So why don’t we brainstorm a little build database for everyone to try once the patch hits?
To start off, why not have a look at the currently popular builds and how they can be reimagined with the next patch (I’ll just go over the Traits and leave out equipment choices for now, most skill choices should be obvious, e.g. Lightning reflexes, Entangle, Troll Unguent):
Condi Survival~
S/T + A/D
Beastmastery is far superior to Nature Magic in my opinion. Beastly Warden is amazing. Blind and weakness on F2 combined with bird pets should be awesome as well.
Can’t quite decide wether to use Ambidextery or Refined Toxins, both sound like great traits, although high poison uptime should help against many classes.
Quick Draw will probably end up being my new favorite trait, it just gives you more of what you actually need. Quickdraw Bonfires for point defense should work out great.
EDIT:
Some quick napkin math concerning condition damage:
Assuming a pretty ordinary setup many people run, lets just take Rabid amulet with Krait runes for a quick calculation.
Bleeding Damage now: 113/tick
Bleeding Damage after patch: 173/tick
That’s roughly a 50% boost in bleeding damage, a simple Geomancy proc -> Splitblade combo should net 9 to 10 bleeds (depending on how often the bleed on crit trait procs) which works out to 1560-1730 damage per second. Pretty decent if you ask me.
Lets take a look at bonfire: Burning duration got increased from 1s to 3s, so you should be able to get at least 3 stacks of burning up. In addition to that, Throw Torch now inflicts 2 stacks of burning for 6 seconds
Burning Damage now: 680/tick
Burning Damage after patch: 350/stack
So, at 2 stacks, you will get a slight boost (700 compared to 680) per tick, at 3 or more stacks burning gets a massive dps boost. Neat.
Power Ranger, Offensive~
LB + GS
Primal Reflexes got a slight nerf, but it’s still worth running in my opinion. Might as well grab spotter since the other two traits are lackluster for power builds.
Easy access to fury thanks to Clarion Bond, pick whatever master trait you want in Marksmanship, they all have their uses.
Wilderness Survival is a must for condi remove, combined with Troll Unguent being a survival skill now, this should give you decent survivability on top of great damage.
Quick Draw is a must for power rangers in my opinion since it lets you adapt to different situations easily. Got caught off guard and need to get away quickly? Swap to GS, Swoop, Dodge, Swoop again. More knockbacks, 10s CD barrage, more blocks on GS, double Maul or double RF if you need to finish someone off, basically a huge bonus all around.
Power Ranger, Defensive~
LB + GS
Since stats are now seperate from trait lines, and longbow gets 1.5k range and velocity increase baseline, you can play power ranger and not spec into marksmanship at all. Why should you do this?
Superior control options with Beastly Warden. Blind and weakness on pet F2 are flat out amazing, especially if they don’t have an ICD.
You do lose fury (not an issue because the survival skills give 6s fury each) & swiftness on pet swap, piercing arrows and moment of clarity though.
Concerns:
I would like to see some builds utilizing shouts, including the new “We Heal As One”, but Troll Unguent combined with the new Wilderness Knowledge is crazy strong and should be tough to beat.
Also every build out there will have to use Wilderness Survival, since it’s the only source of condi removal traits, Wilderness Knowledge being the strongest one in my opinion.
Nature Magic will probably only get picked by bunkery builds, although I really like Protective Ward. Running Nature Magic, Wilderness Survival and Beastmastery should work for more defensive condi builds though.
Probably still playing ranger.
(edited by coax.2951)
