Guild Wars 2

Hi guys
First of all, sorry because I think you guys get these questions a dosen of times, but I haven’t really seen anything that answers my question regarding the latest update.

I have a lvl 80 ranger and really enjoy playing with the SB the most. My question really, keeping in mind the latest update, what is the build to go for if I want to spec towards pve-ing(dungeons and such) with a SB? (gear, stats, skills, …?)

Thanks in advance! :-)

i’m also fairly new to ‘rangering’ but the general consensus from what i’ve read and experienced is that with shortbow you either want to go for a power build or a condition build, halfway hybrid builds tend not to perform as well.

Once you make up your mind on what ‘style’ you prefer to play it really is a case of personal preference in how you balance your defensive and offensive stat gear. There’s no point in being really defensive if you don’t get hit a lot, similarly if you have too much offensive it leaves you vulnerable to losing you HP very quickly and having to pull out of a fight and risk getting downed / defeated.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/ is a great site for fiddling with stats and gear.

Just keep in mind that shortbows are more a pvp weapon (not to say they aren’t useful in pve) and untraited are designed for more single target control (single target cripple, single target interrupt).

There’s a great consolidation of guides posted too which can help a ton.

Generally speaking for pve, dungeons/fractals I’d go full rampagers gear and going 30/20/15/0/5.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBlODbkoKxuvywi1SAseQYgD2PoJThhM+FUwnI-jAzAIMAkWkpKAEIYSEU+rIasl2ioxqux0mJV9GZFMgDJpA-e

Or if you like traps like me go shortbow trapper!

I know people say go power or con dmg, but surely due to physical damage reductions that stronger armoured enemies have it’s always best (more efficient) to go for condition damage, as this is not mitigated by armour (that I’m aware of)

Do you actually play PvE? Condition builds are a nonstarter — they deal significantly less damage to berserker gear.

This is why this game needs DPS meters, so people can’t claim ignorance as cover.

I did try both. I find conditions unappealing in there states and here is why (in my opinion) and i am only talking about the PVE.

-So much people and so many attack put conditions on creatures, often in dungeon mobs are stack with 25 bleed, 1min of poison , 15 or so vuln and some burning. I just feel that if i go full condition, the more people there are (like temple and such), my damage get mitigated by other players from too much conditions. Some creature like destroyers or (i think its some type of undead) are immune to burning / poison.

-From power though come the armor class that can mitigate some of the damage you do but at least when you do a 3k damage, you do it.

I do agree i would love a dps meter for easier calculation then juste supposed health pool and do math on it.

Anyway thats just my 2 cent, i felt better and more reliable dps in group with power. Solo condi was equally as strong i guess.

Zenith.7301:

Do you actually play PvE? Condition builds are a nonstarter — they deal significantly less damage to berserker gear.

This is why this game needs DPS meters, so people can’t claim ignorance as cover.

You probably play a zerker warrior?

So is the general consensus that a SB condition build for PvE is a bad idea? I’ve been 80 for a month and still haven’t bought a single piece of exotic equipment because I can’t figure out what kind of build to go with for primarily PvE play. I was heading towards a condition build until I read this thread.

archied.6180:

So is the general consensus that a SB condition build for PvE is a bad idea? I’ve been 80 for a month and still haven’t bought a single piece of exotic equipment because I can’t figure out what kind of build to go with for primarily PvE play. I was heading towards a condition build until I read this thread.

well it depends, you have a semi reliant aoe poison (not as accurate as ground target poison), and a semi reliant single target 5-6 stack bleed (if you are flanking the target) on shortbow as your condition damage skills.

if you feel you can land them consistently then go for it. just remember that poison doesn’t stack (loads of other sources for poison from other professions), bleeds cap at 25 stacks, and your 5-6 bleed stacks don’t last very long (3 sec per bleed).