Guild Wars 2

Hello Rangers,

So i’m pretty nub in this game, until now i played Warrion and Guardian to 80
Ele’ at 56 or so and that’s about it.

Anyway, i’m interested only in WvW and sometimes Spvp. No pve atall (except for leveling ofcourse).

So, Rangers looks fun and LB with 1500distance looks like huge advantage in zerks fights.
Druid also looks nice.

So my questions are: LB+Staff will work?
I dont want to be healer – mostly for self surv’ and some team support but not “main healer” role.
Also, i hate pets/minions – how much i gonna suffer with ranger ? =\

Any extra information will be great.

Thanks and good night!

p.s – sorry for English mistakes.

I am using hybrid dmg with lb/staff atm utilizing Rampager stat (precision/condi dmg/power).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATWnEqA1sglrAWsCUtgFDBDurOWTrNvrUXLgJAM6aAHs6yC-TVSFABrpDYQlgtt/oJAgnAAxKROU9nEOEALp8K5LAQAAEgduz05ODM0hO0hO0h2O35O35O3ZA-w

I probs wouldn’t use it for zerging but solo or duo ive been having fun now that I’m returning to wvw ;-)

Yes it’s viable. Longbow/GS has been viable for a long time. simply replace GS with Staff and you should be fine.

You don’t need pets, they’re worthless in big fights anyway. You could go with Red Moa/Blue Moa to buff yourself and keep them by your side, or simply go bristleback/smoke scale.

I prefer Staff/GS myself, because of all the reflect (wall of reflection spam) and double mobility is great.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Staff-LB-Zerker-Druid-video-II/first#post5743420

There is some discussion and video regarding my lb/staff build there.

I designed it mainly for roaming but if you change Remorseless to LtW in MM and then maybe consider using GotL instead of ancient seeds it should work well. At least for random zerg fights.

In short, yes! As Holland stated, LB/GS had gained significant popularity in WvW within the last year (especially the last 6 months or so) of vanilla GW2. While it is not as effective in bulk as GWERN, a LB ranger or two make excellent assassins and the druid spec gave the class a new dynamic in the form of CA heal support.

I actually made a whole bunch of different LB/Staff builds in preparation for HoT, each of which has its own merits. Personally, I prefer to go full zerk, but you can mix in some EHP (toughness/vitality) or HP (healing power; I’ve found around 500 really rounds off the heals /w outgoing healing mods). If your positioning is good, and you are reacting to enemy movements then you can afford to drop almost all defensive stats and focus on your pewpew.

I’ma copy pasta – so some things might seem outdated due to patching:

HoT Ranger Builds for FP:

Things to keep in mind:

- Condi cleanse shouldn’t be a huge issue, with Celestial Avatar cleansing all condis upon activation if traited.
- You will need 1 (ideally 2) stun-breaks, excluding the CA transform trait, which I highly recommend as you will gain enough AF frequently when fighting at this scale.
- Pets are generally fodder and die quickly if you get caught by the train, even if you escape. If your positioning is good, they should survive long enough for you to keep re-applying swap buffs on CD.
- Glyphs are not ideal if playing from the back-line. Equality can be good, however, if you are frequently being singled out by thieves or you just want a lower CD stun-break than Zephyr.
- Positioning is everything.

Build 1: Skirmishing (my personal favorite)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATWjEqQLL2wCmsAVLW2DM43ad9vuc7CAnNmBWAbEMi0A-TFCFABrpL4QVKA4RAUo6KXpEEJlf1s/wCHBgAAIAszduzduzdWIgyjBA-w

- 8% crit chance to party /w Spotter (taking this allows you to grab some extra health and maintain ~50% crit)
- Vigor on evade (8s ICD)
- Fury on weapon swap
- Access to some extra burst damage or healing, stealth, CC or mobility /w Quick Draw (this also works on CAF skills such as Lunar Impact).

NOTE: No condi cleanse outside of CA.
NOTE: Although you are not getting CD reduction on your Survival skills, they are still excellent choices for escaping tricky situations.

Build 2: Beastmastery

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATWnUqAtsgNsA2CCctgl9AD+tWX/rL3uAwZ7JOUueajIN-TFCFABHqWBAPCgCVV5KlgIp8rm9HSTXwCHBgAAIAszduzduzdWIgyjBA-w

- Permanent swiftness and regen to allies, if they are within the 360 radius of the shout cast.
- You get some extra might and quickness from pet swapping every 15s (if the pet doesn’t die and put it on a longer CD).
- Your pet gains some passive regen to keep it alive (added to the regen boon share it’s quite nice).
- Your pet does more damage. The Smokescale and Bristleback pets make excellent assassins if you can manage their health, and the AI/tracking doesn’t fail you.
- You get another damage immunity, provided your pet is still alive. It is also a stun-break replacement for Quickening Zephyr (same CD when traited). You can combo this with the Smokescale F2 to remove the risk of your pet dying.
- You get a 10s stability + damage boost on a 48s CD

NOTE: No condi cleanse outside of CA transform + Seed of Life.

Build 3: Wilderness Survival

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATWjEqQLL2wCmsAVLW2DM43ad9vuc7CAntmC2vbIMi0A-TFCFABHqWBAPCgCVV5KlgIp8rm9HSTXwCHBgAAIAszduzduzdWIgyjBA-w

- Access to lots of condi cleanse outside of CA transform.
- Lower CD on vital stun-breaks, heal and elite CC (which also remove condi, as mentioned before)
- A small 5% damage reduction when under the effects of regen, which is triggered or received often.
- Annoying poison for 6s (10s ICD) if above 90% health, which I usually am unless I am being singled out.