Guild Wars 2

Hi there!

I made a new post because I would like to have suggestions before posting my build. I would like to warn you a bit before. I am not a very good player in terms of skill, but I have strategic sense. I mean that I do not do stupid things, but I have difficulty with targeting sometimes, dodging at the right moment and things like that. I am an occasional player, so I don’t think it will change soon, even if I would be happy if advices are given !

So. I post here because I would like to have advices for a build I am working on for my norn ranger. I prefere versatile characters, so please, don’t tell me « that’s not OP, go for LB » or « you’ll never win with that » blabla. I win sometimes, I win my duels, but I feel my build has serious weaknesses and I would like to identify them more clearly and if possible find solutions. Even if I want to play seriously, priority is fun and what I like to play.

I am not a native English speaker, so I am sorry if my words are not very adapted sometimes and if skill’s name are wrong.

But first the build, for discussion. It is for PvP (battle games in 5v5, ranked).

Ranger’s weapon :
Axe / war horn.
Sword / dagger

Utility skills :
Healing spring (the healing trap, for combo field)
Flame trap
Lighting reflexes
? (Signet of the wild, « Sic them », frost spirit, « search and rescue », Quickening Zephyr)

Elite :
Spirit of nature (Entangle?)

Equipment :
Sage’s amulet : +1050 power, +1050 condition damage, +560 healing power, +560 vitality.
Dolyak’s rune : +175 toughness, +100 vitality, regeneration each second

Pets :
Lynx (for direct and condition damages)
Jungle spider (for condition damages and control : two immobilzations and eventually a combo zone but hard to manage with)

Specializations :

Skirmishing :
Trapper’s expertise,
Strider’s defense,
Quick draw

Wilderness survival :
Expertise training,
Ambidexterity,
Wilderness knowledge

Nature Magic :
Instinctive reaction (Allies’ Aid?)
Windborne Notes,
Nature’s vengeance / Protective Ward

So. The idea is to mainly play Axe – Warhorn, and to get some survivability when someone comes to CaC with the evades with S-D. Why ?

With magic nature passive, all boons I have are copied to the pet (to a certain extent). So when I stack 6s power on me, it goes also to the pet. I don’t know if this is a bug or not, but I saw that in fact the pet gets twice the bonus : when I stack 6-7 powers on me, it gets about 14 power on itself.
The same with the warhorn : this is no bug, but if the pet is in range, it gets +6 power and about 20-30 seconds of fury, rapidity and regen.
I strike at mid distance so that I can target easily and I use and abuse of focus to help the team targeting the same ennemy.

When the pet is low in life, I change it to replenish its life, even if sometimes I fail. The pet has between 12 and 19 power everytime (12-13 without call of nature, 18-19 with it). With nature magic trait that grants +20% boon duration, axe’s auto-attack lasts for 6s and it is easier to stack. If the pet is in range of the warhorn, it can get a permanent fury, regen and rapidity.

What I like with the ranger and I can’t find in other classes is that you can be at two places at the same time. Even if the IA of the pet is sometimes problematic, you can revive and let the pet attack, or target two ennemies at different places, or caping a point while your pet assists an ally 2000 meters away. It can slow an ennemy while I flee away from the fight when it goes wrong. Strategically speaking, I find it precious : it can be far away, if I need it close I just have to switch the pet and there it is.

The choice of amu is based on versatility :
+560 vit for some suvival (otherwise I die too fast),
+560 healing for support and self regen (defense again)
+1050 power and condition damage for being able to kill different kind of ennemies : each time I specialized in one kind of damage, I had troubles. So I prefere mixed damages. Moreover, as I play warhorn and axe, I use mixed damages : auto-attack and call of the wild are direct, multiple blades and winter’s bite are condi.

The choice of dolyak rune is based on survivability (more thoughness and vitality), but mainly for the passive regen (as I have decent healing power).

So. In team fight, I am useful thanks to the warhorn and winter’s bite. I generally play with the spider for more control and combo zone, but if the focus is hard to kill, I take the Lynx for more damages. Call of the wild is deadly on team’s focus.

In 1v1, I can manage my opponent most of the time. It depends on the situation. Most of the time, I guard points, so I use the traps. I control my ennemy with winter’s bite and traps, boost my pet, and kitt the ennemy. It works against about everything, but I have troubles with:
- stealth thiefs that kills fast and are hard to target (each time it stealths I have to target again)
- stealth longbow rangers (for the same reason, but to a lesser extent)
- any kind of berserker build (or any kind of build with very heavy damage in few seconds).
- Obviously, better players than me ;-)

In ranked PvP, I can barely manage 1v2. Sometimes it works, but it is not so often. I may lack skills in this.

In fact, if I succeed in puting Spirit of Nature and healing spring (with some combos in it, and some evades), I can manage a burst that targets me in 1v1 or 1v2. But it is hard to get all the right conditions to have that… (no interrupt, no pushback, no stun…)

In teamfight, my team is generally happy. I focus, control, heal, clean some condi with the spring, boost, revive or burst if necessary. As I mostly play with the Spirit of nature (and sometimes with frost spirit), they have a good regen. However I find it difficult to activate the Spirit of nature for cleaning condi and reviving as it is slow.

In general, I have a pretty good mobility with Call of nature, Rapidity in weapon switch, lightning reflexes and the second skill of the sword (even if it is quite hard to master in the middle of a battle).

I know some would suggest to specialize more. However, I feel that a balanced character is really useful. In team play, if each one is too much specialize, if one falls, everyone fall. And you do not decide what you are fighting against, contrary to PvE, so you have to adapt. I maybe want everything at the same time, survivabilité, DPS, support, condi and direct damages. I know that is not possible, but I think there are good arbitrages.

That is for my playstyle I am comfortable with. Here are the questions.

1. Should I better take greatsword for contact ? I feel the damage output are low so it hard to really take the ennemy down in 1v1. I do not really master it, but I like the swoop and the block.

2. Should I rather take the torch instead of the dagger ? I loose a dodge and a control, but I gain a fire field which is useful against stealth thiefs (I put the field around me when they hide). I loose in survivability against burst, but it is better against groups. With the field, I can change the trap for the bleeding one or the ice one ; but with lots of evades, I can regen better on field and spirit.

3. What would you chose as a third utility skill ? I would like to keep lightning reflexes as I find it really useful to get out of groups or AoE. Moreover, it breaks both stun and immobilization. I put a list of what I use, but I never felt it was the skill that really counter the weacknesses of my build. I have never been really satisfied of these choices.

4. What would you chose as Elite ? I feel that rampage as one is a bit redondant with the power I stack on my pet and is a bit egoist and not team friendly. I usually use Spirit of Nature, but entagle would increase my DPS and add a control that can serve in teamfight. What is your opinion ? Moreover, the spirit is sometimes hard to place and activate. Sometimes, I succed in auto-reviving me with it. But it is a bit random…

For traits :

1. I would like to keep trap expertise (better regen on healing spring and reduced recharge time). But do you think Strider’s defense should be changed ? I like to have lots of evades, again, but I only use S-D if the ennemy is close or if I am the target of a burst.

2. Do you have a better choice than quick draw as I do not change often my weapons ? I feel again that « Most dangerous game » is a bit redondant with the power I can have (but less than rampage as one).

3. I would like to keep Wilderness knowledge for cleaning conditions. I like reduce recharge on dagger and bonus in condition damage, but is ambidexterity a bit sub-optimized if I do not have a torch ? As my pets does condition damages, I use expertise training. What do you feel about the other first tier traits ?

4. I would like to keep windborne notes as Axe-Warhorn is my main weapon set. Moreover, I get team regen with decent healing power. I use Nature’s vengeance if I have a second spirit, most of the time Frost spirit. But I take Protective Ward otherwise. What do you think about the pet’s heal ? Is it really useful ? I find it not sufficient enought for team fights with the pets I have. And if I change for a healing pet, lots of traits will change. What do you think about the 1s per 3s stability confered by the Spirit of Nature improved ?

5. What would you chose as first Nature Magic traits ? Is Allie’s Aid really useful ? I can’t say as I can only use it into the fight, which is not a good moment to think really clearly of the effect it has… Is the 1% per boon attack bonus useful as I have 4 boons 75% of the time on me and pet with the warhorn ? Is it better than a +72 in power due to the 13% of healing power converted in power ? Since I do mixed damages, it is hard to really know the effects of this choice.

Another question, larger, is should I take the Beast Master specialization ? I feel I lose something important that is in other specializations : either the copied boon on pet (which is at the base of the build), or survivability due to the survival specialization (particularly the protection on me and pet with the dodge), or good bonuses in traps and sword in skirmishing, plus the +10% of crit in backside (as I lack some crit, even if I have lots of fury).

Last but not least, equipment :

I think I will keep Sage’s amulet because it is balanced. But do you have suggestions for the rune ?
What do you suggest for cachets ? I generally use cleaning conditions and area healing on strike for Axe-Warhorn, and endurance regen and cleaning condition on S-D.

Do you have any general idea, way of playing on general remark about that build ?

Sorry for this long text and thanks for the eventual answers !

Varyla

I’m guessing you don’t have HoT?

I think your utilities are what’s messing you up. As general rules of thumb, don’t take utilities that aren’t traited (I break this often) and spirits are pretty crappy right now.

With that in mind without changing too much of your build, I’d go full survival skills, LR, QZ, or sharpening stone, entangle. That will give you plenty of condi clear and all of them will be quicker recharges. Then protective ward over nature’s vengeance with no spirits.

I would also slot signet of stone into one of your utilities, so something like LR, SSorQZ, SoS (untraited but worth it), Entangle.

Finally, with no other traps at least consider troll unguent and primal reflexes over trapper’s expertise. IF you decide to do that it may change your weapons, to s/t + a/d which used to be the meta setup before HoT was released. That will boost your 1v1 ability substantially with evades on both weapon swaps as well as the powerful torch skills. I don’t want to pigeon hole you into a build you don’t want though, and your original idea is apparent.

Post finally, you might want to try wolf over spider. I think it’s a better pet all around, although spider is reasonable. Wolf has phenomenal team support to protect rezzes and secure stomps before rezzes, and is excellent in 1v1s for the 2 hard CCs.

use a torch.
get trappers runes.

Thanks for your answer !

However, I don’t feel comfortable with it. I tried playing this build you present with full survival skill. However I found it too much self-relying and not enough team friendly. I can’t heal allies and I have to change my amu, let my horn away, etc, etc.

You are right, that is not what I like to play. I want to keep my Axe-WarHorn playstyle I presented in intro. I don’t necessary want to play THE build of the moment, I just want to improve my build. I feel more comfortable with it, and I play better when I feel comfortable.

As I told you, 1v1 was not the troubles I had, but for few kind of encounter. Fire trap does miracles when I play a kind of kitting with axe (and not shortbow).
I thought of the wolf and I know lots of people play it. But the CC of the spider is quicker to recharge and it deals condi damages, the wolf doesn’t. By the way, spider has 2 CC, with lesser recharge time. And can attack at distance while I am at CaC. In case of AoE, only one of us take it.

My questions are rather about :
- dagger or torch ?
- which 3rd utility skill ?
- Some precisions about traits I do not really master, particularly 1st tier magic nature and their uses ; the utility of the stability of the Spirit of Nature (does it break or really prevent interrupts ?)

I know lots of people prefere the survival healing troll onguent. However, you just can heal your pet and yourself, and if you need to regen quickly, you are in bad situation. If I use the signet of stone to regen, it will have the same effect as the troll thing.

I generally doesn’t need to avoid that much when holding axe-horn : I have strong regen, i am generally at 900-1200 distance. When I need to protect, I switch sword dagger for evades. And both traited.

However, I think I will try Signet of stone for the invul. Recharge isn’t a bit long compared to other skills ? I ll make some tries. But I fear I will lose a bit of burst, even if I guess I won’t get everything at the same time, right ? ;-)

Thanks justine !

I like your advices. Trapper’s rune is a very strong idea and I will try it !

Why should I take the torch ? For the reasons I gave ? Should I keep the fire trap for more fire damages or chose another one ? It is just about the reason.

torch is a combo field for your projectiles as well.

Trappers is the way to go with traps but keep in mind they will reveal you as soon as they proc.

i would go for Axe\dagger and sword\torch. You will need evades with the Axe if your weapon swap is on CD and you still can proc combo fields using sword 2 that has much lower cd than WH5, and WH is a power weapon anyway.

Although you should consider druid because the ranger lacks many things being some of them condition\dps pressure and selfsustain. The druid at least improves one of them

Hi. Thanks for the reply.

I know that torch has a combo field… the question is rather if it worth the evades and cripple I get with the dagger.

I won’t let down my warhorn, so for me it would be dagger OR torch.

My current build is centered on axe/horn as well, so let me offer some thoughts on your questions:

1. Regarding greatsword, realize that it is more of a defensive weapon but Maul can hit hard when you get damage multipliers factored in. It won’t take advantage of your condi damage, though. Have you thought about shortbow instead?

2. I’d take torch over dagger if you’re stuck between the two.

3. For utilities, I know you like Healing Spring to heal allies and that’s great. Consider also We Heal As One to work with the boons you’ve shared with your pet. Flame trap is nice but also consider the spike trap. I like Lightning Reflexes too so why not keep it. For your last utility, maybe a signet like Stone or Renewal would round things out nicely.

4. Elite can be Entangle or Strength of the Pack, depending on what you’re going against. Entangle is great for the immob and condi damage but it’s easy for a lot of classes to get out of. SotP is a great damage modifier for you and your pet (and if you use it, let it build then use We Heal As One... you have a lot of boon stacks).

Traits
1. I would get rid of Strider’s Defense in favor of Hidden Barbs, especially if you want some condi damage. Spotter is also a solid choice for a bit more precision if you or your team need it.

2. Keep Quick Draw, it’s one of the best traits we have. If you have Skirmishing, you basically have to take that trait.

3. In Wilderness Survival, I would personally take Oakheart Salve as you’ll basically have perma regen which means 5% less damage taken. I typically play more defensively, though, so if you’re offensive then maybe Expertise Training is the way to go.

4. Keep Windborne Notes but drop the spirits and the spirit trait. I think that’s just too much going on and honestly the benefit isn’t worth it. That frees up a utility and allows you to take Protective Ward.

5. I take Bountiful Hunter and here’s why: you’re granted to always have four boons thanks to warhorn so there’s 4% extra damage. Now, if you get more boons from allies or from your pet (SotP, WHaO) then that allows you to set up a bit of a burst attack because you’re getting 1% more for each boon. That’s how I use it and I enjoy it.

I would honestly leave it at that. Trying Beastmastery just seems like it would spread you too thin. Lastly, I’m not crazy about Dolyak runes. I’d rather see something like Leadership, Melandru, Undead, Krait, Sunless, etc.

Would look something like this... http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRBHhx+1IjKUuitsgDLQ1iBGhy/8S/05C4yDgOCq1Q4EkGVKA-TpgRABAs/gzlBAA

Varyla.1592:

Hi. Thanks for the reply.

I know that torch has a combo field… the question is rather if it worth the evades and cripple I get with the dagger.

I won’t let down my warhorn, so for me it would be dagger OR torch.

Then torch over dagger. You already have 2 evades in the sword, if you need a third and the wonky kind the dagger has, nothing will save you.

Torch gives you another might source and the damage is decent. Plus it will give to your axe projectiles fire damage as well. Sword already has the poison stacks and the evades and the fire field from torch has many uses. Plus the throw torch is also a ranged attack that can be used to pressure.

Dagger needs some love before it becomes actually useful.

Thanks felixdacat and Anduriell !

So I guess I will take the torch, since you all agree on it. You are right, I can start a teem fight with torch => Call of nature for 6 power on team. I won’t play shortbow as I want a CaC weapon.

I knew the combo with WHAO, but I feel it is a bit redundant with magic nature trait. I generally either take one or the other, but rarely both. Moreover, I lose the support part, but if I change to BM specialization. Then I could take both support on shouts and WHAO, but I could only heal my team with regen… a bit short in my opinion.

I think I will take hidden barbs and keep bountiful hunter and windborne notes.

Now here are my dilemas. The best would be to try them :
- Entangle may be more supportive and condi, and give me condi cleaning. But SotP is a f***ing good burst if I do not use WHAO.
- Fire trap or bleeding trap ? With fire trap, I get a 12s stealth 2s cooldown and a better damage/recharge. With spike trap, I get a control and a “combo” with torch fire zone.
- If I take Oakheart salve, I get a 5% damage reduction permanently, but I do not need the regen (with warhorn and healing spring, I am basically on perma regen) so +33% condi duration on pet may be good.

I will tell you what I finally chose. Other advices ?

Varyla
-

Well, I am confused a little. You say you need advice about a versatile build but the build you posted uses a Condi DPS amulet that is more for Druid than anything. It’s not versatile on Ranger without Druid. You don’t have anything of significance that benefits from healing power.

Ask yourself: in two 10s time-periods how much more healing will you get out of 560 healing power than 0? Once you have figured that out, consider how much more damage you could deal over the same time period, say with wanderers, or rabid amulet.

The 560 healing power doesn’t really do much for your regen power and healing. Really take a look at the numbers. I think if you want to be versatile with Ranger, you should think about Rabid more than anything.

The torch won’t save you against a thief or rev. You’ll still be a free kill. No toughness and very little evasion. Whamo! Of course…if you used Rabid amulet, that would be a different story.

You should also be a free kill against Necromancer, Warrior and Mesmer. You can’t tell me you are doing well against these with so little evasion? How do you keep from getting shattered or skull cracked when you swap to Axe/Warhorn?

Since I used before Spirit of nature and sometimes Signet of nature, I benefited a lot of a +560 healing power. And my team too with the spirit. But everyone seems to say that spirit are wrong choices (even if few said why), that is why I changed.

But then, you are right. Without spirit of nature, +560 healing power is useless. Do you think I shoudl change survival for druid in order to keep a bit of healing for support ?

I tried today druid. It is not that bad, but I don’t like staff. What trait would you chose ? I feel few are really interesting. Maybe I do not know how to use them well.

Ever since they nerfed Celestial I’ve had trouble making hybrid builds work on rangers.
Their weapon abilities just don’t support it as well as other professions. I don’t want to have to run traps on a build that’s not utilizing full condition damage/duration.
That said, if you’re able to find something that works well for you, great.

~ Kovu

Varyla.1592:

Since I used before Spirit of nature and sometimes Signet of nature, I benefited a lot of a +560 healing power. And my team too with the spirit. But everyone seems to say that spirit are wrong choices (even if few said why), that is why I changed.

But then, you are right. Without spirit of nature, +560 healing power is useless. Do you think I shoudl change survival for druid in order to keep a bit of healing for support ?

I tried today druid. It is not that bad, but I don’t like staff. What trait would you chose ? I feel few are really interesting. Maybe I do not know how to use them well.

Staff is an acquired taste. The Druid traitline is centered around healing and support, so if you want to make use of your healing power then you might try to stick with it. I personally run WS, NM and Druid right now (in WvW).

As for the spirits, I just don’t see them as viable alternatives to other useful utilities. I’d rather take a signet or two than any spirit for PvP/WvW, and the traited Survival skills are great. Just doesn’t leave room for spirits, honestly. Can you still make use of your healing power without Spirit of Nature? Sure. You’ve got Healing Spring and Call of the Wild both on a reduced cooldown in your Sk/WS/NM build. You should have no problem keeping regen on you and your team this way. Want to give out more healing? Throw a sigil of water on each weapon set.

Varyla.1592:

Since I used before Spirit of nature and sometimes Signet of nature, I benefited a lot of a +560 healing power. And my team too with the spirit. But everyone seems to say that spirit are wrong choices (even if few said why), that is why I changed.

But then, you are right. Without spirit of nature, +560 healing power is useless. Do you think I shoudl change survival for druid in order to keep a bit of healing for support ?

I tried today druid. It is not that bad, but I don’t like staff. What trait would you chose ? I feel few are really interesting. Maybe I do not know how to use them well.

Druid is not only about sustain, it also bring a lot of mobility into the ranger (that strangely it lacks).
Staff is a very horrible weapon combat wise, here some people keep saying that is not but again and time will tell, it is.

But Staff has its spotlights: Ancient Grace is one of them. So Druid when uses the staff is for its mobility and AF generation. Damage wise is bad but it’s a filler while your skills go off CD. The mobility with the other weapons is clunky at best, having really bad experiences with them.

Problem is now you need healing power to work with druid (around 700 healing is the sweet spot) but the stat combinations are really junk using the healing stat. Without healing power the avatar and staff really really really suck.

Now for WvW i go with BM/WS/DR . You miss the share boon thing which actually hinds your damage by a lot, but you can use the WS skills to cleanse 2 conditions and you have better access to LR, that is the only skill for ranger that cleanse Immob (to avoid being pinned down). With the RNG thingy when cleanses if you get 4 conditions on you even if they not damaging you will need the avatar to cleanse immob and sometimes is on CD. LR is not a good skill however, more than once i went off a cliff because you don’t have any control over the skill but is the only choice you actually have (sadly like everything about the ranger).

Hi. Thanks for the remarks. Now I am sure I won’t use the staff.

I tried last days short bow, as someone recommanded it. It rocks. I kept however druid spec to get the astral transformation. And no more use sword torch or sword dagger.

Now, that it is :
Axe-Horn / Short Bow.
Heal : healing spring
Utilities : fire trap, lightning reflexes, signet of stone.
Elite : Strenght of the pack.

Specializations :

Skirmishing :
- Trapper’s expertise.
- Hidden barbs
- Light on your feet / Quick draw (I will use the first one as I do not master very weel quick drow on sb)

Magic nature :
- Bountiful hunter
- Windborne notes
- Protective ward.

Druid :
- Druidic clarity
- Celestial shadow
- Ancient seeds (it rocks)

Pets :
- wolf / spider
- Smokescale / spider
- Smokescale / wolf
… I don’t really know in fact. Smokescale is powerful but really ugly…

Equipments :
- Sage Amulet (+1050 power, +1050 condi, +560 healing power, +560 vitality)
- Rune of the trapper (for a 12s cd stealth with fire trap)

What do you think of it ? I lose the ability to go for contact. I don’t clean condi on demand. And other stuffs. But it has pretty good damage and support, correct survivability.

Oh… and on weapons:
- short bow : +20% bleeding duration ; 30% area healing on strike
- axe : 60% of clearing a condi on strike
- Warhorn : +10% heals I give.