Guild Wars 2

In regards to PVE and WVW. Is this a popular choice? Up until now I’ve been using either bow and sword/dagger // axe/ torch.

I have used GS a little but do not favor it as much as I would have thought. Trying to figure out why not.

It’s primarily a defensive weapon so it can pair with anything. It does best with power builds though because Maul can hit hard. Powerbuilds also use Longbow typically.

But I run with it regardless of short or longbow.

GS works well with power/crit builds and in zerg surfing where you just want to tag lots of stuff and stay alive.

Eventhough the autoattack chain has a very low dmg coefficient it has a 1 sec evasion as the third part of the chain which makes it good for staying alive in WvW when lag takes over and prevents using your other skills.

Also the GS #2 Maul has the highest attack dmg available to the ranger and can reach whopping +20k hits with a proper build and preparations.

GS+LB works well (not entirely coincidentally… its also what i use most of the time)
1500 range longbow is great in wvw and tagging stuff from a further range (and taking down siege)
auto evade is amazing for melee training
swoop and counterblock are great for escaping (especially so when combined with hunters shot)
i switch between 30/25/15/0/0 and 30/20/20/0/0 alot… but that has horrible condi control outside of healing spring and doesnt have GS damage trait

but could also synergise well with sword+warhorn (melee ranger) or shortbow (moment of clarity)

As mentioned above, GS goes well in pair with Longbow. As for build, I can suggest going for 20/20/30/0/0 with condi cleasing bond and traveler runes for WvWvW. You have nice condition passive removal, can slot one utility for SoR of “Protect Me!” if needed and still move 25% faster from rune bonus without wastng utility slot for SoH. Works good for me, even for 1v1.

Rym.1469:

As mentioned above, GS goes well in pair with Longbow. As for build, I can suggest going for 20/20/30/0/0 with condi cleasing bond and traveler runes for WvWvW. You have nice condition passive removal, can slot one utility for SoR of “Protect Me!” if needed and still move 25% faster from rune bonus without wastng utility slot for SoH. Works good for me, even for 1v1.

I would tweak this and go 30/20/20/0/0 and run signets, that is, course, for a more power oriented play style. For condition cleanse i run healing spring, or for some really skill laggy fights in wvw, signet of renewal. If you run signet of the beastmaster grandmaster trait for marksmanship, you can swap out protect me for signet of stone, which has a decent passive buff too.

@warriorjrd As for zerging, your build is better than mine, but since I use to roam alone/small group, I prefer more condition removal over signets and I run TU since I kite much. Also, I use not really common set of utilities I’d say, but I do very good. TU, Muddy Terrain, L. Reflex, Protect/SoR/QZ. You know, I found out that best weapon vs. most of classes is kiting them properly and staying +1200 as long as I can, so even most OP build can’t reach me anyway

thanks for all the advice I’ll look into them and see which I do best with. Which pets do you often use?

Drakes are my lazy universal choice pet. Really tanky, pretty good AoE and a Blast finisher. The drakes F2 is really really really slow to fire off and often misses unless you really take the time to make sure the silly thing is pointed in the right direction. I use the Marsh and River drakes, that’s poison breath and lightning breath respectively, more forgiving then the fire and frost breath I find.

For small scale stuff most people run with a wolf for the fear and/or some kind of cat for burst. I mostly zerg so all they seem to do for me is die really really fast.

Power/Vitality/Crit or PVT …. umm… obviously not condition builds anymore tho, lol.

If you really wanted to partial Knights I guess you could since it’s just enough toughness to dance the line between having all of the aggro and having none of it….

If you’re thinking about straight up Berserkers gear though… just get good at 1H sword instead. Its faster attack interval is a lot more suited to pure Berserkers.

Greatsword are for builds that have higher durability, and therefor don’t need to disengage as much. Or for burst builds, that need to dish out damage fast.

I disagree with people who says the greatsword is a defensive weapon. It has some of the highest damage output skills, which makes it great for burst damage. The sword is a much better defensive weapon, simply because it has more evades.

pure utility weapon for power-builds (zerker, valkyrie,...) or "power-based-builds" (pvt, knights, clerics,...). yes, with the right setup you can pull off a nice burst with maul, but that’s it, you should have another weapon to keep your dps up IMO (sword for example).
#1 auto-attack is very "ok", the evade is nice, but dps are mediocre
#2 maul is one of (or even the) best burst we have, just the animation is very very obvious, but you can lead an enemy to waste the second dodge for it, somehow useful from time to time
#3 swoop is a really nice get-the-kitten-out-of-here utility, or nice for swoop-hilt-maul combo...+ it’s a leap finisher
#4 counterattack is an awesome block, just remember to use the crippling throw if you only blocked projectiles beforehand
#5 hilt bash is great to interrupt targets or just for the daze/stun, don’t waste it if stability is up...
oh, and try to stay at max. range with it, ranger GS has a range of 150 (1 and 2 in the auto-attack chain) as far as I know, that’s a scrap farther than most other melee weapons.

Grayback.7148:

pure utility weapon for power-builds (zerker, valkyrie,…) or “power-based-builds” (pvt, knights, clerics,…). yes, with the right setup you can pull off a nice burst with maul, but that’s it, you should have another weapon to keep your dps up IMO (sword for example).

1. auto-attack is very “ok”, the evade is nice, but dps are mediocre
2. maul is one of (or even the) best burst we have, just the animation is very very obvious, but you can lead an enemy to waste the second dodge for it, somehow useful from time to time
3. swoop is a really nice get-the-kitten-out-of-here utility, or nice for swoop-hilt-maul combo…+ it’s a leap finisher
4. counterattack is an awesome block, just remember to use the crippling throw if you only blocked projectiles beforehand
5. hilt bash is great to interrupt targets or just for the daze/stun, don’t waste it if stability is up…
   oh, and try to stay at max. range with it, ranger GS has a range of 150 (1 and 2 in the auto-attack chain) as far as I know, that’s a scrap farther than most other melee weapons.

The secret to using the greatsword, is using the auto-attack as little as possible :P

Kasama.8941:

Grayback.7148:

pure utility weapon for power-builds (zerker, valkyrie,…) or “power-based-builds” (pvt, knights, clerics,…). yes, with the right setup you can pull off a nice burst with maul, but that’s it, you should have another weapon to keep your dps up IMO (sword for example).

1. auto-attack is very “ok”, the evade is nice, but dps are mediocre
2. maul is one of (or even the) best burst we have, just the animation is very very obvious, but you can lead an enemy to waste the second dodge for it, somehow useful from time to time
3. swoop is a really nice get-the-kitten-out-of-here utility, or nice for swoop-hilt-maul combo…+ it’s a leap finisher
4. counterattack is an awesome block, just remember to use the crippling throw if you only blocked projectiles beforehand
5. hilt bash is great to interrupt targets or just for the daze/stun, don’t waste it if stability is up…
   oh, and try to stay at max. range with it, ranger GS has a range of 150 (1 and 2 in the auto-attack chain) as far as I know, that’s a scrap farther than most other melee weapons.

The secret to using the greatsword, is using the auto-attack as little as possible :P

yea, that’s somehow really true.

And you just gotta love Swoop.

They call it a “great” sword for a reason! Cooldown trait lets you maul every 4.75 seconds and swoop every 9.5 seconds. What isnt great about that?? That said its best in a power or hybrid build.

BUMP ….. Did Greatsword’s Damage just get buffed in this patch??

I swear I just critted for 3000 dmg on it…. Lemme check my log…

.

“You hit Risen Wraith for 3,485 using maul” …. Hmm that’s not normal.
Most I ever recall Mauling for on my build has been in the upper 2200’s

Defensive/power builds.
or
Zerker builds.

anyone care to share an example of a Power based build focusing on GS?

Gorath.5076:

anyone care to share an example of a Power based build focusing on GS?

This is what I’m playing:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJATRjAVB29VOWo2Bi1DAFo+0Ukp+zUcIGlxKT8qC-j0yAYrARUAIRQZvioxWBLiGr2GT5Codjs+NpG8hoZyTtMAMLA-w

I use wolfs, Muddy Terrain, and Entangle for snaring, and switch weapons very often to avoid the weak auto-attacks from both longbow and greatsword. Other then that, it’s a pretty straightforward build.

Made a post awhile ago about my GS build, it does quite well. GS + axe/axe has some really good synergy to it since there’s a lot of enemy movement control (cripple / chill / pull) as well as some nice defensive measures (reflect / block / evade on autoattack / gap closer / opening)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Revamped-Woodsman-Build/first#post2716866