Guild Wars 2

Just got my Ranger up to 80. Was wondering what to do gear wise: I’m not exactly rich, so it comes down to having one set of gear for general useage. This choice being that of berserker vs knight. Was curious of peoples experience with either in WvWvW and PvE.

It really depends what you want to do. As a WvW player and nothing much else, I can say that knights would be better and that you want to go conditions. For WvW it’s the only really viable thing right now. Sure there are some power builds that do ok but Rangers need the toughness in the trait line to survive so you are best off not wasting it a going condition.

How much money do you have to play with? I can help you put together a build

I have… a lot of gold. I’m just cheap and wanting to keep some off the side for other toons.

I can afford any build.

Namica.2951:

I have… a lot of gold. I’m just cheap and wanting to keep some off the side for other toons.

I can afford any build.

Well I have two builds That I use atm. One does huge Condition Damage. The other is really survivable but does a little less condition damage.

They both use Swords/axe/torch/dagger/warhorn

What sort of weapons do you like to use?

Currently have Carrion Shortbow, Longbow, Axe, Horn, and Dagger (I love the Legionnaire skins). And a Berserker sword.

Namica.2951:

Currently have Carrion Shortbow, Longbow, Axe, Horn, and Dagger (I love the Legionnaire skins). And a Berserker sword.

Have a look and these and tell me what you think.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMQQRAsY3fnEVUZZXQKWgaZAp9ITMPM5VYWcP8vRJEPY1nH-jUCBodDimYI0kHBKvrIasFhFRjVPDQ1ATtaR1eFMa1CBsYNA-w

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-F;5Fku-v2ZEF-0;9V8d;19TT;02;017A06A;4KNH4a;1NX8aNX8aP0FN7IqYJ0;0VX-d0h1l2sZy49eWPk4R0;9;9;6FFFFFF;9;9;7V6s5m

I think a lot (including me) feels condtions is BOORING. XD

I mostly WvW on my ranger, i eventually gravitated to full berserkers with a couple celestial pieces. It’s cookie cutter, but it’s cookie cutter for a reason: it gives you punch in the role of long range archer.

This is my current power setup: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBjYDbkoqvOwSxi1OQsesn93n2jJlJMxKYIA-jEyAYMB5knyaCUQsoWENW9CmqUQWdmUvRR0qBA-w

It’s focused on single target damage, but for a DPS loss, you can switch either Eagle Eye or Spotter for Piercing Arrows.

The reason why 30 in Wilderness is only for Empathic Bond. If rangers ever get a different source of reliable condition removal outside of wilderness, I would run a more glass trait setup, like 30/25/x/x/x or if necessary, 30/20/x/x/x, depending on where the other condi removal trait would be in the traitlines.

jcbroe.4329:

This is my current power setup: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBjYDbkoqvOwSxi1OQsesn93n2jJlJMxKYIA-jEyAYMB5knyaCUQsoWENW9CmqUQWdmUvRR0qBA-w

It’s focused on single target damage, but for a DPS loss, you can switch either Eagle Eye or Spotter for Piercing Arrows.

The reason why 30 in Wilderness is only for Empathic Bond. If rangers ever get a different source of reliable condition removal outside of wilderness, I would run a more glass trait setup, like 30/25/x/x/x or if necessary, 30/20/x/x/x, depending on where the other condi removal trait would be in the traitlines.

If you use lemongrass soup it’s perfectly enough with just signet of renewal if by any chance you were to get totally bombed by several players then empathic bond won’t save you anyway.

i use knight armor and zerk jewels.

Manekk.6981:

jcbroe.4329:

This is my current power setup: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBjYDbkoqvOwSxi1OQsesn93n2jJlJMxKYIA-jEyAYMB5knyaCUQsoWENW9CmqUQWdmUvRR0qBA-w

It’s focused on single target damage, but for a DPS loss, you can switch either Eagle Eye or Spotter for Piercing Arrows.

The reason why 30 in Wilderness is only for Empathic Bond. If rangers ever get a different source of reliable condition removal outside of wilderness, I would run a more glass trait setup, like 30/25/x/x/x or if necessary, 30/20/x/x/x, depending on where the other condi removal trait would be in the traitlines.

If you use lemongrass soup it’s perfectly enough with just signet of renewal if by any chance you were to get totally bombed by several players then empathic bond won’t save you anyway.

Good point, I’m just normally too lazy to use food. Which is sad, I know lol. I guess it’s also me being stubborn too. I figure, maybe if the usage statistics are high enough on empathic bond, it will finally click to somebody on the dev team that maybe they need to spread out condi removal a little better.

Of course using Lemongrass Soup should do the same thing, but it could also be seen with a narrow field of vision, and when the statistics are reviewed, the devs could go “lemongrass soup is being overused by a lot of classes, it must be too strong, let’s nerf it instead of giving classes the condi removal they are clearly lacking, except for guardians and eles.”

as for me – I will never advice berserk gear to any ranger.
decision to go berserk is risky and im many cases unreliable – especially in WvW.
ofc. good player can see it as a good way for most PvE content. but those who aren’t such good who have still many thing to learn will benefit only one thing from berserk gear – more deaths (I’m talking about full zerker)

in WvW guys that goes full zerker are just free-kill in any zerg fight…..

I use full zerker gear for PvE but i agree i get bombed hard in WvW with it, id probably go Knight.

this is my build feel free to off help lol, i dont die much in pve and damage is fairly high.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMUQNAsYVjEVB2FWKWs2Bg1D98bQOjEV0fY0DW95B-jQyAYLBR6PABBiIAm8KiGbxtIasqSioa3RSdICyiAYXA-e

maintenance oils with nearly no toughness isn’t the best food
and probably I wouldn’t advice this build to any newbie

sure in PvE when he would learn how to play, properly dodge etc. this may be usefull.
in WvW nobody that want to play and not die every second would not take berserk
knights rampager mix for ranger would be much better and that first will make nice synergy with maintenance oils (knight’s set boost most toughness so maintenence oils will give more precision )

If you are going to be a zerker I’d recommend rethinking it. Groups hate glass cannon rangers. I don’t allow glass cannons in any of my groups unless they’re from my guild.

I have been both before, but I settled on something in between op, il send you the build link in a pm.

One way to look at it is what three attributes you can’t live without, and start from there. No matter what build you’re running, it’s hard to see critical damage as one of those, unless your building a very specialized character. You should probably select armor that includes three of the four (power, precision, toughness, and vitality).

It’s much easier to swap jewels than armor at a future date, so take armor stats that are essential regardless of how you may change your build in the future. Take a look at the “item nomenclature” page on the wiki. It should help you plan your possible combinations. Berserker and Valkyrie accessories tend to be the most expensive jewels out there. Rare Berserker’s usually cost more than exotic of other combinations. Note the math on swapping Berserker/Valkyrie jewels onto other pre-existing accessories. It may be cheaper and more viable than going full Bezerker, while still giving you a 15-20% increase in crit dmg. You can always start with Knight accessories and put a Bezerker jewel down on top of it later, when more gold is available.

I have 2 lvl 80 rangers and use both in WvW and PvE. The one most like yours is a highly mobile condition skirmisher. 20/30/20/0/0 or 20/30/10/0/10 in PvE. I don’t have have any pure Berserker gear and run about 49% crit chance with 45% damage and 900+ condition dmg, without modifiers or food. If you really want crit damage, take points in skirmishing. Most of those traits are too useful to pass up for a condition build anyway.

You could try Vatlaaw’s armor if you are committed to a condition build. (Cond/Prec/Toughness). It’s one of the less expensive exotic sets.

Too many people use conditions, once they’re at 25 they don’t go up from there. If you have everyone doing conditions you’re doomed to die in almost every dungeon