Guild Wars 2

Yo..

So, I’ve been out of the game since Halloween and am looking to get back into it..

For the ranger I’m looking to play in my Main hand, either a Sword/Something..or Greatsword build..

Now, I have no idea how viable these weapons are, so, I’d like some info regarding this…

What kind of builds should I be looking into, how should I spec for armor, jewellery, weapons etc?

Thanks in advance

Greatsword would be a great main weapon if it weren’t for its extremely low damage. It is however still a viable secondary. Many a times has it helped me keep thieves and warriors at bay until my other cooldowns were back up. A greatsword is good for any build, and will serve a condition build and a power build in about equal measure due to Maul’s nature of doing both direct damage and bleeding damage.

Sword is currently a broken weapon due to the auto-attack disallowing you to dodge. Proper use of this weapon thusly requires careful micromanaging of your auto-attack, in other words, turning it off and manually tapping ‘1’ when required. This off-puts a lot of people, myself included.

However, despite this flaw, the sword allows for two evades, a poison, and a high damage auto-attack which also buffs your pet on every third strike. Carrying a dagger in the off-hand will almost make you thief-like, by adding a third evade as well as a ranged cripple. Off-hand dagger is thus prefferred for condition damage based tank/evade builds, while off-hand warhorn is preferred for power based buff builds and the torch for condition based damage builds.

Off-hand axe does not compliment sword that much in my opinion. All it does is add one ranged attack, and one projectile blocker which roots you in place.

Thx dude, so many views and you’re the only to reply, so cheers for that…

I think I have more of an Idea for what I want to do

I’m not too bothered about the Sword Auto so i’ll opt for that main with a torch in the off hand, as it has a Leap Finisher and Combo Field which seems nifty

Thx Again

Ben Delat.8415:

Thx dude, so many views and you’re the only to reply, so cheers for that…

I think I have more of an Idea for what I want to do

I’m not too bothered about the Sword Auto so i’ll opt for that main with a torch in the off hand, as it has a Leap Finisher and Combo Field which seems nifty

Thx Again

Sword has no Leap to combo with your Torch’s field, so I’d recommend a Dagger instead.

I use Sword + Dagger in a condition/toughness build and it is extremely powerful and synergetic. Agadar hits all the points spot-on, so I won’t restate them here.

If you wish to use Torch, consider Axe mainhand. Axe 2 will combo with the Fire field.

deepwinter.9015:

Ben Delat.8415:

Thx dude, so many views and you’re the only to reply, so cheers for that…

I think I have more of an Idea for what I want to do

I’m not too bothered about the Sword Auto so i’ll opt for that main with a torch in the off hand, as it has a Leap Finisher and Combo Field which seems nifty

Thx Again

Sword has no Leap to combo with your Torch’s field, so I’d recommend a Dagger instead.

I use Sword + Dagger in a condition/toughness build and it is extremely powerful and synergetic. Agadar hits all the points spot-on, so I won’t restate them here.

If you wish to use Torch, consider Axe mainhand. Axe 2 will combo with the Fire field.

I might be mistaken but um…Monarch’s Leap???

Isn’t that a leap finisher that should work with the combo field Bonfire Produces?

deepwinter.9015:

Ben Delat.8415:

Thx dude, so many views and you’re the only to reply, so cheers for that…

I think I have more of an Idea for what I want to do

I’m not too bothered about the Sword Auto so i’ll opt for that main with a torch in the off hand, as it has a Leap Finisher and Combo Field which seems nifty

Thx Again

Sword has no Leap to combo with your Torch’s field, so I’d recommend a Dagger instead.

I use Sword + Dagger in a condition/toughness build and it is extremely powerful and synergetic. Agadar hits all the points spot-on, so I won’t restate them here.

If you wish to use Torch, consider Axe mainhand. Axe 2 will combo with the Fire field.

Yes, sword does have a leap combo with torch. And a pretty good one at that.

Torch #5 > Sword #2 > Sword #2 = Fire Aura

Both sword and greatsword are great utility weapons, in that they can be used for more then what is first apparent.

Greatsword:
1: The evade on this is brilliant, especially when using quickness, as it makes you almost invulnerable.
2: Is an okay attack. I would really prefer something ells other then a bleed, though, as the greatsword is otherwise a pure direct damage weapon.
3: Swoop is the greatswords best skill, as it not only has the ability to get you up close to a foe quickly, but also get you out of combat just as fast. Further more, it is also the second best traveling weapon skill (yes, even better then warhorn), because of its short recharge time. Next to that, it also has the highest direct damage output of all the Rangers weapons.
4: Is both a movable block, an interrupt, and a ranged cripple attack skill. Very useful in every situation.
5: And finally, on top of everything ells, you also have an interrupt skill. This also allows your pet to do 50% more damage.
It’s also worth mentioning that, apart from your #5 skill, the greatsword is a pure AoE weapon.

Sword:
1: If you’ve build your Ranger to have high survivability, then the sword can be absolutely brutal. You basically stick to your foes like glue, thanks to cripple and a leap skill. And on top of that, you also stack might on your pet. But if you are low on health, it can also turn on you, and make it very hard to escape your opponent (unless you remove auto-attack).
2: Is both an evade, and a cripple (as if the cripple on the #1 skill wasn’t enough!). But it is also the best weapon traveling skill that the Ranger has (yes, still better then the warhorn). You simply just face your back in the direction you want to go, use Hornet Sting, then turn around 180 again, and then use Monarch’s Leap. It takes a bit of practice, but once you get it right, it is very effective. Especially because the recharge time on the skill is only 6 seconds.
3: Yet another evade skill next to the #2 skill, that also deals poison. Poison is especially good to keep the pressure on your foe, as it prevents healing by 33%. The attack also moves you into melee range, if you are at a distance to your foe.

Also remember that leap, on both the greatsword and sword, is a combo finisher. So use leap when you have skills like Healing Spring or Bonfire down.

Hope that helps a bit ^^

Taruvoyant.4318:

Yes, sword does have a leap combo with torch. And a pretty good one at that.

Torch #5 > Sword #2 > Sword #2 = Fire Aura

Oh kitten Thank you for correcting me. I’ve just gotten so used to using Sword 2 to get away and not leaping back that I forget its a Combo Finisher.

Ben Delat.8415:

Yo..

So, I’ve been out of the game since Halloween and am looking to get back into it..

For the ranger I’m looking to play in my Main hand, either a Sword/Something..or Greatsword build..

Now, I have no idea how viable these weapons are, so, I’d like some info regarding this…

What kind of builds should I be looking into, how should I spec for armor, jewellery, weapons etc?

Thanks in advance

What are you doing? Pve? WvW? Structured PvP?

As a team player in wvw I run LB/SB, with the increased range, as I find this gives the best results for my style of play, although I am currently trying out sword/horn and SB or Lb (depends on situation) on my alt ranger (horn for the buff/running speed/general fun), which tends to get me dead real fast against a zerg.

For pve, use anything you like, personally I tend to swap around depending on how I’m feeling- in lower level areas sb with sword/horn is working very well as i like the speed buff from the horn.