Guild Wars 2

While most of you have been going on about the improved longbow, I think we should talk about ranger specs that are likely to be used at higher levels of pvp play. In truth, I’m not too experienced of a ranger, but I’m just trying to look for good things that will be viable after the patch.

Anyway the point of these builds are to use the combo of might stacking and a celestial, a combination proven to be rather effective on elementalists, warriors, and engineers. The new axe autoattack will provide very easy might generation, which pushes the old builds, many of which that used shortbow over axe, to a whole new level!

Warning: “Calculations” below are rudimentary, and speculative at best.. so I might be wrong!

With strength runes and 5 or 6 in nature magic, the boon duration line, the might from the autoattack should go from 3 seconds to 5-5.25 seconds. This is due to 70-75% might duration from traits and runes.

This is where I’m not entirely sure:
The cast time of riccochet is 1/4 of a second, however there is a slight delay between casts, and according to the gw2 wiki, there is one second per attack every second, however I’m not sure if that is true, or if its more like 2 attacks per second.

Regardless, this change will facilate for decent amount of might stacking, that gains strength when fighting 3 targets. In a team fight, you’re essentially getting 3 times as much might, meaning about 15 stacks before you start to falter.

Now in all practiality, when you use other skills, your potential might generation falls off, especially when you swap weapons (probably to sword/torch), but you need to do that have respectable condition output and evades.. so it will be interesting to see how much might I can maintain in practical fights.

Now onto build ideas. These all use a 0/0/6/6/2 set up, but I think other options are possible. In particular I like the synergy between the 3 and 5 point traits in nature magic with the build as a whole, and wildnerness survival provides so much extra survival.

1. Revamped Spirits
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8fjMq0yavKOrQ0aAMhq9A0pBwrR19G8BZwAaA-TJxHwADeCAa2fAwJBoYZAA

This build uses stone and sun spirits, as well as spirit of nature for the classic spirit ranger team support options, however is more hybridized thanks to strength runes and might uptime, rather than being more condition focused. Battle sigils help maintain a baseline of might when you can’t mindless spam autoattack! I put the last two points into beastmastery for mighty swap, but you can put them into skirmishing as well for extra vigor or extra bleeds.

2. Spirits+Shouts
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8fnMqQvg2rCOrARLGAToaPAdaA8aUdvBfwEPgG-TJxHwADeCAa2fAwJBoYZAA

This build trades spirit on death effects, and the live saving skill that is lightning reflexes, to be able to get from place to place faster from swiftness, as well as to give your group permanent regen up time.

3. Master of Survival and Poison
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8fjMq0yaHLWsQ1aAOhqdAUpp8rN19EcBr8AaA-TJRHwAFeCAc2fAwJB4YZAA

This build clears conditions and builds fury using survival of the fittest, and takes poison master and doom sigils to make poison more effective. Signet of the wild is kind of a placeholder, but many other options work for that spot.

Anyway, these are my ideas for now. I think a more beastmastery heavy build could also work as well. So what do you guys think about this type of ranger in the coming meta? Warriors won’t hardcounter them as bad or be as common, which is a relief. I think we still face competition with D/D eles for these types of builds, as while we have greater condition output and more evades, D/D eles have greater AoE damage, greater mobility, and greater healing and regen. I’m just glad that we will at least approach them in terms of might stacking capabilities.

love the look of build 3.

hoelbrak runes > strength runes in PvP settings.
Why?

Cuz 20% reduced condi duration (on you) is more valuable then 5% damage given the HP you got.

Prysin.8542:

hoelbrak runes > strength runes in PvP settings.
Why?

Cuz 20% reduced condi duration (on you) is more valuable then 5% damage given the HP you got.

Thanks for your feedback, and given the low base damage nature of many of the weapons skills this type of ranger build uses, I can see the -duration being more valuable.

The trade off of course is that you lose 15% might duration, meaning that you cap out at 60% might duration. This gives you 4.8 seconds of might from the autoattack.. so proabbly rounded down to 4.75 seconds. Not a huge deal by any means, and with the base might from mighty swap and battle sigil, there will definetly be enough.

I don’t think anything based on spirits will make a return in the near future.

There’s just too much point AoE pressure from Warriors and Elementalists, in future probably also from Mesmers. Spirits die very quickly, to be honest.

I would expect more trappers or semi-power builds with couple signets.

Other way around with spirits would be not to take trait “Spirits Unbound” and rather place them in some safe spot away from AoE fest during teamfights.

Rym.1469:

I don’t think anything based on spirits will make a return in the near future.

There’s just too much point AoE pressure from Warriors and Elementalists, in future probably also from Mesmers. Spirits die very quickly, to be honest.

I would expect more trappers or semi-power builds with couple signets.

Other way around with spirits would be not to take trait “Spirits Unbound” and rather place them in some safe spot away from AoE fest during teamfights.

Yeah that is always the issue for team fights. I’m going to play around in game and see what other options I can come up with, at least in terms of utilites to base a build around.

The issue with traps is that you NEED skirmishing traits to make them worth using, meaning you won’t be able to get as much boon duration from nature magic, and this build gets the most mileage out of might stacking than anything else.

Prysin.8542:

hoelbrak runes > strength runes in PvP settings.
Why?

Cuz 20% reduced condi duration (on you) is more valuable then 5% damage given the HP you got.

Not always. 20% alone won’t really do much either, it’s usually used with classes that have other passive condi minus( or wvw with lemongrass), so if you wanted more dps always go with strength. In fact, Rage runes aren’t that bad either, especially with my build that has fury on weapon swap, horn 5 and elite.

This is my Pre-patch celestial build I’ve been running around for a while. (Post patch will be even stronger with the signets) http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBlYDbkRlWWrYxhFuWDAIULDg7tdO0sxAzGIDKZFRB-TZhFwAAeAAMOCAj2fIxFBwZZAA

Works quite well against most specs, even condi specs. If I run into condi I swap to SoR and I sometimes run a generosity sigil as well. I’m actually quite fond of this build, celestial ranger is surprisingly effective.

Another thing with your third build, the poison master, I think your forgot to change some traits because you are still running spirit traits. And those doom sigils aren’t doing you any favours when you have sword and dagger, those two alone can keep permanent poison uptime, and energy sigils are extremely useful.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR8fjEq0xaLLWsQ1aALhqdDEA18rT1d0GB3cJrIK-TJhIwAAeCAX2f47FBQYZAA

here’s my Pre-Patch cele build. It pretty much counters any build there is. If facing many condition enemies, take EB over PM.

Prysin.8542:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR8fjEq0xaLLWsQ1aALhqdDEA18rT1d0GB3cJrIK-TJhIwAAeCAX2f47FBQYZAA

here’s my Pre-Patch cele build. It pretty much counters any build there is. If facing many condition enemies, take EB over PM.

I would challenge you to a friendly duel, my cele build vs yours, BUT GUESS WHO IS STILL ON NA. Breaks my heart =’(

warriorjrd.8695:

Another thing with your third build, the poison master, I think your forgot to change some traits because you are still running spirit traits. And those doom sigils aren’t doing you any favours when you have sword and dagger, those two alone can keep permanent poison uptime, and energy sigils are extremely useful.

Oh whoops, I totally forgot about that, but I’ll be sure to change that, and thanks, you seem correct about the doom sigils sucking!

warriorjrd.8695:

Prysin.8542:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR8fjEq0xaLLWsQ1aALhqdDEA18rT1d0GB3cJrIK-TJhIwAAeCAX2f47FBQYZAA

here’s my Pre-Patch cele build. It pretty much counters any build there is. If facing many condition enemies, take EB over PM.

I would challenge you to a friendly duel, my cele build vs yours, BUT GUESS WHO IS STILL ON NA. Breaks my heart =’(

git ova it dood…. i enjoy farming the bads people over here

Remember, with Fortifying bond the might given to pet is 10s even though you get a base of 3s. So it is valuable for you, but far more valuable for the pet.

Rune of Strength will be a pretty good rune for next patch, but it won’t be the only one I’ll be using. With entangle, Krait runes will be extremelly dangerous, probably even better than taking strength runes because of that torment and poison plus bleeding, covering the rest of your conditions pretty kitten well. I also love the idea of taking Balthazar runes with spirit build when using axe/dagger & sword/torch. The burning just stays on your target.

With 6 points in nature magic, that’s already 4 second of might on you, so I don’t think you absolutely need to over commit in might duration. What is really going to make the difference is the 13s of might on your pet with Fortifying bond trait in Nature Magic. My dogs will hurt alot.

Skullface.7293:

Rune of Strength will be a pretty good rune for next patch, but it won’t be the only one I’ll be using. With entangle, Krait runes will be extremelly dangerous, probably even better than taking strength runes because of that torment and poison plus bleeding, covering the rest of your conditions pretty kitten well. I also love the idea of taking Balthazar runes with spirit build when using axe/dagger & sword/torch. The burning just stays on your target.

With 6 points in nature magic, that’s already 4 second of might on you, so I don’t think you absolutely need to over commit in might duration. What is really going to make the difference is the 13s of might on your pet with Fortifying bond trait in Nature Magic. My dogs will hurt alot.

Yeah thats a good point. Minmaxing might duration was starting to feel silly. Krait runes I’d definetly run, possibly with a survival oriented build so that surivivals clear conditions. For that I’d probably go rabid with a x/2/4/6/x setup with earth sigils and whatnot, but I’d worry about the lack of sustain compared to celestial.

nearlight.3064:

Skullface.7293:

Rune of Strength will be a pretty good rune for next patch, but it won’t be the only one I’ll be using. With entangle, Krait runes will be extremelly dangerous, probably even better than taking strength runes because of that torment and poison plus bleeding, covering the rest of your conditions pretty kitten well. I also love the idea of taking Balthazar runes with spirit build when using axe/dagger & sword/torch. The burning just stays on your target.

With 6 points in nature magic, that’s already 4 second of might on you, so I don’t think you absolutely need to over commit in might duration. What is really going to make the difference is the 13s of might on your pet with Fortifying bond trait in Nature Magic. My dogs will hurt alot.

Yeah thats a good point. Minmaxing might duration was starting to feel silly. Krait runes I’d definetly run, possibly with a survival oriented build so that surivivals clear conditions. For that I’d probably go rabid with a x/2/4/6/x setup with earth sigils and whatnot, but I’d worry about the lack of sustain compared to celestial.

Tried it and tested it, the ranger has horrible might stacking potential currently unless you overcomit to it while losing important stuff on some other places in the process. Celestial Ranger feels really crappy compared to say, rabid. The scalling on healing power is realy poor and the direct damage attacks don’t scale well enough with those low power stats. I feel like I do much more damage on rabid and I feel just as tanky. You also sort of like… you know, need an axe for improved might stacks postpatch, sacrificing the precious shortbow most likely, something I’m not willing to do just to make celestial barely viable. Also, you can’t trust 25 might stacked pets, they are unreliable. But well, I’ll try celestial next patch, I might get surprised.

Khenzy.9348:

nearlight.3064:

Skullface.7293:

Rune of Strength will be a pretty good rune for next patch, but it won’t be the only one I’ll be using. With entangle, Krait runes will be extremelly dangerous, probably even better than taking strength runes because of that torment and poison plus bleeding, covering the rest of your conditions pretty kitten well. I also love the idea of taking Balthazar runes with spirit build when using axe/dagger & sword/torch. The burning just stays on your target.

With 6 points in nature magic, that’s already 4 second of might on you, so I don’t think you absolutely need to over commit in might duration. What is really going to make the difference is the 13s of might on your pet with Fortifying bond trait in Nature Magic. My dogs will hurt alot.

Yeah thats a good point. Minmaxing might duration was starting to feel silly. Krait runes I’d definetly run, possibly with a survival oriented build so that surivivals clear conditions. For that I’d probably go rabid with a x/2/4/6/x setup with earth sigils and whatnot, but I’d worry about the lack of sustain compared to celestial.

Tried it and tested it, the ranger has horrible might stacking potential currently unless you overcomit to it while losing important stuff on some other places in the process. Celestial Ranger feels really crappy compared to say, rabid. The scalling on healing power is realy poor and the direct damage attacks don’t scale well enough with those low power stats. I feel like I do much more damage on rabid and I feel just as tanky. You also sort of like… you know, need an axe for improved might stacks postpatch, sacrificing the precious shortbow most likely, something I’m not willing to do just to make celestial barely viable. Also, you can’t trust 25 might stacked pets, they are unreliable. But well, I’ll try celestial next patch, I might get surprised.

I hate shortbow so much. I love axe for split blade. And I run sw/tocrch too for the evades and burning. I don’t see how SB would outdo axe post patch even on a rabid build.

nearlight.3064:

Khenzy.9348:

nearlight.3064:

Skullface.7293:

Rune of Strength will be a pretty good rune for next patch, but it won’t be the only one I’ll be using. With entangle, Krait runes will be extremelly dangerous, probably even better than taking strength runes because of that torment and poison plus bleeding, covering the rest of your conditions pretty kitten well. I also love the idea of taking Balthazar runes with spirit build when using axe/dagger & sword/torch. The burning just stays on your target.

With 6 points in nature magic, that’s already 4 second of might on you, so I don’t think you absolutely need to over commit in might duration. What is really going to make the difference is the 13s of might on your pet with Fortifying bond trait in Nature Magic. My dogs will hurt alot.

Yeah thats a good point. Minmaxing might duration was starting to feel silly. Krait runes I’d definetly run, possibly with a survival oriented build so that surivivals clear conditions. For that I’d probably go rabid with a x/2/4/6/x setup with earth sigils and whatnot, but I’d worry about the lack of sustain compared to celestial.

Tried it and tested it, the ranger has horrible might stacking potential currently unless you overcomit to it while losing important stuff on some other places in the process. Celestial Ranger feels really crappy compared to say, rabid. The scalling on healing power is realy poor and the direct damage attacks don’t scale well enough with those low power stats. I feel like I do much more damage on rabid and I feel just as tanky. You also sort of like… you know, need an axe for improved might stacks postpatch, sacrificing the precious shortbow most likely, something I’m not willing to do just to make celestial barely viable. Also, you can’t trust 25 might stacked pets, they are unreliable. But well, I’ll try celestial next patch, I might get surprised.

I hate shortbow so much. I love axe for split blade. And I run sw/tocrch too for the evades and burning. I don’t see how SB would outdo axe post patch even on a rabid build.

Hey hey now, I never said SB would outdo axe post patch or even now, it’s just that SB and S/(x) sinergize so well together, so changing to celestial kind of forces you to take axe for the might stacking and as I tried it I didn’t find it’s worth it (talking about celestial here, not the axe might stacks lol!). The additional might stacks with axe are worth a try postpatch for sure though!

Khenzy.9348:

nearlight.3064:

Khenzy.9348:

nearlight.3064:

Skullface.7293:

Rune of Strength will be a pretty good rune for next patch, but it won’t be the only one I’ll be using. With entangle, Krait runes will be extremelly dangerous, probably even better than taking strength runes because of that torment and poison plus bleeding, covering the rest of your conditions pretty kitten well. I also love the idea of taking Balthazar runes with spirit build when using axe/dagger & sword/torch. The burning just stays on your target.

With 6 points in nature magic, that’s already 4 second of might on you, so I don’t think you absolutely need to over commit in might duration. What is really going to make the difference is the 13s of might on your pet with Fortifying bond trait in Nature Magic. My dogs will hurt alot.

Yeah thats a good point. Minmaxing might duration was starting to feel silly. Krait runes I’d definetly run, possibly with a survival oriented build so that surivivals clear conditions. For that I’d probably go rabid with a x/2/4/6/x setup with earth sigils and whatnot, but I’d worry about the lack of sustain compared to celestial.

Tried it and tested it, the ranger has horrible might stacking potential currently unless you overcomit to it while losing important stuff on some other places in the process. Celestial Ranger feels really crappy compared to say, rabid. The scalling on healing power is realy poor and the direct damage attacks don’t scale well enough with those low power stats. I feel like I do much more damage on rabid and I feel just as tanky. You also sort of like… you know, need an axe for improved might stacks postpatch, sacrificing the precious shortbow most likely, something I’m not willing to do just to make celestial barely viable. Also, you can’t trust 25 might stacked pets, they are unreliable. But well, I’ll try celestial next patch, I might get surprised.

I hate shortbow so much. I love axe for split blade. And I run sw/tocrch too for the evades and burning. I don’t see how SB would outdo axe post patch even on a rabid build.

Hey hey now, I never said SB would outdo axe post patch or even now, it’s just that SB and S/(x) sinergize so well together, so changing to celestial kind of forces you to take axe for the might stacking and as I tried it I didn’t find it’s worth it (talking about celestial here, not the axe might stacks lol!). The additional might stacks with axe are worth a try postpatch for sure though!

Oh sorry I misunderstood. I don’t know I just never really liked shortbow and I really like taking torch so I don’t need sun spirits or fire traps to burn. I guess that’s just me though. I like the rabid build a lot better offensively but it goes down easily if I get into a team fight and focused or have to 1v2. Even without might duration runes I’m sure the extra might will benefit it a lot.

Axe will definitely outshine SB after the patch, but of course there will still be some who will stay on their Shortbow spamming. About the celestial vs rabid debate…it really depends what you want. I prefer my axe auto attacks for hitting decently with celestial rather than just hitting for 200-ish each hit with rabid. The axes auto attacks with celestial will get rid of engi turrets quite fast, so as mesmer clones.

Celestial amulet on ranger does not do less damage. Targets melt equally as fast on my part.

25stacks of might is not to be laughed at when a drakehound will leap on you. The other player will have to think about you and the pet alot more than he usually does with all these might stacks. I think I played enough in pvp to say dogs are pretty reliable pets.

haha just posted a new topic about a celestial build before I even saw this one. Heres mine.

Hybrid Might BM

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAnYVjEq0xaLLWsQ1aAOhqVA8eT/0R19DMArcJLoL-TFyHABas/Qiq/AnSQkUGMwTAYJleupPAgTBApA6aaE-w

This is what I will be trying:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAnfRjMq0vaDLGsw1aA/gaZDEAtvhotGY2vPQFOZC-TZBBwAAOBAYOCAeeEA12fAcZAA

Sube Dai.8496:

This is what I will be trying:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAnfRjMq0vaDLGsw1aA/gaZDEAtvhotGY2vPQFOZC-TZBBwAAOBAYOCAeeEA12fAcZAA

That looks like a decent build. I see the merit of Greatsword but I probably won’t run it just to have more evades and keep up more conditions more often. I’d replace the condition cleanse signet with signet of the wild since that signet+regen on celestial is about equal to a warriors healing signet tick, and the stability from the active I’d wager to be me more useful for sure.

nearlight.3064:

Sube Dai.8496:

This is what I will be trying:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAnfRjMq0vaDLGsw1aA/gaZDEAtvhotGY2vPQFOZC-TZBBwAAOBAYOCAeeEA12fAcZAA

That looks like a decent build. I see the merit of Greatsword but I probably won’t run it just to have more evades and keep up more conditions more often. I’d replace the condition cleanse signet with signet of the wild since that signet+regen on celestial is about equal to a warriors healing signet tick, and the stability from the active I’d wager to be me more useful for sure.

Yeh I usually run s\d in place of GS but I’m excited to see what maul with 25 stacks of might and soth active can do, to 5 people

Might swap SOS for sotw as well if SOS proves unnecessary. Just to make maul even more deadly.

I think sor is necessary for the stunbreak too.

So what are the news here or is everyone still on the LB train? I’m still experimenting to find the best setup for me, but I’m pretty content with the outcomes so far, running mostly 0-0-4-4-6. Lack of condi removal but it turns out that there are worse things to worry about in a rather organized team.
Not sure about runes though. Krait? Forge? Dwayna?
Just give me Aristocracy runes in pvp finally!

I’ve seen some Rangers on EU going traps with 2/6/0/6/0 for mightstacking pet and survival skills + cleanses on runes or sigils.

Myself, I actually tried to re-make my old shout Beastmaster build in three variants: Soldier’s, Celestial and Settler’s/Carrion. Oriented about stacking might on pet and being quite tough yourself, with Nature’s Voice and Soldier Runeset. It’s quite powerful, especially against Mesmers (plenty of them nowadays, I would say even more than Rangers) as after a while of bouncing Axe, your Jaguar will run around with perma 25might, swiftness, healing a protection/stealth and obliterating with 3-4k autoattacks.
It’s not brilliant against S/D Thieves and Condi Engineers though.

Thinking about build on Axe, I’d almost always go for FBond nowadays and pets applying both high direct damage as well as condition damage. Start from here.

My GS/Signet build was a total fail, mostly because of the short Might duration.

0/0/6/4/4 Celestial strength runes has been working well though.

Sube Dai.8496:

My GS/Signet build was a total fail, mostly because of the short Might duration.

0/0/6/4/4 Celestial strength runes has been working well though.

IMO this is quite close to a new ‘meta build’. It’s pretty hard to mess up a celestial damage focused build that uses the lower half of the trait tree. Very tanky and wide open for team support.

I’ve been running 00626 in duels and now starting to move this back in to arena, but I think there about 500 variations of this sort of slightly condi heavy celestial might BM build we could do well with.

Do you have a might source for the pet on that 0/0/6/2/6 ?

Heh, I was thinking about making my own thread, but it seems this will do

Two days ago I was just casually trying to do some matches in SoloQ, and after seeing the 7th person in a row DC’ing, I decided to go have some fun in Hotjoin…
There I was mesmerized by a Ranger getting insane amounts of regeneration – playing something with signets and a Greatsword (don’t know about his other set, he never switched) and that intrigued me…

Now I have had issues with playing Ranger in the past, I was coping with an identity crisis and could not figure out a suiting role within TPvP, but now with the recent changes, I decided to let my curiousity have a way…
I made some kind of weird Celestial+Axe regen build, and discovered some little gems within; now since my knowledge about Rangers is rather limited, I decided to contact a guildy, DanSH for some help… He helped me setting some things straight, like trait spread and weapon combos, and from there I started to work

Granted, this is likely not what he would run, since we did not discuss the build into detail, but This is the build I am running
It could probably use some fine tuning, hence why I came here… One of my largest gripes with the build is mobility, and I am inclined to take Warhorn, but I do not know which offhand to replace (offhand Dagger saved me so many times)
I did at the very least come to the point with this build that it did exactly what I wanted – Insane Regen+Vigor uptime, Protection and mightstacking like a pro! I managed to beat some Warriors in 1v1’s when testing the build in our Arena with it, though I do not know whether thanks to the build or due to their inexperience facing Rangers, regardless, I had a very good time

Anyway, if you can take your time to look at my build and tell me things to improve, I am happy to know it – One thing though, I really do not want to give up my Sword or Axe since I use the former to combat enemies up close, doing some soft conditions, while my Axe is my primary mightstacking and ranged weapon

Sube Dai.8496:

Do you have a might source for the pet on that 0/0/6/2/6 ?

No, your build is better for PvP. I don’t like axe, but I think it will be the new weapon for arenas.

GoogleBrandon.5073:

Heh, I was thinking about making my own thread, but it seems this will do

Two days ago I was just casually trying to do some matches in SoloQ, and after seeing the 7th person in a row DC’ing, I decided to go have some fun in Hotjoin…
There I was mesmerized by a Ranger getting insane amounts of regeneration – playing something with signets and a Greatsword (don’t know about his other set, he never switched) and that intrigued me…

Now I have had issues with playing Ranger in the past, I was coping with an identity crisis and could not figure out a suiting role within TPvP, but now with the recent changes, I decided to let my curiousity have a way…
I made some kind of weird Celestial+Axe regen build, and discovered some little gems within; now since my knowledge about Rangers is rather limited, I decided to contact a guildy, DanSH for some help… He helped me setting some things straight, like trait spread and weapon combos, and from there I started to work

Granted, this is likely not what he would run, since we did not discuss the build into detail, but This is the build I am running
It could probably use some fine tuning, hence why I came here… One of my largest gripes with the build is mobility, and I am inclined to take Warhorn, but I do not know which offhand to replace (offhand Dagger saved me so many times)
I did at the very least come to the point with this build that it did exactly what I wanted – Insane Regen+Vigor uptime, Protection and mightstacking like a pro! I managed to beat some Warriors in 1v1’s when testing the build in our Arena with it, though I do not know whether thanks to the build or due to their inexperience facing Rangers, regardless, I had a very good time

Anyway, if you can take your time to look at my build and tell me things to improve, I am happy to know it – One thing though, I really do not want to give up my Sword or Axe since I use the former to combat enemies up close, doing some soft conditions, while my Axe is my primary mightstacking and ranged weapon

That is pretty much the exact build I posted above. Except that I am using sic em instead of sor, and stability training to help the pet get to targets.

I’m using that build against condi heavy teams, against most other i use invigorating bond instead of empathetic bond. Probably not the best idea but i just love those 2k extra heals. Sigils are geomancy and battle. Also i use krait runes, the condi burst you can put out with good timing and entangle, splitblade, winter’s bite, crippling talon, geomancy runes, bonfire is too sick and will bring baddies down and good players into defensive mode. Just count the dodges before using entangle.

With Axe, Bird/Feline pet and FBond you can be simply Mesmer’s worst nightmare. Since the patch, tons of Mesmers can be found in tpvp, spvp and wvw from my experience.

I quickly made some SotF/Celestial BM yesterday and ran it on duelling servers. Haven’t lost to any Mesmer, even as cheesiest as possible builds.

Simply, 25 mightstacked owl with permanent fury and swiftness can easily take 60% of their health in a single hit.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRBHhdG2JjK0KoFsgFLw1CCOEqWbAzAoA+2EHrvcoClIB-TZhBABAcCAm4JAEeZAe2f4gDCAA

You forgot build running around axes with pet in a dumbo tank style fashion i mean do try running away from that :/