Guild Wars 2

I’ve seen a lot of staff/LB builds and people talking about kiting all hard core, but I never see anyone take muddy terrain. Being new to the class, seems like a solid utility to take in a build focused on staying at range, especially if traited.

What is the opinion on this skill? Is this a good utility to take in a kiting build? If not, why?

Thanks!

looks solid to me. I think the main issue isn’t so much “would it work” (it clearly does) so much as “is there something that would be better to have”.

Well what does it compete with in general? If you take survival, then probably QZ and LR right? Then you have one other, probably a shout or some kind of other defensive?

Maybe I should also ask: Is there anyone who uses this in a ranged build?

^ you got it right Qz, LR , glyphs most of the other options are all short to medium range so it depends on your Stats and weapons ranges .

if you are Staff/LB , power druid you can just use Wilderness knowledge take muddy terrain for extra condi clear and AoE immobo , with a team comp that gives you plenty of fury or you can run Lead the wind on MM,WK,druid for high mass CC and mobility CC at a Medium to long range burst , simply take a tiger/wolf and a Spider/kraken hound for even more immobilse.

thats pretty much the only time i’d take Muddy terrain in a Burst > wilderness knowledge build maxing out RF damage+barrage using Quicken zypher+muddy terrain and Glyph of tides (for Defence CC) to make sure you have enough defence take Daze on staff swap and use the wilderness skills for condi clear+ Natural stride/celestial shadow for kiting ontop of staff Mobility from (primal echos).

using Traits of druid for defence and to re-enforce Damage/CC.

going this route with Air and Fire sigils on the Lb and Hydromancy+(new sigil of speed) gives you a strenght of the pack on staff AA (piercing Autos stacking a ton of might then using heal as one to transfer might)

going from high burst , to high CC defence with the staff.

a Aoe muddy terrain Cripple+immobo ontop of Pet+barrage>single target RF burns through peoples Condi clears trying to remove the immobo+cripple(which is reapplied 12x times) just so they can Escape the damage.

i think of muddy terrain as the Middle key for having effective chain Mobility CC between Weapon swaps and Traits/ other cooldowns , the added condi clearing effect makes it Very effective for kiting and easy application of burst.

I kept MT on my bar almost regardless of build or weapons for 3 years. It’s an awesome skill, although it does take some getting used to since it so slow.

The only reason I don’t use it anymore is mostly because I no longer trait WS. Glyphs and shouts are also new and shiny and very strong.

MT is not really a bad skill.

What I find the main reason why nobody takes it because … Nobody really needs it. It has a cast time which means you can’t do anything useful during that time and you already have a lot of other means to kite.
Especially the Spider pet which is a solid alternative to Bristle for kiting (bristle’s F2 won’t hit a distant target).

So… While it is a nice thing to have on your skill-bar … it won’t really change any outcome of the fight. Lightning Reflexes, Quickening Zephyr, even Glyph of the Tides would do a better effect of it, especially with the new druid GM trait.

That cast time is definitely made up for in the duration. You most likely need to chain it together with other CCs unless you’re using it on a group.

Back in the day drakehound KD + howl, MT, and entangle meant your opponent was dead. But these days it’s more like GoT, ancient seeds, taunt, daze, etc.

Either one works, but you a) need WS which most people no longer take and 2) immob is more vulnerable to condi removal than the harder CCs.

Tragic Positive.9356:

MT is not really a bad skill.

What I find the main reason why nobody takes it because … Nobody really needs it.

Exactly this.

It’s a decent skill but we have lots of access to immob (the highest in the game in fact) even without it. Since it has a clear cast time and not very much range, it’s kind of outclassed by things like Ancient Seeds, Spider pets or Drakehound and although also not great range, Entangle which is much more potent.

None of those things take up a slot where MT could be used but that’s plenty of immobilize without it and Quickening Zephyr or Lightning Reflexes are just a safer choice.

Either way, if you want to take it by all means. It’s a good condition clear, short cooldown, it does what it’s supposed to do. You just may see why most people would prefer to take something else the longer you play Ranger is all.

Last thing before I go though; I once made a for fun build based entirely on Immobilize and it was quite fun albeit very weak in certain situations. Nothing more hilarious than stacking something like 2minutes of immob on a Necro.

The cast time is scary. I like spike trap in its place.

These are all awesome answers, thank you all very much.

A few follow ups:

-Glyph of Tides of Glyph of Equality? (assuming you have another stun break e.g. Protect Me)
-If it were between drake hound and smoke scale, which would you pick in the context we are discussing?
-If not going WS, is entangle worth it over traited SotP in the above context?

I would pick your elite based on what you’re traited for because the CD reduction is so large. Both are amazing elites and can compete with each other, so CD seals it for me.

In my WvW build I take both glyphs and PM, for PvP it varies a bit but S&R, GoE, PM, and SoR are all used. You can never have too many stun breakers as useful as PM, SoR and GoE. (And if you wind up traiting entangle, LR is excellent as well.)

If you want to take a canine over a HoT pet, I’d go with wolf, it’s like a better version of drakehound since fear is more debilitating and harder to get out of. You could always take both wolf and smokescale and get 2 knockdowns, cripple, and fear; keep smokescale as your general pet for blinding with LB, actually hitting the target, and might stacking then when someone gets close hit them with KD, taunt, and fear. Spider is another option. I personally prefer bristleback and wolf.

Wow I forget smoke field + projectile finisher = blind.

So gonna get smokescale now so I can get better stomps with hunters shot.

It’s hard to nitpick 1 aspect of the build (the changed build) while talking about it knowing it’s gonna change further. A lot of reasoning would fall of.

What is the main issue when it comes to Entangle is that you loose your only stun-breaker. It can be worth if you went for a WS stunbreaker build, but you don’t. What is the biggest deal with Entangle is that it ignores blocks.

But you don’t really have to go offensive since your kiting idea is based all around slow and stable damage. For that, stability is much more important.

Tragic Positive.9356:

What is the main issue when it comes to Entangle is that you loose your only stun-breaker. It can be worth if you went for a WS stunbreaker build, but you don’t.

Wait why do you lose your stunbreaker if you trait WK? LR is great and traited, SoR is great un traited. And GoE has an outstanding cooldown even untraited.

This guy uses it very well. Then again he’s berserker and very squishy, I run a cav/knight/soldier mix so I just take daze glyph/LR/ and guard or protect me, since I have quickness every 15s on pet swaps I don’t use zephyr. I’ve simply never needs it for kiting, although id consider it if the cast time wasn’t so absurd.

Fluffball.8307:

Tragic Positive.9356:

What is the main issue when it comes to Entangle is that you loose your only stun-breaker. It can be worth if you went for a WS stunbreaker build, but you don’t.

Wait why do you lose your stunbreaker if you trait WK? LR is great and traited, SoR is great un traited. And GoE has an outstanding cooldown even untraited.

I actually meant anti-CC (stability) … I’m getting worn out. Sorry about that.

I’m not really sure how it goes in WvW but I guess CC is our counter even there, isn’kitten If you get shut inside DH’s maw you’re dead without stability.