Guild Wars 2

Or just a gw2 player. I had no idea you were meant to aim your character to be good in specific situations (I know, I’m an idiot) and have thus ended up with a weird combination of ‘things that kind of work’ that, while good in PvE, are useless in PvP and working with groups of other players. I’m a lone wolf kind of player so I never really looked around at what other people were doing or honing my team playing skills (Or maybe it’s because every guild I’ve been in acts like they’re on runescape in 2007), but I’m interested in actually being a good player and I have no idea where to even START, my character is all messed up.

I’m a level 80 with a Berserker Bandit Longbow and A Cobalt off-hand. I don’t have anything infused with them because I’m really paranoid about infusing something that’s useless, and I wouldn’t even KNOW what to infuse to best compliment the jumbled mess of a character I have.

I’d basically like advice on where to go with this character? I’d like it to be stronger, as I gets hemmed down pretty quickly in WvW if I have to play directly against someone, and not in a group. I’ve tried reading around for advice but it all seems to assume you haven’t spent the last few months blindly marching forth through everything. I feel like a patchwork doll.

I’ll attach a picture of my attributes and see if anyone can salvage me from whatever corner of hell I’ve fallen into. Also a build editor thing: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjUq0taFLesw1qAAAYnW45HfK5ERB though it’s worth mentioning the equppied skills are by PvE skills and the attributes are quite a bit off on some points, hence I attached a picture.

So. Yeah. Send help and say if you need anything else? Like I said, I have no idea where to start fixing this.

Let’s start with the basics questions before trying to help you:
-What kind of content do you want to do? (Dungeons, PvP, WvW, general PvE?).
-What weapons do you want to play with ? (might not be compatible with the content you want to do but we’ll talk about it later).
-Have you unlocked all your traits and pets?

-Can you dodge?
-Can you learn the content?
-Do you have a warrior?
-If you don’t have a warrior start one and get it to 80 asap… For dungeons… Or anything really.

are u being serious?

how do u have those stats at lvl 80?

I don’t even know where to start. it looks like u purposely put together everything that does not work well together, and stick it in one build.

are u a casual player?

maybe you should start by watching other people play ranger and look up videos on youtube on gameplays and commentaries and things like that. that might help u a little bit more than tidbits of advice you find on the forums.

from the look of it, it seems as if you don’t understand the basic mechanics of the class. maybe a little reading up and researching the ranger class might do u some good as well.

good luck.

starting fresh

the main problem with your build currently is that it lacks focus. even when lone wolfing your build needs focus on what it wants to do. in general, there are generally two routes to go in that fashion

Staight up DPS
Main Attributes – Power/Precision/Ferocity (beserker/assassins)
Secondary attributes – Toughness/Vitality/Healing Power

Condition based DPS (damage over time)*
Main Attributes – Condition Damage/Precision/Toughness (Rabid)
Secondary attributes – Condition Duration/Vitality

note that i’ve never played a condition based build. if anyone would like to expand on this/correct me, feel free.

it’s safe to say that these are the two primary choices when making builds in gw2, as it is a game based around getting the most damage out, 90% of the time.

on to gear!

you may have noticed me say some gear types at the end of those builds (e.g. rabid) these are the names of gear based on the stats you get from them. since a power based build is easier to learn than a condi based build I’m going to focus on that right now.

so, from the sounds of it, you probably don’t have proper gear. in general, people want

a.) exotic rarity gear
b.) level 80 gear
c.) beserker stat gear

if you don’t have those, look at the trading post and buy some. note that good beserker have these stats

(note that X/X/X is power/precision/ferocity)

2 handed weapon – 179/128/128
one hand/offhand – 90/64/64
Helmet – 45/32/32
shoulders/gloves/boots – 34/24/24
chest – 101/72/72
leggings/rings – 67/48/48
amulet – 90/64/64
earrings – 56/40/40
backpiece – 22/16/16

we’re not done yet!

now that you have gear, you now need runes, sigils, and jewels for your gear.

in the sake of keeping this basic, let’s just say – for your weapons, buy 2x ruby orbs and 2x opal orbs, and put those in your weapons – for your armor, buy 6x superior runes of the ranger, and put those in your armor. – for your trinkets, buy… uhh.. 6x jeweled ruby something or others, and put those there

now you are finally permanently done with your gear! (until you decide to change it up)

second problem – traits! since your build showed you using lb/gs (a very good power choice, might i add!) i’ll go through that here.

firstly, I noticed you spread out your traits – this is a big no no. those major traits near the end generally give very good boosts that you’ll want!

heres a very simple trait layout for a lb/gs build

6/4/4/x/x/x

what this means is putting 6 points into the marksmanship tree, 4 into skirmishing, and 4 into wilderness survival. this gives you the stats you need (precision, ferocity, power, and some toughness to boot) along with the traits you want.

now that you have those, an all around trait choice could be

I/X/XIII
IV/X
III/X

this gives you shorter cooldowns, more consistant and harder hitting attacks and vigor for keeping your dodge rolls going (important for most rangers)

note: this is just a general idea. once you better understand game mechanics, you can change this in all kinds of ways. e.g. my power build is 6/2/2/6/x/x at the moment.

-continued-

Almost done! now for utilities.

you’re kinda free to pick whatever you want here. they’re mostly good. some general tips though

1. plan ahead with traits and utility skills. using a lot of survival skills? get the swap shared anguish for wilderness knowledge!

2. troll unguent and healing spring are the popular choices when it comes to healing skills. if you pick healing spring, note that you ckitten your GS skill #3 (swoop) to leap through it, granting an additional 2,000~ health!

3. spirits are hard to use unless you trait for it, so are generally not-so-great in pvp/wvw unless you swap around your build. use these when you learn more about how to play.

4. if you notice yourself dying to conditions a lot (note the red things that pop up by your hotbar) you may want to grab either/both healing spring and signet of renewal. without traiting for it, they are pretty good sources of clearing conditions.

5. note that if you’re running dungeons, you’ll want to carry the “frost spirit” skill and use it on the stacks to give bonus damage to your entire team.

6. a good tip for new players is to grab an invincibility skill. (signet of stone and “protect me”) since we don’t have the signet of the beastmaster, go with protect me. notice yourself dying quickly? pop this and it gives you a decent time to re-kitten the situation, heal, whatever you need.

7. Rampage as one is a good starter elite as if gives boons which you can mostly ignore, since they’re passive.

now for the class mechanic – pets.

for the sake of getting bored of typing i’m going to be quick here.

canines (wolves/drakehound etc.) have an inital knockdown on their first attack. if you set your pet to passive you can trigger that for an on demand knockdown when you send them to attack. therefore the “wolf” pet is a class favorite. AoE fear is great and when tied with knockdown makes a superb choice.

spiders have lots of immobilizes and poisons which makes them a fine addition

don’t use bears.

birds and felines do top of the line dps, and are popular in builds utilizing pet dps.

that’s just the general tips that apply to rangers. as you play use your head an make decisions there (getting killed too fast? swap out some of that beserker gear for some soldiers!) try to learn proper combat by watching others. learn the importance of boons and conditions. find someone to help you out in game if you’re still having trouble. (oh, and learn what sigils are and how to use them, orbs on weapons only go so far.)

(p.s. the build i described here would look somewhat like this http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRnMqQBL2vC2CCXLGYPoWHAFwZ3cIuBmD8IUwmK-TFiBwAA8EAO3fAiSQiK/sp+zJdBHM/ZwlAAA-w )

thefantasticg.3984:

-Can you dodge?
-Can you learn the content?
-Do you have a warrior?
-If you don’t have a warrior start one and get it to 80 asap… For dungeons… Or anything really.

“Do you have a warrior”.

Get out of the conversation if you can’t be serious and leave the griefing about Rangers out of your “points”, come on!

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

Almost done! now for utilities.

you’re kinda free to pick whatever you want here. they’re mostly good. some general tips though

1. plan ahead with traits and utility skills. using a lot of survival skills? get the swap shared anguish for wilderness knowledge!

2. troll unguent and healing spring are the popular choices when it comes to healing skills. if you pick healing spring, note that you ckitten your GS skill #3 (swoop) to leap through it, granting an additional 2,000~ health!

3. spirits are hard to use unless you trait for it, so are generally not-so-great in pvp/wvw unless you swap around your build. use these when you learn more about how to play.

4. if you notice yourself dying to conditions a lot (note the red things that pop up by your hotbar) you may want to grab either/both healing spring and signet of renewal. without traiting for it, they are pretty good sources of clearing conditions.

5. note that if you’re running dungeons, you’ll want to carry the “frost spirit” skill and use it on the stacks to give bonus damage to your entire team.

6. a good tip for new players is to grab an invincibility skill. (signet of stone and “protect me”) since we don’t have the signet of the beastmaster, go with protect me. notice yourself dying quickly? pop this and it gives you a decent time to re-kitten the situation, heal, whatever you need.

7. Rampage as one is a good starter elite as if gives boons which you can mostly ignore, since they’re passive.

now for the class mechanic – pets.

for the sake of getting bored of typing i’m going to be quick here.

canines (wolves/drakehound etc.) have an inital knockdown on their first attack. if you set your pet to passive you can trigger that for an on demand knockdown when you send them to attack. therefore the “wolf” pet is a class favorite. AoE fear is great and when tied with knockdown makes a superb choice.

spiders have lots of immobilizes and poisons which makes them a fine addition

don’t use bears.

birds and felines do top of the line dps, and are popular in builds utilizing pet dps.

that’s just the general tips that apply to rangers. as you play use your head an make decisions there (getting killed too fast? swap out some of that beserker gear for some soldiers!) try to learn proper combat by watching others. learn the importance of boons and conditions. find someone to help you out in game if you’re still having trouble. (oh, and learn what sigils are and how to use them, orbs on weapons only go so far.)

(p.s. the build i described here would look somewhat like this http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRnMqQBL2vC2CCXLGYPoWHAFwZ3cIuBmD8IUwmK-TFiBwAA8EAO3fAiSQiK/sp+zJdBHM/ZwlAAA-w )

My build for WvW is similar to this after trying to go Condition after the horrid 15 April patch.

I am thinking of ascended for the extra power – which would be significant with a full set of ascended armor.

My best advice to any Ranger – don’t roam alone.

I use quite a different build. I also never roam alone. I do moderately well in WvW with my current build.

These briefly are my stats (without other boosts):

Power: 2558
Toughness: 2257 Bow, 2157 Greatsword
Armor: 3357
Vitality: 1762 (Health 24013)

I have moderate bumps in condition duration, condition damage, boon duration and critical damage. I’m traited so that boons applied to my pet also apply to me. I use signet of stone and rampage as one. This gives me pretty good survivability and I do pretty high consistent damage. My burst damage sucks. So if I get caught in the open, I’m toast usually.

arkealia.2713:

Let’s start with the basics questions before trying to help you:
-What kind of content do you want to do? (Dungeons, PvP, WvW, general PvE?).
-What weapons do you want to play with ? (might not be compatible with the content you want to do but we’ll talk about it later).
-Have you unlocked all your traits and pets?

I just want to complete everything? So I guess a good PvE character who is competent in WvW. Just anything better than now lol
I realllyyy have no idea what I want to play with, I’m not really in with what’s what (obviously) and don’t even know my options. Just a really rad longbow
I have unlocked all traits and MOST pets.

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

Almost done! now for utilities.

you’re kinda free to pick whatever you want here. they’re mostly good. some general tips though

1. plan ahead with traits and utility skills. using a lot of survival skills? get the swap shared anguish for wilderness knowledge!

2. troll unguent and healing spring are the popular choices when it comes to healing skills. if you pick healing spring, note that you ckitten your GS skill #3 (swoop) to leap through it, granting an additional 2,000~ health!

3. spirits are hard to use unless you trait for it, so are generally not-so-great in pvp/wvw unless you swap around your build. use these when you learn more about how to play.

4. if you notice yourself dying to conditions a lot (note the red things that pop up by your hotbar) you may want to grab either/both healing spring and signet of renewal. without traiting for it, they are pretty good sources of clearing conditions.

5. note that if you’re running dungeons, you’ll want to carry the “frost spirit” skill and use it on the stacks to give bonus damage to your entire team.

6. a good tip for new players is to grab an invincibility skill. (signet of stone and “protect me”) since we don’t have the signet of the beastmaster, go with protect me. notice yourself dying quickly? pop this and it gives you a decent time to re-kitten the situation, heal, whatever you need.

7. Rampage as one is a good starter elite as if gives boons which you can mostly ignore, since they’re passive.

now for the class mechanic – pets.

for the sake of getting bored of typing i’m going to be quick here.

canines (wolves/drakehound etc.) have an inital knockdown on their first attack. if you set your pet to passive you can trigger that for an on demand knockdown when you send them to attack. therefore the “wolf” pet is a class favorite. AoE fear is great and when tied with knockdown makes a superb choice.

spiders have lots of immobilizes and poisons which makes them a fine addition

don’t use bears.

birds and felines do top of the line dps, and are popular in builds utilizing pet dps.

that’s just the general tips that apply to rangers. as you play use your head an make decisions there (getting killed too fast? swap out some of that beserker gear for some soldiers!) try to learn proper combat by watching others. learn the importance of boons and conditions. find someone to help you out in game if you’re still having trouble. (oh, and learn what sigils are and how to use them, orbs on weapons only go so far.)

(p.s. the build i described here would look somewhat like this http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRnMqQBL2vC2CCXLGYPoWHAFwZ3cIuBmD8IUwmK-TFiBwAA8EAO3fAiSQiK/sp+zJdBHM/ZwlAAA-w )

Thanks for actually helping! I figured my traits shouldn’t be spread out, but I had no idea how to make it right.

I’m glad you went on the high DPS build because that’s generally the sort of thing I want. Weirdly enough, I don’t actually die that much outside of being left alone in WvW, looking at everyones reactions I’m guessing that’s pure luck.

Weapon wise am I okay sticking with the Berserker bow, if I’m going for those stats? I only have about 200g and well, yeah. I’m not so rich – which is why I’m kind of worried about having to buy all these things (In general I pick things up from quests etc. which is probably how I ended up where I am), would it cost a lot? I’m not buying any of these until I get map completion and completely focus on WvW etc. so I have a week or two to save up some more money, though the whole point in me saving money was that I knew I kinda sucked and needed new gear. Been saving up items for the mystic forge as well, but that’s a battle for another day.

Thanks for the advice on pets! I tend to stick with wolves and spiders anyway so it’s good to know I’m getting something right lol. Actually thanks for the advice in general, I’ll bookmark this so I can start making changes – changed my traits already You’re a life saver

200g is largely enough to buy one berserker armor set + trinkets.
I would also recommend a soldier armor set (power/toughness/vitality) for wvw, it helps with survivability and it’s cheap (farm badges of honors by following the zerg in EotM and buy the set at the armor vendor on any wvw map).

arkealia.2713:

200g is largely enough to buy one berserker armor set + trinkets.
I would also recommend a soldier armor set (power/toughness/vitality) for wvw, it helps with survivability and it’s cheap (farm badges of honors by following the zerg in EotM and buy the set at the armor vendor on any wvw map).

I got a few thousand honour badges already is that enough? Sorry I can’t get on the game right now and check how much it’ll cost :\ I also noticed the defence tends to be weaker on armour you buy with badges of honour? It was when I last looked in on it, anyway, but then again I have no idea what’s going on in game apparently lol

Aris.9264:

arkealia.2713:

200g is largely enough to buy one berserker armor set + trinkets.
I would also recommend a soldier armor set (power/toughness/vitality) for wvw, it helps with survivability and it’s cheap (farm badges of honors by following the zerg in EotM and buy the set at the armor vendor on any wvw map).

I got a few thousand honour badges already is that enough? Sorry I can’t get on the game right now and check how much it’ll cost :\ I also noticed the defence tends to be weaker on armour you buy with badges of honour? It was when I last looked in on it, anyway, but then again I have no idea what’s going on in game apparently lol

as long as you go to the vendor that sells exotic (orange) armor, it will be just the same. and a few thousand will cover the costs for sure (i think the chest piece is about 2g & 200 badges?)

also knights is a good choice if you don’t want to spend like 40g on zerker but still want to be semi glassy, since it’ll only cost you <10g

For the record, this will help you with gearing options (including exactly how much stuff costs badge-wise).

Wiki is a great resource in general.

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

Aris.9264:

arkealia.2713:

200g is largely enough to buy one berserker armor set + trinkets.
I would also recommend a soldier armor set (power/toughness/vitality) for wvw, it helps with survivability and it’s cheap (farm badges of honors by following the zerg in EotM and buy the set at the armor vendor on any wvw map).

I got a few thousand honour badges already is that enough? Sorry I can’t get on the game right now and check how much it’ll cost :\ I also noticed the defence tends to be weaker on armour you buy with badges of honour? It was when I last looked in on it, anyway, but then again I have no idea what’s going on in game apparently lol

as long as you go to the vendor that sells exotic (orange) armor, it will be just the same. and a few thousand will cover the costs for sure (i think the chest piece is about 2g & 200 badges?)

also knights is a good choice if you don’t want to spend like 40g on zerker but still want to be semi glassy, since it’ll only cost you <10g

Well I bought a berserker chest (which was 1g) , leggings and boots and while hideous, they seemed to have changed some of my attributes around. By the way, what am I meant to be going for attribute-wise? No idea what I’m aiming for here (thanks for the help, by the way!)

Aris.9264:

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

Aris.9264:

arkealia.2713:

200g is largely enough to buy one berserker armor set + trinkets.
I would also recommend a soldier armor set (power/toughness/vitality) for wvw, it helps with survivability and it’s cheap (farm badges of honors by following the zerg in EotM and buy the set at the armor vendor on any wvw map).

I got a few thousand honour badges already is that enough? Sorry I can’t get on the game right now and check how much it’ll cost :\ I also noticed the defence tends to be weaker on armour you buy with badges of honour? It was when I last looked in on it, anyway, but then again I have no idea what’s going on in game apparently lol

as long as you go to the vendor that sells exotic (orange) armor, it will be just the same. and a few thousand will cover the costs for sure (i think the chest piece is about 2g & 200 badges?)

also knights is a good choice if you don’t want to spend like 40g on zerker but still want to be semi glassy, since it’ll only cost you <10g

Well I bought a berserker chest (which was 1g) , leggings and boots and while hideous, they seemed to have changed some of my attributes around. By the way, what am I meant to be going for attribute-wise? No idea what I’m aiming for here (thanks for the help, by the way!)

if you want to go very glassy, you’re a bit lacking in both power and precision currently. When fully geared you’ll probably want at least 2,000 power and around 2,000 precision (or anywhere that puts you around 50% crit chance would be good)

though to be honest your stat layout now isn’t “too” bad. a few things though to improve it

-I notice you have 72 extra points into condition damage, and 54 points in healing power. these are probably best being put elsewhere (such as precision)
-You’re a bit lacking in the precision department. with fury you’ll only have 55% which while “ok”, isn’t great. I’d recommend taking the 126 points from condi damage and healing power and sticking it in there, and about 100-200 from vitality as well.
-your power/ferocity stats could also do with a little boost, but isn’t required. (as long as you’re critting for arouuund 1,700-2,000)

to be exact, the stats of the build I showed you was

2,161 power (this will make your standard hits hit for at least 800-1000)
1,116 toughness (same as below)
916 vitality (pretty glassy so could be increased if you’re dying a bunch)
2,023 precision (this sticks you at 57% crit chance, 77% when you use rampage as one)
1,026 ferocity (this will give you an extra 118% damage every time you get a critical hit (which with 77% crit chance is most of the time)

note that while a pure glass build like this is popular in pve due to enemies being EZ, that isn’t so when you’re fighting other players. therefore later on when you better understand stats and such, you should swap out some stuff for knights/soldiers to give yourself more toughness and/or vitality.

p.s. you can always transmute the armor ;P

small edit: it’d also be useful to see the gear you’re wearing, not just the total stats. not to say it’s the case but you might have accidentally purchased partially wrong gear or such so it’d be easier to identify that (when i first started I accidentally bought knights gear instead of beserker. ironically it taught me that sometimes it’s nice to have that extra durability)

atheria.2837:

thefantasticg.3984:

-Can you dodge?
-Can you learn the content?
-Do you have a warrior?
-If you don’t have a warrior start one and get it to 80 asap… For dungeons… Or anything really.

“Do you have a warrior”.

Get out of the conversation if you can’t be serious and leave the griefing about Rangers out of your “points”, come on!

Truth is truth whether you like it or not. It depends on what you’re doing but I can’t think of a situation where my Ranger would be worth bringing over my Warrior.

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

(p.s. the build i described here would look somewhat like this http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRnMqQBL2vC2CCXLGYPoWHAFwZ3cIuBmD8IUwmK-TFiBwAA8EAO3fAiSQiK/sp+zJdBHM/ZwlAAA-w )

That’s a pretty terrible build, for either WvW or PvE.

@OP:
You’ve given enough info that PvE is your primary game, with some dabble in WvW.
For PvE: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBMhFYkRlSWbVho1A7B1yAIg5mBdg3qYLyYpTmJB-TxRBwAP3fIiSwiK/up+DK9BIM/B4JAAA-e for DPS
For WvW: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEqUyaLLesw1ag9gadAEwndrhw9WcEtdGbUxMJ-ThRBwARUCWU5HKdB4U/Bh5PAHBAA-e For power (full berserker could work but is super risky)

Aris.9264:

ITheNormalPerson.9275:

Aris.9264:

arkealia.2713:

200g is largely enough to buy one berserker armor set + trinkets.
I would also recommend a soldier armor set (power/toughness/vitality) for wvw, it helps with survivability and it’s cheap (farm badges of honors by following the zerg in EotM and buy the set at the armor vendor on any wvw map).

I got a few thousand honour badges already is that enough? Sorry I can’t get on the game right now and check how much it’ll cost :\ I also noticed the defence tends to be weaker on armour you buy with badges of honour? It was when I last looked in on it, anyway, but then again I have no idea what’s going on in game apparently lol

as long as you go to the vendor that sells exotic (orange) armor, it will be just the same. and a few thousand will cover the costs for sure (i think the chest piece is about 2g & 200 badges?)

also knights is a good choice if you don’t want to spend like 40g on zerker but still want to be semi glassy, since it’ll only cost you <10g

Well I bought a berserker chest (which was 1g) , leggings and boots and while hideous, they seemed to have changed some of my attributes around. By the way, what am I meant to be going for attribute-wise? No idea what I’m aiming for here (thanks for the help, by the way!)

You shouldn’t really worry about how the armors looks when picking stats as you can easily just use the wardrope system to get the look you like after you are done with your gear set. I mean, sometimes I stop to appreciate some of the most ugliest, eyecancerlicious outfits in WubWub but in the end it’s not going to kill me or save him either.