Guild Wars 2

I know we all are overpowered
What’s wrong with mine in zerg/solo situations?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBjODbkRlSWbZxjFqWDsHUrDgC4sbNEsvgKYEGQF-T1CEABTcBA0RJGMqr8kyj72fwClgsoShH6A6QzDAHBAnfAAAA-w

I like the look of the build, I used to use a similar one when I was starting in WvW. The skills you chose would fit with both escape and attacking, so a good balance of utility. You can get decent evade/control through your utility skills and bet skills, my concern though would be if you find yourself 1vX, i don’t know if your evades will last. I might suggest a sword in place of the axe, but how does it feel at the moment? Do you like the feel of it and hold your own?

For solo roaming 2,5k armor is a tad bit too low, I’d try to bump it to 2,8k or so at least.

I do not know what’s wrong but i’ve suddenly stopped being good, i’ve always had problems when reacting after being ambushed out of know where which usually wastes the lightning reflexes (from either petrifying poison or stuns/knockbacks)

Strategies wise, is to get the CC train going while rapid fire from the bow deals majority of the damage.
(bow 5, muddy terrain, axe 3, pet wolf)

I was using a full knight set as armour but now replaced with zerker main for more damage. Problems I encounter is:

Not enough condi clear to kill warriors, and kitten goes down really bad once i missed the CC chance with muddy terrain as they will be dishing out immobilizes
This is the same for fighting Engineers, except it is knockbacks.
I can’t seem to outdamage a necro while evading in the healing spring.

Is there anything i should change, perhaps a 1 time investment to have a nice balance between roaming and ranger commanding?
Any practice to hone skill…
Last build i’ve tried is a bunker and i’ve spent more than 5 mins fighting a regen warrior losing slowly as i am slowly being chipped down while not dealing enough damage when evasive movement is applied.

Thank you for the suggestion on sword and armour, will do what i can to change. anything else? Below is the build changed according to suggestions.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBjYDbkRlSWbZxjFqWDsHUrDgC4sbNEsvgKYEGQF-T1SEABScEAeR9HdUeAwBBwHlYVoEkm9HUR3AHaYM4CA08DAAA-w

You should take the entire skirmishing line and move it down to nature magic. Sharpened edges is pretty weak in a power build, your not even using an axe anymore so honed axes is a waste, and since most of the damage on longbow comes from the auto attack having a slightly reduced cool down on the skills isn’t worth investing 6 points for.

Plus with your utilities your build is just begging for survival of the fittest to deal.

Ah, forgot about the traitline. Sure, I’ll add that in.
Should I move 2 points off the marksman and put into Wilderness survival for the protection boon and ‘reduced offhand cooldown’ so it is easier to might up with a loss in base power? a check revealed a change from ~1800 and ~1900 power.
Here’s the amended build, thank you for the contribution:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBjYDbkRlSWbZxjFqWDsHUrDgC4sbNEu3iiotHQF-T1SEABScEAeR9HdUeAwBBwHlYVoEkm9HUR3AHaYM4CA08DAAA-w

I am in the process of restoring my build since I had the great idea of salvaging my armor for some reason. I’m currently using a mixture of power/precision/ferocity and power/toughness/vitality, with a mismatch of mods, i think 2 runes of Dwayna and the rest ruby orbs. I know critical damage has taken a hit when it became ferocity, and i feel I’ve got way to much going on armorwise, but running 6/5/0/0/3 seems to be working well oddly enough. If you plan on using a LB to gun others down from max range, i feel the trait Read the Wind is a must. My arrows never miss unless the target dodges, aa will usually always crit for 2-2.5k, and using the GS as a backup for when things get close, i’m pretty survivable in roaming and larger group fights. As far as condi cleanse goes, i typically will use the healing spring to clear, or if in a bind, time LR so that it is not wasted. I don’t really have a problem with any condi.

Alright, I’ve made the changes in accordance to your suggestion: I’m still sticking to the 2.8k armour so there isn’t any much place to squeeze in ferocity.

For skills wise, due to the lack of wilderness survival the muddy terrain is swapped for Sick’em to bring some damage to the pet, and probably the 40% increase in speed means catching up to enemies (also an anti thief). I’m unsure of this because of the uncertainty of what kind of implications without an additional immob, or perhaps switching Entangle to Rampage as one?

For damage wise, the longbow have a sigil of air, and purity so there is some condi clear. and sigil of rage and energy for the greatsword so AA could become a more reliable chance to dodge while waiting for the 5+2 combo, while giving another dodge.

here comes the problem with toughness, removing rune of melandru won’t give the toughness so damage comes from 2 assassin earrings. so there is enough precision.

What do you think? I’m still thinking on how to raise the crit chance so we’ll hit harder, or just move the crit line to heath to trait for greatsword. Here’s the build link:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRnMqQJL2yCuCCVLGYPoWHAFwZzdgHhftxAqA-T1CFwAsU/R2+DAeAA7UeIRJ4JdBDViF5QAkRDzgLAwijAAA-w

This is close to what I would use:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRnMqQHL2yC2CCXLGgRoaGCNAzwNAcnDl7SfxRVFB-TlCEwAMOEAwUDxpSvtKBZqMYlmAWqe0RHDgLAwjjAAhAGtAA-w
Note that I intentionally left out a sigil on longbow as well as the runes, since depending on the ranger these will work hand in hand (example superior rune of vampirism + superior sigil of blood). A lot of rangers like fire/lightning/water runes so it truly comes down to what you feel works for you best. For the runes it’s very good to experiment with them. I would go for Scholar if I was purely focused on damage dealing and in that case I would choose sigil of fire.
Utilities wise, you definitely want muddy terrain and lightning reflexes, they will be your true survival options here. I added protect me as an interesting choice for uh oh situations, but as a ranger pick your own third utility up to your own standard. For example, sharpenning stone can be your ‘go to’ for fury and a little ~umph~ damage to a single target with the bleeding (notice your condition damage isn’t pure crap so why not). You can also choose QZ for this matter, but it’s a skill that can be used at the wrong time and can be wasted so I tend to not depend on this. The elite is quite important and very situational, so entangle vs RaO is a weighted decision for most rangers but in a power build RaO does not hurt.
The pet choice (wolf and marsh drake) are good choices for all purpose wvw, you can use marsh drake for the poison effect in situations where heavy condi clearing is and is not happening, it’s all about timing. It is widely known that drakes also work very well with healing spring so it’s worth having one if only for that purpose. Wolf is naturally a must have in almost all aspects of ranger play. However, you’re free to choose your own pet as WvW is a very controversial place to use pets so just have fun with them and use them as you seem fit.
Last but not least, the runes are left out of the build for you to choose ‘more crit, more power, more vit, more tough, more ferocity., this boon that boon….. etc etc’, so I would like to see what people have to add to the build and if they like it.

ok so your talking wvwvw moving with the zerg, for that im experimenting with this

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjEqUyaBLusw1ag8AZdgIJaGcGzNnKZUVA-TFTDwAH3fonSvJHBgDPAgEXAAX6Aep+TXlBYOIAg0wAw0nClgkCIixAA-w

the idea is to be at max range all the time, if i get target then i move to sw/d and use the evades go gain distance and reopen with LB.

again this is only to be moving with the zerg, on 1vx you will have problems but if you are with the zerg you just need to gain some time till the blob comes to you

After looking through the builds, I’ve got a weird, beginner’s question to ask:

What kind of choices should we put in the accessories slots? Should it be defensive like toughness, or offensive like condition damage or berserker. What kind of changes does it bring to the build?

Condition damage is no good for a power longbow build. Other than that there is no right answer.

Most people wind up with offensive trinkets, but mixed with things like slightly defensive valks or cavaliers or whatever stat they need to round out for their playstyle and traits.

hunterkiller.5419:

After looking through the builds, I’ve got a weird, beginner’s question to ask:

What kind of choices should we put in the accessories slots? Should it be defensive like toughness, or offensive like condition damage or berserker. What kind of changes does it bring to the build?

A lot of changes, the thing is there are 3 main sources of ‘how’ you choose to make your build. For your purpose you want to maximize DPS while maintaining a good build and to be the least squishy that you can while doing so. So the first step is choosing the right combination of traits, everything else doesn’t matter until this is set. Second your gear will be chosen to maximize what you need to for your specific build. Here putting as much power / precision / ferocity is the most important. Squeezing in toughness and vitality is also important but it is secondary, so wherever you put these stats is entirely up to you. Armor tends to be soul bound for each character, so if there is a stat that you want to share between your other characters you should get it via ascended gear or ascended trinkets (trinkets are much easier to get via fractals/laurels), so that you’re not stuck getting that gear for that character alone. Also certain pieces of armor/trinkets give more stats than others do, look at head gear vs chest armor, rings vs amulets… etc. So if you want more of something put it in the gear/trinket that provides the most. If you look at the build I posted you can examine this and say ok… that’s what I need to do to maximize this and that, put this stat here and the secondary stat over there, mix and match.

Now if you were asking about infusions then… it’s not really a big difference in your dps/condition damage/defense/health/crit damage/crit chance/health, you would have to infuse all of your gear for 1 or 2 stats to make any difference and it would still be small.

How much toughness does WvW ranger need, and the minimal amount of power to be effective? Been looking at celestial and soldier gear that seems to give balance, here’s a build link:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjEqUyaBLusw1ag9gadAUAnd7fYI2BWDcJjqC-TFDFABop+zZKNY4IAYkyAZ2f4IlYA8AAE4CAohuhIOIAeqEMDNMAA-w

trying to tweak your build a bit with numbers i personally feel confortable with (this is when i don’t go full glass) :

Power: 2k or more
Tough: 2.7k or more
Crit: 30% or more

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjEqUyaBLusw1ag9gadAUAnd7fYI2BWDcJjqC-TVTDABup0YijAQTKDyZ/BnUidwFAIhHAwLq/EiuBMOIAlqEEENMAY6jUARMGA-w

Again this is using your build above and get the numbers i feel i need, on zerg fights you need to be careful not to kill your self with retaliation form the blob so try to keep an eye on your health.

I can hit 1.5k to 2.5k each target on barrage plus the cripple always help to break the group and give your team the advantage.

AA and rapid fire with piercing arrows is nice too, just need to try to constantly look for a target in the mid of the blob and do a rf on then you will see a lot of numbers (and a lot of bags)

Regarding the celestial builds: I’m not crazy on the celestial gear with a longbow. Might work better in a skirmishing build like sw/torch and axe/dagger or even with a shortbow.

You are getting 600 condition damage from gear and traits with no conditions aside from offhand dagger and sword3 poison which does low damage. Your crit rate is a low 24% with no fury from skirmishing or survival of the fittest. Your power is relatively low due to the celestial. Celestial would work well in a build with some power, some conditions and maybe some utilities or traits that benefit from healing. Engineers are a commonly used example of a class that benefits from celestial.

I would drop consider survival of the fittest over empathic bond.

I tried out SotF for about a month. I think it’s just terrible. You get on-demand condition removal, but it’s REALLY low. Muddy Terrain is effectively the only condi removal in a normal build because you don’t want to spam LR lest you need it, Entangle is on a massive cool down and you need to save it for specific situations anyway. The last slot is probably either not a survival skill or QZ, which is again on a pretty heft cool down. So MT, 1 condi removal once every 20 or 25 seconds.

You get way more condition removal, plus a stun breaker, plus an “oh kitten” button just from taking Signet of Renewal. Or using HS with the horn or leaps. Or hell, literally even a bear would be better condi removal.

currently using condi-builds for roaming.

For zergs I try to avoid using Beastmastery traitline since pets are almost useless in zergs. Nature magic is ok for hp + boon extra %. WS ok for toughness, condi dmg nah because zerg-fighting so condi’s almost useless. Markmanship + Skirmishing is good for raw dmg.

So for zergs I come to use: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEq0yaHL+rw1ag9gadAUANAvB27WcEp8irsWK-TFCEwA22fwpyPuKBJ8IAYp+TbdBHuAAAOCABAQAu5OTn7MgbuzduzduzSBwkwI-w

Use Troll + RaO just before u enter the zerg-fight. Slice through zerg with greatsword. If u get low on health or sticky situation, get out of zerg-fight with #3 GS or LR and some dodges, then snipe with longbow, chill-sigil to annoy even more. Muddy terrain for more CC. Brown bear for cleanse, Carrion Devourer for the poison(field). These 2 pets caus bears + devourers can hold out a lil time with no points in BM in zerg-fights.

With this build u won’t provide much boons/support for ur allies, ur more dealing damage and CC-ing.
Rest of the build speaks for itself I think.

If others could point out things I missed that would be fine too. Feedback always welcome

On a general note: Nature’s Protection is an excellent anti-burst trait. It triggers exactly when you need protection the most.

Bast Bow.2958:

currently using condi-builds for roaming.

For zergs I try to avoid using Beastmastery traitline since pets are almost useless in zergs. Nature magic is ok for hp + boon extra %. WS ok for toughness, condi dmg nah because zerg-fighting so condi’s almost useless. Markmanship + Skirmishing is good for raw dmg.

So for zergs I come to use: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEq0yaHL+rw1ag9gadAUANAvB27WcEp8irsWK-TFCEwA22fwpyPuKBJ8IAYp+TbdBHuAAAOCABAQAu5OTn7MgbuzduzduzSBwkwI-w

Use Troll + RaO just before u enter the zerg-fight. Slice through zerg with greatsword. If u get low on health or sticky situation, get out of zerg-fight with #3 GS or LR and some dodges, then snipe with longbow, chill-sigil to annoy even more. Muddy terrain for more CC. Brown bear for cleanse, Carrion Devourer for the poison(field). These 2 pets caus bears + devourers can hold out a lil time with no points in BM in zerg-fights.

With this build u won’t provide much boons/support for ur allies, ur more dealing damage and CC-ing.
Rest of the build speaks for itself I think.

If others could point out things I missed that would be fine too. Feedback always welcome

Considering you’re already using 2 survival skills, why not drop 5 points in Skirmishing and get Survival of the Fittest? It’ll give you more condition removals and also gives fury-on-demand. I personally find Furious Grip (Fury on weapon swap) one of our more useless traits. I only get it because I want Quick Draw, but you don’t do that.

Sorry that I’ve not been replying mush, been testing out the various build that you Lovely people have been submitting. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Actually, My plans currently have been usually being in the zerg frontlines so the new idea of running high toughness is really helping out a lot! (I’ve no idea it is harder to find Elementalists than ranger so the healing spring helps a lot in asking peeps to blast on me)

I know it is hard, because to lean into power so the necromancers can do their job (some say the conditions won’t be shared) so I’ve been trying not to lean into condition damage, yet when during the downtimes of not with the zerg still possible to roam and be a havoc on the field. Any ranger commanders here to share the precious knowledge wise? Thanks a lot though, I promise to run as much builds as I can, so so grateful to you all. <3

Holland.9351:

Considering you’re already using 2 survival skills, why not drop 5 points in Skirmishing and get Survival of the Fittest? It’ll give you more condition removals and also gives fury-on-demand. I personally find Furious Grip (Fury on weapon swap) one of our more useless traits. I only get it because I want Quick Draw, but you don’t do that.

That looks very promising, thank you, going to try that out. Now because of the condition reduction and removal from runes, traits/survival skills and food, I’m thinking to swap SoR out for an offensive skill, like quickening zephyr. What do you think?

So that will make: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEq0yaHLmsw1ag9gadAUANArB29WcEtdKv4KrlC-TFCEwA22fwpyPuKBJ8IAYp+TbdBHuAAAOCABAQAu5OTn7MgbuzduzduzSBwkwI-w

btw I recognize your accountname, if it’s the same as your character’s name, are you on gunnar’s hold?

Quickening Zephyr is a nice burst skill and now it comes with Fury, so it’s even better.

But now that you’re using 3 survival skills with Survival of the Fittest, it might be worth considering Wilderness Knowledge (10 in Wilderness Survival) instead of those 10 points in Skirmishing, for the 20% cooldown reduction. Which also means more condition removal and more fury.

About the name: Yes, I’m on Gunnar’s Hold