Guild Wars 2

I just recently hit 80 with my ranger, and I’ve been trying to think of a great survival build that focuses on supporting my pet and allies while mainting some damage on my end. What I have come up with is:

Cleric’s armor (Power, toughness, and healing power for those who didn’t know), sapphire accessories (same as cleric stats), weapons same as well but considering changing the stats on weapons.

Sword/warhorn and longbow for weapon sets although I’m not dead set on longbow or sword.

For utility/healing/elite skills I will swap them accoridng to the situation but generally I use healing spring and signet of stone as my 2 skills that stay.

Traits are 0/0/25/15/30 with [Vigorous Renewal], [Off-hand Training] in Wilderness survival; [Nature’s Bounty] in Nature magic; [Compassion training], [Commanding voice], and [Natural Healing] in Beastmastery.

Is this a decent build? I’m not asking soo much for yes or no as I am using this build and feel comfortable with it, I’m mainly asking is there a better build for what I’m looking for (first paragraph)? I’m having troubles mainly deciding on my weapon selection (I like off-hand however), and type of stats to focus on. I usually play thief and filled a more aggressive role in parties but rarely do I ever try supportive builds in MMOs.

Decent enough, though I’d sooner go 0/0/30/10/30 for Empathic Bond. I’d also pick an off-hand axe over off-hand horn. The axe works really well together with Healing Spring (and any combo field for that matter) and the 12% vulnerability is also not too shabby against bosses. On occasion, the projectile reflection is also pretty good. All in all, I find it offers much more than the warhorn, of which the only decent thing it provides in PvE is fury. The might buff is virtually worthless, and the swiftness buff is only decent for WvW.

Well currently I’m sticking to PVE because I believe if one cannot skillfully out-play a pve enviroment they will do horribly in pvp simply because players are a lot better at timing/placement than any boss ever will be. Since I’m not fully geared just yet and still buidling wvw isn’t of my concern atm. Empathic bond looks pretty nice for survival. Im still experimenting but is the 15 minor trait from nature magic worth it? I’m just wondering because combined with healing spring in the case that my pet leaves the circle, I can atleast continue applying it to him/her. Additionally I’m human so I use prayer to lyssa often which gives a random boon to me (and with the trait, to the pet as well).

I’ve found that even with Fortifying Bonds the pet will still die virtually as quickly as without. No matter how much +boon duration you have, your pet still only receives 3 seconds of regeneration (check http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fortifying_Bond), and said regeneration uses your pet’s healing power, not your own, meaning it heals for jack all.

For both PvE and PvP I’d take Empathic Bond over Fortifying Bond any day of the week.

Also, in regards to Prayer to Lyssa: I’ve never used it, but it seems pretty weak. As a support/tank Ranger myself, I much prefer skills such as Lightning Reflexes, Quickening Zephyr, Protect Me, Search & Rescue, and Signet of the Wild, all of which bring much more to the table than Prayer to Lyssa.

Wow, I thought the full duration was shared :/ Kinda bums me out. I still think them exiting my healing spring if I have fortifying bond is very useful as long as I stay in(some regeneration is better than none at all), but prayer to lyssa kinda seems pointless unless I got full Giver’s set. I’ve been wanting a stun break too but enjoyed prayer to lyssa for so long up until now. How are my other traits though?

I, sir, apparently am too selfish with my builds. (look at post lack of offensive builds)

But in the off chance you find my selfishness usefull, here is a few builds:

http://www.gw2build.com/builds/ranger-trap-condition-tpvp-traps-condition-shortbow-axe-warhorn-6520.html

http://www.gw2build.com/builds/pvp-ranger-of-power-tpvp-shortbow-longsword-warhorn-7891.html

If you don’t like either of them, shrug They are available for use.

I appreciate the builds but I’m looking for more of a support build that can still hold my own in dmg. I’d rather use my thief for raw damage as it is better equipped to do so. It will take some time but from a few runs of FoTM, I have noticed how easy some of the fractals are but until I hit 18-20 can’t really compare it to my thief soo much. Really wish there was a powerful healing power set, not trying to reintroduce the trinity build but the idea of any profession being able to play out any build, I feel like I’m lacking the support role I’m aiming for.

NinjaEd.3946:

I appreciate the builds but I’m looking for more of a support build that can still hold my own in dmg. I’d rather use my thief for raw damage as it is better equipped to do so. It will take some time but from a few runs of FoTM, I have noticed how easy some of the fractals are but until I hit 18-20 can’t really compare it to my thief soo much. Really wish there was a powerful healing power set, not trying to reintroduce the trinity build but the idea of any profession being able to play out any build, I feel like I’m lacking the support role I’m aiming for.

What I did was get the TA set with Prec/Vit/Healing stats. For my armor I used zerker earrings and ruby orbs. For Neck and rings I can’t remember off the top of my head, but they have toughness and power, cant remember third stat. I also put ruby orbs in them as well. With my combination of stats and traits(see signature) I am sitting at 2850 attack, 59% crit chance, 50% crit damage, 2300 toughness and 465 healing power. With a high crit chance and 50% crit damage…I don’t need to worry about what my power is sitting at cause I constantly have fury up. So 79% of my attacks do more damage than the average power build + I have survivability. 465 healing isnt much….but add that to Sup Rune of the forge(13 seconds of Protection at 50% health) and I am unstoppable with huge damage numbers. My shortbow hits average 400-1000 for my 1 attack. You can kinda figure what my other attacks hit for.

I forgot to mention that I have tried every build presented on the Rangers forum and found this to be the best. I understand that ‘best’ can have a different meaning for different people, so I’ll clarify: This build allows me to roam 1vs1’s and 1vs2’s, have nice healing regens with Healing spring so my survivability is huge, and in Zergs I put out huge numbers. There are two builds that I have trouble with and that’s a bunker guardian w/ hammer and some mesmers.