Guild Wars 2

Hi Ranger forum!

Pretty much my first time here. The upcoming changes tempted me to take a closer look at ranger, and the idea of a ‘machinegun’-ranger really sounds like fun. A guildie of mine suggested I’d make a Hawkeye Ranger to add to my character collection, so I did. Now I am in the process of levelling it, and I am theorycrafting when I have time on what build I’ll be using.

I like power, not condi. I know rangers are having a hard time at anything, but I am enjoying the playstyle more then I expected, so I want to make it work (somewhat). I mostly roam WvW solo or in a small guild group (max 5).

This is what I came up with;

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNEQNAT8YjEq0vaLLWsQ1ag+ga5DEAt/hZ4GY+vfwJjqRSA-TFDEwA23fIqSBnKDI8AA2qE0wFAgpSIpKZYp+THdDAOIAPOCABAOAY4hHe4hHuUAPtFA-w

The build centers around immobilising your target through pet abilities or Entangle before unleashing your burst with good Fury uptime. Sword dagger provides poison, mobility and sustain through evades. Coupled with Energy sigil, lightning reflexes, multiple sources of vigor and general +25% endurance regeneration, you have a plethora of dodges.
Sustain also comes from regen of SotW, Troll Unguent and food.

I wonder if it has enough condition removal?

Any criticism is welcome, as is other advice to a new ranger.

Thanks!

As you might have noticed we don’t have much condition removal in the first place, so what you have is pretty much the best you can get. The other route is to invest in Nature’s Magic and traiting for SotF but that’s about it.

Welcome to the ranger community! I’m just like you – came into playing ranger with a power spec rather condi. I play almost the same exact build (same weps, different traits) and just have a few things to note.

I really like the Wilderness Survival trait line because it gives you so many survival traits (who would’ve guessed) like natural vigor and companion’s defense. The one thing I don’t like about it is the passive condition removal.

If you want to control your condi removal, like Frou said, you can put 6 in Natural Magic and go for Survival of the Fittest.

Another thing to note is usually you take offhand mastery when going down Wilderness Survival trait line. Not only does it lower the CD of dagger 4 and 5 but it also increases the range by 300. Marshal mastery only decreases the CD of sword 2 and 3.

Everything else looks great though!
Here’s my build when the patch hits if you’re curious:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNMQNAsYTjEq0yaDL+rw1ag+ga9DEAjd7fYavBWVQJXqC-TVCEABEt/ABHJgEV/ZLlgMp8rN9NIcIAA4EE8wDUAA-w

It’s pretty glassy, but you learn very quick how to kite with ranger. Basically use LB to burst and S/D to poke and dodge until LB comes off CD. Use LB 3 to re position/ use heal/ retreat/ set up barrage (LB 5) accordingly. Swap to S/D for the close combat. Use weapons dodges for incoming CC before dodge rolling.

My personal opinion is that your points in Skirmishing are wasted. Assuming you play the build how I assume a person would play the build, you are almost never taking advantage of the minors, and as nice as Primal Reflexes is, it’s counterintuitive to some degree to try to deal primarily ranged damage and then take a trait that will give you an extra dodge for being hit when the goal should be not to be hit, even though I fully understand the value of the trait and know that it is a strong selection in its own right.

Quickdraw just overall isn’t worth the opportunity cost by the time everything else gets evaluated.

I’d end up running 6/0/6/2/0 with Read the Wind, and Steady Focus swapped out for signet mastery (post balance patch I’ll probably run Signet Mastery with SoR, SoS, and SotH or SotW depending on whether I decide to pick up travelers runes or not), and Strength of Spirit in the Nature line. Offhand Training as mentioned would be used, and I’d personally aim for a minimum of 40% crit chance at that point since I personally run air/fire sigils and would want a fair chance to proc them. I’d also probably swap in either Vigorous Renewal or Shared Anguish for Wilderness knowledge.

I don’t have ascendeds though, so mix/matching my gear always seems a bit easier, but here’s where the power build I run is at now: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNEQNAT8YjEq0ya/KWsQ1ag9gadAUAnd7f4a3BXbxFr0kE-TlyEABXqWRQ7PcjysdUaEwTAYgLCQKqqUgSQN0NAg5PA-w

If I wanted to go a tad bit more defensive, I’d swap out the S/D sigils for at least an Energy (so Energy/Air) or even Energy/Battle, which would help ever so slightly beef up the condi output of the poison and few bleeds while in the weapon set as well as power output, if I wanted to go that route.

Then again, there isn’t really a super set build for running power in WvW that I’m personally aware of. Most people that I know of either go full glass 6/6/x/x/x or more defensive 6/x/6/x/x, and the occasional SotF 6/0/2/6/0, though I’ve personally found that while I was originally excited for the trait, I still hate having to use offensive Survival skills as defensive cleanses, and it just isn’t as overall powerful as the consistent 3 condis removed per 10s that is EB at the end of the day in drawn out fights.

Thanks for all input!

I was thinking about Read the Wind, and how important it will be to this build. The general idea is to immobilize my foe before unleashing with RF, thus the projectile velocity seems less mandatory. How do you guys feel about this?

If I don’t spec 4 in Skirmishing that means 0 Fury in this build. I’d say 20% crit chance is a pretty significant damage boost, especially if you manage to get off RF in that ~6 second window.

As for the sigils, I don’t think I ever ran with anything else then bloodlust. It is just such a massive boost to both sets, even if I am not on my game and die often, you can restack quick enough for it to be amazing.

Energy just seems right for the spec. I think Energy sigil is the best sigil ingame actually.

On the offhand training vs sword training, I thought sword would be a good choice as I get a total of 4,5 second reduction on evading skills as opposed to 2 seconds if I take offhand training. Crippling Talon seems underwhelming on a spec that already has 4 ways to apply cripple.

Is the range of Stalker’s Strike also increased with offhand training?

Also, what do you guys think of Healing Spring? It alone would pump up condition resistance by a ton, as it not only removes condi’s by itself but allows for projectile and leap finishing.

Very excited to explore this class.

Cygnus.6903:

I was thinking about Read the Wind, and how important it will be to this build. The general idea is to immobilize my foe before unleashing with RF, thus the projectile velocity seems less mandatory. How do you guys feel about this?

I played an immobilize-based roaming LB for a very long time in WvW. The way I view it is you are using all that CC to delay the inevitable. It’s pretty rare to actually snag someone for any length of time. My goal was just to level the playing field; get a few arrows in to the guy so that his presumably tanky build and my glassy build are on more even footing when we start melee. Another factor is that thieves and mesmer effectively can’t be immobilized. You will absolutely destroy necros with that build though!

TL:DR, I’d go with Read the Wind.

Random note, I think you’ll like wolf more than drakehound. It’s “harder” CC.

Fluffball.8307:

Cygnus.6903:

I was thinking about Read the Wind, and how important it will be to this build. The general idea is to immobilize my foe before unleashing with RF, thus the projectile velocity seems less mandatory. How do you guys feel about this?

I played an immobilize-based roaming LB for a very long time in WvW. The way I view it is you are using all that CC to delay the inevitable. It’s pretty rare to actually snag someone for any length of time. My goal was just to level the playing field; get a few arrows in to the guy so that his presumably tanky build and my glassy build are on more even footing when we start melee. Another factor is that thieves and mesmer effectively can’t be immobilized. You will absolutely destroy necros with that build though!

TL:DR, I’d go with Read the Wind.

Random note, I think you’ll like wolf more than drakehound. It’s “harder” CC.

Thanks, this is very useful to me!

Will incorporate it into the build.

Cygnus.6903:

Thanks for all input!

I was thinking about Read the Wind, and how important it will be to this build. The general idea is to immobilize my foe before unleashing with RF, thus the projectile velocity seems less mandatory. How do you guys feel about this?

If I don’t spec 4 in Skirmishing that means 0 Fury in this build. I’d say 20% crit chance is a pretty significant damage boost, especially if you manage to get off RF in that ~6 second window.

As for the sigils, I don’t think I ever ran with anything else then bloodlust. It is just such a massive boost to both sets, even if I am not on my game and die often, you can restack quick enough for it to be amazing.

Energy just seems right for the spec. I think Energy sigil is the best sigil ingame actually.

On the offhand training vs sword training, I thought sword would be a good choice as I get a total of 4,5 second reduction on evading skills as opposed to 2 seconds if I take offhand training. Crippling Talon seems underwhelming on a spec that already has 4 ways to apply cripple.

Is the range of Stalker’s Strike also increased with offhand training?

Also, what do you guys think of Healing Spring? It alone would pump up condition resistance by a ton, as it not only removes condi’s by itself but allows for projectile and leap finishing.

Very excited to explore this class.

1200 range 7.5 second cripple and 3 bleeds on a 12 second CD!? Crippling talon really helps kite and take advantage of longbow when it’s switched out. Although I suppose it’s personal preference, we do have a lot of applications of cripple, marshal mastery will work.

As for healing spring: I generally bring it when I’m in a group so they can blast it and leap through it. I just really like the sustain of the Unguent, pre casting at about 60-75% health and it essentially having a 15 second cool down (25s CD – 10s of healing). Plus I think Empathic Bond + Signet of Renewal really covers it for conditions.

Stalker’s Strike does get its range increased as well.

This is all just my opinion!

Much appreciated. Good info here on the forum.

Good to know rangers aren’t that frustrated after being bottom of the foodchain for so long.

I am even having fun levelling right now.

Cygnus.6903:

Much appreciated. Good info here on the forum.

Good to know rangers aren’t that frustrated after being bottom of the foodchain for so long.

I am even having fun levelling right now.

I know right?! I came to ranger from thief and I just love ranger.

Getting 100% map completion is awesome and fun.

I just wanted another alt but I am having a surprising amount of fun in just PvE. Never happened before or after the first Gauntlet.