the discussion in this thread, or should I make another?

I don’t want to feel like I’m stepping on someone’s toes and hijacking their thread

Starbreaker.6507:

Has anyone found success running something off-meta so far this season?

From time to time when I see a really tanky group on my side, I will run glass druid and +1 with it. I have had lots of success with it. However, I wouldn’t recommend it with how prevalent projectile denial currently is and how extremely unforgiving it is. If you make a mistake when running maruader/zerk I can guaranteed your re spawning in the near future.

Starbreaker.6507:

It may very well be either the build I put together or the way I was playing it.

I’m not a master in either, but I do love theory-crafting and coming up with things.

For reference, this was the initial build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRAnf8YnEqAVsitsAOsAUtgFDBDOrGWTrMBg1VDo5dFsaBlMtzA-TpRAQB1Y/hJWGIDPAAAcCAAxBB4DHBAA

Should we continue the discussion in this thread, or should I make another?

I don’t want to feel like I’m stepping on someone’s toes and hijacking their thread

No issues, I started the thread to bring about these kinds of discussions. I’ll add your build to the list as well.

Personally, I kinda found sages to be a really nice balance between damage and survivability my self. It really does well in extended fights. However, I do agree with you though; I’ve found builds with sages to br really lacking in burst. Which is needed in so many match ups currently as the amount of sustain in the current meta is kinda unreal.

Eval.2371:

Starbreaker.6507:

Has anyone found success running something off-meta so far this season?

From time to time when I see a really tanky group on my side, I will run glass druid and +1 with it. I have had lots of success with it. However, I wouldn’t recommend it with how prevalent projectile denial currently is.

I actually would recommend that build. Druid is tanky enough I often run something similar to your build based on our and the enemies comps. The easiest change is just to swap something like menders > marauders.

I think people make way too much of the projectile reflection. Just don’t shoot into it. Several pro league druids use LB. It’s very similar to saying don’t run melee weapons on any profession because DHs exist.

Fluffball.8307:

I think people make way too much of the projectile reflection. Just don’t shoot into it. Several pro league druids use LB. It’s very similar to saying don’t run melee weapons on any profession because DHs exist. Anyone with a brain does one of the two above.

Yup, a lot of people that I see play longbow based builds continue to fire into stuff like scrapper shield, or earth aura and melt them selves because they don’t cancel the channel or use that lovely option that allows you to switch targets mid channel.

Eval.2371:

or use that lovely option that allows you to switch targets mid channel.

This is actually something I don’t see brought up much on the ranger forum. Never play LB with that turned on! Excellent point.

I do like that glass variant you posted. I might have to try it out.

Yeah the axe/torch isn’t bad per se, but I found you really need to have a group to fling the ricochet into and 1v1 it isn’t super great…

Plus the 900 range on axe makes me feel like I’m a little closer to the action than I want to be.

On stronghold though I do enjoy running it since it burns through the PvE mobs pretty well.

This is a great condensing of information relative to Rangers/Druids.

Can I just put out there that the metabattle build currently listed works perfectly well (in an informative way not meant to imply anything, and only to present the information)? I personally started the season wanting to load up on condi removal myself, but as I learned the new condition build that was nonexistent last season (Berserker), I realized that you can beat it the same way you beat condi mesmer, by just evading and outhealing any passive pressure.

Mileage may vary of course, but the warriors kill potential is all loaded into a single gimmick, and learning to dodge it and any of their CC they use to land it renders them nearly ineffective. Same with mesmers, but they are worse because they are more capable of spamming their output, and then of course, necros, and necros you sort of just have to outplay their Reaper shroud and make sure they don’t CC you so that you eat their big condi stacks instead of cleansing them.

I mean, take the metabattle build, swap in Verdant Etching and Trooper Runes and you have all of the defensive you need to survive every meta build unless you’re focused (and any focused target should die with competent play).

Again, mileage may vary haha. I’ve been wanting to experiment with builds myself but the NM/BM/Druid combo is just so potent.

For a Reason I just loved Bark Skin ranger. (diamond skin ele variation to Direct damage)
Having Thief “bursting” me around for 700 crits was just so satisfying to watch. Not to mention all the condi cleanse it offers.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATWnEqA9CilsAusAUtglMBDemmTHqOHuEQjrJZFAOAl8s0A-TZBFAB9XGAgnAwCHCgY2fQgLAAA
That was the last build I played.
If that’s already meta then I’m sorry, I haven’t checked that site for a while but I haven’t seen many players run it, if anyone at all. Then again, it was a nice few weeks ago.