Guild Wars 2

Hello Rangers!
I really like to play in WvW, roaming or zerg depends on commander and the server situation.
Actually i’m running with a power build LB/GS with weapon and trinket zerk and knight armor with runes of the ranger.
I play 6/5/3/0/0 build.
In zerg i play with other rangers, mesmers and necros for a single target spike (usually the opponent commander) or a focus on light armored.
I’m thinking of switching to a zerk armor but I am worried because of the toughness.
What do you think about it?
My damage will grow but I’m afraid to take too much damage.
What is your personal experience on it?

IMO toughness does not scale well so knights is a waste. You are better off with a mix of zerk/pvt or valk/pvt.

You definitely need extra HP for wvw tho. With only 16k HP condition builds will absolutely melt you, and thieves will 2 shot you.

with the guards stack i have 18k HP. is not so bad i think.

Believe me, as soon as you fight the dire/perplex condi cheesers you’ll be happy for every single Hit Point you have.
I prefer a mix of zerk, knight’s and Valk armor and Play around until i find the spot where i feel comfortable, offensive and defensive.

Zerker all the way,
let your traits, skills & pets (much cheaper to swap around) take care of damage mitigation/condi cleanse/healing

stacking hp/toughness when you are likely playing a lot at range is just silly and promotes lazy defensive skills.

Justine.6351:

Zerker all the way,
let your traits, skills & pets (much cheaper to swap around) take care of damage mitigation/condi cleanse/healing

stacking hp/toughness when you are likely playing a lot at range is just silly and promotes lazy defensive skills.

In outnumbered Situations “lazy” defenses can come in kinda Handy especially vs 2 heavy cc specs or this modern dire stuff :> or 3+ of anything else

I run celestial with traveller runes for pretty much everything. ‘Good enough’ damage, health and armour. I’d minmax if it was straightforward to swap between multiple stats sets, but as it is, i can’t be bothered with too many armour sets. The main exception is a set a dire armour with trapper runes, since i wasn’t going to overwrite the traveller’s runes every time i wanted to run stealth traps.

I run the same gear set up as you, it makes 1vX fights a lot more manageable.

Justine.6351:

Zerker all the way,
let your traits, skills & pets (much cheaper to swap around) take care of damage mitigation/condi cleanse/healing

stacking hp/toughness when you are likely playing a lot at range is just silly and promotes lazy defensive skills.

so, full zerk with bear and 6/0/2/6/0 or somthing like that?

I am with cafard on this one, making an ascended Cele set, using trinkets to mix and match to balance stats. Unless you’re a min/max kind of guy, I think this would work for people lazy like us.

I run full zerk with ranger runes and sigils of fire/air, 6/6/2/0/0 traits for zergs and small fights… mostly because it’s my pve gear but also because if you’re camping at 1500 range you might as well go for dps. Survivability is fine providing you are aware of what’s going on and run back early. if you position yourself well you’ll be fine. if you dn’t move fast enough you will get wiped. Just move early and don’t get caught.

as for roaming… well 1v1s are a joke anyway. If you run into your counter class you lose, if you run into a class you counter you win.

First thing is to define your role in it all. Are you going to stay back and snipe or are you going to get into the meat of the battle?

I run full zerk but my build is a bit different, 60620. I use both Armor piercing and Read the Wind and don’t take Eagle Eye. I do a metric kitten ton of damage and with skills in survival I manage to stay alive longer. Being able to do incredible damage means nothing when you are dead.

I also love having the GS handy as well. Many people don’t expect the ranger to put down the bow and charge head long into them. No point in running. Crack some skulls and go out fighting.

Hepatolith.6389:

Believe me, as soon as you fight the dire/perplex condi cheesers you’ll be happy for every single Hit Point you have.
I prefer a mix of zerk, knight’s and Valk armor and Play around until i find the spot where i feel comfortable, offensive and defensive.

Dire perplex bleed stacking thief is one of the cheesiest build I’ve ever fought…
They don’t get downed easily too, and can always escape from you thanks to on demand invisibility. And they’ll just run and disengage, and chase you later when they fail their first attempt and your skills on CD now…

Really the cheapest build ever.

met a Maim shatter mesmer with full corruption stacks + 5x guard stack in wvw on my 19,9k hp power ranger, only thing that dropped my health faster are d/p thieves. condi’s ticking for 2 ~ 3k lel.

Once a guy done a very nice math. Pvt have more damage and sustain as knight. Lot Power>some crit chance + some power

On a good day I have 28k HP (with guard buff). I like vitality. Hybrid the rest to get ~1850 power and ~1700 condi damage. Those are without the guard killer as I am not high enough for that one yet.

If you want to melee train, definitely don’t go full zerk, but I find that full zerk is very useful for standing back at 1500 range, using barrage, and targetting single enemies to help your team rally.

McWolfy.5924:

Once a guy done a very nice math. Pvt have more damage and sustain as knight. Lot Power>some crit chance + some power

Correct. Soldier is better than Knights in terms of effective power(albeit not much) and its EHP is also higher than knight armor.

Soldier pieces > Knight for roaming builds